Hello, this is Hannah, you're story supervisor! If you look down, you'll see the DISCLAIMER, and further down is the SUMMARY...Ooh...Ahh...To your left is the end of the window, and to the right is the other end of the window. Please remember to keep your hands and feet and other objects (stop it, sickos. I don't mean anything like that...) inside the window at all times.

Have a safe read, and don't forget to review!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Charmed. Any events in this story that relate to any person (alive or dead) besides those who helped me out with their own experiences—you'll know who your are—came from my own imagination or the imagination that television has planted inside my head. Uh, if you see something that looks familiar and it bugs you, let me know. Now, I'm not saying I'm gonna do anything about it, but at least I'll know.

SUMMARY: This is a story about one man's struggle to "get a grip" on life and the help he gets from one woman, despite what's gone wrong in their pasts before. (I know, it's a short summary, but that's all that you really need to know. I don't want to give anything away.)

NOTE: THIS IS WRITTEN IN LEO'S POV

CHAPTER ONE - ANSWERING MACHINE

It wasn't raining hard. The forecast called for nothing more than the light rain that was coming down now. There were a few die-hards braving the rain, some of them just trying to go home, some of them on a mission to get somewhere...There was a group of young teens, no older than fourteen. Two girls, two boys, just walking in the rain. Across the street was a couple, seeming to be in their late twenties, huddled together, looking for a quiet cafe to go into to wait the rain out.

I wasn't sure where I was going, really. Away. Somewhere. Anywhere. I thought about a lot that night, in those couple of hours in the rain. Actually, I realized that wandering around in the rain can get a person two things: 1—A lot of time to think. 2—A reputation as an idiot.

Oh, well.

I watched the couple for a moment as I stood against a building across the street. The man had his jacket off and it was wrapped around the woman's shoulders. She started walking faster. He pulled her back by her hand and kissed her.

To be honest, I was jealous of them then. I knew that if I were standing there a month before, I would be happy for them, but right now I wasn't. But I knew that the chances were that they would not make it together. I'm not saying that what happened to me would happen to them...Then again, who knows? Still, I didn't hope it would be true.

I used to believe in soul mates...I think I still did then. I believed that there was only one person I could love and when she was gone, there was nothing. I could never love again.

At least, that was what I thought...

I remember the day I met her.

God, she was beautiful.

It was the way she walked that first caught my attention. She walked swiftly, with pride and determination. Her hair moved as she moved. When it was down, it would sway with her.

And her eyes. I could get lost in her eyes for hours, maybe days, and not even notice the world go by. Her copper eyes matched her long dark hair. I always had a weakness for brunettes, too.

I remember watching her walk past and not being able to make eye contact with her. My eyes would follow her along as she walked and just watch her smile at the people around her. Or sometimes I'd watch her legs.

But that's another story.

I wasn't too trusting of women then. I wasn't looking for a relationship, having just come out of a bad one a month or so before. She claimed not to be wanting one either.

She was energetic. Fun loving and carefree, she seemed to have the heart of a child inside the body of a beautiful woman. She tried for so long to get me out of my shell, even after knowing what had gone horribly wrong in my last relationship. She lived for the moment, not the future or the past. It seemed to work for her.

She was always showing up at my house, on my doorstep, in my kitchen. At first I tried to rid myself of her, but she kept coming back, like a lost puppy. After a time, I realized what she was doing, how hard she was working to bring me into the light. Not long after that, I started to realize how much I really wanted her.

And from there, we just took off...But I'll start from the beginning.

"I can't get—No, I need those numbers in here today."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Wyatt, but we can't get the fax to you until Friday."

"I ordered the papers last month. It's been delay after delay. What's next with you people?"

"I'm sorry, Sir, but—"

"No, forget it. I'll get the files from a different company."

"Mr. Wyatt, I really think you're making a bad decision here. Our company—"

"Bite me."

I slammed the phone down on the charger with a frustrated sigh. My boss had been breathing down my neck for weeks now, demanding the files on the Brookson & Madison agreement that took place two months ago, a merger of two major banks across the country in New York. I'd ordered the papers long ago and the company just kept putting it off.

Oh well.

I'd have to get them some other way now.

I flopped down in my leather chair and felt it go back on the wheels when I did. I scooted up to my desk and deflated. Without really realizing it, I started beating my hands on the desk. I sighed again and looked around my office.

Huh.

My desk needed to be cleaned. I made a mental note to let my secretary know. It was a large oak desk with a few drawers on each side and a long drawer in the middle. It had a sheet of glass fitted on top of it so that I could slide pictures or notes into it and not worry about them being harmed by anything spilling or falling on it. It was a space saver as well, my secretary's idea. She was a neat freak.

When I came back in from an early lunch break, my secretary, a young woman in her twenties who had been working with me for almost three years, passed by me with a manila folder. She stopped and put the hand with the folder on my chest to stop me, too.

