As Piper opened her eyes she recognized the ceiling of her bedroom. Still sobbing, she leaned into Leo's embrace.
"Piper, what's wrong?" Leo sounded groggy and confused. Piper attributed it to the fact that Andy had barely 'defrosted' him before they had to orb to escape Prue's vengeance.
"What are we going to do, Leo? Everyone's gone. She killed them all!" Piper sobbed, burrowing her head against Leo's chest. She couldn't bear the pain. Not only had she lost almost everyone who was dear to her, she had also lost the love of her sister. Leo bolted upright from the bed frantically.
"What?! Who's gone?"
"Everyone. Wyatt –" Before Piper finished saying Wyatt's name Leo was orbing out in panic. She looked around the bedroom and saw him reappear in front of - Wyatt's crib? Leo leaned over the side rails and sighed with obvious relief.
"Wyatt's fine." He whispered, so as not to wake the slumbering infant. "You must have had a bad dream." At his words, Piper jumped out of bed and ran to join her husband at the crib. Wyatt lay sleeping soundly, a slight smile on his face as if he were dreaming of pleasant things. Piper placed a hand over her mouth to muffle a relieved sob. Leo watched his wife's actions with concern. "Are you okay, honey?"
Before answering him, Piper took one last loving look at her son and turned suddenly and grabbed Leo's shoulders.
"Phoebe and Paige?"
"They went to bed hours ago. I'm sure they're fine." Piper shook her head and headed for the closed bedroom door. "Where are you going?"
"To check on Phoebe and Paige."
"Piper!" Leo hurried after her and managed to snag an edge of her nightgown to stop her. "They're FINE." When he saw the unconvinced look on Piper's face, he sighed in defeat. "Stay here. I'll check." He mumbled and started out to the hall.
"Hurry!" Piper urged, giving him a slight push. Leo nodded. Still a bit sleepy, he weaved slightly as he hustled down the hall. Piper watched intently as Leo first stopped at Phoebe's door. As he turned the knob and began opening it the heavy wooden door showed its age by squeaking loudly. Leo winced at the noise and stopped immediately. Looking at Piper, who waved her hands in encouragement, he finally gave up and orbed into the room. Knowing that Leo would probably orb between rooms, Piper stepped back into the master bedroom and stopped suddenly as she passed the dresser mirror. Her reflection caused her mouth to drop in surprise. She was young. She looked down at her hands and found them soft and unlined. What was going on?
By this time, Leo had orbed back and as he rubbed his eyes, he told her: "Everyone is asleep and doing fine." Piper nodded and stared again at herself in the mirror. Leo watched Piper's movements and then shuffled over to join her at the dresser. "Piper?"
"I'm young, Leo."
"Yeah…" Leo tried not to laugh, as it was quite obvious that Piper was shaken from something, evidently a very vivid and unpleasant dream. "Beautiful as always." He said softly, moving up behind Piper to wrap his arms around her. As he came in contact with her, he pulled back suddenly but still holding Piper's arms. "Piper! You're chilled to the bone!" He began rubbing Piper's arms vigorously to get the blood flowing. Thinking quickly, he turned Piper to face him, checking her for signs of shock. "What happened? Talk to me…" Piper shook her head as if trying to rid her mind of the images that were still so fresh and so heart wrenching.
"Prue froze me. Froze us. She killed…" Piper shook her head again. It must have been a dream, but how could it have been? It was all so REAL. Piper shuddered, again picturing first Paige and Darryl, then Phoebe and finally Wyatt and his family shattered into millions of tiny icy pieces. Leo, sensing her confusion and putting an arm around her cold shoulders, led her back to the bed. He helped her ease up onto the mattress, pulled the covers up around her and then climbed in beside her.
"We've got to get you warmed up." Leo found goose bumps forming on his body as he pulled Piper closer. What was causing this temperature change? He didn't sense any real signs of shock, except for the chill. Piper was obviously upset, but seemed able to talk. "Do you want to tell me what happened?" He prodded gently, but still giving Piper the choice on what she did and didn't want to tell him.
Piper sighed. In some ways, she didn't want to tell him, as it would mean reliving the entire thing, but at the same time, she needed to tell him. Piper still wasn't convinced it was 'just a dream'. Marshalling up her courage, she snuggled closer to Leo and related the story to him. Telling him about Prue and her actions brought the emotions back as fresh and strong as they had been when it was happening and Piper was sobbing again as she finished.
Leo held her close and let her pour out the story and her corresponding emotions. As she finished, he tightened his arms in comfort. "It was just a dream, Piper."
"No, Leo, it wasn't –"
"Wait, let me finish. With all the stress of the baby and all the changes going on, you're probably feeling overwhelmed and doubting your abilities. You always looked up to Prue, more so than anyone else in your life. It's only logical that you'd visualize your fears through her."
"But Leo, it was real. I know it was. Why else am I so cold?" Piper was tensing up with her insistence and Leo stroked her arm in an attempt to console her.
