Author's Note: The reviews are awesome - keep it up! cdfe88: this update is for you!

Disclaimer: Nope, still not mine. Except for Alexander the Elder, who appears later in this chapter.

"Piper, are you sure about this? Remember what happened the last time? The whole 'supernatural freaky Friday thing'?" Phoebe asked in concern as she finished tying the tourniquet around Leo's chest. She went over to where Piper was sitting cross-legged on the floor, flipping the pages of the Book of Shadows.

Piper dismissed her sister's concern with a wave of her hand. "Look, Wyatt's asleep. You can put him down in his room without fear of him orbing back here at the wrong moment. There should be plenty time for me to say the spell while Leo and I are the only ones in the room, even if Wyatt wakes up and orbs back." Phoebe opened her mouth to voice another objection but Piper held up her hand. "We're running out of time. You and I both know that this is our last option."

"But maybe I should be the one to switch powers with Leo."

"What? Why?" Piper's brow creased in confusion even as her hand thumped the book in triumph. "Found it! Ok, time for you to put Wyatt to bed so that I can say the spell and heal Leo. Then maybe things can finally get back to normal around here."

"Piper, I think maybe you should listen to Phoebe," Leo said softly.

"What are you both talking about? I've done this before – successfully, I might add." Piper picked up Wyatt and gently placed him in Phoebe's arms. He didn't even stir. "See? He's out for the night." Piper smiled at her sleeping son and shooed her sister towards the door.

"I know that underneath all that confidence you're actually scared," Phoebe whispered.

For a brief moment Piper's brave face slipped. "I thought you couldn't sense my emotions anymore."

"I'm still your sister. Good luck." Phoebe moved down the hallway towards the nursery as Piper shut the door behind them.

Taking a deep breath, she slowly turned to meet Leo's eyes. "Don't worry, we've been here before, remember?"

"So much has happened since then, Piper. Are you sure about this?"

She crossed the room and sat down beside him, and glanced one last time at the book now propped on her table underneath the lamp. She took his hand in hers and looked into his eyes. "What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine, let our powers cross the line. I offer up my gift to share, switch the powers through the air."

As before, nothing happened. No breath of wind, no dimming of lights, no feeling of electricity across the skin. Piper looked at her houseplant and threw out her hands in an attempt to blow it up. Nothing happened. Closing her eyes briefly in relief she turned back to Leo and smiled. She placed her hands over the wound in his abdomen and waited for the familiar golden light to appear – but nothing happened.

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Piper paced angrily back and forth at the foot of her bed. Phoebe watched her anxiously even as she bathed Leo's face with cool water in an attempt to make him more comfortable.

"I tried to warn you, Piper," Leo whispered. "I had a feeling that this wouldn't work."

"Well, it has to!" Piper stopped pacing and stared at Leo. "What do you mean, you had a feeling? Are you telling me that the elders are keeping me from healing you? That they aren't going to allow it?" Piper's voice was rising with each accusation and she could feel herself began to shake.

Phoebe jumped off the bed and grasped Piper's arms. "Piper, you've got to calm down. Listen to me: the only reason I volunteered to switch powers with Leo is because I don't have the complicated history with him that you do. You know that in order to heal him, you have to embrace his trigger, which is love. That's how it worked last time, remember?"

Piper pulled away from her sister and wrapped her arms around herself. "You know that I still care for Leo – he's Wyatt's father. Isn't that enough?"

Phoebe shook her head sadly. "I think if it was, Leo would be healed. You have to open yourself up, deal with the emotions that you've suppressed before you can heal him."

"No, that's not the problem – it's those damn elders."

"Phoebe's right," Leo pleaded from the bed but broke off as another coughing fit overcame him. He covered his mouth with his hand and turned his head to the side. Piper and Phoebe waited in tense silence until the coughing passed and Leo relaxed against the pillows once more. Glancing down at his hand, Leo's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Leo, what's wrong?" Phoebe asked, moving quickly to his side.

Leo attempted to hide his hand but Phoebe was too fast. Grabbing his hand in both of hers she turned it so that the palm was exposed to the light. Her gasp of alarm brought Piper to her side.

"What is it, Phoebe?"

"It's blood. Leo's coughing up blood."

"That's it!" Piper squared her shoulders with determination. "I'm going up there to get some answers."

"You can't do that, Piper! If they find out you've switched powers with Leo, both of you will be in serious trouble!" Phoebe tried to reason with her sister as she washed the blood from Leo's hand. "Leo, tell her that she has to stay here and-"

"It's too late Phoebe, she's already on her way," Leo said softly. "Piper, if you can still hear me, ask for Alexander."

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Piper orbed into a gathering of robed figures who didn't seem terribly surprised by her appearance though most of them glanced at her briefly before returning to conversations in their nonsensical click-clack language. Placing her hands on her hips, she addressed the gathering as a whole and called out, "All right, which one of you hoods is Alexander?"

