A/N: OMG! I never meant to make you wait that long! I am sooooooooooo sorry! I've just been trying to balance school, school, school, school and more school with home, home, home, home, and more home with social life, social life, social life, and more social life. Unfortunately, I had to temporarily drop one, so I chose my social life. I had no contact with the outside world for the entire weekend-- 48 hours straight. I've spent all weekend at the computer typing or the desk doing homework. I hate mid-quarter homework, with teachers running forcing you to get all your homework in... I'm rambling.

Anyway, I believe that I have certainly worked my butt off with this dang story (and others that I just haven't posted). I'm hoping to finish some and put them up, but I may just have to put them up in chapters, too, instead of all at once.

Chapter Nine already? Wow. And I haven't even scratched the surface with this story. We've still got months left until the wedding, and then the aftermath... And then more Piper/Leo moments... Then more Piper/Leo moments, then-- Anyway, I can't give anything away, but I can give off Chapter Nine...

Attention to all who read Houses: This is now a work-in-progress. I caught up with myself and now have to write the chapters before I submit them, and it's a pain, I'm tellin' you. So bear with me, people, please!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Nine months..." Patty sighed.

"Have they chosen yet?"

"Yes and no."

"What does that mean?" Faith asked.

"It means... that they've made a choice: Cole is choosing."

"They have no say?"

"No, they have complete faith in Cole, Brooke. They know he'll study the girls and chose the strongest. I am worried, though..."

"About what?"

"About Piper."

"Piper?" Chris asked. "Why?"

"Well, she actually has more powers than her sisters. She's had the power of copying longer."

"True, but Phoebe's power is valuable. And Piper has not come across it yet."

"And Prue's ability to keep up a human life is important. They can't be discovered."

"True..."

On earth, Piper sat with her sisters, discussing different issues.

"So... How'd the date with Ryan go?" Piper asked.

"Oh, it was fine. I'll see him again next week."

"A week? Are you recuperating or something?" Prue teased.

"Mmm... Maybe..." Phoebe smiled slyly.

"Ooh, Phoebe," both Prue and Piper teased at the same time.

"Yes, and then we'll fall in love and get married and have a picket-fence life," Phoebe said playfully. But her sisters' expressions had changed. "What?"

"You said the "M" word."

"Oh... Sorry..."

"Well, while we're on the subject, have you guys heard anything from Mom or Grams or anyone over there yet?" Piper asked. She hadn't talked to Leo in a long time, but was hoping to get in a safe place and talk to him.

"No. Nicholas told me they still haven't chosen. It probably won't be done until the time comes near. See which of us is the strongest," Phoebe answered.

"Probably," Prue agreed. "What do you think, Piper?... Piper?"

Both Phoebe and Prue noticed their sister drifting off on the couch. Prue leaned over and blew on Piper's face, and her nose twitched unconsciously. "I'm not asleep," she said, a little hoarsely.

"Piper, go to bed."

"...Okay..."

Piper crawled up and walked upstairs, wide awake. She walked into her room and closed the door, flipping the lock on. She grabbed a potion from her dresser drawer and drank it down quickly. She disappeared in a bright white light.

It was pitch black out on the cliff. Piper sat on a rock for a few minuets, watching the village below. Smoke rolled softly out of chimneys. Piper could barely see it, but could make out the puffy smoke.

Once she thought she ha her thoughts sorted out, she straightened up and called, "Leo!" She waited a moment. "Leo!" she called again when he didn't come.

He orbed in a second later, a little confused at why a call had come to him from Europe, of all places. But once he'd found it was Piper, he knew she wanted to talk.

Piper thought she had all her thoughts and feelings sorted out. She did. But once Leo orbed in, they immediately scrambled themselves, scattering around her head like a scared herd of deer.

"Hey..." she managed.

"Here, of all places, Piper," was Leo's greeting. Not irritated, but quiet.

"Yeah... I liked it. It grew on me." Piper smiled.

Leo nodded. "It grew on me, too."

"We need to talk," Piper stated.

"Yeah, we do."

"Where do you want to start?" Piper asked shyly.

Leo gave her no answer.

"Do you know anything?"

"No. I've asked around, but no one knows anything. If I can't get any info for a few days, I'll ask the Houses."

"I thought--"

"Too risky. I've been asking around."

"Oh. I can... I can see what I can find, too, you know."

"No, I don't want you down there. It's not safe."

