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 7: I've Been Thinking . . .
After a few seconds of silence during which Paige drank her soda and Piper, Leo and Cole sipped their wines, Phoebe spoke up. "Now that we're all together, there's something that I've been meaning to talk to you about."
They all looked at her and she groaned, "Don't look at me like that! It's nothing bad, I promise."
"Sorry, Phoebe," Piper said as she shrugged. "What is it you want to say?"
"I was showing the kids the photos of the tuxes they'll wear for the wedding," she began while Piper and Paige rolled their eyes, they should have known it had something to do with the wedding. Phoebe ignored them and continued, "when Wyatt asked me about your wedding." She said pointing at Piper and Leo.
Piper smiled up at Leo from where she was lying against his chest and Leo smiled back down at her. "And what did you tell him?" Piper asked.
"I told him and Chris that it was a beautiful wedding. And he asked me if mine would be anything like it," Phoebe said.
"I sure hope not," Cole muttered under his breath.
It wasn't quite under his breath since Piper protested, "Hey, it was a beautiful wedding. Wasn't it, Leo?"
Cole just rolled his eyes as Leo calmly answered, "Yes, it was a dear." Though he too, silently, hoped that they wouldn't have a repeat of it. One wedding full of magical problems was quite enough.
"But telling the kids about it," Phoebe continued ignoring the interruptions. "made me remember and I got to thinking . . ."
"You shouldn't do that, Phoebe," Paige said with a smile. "It's not good for you."
Phoebe looked at her and stuck her tongue before going back to talking, "I got to thinking that Piper had mom and grams at her wedding, but I won't be able to have them there."
"Phoebe," Piper said as she leaned forward to reassure her younger sister. "that's not true. Mom and grams will be around, you know that. I didn't even know mom was coming until the last minute, I'm sure they'll be around."
"Maybe," Phoebe answered. "But they won't be able to be there with me, you know. They won't be able to actually take part in it and I want that."
"Phoebe," Piper sighed, having an idea where this was going.
"What?" Phoebe asked with an innocent expression, which then turned hard with determination as she continued, "You had them there, why can't I?"
Paige opened her mouth to tell Phoebe exactly why she couldn't but something in the looks Piper and Phoebe were exchanging made her hesitate and asked instead, "What? What am I missing?"
Leo looked from Phoebe to Piper and his eyes widened as he caught on, "Oh, you're kidding me, right?"
"No, I am not. I'm pretty serious, actually," Phoebe said firmly.
"What? What is it? What are you guys talking about?" Paige demanded again. It wasn't often anymore that she felt left out of a conversation. It's been so long since she met her sisters that sometimes it seemed like she'd known them all her life. But from time to time they would get into a conversation about something that happen before they've met and she would get that left out feeling again. Luckily, it rarely lasted and they came less and less often.
Phoebe looked at her and with a shake of her head said, "Sorry, Paige. It's just that I've," she paused and looked up at Cole and with a smile said, "we've decided that we'd like a hand-fasting."
"A hand-fasting?" Paige asked.
"Phoebe!" Piper exclaimed exasperated.
"You're ok with this?" Leo asked Cole.
Cole shrugged and said, "If it makes Phoebe happy."
"So what? She should have everything that makes her happy? Everything she gets into her head?"
"If at all possible, sure, why not?" Cole answered.
Piper just shook her head as she exchanged glances with Paige and muttered under her breath, "God, you spoil her rotten."
Paige just smiled her agreement. While she agreed with Piper that Phoebe was spoiled rotten by Cole, she found it beyond amusing that Piper made such a big deal of it when she was just as spoiled by Leo. It might not be in the same way but then Piper and Phoebe were different persons; Leo was subtler when it came to spoiling her, but she was as spoil as Phoebe and everyone there knew it – with the noticeable exception of Piper.
Phoebe had let them all get it out, "You done?" She looked around and then said, "Good. Now, care to tell me why you think this is such a bad idea?" Her tone made it clear that she was not going to agree with anything they said and would in fact argue every little argument.
"Phoebe," Piper began hesitantly, not sure what to say. "It's not that we think it's a bad idea. But do you really think it's such a good ideal?"
"Piper," Phoebe said with a bemused smile. "What's the difference?"
