For the Charmed Ones to be under one "roof" took two years. We had to weave the past with our present without going insane. Around strangers and non-family, we used our present names, but around the house, we still used our given P names, except for Piper.

Piper didn't leave San Francisco; she just moved in as Mom and Dad sold the house in Illinois. She wanted to start her new life as soon as possible and forget the mess she left there. Enrolling into San Francisco Culinary Academy, Piper wanted to return to the restaurant business, and she insisted that people called her Piper instead of Holly.

Instead of her past life interfering with her present, she used it to her advantage. The technology might have changed, but skill and technique were never out of style. In the first two weeks, Piper blew through her lessons that beginning chefs struggle with. She was always the first one finished, and her food was amazing as it ever did.

One of the chefs, Chef Keith Cho, pulled her aside and began to see what she already knew. Piper filleted, sautéed, and grilled; she prepared appetizers, entrees, and desserts including pastries and frozen. Cho was impressed with her skills and wondered if she came from a restaurant family. Her teachers thought that a more practical training was needed to hone her skills further; Cho volunteered to take Piper under his wing.

Piper wondered if Chef Cho was really Mark Chao, the murdered Chinese man who needed a proper burial in order to go to Heaven. Through their time together, Piper fell in love with him and his love of cooking. As a gift, Mark had given her a box of family recipes that she would be able to use in her cooking. On the Chef's birthday, Piper prepared Peking Duck from Mark's family recipe. Cho tasted the delicacy, and he had tears in his eyes. Piper proved he was the same soul.

Cho offered Piper his executive chef position at the year mark, but Piper had wanted to start her own restaurant. Instead of begging Piper to stay, he helped finance Halliwell's. He had that much faith in her. Piper knew she wanted the same policies as before—hiring the magical, and she had the faith to tell Cho. It was surprising Cho didn't react; he believed it explained a lot of her abilities. Of course, she wanted to own a restaurant—she already had, decades before Cho was born.

With Piper's new restaurant, it involved everyone in the family. Kip was back to normal, and he designed the interior and the exterior of the restaurant. His horticultural/fairy experience made the rooms homey yet classical. I was in charge of advertising and the visual look of the restaurant. My pictures were published in the daily news scans, and the culinary world was already buzzing of this talented genius. Piper didn't get a big head; she knew it wasn't genius-it was plain old experience.

As the opening of her restaurant was approaching, Mom and Dad had sold the house in Illinois. Their new house was one block from the Manor. Mom created the menus, while Dad helped with the accounting. They both left profitable careers, but their girls meant more than any money in the world.

As the months went on, Grams' condition was getting worse. Phoebe tried to keep her comfortable and keep the store going with her news scan job. Finally, Darryl orbed Mom to Salem, so she could take care of her. By late September, we lost her.

Grams' funeral was the first time since the prophecy we had been together. We mourned for her, but Phoebe had known it for weeks. In those weeks, Phoebe quit her job and made arrangements for another witch to take care of the shop. The witch paid handsomely for the store and promised to keep Grams' spirit alive. Phoebe, Mom, and I dealt with the logistics of the assets and the moving to San Francisco. Darryl and Shelia's orbing moving company made the transition easier, and Phoebe replanted herself by mid-November.

Phoebe was pulled into Piper's/the family's restaurant immediately. With her empathic and prophetic abilities, Phoebe was in charge of hiring. We did have to vanquish a couple demons along the way, though. They thought we wouldn't notice. We weren't sure if the demonic world knew that the Charmed Ones were reborn, but they did know that there was high activity in the Manor again.

Phoebe thought Coop would have entered the picture. Everyone was with her mate, but not her. Phoebe was almost thirty before meeting Coop, and Coop was sent to her as a reward for her endurance and perseverance throughout the years. The demon was right; she could have had it all—being the Queen of the Underworld and a powerful husband to boot, but she wouldn't change it. Her love of her sisters had overruled evil and sacrificed her love for Cole. In all, Phoebe was bummed, but like before, she would endure it.

Paige was the symbol of endurance. Like the past life, Paige was the last to arrive in San Francisco and the Manor; however, it didn't go as she had planned. In fact, it was disastrous. Her husband, Ivan, freaked when Paige revealed her powers to him. Henry had accepted it and dealt with it, but Ivan couldn't handle the shock.

Several days, Ivan wouldn't talk to Paige. He moved out of their bedroom and into the guest room. He left early and arrived home late. Paige was beside herself. Phoebe did come to help Paige; she would comfort Paige and reassure her that her husband would turn around after the initial shock.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen. Ivan walked into the kitchen, and Paige thought that they would talk. Instead, he wanted a trial separation. He didn't want to deal with Paige and her powers. She agreed, and she moved to San Francisco. Paige believed if Ivan was Henry Mitchell, he would come around, someday.

