Author's Notes: I was a huge Charmed fan back in the day, and I wrote this story long ago for a contest where writers tried to predict how the birth of Piper and Leo's first child would happen. That's right folks, you're about to read a fairly AU rendition about our favorite witches, white lighter, and demon, and how they came to be parents and aunts/uncles for the first time.

Scared? Well you should know that this story took first place in the contest. :) That's a pretty good indication that reading this won't melt your brain. Miracles takes place some time between seasons 4 and 5 (but it's been so long since I've watched any Charmed that I can't pinpoint it any better than that, lol). Anyway, please read and enjoy!

The Miracles on Prescott Street
Chapter 1: The Calm Before the Storm

Piper threw open the front door and stormed into the manor. Following closely behind her was a battered Leo who was nursing his cut hand. He hurried in as quickly as he could, trying to catch his wife. Further behind them, Paige, Phoebe and Cole also entered the manor. The three looked roughed up and worn out, but not as badly as Leo did. The five of them had just returned from an intense battle with a group of warlocks, but Piper was surprisingly unhurt. Once again, she had been forced to stand back and watch, but enough had finally been enough.

"Piper, listen to me!" Leo pleaded to his wife.

"No Leo, listen to me!" Piper yelled. "I want you to - no, I need you to stop treating me like a baby. I'm eight months pregnant, I'm not incompetent!"

"No one said you were!" Leo exclaimed, throwing up his hands in frustration. Blood from his cut splattered across the floor. "I was just trying to protect you!"

"Well," Piper said, eyeing the blood, "we all see how well that worked out."

At that point, Cole began to snicker until Phoebe sharply poked him in the ribs.

"Anyway," Piper continued, ignoring Cole, "I didn't need your protection. I saw that warlock and I was about to blow him up."

"You can't blame a husband for helping his wife," Leo pointed out.

"You can when that husband causes more trouble than help!" Piper exploded. "You're lucky Cole saw you taking on that warlock, or else you would have had one less hand!"

"I had to do something, Piper. Its not easy watching you fight evil day in and day out. I can't just stand around anymore and wait to see what dangers the new Source will throw at you and our daughter."

"And I can't go around having you shadow me all day. I have a life, and I can't just stop living it."

Silence filled the manor. Phoebe and Paige shared an uncomfortable glance, unsure of what to do next. It was Cole who stepped in. Loudly clearing his throat, he announced, "If no one needs me, I'll just go snoop around in the Underworld." Just before shimmering out, he whispered to Phoebe and Paige, "You two better leave before she accidentally blows you up."

Paige's eyes widened in horror. There was no way she could ignore a warning like that. Piper was known to lose control of her exploding powers if she got too emotional.

"Hey Phoebe, could you help me go bandage this cut on my arm?" Paige asked, saying the first thing that popped into her mind.

"Sure, Paige. Let's go!" Phoebe said quickly. "There's nothing more dangerous than a cut."

"What cut are we talking about?" Piper asked as she eyed Paige's scratchless arms.

"Uhh...this one," Paige said, pointing to her elbow.

"I don't see anything."

"Well then you must need your eyes checked."

"Come on," Phoebe said and took Paige's hand. She led the way past the fighting couple, but as she passed Piper she whispered, "Go easy on him, honey. You know he's just doing this because he loves you so much."

And with that, Phoebe and Paige scurried into the kitchen, stepping on each other's heels in their rush. Piper snickered as she watched them leave. Then she glanced to Leo who was nervously trying to wipe the blood off his hand.

"How's the cut?" she asked.

Leo held up his hand to show her the flurry of glowing orbs slowly closing the wound.

"All healed."

"You wanna go upstairs? I'll help you clean up," she said, gesturing to his torn up shirt and pants.

"Why don't we orb?" Leo suggested, seeing her head for the stairs.

Piper turned around and glared at him.

"Uh, uh," Leo stammered, "not that I don't think you could walk up the stairs, I mean you could, I just thought maybe it'd be faster, not that I don't think–"

"It's okay," Piper cut in, thinking about Phoebe advice. "I think I am too hard on him. I can't be mad at him for caring about me," she said to herself.

Walking over to where Leo was standing, she hugged him and said, "Let's just orb."

Leo smiled, held her close, and let his powers carry them upstairs.

Down in the Underworld, Cole was slowly making his way through maze-like passages. He could hear voices come from a brightly lit room near him, so he crept closer. Kneeling behind a large boulder, Cole gasped at what he saw. The room was occupied by a tall, muscular, bald demon. Aside from the tattered pair of shorts he wore, the demon was bare. His skin was a deep shade of red, and his chest displayed a large black tattoo. The design was a jumble of thick, curved lines that resembled nothing Cole could recognize.

Wait! From behind the boulder, Cole froze. That tattoo. He did recognize it. Maybe he had seen it in his days as Belthazor. That mark represented a dangerous species of demon, but which one? Cole was so lost in his thoughts that he did not notice the hooded man until he spoke.

