Chapter 16: The Problem with Piper
When Leo awoke the following morning and found his wife's side of the bed empty, he was momentarily confused, suddenl he rememberd the non -argument that had lead to them sleeping separetly. Strolling down stairs he found Piper in the kitchen preparing breakfast.
"Piper, can I have a word?"
"what about?"
"Last night"
"leo, I really don't want to get into that now"
"Too bad because I want to get to the bottom of this"
"I'm fine, just drop it" Piper's temper began to rise.
"Piper, we've all noticed, me ,Chris your sisters, something is not right, and I don't know what it is, but if you would just tell me, then perhaps I can help you with it"
"No you can't, nobody can" She snapped losing patience.
"well try me. Because you can't carry on behaving the way you are, one moment you're in kamakarzy demon killer mode, the next you're quivering beneath a chair, you love the boys more than life itself, though you just threw a fit over having more children..what is wrong?"
"Leo.."
"No, you will not fob me off, I'm your husband dammit and it is my job to support you, now for the last time, what is the problem?"
" I'm scared Leo, scared to death" Piper admitted in a voice barely above a whisper, causing Leo to have to strain to pick up what she said.
"scared? What of?" Leo was genuinely confused.
"of dying!" She shouted in frustration
The words uttered in anguish seemed to hang in the air between them.
"but." Leo was at a loss.
"Eversince Chris told me that in his original timeline, I didn't exist, I have been unable to think about anything else" Piper explained
"Piper , things could have changed.."
"It's there in the back of my mind, eating away at me ,every single moment of everyday, I've tried to distract myself, so think of other things, to fill myself with false hope that it won't come true, but it doesn't work. It terrifies me" The thoughts she had kept to herself for months all came spilling out.
"But you don't understand, Wyatt isn't evil anymore, and your destiny.."
"Exactly, it's my destiny! It's not linked to Wyatt's. He could be granted the Nobel Peace prize for humanitarian aide, and I could still die"
"I just don't get how.."
"No what you don't get Leo is that I've been given this death sentence which is hanging over me, encompassing every last thing in my life. You want to know why don't want anymore children?- because I cannot bear the thought of leaving anymore of them motherless."
She paused for breath, Leo made as if to speak but she held her hand up to silence him.
"It's like a time bomb waiting to go off, when and where will be my last day, will I be prepared? Who will be my killer?"
"You can't go on thinking like this"
"Don't you think I don't know that! These past couple of months have been some of the happiest in my life, yet at the same time, it's as if I have been given a stay of execution"
"I don't know what to say to you, I want to help you get through this"
"Just promise me something"
"what?"
"That you'll be there, for the boys, that even though they won't have me, that they will never want for your love"
"Piper, your talking as if you're going to die tomorrow"
"That's part of my point Leo, things that happened years from now in Chris' original time line have been accelerated in this one, like Paige meeting Jo, Phoebe even meeting Ben at all, who's so say that whatever happens me doesn't happen way before it should do?"
Leo didn't know what to say. For once in his life he didn't have an answer, a sage piece of advice with which to counsel his wife. It slowely dawned on him that they were all at the mercy of a greater power, a power that despite all their best efforts and good intentions, they ultimately had not control over. He did the only thing he could think of, he pulled Piper into his arms as she collapsed into tears, her string façade finally breaking under the relief of sharing her burden with him. They held each other close, both wishing that they could stay that way forever.