Chapter 12 - Finally Knowing

A week later, Leo was in the lounge at the station sitting at the round table. His father, brothers, Jamie, Adam, and Cortez were with him. The new officers that Jake graduated with—Josh, Kevin, and Alex—made their way into the lounge as well.

"So what'd you get her?" Jake was asking.

"A stuffed teddy bear. What do you think I got her?" Leo answered sarcastically.

"I'm serious. Eighteen years of marriage is a long time. It has to be special."

"I know…" Leo sighed. "It's a very long time…"

"So what'd you get her?" Jamie asked.

Leo smiled evilly. He pulled a long, slim, black velvet box out of his inside coat pocket and opened it.

Jamie, being the only woman in the room, gasped. She reached out and took the box in her hands. Amy entered the room as Jamie opened the box, and whatever Amy was about to say died on her lips. She leaned over Jamie's shoulder as they stared at the diamond necklace.

"Is that real?"

"No, I got it at a toy vending machine. Of course it's real," Leo replied.

"You're sarcastic," Ron noted. "Calm down."

"Big day."

"Oh my God, it's beautiful…" Amy whispered.

"Where are you getting the money to pay for this?" Kevin asked.

"Marry me," Jamie whispered, glancing up at Leo.

Leo chuckled. "Already taken." He reached over and gently took the box from Jamie, closing it. He returned it to his pocket. "But feel free to envy."

"How much was it?" Rick asked.

Leo smiled an "I Know Something You Don't Know" smile. "Enough," he said.

"Marry me," Jamie repeated.

With another smile, Leo stood up and headed for the door. "Maybe another time, Jamie. Good day, folks. Gotta do rounds." He left the lounge.

Amy shook her head. "Piper sure is lucky."

That night, Leo took Piper to dinner. They were silent for a moment, just staring into each other's eyes.

"What?" Leo asked.

Piper blushed and looked down at the table. "Nothing."

"What?" Leo asked when she didn't speak for a few seconds.

"I was just thinking…Eighteen years, Leo."

"I know…"

She smiled. "It's been so long…Two more years, and we can renew our vows."

"Oh, Piper, I don't think I can. I don't think I'm ready for a commitment just yet," Leo joked.

Piper smiled. "You'd better be," she warned, "or else."

"Or else?"

"Or else I'll file for a divorce," Piper threatened. She and Leo used the threat of divorce to persuade each other into one thing or another, both knowing that a divorce would never happen. They still used it against each other, but only to tease.

Leo's eyes widened in pretend shock. "You would never," he said overdramatically, clasping a hand over his heart.

"Yeah, you're right. I wouldn't." Piper smiled. For a second time, they were silent, looking at each other as if one could reach the other's mind. "I love you."

"I got you something," Leo said.

"Oh, Leo Wyatt, you better not have." Years ago, they had agreed not to exchange anniversary gifts. Piper's reasoning for this was that the gifts put a price check on marriage, and she could wait until her birthday for big gifts.

Leo grinned and pulled out. He opened the box for Piper to see. She was sitting across from him, so she reached over the table and tenderly took the box in her two hands. She gently pulled the diamond necklace out and held it over her fingers. "It's beautiful," she whispered.

"I thought you'd like it."

Piper smiled up at Leo. "I love it."

Leo stood up and walked behind Piper. He knelt down to be level with her. She pulled her hair up to the top of her head and he fastened the necklace around her neck. She let her hair down and he smoothed it out.

"There," he said. He kissed her cheek and went back to his seat.

"God, I love you so much," Piper said, smiling.

Leo smiled back at her. "I know you do. I love you, too." They were silent for a third time. "I showed that to the guys at the station and Jamie proposed to me over it," he informed Piper.

"Did she now?"

Leo nodded. "What're you gonna do about it?"

"What am I gonna do? I'm gonna kick her ass, is what," Piper said jokingly.

The next morning, when the doorbell ran, Piper ran into the living room, heading for the door. Leo was following her. He grabbed her hand and she whipped around to kiss him. She pulled away first to retie her robe. His eyes scanned her body when she untied it, and he looked back up at her eyes when it was tied again.

