Author's Note: This is definitely not the best chapter I've ever written but I didn't manage better, sorry. I hope you still like it at least a little bit!

Enjoy, and please review! Thanks a lot!

Chapter 2

"Did I see right that Phoebe was crying?" Paige asked after she burst into the kitchen grabbing a good cup of coffee.

Phoebe's just left a moment ago and went up to her room to get herself together a little bit.

"Yes, she did."

"And why?"

"Because of Cole… or Jason… I'm not exactly sure…"

"Oh…" her face fell immediately.

"She feels guilty because she's together with Jason, but I think I could persuade her to give this relationship a try. She is going over to him in a few minutes."

"I'm glad. She's grieved long enough."

"Yes definitely. By the way, how are things going with you and Richard?"

Before Paige could answer blue lights appeared and then Chris stood there in front of them.

"We have to talk!" he said without preamble.

"Did something happen?" Piper asked resigned. Chris was simply obnoxious about fighting demons and it seemed that he never relaxed.

"I found out that the vixar-demons are conspiring…"

"Oh my god…" moaned Paige.

"It's not that bad!" Chris assured her.

"I didn't mean those demons, I meant you!" Paige said.

"She's right, Chris. Couldn't you stop only for one moment?"

"What! Don't you see that in this situation, after the Underworld has been without a proper leader for so long, we have to stop them from organizing themselves again. There are still a lot of powerful demons who can prove to be a danger…"

"Chris!" Piper cut in. "In the last months we did nothing else but killed demon after demon. There was a new one almost every day! Now, I'd like to spend some time with my son before he grows up."

Chris frowned.

"With your powers also comes some responsibility!" he said annoyed.

"Who are you? Spiderman?" Paige asked with a serious expression but Piper could see that she could hardly suppress her laughter. She simply loved to tease their whitelighter.

Chris opened his mouth to answer when the doorbell rang and Paige used this opportunity to vanish.

"I'll go!"

Piper sighed and Chris continued.

"These particular demons would be very dangerous if they came to power because they are cunning and in comparison to other demons they can work together quite well without killing eachother…" he then shut up so suddenly that Piper turned to see what made him stop.

Paige was back with a black-haired, young woman.

"Rose!" Piper greeted Cole's sister.

"Hi."

She looked quite drained.

"What happened?" Piper asked.

"I need to speak with you … I need to speak with somebody…" she dropped down on one of the chairs.

Piper sat down next to her and threw a worried glance at Paige, over Rose's shoulder.

"Well…" Paige obviously felt uncomfortable.

Piper found it quite easy nowadays to accept a demon – or half-demon in this case – as an ally or almost a friend, but Paige found it much harder.

"I'm sorry, but I promised Richard to go over and…"

"Never mind. Just go" Piper said and her youngest sister disappeared with an apologetic smile.

"I also better get going…" Chris said. "I'll be in the attic…" with that he orbed out, as well.

Piper turned back to her guest.

"So, what would you like to talk about?"

"It's …" it seemed to be a hard topic for her but after taking a deep breath she continued more steadily. "I've felt something, I suspect that something is going to happen."

"What?"

She shrugged helplessly.

"I'm not even sure if it's bad… it's so strange…"

Piper couldn't tell that she knew Rose that well but she's never seen her so uneasy. Since Cole was dead Rose has visited them a few times and twice she talked about her visions. Both times she was right, but both times she talked about facts and told in details what would happen.

"I don't really understand what you mean."

"I don't understand it either. I've dreamt with Cole a lot of times recently" she told then and Piper was surprised by this change of topic.

"And?"

"And I always felt as if he had wanted to tell me something… but it was very fuzzy and I couldn't understand."

"But Cole is dead."

"Yes, I know" Piper regretted that she said it so flatly because she could see the pain on Rose's face. "I know but still… I still feel the connection with him and my dreams are always rather symbolic and not very straightforward."

"But you don't think that we are in immediate danger?"

"No. About that I'm absolutely sure. Actually, I don't think that you are in danger at all… Probably… I shouldn't have come at all. I just made you nervous."

"No, you didn't make me nervous. And you are always welcomed here, I told you."

Rose smiled slightly.

"Your sister has a different opinion."

"She's a super-witch" Piper smiled. "It's hard for her to understand that the world is not just black and white. It was hard for me, as well."

"But you changed a lot."

"Yes. I've experienced many times that the line between good and evil is quite narrow sometimes."

And indeed she did change. She had to admit that. More than five years have gone by since the Power of Three was born and from an idealist girl she became a hard, sometimes even sarcastic woman.

For example four years ago she couldn't have imagined to chat with a half-demon at her kitchen table. But she liked Rose and she saw what the other woman would have never admitted – maybe didn't even realized it! – that Rose was very lonely, especially since Cole was gone.

"I better get going now" Rose said suddenly and Piper realized that the silence grew unusually long.

"No! Tell me what is this all about. I really want to help if I can" Piper said quickly.

"All right… but it's a little bit complicated" she sighed. "I really felt something coming but as I told, I don't think it's dangerous.

