Disclaimer: Don't own Charmed
Lighting Strikes
He walked into the kitchen and found three wine glasses in the cabinet. He smiled as he popped open the bottle and pour equal amounts into the glasses. He reached into his pocket and pulled a small package filled with white powder. He poured it into one of the glasses and made sure that he placed it in a recognizable place so that it wouldn't get mixed in the process
Geoffrey walked back into the living room and found Piper and Leo engaged into deep conversation. He cleared his throat to get their attention and smiled as he looked at the supposedly happy couple.
"I've got the wine." he replied as he placed the tray down on the table and handed Piper her glass. He then handed Leo his glass and picked the final glass for himself as he sat back down. He watched as Piper just swirled her wine in the glass before sitting it back down on the table. He smiled as Leo brought his glass to his lips and sampled a small portion from his glass.
"Wow Piper" sipping from his wine glass before it sitting in down on the table and smiling too. "You're right, this is a great tasting wine; don't you like it"
"Oh it's not that, I just never make it a habit to drink anything before I have had dinner."
"Well the food should be done in a matter of minutes so why don't we talk about something."
"Alright" Piper smiled. "What inspired you to become a cop?"
Geoffrey tensed up at the question as he sat back in the chair. He hadn't expected them to ask that question but if he didn't want them to be suspicious, he had to play it off.
"My dad actually was in the force so I decided to follow in his footsteps" he lied as he grabbed his glass again. "You know the old saying right; like father like son."
"Yeah I know what you mean" Leo laughed. "My sons are taking after their old man too."
"Oh they are and what exactly are they doing."
"Teaching seminars" Piper replied quickly. "They want to be teachers like their father."
"Teachers huh, well the world could use more teachers." Geoffrey smiled as the oven timer went off. He got up to go remove the food from the even and ten minutes later, the threesome had taken their seats down in their chair and was eating their food.
Geoffrey watched closely as Piper sipped from her wine glass during the entire meal. He knew that he put enough sleeping powder into her glass to put her sleep in a matter of minutes but since she had been taking her time drinking it he didn't know how long it would take.
He smiled at how beautiful she looked, earrings dangling from her ears sparkling like the stars in the night sky. How her smile radiated the room or the way she laughed at all his comments. Anger filled his soul, however, every time she looked at Leo or smiled in his direction. He couldn't wait to get rid of the bastard and make her entirely his.
Leo noticed during the meal at the way Thomas was looking at Piper. Now he realized that Piper was an attractive woman who got plenty stares from other men but the way Thomas was looking at her was different. There was something different in his eyes whenever he looked in her direction.
It wasn't just during the meal however that he noticed that something was off about Thomas it started as soon as he walked into the door. His voice seemed to be a little deeper and he could have sworn that when Thomas said his name there was angry tone behind it. He also noticed that his appearance seemed different. His hair was just a little bit longer and a little bit darker than it was a week ago.
One thing that struck Leo as strange as the story he told them about why he decided to become a cop. Upon meeting Thomas, he had told Leo a completely different story.
Flashback
Leo and Thomas were standing inside the kitchen after he had almost been killed in the explosion with a scared look on his face. He had almost lost his life and if it weren't for someone who seemed determine to save him, he would be dead right now.
Thomas could tell that Leo was probably shaken from his near brush with death so he decided to make his questioning short. Five minutes later he had asked all the questions that he needed and decided that it was best if he went ahead on to the station.
"Thanks" Leo smiled at him as they made there way out of the kitchen.
"Just doing my job."
"Well you're doing a great job, you've been such a great help."
"You wanna know why I became a detective"
"Because of the free donuts" Leo laughed.
"Well there's that" laughing as he hit Leo's shoulder. "But because my mom inspired too. She always knew that I had a knack for helping people with no expectation of anything in return. I followed her p on that and I can say that I love what I do and I will do whatever it takes to make sure that your family stays safe."
"I know you will" Leo responded as they made their way out of the kitchen.
End of flashback.
Now Leo thought about that and wondered if Thomas was telling the truth that morning or not. It was hard to establish what was really going on but Leo had a sinking feeling that something wasn't right.
Piper watched her husband during the meal and saw how closely he was watching Thomas as if he was seeing something that she wasn't. She wondered if he were watching Thomas because of his behavior that he was displaying or simply out of pure jealousy. She had become aware that Thomas had been staring at her adoringly throughout the entire evening.
