Title: Piper's New Year Resolution
Fandom: Charmed
Author: Apache Firecat
Dedicated To: <3 To my Angel, to my one who taught me how to stand up for myself, my sweet, loving, ever-inspiring J <3
Characters: Leo/Piper
Rating: PG-13/T
Summary: Piper's spent all day preparing New Year's dinner, but now that it's late, and she's tired, she's realizing there are more important things and actually making a couple of resolutions for herself, and for Leo.
Word Count: 1,484
Written For: Fan FlashWorks, 394: Preparation, a new fandom for the author at 100 Fandom Hell and a new character for Fannish 50, and Lands of Magic 10.21: What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: All characters within belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.










She is exhausted. Her cheeks are burning, although not with the ridicule to which she had grown so accustomed in her younger years. Her fingers ache; her mind aches. It seems like her entire being is so heavy that she cannot take another step until he appears. Then she closes the distance between them, slips into his open, welcoming arms, and just relishes the way he holds her, so close, so gently, so thoroughly as if nothing in this world around them can ever touch her again.

Deep down, Piper knows it's her fault. Her sisters don't ask her to do all that much or, if they do, they don't honestly understand the toll that it takes on her. Yet she cooks morning breakfast, noon, and night. She cooks for a living; she cooks at home. She cooks for every occasion that comes up, for every person who asks her. Leo presses a kiss to her forehead, and in that instant, Piper knows he knows. He knows that she's exhausted. He knows that this is all taking an enormous toll on her. He knows, just as she does, that she needs to find a new niche, a new place for herself, a way to finally, stubbornly, flatly, fully say no.

She'll cook for work or she'll cook for home, but she won't spend every moment when she's actually off cooking. She was actually off today, and without a Demonic attack, yet she still spent all day and night running for others. She picked up books for Phoebe and dry cleaning for Prue. She cooked breakfast for her sisters this morning and slaved over the New Year's dinner for tonight, and she cooked cakes and pies for a church into which she dares not even slip. All this after just cooking Christmas dinner by herself last week and volunteering at the homeless shelter to make sure that even the innocents that others may not manage to reach still got a good Christmas dinner.

A groan slips from her, and Leo's arms become stronger around her. He holds her up, holds her against him so close that, in the quiet solitude of the moment, Piper can feel his heart beating against her. Then he kisses her head again and draws back so that he can look at her. "You're exhausted," he comments, gently touching her face.

She feels his fingertips begin to warm and shakes her head firmly. "No." No matter how exhausted she is, she's not going to allow him to heal her when it's her own fault she's this tired. He picks up her hands instead and turns them slowly over in his hands. As he's examining her cuts, Piper smiles sweetly for watching their hands has caused her to realize what an awesomely perfect fit her smaller hands are inside of his. His hands truly are skilled in so many ways.

If she had not already known it, she would have thought him a doctor. Not for the first time, she wonders how many people he saved in World War 2, how many who would not have survived if not for him. Realizing that her mouth had opened, ready to protect all she's been through today, Piper suddenly shuts her mouth. He's given so much of himself and continues to give around the clock. He never rests, never thinks of himself. Why should she? At least she only has her two sisters, a bar full of employees, and whatever innocents happen into their lives of whom to think.

She helps the homeless too, and the other needy, when she can, but it still isn't anything like going through a war saving countless lives and then even dedicating one's afterlife to continuing to heal others. She has no idea how many other Witches with whom she shares her White Lighter, her dear husband, but she knows there's a plethora of them. Yet Leo never complains, unless he's wearied of them taking time away from them being able to be together. He never speaks of how tired he is, of how he might wish someone might intervene on his behalf. He never speaks of his exhaustion or his business on his own behalf.

She thinks back, for a moment, to when they had been under the call of the Seven Immortal Sins. Leo had told her, afterward, that he'd been Sloth, stuck on the couch, eating popcorn, not caring about anyone or anything. It seems impossible to imagine him like that for her man is always moving, always dedicating everything within himself to helping others. He never stops! Unless he's holding her...

"I just had a great idea," Piper says, leaning into him, draping her arms over his shoulders on which, it far too often seems, rests a whole world, and entwining her hands behind his neck. She knows he could still orb out of her embrace, but she chooses not to dwell on that unsavory thought... at least for the moment. If he does go, she'll have no choice but to think of it, but right now, all she wants to think about is the two of them being together... and perhaps getting a little rest which is very well deserved for the both of them.

"What's that?" he asks, enjoying the way her brown eyes shine with sudden mirth and merriment.

"Why don't you and I go up to the bed," she suggests, grinning, "and just hold each other for a while and sleep?"

"What about your dinner?" Leo asks, glancing behind her at the filled counters and stove.

"They'll be home any moment now. Even if Kit manages to get lucky and get a little bit in before they get here, he'll never be able to eat the whole thing."

"Piper, I've told you that cat is a -- "

"He. She. It. Whatever. I don't care." She raises her fingers and curls them into ends of his sandy hair, tugging slightly. "All I care about right now, Leo, is I love you and I love the way your arms feel around me and how you feel in my arms. All I want to do is rest with my hand on your shoulder and our arms still around each other. And I know, no matter what you say, as exhausted as I am, you're more so."

The corners of his mouth twitch. Rather they're heading into a protest or a smile, she can't quite tell, but she doesn't care. She's used to him always declaring that he's fine, even, and sometimes especially, when he's not. "I'm already dead," he says, but she shakes her head, stopping him before he can really begin to protest.

"I don't care," she interjects simply. "You're dead and married, and right now, your wife wants you to hold her."

He lifts his shoulders into a shrug, but the look he gives her -- completely floored and awed, completely full of love and gratitude too -- tells her she's made the right decision. He orbs them from the kitchen straight onto their bed, and Piper curls closer into his arms. She holds him tighter as they start the new year perfectly, his lips on hers, but not without one more thought, a promise to herself and to him as well: Never again. In the new year, she won't be such a pushover. In the new year, she's going to start putting herself first, as well as her husband. She's never done that before -- never known how to do it --, but she's going to learn this year, for them both, before they're both not just married but dead as well, dead from others' unspoken expectations. From now on, she'll cook when it pleases her, and she'll cook for him. But the others will have to start fending for themselves more often, except, perhaps, on special occasions.

Today was a special day, she thinks, sliding underneath Leo as their bodies make decisions for themselves, but she can think of so many, far more splendid ways to celebrate it than cooking all day. That was Grams' niche, and although she used to enjoy it, she's got far more on her proverbial plate now, and far more reasons to celebrate in other ways. Besides, Grams never had a happy marriage, and if there's any one thing Piper wants most of all in this life, or any other, it's a long eternity loving this man above her, loving her Angel. "I love you, Leo," she manages to gasp out.

"I love you, Piper!" To her surprise, he angles his mouth in a different direction, placing a searing line of kisses down her jawline and onto her breasts. Clearly, he's been missing this, and her, as much as she has him! Yeah, there are better ways to celebrate not just the new year but every day! Cooking's going to have to take a backseat for a while.





The End