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 it, I guess I'll just said that it deal with bringing Cole back.
Disclaimer: Neither Charmed nor any of its characters belong to me, well except Bryan and his family. So, please don't sue.
Chapter 2
Boy's Day out
Two months later:
It was mid-morning and Cole was in his office, busy writing a brief. He was in the middle of some very creative explanation as to how a particular precedent applied to his case when Bryan popped his head in the doorway. "Hey, you want to go out for lunch today?"
Cole looked up and smiled, "Sure, that sounds fine." He then leaned back on the chair and with a grin, asked, "The pizza place?"
"Where else?" Bryan answered with a laugh.
"Where else, indeed?" Cole knew of Bryan's love affair with the pizza from Dominic's. "I want to finish this brief first, though." He looked at his watch and proposed, "Two hours, ok?"
"Yes, that sounds fine. I got some stuff I want to get done too."
"Good. You driving?"
"You kidding? And have to deal with parking in downtown at lunch hour? No way; I'll have my secretary call us a cab."
Cole nodded his head; parking in downtown at anytime was a headache, parking at lunch hour was a nightmare. "See you in the lobby in two hours, then?"
"Sounds good. See you in two hours."
But just as Bryan was leaving, Cole remembered something. "Hey, Bryan!" he called before the other man got out of hearing range.
"Yeah?"
"I just remembered something. I'm meeting my brother, sorry, future brother-in-law for lunch today. Mind if he comes with us?"
"Not at all. The more the merrier and all that. Besides, I've heard so much about your family that I really want to meet them." Bryan answered with a grin.
"Great. I'll call and let him know to meet us there in two and a half hours."
"Ok, see you later."
"See you later." Cole said as picked up the phone to call the Mannor and talk to Leo. He couldn't believe how much things had changed in the two months since his 'return'. He not only had Phoebe, who was planning the biggest wedding ever, but he was actually getting alone with her family. The kids were great; they had accepted him as their uncle within his first week of him being back. Leo had, likewise, received him without too much trouble – a few shared beers spent watching football games and a conversation where they agreed to let bygones be bygones (which was actually a few subtle references to the issues at hand and some assenting noises), and they were in their way to being great pals.
Of course, the fact that they were the only two adult males in a house of three women and two kids meant that almost any ally was welcome.
Phoebe's sisters had been a harder sale but after some long and painful (especially for him as they dealt with emotional issued) conversations, they seemed to have accepted him back into their lives. In fact, they've been treating him like they used to for the past three weeks. So much so that sometimes he felt like he'd gone back in time; except this time it was different – this time he wasn't keeping any secrets, the whole Mannor seemed to know everything about his life and business, and the weird part was that he wouldn't have it any other way. It sure felt good to be himself and not have to worry about secrets or lies.
And as if that wasn't enough, he had found a job he truly enjoyed and where he seemed to have made the first friends he'd ever had – outside of demons, witches and other magical creatures. He especially enjoyed the time spent with Bryan, who according to Phoebe (who knew more about this stuff than him) seemed to have become his best friend, next to Leo, who was currently on the phone yelling, "Hello?"
With a start, Cole realized that he'd been so lost in thought he'd failed to recognize that Leo had picked up. "Sorry, Leo. It's me. I was a bit distracted."
"Hey, Cole. What's up? Or did you just called to tell me you were distracted?" Leo questioned with a laugh.
"Ha, ha, funny, Leo. No, I called to say if you had any problem with going to lunch with Bryan. He just stopped by and asked me to go to lunch."
"No, I don't have a problem with that. I'd be nice to finally meet the man who thinks you're nice enough to have as a friend," Leo teased.
"Well, why don't you look in the mirror? Seems to me you think I'm nice enough to have as a friend, don't you?" Cole teased back.
"Yeah, I guess so. But the difference is, he doesn't have to like you. I, on the other hand, would never have a moment's peace if I don't, at least, try to like you, you know."
"Yeah," Cole agreed good-naturedly, "Phoebe would never leave you alone. God, I love that woman."
"Yeah, Cole, we all got that by now, I think. Even the kids know that; do you think it's too much to ask that you guys refrain from excessive display of affection if front of impressionable minds?" The father in Leo couldn't help but ask, for what seemed like the thousandth time.
"Come on, Leo, it's been almost four years, of course it's too much to ask!" Cole gave his standard answer.
