DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters (except Francis, Martin, Sappan and the Dark Lords) or the places. No profits intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story takes place in 2002, a little over a year after Just Harried.

Part 1

The young woman laying in the bed moves a little. She's not completely awake yet but she isn't sleeping either. She's in that instant when you know you should open your eyes but you don't want to. As she chooses to fall back into sleep once again, she feels the man laying by her side move then turn around and put his arms around her.

A smile graces Piper's lips and she opens her eyes to take a look at her husband. He looks back at her with a smile but without a word.

"What are you doing?" the young woman asks after a few seconds of silence.

"I was thinking." Leo Wyatt answers.

"Oh? About what?"

"About you."

"Really?" Piper does, smiling even more.

"I was thinking that you're the most amazing woman that I know and how lucky I am to have married you." Leo continues as he softly brushes Piper's cheek.

"Not as lucky as I am to have become Mrs. Wyatt." Piper replies.

Actually, she officially wore the name Piper Halliwell Wyatt so has not to offense Grams. But in her heart, she was Mrs. Wyatt and Leo knew it. And that was all that really mattered.

"Maybe." Leo teases her. "But I also inherited two sisters as a bonus."

"And you really think that makes you lucky?" Piper kindly teases back.

"Not always." Leo answers.

They both burst into laughter. Suddenly, Piper stops laughing and makes a weird face.

"What's wrong?" Leo asks.

"I -" Piper begins before she hastily gets up and runs out of the bedroom.

Leo quickly follows her and sees her close the bathroom door behind her. He gets closer and hears vomiting sounds coming from the other side of the door.

"Piper, are you alright?" he worriedly asks.

"What's going on, Leo?" Prue asks, having exited her room when she heard Piper running down the hall.

"I don't know, Prue." Leo answers her.

He decides to open the door and finds Piper kneeling in front of the toilet. She seems to feel better but it is obvious that she just vomited.

"Piper?" he asks.

"It's okay, I'm feeling better." she says as she gets up to rinse her mouth.

"You sure?" Prue asks, having entered the room too.

"Yeah. I probably didn't digest well yesterday's dinner."

"You're really sure you're alright?" Leo inquires.

"Yes, Leo, I'm sure I'm alright. I just don't feel like eating breakfast right away." Piper says. "And no, I don't think I'm sick. And no also, I don't want to take a day off because I vomited a little this morning."

Leo can't help but smile, recognizing there his wife. Prue chooses to discreetly exit the bathroom, preferring not to get involved. Not this time, anyway.

"Alright, Piper." Leo says. "I'm sorry. I was just worried about you."

"I know. But you don't have to be. I feel fine, Leo."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

There's a silence.

"Good. In that case, what do you think of going downstairs to see if we couldn't get some coffee?" Leo suggests.

"Good idea, Mr. Wyatt."

"Well, thank you, Mrs. Wyatt."

They both smile and go to the kitchen. When they enter it, they're greeted by "Hi, hope you don't mind if I made some coffee."

Piper smiles at Cole Turner, thinking that he is no doubt the only demon who needs coffee to wake up in the morning.

"No, not at all, Cole." she answers.

"Actually, that's what we were coming to do." Leo completes.

"Well, great then." Cole says.

Piper gets the milk out of the fridge and asks : "Where's Phoebe?"

"She's still asleep. You know how she is: a plane could crash next to her and she'd still keep sleeping."

Piper laughs at those words while Leo settles next to Cole who's reading the morning paper.

"What interesting things are they saying in there?" Leo asks Cole.

"Not much." Cole answers. "Actually, they've got so little to say that they put the mayor's project to build an attraction park on the front page."

"I see. Did you read the sports section?"

"Yeah."

"Did you see yesterday's baseball game's score?"

"Yeah."

"Can you give them to me?"

"No." Cole answers.

"Why not?" Leo asks.

"Cause you didn't say please." Cole says.

"You're spending too much time with Phoebe." Leo laughs.

"That's very possible." Cole smiles, giving Leo the sports section.

Meanwhile, Piper watches the two men in silence. Seeing them, it is hard to imagine that those two are supposed to be enemies. After all, Cole is Belthazor, a half-demon who tried to kill them, and Leo is a whitelighter, their guardian angel.

Even if Cole has become good and she, her sisters and Leo now trust him completely and accept that Phoebe and him love each other, the fact that Leo and Cole have become friends remains surprising. At first glance, the two men seem to have nothing in common. But Piper knows that if you look more closely, you can see many similarities between the two men, like falling in love with one of the Halliwell sisters when they shouldn't have.

That's what Piper was thinking about when Prue and Phoebe come in the kitchen, the former all dressed and ready to go and the latter still in her pajamas.

"Prue told me what happened to you." Phoebe tells Piper. "You feeling better?"

"Yes, it was just an indigestion." Piper reassures her.

"Okay, if you say so." Phoebe does.

Piper rolls her eyes while her little sister walks toward Cole and Leo, smiling. Phoebe leans forward to kiss her boyfriend. Also smiling, Cole pulls her on his knees. Prue takes advantage of this to steal the newspaper. However, Cole doesn't notice, busy as he is with Phoebe.

"Your paper just got stolen, Cole." Piper warns him.

"That's okay, I've found something more interesting to do." Cole replies as Phoebe slaps him on the arms.

"You spent the night here?" Prue asks him, turning the paper's pages.

"Oh, yeah." Cole answers. "You all know how much I love spending the night in the kitchen."

Piper, Phoebe and Leo can't help but smile at Cole's words.

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Prue replies.

"Yeah, but you know, ask a stupid question…" Phoebe tells her.

Prue groans and Phoebe answers her by sticking her tongue at her. Cole laughs at the two sisters while Leo, who got used to this sort of thing a while ago, serves the coffee without a word (but smiling nonetheless). As for Piper, she rolls her eyes once again and decides to change the subject.

"So, what are you three doing today?" she asks.

"I've got to work." Prue answers. "I've got a photo shoot downtown and then I'll develop theM here. Why?"

"Just curious. Pheebs? Cole?"

"I've got to work too." Cole answers.

"And I've got classes all day." Phoebe says. "And you two?"

"We've gotta go to P3." Piper says. "We've got an inventory to do."

"Ah, and you enlisted Leo to help you?" Cole asks.

"Well, now that he also owns the club, I told myself it would be nice if he gave a hand." Piper explains with a smile. "It's not like he has anything important to do."

While his wife is talking, Leo raises his eyes as he hears the Elders' call. No one notices it and he waits until Piper's finished talking.

"Uh, actually, Piper" he begins, a little uncomfortable because he promised her he'd help "I think I effectively have something important to do."

"How's that?" Piper asks even though she already knows the answer.

"They just called me, honey. They say they've gotta talk to me right now." he apologizes.

"Fine." Piper sighs. "I don't really have a choice anyway."

Leo gets up, kisses Piper and tells her: "I'll try to come back before the end of the inventory. I love you."

And he orbs out while Piper resigns herself to do the inventory alone. Prue looks at her watch and realizes it's almost 9:00.

"I'm sorry everyone, but I can't have breakfast with you or I'll be late." she says. "I'll see you guys tonight. Bye."

With that, she goes to her darkroom to get her stuff then she goes out by the kitchen door. At the same time, Cole also looks at his watch and gets up, forcing Phoebe, still sitting on him, to get up too.

"Sorry ladies, but I gotta go too if I want to keep this hard-won job of mine." he declares.

"That's too bad, I was just about to suggest we share a bowl of cereal." Phoebe reacts with a mocking smile.

"Looks like I'll have to sleep here again tonight so I can have it." Cole says.

Phoebe smiles at him and they kiss under Piper's amused eyes. Then Cole goes to the door but he stops just before getting out and turns to Piper.

"Piper, if Leo comes back before we see each other, can you tell him I need to talk to him?"

"Uh, yeah, no problem." she answers.

"Great, thanks." Cole says, leaving the room.

"I wonder what that's about." Piper says once he left.

"Just ask Leo afterwards." Phoebe answers. "He always tells you everything."

"Very funny, Pheebs." Piper says as she gets up.

"Where are you going?"

"At P3, to start the inventory."

"Already?" Phoebe incredulously does.

"Well, yeah. The sooner I start, the sooner I finish. Plus, it's already 9:00." Piper adds.

"What?" her little sister exclaims.

"It's already 9:00." Piper repeats.

"Damn it! I'm gonna be late!"

"Get dressed and I'll drop you on my way to the club." the middle Halliwell sister offers.

"Thank you, Piper! You're the best!" Phoebe thanks her by kissing her on the cheek.

Piper laughs as she watches her sister leave the kitchen like a whirlwind. Some things just never change…

A few hours later, Piper Halliwell Wyatt is behind the bar in P3 and trying to figure out where the extra bottles of vodka come from and where are the missing boxes of napkins. She fumbles through her papers and, after a few minutes, she triumphantly lets out "Ah!" She just found the solution to the mystery: the boxes of napkins where already missing when she received the shipment last week and she didn't have time to correct it. As for the bottles of vodka, they were given to her by a friend, she remembers. Proud of having resolved the mystery by herself, Piper concentrates back on her inventory.

She's concentrating so much she doesn't even notice Leo orbing in the club. He stands there for a moment, contemplating her in silence. He thinks of letting her realize he's here by herself so he won't startle her but time is running out and he approaches her.

"Piper." he softly calls to her.

In spite of that precaution, the young woman jumps. Recognizing her husband's voice, she turns to him.

"Leo!" she exclaims. "You scared me, I didn't hear you come in."

"That's because I orbed." he explains. "I'm sorry but…"

Piper then notices his serious look.

"Uh-oh." she does. "Bad news?"

"Rather, yeah. You've gotta call Prue and Phoebe."

"Why?" Piper wants to know.

"Because a darklighter has been assigned to kill the three of you."

Later, the couple meet up with Prue outside Phoebe's college. Piper was unable to reach her because her phone is turned off. Since Leo warned her the darklighter could attack anytime, the young woman told her big sister to meet them here so they can warn their little sister and have the Power of Three at their disposal if they need it.

