Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed or anything associated with it.
Author's Note: This is a one-chapter short story about Piper and Leo. Not much to say about it, so I'll just get right into it.
Piper was walking down the streets of San Francisco. She didn't know exactly where she was going. All she knew was that she had to get him out of her head.
Him…Leo. Every time things were going good for them, something always had to go wrong. He always had to leave. He'd come back with apologies, but then he'd leave again, breaking her heart over and over. It was an endless cycle that she was trapped in. She constantly told herself she wouldn't let him back in, but one look into his soft green eyes made her melt. Then he'd shatter her heart. It seemed that she could never be happy without being pulled back into darkness.
It started raining, but she didn't care. She simply pulled the hood of her sweatshirt over her head and kept walking. The neighborhood she was in, it seemed familiar, but she couldn't place it. She walked to the corner and tried to read the street sign, but it was too dark to see anything, so she kept walking.
'Why do I keep doing this to myself?' she thought. She always fell into his arms whenever he came back around. Being with him made her feel happier than she ever had in her entire life. Whenever he left, however, she was so miserable. Although she'd never admit it, she knew she couldn't live without him. But, she couldn't keep going on like this. She needed a stable relationship, not on-again off-again. She wanted to settle down and have a family, and she knew he wanted that too. So why did he keep running? Why did he keep leaving her in the dark? She couldn't understand it. She couldn't understand him.
She stopped in front of an apartment building and suddenly realized where she was. This was the last place he lived, before he left her. She hadn't been here since they were last together, so she didn't know if he was still living here. A shiver went up her spine. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge. She didn't want to go in. Common sense said he was long gone, but something in the back of her mind told her to go in anyway.
She trudged up the stairs to the sixth, and top floor. Wherever he was, he always lived on the top floor. He said he felt closer to the Heavens that way. She smiled as she recalled times they would get stuck in a crowded elevator just so he could take her to the roof of a building and stare at the stars.
6D. His apartment number. Piper had been standing in front of the door for at least half an hour. She couldn't muster up the energy to even knock. He probably wasn't there anyway. His nametag had been taken off the door. "He's gone," she said to herself. But she still couldn't leave. She finally turned the doorknob and stepped inside. It was dark. She couldn't see an inch in front of her. She fingered the wall and found the light switch. The room was empty. There was so much dust on the floor, it was apparent it hadn't been inhabited for months.
She just stood in the doorway. She couldn't move. It finally sank in. He was really gone. She couldn't believe it. This time, he was gone for good.
She looked around the room and saw a lone box in the corner. It was labeled 'Piper'. She walked over and bent down beside it, hesitant to open it up. 'What could possibly be inside it that would pertain to me?' she thought to herself. She couldn't resist the temptation. She opened the box. She was astounded to find hundreds of photographs inside. Some were of her, the others were of them together. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she sifted through, remembering when and where each and every photo was taken.
"I was hoping you'd come back." said a familiar voice from behind.
A chill ran down Piper's spine as she recognized who the voice belonged to. It was Leo. She froze, not knowing what to say or what to do.
He walked over and sat down on the floor next to her.
"I left this box here for you." he said.
She looked into his eyes, still crying.
"How did you know I would even come back?" she asked.
"Because I know you better than you know yourself." he whispered as he wiped the tears from her cheeks.
He was doing it again, making her fall back in love with him. She was lost in his eyes. She couldn't move, she didn't want to.
Something had changed. He had changed. Maybe this was his way of telling her he was never leaving again. She didn't care. He was here now, and that's all she needed. She melted into him as he pulled her into his arms and wiped her tears away. 'He's back,' she thought to herself. 'And I'm never letting him go.'