Okay I'm gonna do another double chapter, because these are both short and fluffy (the whole damn story's fluffy!)...Chapter 12 is short too but it will be by itself...Chapter 13 is unnecessarily long but that's okay! So here's Chapters 10 and 11!


Chapter Ten - The Last Barrier

I didn't talk to Piper for a couple days. She seemed to sense something was wrong—or maybe the same things were happening to her—and she didn't call or come over.
I called my friends. They took me out to Gloria's again.

"So where've you been, Leo? We don't hear from you as much anymore," Chris was saying as we walked up to the door to Gloria's.

"Yeah, what's up?" Jack said.

I shrugged.

Blake suddenly jumped. "He hooked up!"

"What?"

"He did!" Blake continued. "He hooked up! You did, didn't you!" He waited for my answer. I barely sputtered out a word. "You did! So, what's she like?"

We went into the bar. "I dunno..."

"She blonde?"

"I didn't hook up with anyone really."

"Then what happened with you?"

We all took seats at the bar. They put me on the middle stool to hear my story. "This girl kinda...came up to me...in a restaurant a couple months ago..."

"And you're marrying her," Ryan guessed. "He's marrying her!"

"No, no, I'm not marrying her."

"Oh."

I sighed. "So we've kinda been friends for a couple months..."

"Two months and you're just friends? Yeah right!"

"We are," I insisted. "But then I was talking to my sister and she kinda...opened up this strange door..."

"Like Alice in Wonderland?" Jack asked.

Why me? Why these friends? I sighed. "No, not like that. I meant it as a metaphor...kinda."

"Oh..."

"But anyway, now I look at this girl different..."

"Upside-down?"

"No, you dumbass!" Blake told Ryan, slapping his arm. "He means he's found out he's attracted to her."

Thank you, Blake!

"And now he doesn't want to do something totally stupid," Blake added.

And there he goes...So much for that...

Ryan nodded slowly, as if he understood.

"And I think she feels the same," I said. "She's spent the night before—We slept in different rooms!" I added quickly. "But now...I don't know..."

"You're attracted to her."

"No..." I shook my head.

"Yeah, you are."

"I'm not."

"Whatever, Dude. She's probably hot, too. Don't let her pass you up."


That night, Piper called. She said she was just calling to say she wanted to come over. I was shocked. It was rare, it seemed, that Piper would call before coming over. I told her it was fine, come on over.

Then, after she hung up and I stared at the door she would be coming through in a few minutes, I thought about what to say to her, what to do. I didn't have any ideas yet, but I thought maybe...Maybe something would come to me. One of those "in the nick of time" kind of thoughts.

Yeah right.

Like that would really happen.

Piper showed up half an hour later. She looked tired...calmer. Something about her was different. She was here to talk, I knew that.

"Hey."

"Hi."

She padded into the living room and dropped onto the couch with a sigh. I closed the front door and followed her footsteps. She was looking at the coffee table in front of her, not willing to meet my eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked, trying not to let her know that I knew something was different between us now. I think she knew though.

She sighed again. "I'm not sure." She looked up at me slowly. Our eyes met and we held the gaze for a few seconds. "C'mere," she said quietly, barely audible.

I sat down beside her. "I think...some things have changed..." she said.

"I know."

"Not that much, I don't think...But enough."

"What happened?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. It's just...For the last week or so...I've..." She shook her head. "I dunno, I've...you know..."

"I don't know. That's why I'm asking."

She almost smiled. "I'm looking at you differently."

"How so?"

She'd been looking away, and now she glanced at me. "I think...I mean I've always...But now..." she said, not making much sense. She sighed. "I don't know if we can just be friends. I think I'm too attracted to you."

I wasn't expecting her to be so blunt. "Oh. Um..." I wasn't sure what to say.

"Please say something," Piper whispered.

I had nothing to say. I had just realized how perfect she was. To me. I blinked and suddenly it was clear how much I wanted her. And I knew what to do, how to make her understand that I felt the same way. I kissed her. At first she wasn't sure of what to do, but she soon gave in. The kiss got deeper and more desperate. I gently pushed her down on the couch. She started to go down, but then she pulled away.

