Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.

Hiding Underneath

sequel to Reaching for You

a story by Ryeloza

Why? Bleeding is breathing
You're hiding underneath the smoke in the room.
Try, bleeding is believing.
I used to…
I used to…

-Natalie Imbruglia, “Smoke”

Lena called twenty minutes later to say she was going to Aunt Paige’s and Nora finally woke up from the trance she had been in. She put the photo album away and then went back into her mother’s bedroom and carefully put everything back in the box just as she’d found it. Then she put on a jacket, grabbed her keys, and left the apartment.

They lived seven blocks away from the manor, which was a far cry from the one block away their old house had been, but still walk-able. Nora practically flew to the house that night though, taking long strides, cutting through yards and running the last stretch of the trip. She took the steps to the front door two at a time and then went into the house without bothering to knock (the family was always going in and out of the manor in this manner).

“Meli!” she called as soon as she was inside. She walked into the living room and saw Chris sprawled on the couch watching television. “Hey,” she said. “Where’s Meli?”

“I don’t know,” said Chris. “Upstairs?”

Nora nodded and headed for the stairs, in a rush to find Meli before she ran into her aunt or uncle. If she did, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop from demanding answers to every question she had. When she reached Meli’s room, she knocked briefly and then barged in before waiting for a response.

Her cousin was lying on her bed talking on the phone, but when she saw Nora she said, “Hey, Cara, I’ll call you back. Nora’s here. Yeah. Yeah, okay. Bye.” Meli snapped her phone shut and pushed herself up so she was sitting cross-legged on the bed. “What’s going on?” she asked.

Nora began pacing, hands on her hips. “I…I don’t even know what’s going on,” she said, sounding slightly hysterical. Meli’s eyes widened. “I think—oh God!—I think my mother was married to a demon.”

Meli started to laugh and when Nora didn’t join in, she said, “Wait, seriously?”

“Yes!” said Nora. “I found this box in my mother’s underwear drawer that was filled with pictures and love letters and…and baby booties and at the bottom was a wedding ring!” She announced this in the same way one would have announced an asteroid’s imminent crash into Earth. “And there were pages from the Book of Shadows that said he was some demon! God, Mel, what the hell was she thinking?”

“Maybe she didn’t know,” said Meli, though she sounded like she didn’t believe a word of what she said. “Are you sure about all this, Nora? Maybe you just misinterpreted things.”

“No, no, no,” said Nora, collapsing onto the bed. “I’m sure about this, Mel. He was in your parents’ wedding pictures for goodness sakes!”

“Seriously?” asked Meli. She scooted off of the bed and headed towards the door.

“Where are you going?” demanded Nora.

“To find my parents’ wedding album,” said Meli. “I want to see this guy.”

Nora sighed. She didn’t ever want to see him again, but she didn’t say anything to stop her cousin. Two minutes later, Meli had flopped back down on the bed with a photo album in her hands. Halfheartedly, Nora sat up and leaned against Meli’s arm, watching as she flipped through the pictures.

“Look for one of everyone,” she said. Meli nodded and finally stopped a few pages in at a copy of the same picture Nora had seen. “That’s him,” she said, tapping his face with her fingernail.

“Hmm,” said Meli, biting her lip.

“What?” asked Nora warily.

“Nothing,” said Meli. “Well, I mean, just…at least he’s good looking.”

“God, Mel!” said Nora, shoving her cousin. “He’s a demon!”

Meli shrugged and looked down at the picture again. “It was a long time ago, Nora,” she said. “And everyone makes mistakes.”

“It’s not…I don’t care…” Nora sighed loudly. “I just want to know why it’s such a secret, Mel,” she said quietly. “Why didn’t she ever say anything? Why rip the pages out of the Book and pretend it never happened? How have we never heard about this?”

Meli wrapped an arm around Nora’s shoulders. “I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe your mom’s embarrassed or something.”

“Embarrassed enough to keep a box of memorabilia?” said Nora. “No, it has to be something else, Mel.”

“Well,” said Meli, “you could always ask her.”

“Or not,” said Nora, pulling away from Meli and standing up again.

“We could ask Mom. She obviously knew about it.”

“Your mom will tell my mom.”

“There must be some way we can get around that,” said Meli.

“Yeah, maybe with a spell,” scoffed Nora. She paused and grinned. “Hey, there’s an idea.”

