A/N: Okie. This is the part where I'll be sticking as closely to the plot line and the script as possible, but not too much to infringe copyright. It's just a bit tricky trying to draw the line between what's my imagination and the actual writers' imaginations. XD If you haven't watched this episode, you will kind of have to. I don't know if it'll make much sense, coz I've skipped so many scenes and added stuff of my own.

It's based on the first episode of Season 3, 'The Honeymoon's Over', where they fight off the Guardians and Cole is officially introduced as a cast member. I didn't write the ending of the episode here, so if you wanna know what happens next, go watch it on Youtube ^.^ It's all there, the username's Powerofthree4 and she's got all the eps till Season 7 I think.

DISCLAIMER: Blah-di-blaah-di-blah… Don't own them. Never did, never will. Don't own New Found Glory either or any of their songs. Although I like to think I do… XD

Chapter Two - How Far?

And I can tell you're going through the motion
I figured you were acting out your part,
Once again we're playing off emotion
Which one of us will burn until the end?

- All Downhill From Here (New Found Glory)

Prue and Phoebe took their jackets and ran out the manor for Prue's car. Darryl had just suddenly cut off the phone call. Him being in danger was a minor understatement.

Guardians:
This symbol of darkness
indicates the presence
of a great evil.
An opening by which demons
known as the Guardians
steal an innocent soul.
In exchange, the Guardian
offers protection
of the mortal evil
during his time on earth.

Seriously, even if he was a cop and had the biggest machine gun in the world, he wouldn't be able to fend off something that didn't respond to mere human ammunition. Besides, if they were that easy to defeat, why would the world need witches then?

The Book of Shadows had said something about vanquishing the Guardian like a vampire. Not that they were Buffy or anything, but they'd probably manage right? They were witches, for crying out loud. It didn't require the Power of Three, so they weren't too screwed yet. Phoebe had been showing her concern quite openly for the past week, approaching a whole month since Piper left. They did have her telekinesis and astral projection, and Phoebe's premonitions would most likely save them from mortal danger, but without Piper, they wouldn't be able to vanquish demons with only The Power of Two. Was there even such a thing? Phoebe had every right to be worried, but if Prue started worrying and being pessimistic as well, then they would really be helpless.

Prue turned the corner as fast as she could without forcing the car too much. Phoebe opened the car door just barely after the car had even stopped. Within a few seconds, they were inside the club craning their necks above the crowd to look for any signs of Darryl. Phoebe spotted a door on the other side of the dance floor and signaled Prue to that direction. Making their way through the dancing crowd, they reached a dark alley way.

Oh god…

There was a body on the concrete floor. Prue and Phoebe dashed to reach her. She had the mark on her forehead, an inverted triangle. She was already dead. Glancing behind them to look for anything else they might have missed, they caught a bald guy with what looked like a dagger in midair ready to stab someone on the floor unconscious.

"Darryl" said Phoebe, recognizing the body. "Prue!"

Moving fast, Prue waved her hand sending the guy flying onto a big metal garbage container and they both ran for the body on the ground.

"He's alive" said Phoebe after checking his pulse.

"Uh, I think I found the Guardian," Prue said glancing apprehensively at the guy she had just flung.

It wasn't the guy exactly. His corporeal body was actually unconscious and still lying down, but there was another man, or whatever it was that vaguely looked like a man, coming out of him; kind of like a soul half-way separated from his mortal body. And like the picture in the Book, he had an inverted triangle on his forehead.

"Okay, get rid of it!" said Phoebe in a panicky voice

Something… Anything. Oh, pointy bar! she thought as she flung the bar to stab him. And stab it did, except it did not do much damage while going through the demon. It was like he was a ghost.

"Uh oh,"

"Wait, I thought you said it was like a vampire? Why does he seem more like a ghost?" Phoebe asked, her voice going up a notch.

"I might've misread that part…" she answered.

"I'm sorry?" her sister's voice raised in indignation.

Prue just gestured at her saying that was not the point. There was a bald ghost coming at them with a curvy knife. This was definitely not the time to discuss such minor technicalities.

Okay, yeah, maybe an important technicality.

The Guardian rose higher into the air and approached them, dagger on his hand, ready to take their souls next.

"Oh… Okay! Aim for the rune!"

Prue flung the other half of the bar she'd thrown before where Phoebe was pointing at, nailing his forehead. His see-through body filled with thunder and self-combusted. It was so satisfying when the demon went out with a bang… Although, it was a bitch to clean up.

