It's still Magic

AN: Ok, here it is the sequel to Despite it all. I think you probably have to read that to understand this; I'll try and work in some explanations, but I'm making no promises – sorry. But for anyone that hasn't read, I guess I'll just said that it deal with bringing Cole back. Sorry it has taken so long.

Disclaimer: Neither Charmed nor any of its characters belong to me, well except Bryan and his family. So, please don't sue.

Chapter 1

Cole walked up the steps of the Mannor and couldn't believe that it had only been two weeks since Phoebe and her sisters had brought him back from limbo. Sometimes it felt like he'd never left and sometimes it felt like he'd only been back for a few hours; but it rarely felt like he'd only been back for two weeks.

As he walked in the door, he was greeted with the usual noises of a household with two active children. It was strange how fast he got used to them and now they represent home to him.

He walked into the living room and found the chaos that he had been expecting. Phoebe had gotten home early from work and was on the floor playing with her nephews. She jumped up and run to hugged as soon as she saw him, "Hi, honey. How was your first day at work?"

Cole dropped his briefcase and hugged her back. "It was great, actually. I'd forgotten how much I enjoyed practicing law." He let her loose after a brief kiss and bent down to greet Wyatt and Chris, who had also come running to say hello. For some reason no one could understand, except Phoebe, the kids had taken a really liking to Cole and were always running after him. At first, he had been surprised and had not clue what to do but after a few awkward moments (mostly his), he relaxed enough and understood that they only wanted his attention; he had also grown to really enjoy the time he spend with them.

After all the required hugs and kissed were exchanged and after both Wyatt and Chris had gone through all of Cole's pockets looking for the candy he brought them whenever he went out, they went back to their toys and both Cole and Phoebe went to the kitchen to get something to drink.

Piper was right where Cole expected her to be at this time of the afternoon, at the stove stirring something that smelled delicious for dinner. Leo was sitting at the table and it looked like he had conned his wife out of a sample of what she was cooking. He looked up and when he saw them, he asked, "Cole, you're back. How was the first day at work?"

Piper looked up when she heard Leo and told Cole, "I hope everything went fine."

"Yes. Everything went great." Cole answered as he went to the stove to see what Piper was cooking. She stepped to the side to let him peek and asked him, "No problems?"

He saw that it was stew and couldn't help his grin; it was one of his favorites. God, he had really missed Piper's cooking as the pounds he had put on since his return would attest. "No, no problems." he answered. "I told you there wouldn't be any. I was able to fix everything last week."

"I know, I know," answered Piper. That hadn't stopped her, or any of them, from worrying. It was not that they didn't trust Cole's lawyerly skills, they did. But he had come back after years of being 'dead' and there were wound to be some questions. She hadn't been sure the story Phoebe and Cole came up with would have been enough to stop the speculation; but apparently it had been. She should have known that if anyone could come up with a lie that would be believed, it would be those two. They had, after all, had much practice at it.

"So, how was it? Were the people nice?" asked Phoebe as she took a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Yes, they were all very nice and they didn't ask many questions. They accepted the story we came up with and left it at that. It seems like a really nice place to work."

"Not like the last law firm?" Leo asked as he got up to wash his plate.

"No, nothing like that. These people actually encourage pro-bono work. Like I said it's a very nice environment to work on. I think," but he trailed off with a weird expression on his face.

"You think, what baby?" Phoebe asked as she came to stand next to him and put her hand on his arm.

Cole looked down at her and smiled, "I think I may actually make some friends there. Isn't that weird? I'm over a hundred years old and I'm getting excited at the prospect of making some friends." He shook his head, bemused at what he was feeling.

Phoebe looked at Piper and Leo and noticed that they both had surprised looks on their faces. "It's not weird, nor surprising. You may be over a hundred years old, but your old life never really allowed you to make friends. But now that you're living as a human you'll be making some and it is completely normal to be apprehensive about being in situations that are new." Phoebe explained; she was just about done with her graduate degree and took every opportunity to dispense her newly acquired wisdom. Everyone in the house was by now used to the psycho-babble that came out of Phoebe's mouth.

"Uh, Phoebe," Cole began; he had been dreading this and had been putting off telling her. But he shouldn't put it off much longer; she and her sisters deserved to hear this from him and not find out about it during a fight.