The doorbell rang again.

"I have to get that, Leo."

"No you don't."

Piper giggled. She turned toward the door and opened it. Her smile fell. "What are you doing here?" she asked her father.

Victor sighed, running a hand through his gray hair. "I just…I came to apologize."

There was silence. Leo put his arm around Piper's waist protectively. Piper hadn't spoken with her father since that night at the restaurant, when she'd knocked him cold. She'd told her sisters what had happened, and they had stopped speaking to him, as well.

"There's nothing to apologize for. What's done is done," Piper said.

Victor, knowing he wasn't going to get through to his daughter, tried his son-in-law instead. "Leo, I never should have said that. I wasn't thinking straight."

"Of course you were thinking straight. You've never liked me, Victor. You've never liked the idea of me marrying your daughter. And quite frankly, I don't care if you'll ever like me. I'm not here to please you. Just don't accuse me of something I didn't do wrong."

A month passed by quickly. Leo got used to the idea of a partner and loosened up on Michael. He started talking to him, telling him stories about his past and listening to Mike more often.

Piper and Leo's family and friends knew they were trying for a baby, and supported them the whole way.

Leo was still waking up in the middle of the night at least twice a week with dreams of the past. They were still haunting him. Ron sent his brother to see the therapist, Mark Altman, three more times. Leo didn't like it at first, but it seemed to help some.

Cortez and the fiancé that Mike sort of met at Hell's Haven once had their wedding planned and sent out invitations. Most of 12th Precinct was invited, and his fiancé, who was a photographer, invited her friends, as well. Jamie brought her new boyfriend and Piper's sisters were there. The total of family and friends topped out at just over one hundred.

Piper got herself a first-row seat at the outdoor wedding. She would have sat next to her husband, but Cortez chose Leo as his Best Man. So instead, Piper sat beside Mike. She knew, little by little, Leo was learning to live with having a partner. She also knew that she could help with that. Still, she saw Leo's eye on her often, obviously watching carefully. He still didn't trust Mike completely.

At the reception, Cortez's dad approached Leo. "Officer Cortez," he greeted.

The older man laughed. "We've known each other for years, Leo. Call me Jean," he said, putting an arm around Leo's shoulders.

"Oh, I know. Just haven't seen you in a while. Respect for the groom's dad and all, you know."

Jean chuckled. "Right. You're showing me respect."

"There's a first time for everything. I figured it was time. I did corrupt your son, after all."

"That you did…That you did." Jean nodded. "And I'm proud of him, too. So you're not worried about him?"

Leo shook his head. "Worried? Nah. Rebecca's a good girl…Well…Not a good girl, but…Good for him."

Jean smiled. "They've been together for, what, three years?"

"Yeah, that sounds right."

Both men were momentarily silent, watching from under the outdoor gazebo as Piper and Cortez finished a dance with a twirl and a dip. They hugged and parted ways, Piper looking up and winking at Leo, and Cortez planning on cutting in on his new wife and her brother.

"You trust her?" Jean asked.

"Yeah, I do. She'll be good to him…We'll make sure of that."

"Good." Jean patted Leo's back, then walked away to talk to his son.

"Hey," Piper said, coming up to Leo.

"Well hey, there, where've you been?"

"All over this place." Piper smiled wide. "Did my fair share of dancing, too."

"And all without me. Look at you, all grown up!"

Piper laughed, then said, "Brings back some memories, doesn't it?" She took a bite out of a carrot she was holding. "Veggie tray," she explained.

"I see. And yes, it does."

"We haven't been to a wedding in a while."

"Well, just wait until Prue and Andy get married."

"If they ever set a date…Say, what's Cortez's first name again?" she asked, chewing on a bite of the carrot.

"Um…Robert."

"Robert?"

"Yes," Leo answered. "Roberto," he said with a Spanish accent.

Piper giggled. "Robert what?"

"Um…Jay?"

"Huh. Robert Jay Cortez. Yeah, I like plain old Cortez better."

