Sorry for the long wait. I have been a lot busier than usual, so I haven't had a lot of time to write, let alone update. Thank you for the wonderful comments though. Glad you have all stuck with me and continue to read. In this chapter, you'll find out what happens to Leo.
Piper couldn't stand the wait. Leo had been gone for hours and she was trying to keep herself busy, trying to do anything that would keep her from worrying about him. Chris had told her each word that was passed between himself and Sandra and it only added to her worry. "If it's a husband and father he's wanted to be, than that's what he'll be." What did that mean?
Through the hours, Piper had given Wyatt a bath and scrubbed down the oatmeal that was splattered in part of the kitchen. Now she was cooking. It had always been a passion of hers and a way to sooth her, to ease her mind. She wasn't cooking anything in particular. She was just making a brew of random ingredients. It was something her Grams had taught her, something that had soothed her Grams as well.
Chris watched as his mother cooked, wondering if she was making anything specific. "What should I add in next?" She asked him. He sat on a stool at the island. She stood across from him bent over a pot.
"What exactly are you making?" He asked curiously.
"Nothing in particular." She reached in the cabinet behind her, pulling out a bottle of nutmeg. She added some in and put it back in the cabinet.
"Ok, well how about some toadstool." He replied. Piper added in some toadstool.
Paige walked into the room. Her nose wrinkled up. "I hope that's not dinner." She said.
"No, it's not." Piper assured her sister.
"Well, Wyatt's awake from his nap. Phoebe said she'd bring him down though." Paige explained. "No word from Leo yet?"
Chris answered. "No, nothing." He said.
"It's really starting to frustrate me." Piper said. She went over to the fridge. "I can't keep losing Leo like this."
"Your haven't lost him yet." Chris reminded her. "Sandra said he would be home soon."
Piper sighed. "Not soon enough. It's been hours since you talked with her." She said.
"Piper, you need to just relax." Paige wished her sister would calm down a bit. "I'm sure he'll be here soon."
Almost as if Paige had willed it, Leo appeared before them in his typical swirl of blue orbs. He stood before them with a smile on his face, though no one had a clue as to what he was smiling about. He was just punished by the Elders, yet he was smiling. Piper was completely baffled.
"Leo?" She almost seemed to question. He stepped towards her. His arms immediately reaching around her. "What happened? What did they do to you?" She pulled away from him, waiting for an answer.
His smile faded. "Well, I'm not an Elder anymore." He replied, the words escaping his mouth slowly.
"Wait..." Chris tried to speak.
Paige cut him off. "But you orbed." She said. Chris sighed silently to himself, thinking she must have read his mind. He intended on saying the same thing when she interjected.
Leo turned so he could face everyone in the room. "Yes, I did." He replied and then started to explain. "The other Elders have decided to strip away my Elder status and make me a white lighter again, your white lighter and yours only." He made sure to specify.
"Huh?" Paige questioned. She didn't understand what he was actually saying.
So, Leo explained exactly what had happened while he was in the heavens. He left out some of the less important details, only explaining what they needed to know.
"What do you have to say for your actions?" Sandra asked. There were other Elders standing beside her.
"I'm sorry for what I did and I know what I did was inexcusable." Leo replied. "Would I change what I did, no. My son's life was in jeopardy and my boys are the most important things to me, as is Piper. I can't lose them, I won't."
"You do realize this cannot go unpunished?" The Elder, Jonah, informed Leo.
"Yes, I do realize." Leo said and then begged. "You can do what you want to me, but please don't take me from my family. All I've ever wanted to be since I met Piper was be a good husband to her and a good father to our children. You can't take me away from them."
"We will take that into consideration." Sandra replied.
"We understand that you never really wanted to be an Elder." Jonah said.
Leo took in a deep breath before addressing Jonah's assumption. "Well, I always thought that someday I would become an Elder, but this wasn't exactly planned and it wasn't exactly the right time." He explained to the Elders. "If it's a choice between being an Elder and being with my family, I chose my family."
"Of course you do." Gideon spoke from behind the other Elders. He stepped forward. "You have barely fulfilled any of your Elder duties."
"We weren't aware you were here, Gideon." Sandra said to him.
"Well, I am an Elder aren't I?" He replied to her. "I have every right to be here. You should strip Leo of all his power and recycle him."
"What?" Leo couldn't believe what Gideon was saying.