"Mmm, no, wait. We can't."

"Why not?"

She looked into my eyes. She ran her hand down the side of my face. "Just not here, not now. I mean, we barely know—"

"Know each other? Piper, I've known you for almost three months."

"And we've only been kissing for less than three minutes."

I sat back. She had a point.

"I know most couples would be in a serious relationship by now, but we've got something different," she said, curling up beside me. "Can we go...kinda slow?"

"Kinda slow...I think I might be able to handle that."

She nodded. "Thank you."

I had to kiss her again, so I did. This time it was easier. We took our time. I went as slow as I could and she seemed grateful. I knew she was scared. Hell, I was scared too. I didn't know what any of this meant. Truthfully, I was still seething from Monica, I still really didn't want another relationship. Piper helped me through it more than I could ever have imagined.

And now the last barrier between us was down.

It was like being set free.


Chapter Eleven - My Forever

Piper showed up the next day before dinnertime and stayed late, until at least eleven o'clock, before going home. I couldn't sleep much that night, and the next morning I sat out on the front porch with a cup of coffee, trying to wake up.

I looked up and noticed that my neighbor on the right was also out on the porch. He was a nice enough guy, in his late twenties, single. He'd graduated college a couple of years ago. We talked now and then, as neighbors do. I nodded at him. He smiled a little bit.

"So what's with that girl you keep bringin' in and outta here?" he asked, standing against the railing of his front porch.

I shrugged.

"Girlfriend?"

"Kinda."

"Kinda? She's been coming in early and leaving late for the past...what, three months?"

I nodded. "Just about."

"She's cute."

I couldn't help but smile. "Yeah."

"I noticed a few times...she left the next morning..." He was grinning.

"Yeah, a few times."

"Getting close?"

I sighed and leaned against the side of my house. "A little closer every day."


Piper came over again that night. As soon as the door closed we were kissing. We stumbled into the living room and made it to the couch.

"Did you make anything for dinner?"

"No, I wasn't hungry. Are you?"

She shook her head. "Not for food."

I had to stop for a second. I raised an eyebrow at her. "Piper..."

"I've been thinking..." she started slowly as I ran my hands over her arms and shoulders, "...and I don't want to go home tonight..."

I knew what she was saying and I would have taken her upstairs in a heartbeat. Hell, I would have her downstairs if that was what she wanted. What she wanted. Was she sure? I had to know. She couldn't be teasing, could she?

"Are you sure?" I asked, getting straight to the point.

She nodded. "Positive."

I nodded, too. "Okay...Okay."

She smiled. "Okay."

We kissed again. From there we were off. There was no stopping, no turning back. We somehow made it upstairs without tripping and falling. We stumbled down the hallway in mid-kiss and went straight for my room. We turned around and found ourselves inside. I closed the door. Then I carried her to my bed and made love to her.

She was not like any other woman I had ever been with. She was different, very different. She knew what she wanted but she didn't know how easy it was for her to get it, and I mean that in so many ways. She grew up with so many people around the house that she hardly got what she deserved. So that stuck in her mind, that doing a lot would make her feel good about herself but the credit she deserved for what she'd gone through and done in her life would be too hard to get. She had no idea how simple it was to get that credit. Simple things pleased her, like if I noticed a change in her hairstyle or clothes. That was almost too easy. I could read her easily, and she could read me as well.

Later that night she woke up and looked up at me.

"What time is it?" she asked.

I shrugged.

She giggled. "Can you check?"

"Yeah, hold on." I took my arm off of her side and rolled over. I tossed her bra off of the clock that was on the bed stand and checked the time. I rolled back over. "You don't want to know."

"How late is it?"

"Not late. Early."

"Well then how early?"

Why was she so easy to talk to? Why was she so perfect? I had no idea, but she drove me insane. She was just too beautiful, too...Piper. She was too Piper. "About two in the morning," I told her.

"Ugh..." She sighed and curled up against my chest. I held her as tight as I could without hurting her. She smiled. "I like this."

"So do I."

"I really wanna stay like this...For a long time, maybe forever."

"Forever is a long time. A very long time."

