A/N & Warning: A bit of a soapy chapter i'm afraid. i'm not used to writing these so... go easy on me!
Piper stood in the attic checking over a load of potion ingredients Prue had just brought. It was Christmas Eve and she was left figuring out how to vanquish Belthazor while her Prue was in her room wrapping up some presents and Phoebe and Paige were downstairs watching a nightmare before Christmas.
Piper flicked through the book of shadows and stopped when she came to the page she was looking for. To vanquish an upper level demon. They were hoping that if they got a piece of Belthazor's flesh it would work on him.
She sighed and sat on the couch. Leo hadn't come back. Since the day he went to see the elders he'd simply disappeared. Piper was beginning to worry that something had happened to him when he was with another charge.
Or maybe he just doesn't like you anymore. A nagging voice in the back of Piper's head had been telling her this for a few days now and no matter how much Piper tried to ignore it, it was always there.
Deciding she better get a move on with the potion, Piper began to put the ingredients into a cauldron.
Then just in front of her lots of blue and white orbs appeared and for a split second Piper thought that it was Leo but when the orbs disappeared it turned out to be Sam.
"Hi Piper is Paige in?" He asked with a warm smile. In his hand he carried a bag of presents.
"Uh, yeah she's downstairs." As Sam turned to leave the attic Piper decided to ask him about Leo. "You haven't seen Leo lately have you? It's just, I haven't seen him in a while and he usually pops in every now and then to see how we are."
Sam hesitated, the cheery expression on his face fading. "look Piper I know about you and Leo and well, the Elders know to."
"So?" Piper asked confused.
"Piper, Witches and White lighters aren't allowed to be together. The only reason me and Patty were allowed to be together was because of Paige and the whole twice blessed thing. If it wasn't for that I would have been assigned a different charge and been forbidden to see her." Sam explained carefully.
"You mean, they're not gonna let Leo be our White lighter?" As Piper said this she could feel her heart breaking.
"No! no." Sam said quickly. "At the moment, they'll let him be your white lighter. They just don't want the two of you to be together."
Piper wasn't sure what to make of the situation at first but then she found herself becoming very angry. "Well why hasn't Leo come and told me this? Why has he just left me wondering if it's something I'm doing wrong!"
Sam put a hand on her shoulder, "Look Piper, this isn't Leo's fault. I know for a fact that the only reason he hasn't told you is because he doesn't want to hurt you. Maybe you should call him and you know, try and work it out."
As Sam left the attic Piper bit her lip then shouted, "LEO! LEO, WE NEED TO TALK!"
After a few seconds more orbs filled the attic then Leo appeared, "Uh, hi Piper."
"When were you going to tell me?" Piper demanded. "Why did you just disappear."
Leo looked down at his feet and sighed, "I'm sorry Piper. I didn't want to see you get hurt."
After taking one look at Leo's face Piper couldn't be mad. He looked just as upset as she felt. "Leo… isn't there anything we could do."
Leo shook his head. He then looked up and took Piper's hand. "As cheesy as this might sound, I don't want you to think that I wanted it to end like this but there's nothing else we can do. I think I love you Piper and I would rather be able to see you but not be with you rather than taking a chance that's probably gonna fail and never see you again."
Piper couldn't help it. She could feel tears running down her cheeks. She forced a small smile then took her hand away from Leo's. "It….It's ok. I mean, it's not the end of the world."
Leo returned her small smile. "I've got to go. I'm sorry Piper."
As he orbed out Piper fled from the attic and ran into her room.
"I just couldn't take it. I'd never tell her but I get really jealous when I see Paige with her dad. Sam's just so caring and my dad only came to see us at thanksgiving but stopped doing that when I was like thirteen." Phoebe told Cole.
The two were sat in his car near the park. It was actually quite romantic. All the stars seemed to have just decided that they were going to appear especially for Phoebe and Cole.
"Do you ever see your dad?" Phoebe asked Cole.
"Uh no." Cole sighed. "My dad died when I was a baby. He was a lawyer though and from what I've heard a good one."
Phoebe smiled then leaned into Cole's chest. "This is really nice you know. A perfect way to spend Christmas Eve."
Cole smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Phoebe I need to tell you something."
Phoebe looked up at him, "What is it?"
At first, Cole was going to say this little speech he had planned before on the way here, but looking into her soft brown eyes Cole felt something that he had never expected to feel, especially for Phoebe. Love.
"Cole?" Phoebe asked turning to look him directly in the face.
Cole snapped himself out of his little trance and quietly said, "I love you."
Phoebe was slightly taken back. "You do?"
Cole nodded and leaned forward pulling her into a passionate kiss.
Paige and Sam stood in the kitchen attempting to make Christmas cookies. Unfortunately they ended up rock solid and the two decided to just eat the ones Piper had brought from the shops.
"You know I just don't get it? Why is it anytime I use the cooker, whatever I put in comes out black and disgusting?" Paige asked confused. "I mean Grams, mom and Piper were amazing cooks and Prue and Phoebe aren't too bad. Why am I the one that's cursed?"
Sam laughed, "I'm afraid you get that from me. None of my relatives could cook."
They were interrupted by a knock on the back door. Paige opened it to reveal Kyle.
"Hey Paige, I just wanted to give you this." Kyle handed her a Christmas present that was wrapped up in pretty red wrapping paper. "I also thought I'd let you know that Glen's coming to give you a present. Maybe the two of you could have that chat now?"
Paige nodded then introduced Kyle and Sam to each other. "okay so Kyle why don't you have some cookies and I'll be right back."
"So, I take it your Kyle Brody, Paige's boyfriend." Sam said as Paige left.
"Uh yeah." Kyle replied uneasily. If he knew her dad would have been here he would have put a smarter top on and sorted his hair out.
Glen stood outside the manor holding Paige's present, trying to figure out what to say. He had never had to think this much about what he said to Paige, so what was different now?
Just as he was about to knock on the door it opened and Paige stepped out, "Glen!"
"Uh, hey Paige." He held up the present, "Uh merry Christmas!"
Paige took it and smiled. "Thanks. Umm, I take it you know about me and Kyle."
Glen nodded, "Yeah he mentioned that the two of you were together during an argument."
Paige sighed, "look, Glen don't be angry at Kyle. It's not like we were dating or anything! We kissed a couple of times one night and then we were just acting like friends again." Paige took a breath then continued, "I really like Kyle. But I really hope it doesn't change anything between us."
Glen bit his lip then looked up at Paige. "I dunno why I got so mad. I guess I just always pictured us to be more than friends. I'm sorry."
Paige shook her head, "Nah, it's ok. But maybe you should apologize to Kyle too. Me, him and my dad are having a cookie feast if you wanna join us?"
Glen grinned, "Sure!" He then hesitated, "You didn't make them did you?"
Paige slapped his arm playfully and the two went into the manor.
In the underworld, a warlock stood nervously waiting to see why he had been summoned here. After a few minutes he was contemplating just leaving when a large fireball suddenly appeared in front of him. It then turned into the demon that he knew all to well. "Tempus."
"didn't expect it to be me did you? Well I wouldn't normally waste my time getting warlocks like you to help me but I have a feeling that with my help even you could do this job Rodriguez." Temps said with a smirk on his face.
"And what exactly do you want me to do?" Rodriguez asked unsurely.
"Your going to kill the Charmed ones."
A/N: ok yes it was short and not much happening but it needed to be done for the plot. Trust me. Anyway next chap coming up: I wish it could be Christmas everyday!
Bet ya can't guess what's gonna happen! Lol! Sorry I'm in the Christmas spirit of being hypo! Plz R/R