A/N: Sorry if this seems a little slow/ one dimensional, all the characters will get their fare share of the lime light soon!

Chapter 3: Trouble and Strife

"You,..I.., it's a trick" Phoebe babbled, not quite believing what she had just seen.

"you think I wouldn't recognise an anagram of my own name? An anagram I invented no less"

"You invented..."

"Well how else am I supposed to live in the mortal world, when everyone else in San Francisco believes that Cole Turner is dead or missing at the very least, corrupted, a bit weird.. …"

"You're living in San Francisco?…" Phoebe's anger abated slightly as her natural curiosity took over.

Dam him and his verbal diarrhoea, he wasn't supposed to have revealed that much. "Um..Yes" he was almost hesitant.

"Then how did you..?"

"..I rejoin the world of the living? See now that's a very interesting story, one that I would really love to tell, alas, I " Cole paused, his eyes darted round the room, Phoebe moved to speak, but he held his hand up as if to call for silence. " I can sense him.." he whispered.

"Who?"

"The demon who did this, I can sense him near, stay here" He instructed "and don't let him out of your sight"

"Cole, wait, you…" Phoebe protested, but it was too late, he had already shimmered out.

XXX

Down town, Paige was not having a good day. The list of things going wrong was rapidly heading toward double figures and it wasn't even 11 am. First off had been the arrival of the stupid invitation to her stupid high school reunion. Secondly she had been late 5 minutes late dropping Jo off at her Grandparents retirement home, which had not only earned her a lecture on the importance of punctuality, making her feel like a naughty school girl, but she had also realised too late that low slung hipster jeans, stiletto healed boots and a satin camisole was not deemed, appropriate responsible parent clothing, a fact that was reinforced by the grandmother implying that she looked like a tramp. Finally (for the moment at least) the dentist had told her she needed x-rays and a filling, so now she could not feel the left hand side of her mouth, and was consequently holding a tissue up to her face to mop up the excess drool.

Rummaging in her bag for a new tissue as she power walked down the street, she felt her self collide into another person.

"I'm sorry" she muttered, looking up, to find her self face to face with none other than Glen.

"Paige!" he exclaimed, they both rushed forward as if to hug, then at the same time seemed to remember what happened the last time that they meet and ended up giving each other an awkward pat on the back.

"Good to see you!"

"And you! but wait shouldn't you be half way up a hill in outer Mongolia or something?"

"Been there, climbed that, settled back into a regular ish kind of life"

"Right, Right, so how's Jessica?"

"She's, uh, good" He replied, a distinct lack of enthusiasm in his voice. "How are you? Still living over on Prescott Street?"

"I'm fine, yep, still with the Sisters, some pretty crazy changes since we last met, hey do you want to go for a coffee and catch up?"

"I can't, I've got to go meet my dad, and then drive back to Tahoe, that's where I'm based now"

"Oh" she couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

"But I'll be back for this stupid reunion thing in a couple of weeks though, you going?"

"Sure, wouldn't miss it for the world!"

"Great, I'll see you then"

"Cool, see you then.."

Paige watched has he strolled down the street and was gradually swallowed up by the crowd,… perhaps things were looking up….

XXXX

Phoebe sat at her laptop, she had written precisely 3 words in the past 45 minutes since Cole had shimmered out. She glanced over at the sofa, where she had moved the little boy who was still fast asleep. He was definitely his father's son, they shared the same jaw line, the same dark hair. But who was his mother? Which woman had managed to capture Cole's heart?

The front door flew open and voices could be heard coming from the hall way.

"Mom, seriously you've taken to driving like an old woman" Chris called as he made his way toward the kitchen, laden down with shopping bags. "You should of seen her" Chris turned to Phoebe who had now entered the room "she was.." His voice trailed off, seeing the look in his aunt's eye. "What?"

"You" she seethed, "why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" That your ass looks big in that skirt, that you get a promotion at work soon, that I forgot to tape desperate housewives for you when I said I would…

"Who he really was!" She shouted, "Why on earth didn't you warn me?"

"Again, who are you talking about? There are like millions of guys in San Francisco"

"Robert Clune" Phoebe screeched "or should I say Cole Turner!"

"Oh" oops, he really didn't think she would react that badly.

"Yes, 'oh' did it just slip your mind to mention who he really was?"

