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Chapter 6: Confessions and Invitations

Leo couldn't believe what was happening to him. He went to college planning on partying and having lots of girlfriends. But once he met Piper, all that seemed to disappear. He spent all his time with her and didn't mind it. He wasn't sure if he was falling in love with her, but this is as close as he had ever come to love.

Piper and Leo sat on Piper's bed, looking at photos. They were laughing at pictures of her and her sisters as she told him funny stories about them. In truth, he was trying to cheer her up. When he came to her dorm earlier, she had been downcast and melancholy. But the more he talked to her, the more she seemed to perk up.

Leo looked at one of the last pictures in the photo album. "Who's this?" he asked, indicating the smallest girl in the picture. There were two adults who Leo assumed to be her parents with their arms around four children, one of whom he recognized as Piper and the other two as her sisters, Phoebe and Prue. The last girl was a stranger to him.

Piper immediately seemed to close up. She shut the album and put it away on the shelf.

"Piper? Who was it?" She didn't answer his question; instead she sat on the bed, silent. "Come on, Piper. Talk to me."

"It's my sister," she said quietly.

"And…?" Leo asked, not seeing the problem. It was her sister, so what? What was the big deal?

"She was killed six years ago."

Leo was silent for a moment. Now he knew why she didn't want to talk about it. But now that she seemed to begin, she couldn't stop.

"My dad was a stockbroker. I don't know what he did exactly, but he apparently worked with people. One man, Steve Braun, invested his money with my dad. But something happened and Steve ended up losing lots of money. Braun had a wife and daughter in the hospital and I guess the money he lost stopped them from being able to pay the hospital bills. His wife and daughter died." There were now tears streaming down Piper's face. Leo lifted up a hand and wiped them away. "Prue, Phoebe, and I went out shopping one day. Braun broke into our house and killed our father, mother, and Paige. We came home and…" She dissolved into tears.

Piper, Phoebe, and Prue walked through the door to the manor, laughing. It was the week before school was supposed to start and they had gone out to buy clothes. It was Prue's senior year and Piper's freshman year and both wanted to look good. They had even picked out a couple of outfits for Paige, who wasn't feeling well. Paige was going to be a sixth-grader, a year behind Phoebe.

Piper was the first to see the blood on the walls. "Prue," she said and her sister turned to see what she was looking at.

"Oh my god."

The three sisters ran upstairs. There laid their mother, father, and youngest sister, Paige, all dead. Prue ran to call an ambulance while Phoebe began to scream and Piper ran to Paige, cradling her sister's broken body in the middle of the bloodbath that had become her deathbed.

"He said he did it because my father didn't deserve to have a wife and daughter after he lost his. Once he was convicted, he said the only thing he regretted was not killing all of his daughters."

Leo tightened his grip on Piper. That threat sent chills down his spine. "Where is Braun now?"

"On death row in San Francisco. I got a letter from my sister today. They set his execution date to be held in four months."

Leo just held her close. He didn't know what to say. He didn't know if there was anything he could say. "Piper…"

"You don't have to say anything, Leo. Listening to me was enough."

He brought her close and kissed her. Their kiss kept deepening until someone cleared their throat in the doorway. Piper and Leo broke away to see Kim standing in the doorway, her arms around some guy.

"Sorry if I'm interrupting," she said, actually sounding apologetic. Piper wondered what she was up to. "This is my boyfriend, Kevin. Kevin, this is Leo and Piper."

"Hi," Kevin said. "Nice to meet you."

"You too," Piper and Leo replied in unison, the same thought running through their minds. What is Kim up to?

"Kevin just transferred here from California a few weeks ago. Piper, aren't you from California?"

"Yes. Where are you from?"

"San Francisco. You?"

"I'm from San Francisco too."

"Cool. Hey, some of my roommates are throwing a welcome party for me at one of the houses just off campus. You two are invited, if you'd like to come."

Piper and Leo looked at each other, remembering what happened at the last party. Piper didn't feel like having another shirt ruined. "I don't know…" she said cautiously.

"Come on, Piper," Kim pleaded, shocking Piper. "I know I haven't exactly been the best roommate," Piper tried not to laugh at that comment. "But I would really like it if you would come. I feel bad for making fun of you. Shelia's invited too, if she and Darryl want to come."

"Okay," Piper said, wondering what drugs Kim was on. Whatever they were, she needed to be on them more often.

"Great," Kim said cheerfully, a little too cheerfully and walked out of the room.

"Nice meeting you two," Kevin said, following Kim. "See you tonight. Party starts at seven."

Once they were gone, Leo shut the door. "What the hell is she on?"

"I don't know. But she sure needed it a long time ago."

"Are you sure you want to go to this party." He hugged her close. "I know much more interesting things we could be doing." He kissed her.

Piper giggled. "If the party's boring, we'll go have our own fun."

"I hope it's boring then." Leo sat down on the bed and Piper sat on his lap. "I have chemistry lab at six. Why don't I meet you at the party around eight? That should give me enough time to get a good portion of the lab done."

"Sounds good. I'll see you later tonight," she said and kissed him as he got off the bed.

"Make sure you save me a dance," he said.

He had no clue how significant his comment would be.

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Author's Note: I hope you like it so far! Thank you for all your wonderful reviews, I really love them!

Now, for all of you who like Unsuspecting Love (the Piper/Mark part) I have good news for you! I am working on another fic with just the two of them. It won't be up for a while, but I'll let you know when! Thanks.