You've got to leave me now, you've got to go alone.
You've got to chase a dream, one that's all your own
Before it slips away.
When you're flyin' high, take my heart along.
I'll be the harmony to every lonely song
That you learn to play.
Nickel Creek
When You Come Back Down
A/N: This is a Piper/Leo alternative universe fic that's just letting out some feelings. I've been meaning to write for a while now, and this just seems appropriate at this stage in my life. The story takes place when Piper and Leo are in high school/going off to college. No Charmed, just people. Maybe I'll write an ending one day, but this is all for now.
"Piper, I love you."
Piper sat cross-armed, staring straight through Leo, trying to hold back tears and anger. "Then why won't you come with me? I thought we were best friends. I thought we'd always be together." She almost scoffed through her last sentence. She didn't understand why he was be so unreasonable.
Leo sat in the driver side of his '65 corvette, staring out the windshield into the black night. They were parked in a hideaway spot in Golden Gate Park, a place they would go sometimes and talk for hours. He couldn't bare to look at her now. If he did, he knew he would lose control. There was no way he was backing down now. He couldn't. "I just need to do this."
"Don't give me that crap. That's all I've heard for the past month. Just tell me the truth, Leo." Piper, now on the verge of tears, collapsed back into the passenger seat. Her arms were no longer locked in defense against her chest. They were now cradling her, almost as if they were protecting her from a bitter cold. "Were you ever happy here with me?"
"Every moment I spent with you," Leo said, reaching one hand out to gently wipe away a falling tear from his friend's face. "I couldn't have been happier."
"Then what changed?" Piper asked, finally frustrated at Leo's answers. "I certainly never changed."
Leo slowly looked down at the steering wheel. "We've both changed."
Forgetting to hold back her emotions, she finally broke down. "What is that supposed to mean?" she said between sobs.
Leo stared back up into her face. Her nose had turned a bright shade of red—a shade that only appeared when she cried. He loved that nose. The little things she saw as imperfections, he loved. "It's just... I don't know. You and I just seem to lead different lives now."
"What do you mean?" Her tone turned from irritation to a more gentle plea. "I thought we had dreams together. Remember our thirty year pact?"
Even through the pain, Leo managed to smile at her comment. A few years ago they made an agreement to marry each other if neither had found love. "We can still have that pact."
"Yeah, except you'll be half-way across the state."
Leo sighed and gazed back through the windshield. The lights of the bustling city of San Francisco blinked unwelcomingly back at him. The city seemed cold and distant to a small-town boy like himself. He longed for the home he grew up in, the familiar places and family he left behind eight years ago when he moved to the city with his mother. "We just have different ideas of our futures."
"Our futures? What are you talking about, Leo?" Piper was getting more annoyed with each cryptic response. "I'm the same person I used to be."
"Except we're growing apart," he blurted out before thinking. Sighing again, he looked back into her dark brown eyes. He couldn't keep it in anymore. "I don't want to hold you back."
"Hold me back?" She shook her head, trying to fathom what he could possibly hold her back from. "Leo, we're in this together."
"You don't understand... I love you, Piper. But I'm afraid of loving you." He paused, partly to gather his thoughts and partly to let her speak, but she stayed shocked and silent. "I want to live the simple life. You know...the small house beside a creek, a wife in the garden pulling weeds, and kids running barefoot on hardwood floors. You have these great dreams of being a famous chef and going to New York." He struggled to keep back a tear. "More than anything, I want to see you fulfill those dreams. You were born to fly, and I can't hold you back."
Piper sat in complete silence for a moment as she let his words sink in. Her eyes burned with salty tears, but she didn't bother to wipe her face. She simply leaned in and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck. Breathing in the smell of his clean shirt, she shut her eyes to everything except Leo. "Leo, please don't leave. I don't know what I'll do. I need you."
He hugged her tighter than he had ever before. He could not let her go, but he knew he had to. "Listen to me, I promise that if you ever fly too high, I'll catch you when you fall. I will be here when you come back down."