Phoebe heard the nervous note in Cole's voice and knew she wouldn't be thrilled about whatever it was he was going to say. "Yes, Cole?"

"Um," Cole began as he put his hands in his pants pockets and looked down at floor for a few seconds. They all saw him swallowed hard before bringing his eyes back to Phoebe's face and said, "I don't think I'll be leaving as a mortal; not a complete one, anyway."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just that I seem to have Balthazar's powers back."

Absolute and complete silence followed that announcement. It lasted for a few moments until their stunned paralysis was broken by Piper's, "WHAT!"

"Shh, Piper, Lower your voice, the children." Leo was as stunned as Piper but he didn't want the kids to come running into the kitchen at that moment.

Piper looked at Leo and lower her voice, "What do you mean you're Balthazar? I thought he was dead."

Cole glanced at Phoebe, who had yet to say anything and then looked at Piper and answered her, "I didn't say that I was Balthazar; I said that I had his powers. And as far as I know, he is dead."

"Isn't that the same thing? And how can he be dead and you have his powers?" Demanded Piper, while Phoebe still kept silent.

"I'm not sure, Piper. All I know is that I have his powers but I don't feel him anymore. Phoebe vanquished him for good that time; but I guess his powers were floating around somewhere and I somehow picked them up as you guys brought me back." Cole tried to explain something he didn't entirely understand himself, though he had been thinking about it almost non-stop since he first noticed the powers a few days ago.

"Phoebe, baby, please say something." Cole came very close to begging but Phoebe's continued silence was unnerving him.

Phoebe looked into his eyes, searching for something for what seemed like forever, before asking him, "You don't feel Belthazar anymore? He's not inside you?"

"No." Cole answered sincerely.

"And you don't feel the pull of evil? The conflict you've always felt, it's gone?"

"No and yes."

"You only have his powers and nothing else?" At his nod, she insisted, "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Phoebe, I'm sure."

"Ok, then." She patted his chest and took a long sip of water.

Cole was dumbfounded and didn't know what to say. Piper, on the other hand, didn't have that problem, "Ok, then? That's all you have to say?"

"What else is there to say?" asked Phoebe.

"Oh, I don't know, Phoebe. But it's Balthazar!" Piper cried exasperated.

"No, Piper. It's not." Phoebe explained patiently. "Balthazar it's gone; it's just Cole with his powers. And that's not a bad thing; it just means that he won't be defenseless and neither will the kids whenever he stays with them."

Piper thought about that and realized that having Cole have Balthazar's powers could actually be a good thing. He had always been a great ally whenever they fought demons together. The fact that another set of powers would be in the house and would help protect her children did make her feel better. "And Balthazar is completely gone? He won't be tempting you to go back to evil?"

"Yes, he's completely gone and no, he won't be tempting me. Even if he was, I wouldn't do anything to ruin this last chance to be with Phoebe. But don't worry, he's not."

Piper looked thoughtful for a moment and then asked, "Can it really be that simple? I mean if you no longer have Balthazar, and if you say don't I believe you, won't his powers drive you mad? Like that time Prue received the empathic powers and almost lost it. Or when the doctor got all of our powers and went power-crazy. Aren't human bodies not equipped to deal with magical powers? Can't our bodies only handle those powers we're meant to have?" Piper sounded really concerned about Cole and looked to Leo for the answers.

Phoebe also looked at Leo, scared of what he might say. Those incidents had slipped Phoebe's mind and it hadn't occurred to her what Balthazar's powers might do to Cole's human body.

Leo took a few moments to think the problem through and then looked at Phoebe and Cole as he answered, "I don't think we have to worry. Piper's right, the human body was not designed to support magical powers. But we have to remember that Cole was not born completely human; and even if he is human now, I'm betting some demonic characteristics remain. He was born to those powers and though they might wreak havoc on another human body, they won't do that to Cole's because they belong there. How long have you had them, do you know?" Leo asked Cole.

"I'm not sure, really. I mean when I first came back I wasn't looking for them nor did I notice them. It was only about five days that I was thinking how much faster I'd get to my next appointment if I could shimmer instead of having to wait for a taxi, when all of the sudden I started to shimmer. I freaked and stopped it, but a while later after I made sure there was no one around I attempted it again and it worked."

"Five days? And have been using them since?" Leo probed further.

