Chapter 6: Confrontations and Demons
Leo couldn't believe it. How could Piper do this to him? In the week since he figured Piper and Chris were together, he could hardly function. He loved Piper and was happy she could move on for her own sake, but with Chris? He was like ten years younger than her, but he also lied and deceived them for months. He should have seen this coming. He should have realized there was something going on. The way Piper held Chris' hand when he was hurt, the way they've been looking at each other. Leo felt like a fool for letting Piper play him for so long. Especially after what happened that night. The night that he thought he had won Piper back. The night he seemed to have lost her.
"Nothing resulted out of what we did..." Piper's voice rang through his head. How did everything go so wrong?
When Piper was dating Dan and was going to break up with him to be with Leo, Piper had given Dan the respect of telling him to his face. Leo wished Piper had the same respect for him and would tell him to his face.
Leo decided to go have a sisterly chat with Phoebe or Paige. He knew his in-laws couldn't keep a secret and he was hoping to get some useful information out of them.
The manor was in chaos. Demons were flying everywhere, furniture was being blown apart, and the grandfather clock, once again, was in smithereens. Phoebe, on her way to work, encountered the first demon in the foyer. After calling for help, more demons showed up, and soon enough, the whole manor was in utter chaos.
It seemed that for every demon that was blown up, another took its place.
Phoebe stood in the middle of the action, having accidentally walked into it. Piper stood at the foot of the stairs and Chris was on the landing above her. Leo, having orbed unknowingly orb into the affair, stood, confused, in the living room.
After blowing up what seemed more than twenty demons, Piper got enough control over the situation to freeze it. All the demons, and Leo (who was on the other side of the room from her), we frozen in mid-action.
"Thanks," Phoebe, who was close to be getting grazed by an energy ball, said.
"Yeah, it's about time!" Paige exclaimed.
"Well, sorry. My powers are a little off right now. The baby and everything."
"Sorry," Chris apologized.
"Don't worry about it." Piper gave him a smile. "Unless you are going to be like Wyatt and make my explosion powers turn to fireworks or flowers." Chris laughed.
Piper flicked her wrists and blew up the demons in front of her. (She also unfroze Leo.) The girls waited, prepared for another attack. None came. They relaxed, and no one noticed the demon shimmer in behind Chris and Piper on the stairs. The demon formed and energy ball and aimed for Chris.
Leo, seeing the demon from the other side called out, "Behind you!" Chris' reflexes were fast; he ducked just in time to miss the energy ball.
Piper, on the other hand, wasn't. The energy ball hit her squarely in the abdomen and sent her flying across the room. She was rammed into the wall across from her and slumped to the floor, unconscious.
"No!!" Chris cried out as Piper was hurled across the room. He tried to stand up and go to her, but he suddenly fell to the ground as if he was just hit by an energy ball.
Paige and Phoebe saw Piper fall, and began kicking demon butt even harder. You don't mess with a Charmed One's sister and get away with it.
Leo, meanwhile, immediately went to Piper's aid. He began healing her and was still healing her when Phoebe and Paige vanquished the remaining two demons and Phoebe dropped to his side. "Are you almost done?" Phoebe asked anxiously.
"Yeah. Why?" Phoebe motioned towards Paige, who was cradling Chris' head in her lap. "What happened to him?"
"I don't know," Paige answered. "He wasn't hit by an energy ball. He just suddenly hit the ground."
Leo finally finished healing Piper, the glow from his hands ending. He stood up and headed for Chris when Chris suddenly opened his eyes and sat up. "Piper? Piper, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied. "It's you I'm worried about. What happened?" Piper came and stood next to him.
Chris stood up and looked at everyone. His eyes settled on Leo for a few seconds longer. "Um, I fell down the stairs. Tripped over my own shoes. I'm real clumsy like that." His eyes darted between the group again.
Silence hung in the air like a gun waiting to be shot off. "Alright," Piper said, breaking the thick, uncomfortable silence. "If you're okay, I'm going to lay down."
