Okay, I know it's been a while...I am so sorry! My computer's been messing up on me, and I couldn't get onto any web site at all. I just fixed it. Hooray!

Chapter 3 - Therapy

As Leo opened the door to the station, Joey stormed out, mumbling to himself, led by two lawyers. Leo watched them get into a black car and drive away before he went inside. "Leo!" Adam yelled, though he wasn't in sight.

"Yeah?"

"In my office!"

"You're half an hour late," Mike said to Leo as he walked past.

"Screw you."

Cortez passed by. "Wyatt! You're late!" he said.

"My wife likes morning sex," was his lie for sleeping in.

"It's been morning for a while now."

Leo shrugged and smiled like a child who was hiding something. He walked into Adam's office.

"Close the door."

"So…" Leo started as he closed the door and turned back around.

"Ron, uh…called me…recommending someone for you…I think you know what I'm talking about."

Leo glanced at the closed door and back at Adam. "…Yeah."

"So this guy's name is Mark Altman, and you will meet him in his office at ten this morning," Adam directed, handing Leo a business card.

"Adam, you didn't have to…"

"Yes, Leo, I did. We may not be blood related, but we're still brothers, and I'm not going to sit back and watch it work at you like this. Now I'm not going to go and put an ad in the paper about it. You and Piper…What happened isn't a normal thing. You have the right to this."

"…Thanks." Leo stood up and moved to leave the office.

"And Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"Lighten up on Mike a little." Leo was about to protest, when Adam continued. "Now, I'm not saying you have to invite the guy into your home or anything. You don't have to talk to him outside of work or socialize or anything of the sort, just…don't make him think you hate him as much as you really do."

"No promises."

"That's all I can ask."

"Going somewhere?" Mike asked as Leo headed for the door an hour later.

"Yes, so you can handle the little things around here and get a few hours in while I'm gone."

"Where are you going?"

"On a little trip."

"Personal or business?"

"Personal business." Leo walked out the door. Mike sighed.

Leo walked into the office at ten o'clock. It was a comfortable place, with couches on two of the walls and magazines on a table stand with a beige lamp. The walls were painted brown and everything seemed close together, finished off with a welcoming atmosphere. A man came out of an office from a hallway off to the left. He was tall, about Leo's height, with salt-and-pepper hair and thin-framed glasses. He was dressed fairly casually, in a white shirt and khakis.

"Leo Wyatt?"

Leo shifted uncomfortably. He didn't care how welcoming the place looked, he didn't like it here. "Yeah."

The man held out his hand. "My name is—"

"Mark Altman, I know."

"Your brother Ron called in asking for a favor. I owe him, so you've got my full attention for the next hour."

Leo sighed. "I can't stay long."

Mark led Leo into his office. It was light, with a green couch on the far wall and a bookshelf filled with psychology books beside it. Across from the couch was a computer desk, complete with more books, pictures of what Leo assumed to be Mark's family, and a new Microsoft desktop computer. Beside that wall, across from the door, was a window, but it was shut and the blinds were closed to shut out the sounds of the nearby highway.

"Come, sit," Mark offered. Leo groaned. He didn't sit. Mark sat down in the leather chair at the computer desk. "If you feel more comfortable talking to a woman, I have a colleague in today."

"A woman, why would it be any different?"

"Sometimes it's more comfortable for a man to talk to a woman."

Leo flopped down in the couch across from Mark. "Well, for me it's more comfortable not to talk about it at all."

"I'll take that as a no…Ron told me what happened. A year ago, he said."

"A little over, yeah."

"And it's still getting to you."

"Of course it is! She—She's my life. If I had gotten there just a minute too late, I wouldn't be here today." Leo suddenly was quiet. He hadn't expected to say so much so quickly. Hearing Mark talk about what had happened set him off. Finally he realized that he did need to talk; he couldn't hold it in any longer.

"You wouldn't. Why do you say that?"

"If I lost her, that's it. There would be nothing to live for…"

"How did it affect you just afterward?"