"I didn't think you would be too receptive to the idea if I told you the whole truth..besides you're not supposed to meet him yet, it's too soon"

"Gee, well I'm sorry I screwed up the timeline, and yes, you're dam right I wouldn't have been too receptive, after everything he put me through..i can't believe you didn't tell me"

"It's better to err on the side of caution….." Piper, pushing the boys finally made it to the kitchen. "Hey" she called upon hearing the raised voices, and noticing Phoebe and Chris in supposed battle stance. "If any one is going to shout at one of my children it's going to be me, now what gives?"

Ordinarily Chris would have taken the time to point out that he was actually a legal adult, therefore couldn't really be justified as being grouped together with Wyatt and Baby him in the term 'my children', but right now he needed all the help he could get as he had never seen aunt Phoebe look that pissed before. Well, apart from the time he, Wyatt and their cousin Rosie had decided to play Cowboys and Indians and had used Phoebe's best Ruby and Millie make-up as native American war paint..yeah she had been really pissed that day.

"I met Robert Clune" Phoebe explained.

"And? Surely you should be happy about that"

"Oh I would have been, if it weren't for the fact that Robert Clune is actually Cole, something that your son, neglected to tell me"

"Wait a minute, are you saying that Cole Turner was here, in this house?"

"Yes, he.."

"You invited a demon into our house? What's the matter with you Phoebe? We fight evil everyday, demons drop by unexpectedly, Danger is a constant factor in our lives and you want to add to that by inviting a known demon into our home?"

"I didn't invite him, he just shimmered in.."

Piper wasn't listening, as she had just caught sight of the empty potion viles and the pot waiting by the sink ready to be washed up.

"What's all this?" she continued " have you been mixing potions with Cole? Are you out of your mind?"

"If you would just stop ranting and let me explain, its not how it seems.."

"Really? You could have fooled me,"

"He needed our help"

"Help? My ass did he, just another ploy no doubt.."

"It was for his son"

"His son?" This momentarily silenced Piper, but not for long. "what son?"

"that son" Phoebe pointed toward the sun room, Piper and Chris both craned their necks to see the little boy, still fast asleep.

"Did you know anything about a son" Piper turned to Chris.

"Nope" He shrugged, "you just had the 3 girls in my future"

"Right.well, forgetting about that how did he need your help"

"He needed the blood of a charmed one to add to the antidote for his son, he got attacked by the Kyriad Demon"

"Upper or lower level?"

"what?"

"The Kyriad demon, upper or lower level?"

"I don't know" Phoebe's voice was barely a whisper.

"You gave your blood to Cole to help with some potion, without even Id-ing the demon" Piper exploded "Are you insane or just stupid?"

"Mom, calm down" Chris tried to jump in.

"No, I will not calm down, Phoebe just put all our lives in danger with her idiocy"

"I was going to check, but there wasn't time..and Cole seemed really genuine, I believed him"

"Every time Phoebe, Every bloody time" Piper spun on her heal.

"Where are you going?"

"To the book of shadows! To do what you should have done in the first place"

"Mom..i really think.." Chris began

"You take your brothers to magic school" Piper ordered, ignoring his attempt to reason with her " Who knows what kind of danger Phoebe has just exposed us all to"

Alone in the kitchen once again, Phoebe sighed. Piper had just made her feel like a naughty school girl for no reason. She didn't seem to understand what Phoebe had been telling her, If Piper could if seen Cole, surely she too would have noticed the sincerity in his eyes. She crept into the sunroom to check on the boy again. Still asleep.

A swooshing noise came from behind her, she turned to see Cole, in even more disarray than before, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Did you catch him?" she asked.

"yeah, but he's part of a tribe, the others will probably come after me too"

A thunder of foot steps up above indicated that Piper was on her way back from the attic.

"Go!" Phoebe hissed. "If Piper gets back down here and sees you she will blow your ass up quicker than you can say 'the source of all evil'"

"Thank you!" Cole actually sounded genuine, he scooped the boy up, hugging him close to his chest, he took one last long look at Phoebe before they both shimmered out.

Almost instantly Piper came back down the stairs.

"Well?" Phoebe asked, "did you look it up? Was it the Kyriad Demon?"

"I looked it up all right" The eldest Charmed one seemed kind of pale.

"and? It said it needed the blood of a charmed one?"

"Sort of"

"What do you mean sort of?"

"Well in this instance, theoretically yes, it was the blood of a charmed one that was needed, in other circumstances, it wouldn't be …"

"I've had enough of anagrams and riddles for one day! A little clarity, a little clarity"

"It says" Piper took a deep breath. "The antidote requires the blood of the child's mother……"

XXX