I want to give a thank you to Ryan, Blake, Chris, and Jacob for being such good sports! Luv you guys!

Chris - Do your math homework!

Ryan - You know I love ya, even though you're a QUITTER when it comes to football!

Jacob - I know I changed your name to Jack. It was only to protect you! lol

Blake - I'm not mad at you! (mostly)


EM: I'm glad you liked it!

Paige Halliwell-Matthews: I liked writing Piper has funny and sarcastic. I hope you liked reading it!

PunkRokPixie: Yeah, I think this is the longest I've kept Piper out of a story!

halli-halliwell: Yay I'm back!

Kay: Okay, I think you're missing the point of AU writing. Alternate Universe means they're in a different time, different place. I also happened to give them different personalities. Personally, I think the show portrays Leo as a little bit too much of a wimp, and Piper is too much of a bitch. I know that their personalities are different - I wanted to write them like that. I also know that the only similarities they have with the show are their names and descriptions - that's the point. I want this to be MY story, so I want to keep Piper and Leo...but I want them to be more like my own creations. And actually, I kind of WANTED it to seem like it could be written for anyone. I originally wrote it NOT to be for Charmed, and if you read around on you'll find that a lot of people write their characters with different personalities...I do hope you continue reading the story, though.

Alaii: I love the way I'm writing Piper, too! I like her sarcasm.

scullymulder: I got your email! But of course you already knew that because you emailed me back! Right! Okay!

Shima and Tempis: I know, I've got a funny picture of Leo being drunk in my head, too.


I didn't believe her when she said, "See you tomorrow." I thought she was joking. She had to be joking. She wouldn't actually try to meet up with me again, would she?

Well, she did.


I went home in a daze and ordered Chinese food. I sat down on the couch and muttered a few things to Toby how strange that girl was. He listened obediently, but it could have been that he was waiting for me to throw him some of my food. I had a little fun with that, stabbing a piece of chicken with a chopstick and waving it around Toby's face. His eyes followed it everywhere.

"Easy," I told him when he snapped at the meat. His mouth closed. I gave him the chicken. It wasn't often that he got "people food" but he still didn't take his time eating it; it was gone in three seconds.

I thought about calling Ashley, seeing what my little sister was up to. Instead, I took a shower. I was coming out of the bathroom with pajama bottoms on when I nearly fell over Toby, who was lying right on the other side of the door.

"What're you doing?" I asked him, knowing he couldn't answer.

But he did answer, by looking into the bathroom behind me. He whimpered.

"Oh, I get it...Hold on." I left the hallway and went through the living room and kitchen to the utility room. I tossed the towel I was holding on top of the washing machine and went back to the bathroom, where Toby was sitting. As soon as he saw me he jumped in the bathtub.

After Toby got a bath, he rubbed his wet fur all over my house and shook off right on my bed. I unclogged the tub drain from his fur and went to my room. Toby was rolling all over my bed. I shook my head at him and tried to push him off, but it didn't matter anyway because the bed was soaked with water from Toby's fur.

I managed to fight Toby off the bed. I turned to get another blanket and when I turned around again, Toby was back on the bed.


The next day, on my lunch break, I almost stayed in my building. Instead, I went out, determined not to go to the restaurant.

But I did.

And there she was, quietly sipping her coffee, sitting at the same table we were at the last time. She looked up at me and smiled brightly. I decided it wasn't worth fighting so I sat across from her at the table.

"Told ya," was the first thing she said.

"Told me what?" I asked.

"I told you you'd be here," she said with a smile.

I managed a small smile and shook my head.

"Here," she said, handing me a coffee, "I ordered you one. It's just black, add whatever you want." I took the drink with some suspicion, and she noticed. With a laugh, she said, "It's not poisoned or anything...Here." She took it from me, took a drink, and swallowed. "See?" She opened her mouth. "Ahh," was the sound that came out of her mouth as she stuck her tongue out. "All gone. And I'm not dropping dead."

I had to smile.

She handed the coffee back to me and I took a sip. She smiled.


That day, since it was Friday, I had a longer lunch. Instead of half an hour, I had an hour. Piper took advantage of that. She dragged me away from the restaurant to take a walk.

"Why are you here?"

"For you," she answered me simply.

That stunned me silent.

When I found my voice, I asked, "What?"

She shrugged.

"What are you, some sort of guardian angel?"

"Why, are you a fallen angel?"

At first I thought it was a simple counter question, her using the word "angel" because I'd used it. Then I thought about it. She didn't know about my bad break-up with Monica, so she couldn't have been referring to that...

"Do you need some guarding, then?" she asked.

I shrugged.

"Why are you so cold?" she questioned after a few seconds.

I looked down at her. She was leading me down the street, but she wasn't touching me at all. Why would she say—Oh, she meant emotionally cold. Duh, why didn't I think of that in the first place?