Cole asked without hesitation; it was weird but before his back would have gone up at some many questions but now he understood their need for information and gave it without resentment, though answering the same questions could get very boring and annoying. "No, not really. I mean I got my car a couple of days later so there was really no need to shimmer anymore. And I haven't run into any demons so there hasn't been any need for any fire or light balls."

Phoebe had been silently listening to Leo and Cole's discussion but all of the sudden interrupted them, "Cole, I said that I was ok with you having Balthazar's powers and I am ok with it. But what I am not ok with is the fact that you've known about this for five days and hadn't told me anything about it. Why didn't you?"

Cole looked at her as he thought of how to answer that. Phoebe had taken the news extremely well, they all had – far better than he had dared dreamed. But if the look on her facer was any indication a storm could still be in the horizon and all because he'd kept his mouth shut. The only thing that could possible save him now was the truth, "I was scared."

"Scared?" Phoebe repeated, not really surprised. "Of what?"

"Of how you, all of you, would react. I thought it would be a big problem; I mean it is Balthazar we're talking about. I didn't really think you'd take it so calmly."

After a few moments of just looking at him, moments during which Cole saw his life go by, Phoebe said, "Cole, finding out that you still have powers it's a surprise but as long as he's still gone and you no longer have that pull, it's not one I have a problem with. I told you this time we'll make it work; but to do that we have to talk. We have to tell each other what we're feeling and if anything's bothering us and especially if anything is scaring us. How are we going to work through those issues if we don't talk about it?"

"Phoebe is right, Cole," Piper agreed when her sister stopped talking. "We're a family and we have to talk these things out; especially when they affect all of us. What if the powers had been dangerous to you? If you had told us as soon as you found out you still had them, we would have been prepared for that but as it is if they had turned dangerous we'd had been caught unawares and wouldn't have been able to help you."

Phoebe looked at Leo for reassurance, "He'll be fine, though, right Leo?"

"Yes," Leo answered. "He's had them for five days; if they were going to cause problems they'd have done it by now. Remember, both Prue and the doctor exhibited the symptoms within a couple of days of receiving the powers. He should be fine."

"Thank God," Said Phoebe as she hugged him. "I'll overlook it this time. But next time I expect you to come and talk these things with me. Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am." Answered Cole, grinning as he returned Phoebe's hug.

Paige orbed in just then. "Hey, guys. Oh, Cole. How was your first day at work? Any problems, with you know, the whole dead thing?"

This was the third time he was answering this question, but he still answered it with good humor, "It went great and no, there were no problems. Oh, I think I might have found him."

"Him? Who him?" asked Paige as she got a bottle water from the fridge and went to sit at the table.

"Just the love of your life." Cole answered with a smirk.

The bottle of water stopped mid-way to her mouth as she locked eyes with Cole and she put the bottle down on the table with a snort. "You found him? At your new job? So I guess that'd make him a lawyer?" At Cole's nod to the three questions, she snorted again and said, "not bloody likely. A lawyer – nope, I don't think so. One as a brother in law is enough, thank you very much. I don't need one as a husband also. Nope, not gonna happen."

"Hey," protested Phoebe, "There's nothing wrong with having a lawyer as a husband. Trust me its great."

"For you, maybe. Not for me." Paige seemed very certain on herself on this issue.

Cole just smiled and said, "We'll see." Then he turned to Piper and asked, "when's dinner?"

"In about half an hour. You have to time to go change and wash up." Piper answered in the same voice she used to tell her kids what to do.

"Yes, ma'am." Cole threw her a salute and turned to go up the stairs; it was a good thing he was in a really good mood or all these orders might annoy him. Then again, Piper had always been like that and Cole was used to her.

"Take the kids with you and wash them up. We'll all have dinner in 30 minutes. Phoebe go help him with the kids." Piper ordered as she turned back to the stove.

Cole smiled and tugged on Phoebe's hand, "You heard her, come help me with the kids."

Phoebe went with him and they could hear trying to get information on the guy he thought was for Paige.

Paige snorted once more and stood up. "I'll go wash up, too." And as she left, Piper and Leo could hear her mutter, "a lawyer, no chance in hell."

Piper and Leo traded amused smiles before she went back to her stirring and he went to set the table. It was just another typical night at the Halliwell's.