"Leo, I can take care of myself."

"Doesn't matter. You go down there and something happens I won't--"

Piper shook her head. "I'll stay here, then. It's okay."

"...Have you talked to your Houses?"

"No. Not in a week. Why?"

"Because they're training hard in mine. Figured maybe--"

"K. Just... We need to talk first."

"I know."

"Cole hasn't picked yet, I gather. Can't make up his mind?"

"No. He's waiting."

There was silence for a while as the two considered the same chance.

"Look, Piper, if he picks you--"

"Don't worry about it yet. We've still got nine months."

There was silence again.

"What about the war?" Piper finally asked.

"My family is gathering powers. They've been bringing me powers, too."

"Like what?"

"Like things I already have."

"Oh."

"Your sisters and family should train, too."

"I'll talk to them, thank you."

Leo only nodded in response.

"You wanna... Just take a walk?"

"Here, follow me," Leo replied. He led the way through a path down the mountain, and Piper caught up and walked beside him. "Walked this path many times..."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. Now we can talk."

"About what? Us?"

"Well that's a start."

"Leo, I never--"

"It's okay. All I'm saying is I know how you feel."

"Well you're a whitelighter. Let me have my feelings to myself," Piper teased.

"I wish I could do that."

"Wait, are you evicting me of my thoughts and emotions."

"No. Think of it as... eavesdropping on them."

"Oh, much better," Piper replied sarcastically. "You're the one that wanted to talk. Now talk."

"All I'm saying is I have no regrets," Leo said, stopping. Piper stopped too and turned to face him. "But no major expectations."

"No?"

"Not unless you do."

"I--...I thought about it." Piper turned away. "But I'm confused. It's all fuzzy and out of order."

"Yeah, I get that."

Piper knew he meant he knew that she was feeling it, and he was too. She started walking again.

"So what next?"

"This'll take some time..."

"Yeah." Piper turned and stopped again. "But--" she stopped.

Leo waited a moment before asking, "But what?"

"But we-- Okay, I lied. I do have ex-- no, not expectations... Hopes." She stared into Leo's eyes, waiting for Leo to reply.

After a long moment, he did. "Piper, you weren't alone in the beginning, when we were just working together, and you aren't alone now," he assured her.

Piper smiled. She pulled Leo down to her and kissed him softly. They let the moment linger before pulling away.

Of course Piper wanted this. She hated Leo the first day she met him, but now... After working together, she realized that she liked him. A lot. Love, maybe? No. Piper had never been given the chance to fall in love, though, so who knows? She'd been kept so busy with her magical duties that she hardly had time to date, let alone fall in love. No way was she in love. It-- It just wasn't possible. Right?

And, of course, Leo had never been given the chance to fall in love, either. So neither knew what it was like. All they knew at the time was that they had to be together-- no matter what anyone said. And they knew without a doubt that no one would find out, or they would have to test just how strong they were, together or not.

Leo looked up to the sky and whispered, "Samantha."

"Who?"

"My uh... My sister." It felt so weird calling her his sister.

"What about her?"

"I uh... I'm supposed to meet her."

"Where? Now?"

"Yeah. She just sent me a message."

"Well, then you should go."

Leo looked down at Piper."

"Do you want to come?"

Piper smiled. "Ah, what the hell." [A/N: I was gonna stop there, so be grateful I'm in a good mood! Could've left you with a cliffy, but noooo *shakes head*... I was nice-- this time.]

"Leo, where are you?" Piper asked through a laugh.

"Over here."

Piper stumbled through the dark and to a large stone. It was the same thing that Leo had first summoned her with.

"Get lost?" Leo asked.

"Just a little." Piper set an apple, an oak leaf, the seed she found in a milkweed plant, and a bird's feather down on top of the stone. "Why can't I just conjure these up? Why can't you?"

"Because it's not natural. That's the only way to summon her."

"Well what are you using, a magic-to-magic spell?"

"No. These elements--" Leo gestured vaguely to the items Piper had brought up. "--are exactly what she is-- earth, air, fire, and wind."

"Huh? Wait, your sister is a nymph?"

"No. I'll explain in a minuet. I need spring water and fire."

"Why are there more earth things than the others?"

"Piper."

"Fine, fine." Piper closed her eyes and conjured up a canteen. She searched her mind for a spring and astral projected to one. When she came back, she had a full canteen of spring water. "Better?"

