Chapter Six;

Dinner at the Halliwell's progressed as it normally would have been. Everyone ate, they were merry, and not one person mentioned that the boys had destroyed the sunroom; at least not yet. Cole sensed that something was wrong between his sons, but he couldn't put his thumb on it. He had noted Temperance's cool indifference to the boys, which made him wonder if something had happened to make her angry with them. Making a mental note to talk to them later, Cole turned back to the conversation Leo was trying to have with him.

"How is everything at the office?" Leo asked, smiling. Cole smiled back.

"As well as can be. The case isn't hard. It's pretty general stuff. I'm not prosecuting this one; a colleague offered to do it for me," Cole replied.

"Sounds like you've got the easy way out on this case, sweetie," Phoebe piped in. Cole turned to her with a loving smile.

"I do, and that means more time with you," he told her with a wide smile.

Temperance wanted to throw food at the two of them. They made her sick with the loving looks and the sensual gestures. "There is a bedroom for the oggily eyes, you two," Paige told them with a smirk, which made Temperance choke on her wine. Piper and Phoebe looked at her curiously.

"Sorry, that comment just took me off guard as funny," Temperance explained with a weak smile. "I seem to recall my mother telling me that once before when I was a young girl. Gods, that was at least a century ago."

"Be careful, you might give away your true age," Cole teased. "What are you, hundred and fifty?" Temperance quirked her delicately arched brows at him.

"Only I know the answer to that, and it will go with me until I am vanquished or I decide to tell someone," she told him with a matter-of-fact smile. "And besides, Cole Turner, you're the one who is one hundred and fifty, not I."

"Cole, does that mean that Apollo and I are going to live forever too?" Cre asked, looking directly at his father from across the table. Cole looked at his son, and then looked at Temperance. She gave him a look of dread that he read like a book. Both boys had been fighting over who was stronger again.

"This is a topic best discussed at home, Cretien, not here, in front of our friends," he told him. "Is that understood?" Cre's eye flashed with hurt, but he let the subject go.

The rest of dinner went well. Leo and Cole told them stories of their past, some of them good, some bad, but all the same. Temperance herself even had a few stories to share.

"Do you remember much about your father?" Paige looked at Temperance. Temperance nodded her head.

"It's been over a century, and I can still remember what it felt like to be held in his arms as a little girl," her eyes became misty as she remembered her father. "I was born in Swansea, while my father was visiting my grandmamma after grandpapa died, but, because my mother was a demon, we moved when the Source moved. Papa never knew. He just did what mama wanted."

"So, what happened?" Phoebe asked eager to know what had happened when her friend had reached American soil.

"It was sometime before the Civil War. At least ten years before, I think papa said. Mama was actively involved in trying to destroy the North. You've all heard of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. They were there. They were the ones behind the Civil War. I know that now," Temperance said bitterly. "Papa never knew that mama was involved in anything demonic. She told him that she was out with friends from the South. He thought her the spy, and it destroyed him in the end. The Source had him killed, but it was ruled a civilian casualty of war. Anyways. I got a mare, my first horse ever. I named her Dusksinger. We did everything together. Until she stepped into a pothole and broke her leg. Grady, the plantation overseer; he shot her between the eyes point blank. I cried for days. Papa sat in the same chair for days, my head on his knee, stroking my hair until I felt that I could go on."

"Have you ever been able to forgive your mother for betraying your father?" Paige asked innocently.

"I don't think that it's a matter of hating her, Paige. After all, she did give birth to me and my brother, not matter how demonic we are. I'm glad that I am alive, for however long I stay that way. I resent her. I hate that she used my father. I have no doubt that she loved him, but she used him as a device to get what she wanted," Temperance sighed. "Nemesis, a demon of fortune, twin sister to the Source himself."

"Wait a minute," Leo looked at her. "Nemesis was a powerful demon, second only to the Source himself. She was the Source's twin sister. You're her daughter?"

"Yes, Leo," Temperance replied.

"He wants you to be his Queen," Piper questioned. "That's just gross."

"He doesn't care about loyalty or family ties, Piper," Cole explained. "He wants one of the boys to become the next Source." He fully understood what was going on now. He understood why Temperance was running.

"Let's not talk about that now," Temperance pleaded. "This is a time for happy thoughts and happy dreams, not my demonic problems."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Paige smiled. "I want to hear more about your past. What have you been doing for the last seventy-five years?"

"Mostly on the run from Dare and the Source. I've been all over the coast of California," Temperance smiled. "Should've seen it in the twenties. Prohibition and speakeasies. It was great fun. I think I even met your ancestors."

"Really?" Phoebe asked. "Why didn't you know about Anton then?"

"I didn't know about him, Phoebs, that was after I met them. I don't have the gift of premonition like you do," Temperance answered back. "Had I know, I would have warned them. It feels awkward talking about this with you."

"Mom, did you ever meet anyone famous?" Apollo asked. "The former slayer perhaps? Angelus?" Temperance stared at her son.

