Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed nor do I own anything related to The Pretenders' song, "I'll Stand by You." This takes place right after the scene where Piper sees Leo asleep on the bed with Wyatt and Chris in the episode, "Charrrmed."

Through the Years

Eighteen: I'll Stand by You

And when,
When the night falls on you, baby
You're feeling all alone
You won't be on your own

I'll stand by you
I'll stand by you
Won't let nobody hurt you

I'll stand by you
Take me in, into your darkest hour
And I'll never desert you
I'll stand by you

-The Pretenders, "I'll Stand by You"

As the Elder orbed out, Piper shut her eyes and took a deep breath. She had been working very hard lately to remain calm, but it was hard at times like this. The Elders wanted Leo to be well for the "gathering storm." If they thought she was trying to bring Leo back for them, they were very sadly mistaken. She was doing this for her kids. For herself. And for Leo. The Elders, as far as she was concerned, could go to hell.

Calm, she reminded herself. You need to stay calm. For Leo.

The thought worked better than Piper had expected; the fact that she was looking at her family in moment of pure bliss probably helped. With the Elders in the back of her mind, Piper walked into her bedroom and picked Chris up off of the bed as quietly as she could. He snuggled into her immediately, and Piper could tell he was tired. Without disturbing Leo, she went to the other side of the bed and held out her right hand to Wyatt, helping him down off of the bed. She held a finger up to her lips to tell Wyatt to be quiet, and he imitated her, smiling broadly.

Chris had fallen asleep by the time she had walked down the hall to the boys' room, and so she put him to bed easily, kissing his head lightly before turning to Wyatt. "Okay, baby," she said. "Which pajamas do you want to wear tonight? The fire trucks or the airplanes?" She held out both sets, and Wyatt pointed to the airplanes, so she tossed the other pair on top of the dresser and knelt down on the floor to change her son's clothes.

"Did you have fun with Daddy tonight?" she asked. "I think you wore him out." Wyatt smiled again and leaned in to wrap his arms around her neck. "Oh, sweetie," said Piper, pulling up his pajama bottoms the rest of the way and then hugging him back. "I missed you tonight." She kissed him on the side of his head, and then pulled back, picking him up and plopping him down in his bed.

"It's time to go to sleep," she whispered. She brought the sheets up around him, handed him his teddy bear and then kissed him on the forehead. "I love you," she said, standing up and flicking off the light. "Sweet dreams," she said, and she left the room, closing the door behind her.

When she got back to her own bedroom, Piper shut the door behind her and sighed, exhausted from the long day. Being a witch with two children and a slightly disturbed husband was beginning to take its toll. At least today had gone well for Leo. That was one thing to be incredibly grateful for because every step forward with the Elders was a step closer to getting Leo back to normal. Tomorrow, of course, would be another battle, but she could think about that then. She had other things on her mind tonight.

Slowly, Piper sat down on the edge of the bed, trying not to disturb Leo. She had tried hard over the past few weeks to initiate physical intimacy again, but Leo was reluctant to give in to her. Every insecurity he had ever had about himself and their relationship seemed to be on the forefront of his mind, and Piper had had a difficult time distracting him. But oh how she wanted to.

This seemed like the perfect opportunity. He was asleep on their bed (already in her mind it was theirs again; their bed, their bedroom, their home) and relaxed. If she began something now, maybe he'd be more open to finishing it. Maybe he'd be relaxed enough to enjoy it instead of giving into self-doubt. She was sure that it was worth a try.

Confident, Piper leaned down and kissed Leo's jaw, slowly kissing her way up to his lips. She had woken him this way many times before, and sure enough, by the time she captured his lips with hers, he was responsive: one of his arms came up and crooked around her lower back, pulling her closer. In return, she deepened the kiss, slipping her tongue into his mouth. Leo's left hand drifted up her side, grazing her breast before settling in her hair and she groaned. The sound seemed to affect Leo, because his right hand, which had been lingering around her lower back, moved down to her ass and pushed her lower body down hard against him.

Reluctantly, Piper had to break the kiss for air. She didn't want to; she was desperately afraid that at any moment Leo would snap back to reality and orb out. And she needed this. Badly.

"Piper," said Leo breathlessly.

"Shh," said Piper. "Don't think." To reinforce this point, she kissed him again. Leo rocked against her and then rolled so she was pinned underneath him. "Oh, God," said Piper. It had been much, much too long. Her hands drifted up and began to undo the buttons on his shirt. Leo made the task more difficult by kissing her neck, but there was no way Piper was complaining. It felt too wonderful.

Once Leo's shirt was off, Piper put her hands on his shoulder and pushed him over so he was on his back again. Leo raised an eyebrow, slightly amused, but Piper ignored him and began kissing a trail down his chest. When she reached his pants, she began to fiddle with the belt, clumsy in her eagerness to dispose of the item. As soon as it was off, she undid the button and zipper of his pants and began to tug them down with his boxers. Leo began to sit up, and Piper pushed him back against the pillows. "Relax," she said, kissing him.

That was as far as they got.

