It'll always be 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.
AN2: Sorry, for taking so long. But here is the next chapter. Hope you enjoy it! Please, please review!
Disclaimer: Neither Charmed nor any of its characters belong to me, well except Bryan and his family. So, please don't sue.
Chapter 4 - Sister Talk
Bryan was the first to recover and he offered his hand with a tender smile as he said, "It's great to meet you, Paige. I've heard a lot about you."
Paige took the offered hand and said with a coy smile, "It's nice to meet you. I also heard a lot about you. But I wouldn't believe even half of what you heard about me, though." She added with a mock glare in Cole's direction.
Bryan squeezed her hand one last time before letting go and with a laugh said, "That's just what Piper said." He turned to Cole and added, "I'm beginning to think that maybe I should reconsider all I've heard about your family, Cole."
Cole smiled and said, "Oh, no. Everything I've told you about them is true. Even if they don't want to admit it," he added with a smirk.
Paige sniffed and said, "Likely story. Now, it you'd like to hear some great stories about Cole – well, I'd be more than happy to tell you some," she said in a conspiratory whisper.
"I like that." Bryan agreed and then with a twinkle in his eyes added, "Maybe we could get together some night and you could tell me all about it."
Paige paused for a second to think this through and then agreed. "I'd like that."
"Great, then it's a date." Bryan, never one to procrastinate when it came to going after something he wanted, said firmly.
"Yeah," Paige said in a low tone, "It's a date."
Cole and Leo shared another look before Cole reached forward to study the platter. "Um, these are good, aren't they Leo?" He asked with a grin after the silence between Paige and Bryan had gone on for a while.
"Yeah," Leo answered as the other two jumped and turned towards them with sheepish expressions on their faces.
It only took Paige a few seconds before she regained her composure and said, "Don't go spoiling your appetite now, or you won't hear the end of it from Piper."
Bryan sat back down and also reached for some snacks as Cole said, "Don't worry these won't spoil my appetite."
"Nor mine," Leo agreed. "Especially when dinner is pot roast. Nothing could spoil my appetite for that."
"It's that good, uh?" Bryan asked.
"Oh, yeah," Cole answered as he took another sip of his beer. "One thing you can say about Piper, she knows how to cook."
"Piper is a great cook," Paige said. "And she doesn't like it when people don't appreciate her efforts, so don't fill up," she warned them once again. "Ok, enjoy. I'll go and help Piper." With a final look at Bryan, Paige took off for the kitchen.
"So Bryan," Leo began. "What do you think of Paige?"
"She seems nice," he answered. "Not all that flaky."
"Um, well, wait until you get to know her better. And I'm sure you will, won't you?" Cole said.
"Yeah, I got a feeling I will; and I'm looking forward to it." Bryan said perfectly comfortable with the fact that he'd just found his soul mate and with admitting it. He took another sip of beer and announced, "Gentlemen, I do believe I just met the woman I'll marry."
The announcement brought stunned silence to the room. Both Leo and Cole had noticed the instant attraction between Paige and Bryan but neither had thought to hear something so serious so soon from Bryan. Not that they didn't understand where he was coming from. They were both pretty familiar with the whole love at first sight concept, having both been through it. But they had expected that it would take longer for Bryan to come to terms with it – after all Bryan was a confirmed bachelor; they were expecting at least some level of resistance. They were actually looking forward to it – it would have made great entertainment. But it looked like Bryan had just taken the wind out of their sails.
They turned to look at each other and then look at Bryan. Leo said, "Are you sure?"
"Yep," Bryan answered firmly and nonchalantly as if he had just announced his preference for Coke over Pepsi and not having met the love of his life. "I'm sure. Don't you guys believe in love at first sight? In recognizing your other half the moment you meet her?"
"Well," Cole said after exchanging yet another glance with Leo. "We do, we just weren't sure you did. I mean you are a pragmatist, Bryan. All this love at first sight and soul mates just didn't seem like your thing, you know?"
"Yeah," Bryan agreed with a small smile. "I am a pragmatic man in every other aspect of my life, but when it comes to this . . ." He shrugged and continued, "What can I say? There is this tradition in my family, you see. Every man for the past, oh I don't know, five generations have recognized the woman they were to marry the minute they saw them. I may be a skeptic about other things, but I couldn't be one about this when I've heard about it all my life." He took another sip of beer and continued, "And the craziest thing of all, I've always known that it would be the same for me. Don't ask me how, I've just always known."
