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Unwell: Epilogue -- "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height My soul can reach" - Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Sonnets from the Portuguese, 1850) -- 5 Years Later... Piper felt the warmth of the sun on her back and the warmth of her husband beneath her. She very nearly purred with satisfaction. She had never felt this good before, and she never wanted the feeling to go away. She thought of her family and smiled with deep bone love and joy. "Morning Sunshine." Leo's graveled morning voice greeted. Piper smiled at the greeting, "good morning." She moved slightly up and kissed his jaw feeling the slight stubble. "What time is it?" "Almost 7:30." her voice was dreamy and soothing which made Leo melt. "No one's woken us up?" he asked surprised. Piper shook her head an answered, "No. They were out late last night." Leo got a grin on his face, "I say we enjoy it." Not letting Piper respond he moved until she was face to face with him. Not caring about morning breath he kissed her. There was no time like the present to make love to her and he had every intention of doing so. Piper made no protest to Leo's advances and in fact welcomed them with open arms. In the time since they had been separated Piper promised herself that if she ever got her family back she was not going to take it for granted. And on most days, such as these, she didn't. Whenever she was upset, angry, or feeling down about a situation all she had to do was remember the time when she didn't have him or their family and it instantly brought her to reality. Leo moved his hands down her body savoring the touch. He too, made a vow not to take for granted his wife or his family. The first couple of years after having Piper back Leo almost never left without her. He was terrified he would come back to find her gone again. It got to the point where they worked out a system to let the other know if something had happened. After that Leo had calmed down a little bit. He was still slightly overprotective, but Piper didn't seem to mind. -- They lay in the bed entwined with each other and could probably stay that way all day, but there was knock and they had but few seconds to haul the sheets up to cover their naked forms before two bodies bounded for the bed. "I'm hungry." Wyatt announced to his parents as he walked in. "Me too." Chris agreed. Both boys were still in their pajamas and their hair was a skewed and to their parents, they looked to precious. "Can we order room service?" Wyatt asked. Leo sat up making Piper sit up and keep the sheets covering her. Wyatt sat on the bed in front of his father and Chris climbed up to sit next to him. At five years old, today, Chris was at that stage where everything Wyatt did he had to do also. Wyatt didn't mind for the most part, but he did have his moments. Leo looked to Piper to see her thoughts and she smiled back at him, "Sure." he told his sons. Wyatt made a 'yes' motion and Chris repeated the action. "Go get menus and then your dad and I will join you and order." Piper instructed them. Wyatt knew what that meant and motioned for Chris to join him as he left their parent's room. Piper looked at the clock, "It's 8:30. You order the breakfast with the boys and I'll shower and get dressed." "Why do you get the shower first?" Leo asked in mock protest. Piper raised her eyebrow, "Because I'm the girl." Leo shook his head, "That's a sorry excuse, you're going to have to do better." Piper grinned, but inched closer to the side of the bed, "You'll just have to take it." and then turned and went for the bathroom door. However, Leo was quicker than she thought and he caught it right before she made it in. She laughed out loud as he tickled her and finally moved enough to get him to stop. "Would you get dressed? The boys need their breakfast." she laughingly admonished. He kissed her, but let her go, "Okay, but I get the shower next." he said with a pout. She rolled her eyes, but shut the door before he could do anything. -- After breakfast Piper got the boys dressed. Since it was Chris's birthday she let him choose his outfit, which resembled Wyatt's. Both were in jean shorts and plaid shirts, but Chris's plaid was red and white and Wyatt's was orange and white. Piper's own outfit consisted of dark brown shorts with a white sleeveless blouse. Leo emerged only a few moments after Piper got the boys dressed wearing jeans and a blue shirt. Leo made sure he had the hotel key and that everyone else had their personal effects and then they left. It would be the first time in two years that the family would see everyone again. It was the one year anniversary of the opening of the hotel/apartment complex that Leo, Darryl, and Jason had joined together to make. So far it had been a great success. There were twelve stories. The first floor was a restaurant the next two were reserved for shops. The next six floors were strictly apartments and the last three were hotel rooms. Leo and his family occupied the largest suite on the top floor. Most of their family took up the three floors of room. They were going to the ballroom part of the restaurant, which they had rented out, where they were all going to meet and then go to Six Flags. They had planned a four day event and since today had fallen on Chris's birthday they had let him choose what he wanted to do and after listening to Wyatt decided that Six Flags sounded like a good idea. They had met Prue last night when they came in, but they hadn't gotten the chance to see the rest of the family until this morning. "Aunt Phoebe!" Wyatt called and ran after her, Chris started to follow until he saw Paige and then ran after her shouting a greeting as he went. Phoebe was in black shorts with a light beige halter top, and Cole was wearing jeans and a button down short sleeved shirt. Piper never remembered seeing him in jeans before. It was certainly something new. Paige walked up to Piper and Leo carrying Chris, she too in black shorts, but wearing a sea green tank top that complemented her dark hair. "Who's idea was it to go to Six Flags in August in Texas?" Paige demanded. Chris laughed, "I did Aunt Paige!" he exclaimed happily. "Is that so? And I suppose the next thing your going to tell me is its your birthday too?" she teased. Chris's laughed again and nodded his head. Paige laughed with him, his laughter infectious, "Well then it's a good thing I got you a present then huh?" Chris's face perked up, "You got me a pwesent?" Paige nodded, "But your going to have to wait until we get back." Chris looked a little disappointment, but nodded and then Paige made a funny face and he was all giggles again. "Who's that laughing?" Cole asked with a serious tone coming up behind his sister and nephew. Chris stopped laughing for a moment until he saw it was