The staring hadn't bothered her in the beginning but now, now, she could feel his gazing eyes burning holes into her head. She tried her best to ignore it but every time she glanced in his direction, he was looking directly at her.
Another thing that made Piper a little quiet for the meal, she was having trouble staying awake. Every since dinner started she had become more tired than she had ever been. It seemed to become greater every time she sipped from her wine, even if she was drinking small sips. It had come to a point where she had stopped drinking it, thinking that if she had anymore she would pass out right into her dinner.
She breathed deeply when Thomas sat up from the chair and offered to take their dishes to the kitchen. Leo had offered to go with him but he quickly dismissed the idea, saying that it was his home and he should do all the work. Even though she could see the two men's lips moving it was as if no sound was coming out of their mouths. Finally, Leo walked over to her and help her from the table; worry evident in his eyes.
"Honey are you okay"
"Um, what" Piper stuttered, as she grabbed his hand firmly, looking closely at his lips trying to figure out what he was trying to say.
"Are you okay" he asked again, more concern in his voice.
"Oh…Leo I'm fine" she smiled as they walked to the living and sat down. "Don't worry so much about me"
"Can't help it, old habits die hard."
"Ha" she laughed as she leaned forward to kiss him. They were soon interrupted by a scowling Geoffrey who had a tray of coffee and cake. Piper and Leo pulled apart slightly embarrassed that they had been making out in the man's home.
"Sorry" Piper smirked as she grabbed Leo's hand and pulled them down to the couch. "We were-"
"Don't worry about it, I don't mind. I mean after all you're gorgeous, beautiful and any man would be crazy not to want to kiss you every chance he got.
Piper couldn't help but blushed as Thomas spoke those words to her and she couldn't help but laugh inwardly as she felt Leo's hands grip tightly around hers. She could easily tell that he was getting jealous but she couldn't be mad because she loved when he was jealous.
"Thank you Thomas" Piper replied as she grabbed the coffee from the table, the drowsiness returning once again and she knew that she desperately needed the caffeine.
Melinda frantically looked through the fallen box in hopes of finding whatever the spirit was trying to tell her in order to save her father. Finally, she found the yearbook they were talking about. She flipped it open and noticed that it belonged to her mother from her senior year in high school. The book was extremely thick and consisted of more than five-hundred pages.
"How the hell am I supposed to know what I'm looking for she yelled to the empty room, hoping for an answer? Suddenly, the book fell out of her hands and landed on the floor. The pages magically started to turn by themselves until it landed on a page in the middle of the book. Picking up the book, she noticed that it was a picture of her mother sitting in the school library. Taking a closer look, she also noticed someone in the corner of the picture was looking directly at her; as if they were some sort of daze. She could tell that the person was a man and if she paid closer attention, she had a strange feeling that this person was familiar. Looking down at the bottom of the picture, she saw the name of the mysterious person watching her mother and the name of the young man shocked her.
Geoffrey Martin
She was so shocked that the book dropped from her hands and onto the floor again. She suddenly realized that the reason the man looked so familiar was that he looked like Detective Martin. She had always believed that there was something strange and suspicious about him and now she had proof. Thomas was after her mother and had tried to kill her father as well. Melinda picked up the book and as soon as her hands touched it, she was thrown into a series of premonitions.
Premonition
A seventeen-year-old Piper was standing beside her locked, grabbing her books out of it. She grunted when she was suddenly pushed to the ground by blonde hair girl who was surrounded by a group of girls. They all laughed when Piper hit the floor, dropping all of her stuff and stepping all over it.
"Oh sorry Pepper didn't see you there," the blonde haired girl laughed.
"That's okay Missy, nobody does" she sighed as she gathered her things up from the floor. The girls just laughed some more as they all walked away, leaving Piper to pick up the remainder of her things.
"So they get you too huh"
Piper turned around to see a young man standing behind her giving her one of her fallen books. She had recognized him from around the school but she had never talked to him before and at the moment, she didn't feel like talking to anyone.
"All the time" she grumbled as she placed some books back into her locker and closed it. "Most of the time I just ignore it but I really hate them sometimes."
