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Chapter 15: The Little Red Number

From the moment she accepted Leo's offer, she felt as if she made the wrong decision. She would have backed out if Phoebe and Sarah hadn't pressed her not to.

Piper and Leo had a wonderful date. He took her to the zoo, showed her sights in San Francisco she had never taken the time to see before. They ate at a nice little Thai restaurant. At the end of the night, Leo dropped her off at the manor and walked her to the front door.

He held both her hands and looked into her eyes. "I had a great time tonight."

"Me too," she said, staring right back at him. She was telling the truth. She had a wonderful time, but she couldn't help but to think of Mark from time to time.

Leo smiled at her and she smiled back. He leaned towards her and Piper started to panic. Oh my God, he's going to kiss me! Piper wasn't ready for that yet. As he leaned in farther to kiss her, she looked down so all Leo could kiss was her forehead.

He looked at her, confused, and she let out a nervous laugh. "I, um, have to go," she said, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before going inside.

Leo stood on the front porch, surprised and confused. What did I do wrong? He wondered.

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Even though she enjoyed her date with Leo, Piper decided not to see him again. It was too painful for her. It wasn't fair to him either. He shouldn't have to be tied down by a girl still in love with a ghost.

So when Leo called later on that night, Piper dreaded having to tell him.

"Did I offend you?" Leo asked as soon as Piper answered the phone.

"No, Leo you didn't. I'm just not ready to be in a relationship now."

"Piper, I know you had a good time last night."

"I did."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"Leo…"

"Piper, I'm not going to let you go that easy."

"Leo, you're better off without me."

"No, I'm not."

"Leo…"

But Leo wouldn't let her finish. "Piper, I can tell you've been hurt before. But I promise you I won't be like that. I won't hurt you."

"No one's tried to intentionally hurt me. But it happens whether you plan on it or not."

"Piper…"

This time it was Piper who wouldn't let Leo finish talking. "Good-bye, Leo," she said, hanging up the phone.

She sat on the couch and cried.

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Leo looked at the phone with the dull, buzzing noise in confusion. What was with Piper? He knew she had a good time last night, she even admitted it. Why didn't she want to see him anymore?

He knew something happened to her in the past. He didn't know if it was a bad relationship or the death of someone close. But what ever it was left Piper a wounded woman.

Leo wasn't going to give up. There was something, an invisible force, compelling him to be with Piper. He wasn't going to let her push him away.

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Piper managed to take her mind off of Leo by throwing herself into work. Even Sarah, a workaholic herself, said Piper needed to get out.

The perfect opportunity came around. The San Francisco Police Department was hosting an annual ball. Piper thought it was kind of stupid, police having a ball, but it was a charity event to raise money for the police force.

All the officers were supposed to bring a date. Prue was going with Andy, Darryl was going with his wife, and Phoebe was invited by Leo's partner, Eric Trest. That left Leo without a date and Piper with a free night.

Leo asked Piper and she flat out refused, so he backed off, not asking her again. It was Phoebe who bullied her into it.

The morning after refusing to go with Leo, Phoebe sat her down on the couch. Phoebe got right to the point. "You're going with Leo to the ball."

"No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"You can't force me."

"Yes, I can and I will."

"Phoebe…"

"Just hear me out, Piper. I know how much you loved Mark. I know how much it hurt you to lose him. But you need to move on. You need to let him go."

"It's not that simple."

"I know. But you gave Leo a chance and had a great time. Now you're scared you'll fall for him and loose him too."

"What are you, a psychiatrist?"

"For the point of this conversation, yes. And this psychiatrist says you need to move on. Going to this ball would be a perfect chance to get out. Now you are going to call Leo and tell him you are going." Phoebe handed her the cordless phone.

"I'd feel sorry for anyone who was under your care," she grumbled, dialing Leo's number. "If they weren't insane when they first came to you, they sure would be by the time they left."

Phoebe stuck out her tongue at Piper as Leo answered the phone. "Hello?"

"Um, Leo? It's Piper. Listen, about that ball next week…"

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Piper couldn't believe she let Phoebe talk her into this. As Sarah did her hair and makeup, Piper tried to remember just why she was doing this. She voiced her concern to Sarah.

"Because you need to. You like Leo; the guy practically drools over you. You need to stop living in this shell you're in. You're going, so stop complaining."

"Why does every one treat me like I'm four?"

"Because you act like it." Sarah put her hands to the side of Piper's head. "Stop moving before your hair ends up on one side of your head."

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Leo pulled up in front of the Halliwell manor and immediately recognized Andy's, Darryl's, and Eric's cars already there. He turned off the car and took the key out of the ignition. He paused before getting out of the car. He hoped Piper was up to this and hadn't been pressured into it.

