"Your plan worked." The Source congratulated the Oracle. "Belthazor is dead, I felt it."
"He no longer guards them and the new Power of Three has not yet Bonded." The Oracle commented, neither of them caring that Sykes had also been destroyed. There were always other demons. "It took months for the original Bond to stabilize, time in which they began to master their powers and we didn't know they'd activated, not until Rodriguez confirmed it. The Bond must be severed before it has a chance to stabilize and then you could break the Power of Three again."
"Who should I send this time? They've destroyed some of my most powerful demons. I must think about this. Leave me."
"Yes, my Lord." The Oracle left the Source to ponder how best to destroy the Charmed Ones before they could form the sister Bond that made the Power of Three possible.
"Aren't we celebrating?" Xander asked Cole later that evening after Cole's plan to use himself as bait to draw out Sykes had proved successful, since he believed it was Belthazor's attention Sykes had been interested in. They'd vanquished him before he could do the evil overload gloat and then vanquished Belthazor as well, leaving just Cole. Fully human. Telling Emma the one responsible for her fiance's death was destroyed had gone as well as could be expected, her bitterness at not being the one to destroy him or getting to see it had been hard to see. Xander had put her in touch with his division's version of Victims Services and hoped she'd talk to someone before it ate her up, inner demons could destroy you just as much as ones from Hell could.
"I don't know." Cole looked up at the stars. "I've never enjoyed looking at the stars. Over a hundred years of living and I've never enjoyed something so simple. My entire life has changed and I have no idea how to deal with it."
"My entire life has changed several times." Xander told him. "When I found out vampires were real and two days later a guy I thought of as a brother turned to dust when he hit a stake I was holding. Four years ago when Buffy made an accidental wish. Life never stays the same, it can't. So we have to adjust or go insane."
"Earlier today I could hold fire in my hand, what can I hold now?"
"The hand of a girl who looks at you like you hung the stars in the night sky just to make her smile. Makes up for a lot."
Cole glanced back into the Manor where Phoebe was talking to Cordelia. As though she sensed him looking at her, she glanced back and smiled. It lit up her whole face. He looked over at Xander and saw he was looking at Cordelia, who glanced over and her own smile lit her own face up.
"It does, doesn't it." Cole agreed. "But what do I do now? Do I work as a lawyer? I have all that knowledge of the law in my head still. But how do I protect Phoebe?"
"She doesn't want you to stand in front of her, she wants you to stand beside her." Xander answered. "She doesn't need you to protect her and you know you've also got a whole lot of demon knowledge in your head. Knowledge that could help them and us, you could try writing it all down."
"I may be fully human now, but demons are going to continue to be part of my life anyway." Cole looked back up at the sky. "But they would anyway, they exist in this world whether we like it or not and at least when you know that, you can protect yourself and those you love."
"Exactly." Xander nodded. "And I'd much rather see them coming, then have them sneak up behind my back."
Cole turned and walked back into the Manor and slipped his hand into Phoebe's. He'd find a way to adjust, to life, to living in this world because she was worth it. Cordelia left them and went to Xander, sliding her arm around his waist and looking up at the stars.
"If I could have put them up there for you, I would have." He told her.
"I know, it's enough that you want to."
He moved his own arm around her and held her close as she laid her head on his shoulder and watched the stars with him.
Tomorrow there'd be more demons, tonight they had each other and the stars.