"Did you reach her?" Prue asks when Piper and Leo get out of the car.

"No, her phone's still turned off." Piper answers.

"We've absolutely got to warn her." Leo reminds them.

"I know, Leo." Piper says. "But how?"

"Do you know what class she had?" Prue asks her.

"No she didn't tell me." Piper answers. "I only know she had classes all day."

"I can find her." Leo suggests.

The two sisters nod and Leo closes his eyes, searching for Phoebe with his powers.

"I found her." he finally says. "She's not far."

"Of course she isn't, Leo. We're at the college." Prue says. "Be a little more specific, please."

"Follow me." Leo simply says.

Piper and Prue follow Leo who's walking towards one of the college's buildings. Without hesitation, he leads them to a classroom. He stops in front of the door.

"She's in there." he announces.

Prue and Piper take a look through the window and see Phoebe sitting in the room. Her back is turned. It is impossible to motion to her to come see them. They turn back to Leo.

"We have to find a way to discreetly warn her." Prue says.

"I've got an idea." Prue suggests. "Leo, you check to see if anyone's coming from this side of the hall and Prue, you check the other side."

Her sister and husband look at her, apparently trying to guess what she has in mind.

"Trust me and let me take care of the rest." she tells them.

Prue and Leo obey, still not knowing what Piper wants to do. The young woman waits for them to motion to her that no one's coming, then she opens the door just enough so she can stick her hand through. Quickly, she freezes the classroom.

Phoebe, who's occupied taking notes, raises her head when she realizes there's no sound in the room and sees that everyone's frozen except her. Surprised, she turns toward the door and sees Piper. Before she can asks a question, her sister utters:

"There's an emergency. I'll unfreeze the class, you find an excuse to leave and you leave. Alright?"

"Uh, alright." Phoebe answers, wondering what is going on.

Piper unfreezes everyone before leaving the room.

A few seconds later, Phoebe meets up with her sisters and her brother-in-law in the hallway.

"Okay, what's going on?" she wants to know.

"A darklighter wants to kill you." Leo declares without preamble. "And he's getting closer."

"What do you mean, he's getting closer?" Phoebe asks.

"I can sense him. He's not very far from here."

"In that case, we'd better go because if we have to fight him here, it'll get ugly." Prue utters.

"Not to mention all the innocents who will be in danger." Piper adds.

All four of them walk toward the exit. Once in the parking lot, Phoebe asks: "Did you call Cole?"

"Uh, to tell you the truth, we didn't." Prue answers.

"Why?"

"Well, Leo said the darklighter wanted to kill us and not him." Prue explains seeing her sister's scowling look.

"So the priority was to warn the three of us." Piper continues. "And when you didn't answer, we completely forgot about Cole. Sorry."

"Alright. Now that you know that I'm safe and sound, maybe we could call him." Phoebe suggests.

"I don't think he's in danger." Leo tells her. "It's you three he wants to kill."

"Maybe. But honestly, Leo, do you really believe that a darklighter would pass up a chance to kill the traitor Belthazor?"

Leo takes a look at Piper, visibly wondering if it wouldn't be better if he lied to Phoebe to reassure her. But his wife nods. Phoebe has a right to know.

"I want the truth, Leo." she tells him.

Leo sighs.

"Alright Phoebe." he answers. "Yes, a darklighter would be happy to kill Cole. But I don't think he will before killing the three of you. You're his objective."

"Still, he could be in danger and I'll call to warn him."

"Fine, but please do it while walking." Leo asks of her.

Everyone starts walking toward the cars again. Phoebe takes out her cell phone and opens it to call Cole. Unable to dial the number while walking, she stops to do so. Prue, Piper and Leo keep going. Finally, Prue realizes Phoebe isn't following them and she turns back to tell her to hurry. But she doesn't have time.

The darklighter chooses that moment to appear behind Phoebe. Prue lets out a scream to warn her sister, alerting Piper and Leo at the same time. Before any of them can react, the man grabs Phoebe's hair.

"Phoebe!" Leo screams.

A crossbow appears in the darklighter's other hand and he aims it at Leo.

"Don't get involved in this, whitelighter, and I'll let you live." he tells him. "Or else, you'll die."

"Not today." Phoebe hisses, grabbing the hand that holds her and sending him flying over her shoulder.

He lands on his back in front of the other three and, upon impact, he drops his crossbow, which disappears.

"Never underestimate the power of kick boxing!" Phoebe triumphantly says.

But Leo and the girls aren't out of the woods just yet and they all know it.

"Leo, you'd better take care of him before he gets back up." Piper suggests.

But before her husband can reach their attacker, he disappears.

"What the…?" Prue begins. "Where'd he go?"

"Maybe we scared him?" Phoebe suggests, knowing that it's probably not the case.

"No, he's up to something." Leo says. "Be very careful. He can appear anywhere."

"You're sure he didn't just give up?" Piper asks him.

Knowing his wife isn't really serious, Leo only answers her by giving her a look. Suddenly, the darklighter reappears behind Leo, crossbow in hand.

"Leo! No!" Piper screams as she throws up her hands to freeze the two men.

But it's not Leo that the darklighter targets, it's her. He shoots a fraction of a second before the witch freezes him.

"Piper, watch out!" Phoebe yells.

Fortunately, Piper manages to freeze the arrow just before it reaches her.

"Prue, throw the arrow back at him." Phoebe suggests.

Her big sister does so and the arrow drives itself in the darklighter's shoulder. He unfreezes upon impact and falls on the ground. Piper takes advantage of this to unfreeze her husband. Alerted by the girls' screams, a crowd of students now surround the little group. Leo and the girls look at each other, knowing that using their powers could now be dangerous. "Luckily, we won." Leo thinks.

To his surprise, the darklighter gets up and pulls out the arrow from his shoulder.

"How…?" Piper asks, remembering very well the effect the arrow's poison should have had.

"A well-prepared man knows how to immune himself from his own weapons." the darklighter evilly smiles.

Then he grabs a student who got too close and threatens him with his hand, which starts glowing. Piper raises her hands.

"Try to freeze me, witch, and he dies!" the darklighter threatens her.

Piper lowers her hands.

"There's a good girl." he makes fun of her.

What the darklighter doesn't know is that Leo, whose presence he forgot, is now standing behind him. Quickly he grabs the darklighter's hand, freeing his hostage who flees. Enraged, the darklighter turns to Leo and punches him. For a few minutes, darklighter and whitelighter fight without leaving any chance to the girls to intervene. Then the darklighter takes the upper hand and throws Leo on the ground. He brings up his hand to him.

"NO!" Piper screams as she starts running.

Suddenly, as she's running, Piper is overcome by a wave of dizziness. Her legs give way beneath her and she falls on her knees, almost fainting. The darklighter, seeing a chance to kill one of the Charmed Ones, lets go of Leo and disappears to reappear next to Piper. Still dizzy, she doesn't react quickly enough. The darklighter grabs her, ready to kill her.

Before Leo, Prue or Phoebe can react, he stops himself, a surprised look on his face. He just realized not only does he sense that she is a witch, he also senses something else. Something that should be impossible to sense about her. Unless… he thinks watching the whitelighter run toward them. He then remembers he was told one of the witches had married their whitelighter. In that case, it is possible she is…

"Here's something interesting. And that changes everything." he thinks out loud. "I have to report this."

And with that he disappears just before the others come up to him.

"Piper!" Leo does as he kneels near his wife. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, he didn't hurt me." she answers.

Leo hugs her and asks: "What happened?"

"Nothing. I was running and then I felt dizzy, that's all." Piper explains.

"Are you sure you're all right?" Prue worriedly asks.

Piper nods.

"I'm telling you it's nothing serious." she says. "I'm probably simply tired."

"And you're going to try to make us believe that this morning's nausea is just a coincidence?" Phoebe asks.

Piper looks at her little sister, ready to reply that those are separate incidents when she hears sirens.

"Uh, I think we're gonna have company." she announces.

"Someone in the crowd must've called the police." Leo deduces.

"Great." Prue grumbles.

Soon, numerous police cars pull up near the foursome. Fortunately, one of those cars is Darryl Morris'. He comes up to them while Leo gently helps Piper up.

"You alright, Piper?" the inspector asks her.

"Yeah, yeah, everything's fine." the young woman answers, starting to be tired of being asked the same question.

"When I got a call saying a man was trying to kill three women and a man and that he had disappeared without a trace, I immediately thought of you." Darryl declares. "What happened?"

"Honestly, we're not sure, Darryl."

"What?"

"Well, we know it's a darklighter that attacked us." Phoebe starts.

"A what?" Darryl asks, a little confused.

"Oh, it's like the opposite of what Leo is." Phoebe explains. "Anyway, he wanted to kill us and he almost killed Piper but something stopped him and he-- "

"Left." Piper cuts as she saw a police officer coming toward Darryl.

"Morris, are you interrogating witnesses?" he asks.

"Not exactly." Darryl answers. "I was getting there."

"We were about to tell Darryl what we saw." Phoebe adds, wanting to give a hand to her friend.

"Oh, you know each other?" the man asks.

"Uh, yeah. These are my friends Prue and Phoebe Halliwell, Piper Halliwell Wyatt and Leo Wyatt." Darryl introduces them. "Guys, this is Inspector Martin Parker, my new partner."

Prue sizes up Martin with a discreet eye. He is rather tall but not as tall as Cole. He has dark and slightly tousled hair, contrarily to what you'd expect of a police inspector. His eyes are blue and have a glow of intelligence and of mischievousness at the same time. As for his smile, it is very warm. "I wouldn't hurt him." Prue thinks.

"I'm charmed, Inspector Parker." she says as she holds out her hand to him.

"Not as much as I am." the policeman smiles, shaking her hand.

"Look at that…" Prue smiles back, giving a look to her sisters.

"Since when are you partners?" Phoebe wants to know.

"It's been three days." Darryl answers.

"But Morris and I go back a long way." Martin explains. "I worked with him when I was a rookie."

"All this is really fun, but we have work to do." Darryl reminds him.