"Are you alright?" Leo asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." She gave him a quick smile and walked up the stairs.
Everyone watched her climb the stairs before looking back at one another. "Well," Phoebe said and everyone looked at her. "Gotta find out who those demons were, don't we Paige?" She grabbed Paige's hand and they ran up the stairs to the attic, leaving Chris and Leo alone.
Chris looked at Leo and began to climb the stairs, but Leo grabbed his arm. "I know something's going. I know it involves you, and I know it involves Piper. I'm going to find out what it is. You can count on that."
"You do that." Chris wrenched his arm out of Leo's grasp and went up the stairs.
Piper was lying on her bed, not asleep, but just resting her eyes, when Phoebe and Paige came bounding into her room with the Book of Shadows. "We found the demons!" Phoebe announced, flopping on her bed. "What's with you?" she asked, seeing Piper's melancholy look. Piper shrugged her shoulders.
"Oh, Honey, it's Leo, isn't it?" Paige asked sympathetically. Piper nodded her head.
"If you just told him about Chris, all this misery would go away," Phoebe told her.
"We've already discussed this. Now tell me about this demon."
Phoebe sighed and opened the book to a certain page. "Demons, to be correct. They're called Hive Demons. They're distant relatives of Khazi's, Vampires, and Swarm Demons. Meaning, if we kill the leader, in this case the queen, all the mini-demons go bye-bye, never to return!" She slammed the book closed for dramatic effect.
"Simmer down, Phebs, simmer down," Paige told her.
"The vanquish is easy enough. All we say is: 'Queen of the Hive/ It is now your time to die'. Simple enough."
"Let's go kick some demon ass," Paige said and got up.
"Wait. Before we go, I want to find something out first. Chris!" She called. Chris instantaneously orbed into the room.
"What?"
"What happened earlier? I know you did not trip over your shoe. Out with the truth. Now."
Chris thought for a moment before answering. "I honestly don't know. But I do have a theory. I blacked out once Piper was hit right?" The others nodded their heads. "Well, since she is carrying mini-me, I think the baby was affected too, which in turn affected me."
"So, what you're trying to tell is that you have a connection with the little you and what ever happens to the baby happens to you?" Phoebe clarified.
"Basically."
"How is that even possible?" Paige asked and everyone looked at her. "Magic. I know, stupid question."
Phoebe looked at her watch. "It's a little after eleven now. How about we plan a demon vanquish for four o'clock? I have to pop into work and finish my column then turn it in."
"Now we're planning vanquishes?" Chris asked.
"When you have Elise for a boss you do." She kissed the top of Piper's head. "You take it easy, alright? You're caring for both Chris' now. We wouldn't want your toxemia to come back, would we?" She was referring to the threatening condition she had with Wyatt. "I'll be back around three, three-thirty. I'll see you then." She waved at them and walked out the door.
"I'm going to grab something to eat. Want anything?" Piper and Chris shook their heads. Paige walked out of the room.
Chris grabbed the book of shadows. "I'll take this back up to the attic." He left the room.
Leo was once again invisible, but this time he was hiding in the bathroom behind the closed door. He didn't want Phoebe's empathy powers to get a read on him. He hated spying, but it was his only way to get information any more. He put his ear to the door.
"Oh, Honey, it's Leo, isn't it?" Paige asked sympathetically. If Piper answered, he couldn't hear.
"If you just told him about Chris, all this misery would go away," Phoebe told her.
"We've already discussed this. Now tell me about this demon."
Phoebe sighed and opened the book to a certain page. "Demons, to be correct. They're called Hive Demons. They're distant relatives of Khazi's, Vampires, and Swarm Demons. Meaning, if we kill the leader, in this case the queen, all the mini-demons go bye-bye, never to return!" She slammed the book closed for dramatic effect.
"Simmer down, Phebs, simmer down," Paige told her.
"The vanquish is easy enough. All we say is: 'Queen of the Hive/ It is now your time to die'. Simple enough."
