Title: Which Witch?
Author: Symphonyflute
Fandom: Charmed
Rating: PG
Setting: Season 1. When Leo is their handyman, and they don't know about him being a whitelighter.
Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. I don't own the title either; it was a (really good) book.
Summary: (Takes place very early in Charmed. Basically, the sisters know Leo is their handyman, and that's it.) Piper and Phoebe both like him. Piper decides to be fair and wait it out, but you know Phoebe when she wants something......
Bunny: #3, #7, #9

"I saw him first."

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Did so, did so, did so."

Prue rubbed her temples and sighed, glaring at her quarrelling sisters. She grabbed her coffee in one hand and waved the newspaper at them with the other. "Do you two realize how juvenile you sound?"

Piper glanced at Prue. "Phoebe started it."

"I did not," Phoebe pouted, hands on her hips.

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Did so."

"Did not."

"Shut up!"

Piper and Phoebe grew silent immediately. Phoebe raised her eyebrows at her oldest sister. "Wow, why are you in such a bad mood?"

Prue opened her mouth to answer, then changed her mind and just shook her head. She got up from the table, putting her empty mug in the sink while simultaneously grabbing her jacket. "I'm going to work. If you need me for any power of three thing, just call Buckland's."

"Bye Prue," Piper called after her. When she heard the door slam, she turned to Phoebe. "And I did see him first."

"Oh yeah?" Phoebe asked defensively.

"Yeah. I opened the door for him."

"Oh yeah." Phoebe looked thoughtful for a minute. "Doesn't matter."

"What do you mean it doesn't matter? We've been arguing about it for hours."

"I mean yeah, you saw him first, but we have a connection."

Piper put her hands on her hips. "What kind of connection?"

"A love connection. So nothing else matters."

"A love connection? Yeah right." Piper walked over to the counter and grabbed a chocolate muffin she'd made earlier. She ripped it in half and handed part to Phoebe. "I have a proposition for you."

"What kind of proposition?" Phoebe asked suspiciously.

"We let him decide."

"You mean go up to him and say `Hi there. Which one of do you want to do?'"Phoebe rolled her eyes. "I don't think that'll work."

"No, nothing like that," Piper corrected. "I just mean we should stop fighting. If he wants one of us, he can ask her out."

"So just sit back and wait? That's not my-" Suddenly, Phoebe stopped talking. Her eyes glazed over and she dropped her muffin. She saw herself sitting on the couch, leaning forward and putting her hand on someone's knee. Then the view shifted and she saw the person was Leo smiling at her. She gasped as she came back to the present, where Piper was looking at her curiously.

"Did you have a premonition?"

"Ummm." If she told Piper about the premonition, Piper might change her mind and go after Leo herself. If she didn't tell and Piper found out somehow.well, Phoebe didn't even want to think about that. Sure Piper wasn't quick to anger, but it wasn't impossible. She bought herself a couple of minutes by kneeling on the floor to pick up the crumbs of her fallen pastry.

"Well?" Piper goaded.

"Nope." Phoebe got up and brushed her hands off. "I was just thinking about your suggestion. I like it."

"Do you really?" Phoebe didn't get a chance to reply as the doorbell rang. "That must be him," Piper said hesitantly. "Uh, do you want?"

"You can answer it. "Phoebe told her brightly, grinning at the astonished look on Piper's face. "Well, don't leave him on the front step."

"Right." Piper ran off to the door. "Hi Leo," greeted casually.

"Hi Piper." He stepped into the front hall with his toolbox. Piper and Phoebe both gazed with appreciation at him. Piper snapped out of her daze first and offered him some lemonade, before setting him loose on the repairs.

He worked diligently for several hours. Piper went to the restraint about half an hour after he arrived, so he was alone with Phoebe "Always-Gets-Her-Man" Halliwell. She tried everything she could think of to get him to notice her. She baked cookies, worked out with a video wearing shorts and a sports bra, and even took a shower and walked around the house wearing nothing but a towel. All he did was hammer away and make idle chitchat, and it was driving her crazy.

By the time she had dried off and gotten dressed, she realized she needed to do something really drastic if she wanted her premonition to come true. Suddenly, it hit her: she was a witch! She ran up to the attic where they kept the book of shadows. "Love spells.love spells," she muttered as she flipped through the pages. "Ah-ha!"

She had found a spell to make a "Love-Me Posey". She ran her fingers down the directions. It looked easy enough. They had all the ingredients in the house, and it didn't take long to make, so she decided to go for it.

First she had to create a poesy, which was just a bouquet, of wildflowers. She snuck out of the back door. When she had a bunch of daisies and tulips and everything else growing in her backyard, she snuck back in and tiptoed up the stairs. She didn't really need to be quiet; Leo was so into hammering the loose floorboards in the dining room. She mixed various herbs and stuff in a wooden bowl, and held the flowers over it as pink smoke billowed out. Now all she needed to do was say the spell. "In a world where mortal hearts collide, I'd really like to be a bride. Leo Wyatt will love me, as I wish, so mote it be."

The spell was complete, now to test it out. She decided to put on a slinky red mini-dress for insurance. She grabbed her poesy, which now smelt like the perfume section of a department store, and walked slowly down the steps. "Hi Leo," she said in her best sultry voice.

He was under the sink tightening some pipes, but slid out when he heard Phoebe's voice. "Hi Phoebe. Going somewhere?"

