Hi so here is another chapter, I hope you enjoy this one and I will do my best to bring you the next one sooner rather than later. There are only seven more chapters left of this story but there are more Charmed stories coming so please stay tuned.

And I want to thank you all for your patience in waiting for this chapter, there has been a lot of personal issues going on recently, hopefully they have now been resolved.

There is now only six more chapters left and these will bring us to the end of Season 7 and one episode of Season 8 (ish). I don't intend to go much into the Billie/Christie thing because I didn't like it at all and Season 8 wasn't the same as the other brilliant Seasons but I will touch on Forever Charmed a little.

Disclaimer-Nothing here is mine just this story.

Please Read and Review .

And thank you all for sticking with this story through the hard times, I appreciate that I have been a bit absent recently but rest assured I am back and so is this story.

Again in case it wasn't made clear in earlier episodes I DESPISE THE ELDERS. There were moments where I legit rooted for the Avatars. At least until...well...Anyway I always wanted the sisters to take on the Elders and finally they did in Season 7 a little.

Mother Of Invention

Chapter 24-Ancient Echoes

Cole goes searching for Zankou when it becomes apparent that the New Power is going for Leo. It turns into a conversation that the half demon and the original demon do not want.

There was nothing more humiliating than asking a bloody child to orb you to the Underworld. Thankfully Wyatt was in his terrible twos stage of magic and he was therefore going to do the exact opposite of what his mother wanted him to do and so therefore Cole with a slab of chocolate cake managed to get himself to the Underworld.

He landed in a heap of sand and winced. God he hated this part of it. Whitelighters. They never did have a sense of direction. He hated the lot of them and he got to his feet brushing sand off his jacket and looked around and—

"Balthazor, what a totally unwelcome surprise"

"Zankou" he said wiping sand off his leg this time. "What an entirely unsurprising welcome"

Zankou was reading his book and he slammed the lid shut and eyed Cole as if he was an unwelcome intruder which to be fair he supposed he was.

"Has something happened?"

"Everything is happening" Cole said sitting down. "My wife is weeks away from giving birth, I am trying to run Piper's club and Leo is getting worse"

"The voices?"

"Yeah, now with floaty little heads. Whatever the new power is they have clearly set their sights on Leo. Problem is that with the new power being so strong and Leo being so weak after Gideon's betrayal…"

"He's easy pray" Zankou said throwing the book to one side. "Damn whitelighters. I assume the Elders—"

"What? Help one of their own? Please, we both know that the Elders will never do that, they don't know the meaning of the world."

There is a pause as Zankou considers that and Cole using that opportunity to sit down poured himself some wine. Demon red. He had forgotten he thought taking a sip, how good the forbidden pleasures were.

"How is…"

"Billie? Fine, she misses you of course, there has been a demon stealing guardian angels and they got Paige—"

"What?!"

"But she is fine now and guardian angels restored." He eyed Zankou critically.

"But you do know of course that, that means that the new power is making demons act irrationally. You cannot tell me that the Underworld is not teaming with concern"

"No" Zankou said pouring himself another glass of wine. "No I can feel it in the air and I can feel it in the ground. People are panicking, demons and warlocks alike. Whatever is coming it is not good"

There's a pause as he takes that in and then.

"Damn, have you ever heard of a situation where demons are doing this? Collecting powers and hoping for the best?"

"Once" Zankou said grinning that shit eating grin that he had that Cole had often hated. "When the Charmed Ones were first on the scene. You must remember that night the Power of Three vanquished their first demon. We all felt the awakening in the magical world"

Cole conceded the point.

He remembered that kind of fear only too well.

There's a long pause as they both drank and then.

"Are the sisters prepared"

"No. They don't know what the plan is and right now they are reluctant to get into bed with the Elders again. It's the Elders pushing for this new power and it's the Elders that are pushing for the Charmed Ones to intervene. Pheobe is distracted by pregnancy, Piper is distracted by fear, concern, hatred, worry etc and Paige…well…Paige my dear friend is distracted by you. And I could sit here and tell you why or ask you why but I've known you a long time and I know what brought that side of you out with your only living child down the hallway. Paige bring up the boys?"

It was only a very long and very complex history with Zankou that Cole felt totally confident in bringing this up to him. Any other demon would have him killed for this and if anyone else brought it up to Zankou more than likely they would get killed as well but Cole and Zankou went back quite a few centuries and they both knew each other well. More to the point they both knew each other's triggers well. They admired each other professionally, enjoyed each other's kills (well…hearing about them anyway) and both were land locked somewhat by their love of two sisters both of whom they had long ago thought they would kill.

And now Cole was mortal and Zankou was a fool in love.

Somewhere in the great beyond wherever she was, Cole knew Prudence Halliwell was pissing herself laughing right now.

There was a pause as he sat there and then he closes his eyes and then opens them again.

"So…she spoke about the boys?"

"She didn't…she knows about the boys, she's known about them for a long time. Billie knows…bits…not how they died"

Cole nodded.

"You know Jerrick was a bastard that made us all look bad" he said quietly. "I know that you handled that brilliantly. Iris was in agony when she died"

"I know" Zankou said quietly. "And what Paige said wasn't about the boys…she wants to have another child"

Cole nearly spat his wine out.