Cole sat up straight as soon as he heard this and he share another glance with Leo. This one, unlike the first one, was serious and had a hint of alarm to it. Leo recognized it immediately and nodded his head. He too thought there might just be more to Bryan than at first met the eye.
"Well, does she know that?" Cole asked with a grin, though it was now a bit strained – not that Bryan noticed it.
"No, but I'm sure I could convinced her," Bryan answered with a shrug.
"Maybe," Cole mused as he studied his beer bottle and then with another look at Leo he added, "but even realizing that you've met the woman you're supposed to marry doesn't mean you'll get there - at least not without overcoming whatever crap life might throw at you."
"I knew Piper was the one for me almost as soon as I met her," Leo added. "But we had to go through some serious stuff before we were finally allowed to be together and happy."
"'Allowed'?" Bryan asked with raised brows.
Leo just waved his hand to signify that wasn't important, "allowed – able, whatever you want to call it. The point is that Cole is right; it's good that you're so sure that she's the one," Leo wasn't even going to go into how he was so sure, that was a discussion for another time. "But you should be aware that it probably won't be as easy as that."
"Oh, I know that," Bryan answered with confidence as he leaned forward for another snack.
Leo and Cole shared yet another look and silently decided to let Bryan find out what was in store for him by himself; they also determined that they would have a long talk with their significant others as soon as possible before they do anything else.
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"What are you working on now?" Paige asked as she came back into the kitchen.
"Desert," Piper answered as she stirred the custard she was making for the truffle.
"Can I help with something?" Paige asked as she came to stand by Piper and smelled the custard.
"Well," Piper answered as she looked back to the table for Phoebe was sitting. "Phoebe is getting the fruit ready. Why don't you cut the cake?" She suggested as she pointed to the cake that she had baked earlier for the dessert.
"Ok," Paige agreed and moved to sit next to Phoebe and started to cut the cake.
Phoebe continued telling Piper, and now Paige, the latest on her wedding. "I still think we should have at least three choices of entrees, but Cole thinks that too excessive. What do you think?"
"I don't know, Pheebs. Maybe three entrees are too excessive. Two choices should be more than enough." Piper answered as she turned down the heat.
"Umph," Phoebe said. "I don't know. . ."
"Come on, Phoebe, be realistic." Piper argued as she sat down and took a sip of the water she had poured for herself. "Three entrees would be too expensive. And yes," Piper said when Phoebe opened her mouth to protest. "I know that you and Cole both have good jobs, but really, Phoebe, there's no need to spend more than you have to. That's just waste."
"It is not," Phoebe argued and off they were in one of their oldest arguments: Phoebe arguing that what was the point of making money if you were not going to spend it and Piper arguing that you should always put some money away for a rainy day.
Right about where she always did, Phoebe turned to Paige and asked, "Paige, what do you think?"
But this time Paige did not follow the script and just said, "huh?"
"What do you think, should we have two or three entrees for the wedding reception?"
"I don't know," Paige answered distractedly. "Do you need more than one entrée?"
Piper and Phoebe looked at her with identically surprised expressions, "Of course you do, Paige" Piper answered just as Phoebe nodded her head vigorously. "You know that you have to give the people choices."
"I guess so. Well, what does Cole think?"
"Paige," Piper said a little exasperatedly. "Phoebe just said Cole wants two entrees."
"Oh, right." Paige said and continued cutting the cake without really giving an opinion.
After waiting a few moments to see if she would continue, Phoebe said, "Ok, that's it! What is going on with you, Paige?"
"Nothing," Paige answered as she looked up from the cake. "What makes you think anything is going on?"
"Oh, the fact that you're anywhere but here," Piper answered.
"You haven't listened to a word we've said," Phoebe added. "Come on, tells us what's got you so distracted."
"Nothing, really." Paige said as she shook her head. "I'm just thinking."
"Oh, really?" Phoebe asked. "And what are you thinking about that has you so engrossed you're barely paying attention to us?"
