What Once Was
Summary: Prequal to my story Problems in Paradise.
"Thanks for keeping her." Piper said, breaking the awkward silence between her and her ex-boyfriend, Leo. He had just brought their six-month-old daughter home after keeping her while Piper went out with her boyfriend Dan.
"Anytime." Leo answered laying the baby, Parker, down in her crib for the night. The baby looked at her parents with big hazel eyes for a second before slowly drifting to sleep.
Piper kissed her cheek and covered her up with a pink blanket before turning off the light as her and Leo left the room. Once they reached her bedroom she turned to face him. They stood awkwardly for a minute before Piper smiled at him, "You know Leo, feel free to come see Parker anytime." she said encouragingly.
He smiled back, "Thanks, but wouldn't Dan be mad that I'm around you so much?"
"She's your daughter, plus it's none of his business."
Leo looked at the floor and nodded. Piper walked over to him and lifted his chin up to look him in the eye before saying, "It's because I broke-up with him, Leo."
Leo smiled, "Really?" he asked excitedly. Which he quickly tried to hide by looking at her sympathetically before going, "Really?" in a more sympathetic voice.
Piper laughed, "Yes, I finally realized who I really love. And that's you."
Without saying anything Leo kissed her pationately.
Piper gently led him to her bed and started unbottuning his blue button-up shirt. Eventually, all clothes were gone and they spent the night in complete bliss.
Leo woke-up to see the most beautiful sight he'd ever seen. Piper was wearing his blue button-up shirt that went down to her mid-thigh and holding their daughter who was wearing a pink onsy. She was doing the rock-n-walk and the baby was giggling as she ran her tiny hand through her mother's hair. Piper planted a kiss on the babies brown curls and noticed he was awake and smiled, which he returned.
Piper walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, moving the baby onto her lap. Leo kissed her on the lips, moving to where he was sitting closer to her and wrapping an arm around her waist. She smiled at him, "Good Morning."
"The Best." he told her, kissing her neck and then kissing Parker on the head. The baby giggled at him and then became fascinated by the buttons on the shirt Piper was wearing. Piper smirked and looked at Leo.
"She takes after you."
Leo laughed and said, "Well, you can't blame us." and kissed her.
Piper smiled as their lips left each other. They sat looking into each others eyes. All of a sudden Parker let out an aggrevaited shreik. They turned their attention to her. Her tiny face was screwed up in concentration as she tried to figure out how to work the buttons on Piper's shirt. Leo chuckled and undone one of the buttons on her stomach and Parker stuck her tiny hand in smacking Piper on the stomach and giggling, causing Piper to laugh as her daughter's tiny fingers tickeled her skin.
Next, they heard a knock on the door and Piper made sure Leo's still naked body was carefully covered with the sheet before telling the person to come in. A second later her sister Prue stuck her head in the door. "Hey Piper, I was gonna go down and get something for breakfast. I was wondering if you wanted me to take Parker with me." Prue said not yet noticing Leo.
"Uh, yeah if you want to." Piper replied. Prue loved having her neice. She spent every minute she could with her, so did Phoebe. Piper stood-up and walked over to Prue and handed Parker to her.
Bingo! Prue noticed Leo and gave him a small smile before looking back at Piper questioningly. "Uh, What's goin' on?"
"Prue, I broke-up with Dan and me and Leo are giving it another try." Piper answered.
Prue smiled and hugged her sister before taking her neice and heading downstairs.
Piper turned to face Leo smirking and he smiled as she walked back over and sat facing him. Then, her smile fell off of her face as she thought about what she had done. Her and Leo had been dating since right after she found out she was a witch, a Charmed one. They quickly fell in love which only increased when Piper found out she was pregnant with their daughter Parker. Leo's bosses, the Elders, had immediately tried to force Piper into a magical abortion. Her and Leo had both refused and adoption was never even a thought. Piper gave birth to a beautiful seven pound six ounce baby girl and life was perfect. Until, the Elders decided to send Leo away on business two months after she was born. Piper thought he wasn't coming back and started dating her neighbor Dan. After three months, Leo returned, and in the last month she tried to decide between them.
Leo saw the look on her face and concern soon covered his. "Piper, are you ok?"
"I messed everything up. I...I ripped our family apart." she replied almost in tears.
"You didn't do anything. I left. You deserve to be happy and Dan made you happy."
"Not as happy as you make me Leo and I had to put us all through this month of hell because..."
Piper was cut off when Leo kissed her pationately. They pulled back slightly and Leo layed his forehead on hers. "I love you. I would have waited until Parker was 20 if I had to."
She smiled and climbed on his lap stradleing him. He layed back down on the bed and she lay on top of him listening to his heartbeat in his chest. He wrapped his arms around her holding her tightly. They were laying in complete non-sexual contintment when they heard a loud bang, Prue scream, and Parker start crying.
