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Chapter 14: From Pipes to Piper

Piper proceeded to get her purse and coat as Leo talked to her. The guy was cute at first, but now he was just annoying. She turned around to face him. "Look, I said thanks, but no thanks. Just leave me alone."

Leo held up his hands in mock defeat. "You win."

"Thank you," she said. She turned around and bumped straight into someone. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"I was just looking for you," the guy she bumped into said. It was Andy. "Prue just called me. I'm going over there to see if I can do anything."

"I was just on my way home too."

Leo cleared his throat. Andy turned to him as if her was an old friend. "Leo! Nice to see you. Got the night off?'

"Yep. I was just offering to help Piper fix the plumbing."

Piper intervened. "Wait. You know him?"

"Sure. I've worked a few cases with him."

"Believe me now?" Leo asked, almost mockingly.

"No," Piper snapped.

Andy, sensing trouble, intervened. "Piper, why don't you let him work on the plumbing? I'll bring him over. I have to go to the manor anyway, since Prue's car's in the shop." Andy and Prue had moved in together once Andy had proposed to Prue. The wedding was still in the planning stages.

"Alright," she said warily, only consenting because Andy would be there. Ever since Mark died, she seemed to be distrusting of people. She couldn't explain it. It was just an involuntary reaction.

Piper walked away and Leo hung back with Andy. As Leo began to walk away, Andy put a restraining hand on Leo's chest. "Watch your step."

Leo looked at the floor, confused. "I don't see anything…"

"That's not what I mean. Look, but don't touch." Leo knew what Andy was talking about now: Piper.

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Leo didn't know why he pressed Piper so hard about fixing her pipes. He could care less; it wasn't his problem. But something drew him towards her, an unexplainable invisible force.

Once inside the house, Leo looked around the tastefully decorated foyer. He began looking at the pictures on the table and was dismayed to see many of them had Piper wrapped in a man's arms, smiling.

He thought she was just a single, attractive woman. As Piper hung up her coat, he looked at her left hand and he saw it: an engagement ring. Fixing those pipes was looking much more unappealing.

Piper showed Leo the way to the kitchen, where two women were looking down the drain of the sink. Piper introduced them as her sisters, Prue and Phoebe. They made small talk, but none of it really mattered.

As Leo began working on the pipes, they left. This sucks, he thought.

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Piper went back downstairs to where Leo was just finishing up working on the pipes. He was washing is hands and wiped them on his jeans. "All fixed," he commented.

"Thanks," she said.

"No problem," Leo said nonchalantly.

"No, really. Thank you. You didn't have to."

Leo put his hands in his pockets. "You're welcome."

Piper and Leo stood there, an uncomfortable silence enveloping them. Leo finally broke the silence. "I take it your fiancé doesn't know how to fix pipes." Good job, Wyatt, he mentally kicked himself. You sure are smooth.

Piper looked at him in pure, unadulterated confusion. "Fiancé? What are you talking about?"

Leo looked down at her ring. "Your ring and all the pictures… I just assumed you were married or engaged." Now she thinks you're a fool. Good Job, Wyatt. Another point for you.

Piper gave him a small smile. "No, I'm not married or engaged." Unfortunately, Piper thought, thinking of Mark. Her heart gave a twinge of pain when she thought of him. She held up the ring on her finger. "I wear it for sentimental reasons," she said, being vague on purpose.

Leo now gave a smile of relief. He didn't know why, but his heart soared with hope.

Piper walked him to the door, and they stood there awkwardly.

"Thank you, again."

Leo stood there, working up his courage. Come on, Wyatt, just ask her out. He took a deep breath and asked. "Would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow?"

Piper was shocked. This was the last thing she expected. She looked him in the eyes, and almost considered agreeing. "I…um…don't think that's a good idea…"

Leo looked crestfallen. "Oh. Okay. Maybe I'll see you around?"

"Maybe," she said and closed the door.

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Leo wanted to kick himself. Why did he have to be so sudden? Why couldn't he be the suave, subtle man every woman loved in movies and swooned over in books?

But there was something in her eyes. Those big, brown, soulful eyes. When he asked if she was engaged, he saw a flicker of pain, longing. But it was gone in an instant. And as he looked into her eyes as he asked her out, he saw her beginning to consent, but changer her mind at the last moment.

Leo began walking down the pathway to the car. Halfway down, he turned back around and rang the bell.

Piper answered the door, shocked to see him back again so soon. "Leo, what…"

"Did I offend you?" he interrupted.

"What? No."

"Then why won't you have dinner with me?"

"I'm busy."

"Doing what?"

"Things."

"What kind of things?"

"Odds and ends."

"Am I ugly?"

"What?"

"Am I ugly?"

"No. Where did you get that idea?"

"Because you won't go out with me."

"Leo, it's not that. I'm just…"

"Busy?"

"Yeah."

"Come on. You mean to tell me you can't spare two hours for dinner?"

"It's not that I can't, it's that I just don't want to."

At first, that stung Leo. But then he looked at Piper's face and saw her trying to hold back a laugh. She was teasing him. Leo liked that in a woman. That made him all the more determined. "So I'll take that as a yes?"

"Where did you get 'yes' out of that comment?"

"So, I'll pick you up here at seven tomorrow night?"

"Leo, I didn't say yes!" Piper exclaimed, but she was amused.

"You didn't say it, but I know you want to."

Piper crossed her across her chest. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Tomorrow at seven." He walked down the pathway to his car.

"I don't like pushy men!" Piper called out as he walked away.

Leo just raised a hand and kept walking. "Yes, you do."

Piper just shook her head and closed the door, a huge smile on her face.

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Author's Note: I would like to thank all of you who have reviewed, I really appreciate it. For all of you who loved Mark and hated to see him die, I would like you to know I might write another fic

surrounding just him and Piper. I don't know, I'm not sure.