Without warning, the phone rang and Piper jumped, bumping her head against Leo's jaw. "Oh!" she said, rubbing her head. "Who the hell is calling at this time of night?" Leo shrugged, and Piper could tell that already his mind was back in action, thinking of every stupid reason that he shouldn't have sex with her tonight. Any advantage she had had by catching him off guard was fading quickly. She desperately wanted to ignore the phone and have her way with Leo while she still had the chance, but what if it was Phoebe on the other line? What if she was in trouble? Resigned, Piper picked up the phone.

"Hello?" she said. Behind her she felt Leo get off of the bed. Damn it to hell, she thought.

"Hi, is Amy there?"

"Are you kidding me?" asked Piper angrily. She'd been deterred for a wrong number? Furious, she hung up the phone, just barely refraining from blowing it up.

"Who was it?" asked Leo. Piper turned and saw that he already had his pants back on and was in the process of pulling on his shirt.

"Wrong number," said Piper. "You know, you don't have to go. We could just pick up where we left off."

Leo frowned. "I'm not sure that's a good idea, Piper. I should go."

"Please, stay," said Piper, crawling across the bed and kneeling on the edge of the other side. She took hold of his shirt and pulled him towards her. "I'll make it worth your while," she said. Then she kissed him. For a moment, she thought it had actually worked; Leo certainly responded thoroughly to the kiss. But when he pulled back, he said, "I really have to go."

"Wait," said Piper. She couldn't let him leave. Somehow, someway, she needed some kind of answer about their relationship. She just couldn't take any more of this limbo they seemed to be in. She released his shirt and rearranged herself so she was sitting on the edge of the bed looking up at him. "Can we just talk for awhile? Just talk, I swear."

Leo looked hesitant, but he nodded. "Okay," he said.

"What is going on between us?" she asked.

"What do you mean?" asked Leo. He averted his eyes, though, and Piper knew that he was being ignorant on purpose.

"I want to know what you're thinking, Leo. That's what I mean. What are you thinking about us? Do you want to be with me?"

"Yes!" said Leo. He laughed nervously, as though they hadn't been together for seven years, and ran a hand through his hair. "You have no idea how much."

"Then what's going on?" asked Piper. "Because I think that you can guess that I'm more than willing."

"I'm just worried, Piper. I'm worried about hurting you again."

"You're not going to hurt me by being with me, Leo. We belong together, and I know that deep down you still remember that." She reached out and took his left hand. "Why do you think that you're going to hurt me?"

"I don't know, Piper," said Leo. He dropped her hand and began pacing around the room. "What if the Elders realize what I did? What if they take me away? Recycle my soul? I don't want you to have to go through losing me again."

"Leo, I'd rather be with you for one more day than never again. If they take you from me it's going to hurt like hell, no matter if we're together or not. But they're not going to take you away. I will fight them to the death if they even try. Which, of course, is redundant since they're already dead, but you know what I mean."

Leo paused and smiled briefly, but then resumed his pacing. "It's not just that, though, Piper. It's everything else too. The voices. I feel like I'm going crazy!"

"You're not crazy, Leo," she said. "Something has to be behind this. I don't believe that it's just happening for no reason. We can figure it out together, though. I know we can. But in order to do that we actually need to be a team again. Don't you think?"

Leo halted and turned to face her again. Quietly he said, "I just want to protect you."

"I want to protect you too," said Piper. "If we're together, we can protect each other."

For what seemed an eternity, Leo stared at her. Then, slowly, he nodded. "Okay," he said.

"You'll come home?" asked Piper. She held her breath, silently praying that this would finally be it.

"Yeah," Leo said gradually. "We can try it."

Piper smiled and Leo crossed the room, took her face in his hands and kissed her. When he pulled back, he said, "One thing though."

"What?" asked Piper.

"I think that you should talk to your sisters about it first. If those voices I'm hearing are dangerous, they need to know about it too."

For a moment, Piper wanted to argue. Paige and Phoebe both seemed to have little concern about exposing her and the kids to whatever men they dragged through the door. They also both seemed to only live at home when it pleased them now. Piper felt that she had every right in the world to ask her husband to move back in without talking to them. Then the thoughts passed. After all, what would they say? No? She could give Leo this one concession.

"Okay," she said. "I'll talk to them soon."

Leo smiled and then kissed her again. "I should get going," he said.

"You're not staying?" asked Piper.

"Not tonight," said Leo.

Piper sighed, too tired to argue, and stood up. "Come back for breakfast, okay?"

"Okay," said Leo. Piper stood on her tip toes and kissed him one last time.

"I love you," she said.

"I love you too. Goodnight."

Before Piper could say another word, Leo orbed out and she was alone again.

A/n: I always thought there was a huge Piper and Leo moment missing between "Charrrmed" and "Once in a Blue Moon." Things went from awkward to "oh! Leo's moving back home!" in record time and we never saw how they got there. So this is my contribution to rectifying that.

Thank you to everyone for the advice about changing the rating. After much thought, I've decided to keep the rating at M. All things considered, I finally figured that I wouldn't want my seventh grade students to read parts of this story. And, as one reviewer reminded me, I need to keep in mind what's coming up too, and I realized that this story is going to get darker before it gets lighter. So at M it stays. Thank you all for the input.

Also, thanks for the reviews! They were so kind and I really appreciated all of the feedback. You all make this story worth writing. Thank you.

Katie