"This all ya have?" the old landlord asked in a raspy voice, eying our suitcases and bags.

"Yup," said Leo. "Not much."

The old man held out the keys.

"I ain't got many rules," he said as he handed Leo the keys. "Just get alon' with the neighbors, and you'll get alon' with me. I don't like complainin'."

Leo nodded. "Yes sir."

"Guess this is it. Rent's due the firs' of the month," he grunted as he walked away.

We walked inside our new apartment and I looked around.

"Ready?" I asked.

"Sure," he said, kissed my cheek, then picked up a suitcase and carried it to our bedroom.

We didn't have much to do, because we didn't really have much to put away. We hung our clothes in the closet, and then went back to the living room. We needed so much, mainly furniture. The only thing of value was my laptop, which luckily picked up internet here.

After a while of just sitting on the floor and looking around, Leo spoke up.

"We should probably go shopping," he said. "Need food."

"How much money do we have?" I asked, not wanting to know the answer.

"Down to forty bucks," he said. "I get paid in two days, though."

"Alright," I said. That wasn't so bad.

He smiled at me. "Told ya we'd make it."

"Yeah," I said, returning the smile. "Okay," I stood up, "let's go."

As we walked outside, an old couple was sitting outside in front of their door.

"Afternoon," the old man said.

I pulled Leo over with me as I walked to them.

"Good afternoon. I guess we're your new neighbors," I said with a smile.

"Welcome," said the old woman cheerfully. "I'm Mary Ellen, and this is my husband, Paul."

"Nice to meet you," I said, extending a hand. "I'm Piper, and this is my boyfriend, Leo."

"Hello," said Leo awkwardly as he shook Paul's hand.

"How old are you two? Can't be older than sixteen, seventeen..."

"Eighteen," I said quickly. "And Leo's nineteen."

"Hmph," grunted Mary Ellen, sitting back.

"Well, we won't keep ya," said Paul. "Nice to meet ya."

"See you around," I said as Leo and I turned to walk away.

"They looked happy," Leo said.

"Yeah," I agreed, holding onto his hand a little tighter. He pulled me closer as we walked to the car...


Things were going great. It had been a little over two months since we left. Leo was at work and I was sitting on our bed, the only furniture we had, on my laptop.

I clicked 'Sign In' on my yahoo messenger, not even caring if people IMed me. The second I did, I wished I hadn't.

You have 311 unread emails! popped up automatically.

Followed by alot of offline messages, and suddenly, tons of new IMs.

"Oh god," I whispered, quickly clicking appear invisible.

They all stopped. Except one. Prue's.

PrincessPrue70: Like that's gonna fool me. I know your on.

"Uggh," I groaned, typing a message.

PiperHalliwell: Yeah, yeah. What's up? I entered.

PrincessPrue70: What's up? You hung up on me and we haven't talked in weeks!

PiperHalliwell: Sorry, lot's been happening.

PrincessPrue70: Like what? Keep me in the loop! I miss you :(

PiperHalliwell: I miss you too. We got an apartment. Leo's at work right now.

PiperHalliwell: How is everybody?

PrincessPrue70: We all miss you. Especially Mom. Grams is just trying to cheer everybody up, and Dad just gets mad and leaves when anybody brings you up.

PiperHalliwell: Is mom around?

PrincessPrue70: Yeah. She's in her room. She doesn't really come out anymore.

I bit my lip. Had I really caused all that?

PiperHalliwell: Guess I really messed things up, huh?

PrincessPrue70: Guess so...

PrincessPrue70: I still don't understand. If Leo meant that much, couldn't you just ask them to reconsider? At the very least, you could've told me...

PiperHalliwell: It's done. I left. And I'm a lot happier now.

PrincessPrue70: So that's it? You're never coming home?

PiperHalliwell: Never say never. I think we all need some time apart.

PrincessPrue70: Piper, it's been two months. What about us?

PiperHalliwell: I know. But it's great here. I love living with Leo. I feel so happy all the time.

PrincessPrue70: I guess I'm happy that you're happy. I just miss you... Can I ask you something?

PiperHalliwell: Sureee...

PrincessPrue70: Have you and him... you know? I know you told me you wouldn't but... you guys are alone now...

PiperHalliwell: Nope. We haven't.

PrincessPrue70: Are you gonna?

PiperHalliwell: I don't know.

PrincessPrue70: We said we'd be virgins until we got married...

PiperHalliwell: Things have changed. Oh well.

PrincessPrue70: So you are gonna?

PiperHalliwell: I don't see a reason not to. Me and Leo wil be together forever. Why not go ahead?

PrincessPrue70: CHANGE OF SUBJECT! Haha... I met a guy.

PiperHalliwell: Well, that's not much of a change of subject. Who is he?

PrincessPrue70: His name is Roger. He is soooo great.

PiperHalliwell: Well, good. I miss talking about guys with you.

PrincessPrue70: I miss you being here!

PrincessPrue70: You know, if dad knew I talked to you, or that I knew where you were, he'd probably kill me.

PiperHalliwell: Thanks for not telling...I don't think we should come home. I dropped out of high school, left my friends, and destroyed my family.

PrincessPrue70: But you can come home. You can fix it.

PiperHalliwell: I'm not gonna say this again. I don't want to come home, I am happy here... Please stop asking me to come home.

PrincessPrue70: Okay, okay... ):

PiperHalliwell: So. How have you been?

We talked for hours until Leo got home.

"Hey, honey," I greeted, sending a quick goodbye message and closing my laptop.

"Hello, beautiful," he said with a smile. He leaned over and placed a kiss on my cheek.

"How was work?" I asked, as he sat beside me and pulled me closer to him.

"Nowhere near as great as being here, with you," he said, grinning.

I laid in his arms, feeling completely happy with life. But I still felt like a chunk was missing. A part of me that was arguing that this wasn't right. I felt compelled to shut that part of me up, ignore it, but it was hard. How could I go on, knowing I was causing my family such pain?

"Two against the world," whispered Leo, reading my mind.

So what if my family wasn't happy? I was. We were. That's all I cared about.

At least, that's all I wanted to care about.

We had always said we were two against the world. We were in it for us, and nobody else.

I held his hand in mine and held it to my heart.

"Two against the world," I whispered back.