"Fire."

"Well where am I supposed to get that?"

"Find a burning building or something."

"Oh, nice. How whitelighter of you."

"Okay, is this better? Find a burning building, capture some fire, and then put the rest out."

"Better." Piper astral projected out again, this time with a strange wooden box she'd conjured. She came back, soaked in water. Leo looked up from the platform of stone and barely stifled a laugh. "I hate you," Piper growled.

"Oh really?"

"Okay, I'll just very much dislike you."

"Ooh, very good."

"Thank you, I know." Piper set the box on the stone. "As much as I like fire, I hate putting it out," she commented.

"Yeah, what happened?" Leo asked without looking up. Piper watched him put the items in some order that was obviously important, though she couldn't have guessed what the order was if her life had depended on it.

"Well, I missed... Kinda. I guess I got the water to put out the building, but I also... Put out myself..."

"Then we'll have to work on that."

"...Are you sure I should be here? If word gets out that we were seen together--"

"Calm down."

"Right." Piper nodded curtly.

"Okay, ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

Leo placed the last item in place and a swirl of wind appeared in a small tornado in the circle of elements. Samantha appeared, wearing white robes similar to what Piper recognized to the robes goddesses of Greece wore. But she learned about the Greek gods and goddesses in the seventh grade, so she couldn't be sure.

"Samantha."

"Hey, Leo. Been a while."

"If you don't count a ten minuet talk, then it's been more than a while."

Samantha smiled. "Who's your friend?" she asked, nodding to Piper, who was standing behind Leo, away from the circle.

"Sam, this is Piper Halliwell, of the--"

"First House of Good, yes I know. Leo, you can't be seen--"

"I know, Sam. She's okay."

"I'll speak of this to no one."

"Thank you."

Piper listened as Samantha told her story. Of how she had been told stories about her older brother that was taken away from her family and into the arms of evil. About how their parents couldn't find him until it was too late. How they lost all hope. Then she was born and they had something to live for again. But they had their hands busy with Samantha, because she was created by the elements: fire, wind, water, and earth.

As she grew, her powers had, as well. She soon had control over the elements. That explained the Greek outfit; she watched over earth from above, somewhat like a god. But no one worshiped her, and few knew about her. Ever fewer knew a whitelighter was responsible for most earthly happenings.

"Oh, and Piper, great job with that fire downstate."

Piper nodded but didn't look up. Sam had created a fire on the ground that didn't seem to be spreading any. She watched it intently, trying to figure out how exactly Sam had done that.

When she was ready to leave, Sam hugged her brother tightly and wished him good luck. Piper and Leo had explained their situation with the marriage and the houses, leaving out anything personal. Sam stood up on the platform and disappeared in a whirl of wind. To Piper, there was no difference in the way she had come, so she wondered why she had to be summoned.

So, being Piper, she asked. "How come we had you summon her, but she can get away on her own?" she asked as Leo spread the items around off of the platform. He threw each of the items into the darkness.

"Because it takes an outer being to get her down from up there."

"Up where, exactly?"

"Not sure..."

"Hmm."

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah."

Piper moved closer to Leo, allowing him to slide his arm around her waist and orb them out.

"Ugh, I don't wanna go out there..." Piper groaned.

"Then don't."

She turned around and smiled. "...You should go," Piper said sadly.

"Bye."

"Bye."

Leo leaned down and kissed Piper. She started to pull him down toward the bed, but Leo orbed out. Piper fell back. "Humph..."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A/N: Okay, I have a few things to get out in the open, though I really don't know if anyone cares. First off, I apologize for any "form" that should be "from". Second, I know that a lot of people learn about Greek mythology in high school, but my Literature class is studying it now, so I made Piper take it in 7th grade, just like I have to. I find it pretty interesting... (and whether you care or not, I get to study Athena! ...Yea?

Third, I wrote this entire chapter while listening to my favorite kinds of songs from 1980-1984. They seemed to wear away at my writer's block, thank God! Songs like Take It On The Run, Centerfold, Ghostbusters, Funkytown, Heartbreaker, I Can Dream About You, Shake It Up, Owner Of A Lonely Heart, etc. I was raised on these so-called "oldies", so I wrote a chapter while singing them. Of course, I sometimes had to get up and jump around and sing it, but I got the chapter done, so who cares?

PS: This chapter was much longer! It came out as five pages in the 10 point font on my pc.