"That's true. By the way, I've got a few witnesses over there who affirm that you're the ones the man attacked." Martin says. "Is this true?"

"Uh, yeah…" Piper answers.

And Leo, Piper, Phoebe and Prue relate what happened to the two officers, omitting of course a few details. When Martin says a witness affirms having heard the man call one of them a witch, the girls and Leo feign ignorance. And when he tells them that this same witness saw the man appear and disappear several times, the witches and the whitelighter are compelled to lie to him. Finally, Martin and Darryl finish taking their depositions and leave, after Darryl tells his friends he'll give them a call.

"Phew! That guy's a good inspector." Prue does with admiration.

"Yes, too bad we had to lie to him." Piper does.

"We didn't really have a choice." Leo tells her. "Besides, it's better that Darryl and him stay out of this. For their own security."

"Speaking of being in security, I'll call Cole." Phoebe says as she dials the number on her cell phone.

Meanwhile, Prue, Piper and Leo walk toward their cars.

"Leo, do you think he'll come back?" Prue asks.

"I don't know." her brother-in-law answers. "But it wouldn't surprise me."

"What I want to know is what did he mean when he said he had to report something?" Piper wonders.

"Who knows?" Prue reacts. "It seemed important, in any case."

"I think I'll go see up there if they know something we don't." Leo says.

"Okay. And we'd better go back to the manor and look in the Book of Shadows." Piper suggests.

"Phoebe and me, yes. Not you." her big sister answers her. "You need to go see a doctor."

"Prue…" Piper begins.

"No discussion." Prue cuts her. "You're going to the doctor's."

Piper sighs and looks at Leo, looking for his support. But he's also worried for her health.

"Prue's right, Piper." he tells her. "You threw up this morning and you almost fainted a few minutes ago. Without counting that you were tired all week."

"I'm simply getting a cold." his wife replies.

"Maybe." Leo agrees. "But it could be something more serious. You'd better make sure."

Piper opens her mouth to reply but Phoebe, who's finished her phone call, comes at that moment, saying: "I just called Cole. He wasn't visited by the darklighter and he'll meet us at the manor."

"Perfect then." Prue says. "So it's decided: Leo goes to see the Elders, you, me and Cole go look in the Book and Piper goes to the doctor's."

"Okay, great." Phoebe says.

"No, it's not great." Piper replies. " What happens if the darklighter comes back?"

"You won't be of much use if you faint." Prue answers her, sitting behind her car's wheel.

Piper rolls her eyes but adds nothing, knowing well she won't win.

"Call me if you have any news, though." she demands.

"No problem." Phoebe answers climbing in the passenger seat.

Then Prue drives off while Piper turns to her husband.

"I gotta go too." he tells her. "Promise me you'll tell me if the doctor finds something."

"I will." Piper answers, kissing him on the cheek. "Oh, I almost forgot: Cole told me to tell you he had to talk to you."

"Oh? Alright. Bye."

And with that, he orbs out, leaving Piper alone in the middle of the parking lot.

"Well, I'd better go to the doctor's right away if I want to get this over with." she tells herself before climbing in her jeep and driving off.

A few hours later, after an endless wait, a dozen phone calls home and many tests, Piper is sitting in front of her doctor, waiting for his diagnostic.

"Mrs. Halliwell Wyatt, I have here the results of your tests." the doctor announces.

"So, what's wrong with me?" the young woman asks.

"Actually, you're in perfect health, ma'am."

"Then why did I throw up and felt dizzy?" Piper asks.

"Well, those are perfectly normal reactions for a woman in your condition."

"My condition? What condition, doctor?"

"Mrs. Halliwell Wyatt, when was your last period?"

About an hour later, Prue, Phoebe, Cole and Leo, who came back in the meantime, are waiting for Piper's return in the living room. When she enters the manor, the first thing everybody notices is her beaming look.

"Hi, everyone!" she throws with a huge grin.

"Gee, you're pretty happy for someone who's just been to the doctor's." Prue reacts.

"What did he tell you?" Leo wants to know.

"He said I was perfectly fine." Piper answers.

"Did he tell you why you felt ill?" Phoebe asks.

Piper nods and, to everyone's surprise, her smile widens. She drops her handbag on the floor and comes closer to her husband. She takes his hands and says: "Maybe you should sit down, Leo."

Intrigued, he does so while Piper stands before him.

"So?" he does.

Piper takes a deep breath, trying to calm down. Then she looks her husband straight in the eyes. "Leo, you're gonna be a daddy."

For a fraction of a second, the world seems to stop. Leo is sitting without a word, his eyes riveted on Piper, wondering if he's dreaming. Then, all of a sudden, he bursts into a joyous laugh, leaps up, grabs his wife by the waist and spins her around, his heart full of joy.

"Piper, this is wonderful!" he exclaims before kissing her.

"I know." she smiles.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. We're going to have a baby, Leo."

The two spouses look at each other, happier than Prue, Phoebe and Cole have ever seen them. The two sisters exchange a look and, bursting into laughter too, they run to Piper and Leo and hug them.

"Oh my God! Piper, Leo, I'm so happy for the two of you!" Phoebe exclaims.

"This is great! I'm so happy for you guys!" Prue adds on.

Cole approaches the group and, when Phoebe and Prue finally let go of the couple, he hugs Piper and shakes Leo's hand.

"Congratulations, you two." he says.

"Thank you." Leo smiles.

"Thank you very much." Piper repeats, smiling widely.

"We've got to celebrate this!" Phoebe exclaims.

"But what about the darklighter?" Piper asks, even though she doesn't want to let him spoil her happiness.

"Oh, him. Your husband's bosses said not to worry about him." Prue announces to her.

"Really?" Piper asks looking at Leo.

He nods.

"Apparently, he's not trying to kill you anymore." he asserts. "So if we want to celebrate we can."

"Great!" Phoebe exclaims. "I'll call Dad and Darryl, and…"

"I'd like to tell them myself, if you don't mind." the mother-to-be cuts in.

"Oh, sure." Phoebe accepts. "Invite them for dinner."

"And while you do that, Phoebe, Cole and I'll prepare dinner." Prue decides.

"Alright, but I'll have to do this at P3 because I absolutely have to finish the inventory." Piper says.

"That'll take you all day." Cole says.

"Not if I have help." Piper smiles.

"I volunteer." her husband answers with a smile, his arms around her waist.

"And I lend you Cole." Phoebe offers.

"It's nice to know you consider me like a thing you can lend." the half-demon jokes. "But seriously, Piper, I'll give you a hand."

"Thanks a lot, Cole. I appreciate it."

"My pleasure."

Meanwhile, on the plane where demons dwell, the darklighter, who's name is Francis, made his report and announced that one of the Charmed Ones bears the child of their whitelighter. It is the only explanation for what he sensed about her. Now he awaits the instructions of the Dark Lords, who have replaced the Triad. Finally, all five of them appear in front of him.

"We have studied the information you gave us, Francis." the first one declares.

"We found it very interesting and we applaud your reaction." the second one goes on.

"What do you wish me to do, masters?" Francis asks with deference.

"It is certain that this child represents a potential danger to us." the third one answers.

"The child could possess the powers of the witch and of the whitelighter at the same time." the fourth one goes on. "Consequently, it could become very powerful."

"So you wish for me to kill the child?" the darklighter inquires.

"The child must not be given birth." the fifth one says. "And while your services have always be flawless, there is someone who is better equipped for this task."

"What do you mean? Who could be better equipped to kill an unborn half-whitelighter than a darklighter?" Francis wants to know.

"Me." A voice answers, seeming to come out of nowhere and from everywhere at the same time.

"What the…?" Francis asks.

"Francis, meet Sappan." the first Dark Lord declares. "The Source himself just created him."

"Where is he?" Francis asks.

"Here." the voice answers.

Suddenly, a vaguely human shape appears.

"In his natural state, Sappan is invisible." the second Dark Lord explains. "But he can take whatever human shape he wishes."

At those words, Sappan takes on Francis' shape.

"Very amusing." the real Francis comments. "But how does this make him better equipped than me?"

"Because he can get closer to the witch than you ever could." the third Dark Lord explains. "Even more, he can infiltrate a whitelighter's blood like a poison."

"I see." Francis answers in a neutral voice, even though in the inside he is trembling of rage for having the honor of killing the child robbed by this thing.

"What's wrong, darklighter?" Sappan mocks him. "Afraid you are now obsolete?"

"Nothing has proven yet that you'll succeed." Francis disdainfully retorts.

"Enough." the fourth Dark Lord interrupts them. "Sappan, carry out your mission right away."

"As you wish, your lordship." he obeys, disappearing.

"As for you, Francis, we have another task for you." the fifth Dark Lord says.

"As you wish, masters." Francis answers, still jealous of Sappan.

Silently, he vows he will steal back the honor of killing the child.

In our world, Piper is sitting at the P3's counter talking on the phone with her father. She's alone in the club since, remembering no one has eaten lunch, Leo decided to go get something to eat. Still wishing to talk to him, Cole offered to accompany him.

"So we can expect you tonight for dinner?" Piper asks in the phone.

She listens to the answer then says: "Great. So, see you tonight Dad."

She hangs up and immerses herself back in her inventory. But Piper has some difficulty concentrating on that. She keeps thinking about her baby and doesn't really feel like doing the inventory. Nonetheless she continues since she has to.

After a while, Piper realizes she forgot sheets in her office. And so she goes there.

At the same moment, Sappan, in his invisible form, enters the club looking for the witch. He doesn't see her but he senses the child is very close. He walks toward the office.

In her office, Piper looks for the missing sheets among her paperwork. All of a sudden she senses a presence in the club and calls: "Leo, Cole, is that you?"

There is no answer. Shrugging, Piper continues her search.

Sappan watches the witch from afar. She has her back turned to him and is busy searching for something. She's an easy prey. Too easy. He gets closer to the door frame then stops. He decided to have a little fun before killing the witch and her unborn child.

