A/N: My third fic. I'm trying to keep track of what I put on when, so I know. Why I even bother, I have no idea. But I do.

Anyway, this one's one I've been working on forever, and just got up the nerve to post. I've already got about five or six chapters up, then it skips ahead to like chapters 18-20... I always write ahead, even though I'm trying to break the habit.

DISCLAIMER: I feel horrible admitting that Brad Kern is responsible for part of Charmed, but he is-- partly. I firmly believe that we should run it. That we the people should own and run Charmed the way we want it.

I have a dream-- no, vision... better yet: premonition-- that one day Piper and Leo will be back together on Charmed. That they will live in peace with their two sons (or more! Maybe a daughter... *ponders the possibilities*) and each other, let it be a normal life or not.

SUMMARY: Leo is a cop (I like making him a cop. It works out pretty well, I think) working in a smaller part of San Francisco, California. The small part of the large city is almost like its own little community inside the city. He and his wife, Piper Wyatt (yes, I made her change her name. No hyphenates here, folks!) have a beautiful daughter. But one day Piper goes missing. Everyone knows who did it, but there is no proof. Will Piper ever come back? Is she even alive?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Leo threw the man against the brick wall. "How could you ever think I wouldn't catch you?" He pulled him away and pushed him back into the wall, hard. "Where is she?" he demanded.

His two friends and five family members around him were yelling at him to stop. But no one made the move to pull him away yet. Inside, they all wanted Leo to continue and pretty much beat the living daylights out of the man.

But they couldn't let that happen. It would only be worse for Leo if they let him go through with it. No closure.

"Leo, don't do it!" his father yelled.

"Leo, you'll just make it worse," his older brother warned.

Leo still had the man in a tight grip against the brick wall in the alley. He turned his head back to the seven people trying to make him stop. "Call in for vehicle transport to the station..." he mumbled. His friends nodded, turned away, and did so. Leo turned back to the man he still had against the wall. "Don't think, even for a minuet, that you'll ever leave my sight. Ever." Leo leaned in close to the man's ear. "I will be following you everywhere, all the time. Every second of every day, you'll be turning to look over your shoulder wondering if I'm there.'"

"Aw, Leo, I didn't know you felt that way about me..." the man teased.

Leo threw him to the ground and drew his gun, mumbling incoherent threats. Threats that everyone around him knew he would carry out if given the chance. Immediately, one of his friends and his family members were on him.

"Leo, think about it!" his cousin yelled at him.

"Leo, if you do this, you'll lose your badge, and you'll lose all hope of convicting him," his friend warned.

His other friend came up with another officer. No one had heard the sirens of the police car. They pulled the man up from the ground, handcuffed him, and put him inside the car.

Some bystanders were crowding around, and Leo's father was pushing them away. A few stood back a few feet off, curious.

But Leo saw or heard none of this. He backed a few unsteady steps backward and hit the brick wall he had thrown the man into. He leaned onto it. If he wasn't leaning on it, he'd have fallen.

Leo looked down at his hand. He still had the gun out. He twirled it in his hand for a moment before putting it away. He slid down the brick wall to the ground, burying his face in his hands, but not saying anything.

Adam, one of his friends from the station, saw this and pulled him up. No way was this going to happen here. Not that it ever did around people, but sometimes the stress was just too much for Leo to handle. He and Leo's brothers-- his older brother, Ron, and his younger brother, Jake-- helped him into the police car they had come in.

The people left behind were Leo's dad, Gary, uncle, Jeff, and his cousin, Tom. They looked around a little awkwardly.

"Now what?"

"Leave it to Adam, Cortez, and the boys. They'll take care of him, and we'll go in later," Gary said.

Adam took one arm, Cortez the other. Leo couldn't walk. They carried him into the back room-- his office. He slumped into the chair, resting his head in his arms on the desk.

"C'mon, Leo. You've only got until tonight," Adam encouraged, though the enthusiasm in his voice was dangerously low.

Leo's brothers came in. He didn't care.

"We'll find her, Leo," Jake said.

"Leo, you want me to pick up Melinda?" Ron asked.

From the desk, Leo nodded.

"C'mon, Leo, just till tonight."

Leo nodded sarcastically and scoffed, not showing his face. It was still hidden in his arms on the desk. They always gave him the days in little pieces. It helped a little. They told him at night, "Just till morning." And in the morning, "Just till lunchtime." Then at lunchtime, "Just till tonight." And when it got worse, they told him what Cortez was telling him now.

"Think about Melinda."

Thinking about Melinda made it worse.

Head still on his desk hid in his arms, Leo gave Cortez the lecture. "Think about her? I can hardly bear to look at my daughter, because I see so much of Piper in her." He finally lifted his head. He had Cortez in a stare down as he spoke, and Leo was winning.

"And it terrifies me," he continued. "It terrifies me, because I think that maybe Melinda is meant to just fill up for Piper, and we'll never find her. Think about Melinda? No, I can't..." Leo shook his head. "She's been living with Prue the past three weeks... She's four years old, now... I can't... I can't... even go near... my own daughter." He got the last sentence out slowly, between breaths.

"Okay, then I'll ask if Prue can pick her up..." Ron muttered, leaving the office to call Melinda's aunt.

Soon they all filed out. All but Adam. Adam had been Leo's best friend since before Leo could remember. He was the... third brother Leo had never had.

"So what next?" he asked.

"Make it till tonight..." Leo said from his head in his hands on the desk. A moment of painful silence later, he mumbled, "We were so close... He was right there..."

"Don't worry, Leo, we'll get him. We have to."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: So far so good? Hey, I like it, now I just have to convince you guys to like it, too. Wish me luck! I know it's kinda original, but I never miss a good cliché.