Been a while, let's see if I remember how to do this! Lol.

Chapter 11

Cole watched as the three friends embraced. It made him a bit nervous with Liz so scantily clad but from what Liz mentioned, Alex had seen both her and Maria in far less and had one of two reactions, immediately turning around and declaring how much he didn't think it was right to see them in so little or indifference.

"Hope you don't mind me coming early." Alex hugged them back tightly.

"Of course not." Liz pulled back, "But on that subject, why are you early?"

Alex shrugged. "The last two gigs were rescheduled, apparently a little music group called One Direction had some openings."

"Lame. Don't they know your band is the next big thing…not those pretty boy singers?" Maria vehemently defended her friend's music.

"Exactly. Don't they know who we are? The Whit's are big, huge. We just played at a club opening…in a town's no one's heard of. Had a total of ten people cheering us on. That's double digits right there. Can't get those kind of numbers just anywhere." Alex replied back. His band was actually doing well, not One Direction well, but decent for a small band with little to no radio play.

Getting a good look at Liz, Alex smiled sheepishly. "Did I come at a bad time?"

Liz glanced down. "No. Just trying on some evening wear." She smiled and reached behind her. "Alex you remember Cole."

"Yea." Alex stated and held out his hand. Cole grasped his hand and firmly shook it.

"Good to see you again." Cole eased his hand from Alex's hand and touched the small of Liz's back.

"So are you two…out in the open now?" The dynamic between them seemed less hidden.

Cole raised an eyebrow. "Out in the open now?" Last time he visited he was still under the assumption that Alex didn't know about the relationship.

"Yea. Alex guessed that we were together a couple days into his last visit." Liz admitted.

Cole slowly nodded. "We're not completely out in the open but we're getting there." He reluctantly opened up a little.

Alex stared at him for a moment. He didn't speak, didn't give any indication to what he was thinking. Cole knew that Maria wasn't a fan of his and Liz's relationship, at least the secret part of it. He could only assume that Alex felt similarly.

"Ok." Alex sent Liz a look, Cole had no idea what it meant but Liz clearly did. The two had a silent conversation, a tilt of her head, he shut his eyes and rose his eyebrows, and she countered with an eyebrow raise of her own. Maria jumped in with an eye movement toward Cole; that he could tell what she was conveying.

"Sorry." Liz grimaced at Cole.

Cole smiled and shook his head. "It's a little scary that you three can do that but it's fine."

"Well, I better go pay for some of…what I was trying on." Quickly she whirled around and hightailed it back to the dressing room.

"While she's doing that, I'm going to pay for my stuff." Maria held up her little shopping basket before leaving Alex and Cole by themselves, in a women's lingerie shop. Yea, this isn't awkward at all.

They stood there for a couple minutes, not talking, occasionally glancing at one another and smiling nervously.

It was Alex who broke the silence. "Ok, although Liz may not appreciate this or want me to stick my nose in her business, it's my job. Liz and Maria aren't only my best friends, they are also my sisters. While I'm sure you can fry me where I stand without batting an eye, it's important you know this." He stated.

Cole nodded, prepared to get the classic big brother speech, however Alex didn't threaten him or tell him to watch his back. Instead he jumped into a speech that touched his darkened soul.

"Liz loves you. She probably already told you by now. I've never seen her this happy." He put his hands in his jean pockets. "She's dated a few guys, some she's loved and the rest she cared for but there's something about you that brings out something a little different in her, a peace I haven't seen in her for a while. Even with everything she is and everything she faces, she looks at peace, like nothing can hurt her."

Alex scanned the store, Liz and Maria were at the checkout stand. "One thing that I hope doesn't last too long though, is this whole secret relationship debacle. Liz hates secrets. For a girl who has to keep a lot of them, she's never liked secrets. It's killed her having to keep your relationship quiet. The reason why was obvious but she still hated it. My advice to you, tell Phoebe soon. You're not with her anymore but tell Phoebe about Liz. It'll hurt for a while, there will be a lot of tension but once it's out there, Liz and her cousins can begin healing and hopefully put this behind them."