"So Grral," the man said, addressing the demon, "do you accept my offer? Will you work for me?"

Cole's attention flew to the speaker. Narrowing his eyes he whispered, "The new Source."

The demon dropped onto one knee and bowed. "I will work for you, master."

"Excellent!" the Source boomed, clapping his hands together. "As soon as you destroy the Charmed Ones for me, you will renew the name of your deceased brethren; the Ferrals!"

Cole gasped again. "Oh crap. Not those damn Ferrals!"

"The Whitelighter and his witch are moving," Grral announced, standing up. "What do you wish to do?"

"Throw them off course a bit, but don't hurt them. Our fun will come later tonight."

Grral nodded. He closed his eyes and moved his hands in a complicated gesture.

"Leo and Piper!" Cole thought with worry and shimmered out.

"Their demon is moving," Grral announced again. "What do you wish to do?"

"Hmm..." the Source said thoughtfully. "Hurt him."

Grral nodded. He closed his eyes and performed the complicated gesture once again.

"Nice try honey," Piper said as she stepped out of the shower, "but I think our room is a couple of doors down to the right."

"I don't get what happened," Leo muttered as he stepped out of the shower behind Piper. "We were heading for our room, but at the last second it felt like someone threw us in here."

"It was probably just a fluke," Piper said and gently pushed him out of the bathroom. Then she took his hand. "At least we made it to the second floor."

"No... something's not right," he mumbled as Piper lead them to their room.

"Maybe you're just tired from protecting me against that big, bad warlock," Piper suggested with a smile.

Leo looked at her and saw that she was no longer mad about that. "Does that mean I'm forgiven?" Leo asked.

"Actually," Piper said, leaning against the stair railing, "I was hoping you would forgive me."

"How come?"

"Because I don't know how great my husband is," she said, looking into Leo's eyes lovingly.

"What did Phoebe whisper to you?" Leo asked with a playful smile.

"She just made me realize how lucky I am. Most wives would kill for a guy like you. Not everyone is married to a sweet, considerate, protective, angel." Leo opened his mouth to say something, but Piper placed a finger on his lips to stop him. "Wait. I know you mean well, and I am sorry for yelling at you, but I can't have you following me around all day. Something needs to change."

"Well," Leo began as he put his arms around Piper's waist, "if you promise to try and stay away from all things demonic for the rest of this pregnancy, then I promise I will give you your space. Deal?"

"You'll stop following me around if I stay out of battles?"

Leo nodded.

"Okay, deal," she agreed, throwing her arms around his neck and kissing him.

Suddenly, Piper broke the kiss and gasped.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I think our daughter is agreeing to the deal," Piper laughed and placed Leo's hand on her stomach.

"I guess she doesn't want demons dropping in on her mommy either," he said with a smile. They leaned in to kiss again, but something caught their attention. The air near the chandelier began to waver, and in shimmered...

"Cole!" Piper exclaimed.

Cole looked down in surprise and yelled as he fell through the air.

"I'm glad you and Cole finally made up," Paige told Phoebe as they sat down at the kitchen table. "You seemed so determined to get a divorce."

"Yeah, well he made me see that it was never him who tried to hurt me. It was always the Source, and Cole never stopped fighting when he was possessed."

"It's good to know that Cole wasn't really Cole. I hated feeling that I couldn't trust my own brother-in-law," Paige said with a shudder.

"About that Paige," Phoebe began slowly, "I don't think I ever apologized for the way I acted to you."

"It's okay," Paige said with sisterly affection. "I probably would have done the same thing if I were in your position."

"It's not okay, honey. I owe you an apology for acting like such a bit-"

"No apology needed," Paige said firmly. The two smiled at each other.

"You know what?" Phoebe asked, hearing the silence in the living room. "I think Leo and Piper have stopped fighting."

"That, or she blew him up," Paige quipped.

Phoebe slapped her arm playfully as they stood up.

"Paige!" Phoebe exclaimed with mock seriousness. "If Leo was blown up we would have heard the explosion."

They burst into giggles as they made their way out of the kitchen.

"AHHHH!" they heard someone yell from above. Looking overhead they saw Cole rapidly falling from the second floor. Thinking quickly, Paige decided that the only way to help was to soften his landing.

"Sofa!" she called and gestured to place the piece of furniture under Cole's body. Unfortunately, it appeared above Cole and began to fall with him.

Cole looked up. The ground was rushing up beneath him and a sofa was closing in above him.

THUMP! He landed painfully on his side. He threw up a single, uninjured arm over his head to try and shield himself from a bone shattering blow... that never landed. Slowly lowering his arm, Cole saw the sofa suspended in midair. It had stopped less than half a foot from his body.

Cole sighed with relief and began to haul himself from under the sofa with his one good arm. "A little help?" he weakly asked, collapsing painfully on his stomach. Phoebe and Paige rushed forward and dragged him out the rest of the way.