"Okay, if Piper ever comes back, I'm going to kill her!" said Phoebe.

Prue, Darryl and Phoebe looked at each other uncomfortably. After Darryl had regained his consciousness, they called the Police Department, which called the appropriate agencies to come over at the crime scene. The ambulance had come over and the medics gave all three of them a check up, but mostly focused on Darryl. His colleagues were also making forensic reports on the dead girl. Phoebe's premonitions were very useful, but sometimes they were just too cryptic or would not give away the full picture. This time, it had only focused on Darryl, who was the one in immediate danger. Prue and Phoebe felt sorry they didn't make it in time for the girl. After the check ups, they waited for the emergency officer to leave before they discussed anything. They knew the question had been coming. Phoebe had already showed her dislike for being a witness, but after Darryl's explanation, they could clearly not take that option. Emilio, the bald guy, could actually get away if they didn't testify. Apparently, murdering someone and attempting to murder another person wasn't enough to send him to jail. What's worse, he'd seen them using their powers to defeat him. Even though most people would think he was a nut job, they could not leave loose ends just like that.

"What are we supposed to say to them?"

Prue looked at Phoebe. It was the old-age question they'd been asking themselves for almost three years now. Why couldn't just people not worry about details of how and where and just be happy that everything was fine now?

"I mean, the truth isn't exactly going to sit well with them. They might even consider putting us in jail." Phoebe continued, looking at Darryl.

"She's right. We can't testify without putting our secret in danger. It would be way too easy to let something slip, especially when some things can not be explained." Prue concurred.

"You just need to get your stories straight." Darryl stated.

Yeah, you try doing that! Prue thought.

"You mean, lie." Phoebe deadpanned

Maybe it was possible, but it would be really tricky. This was one of those times when their supposed Whitelighter could be of much help. Wasn't he supposed to come when they needed it anyway? So much for being a guardian angel!

"We'd have to explain why Darryl called us though." Prue realized. That would be a problem indeed. Why would he be calling two sisters while chasing a bad guy anyway?

"I'll just tell them I was checking up on you two."

"While on duty?" Phoebe asked.

"It's possible. They wouldn't really need many details about that part unless I died." he replied. "And clearly, I am not, thanks to you guys."

"Okay… So we pretty much just came looking for you because your call was cut off and we were worried." Prue stated. "And then…"

"And then we kicked Emilio's ass. Although we came in too late for that poor girl." Phoebe finished, glancing at the stretcher that was being loaded onto the ambulance.

"What's he so happy about?" asked Prue, referring to Emilio who was manically laughing inside the police car. "It's not like he's got his guardian demon to protect him anymore."

It was bizarre. Had he lost it already? It wouldn't be too surprising considering a demon had lived inside of him for who knows how long, but there was something definitely eerie about that. He was busted, he was going to jail. Unless he had buddies there to party with, you wouldn't think he'd be too happy about it, much less laughing is ass off.

"It doesn't matter, so long as you testify." Darryl commented. "Here comes the ADA."

Prue shifted a little to see the guy properly, while Phoebe turned around. He wasn't bad. Not bad at all… Except his face was way too familiar for her comfort. Why did it feel like she'd met him before?

"Ladies. My name is Cole Turner and I'm the Assistant District Attorney assigned to this case." the guy said, introducing himself. "I was wondering if either of you saw what happened here."

Cole… Cole… No it doesn't ring a bell. But his face… Definitely familiar. Where have I seen him before? Prue frowned while she raked her head, trying to subdue the nagging feeling. It was like she'd forgotten a chunk of her memory. A very important chunk indeed. What's wrong with me these days?

And then it clicked. Although to her ears it was more like there had been a sudden crack on the Earth's surface. Before she could say anything though, Phoebe had been way ahead of her.

"I did!" she said, a little bit too perkily for Prue's taste.

She rolled her eyes. That was just so… Phoebe. She would've stopped her but she was already gone, probably flirting her ass off. Although she had every right to hate him, she could still understand her sister's eagerness. He was cute. Why hadn't she noticed that before?

And ALSO, a perverted sleaze ball! Don't you dare forget that part! the voice in her head added.

True. Wow. Their attorney was the guy who had deliberately tried to take her top off. This was going to be fun…

Cole watched the witch in front of him. Phoebe, was it? She looked exactly like in the pictures, except maybe for the hair. It had dark blonde highlights. She must've dyed it recently then… If anything, it actually suited her. Getting to work, he asked all of the basic questions: what time they got there, what did they see first… The order of events, specifically taking down the notes for the case. He did know how to do his job, of course. It was just really fortunate for him to have met them on this particular moment and at this particular occasion. How fortunate indeed.