"I think you were starting to go into shock."
"No, Leo." Piper leaned up on one elbow and looked directly into Leo's eyes. "Listen to me. Prue froze me. She froze everyone."
"Even if Prue really did appear to you and she was a Whitelighter, how could she freeze you? That wasn't one of her powers." Leo tried to speak gently but firmly in an effort to get through to his wife. Piper shook her head vehemently.
"She wasn't a Whitelighter. And freezing was one of her powers in one of her previous lives. She said she got ALL her powers back when they made her an Avenging Angel." At Piper's last words Leo leaned up himself, a troubled look on his face.
"They made her a what? What did you call it?"
"An Avenging Angel." Piper watched as Leo's face took on an odd expression.
"Where did you hear that?" He asked gruffly.
"From Prue." Piper gave him a frustrated look. "Where else would I have heard it?" Leo sat up, ran his hand through his hair and then rubbed the stubble on his chin that had begun to form in his sleep. Piper could tell he was deeply troubled and she sat up beside him. "What is it?"
Shaking his head, Leo looked at Piper, a mixture of confusion and fear in his expression. "I've heard of Avenging Angels, but no one outside of 'up there' is supposed to know about them. We're not even supposed to talk about them." Piper nodded in understanding.
"Prue said they were like covert ops."
"Precisely. They're a last resort, when evil…" Leo stopped and looked intently at Piper again. "How could you know that?"
"I told you. Prue." Piper held Leo's gaze and could practically see the rush of thoughts going through his mind.
"But – but how?" He shook his head. "I suppose if Prue really has been made an Avenging Angel, she'd have the power to pull you into the future, but why? And why would she be so angry at you?" Leo stopped and looked at Piper once again. She sighed and fighting back tears, she tried to answer.
"I've let her down."
"Piper, she loved…loves you. How could you let her down?" Piper wiped the tears from her eyes and shrugged.
"By not appreciating my life. Not supporting Paige or calling Phoebe on things. She feels I let the family down." Piper turned and meeting Leo's eye she started to cry in earnest again. "And she's right. I have." Leo pulled Piper into his embrace, hugging her tightly.
"Piper, no. You've kept this family together!"
"No, Leo, I haven't. Paige has." When Leo started to refute her statement, Piper cut in. "Yes, she has. She was the one who has dedicated herself to the craft. She's the one who saw through Cole right away. Who's the one that never lost faith that we'd get Phoebe back after she went off and married Cole – the Source? Paige. She's been the real strength in this family and I've never even told her that I love her." Leo continued to hug Piper and began a rocking motion.
"Piper, don't do this to yourself."
"And Phoebe – Phoebe is an accident just waiting to happen! I've let her run around and forget her responsibilities to the family, to the Power of Three. She's become the perpetual victim. And I've never called her on any of it. Not even when she walked away from her family to become the Queen of the Underworld."
"Piper, you did the best you could. You did what was right for the family."
"No, I didn't, Leo. Prue's right. I've screwed up big time already and God only knows what happens in the next 40 years. My family will suffer for my mistakes." Piper started crying ever harder. Leo was dumbfounded. He didn't know how to convince Piper and yet – if her dream had in truth been more than a dream and Prue actually had the power to draw Piper to the future…
"Wait, Piper." Leo pushed Piper back a little bit so he could see her face. "You said you were much older, right?" Piper sniffed loudly and nodded.
"Yes. We were celebrating our 50th anniversary."
"That's good." Piper's face scrunched up into a frown and Leo hurried to continue. "That means you have time, Piper. Time to fix things." Leo waited for Piper to digest this information and she looked up at him quizzically.
"Fix things? FIX things!" Piper wiped her eyes and began to perk up. "Of course! I'll get Phoebe to – to grow up and be responsible. And I'll tell Paige how much I appreciate her and how much I love her!" Piper grabbed Leo's face with both hands and kissed him loudly. "You're a genius!" As Leo began to laugh in relief, Piper scrambled across the bed and hurried across the floor to the doorway.
"Piper! Where are you going?"
"To fix things!" Piper had the door open and was heading for the hall when Leo orbed in front of her. "Hey, no fair!" She pouted. "Isn't that personal gain?"
"No, this is protecting my charge from getting killed, which is what your sisters will do to you if you wake them at 2 in the morning, no matter how well intentioned." Leo put his hands on Piper's shoulders, turned her around and began steering her back to bed.
"But I have to fix things, Leo!"
"Tomorrow, Piper."
"But—" Piper turned to argue as they again reached the bed. Leo placed a finger to her lips, and then scooped her up in his arms. Laying her gently on the bed, he leaned over and kissed her tenderly.
"Tomorrow. Tonight I think we should start celebrating our 50 years of marriage."
"Oh my…" Piper said, lifting an eyebrow in anticipation. Leo kissed her again and then began a trail of kisses down her neck, around her collarbone, down…. "Oh, MY!"