I shrugged again. "I don't know."

She sighed. "I was right, then, wasn't I?"

"Right about what?"

"You."

"What about me?"

"You just came out of a bad break-up, didn't you?"

When she said it, her hand dropped and it brushed against mine. I immediately put my hand in my pocket and moved a couple feet away from her. She might not have meant anything by it, but I didn't want to take any chances. I was still trying to make her go away. She just wasn't going.

"Jeez, sorry, my hand had nowhere else to go..." she muttered. "But I was right, though, huh?"

I didn't respond.

"So what happened? She dump ya? Cheat and you caught her?" Piper stopped. She put her hand on my arm to stop me, too. "She slept with your brother."

I jerked away and continued walking. "I don't have a brother."

"Your sister, then?"

I smiled and shook my head. "No, she didn't sleep with my sister."

"But you have a sister?"

I nodded.

"How old is she?"

"She's younger than me."

"How much?"

"Three years."

"How old is she?"

Stop with the questions...Just go away! "Twenty-three."

"Ohh, so you're twenty-six?"

I nodded again.

"Great! I'm twenty-five!"

"How is that great?"

She shrugged. "It just is...So you have a sister. She your only sister?"

I nodded yes.

"I have three. Phoebe is younger than me, Paige is younger than her, and Prue and I are twins. Not identical. She's taller and she's got black hair."

"Well there's a difference."

Piper nodded her agreement.

I noticed a similarity in their names. "All your names start with P," I said.

She smiled widely. "Yeah," she said. "All our names start with a P. And our mom's name is Patty and our grandmother's name is Penny, but we just call her Grams."

I nodded to show I was listening. Why was she telling me all of this about her? Did she think I was going to spill my family history next?

"Prue broke tradition, though, because she named her son Kevin. And I want a daughter named Melinda..." Piper sighed wishfully. "Maybe someday..." She closed her eyes briefly, then opened them again. "Phoebe and I are starting an M tradition. There aren't many M names, but I think there are more than there are P names...I mean, Prue's the only one of us with kids, but still. Someday..."

Wow, she talks a lot.

A clock from a nearby church bonged out the time. One o'clock.

"I have to get back to work."

Piper nodded. "Okay, come on." We turned down a street three blocks from my building.

"Actually, I had to get back to work about five minutes ago."

"Well, come on, then!" She started running and I ran after her.

We made it to my building out of breath. She was laughing. I caught my breath and headed up the steps to the door. I didn't notice her following me. I went through one of the revolving doors and she followed. I stopped and watched as she went around and around in the door, laughing and smiling.

"Get out of there."

She came out, on the inside of the building. I let out a frustrated sigh and headed for the elevators. She followed.

"What are you doing?" I asked between clenched teeth as we boarded the elevator. We were the only two people in there.

She smiled. She smiled a lot. "Going to work."

I barely kept my jaw from dropping. "You work here." I couldn't believe her.

Her smile grew. "No, but you do."

I groaned.

She smiled.


She followed me around the 10th and 11th floors—the two floors I worked on—for two hours. She made a home of my office and chatted with Sarah for half an hour. She snooped in the drawers at my desk and looked through files. She found a few confidential papers.

"What's this?" she asked me when I came into my office. She was holding the papers I was looking for. I snatched it from her. She lowered her feet from my desk and snapped the gum she was chewing. "What's with you?"

I gave her a look.

She gave me one back.

She reached up to try to snatch the papers from me but I held them out of her reach. She pouted. "What papers are those?" she asked again.

"Confidential."

She sighed loudly. "Men."

I smiled.

"I'm bored," she whined.

"Then go home," I said, my back to her as I left my office.

"I don't want to!"

I didn't respond to that, and when I came back into my office after copying the papers, she was lounged back in my chair, feet crossed and propped up on the desk, twirling a piece of her hair around a finger. She didn't look up at me. "You're no fun," she pouted.

"You don't even know me and you're sitting in my office. This is as fun as it gets."

"Can we go home?"

I opened my mouth but no sound came out. "W—We?"

She nodded. "I want to know more about you."

I stood in the doorway to my office, just staring at her, totally confused. Who the hell was she anyway, following me to my office and then saying she wanted to go back to my house?

I turned on my heels and left the office. She must have gotten the idea that this wasn't an "into the office, out of the office" trip, that I was leaving. I heard her scramble up out of my chair and run after me. She put her arm around mine and I pulled away.

"Okay, okay, no touchy. Got it..."

I walked past Sarah's desk on my way out. Piper stumbled along beside me.

"'Night, Sarah."

"'Night, Leo. Bye, Piper."

I almost tripped. Piper smiled and waved a little at Sarah. "Bye bye."

I wasn't sure how she was going to get to my house. As far as I could tell, she didn't have a car, and I didn't think she was going to try to ride in mine.

I was at my car door when she popped up behind me. "Hey, what about me?"