"That seems a bit harsh." Sandra said. "He has always been a great white lighter and aside from falling in love with a charge, he's usually very good at following most of the rules."
"He did threaten you though." Jonah replied to Sandra.
"In all fairness, if I were in his situation I might have done the same thing." She said back.
"Look, you can take my powers for all I care, just let me stay with Piper." He begged.
"After that, they sent me away so they could talk amongst themselves and decide what do to." Leo said. "They didn't wan to leave you without a white lighter and they assumed you wouldn't take lightly to a new one."
"But I still don't understand." Piper said. "This isn't exactly a punishment."
"No, I guess it isn't." Leo replied. He smiled. "I'm just glad to be home, to be with my family."
"Well, we're glad to have you Dad." Chris said, patting the back of Leo's shoulder.
Leo kept smiling. It felt good when Chris called him Dad. He knew that he obviously wasn't the best father in Chris' future, but Chris seemed to be able to put that aside and take him for who he was now instead who he was in some future that may not even exist anymore. "Any thoughts on dinner?" He asked, glancing down at the pot on the stove. "I hope this isn't it."
Piper smiled. "No, it's not it. How about I cook up a big stir fry?" She suggested.
"I love your stir fries." Chris replied excitedly. It had been so long since he had had one of her good stir fries. It was one of his favorites. In fact, it had been one of Wyatt's favorites too.
"That sounds great." Leo said. Paige agreed.
Almost two hours later, they were all sitting around the dining room table. Leo was next to Piper, with Wyatt's highchair at the head of the table nearest Leo. Chris sat at the other head of the table, while Phoebe and Paige sat next to one another.
Piper had prepared a beef stir fry with carrots, peapods, a little bit of onion, and mushrooms laid over white rice. They each had a huge plateful, except for Wyatt though. Piper gave him a little, but made sure the food was in small pieces and she left out the carrots. He was in a 'no carrots' stage. Any time she tried to give him carrots, he usually spit it out right away or made a huge fuss before she could even get it to his mouth.
The rest of the evening went by peacefully. There were no demon attacks and her family was all home, safe and sound.
The next morning she awoke, not realizing how late she had slept. She jumped upright in her bed, reaching for Leo, but he wasn't there. Her mind immediately went to the worst thought...the Elders had taken him again. As the bedroom door swayed open though, she realized that he had just beat her up, the Elders hadn't taken him.
"Hey." He greeted her. "I was just coming to wake you."
"Yeah, I didn't mean to sleep so late." Her arms stretched and then quickly went to her stomach.
"Everything ok?" Leo asked with worry.
"Yeah, just need the bathroom. That kid of yours won't stop with the morning sickness." She climbed out of bed, making her way to the toilet.
Leo followed her, but stopped just outside the doorway. "When's your doctors appointment?" He asked.
Piper was leaned over the toilet, holding her hair out of her face. "It's in an hour, so I don't have a lot of time to get ready." She answered.
"Ok, I think it'll be nice having ultra sound pictures of Chris. We don't have any for Wyatt." He said.
Piper emerged from the bathroom. "Hey I wanted to go to a doctor with him and do all the ultra sounds and normal pregnant mom things, but you guys wouldn't let me." She retorted and went to the dresser for some clothes.
Paige knocked on the door and without waiting for someone to open it, she started talking. "Do you still need me to go with to the doctor?" She asked.
Piper reached for the door, opening it. "No, that's ok." She glanced at Leo. "You're coming right?"
"Yeah, of course." He answered.
"Oh, alright." Paige replied. "Just thought I'd double check." Paige headed off down the hall, leaving Piper alone with Leo once again.
"I should go get Wyatt ready." Leo said. "He's downstairs playing with Chris, but I haven't changed him out of his pajamas yet."
"Ok. I'll be down in a few." Piper replied.
Leo left her alone in the room to finish getting ready for her doctors appointment. During this appointment she would finally get an ultrasound picture and learn the sex of the baby, though she already that it was a healthy boy growing inside of her or she had hoped he was healthy. Chris was healthy, so why wouldn't the baby be?
This isn't the longest update, but I'm working already on the next part. Hopefully I will be able to update a bit quicker next time. I guess Leo wasn't necessarily punished. I thought about taking away his powers, maybe even recycling him, but I couldn't do that to Leo. I wanted him to be with Piper and his kids, which is where he belonged. Anyways...comments are appreciated. Thanks!