AN: Okay, I really was going to do personal responses this chappy, but I'm so anxious to get this chapter up, I won't (Sorry!). But, I do have a few things to say, that will make sense to some reviewers:

A: No, you didn't know who Baby Joey was, he and his mom are just really good friends of Leo.

B: 'Uncle' is something you say when somebody's tickling you, to get them to stop.

Okay, I'm sorry if somebody's questions didn't get answered, but I'll do it, promise! READ ON!

He saw the glare off the TV play across her face as she giggled into her hand. Leo cracked open his other aqua eye and shifted a little, not so much as she would notice.

"What are you doing?" his voice was a little gravelly, and strained with sleep.

Piper turned to look at him, apology written across her face. She touched his chin lightly. "Sorry." She started. "I couldn't sleep. So, I turned on the TV, and Fear Factor was on and—sorry."

He laughed, rubbing the side of his face with his palm, and for the first time he noticed the way his sheets slid between the crevices of her body. "It's okay." Briefly, he buried his face in the pillow, before lifting it again to speak. He grinned lazily. "I'll bet you had a hell of a time finding the remote."

She gave him a lopsided smile and hunkered down beside him, throwing her arm over his bare back. "I'm sorry." She said again.

Leo gave her a look of amusement. "What else did you do? Raid the fridge?"

Piper smirked at him. "No." Her face fell serious. "I'm sorry I didn't say yes to you earlier."

He full-fledged grinned this time. "That good, huh?"

Piper turned up the corner of her lip in a light, and unwittingly inviting smile. "No, it's not that, bit yes, I'll agree. Anyhow, I mean, I didn't want to have sex because, well, I thought it would be intrusive."

He raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

She did that thing he loved where she twisted her mouth to one side, then bit her lip. "Well, I thought with you having to take care of Emma, and she may be your world, but little do you know, you are definitely hers. And I don't know what she would do if she had to share you." She paused to scratch her arm. "And, you know, I didn't want to hop into bed without knowing that it was more than one night."

That stung. "What are you talking about?"

Piper bit her lip again and rolled over a little more to face him better. "I mean, Leo… I wanted to, badly. As a matter of fact, since I saw you at the grocery store, but I wasn't sure if you'd want me after…"

That stung even more. Leo took a deep breath before pulling her so close, they might as well have meshed into one body. "This" he whispered. "is real. I want this. More than you'll ever know." He wanted to hold her body to his. He wanted to go to town picnics with her. He wanted to show her the kind of love a man and a woman could only have. He wanted to marry her. Wait. Where had that come from?

"That's good." She said softly, he could tell she was drifting off to sleep. "Because I want it too."

He held her even closer by the small of her back. "Go to sleep." Leo kissed her forehead tenderly, before going back to sleep himself.

He should've seen it coming, he really should've. He heard her most anytime, deep in his sleep; he knew where she was before she did. But he was probably too spent to hear it this time. But it had to be this time.

Little feet went bounding down the hallway and threw the door to Leo's bedroom wide open. "Daddy!" she cried happily. "Daddy, I—Oh." She stopped short of what was probably a long drawn-out story involving her and Baby Joey. "Piper came over today!" She seemed oblivious to the adult situation. Leo sat up and rubbed his face, and the blanket failed to cover his chest, which was bare.

"Hey, baby!" Leo said with every ounce of love he had for her. The circumstances were delicate, he knew, but he couldn't refuse his baby girl.

"Daddy!" Emma giggled. "You don't have shirt on!"

He smiled gently, and briefly noticed the sunlight coming through the windows. "I know." He held out his arms and clad in a pink shirt and jeans, His daughter ran to him and jumped into his arms, her body close to weightless in his hands. He hugged her close. There was nothing like seeing her first thing in the morning.

Emma knew that her father wasn't a morning person, but something good must've happened if he was smiling this early. Emma's jumps had disturbed his bedmate who stirred at last. Piper stretched first, until her foot had solid connection with Leo's thigh. Then, she sat up, holding the sheet to her. Emma laughed again and jumped onto Piper's lap. "You don't have any clothes on." She whispered into her ear. Any of Piper's hesitations and fears to the situation flew out the window at that moment. She just laughed. Kerry, a full-figured woman with corkscrew, coppery curls, appeared in the doorway, with an exaggerated expression of dread across her face. She mouthed the word "sorry" to them. Leo waved her off in an "it's fine" gesture. Emma jumped to the ground. "I'm going to go in my room and visit Miss Maggie."

