AN: Sorry this took so long, was super busy! Thank you guys for your reviews. (Who's the best reviewers? You're the best reviewers!) Okay, on with the story!
"What'd you think? Too slutty for dinner over at my ex-boyfriends house?" Piper anxiously examined her outfit in the full length mirror she kept in her bedroom. "With his kid?"
Phoebe cocked her head at her older sister. "No…Unless you were going with a whole 'I'm a sweet girl-next-door who gets very naughty in bed' type of thing."
Piper just stared at her for a moment and Phoebe went on polishing her toenails. Piper took another look at her pale yellow, slightly low-cut V-neck sundress before collapsing on the bed bedside her sister, spread-eagled.
"Be still." Phoebe commanded meanly, regaining control over the polish. Piper rolled over on her side to face her.
"Would it be weird" she began, "if I said that I felt this connection with Leo right away?"
Phoebe looked up, her bob bouncing around her ears. "Well, I mean…he was the first guy you ever got serious with, right?"
Piper nodded. "Unless you count my marriage to Danny Pitman in the 4th grade."
"Then, no. I mean, you lost your virginity to Leo, right?"
"You say right a lot, but yeah." Piper shrugged, curling a strand of her brown hair over her finger. "I don't know, Pheebes, it's scary the connection you can feel with someone. It seriously frightens me. Like, sometimes when he looks at me…I don't know, it's like, I have to be extra careful or I'll start a relationship…or have a one night stand before I'm ready. And a kid only complicates things. I mean, do I really want to hop into bed with some little girl's father? I mean, without letting her know we're serious? And what's with that anyway, I mean, where the hell is her mom and—"
"Shut up." Phoebe interrupted. "You're babbling. Don't sweat it."
"You think?"
"I know."
Piper looked thoughtful for a moment. "Do you think I should take a toy or something for Emma? Leo'll drink the wine, but what about Emma? Or would that be like, 'Look Emma, I brought you this, so I can be your new, better mommy'." The doorbell rang, momentarily stalling Piper's rants.
Phoebe straighted, capping the red nail polish. "Well, unless that's Bret, you won't have to worry about it." She placed the bottle on the dresser and started down the stairs, Piper close on her heels.
"And what's with that anyway? Since when have you liked Bret Miller? We've known the guys for at least 20 years and now you develop this sudden interest."
"Bret's a nice guy." Phoebe replied as she toddled ahead in her short red dress.
"Yeah, duh, except for Leo, he was one of my best friends in high school."
"You always did hang out with boys, I never did get that." Phoebe reached for the doorknob and Piper ran off to grab the wine, in case it was Leo. It was.
He was holding a bouquet of acacias, yellow and magenta zinnias and azaleas. As soon as Piper stepped into the room she shook her head in wonder. She couldn't believe he'd remembered. "The game…" she breathed. Leo grinned at her.
"Yep." He said softly. "I remembered."
They'd been playing the game ever since her mother died. Sort of a tribute. Piper, Phoebe and Prue's mother had loved flowers and gardening, before she'd died. And Piper and Leo had started a game. It took them a full year and a half to get most of the flower meanings memorized, but after that, they'd traded flowers back and forth, like, before big exams, they would trade sweet basil: Good Wishes. Or, at birthdays, they would trade wheat: Friendliness.
After they started to date—finally in the words of their friends and family—he gave her a red tulip: Declaration of Love, and she gave him phlox: Our Souls are United. But the hat, that had been the kicker. After a while, they got to saying so many things in what they'd so ingeniously dubbed "Flower Code", they used a straw hat, just tucking flowers through the holes, and leaving it on the others doorstep.
Piper smiled at him and took the flowers from his hands. Acacias: Friendship, yellow zinnias: Daily Remembrance, magenta zinnias: Lasting Affection, and finally, azaleas: First Love. "Phoebe." She said, "put these in water will you?"
"Yes ma'am." Phoebe mumbled, walking off to the kitchen. Piper grabbed her light white jacket and took Leo's hand as they started off down the walk. "Have her back before one!" Phoebe shouted jokingly.
"Will do Ms. Halliwell!" Leo called back. He gentlemanly opened the passenger door for Piper.
"Where's Emma?" she asked, pulling her seatbelt on.
Leo started the car. "I've got Mrs. Shultz looking after her."
Piper's eyes widened as he took a curve leading towards Bellevue Drive. "What? You mean, Old Mrs. Shultz? As in the detested woman who you used to watch us? She was a thousand years old then!" Piper said incredulously.
Leo grinned. "Yeah, I know. But there's nobody like you around anymore."
Piper smiled. She knew he was talking about all the babysitting she used to do. "Well, I had to make money somehow. I was okay."
Leo laughed. "Are you kidding me? You had business sewn up."
Piper laughed as they pulled into his driveway. "Oh," she said suddenly. "you live on the beach now?"
"Yeah, Amy liked the beach. But I ended up with the house." He got out, shut the door and got her door for her.
"Thanks." She said, stepping out of the car. He nodded and shut the door behind her before taking her had again as they started off towards the house.
"So," he said as they walked up the path, "what made you move back home?"
Piper shrugged, reveling in the cool starry night, ocean breeze and cricket song. "I don't know…Just felt right. It does feel right. Being back in town with everybody, you know Cathy Daniels and Jim Corimer got married."
"Yeah, I did." Leo admitted.
Piper laughed slapping a hand to her forehead. "Duh, of course you knew. Sorry."
Leo smiled at her. "Ah, don't be. You have nothing to be sorry about."