They jumped out of bed fast and Piper ran downstairs, Leo followed shortly after putting on his boxers and his white undershirt. They ran into the kitchen to see a demon throw Phoebe into a wall, trying to get to Parker, who was sitting in her high-chair, Prue's unconcious form laying at her feet. Piper quickly threw-up her hands and flicked her wrists and the demon froze. Leo ran over and healed Phoebe and Prue before quickly going over and picking Parker up from her high-chair and orbing her to safety. Phoebe picked up a knife that had been sitting on the counter and stabbed the demon in the chest. He was engulfed in a sworm of flames and turned into a scortch mark on the floor.
Piper breathed a sigh of releif and looked at the sky before yelling, "Leo!" The room was quickly filled with bright blue and white lights and her boyfriend and daughter soon appeared.
"Is he gone?" Leo asked, holding a now calm Parker tightly to his chest.
Piper smiled at his protectiveness and nodded, "Yeah, Phoebe stabbed him."
Leo nodded and handed Parker to her mother who held her tightly and kissed her cheek.
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Piper and Leo got home from the restaurant that Phoebe insisted they go to. Piper went into the kitchen to get them something to drink and Leo headed upstairs to check on Parker, who had stayed with Prue while they went out on their date.
Leo smiled when he came into the nursery to see Parker laying in her crib looking up at him. He gently picked the baby up and headed downstairs.
When he got downstairs, he walked into the conservatory to see Piper sitting on the couch waiting on him. She smiled when she saw them. "You know, she would have been fine upstairs."
Leo looked at Parker and replied, "Yeah, I know but... I guess I just missed her."
Piper smiled and stood-up, walked over to them and kissed Parker on the head and gently took her from Leo. "Hi. How are you?" she asked in a baby voice as she walked over to the play-pen. She sat the baby down inside and ran her fingers through her brown curls lightly. "Your OK." she reassured the baby when she started whimpering when she walked away. The whimpers stopped when Parker's attention was brought to one of her toys.
Piper smiled and led Leo to the couch and sat next to him. They sat just looking into eachother's eyes until Leo finally leaned forward and captured Piper's lips in a deep, pationate kiss. They continued to make-out heavily until Parker started crying sleepily. Piper slowly pulled back and smiled. "I think she's sleepy." she panted.
Leo smiled back, "I agree." he answered, trying to slow down his breathing.
Piper stood-up and picked the child up from her play-pen. She walked over and handed her to Leo. "I think we need to put her to bed."
She smiled as the baby gladly excepted the pacifier Piper gave her and layed her head on Leo's chest. Leo and Piper held hands as Leo orbed them to Piper's bedroom.
Leo layed the baby down in the center of the bed and gently lay next to her. Piper went to the walk-in closet to get changed. She came back in as Parker started to close her eyes. Piper walked over and gently layed on the other side of Parker, facing Leo.
After a few minutes, all three members of the family were asleep.
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"I'm tired of you mocking me infront of our friends!" Leo screamed at his wife of three years.
"Oh, I don't mock you." Piper shouted back.
"You always mock me. I quit my job, I quit my career so that you don't have to and this is what I get." Leo shouted.
"I didn't ask you to quit your job."
"Oh, the hell you didn't."
"Your right, I didn't. Did I?" Piper asked turning to her sisters, Phoebe and Paige. She leaned back a little to see a four year old Parker hiding behind Paige's legs.
"Oh yeah, just turn to them like you always do."
"So now what? You have a problem with them too?" Piper said turning her attention back to Leo.
"No, I have a problem with you." Leo shouted back, turning to walk into their bedroom.
"Leo, don't you dare walk away from me!" Piper said in a threatening tone holding up her pointer finger. Unfortunately, her emotions were on teh fritz adn Parker screamed as the door to Piper and Leo's bedroom exploded.
Leo turned to look at Parker, just now noticing she was there, adn saw how she hid, scared of her parents, behind her aunt.
Piper turned to look at Parker too. She bent down and stepped toward Parker. "Sweetie, your OK. Everythings OK. You can come to mommy now." She said holding out her hand.
Parker shook her head and gripped Paige tighter. Piper looked like she was about to cry as she stepped toward Parker more. "Baby, your OK. Mommy and Daddy are fine. No one's gonna hurt you."
Parked looked up at Paige as if looking for reassurance. It broke Piper's heart to know her daughter thought she was going to hurt her. Paige nodded and told Parker it was OK. Parker slowly and hesitantly let go of Paige and walked toward Piper.
Once she was close enough to reach, Piper pulled her into a hug, holding her close, kissing her cheek, and running her fingers through her long chocolate brown hair. Parker relaxed and started hugging her back. "I love you so much baby. I'd never hurt you."
"You tried to hurt daddy." she mumbled back.
"I didn't mean to. Mommy was just mad and her powers went crazy. I'd never hurt your daddy sweetie." Piper stood-up still holding her close.
Leo walked over and kissed Parker's temple. "See daddy's fine." he reassured her. Parker looked him up and down and then nodded her head against Piper's shoulder. Leo smiled and rubbed her back gently.