Piper had the distinct feeling Miss Maggie was a doll. The child left with kiss to each adult cheek and not another word. Piper could practically feel her cheek go golden with pride, surprise and happiness. She touched it lightly, as if expecting the seemingly small gesture to disappear. And that only stretched Leo's heart with gladness. When Kerry disappeared from the doorway, Leo took Piper in his arms and held her to him, kissing her senseless.

When they pulled away, he grinned down at her. "Someway to start a morning, huh?"

She laughed and traced his bicep with her fingertips. "I liked it." What she didn't say was that she would've liked a lot of days to start that way. But she didn't.

"You don't have any clothes on." He whispered, taking his tongue along her ear, sending a shiver down her spine.

"I know." She whispered back, doing the same. His hands started to meander over her body, taking time, going slow. Discreetly, under the covers, sure that Emma could come busting in at any moment.

"You need clothes." He told her.

"I know." Seemed to be a standard answer. The next moment, she was straddling his lap and she could feel him beneath her.

"We—" He stopped for a kiss. "should get—" Another kiss. "you some—" Kiss. "clothes." Though, the thought crossed his mind to spend the whole day nude. Well, since that was clearly out of the picture, kissing would do just fine.

Night was falling over Bolepick once again. Chasing fireflies was again an enjoyed game. Now would've been the time for picnics. Which was exactly what was planned. Piper, Leo, Kerry, her husband Ross and Baby Joey were at the picnic in Leo's backyard. Joined by Emma, Phoebe and the infamous Bret Miller, who'd finally declared themselves a couple. Along with them came a few people from Leo's job, and some of the people who were helping Piper with her club, and some of their spouses and children. Emma had enough playmates, who she was teaching the fine art of catching fireflies and who were daringly dipping their feet in the still too cold water of the lake, along with the ever fun loving Phoebe and Bret.

Leo took a long pull off his beer. He was watching Piper. Of course, he'd been watching her all evening, but she looked especially good as she sat unawares of him, chatting candidly with Ross. Normally, jealously would've washed over him, on generally speaking, he wasn't the jealous type. Not even when her hand reached out to pat Ross's forearm gently, who just grinned at her. And of course, even if he had been jealous, any feelings would've gone away when she turned and flashed him her million dollar grin. He smiled back and turned to the grill again. He kept one eye on the grill, and another between Piper and Emma. The two most important people in his life. He reached out with the tongs to test a hotdog. Not quite done.

"You've fallen hard, Wyatt." It was Bret's unmistakable voice.

"She's an angel without wings, Miller." Leo responded with accidental curtness. He wasn't one to give away his feelings very easily.

Bret knew it. He leaned beside his friend against the railings. "She was always like that. You just now get it?"

Leo's eyes were fierce and intense but he kept them pointed at the grill and the finished hotdogs. He made slow work of putting the food on a plate. He took another drink of beer. "Shit, Bret, I—" He turned to face the brown haired male, but abruptly turned to face the grill again.

Bret stared at him intently. "You're very serious about this aren't you? Well, her, I mean." Leo's tongue touched his lip briefly before going back in his mouth, but gave no response. Bret rolled his eyes. "You didn't even get like this about Amy."

"Don't talk about her." Leo said, his rudeness intentional this time. He needed to be alone with his thoughts. Just when everything was going right. He took another pull from his bottle. "Leave the bitch where she is." The beer seemed to be traveling to his lips faster now. There was no response and Leo knew Bret had gone. Still, the tension didn't leave his shoulders, and his hand didn't stop gripping the handle of the spatula a little to tightly. A warm, small hand slid into his own and for a moment, stress faded and his body loosened as she smiled down at his little girl.

"Kerry said that she would man the grill." Emma said, obviously repeating the phrase. "So you can come eat with me and Piper."

He looked over at the chocolate haired woman. She was seated beside her sister and was laughing happily. She waved at him, tossing a sexy, private smile his way. He smiled softly down at his child. "I'd like that." Emma holding to one hand, and the beer in the other, he made his way over to the table.

