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Post by Meluivan Indil on Nov 18, 2007 8:32:10 GMT -5
Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed universe belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Okay warning here for those amongst my readers who are sadists (you know who you are), part of this chapter is gonna be all warm and fuzzy, so don’t beat me with a stick, all right. I warned you ahead of time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 8 ~ Good Memories
“Piper, Piper! Hon, you have to let him go,” Paige said softly rubbing her sister’s back. “For starters, you are crushing him and that can’t be good for his injuries, and if he wakes up and finds you freaking out over him it’s gonna scare him to death.”
Piper was only half listening to her sister as she clung to her grown son, for the first time realizing just how much pain he had been living through and how much she really wanted to just wipe it all away. And she knew, very painfully so, that a lot of the pain she had caused herself. “I can’t let him go, Paige. I just found him,” she whispered her voice hoarse with emotion.
“Piper, come on. Just lay him back down. You don’t have to leave him. Just let him rest,” Paige encouraged. Once Piper had finally began to loosen her grip Paige helped her to lay him back gently. Piper removed the sweater she was wearing over her t-shirt thinking it might be more comfortable to use as a pillow than the thin jacket they had been using and slipped it under his head. “That’s better,” Paige sighed in relief.
“Paige, look at him. Why didn’t I see it? Why couldn’t I see him as my son? I should have known,” Piper said as she wiped the tears from her face yet again. “All the signs were there. Things he said. The way he acted on certain occasions.”
“Piper, none of us saw it. Just like none of us saw all the good he was doing. None of us saw how much he did to protect us. He didn’t want us to know,” she answered shaking her head looking away from her sister. “He didn’t trust us enough to know, I guess.”
“But why wouldn’t he trust us? We were his family. We could have done so much more to help him.” It felt to Piper as if a knife were thrust into her heart knowing that Chris hadn’t felt comfortable with them helping him. She had seen how Leo had treated him in the future. How had the rest of them treated him she wondered? Did he resent them just as much? Did he resent her?
Phoebe had been on the other side of the room with her arm wrapped around a completely sobbing Leo. He hadn’t yet been able to say a word to her. But when she heard her sister’s words she had to interrupt. “You two have to realize something about Chris. He’s been on his own for so many years now. He’s had to depend on himself to solve all his problems and to keep himself alive. That’s not something he can just ignore because we were here and could help him. And there is still the fact that he wanted to protect us from the pain of his future.” Even without her Empath powers she was sure that Piper was blaming herself for everything and thinking up all kinds of unknown horrors she could have been responsible for.
Piper nodded at her words. Yes, the Chris she had been learning about that day would have seen things exactly that way. He would have never shifted what he saw as his own problem to fix onto them. And he would have never wanted them to feel the pain he felt everyday of his life. But how wrong was that? Weren’t they supposed to be the ones protecting him from pain?
Phoebe turned back to Leo knowing that the man was beyond devastated. “Leo, please. We need you to deal with this. You’re gonna self-destruct the way you are now. Leo, your son is gonna need you very soon.” She attempted the one thing she knew could reach him at that point.
The Elder was completely wracked with sobs and it didn’t seem as if he could ever stop himself. But at Phoebe’s words he attempted to pull his emotions under control. After several long minutes of breathing deeply he managed to stop the sobs for the most part but the tears were still streaming down his face. “I can’t ever face him, Phoebe. Not after everything I’ve done to him.”
“Leo, you have to. If you don’t it’s gonna seem just like another rejection to him,” Phoebe knew her words were painful but she also knew that they would need him for the painful days that were sure to come. She wasn’t a fool. She knew there was no way, that even though they knew the truth, that Chris would just forgive all and they’d be one big happy family. That was asking for way too much.
Leo’s face snapped up to hers and she saw the fear in his eyes. Fear of hurting his son again. Fear of disappointing him again. She was sure that since Leo now knew the mistakes he made in the future that he would never repeat them. But she also knew that it might take him a little longer to realize that and accept the fact that he had to move ahead and do what was needed to help his son. “Leo, listen. I know you are very distraught and might not have caught everything in that vision but Chris still loves you. I know he does.”
“What do you mean? How could he love me after what my future self did to him? After the things I’ve done to him since he came here.” Leo shook his head adamantly at her suggestion. He had messed things up both in this time and in the future and he didn’t see how he’d ever fix it. But still no matter how much he thought it was impossible to fix, deep in his heart he prayed for whatever miracle it would take to have his son love him. “Phoebe, that thing, that wasn’t me. I don’t understand how I could ever do that to someone I loved. I can’t become that. I can’t let him hate me.”
She knew he wasn’t putting it all together, but with a little push in the right direction…“Leo, the last thing he said was that he wished you had become an Elder, so you would be happier and treat them better when you were around. What was one of the first things Chris did in our timeline?” Phoebe paused hoping Leo would put two and two together himself without having to explain it to him.
