"I wasn't assigned that case," Darryl told them when they called the next morning, "but I'll see what I can find." They tried to get on with their normal activities as they waited for him to call but they were too tensed, too worried. The "what if"s seemed to get wilder and wilder as time passed. It was almost a relief when Darryl's call finally came.

"We still don't know the exact cause of the fire," he said. "Everyone's baffled."

"Who owned the house?" Phoebe asked.

"The house was owned by Frank Morau. Married, had two kids. All of them died in the blaze," the last was said in a tone of restrained anger and weariness.

"Anything unusual about them?"

"Nothing, just your average family. No records or reports to suggest that they were anything more than ordinary."

"Thanks, Darryl," Phoebe said, hanging up as she told her sisters what she had found out.

Piper sighed. "I've got a bad feeling about this," she said.

"Mysterious fire that breaks out for no apparent reason? It just stinks of something demonic," Paige added.

"Which just supports the idea that Cole's involved somehow," Phoebe said grimly. "We should check out the scene of the fire, see if there's anything useful that we can dig up."

Piper nodded. "I'll stay here to watch the baby. You guys go on ahead."

It was a short drive to the Morau house. The street was quiet and peaceful, with the occasional sounds of children playing. It seemed like a typical middle-class neighbourhood. For a moment, they stood on the street, staring at the ruins of the blaze, apprehensive and cautious. "C'mon," Paige said finally, walking in.

The fire had destroyed most of the house. Yet everywhere there were signs of the comfortable, cosy home that it once was, which made its loss more poignant. Phoebe and Paige walked around carefully, looking for any sign of the supernatural.

Then they saw, amongst the debris, a man bending over to scoop up some of ashes on the ground. He had his back facing towards them as he stood up and slowly released the ashes, letting them swirl with the breeze back to the ground.

There was something hauntingly familiar about that man. A sense of foreboding came over Phoebe. Somehow, she knew that the moment he turned, the moment she saw his face, everything in her life would change. Slowly, he turned, revealing a face that the Halliwells knew all too well.

"Cole," Phoebe said softly. The shock quickly turned to anger. "What the hell are you doing here? Why can't you just stay dead?"

A disoriented and blank look came over the man's face. "I think you've mistaken me for someone else – "

"Don't play games with me!" Phoebe shouted in annoyance. "I've had enough."

"I'm not sure what happened but – " the man began, as he walked towards them.

"Just stay where you are," Paige said warningly, as she orbed a knife into her hand.

The man stopped and raised his hands in an attempt to signal to them that he meant no harm.  "Look, I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "I'm not Cole – or rather, not the Cole you're talking about."

"Sure," Phoebe said sarcastically, "And I'm Cleopatra."

Cole ignored the comment and continued to speak, slowly and carefully, as if trying to soothe a frightened animal. "I mean, my name is Cole, but I'm not the Cole you knew – I'm from a different dimension."