And Leo sighed, "Yes, I guess it'd be," his standard reply and acquiescence. He didn't know why he even bothered mentioning it anymore, he always gave in. Heck, even Piper gave up last week saying it was more trouble getting upset than just letting them be and the kids were used to them by now.
"So, where do you want to meet? No, let me guess: the pizza place downtown."
"Yep, Dominic's. You're really going to love the pizzas there, Leo. They're to die for."
It was a sign of how far they've come and how used they've gotten to living as humans that that phrase brought no sarcastic reply or wince from either of them. "It better be, the way you're always going on about it. So, what time?"
"In about two and half hours? We're catching a taxi in about 2 hours and it shouldn't take us more than half an hour to get there. 1:30 all right with you?"
"Yes, that sounds fine. I'll see you in two hours then."
"Ok. Oh, hey, you know how to get there, right?"
"No, not really. But I think I'll just take a cab too. Don't really feel like dealing with parking around there at that time." Leo answered.
"Good idea, that's also why we're not driving. Well, see you later."
"Yeah, see you later." And with that they both hang up.
Cole took another minute to reflect on how much his life had change and on how lucky he was to be able to finally have everything he'd always wanted, before delving back into his work, he really wanted to have this brief done before lunch.
----------------------------------------------------
"So, you really think you can settle the Renards case?" Bryan asked Cole as they got out of the taxi in front of Dominic's two hours later.
"Yes, I don't see why not. The precedents I've been able to dig up are a bit old but still perfectly good law. They don't really have much of a case once you get down to it." Cole answered as the paid the taxi driver.
"That's good. I didn't have the time to devote the hours needed to do the proper research and I really didn't want the family to suffer because of it. That's why I was so anxious to hire another lawyer; many of our cases were getting short changed because we just didn't have the man hours. It was a good thing, for both of us that we run into each other that day."
"Yes, it was. I think things worked out very good for all concerned." Cole agreed.
"There sure have; you seem to have settled in rather nicely. There haven't been any problems, have there?" Bryan asked, just to make sure.
"No, like you said, everything has settled in rather nicely." Cole answered as they entered the restaurant. He stopped to a side of the door and looked around for Leo. He found him a bit further in, looking for him. "Hey, Leo. Over here." Cole called and waved him over.
Leo walked over and said, "Hey, Cole, right on time." He then turned to Bryan and offering his hand said, "Hello, I'm Leo and you must be Bryan."
"Hello. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. I heard a lot about you and everyone in your family from Cole." Bryan answered with a smile as he shook Leo's hand.
"Well, I wouldn't believe everything he's told you."
Cole, who had been talking to the hostess, turned to protest, "Hey, I only said good things, right Bryan?" He gestured for them to follow the hostess and he in turn, followed them.
"Well, it was mostly good things, I have to admit," Bryan continued the conversation as they sat down and the hostess gave them their menus.
"Oh? And what were the bad things?" Leo asked as he opened his menu and perused the contents.
Bryan, already knowing what he wanted, put his to the side and answered Leo, "Well, let's see. There was something about Phoebe's oldest sister being a bit of a dictator."
Cole coughed to cover up a laugh and said, "Um, yes. That'd be Piper, his wife."
"Oops," said Bryan with a grin. "Sorry."
Leo gave Cole a fake glare as Cole tried his best to look innocent, "That's ok, not your fault." Then he gave up and laughed, "Besides, there is some truth to that. She was the second oldest and after Prue passed and she became the oldest, she took the role to heart."
"I'm sorry," Bryan said, sincerely, "I didn't know that they had lost a sister."
"It's ok; it's been a while." Leo answered.
After a few moments of silence, Cole said, "But we can't even blame her bossiness on that, Leo. True, Prue was bossier, but Piper always had those tendencies. She was always mothering the other two."
"True," Leo agreed after taking a sip of water. "But then, Phoebe and Paige are also bossy. I think it may just be a Halliwell women trait."
"Yeah, I'd have to agree with that. I mean, look at Gramms. I don't think I've ever met a bossier woman, including Prue."
"Yeah, Gramms was something else." Leo said with something close to a shudder as he remembered the last time that lady had come to visit. "But back on the subject, has he said anything else not good about the family, Bryan?"
"He did mention something about the youngest sister,"
"Paige," Leo said and Bryan nodded.