Finally, Piper gets a hold of her sheets. At the same moment, she feels a presence behind her. The young woman quickly turns around but there is no one behind her. Yet she still feels a presence. Furthermore, something in her guts tells her that this presence is evil. It's like a foreboding feeling but in more powerful. She doesn't know why she feels this or where it comes from but her heart starts beating faster. Piper feels she's in danger.

She looks around her again but she's still alone in the office. Gathering all her courage, she leaves the room. There is no one in the club. Yet Piper knows she's not alone. She takes a few steps then calls: "Leo? Cole? Is that you?"

Only silence answers her.

"Hey! Anybody here?"

Suddenly Piper hears the noise of chairs falling off a table. She runs to the source of the noise, ready to freeze whoever's responsible. But when she gets there, there is no one, as if the chairs fell on their own. She then senses the evil presence behind her and turns around but once again there is only air.

Stopping herself from trembling, Piper returns to the bar, wondering if it's only her imagination or if she shouldn't call Cole and ask him to come back with Leo. Finally, unable to take much more, she picks up the phone.

All of a sudden, someone grabs her by the arm and Piper screams in terror.

Part 2

Terrified, Piper turns around, ready to freeze her attacker.

"Hey! It's me!" Cole exclaims letting go of Piper's arm to catch her hands.

"Oh my God, Cole! You scared me!" she exclaims herself, relieved. "I didn't hear you come in."

"That's because I was really quiet." he answers.

"Oh. Have you been here for long?"

"No, I just got here. Why?"

"Oh, nothing. I'm just imagining things."

"I see."

The young witch turns to the bar to put down the phone that she's still holding. What she doesn't see is Cole's evil smile. Sappan, because it is him, is jubilant. He has a feeling he'll have a lot of fun with her. He plans on killing her in this shape to see the look on her face when she'll realize it's one of her loved ones who'll kill her.

Meanwhile, Leo and Cole are on their way back with lunch. Cole, who left intending to talk to Leo about very important thing that's on his mind, still hasn't because he has no idea how to bring the subject. There's also the fact that Leo is floating on a cloud right now and doesn't seem to notice that his friend wants to talk to him. Still, he's the one who brings up the subject.

"Piper told me you wanting to talk to me about something?" he says.

"Uh, yeah." Cole answers.

"About what?"

"Well… it's about Phoebe."

"Is there a problem with you two?" Leo asks even if he highly doubts it.

"No, not at all." Cole quickly answers to avoid any misunderstanding. "It's quite the opposite, actually."

"Alright, so what is it?"

"Okay, how can I put this?" Cole begins. "You know Phoebe and I love each other very much. Actually, I'd die for her."

"Yes…" Leo encourages him, starting to see where Cole's heading.

"Alright, huh, I…" Cole hesitates, not really knowing what to say. "I need your advice about something. Something you've experienced yourself."

"What?" Leo asks trying to hide his amusement at Cole's uneasiness.

"I… Well, here goes. I love Phoebe very much and…"

"I got that the first time." Leo reminds him.

"I want to propose to her and I don't know how to do it." Cole lets out in one breath.

Leo is silent for a few seconds. Then he asks: "You want *me* to tell you how to ask Phoebe to marry you?"

"Yes." Cole answers.

To his surprise, Leo laughs.

"Sorry." Leo says between laughs. "Did Phoebe tell you how I proposed to Piper?"

"Yes."

"You're aware I did it in the bathroom?"

"Yes."

"And that she said no?" And you still want me to help you?"

"She ended up saying yes, didn't she?" Cole comments. "Besides, it's not like I could ask anybody else."

"When you put it like that…"

In P3, Piper turns to 'Cole' after having put the phone down. That's when she realizes that not only does she feel the evil presence but that this feeling seems to be emanating from her friend. She wants to push back this feeling as if it was a figment of her imagination. But Piper has seen enough weird things to know she should trust her instinct.

"So, you're all alone here?" 'Cole' asks.

Piper's suspicions are only reinforced. Cole should know she's alone here. The young woman decides to test him.

"Yeah. Leo went back home." she answers.

'Cole' nods, confirming Piper's suspicions. She doesn't know how it's possible, but it's not the real Cole Turner that's standing in front of her. Nevertheless she decides to keep pretending, if only to gain time until Leo and the real Cole come back. She tries to slowly step back from him but Sappan notices it.

"Is there a problem?" he asks.

"No, no, not at all." Piper answers a little too quickly.

"I see…" he does, understanding that, one way or another, the witch knows who he is.

Without leaving Piper any time to react, Sappan grabs her hands to keep her from freezing him, which she can do while he has a human form. Realizing she's in danger, Piper screams her husband's name.

At that very moment, Leo and Cole are talking a few steps away from the club.

"How do you think I should begin?" Cole asks his friend.

"Uh, I don't know. Maybe you should - "

Leo suddenly interrupts himself, worry showing in his eyes.

"Leo?" Cole asks, worried by his friend's look.

"Piper's in danger." he declares before orbing, leaving the bag of food he was carrying on the sidewalk.

Cole doesn't loose time to ask questions and shimmers to follow Leo.

The two men appear in the club as Sappan, still holding Piper's hands, says: "I don't know how you recognized me, witch, but you and your child are about to die."

"No!" Leo yells. "Piper!"

Surprised, Sappan turns around to see the whitelighter and the half-demon. For a second, he considers contaminating the woman but he quickly gives up on that idea. It would be no use: the whitelighter would heal her as soon as he'd realize what is happening. And Sappan doesn't really want to live through a failure. Rather, he chooses to flee. Before Piper, Leo and Cole's stunned eyes, Sappan turns invisible and says: "You were lucky today, witch. But your husband won't always be there to save you. I will kill you and your child. I give you my word."

A few seconds later Piper stops feeling his presence.

"Piper." Leo does as he takes her in his arms. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, there was more scare than hurt." his wife answers.

"What was that?" Cole wonders.

"I don't know." Piper answers. "What I'd like to know is how did I sense him and how did he know I'm pregnant?"

"Good questions." Leo answers. "Tell us exactly what happened. Maybe that'll help us understand."

Piper nods and tells Leo and Cole everything that happened since the moment she first felt a presence in the club to the moment the two men orbed and shimmered in the club.

"I think I can at least explain how you sensed him." Leo tells his wife.

"Really?" she asks.

Leo nods.

"When I orbed in here, I immediately felt his presence." he explains. "Like I can sense a darklighter."

"Okay, but what is the connection to me?"

"You're pregnant with my child, Piper. You carry a half-whitelighter."

"And you think the baby sensed him and passed it on to me?" Piper wants to know.

"Remember when you went in the past. Your mother was barely pregnant with Phoebe and the baby gave her a premonition."

"I guess you're right." Piper says.

"You know, that could explain how he knows you're expecting a child." Cole says.

"How come?" Piper asks.

"This morning, when the darklighter was going to kill you and he stopped, he said he had to report something, right?" Cole inquires.

"Yes." Leo answers, starting to understand.

"If I'm not mistaken, darklighters can sense whitelighters. He could've sensed the baby."

"And that would be what he reported." Piper finishes, understanding also.

There's a moment of silence while the three of them let the information sink in.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do." Leo finally announces. "I'll go check if 'they' know anything about him. Meanwhile, you two go back to the manor and tell this to Prue and Phoebe."

"We'll look in the Book of Shadows too." Piper suggests. "You never know."

"Right." Leo answers. "And Piper?"

"Yes?"

"Be careful. I don't want to lose either you or the baby."

"Don't worry, Leo." Piper reassures him before kissing him.

When their lips part, Leo disappears. Piper lets out a small sigh, wondering why there's always something that spoils every moment of great joy in her life. Why must she always face her greatest fear (losing either Leo, her sisters or even her unborn child) in those moments? "It's not fair." she thinks. Turning to Cole, she says:

"Let's go, Cole. We don't have any time to lose."

Somewhere in the realm of demons and evil, a triumphant laugh is heard. It is Francis, who has just found a way to get rid of Sappan using the Charmed Ones themselves. His plan is perfect. The witches will do all the dirty work. And the Dark Lords will never know of his role in Sappan's demise. All that is left to do is put is plan to execution.

When Leo comes back home night has fallen. Victor Bennett, the girls' father, has joined the small group after Phoebe called him to say dinner was cancelled and explained why. Of course, Prue, Piper and Phoebe told him he didn't have to come, but Victor wasn't about to do nothing while an unknown demon was trying to kill his daughter and his unborn grandchild. And so, Prue, Piper, Phoebe, Cole and Victor spent the afternoon and part of the evening going through the Book of Shadows and Cole's memory without any success.

Upon seeing her husband appearing, Piper can read in his eyes that the Elders couldn't tell him anything useful.

"Finally." Victor says before his son-in-law can say anything. "We were starting to worry. So, what did they tell you? What was that thing?"

"Uh, they don't know." Leo answers, slightly ill-at-ease.

"What?" Victor says. "What do you mean, they don't know?!"

"Dad…" Piper does.

"Those guys are supposed to be the ultimate forces of good and you're telling me they don't even know who tried to kill my little girl?!" he almost screams.

"Dad…" his middle daughter repeats.

"No, I don't accept that!" he goes on.

"Dad, it's not Leo's fault." Piper reminds him.

"I know, sweetheart. And I never said it was. But it's his bosses' though." Victor adds.

"Yeah, well, getting mad at them won't really help us, Dad." Prue tells him. "Just ask Piper."

"Very funny, Prue." her sister replies. "Seriously, Leo, they really couldn't tell you anything?"

"No." he answers. "I'm sorry."

"Then, what do we do?" Phoebe asks him.

"We keep looking and we watch our backs." Prue answers instead of her brother-in-law.

Later, after Piper convinced her father he could leave since she was safe now, surrounded by her sisters, her husband and even a half-demon, everyone is getting ready for bed.

In their room, Leo is sitting on the bed and watches Piper brush her hair in front of the mirror. It's obvious something's bothering her and Leo knows his wife well enough to know it's not just this afternoon's attack.

"Piper, what's wrong?" he asks her.

"Nothing." she answers a little too quickly for Leo's taste.