“Oh no, Nora. Those always go wrong.”

Nora, as always when she came up with a plan, had stopped listening. Meli’s protests were always the same anyway. “The truth spell,” she said as she began to pace again.

“Wyatt and Chris cast that once,” said Meli, “and everyone in the family remembered after. Remember that, Nora? My mom or your mom will still remember.”

“They will,” said Nora, “but your dad won’t.”

Meli opened her mouth to respond, seemed to realize Nora was right, and shut it again, smiling. “Okay,” she said. “For once, you’re right. Still, if our moms find out what we’re doing…”

“They won’t,” said Nora. “We just have to make sure they don’t know about the spell, right? Come on. Let’s go look at the Book. Are your parents home right now?”

“Not yet,” she said. “But—”

Nora ignored her, and left the room, making a beeline straight for the attic. She was already flipping through the book by the time Meli came into the attic. Just like always, Meli looked torn between leaving Nora to her own devices and joining in on the plan. Meli seemed to have inherited every serious, cautionary trait possible from her parents, which could be annoying, but also useful; Meli was usually able to point out every risk and loophole in Nora’s plans.

“Here it is,” said Nora. She read through the spell once while Meli came around to face the Book. “This will be easy,” she said. “We just need to change the last line. If we say it so only people in this room will hear the truth from other’s mouths then it won’t affect anyone else in the house. Just us. So your mom won’t even know what’s going on, and neither will Chris. Your dad’s immune anyway because he’s a mortal, so we’ll be in the clear.”

“Are you sure that’s how it works?” asked Meli. “Won’t they realize when we ask them a question and they have to tell the truth?”

“Well if we don’t cast the spell on them then their memories of everything should end after a day. It’s only personal gain if you’re gaining anything from it.”

“Are you sure about that?”

No, thought Nora, but she said, “It only makes sense. But, you know, you could also just avoid asking your mom questions until tomorrow.”

“It won’t rhyme,” said Meli, in what seemed a last-ditch attempt to get Nora to change her mind.

“Who cares?”

“Nora…”

But Nora was beyond caring now. She took a steadying breath and read out loud, “For those who want the truth revealed, opened hearts and secrets unsealed, from now until it's now again, after which the memory ends. Those who now are in this room will hear the truth from others' mouths.”

She looked up when she had finished reading and glanced at Meli, who was standing with her arms crossed looking nervous. After a moment of Nora staring, Meli rolled her eyes and said, “Okay, try it.”

Nora grinned. “How do you feel about me casting the spell?”

“I’m really, really, really nervous because I’m sure we’re going to get caught. We always get caught. And you know it.”

Nora pressed her lips together to keep from laughing and then said, “Wait, that’s not good enough. You’d say that anyway. Let me try again.”

“No way,” said Meli. “I don’t trust—”

“Are you going to let Ben kiss you at the dance?”

“If he tries to I won’t stop him,” said Meli, and then she blushed. “No-ra!”

“This is totally going to work,” said Nora. “Please tell me your dad is going to get home first tonight.”

“I don’t know,” said Meli. “Mom had a doctor’s appointment at four thirty. So it depends on how long she’s stuck there.”

Nora glanced at her watch. “Well, it’s five now,” she said.

Then, to Nora’s astonishment, she heard Uncle Leo’s voice call from downstairs, “Meli? Where are you, sweetie?”

“There you go,” said Meli. “Good luck.”

Nora nodded, but she suddenly felt sick again. She’d almost forgotten why she had decided to cast the spell in the first place. Now, in the face of finding out exactly what her mother was hiding, she felt like calling the whole thing off.

“We’re up here, Dad!” Meli called before Nora could say anything. “You better not blow this,” Meli said as an aside. “This is probably your only chance without actually asking your mom what’s up.”

“I’m not sure I can do this,” said Nora, grasping Meli’s forearm. “What if I don’t like what I hear?”

“You’ll deal with it and move on,” said Meli. “Nora?”

Nora’s eyes were glued on Uncle Leo, though, who had just walked through the attic door. “Hey, girls,” he said. He glanced at the Book and then back to them. “Should I be worried?” he asked.

“Yes,” said Meli and Nora simultaneously. Uncle Leo raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to ask another question when Nora blurted out: “Was my mom married to Cole Turner?”

“Yes,” said Uncle Leo and he looked back and forth between them, clearly surprised. “Where did you—”

“Was Cole a demon?” asked Nora.