"Yes, her. Hey, I just realized, all three of their names start with a P, don't they?"
"Yeah, family tradition. And actually it was all four of them." Leo said
It took Bryan a few seconds and then he said, "Oh, yeah, the oldest sister, Prue. Any particular reason for that tradition?"
"No, none that I now of. Leo?" Cole answered.
"No, not really. But I want to know what Cole said about Paige, so Bryan, give."
"Oh, not much, just that she was a bit . . . flaky but was a nice person all the same."
"Oh, well, yeah, I guess she can be a bit flaky sometimes, but then so can Phoebe," but then Leo paused as he remembered something Cole had said two months ago after his first day on the job. He turned to look at Cole with wide eyes and said, "Is this the one . . .?"
Cole understood him before he finished the question and with a smirk nodded his head.
"Oh!" Leo took a few moments to think it over and then grinned and said, "Yeah, I guess I can see it."
"See what? What are you guys talking about? You've lost me."
"Oh, nothing important; don't worry about it." Cole said and then as he saw the waiter approached, took the opportunity to change the subject, "Are we ready to order?"
"I am," answered Bryan.
"You were ready to order before we got here because you always get the same thing. You, my friend, are stuck in a rut. You should really try something new, expand your horizons. You might learn something." Cole advised Bryan.
"Why fix it if it ain't broken? I know what I like and I'll know that I'll enjoy my meal if I order it. But if I order something new, there's a very good chance that I won't." Bryan answered before turning to the waiter and giving his order.
Cole just shook his head; they've had the same argument every time they come to this restaurant. He really should give up because Bryan was very stubborn; but then, so was Cole and he won't give up until he gets Bryan to try a new dish. "You know if I didn't know that you liked to take chances in the job and outside of it, I'd think you were a stick in the mud the way you always choose the same thing."
"Hey, I may be adventerous in the rest of my life but I have very particular tastes in food and see no reason why I should eat something I don't like when I can get something I know I like." Bryan persisted.
Cole shook his head at the contradiction in his friend's personality and gave his order. He then waited for Leo, who took a bit longer as he wasn't sure what he wanted.
After all the orders had been placed and their drink been brought to the table, Leo looked at Bryan and asked, "So, you guys ran into each other here, didn't you?"
"Yeah, about two months ago. I'd been craving their pizza but hadn't had time to come . . .
FLASHBACK
Bryan finally made it to Dominic's, two days later than he'd planned. Things at the office had been beyond hectic; but at least he finally convinced the partners that they needed to hire a new lawyer. Now, they only had to find the right one.
The smell of the place hit him as soon as he walked in the door and from that moment he was in heaven. It had been so long since he'd had time to come and eat here that he had started to dream of their pizzas. He was so engrossed in his daydreaming that he walked into the person in front of him.
"Oh, excuse me. I wasn't paying attention," he started to apologize.
"No problem. I was a bit distracted myself." The man turned smiling sheepishly.
Bryan was taken aback when he saw the man's face. "Turner? Cole Turner?" He asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Cole answered somewhat cautiously.
"Hi, my name's Bryan Macintyre. You probably don't remember but we've met . . ."
". . . at some of the Bar's functions." Cole finished for him. "Yes, I remember. I'm surprise you remember, though; it's been a few years."
"Yes, but I was quite intrigued by a couple of your cases," Bryan explained with a shrug.
"Really? I, too, was intrigued by some to the cases your law firm chose to accept." Cole said sincerely; the last function he'd gone to he'd been human and with Phoebe and had thought the pro-bono cases Bryan's firm were interesting.
"Yes, we're a bunch of eccentric lawyers and the things we choose to accept surprised a lot of people."
"What do the senior partners say about that?"
"They're the ones that began the tradition," Bryan answered with a laugh. "They give us a lot of leeway when it comes to choosing our cases. As long as they don't adversely affect the firm's reputation, we pretty much have carte blanche." Bryan went on to explain a bit more seriously.
"Sounds like a great place to work and where one could practice some creative lawyering."
"Yes, it is a great place to work and yes, we've been known to get creative."
"Party for two?" the hostess asked, they'd gotten so involved in their talk they hadn't noticed they've moved up the line.
They looked at each other and Bryan asked, "you waiting for someone?"
"No, you?"
"Nope, you want . . .?"