"Oh, God…How didn't it…I was on defense for months…Piper was in shock for a full week, and went into counseling for a couple months…I had to take a few weeks off of work…"

"Anything else?"

"I mean, I was overprotective of her…I still am, with people I don't know."

"Any examples?"

Oh…He had an example, all right. "The IA just assigned me a partner yesterday. I've never worked with a fulltime partner. The only people I've ever worked with are my family and my friends at the station, but they're not my partners, they're my co-workers. They're my family."

"So what happened with your partner?"

"I don't know. Nothing yet. He's just nosy. I feel like he's gonna ask me questions about Piper, and I can't let him into my personal life. It's not his business."

"But he's your partner."

"Right, and Piper is my wife."

"Okay, so what's bothering you with the uh…"

"Incident."

"Incident…now? Long-term effects."

Leo sighed. "Insomnia…These dreams of what happened, memories…I'm on edge most of the time, too. You know, looking over my shoulder, ready for anything, but not sure of what to expect…"

"That happens when someone goes through something like you two did."

"Right, but it happened to Piper, so why am I the one with this problem? I mean, she seems to be just fine. She's like the only one who can calm me down. I just…Everything is different around her."

"In what sense?"

"Like when I'm with her at home or…just anywhere with her—in public or alone—everything's okay. I can relax and just be with her without worrying or being nervous. I can be with my wife without all of this stuff weighing down on my mind…Because I know she's safe, I know she's with me and nothing can happen to her. Then when there are other people around…Like when we go out, everyone from the station, that is, I just can't leave her out of my sight for long without getting worried…"

"I can understand that. You feel protective of her. That's natural even if something hasn't happened the way it has for you and your wife. Most people feel naturally protective of their spouse, or even girlfriend or boyfriend."

"It's different."

"So how long have you felt like this?"

"Ever since it happened, but then it let up a little for a few months…A month or so ago, it came back, I guess."

"Any reason that could have triggered this?"

Yes, there were reasons. He sighed. "Um…Yeah. I worry about her being out of my sight, because I do have enemies who want to get back at me…And I worry that someone might try to use her to get to me. I can't let that happen. Not again."

Mike and Leo sat at a small table in a diner, mostly passing time. Leo was just waiting for Jake to page him, letting him know to get down to the City Convention Center, otherwise known as 3-C, where the graduation would take place.

"So what are the regular hours?" Mike asked.

"Clock-in at seven, out at eight or nineish."

"Okay, so that's what a normal person follows. What're your hours?"

"Seven or eight in the morning to about…anywhere between ten and midnight."

"Why do you work later?"

"Because I get the people like Joey, so I naturally have to go in later, when the clubs and the bars are getting the most action."

"So you work with more people like Joey?"

"Ah, let's see…I got drugees, prostitutes, gigolos, johns, parole violators, guys on probation, family ordeals…" he trailed off.

"Family ordeals?"

"Neglected and beaten children, parents going at each other with chair legs when their five-month-old baby is crying in its crib, the fifteen-year-old daughter selling herself to make money for that baby and her seven-year-old brother…"

"I thought that was for D.C.F."

"Right, but someone has to split the parents up and keep them apart and care for the kids until D.C.F. gets there. Usually I call in, and someone takes the parents in, so I stay with the kids. Sometimes it's vice versa."

Mike sighed. "So that means—"

"It means you'd better not let them get to you, have a soft spot for kids, be able to see through lies, and not be squeamish."

"Well then…" Mike took a drink of his coffee.

"So why aren't you married?" Leo asked as he pulled out his pager.

"…Just haven't found the right person, I guess," Mike answered, sounding somewhat distant.

"Well, what're you doing wrong?" Leo asked as he stared at the pager, turning it over in his hands.

"Wrong?"

Leo looked up. "Yeah."

"Now hold on a minute. How are you supposed to give me dating advice if you were married through years that most normal people are spending running around trying to find each other?"

"I have two brothers," Leo said as he put his pager away.

