A/N: Another chapter! Yay! Sorry for the long wait, but with school and everything it's been difficult.
To my reviewers: PiperNCole and Revul Ylloh. I love to hear what you guys have to think! Thanks for letting me know that there are still people out there reading this.
"Ohmigod! You're kidding right?!?!" Phoebe screamed.
"Nope." Tyler said smiling.
"I think a congrats is in order." Cole spoke, raising his glass of red wine.
"I second that." Glen responded, also raising his glass.
"To Piper and Tyler…the soon to be newlyweds." Paige announced, clinging her glass of seltzer with everyone.
A loud ruckus of yelling and clapping came next.
Piper smiled, this was perfect. Everyone was healthy and happy. Not to mention she was engaged to Tyler, a dream she had hoped would some day come true. And now it had…
"Mommy was engage mean?" Ben asked Phoebe.
"It means that Aunt Piper is getting married to Tyler. It also means that Tyler is going to be your uncle. What do you think about that?"
"Tyler is going to be like Uncle Glen?"
"Right, just like Uncle Glen." Cole answered.
"But I'm confused. What about Uncle Leo, when is he coming back?"
The room fell silent. Everyone turned to face Piper. She seemed okay, but they all knew she wasn't.
Tyler brought his hand under the table. Finding Piper's hand he held it in his, hoping it would comfort her.
Clearing her throat Piper laughed, "How about dessert guys? What do ya say Ben, how about some chocolate chip cookies?"
"Yeah!" Ben yelled excitedly.
Making her way out of the dining room Piper went to the kitchen. Phoebe and Paige waited till she had left and then they got up to follow her.
"Phoebe! Paige! Let me go." Tyler said getting up.
"No Tyler, it's okay. Let us go." Paige said, placing her hand on Tyler's shoulder and giving him a comforting smile.
Nodding Tyler sat back down, hoping Phoebe and Paige would be able to get through to Piper.
*~*~*
Walking into the kitchen Phoebe and Paige found Piper bent over a pile of chocolate chip cookies. Moving towards her Phoebe called her name softly. Turning around Piper faced them, a few stray tears already evident on her face.
"I'm sorry Piper…he, he didn't mean it." Phoebe said, feeling she should ask for forgiveness for her son.
"It's okay…he didn't know." Piper said quietly.
"Piper, you know it's alright to cry. No one will think wrongly of you." Paige said
"I know…."
"But you don't. Look at you, you had to use chocolate chip cookies as an excuse to get out of the situation and go for a nice cry." Paige responded.
Piper didn't know what to say, Paige was right, she was scared to cry in front of people. She just felt so much pain; she didn't know when it was alright for her to express it.
"Piper, you lost your daughters and your husband. It's perfectly normal for you to want to mourn. It'll let you be able to let go of all the pain and concentrate on that magnificent wedding you'll be having soon." Phoebe said, rubbing Piper's shoulder, a sign of comforting her.
"That's exactly it!!" Piper said, on the verge of tears.
"What is honey?" Paige said moving closer to her.
"I want to marry Tyler but what if I'm like this forever…what if they forever make me cry? How is Tyler ever going to want to stay with me?"
"Piper it's okay. Tyler will understand, trust us he will. He cares about you more than life itself. You should see how his eyes glisten when he speaks of you." Paige responded.
"And you should see how worried he got when you went to the kitchen. We practically had to strap him down to the chair to keep him from running in here after you." Phoebe said laughing.
Piper didn't say anything, she just began to cry. Phoebe and Paige hugged her, trying to comfort her mourning soul. They hated to see her this way. All they wanted was to see her happy.
A few minutes later Piper had seemed satisfied enough that she could reenter the dining room, a new person she hoped. Picking up the cookies Phoebe and Paige followed her to where the remainder of the guests sat.
"Sorry about that guys…they needed to cool a little." Piper said, placing the tray on the table.
From the corner of Tyler's eye he saw Phoebe and Paige give each other a wary look when Piper commented about the cookies. He may have not spent a whole lot of time with the all the Halliwell women, but he sure knew that face. It meant nothing good. And by Tyler's guess it meant that Piper was lying. She hadn't needed the cookies to cool…she had needed to mourn.
Tyler mentally slapped himself for thinking this was all going to be okay. Sure Piper was happy, but she wasn't completely happy and she wasn't telling him what was wrong, which was even worse.
Sitting down Piper placed her hand on Tyler's lap, giving him a faint smile.
"You okay baby?" He whispered in her ear.
Piper just nodded, resting her head on his shoulder.
*~*~*
"Okay, I'll call you tomorrow…goodnight guys." Piper said, escorting Paige and Glen out the door.
Hours had passed and everyone was leaving for their respectful houses. Closing the door Piper sighed and leaned up against it.
"Man tonight was busy." Tyler said, walking towards the door.
"Yea it was." Piper said quietly.
"Piper…you sure you're okay? You've been kind of quiet since dessert." Tyler asked, moving towards her.
"Yea…yea…relax, I'm fine."
"But you don't seem it. I don't want to assume anything because if anyone knows what you are feeling it's you, not me, but if you need to talk… about anything, please just tell me. I want to be there for you." Tyler said, kissing her gently on the lips.
Piper remained quiet for a few minutes and then out of nowhere a single tear fell down her face. Piper immediately went up to wipe it away, but Tyler stopped her.
"No. Don't."
"Why?" Piper whispered.
"It's emotion, show it. It's good for you. Let it out." Tyler said, playing with her hair.
Piper wasn't quite sure what to do next. She didn't know what to say, didn't know what to feel. All she wanted was to let everything disappear so she could start completely fresh with Tyler. But life was never that easy. There were no get out of jail free cards. When life dealt you shit, you just had to grab a shovel and scoop it up. There was no other way around it.
So instead of fumbling with what to do Piper did exactly what she wanted to do; she cried. And Tyler never uttered a word. He just let her cry until she couldn't cry anymore. Then, as if nothing had happened, Tyler grabbed Piper's hand and led her towards their bedroom.
A/N: So what did you guys think? Review and let me know!!