44 Blueberry Hill, Sunday Morning

[carpe_demon]

Drake had been holed up in the guest bedroom for the past two days, doing paperwork and working on his course outline. In other words, the part of the job he hated. Conveniently, any time he'd left the room he hadn't run into Phoebe or Sam, and just as conveniently, Cole had forgotten to tell them about the demon in the guest room

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[beenthroughthat]

Sam, barefoot and in just his pajama pants, slammed open the door to the soon-to-be nursery, where he'd been measuring wallpaper (not that he planned to start putting it up without Cole's help) when he heard the screaming.

"What the frak is going on here and who the hell are you?"

[carpe_demon]

Drake looked from Sam to Phoebe. "One of each, buddy?" he said to Cole. "You've been holding out on me."

[holdingontolove]

Cole rubbed his temple tiredly. "Drake," he said, warning in his voice.

[sleepswthdemons]

"Cole? Who the hell is this and what's going on? Why is there a half-naked strange man in our house?"

[beenthroughthat]

"A half-naked strange man that you know, in a towel," Sam added, crossing his arms over his chest. "Okay, spill it, Cole, what's the deal here?"

[carpe_demon]

Drake mimicked Sam's pose, crossing his arms and looking at Cole expectantly.

[holdingontolove]

"Drake's an old friend," Cole said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I told him he could stay here a few days until he finds his own place. I guess I forgot to tell you."

[sleepswthdemons]

Phoebe looked at Drake and then looked at Cole, her eyes a little clouded. That was definitely not a surge of jealously she felt, nope. It was a surge of anxiety due to hormones and the baby.

"Old friend?"

[beenthroughthat]

"Forgot to tell us," Sam echoed. "Well then, now's as good a time as any for introductions, I guess," he added in the tone of voice that clearly hinted someone was going to have some explaining to do later.

[carpe_demon]

Drake snapped his fingers, and suddenly he was fully clothed and dry. "Drake Dèmon," he saw with a bow. "Bel . . . Cole . . . and I go way back."

[holdingontolove]

"It slipped my mind," Cole sighed. He didn't want to go into how he'd been pretty much hiding for the past two days, struggling not to turn into Belthazor. Fortunately, whatever had been causing that seemed to have passed.

[sleepswthdemons]

Phoebe nodded and looked at Drake. "How far back? As in far back enough that you were someone that was an ally or someone who I should kick through a wall to protect my husband?"

[beenthroughthat]

Sam rolled his eyes lightly at Drake's sudden wardrobe change and moved over to place a hand on Phoebe's arm. "Easy, babe," he said. "I'm assuming there won't need to be any wall-kicking since Cole invited him to stay."

[carpe_demon]

"No wall-kicking, please," Drake said. "I need to look my best when classes start. And no worries, we were pals. Well, as close as a boy who wanted so much to be a demon and one who wanted to be anything but could be."

[holdingontolove]

"He's okay, he's human now," Cole said. "And he was the closest thing I had to a friend in the Underworld."

[sleepswthdemons]

Those were magic words to Phoebe and she looked at Drake in a new way. "You were Cole's friend?"