"So does he."

Another two weeks passed. Leo started to treat Mike like he was a real person. He figured that if he had to be stuck with the guy…Well, he had to be stuck with the guy.

Still, it was another night, another round of questions. Piper was the topic this time. They started talking about one thing or another every night when they patrolled the neighborhood.

"So how did you guys meet? High school?"

"No, actually…We were, uh…seven."

"Seven?"

"Yeah. My family had just moved to San Francisco from Chicago…My brothers and I were playing football in the front yard. Piper was walking up the sidewalk when I threw a pass to Jacob…He missed and the football, uh…hit her in the head," Leo explained. He smiled at the memory.

"Oh, so you guys hit it off from there?"

Leo smiled again and shook his head. "No, no…She hated me for a year. We were the closest friends to ever hate each other. She finally gave up on hating me and we got to be good friends…Stuck together throughout Middle School, went to dances together, you know? Started dating in high school…When we were sixteen, our parents found out we were sleeping together and there were a lot of fights…

"Our siblings supported us. Her sisters, my brothers…They were a big help…Our parents cooled down after a while, after they figured out they couldn't stop us from being together." Leo chuckled. "Looking back, it was all quite funny."

"Oh yeah, sounds like a laugh riot."

"It was," Leo said matter-of-factly.

"So how'd you manage eighteen years with no kids?"

"It was very hard. We never really wanted kids. I mean, we were sort of still kids when we got married."

"But now…?"

"Times have changed."

A week later, Mike decided to try his luck on what he knew would be a touchy subject. When he and Leo were patrolling, he asked about the scars on Piper's stomach. Leo didn't answer.

"She wasn't like…suicidal…was she?" Mike asked tentatively.

"No."

Mike was surprised Leo hadn't killed him. He knew by the change in his partner's attitude that he'd reached a sensitive subject, but he had to figure it out. "Was she abused or something as a child?"

"No, no…"

"What happened?"

Leo sighed. He could make Mike drop the subject, but then he would be risking a lot of questioning in the future. He could clear it up here and now…He shook his head and made a decision. "About…About two years ago, I was following the path of this drug dealer slash bank robber slash attempted murderer…I tracked him down and arrested him, it was this big deal, in the news and all because there was a shootout and all that…He swore vengeance on me, but I didn't think anything of it; I get that a lot from the bigger criminals. But see, I arrested him about a block from my house. He'd been coming straight to me, and he'd threatened Piper a few times before that, to use her to get to me. He was in jail for about six months before he got parole…That's when he started calling my house…He started threatening me, threatening Piper…"

Mike nodded to show he was listening. They turned right, down a darkened downtown road.

"We tried to track him down, but we couldn't find him…He stopped calling for a few months, but uh, about a year ago, I came home from work early and found the front door open. Lock was jimmied. I knew something was wrong but I couldn't hear any noises coming from the house. When I came inside, though, I could hear, ah…I heard muffled screams coming from the bedroom and I could hear a man's voice saying something.

"The inside of the house was torn apart. A lamp was thrown down, glass was shattered, a chair was overturned…I saw a line of blood on the couch and ran to the bedroom. I, uh…I wasn't really sure what was happening. I could see…blood…and…Piper with a bandana in her mouth to keep her from screaming…There was another around her eyes…Her jeans were pushed down and her shirt was pulled up…I can remember a man…at the foot of the bed…I wasn't really sure what…"

Leo shook his head.

"I don't really remember it all…It was just a blur. I remember handcuffing the son of a bitch…Piper screaming when I tried to pick her up. I found the butcher knife he'd cut her with in the corner of the room…I called the station and called down some help and an ambulance…There wasn't much I could do except wash the cuts, but they were too deep…She went unconscious for a while, until after the ambulance was there…"

Leo paused for a second.

"…We took a statement from her and made a lineup…We arrested him and went to trial pretty quickly…He was convicted and sent to prison…"

Mike wasn't sure what to say. "What, uh…What was his name?"

"Daniel Gordon."