With an obviously fake smile, he slid between his child and what he supposed was his girlfriend. Neither female seemed to notice that part. "Hey." Piper said with inflicted romance. "You seem a little down." She gave him a sympathetic look, gripping his bicep between her delicate fingers. "Are you okay?"

Leo wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her forehead, noting the smell of her hair. "I'm fine." He promptly turned to cut up Emma's steak, who then went wild with A1 Sauce.

It was dark by the time dinner was over, but the party was still raging. Somebody had produced a CD player, which was admitting a little Tim McGraw for listening pleasure. Some people danced a little, most chilled and sang along. Some, Leo in particular, sat and mulled over their thoughts.

Piper watched him from the picnic table where she was having another conversation with Ross. She was only half listening, which she felt sorry for. She had the feeling that Leo didn't want to be around her. This is where confusion set in. They'd made love—multiple times—the night before and now, what, he wanted to forget it ever happened? Maybe he didn't like Public Displays of Affection—PDA to the hip. Whatever it was, it was slightly worrying. But he was big boy, he could handle himself. She guessed.

"…And so, when I got here from Los Angeles… Piper? Piper?"

She snapped back to the conversation she was supposed to be having. "What?"

Ross grinned at her. "I was talking about when I got here. Are you okay?"

Piper shook her head, as if shaking away her thoughts. "Um, yeah, excuse me." She pushed away from the table, and made her way over to Leo, who was hanging in the notorious hammock. It was set a little away from the festivities, there for perfect for the intimate conversation of lovers. Instead, he shut her out. "Hey." She said, rubbing her arm, a gesture she knew happened when she was nervous.

"What were you and Ross talking about?" Leo asked, gruffly.

Piper's eyebrows skyrocketed. "Is that what this is about? I never knew you were the jealous type." She couldn't keep the angry, defensive edge out of her voice. He just glared at her, tenting his fingertips contemplatively. She sighed, their relationship was newly founded, they didn't need to be on the rocks already. "I'm sorry." She sighed again. "Room for another?" she asked conversationally. Leo shrugged, but held out his arms for her to crawl up beside him. They just sat and rocked for a while.

"They are so cute." Phoebe gushed, putting the glass of iced tea to her lips. "Aren't they, Bret?" Bret gave a short "yeah". Phoebe rolled her eyes. "Oh my gosh, this party just got so moody! What's up with everybody, it's like Prue on steroids."

That got a laugh. "Poor Leo." He mumbled a moment later.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Phoebe asked.

"I think he's seriously in love with Piper."

Phoebe cocked an eyebrow. "How serious are we talking?"

Bret looked down on the youngest Halliwell. "Like, marriage-serious.

Phoebe's eyes widened to a spectacular size, rivaling the paper plates on the picnic table. She let out a high squeal. "Oh my God! He's going to ask my sister to marry him!"

He clapped his hand over her mouth. "Shh! And no! Not after what happened with Amy."

Phoebe rolled her eyes and spoke when he again gave her use of speech. "What do you mean? The marriage wasn't good, they divorced, so is about half of America."

"You don't know?"

"Know what?"

Piper wasn't aware that her sister was talking about her as she ran her hand through Leo's hair, the hammock thankfully holding their weight. He let out a low grumble, sounding like a large jungle cat. He must've been relaxing. It was nice to know her touch could do that to him. "Do you want to send all these people home, and put Emma to bed? She seems pretty worn out to me."

For the first time in what felt like forever, he smiled at her. Genuinely. He seemed to think about it, but then, he smile faded. "Can't, I've…Uh, got some things to do."

She raised up to get a better look at him. "Do you want to keep secrets from me now?"

Much to her dismay, Leo didn't respond, but again his body tensed and he closed himself off.

AN: Whew, admit it! That was a long chapter! Anywho, don't you guys want to know what's up with Leo? Like, one moment, he was okay, and the next, he shut down. (Well, I know. Hee, hee, hee…) And what's up with all the talk of Amy? And there's something else just a little off about somebody at the party, but I want to see if you guys'll pick up on it. (I'm so evil) Anyway, love ya'll lots! Please review!