Parker's eyes started to drift shut and she gripped Piper's shirt tighter. Piper smiled and goes, "I think it's time for someone to go to bed."
Parker opened her eyes and sat up to look at Piper, still gripping her shirt. "No, I not tired." she said yawning.
"Oh really? Well then we'll just go into your room and relax OK?" Piper asked.
Parker thought about it for a minute before nodding and placing her head back on her mother's shoulder, and sticking her thumb into her mouth. Piper walked past Leo, sending him an evil glare, as she walked into Parker's room and layed her down.
"Good night Mommy." Parker mumbled as she drifted to sleep in her bed.
"Good night baby." Piper replied, making sure she was good and tucked in and kissing her on the cheek before turning off the light and shuting the door as she walked out.
She returned to her bedroom to see Leo had healed the door back and now he was nowhere to be seen. She sighed as she walked in, changed clothes, and went to sleep.
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Nine year old Parker sat curled up to the bannister of the staircase to the Halliwell Manor. In the kitchen she could hear her parents fighting yet again.
"God Leo I'm sick of this." Her mom, Piper, shouted, her voice getting closer as she exited the kitchen, walked through the dining room, and into hallway between the front door and the dining room.
"Well, you know what Piper, so am I." Leo shouted back following her.
Parker could now see her parents, she tuned their voices out but still watched their body language and her mother's hand movements.
Her mom turned to look away from her dad and spotted her. She walked up to her and bent down. "Sweetie, why don't you go to your room. Me and your dad need to finish talking."
Parker looked at her. "Your not talking, your yelling." When nobody said anything back she goes, "Just try not to kill anybody." she told Piper before orbing away.
Piper and Leo shared a look and they both sighed. They knew it effected their daughter greatly when they fought and the marriage counselors never seemed to help anymore.
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"Leo, I think we should take some time apart." Piper said hesitantly. Leo sighed. He figured something like this was bound to happen eventually.
"The Elders are sending me on assignment for about two weeks and..." Leo stopped when she shook her head.
"I think we should get a divorce Leo." Piper said not meeting his eyes.
"What?" Leo asked trying to catch his breath.
"It's just, we're always fighting or not talking and the marriage counselors aren't helping anymore."
Leo sat silently looking at her.
Unbeknowest to them their twelve year old daughter Parker was sitting outside their bedroom door listening to their conversation, her knees drawn up to her chest and her chin rested on her knees as she sat motionless and emotionless on the cold hardwood floor. Her long chocolate brown hair fanned out across her back and over her shoulders and her bright green eyes stared at a spot on the wall across the hall.
"What about Parker?" Leo asked.
"What about her Leo? She can't live with you in Elderland now can she."
"No, but I'm not abandoning her. She's my daughter too."
"Your not abandoning her. I just think we need to get used to you not being here."
Leo looked at her angrily and stood-up, "My daughter is not going to get used to not having a father."
"Leo, We need to get used to not being around eachother everyday. Even if that means you don't see Parker as much as you want to."
"Oh, and you get to see her everyday."
"Leo, don't turn this into a fight. We all need to get used to this and you don't have a house for her to live in. It's not permanent, just for a little while." Piper reasoned.
Leo heard a sniffling sound coming from behind the door and opened it and Parker practically fell threw it. Piper's eyes widened and she gasped as she stood up and ran over to help her daughter up from the floor. "Sweetie, How much of that did you hear?" she asked gently, pushing a peice of hair behind Parker's ear.
"All of it." Parker whispered looking at the floor.
"Oh sweetie." Piper said seeing the unshed tears in her daughters eyes.
Leo bent down to Parker's level and layed his chin on her shoulder and his forehead on her temple. "I love you sweetie. Don't ever forget that whatever happens, that'll never change. Ok?"
Parker nodded and turned to hug him whispering, "I love you too Dad."
Leo hugged her close and ran his fingers through his daughters hair before gently pulling back and kissing Parker on the forehead before turning back to Piper, "Your wish is my command." he joked giving her a small smile before orbing away.
Piper took in a deep breath before stepping forward and pulling her daughter into a tight hug. Parker returned it knowing that her mom needed her to be there for her now. She desperately wanted to be mad at her for sending her father away but seeing her mom so broken broke her heart and she couldn't not be there for her.
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Fourteen year old Parker stood inside an alleyway in China town with a group of her friends and her new boyfriend, Dillon. They were talking and all of a sudden one of the guys, Jake, pulled out some marijuana and started smoking it. Soon, they were passing it around the circle and when it reached Parker, she was torn. She'd never done drugs before and she'd always been taught that they were bad and never to do them but after all the problems that sprung into her life she needed something to help her out. So, after a minutes contimplation, she took the joint and took a puff of it before passing it over to Dillon. She felt as if she was floating and all of her problems started drifting away.
After the second and third puff they decided they'd ditch going home and go over to this place on Birdhook Lane that Jake knew where they could hang out.