At that moment, the front door flew open. "I told you, Mrs. Shultz! I told you they were here!" Emma was all to pleased to have her father back. Sure, she got sick of him sometimes, but anything was better than Mrs. Shultz. Emma few out the door and right into her father, who let out a grunt, releasing Piper's hand.
"Daddy! You're back! Please, please, please send her away!" She clung even tighter to her father's khakis. "She's mean." Emma whispered. "She wouldn't let me have any cookies before dinner."
Leo scooped her up and the three of them entered the house. "Now, I won't let you have any either."
"I know, but you never seem to mind when you find half a cookie in the jar anyway." A suppressed giggle slipped between Piper's lips, making Emma laugh as well.
Leo looked from one to the other in slight indignance. "So, you ganging up on me?" His arm snaked out and pinched Piper's side, which only made her let out a full on laugh. Emma laughed again into her hand. He tickled them both before setting Emma down on the floor. He quickly relived Mrs. Shultz of her duties. "Wait here." He told them. "I have to go check on the dinner."
Piper sat beside Emma on the cream colored couch nervously. What was she supposed to say to the little girl? "You want to know something funny?" Emma asked, smoothing her purple pants.
"What's that?" Piper asked.
"Daddy thinks that I'm gonna mess up this couch. I'm extra careful because he likes this couch a lot. I don't even drink grape juice in here anymore."
Piper laughed. "You must really love your daddy a lot."
"Yup." Emma agreed. "He's the only daddy I have."
Piper laughed as Leo came in the room. "Are you guys ready to eat?"
Emma jumped up from the couch, grabbing Piper's hand. "Come on, Daddy made dinner. He makes good dinner. 'Cept that time he made that burnt stuff. That was gross."
"It wasn't burnt. It was blackened." Leo said indignantly. Both girls giggled as he led the way to the table.
"Sure." Emma replied, hopping up into her chair.
Piper laughed again. Leo pinched her side again from under the table. He had been extremely worried about Piper and Emma meeting. Looked like he needn't have been.
"What are we having?" Piper asked.
Leo grinned at her. "Salmon, salad and for dessert, strawberry shortcake."
"Yay!" Emma shouted. "S meal!"
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"Okay, Emma, lay down."
"But I'm not tired!" She complained from her bed. "I don't want to go to sleep! I wanna show Piper my Barbies again, I'm not tired!" Leo was always patient with Emma. He knew that when she got like this, it would only be a matter of minutes before she was sleep. "I'm…not…" she trailed off as sleep overtook the energetic little girl.
Leo kissed Emma on the forehead before turning off the lamp and turning on the nightlight. He stepped out of Emma's room, leaving the door open a crack. He looked in the living room to find Piper had disappeared. When he found her again, she was sitting on his back porch, staring at the lake. He sat beside her and neither of them spoke for a moment.
"Is Emma sleep?" she asked slowly.
"Out like a light."
After a long pause she talked again. "It's so serene, balanced."
Leo glanced at her quizzically. "What is?"
"The lake." She sighed.
Leo gave her another odd look. "Come on." He hoisted her up and took her into the house. She followed him willingly into the kitchen, whereupon she jumped up on his counter, alongside the strawberry shortcake ingredients. She picked up a strawberry and took a bite out of it. Leo opened his mouth only to shut it again. After stopping to look at her, he finally spoke. "What's up?"
Piper shrugged, opening the tub of whipped cream. "Well, if I tell you, you'll think I'm an idiot." She dipped her finger in the whipped cream and licked it off before realizing what she'd done. "Sorry, I'll buy you some more."
Leo didn't even say anything to her about it. He had the woman of his dreams in his kitchen, licking whipped cream off her goddamn fingers, and she was worried about buying more whipped cream? Actually, that might've come in handy. "I'm all ears, Pepper."
Piper took another scoop of whipped cream, ignoring the nickname. It sounded so natural coming from his mouth, she didn't even question it. She blushed. "Well, you see, I have a problem."
"Oh?" Leo urged.
"I've recently moved to back to town and am having an incredibly strong connection to my ex-boyfriend."
Leo moved against the counter so that he was beside her, his elbows rested behind him. "Go on."
"And I have the feeling that I'm going to do something incredibly stupid."
Leo touched his hand to chin as if he were musing on something. Piper sipped her finger into the cream again and Leo stole his chance. He grabbed her finger and slowly took the soft flesh between his lips. He cleared her skin of any remaining whipped cream before speaking. "You mean, something like this?" His hands rested at her hips and he pulled her down so that she was nearer to the floor, but right at his height. He ground into her slowly, wanting her to feel every inch of him. All this was before he kissed her.
Piper closed her eyes slowly, feeling her body responding to Leo's. Her heart was beating wildly as he sucked on her mouth, nibbling her lips. She had the feeling he was striving to make her acutely aware of the place between her legs. He moved his leg, causing a groan from the both of them. Without asking, he ran a trail of whipped cream from her neck, down between her breasts, and taking his tongue along the same route.
"I have to go." Piper whispered softly.
"No." Leo said roughly, voice husky with desire. "Stay with me tonight." He couldn't ask anymore of her.
"I can't." Which was exactly what she wouldn't give him. She squirmed from underneath him and he leaned on the counter. "Night, Leo. Call me tomorrow, okay?" She gathered her purse and her jacket and made an entirely too quick exit.
AN: Please don't think the kiss was fast, it goes with the plot. (I guess, I told ya it was a WIP) So, I've got a one-shot out on FictionPress, maybe you'll check it out! For the link to my FP account, go to my profile and it should be there. (For the lucky person who drops a review for it, (and perhaps my story, "Trials and Tribulations) and tells me their FFN name, they'll receive a lifetime supply of Cheese Nips!) 8888 Laughs hysterically 8888 Please review!