"Let's go kick some demon ass," Paige said. Leo didn't think the rest was important, so he left. He decided he would corner Phoebe at work and make her tell him about Piper and Chris. He orbed out to check on Wyatt, who was once again spending the weekend in Magic School. Leo began to wonder in Piper was doing this so Leo could spend more time with Wyatt, or so Leo would have one less reason to hang around the manor. Leo decided to have a talk with Chris before he talked to Phoebe.
Leo sensed Chris in Piper's room, and orbed outside of the door and listened with his ear pressed to the door. He didn't want to interrupt anything, after all. He heard nothing, so he knocked.
"Come in," Piper called. Leo walked into the room to find Piper alone.
"I, um, sensed Chris in here." Leo was confused. He still sensed Chris here. "I need to talk to him about something. Do you know where he is?"
Piper began to panic. He must have sensed baby Chris instead of big Chris. She quickly froze Leo, a confused expression on his face. "Chris!!" she called out. Chris orbed in and she explained the situation to him. Then she told him, "Stand behind him, quick!" Just as Chris stood behind Leo, he unfroze.
"I could have sworn he was here," Leo continued without stopping.
"He is. Look behind you."
Leo twirled around and looked at Chris. "Where did you come from?"
"I was in the hallway. What did you want to talk to me about?"
"How did you know I wanted to talk to you?"
Damn, Leo was sharp. Chris forgot Piper told him that. I was something he shouldn't know. Chris came up with a quick lie. "I head you talking when I was in the hallway. What did you want to talk about?"
Leo looked at him suspiciously. "Never mind. It can wait." He orbed out.
Piper heaved a sigh of relief. "We're going to have to watch that. I never thought he would sense the baby and not you. Where were you, by the way?"
"In the attic."
"Doing what?"
"Nothing in particular. Just seeing how much things change. Wondering how different they will be." Chris was lying. He was working on something he didn't want the girls or Leo to find out about. So far, no one was suspicious. He mostly worked at night, when everyone was asleep. Now he was in the attic researching some more info. He hated lying to Piper, but she would find out about it soon enough.
Leo orbed into Phoebe's office, scaring the hell out of her. "What the Hell?!!" She said, after levitating three feet out of her chair. "Are you trying to expose us?!"
"You know what? Right now, I don't really care. Something is going on between Piper and Chris, and I want to know what it is. Tell me now."
"I don't know what you're talking about," Phoebe said, smiling.
"You're lying."
"No, I'm not."
"Your wisdom teeth are showing."
"Oh," Phoebe dropped the smile she used when she was lying.
"Now tell me what's going on."
"Leo, I want to tell you, and so does Paige, but this is Piper and Chris' decision, not ours." Leo let out a frustrated sigh. "And don't ask Paige because she won't tell either," Phoebe warned. Phoebe hated to see Leo hurting like this. She could see the pain in his eyes. She could feel the pain without even using her empathy powers. "Leo, there is something going on. I don't know what you think it is, nor do I want to know. All I know is that Piper and Chris have decided not to tell you. I wish they would, and I get the feeling Piper will tell you, I just don't know when. You have to remember, Piper was hurt just as much as you were when you left. Now that you came back and left again, that opened old wounds. Just talk to her. Let her know you're not leaving again."
"But I can't promise that."
"Then you'll probably lose her, and this time, you won't get her back."
Leo left Phoebe to her work. What she told him made sense, just not in the way he thought. Was she only pretending to be in love with Chris because he left? Was this some cry for him to go to her? He decided it was time to ask Piper, to confront her with the truth.
Piper finished changing into some suitable demon-fighting clothes. This consisted of a pair of jeans, her hair pulled into a ponytail, tennis shoes, and one of Leo's old white t-shirts. Alright, the t-shirt wasn't necessary, but it made her feel close to him, and right now she needed to feel his presence, feel as if her were with her right now. Piper hated how she had been acting towards him lately, but she didn't know how else to act.