"We got there around three minutes after Inspector Darryl's phone call got cut off," she started answering. "And we tried looking for him inside the club first before going outside at the back…"

While paying attention to what she was saying, he did not fail to notice the surprised look on the other Halliwell's face. He had to smile when he saw she had recognized him. Her face had this nice mixture of indignation, anger and… was that a flicker of restraint he'd seen?

Suddenly her head turned on their direction. She was probably just checking on her sister when her eyes widened and turned away again, as if she'd gotten burnt. For a split millisecond, their eyes locked. Amused at the turn of events he directed his attention smiling back at Phoebe, who had been relating the happenings with quite an amount of detail.

"… and then we called you guys." Phoebe concluded.

Good thing he was already smiling when she looked back at him. It didn't seem too obvious he had been distracted there for a moment nor had she noticed he had been looking at her sister instead of her.

"Thank you. This will help very much with the case," he said, writing down the weapon's name and the basic events.

"Glad I could help" she said to him.

"Do you mind if I ask more questions later, if I think of anything else?" he asked. "This should be enough, but you never know…"

"Oh sure, anytime!" Phoebe grinned even more.

"Thanks. See you tomorrow!" he said, putting the notepad in his pocket and flashing her another kind smile before turning around to get to his car.

Now he could retreat. It was a bit slow, but surely he would succeed. He couldn't get too close to the oldest Halliwell yet. She might cause quite a ruckus and ruin his chances with Phoebe. If he'd read her hesitation right, Prudence would not be telling Phoebe about what had transpired last week anytime soon. If she did, well… It was not like it would ruin his chances of killing them. He would just have to be more subtle. It would help if they were more receptive of him. Actually, he wouldn't mind if they were receptive of him at all. If only he weren't supposed to kill them, they might have actually gotten along quite well.

She had told Phoebe… Or at least tried anyway. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell her. It was just that there hadn't been a single appropriate moment to 'un-infatuate' her. Not that anything could actually get through any of their heads these days. What, with Piper and Leo suddenly coming back from their one-month trip as if only a day had passed, or the fact that the court trial had been a disaster, there wasn't much room left for anything else.

Emilio had been arrested but also released, and with one of the most feeble excuses to boot. He got away because they did not have the stupid weapon: the athame the Guardian had used, which combusted itself into a million tiny pieces along with its demonic owner. It's not as if they would be able to fingerprint scans on it anyway since the guy was a ghost, but to release someone who was clearly a criminal with the fact that they didn't have the weapon? They had two witnesses. TWO. That was just way too suspicious. They had to have been helping him or something. Now, what they couldn't understand was, which ones were the demons in league with Emilio?

And then Phoebe actually liked Cole. She'd said 'maybe', but if she knew her sister at all, that 'maybe' had already something budding to back it up.

"All I know is Cole is an angel. He was awesome in that court room yesterday," Phoebe said "It's just nice to run into someone that's not a college boy. More years, less hormones."

She looked so relaxed (or as relaxed as one could be on this given situation) whenever either of them mentioned him. If only he were as nice a guy as she'd initially thought he was, then maybe she could be thoroughly happy for her. For now though, all she could do was look out for her. Telling her now would only make them argue with each other since she would probably not listen to her and attribute her worrying to the nerves over these past few weeks. She'd be the paranoid one. Yay.

Turning the wheel of her car to make a right turn around the corner, she had another set of matters to deal with right now.

Sisterly matters, of course…

As if two problems weren't enough. Piper would need her, or at least needed someone level-headed to talk to. Their 'Welcome Home' argument before did not look pretty, and for Leo and her to argue like that, it must've been something pretty big.

Parking round the back of P3, she turned off the engine of the car and took the keys. Still preoccupied with the thoughts in her head, she opened the door, not noticing the person standing right behind her. She turned around, and funnily enough, she bumped into him.

"You seem to get a kick out of doing that," the guy said.

Recognizing the familiar situation, not to mention the familiar cologne, she backed up and took the first form of Aikido. It was Cole Turner, Assistant District Attorney and pervert.

"Hey, hey… No need to use your super powers on me!" he said joking, raising his hands in mock surrender.

Prue stiffened even more at his comment. "What super powers?"

"You know… Your martial arts powers. I still have a bruise from that night."