"Life and fate and destiny," Paige answered. "Simple things like that. But," she waved her hand. "let's forget about it and talk about entrees. I think I have to agree with Piper and Cole on this one, Phebs. Three entrees are too much."
"Oh, what do you guys know?" Phoebe asked with a pout.
"I know that most people like either chicken or beef and if you give them those two choices, they'll be happy." Piper answered as she got up to check on the custard.
Phoebe sighed heavily as she put one elbow on the table and her chin on her fist. "I guess you guys are right." Piper and Paige looked at each other and smiled at Phoebe's tone of voice, as if she'd just being denied the whole wedding and not just one entrée.
"But ok, enough of that. So, Paige, what do you think of Bryan?"
"Bryan? Oh," Paige answered off-handedly as she busy herself with the last of the cake. "Cole's friend. I think he's nice."
"Really? Only nice?" Phoebe asked and Paige nodded and shrugged. "That's not all you think, is it?"
"Yes, it . . ." Paige started to answer in the affirmative but the knowing look on Phoebe's face stopped her. It was no use trying to lie to her sisters – they knew her too well; not to mention that with Phoebe's empathy it was literally impossible to do it. "Oh, ok. You're right. He's seriously cute and I think. . ." Here Paige hesitated, not really sure what she wanted to say or how to say it. "I don't know; I felt something when our eyes met that I've never felt before."
"Really?" Phoebe asked with a smirk. "Cole would love to hear that."
"Oh, sh . . .oot." Paige said. "He's that friend he told me about, isn't he?"
"Yep," Phoebe answered with a wide grin as she got up to rinse the berries one final time.
"Um and he is a lawyer, damn. And it looked like there was so much potential."
"Oh, come on. You're not going to pass up the chance of knowing a great guy just because he's a friend of Cole's and a lawyer, are you?"
"Well," Paige drew out the word and then with a wide smile said, "No, but can we try to make Cole believe that I would?"
Phoebe laughed and said, "Sure."
Piper wasn't as amused, however. She tried to tell Paige what they had witnessed when Bryan had come into the house, but Phoebe forestalled her and suggested that Paige go upstairs and had a shower.
After she had gone, Piper turned to Phoebe and demanded, "Why did you do that?"
"Do what?" Phoebe asked with an innocent face.
"Stopped me from telling Paige that Bryan is magical." Piper clarified.
"Because you were going to tell her," Phoebe asked as she sat back down and took a sip of her glass of wine.
Piper just looked at her and in an exasperated tone asked again, "Exactly, so why did you stopped me?"
"Because," Phoebe answered slowly as she played with her glass's stem. "I don't think we should tell her."
"Why?" Piper asked as she too took a seat next to Phoebe.
"Because what are we going to tell her, really?"
"That Bryan is magical," Piper answered with a 'what the hell else do you think I'm talking about' expression on her face.
"And how do we know that?" Phoebe asked.
"How do we. . .?" Piper started to ask. "Oh, come on, Phoebe! Remember the wind that came from nowhere and the chandelier shaking and emitting the silver light? Come on, you were there. You can't mean to tell me you don't think he's magic, can you?"
"Yes, I was there. And you're right, chances are pretty good he's magic. But we don't really know that, do we?" Phoebe asked. "So, what exactly are we going to tell her? We don't have anything but the fact that a strong wind blew the door shut . . ."
"And the light from the chandelier," Piper interrupted.
"Seriously, Piper. We don't know anything for certain. Besides," Phoebe added quickly when she saw Piper's face. "I don't think we should tell her."
"What!" Piper asked incredulously. "Why?"
"Because," Phoebe answered slowly. "I think that Paige deserves the chance to get to know Bryan and find out whether he's the one for her or not, don't you?"
"I guess," Piper said not sounding very sure at all. "But shouldn't she know everything there is to know?"
"What everything?" Phoebe said with a sigh and then shook her head and went on before they could get back into that argument. "Piper, all I'm saying is that Paige deserves the chance to get to know Bryan for who he is, without magic getting involved. She deserves the same chance we got."
"That we got?" Piper asked. "What the heck are you talking about? I fell for a whitelighter that ended up being an elder and you fell for a demon that became the source of all evil. When has magic not being involved in our relationships? Heck, the only reason I met Leo was because we were assigned to him and Cole was after us when you met him."
