Disclaimer:

None of these characters are mine. I offer any apologies to Joss Whedon (BtVS/Angel) and Aaron Spelling (Charmed) for any misuse which is purely unintentional.

Summary:

AU – Phoebe finds that Cole is back ... again, but he's not alone – he has a new witch in his life.

Author's Note:

Chapter One finds us five years in the future. It is now 2009. Piper and Leo's children are: Wyatt, 6, Chris, 5, and little Melinda is 2. Cole and Willow are married and have two children of their own, Ben, 4, and little Buffy, 18 months. Giles lives with the Turners and is considered the children's grandfather.

Chapter One – He Always Comes Back

Bay City Mirror, May 2009

Phoebe nervously chewed her bottom lip as she worked on her copy for the next day's column. She was a little late and Elise was starting to act more and more demonic with every minute that passed. Phoebe laughed to herself as she thought about her volatile editor. That woman could probably intimidate the Source of All Evil himself (if there was one). She looked up as she heard a knock on her door. It was Jason Dean, the publisher of the Mirror and one of her ex-boyfriends.

"Hi, Jason, c'mon in." She beckoned him in with her left hand, smiling in welcome. "What brings you in?"

Jason beamed broadly, Phoebe was still the most luscious female he'd ever seen. "What? I need an excuse?"

"Of course not. It just looks like you have something on your mind. What's up?"

"Uh, well, it's just that I thought you'd like to know in case it's a surprise. It' about your ex." He started nervously. He really wasn't sure how she'd react to news about her ex-husband. Cole Turner and Phoebe had had an extremely volatile divorce and he didn't want to be responsible for a major blow-up.

"Cole?" Phoebe stammered out nervously. She hadn't thought of him for a few years and wanted to keep it that way. "Why bring him up? He's dea... I mean, he's disappeared."

"Well, Phoebe, that's the thing. I just saw him at the courthouse. He's working for the United States Attorney's Office. Apparently, he's been living in LA for the last few years. But, his, um, his..." Once again, Jason hesitated.

"What do you mean he's back? He can't be back! AAARRGH!" Phoebe exploded, screaming hysterically and pulling at the ends of her short, cropped hair. "That miserable old demon, he can't do this to me!"

"Whoa there, Pheebs! I realize you guys have had a history, but demon? Isn't that going a bit far? After all, Cole's ma..." Jason started before Phoebe glared violently at him. He paled and backed out of the office carefully. People have been known to shoot the messenger. "Well, sorry, Phoebe. Just thought you'd like to know about Cole and all. See you later."

Phoebe violently shuddered and collapsed her face into her hands. No, no, no, she moaned to herself frantically. This cannot be happening. It's a bad dream, yes, that's got to be it. I'll wake up and everything will be normal again. Really, how many times do you have to kill a guy before he gets the hint. Hell, even the Source was easier to deal with. She moaned again and started to get up. Quietly, she thought about the chances she had to sneak out without Elise catching her. Suddenly, just as she grabbed her purse, she heard the strident tones of Elise.

"Done with your copy are you, missy?" Elise demanded, hand outstretched.

"Well," Phoebe started nervously. "You see, Elise, I have a ..."

"A family emergency, no doubt." Elise stated mockingly. "You seem to have a lot of those. Is anyone dead? Or hospitalized?"

"Well, no, it's nothing like that, but..."

"But nothing, missy, you stay finish your column or I'm looking for a new columnist. You're not irreplaceable, you know!"

Phoebe sighed, accepting defeat as she knew she would. She sat down to finish her column so she could give her sisters and Leo the news as soon as she got home. The dread filled her in as she looked up out the office door. He's going to show up, anytime, and what will I do when he does?

Halliwell Manor

The sirens were getting closer and closer. Piper and Paige stared out the living room window at a street completely full of police cars. Cars and vans and several unmarked sedans. They started nervously when they heard a loud rapping at their front door.

"Paige, take the children." Piper nervously pushed her two sons towards her younger sister. "I'll check it out."

"Piper, are you sure?" Paige asked, nervous fear evident in her voice. "I mean, what's going on?"

A second loud rapping came at the door, followed by a low baritone voice. "This is the Police. Open up!"

At the moment, large white blobs of light coalesced into the form of her husband and white lighter, Leo. He looked nervously and went to open his mouth. She put up a hand motioned him to stay still as she moved carefully to answer the door.

Piper opened the door a crack. There were two uniformed officers facing her, complete in Kevlar vests. The taller one showed a badge and smiled pleasantly at her. "We're sorry about this, ma'am. But we need to ask you and your family to stay in your house until further notice. We'd also like you to close the curtains and secure all windows and doors. And, please, stay away from the windows in the front of the house."

"Wh- what!" Piper spat out. "Are we in danger? I have young children in the house. Shouldn't we just evacuate if it's this dangerous?"

The younger officer, a young woman with short cropped red hair, smiled sheepishly at Piper. Putting her hand on Piper's arm, she soothed. "It's just precaution, ma'am. We don't expect any trouble. But, you know what they say in driver's ed - "expect the unexpected," right? Please, just go inside. If you like, I'll remain with you."

"No, no that's alright. I'll go back." She started to close the door when one of the officers stopped her.

"Please don't open the door until an officer comes to interview you."

Piper nodded nervously and closed the door. Her hand shook as she slid the deadbolt home. As she entered the living room, she saw Paige ushering her two young toddlers into the kitchen. Leo was closing all the curtains in the main room. He went to her and swept her into a big bear hug, kissing the top of her shaking head. "Don't worry, honey. It's just like one of those "Cops" shows on TV. Maybe you'll be lucky and David Caruso will question you."

She giggled nervously at this. She'd always liked David Caruso since his "NYPD Blue" days. Leo smiled and kissed her knuckles. "I'll go make sure everything is shut up tight. Why don't we have ice cream or something while we wait?"

She nodded nervously and headed towards the kitchen. She started taking fudge peanut butter ripple out of the freezer when she heard the first shots. Oh, why can't it be demons, she thought to herself. "It's crazy, isn't it Paige?" She quivered out at her sister who was organizing the children with some crayons and coloring books. "I can handle supernatural evil just fine, but give me garden variety human criminals and I collapse."

Paige reached out for Piper and smiled. "It'll all be alright, Piper. We've faced the worse, we can face this."

The three adults and the toddlers had been on an ice cream binge for an hour and a half when they heard the knock. Leo went to answer it. Opening the door, he had quite a shock. There was a tall Asian man there identifying himself as a federal agent, and introducing a tall, dark man with piercing blue eyes as a federal attorney. They walked in together to the kitchen. Leo looked at Paige and Piper who were pale with shock. "Well, Paige, I guess you're wrong – maybe it can get worse."

For there, strolling calmly into their kitchen, was someone they'd never thought they'd see again. Someone they'd vanquished twice – their ex-brother-in-law, Cole Turner.