DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN CHARMED OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS. I AM IN NO WAY ASSOCIATED WITH THE SHOW EITHER.
Piper ran out of her house in tears, she ran franctically down the front lawn. The only thought on her mind was 'I hope he doesn't catch me this time.' Her husband, Clint, always seemed to know where she was running, and he always managed to grab her before she got far. And this time was no exception, Piper was flung backwards as Clint grabbed her hair.
"Where the hell do you think you're going bitch?" He asked with spite, not really expecting an answer.
Clint pulled Piper back into the house by her hair. Once inside he released her hair and Piper fell to the ground. Clint went over and locked the five locks that he had installed onto the door. Then he headed upstairs turning to Piper only once.
"I'm going to bed." he said with a mean hateful voice.
Piper knew that typically she was supposed to go with him when he went to bed. So Piper nodded and followed.
"I'm not in the mood tonight." Clint said crawling into the bed and rolling over so he was facing away from Piper.
She nodded with a smilght smile once she knew that Clint couldn't see her. She went into the bathrrom and looked in the mirror. She had a black eye, a bloddy nose, some cuts and scrapes and about a dozen bruises already. She wiped away he rblood and cleaned up as much as she could. Then she walked out of the bathroom and went downstairs. the only time she ever felt comfortable to do anything was when Clint was at work or asleep. She wasn't allowed to sleep in the bedroom or the guest room, not that they ever had any guests, so she always slept on the couch. Piper went and knelt down next to the couch pulling up one of the cushins and pulling out her book. She hid it there because it was one of the books that Clint had told her she wasn't allowed to read. She then placed the cushin back and sat on the couch reading. After a few hours she glanced up at the clock, it was already 2 a.m. So she put the book back and then laid on the couch shortly falling asleep.
It was 6 a.m. the next morning and Clint was getting ready for work. He walked over to the couch and pulled Piper up off of it.
"Where's my breakfast?" he asked.
"I'll make it right now." Piper sad as she headed to the kitchen.
Before Clint left for work hewalked over to Piper, he grabbed her head and kissed her hard on the lips.
"There's someone coming by today to do some work on the house. I want them gone before I get back at 7." he said glaring at her, then he left for work.
Piper sighed with relief as she heard Clints car start up and leave. She cleaned up the kitchen and went and got her book again, but then she decided that she wanted to watch some T.V. so she went and got the remote and turned it on. She watched Sex and the City, there was a marathon on, this was her favorite show and she had forgotten how much she liked it. After three and a half episodes the doorbell rang. Piper got up after turning the T.V. off, she went and put the remote away and then she went to answer the door. There stood a man with dirty blonde hair, and green eyes. He had on a pair of light blue jeans, and a button down checkered shirt, and he was holding a toolbox. He looked at her with a caring look, she looked like she was really hurt, with lots of bruises, scrapes and a blackend eye.
"Hi." he said with a smile.
"Hi, you must be Clint's friend." Piper said
"Well, not really his friend, I talked to him on the phone once."
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. That's right, you're here to fix some things." Piper replied.
"I'm Leo Wyatt." he said holding out his hand
"I'm Piper." she said looking at his hand not exactly sure what to do.
Clint had kept her so isolated most normal things puzzled her now. Leo smiled with a soft chuckle.
"So I guess I should get started."
"Oh, yeah, of course. I hope Clint told you what to do because I have no clue what needs to be fixed." Piper said moving out of the doorway.
"Yeah, he gave me a list." Leo said walking in. "I'll just get started."
Piper nodded and went back over to the couch, she sat down taking her book out from under the cushin. Leo looked at her a litte puzzled and then he looked down at his list and headed up to start fixing things. A few minutes later Leo came downstairs.
"Ahh...Piper, the list says I need to fix a window in the bedroom, but the door seems to be budged."
Piper looked at him, she wasn't allowed in the bedroom without Clint, but he said he wanted Leo gone before he got back. So she went and got the spare key then went and unlocked the door. Leo stepped in, there were at least five different window in the room.
"Ahh..Piper, could you show me which one needs to be fixed?"
Piper shook her head no.
"I can't go in there." she said.
"You can't go in the bedroom?" he asked confused.
"Anyway, I don't know which window is broken." she said looking at the windows.
"But, don't you sleep in here?" Leo asked
"No, I sleep downstairs." Piper said.
"All thats down there is the kitchen, dinning room, and living room. What, do you sleep on the couch?" he asked sarcasticly.
"Yeah." Piper replied.
