AN: Thanks for all the reviews!! I'm sorry this took so long, I was busy celebrating the holidays with the fam. Well, I'm back and I hope you had a good Christmas…that is if you celebrate it! If not, I hope you had a good Hanukah or Kwanza! That's culturally diverse, right?

s. halliwell24: Yeah, it is kinda sad isn't it?

patricia: Twizzlers are great, aren't they!? Sometimes, I'm surprised at how great they are! I'm not sure they'll be together anytime soon, I'm trying to make them take it slow and develop a relationship in an odd way, you know?

Magical Princess: Thanks!

Charmboy4: -----puts on teasing face----- Jeez, what would this be without a fight!?!

b.a.b.i.b.l.u.b.l.i.s.s: Yep, they finally meet! (and here's another mention ;-D)

versatilecutie: Don't worry this won't be some kind of slapdash, "I love you, I love you too, so I forgive you, let's raise our kids together" type of thing! Trust me, I'll take my time with this, build the relationship, take it sloooooooow…

halli-halliwell: Here you go!

Alyssa Halliwell: Yeah, it sort of is…

scullymulder1234: Basically, but still THANKS!!

Charmed-Phoebe3: Thanks!

charmedangel1429: You'll see…

To all of you who read my note in "London Lovers", that's okay, I've got a new idea and well…I'm pretty sure you'll like it! But I can't tell you! I'm not sure how soon I'll have it up, though…Okay, this chappie picks up where the last one left of, so…that's it, on with the story!

"You should be!" Piper repeated, looking at him icily, anger rapidly becoming her overriding emotion. "What the fuck is your problem?! I told you I was having your children and—"

Leo's mouth fell open. "Children? As in, more than one?"

"SHUT UP!" Piper yelled, running past him to the door of the restaurant. Leo followed her. He stepped outside the door as she shut and locked it behind her.

"Did you just say children?" Leo asked, following her into the night struck parking lot.

Piper turned to face the father of her children. "Yes Leo! I said children. Two beautiful boys who have never needed a father. They have me."

They both felt the moment was surreal, they weren't really standing beside the streetlamp, as it highlighted the air particles. The cool San Francisco air wasn't really surrounding them, they weren't really facing one another. Leo stepped so close their chests touched, and spoke.

"Maybe you're not enough."

Piper's anger surged through her on a wave of emotion. She brought a hand to the side of his face, the strength causing a stinging sensation through her hand and his face to immediately turn red.

"Don't you ever, ever, say that again. I'm all they've need for seven years." Piper's emotions hit the fan as tears welled up in her eyes. "Since you left me to raise them by myself." In another tidal wave, she brought her hand to the side of his face again. This time, Leo caught her wrist again before she could have another go.

"Don't do that." He said, voice raspy with feeling, rough with emotion.

"You deserve it!" Piper shouted, moving to have another connection, hand to face with her opposite wrist. For what seemed to be the umpteenth time that night, he grabbed her wrist, holding her still.

"I said, don't do that."

For a swift moment, considered kicking him in his male parts, but thought better of it, he'd probably retaliate in some form or another and she wasn't interested in finding out.

"Let me go." Piper said softly, avoiding the urge to spit in his handsome face.

"No, not until you hear me out."

"HEAR YOU OUT!? HEAR YOU OUT!?" Piper screeched, struggling against his grip. "WHAT ABOUT ME LEO!? WHAT ABOUT ME!!?? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN CHRIS AND WYATT CAME DOWN WITH THE FLU, AND I RUSHED THEM TO THE HOSPITAL?! WHERE WERE YOU??" Piper was livid as tears ran down her cheeks, dripping down her chin and hitting the filthy pavement below. "WHERE WERE YOU WHEN CHRIS CAME HOME AND ASKED ME WHERE DADDY WAS!!?? WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU, LEO!!? WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU DOING!?"

Piper gave one last attempt to rip herself from Leo's firm hands. She managed to succeed as Leo was left speechless. Piper turned away from him, and rushed to her car, leaving Leo standing in the parking lot of Quake, dumbfounded and dumbstruck.

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Piper drove down the late night road wearily, brain churning, body trembling with fury and frustration. As she tried to steady herself she flicked the radio on. After a moment with no change in her body's motion, she began t curse Leo.

"So help me God, Leo Wyatt, if you make me crash this car before I can get home to my children…" She stopped as she tuned into the radio.

"You're the meaning in my life, you're the inspiration…"

"Ugh!" Piper said disgustedly, turning the radio off. Normally, that was one of her favorite songs of all time, but she wasn't exactly feeling the love song vibe. Piper scratched her head. What if…What if he came to her apartment…What if he came to see the kids? Or worse, wanted custody of them? Oh God.

------

Leo stood at the easel in his hotel room. He never went anywhere without art supplies. He always had those things with him and now he stood at his easel, paintbrush making slow, careful, precise strokes. Often he thought if he couldn't paint, he'd be driven into madness. But what to do when your own works haunt you?

Leo gave another stroke of the paintbrush as a picture of a woman with long brunette hair, a smiling face…Something he missed from so long ago. He'd lost almost 10 years of his life with out her…without them. Goddamn it! He was a monster.

Leo gave another particular stroke.

If I could bottle up the chills that you give me,

I would keep them in a jar beside the bed.

And if I should ever draw a picture of a woman,

It is you that would come flowing from my pen…

Piper couldn't help but relive the moment, it was happening right before her as she opened the door to her apartment.

As Piper bent to pick up the last picture, one of her with her long dark hair falling over her shoulders, chin rested on her upper right arm, her arm on a windowsill, she saw another hand. She looked up into the prettiest aqua eyes she'd ever seen.

"Here you go." The owner of the eyes said, putting the picture in her hand.

"Thank you." Piper said sheepishly, tucking it away in the bag now on her shoulder, which contained the portfolio.

"I'm Leo Wyatt." He said, sticking out his hand.

"Piper Halliwell." She replied, shaking it.

If only she had gone about her business; thanked him and gone back to her dorm. Sure, she'd finished college, she was a firm believer in that, but that hadn't changed anything.

Piper flung the door to the apartment open to find Mindy, the babysitter, sitting across the couch, watching a M.A.S.H rerun.

"Hey, Mindy!" Piper said with much forced cheeriness.

"Hi, Ms. Halliwell." The 16 year-old replied, standing up.

"Call me Piper. How were the boys?" Piper asked, abandoning her purse and jacket on the kitchen table.

"They were angels, as always…Piper."

Piper cracked a smile. She could remember being the same way when parents told her to call them by their first name. Piper pulled her wallet out of her purse and reentered the living room.

"Here you go, Mindy, plus overtime."

The young girl smiled. "Thanks, Ms…Uh, Piper."

Piper nodded as she guided the girl to the door. "No, thank you, Mindy." After telling Mindy goodnight and shutting the door, Piper went to the doorway of her Wyatt and Chris's bedroom.

She played with the pendant on her necklace as she watched them sleep, moonlight pouring over each of their faces as they slept in identical beds. Piper smiled as tears began to fill her eyes. No matter what Leo wanted, he couldn't have them.

AN: What'd you think? Longer, right? Please review!!