"I know the feeling" he smiled at her, his own braces showing. "They pick on me all the time just because I'm good at science"
"That's right, you were in the newspaper. You won the science fair didn't you?"
"Yeah I did, but I don't like to brag. My name's Geoffrey Martin but you can call me Jeff."
"Piper Halliwell" she smiled as the pair of them shook hands.
"I know who you are, I mean from around school." Jeff smiled back as he reluctantly let go of her hand. He had been waiting to talk to her for so long and he was glad he finally was talking to her.
"I bet you have, nobody around here likes me."
"I like you and if you want, we could hang out sometimes"
Piper thought about it and smiled at the idea. She could use another friend in the school and it would be nice to get of the house with Phoebe and Prue arguing all the time. "Yeah, that would be nice."
"Great because I know a great place we could go for a burger."
Piper was once again standing at her locker placing books inside of it. Missy and her group of friends weren't around and she was glad that nobody was going to bother her today. As she closed her locker, she jumped when she turned around to see Jeff standing beside her, black box in hand.
"Oh hey Jeff" Piper stuttered as she tried to regain her breath.
"Sorry didn't mean to scare you" he smiled back. "It's just, you look so beautiful standing there I didn't want to disturb you"
"Its okay" Piper replied back with a forced smile. She wouldn't admit it aloud but sometimes Jeff said things that creeper her out sometimes even if it was something nice. "What's in the box?"
"This, this is a gift for you"
Before Piper could say anything else, Jeff threw the box into her hands and watched as she opened it. She gasped as she pulled out a gold bracelet that was covered in X's and O's symbols for hugs and kisses.
"Is this real"
"Yes it is" Jeff grinned as he grabbed it from Piper's hand and grabbed her wrist to put it on her. "Spent two hundred bucks, but you're worth it"
"Two hundred dollars" Piper shrieked as she immediately tried to take the bracelet off. She couldn't believe that he would spend that much money for somebody he considered a friends. "Why would you buy this for me?"
"Because Piper, I wanted to tell you that I think you're an amazing girl and I was hoping if you would go steady with me."
"Steady"
"Yeah, I mean we already like each other so we should make it official and this bracelet will let everyone know that we're going study."
Piper took the bracelet from her hands and placed it back in Jeff's hand. She couldn't help but feel a bit guilty as she watched his happy expression change to a very confused one.
"Piper what-"
"I can't take this bracelet Geoffrey." Piper sighed. She didn't want to hurt his feelings but she couldn't lead him on any more than she had, even if it was unintentional. She had no romantic feelings towards him and he needed to know up front.
"Why"
"Because, I just…I don't like you in the same way you like me."
"You don't"
"Don't get me wrong, you're a great person and you're very smart guy but I don't think I like you like that." Piper tried to explain to the boy in front of her who looked like he was close to tears. "I hope we can still be friends."
Before she could say anything else, two lips pressed against hers as her body slammed into her locker. She couldn't breathe as the hands moved from her shoulders and moved down to her hips, pressing her even harder against the lockers. Using all her strength, she lifter her hand and slapped Jeff hard across his face, causing him to pull away from her in pain.
"What the hell are you doing" she spat as she started to walk away from him.
"I was trying to show you how right we are for each other Piper. I wanted you to feel the connection we have like I feel it."
"I don't want to be with you"
"Don't say that," Jeff yelled as he banged his fist against some unknown lockers. "You love me."
"Love you, I barely even know you"
"Love knows no time limits, you know that" He replied as he started to walk towards her. She could see the angry in his eyes and Piper wanted nothing more than to get away from him. She started to run down the hallway and disappeared from sight with the only sounds she could hear were Geoffrey screaming out vulgar things at her.
"You will be mine one day Piper Halliwell," he screamed as she ran out of sight.
"I'm taking back what's mine" was all he yelled as he pulled the trigger of the gun.
Leo tried to say something but before he could, a bullet ripped through his stomach. He could feel his body falling to the ground and soon another bullet entered him as well, straight into his chest.
Laughter filled the room as Leo finally fell to the ground, almost symmetrically beside Piper. He felt a foot hit him forcefully into his stomach and as the clock in the room struck nine, another bullet struck him.
Melinda pulled out of the premonition in tears. She couldn't believe that someone her family had trusted was nothing more than an insane monster. Running downstairs, she picked up the phone and started dialing her mother's and father's cell phones.