"Phoebe," Piper said on a sigh, "You have as much a right to have a hand-fasting as I or Paige, but do you remember all the trouble I went through before it was allowed? And I was marrying an angel."
"Fat good it did you," Phoebe muttered.
"Exactly!" Piper nodded as she leaned forward to press her point. "If they made that big a deal when I was marrying an angel can you imagine the size of the explosion when they find out you're marrying Balthazor, the ex-source of all evil. And there's just no way that you can keep it from them since you need their permission for mom and grams to be here."
"I know that I have to tell them," Phoebe said. "But I'm not marrying Balthazor; I'm marrying Cole. Balthazor's been vanquished as was the source. You know that."
"Yes, I do but do you really think they are going to see the difference?" Piper asked.
"If they don't, then I guess we are just going to have to make them see it," Phoebe asserted.
"What are you saying, Phoebe?" Paige asked with something like dread in her tone.
Phoebe looked at everyone in the room before saying, "I'm saying that we should go up there and have a little talk with the Elders. I'm saying that it is about time we finally put all our cards on the table and come to some sort of truce."
"You can't be serious," Paige said in an incredulous tone.
"Phoebe, tell me you're kidding," Leo pleaded. "You don't really want to go up there, do you?"
Cole, who had not heard about this before, took one look at the determination on Phoebe's face and bypassed her completely. "You deal with her," He told Piper.
Piper looked eyes with Phoebe for a few seconds and then nodded her head and said, "I think she's right."
If Phoebe's little announcement had surprised the others, Piper's stunned them all into to silence. They were after all used to Phoebe's outrageous suggestions; they were not used to Piper being the one to support those suggestions. After a few seconds of complete silence, Paige and Leo broke out with a loud: "WHAT!"
Phoebe just smiled and settled back against the couch, while Cole just got a very pensive look on his face and studied Piper's face as if she were an insect under a microscope.
Piper for her part just let them all go on and on, while she calmly took a sip of her glass of wine.
"I think Phoebe's right." She repeated when Paige and Leo run out of steam.
"Piper, you can't be serious?" Paige was almost pleading with her eldest sister.
"Why not?" Piper answered as she turned her head to look into Paige's eyes. "This," she waved her arms around the round as she searched for the right term, "struggle has gone on long enough, don't you agree? We have to settle this thing betweens us once and for all. It's not right that Paige has to play go between us and heal us when she already has her own charges to deal with. And, no offense, sweetie, but as good as I know you are with them, the kind of things we get into is just a little out of your range."
Paige made a face but had to nod her head in agreement. As a good a job as she felt she was doing with her own charges, being the whitelighter to the Charmed was just something she was not ready for.
"It's not fair to expect you not only to be a Charmed one but also their whitelighter – that's almost like expecting a doctor to operate on himself."
"Piper's right," Phoebe said looking at Leo and Cole in time. "And you guys know it."
Cole just nodded his head – they were right and he had thought so ever since he found out that the Elders hadn't bother to assign a new whitelighter after they clipped Leo's wings. Heck, he had even said so to Phoebe more than once; there was no way he could now say something different. Besides, the truth was, he didn't really had a problem with the girls going to see the Elders – his only regret was the he wouldn't be there to see the meeting.
Leo passed his fingers through his hair as he acknowledged that the girls had a point. He too had worried about Paige being the de facto whitelighter for the girls. But the idea of them going up there. . . "Ok, you're right. It's not right. But do you think you going up there is the right way to solve it?"
Phoebe nodded her head empathically, Paige seemed to seriously consider the idea and Piper said, "Sure, why not? That way we can go over all our issues once and for all. Phoebe's also right in that she and Cole should be able to have a hand-fasting if that is what they want. We're not the naïve young witches we were and we may no longer think that the Elders know everything. But, they are the Elders and we have to respect their opinions even if we don't always agree with it or always follow it. And they have to respect the fact that we've been fighting evil for the last ten years and that our decisions are not based on whims but on experience."
Paige had listened closely to everything Piper said and had to nod herself. "Piper's right," she said. "I may not have been fighting as long as she and Phoebe but I did have the benefit of being taught by them. We know what we're doing and it is time they acknowledge that."
"Besides, what's going to happen to the boys and Phoebe's and Paige's kids, whenever they have them?" Piper asked.