"So?"

"So while I was married, I watched them running around, dating and looking for the one," Leo answered, emphasizing on "the one" to make it sound more dramatic. "And I was seventeen when I got married. Just because I've known my wife since I was about seven, it doesn't mean I didn't play the dating game in high school…for a couple years. I just…ended up with her in my teens, instead of in my twenties or thirties." Leo looked at Mike. You're…twenty-five?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so you should at least have a girlfriend by now."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. You have to have had a serious relationship. At least one. Please say at least one. Or two."

"Yeah, a few months ago."

"What happened?" Leo asked, taking his pager out again and tapping it, hoping to get it to start beeping to tell him Jake was paging.

"About a week before I considered proposing, I found out she was cheating on me and broke it off then."

"Oh really?" Leo reverted to tapping the pager on the table.

"Yeah, and I haven't seen her or my brother-in-law since, and my sister was nearly arrested for assault."

Leo looked up. "Huh?"

"Yeah, my girlfriend was cheating on me with my sister's husband, and when she found out, she pretty much attacked her husband, then divorced him, and they are still in custody hearings over their two children."

"Oh, how wonderful."

"Yeah, my family's pretty much like that. What about yours?"

"My family? We're pretty close."

"That's it?"

"Pretty much…My wife is close to her sisters and so am I, and they're all close to my family, too."

"So you actually get along with the in-laws?"

Leo smiled. "No. Their, uh, mother died when they were young, but I never met her…Their dad stops by now and then, but he doesn't like me that much…Which is weird…because he loves my brother-in-law-in-law-to-be."

"Huh?"

"A guy at another station is engaged to my wife's sister," Leo explained.

"Oh."

Leo's cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his jacket pocket and looked at the number with a smug smile. He flipped open the phone. "Hello, you have reached Wal-Mart Customer Service."

"Where the hell are you?" Jake's voice came over the cell phone.

"Hello to you, too," Leo laughed.

"Damn it, Leo, Piper's already here!"

He immediately stopped laughing. "She is?"

"Yes, she's right here next to me. Mind joining?"

"Okay I'll—I'll be there in ten minutes."

"Okay. Hurry."

"I'm out the door."

"No you're not. I don't hear your footsteps."

"Goodbye. I'll be there."

"Ten minutes. You promised."

"Goodbye." Leo hung up on his brother as Jake started to speak again. He looked at Mike. "Time to go."

The drive back to the station was quiet, though Jake called twice to yell at Leo to "get his ass down here—now". When they were about two blocks away from the station, Mike asked, "So you never told me why your wife—what's her name again?"

"…Piper."

"Why Piper had a gun."

"Look, I got about two minutes to get down to the Three-C, and it's five minutes from here. I don't have time to talk."

Mike saw through the bad cover. "Talking doesn't slow you down. Why's she got it?" he asked again.

Leo didn't answer.

"Leo?"

"What?" He sounded irritated. He was.

"How come?"

"Look, it's not your business, okay? So just butt out."

"I'm just curious. I mean, we're partners."

"Yes, you and me, not you and Piper. What she does is none of your business. What I do is none of your business."

"But it is. If you're my business, and she's yours—"

"Drop it."

"—then that gives me a right to know."

In one swift motion and without swerving the car an inch, Leo grabbed his gun from the back seat and pointed it straight at Mike's head. "When I tell you to drop it, you drop it. Got it?" he asked.

Mike nodded. After a few seconds, Leo put the gun away. He pulled off the road and drove right up to the station, stopping parallel to the steps. Adam was standing out there, watching the SUV with question. The front passenger door opened and Mike stepped out. Just as he closed the door, the SUV drove away, peeling out as it did so. Mike walked up the steps and stopped in front of Adam.

"What happened?"

Mike shrugged. "I tried asking about Piper. I asked about the gun."

"And…"

"And he put a gun to my head."

Hope you liked it. I should have the next one up soon. By the way, the next chapter to Houses is coming along...slowly, but surely, as are all the others.