Charmed - Without You


Title: Without You
Written For: Charmed Flashfic
Pairing: Piper/Leo
Rating: PG
Author’s Note: Songfic based on the song Without You by Kimberley Locke and Clay Aiken.
Disclaimer: Without You belongs to the people who produced Kimberley Locke’s CD. No infringement is intended.


Never even thought to cry
When I heard you say goodbye
Never said where you were going
There’s no laughter in the air
Only silence everywhere
And so much left unspoken

Piper looked at her son, sleeping peacefully in his crib, blissfully unaware that his entire world had been thrown into turmoil. So much had happened so fast that she really hadn’t had time to even catch her breath.

Now Leo was gone and she was left to pick up the pieces. Paige had almost died and even almost losing another sister was too much for Piper to bear. And now she had Future Boy to deal with. She didn’t know if she could trust him. They had no idea what his agenda was for coming back in time or even if he really was from the future. Yes, he had helped save Paige and had convinced Leo to give the sisters the powers of the Gods to save the world from the Titans. But it could still be some sort of trick. After all, Cole had seemed innocent enough at first.

Despite it all, Piper couldn’t cry. She was the oldest sister now (thanks a lot, Prue) and she had to be strong for the rest of the family. They all leaned on her. But who was she going to lean on now that Leo was gone?

Since you’ve been gone
I haven’t been the same
I wish that I could see
Who’s to blame

Phoebe and Paige watched Piper from a distance. She had changed, they agreed. She wasn’t the same Piper they had known and loved for so many years. It wasn’t like her to just go through the motions. They were concerned because she hadn’t really shown much emotion since Leo left.

Piper saw the whispered conversations that Phoebe and Paige thought they were hiding from her. She knew they wanted to help her, but she didn’t know what she needed, so how could they possibly help?

She also was struggling with accepting Chris and his new role in their lives. As far as she was concerned, it was his fault that Leo was gone and she was raising her son alone. She knew that Phoebe and Paige had accepted the young white lighter from the future, but she was having serious issues trusting the person who had broken up her happy family.

Without you, where do I belong?
Without you, how can I go on?
No love but yours will ever do
Tell me how am I supposed to live
My life without you?

Piper was becoming unbearable. Paige and Phoebe finally called Leo and found out that he had cast a spell on her to help her deal with the pain of losing him. They made him reverse it.

The tears flowed free after that. Piper’s emotions ran high after being suppressed for so long.

It took time, but she was finally able to start moving on. She grudgingly accepted that Leo becoming an Elder and leaving her and Wyatt was for the greater good (just as she had grudgingly accepted that Prue died because it was her time). She didn’t like it, but she knew she would drive herself crazy if she didn’t accept it and move on.

Phoebe and Paige were supportive. They encouraged her to get out and date again. It was hard dating mere mortals after being married to an angel. The single mom thing didn’t seem to be going over too well either. Wyatt had some issues with her spending time with men other than his daddy and did his best to interfere.

It was even harder for Piper to deal with since Paige was so happy with Richard (even though she still wasn’t sure if they could trust him with his magic) and Phoebe was so happy with Jason (even though she was avoiding tell him their secret). She was suddenly the odd man out, the fifth wheel and she didn’t want to accept it.

Was I lost in you and me
To the point I couldn’t see
That what we had was dying

She wasn’t sure where along the way she had lost independent Piper. But they had been Piper and Leo for so long that it was hard to find the old, single, independent Piper again. She buried herself in work, demon hunting, and taking care of her baby.

Unfortunately, those activities still left a gaping hole in her heart that she feared would never heal.

Now it’s all that I can do
To see photographs of you
And stop myself from cryin’
I should learn to live without your love
Got so many memories, but it’s not enough

The longer time went on, the easier it was for Piper to be around Leo and not feel awkward. They were able to work together to fight evil and also able to care for their son together.

The old feelings were still there, but they were more of a hazy memory than the nagging ache they had been right after Leo left. Both were able to push them aside and work for the cause of the greater good.

Then, of course, the other shoe dropped, as it always did when one was a Charmed One. Piper and Leo got trapped by a dark lighter on the ghostly plane. Leo was hit with one of his poisonous arrows and after so long without not being rescued by Phoebe and Paige, both figured he was going to die.

They cried in each other’s arms and admitted finally that they still loved each other. Their passion got the best of them for what they assumed would be the last time. Of course, Phoebe and Paige managed to save the day in the end and Leo got to Gideon for healing just in time. He also got in serious trouble for spending so much time on Earth with his family.