"What do you mean, what's going to happen to them?" Leo, not quite sure where Piper was going, asked.
"Well, they're witches too, as will any niece or nephew that may come along. They're also going to need to guidance and not only from us. I'm sure that there'll be times when they won't want to talk to us; it'll be nice if they have someone outside the family that they can trust with any magical issue that may arise." Piper clarified.
Leo just stared at her stunned for a few seconds, while Paige and Phoebe nodded their head. "You really want the boys to have a whiteligther?" Leo asked incredulously.
"Want," Piper began to answer, "is a strong word. But I do think that they should. I know that as a teenager sometimes the last thing you want to do if follow your parent's advice, or even go to them in the first place."
"But we have a great relationship with them. And I'm sure that we'll keep it and they won't have any problems coming to us." Leo protested. The idea that his boys would have a problem coming to him with any problem was like a knife to the gut. It brought back the all too painful memories of what the other Chris had come to the past to change.
"I'm sure we will too," Piper agreed. "But that doesn't mean that sometimes is good to talk with someone outside the family."
"Piper's right," Phoebe agreed. "I don't think you'll have any problem communicating with the boys, but they'll want someone outside us to talk to from time to time. And frankly that's a healthy attitude. As close one may be to one's family, it is always a good idea to have a support system outside of it. It balances things."
Leo nodded but still didn't look terribly convinced. Cole in the other hand just looked thoughtful.
"You've been very quite and that's not like you," Phoebe said looking at up Cole. "You don't have anything to say?"
Cole looked down at her and shrugged. "What can I say? You guys seemed to have made up your minds. And I know how hard it is to change them once that happens. Beside I think you're right. It is about time that you settle this thing between you and the Elders once and for all. I don't know how I feel about any child of mine being assigned a whitelighter, but Paige should definitely not have to keep playing whitelighther to you guys – it's a lot to ask of her. Plus, some advice from the outside wouldn't be the worst thing. I just wish I'd be able to go with you guys."
"Why? You worry about us?" Paige asked with a smirk. "Don't be. We can take care of ourselves. Beside, they wouldn't do anything to the Charmed Ones; they're the good guys."
"Oh, I know," Cole replied as he sipped his wineglass. "I'm not worry about you guys. I am a bit concern about them, though. And I'd love to see their faces when you show up up there."
"Cole," Leo reprimanded him. "This is no joking matter." Leo's voice had taken the same preaching tone he'd had during his most uptight days – back when he was the Elder's golden boy.
"Oh, relax, Leo," Cole, who had never quite appreciated this side of Leo, said. "It's not the end of the world either. It's not like the girls are going to do anything to them. You heard them; they just want to go up there and talk like civilized adults." This was said with Cole's most sarcastic smirk.
Leo just looked at him with disbelieving eyes, like he could not believe what Cole had just said. And Cole just knew that Leo was remembering the huge, shouting match that the girls had had just yesterday and the one the week before and the one two days before that. All arguments that had began over what to the guys were inconsequential things and which were forgotten half an hour later – and all of which rivaled Wyatt and Chris's worst tantrums.
"Well enough talking," Piper said as she got up. "If we're going to do this, let's just don it."
"What? Now?" Leo asked.
"Sure," Phoebe said as she too got up. "Why wait?" She then leaned back and kissed Cole on the lips, "bye, baby."
"Ok," Paige said as she to got up and went to stand by Phoebe at the center of the room. "Let's go."
Piper leaned down to kissed Leo and told him and Cole, "Don't keep the boys up too late."
She then held hand with her sisters and off they went in a burst of white-blue lights.
Leo turned to look at Cole and asked, "Like civilized adults? You do know who you're talking about, right?"
Cole just smile and said, "Like I said, I'd love to be there."
Leo looked at him for another few seconds and then with sigh scrubbed his hand over his face and as he leaned back into the couch, he muttered, "You're worse than they are."
Cole just smirked and sipped his wine as he too leaned back into the couch and straightened his arm along the back. "Well, I at least have an excuse."
Leo looked at him curiously and Cole replied with a huge grin. "My mother was a demon. Though, with seeing as Grams raised them, they might have an excuse too." He then chuckled at Leo's moan.