"No." she twirled her hair around flirtatiously. "Why do you ask?"

He shrugged. "You're all dressed up."

"Oh this old thing?" She giggled, fingering the hem. I just found it in the back of my closet and decided to give it a whirl. How does it look?"

"Positively bewitching."

"Uh, yeah, bewitching." she trailed off uncomfortably. That comment hit pretty close to home and made her feel nervous. Not that there was any way he could know about her, so there was no reason to worry, but it was still weird. But it reminded her that she had a mission to accomplish and didn't have time for mindless flirting, fun as it was. "I thought Piper would have been home by now," she told him conversationally, while subtly wafting the aroma of the flowers toward him.

"Yeah me too," he responded, surprising her a little with the look of emotion that passed across his face. "I mean, not like I was thinking of her coming home, because I wasn't. I'm just a little surprised that, well yeah, since you brought it up and all." He blushed and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. Suddenly, his nose twitched and he was thrown forward. "HETCHOO!"

"Bless you," Phoebe told him.

"Than-­ACHOO! ATCHOO!"

Phoebe watched him worriedly as he he sneezed uncontrollably. "Are you ok?"

He nodded. "I'm fi-fihhh-HETCHHEW! I just can't stop sne-SNEETCOO!"

"Come on," she urged, pulling him up by the elbow and leading him to the living room where he slumped down on the couch, still sneezing.

"Phoebe?"

Phoebe jumped when she heard her name being called followed by the sound of a door slamming. Piper walked into the living room, closely followed by Prue. "Hi you guys," she greeted.

Prue looked at Phoebe suspiciously. "What did you do?"

"Nothing," Phoebe defended.

"Then why do you look so upset?" Prue studied Phoebe's face carefully. Phoebe flinched under the probing gaze.

"HETCHOOO!" Leo sneezed loudly again, following it with 3 more rapid-fire.

"Bless you," Piper told him kindly. He just sneezed again in response. "Are you alright?" He nodded unconvincingly, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. Piper wrinkled hers in disgust and handed him the tissue box, while resting her hand on his forehead. "No fever," she said under her breath, more to herself then anyone else. "I'm going to make some tea. Phoebe, stay here and make sure he doesn't pass out or anything."

Prue followed Piper into the kitchen to call Andy. As they left, Phoebe lowered herself down on the couch and put her hand on Leo's knee. "Are you sure you're alright?"

He nodded again, and then nodded to her other hand. "What are you holding?"

The poesy. She had completely forgotten about it. Thinking fast, she said "Oh, just some wildflowers I picked from the backyard. Aren't they pretty?"

"They're beautiful," he replied, "but they make me-" He turned away from her quickly and cupped his hands around his face. "ACHOO!"

"You're allergic," Phoebe gasped. "I'm so sorry."

"Not your fault," he told her good-naturedly. "Besides, I've never been allergic before."

"But why are you carrying around a bunch of flowers anyway?" Piper was back from the kitchen, carrying a cup of tea, which she handed to Leo. He accepted it with an embarrassed smile.

"Oh, um," Phoebe stuttered, "They're pretty, you know?"

"Uh huh." Piper glared at her. "Kitchen, now!" She pointed at the kitchen until Phoebe started walking. "We'll be right back," she told Leo in a much softer voice then she'd used on her sister, before heading to the kitchen. Prue, off the phone, crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair.

Snapping under the pressure, Phoebe decided to stop keeping secrets and opted instead to plead for the mercy of the court. She explained the attempts at getting his attention and the love spell while watching Prue's face get redder and redder.

"Phoebe, what were you thinking?" she exploded, careful to keep her voice down so Leo couldn't hear her. "You know you can't do spells for personal gain."

"Well yeah, but I figured that giving true love a nudge was for the good of all, we need more love in the world. Besides, nothing seems to have happened." They heard Leo sneeze again and Prue glared at her. "Oh." Her eyes widened as comprehension dawned. "Do you think that's why he's sneezing?"

Piper glared at her. "Well duh." She clenched her fists and counted to ten to calm herself down. "You broke our deal and made Leo sick." Tears started to form in her eyes. "Phoebes, I really like him. How could you do this to me?" With that, she ran out of the kitchen.

"Piper?" Leo saw her run out of the kitchen and out the back door. She looked really upset, so he ran after her. "Piper?" He grabbed her arm as she was about to slip out the door. "Piper what's wrong?"

She shook her head sadly, looking down at the ground. "Nothing. Nothing at all." He cupped her chin and lifted her head up so their eyes met. "Phoebe and I just had a fight. No big deal."

He looked skeptical, but didn't have the chance to answer as he sneezed yet again. "Hey Piper?"

"Hmm?"

"Um, I know I look pretty unappealing right now, but if you aren't doing on Friday."

"I'd love to."

"Great." He sneezed again. "So I'm gonna go home now, but I'll call you, ok?" She nodded, and he grabbed his toolbox and left.

Piper skipped back to the kitchen happily. Phoebe noticed her change in mood, and put her arm around Piper's shoulders in a show of apology. They all hugged and made up, and all was well in the Halliwell Manner.

Later that night, as the sisters were sitting around drinking hot chocolate and watching a movie in their pajamas. Suddenly, Phoebe paused the movie without saying anything. Piper and Prue both looked at her expectantly. "I have a question. You know how Leo asked Piper out?" They nodded. "Why didn't the love spell work on him?"

And little did they know, they would find out sooner then any of them realized.