"I met the infamous Al Capone, but that's about as famous as I get. No former slayer, but I have met Angelus. Apollo, you and Cre both met Angelus too."

"Angelus?" Cole quirked his eyebrow. "The infamous vampiric alter ego of Angel in LA?"

"The one and only," Temperance replied. "The fiend. Angel isn't so bad, a little broody, but he's not bad."

"And you lived to tell the tale?" Leo looked at Temperance. "You're one strong half-demon. Few have gone against Angelus and lived."

"Few have gone up against me and lived," Temperance added. "Angel and I are well matched. Both of us have a monster that we would love to get rid of, but we know that we can't because it would tip the scales in favor of evil."

"And that is something we need to avoid," Leo stated as Cole shook his head in agreement.

"Tipping the scales would be bad, right?" Cre asked. Temperance rolled her eyes and sighed.

"It could possibly kill us all, sweetie," Phoebe told the boy.

"Okay, tipping scales bad. Got it," Cre replied sarcastically.
Temperance and Cole were sitting on the couch in the penthouse later that night, drinking wine. Temperance swirled her wine, caught a whiff of it's aroma before she took a sip and made a face. "This tastes disgusting, Cole," she teased. Cole gave her a wine induced smile.

"All the more reason to drink it then," he slurred. Temperance giggled as Cole sobered up. "Can't even get drunk. We're too strong for that."

"It's that damned demonic constitution. Screws us every time," Temperance set her wine glass down on the coffee table with the soft clink of glass hitting glass. "Dinner went well, don't you think?"

"All except for the cool indifference I sensed between you and the twins. What happened?" Cole cast a sideways glance in Temperance's direction. She wore a simple black halter top dress and a small obsidian cross around her neck. A protection amulet, Cole thought to himself.

"Your boys are having a hard time of training again. Cre seems to be stronger than Apollo. I've never heard of something like this. Apollo is extremely jealous," Temperance told Cole. "They're grounded from everything until I say otherwise. They destroyed the sunroom at the manor. Apollo isn't to shimmer into your office while you are at work, and if he does, I'll strip him of his shimmering ability until I deem fit. Cre isn't to shimmer Apollo anywhere or I'll do the same thing to him."

"That's a bit harsh," Cole commented. "Couldn't think of something better?"

"Cole, they destroyed the furnishings in the sunroom; they broke the windows in the sunroom. Everything. It's going to cost Piper a small fortune to replace it all," Temperance replied in exasperation. "Unless…" Cole smiled, knowing exactly where she was going with her tirade.

"You're going to release them of grounding if they pay for the damages that they have inflicted on Piper and Leo," Cole said with a smile. "I think that it's fitting. They'll need to shimmer for the next bout of training anyways."

"On the first bit, yes, I am going to make them repay Piper, or at least work of their debt to her, but they aren't released from punishment," Temperance sighed. "On the other, why are we going to train them to shimmer? It's not like they don't know how. They've been doing it since they were two."

"I know," Cole replied. "Apollo used to shimmer to me in the Underworld. At first I thought that my mentor when I was in the demonic academy was missing a demonic child. Then I began to wonder why a child would shimmer to me, unless our union had produced children." Cole nursed the wine glass in his large hands. "I grew fond of that little boy. When did you tell them about me?"

Temperance smiled at Cole. "They've known since they were born. I wasn't going to deny them the right to know you as their father, Cole, no matter how much I hated you at the time. We've both made mistakes, but the boys shouldn't have to pay for them."

"I agree," Cole smiled back at Temperance. "Where does that leave us now?"

Temperance stared at Cole, confused. "What do you mean, Cole? We're just fine the way we are."

"Can we keep our family together? I don't want them to think of us in relationships," Cole told her. Temperance gave Cole a smile.

"Like Piper and Leo. You don't want the boys to end up like we did." Cole nodded. "Don't worry. They see you and Phoebe all the time. They'll see met and someone special eventually. In fact, I think our Cre already has. Dawn Summers, Buffy's younger sister. Cre is completely crushing on the poor girl. I see a marriage between them in the future."

"Still pinning away for Mr. Right, are you?" Cole teased as he sat back against the couch. Temperance glanced at him as she leaned forward and picked up her wine glass. Taking a sip of wine, she sighed and looked across the room to the open balcony doors.

"I'm lonely. Running from Dare and the Source hasn't given me much time to have a life, let alone a love life. I fancied myself in love with Spike at one time," Temperance smiled at the thought of her and Spike together. "That union would never produce children. He was too much in love with Buffy to care about me. I broke it off, knowing that I was the used party in that relationship."

"Sounds like a winner to me," Cole teased. "A vampire, huh? Get your kinks where you can?"

"Cole, I would settle for Mr. Anything at the moment. A girl gets lonely," she whispered softly. "And, the only one I wanted, he up and left me without so much as an explanation as to why."

Cole watched as Temperance set her glass down on the table, got up and walked away from him, her hips swaying gently as she walked down the hallway to her rooms. He thought about what she'd told him, and wondered who she'd been talking about.