"Sure, two non-smoking," Cole told the hostess with a questioning look at Bryan, who nodded his assent.
"Right this way, please."
They followed her to a table by the window. They sat and a busboy came soon after to set the table and give them their glasses of water and bread.
"I'd forgotten how nice this place was," Cole mused as he looked around the restaurant. When he looked back at his lunch companion, he noticed the same look on Bryan's face as he'd had when they first saw each other. "What? Did I grow an extra head when I wasn't looking?"
"Uh? No, I'm sorry. It's just that you look great for a man that's been dead for the last few years."
"Oh, that," Cole said as if it were old news. He and Phoebe had discussed this and come up with a pretty good and vague story. "The tales of my death had been greatly exaggerated." He said with a laugh at using the old chiche and then went on to explain, "I had a not so pleasant split from my wife and decided that a trip abroad would the best thing. I needed some time for myself to get some perspective back, you know?" Cole explained as nonchalantly as if they were talking about the weather.
"Yeah, I guess I can understand that. But how did the rumors you were dead started?"
"I'm not sure. There was an accident with a boat I was supposed to have been at. I had changed my mind at the last minute but some of my stuff still got sent on it and since they never took me out of the manifest, when I wasn't with the survivors I was declared missing." Cole explained.
"But why didn't you correct the mistake when you found out about it?" Bryan knew he was asking a lot of personal questions of someone he'd only met a few times at work related functions, but he couldn't help it; he was curious. Besides, he figured that if he crossed any lines, Cole would let him know.
"Because I didn't know about it until I came back a few days ago. I wanted to get away, really away," Cole went on with the explanation before Bryan could ask more questions. "So, I made a point of not getting any news of what was going on around here." He finished with a shrug.
Bryan nodded, the explanation made sense; it was a bit weird (he couldn't fathom being incommunicado for more than a few days let alone a few years) but it made sense.
"So, what made you decide to come back?" Again, he knew he was really pushing it with his questions, but he still asked them. There was something about Cole Turner that made Bryan extremely curious. It had always been that way; there was this aura of power around him that he didn't understand but was compelled to try.
Bryan was an extremely good judge of character; his whole was family was. They were rarely if ever wrong; if he hadn't had the ability his whole life, he might actually find it quite creepy. As it was, he found it very helpful in his life of work. He found Cole enigmatic and charming, and it was obvious the man was smart, cunning and very, very dangerous. In fact, the first few times they had met, Bryan found Cole's aura (for lack of a better word) dark. So dark, Bryan had been very wary of him and had kept plenty of distance between them despite been impressed by his talent as a lawyer. Though his aura had seemed to lighten as time passed, it had still had an almost evil feel to it. Today was different, however, Cole was still a very smart, cunning and dangerous person but his time away seems to have blunted his edges a little, because the dangerous vibe Bryan felt no longer had that almost evil feel it used to have.
"It was time," Cole answered with a shrug.
As an answer it was extremely vague but Bryan took it for what it was. "And your ex, have you seen her yet?"
"Yes, I have. I think the time away did both of us good because we got back together." Cole smiled as he thought how true that answer was.
'Ok,' Bryan thought, 'this just keeps getting weirder and weirder.' "I hope everything works out this time."
"Thanks, I'm sure it will."
Just then the waiter came to take their orders. After she left and they spent a while engaged in general conversation, Bryan brought up a thought he'd had almost since the moment he learned Cole just got back. "So, Cole, are you working anywhere?"
"No, I just started looking actually."
"Well, then maybe this is our lucky day or maybe it's just fate . . ."
END OF FLASHBACK
"And the rest as they say it's history." Bryan finished the story.
"I guess it was both of your lucky day, uh?" Leo asked.
"Yes, I think so. We were just talking about that; things seemed to have worked out very good for everyone concerned. The partners are very happy with Cole's performance, Cole is happy and excited about the job and I have a workload that is actually manageable." Bryan emphasized the sentiment by raising his glass as if in a toast before taking a sip.
"Yes, things have worked out very well but I think it was fate more than good luck that made us run into each other that day," argued Cole.
"Really?" asked Bryan as he started on his pizza the waitress had just brought. "You believe in fate?"
"Sure, don't you?" Cole answered as he, too, took his first taste of his dish. "Umm, this is still some of the best pizza I'd ever had." He exclaimed closing his eyes to savor the flavor.
