Sorry about the delay, I've forgotten about this fic. (mental slap) Okay, well...Uh, I've got nothing to say, really. A little Piper/Leo here, but no fluff, sorry. Kind of short...Okay really short...But important for the next chapter.
NOTE: Phoebe makes a little mention of whores in the first line of the chapter...Know that whores were just an every day thing back then. Well, they are today too...But still. Just know that.
scullymulder1234: At least they met! I'll email you the explanation about the guys Leo met. I don't have the book I got them out from with me.
anjana: A better picture of Piper, huh? What does she look like now? Better quetstion: what did she look like?
Magical Princess: I'm a good researcher. Also, I need things to be perfect and spelled out when I do something, especially when I write something. I have a whole history for Piper and Leo both.
patricia: lol, you don't understand it either?
Chub: Yeah, sorry it took so long for them to meet.
Piper xox Leo: Wow, haven't heard from you in a while! Yeah, those are real people. Got them out of a Wild West book I got for my dad on his b-day a couple years back...It's really a cool book. I'll have more stuff from it later on, I think. Oh, and I can't really add fluff because I can't really get them together yet. Piper hates men, remember? But don't worry. I'm the Fluff Queen, and I shall come through.
melodieeidolem: What a name! A palendrome, like my name! (hannah) I know I took a while to get them together...But at least they DID meet!
piper+leo4eva: Your way and everyone else's. Some fluff in this chapter...Drunken fluff, but fluff nonetheless.
emily: Who said I was leaving it? You're review kinda scared me, took me off guard. lol I do kick ass!
"The town is still buzzing. You're the only one who's talked to that new guy. I heard this group of whores—"
"Phoebe…"
"They were talking about him. One of them—that blonde one who's always messin' around with the bartender's hand—said she'd even drop her rates for him," Phoebe explained.
Piper laughed out loud. "She's only worth a dollar and fifty cents. She's a dollar on Sundays."
"You would know?"
"I spend enough time at the saloon to know."
"Whatcha talkin' 'bout?" Prue asked, coming inside.
"Piper's the first one to talk with that new stranger."
"He's got a name, you know."
"And his name is…"
"Leo. Leo Wyatt. And he knew Kit Carson and Jim Bridger and James Beckwourth, too."
"Of course he did."
"He did!"
"Sounds like you like him," Prue summed up.
"I don't. I hate men. I just wanted to know who this guy was."
"Whatever, Piper."
Piper and Jacob chased twenty horses down the road through the town. They herded the horses behind a building and into a corral. A man waiting for them closed the gate and locked the horses in the pen.
"Thanks Charlie," Piper said.
"Yup. I'll hold 'em here 'til John Taylor comes for them."
"Right. Thanks."
"Paying him in horses, then?"
"For now…Let me know if Joseph Barnes comes into town, too."
"Owing people money, Piper? That's not like you."
"Just do your job Charlie."
Charlie tipped his hat at Piper. Piper tipped her hat as well and caught Charlie winking at her.
Goddamn men.
Especially Lee's boys. Always making passes at her…
She looked up to see Jacob turn around from giving Charlie a threatening glance. They rode off.
Okay, so he was a little drunk when he spoke with her at the saloon, but at least she opened up a little. And he did, too.
Leo sighed. This wasn't going to be easy. He didn't even know what he was doing! He didn't even know why he was in Wolf Creek!
He just had to listen to his goddamn heart. And that stupid woman.
Why did she lead him here?
Piper Halliwell…Nice name. She was beautiful, with her chocolate eyes and long dark brown hair. He'd watched her walk a little, and she carried herself proudly. He wasn't about to get in her way, and he didn't think any man was about to dare to, either.
So he knew why she wasn't married from his last visit to the town. She probably didn't trust men anymore after what that What's-His-Name did, taking her money…Great. He had to gain the trust of a woman who didn't trust men.
Wait, what then? What did he do after that?
Leo sighed again. He groaned.
"I know what you're thinking…" a voice whispered.
"Go away," he ordered.
"No," she said stubbornly. "You are wondering what to do next."
He nodded, knowing she wouldn't go away until she told him what she wanted him to know.
"Well…" The woman walked over to him. He was sitting on the edge of the bed and she stood in front of him and leaned down to rest her forehead against his. "It's easy."
He laughed. "Right. What is?"
"Okay, so it won't be easy…But it's as simple as this…"
"As what?"
She smiled. "You have to make her fall in love with you."
He groaned. "Son of a bitch…"
"Son of a bitch!" Piper cried as she fell backward. Leo caught her from under her arms and they laughed while the shot of the gun she'd fired echoed around them. He lowered her to the ground and she lay on her back with the gun across her chest and laughed.
"What? I told you it had a hell of a recoil!"
Piper was a little bit drunk again. She'd been drinking a lot lately, actually, but she didn't seem to mind, and neither did anyone else.
Leo was a little drunk, too. And he had a shotgun. One that Piper had always wanted to shoot.
He'd kept in mind what he'd been told, to make Piper fall in love with him. He wasn't sure how that was supposed to be done…Didn't he have to love her first?
Oh well. For now they were drunk. And they had guns. You don't need love with whiskey and weapons.
Leo took his gun away from Piper, leaving her the flask of whiskey. "Enough firing for you."
"Fine, fine. Whatever." Piper waved her hand at Leo. "So why are you here?" she asked.
Leo looked up. "Me? I'm…here on a mission."
"Mission? Like with the army?"
He chuckled and shook his head. "No…"
"So why are you here?"
Leo sat on the ground beside Piper. "I was…sent here…"
"Sent by…"
"My dead wife."
Piper was silent for a few seconds. "…Oh."
They were both quiet then. The silence was overwhelming. Neither of them moved for a long time, the only noises in the dark consisting of crickets buzzing and their two horses snorting and pawing the ground. Wind blew the trees, causing the leaves to rustle. Piper took another drink of whiskey, and offered the bottle to Leo silently, not knowing what to say.
She was silent out of respect and confusion. How was someone sent on a mission by a dead person?
He took the alcohol gratefully. God, it was so much easier to talk when he was drunk. He didn't know why he'd said it, why he'd told her that. It just…slipped.
Finally, Piper said, "I'm sorry I asked."
He nodded to acknowledge the fact that he heard her speaking.
"But…" She sighed. "What happened?"
Leo, who had been staring at the ground, looked up at the clear sky, dotted with thousands of lit up stars and a bright full moon. Even though it was dark out, the moon lit up the valley they had ridden to.
He supposed he'd walked right into this…They'd met again in town and when she'd seen his shotgun she'd said she wanted to shoot it, and he couldn't turn her down.
And now he wished he did.
Now you know who that woman who kept appearing is. Leo's wife. The next chapter will start up right where this left off. And it'll explain Leo's past a little.
