CHAPTER FIFTEEN

What I saw was a little cloudy, and really, really white. The lady was soaking wet and seriously pissed. She was so different from the woman standing before me.

"Where is he? Where is Leo?" she demanded of all these gold-robbed people who were wandering around making these annoying clicking, clacking sounds.

One of the people came to her and removed his hood. Handsome face, warm smile, if only he was a lot younger...

"Piper, what are you doing here?" he asked. That told me that I was right about who she is!

"How can you do this?" Piper looked like she was about to cry. Definitely nothing like the lady who was hugging me.

Leo looked around. "Uh, excuse us for a minute." Yeah, from the looks of it, he needed some time alone with her.

Once the others left, Piper really let him have it. "You asked me to marry you, and I did. You wanted a family, and I gave you a son. And now you want me to watch you just walk away?" God, it was just like watching a tear-jerker movie! Mom would always leave during this kind of scene so I would not see her cry.

"It's not that simple," Leo answered.

"Then make it simple," she demanded, agony in her voice. "Because I'm trying really hard to understand."

"Piper, if I had a choice in any of this, I would choose you. I always have." His eyes were so full of love. I could see they really wanted to be together. Why wouldn't they be? They belong together.

"Then choose me now. Then let's go home." Yeah, do that. Do that now!

Leo just looked down at the hand she held out to him. He looked like he was ready to cry himself. "Don't you think I want to?"

"I don't know. And that's what scares me the most." I don't buy it! Of course, he wants to be with you! I wanted to scream. All she had to do was see the look on his face. That was definitely the look of a man desperately in love!!

Leo took her hand. "The Elders were wrong about us. They didn't think our love could survive but it did. Our love blessed us in ways they couldn't even imagine. It gave you the strength that you needed to take over from Prue. It produced a baby with a greater future than any of us, and it made me…" Leo could not even finish the sentence. I felt so bad for both of them.

Piper finished it for him. "An Elder." He is giving up true love to become an Elder? This is more screwed up then I thought. Damm, I came just in time!

"Our love is transcendent, Piper. It lifted me up so high that this was the only possible result. Being an Elder wasn't my destiny, but yet here I am because of you."

If he had not looked like he meant it, I would have told him to shove it. Those lines were just too good to be real. But I get the feeling that her husband must be extremely good and honestly meant every word.

Piper was really crying now. "I can't just give up. I don't know how."

"You can't fight this. Not this."

It sounded like there is a lot more to Piper than some crazy lady, after all. Anyway, some kind of strange thing happened and she was suddenly completely dry, complete with a change of clothes and even a change of hair style. She now seemed so normal--still in pain, lots of pain, but normal.

"How am I supposed to do this alone?" she asked.

"I don't know. I'll always be watching over you."

"But you won't be there for Wyatt." Their little boy obviously means the world to both of them, just like I know I mean the world to my parents, even if Dad has always been gone more than he's been home. But at least he comes home when he can. Doesn't sound that like an Elder, Leo would get to come home at all and that sucks. Leo seemed about to lose it himself. "You're going to miss so much," Piper told him, her eyes tearing up.

"I will never leave Wyatt's side," he managed to say. "He will always feel my presence. It's not the same as human love. He needs you for that."

"He's got me." And I bet he does. "And I hope that's enough. But what if it's not?"

Leo obviously could not stand to see her cry. "As an Elder, I have the power to take your pain away."

Now she looked mad again. "You can't make me forget you!" How could she possibly forget him? He looks like he is absolutely perfect, well almost! The whole Elder thing! Ewww!!

"No. Help you find peace."

They hugged then, and this glowing light poured over Piper. That must have been what caused her to change from a crying wreck to Ms. Sunshine-and-Rainbows. Her husband must have done something to her. But that crying wreck must still be inside her somewhere. I wonder if that is how I am supposed to help.