"What, why?" Leo asked.
"It's just how it is." Piper said and she began to walk away.
Leo watched her a little worried. He knew something wasn't right now. Leo followed her worried.
"Piper." he said as he came out of the room. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be okay?" she asked
"Well, you look really beat up.'' he said. "If you want, I could help you out, I mean, I used to be a doctor."
"No, I'm okay, just really clumsey." she said turning away.
Leo set his hand on her shoulder, but not how Clint always did, he set his hand there in a comforting way, not a hateful way. He knew what was going on now, his mom always said the same thing.
"Piper, my mom always said that too. Clint, he hits you doesn't he?" Leo asked.
"No, Clint loves me." Piper said shaking her head. "He would never hurt me."
"Piper, you don't have to cover up for him."
"I'm not covering up for anyone." Piper said as she started to walk down the stairs.
"Piper, I can help you, you just have to tell me the truth." he said
"The truth, the truth is I think you should finish soon otherwise Clint is going to be really mad when he gets home." Piper said walking downstairs and sitting on the couch.
Piper was staring at the clock, it was now 6:30 p.m. and Leo was still there fixing things. Piper hoped he would be done soon, she knew she would be in trouble if Leo was still there when Clint got home. Leo walked down the stairs a few minutes later.
"I'm done." he said walking over to Leo.
"Okay, how much is it?" Piper asked
"It's on the house." Leo said smiling at her "Here," he stuck out his hand which had a card in it "if you ever need anything, please don't be afraid to call me." he said
Piper nodded, Leo nodded back and then walked out. Piper sighed relieved that he was gone so Clint wouldn't be mad that he was still there. Piper looked down at the card, then out of the corner of her eyes she saw a headlight flashing in the window. She looked up and quickly hid the card in her pocket and ran up to the bathroom. Clint walked in slamming the door shut.
"Where the hell is my dinner?!" he yelled not seeing her.
Piper came down the stairs from the bathroom.
"And where the hell were you?"
"I was, I was just in the bathroom." Piper said "And dinner is in the oven." she lied.
Piper had forgotten to start dinner that day, the chicken was still in the sink thawing.
"I'm gonna take a shower, and when I'm done, I want dinner on the fucking table." he sneered as he marched upstairs.
Piper quickly ran to the kitchen once she heard him shut the bathroom door. She put the chicken in the oven and began making a tossed salad. About thirty minutes later Piper heard the shower shut off, and the chicken wasn't done yet. She set the table and put the salad on the table. She heard his heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. Piper began to panic, she knew how Clint would react if dinner wasn't done, she turned around, and he was standing right there. Clint looked over at the table.
"Don't tell me all we're having is a lousey tossed salad." He said
"No, no, the ahh...the chicken, it isn't done just yet." she said.
"It isn't done yet." Clint said getting upset.
Piper knew what was coming next. Clint drew his hand back and Piper put her arm over her face and closed her eyes. just as Clint began to swing some one shouted.
"Stop it!"
Clint turned around and Piper looked up from behind her arm. It was Leo standing there in the doorway.
"Who the hell are you?" Clint asked
"I'm the handyman you hired to fix things here." Leo replied
"Well what are you doing here?"
"I forgot my tool box." Leo said "But now I think I will also be taking Piper."
"You think you're going to take my wife." Clint laughed
"Yes I do, I'm not going to leave her here so you can beat on her." Leo said walking over to them
"Tell you what." Clint smiled "I'll leave for a half an hour, and I bet when I come back Piper will still be here." And with that Clint left with a smirk.
Leo looked over at Piper who was still cowering in the corner. He walked over to her and set his hand gently on her shoulder in a caring way.
"Are you okay?" he asked
"I'm fine." Piper said moving away from him "Why are you here?"
"I said I forgot my tool box." he said "But, once I saw that, I can't leave you here with him. Leo said.
"I would have been fine." Piper said
"No, you wouldn't have, look my mom was a lot like you. Only no one ever helped her. I'm not leaving without you." Leo insisted.
"Leo, I can't leave Clint. He's my husband."
"And you're his punching bag. Piper, he thinks you're gonna stay here, he knows you're afraid of him."
Piper looked at him not sure what to do.
"Piper, come on, you can come back to my place, he'll never find you there."
"Yes he will. he always finds me." Piper said remembering all the past times she tried to run.
"He won't, not this time. I promise." Leo said as he took her hand and led her out.
Piper wasn't going to be there when Clint got home, not this time.
