A/N: Sorry it's taken so long for me to update. I've been really busy lately and haven't had time to do any writing.

Chapter 3

Leo watched as his wife showed the last of the guests out. He was worried about his wife. When Prue died, Piper had reacted badly, but she had reacted. When Phoebe died a week ago, Piper had cried. But since then she had shut down completely, almost acting on auto pilot.

It had been a lovely service. Held at the same funeral parlour that Prue's had been held at, it was a Wiccan service, and had been extremely fitting of Phoebe. And, unlike Prue's funeral, there was no demonic interference. A lot of people had come to pay their respects, including Daryl and his wife who hadn't spoken to them since he had nearly been executed as a result of the cleaners' intervention a few months ago. Phoebe's ex-boyfriend, Jason Dean had also come to the funeral.

Now there was just Piper, Paige, Piper's father, Victor, Wyatt and Chris and himself. Paige had been visibly upset throughout the day and was now sitting quietly on the couch in the living room, exhausted and all cried out for the time being. Victor was also struggling. He had now had to bury two of his children, an excruciating experience for any parent. Leo had found himself in the position of being the strong one for everyone.

He went over to Piper who had moved to stand in the living room, and embraced her quietly. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Piper replied emotionlessly.

"You know, it's okay to be upset Piper," Leo told her.

"I told you, I'm fine," Piper insisted, turning away from Leo and toward her father who was sitting in one of the arm chairs. "How are you, Dad?" she asked, going over to sit on the arm of the chair.

Victor looked up at his only surviving daughter. "I still can't get my head around the fact that she's gone. I've outlived two of my children. That's not how it's supposed to be," he replied.

Piper stoically remained silent; she put her arm around his shoulders and rested her cheek on top of his head.

Paige, who was watching the scene quietly, found it all so sad. She had only met her sisters 3 years ago but felt like she had known them for ever. She stood up, making the decision that she needed to get out of the room for a little bit.

She went to say that she was going upstairs to check on the boys when suddenly something happened. She looked at Leo who stood frozen by the living room entrance.

"Um…Piper? Did you just use your powers?" Paige asked, frowning.

"What?" Piper said, lifting her head, clearly not knowing what Paige was on about. Then she noticed that Leo was frozen. She looked down at her father and saw that he was frozen as well. Standing up she said "I didn't do that."

"Are you sure?" Paige queried.

"Yes, Paige I'm sure," Piper responded.

"I did that," a voice said from behind them.

They turned around to see the Angel of Destiny standing before them once more.

"You!" Piper exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"I believe we have something to discuss," the Angel said.

"And you picked today!" Piper exploded, finally showing some emotion. "We have only just buried our sister and you want to have a meeting!"

"I'm afraid time is really of the essence. And what I have to discuss is very, very important," the Angel replied, calmly.

"What is it?" Paige asked softly.

"We need to talk about your future. Your magical future," the Angel explained.

"I can't handle this!" Piper said, really exasperated.

"You'll want to hear what I have to say Piper," the Angel insisted.

"Piper, maybe we should hear him out. It can't hurt," Paige suggested.

Piper looked at her sole remaining sister. She then closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Fine," she replied, before looking at the Angel of Destiny. "But make it quick."

"Right," the Angel started. "As you know Cole has somehow come back from the dead, which resulted in the death of your sister and the power of three."

"Tell us something we don't know," Piper retorted.

"Well, that wasn't supposed to happen. It was Cole's destiny to die when he tried to Alter time, and to stay dead. He has somehow managed to change his destiny thought we don't know how," the Angel explained. "Because of this destiny needs to catch up."

"And what has that got to do with us?" Paige asked. "Like you said the Power of three is gone, there's nothing we can do about it."

"That's not exactly true. I am here to offer you a choice. Because of Cole and his actions, your destinies have changed. They are a blank script if you like. And because of all the good you've done, we are giving you the chance to choose your own destiny. A rare privilege in deed." The Angel of Destiny told them.

"What choice?" Paige asked.

"You have two choices. The first is this. You can give up your charmed lives to return to normal lives. The good thing being that you will no longer have to worry about battling demons, you'd fall off the radar. However in order to do this you would have to give up all ties to magic. You would be stripped of your powers, as would Leo and your sons. You, Paige, would have to give up the Magic School. And the Book of Shadows would disappear, until a new generation."

"Right now that doesn't sound so bad," Piper said distantly.

"You said we had two choices. What was the second choice?" Paige asked, not sure how to feel.

"Your second choice is you can have your sister back. This would enable you to restore the power of three. Wyatt, Chris and Leo would be able to keep their magical lives and Paige; you would be able to keep the magic school. However, this would mean that you would have to continue to deal with demons attacking you, something that is especially significant now as you will be facing the biggest threat of your magical lives. The return of Cole."

"Oh my God! Is this for real?" Paige said completely stunned by the Angel of Destiny's offer.

"We can have her back?" Piper asked, equally shocked. "Wait, how can that be? Won't that expose magic?"

"History will be altered, so no one will know she had died. It will be as if it didn't happen. Only yourselves, Leo and your father will know that she has returned from the dead," the Angel replied. "I don't expect an answer right now. You have a lot to think about. I will give you some time to think on what you want to do. However, don't take too long. Remember whichever way you decide, time is of the essence with the return of Cole."

And with that the Angel of Destiny disappeared as mysteriously as he arrived, leaving both Paige and Piper completely stunned.