Charmed Extended

        He snuck up on silent feet behind the woman at the stove and wrapped his arms around her, his hands gently holding her enlarged belly. His head pressed softly against her silky hair, and her breath tickled her ear as he whispered softly, "You've been cooking all day, honey. I'm never one to complain about your delicious food, but I know you tend to do a lot of cooking whenever you're thinking. What's on your mind, love?"

        "Our baby," Piper Halliwell admitted softly as she leaned back into her husband's loving embrace.

        Instant concern covered the father-to-be's face. "What's wrong?"

        Piper smiled at his concern. "Nothing, sweetheart."

        "Then what . . . ?"

        "Leo, remember the time that Prue, Phoebe, and I went into the future? We'd been married but were divorced in that time, but we had a sweet daughter. Her name was Melenda."

        "Of course I remember that time. I still haven't forgotten that kiss you gave me that morning," Leo admitted with a sheepish grin. "We still don't know the baby's sex, but if it turns out to be a girl and you want to call her Melenda, that's fine with me."

        "Actually . . . " Piper paused for a moment before admitting, "For a long time, I thought it was wonderful idea to name our first child after the woman that began the Halliwell line, Melenda Warren, but I don't want to call her that any more."

        "You don't?" he asked, confusion creasing his brow for a moment. "Why not?"

        "Well . . . I don't want to deny Melenda any honor. She was wonderful that time that Prue, Phoebe, and I got to meet her, but the truth is, there's somebody else I'd like to name her after."

        "Who?" Leo asked with a smile his wife couldn't see. He knew his beloved almost as well as he knew himself, and he now knew exactly where she was going with this.

        "Prue," Piper spoke the name softly, and Leo could feel the ache in her heart from still missing and grieving for her lost sister.

        "I think that's a wonderful idea, love, and Prue would be honored."

        Piper turned the fire down on the stove and then turned in her husband's arms to gaze up into Leo's handsome face. Their eyes met and locked, and he could see the mixture of hope with grief in her beautiful, dark eyes. "You really think so?" she asked, her question only a soft whisper.

        "I know so," Leo told her. "I wish you could see her, Piper, but They just won't allow it yet. She's been watching you three, though."

        "I know," Piper told him as she slipped her arms around him. "I feel her sometimes -- at night or when I'm missing her the most or when everything seems to be falling apart all around me during the latest Demon conflict . . . "

        "You should also know," Leo informed her with a warm smile, "that as proud as Phoebe and Paige are to be about to be aunts, Prue's the proudest aunt-to-be that I've ever even heard of." Although Leo did not tell Piper that Prue only wished there was something more she could do (not to mention, of course, a way that she could return to them), Piper sensed it nonetheless.

        "If you can, love, tell her that she's already doing everything she can the next time you see her."

        "I will."

        They remained still for a moment, just gazing into each other's eyes and basking in their loving embrace, before Piper finally broke the silence again. "So we'll call her Prue?"

        "If it's a girl," Leo affirmed with a nod and a smile. "But what if it's a boy?"

        "I don't know," Piper admitted. "Do you have any suggestions, Daddy?" she spoke the name with adoring affection as the corners of her lips began to turn up into a tiny smile.

        "Hmm . . . Well . . . " He spoke slowly, as if choosing his words with the greatest carefulness. "I've always been partial to the name Leo . . . "

        Piper chuckled softly, a musical sound that never ceased to thrill her husband's ears, and he was relieved and thankful to see the smile that lit up her beautiful face and the sparkle that danced in her eyes. "Of course you would be," she said, "but then it's a very fine, strong name for a very wonderful man." Leaning up, she pressed her lips to her husband's in a gentle kiss whose passion soon grew, and they continued kissing until the food began to burn.