Soft laughter came from her left as one of the robed figures approached. Hands came up to push back the hood and Piper saw an attractive dark man – the only light things about him were the whites of his eyes and his teeth when he smiled.

"You must be Leo's Piper. It is a great honor to finally meet a Charmed One. I am Alexander."

"I don't have time for pleasantries. Leo is in great danger – he's dying."

"We know," Alexander stated gravely, as his hands swept outward to include the gathering of elders.

"Of course you do," Piper said snorted, "You've probably been eavesdropping – don't you have anything better to do than spy on us?"

"Piper, I think we had better go someplace more private. Before you say something that might permanently affect your destiny?" Alexander raised an eyebrow and held out his hand. With a grimace Piper took it and then gasped in surprise when they materialized on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. "Do you have a fear of heights?" Alexander asked in concern.

"No, I'm fine. It's just – uh – an interesting choice."

"Leo brought me here once. He comes here often – calls it his sanctuary. He can hear your calls from here. He feels close to his son, and close to you." Alexander paused to look out over the city. When he glanced back at Piper, he chuckled. "Leo is a terrible elder. He is preoccupied, barely makes the minimum requirement of meetings, and his focus is – well, he has no focus. Between you and me, I feel that his investigation of Chris is just an excuse for him to stay on earth, which is where his heart truly lies."

Piper's head was reeling, both from the altitude and Alexander's words. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Isn't this why you orbed up here? To get answers? To discover why switching powers with Leo wasn't allowing you to heal him?"

"I know why it isn't working! It's because you're blocking me! You've all decided-"

"You give us too much credit, Piper. We don't have that kind of power or control over Leo's destiny."

Piper shook her head in disbelief and began to plead her case. "Wyatt can't lose his father!"

"What about you?"

"I lost Leo the day he became an elder."

"Did you?"

Alexander's words hung in the air between them. It wasn't the first time Piper wondered if things could have been different. But she angrily pushed those thoughts aside. "Why did Leo send me to you?"

Alexander's smile widened and he nodded encouragingly. "I've been one of Leo's mentors as well as his friend for several years now. I have also been a huge supporter of your relationship from the very beginning." Alexander chuckled again when he saw Piper's shocked reaction. "That surprises you."

"Frankly, yes. I don't understand why you would support the union of a Charmed One and a Whitelighter. I mean, Elders don't live on earth – they don't have families." Piper had an odd feeling of déjà vu as she repeated the very words she had said to Leo before he left her nearly a year before.

"Piper, all Elders lived on earth at one point and most of us even had families of our own." Alexander reached for Piper's hand, but she moved out of his reach. Sighing, he continued. "Please hear my words: I have always believed in true love, in soul mates. This is what I believe in my heart that you and Leo are. The two of you need to fight now more than ever to be together."

Piper shook her head miserably. "Leo said that his becoming an elder was the one thing we couldn't fight. He abandoned me to raise our young son alone. When he finally did return to us, I told him I needed time and space to build a normal life for myself and Wyatt without him. You all forced me to give up on my family – and now you tell me that I need to fight to be together with him?" Piper felt the tears gathering in her eyes and she paused to steady her nerves. "I came up here to get answers and you are creating more questions! Leo and I have no relationship! Elders don't have families!" Piper's last words were eclipsed by a sob she could no longer keep in.

"Only Leo can provide the answers to your questions about your relationship, Piper. But there is more that I can tell you, more that you need to hear. I know that you still blame us for the loss of your mother and sister."

Piper felt herself stagger slightly from the emotional wound Alexander's words were opening. The tears that had been forming behind her eyes ever since she had found Leo bleeding in the alley began to spill down her cheeks.

Alexander looked at her with compassion but continued softly, "I say again – we don't have the kind of power or control to interfere with someone's destiny. Sam would have saved your mother if he could. But just like Leo, he couldn't raise the dead. Deep down you know Leo saved you because you were still breathing – Prue, on the other hand, had no pulse."

Piper raised her tear-stained face to look Alexander in the eye. "I'm so tired of all this pain and anger," she exhaled wearily.

"It's time to start letting it go, Piper. You need to admit to yourself that you are still in love with your husband. Let that love fill you so that you can save Leo." Alexander's hand glowed briefly as a handkerchief appeared in it. Reaching out to Piper, he gently wiped her tears with all the tenderness of a father. "You know, Leo told me something once. He said, 'Being with Piper breaks the rules, but being without her breaks my heart.' Knowing how much you despise our rules, it should give you great comfort to know that he told me that only a few days ago. I hope you find the normalcy you are looking for, Piper."

And with those words, Alexander orbed out and left Piper standing alone on top of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Please review - what did you all think of Alexander??