Ok, I wrote this after a Charmed fanfic challenge story that I wrote. Now when I posted it someone said there were spelling and grammer errors. However when I asked for an example or two so I could track them down because my spell check and grammer check both say it's okay they never replied. Thus I would like some idea on what you think, please.
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AFTERMATH
-Part 1-
-Disclaimer: Recognizable characters that have appeared in any book, television series or movie, together with the names, titles and back story, are the sole copyright property of their respective owners. No copyright infringement is intended by the author, and no monetary profit has been made in the writing of this story. However, the story itself, as well as any original characters, is the sole property of the author. Please do not copy the story from this site or post these stories elsewhere without the express written permission of the author. In other words, I don’t own anything but the story and Benjamin. Enjoy!
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Piper walked into the mansion after yet another confrontation that almost resulted in her death, “This is worst than when Prue died, at least then we had Cole to pick up the slack!”

“You could ask Leo to help out until Phoebe returns,” Paige ventured as she followed Piper inside and closed the door.

“No way, its bad enough the boys may lose their mother because we don’t have the Power of Three. I am not putting both our lives on the line and risk leaving them orphans. At least Cole had his demon powers and while he was human we confined him to the mansion as much as possible.”

“Yeah, and that worked oh so well,” laughed Leo as he came down the stairs. “By the way, there is someone who has a few words of wisdom for you upstairs.”

Raising her eyebrows Piper walked over to kiss her husband before climbing the stairs to the attic with Paige following close behind her. Expecting to see Grams as she opened the door, Piper was shocked speechless when she saw Prue waiting impatiently. Moving slowly into the attic Piper wondered how Prue would react to Paige. As Paige entered the room Prue smiled in welcome, silently wishing she could hold her baby sister in her arms for just a moment.

Paige hesitantly smiled back at the sister she had never met before asking, “Is this in regards to our current situation or something new?”

Piper glanced quickly at Paige in surprise at the bluntness of her question.

“Oh I think I’m going to like you, direct and to the point. I just have some words for Piper to ponder. Something I never thought about in life and some words that I actually said but never really applied when it came to Cole.” Looking straight at Piper she continued, “Remember back when we saved Tom, it was then we learned about the Demon Training Camp where they destroy a person’s humanity. At the time it never occurred to us to wonder if Cole was ever put through that camp, he was half-human after all. However, I did wonder what type of witches we would be if we began to pick and chose our innocents.”

“I remember Tom and that horrible wrestling ring but I don’t remember you ever saying that.”

“I do,” Phoebe said solemnly as she and Cole suddenly appeared in the attic.

“Phoebe!!” Both Piper and Paige yelled joyously as they ran to embrace their sister, only to find themselves running right through her.

Behind them Prue chuckled as she said, “Think about it anyway, both of you, and good luck,” before she disappeared.

“Hey!” protested Piper as she stomped her foot in frustration. Turning to face Cole and Phoebe with her hands on her hips Piper demanded some answers, “Ok, Cole what about it, were you ever in a Demon Training Camp? And Phoebe, what’s up with you, are you trapped with him or what?”

Cole grimaced and looked down at the floor as he remembered back to the loveless agony that had filled his childhood, “Yeah Piper I was in a Demon Training Camp from the time I was six until my 30th birthday.”

Phoebe hugged him hard as both Piper and Paige stared at him in astonishment.

“Why so long?” asked Paige.

“Yeah from what I remember the boot camp Tom was in only ran for like four or five years and then it was time for the graduates to experience their first kill. Now granted they wanted Tom to repeat the training but that was because his humanity was coming back,” input Piper.

Cole hugged Phoebe tight as he confirmed Piper’s words, “Your right Piper, the camps do last only a few years, however whenever someone’s humanity either comes back or refuses to be destroyed the demon in question is forced into a harsher, more brutalizing type of training camp. It often happens that a human recruit winds up spending ten years in training but for demons it usually only lasts a year or two, they tend to enjoy the torture. I, however, found it extremely hard to kill until I let Belthazar take over completely, which was not until my 27th year. Up until then I refused to participate in the torture and killing of innocents so more often than not I spent the night half-dead and bleeding on the floor.”

By the time he was finished with his explanation all three sisters were in tears. Phoebe was the first one to gain control of herself just enough to answer Piper, “Anyway Piper, Cole and I will only be this way as long as you two insist on being so stubborn. In fact this test is just the next step in our destiny and as the Charmed Ones we need to learn exactly how human we are before our journey can continue. It’s extremely important that each of us acknowledge how judgmental we can be and the potential for both good AND evil not only in ourselves but in EVERYONE.”

Wrecked with guilt Piper and Paige looked at each other silently for a moment before Paige quietly asked, “Okay, what do we need to do to prove that we are at least trying to change? After all we are mortal; I don’t think we will ever get it 100%.”

Cole chuckled slightly at that, “I for one know how true that statement is. Anyway, don’t worry your test has already been determined and will start soon.” Then both Phoebe and Cole were gone.

“Great, a test thought up by a group of beings who have no faith in us and expect us to fail horribly.”

Paige smiled sickly at Piper’s words, “Yeah, I guess we’re the ones in the hot seat now. Determined to succeed but destined to fail. I wonder how many times Cole felt exactly like we do now.”