Even with that attitude, Paige was inconsolable and wandered through life for several weeks. After her shock, she was hired at the San Francisco's Department of Children's Services, and she began to engage again. Placing her own grief aside, she prevented pain and abuse of San Franciscan children. Through her social work, magical creatures found her alike her past life. She was able to help the magical community with all the "bumps" in the night.

Alike to Phoebe, Paige wondered if she would meet her biological father, Sam, again—whether by accident or design. She wasn't neglected; Dad spoiled Paige as much as he did with his own daughters. He never blamed Paige for her existence, and alike to the past life, treated her equally.

Dad accepted Leo as his son-in-law without the marriage certificate. Leo and Piper were a couple and a test of lifetimes. He feared his daughter would marry Leo immediately, but the restaurant took her time, which was fine with Dad. Leo had to return to Georgia and finish his medical exams. He visited Piper off and on through the two years, and Leo had to finish his residency in Atlanta.

Leo finally accepted who he was, and Kyle and he began a new relationship. Leo as well as Kyle wanted to put his medical experience to use, since Leo was only half-whitelighter. He didn't want to heal people miraculously and expose magic to the outside world. Piper and he had strange hours, and like before, they would go through some difficult times, but they accepted it.

Finally, my sisters and I were together, and we worked together as a family. Demons did attack the Manor, and with care in mind, we planned carefully and executed cleanly. Paige and Phoebe shared an apartment near the Manor and lived as single ladies. Paige hadn't spoken to her husband for six months and was waiting for the divorce papers to arrive, and she wouldn't fight it.

The restaurant opened without a hitch, and Piper and Cho had a profitable night. The entire family including Darryl and Shelia celebrated the new Halliwell's. Near the end of the night, Paige's husband arrived. Ivan didn't have divorce papers with him; he had come to apologize for his behavior. In his mind, his life wasn't complete with Paige, and Paige felt the same way. They knew they would have to work together, and Ivan would have to deal with the Darrin Stevens role like Henry did. Again, whenever demons entered the picture, we thought about our family and the impact of our actions.

Shannen Aster didn't go away. In fact, Prue Halliwell took a back seat for most of the time. Kip was right; we had to learn from our past mistakes, no matter how far in the past it was. Our Charmed lives integrated with our current lives smoothly most of the time.

I didn't mind not having any drama happening to me. Being on the back burner was new, but I continued to spend time with my sisters, my husband, and my daughter. My only stress was little Piper; she was constantly freezing objects and trying to blow them up like her Aunt Piper. Pray, she doesn't figure this out, yet.

To prevent permanent house damage, I sent Piper to the backyard for her "experiments." With the tall fence and leafy trees surrounding the grounds, exposure was not going to be a problem. I watched her from the kitchen table.

"Hey." I spun around and saw Cole. Cole? Dressed in a gray suit and black turtleneck, Cole looked stunning.

"Cole? What—"

"I came to congratulate you for saving your line—the whole family." It had been two years since the Blood Collector. Why now?

"Thanks." Why did he look like—himself? "Are you a whitelighter, too, like Darryl and Shelia?"

"No," Cole chuckled, "the Elders wouldn't dream of that after all I'd done. I was given a…different…job." Cole conjured a clipboard, a black clipboard.

I knew that clipboard. "You're an Angel of Death, aren't you?"

Cole nodded. "The Elders didn't really want me in circulation again, so they chose a job that fitted my…personality. I wasn't in Hell or Limbo. All was good."

"How long have you've been Death?"

"Fifty or sixty years." Cole hadn't changed or aged over the years. He smiled, "I actually like it. I get to comfort those who leave the world and take them to their families."

I panicked, "You're not here for me, are you?"

He laughed, "No and not your daughter. I've been watching over the Halliwell family for years, and when the four of you popped up again, I was worried, especially for you and Phoebe. I know Phoebe's worried that she'll be single forever and be an old maid; I don't want her to think that, but I can't solve the problem either. I cannot tell the future. I am who I am." When Death approached me before, he had the same thing. Death is not good or evil; it is, what it is.

"You are with the person who you are supposed to be with. I know if Andy was alive, you've married him and lived happily with him. I know I was in the right place at the wrong time. Phoebe will be happy. Please tell her to not lose faith in love. It will come to her as before."

I didn't approach him, but I still felt near to him. "We'll see you again?"

"Yes, but I'm afraid it won't be at the best of times. Blessed be."
Cole's body swirled in a black smoke and disappeared.

The prophecy had brought my family together and awarded those who were dedicated to us.

"WOO-WHO!" I heard little Piper screamed.

I opened the kitchen door and saw little Piper making ice cubes into slush. Dammit.