When Leo left, Piper went through his clothes and got rid of a majority of it, stuff he rarely ever wore. The other stuff went into boxes in the basement. Next to Prue's old photography stuff, to be exact. In that corner of the basement was stuff she couldn't bare to get rid of. The photography stuff reminder her of Prue. It was almost as if she would come back any day and ask why her stuff was in boxes. She put Leo's stuff next to hers, hoping this would blow past, hoping he would come back to her.
But Prue was gone, and she was never coming back. And it seemed the same was true for Leo. She lost her husband, her best friend. He was never coming back and his stuff would sit next to Prue's collection dust, until there came a day she could throw that stuff away. That wouldn't be happening anytime soon. She lost her sister to a demon and her husband to a higher calling. She was never going to let either of them go, but the pain would lessen, she knew. The pain over Prue's death was vague, but always present. Prue's death changed Piper, just a little, but enough for her to notice.
Piper laid on the bed feeling sorry for herself. She put her hand on her stomach and thought of all Chris would miss growing up without a father. He turns out to be a great kid, but there was a lot of bitterness to him. A lot of bitterness that resulted from not having a father. Piper let a few tears leak out of her eyes. She knew she wasn't that bad off. She had two wonderful sisters and a beautiful little boy and was expecting another one. She just wasn't sure if she could handle the emotional stress of it all. The club, the kids, Charmed duties... it was real stressful. She was going to have to ask her sisters for help, but she hated to have to be so dependent on them. They were will to help, but they had their own lives to live.
Piper curled into the fetal position and decided not to worry about the future now. She would just take each day as it came, each demon as it shimmered in.
That was how Leo found her, curled into the fetal position with tears in her eyes. "Piper?" he whispered.
She quickly stood up and wiped her eyes before facing him. "Leo, hi. Is something wrong with Wyatt?"
"No, no. He's fine. I need to talk to you. About Chris. I know what's going on."
"Oh. I thought about telling you, but I thought it would be better for everyone if I didn't. Chris agrees. I'm sorry I didn't." Piper felt some joy that he figured out she was pregnant with Chris on his own, but some disappointment about how he was reaction. He didn't seem too happy.
"Just tell me this: do you love him?"
Piper was a little confused. Where were these questions coming from? "Of course I do."
Leo looked crestfallen. "Oh." He began to walk away.
Piper now became angry. Why was he walking away now, when she needed him the most? "Is that all you're going to say?!"
Leo turned around to face her, tears in his eyes. "What do you want me to say?!"
"I don't know! Tell me how you feel! Show some concern, joy, anything! Don't just walk away!"
"Fine. You want to know how I feel?! I'm hurt alright?"
"Why?"
"Because you didn't tell me to my face. I had to sneak around to find out about you and Chris."
"I said I was sorry I didn't tell you! What more do you want?" The tears were now flowing freely from her eyes.
"I wish you would have given me the same respect you gave Dan."
"Dan? What does he have to do with this?"
"Come on, Piper. Don't play dumb. You respected him enough to tell him to his face you chose him over me, but you can't give me that same respect. The guy you were married to for two years."
"Leo, what are you talking about?"
"I'm talking about the fact you fell in love with Chris but didn't have the guts to tell me!"
"Oh my God! Is that what you thought this was about?" He hadn't figured it out! This was just a big misunderstanding.
"Yes. I've heard parts of your conversations with Chris. You've also been acting differently around him too. I heard you tell him you love him in the kitchen that night."
"You've been listening to my conversations?! Leo, you just can't hear part of the conversation and assume you know everything! You shouldn't even be snooping around anyways!"
Leo felt kind of guilty. Piper had told him about listening to parts of conversations before. Last time he misread the meaning. Now he wasn't so sure he was all right. "How else was I supposed to find out what was wrong with you? Ever since that night you've been avoiding me. I've tried to talk to you, but you've blown me off. And that night you were sick and wouldn't let me heal you, I didn't know any other way to find out what's going on!"