"I know...I like the idea of forever. I like you being in my forever."

"If that's what you want, then I'm yours forever."

She smiled again. "I like that too."

Simple things.


When we woke up again it was noon. She had the brilliant idea of staying in bed all day. I had the much-hated idea of getting up and moving about. We didn't like it, but we did it anyway. She just slipped on the jersey she liked, nothing else. I put pants on. When I tried to get my shirt on she stopped me.

"We're not going outside or anything, at least not into public. You can put a shirt on when we leave the house."

I just smiled.

Toby didn't like being locked out of my room all night. He was used to sleeping on the bed with me, or at least being in the room. He loved Piper, but he gave us the most angry dog-look I'd ever seen when I opened my bedroom door, and I'm about 97 positive that he put a doggy-death curse on us. He was lying in front of the door when I opened it, and I assumed he'd been there all night. He took his anger out on me all day, rolling his fur on the carpet and carrying sticks inside to shred them to pieces in the living room.

A dog has to have his revenge, too.


The next few weeks progressed and turned out to be even better. Piper spent more time than ever at my house. Phoebe called now and then to check in on Piper. She'd taken me to meet Prue and Paige by then and they seemed as nice as Phoebe did.

It was only natural that Piper wanted meet my friends. Problem was, I really thought it would be a bad idea. Piper, however, was all for it. She loved the idea of calling herself my girlfriend, and she was a little protective. Once she showed up at work to go with me to lunch and the waitress hit on me.

Piper put her in her place.

At work, Sarah was crazy about the idea of Piper and me being together. When Ashley found out, she was all for it too. She absolutely loved the idea. They both liked Piper. Then there was just a matter of telling my parents, who I knew would love Piper as much as I did.

Whoa, wait a minute.

What?

I sat for a moment and thought. Was it true? Did I love Piper? Why wouldn't I? I was friends with her for almost three months, and we'd been lovers for almost a month...It'd been only four months since we met, it seemed like a lot longer...Why wouldn't I love her? Why shouldn't I love her? I did.

I loved her.

Oh God, I loved her. That was terrifying. But it meant I wasn't scared anymore, scared of a relationship or of reliving my problems I had with Monica. But I wasn't scared now. I trusted Piper. I loved her.

Now I just had to tell her.


It was the next day that the opportunity came up. It was about ten in the morning, and we were still in bed, watching TV, but not really paying attention. We were really alternating between watching and kissing. Right now we were doing anything but watching.

She broke the kiss. "Shouldn't we get out of bed?"

"Why?"

She pretended to think. "Never mind, no reason."

"Good." I kissed her and ran my hand down her thigh. She smiled and just pulled me closer.

"I think I love you," she said between kisses.

I stopped. "What?"

"Ooh, sorry. Too soon?"

I scooped her up in my arms. She was so easy to hold. "No," I said, pulling her closer and resting my forehead against hers. "Not too soon."

She smiled. "I love you," she said again, a little more sure this time.

There was little hesitation in my voice as I responded. "I love you too."

"This is terrifying."

I smiled. "I know, I love it."

She laughed, then her face dropped. She seemed sad. "You have to be careful."

"Why?"

Her eyes softened. She ran a hand down the side of my face. "The last man who said he loved me died. And the man before him moved to London for business."

"I'm not going anywhere."

"I hope not. For a while I thought I was cursed."

"You're not. You're too beautiful to be cursed."

She smiled. "See, that's what I said!"

"Nothing bad will happen to me...Or to you, for that matter."

"Thanks. How can I ever thank you?"

"For what?"

"For being you. For coming out of your shell and having fun again. For finding love again," she said.

For once I knew exactly what to say, and I knew that even though it was a little cheesy, it was what she wanted to hear.

"Be part of my forever."


Okay cheesey,I know, but I'm a girl...lol...Okay so I'll have the next chapter up soon, then the last two...Three chapters to go, people! I promise, promise, promise I will have the next chapter of Payback up just after or right before I finish this fic. I'm working on another couple of fics too, so hold out people! And remember, I love your reviews!

hannahlt09
"the squirrel whose sister is a dog" - lol