AN: Hey everybody! I know that this took a while, and God knows I thought this chapter was crap! But maybe you'll like it? Anywho, thanks to all those who reviewed, it seriously makes my day to see the fabulous feedback, even if it just says to update!
"Quit touching me." A moment later. "Quit touching me." After 10 seconds. "I swear to God if you don't—Quit touching me." It was late at night and Leo said the last words with so much conviction, Piper should have been ashamed about the brazen way she was running her hands over his face, shoulders and chest. But she felt so undeniably drawn to him at the moment, she didn't know what to do, but touch him. "What's wrong with you?" He asked finally, slinging an arm around her waist, one palm splayed wide across her backside.
Piper shrugged, knowing that he couldn't see her with his eyes closed. "I don't know. I think I'm worried."
"About?"
"You."
One eye quirked open. "Me?"
"You."
Leo sighed and opened both eyes. He propped himself up on one elbow and gazed at her, that lazy, sleepy look in his eyes. "You are the fussiest woman I know."
She shrugged lithely, her hands finally resting flat on his chest. "Wasn't I always a bit worried about everything?"
Leo flopped back on the bed with both eyes closed. "I think, it's called 'neurotic'."
Piper smiled at him. "Funny, funny."
A heartbeat later, his tone grew serious. "You do know I love you for it, don't you?"
"Do you?" She said, closing her eyes.
He kissed her temple. "I do."
Piper smiled again. "You sound like you're taking wedding vows."
Leo didn't reply. The idea of getting married to Piper didn't sound so weird. Well, in all honesty, he couldn't count how any times he'd thought about it. Anyway, now wasn't the time. He kissed her softly on the lips and then curled her in his arm, before drifting off to sleep.
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Emma was off the walls the next afternoon. It was just her and Leo—Piper was at the grocery store—and in all honesty, she was making him a little nuts.
"Daddy. I think she'll figure it out." Emma chewed idly on her pinky nail. "She's smart. She'll figure it out."
Leo inwardly rolled his eyes. No wonder, she was so bouncy. It was getting hard for her to keep the secret about Piper's surprise birthday party. He'd been planning it for about a week now. He was borrowing a friend's boat and they would take it out for a while, before going back to the beach for a picnic. It was nice, classic—inexpensive, he hated to admit—and she would like it simply because they'd thought if her. She was so perfect.
"Daddy. Are you listening to me?" Emma jumped up, and scratched her jean-clad knee. "I'm getting itchy."
Leo laughed and ruffled his paper. "Itchy. I swear to God, Emma." He turned the page. "Is keeping a secret that hard?"
Emma scratched her neck. "Ugh. Yes." She scratched her hand. "I have to go to the bathroom." She announced. She ran down the hall and slammed the door, making Leo laugh again. Attention span like a fish. He thought about for a second. Or did fish have short-term memories? Oh well.
All of a sudden, the door flew open, and Piper tripped through the entryway, hands full of groceries. Her denim jacket was a little wet and the army green knee-length skirt she sported was dotted with rain drops. A small piece of hair tumbled out of its simple updo and in one movement; she straightened the paper bag in her hand and retrieved the piece of hair with a hair stick. And then finally: "Did you know that it's raining?"
Leo chuckled. "Do you need any help?"
Piper nodded. Then shook her head as she looked him over. It was nice to see him relaxed for once. Plus, she didn't want him to happen across the—
"Are you sure?"
She nodded and made three trips back and finally she had all of the groceries in the kitchen. She pulled a small box out of a bag and walked into the bathroom just as Emma came barreling out.
Emma flopped onto the couch and scratched her knee again. Leo cleared his throat and shook the paper. They sat there like that for about three minutes. Piper flitted out of the bathroom and began restocking Leo's fridge and cabinets with edible things instead of some green pus substance she found a week back. It had actually been sort of funny. She'd barged in on him in the bathroom, fully freaking out and yelling: "What the hell is this?" over and over again.
Well, needless to say, there were no more green items and Leo locked the bathroom door. Emma scratched her thigh. "I have to pee." She complained in a low voice. Apparently, keeping a secret was making her itchy and shrinking her bladder. A few minutes later, Emma came back from the bathroom. "There's a stick in the garbage can. A little plastic white stick. Like on that commercial where the lady's having a baby." Emma literally started jumping up and down. "Is Piper going to—"
She stopped when Leo bolted out of his chair and towards the kitchen. Piper looked up as Leo came into the kitchen, then gasped as he pulled her into his bedroom. He couldn't know could he? He shut the door.
"What is wrong with yo—"
"Are you pregnant?" Leo hissed quietly.
Piper sank onto the bed and shook her head. "No, no, I'm not."
Leo closed his eyes and leaned back against the door. Heaven help him. After long pause he spoke. "Oh my God, you scared me."
Piper glared at him. "I scared you? Are you kidding me? I was the one who might have been pregnant, not you."
Leo opened his eyes. "I know. Sorry."
Piper sighed and raked one hand through her hair, knocking and the hair stick out of the way. "It's okay." She sighed again. "We didn't take this very well did we?"
Leo shook his head. "Not at all. We are so pathetic."