Nice save, man. Cole thought, Just enough to catch her, but not too much so she'll kick your ass.

He suspects. Oh my god, he suspects. Calm down, calm down! It was just a snide comment. He couldn't possibly know! Prue repeatedly chanted in her mind. If worse came to worst and he was a demon, she could make a run for it inside P3. At least Piper would be there and she could freeze him.

"You deserved it," Prue said, still on her stance. "And don't think being a lawyer makes up for it."

He chuckled. "I'm not here to fight, I swear!" he told her, "You can put the guns down…"

Well at least not yet , anyway.

She looked at him warily. He seemed to be harmless. She'd managed to fling him across the room once, so she was sure her powers worked on him. She lowered her stance very slowly, as if she were dealing with a free-prancing tiger.

"If you make one move, I'll-"

"Yeah, okay, okay… No moves," he grinned. "I was actually here to talk about the trial…"

"Right," she said dismissively. "What about it?"

"Well, seeing as it didn't really go so well yesterday…"

"Hah, yeah. Him getting away was a little disappointing," she said, rubbing his failure in.

"I was wondering if there was anything else that you guys might know about where the weapon was," he interrupted conversationally, leaning on her car. "I mean… Although Sloan was an asshole, he did kind of make a point."

"Are you saying we're lying?" Prue crossed her arms in front of her, making her voice and expression as offended as possible.

"No, no… I just thought that maybe you'd forgotten about something. Like, I don't know… Where the- what was it? The a… ath-"

"Athame," she clarified.

"Yes, where the athame could have flown off to."

"I didn't really see it." Prue answered, "I mean, after he fell unconscious on that dumpster, we ran to see if Darryl was okay."

"Uhuh… Yeah," he said, frowning. "Why were you there again?"

The question annoyed her. They'd already answered the question countless of times. Couldn't two women care for a friend at two o'clock in the morning? "I don't know! Why did you try to take my top off?"

"Don't dodge the question"

"Well, we already told you, didn't we? We thought he was dead. His phone suddenly went off while talking to him. Why are you being so suspicious of us anyway?" she countered

"I don't know, should I be?" he asked.

"If anything, I should be the one grilling you right now. I still can't believe you even have the guts to come up to me."

"Well, they say I am a confident man, what about you?"

"What about me?"

"What are you hiding?" he leaned closer. Intimidation worked best. That, and their argument was getting really heated. It was so much fun to watch.

She glared at him. "I really don't know what you want," she said, catching her breath at the sudden closeness. "But we already told you everything we know."

He didn't back down though. Her eyes were dead serious and sparks were flying off. If she were challenging him on purpose, he didn't know, but right now, that seemed more like what was happening. She was looking at him like she was daring him to contradict what she'd just said. He leaned in closer, his face on the same level as hers, trying to see how far he could get before she freaked out.

Prue tried to stare him down as best as she could but it didn't seem to work. He wasn't really doing anything… Except maybe pushing the boundaries of social decorum between two strangers. For some reason, she refused to back down. For a moment there she thought she saw something. It was for only a second, and if she had blinked, she probably would've missed it, so she didn't. She didn't catch herself leaning in. She didn't get a whiff of his cologne when the breeze blew either. Nor did she think of any inappropriate thoughts while looking at his face. No. Not at all.

And suddenly, it was gone. He jumped back, like he'd just gotten burnt. He cleared his throat as if trying to clear the awkwardness away. It was hot all of a sudden and Prue looked away… At the ground, the tree, her keys… Anywhere but at him.

"Yeah… Uh," said Cole, breaking the silence. "If anything comes up, just give me a ring."

He took out a card from his suit's pocket and handed it to her.

"I'll… I'll see," she took the card, still not looking at him. Why should she be embarrassed? It wasn't like they made out or anything. At that thought, she mentally kicked herself.

"See you then," he said, motioning to leave.

He started walking out of her car's parking space and was about to make a turn behind her car when he stopped on his tracks. Prue looked up from the card he had handed to her and stared curiously at his back.

He made a full turn and walked decisively to stand in front of her.

What, is he lost? Does he want an encore?

"I wasn't trying to take your top off," he said firmly, "I pushed away the guy who did. And then we both turned around at the same time. That's when you bumped into me."

With that, he backed up again and marched out of her sight, disappearing behind her car.

A/N: I don't know if I'm going to write the rest of the episode as part of this, but I'll see. I've kinda skipped some things and major scenes, so if you're kinda lost, you can just tell me... That's what reviews are for anyway... *hint hint*