Something that popped into my head while watching some Charmed reruns, thought I'd write it out.

Halliwell Manor

Night

The rest of the house was quiet as Leo Wyatt sat in the nursery. He sat in a chair, watching as his new born son slept in his crib. Chris was a surprisingly easy baby in the days they had brought Piper and Chris home. Hardly anything like his future self, Leo thought with a pang.

Leo thought he had known pain before. Losing Piper to Dan, being unable to save Prue, being forced to leave Piper and Wyatt behind after becoming an Elder. But all of that paled in comparison to holding his son in his arms as he died. It was worse than losing a limb, worse than his death in World War Two. Leo felt like part of him had died with Chris, maybe it had. Telling Piper of what happened to Chris, watching her break down, had not been any easier on him.

Leo tensed as he felt the familiar tingle come over him just before he heard the sound of someone Orbing in behind him. He knew it couldn't be Paige, as she was sound asleep in her room.

"Leo."

"You are not welcome here Zola," Leo said coldly as he got to his feet, turning around to face the Elder. "Get out."

"Leo, I simply wish to talk," Zola tried to plead with Leo. "We are not your enemies Leo."

"That's what Gideon said to," Leo said coldly.

"I am not Gideon. I understand your mistrust of us after what happened," Zola tried once again.

"'What happened'. What a colorful way to avoid saying ' my son's murder'," Leo said icily. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised though. You Elders have always tried to come between me and Piper. Us having children together, you couldn't let that stand, could you?"

"Gideon acted alone Leo, you know this. We pose no threat to your sons," Zola tried to reason with Leo.

"But he's not the only one who feared Wyatt is he? I know that the rest of you fear my son's power. And it is that fear that turned him evil in the first place," Leo spat. "Wyatt is not the threat. It's you; it's always been the Elders. And now I know that."

"Leo, you are an Elder. You're one of us," Zola reminded him.

"No," Leo said, the one word carrying all his anger and finality. "Once, I was one of you. Once, but never again. The moment Gideon became a threat to my sons, the moment Chris died, I stopped being one of you. Now get out of this house. Don't come near me, the Charmed ones, or my sons again. I will protect my family, even if I have to take on all of you Elders to do it."

As he saw Leo's hands spark with power, Zola realized they had lost more than just Gideon. The moment Chris had died; they'd lost Leo as well. For a moment, he was silent. Then, looking at Leo sadly, Zola orbed away.

Leo let out the breathed he hadn't realized he'd been holding. He hadn't been completely sure Zola would leave. Leo turned back to Chris as a voice spoke up from the doorway.

"Do you think they'll listen?" Piper asked as she walked into the room, standing beside Leo as they stared down at their sleeping son.

"I don't know," Leo admitted. "I hope so but just in case, I think we need to be prepared for the day when we might have to take them on."

"Preparing for a war against the Elders. Never thought I'd see the day when you'd be saying that," Piper said dryly and Leo smiled tightly.

"Neither did I, but desperate times call for desperate measure," Leo pointed out and Piper nodded.

"Come on, let's go to bed," Piper said gently. "Then we can talk about this with Phoebe and Paige in the morning."

Leo nodded, seeing the logic in that. He cast one last look at his sleeping son, silently vowing to never final him as he had the future Chris before following his wife out of the room, gently closing the door to the nursery behind them.

The season six finale was one of my favorite Charmed finales, but I was pretty disappointed by the lack of fallout from it. Leo outright says he is no longer one of the Elders, he essentially denounced the people he'd been working with ever since we met him. I was looking forward to seeing how this new dynamic played out with a Leo who just didn't care what the Elders thought. But the writers couldn't stick to that and returned to the status quo so instead, we got Leo going insane and the Elders playing judge and jury over him. It was a pretty big letdown.