"Ok, all that's true." Phoebe admitted as she leaned her elbows on the table. "But we didn't know that they had an agenda at first, did we? We got the chance to get to know and fall in love with Leo and Cole, not the whitelighter and Belthezor. For a while there, we were just two women falling in love and Paige deserves that, doesn't she?"
"Yes, but does she also deserve to go through all the hell we went through?" Piper asked as she also leaned forward on the table. "Shouldn't our experiences help her, so that she won't go through all the anguish and tears we went through?"
"Maybe," Phoebe allowed. "But do you really think knowing that Bryan is magical will make it easier for her?"
"Sure," Piper answered firmly, completely sure of herself. "Don't you?"
"I'm not sure. I mean would knowing that Leo was a whitelighter have really made it easier for you? Or would it have just made it harder? Would we be sitting here with them down the hall, if we had known they were magical?"
"Sure," Piper said, though not quite as firmly. "If it was really meant to be, we would."
"Oh, come on, Piper." Phoebe exclaimed as she leaned back on her chair. "You know as well as me that destiny doesn't work like that. Things that are meant to be happened but when and how they happened depends on our free will. If you had known about Leo from the beginning, you would have run as fast and far away from him as you could, wouldn't you?"
"Well," Piper began to answer as she took great interest on her glass.
"Yes, you would, especially if you'd known about the whole forbidding thing. You actually broke up with him because it, remember?"
"Phoebe, it wasn't that simple," Piper began to protest.
"Of course it wasn't that simple," Phoebe agreed. "Nothing about what we went through was simple and that's just what I mean."
"Oh, you're confusing the hell out of me, Phoebe," Piper said as she rubbed her forehead, she wasn't very fond of remembering those days.
Phoebe sighed and said, "I know sweetie. I also know you don't like to talk about this stuff. But my point is that whatever crazy things we went through later on, we'd had that time – that simple time when we just got to know each other. And that was probably what got us through all the hard times. We knew how good it could be. If we hadn't had that time, if we had found out about them before – we wouldn't be here." Phoebe asserted.
"You don't know that," Piper argued. "We might very well still be here."
"Please, Piper," Phoebe said as she got up to refill their glasses. "You might have ended up with Dan before you came to your senses. And we might have very well vanquished Belthezor before I got to know Cole."
"Ok, you might have a point," Piper conceded as she accepted the refilled glass. "But I don't like the idea of not telling Paige. We would be keeping something really important, that concerns her, from her. We've never done that before."
"Well," Phoebe said, really stretching the word.
Piper looked at her and then said with a mock glare, "Oh, that's right. You have. You knew that Leo was a whitelighter before I did and you didn't tell me."
Phoebe smiled and said, "You're welcome."
Piper just looked at her for a long time and just when Phoebe started to think she really was mad, said, "I don't know if Paige would be as grateful. I know I wasn't when I found out you'd lied to me."
"I didn't really lie," Phoebe protested. "I just didn't tell you about it."
"Same difference, Phoebe." Piper argued. "But seriously, do we have the right to keep this from her?"
"Keep what from her, Piper?" Phoebe asked. "Really, we don't know anything - not sure. You say that she won't appreciate it if we keep it from her. But she's just as likely to get mad if we try to warn her away from him."
Piper knew Phoebe was right but, "We wouldn't really be warning her away from him, we would just warning her about possible . . .dangers- magical dangers; that's all." Piper had began very sure of herself but ended very slowly, realizing that Phoebe was right and Paige might very well get mad at them if they say anything. "Ok, you're right. She might get mad. But is that enough reason not to say anything?"
"That alone, no, of course not. But to give her the time she needs? Yes, I think that is more than enough reason."
Piper thought about it a bit more and then somewhat reluctantly agreed. "Ok, I guess you're right. You're the one with a Psycology major after all."
"Yes, I am," Pheobe happily agreed.
"If you're sure, I guess we can keep quite for a while. But we're doing some research to see if we can find anything on what he might be." Piper said firmly as she got up to put the last touches on the meal.
"Of course, goes without saying. I'm just waiting for dinner to be over and I'll be all over the BOS." Phoebe agreed just as firmly. After all, giving their sister some time didn't mean they weren't going to look out for her.