Piper put a reassuring hand on his arm. "Leo, I am not in love with Chris, at least not in the way you think." She stopped crying now, and felt betrayed that Leo would think that of her. "I thought you knew me better than that."
"You mean you don't love him?"
"Not in the way you think." Piper let out a sigh. "I think you should sit down."
Leo put both of his hands on Piper's arms. "Piper, just tell me what's wrong." There was something strange about the way she was acting. He was expecting her to come out and say she had cancer or something equally bad.
Piper opened her mouth, but no words came out.
The suspense was killing him. "Piper, whatever it is, just tell me. We can handle it."
Those were the magic words. We can handle it. It meant she wasn't alone. She had someone in this with her. "I'm pregnant." Leo's hands fell from her arms. "With Chris." Leo looked at her questioningly. "Chris is our son."
Leo sat heavily on the bed. "You're pregnant?" This wasn't exactly what he was expecting. More like the total opposite. Now all the conversations made sense. He felt like and ass for believing Piper would do something like leave him for Chris. Leo felt like a fool.
Piper anxiously watched Leo's reaction. She saw many different emotions wash over his face. Relief, confusion, disbelief, confusion, and others she did not know. She felt tears stinging the corners of her eyes. Leo was going to decide he couldn't take it; he was going to leave...
"Is this what you've been hiding?" He stood up and held her hand. She nodded her head. "Why didn't you tell me?" He brought her into a hug and held her tight.
"I saw how hard it was for you to leave one son; I didn't want to see you have to go through it again."
Leo looked at her for a moment. She wasn't lying to him, but that wasn't the whole truth. "Piper, there's more to it than that. I know you would have told me if it were just that."
That was when Piper herself realized that was not the whole truth. There was a part of it she was hiding, hiding from Leo, and hiding from herself. More tears began to roll down her face.
"I was afraid that if you if you found out, you would leave again. I don't think I could take losing you again. I was afraid it would hurt to much, and if I kept you at a distance, the pain would go away."
Leo wiped the tears from her eyes. "Is that what you were scared of? Me leaving again?" Piper nodded. He finally made a decision for himself, for his family. "Honey, that won't happen. I promise I won't leave."
"But you're still an Elder."
"We'll just have to work around that. Piper, we have gone farther than any other witch and Whitelighter have before. My being an Elder won't stop us now."
Piper smiled. "You promise?"
Leo smiled back at her. "I promise." He hugged her and kissed the top of her head.
"I think there's someone else you need to talk to," Piper told him. "Chris!"
Chris orbed into the room. "What, M—'' He was about to say 'Mom', but then he saw Leo. "Hey, Leo."
"Chris, I told him. I couldn't hide it any longer." She walked to the door. "You two need some time to chat. Be nice." She left them alone and happily went down the stairs. Leo knew and she was finally free. No more hiding, no more lying. But best of all, he promised to stay. She just hoped he could keep that promise. She went into the kitchen only to find Phoebe, home from work, and Paige, listening to the conversation in her room thorough the vent in the kitchen. "You little witches." Piper said teasingly to them.
"Oh no. It's was Phoebe's idea. She's the witch. I'm the Whitelighter." They laughed.
"I wonder how they're doing up there?" Piper mused.
"You can listen in the vent. I used to do it all the time to Mom and Grams," Phoebe said with a wicked grin.
"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm going to wait upstairs in case I have to freeze the scene." She walked out of the kitchen and into the foyer. There, waiting for her, was a woman. She slightly resembled the demons from earlier. "Who the hell are you?"
"Your worst enemy." The demon raised an energy ball.
"What a cliché," Piper said and flicked her wrists. Nothing happened. The demon just smiled and hurled the energy ball at Piper. Piper froze the ball before it hit her. "Phoebe! Paige!"
Her sisters came running into the room. The demon launched another energy ball and the sisters dove for cover. Paige hid behind a wall, Phoebe by the stair case and Piper in the living room.
The demon used this distraction to grab Piper and shimmer out with her.
