A/n: I'm afraid to look at the date of the last time I updated this story. I know it's been way too long. And for that I apologize profusely.

This chapter marks the halfway point in this story; twelve down, twelve to go. It also marks a turning point in the stories, since everything after this takes place from "Oh My Goddess" and beyond in the show. That means, of course, a lot more angst and a lot less fluff.

I hope you enjoy this last chapter before the turning point. It was one of the first stories I drafted in this project. Thank you all for the fantastic reviews. I really, really appreciate the feedback, particularly for the last chapter. I was nervous about that one, and I'm glad it went over well.

Katie

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed nor do I own anything related to Amy Grant's song, "Oh How the Years Go By." This takes place right after "Witch Way Now?"

Through the Years

Twelve: Oh How the Years Go By

There were times we stumbled
They thought they had us down
But we came around
How we rolled and rambled
We got lost and we got found
Now were back on solid ground

We took everything
All our times would bring
In this world of dangers
'Cause when your heart is strong
You know you're not alone
In this world of strangers

And oh how the years go by
And oh how the love brings tears to my eyes
All through the changes the soul never dies
We fight, we laugh, we cry
As the years go by

-Amy Grant, "Oh How the Years Go By"

The door opened quietly and Leo arched an eyebrow in surprise when he saw Piper sitting on the edge of the bed. He hadn't expected her to still be awake; it was nearly four in the morning. Earlier, right before he'd had to leave, she had wanted to talk, but he hadn't thought it would be so urgent that it couldn't wait until the morning. Without voicing his surprise, he shut the door and leaned back against it.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey."

They paused awkwardly, but Leo wasn't sure he should break the silence. Piper obviously wanted to talk, and he was fairly certain he knew what the subject would be, but he wanted to wait for her to broach the subject.

Finally, she looked up at him and said, "How'd it go? With your charge, I mean."

Leo shrugged. It had been a bad night. A witch, new to her powers, had had an altercation with a demon and it had been a close call. Normally, he could shake the feeling off as soon as he saw Piper, but they were now only two weeks away from the date Prue had died. Somehow seeing the woman lying on the floor, quickly bleeding to death, had shaken him in a way he hadn't expected. He'd scarcely had time to heal her and all he could think about was how nearly a year ago he had lost Prue.

He wasn't going to tell Piper that though. The past two days had been hard enough for her without him bringing his personal demons into the picture.

"It ended well," he finally said. Piper nodded absentmindedly and looked down at her hands.

Leo took a deep breath, trying to extend his patience. After a bad night and an especially stressful two days at home he wanted nothing more than to go to sleep and forget everything. Piper's reluctance to bring up whatever subject had her up this late was frustrating, and he had to restrain himself from demanding she just spit it out.

"How are you?" he asked after a moment, attempting to coax her into action.

It was Piper's turn to shrug. "I…I'm…" She sighed. "I really don't know how I am," she said.

"You wanted to give up your powers," said Leo. "I guess you're upset that majority ruled, right?" He flinched as soon as the words were out of his mouth; they sounded much harsher than he had intended. Piper, however, didn't seem to notice.

"I don't know," she said. "I did want to get rid of them. I wanted to wash my hands of this whole thing. Especially now." She looked up at him and he wasn't surprised to see tears in her eyes. They were tears of anger and frustration and he'd seen them so many times in the past year that he almost expected them. "Did he purposely wait until two weeks before it's been a year? How could I possibly be objective about this now?"

Leo crossed the room without thinking about it and sat down next to Piper, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. Her head fell towards his chest without effort and he ran his fingers through her hair, trying to bring her some sort of comfort.

"I thought you'd been fed up with your powers for a long time now," he said.

"Sometimes," she said. "But…well, I found out something else today and now I think that maybe it's better that we kept them." She pulled back from him and gave him a shaky smile. He returned it, albeit somewhat more puzzled.

"Leo," she said, "I'm pregnant."

The words hit him so forcefully that any vestige of exhaustion seemed to flee from his body. His smile grew huge as she studied his face and he laughed. "Really?" he said. "You're sure?"

Piper nodded, laughing and crying at the same time. "Yeah," she said. "The angel implied it this morning and then I took a test this afternoon. Phoebe and Paige already know. I made them promise not to tell you."

"You're pregnant," Leo said, barely hearing her words. The revelation was so stunning, so unequivocally joyful that he almost felt dizzy. He leaned in and kissed Piper three times in quick succession. "You're pregnant," he said again.

"Yeah," said Piper. "I think we've established that much. I'm going to call the doctor tomorrow, so be prepared for an appointment sometime next week. And don't think you can get out of it."

Leo reached out with his right hand and tentatively touched her stomach, half-expecting the baby to react, even though he knew it was much too soon. Somehow the entire thing seemed as though it belonged in someone else's life. Someone who had experienced a lot less heartache. He hadn't felt this happy since his wedding day and he was startled by how foreign the emotion felt. After being buried in grief for so long it was a welcome relief.

"You know," said Piper, "I was so upset about the timing of this whole angel business. And all I've been able to think about since this month began is Prue's death." She swallowed, and her smile faltered just a little. "Not even Prue," she said. "Just her death. It's so morbid. But when I found out today and started to think about it…I mean, don't you think that the timing might be a sign? A sign that it's time to actually try to be happy again."

"I think that wherever Prue is she's watching and she knows about this. And she would be ecstatic about being an aunt." Piper closed her eyes and nodded, but he could tell she was trying not to cry again. "She doesn't want us to be sad, Piper. She doesn't want you to be sad. Especially now."

"It's been so hard," whispered Piper. "I can't stop missing her."

"You never will," said Leo. "But it's like you said. This baby is something to celebrate. Maybe it did happen now for a reason. Maybe it happened now so we can think about something else this month."

Piper nodded and finally opened her eyes, wiping them quickly with the back of her hand. Leo leaned in and kissed her again, more slowly. When he pulled away, Piper said, "I know it's early. Absurdly early. But I was thinking…instead of Melinda, could we name her Prudence?"

Leo smiled and took hold of Piper's hands, squeezing them. "I think that's perfect."

Piper smiled back at him. "Yeah," she said. "It is perfect."

And for once, it really was.