He knew something terrible had happened to Piper, but Andy wasn't willing to share and Piper wasn't exactly opening up to him.

Leo got out of the car and quickly walked to the manor and rung the doorbell. Andy opened the door and invited him in. Eric, Andy, Darryl, and his wife, Shelia, stood in the foyer, waiting for the girls to come down.

Prue was the first one to come down, wearing a black dress. She walked to Andy, who drew her into a long, deep kiss. Eric made catcalls, causing everyone to laugh. Phoebe followed shortly after, wearing a black dress way more revealing than her sister's. Eric just stared at her, speechless.

"You can close your mouth now," Leo whispered to him. Everybody snickered at Eric.

The last person to come down the stairs was Piper, closely followed by Sarah. Now it was Leo's turn to let his mouth hang open. Piper was wearing this little red number, showing off the curves of her legs and the delicacy of her shoulder and neck. A gold necklace with a ruby, heart-shaped pendant hung around her neck and lay in the center of her chest. She had her hair up, but some tendrils fell across her face in soft curls.

He was nudged back to reality by Eric's shoulder. Leo offered his arm to Piper and she took it. She gave him one of her rare, radiant smiles. Everyone went out to their various cars. Leo held open the door for Piper and graciously helped her into the car.

On the way there, Leo kept glancing over at her. Piper finally noticed is glances and asked, "What?"

"You look beautiful," he told her.

"Thanks," she said, sounding surprised. Leo was confused. How could she not know she looked that good?

They were soon there and Leo parked the car. He went around to the other side of the car and helped Piper out. She took his hand and held it as they walked to the building.

They joined the rest of the group at the front of the building. After being checked off the guest list, they were led to a large dinning room were a hundred or so people already were. People were milling about as the group searched for the table they all shared.

As they walked to the table, Leo wondered why they called this event a 'ball'. All people did was get dressed up, maybe dance to music, eat lousy food, and listen to a bunch of politicians give speeches. Any officers with rank were expected to attend. That included the homicide inspectors, as they were called in San Francisco. So Andy, Darryl, Eric, and he were expected to be here.

They had the same thing in Los Angels, where he had been an officer before moving to San Francisco. Both cities need to find a new way to raise money. They really do.

Leo cast a sideways glance at Piper, who was looking at him. Leo smiled and rolled his eyes. Piper laughed when she saw this, nodding in agreement. She clearly thought this was a stupid as he did.

Leo was thrilled to notice she was still holding his hand. Okay, it may seem childish, but he liked holding her hand. It let him know she was still there and she had some affection for him. Either that, or he was reading way too much into it.

Piper seemed to enjoy herself for the rest of the night. Throughout the boring speeches, Leo and Piper would roll their eyes or do something equally impolite and the other would have to struggle not to burst out laughing. No one but the people at their table realized. Prue kicked Piper from under the table many times and Leo even earned some elbows form Eric, who was probably the most fun-loving and immature one at the table. Phoebe was the only one who seemed to enjoy their antics, often joining in.

It's not that Leo didn't like the politicians making speeches, it just that he heard it so many times. They always promised to make changes for the better, help lower crime rates and so on. But they never did. Crime rates continued to rise, sociopath after sociopath committing murders stranger than the last. Speeches weren't going to change that. Good police work and community involvement would. Unfortunately, all the people here were already involved, so these speeches weren't having much of an effect on them. Tired of being elbowed, Leo finally agreed to pretend to pay attention to the speakers.

After the speeches were done, dinner was severed, followed by desert. The food was decent, but Leo could have probably made a better dinner with a TV dinner thrown in the microwave. Leo suspected they purposely served dinner after the speeches so no one would dine and dash.

After dinner everyone was free to do what they wanted. They could stay and talk or dance or leave.

Leo, Piper, Prue, Andy, Phoebe, Eric, Darryl, and Shelia danced for quite a while, exchanging partners often. The whole group was having fun and no one wanted it to stop. Especially Leo. Piper seemed to be having so much fun, he hated to see it end.

It was well after midnight when the group was exhausted and ready to leave. They gathered their stuff and walked out to their cars, splitting up when they got to their cars. Before Leo helped Piper into the car, he put his hands on her bare shoulders and looked at her. "I had a great time tonight," he said.

"Me too," Piper said, meaning it.

"Would you like to go out again sometime?"

"I would love that," she said.

Encouraged, Leo leaned down to kiss her. To his surprise, she kissed him back just as eagerly.

Then she turned and ran.

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Please review, I love to hear your opinion. I have some very good stuff coming up in the next few chapters. I hope to update soon!