"I thought you quit," she said, shaking her head. Her dark blonde hair swaying in its pony tail. She gave me the look a mother would give her son when he broke a window in a new house.

I shrugged but didn't take the cigarette out of my mouth.

"Leo..."

Oh, by the way, that's my name. Leo Wyatt. And my secretary's name is Sarah Jackson. Like I said, she was younger than me, about twenty-four. I was twenty-six then.

She shook her head again. She reached into the inside pocket of my jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Then she took the cigarette I was smoking right out of my mouth. "You're quitting."

I sighed.

"Now, go work." She pushed me back to my office.

About three months ago Sarah had convinced me to stop smoking. I'll admit it was a bad habit, but I still had a cigarette whenever I was stressed.

I sat at my desk in the leather rolling chair. I looked at the phone on my desk and saw that the charger was beeping. I had a message. Three, in fact. I pressed the 'PLAY' button.

"This is Abby Larsen from—"

I pressed 'SKIP'.

"Leo, it's me. I know you don't want to talk to me, but you really need to listen. I'm so sorry, I should never have kept anything from you. I should have just told you. And I'm sorry I left, but I—I was scared...So I...I just left. I was scared, Leo. You have to understand that. Please call me, call my cell...Maybe...we...Maybe we can try again?"

The desperation in her voice was all too clear. I pressed 'STOP' and gave a deep sigh, leaning back in my chair.

I didn't want to talk to Monica Perkins.

We'd just broken up a few weeks ago. She was living with me and left in the middle of the night.

We didn't break up on good terms, either. We had a good relationship, up until the last few months. We started fighting a lot, for good reasons.

She cheated on me.

With my best friend.

It's safe to say Joe and I aren't friends anymore, especially since he didn't tell me he was sleeping with Monica. Neither one of them told me. They kept their two-month affair secret from me.

Then she got pregnant.

I, of course, thought it was my baby. We'd been dating for about seven months and we were both happy. We talked about getting married, told our families. That was when she decided to tell me the baby might not be mine. I confronted Joe, and he denied everything at first, then finally confessed. Then Monica and I fought a lot, and she continued to say she was sure the baby was mine, that it wasn't Joe's.

Three weeks later, she miscarried.

Joe and I were both at the hospital. We tried not to fight, but couldn't help it. But when it came down to it, we were both in Monica's room with her, taking turns comforting her. She was devastated. She wanted to keep the baby, no matter whose it was.

So she left.

I didn't talk to her for two weeks, then she started calling, leaving messages, trying to get a hold of me, get back together. I haven't called her back yet, and I didn't know if I was going to.

The next day, I decided to call. I was in an outdoor restaurant, sitting by myself with a tall coffee. My cell phone was sitting on the table I was at and I was debating whether to pick it up and call her or just stare at it. Right now I was staring. I took a drink of coffee and finally picked up the phone. I opened it and held down the 5 button, remembering Monica's number was on my speed dial. In a few seconds it was ringing. I waited.

"Leo?" a scared voice picked up.

"Monica..."

"I'm so glad you called."

"Yeah...I got all your messages..."

There was a pause, where I could hear some sniffling and coughing. "Are you crying?" I asked.

"It's...It's just been really hard," she said, and I could tell she really was crying.

I didn't know what to say. I was trying to feel sympathy for her, but I could only feel anger. "We can't get back together, you know."

There was a pause, then a sniffle. "I know," she said quietly.

I heard a man's voice in the background at her house. "Is that Joe?" I asked, knowing full well it was him.

There was another pause. "...Yes."

"Oh my God—"

"No, no, Leo—"

"Don't bother, Monica."

I hung up and sighed. So she was living with Joe, like she said she might be. She had talked about maybe moving in with him. She'd said that he was willing to take care of her.

How had everything gone so bad so quickly?

Why would she want to try again with me if she was with Joe?

She was ready to cheat on him, I thought...It didn't matter. I didn't care. I wanted to, I really did. I wanted to knock some sense into her, to feel sorry for her and grieve with her for a child that could have been mine...But I couldn't. I didn't feel anything, really.

I was cold.

I didn't trust women. I knew not all women were like Monica, but she was the second girl who had cheated on me. Was it me?

I shook my head and told myself to forget it, that it was coincidental.

But I still didn't want another relationship for a while. In all consideration, I knew there were true women out there, who worked for what they got and deserved it all, but I just couldn't seem to find her.

And right then I didn't want to.

Okay, I hope you liked it! I want everyone to know that I've already written this entire story out, and it's fifteen chapters long. So one down, fourteen to go! Some of the chapters are average-length like this, but there are a few that are really long, in my opinion. This is, of course, a P&L fic, but it's a little different than the scenario that goes: They meet, they greet, they fall in love. This one is different. It was a lot of fun to write, too! Piper comes in in Chapter 3, don't worry. We have to close the Monica case first.

Please review! It doesn't take that long and I want to know what you think!

- Scout

PS: God, I HATE this new login thing! Why did they have to change it?