Chapter 15 - Free (Miss Halliwell)

Two weeks passed, and no one could trace the call. Dan was still in prison, but Leo got word that he was under even closer review.

Piper spent more and more time with her sisters or locked up in her room. When Leo would come home he would find her asleep on their bed or on the couch with Yukon.

He found her like that one day two and a half weeks after the bomb threat. Her restaurant was closed until the end of the week, and Piper had endless paperwork to fill out.

But when Leo came home for lunch that day, he found her curled up in a ball with Yukon at the foot of their bed, stacks of papers surrounding them both.

He smiled. He walked into the room quietly and Yukon stirred. "Down," Leo whispered. The dog obeyed, sliding off the bed, stretching, and slowly walking into the living room to sleep. He jumped up on the couch and curled up.

Leo turned his attention back to Piper. Very carefully, he collected the stacks of papers in crisscrossed piles, so as not to mix them up. He set the papers on the nightstand and crawled into the bed beside Piper. He pulled the blankets up over her shoulders and she curled up tighter.

Absentmindedly, he stroked her hair softly. She sighed quietly.

He rolled her over to face him and saw that she was awake. And crying. He didn't need to ask why, he just pulled her closer. She curled up in his chest and cried quietly. She was afraid, afraid of Dan, of what would happen to the club, afraid for her life. If Dan could call her at the restaurant from prison, what could he do if he was free?

"It'll be okay," she heard Leo whisper.

"How do you know?" she asked with a sob.

He didn't answer. After a moment her quiet sniffles were gone. He waited another moment to be sure she was asleep before he pulled the blankets up to her again. She gave a contented sigh in her sleep.

Across town the next day, Leo's brothers and Piper's sisters were arguing at Ron's house. Andy had been dragged along by Prue, and the Wyatt father was there. It was Ron and Jake vs. Prue and Phoebe right now, and no one else was ready to get into it yet.

"She had every right to know, but she doesn't need to take any drastic measures yet! He's not even out of prison!" Prue was yelling.

"If it means keeping her alive, then why the hell shouldn't we take drastic measures? It's not up to Piper what's best for her. You don't know what a man in prison is capable of, let alone one fresh out!" That was Ron.

"How isn't it up to Piper how to stay alive? She knows the ropes, she's been watching all of you for the past ten years!" Phoebe argued.

"She doesn't know the half of it! We can keep her safe for sure, but if she stays out in the open he could find her again," Jake said.

"He just called, that's all!"

"First it's harassing phone calls, then it's letters or confrontations, then it's abduction or attempted murder! After one try, they usually try again!"

Phoebe was shaking her head in disbelief. "No, he won't try again. He's not that dumb—"

"He already tried again by calling the restaurant!" Jake cut her off. "He won't stop, Phoebe. Stop denying it. He will keep coming!"

When Rick and Andy tried to break up the fight, it took them both to hold everyone off of each other. Ron's wife Marie came downstairs after just putting the baby to bed.

"What the hell is going on down here?" she yelled, silencing them all. To Prue and Phoebe, she said, "You're fighting about Piper's rights to protect herself, and you—" She threw an arm at Jake and Ron. "You are trying to tell your sister-in-laws that their sister could be murdered! Of course they're going to deny it! They have every right to deny it!" She turned back to Phoebe and Prue. "But you can't run from the truth, no matter how hard you try. You have to remember that there is a danger in this, there always was a danger, but that doesn't mean that your brother-in-laws don't know how to protect Piper. This is their job, it's what they do! Just trust them!"

No one said anything for a few seconds. Prue glanced around. "Where'd Andy go?" she asked randomly.

As if on cue, Andy rushed in. "I just got off the phone with the sergeant at my station. I asked him to stay posted on Dan—He's out, he just got out."

When Prue called Piper and told her, the middle Halliwell sister almost fainted. She threw on her coat and was out the door with Yukon barking at her. She was almost in three accidents on her way to the station, where she knew Leo was. Her tires screeched in the parking lot of the station, and her legs couldn't get her up the steps fast enough.

The door burst open and a distraught Piper was standing just inside the stationhouse, on the linoleum floor. Everyone looked up. Leo, who had been asking Amy to look up some old files for him, turned to his wife, shocked. "Piper, wha—"

"He's back," Piper panted. "Dan—He's back."

"What?"

"Go on and ask your fucking brothers! Everybody's over at Ron and Marie's house fighting over what they're going to do with me! Andy got a tip from his sergeant—He's back. He's out! He's gonna come here, or—or at our house—"

Leo was already standing in front of Piper, taking her in his arms. He took her to his office. She broke down and started to cry.

There was a knock on the door. Adam came in. Piper looked up at him with red, teary eyes. "We just confirmed it," he said quietly. Piper nodded.

"Find him," Leo said.

"We can't arrest him. We can only monitor him."

Piper yanked away from Leo. "Why not?" she cried. "He shouldn't be out!"

Leo hushed Piper by pulling her back into his arms. She didn't resist.

"I'll get some investigators out, to find and watch him," Adam said. Leo nodded. Adam left the office, closing the door behind him.

"He's going to come for me, Leo," Piper sobbed.

"No he's not."

"He is! I know he will! He said he would a year ago! He told me he would be back!" Piper argued.

"Piper, it'll be okay. He's not going to hurt you."