"Just some of the best? I think it is the best pizza in the whole of San Francisco." Bryan defended the pizza. "And I'm not sure if I believe in fate or not. My family sure does and I've seen somethings that make believe but then again I'm too much of a pragmatist to believe in something I can't see or touch."
"Oh, you'd be surprised how many things there exist out there that you can't see or touch," Cole started to argue but was stopped by Leo's glare and interruption.
"Yes, well, everyone is entitled to believe as they see fit. This is a free country after all." Leo said.
"Umm, if you knew some of the laws, especially some of the laws that have been passed on the wake of 9/11 you might not be so sure of that." Bryan began, only to be stopped by Cole.
"Oh, you know that those laws were needed. And we'd better leave things there we don't want into an argument." Cole said, stopping what could become a big argument.
"Yeah, you're right. My dad always says you should never discussed religion or politics during meals. Could make for some serious indigestion." Bryan agreed.
"Your dad is right. Let's talk about something neutral. How about sports?" Leo suggested.
"Oh, and just how are sports neutral? I've seen how you get about them, Leo. You are as bad about them as rest of us are about politics." Cole teased.
"I only get that way if you go against my team, otherwise I'm pretty agreeable," Leo teased right back.
"Sounds like my kinds of sports fan," Bryan said with a chuckle. "So what sports do you like and which teams?" Bryan asked as he was a big sports nut himself.
And off they went talking about sports. Cole wasn't as into them as the other two, but in the last two months he had learned much about them and had grown to appreciate them; you really couldn't hang out with Leo and not do so. He still liked soccer better than football but he enjoyed a good game.
"I have some tickets for this weekend," Bryan was saying. "Maybe you guys would like to come?" He invited them.
"Oh, I'd love to," said Leo, "but haven't you asked anyone yet?"
"No, I just got them and really I'm so busy with work that I don't have that many friends outside the office and those I do have don't enjoy the game as much as I do. So, do you want to come?"
"Sure, we'd love to, wouldn't we Cole?" Leo accepted before Cole could decline, he really wanted to go to that game.
Leo shouldn't have worried, Cole thought it sounded like fun, "Yeah, I'd love to come. It's been a while since I've been to a live game." He didn't bother to mention that the last game he'd been to had been a demonic duel, he thought that it might somehow ruin the pleasant mood of the afternoon. "And I know what you mean about not having much friends outside work; the girls, Leo and I are pretty much the same, aren't we Leo?"
"Yeah, not much time to make friends outside the family circle. Piper is always complaining about it, but there's not much that can be done. Hey, I just had an idea: why don't you come to the house for dinner after the game?"
"Shouldn't you ask your wife first? I wouldn't want to impose." Bryan said.
"Oh, it wouldn't be an imposition. Piper loves to cook; the more people there are around to enjoy her creations the better." Cole dismissed Bryan's worries with a wave of his hand.
Bryan, however looked to Leo before accepting; after all, Piper was Leo's wife. At Leo's wholehearted nod, he accepted, "In that case, I'd love to. I've heard a lot about Piper's cooking from Cole and would love to see if she's a good a cook as he's making her out to be."
"Oh, believe me, she's better," Leo replied, the pride in his wife evident to everyone. "It's set then: the game and then dinner Saturday."
"Yes, I look forward to it."
"Yes, so do I. It should be a really exciting evening." Said Cole, thinking about Paige's reaction to meeting Bryan – he was sure there'd be fireworks and he couldn't wait for them.
AN: I hope you guys like this chapter as much as the other ones, please review and let me know – it really means a lot and inspires me to write faster.
AN1: I have never been to San Francisco in my life and have no idea if a 'Dominic's' exists – any similarity with a real restaurant is purely coincidental. Also, I'm not really into sports and know next to nothing about their seasons. So I've it left open to interpretation as to what game they're going to go see – I think it'd be too early for football, but I'm not really sure.
AN2: This is the last one note: I happen to have a BA in Political Science and a JD (law degree) so I love talking about politics but I know that not everyone does and I also know that whether they like to talk about it or not, everyone has their own ideas about it – so I'll try to keep any mention of it to a minimum but please don't take any mention of it too seriously. If I do mention it I'll try and present both sides, but like everyone else I do have my own ideas and that may filter through; but I don't want to upset anyone. Let me know if it should get to be too much.