A/n: Thanks for the reviews, everyone! I hope you all continue to enjoy this story.

Also, some shameless self-promoting: I started a new story called "Coming Home." It's a holiday story that takes place in November/December 2006 and the entire theme of the story is family. I don't want to give away much of the plot, but I guarantee lots of Piper/Leo moments. Check it out, if you have the time or inclination.

Thanks for all the support. You all are awesome!

Katie

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed nor do I own anything related to Eve 6's song, "Here's to the Night." This takes place after Piper and Leo are rescued, but before Piper finds out that Chris is her son in "The Courtship of Wyatt's Father."

Through the Years

Fifteen: Here's to the Night

All my time is froze in motion
Can't I stay an hour or two or more?
Don't let me let you go
Don't let me let you go
Here's a toast to all those
Who hear me all too well

Here's to the nights we felt alive
Here's to the tears you knew you'd cry
Here's to goodbye, tomorrow's gonna come too soon

-Eve 6, "Here's to the Night"

There was a soft knock on the door and Piper desperately wanted to ignore it. She felt as though she had just gone to sleep ten minutes ago, though she could sense without even opening her eyes that dawn had broke. Nothing good could come from a visit from someone at daybreak.

Unfortunately, the person outside of the door didn't read her mind, and she heard the door creak open and someone stepped into the room. Piper tried to steady her breathing, praying that Phoebe or Paige would go away and leave her alone, but then she heard Leo whisper her name, and every nerve in her body was on tenterhooks. Slowly, she rolled over and opened her eyes.

"Hi," said Leo. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other nervously and Piper bit her lip.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I wanted to say goodbye," said Leo.

"Didn't we do that last night?"

"I…" Leo trailed off. He looked so sad, so lost, that it created a strange ambivalence in Piper. Part of her wanted to gather him in her arms and comfort him; another part wanted to shake him in anger. She decided instead to remain where she was.

He sighed. "We're really doing this, right?" he asked.

"Doing what?" asked Piper, feigning ignorance.

"Quitting," whispered Leo.

Unwillingly, tears rushed to Piper's eyes and she fought a losing battle to keep them from falling. "You're the one who quit," she hissed. "You…you left! That's quitting Leo! What was I supposed to do?"

"I didn't want to," said Leo. Somehow he sounded quieter than ever, though she wasn't quite sure how that was possible. "I became an Elder. I didn't have a choice."

"Shut up!" said Piper, her voice rising in opposition to Leo's. "You did have a choice! You chose to leave! Why? Just tell me why!"

Leo's mouth opened and closed, saying something, but it was spoken so softly Piper couldn't understand. "What are you saying?" she begged, crawling across the bed towards him. She clutched the front of his shirt and pulled him down onto the bed. "What are you saying?"

There was no verbal response; just the same silent mouthing.

Piper leaned into his chest, sobbing now. She clung to him, loving him and hating him all at once. Why wouldn't he just tell her why?

"I don't want to put you at risk. I don't want to put Wyatt at risk," Leo finally spoke again, echoing his words from the previous night.

Piper looked up at him. "That's not what I asked," she said. "That's why you're leaving now. But I want to know why you left the first time. Why did you choose the Elders?"

Leo shook his head, silent once again.

"You still love me," said Piper.

"Yes," said Leo. "More than anything."

The room spun around Piper, more and more quickly until it was nothing but a blur in the background. She stared straight into Leo's eyes, letting them anchor her. Pleading with them not to cut her off into the vortex that now surrounded them.

"You never stopped loving me," said Piper, repeating his words from the night before.

"I never will," said Leo. "You're my life, Piper."

"But you left. You left. There must be a reason."

"Don't look away," said Leo. "Don't get lost."

"Leo," she said. "Leo, I love you too. If I ask you…"

"Ask me what?" asked Leo.

"If I ask you to stay, will you?"

"Don't look away," said Leo again.

"I know I asked you the first time," she said. "When we were Up There. And you said you couldn't, but you wouldn't tell me the reason. You still won't tell me the reason. But this time…you told me why you're leaving this time."

"I have to protect you," said Leo, as if on cue.

"Yes. But Leo, if you gave it up, we'd all be safe. We'd be a family. Would you do it? Would you give up being an Elder if I asked you to?"

Leo didn't respond; he simply continued to stare into her eyes, as though silently begging her to understand something she couldn't. Piper shook him, hard. She felt so frustrated. "Answer me!" she demanded. "Why won't you answer me?"

Suddenly she felt two different hands clamp down on her shoulders. Somehow she knew that it was Phoebe and Paige, though she refused to look away from Leo. He had told her not to look away. She had to trust him.

"Piper," said Phoebe on her left. "Piper, you have to let him go. It's time to move on."

"Shut up, Phoebe!" shrieked Piper. "You don't know anything! You give up! That's how you are! But I don't want to! I won't!"

"Piper, you can't be the only one who's holding on," said Paige. "If Leo wants to go, you have to let him. You can't hold him against your will."

"He wants to stay!" said Piper. "He does!"

"Did he say that?" asked Phoebe.

"He can't," said Piper. "But he wants to. Leo, please. Tell them you want to stay. Tell them you're not going to quit! You're not going to leave!"

Leo stubbornly refused to speak.

"See, Piper," said Paige.

"Leo," said Piper. "I can't do it without you. I can't fight without you. If you just tell me that you'll make an effort. That you'll try! Please. Please. Just give me anything, and I swear, I'll go to the end of the earth and back!"

"Come on, Piper," said Phoebe. Piper felt both hands tighten on her shoulders. "It's time to let go."

"Leo…Please…"

"I just came to say goodbye," said Leo.

"Please…"

To her left she heard a baby crying, but somehow she knew it wasn't Wyatt. But why? Who was the baby and why was it here? Why was it crying?

"Goodbye," said Leo.

The baby continued to cry and no one was doing anything about it. Instinctively, Piper looked to the left, trying to find the baby, but all she could see were the colors spinning and spinning and spinning. She looked back, trying to find Leo again, but he wasn't there. And somehow Paige and Phoebe were gone and she was alone and the baby was getting louder and louder.

"No!" screamed Piper, and she sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath. The room was still and very dark. There was no baby, no sister, no Leo. It had been a dream. A horrible nightmare.

Piper stayed upright in bed, breathing heavily, for a long time. The dream stayed with her in fragments, but she didn't understand what it meant. Leo was leaving, but she didn't want him to. That was nothing unusual; nothing that she hadn't dreamt a hundred times before. But this time something had been different. He had been trying to tell her something, but he couldn't. Something was preventing him from telling her.

What if it was true? What if she called him right now and asked him to stay? Would he?

Piper ran a hand through her hair and sighed loudly. What was she thinking? Leo wasn't going to stay. He was leaving. He was gone already. And he wasn't coming back. They had finally said goodbye and he had finally given her some sort of reason. Why was she trying to set herself up for more pain? Last night was it. Forever. They had said goodbye and they weren't going back. She knew that now.

It was just a dream. A crazy dream. It didn't mean anything.

Somewhat calmer, Piper lay back down in her bed, pulling the covers up to her chin and breathing deeply. She was going to be okay. She'd survived Leo leaving once already. She had survived Prue dying. She could survive this too.

Just as she was drifting to sleep again, she suddenly remembered the crying baby and her eyes opened again. Who was the baby and why couldn't she see it? It didn't seem to fit with the rest of the dream. It made even less sense than anything else.

"It was just a dream," she repeated out loud, trying to reassure herself.

Just a dream.