By Ayla123
(swordhandler@yahoo.com
"You snore." He laughed as he tickled her in the side. "I can't believe that I never noticed it before!"
Turning over lazily, a pair of drowsy brown eye squinted up at him against the bright morning sunlight that was streaming into the room. Those eyes quickly shut once again as she wriggled away from him and tried to burrow deeper into the covers. As she tried to pull the blankets up around her more tightly, all she managed was a groggy, "Hrrmmm?"
Then she suddenly shrieked as the blankets were roughly stripped away, leaving her only in the rumpled sheet.
"Ahhhh! Are you crazy? It's freezing in here!" Piper sat bolt upright in the bed and glared at the tall blond man now dancing away across the room, tauntingly wrapped in her favorite green striped comforter.
"Good morning dear sunshine!" Leo laughed back at her gleefully. "I was just saying how cute I think it is when you snore."
"What! I do NOT snore." Piper groused as she pitched a pillow at him in irritation. Irritation that doubled when she saw that it sailed right on past him, a good foot to his right.
Trying to suppress a grin, Leo hopped back onto the bed, dragging the blankets behind him. "Yes my dear wife, you certainly do." Seeing her face, he relented, "Well only just a little, you know." He leaned in for a kiss, "Kind of like a soft snuffling, and--" Leo cut off suddenly, frozen into place, mid-pucker.
"Keep your lousy blankets." Glaring at him still, Piper leaped off the bed and stalked to the closet for a robe, muttering the whole time. "Every morning. EVERY morning! …White Lighters and their cheery morning attitudes… You'd think there'd be a law about morning people marrying NORMAL people…" Her words faded as she headed down the hall to shower.
"-it sounds like little…Piper?" Leo sighed as realization hit him when he saw that she was gone. "Of course." He flopped back against the pillows with a grunt.
"Hey Sis--Whoa! Is it just me, or has the honeymoon bliss worn off a bit?" Wonder of all wonders, Phoebe was up before either of her older sisters. Piper habitually tried to be up first because of the very fact that she was not a morning person. So far they had never suspected that she was the one who usually drank half the coffee pot before the last one made it downstairs.
"Nooo, Mrs. Snooty Pants." Piper said acerbically as she shambled across the kitchen floor. She and Leo had been back from their brief but wonderful honeymoon for just over 2 months, and married life in the manor with two sisters in residence hadn't been as easy as she had thought.
Flicking on the coffee pot, she turned to look at her little sister. "It's just that we've been married for awhile now, and he STILL tries to get me up with the birds. Geesh! He doesn't seem to understand the fact that most humans aren't even mortal until their first cup of coffee." She finished her words flatly as she impatiently put her own mug under the drip instead of the coffee pot, waiting for it to brew. "Speaking of which, what are YOU of all people doing up so early?"
Phoebe ducked her head and hid a small smile behind her piece of cantaloupe. She was thrilled that Piper and Leo were finally able to marry, and had even been the first to see the Handfasting ceremony in the Book of Shadows, but seeing the day to day had been both tiring and comical to watch.
"I," She pronounced the word with pride, "Am going to spend the day with Sarta at the Herbarium." Ever since the Halliwell sisters had been tricked by the demon Etremius and trapped unawares in a dream dimension, they had kept close ties with all who had been instrumental in their rescue.
Finding out about the secret society that called itself the "Keepers of Hope" had been a bit of a surprise. They had always known that there were other practicing witches out there, but the existence of an earthly force that also served The Powers That Be was decidedly NOT common knowledge. Apparently, throughout the centuries, not even those who practiced good for the sake of good knew that somewhere their efforts were being coordinated.
Snapping the entertainment section closed with a ruffle, Phoebe continued. "Sarta knows so much about potions and ingredients, that it was hard to pass up her offer to help catalog her inventory." Giving her still aggravated sister a sly look, "Besides, with Prue gone on her photo retreat in Monterey, it'll give you and Leo the day to work on your couple issues."
"We do not have couple issues." Piper yanked the coffee cup from under the spout, causing the rest of the dark liquid to stream down and sizzle onto the hotplate. "Well, not a lot of issues anyway."
"Riiight." Phoebe agreed as she hopped up from the table and grabbed her shoulder bag. "Well, you two have fun working on your 'not issues'." She finished as she grabbed up Prue's car keys.
Taking a long swallow from the still steaming cup, Piper choked on the hot liquid as she watched her sister breeze out the door. "Hmmph."
"Where's Phoebe going off to so early?" Leo asked as he warily entered the room.
Eyeing her new husband, Piper gently set her mug down; trying not to let on that the roof of her mouth was scalded and burning like a four alarm fire. "She's decided to give us some space for the day."
"Oh. Good. Because there's something you and I need to talk about." Crossing the room, Leo sat down across from his wife, and launched into one of his lectures. "And it begins with you freezing me up there! I thought we agreed no using Powers on each other. Especially…" He squirmed a bit then, "You know, in bed."
Speaking hotly, Piper retorted, "You know full well that the only reason I did that this morning was because of your little 'orbing out' episode of last night! Right when I was about to…oh forget it!" She looked down, blushing in spite of herself.
"Piper." Leo tried to reach for her hand, but she snatched it back. "You know that when *They* call, I have to go."
"Yes I do know that Leo." She sniped back. Then sighing as she forced the words out, "But there have to be some limits. Now that we're married, there are a few things that have to be understood."
Leo looked distressed as he tried to think of what to say. Piper gripped her coffee cup again and stared back at him defiantly.
They remained that way for a long while.