A small, unexpected tear fell onto her cheek. "It's just that, in so many ways, I'm not ready for children, it's not the right time to be thinking about children… But I still really wanted that baby." And then, the tears started falling faster and harder. Leo walked over and took her in his arms. It was sort of hard to understand the certain dormant maternal instinct, but he could sympathize.
"I'm sorry."
Piper shook as the tears subsided and she found the comfort in his arms. "I am too."
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It was late again. Well, Emma was in bed and Piper was cleaning up the dropped popcorn they'd had watching The Little Mermaid. A classic. Leo came in from the kitchen just as Piper straightened the last throw pillow. Leo slid onto the arm of the couch, resting one foot lightly against the other leg. "Guess I was right about you being neurotic."
Piper sent him a look. "Ha, ha." She sat on the couch next to him. "What I said earlier about a baby… I just…" She took another breath. "Okay, what I mean to say is that, I really, really didn't want to pressure you into anything, it's a little early to be thinking about whether we agree on a fish pattern shower curtain, let alone kids!" She seemed to be getting frustrated with herself. "I mean, we aren't even married! I just…thought…" She sighed, the twisted her fingers together. "I'm sorry."
Leo ran a hand over her head. "Don't be."
Piper nodded and stood to stretch. "I'm thinking of going home tonight, okay?"
Leo gave her an up-and-down glance. "Why's that?" It was all part of the plan to lure her away from the house on the eve of her birthday.
Piper shrugged. "I don't know, Phoebe said something about a 'special sister birthday celebration'." She shrugged again. "I couldn't say no. We'll probably do manicures and pedicures, like we used to."
Leo gazed up at her. "Is that why you always looked so fresh after your birthday?"
The corner of her mouth twitched. "Sure, whatever floats your boat."
He stood up and gave her a swift, but thorough kiss. "You should go, wouldn't want you to miss your sister bonding night."
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Piper knew that her family and friends were keeping her in the dark about something, but since the pregnancy scare with Leo, she was a little scared to ask. She knew that Leo would probably love to have another child. Someday. But hell, they weren't even married. But, they were still so close and serious, it scared her witless.
"And, oh my God, Bret is the best kisser." Phoebe babbled away, a mile a minute as she and Piper walked up to Leo's house. Apparently, he'd suggested a dip in the lake, and Phoebe was clad in a daring red bikini and Piper was in a more subdued orange, red and black flower print tankini. They both held beach towels and had already applied sunblock.
Piper opened the door. "Leo?" she called.
"I'm outside, on the deck!" She followed his voice to the back where a bunch of screaming voices yelled:
"Surprise!" shouted Leo and about thirty of their closet friends and family. Piper covered her mouth.
"Oh, you guys!" Piper hugged her sister and her boyfriend, as a whole lot more people came with good wishes. Before he was forced out of the way, he handed her some Queen Anne's Lace: Haven.
"You're mine." He told her seriously.
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Piper and Leo danced on the deck of the little boat to somebody's CD player. They were having fun. It was the only way to put it. Fun. They needed that. "Emma, be careful." Leo called. The child was dancing a little too close to the edge. Leo smiled at Piper.
"You know, I…Someday, I think that you and me having kids wouldn't be so bad."
Piper grinned at him. "What are you saying?"
Leo smirked at her. "I'm saying that I'm thinking about the fu—" Leo stopped short as the whole party seemed to go into a halt. The whole world seemed to revolve in slow motion as fear gripped him. Emma slid off the boat, smacking her head on the way down into the lake's depths.
AN: Oh no! I cliffhangered you didn't I? Ha, ha, ha! Well, you guys don't really think I'd let anything happen to Emma do you?
Anyway, I was at Fictionpress and they had a contest about best stories and all that. And I was thinking, "Well, fanfiction is just as good, we deserve a fun little contest too!" So, I was thinking about holding one! I would really love to have at least two more judges, so if you're interested, email me through my bio. Basically three (ideally, and including myself) judges would review the content of the submitted stories and come up with the top three of that category.
The categories would be:
Piper/Leo
Phoebe/Cole
Paige? And or, Prue/Andy (?)
One-shot
AU (Alternate Universe)
Romance
Action/Adventure
Future Fic
Power of Three/Four (For the Power of Three, Paige days or Prue days)
Best Overall Story
The story must be at least 1,000 words (piece of fudgy cake! (and I am flexible)) and may be any rating. The way to submit a story is simple. Email me using this method.
In the From box write: your penname. In the Subject box write: contest. In the body of the email, please put the story name(s, you may enter more than one), category(ies) it's being submitted for and then the author. So even if you don't have a story you want to submit, maybe you know an author who would love to have their story in the running! Oh, and no rush! There is not yet a deadline of when the story has to be on FFN, or when it has to be submitted, I'll be back with that info! If a judge's story should be submitted, than the other judges, will have to take over, and the aforementioned judge will have no say. (No pressure to nominate me!)
Anywho, like I said, anyone interested in judging, please email me! Who knows, maybe you guys think that this idea is totally stupid… But if I get a lot of positive feedback, maybe we could have a lot of fun, so spread the word, you know through reviews and Author's Notes! Two more things: 1: You can even submit old stories, just so long as they were on the site after June of last year and 2: PLEASE REVIEW!