Cole and then started laughing again, "It's me Uncle Cole!" Cole picked him up out of Paige's arms, "Happy Birthday Christopher!" Chris beamed at him. "There's Victor!" Wyatt told his parents and left Phoebe's side to go see his friend, Victor Morris. Leo and Piper turned around to see their good friends, Darryl and Sheila, walk up with Victor. Their two year old, Sabrina, was back in San Francisco with Sheila's parents. Piper wrapped her arms around Sheila in greeting. "So who are we missing?" Phoebe asked after giving Sheila and Darryl a hug as well. "Just Prue and I believe Andy. Jason won't make it until tonight." Leo told her. Just then Prue walked in with Andy in tow. He hadn't been able to make it last night, but he was there now dressed in jeans with a white shirt and Prue in shorts as well with a pink strapless top. "Hi Uncle Andy." Wyatt greeted. Andy gave him a huge smile and lifted the seven year old up. "How's it going?" he asked. Wyatt nodded, "Good. Are you going to Six Flags with us?" Andy nodded, "Wouldn't miss it." Wyatt grinned and Andy put him down. There was still a strong bond between Andy and Wyatt. One that had been a little hard for Leo to get past, but now he openly encouraged it. He was secure with his relationship to his sons and he owed Andy a great deal. "Alright, well are we ready to go?" Piper asked. The group nodded and headed out of the ballroom to get into the van that had been rented for their group. Piper sat in the passenger seat as Leo took to the driver's seat. She looked behind her to see her sons sitting by beloved family members and wonderful family friends. She smiled and then looked at Leo, and wondered how she had been so lucky. She thought back to five years ago when life had been up in the air. That time had changed everything in their life once again. After they had come home the newspaper were all over the story. Headlines splashed their names and pictures captured them everywhere they went. Piper had laughed when there was a book proposed about the whole affair. Agent Seer was an agent with the New York office who was
transferred to Andy's team and once she learned who Chris was she started planning out her revenge. Because when Ray Stanford has suffered it was Dan Bennett who had taken him on as a patient, but couldn't help him and Seer blamed him for that, then Victor Bennett took over Ray Sanford's seat. She wanted them both gone. In the mean time her younger sister-in-law had become engaged to
Anton and with the FBI after her
fiancé Kiera had begged Seer to fix it. So, Agent Seer had set out to do that. So, after their wedding under the guise of a honeymoon
Anton flew out to San Francisco to help Seer get Bane, capture Trudeau (as he was family friends with Seer's late husband and knew about
Kiera), and finally get Dan, Victor, and Piper. Except that when Seer ran the agents off the road the car was messed up on Piper's side and they couldn't get her out, so they settled for Leo. They never knew he had a yacht. Not to mention their own personal struggles. It was a little shaky when her and Leo came back together. There was so much to relearn and many adjustments had to be made, not to mention the added arrival of their son. They had even gone to counseling for a little while, but they had gotten through it, together. Their commitment to each other had never wavered and that was what had gotten them through. Now, five years later they were a family with members and friends surrounding them celebrating their success and their second son's birth. It was almost too much to imagine sometimes. She didn't know why God blessed her, but she was so thankful that he did. Leo brought her out of her thoughts, "Are you okay?" he whispered. She smiled at him, "Yes, very much so." she whispered back. He took her hand and kissed, which elicited many responses from the back, but the couple took it in stride and just laughed. Once they got to Six Flags one of the greeters asked if they wanted a photo, all agreed. Before they left they picked up a copy for everyone. Paige, who loved her job as head of the children's wing at Bennett Hospital, stayed in San Francisco. She still sees Jenny, whom she loves and shares a wonderful bond with. She does not see Richard. She did however, meet a wonderful man and they are now married. Prue and Andy, who were married and two months after their Six Flags adventure would find out they were expecting their first, it would be a girl. Getting over what had happened had taken Prue some time and she had even sworn of men forever, That was until, Andy, who wanted out of the Bureau and looking for a challenge, moved to Texas to be near her. They had their own detective agency and would eventually have a second child, another beautiful girl. Darryl and Sheila also stayed in San Francisco. Sheila, who loved event planning, partnered with Piper and they launched P3 where it was successful. Sheila also took Bennett Hospital on and gave many successful fund raisers on its behalf. Victor went to school with Wyatt, but had no desire to run White Investments. He became a doctor instead. Sabrina, following in her mother's footsteps ended up taking over the business with Sheila retired. Phoebe and Cole stayed in San Francisco. Cole found that his criminal justice background made him a great prosecutor. He later went on to become a judge. Phoebe, was extremely with Cole's job change. He was home more and not in near as much danger. With Piper's return she gave P3 over to new management. After the birth of their daughter, Phoebe became a writer of children's books. Her series about four sister witches, is extremely successful. Jason, who came in for the night festivities caught a glimpse of the photo. He had a copy made for his wife, Lillian, who was at home with their second child. Lillian had gotten over Leo quickly and fell into the arms of a man she had much more in common with, Jason Dean. They eventually married and had two beautiful girls. Lillian became Mayor of Sacramento and Jason built the biggest, beautiful house in the county for her and his daughters. Dan saw the picture at his sister's house later that week when he came to visit with his wife, the ever unflappable, Dr. Amelia Edwards. Who was actually a wonderful woman and very much in love with Dan. Which was she never really liked Piper. She did like Paige though. Chris and Bianca both saw the photo as
well. Chris and Bianca tried dating, found it too hard to live and work together, and split up. Finding that working together was too hard after the break up each moved away from San Francisco, and to San Diego. Where they tried dating again with the same results. Finally, after a year apart, they got married and neither works with the other. They are happy. Piper and Leo grew old with one another and
lived happily (for the most part) ever after. |
