Disclaimer: I don't own charmed!

A/n: really bad writers block ( which probably is reflected in the quality of this chapter) – really annoying as I have had this story planned out for ages.

Chapter 14: Brown Is the Colour of My True Love's Hair

By the time Phoebe arrived home, Paige and Prue had managed to move Cole up stairs and lay him down on Phoebe's bed. Stripping him of his blood soaked clothes; they found that he was covered from head to toe with hundreds of 2 inch long gashes, all of which were weeping blood. Cole himself, weak from the blood loss was lapsing in and out of consciousness.

"Why the hell didn't you heal him?" Phoebe demanded as she marched up the stairs

"Don't you think I didn't try?" Paige replied as she ran to keep up "nothing happened"

"That's impossible"

"Quite clearly it isn't"

"Oh my god, Cole!" Phoebe cried as she took in the sight of her ex husband, motionless on the bed, Prue, standing over him a bloody rag in her hand, from her attempts to stem the bleeding.

"Hi" the half demon slowly turned his head toward her.

"What happened to you?"

"Jartum demon…lots..of…attacked…couldn't ..escape"

"Have you looked in the book of Shadows?" Phoebe turned to her sisters.

"No" They replied

"what?"

"seeing as I was orbing to get you, and Prue was trying to stop him bleeding to death, when do you suggest we have the time to look?"

"well, you've got the time now" Phoebe snapped. "give me that" she gestured to Prue's cloth, "You two go look, I'll take over from.."

"Daddy!" Ben appeared as if from nowhere, happy to find that his father was back, but confused as to why he was in bed in the middle of the day.

"Ben go down stairs please" Phoebe commanded.

"But.."

"I said now Ben!"

"Do what mommy says" it took all of Coles energy to string the sentence together, but the last thing he wanted was for his son to see him like this.

"C'mere I'll take you" Prue grabbed his hand and lead him out, Paige following them to find the book of shadows.

XXX

Leo, his work in elderland having been finished for the day, orbed down to earth, sensing for the location of his family. He found them at the mannor, his wife and eldest son in the kitchen, having returned home immediately upon hearing the news about Cole. Bags of food were on the centre island as the two unpacked in tandem Chris listening patiently as his mother barked orders at him.

"those biscuits are stored on the top shelf a little more to the left"

"yeah mom I was just about to move them over"

"well I was just reminding you"

"but I hadn't forgotton"

"so now you doubly won't forget"

"yes, but I also…"

"Hey , how are two of my favourite people?" Leo decided it was time to announce his presence before an argument could brew.

"Fine" Chris snapped.

"as well as can be expected" Piper muttered

"huh?"

"well, given that there is a demon bleeding to death upstairs, acting like a beacon for millions of other demons to come and attack us all at any minute…so as it goes yeah, life is just peachy"

"jeez, mom, firstly give it a break, Cole isn't Baltheazor anymore, and secondly, what is your problem? Demons drop by unannounced all the time…"

"I will have less of your lip young man, and don't you tell me.."

"Piper" Leo cut her off, "why don't you go upstairs and help Prue and Paige ID the demon, Chris and I can look after this"

"Fine"

"what's going on here?" Leo asked once his wife was safely out of earshot.

"well, apparently Cole shimmered in here and then.."

"No, not with that , with you and your mother"

"Like you don't know!"

"no, I don't "

"seriously Dad, I don't know what has gotten into her lately. She's permanently jumpy, a car backed fired a couple of weeks ago and she hit the deck, she gets into a panic at the mere thought of a demon attack, and has a near irrational desire to prevent anyone with a blemished record, from a mortal with a parking fine to a demonic mass murder from coming into contact with us. It's as if she has lost the plot..has she been acting strangely around you?"

If by refusing to sleep with me, you mean strange..Leo thought. "now you come to mention it, she has been a little off with me.."

"I think you need to have a word with her, she won't talk to me about it"

"Perhaps I will when the time is right"

"good"

"so how about we do some more work on that extension?"

XXX

"So?" Prue asked her youngest sister as she flipped through the pages of the book of shadows.

"so what?" Paige asked, knowing exactly where this was headed.

"when are you going to tell Kyle?"

"tell Kyle about what?"

"Paige!"

"Okay, okay, see this is exactly why I didn't want to tell anyone, I couldn't cope with the pressure"

"I'm not pressuring you! I just asked when you were going to tell him that you're pregnant.

"Sush! Keep it down will you!"

"Paige seriously you are paranoid"

"who's paranoid?" Piper entered the attic.

"Prue" Paige replied quickly " that someone may have seen her when she took the rubbish bins out the other morning"

"don't be ridiculous" Piper dismissed her with a wave of the hand. "now, where have we got with this demon"

"here" Prue turned the book of Shadows round to Piper could read it "The Jartum demon, claws at his victims, injecting them with poison with each scratch. Wounds cannot be healed by whitelighters, the only cure is to mix a lotion, which must be applied every 30 minutes until the cuts have fused together again. Ingredients include.."

"wolfsbane, silverknuckle, dandy lion, dil weed" Piper interrupted to read aloud.

"I was just about to say that" Prue muttered through gritted teeth.

"Okay, Paige get chopping and I'll heat up the potion pot." Piper took charge again.

Prue through her hands up in the air in frustration and rolled her eyes at Paige, who merely shrugged her shoulders and turned to get the knife and chopping board.

"..and I'll just make like I'm invisible shall i?" Prue hissed.

"You say something?" Piper asked her older sister.

"nothing" Prue collapsed back onto aunt Peals coach. "nothing at all".

XXX

Now that Phoebe had come out of the shock of seeing Cole and had processed what was going on, she felt herself growing angry.

"You know Cole, I don't understand how you could be so bloody selfish" She dabbed violently at the scratches down his arm, wishing ferverantly that the bleeding would stop.

Cole, his strength still waning, could do nothing more than raise an eyebrow in quizical expression.

"I mean" Phoebe continued, relieved that he couldn't answer he back for once. "what were you thinking, going off on this crazy demon hunt…oh but then I forgot..you weren't thinking were you? Or if you were, you weren't thinking about your son, and how he could lose his father "tears began to rise in her eyes, blurring her vision slightly, yet still she continued " how upsetting that would be for him, how difficult that would be…or me….you didn't stop and think about how it would be for me…to think how I could live with out you…of course not" she paused to wipe some of the tears from her nose " as usual, you only think of yourself."

"Phoebe" If only she knew how difficult it was for him to form the words "tell …Ben…that…I ….love ..him ..and..and.."

"No I won't" She shouted, loud enough so that if he had the strength he would have jumped. " I will not tell him, because you will tell him yourself, because you Cole Turner, will not die on us, understand it, you will not be so self centered as to give up the fight and go into the afterlife. You will stay here and fight god dammit."

"Tell" Cole was usuing every last ounce of strength he possed, but he had to get the words out. " tell Ben..I ..love him….and.. you…always …have.." were the last words he uttered before the darkness overtook him.

XXX

TBC