Since Then, Till Now : Chapter Four

Disclaimer: Look in the 1st chapter.

Thank Yous: leosldy, Raya Halliwell, Em, and kk241289! You guys rock!

The food tasted like heaven. They hadn't eaten since the chasing started and both were dying from hunger. After they had finished eating both decided it was time to talk. There was a minute full of awkwardness and silence. Not one word was spoken.

"I know-" "How-" Piper and Leo both started and ended simultaneously. "Look, I know you know who -- what I am. You wouldn't be working with the rest of the hunters if you didn't," she stated.

There was no point of running around the issue, God knows they ran enough yesterday.

"I'm not like them," Leo started, "I don't work with them I work against them. Why do you think I saved you from them yesterday? I helped you because that's my job."

"It's your job? Your job is to help people like me?" she asked , "I never knew there was that kind of a job," she added sarcastically. "Well, there is! Look, I know a lot about you, about your family," he said quietly.

She turned to look at him, wondering, "How did he know about them? What did he know about them?"

"You do, huh? How? How do I know this isn't some sort of trap?"

"Oh, come on Piper! Do you really think this is a trap? That I helped you escape those men for and spent all night carrying you here for all of this to be a trap?' he questioned.

He knew that she just asked the question because she was scared. When she mentioned he knew about her family he noticed her worried expression. Leo was just trying to make her understand who he was and why we was there without scaring her, but it looked like he was failing, and failing miserably.

"No," she said softly, "I know you are just trying to help me and I'm sorry for making this so hard on you, but it's just hard to trust someone when half of the people are after you." She couldn't hold the tears back anymore, she started crying. Burying her head in her hands. Leo just held her, letting her cry on his shoulder. After a few minutes Piper had calmed down, but you could still here a sniff here and there. "When do you think it would be safe to go back?" she asked Leo who was now looking out the small window like she was earlier that day.

"We can go tomorrow morning if you'd like. We can't leave today, it's too soon. Plus, we're still worn and tired we'll be back to business tomorrow, a bit sore, yes, but that's all," he told Piper without turning back to face her. It was getting harder to stop looking at her and he didn't want to become annoyingly obvious.

"If she noticed me staring what would she say? What would she think?" he thought nervously.

"Oh, ok. Good enough," she said as she stole another glance at him. His back was to her so she noticed she had a clear, full view.
"Wow, he has a nice…. --- wow! Piper stop!" she mentally yelled at herself.

Piper knew the only way she would stop was if she closed her eyes or she wasn't in the same building as he was.
Leo heard Piper yawn, he turn fast enough to see her pull a blanket over her head. He didn't know what to do, so he stood there, staring out of the window, guarding.

Hours later Leo stole a glance at Piper, she was still under the covers. He noticed the easy rhythm of her rising and falling chest so he decided to make sure they didn't meet up with anybody tomorrow. He orbed out with memory dust in hand.

Leo had been orbing around and near the house for any signs of the hunters. He had brought along whitelighter dust just in case he ran into one of them, but he hadn't so far. After making sure there was no one in the area he orbed back home. He noticed it was starting to get dark out so he orbed home and fell asleep a bit after. He knew they had to get some sleep for tomorrow.

Tomorrow came quickly for Piper and Leo. Piper decided to take two bottles of water for the trip. They ate breakfast fast and headed out to the village were Piper's family waited.

"I'm assuming we'll get to the village near night fall if we keep going at this rate," Leo said as they continued walking.

"Great, I can't wait to go back and see my sisters!" Piper remarked with excitement in her voice and a smile in her face. Leo had to smile, he was happy to see her happy. "I thought you would."

"So, Leo, do you live with your family?" Piper questioned suddenly, trying to make conversation. Leo's brain tried to think of an excuse, but nothing came to mind, so he decided to bend the truth a bit.

"Oh, my parents died a while back and well, I was an only child."

Piper caught something with his answer that made her uncomfortable. "Was?"

"Did I say was? I meant am , I am an only child," he tried to cover up and brushed his fingers through his dirty-blonde hair. Piper observed Leo suspiciously. "Why is he acting so strange all of a sudden?"

"So, I bet you miss your sisters, huh?" Leo asked Piper, trying hard to cover up the fact that he almost spilled his secret.

A/N: It's 10 now and I have been home for a full 2 hours since the trip. An awesome trip it was. We had tons of fun! :) Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter. And it's not short! Yay! That will make everyone happy. Don't forget to review. Thanks!

-- Holly's Shadow