He gets up, takes the brush out of her hand and puts it down on the dresser, then he takes her hands in his.

"Piper, something's bothering you. What is it?"

"Nothing, I told you." Piper persists.

"Honey, your father left and your sisters aren't in this room. You can stop pretending everything's fine."

Piper sighs and Leo and her sit on the bed.

"I know, Leo."

"What's wrong?" Leo gently asks.

"It's just…" Piper stops, obviously searching for her words. "It's not fair, Leo."

"What is?"

"Every time… Every time something good, something happy happens to us, there's always something else that comes up and spoils everything."

"Piper…"

"No, it's true, Leo. The first time we tried to get married, 'they' orbed you out. And when we finally could get married, Prue's astral self almost spoiled everything. And today something wonderful is happening to us. We're going to have a baby, Leo. We should be happy, celebrating. But…"

"But instead we're scared for the baby." her husband finishes.

Piper simply nods her head. Leo takes her in his arms and holds her close to him. He knows exactly what Piper feels. And he also knows that the heart of the problem isn't so much what his wife said as what he said. Piper is scared of losing the baby and he can't really blame her since he feels the same way.

"Piper, look at me." he says.

She raises her head and looks him in the eyes.

"We won't lose this baby." Leo affirms. "I promise you."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because neither you or I will let anything happen to the baby. And because the poor demon who'll try to hurt the two of you will not only have to face your angry sisters and Cole but he'll also face your father's fury. And believe me, that's scary."

Piper laughs softly as she remembers Victor's anger when he found out Leo was a whitelighter.

"You're right." she says. "He won't last long."

For a few minutes the couple silently hug each other.

"Thank you, Leo." Piper finally says. "I needed to hear you say that."

"Anytime, Piper." Leo smiles.

There is another silence. Piper gets up and looks at herself in the mirror. She puts her hand on her belly thinking about the small life that's growing in it right now. Leo gets up and puts his arms around her waist.

"Do you realize it, Leo?" Piper says. "We're going to be parents."

"I know." Leo answers, smiling. "I love you, Piper."

"I love you too." Piper answers turning to him to kiss him.

All of a sudden, the young woman quickly parts from her husband and runs to the bathroom. Leo quickly follows her, kneels next to her and holds her hair back. When Piper is finished, Leo helps her up and says: "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Piper asks.

"Because it's my fault if you're sick." he answers.

"Well, it's not like I wasn't willing." Piper smiles before rinsing her mouth.

Then they return to their bedroom, hand in hand.

Later in the middle of the night, Cole gets up to get a glass of water in the kitchen. But he doesn't have time to take it because Francis appears behind him as soon as he enters the room.

"Hello, Belthazor." he says.

Cole turns around when he hears that name he now hates so much.

"Francis." he says, recognizing the darklighter.

"Well, well, I'm flattered you remember me in spite of your treason, Belthazor." Francis mocks him.

"You've got five seconds to give me one good reason why I shouldn't call Leo and the girls right now to -" Cole begins.

"Oh, please do so." Francis cuts in. "I wanted to talk to them."

"What do you want, Francis?"

"Oh, not much. You see, we have a common enemy. I've simply come to give you a hand in vanquishing him."

"And you really believe I'll trust a darklighter?"

"Yes. Because I'm the only one who possesses information that might save the life of the whitelighter's and the witch's child."

Cole hesitates. He knows well he shouldn't trust a darklighter. But if Francis is saying the truth, if he can really save Piper and the baby's life… Can he really afford to pass up that chance? Finally, he decides to wake up the others and to tell them about Francis' offer.

As she enters the kitchen, Phoebe recognizes Francis as the darklighter who attacked them at the college. She gets ready to kick him but Cole holds her back just in time.

"Phoebe, wait." he says. "Remember what I told you guys upstairs: he might be able to helps us."

"I don't know why but I doubt it." Prue replies.

"And still, that is what I'm going to do, witch. Believe it or not, I will help you."

"Really? And what is that going to cost us?" Prue asks.

"This time, nothing."

"It's funny but I find that hard to believe." Piper replies. "We don't need the help of a darklighter."

"Yes, you do." Francis counters. "Well, I'm still going to give you the information I have. What you do with it afterwards, that's your call."

"And how will we know if we can trust you?" Leo asks.

"You won't." Francis replies. "The being that visited you is called Sappan and has just been created by the Source itself. He is invisible and has the power to take the shape of whomever he chooses. Furthermore, he has the power to seep in a whitelighter like a poison."

"How are we supposed to beat him?" Phoebe asks.

"I've said everything I had to say." Francis tells her. "If you want more, you'll have to pay."

"No way!" Prue exclaims.

"As you wish. If you change your mind, call me. Belthazor knows my name." Francis says before disappearing.

"Hey! His name's Cole!" Phoebe says even though she knows it's pointless.

All five of them look at each other, wondering if they can believe what the darklighter just told them. Finally, Piper speaks out first.

"You think he said the truth?" she asks.

"I don't know." Leo answers her. "But if what he said is true, it would explain why he's unknown to the Elders."

"So what do we do about… How did he say he was called?" Phoebe asks.

"Sappan." Cole answers.

"What do we do about Sappan?" Phoebe starts over.

"I don't know, Phoebe." Leo answers. "I really don't know."

"I've got an idea." Prue says. "We won't be able to do anything constructive at this hour. I suggest we go back to bed and we think about this tomorrow once we're rested."

Everyone agrees to Prue suggestion and goes back to bed.

All night, Piper is plagued by nightmares in which demons kill Leo and her baby. Needless to say that when she gets up the next morning, Piper isn't really rested. Neither is Leo, who spent the night looking for a way to fight Sappan. When they go down to the kitchen, Prue, Phoebe and Cole are already there. All have tired eyes and do not seem to have slept a lot.

"Coffee?" Prue asks the couple, holding out the pot to them.

"Please." Piper answers.

"So much for thinking about this once we're rested." Prue says as she pours two cups of coffee.

"It could've worked." Phoebe comforts her.

Everyone sits down around the table. For a few minutes, there is only silence, no one wanting to be the first to bring up the subject. Phoebe finally decides to talk.

"So, anyone had a revelation on how we can beat Sappan?" she asks.

"I don't know." Cole answers. "But one thing's sure: we shouldn't call Francis."

"Agreed." Prue says. "Who knows what he'll ask us in exchange this time."

Everyone nods.

"And as for beating him, I'm sure we can find a spell or a potion." Prue continues.

"We can always look in the Book and see if we can't modify or mix spells that already exist." Phoebe suggests.

"And what if it doesn't work?" Piper asks. "Or if we can't find anything? What then?"

"Piper, you're - " Leo begins.

"I'm overreacting?" Piper says, guessing what her husband was about to say. "You really think I'm overreacting? All we know about this Sappan is that he's invisible, that he can take any shape he wants and that he can poison a whitelighter. We don't know his weaknesses or even if we'll be able to vanquish him."

"What are you saying, Piper?" Prue asks. "You want to call the darklighter?"

"No, of course not." Piper affirms. "I just meant…"

Piper stares at her cup, unable to find the exact words to describe her thoughts.

"I think… I'm scared, that's all." she finally says as Leo takes her hand, trying to comfort her.

"Oh, honey." Prue reacts. "I'm sure everything's gonna be all right."

Piper nods, still staring at her cup of coffee. Leo feels her pressing his hand and he presses back. He's worried about all this too but he's determined not to let anything happen to Piper and the baby.

"I don't want to seem insensitive, but I'd like to know what the game plan is." Cole says after a few seconds.

"Well, first, I'll go to the magazine to leave my photos and explain to them why I won't be coming in today." Prue decides.

"And what if Sappan attacks you?" Phoebe asks.

"I don't think he will." Leo replies. "As much as I hate saying this, it's Piper and the baby that he wants."

"In other words, he doesn't give a damn about Phoebe and me?" Prue asks.

"That's about it, yeah."

"Well, he'll regret the day he ignored us." Phoebe says. "We'll show him what the Charmed Ones are made of! I'll stay here with Piper and we'll find a way to vanquish his sorry ass."

"And while you do that, I'll also go explain my absence then I'll do my own little investigation on this Sappan." Cole declares.

"What do you mean, your own little investigation?" his girlfriend wants to know.

"Well, I know where to find one or two low-level demons whom the name Belthazor still scares." Cole explain. "I'll scare them a little, take my demonic shape and send them find information for me."

"Cole, don't take risks for nothing." Piper tells him.

"Piper, it's not for nothing. If there's anything I can do to help protect you from Sappan, I'll do it. I owe you that." Cole counters, thinking of the way he messed up Piper and Leo's first attempt at getting married. "And believe me, with those two idiots, I don't risk anything other than wasting my time because they don't know anything."

"Still, be careful." Phoebe asks of him.

"Don't worry about me." he reassures her.

Then he gets up, kisses Phoebe on the cheek and leaves. Prue follows him while Piper turns to her husband.

"You're staying, right?" she asks him.

"Of course I am." Leo answers. "I'm not going anywhere until this threat is over."

"What if 'they' call you?" she asks him.

"They won't."

"How do you know that?"

"Because my duty as a whitelighter is to protect my charges when a great danger threatens them. You may be my wife but you're also my charge. I have the obligation to stay here, whether it's as your husband or your whitelighter."

"Good." Piper smiles. "Okay, I'll get dressed and then I'll get the Book."

"I'll come with you."

"Taking your role of protector to heart, Leo?" Phoebe jokes.

"No, also have to get dressed." Leo replies, used to Phoebe's sense of humor.

The Halliwell-Wyatt couple go upstairs to their room while Phoebe picks up a notepad and goes to sit in the conservatory. She wants to try to write a spell to vanquish their enemy. She's been sitting for only a few minutes when the doorbell rings. Wondering who it could be, she gets up to answer the door. Remembering Sappan can take whatever shape he wishes, she swears to be suspicious of whoever it is until she's sure it's not him.

Darryl's at the door.

"Hey, Phoebe." he says.

"Darryl, what are you doing here?" Phoebe asks, still suspicious.