I laughed out loud. "You?"

She was smiling. "Yeah."

I stared at her for a moment, silent. Then I sighed and said, "Get in."

She smiled again. "Yay!" She ran around to the other side of the car and got in.

I wasn't sure what was wrong with me.

She blasted the radio to any and every song she could find. It was a twenty-minute drive, so we made it through a few songs and five minutes of her yelling at Lea, the host on one station who was talking about the school board debating whether to make kids wear uniforms.

Piper seemed to know what she did and didn't want.

"These kids need to express themselves, they deserve that right to express who they are, and a lot of it shows through clothing!" she was saying, partly at the radio and partly at me. "Take that away and you take away their individuality! It'll just make kids more angry if they can't pick what they want to wear everyday!"

"You have kids?" I asked her.

She laughed out loud. "No, but my twin sister does. Prue, remember? She's got a son, Kevin. I told you," she said.

I nodded. "Right..."

"Are we almost there?"

I shrugged. "I dunno."

"You don't know? How could you not know? You live there! You go to work everyday, right?"

"Yeah, but I don't pay attention."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

After she asked me four more times and I answered with, "No," four more times, she finally stopped, fell back into the seat, and pouted. She pulled her feet up and wrapped her arms around her knees, locking her fingers together. She hid her face in her arm.

"Humph."

I laughed.

She peeked out from her arm, then looked up. She was smiling at me.

"What?" I asked. Her small smile made me laugh harder.

"You. Laughing."

I abruptly stopped and faced the road.

She smiled widely. "I like when you laugh. I bet you don't laugh much anymore."

I shrugged, suddenly cold and willing myself not to speak.

"I bet you used to laugh a lot..." she sighed.

I shrugged again.

"You should laugh more."

The radio was off then, and an uncomfortable silence overcame the car. I could feel her eyes watching me for a moment, then she looked away. I didn't look at her for a while. When I glanced over finally, she was staring out the window. It was dark out by now, and she could see my reflection in the window. She didn't turn around but she smiled. I could see her reflection and I couldn't help but smile back.

"You should smile more, too."


I was worried my sister would be at my house, but I didn't see her car, thank God. I pulled into the driveway. Piper jumped out and inspected the front yard and driveway. I took my time.

She was waiting at the front door for me. Slowly, I put the key in the lock and turned the knob. She waited patiently for me to open the door and go inside. She followed, quietly scanning her eyes around my home. She started to snoop around the living room while I put my keys and coat up. Suddenly Toby came running, barking and howling at us. Piper jumped but caught herself. She knelt down to Toby's height and let him sniff her, this new person in his domain. When he'd accepted her, he let her pet him.

"He's beautiful, what's his name?" Piper asked me, looking up. She giggled when Toby licked her face.

"Thanks. Toby."

"Toby..." she repeated in a high-pitched voice that made Toby's tail wag. "Hi, Toby..."


She followed me around the house, snooping in drawers and closets. She opened every cabinet in the kitchen, left them open, then ran around the kitchen, slamming them all shut. It was almost amusing. She opened the stove, the microwave, looked in the toaster, picked through the refrigerator and freezer.

"Are you quite finished?"

She jumped up, startled. It seemed she'd forgotten about me, forgotten that she was in my house. She smiled this small smile that froze me in place. Even now I can see that little smile. "No."

She straightened up and ran past me, up the stairs and down the hall. I followed her. She was in an empty bedroom now, looking in the large walk-in closet. She twirled a little in the middle of the room and suddenly stopped, her back to me, facing the one window. "Wow, what a view," she said quietly.

I knew what she was watching, and I walked up behind her and peered out the window. She started laughing. The room was empty for a reason; it faced the bay window of my neighbor's house. They were a nice couple, don't get me wrong, but they were a little...off.

They collected things, a lot of things. All sorts of things. Anything. Everything.

They had a neon sign that read, "Topless Girls!", and a two-foot tall plastic gray squirrel piggy-bank. They had pictures and posters and signs and knickknacks and, well...stuff.

"Is that...?"

I looked at what Piper was pointing at. I leaned forward and squinted. "Yep."

You don't need to know what it was.

She stayed for a long time, until nine o'clock. I wasn't sure why I let her stay, why I didn't call the police or kick her out. After she searched my house and looked in every drawer and closet, raided my refrigerator, and questioned me about my life and job, she plopped down on the couch in the living room. She grabbed the remote control and turned the television on and started surfing through the channels.

"Satellite or cable?"

"Cable," I said.

She nodded as if she were thinking that over. "Yeah, cable's better. Satellite gets more channels, but it goes out when it rains."

I had to smile. She was right.

My smile suddenly faded. "What are you doing here?"

I'd been standing against the wall in the living room, behind the couch, and she leaned back to look at me upside-down. She smiled.

"You looked like you needed a friend."