Piper nodded her head sadly, “Yup, we made a lot of mistakes with Cole so I guess we deserve some of the pain he went through. However, I for one have done a lot of thinking about how little faith I had in Cole especially compared to all the other people we’ve helped. If our standards had held true we wouldn’t of trusted or helped that warlock priest, Tom, or Drake to name a few, none of which really put his life on the line the way Cole did for us.”

Paige chuckled a little, “Yeah, I’ve done some thinking too. I was so immature, defensive, and scared back then. Poor Cole was such an easy and convenient target for all those destructive emotions.”

Leo chuckled as he entered the attic, “I was wondering what was taking so long and here I find both of you on a massive guilt trip. Paige, yes you were a brat in hindsight and yes, Piper you do tend to have more faith in everyone who isn’t Cole. However, the two of you aren’t alone on this little guilt trip. Cole risked his life to save Piper from the Source and to gather information for us, yet even then I was leery of trusting him with your lives or defending him to the Powers that Be, even when he was human. A Whitelighter may be excused for not trusting a demon but the same rules don’t apply to mortals, and I still trusted other demons more than I did Cole in ALL his forms.”

Piper walked over to hug him tight, she had never stopped to think that perhaps her husband also needed to learn a lesson from all this.

Sighing, Paige broke the silence, “Well, I guess we’ll find out if we’ve made any type of progress in their eyes once this ‘test’ begins.”

“I hope it begins soon, I want Phoebe AND Cole back,” groused Piper as she led the exit from the attic. A warm breeze flowed through the attic once the three had left, quietly closing the door behind them.

Two months later Piper and Paige were still waiting on the Fates to send their little test of faith. Tucking Chris in, Piper wondered if perhaps they had already been tested, and failed. Sighing in frustration she bent to hiss her son’s forehead just as a loud thump reverberated across the ceiling as something heavy slammed into the attic floor. Quickly checking that Chris was still asleep Piper then ran out into the hallway, nearly bumping into Paige and Leo who had also noticed the noise. Running up the stairs the three of them barged through the attic door, ready to take on whoever or whatever was there. However the only thing that greeted them was the sight of a young teenager lying singed and unconscious on the attic floor. Pushing past Leo and Piper, Paige ran over and kneeled down next to the young man. Leo and Piper slowly followed her and stood watching as she attempted to heal him, so Leo was in the perfect position to see her have the same type of trouble healing the kid as he had had the first time he had attempted to heal Cole. Thinking quickly he bent over and grabbed Paige’s hands away just as a small bolt of electricity sparkled between the two, “Watch it Paige, looks like he has some demon blood and that stings once the human part of him is healed.”

“I see that, thanks Leo,” Paige laughed a little unsteadily as the teenager began to come around.

Piper pulled the afghan off of the small sofa in the corner and covered him with it, “I wonder who he is and what happened,” she wondered as she knelt down to check his injuries.

“Looks like he was in some sort of fire fight before shimmering here,” Leo replied.

“Why would he shimmer here?” Paige asked.

“I didn’t shimmer anywhere, I walked up into the attic to look up into the attic to look up the demon HE had sent to kill me and straight into a portal that dropped me here,” the teenager mumbled weakly as he began to come around.

“Was it a swirling blue vortex with white lights?” Leo inquired as he knelt down to gently place a cushion under the boy’s head.

The youngster opened his blue eyes to look groggily up at Leo in surprise, “Yes, how did you know?”

Laughing slightly as she held his hand Piper said, “Yes, or at least Leo and I do. It was a time tunnel and from my experience plus the way your talking I’d say your from the future, where the Powers to Be still act first and inform never. I’m Piper, by the way, the guy by your head is Leo, and Paige was the one who tried to heal you.”

“Feels like she’s a Whitelighter,” the teen smiled weekly, “Remind me to show you how to get around my demon side, and my name’s Benjamin but you can call me Ben.”

Paige knelt down to take Ben’s other hand as laughed as she said, “I’ll definitely take you up on that Ben, especially if I have to keep healing you.”

Ben laughed weakly as he struggled to stand up with Leo and Piper’s help, “Chris could teach you a few things if he was here. He learned a lot those first few months after HE came to power.”

Piper and Leo looked at each other quickly when they heard the name Chris; suddenly remembering that Ben had said he had been in the attic to research a demon.

“Um, Ben, are Chris and you Halliwells by any chance?” asked Leo.

Ben started a little in shock before finally looking them all over intently as he said, “Yeah, Christopher and I are both sons of a Charmed One. In fact, I think I know you three now and I don’t know how much more I should say here.”

Paige chuckled a little, “I’m not sure it’s gonna matter one way or another. It seems the future changes with each action anyway and just your being here has probably already changed it. I’m guessing your Chris is Piper and Leo’s little boy but which of us do you belong to is the question.”

Now Ben eyed them warily, even pulling slightly away from Piper and Leo, “I’m your test?! The test you all fail and which leads to HIS evil reign of power! Oh, gods I must have really been out of it not to realize who you were when you first said your names.” With those words Ben pushed away from them all and stormed painfully to the attic door where he paused a moment to say, “The full name’s Benjamin Halliwell Turner, you figure out who my parents are. I’m sure once you do you won’t be pleased and you’ll certainly start treating me differently,” before continuing out and down the stairs.