She closed her eyes for a second and Piper thought that she's never seen somebody so tired.

To be honest I think, I came because I…" she hesitated and the blurted it out in one breath. "I miss Cole very much. I've dreamt of him and I woke up crying. I haven't cried for thirty years or so. And yesterday morning I simply couldn't stop! No wonder I was kicked out of the Underworld!"

She seemed really desperate now and Piper didn't know what to say to this.

"Would you like rather be there?"

"Not at all… or I don't know… I don't know anything anymore. I knew Cole would die and I still can't cope with it…"

"Wait! What do you mean you knew he would die?"

"You know, a long time ago I decided that whatever happens I wouldn't change things… I wouldn't intervene in destiny's roads. It's absolutely useless anyway. But then… I had this vision about Cole… it happened years ago… I saw him being vanquished and I saw a woman as well. When Cole told me about Phoebe I knew she was the woman from my vision. Then everything went quite okay and I thought that maybe… my vision was not correct after all. But it was."

Piper found this quite hard to understand but nodded anyway.

"Then the Source possessed Cole and I realized that everything I foresaw would indeed happen. And I intervened… but this didn't change the fact that Cole had to die. And I also knew that he would die because of Phoebe… in one way or another."

Piper found this idea quite disturbing and Rose must have felt this in some way because she continued immediately.

"I didn't say this to cause guilty feelings! Quite the opposite, actually! It was much better this way! He had to die, this was his destiny, but this way he saved you… he saved Wyatt and you will keep him in your heart…"

Her eyes were glistening suspiciously.

"I can't say that I totally understand you, but you can be sure I'm grateful to him and I'm happy that I got to know him."

"Thank you" Rose said quietly and turned away for a second. When she turned back the tears were gone. "It might sound stupid but I feel better…"

"It's not stupid. Grieving is human."

"Sure" she stood up. "I'll go now. I don't want to disturb any longer."

"You don't have to… I've just wanted to go for a walk with Wyatt, you could come with us. Wyatt really likes you, you know."

"No, thanks. Maybe next time…" but she smiled. "I'm not in top-form right now."

"Okay" then something occurred to her. "How would you want to go home? And how did you come?"

Rose – although she was a half-demon, just like Cole had been -didn't possess the ability to shimmer. Once she told it was because she was blind but didn't explain it further.

"Oh… you could say I took a demonic taxi to Los Angeles. From there I came with the bus. I'll go back the same way."

Piper just now realized that Rose must have been really desperate if she took such a long ride to come here.

"You don't have to! I'll ask Chris to orb you home!"

"It's really not important…"

But Piper was already shouting.

"Chris!"

The blue lights appeared immediately.

"Yes?"

"Could you please orb Rose back home?"

"Oh… of course…"

Piper could have sworn that Chris expected something else entirely.

"Thanks for everything" the half-demon said again and then they were gone.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Next afternoon – after vanquishing at least a dozen vixar-demons, because Chris simply didn't quit on it – Piper was walking on a quiet street in their area pushing Wyatt's pram in front of her. The small boy was smiling happily at her mother who was making faces to entertain the baby.

"Isn't it good to be out for a few hours?" she asked. "There's nobody to trust and nobody is harassing mommy to vanquish ugly demons! What do you think about going to the playground?"

Wyatt laughed loudly … and the next moment orbed out of the pram…

Piper stopped with a jerk and looked in every direction frantically. She didn't have to search long... the street was practically empty, but on the porch of a nearby ratty house sat a figure. Even from this distance Piper could make out that he was a tramp and now he held a baby in his arms.

What the hell was Wyatt thinking?

Piper ran there. The man stood up, meanwhile and Piper could see that he was quite tall and was indeed a tramp. His clothes were almost in rags and had long, dark hair that covered his face as he was watching the baby, who miraculously appeared in his lap. Then he slowly gave the young boy over to his mother. Piper grasped Wyatt and held him close and just then looked she up into the man's face.

She looked into familiar blue eyes and she gasped. But then the man turned and without a word rushed away.

Piper felt her mind whirling. This couldn't be… she must be mistaken! Cole was dead, and this man was just some homeless guy who resembled him… After all, I could hardly see anything from his face! With the long hair and the beard it was hard to tell how the man looked like and he was also quite filthy…

But the eyes!

"Wait!" Piper cried out in the same moment as the man disappeared at the corner. Somehow it didn't surprise Piper that he did not stop.

Piper hurried after him and could see as he disappeared in one of the old tunnels of the city. She knew of course that a lot of homeless people lived in there.

She looked at the tunnel then at Wyatt. No, this wasn't a place to go to with a baby! And maybe she was wrong: she saw that man only for a second and she was also scared for Wyatt.

She walked back to the pram and put the baby back in it. She just then realized that her hands were trembling. But why did Wyatt orb to him?

"We better go home again mister! And don't do this ever again to me, please…" she said quietly. "But I think after I put you down I will have to come back and find out the truth…"

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx