Note #1: I am working on a sequel for "Redemption", but writing in English is a veeeeeeeery slow process for me. That's why I'm also translating some of my old stories from Portuguese to English. You know, just to make sure you don't forget me. But I promise the story will be up somewhere in the near future. Please be patient: I've already got a couple of chapters ready.

Note #2: This story doesn't quite fit in the current season because Cole is still a demon, but Paige has already learned how to orb from one place to another, which only happened on "The Three Faces of Phoebe", way past "Black as Cole". Let's just pretend nobody noticed the incongruence.

Scenery: Cole is still a demon (Belthazor, not the Source!) and he hasn't proposed to Phoebe yet, and Paige lives in the manor with her sisters and has partial control over her powers (she can heal people without Leo's help and orb from one place to another, but she still orbs involuntarily sometimes).

I don't own anyone but David (Paige's boyfriend) and Engres (a warlock that's gonna show up later). But I don't really care about them: I'd gladly trade both for Cole or Leo.

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"I for one think it's cool." says Phoebe.

"I definitely could use a power like this." says Piper, coming from the kitchen with a bowl full of popcorn.

"Why?" says Leo, surprised. "You've got me. I can orb you anywhere you want to go."

"I know, honey." says Piper, sitting beside her husband on the couch and cuddling with him. "But that'd be like having my own car, instead of depending on you to give me a ride."

"That's a car", says Paige, opening a Light Coke, "I could live without. For a start, I can't give David a ride."

"Well, technically..." says Cole, pulling Phoebe to his lap.

"Sure, if I wanna give him a heart attack." says Paige, sourly.

"Paige, you know that you'll eventually have to tell him, don't you?" says Phoebe.

The five of them are waiting for Paige's boyfriend to arrive so that they can watch a video. It's Friday night, but Piper set things up at P3 so that she could enjoy a quiet evening at home. After vanquishing a particularly nagging warlock that had been giving them trouble for about two weeks, she, Leo, Paige, Phoebe and Cole are more than glad to have a break. David wasn't hard to convince, either: he's very fond of his girlfriend's family, even though he finds a little odd that five grown ups, including a married couple, still live together under the same roof.

"Besides," says Paige, purposefully ignoring Phoebe's question, "it's so hard to control! I could get scared and orb in public!"

"It can't be worse than blowing things up at a public office..." says Piper, grimacing as she recalls the day she received her new power.

"Oh, please!" says Cole. "At least your powers aren't rooted in Evil. Every time I use mine is like saying: Vanquish me, I'm a demon."

"You think this is bad?" says Leo. "How would you like depending on other people to protect your own wife?"

"I can't believe you guys!" says Phoebe. "It took me two years to get one lousy active power, and look at you, whining about having several of them."

Soon they're speaking all at the same time, each one complaining about their own situation. Then the doorbell rings, and Paige stands up to open the door for David. Before she leaves the room, she turns to the others and says, waving her finger at them:

"All right, the moment I open that door I want everybody acting like normal people."

As she walks to the front door, the others exchange amused looks, but say nothing. Then Cole turns to Piper and asks:

"By the way, which movie did you rent?"

"Strangers on A Train."

"Hitchcock! Cool." says David, holding hands with Paige as they walk in. "I'm glad to know that not everyone in this family believe that 'the bloodier, the better'."

"Hey!" says Paige with mock indignation, shoving his arm.

Leo gets up and goes get David a beer, while Piper takes the bowl that's on the table beside her and offers:

"Popcorn?"

David takes a handful of popcorn from the bowl and sits on the arm of the armchair Paige's in, with his arm around her shoulders.

As Leo is coming back from the kitchen with two beer cans, a strong wind starts to blow inside the room, even though all the windows are closed. Paige, Phoebe, Cole, Piper and Leo exchange alarmed looks and look nervously around, trying to identify the obviously unnatural source of the wind. It seems to carry some kind of colorful dust: iridescent colors twist around the room. Paige grabs David's hand, and he squeezes her hand, watching the swirling colors with wide-opened eyes. She's feeling oddly dizzy and nauseated. The others seem to be feeling the same way; David, in particular, looks like he's about to throw up, or pass out... or both.

When the wind finally stops to blow, they don't move, not only because they're still fighting this strange nausea, but also because none of them knows what has just happened... and if it's over.

"Is everyone okay?" says Leo, hesitantly, still standing at the doorway.

"I am... I guess." says Paige.

"Me too..." says Piper.

"I think," says Phoebe, carefully standing up, "that I'll go upstairs to make sure, uh... -- she eyes her sisters, clearly referring to the Book of Shadows -- "everything's fine."

As soon as she finishes the sentence, though, she orbs out.

"Phoebe?" says Cole, astonished.

Before anyone else can say a word, they hear Phoebe scream upstairs.

"She's in the attic!" says Piper, and immediately shimmers out.

"Piper!" says Leo, white as paper.

Then they hear Piper scream too, and Phoebe screams again in response.

Cole and Leo jump to their feet and dart upstairs. Paige grabs David's hand and says:

"Let's go!"

She follows Leo and Cole, pulling a very bewildered David behind her.