"Paige is pregnant?"

"No. Paige wants to have another child"

There was a pause as he considered it. "I see" he said finally. "And you reacted poorly."

"I did not know how to react. She told me that she wanted a child and that if I did not want one then she was fine with that but the fact was she could do it herself without me. I don't know how but—"

"Sperm donation"

Zankou stared at him over the rim of his mug of wine.

"What is that?"

"Exactly as it sounds" he said with a bit of glee that there was something that he understood that Zankou did not. It happened rarely and though he was reformed the reality was that Cole took great pleasure in the little things now.

"I don't…woman do that?"

"Oh yes, there are places were you go and you…dispose of your seed in a cup and the woman inject themselves. They can pick which man they want as well. Think Domina's in ancient Rome who knew they could never get pregnant by their husband but by the lusty gladiators"

"Bloody hell" Zankou said looking rather pale. "And Paige wants to do that?"

"I don't know what Paige does or does not want" Cole said delicately. "I try not to think too much about Paige and you if I can help it. I know however that you ran because of another child. I know you remember. You don't want another child"

Zankou stare at him and Cole leaned forwards.

"We are a small group of men in this family" he said trying to make himself painfully clear.

"There is me, the half human, half demon turned fully human. There is Leo the whitelighter who keeps hearing funny voices and sees floating heads who has been betrayed by all he knows dear. And there is Daryl, the human who granted is a father and a great source of inspiration but unless you want me to drag a human to your lair—"

"You know I do not!"

"Then you have me. Right now you have a partner and a daughter neither of them know what is going on and a mess that is heading your way threatening them both. Right now I am the only man who might come even close to understanding what has happened between the two of you. And you need someone, you are walking a line that demons do not get to walk, you are the only one."

For a second Zankou stared at him and then.

"I did not plan to have anymore children after my boys. You know this. Billie…I do not regret her of course I do not but she was not intentional. Paige was a moment of weakness that I indulged in because I was young—ish and lonely and I wanted to feel human touch. You know what it is like, sometimes you do find yourself longing for an afternoon in the sun"

Cole nodded conceding the point. He too did know what it was like to be starved of attention and love and human touch. It had been what had made Phoebe so alluring in the beginning before he had fallen head over heals in love with her.

"I did not plan for another child. I did not plan for Paige, I did not plan to fall in love with her or to fight alongside her. Gideon was one thing, Gideon was a thing that needed to be destroyed and besides fighting an Elder and living is good for the credit but then the Book trusted me and I knew that I was in this…but I was in this for Billie and Paige. I did not plan on anymore children. To tell you the truth Balthazor I do not know if I want them"

There was a long pause and then Cole spoke.

"I see"

"Do you"

"I can see why a man in your position does not want children. And that is fine. I don't know quite how it works but I imagine losing your own—"

"It's not that…I look at those two boys and I think…I mean it's not that I could not put a child on my hip and play with them and teach them magic, it would hurt more than words can express but I could do it I think. I just…I don't know how to keep them safe. You do not understand it. I couldn't keep my boys safe, I could not keep my wife safe, when Billie was faced with Gideon had I not been there I could not have kept her safe. This new power is a legitimate threat to both good magic and bad magic and we both know it. Can you honestly look me in the eye and tell me that you too do not think that it might be a threat to you and your unborn child. That you will not think of it as such when your baby is born? And anyway…how can I raise a child in that house. Piper doesn't want me there when I am there. And I need my independence. I need my strength and my independence and I need my home."

"Then tell Paige that, there's a very good chance that she knows all of this. But the thing is I have learnt that if you don't talk to the sisters about this stuff then they tend to bring the fight to you and that is the last thing that either one of us need. Or my personal favourite, they tend to start a fight with something or someone they don't fully understand or appreciate and then one of us has to go in and clean up the mess."

"When have they ever done that?"

Cole rolled his eyes. He was too tired to care at this point and certainly too tired to give an explanation.

"Why are you here Balthazor"

"Darling I thought I was helping"

Zankou rolled his eyes and then he took another sip of wine.

"I don't want to have another child and then lose it" he said finally.

"My wife miscarried before this pregnancy" Cole said and the eyes flashed to him. "I know what it is to lose a child"

For a second Zankou did not say anything and then he inclined his head.

"I will go and see Paige when I have figured out what I want to do. I do not know when that is going to happen. I don't know weather or not I can do it. I don't know if I am brave enough to take that leap"

There's a long pause and then Cole said the words that were true but he would rather swallow razor wire than admit to.

There was a pause and there was a moment where neither one of them spoke and then he managed to force the words out.

"Zankou you are one of the bravest our kind that I have ever met"

There was a pause where the two of them stared at each other and then.

"Thank you…Cole"

There was a pause and then Cole took the wine.

Zankou started at him.

"I need you sober enough to send me back up" he said taking another sip. Zankou rolled his eyes.

"How did you get down?"

"I asked the child"

There was a pause and then Zankou laughed. Cole took a sip of wine and the two old friends carried on sat in the den in the underworld trying to put this shit show of a crazy world to rights.

As much as you could when you were dating two Charmed Ones anyway.

And there you are,

Next Chapter-Paige and Zankou are forced to do some talking when they are trapped in a Noir book.