She took in shaky breaths, not getting in much air. "Oh, God, I—I can feel his hands on me…" Suddenly she was wiping her hands at her sides and stomach, trying desperately to rub off the disgusting feeling that came over her.

Leo was at her side, putting his hands over hers, hoping that his touch could wash away Dan's. "Shh, it'll be okay," he whispered to her. "He can't get to you, he won't."

She was silent for a moment. "Promise?"

He nodded. "I promise."

Ron and his partner Jennifer Woods were already in their undercover car heading for the apartment Dan was staying at. They parked out front on the street.

"He's up there?" Jenny asked.

Ron nodded. "Third floor. Room Three-O-Nine."

Jenny nodded. "Let's get to his parole officer and see what he knows."

Ron agreed.

"As far as they're concerned, Mr. Gordon was a model prisoner," the PO explained. He was a short, balding man with a bit of a pot belly and an old, cheap wedding ring on the wrong finger.

Ron snorted. "Model prisoner. This man attacked my sister-in-law. He tried to rape her! He almost killed her!"

"I know that, Detective, but all I can do right now is watch him. He just got out today. I'll see him again…" The parole officer checked his schedule. "He comes back tomorrow at three."

Leo hung up the phone the next morning after taking in the information Ron had just delivered. Before he'd hung up, Ron had told him not to try to make any contact with Dan, but to just leave him be.

"He won't try anything," Ron had said.

Leo turned around to see Piper standing across the kitchen from him, on the other side of the island. She was wavering slightly, hugging herself nervously. Yukon was sitting obediently at her feet, his tail swishing on the floor.

"Ron and Jenny found his parole officer. They're keeping track of him, okay?" Leo reported.

She nodded a little.

"He's supposed to be in tomorrow at three. If he skips that, we can automatically arrest him and put him back in for at least another six months."

Piper nodded again.

Leo took a step toward her, moving around the kitchen island. She stepped back and he stopped abruptly. She'd never done that before. "Piper…"

No answer. She sniffled quietly, but her eyes were cold as ice. Her hair was tousled from just waking up and she was still in pajama bottoms and a camisole.

"C'mere."

Very slowly, not taking her arms off of herself, she moved up to him. Yukon watched with curiosity as Leo wrapped his arms around Piper. She stood silent, fighting tears, determined not to cry again.

It didn't work.

Prue ran to the phone in her house as it rang for the seventh time. "Hello?" she said.

"Prue, I think Piper needs to stay with you these next couple of nights," was the first thing Leo said.

She nodded. "Okay. Should I get Phoebe over here?"

"Yeah, probably. She just…She just needs you guys right now. And she needs to stay busy, keep her mind off of things."

"That doesn't sound like the end of it," Prue said suspiciously.

Leo sighed. "It's not…I'll be working late the next few days. Real late."

"Leo…"

"I'm not doing anything stupid. I just want to know what's what. Okay?"

Prue sighed this time. "Yeah…"

"I'll bring Piper over around six, okay?"

"I'm not her babysitter, Leo," Prue reminded.

"I know. But she needs this right now. We both do. She needs you guys and I need to keep moving or I swear I'll go crazy…"

"Listen…Leo…"

He hadn't been listening to anything Mike was saying. He was looking for Dan's old file. It used to be in the bottom drawer of his desk…No, maybe it was in the record's room…There was a copy…

"Leo…"

He sat back in his chair and went through the bottom drawer. When he didn't find the file, he slammed the drawer shut.

"Leo!"

He finally looked up.

"You're losing it."

He sunk back into the chair and leaned his head back and took a deep breath. "I know…I know."

"Now are you just gonna tear this place up or do you want to see where he lives?" Mike asked.

This sparked Leo's interest. Why hadn't he thought about it before? "Yeah."

"Left up here."

Leo turned the car left and drove down the street.

"There, on the right."

He parked beside the building. They were in his truck, not the squad car. He looked up at the building. "Which one?"

"Three-O-Nine."

Leo nodded and examined their surroundings. He noticed a black car parked at least seventy-five feet in front of them. "Wait a second…" He grabbed the CB radio they'd installed long ago on the truck that hooked up to the police radio. "Ron, are you and Jenny sitting in front of Dan's apartment building?" Leo said into the radio.

There was a second of crackling static before Ron's answer came over the radio. "Yeah, a truck just pulled up behind us. I'm waiting for someone to get out."

Leo looked at Mike and they both laughed. Leo opened the door.

"Door opened," Ron's voice came over the radio.

Leo grabbed the intercom speaker. "Ronald James Wyatt, step out of the vehicle. We have you surrounded." The intercom made his voice echo on the walls of the buildings on either side of them.

Ron jumped out of the car. "You son of a bitch!"

Leo and Mike got out of the truck laughing. They met Jenny and Ron on the sidewalk halfway between their two cars. After making fun of Ron for not recognizing Leo's truck, they looked up at the building.

"They send a lot of guys on parole here," Leo noted.

Jenny nodded her agreement.

"Is he on this side of the building?"

Ron shook his head. "No. We went in earlier. Three-O-Nine is on the other side. That's why we're here, so he doesn't know."

"At least, he shouldn't…" Jenny said.

"All right, everybody, hands up!" a voice yelled at them.

The four of them turned around to see a police car at the end of the street and two officers shielded by the front doors of their squad car.

"What the hell…"

"It's the thirty-third. We're on their territory," Mike said.

"This is the Thirty-third Precinct! Hands up!" one of the officers yelled.

"Told ya."