“Yes,” said Uncle Leo, followed quickly by: “Girls, what spell did you cast?”

“Truth spell,” they said in unison. Meli bit her lip and looked down at the ground.

“Oh no,” said Uncle Leo. “I don’t know how you found out, but we’re not doing anything else until one or both of your mothers are here.”

Uncle Leo turned and started to leave the attic, and Nora nudged Meli insistently. “Please,” she said. “Please, please, please, Meli.”

Meli shut her eyes, groaned, and then froze her father in his tracks. “I hate you,” she said to Nora, and then she unfroze her father’s head.

“Uh, Meli!” said Uncle Leo as the girls walked around to face him again.

“Sorry, Dad,” said Meli. “But Nora’s really upset.”

Uncle Leo’s face softened a little, but then he said, “If you want to know, Nora, you should ask your mom. And not under a truth spell.”

“How did they meet?” asked Nora, ignoring her uncle’s advice.

“Cole was trying to kill the Charmed Ones,” said Uncle Leo. “He and your mom fell in love.”

“But he was a demon. Did she even know?”

“She found out. Cole killed the Triad after he couldn’t bring himself to kill your mom and Piper and Prue teamed up with another demon to try to kill Cole. Your mom faked his vanquish to save his life.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” said Nora. “Is she insane?”

“She was in love,” said Uncle Leo. “And Cole loved her. He saved her life, several times.”

“So they got married?”

“Eventually,” said Uncle Leo. “After they vanquished the Source.”

“She married him even though she knew he was a demon?” asked Nora. Next to her, Meli looked down at her feet.

“She didn’t think he was a demon,” said Uncle Leo. “Cole was half-human and a few months before his powers had been stripped. When the girls vanquished the Source, the Source took over Cole’s body.”

“Oh my God!” said Meli, her head snapping up. She looked from her dad to Nora wide-eyed.

“So what happened?” asked Nora, determined to hear everything.

“We found out he was the Source and for awhile, your mom…went along with it. But then she and Piper and Paige vanquished him.”

“Why would she go along with that?” Meli asked the question before Nora could, and Nora looked at her gratefully.

Uncle Leo sighed. “She was pregnant.”

“Fuck,” said Nora, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“Nora!” said Uncle Leo.

“What happened to the baby?” asked Meli quietly.

“He died. His powers were out of control. Your mother couldn’t handle it and then the seer stole the baby and she couldn’t handle the power either. They both died.”

“And Cole was dead too?”

Uncle Leo hesitated and then said, “Kind of.”

“Kind of?” asked Nora. “How can you be kind of dead?”

“He came back from the wasteland by stealing powers. He was invincible. And crazy because Phoebe wouldn’t take him back. We didn’t know what to do about it.”

“So what did you do?” asked Nora, suddenly weary. This was so much more than she had expected. More than she had ever thought possible.

“I’m still not sure what happened,” said Uncle Leo. “Paige was the only one there. She saw his vanquish. He’s dead now.”

Meli took Nora’s hand and squeezed it, and Nora nodded a little. Quickly, Meli unfroze her father. Uncle Leo looked torn between anger and sympathy. “How the hell did you find out about Cole?” he asked Nora.

“My mom has a box of stuff that I found in her room,” said Nora sullenly. She sighed. “Why didn’t she tell me?”

“I don’t know,” said Uncle Leo. “We rarely mentioned Cole after he was gone. I think it was too…too much.”

Nora nodded and said, “Thanks, Uncle Leo.” Then she left the attic without another word, ignoring Meli calling her name. She was only slightly surprised that Uncle Leo didn’t try to stop her. Sometimes he could be incredibly understanding.

Right before her mom came home, Meli called to tell her that her dad hadn’t said anything to her mom. She also said that when she asked her dad, he said he wasn’t sure whether it was his place to say anything, and that he also thought Nora should tell her mom. When her mom got home that night, though, Nora hardly said a word to her. Somehow, she couldn’t even understand who her mother was anymore.

Uncle Leo didn’t make up his mind one way or the other in time, and by the next night Meli reported that he had forgotten everything.

This time, they never got caught.

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A/n: And so ends part 4. If you're interested in continuing with this series, the next story ("Waits for You") should be up soon.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I'm glad you enjoyed this story, and I really appreciate the feedback. I hope you continue to read my work. Thanks!

Katie