"Careful," Cole groaned. "Everything feels broken except for my right arm."

Leo and Piper hurried down the stairs.

"Okay, uh, we need to offset his demonic half, Paige," Leo said and offered his hand to Paige.

"Ready," Paige said and grabbed it. Together, they began to heal his entire body.

"Thanks for catching the sofa," Cole said as he looked to Piper, "but you could've caught me too."

"Well I was trying to Cole, but somebody's sofa got in the way of my freeze," she said, glaring at Paige. Then she unfroze the sofa and let it drop to the ground.

"I was trying to orb it under him. It's not like I was trying to crush him," Paige said defensively. "And anyway, none of this would have happened if somebody hadn't shimmered in right next to the chandelier."

"I didn't shimmer in there," Cole said. "There's a Ferral demon named Grral working for the Source."

"I'm sorry. Was that Grral the Ferral demon?" Phoebe asked with a laugh as Leo helped Cole to his feet.

"I like the rhyming," Piper said sarcastically.

"Yeah," Leo added, coming up behind Piper. He wrapped his arms around her. "I think it makes him sound scary." Piper gave him a playful smile and hugged his arms tightly around her.

"Ohhh..." Paige cooed, seeing Leo and Piper. "You two made up."

"Ahem." Cole cleared his throat. "If we could get back to the demon."

"Oh yeah," Phoebe said. "Um, Grral the Ferral. What's his story?"

"The Ferrals are a nearly extinct species of demon. The last Source–"

"The one before you?" Paige asked.

"Uh, yeah I guess," Cole answered softly. Piper gave her little sister a stern look, which Paige countered with her innocent 'what?' look. Cole's demonic past was a delicate topic that everyone (except Paige) tried to avoid talking about.

"Anyway," Cole continued, "that Source tried to kill all of the Ferrals because they were so powerful. They were supposed to be extinct, but rumors of Ferral sightings were heard every now and then. I guess they were true, because I just saw one in the Underworld."

"So what makes this Grral guy so powerful?" Piper asked.

"Ferrals have the power to alter the landing of magically moved objects. I think you and Leo already got a taste of it."

"Oh," Leo realized. "I guess that's why we missed our room and landed in the bathroom."

"And why I almost flattened you with the sofa, Cole," Paige added. "Sorry by the way."

"It wasn't your fault," he assured her.

"So what you're saying is you can't shimmer, Leo can't orb, Paige can't orb or telekinetically orb, and I can't levitate?" Phoebe worried asked.

"No no. You can still levitate," Cole corrected. "It doesn't count as magical movement unless you disappear and reappear."

"Well that's just perfect!" Paige exclaimed sarcastically. "I have absolutely zero powers to work with unless you count healing, which I don't because I can't do it without Leo's help!"

"Whoa... calm down sweetie," Piper said, slightly alarmed by Paige's outburst. "It'll be okay. We've been through stuff like this before. Remember the Hollow?"

"Uh huh," Phoebe said, jumping in. "You and Piper both lost you powers and we still managed to defeat the Source."

"Yeah, but not before our Whitelighter got skewered with an arrow, our older sister got thrown through a wall, and our resident ex-demon got turned into a demon again!"

Silence settled upon the room.

"See how well having no powers worked out?" Piper asked meekly, causing Paige to scoff.

"I think we're getting too ahead of ourselves," Leo observed. "Maybe we should figure out how to vanquish the demon first."

"Book of Shadows anyone?" Phoebe asked.

"No need. I already know how to kill it," Cole said.

"Well thanks for sharing," Paige commented sarcastically.

Ignoring Paige, Cole said, "The only way to defeat a Ferral demon is to disfigure the black tattoo on its chest with a golden blade."

"Are you sure the blade has to be gold?" Leo asked. "Because gold doesn't hold an edge very well. It can barely cut anything."

"I'm sure. Ferral skin is tough, but gold will slice it like a knife through butter."

"So how disfigured does the tattoo have to be?" Phoebe asked.

"Even a nick in the tattoo will kill it," Cole replied. "But it's not as easy as it sounds."

"Sure it is," Piper insisted. "You and Phoebe are good with knives. I'll freeze and one of you can do the hack and slash."

"Actually, I don't think that'll work," Leo said. "I've heard that Ferral demons have a kind of deflection power and resistance to some magic."

"Yeah," Cole said. "I probably should have mentioned that before."

"You think?" the girls asked simultaneously.

Author's Notes: I came across this super-old fanfic while organizing my writing folder recently. I had never planned to post this on since I wrote it so long ago, but I started skimming through the first page and I was surprised how intrigued I was by my own story. (God, how narcissistic is that? -_-) Well anyway, I hope you all find it intriguing too!

The complete story is about 8000 words, so I'll probably break it up into another 2 or 3 chapters. I'll post as I complete the editing. Stay tuned, and please continue to read and review! :D