Cole remained silent for a few moments before saying. "You're a good friend Alex." He took in Liz at the counter laughing with Maria and engaging with the checkout girl. "We do plan on telling Phoebe. We just don't know how yet." Telling Phoebe about him and Liz was going to be harder than breaking up with her was.

"Sometimes it's best to jump in feet first. It might not be eloquent or gentle but it'd be truthful. And you don't want Phoebe to find out some other way. That'll hurt her worse than you two telling her." Alex heard the conversation between the girls coming to a close. "Think about it." He said quickly.

Liz walked up to Cole, bags in hand, and gives him a peck on the lips. "Ready to go?"

"Yea. Did you get the…" He lifted his eyebrows and smirked at Liz while peeking into the bag.

"That… and a couple other's you haven't see yet." She teased.

"Mmm." He put his hand on her ass and pulled her toward him.

Smiling she kissed him again. "Down boy. Lunch now, fashion show later." She promised.

"There's a new Chinese place a few miles from here. Did you want to try that one?" Maria asked Alex while Liz and Cole whispered together.

Alex nodded and put his hands in his pockets. "I can go for some Chinese food." He jumped at the distraction Maria's question granted. Anything to get off the topic of Liz and Cole having a private lingerie show later.

"Where did you park?" Maria didn't have any questions about how Alex found her and Liz in the shopping center, she knew he used the app they all have on their phones. In order to be a little safer in this alien, alien hunters, evil demons, and regular psycho's kind of world, she, Liz, and Alex put a GPS app that would pinpoint where they were…or at least where their phones were.

While Maria and Alex got logistics worked out Liz held Cole's hand as they walked through the strip mall. "Do you have to go back to the office or can you come have lunch with us?"

"My next case meeting isn't for another hour, so I'm free for lunch." When she beamed up at him he knew he'd do anything to keep that smile on her face.

As they walked hand and hand Liz asked, "Are you going to need me to come back to the office?"

Smirking Cole shook his head, "If I did ask you to come back with me it wouldn't be for anything work related." He kissed her hand, completely oblivious to his surroundings. He didn't see the camera pointed at them from a bench seat a few stores away.

Underworld

Tally glanced through the photos her minion brought. He managed to catch some photos of Cole's secretary modeling some lingerie for him and some more shots of Cole casting wicked glances around the dressing room. Shimmering out only to shimmer back in behind Liz and shutting the door, enclosing them in the small space, out of camera range.

"These are excellent, my little human." Mark deflated a bit at the title but she didn't care.

She continued to thumb through photographs when she got to some non-sexual ones mixed in with the dressing room ones. Without warning she tossed a low level fireball at him and he flew back hitting the cave wall. "What are these?" She held up glossy pictures of a laughing Liz and Cole, their faces were a little too close to be strictly platonic but it wasn't mind blowing sensuality either. Then she tossed the other pile of shots at his feet that were grouped with the laughing photos.

"They're showing closeness, affection." He started to explain but the hand tightening around his throat cut that off.

"These are not what I asked for." She shouted. "How is the youngest Halliwell going to feel pain by these?" She flung Mark aside like he was a piece of trash. He hit his head on the ground but scrambled up almost immediately.

Dizzy from the knock to his head he swayed on his feet but he had to explain. "Humans, sometimes, from what I was told by my mother, she would rather see my father have sex with someone else than watch them be affectionate. One involves just the body, the other involves the heart. These few pictures," he gathered them up and spread them out on the desk. "Cole laughing with her. Liz touching his cheek like this. Them holding hands and looking at each other like they are the only two people in the world. That'll hurt Phoebe worse."

"Humans. Pathetic." Emotions. Love. All weaknesses but despite her disgust she took the photos back. "If this hurts the witch all the better."

"It will. I promise." Mark vowed.

"If it doesn't, then I'll be repainting my lair…with your blood. Clear?" She relished at his hard swallow and frantic nod. "Good. Have you been able to initiate contact with Ms. Parker?"

"Not really." A growl had him rushing to explain. "I've only been able to speak with her once, when I dropped off a file. It was barely even a 'hello', she was rushing off with a stack of files. And she's been with Belthazor a lot outside of work."

"Do better."

Once again he made a promise. "I will." He had to do better.

TBC