"I came to see if everything was all right after yesterday morning's and afternoon's attacks." he answers.

"Wait, how did you know about yesterday afternoon's attack?" she asks him.

"You told me about it when you called me to cancel dinner."

"Oh, yeah, right."

Remembering Darryl has a new partner, she asks: "Where's Inspector Parker?"

"He's waiting in the car. Why?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Is Piper here?"

"Why?"

"Because I'd like to see her."

"Why?"

"To congratulate her about the baby." Darryl answers, slightly exasperated at Phoebe's attitude.

Before the young woman can find something else to say, she hears Piper and Leo coming down the stairs. She decides to let Darryl in, telling herself that Leo and Piper will sense it and warn her if it's not really him. As she starts closing the door, Piper exclaims: "Phoebe, watch out!"

Reacting instantly, Phoebe kicks Darryl in the legs, making him fall. Then she jumps on him, screaming: "This time you won't get away so easily, Sappan!"

"Phoebe! Are you crazy?! What are you talking about?!" Darryl reacts.

"Don't even try!" she threatens him.

"Phoebe!" Piper exclaims.

"Don't worry, Piper, I've got him." her little sister replies.

"Let me go, Phoebe!" Darryl exclaims.

"No way, Sappan."

"Phoebe, let him go." Leo says.

"What, are you crazy?" Phoebe replies.

"Did I miss something?" a voice coming from the door frame asks.

Phoebe turns around and sees Cole standing in the doorway.

"Cole, come help me!" she says.

"No!" Piper intervenes.

Phoebe looks at her, not knowing what to think anymore.

"Cole, stay where you are." Piper goes on. "And you, get off of Darryl!"

"He's not Sappan?" Phoebe asks.

"No, I'm not 'Sappan', whoever he is." a rather unpleased Darryl replies.

Phoebe lets him go and he gets up rubbing his head.

"Can someone explain to me what is going on?" he asks.

"You said he was Sappan." Phoebe reproaches to Piper.

"I never said that!" Piper protests.

"But you told me to watch out." Phoebe replies.

"Yes, so you wouldn't close the door on Cole's face!"

"Oh." Phoebe does. "Oh! Oh! I'm so sorry, Darryl!"

"It's alright. Can you just explain to me who is this Sappan and what he's got to do with me?" the police inspector asks.

"Sappan is the demon who's trying to kill Piper and the baby." Leo explains. "He can take the shape he wants and Phoebe thought you were him."

"I see." Darryl says.

"I'm really sorry, by the way." Phoebe repeats.

"Did you come here for a particular reason, Darryl?" Piper asks taking her friend to the couch where she sits next to him.

Cole takes place next to her while Leo and Phoebe stand in front of them.

"I just wanted to see how you were doing and to congratulate you for the baby."

"Oh. Uh, thanks." Piper says.

At the same moment, the front door opens and Prue walks into the living room. Phoebe walks toward her.

"Prue, you'll never guess what a fool of herself your little sister just made." she announces.

Leo runs towards Phoebe, exclaiming: "Phoebe, no! That's not Prue!"

Before the young witch can react, the false Prue hits her in the face and she falls on the ground, unconscious. Sappan then grabs Leo by the arm.

"Too late!" he says.

"Cole!" Leo screams at his friend.

Understanding what his friend wants him to do, Cole grabs Piper and disappears with her.

"No!" Sappan does. "You'll regret that, whitelighter!"

He then returns to his natural form and infiltrates Leo's body under Darryl's horrified eyes. He soon gets out and says: "You only have a few hours left to live. And your wife and child don't have much longer either."

And with that, he disappears. Leo falls on the floor.

Part 3

When Prue comes back home after stopping at 415 Magazine, she doesn't expect what she discovers when she opens the door. Phoebe is laying on the floor, Darryl is helping a rather pale Leo to sit on the couch and there's no trace of Piper or Cole. She quickly walks to her sister whose still unconscious.

"Phoebe?" she says trying to wake her up. "What happened, guys?"

"I'm not sure." Darryl answers.

"It was Sappan." Leo says. "He pretended to be you and he knocked Phoebe out when she came close to him."

"Piper?" Prue asks, suddenly worried for her sister.

"She's alright." Leo answers. "Cole left with her."

Prue nods, relieved now that she knows Piper is safe. This relief doesn't last long though because Leo doesn't seem too well.

"What happened to you?" she asks him.

Before her brother-in-law can answer, Piper's voice echoes in the living room as she materializes in it with Cole.

"…vanquish you if you don't-"

She stops, realizing where she is. The she sees Leo sitting on the couch and notices how pale he is. She runs to him.

"Leo, what's wrong?" she asks, worried.

"Piper, you shouldn't be here." Prue reacts, giving an accusing look to Cole.

"She threatened to vanquish me…" the half-demon defends himself before walking to Phoebe whose starting to regain consciousness.

He helps her to get up and sit on the couch.

"Did we win?" she asks, still a little confused.

"Not really." Leo answers.

"What happened, Leo?" Piper asks again even if she's afraid to hear his answer.

"Sappan. He… I think he poisoned me." her husband answers.

For a fraction of a second Piper's heart stops. She can feel a lump building up in her throat. Leo says nothing, letting the news sink in.

"No." she whispers.

Leo takes her hand, trying to comfort her.

"No." Piper says again, louder this time. "It can't be. This is not happening. This is a nightmare and I'll wake up soon."

Prue, Phoebe, Cole and Darryl look at her silently, not really knowing what to do or say. Leo takes Piper's face with his free hand, forcing her to look at him.

"Piper, I'm sorry." he tells her.

For a moment, he thinks his wife is going to cry. He takes her in his arms. Piper hugs him tightly as if to hold him back. When she finally lets him go, fierce determination can be read on her face.

"We'll find a way to heal you, Leo." she asserts. "There has to be a way."

"Piper's right." Prue says. "I refuse to believe there isn't a way to heal you, Leo. I'm sure that if we look, we'll find something."

"Exactly." Phoebe agrees. "We'll save you even if it's the last thing we do."

"That's true." Cole goes on. "And if someone can do it, it's these three."

Leo smiles at those words, knowing very well what he means. He hopes they're all right. But if it is the same poison the darklighters use, Leo knows well no antidote exists. Who knows? Maybe the girls will make one. Besides, Leo can't afford to give up hope. After all, he has a child to raise.

Darryl, who feels really helpless right now since he doesn't know a thing about magic, asks: "Is there something I can do?"

"It's nice of you to offer, Darryl, but I don't think you can do anything besides praying for Leo." Prue answers.

At the same moment the doorbell rings and the young woman answers the door. It's Inspector Parker who smiles when he recognizes her.

"I'm sorry to bother you… Prue, isn't it?" he says.

"Good memory." Prue can't help smiling.

"Could I talk to Inspector Morris?" Martin asks.

"Yes, of course." Prue answers heading to the living room.

Martin follows her and goes to Darryl.

"Is there a problem, Parker?" Darryl asks.

"No, not really." his partner answers. "But we just got a call. We gotta go."

That's when he notices Leo's condition.

"Are you alright?" he asks him.

"I'll be fine." Leo answers.

Martin doesn't seem convinced.

"Are you sure? Because you don't look in great shape." he says.

"Leo's fine." Prue intervenes. "He only has the flu. But thank you for asking."

Before his partner can answer anything, Darryl says: "Anyway, we gotta go. Keep me posted on what we talked about, okay?"

"Sure." Phoebe answers.

The two policemen leave the manor, almost reluctantly in Darryl's case.

"So what do we do?" Cole asks.

"Okay, first, we look in the Book of Shadows." Prue answers. "I'm sure we can find something in it that can help us."

Hearing those words, Piper remembers something.

"Wait, why bother?" she asks. "We already know how to heal Leo."

"Did I miss something?" Phoebe asks. "Because I don't follow you, Piper."

"We just have to do the same thing we did the last time Leo was poisoned." Piper explains.

"You mean that…?" Leo says.

"I just have to exchange my powers with yours and heal you." Piper finishes.

"That's true." Prue agrees. "We just have to find the spell and -"

"No." Leo cuts in.

"No? What do you mean, no?" Piper reacts.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Piper." he tells her.

"Why?" the young woman wants to know.

"Because you're pregnant and we have no idea how this will affect the baby." her husband answers.

"So I'll do it instead." Phoebe suggests.

Piper looks at Leo in the eyes and can read his opposition to that idea.

"You don't agree." she says.

"I… No." Leo admits.

"Why?" Piper asks again.

"Because it would momentarily break the Power of Three and you could need it sooner than we think." he answers.

"He's right." Prue says.

Piper gives her sister a staggering look. If a look could kill, Prue would be dead.

"I'm sorry, Piper, but it's true." she says. "We don't know when Sappan will come back for you and the baby. And we can't afford to not have the Power of Three to fight him."

Prue expects Piper to get angry and tell her she can't afford to risk Leo's life either. The oldest Halliwell sister mentally prepares herself to argue with her sister, hoping Phoebe will be on her side. For a second it really seems Piper is about to get angry as she turns away from her big sister. She silently looks at the floor.

"Find another way quick, then." she says in a barely audible voice.

"Don't worry, Piper." Phoebe reassures her.

"Don't forget that you also have to find a way to vanquish Sappan." Leo reminds them.

"Look at that." Phoebe exclaims. "You're dying, Leo. Saving you is our priority."

"And preventing my wife and my child's death is mine." Leo replies.

Nobody adds anything because there's nothing to add. All know that Leo is right. After a short silence Cole says: "In that case, we'll look for an antidote for Leo and a way to vanquish Sappan at the same time."

"Agreed." Prue says. "Cole and Phoebe, you take care of Sappan. Piper and I'll look for a cure for Leo."

"And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?" Leo asks.

"You rest." Piper answers.

"I want to help." Leo protests.

"You have to preserve your strength." his wife replies.

"Piper, let me help. Please."

Piper hesitates then nods.

For the next three hours the Halliwell sisters, Leo and Cole look for a solution to their problems. In spite of all their efforts, they still have no idea how to vanquish Sappan. As for a counter-poison for Leo, Prue thinks she has succeeded in creating a potion recipe but she is far from sure it will work. So Prue and Phoebe decide to go in town to buy the missing ingredients to make the potion. Since Piper refuses to leave Leo, Phoebe asks Cole to stand guard at the manor in case Sappan shows up.

Now, Leo and Piper are in their room. Leo is laying on the bed and Piper is sitting by his side, worried sick. Leo is visibly weakening and she's afraid the potion won't be ready in time or, worse, that it won't work.

"Why don't you go up there so They can heal you?" she asks her husband.

"I'm too weak for that." he answers.

"Then call them and ask them to send you another whitelighter."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because it doesn't work that way."

"I don't care if it doesn't work that way!" Piper exclaims. "Ask them to send you help right now!"

"Piper, it's no use." Leo tells her.

"Try anyway, Leo. Please." she begs him.

"Believe me, honey, I would if I thought there was any chance it could work." Leo says. "But it won't."

He sits up. Piper bites her lip to keep herself from crying when she sees the effort he has to make. Her husband is weakening before her very eyes and there's absolutely nothing that she can do. A tear rolls down her cheek and she quickly wipes it away. But Leo saw her. He feels his heart tightening. Slowly he pulls her against him and takes her in his arms. They both stay like that for a while, finally letting out the tears they've held in until now.

Piper can't help remembering the last time Leo was poisoned by a darklighter. She especially remembers the moment he died. That moment was one of the most horrible of her existence. An yet, at the time, Leo and her were only in the beginning of their relationship.

And today, about three years later, she must once again face that ordeal. And it's even worse because she has now been married to Leo for a little over a year and they're expecting their first child together. Piper doesn't think she'll have the strength to go on without him. "I'd give anything to save him.", she thinks. And that's when Piper Halliwell Wyatt makes a desperate choice.

"Leo, I'm really sorry." she says.

"Sorry for what?" Leo asks suspecting she has something on her mind.

Piper gets up from the bed.

"Because I'm about to do something you're gonna hate." she declares.

"Piper, no." Leo reacts, guessing what she's thinking. "Don't do that."

"I don't have a choice. I don't want to loose you."

Then she hurriedly gets out before Leo can protest. After making sure Cole is still downstairs, Piper goes into the attic and closes the door behind her. She takes a deep breath, knowing she may be making a big mistake.

"Francis." she calls. "Francis!"

The darklighter appears in front of her.

"I thought you didn't need a darklighter's help." he says.

"Well, that was before Sappan poisoned my husband." Piper replies.

"Oh, I'm really sorry." Francis pretends.

"No, you're not."

"You're right. So what do you want?" he asks.

"I want you to tell me how to save my husband." Piper says.

"I can tell you how to eliminate Sappan's powers." Francis offers.

"So, tell me."

"Oh, not yet." he stops her. "If you want me to give you something, you have to give me something in return."

"What do you want?" Piper carefully asks. "Because if you ask me to hurt innocents or my sisters or my husband, I refuse."

"I won't ask for anything like that."

"Okay, then what do you want?"

"Today I'm doing you a favor." Francis says. "So you owe me one. All I'm asking of you, Piper Halliwell Wyatt, is to remember that you are indebted to me. One day, I'll come back and I'll ask you to pay your due. That's all."

He holds out his hand to her.

"Do you accept?" he asks her.

Piper looks at the held out hand, hesitating once again. She knows that if she accepts, she'll be trapped. On the other hand, this could be the only way to save Leo. She finally shakes the darklighter's hand.

"It's a deal." she says.

"Perfect. When he takes a human shape, Sappan is vulnerable to your powers." Francis declares.

"So?" Piper asks. "That doesn't tell me how to take his powers away and undo what he did."

"You simply have to stick him in his human form with a spell. He won't be any more dangerous to you than a simple mortal and what he did will probably be undone."

"Which spell?"

"I don't know. But you are the Charmed Ones, I'm sure you can write one."

Francis takes a step back.

"I have to go. Don't forget our agreement." he says before disappearing.

It was about time he left because Piper hears her sisters calling her name. She hurries out of the attic. Prue and Phoebe already are upstairs.

"What were you doing in the attic?" Phoebe asks, curious.

"I was looking for something." Piper answers. "The potion?"

Prue and Phoebe exchange a look and Piper guesses they have bad news.

"I'm sorry, Piper." Prue says. "We went to every shop in town but we couldn't find the root we need."

Piper bites her lips and nods. She knows her sisters did everything they could to find the missing ingredient.

"Listen, there may be another way to save Leo." Piper says.

"How?" Phoebe asks.

"Maybe by eliminating Sappan's powers we'll be able to reverse the effects of his poison."

"Okay but we don't know how to do that." Phoebe does.

"I do." Piper says. "He's vulnerable to magic when he takes a human shape. We just have to find a way to stick him in that form and he'll be like a mortal."

"That's great." Prue says. "But how did you know that?"

"That's not important right now. What's important is finding a way to stick him in human form." Piper answers.

"Alright." Phoebe agrees, accepting that answer for now. "I'll get Cole and we'll meet you guys and Leo in your room to come up with a spell and a plan."

Piper nods and starts to walk to her room but Prue stops her by putting her hand on her arm.

"How is he?" Prue asks.

"We have to hurry, Prue." Piper says.

Prue understands that Leo's condition has worsened a lot since she and Phoebe left the manor.

Later, the girls have written a spell and a plan has been conceived. The latter is less than perfect but it's the best the girls, Leo and Cole can do under the circumstances.

The plan is simple. Cole will claim he wants to make a deal with Sappan in order to save Leo and will convince him to show up in human form. When Sappan will least expect it the sisters will cast their spell. Then, since they can't kill mortals, the girls will ask Darryl to arrest him on the pretext that he attacked and ill-treated Piper at P3.

"Okay, I'll call Darryl to ask for his help." Prue says before leaving the room.

"We're behind you." Phoebe says dragging Cole with her, leaving Piper and Leo alone.

"It's a good plan, it should work." Leo says.

"It has to work." Piper adds.

"It'll work. Especially since you were able to guess his weak spot."

Piper looks away. She knows Leo guessed how she got the information.

"You did it, didn't you?" he asks.

"Yes." she answers, knowing it's no use lying to him.

Leo sighs.

"And what did he ask in return?"

"Nothing. Only to return the favor one day."

"Piper…" Leo begins.

"What did you want me to do, Leo?" Piper cuts in. "To let you die? We never would've found out without him. What would you have done in my place?"

"No doubt the same thing." Leo concedes after a few seconds, remembering he once saved Piper's life when he shouldn't have.

"I have to go. Prue, Phoebe and Cole are waiting for be." Piper says.

"Be careful, it could be a trap." Leo warns her.

"Don't worry about me." she says before kissing him. "I love you."

She exits the room, leaving behind a worried Leo.

"Please don't let anything happen to her." Leo prays out loud, hoping someone heard him.

Standing in the most secluded corner of the park, Cole looks around wondering for the nth time if they haven't all gone crazy or just suicidal. Nothing proves that Sappan will hear his call or even if he'll come. And if he does come, nothing proves he'll agree to take a human shape.

"Are you ready?" he asks, knowing the sisters are hidden somewhere in the bushes around him.

"Yeah, call him." Prue answers from somewhere on his right.

"Alright. Sappan! Sappan! I have a deal to propose to you!"

He falls silent and listens, trying to detect the demon's arrival. Hearing nothing he prepares to call again when Sappan's voice rings in the air.

"And what could you propose that is of interest to me, Belthazor?"

"Oh? You learned my name? Not bad for a demon who was just created." Cole mocks him.

"Do you intend to bore me with stupid jokes or will you tell me what you want?" Sappan says.

"Want I want?" Cole continues. "It's simple really, I want you to heal Leo."

"Who? Oh, you mean the whitelighter. And why would I do that?" the demon asks.

"Because I can give you what you want." Cole answers.

"And you think I'll believe that you'll give me the child in exchange of the whitelighter? You are more stupid than I thought. I don't think the witch is ready to sacrifice her child."

"Really? Then you still have a lot to learn. Piper will do anything to save Leo. She's the one who sent me."

"So you're offering the child's life for the father's?" Sappan asks.

"Exactly." Cole acquiesces.

"It's a done deal."

"Not so fast, my dear Sappan." Cole replies. "The deal will not be done until we shake hands."

"Well, I have no hands."

"If you take a human form, you do."

"Why are you so intent on having me shake your hand?" Sappan asks. "Are you hiding something from me, Belthazor?"

"No, I simply want to make sure you'll keep your end of the bargain." Cole replies.

There is a long silence. Cole wonders if Sappan has seen through his offer. In that case, Cole doesn't know how they'll get out of this one.

"Sappan?" he calls.

"Very well." the demon answers.

He takes the shape of a man Cole has never seen and comes closer to him. Sappan holds out his hand to Cole, who takes it.

"Satisfied, Belthazor?" the demon asks.

"Not quite." Cole answers still holding his hand.

At the same time the girls come out of the bushes and surround the two men. Before Sappan can leave his human form Piper freezes him. The three witches quickly recite the spell before Sappan unfreezes.

"Let's hope it works." Cole says as Sappan unfreezes.

Not seeming to have noticed that Piper used her power on him, Sappan looks at the girls and smiles conceitedly.

"You cannot vanquish me." he tells them. "Not under my true shape."

The sisters stay silent as Sappan's eyes widen when he realizes he can't change form.

"Maybe we can't vanquish you but that doesn't mean we can't cast a spell on you." Piper mocks him.

"You can't use any of your powers anymore." Prue tells him.

Sappan gives her a murderous glare.

"Oh, and you were right." Piper says. "I'm not ready to give you my baby."

Sappan's gaze hardens more, then his conceit smile returns.

"You still made a mistake." he says. "You can't kill me since I'm a mortal."

"We had no intention of killing you." Prue replies as she picks her cell phone up. "Hi, Darryl? Inspector Parker and yourself can come arrest the man who attacked Piper at the club. He's here."

She hangs up and gives Sappan her most charming smile.

"They'll be here any second." she says. "What a coincidence, they were just in the park."

As promised, Darryl and Martin arrive a few seconds later. Seeing them, Cole, who's still holding Sappan, lets his guard down a little. Unfortunately, the demon takes advantage of this and punches him in the stomach. Cole collapses on the ground, the wind knocked out of him, while Sappan runs away in the opposite direction before Piper as time to freeze him.

"Hey! Stop!" Martin Parker shouts as he takes out his gun. "Stop or I'll shoot!"

Without slowing down, Sappan takes a path between the trees. Everyone runs after him, including the two officers. Martin and Darryl shoot warning shots but it doesn't slow down the demon who keeps running. He finally leaves the small group behind. Proud of himself, he slows down, searching for a way to turn the tables on them.

Suddenly Francis appears before him.

"What are you doing here, darklighter?" Sappan asks, surprised.

"I came to finish the job these witches apparently can't finish." Francis answers.

"So you're protecting the child now, you traitor." Sappan accuses him.

"Hardly. You see, I merely intended to steal the honor of killing the child from you. But I had a better idea along the way. And to carry it out I need both mother and child to stay alive." Francis explains.

"And what did you use me for in all this?" Sappan asks with barely contained hunger.

"You were my bait. But now you're of no more use to me." Francis declares before lifting his hand and disintegrating Sappan at the very moment the Charmed Ones, Cole, Darryl and Martin get there.

"Whoa!" Martin utters, unable to say anything else.

"What's *he* doing here?" Prue reacts, confused.

"He killed Sappan?" Phoebe says, not believing what she saw.

Piper doesn't say anything, afraid Francis will demand she pay he back right away. But he disappears without a word.

"Who was that?" Darryl wants to know.

"Remember the guy who attacked them at college?" Cole asks him.

Darryl nods.

"Well that was him."

"Oh." Darryl simply does, deciding not to insist for more details.

"I wonder why he -" Phoebe begins, soon interrupted by Piper.

"We'll worry about that later." she says. "Let's go back home to check on Leo."

Her sisters and Cole nod and all four of them walk toward where they left the car.

"Wait a minute." Martin stops them, finally having gotten out of the shock. "Can someone explain to me what just happened?"

Prue crosses to him.

"Inspector Parker, you really seem like a nice guy." she says. "And I'd like to answer you. But I don't have time. Ask Darryl."

Martin nods then Prue joins the others and they go on.

"You know what's going on?" he asks his partner, keeping his eyes on Prue.

"Yeah, you're falling in love with Prue." Darryl answers, hoping to keep from answering his question.

"No, that's not what I meant." Martin replies, not trying to deny his attraction to the oldest Halliwell. "Do you know what happened here?"

"More or less." Darryl honestly answers. "And believe me, that's enough."

"That's not an answer."

Darryl sighs.

"Fine, you wanna know? You'll know."

And the two men walk away to their car.

In the underworld, Francis is in front of the Dark Lords once again.

"You summoned me?" he asks.

"Yes." the first Dark Lord answers. Sappan has failed in his mission."

"Really?" Francis says, feigning surprise.

"It would seem he underestimated the Halliwells." the second Dark Lord says.

"That does not surprise me. He was rather arrogant." Francis asserts.

"He paid it with his life." the third one declares. "And so, it is up to you to kill the child."

"If I may, I may have a better idea." Francis intervenes. "The child could be more useful to us alive than dead."

"What do you mean by that?" the fourth Dark Lord asks.

"The child is half-whitelighter." the darklighter explains. "But it is also half-human. That is it's greatest weakness."

"I see." the fifth Dark Lord says. "So be it. We will cease all direct attacks against the child until its birth."

Francis smiles to himself, knowing that everything is going according to his plan. Furthermore, he has all the assets in his pocket with the deal he struck with the witch. And that's without saying that the whitelighter is no doubt on his deathbed. Francis is jubilant as he thinks about the false hope he gave them. How nice it is to ruin the lives of those witches…

Upon setting foot in the manor, Piper expects to find her husband waiting for them in the living room. But Leo is nowhere in sight. She runs up the stairs and opens her bedroom door. Then she starts crying.

Her husband isn't better. Actually, his condition's even worsened. He is at death's door. Piper approaches the bed, trembling. She falls down next to Leo, still crying.

"No. I don't understand." she cries, taking his hand in hers. "We did everything right."

Prue, who came in with Phoebe and Cole, comes nearer.

"Piper…" she does.

"It should've worked, Prue." Piper cries looking at her sister.

Prue doesn't know what to say so she says nothing. Phoebe, Cole and herself know there's nothing they can say to ease Piper's pain. And so the three of them remain silent. After a minute or two, Piper abruptly raises her head.

"No, you know what? I'm not gonna let this happen. I'm not gonna lose him. Not now." she declares.

"Piper, there's nothing we can do." Phoebe reminds her.

"But 'they' can do something." Piper says looking skyward.

The other three look at each other as Piper stands up. They doubt the Elders will agree to save Leo.

"Hey, up there!" she calls. "I know you must be aware of what's happening to Leo. And I know you can hear me."

She hesitates a few seconds, searching for a way to convince them to save him.

"Please." she starts again. "Send another whitelighter to save him."

She waits a little but nothing happens.

"Listen," she goes on "I know this isn't how you usually work. But this isn't a usual situation. You have to save Leo. Don't let him die. I beg you."

Tears once again fill the young woman's eyes as she sits back on the bed, next to Leo.

"I don't want to lose him." she cries. "I need him. I can't do this without him. I can't have this baby without him. I just can't. Please…"

In tears, she lays her head on her husband's chest.

"Please." she repeats as she cries her heart out.

Cole takes Phoebe in his arms and she cries on his shoulder. Prue can feel tears streaming down her cheeks. She sits next to her sister and burrows her head in her hands. No one speaks as they await Death's arrival.

That's when a blue light illuminates the room. A whitelighter orbs in and Piper recognizes him as a friend of Leo's. She stares at him, not daring to hope he can save her husband.

"They sent me to heal Leo." the man claims.

He kneels next to Leo and holds his hands over him. The Halliwells and Cole anxiously wait until he's finished. After a while, the whitelighter withdraws his hands. Leo slowly opens his eyes.

"Piper…" he whispers.

She bends over him and holds him in her arms, crying tears of joy this time.

"Oh, God, Leo." she says. "I thought I'd lost you."

He hugs her too.

"Me too." he tells her. "Are you alright? Did you succeed?"

"More or less." Phoebe answers.

"What do you mean?" Leo asks.

"Long story." Prue answers. "We'll tell you later. Welcome back, by the way."

Epilogue

Tonight is a festive one at Halliwell manor. They're celebrating victory against Sappan, Leo's recovery and, of course, Piper's pregnancy. Everyone is there, including Victor and Darryl.

After dinner, Cole gathers everybody in the living room.

"Alright." he says. "I don't want to steal the spotlight from Leo, Piper and baby Wyatt but I have something important to say."

He turns to Phoebe, sitting on the couch.

"Phoebe, I kept searching for a way to say this." he begins. "I finally decided that simpler was better."

He takes a small box out of his pocket, takes Phoebe's hand and puts one knee down.

"Phoebe Halliwell, will you marry me?" he proposes to her.

For a second or two Phoebe just sits there, shocked. Then she leaps up and throws her arms around Cole's neck, letting out a cry of joy.

"Is that a yes?" Cole smiles.

"Oh, yeah!" Phoebe answers.

Everyone gathers around the couple to congratulate them. That's when the doorbell rings.

"I'll get that." Prue says. "I'll be right back."

When she opens the door she finds Martin Parker on the other side.

"Uh, hi." he does.

"Hi. You need to speak to Darryl?" Prue asks.

"No, actually, you're the one I wanted to see." Martin answers.

"Really?" Prue says, flattered. "Why?"

"Among other things, because I'd like to understand what happened in the park." he says.

"Darryl didn't tell you?" Prue is surprised.

"Oh, he tried to make up a story. It was very convincing. But I didn't bite it." the police officer explains.

"Hmm, I see." Prue says. "And why else are you here?"

Martin blushes a little.

"Actually I was hoping to get to know you better, Prue."

"I'm fine with knowing me better." Prue smiles, under the inspector's charm. "But to get the explanation, you'll have to do me a little favor."

"What's that?"

"Come in for some coffee." Prue invites him.

Martin agrees with a smile and the young woman lets him in.

Later, Leo comes in the kitchen looking for Piper, supposedly making a fresh pot of coffee. He finds her staring pensively at the coffee maker. He slowly comes closer and snakes his arm around her waist, startling her out of her revelry.

"What are you doing?" he asks her.

"Just thinking." Piper answers.

"About what?"

"About what happened."

"You mean Francis?" Leo asks knowing Piper feels a little guilty.

"Yes. When I think I struck a deal with a darklighter…"

"You took a risk. We all do sometimes." Leo reassures her.

"I know that. And we wouldn't have been able to vanquish Sappan without his help."

"But?" Leo encourages her, trying to understand what is bothering his wife.

"But I can't understand where he fits in this whole picture." she finishes. "I mean, the first time we saw him he tried to kill us, and then he helps us vanquish a demon? That doesn't make sense."

"Unless there's something bigger in play here." Leo says.

"That's what scares me. I have this terrible feeling that this story is far from over and that he'll use my deal against us."

There's a moment of silence as they both ponder on that.

"What are we gonna do, Leo?" Piper finally asks.

"There's not much we can do right now." Leo answers. "I guess we'll just have to be more careful."

"What about the deal?"

"We'll worry about it when we'll cross that bridge." Leo says. "We're going to be parents, you and me. Let's not let a darklighter ruin our greatest joy."

"You're right." Piper smiles before kissing him.

Then Leo and Piper go back in the living room, hand in hand. There will be plenty of time to worry about demons tomorrow. Tonight, they're not a witch and a whitelighter. Tonight, they are simply a couple celebrating the future arrival of their first child. And that's all that really matters.