"Come on pick-up dammit" she screamed when she received no answer to neither of them. She continued to cry as she cried out to the sky for her brothers to come before she realized that they couldn't hear her. She started to run back upstairs and try to scary for her parents when she passed by the grandfather clock. Her heart leaped into her throat as the numbers on the clock ticked showing her the time. Melinda realized that she only had one minute to save both her parents before it was too late.
He patiently watched as the couple sipped their coffee. He could tell that the sleeping tranquilizer he placed in Piper's coffee was starting to mix with the one he had given her recently. It was only a matter of time before she would soon be in a dead sleep and he could have her all to himself.
Leo had been watching his wife as well slowly drink her coffee and could tell something was wrong with her. Her skin had suddenly turned pale and her eyes were beginning to droop as if she was fighting sleep. He looked up at the clock and saw that it was five minutes until nine. He concluded that she was in fact tired and maybe they needed to call it a night. He started to tell her that they should get going when she suddenly dropped her coffee cup.
"Piper are you okay" Leo asked his sickly looking wife. The cup had hit the table and she appeared to be shaking. He got up from his seat and stood directly in front of her, offering his hand, which she took.
Piper looked at her husband with confused eyes as she held onto his hand and started to pull herself up. She couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with her and she had no idea what it was.
"I'm not ok-" Piper started to say as she pulled her body closer to Leo's body. Before she could pull away to walk, she suddenly collapsed back into Leo's arms; her eyes now officially closed.
"Oh my God, call an ambulance." Leo screamed as he watched Piper fall into his arms. Panic overtook Leo as he watched his wife fall into his arms and began ordering Geoffrey around in order to get help for soon. He placed her on the floor and pressed two fingers against her neck to make sure she was still breathing.
"Thank God" he whispered as he felt a pulse. He turned around to see Geoffrey still standing in the same spot as before with his hand behind his back. "Did you call for help?"
"That won't be necessary" Jeff smiled as he pulled a gun from behind his back and pointed it directly at Leo. "I already know what's wrong with her."
"Thomas, what are you doing?"
"Taking back what belongs to me"
Leo gasped at the realization of what Thomas was saying to him. He had done something to Piper, made her sick because he was the one who was after her along. "You're the one who's been stalker her."
"Stalking in such a harsh word don't you think? I like to think it's more of the lines of an admiration observer."
"What did you do to her?" Leo yelled at Jeff as he bent back down towards Piper.
"Just slipped a few tranquilizers in her drink." Jeff laughed as he cocked the trigger of the gun. He loved the adrenaline rush that flowed through his body as Leo began to shake right in front of him. "It was much easier than I thought it would be."
"Why"
"Because she was mine first" Jeff yelled. "She was mine and I want her back."
"You can't have her," Leo snarled as he fist balled up beside his body. He knew he was no match for a gun but he wasn't going to give up the love his life without a fight, no matter the cost."
"You can't stop me"
"Wanna bet."
Without warning, Leo rushed towards Thomas fast, throwing the man off his feet. He swung his fist and felt it connect with Jeff's face but soon felt a fist hit his stomach. The two men continued to fight when Jeff pushed Leo off him with a strong force. He fell to the floor hard right beside Piper but soon sat up again.
"Give it up"
"Never. I'm taking back what's mine" was all he yelled as he pulled the trigger of the gun.
Leo tried to say something but before he could, a bullet ripped through his stomach. He could feel his body falling to the ground and soon another bullet entered him as well, straight into his chest.
Laughter filled the room as Leo finally fell to the ground, almost symmetrically beside Piper. He felt a foot hit him forcefully into his stomach and as the clock in the room struck nine, another bullet struck him.
He watched as the other man stepped over his bleeding body and bent down to pick up his wife; throwing her violently over his shoulder. Leo wanted to say something but the taste of metal was the only thing inside his mouth. The only thing he could whisper was Piper's names as she was taken away from him for what would be the very last time.
Once again I put Leo's life on the line and Piper got kidnapped, not bad for a cliff hanger but don't worry; both of them will not die. I'm not saying that one won't die, I'm just saying they both won't die. I will try to post the next chapter as soon as I can I promise and once again, I hoped you enjoyed it. Only two more chapters and the next chapter is
Help From Beyond