I feel helpless and oh so all alone
Like I’ve never felt before

And then, of course, the biggest bombshell of all. Chris, the arrogant, deceptive, untrustworthy part witch, part white lighter from the future, turned out to be Piper and Leo’s son. One dying rendez-vous on the ghostly plane and now Piper was going to be a single mom to two sons.

Phoebe and Paige wanted her to tell Leo, but Piper didn’t want to cause him any more trouble than he had already been through. Besides the fact that she was having enough issues of her own reconciling the fact that Chris was her son and didn’t need to deal with Leo’s issues also.

Sure, she still missed Leo and she would like it if they could be one, big, happy family but she knew that Leo had a higher calling and she couldn’t be the reason why he did not fulfill his destiny. She was strong; she had gotten through losing her mother, her grandmother and her big sister. She had been alone for almost a year and was raising Wyatt just fine. Deep down, she wondered if she was up to facing yet another challenge, but she buried those feelings and put on a brave front for her family.

You made me feel alive
But I don’t remember what it’s like anymore

Secrets never lasted long in the Halliwell family. Leo ended up finding out about Chris. He was a little upset that no one had bothered to tell him. He was very upset to find out that Chris hated him in the future. He had always considered himself a good father and no matter what, could not get Chris to tell him what he did that was so horrible.

The good thing was that Leo started hanging around more again, despite what the other Elders said. In her secret heart, Piper was pleased to have him back. She hoped that Chris’s revelations might have some impact and in some tiny place she would never admit to, she hoped that maybe Leo would give up being an Elder and come back to her. She knew that no matter how much heartache she had gone through because of him, he was her soul mate and she would give anything to have him back.

As time drew closer to her delivery date, tension mounted in the house. Chris finally revealed his final, devastating secret - the evil that had corrupted Wyatt had struck before he was born.

Piper’s labor and delivery were traumatic. She wondered if anyone in the Halliwell family ever gave birth under normal circumstances. It was an odd feeling, to both gain and lose a son in the same day. She was devastated when she learned that future Chris had been killed and disappeared. She held out a small glimmer of hope that he somehow made it back to his future and was healed.

As she held the tiny baby in her arms, she vowed to give him a happier future than the one he had come back from to change.

Without you, where do I belong?
Without you, how can I go on?


Leo visited every day, bringing armfuls of gifts. He was there to take her and Chris home from the hospital. He slept on the couch in the living room and took turns feeding the baby in the middle of the night so she could get some rest. He stayed with both boys when she and her sisters went to vanquish demons. By the time Chris was three months old, Leo had moved into the spare bedroom.

He gave up being an Elder. The council was angry with him for killing Gideon, but understood he did what he had to do to protect his family. They granted his request to be demoted and to serve only as the white lighter to the Charmed Ones and to his sons.

Phoebe finally confronted him about his feelings for Piper one day, when Chris was four months old. Leo was the only one in the family that hadn’t taken the empath blocking potion and his feelings had been broadcasting loud and clear through the house practically since the day they brought Chris home from the hospital.

He broke down and cried when Phoebe confronted him. He desperately wanted him and Piper and their sons to be a family, but he didn’t know how to find out if Piper wanted the same thing. He knew she had gotten over him months ago when he left and he didn’t know if she could find it in her heart to trust him again.

Phoebe and Paige conspired (as they were so prone to doing) and set up a romantic, child-free dinner for Piper and Leo. They took the boys over for a play date with the Morris’s and hired a caterer to come in to prepare dinner, serve it, and clean up.

They let Leo in on the surprise and he was prepared with flowers. They lied to Piper (but it was for a good cause) and told her they were taking her out to dinner somewhere nice so she would be dressed up.

When Phoebe and Paige returned home to put the boys to bed, they peeked in to the dining room and found Piper and Leo laughing and toasting each other with champagne. They shared a victorious smile when they noticed that the couple was holding hands and was sitting so close that their legs were touching under the table.

No love but yours will ever do

The next morning Piper was shocked to find Paige and Phoebe in the kitchen with tea made before she got up. She usually had to drag her sisters out of bed to get them both to work on time.

She knew they wanted to pump her for information about her dinner with Leo and she couldn’t keep the goofy grin off her face. Her sisters had noticed (of course) that Leo had not slept in the guest room the night before.

They were going to take it slow, she told them, but they both wanted to be a family with Wyatt and Chris. They didn’t want their sons growing up without their father. And, of course, they still wanted to be together. Piper knew that there wasn’t a man in the world who would make her happier than Leo. And Leo knew that Piper was his true soul mate.

Phoebe and Paige sighed and said it was just like a fairy tale.

Piper said she hoped that she and Leo and Wyatt and Chris would live happily ever after.

End