Leo thought for a moment and then it dawned on him. “He made me an Elder,” he whispered closing his eyes as the pain of knowing that no matter how horrible he had been to Chris, he had still done the one thing he thought would make his father happy.
“Whether he did it consciously or not, he did something to try to fix what happened between you two. That means that he still cares and still wants you to love him.” Phoebe knew it was hard to believe after everything they had seen, but knowing the things they had learned about Chris, it seemed just like something he would do.
“But making Leo an Elder broke us up. How could that fix things?” Piper then realized something else that those words entailed. “He might not even be born because if it.”
Leo blanched at the thought. Even though he had just discovered that Chris was his son, he still felt an extreme urge to protect him. “Yes, he will,” he vowed staring at Piper daring her to deny the possibility. He wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his son being born.
“Leo, yes, I know he will. But if we hadn’t found out about him today, he might not have,” she explained. She too was willing to do anything to make sure her baby boy would join them whenever he was supposed to but Chris’ actions still confused her.
Phoebe nodded understanding what her sister was getting at. “He had no way of knowing that making Leo an Elder would break you two up. Maybe he just didn’t realize what the implications really were until it was too late.”
“Yeah, and didn’t he say something to you, Leo, about if you wanted your family back you could easily get it? Maybe in a way he was trying to push you two back together and his anger just got in the way.” Paige added remembering part of the argument they had had earlier.
Leo had to admit that it made sense. But none of that absolved him of his past and future crimes. Those could only be forgiven by one person and he figured it was about time he started trying to earn that forgiveness, so he stood and moved over to where his son and wife were. He kneeled down next to Chris again and looked closely at his son for the first time. “I know you can’t hear me, Chris, but I promise you I’ll do whatever it takes to make things right for us.” With those words he reached out and stroked his son’s cheek softly for the first time seeing exactly how much he resembled Piper. How had he missed seeing a part of the woman he loved in the young man before him? For so many years now she had occupied most of his thoughts and her face was emblazoned in his mind. Every feature memorized. Every expression imprinted there for him to remember always. How had he missed all of those same things in his son? Along with so many more clues he had missed. Chris’ stubborn streak, which was a Halliwell trait if he’d ever seen one. His neurotic tendency to overprotect those he cared for, even at the risk of his own life. How many times had he seen the same type of actions from the sisters?
Then there were Chris’ eyes. The one trait he had gained from his father. They were not the same color but still, they held a depth of expression that no words were able to convey. It was something Leo knew he also shared. He never had to tell Piper what he was feeling. She could see it in his eyes. Chris’ eyes were the same. Though most of the time he and the sisters had ignored what they saw or Chris had done his best to hide it, it was still there the few times that Leo had locked eyes with the young Witchlighter. If only he had thought to question those soulful eyes in the past.
Then again his mind turned to replaying all the painful memories from his son’s past and all of the horrible things they had done to him in recent months, feeling the pain as if it was his own. “Was there anything good at all in your life, Chris?” he whispered his chin sinking down to his chest in an almost defeated gesture.
To their surprise the center tile lit up again and an image appeared before their eyes of a very young Chris sitting on the floor of the sunroom in the manor. The young boy, who couldn’t have been more than three years old, was crying desperately holding one hand in the other.
“Chris, baby, what’s wrong?” Piper called in fright rushing into the room. She hadn’t been out of the room for more than a few seconds as she answered the phone but her son’s sobs had brought her running immediately.
When she reached him she scooped him up into her arms reaching for his hand that she saw was bleeding. She looked down and saw one of their vases had been pulled from a table and was broken on the floor. “Oh, Chris, what have we said about tking glass objects?” She whispered kissing his forehead and walking him into the kitchen to check the cut.
“Mommy, hurts,” he choked out through the tears.
“I know, baby. I know. I promise it will be all better soon,” she said running the cut under some cool water to see how bad it was.
At that moment blue and white orbs shone throughout the room and Leo appeared holding a five-year-old Wyatt in his arms. “What happened? I heard Chris crying,” Leo asked immediately concerned for his youngest as he placed Wyatt on the counter next to where Piper was cleaning Chris’ hand.
“It’s just a small cut,” Piper answered as she pulled the young boy’s hand from under the water.
“Oh, buddy, let me see,” Leo said taking his youngest son in his arms and then taking the hand in his own. At that moment both father and son’s hands lit up in a healing glow and Chris stopped crying as the pain slipped away.
“Daddy,” he cried wrapping his arms around his father’s neck a bright smile spreading across his face.
“Is that better, buddy?” Leo asked returning his youngest son’s hug a goofy grin plastered on his face.
“All better,” Chris answered very happy that his daddy had taken his pain away but even more happy that he was there with him. Something he didn’t often have.
Leo had watched the interplay between he and his son and couldn’t help the feeling of joy that overcame him at seeing his son so happy in his arms. But part of him wondered whether Chris could even recall such an early memory or whether the chamber was pulling a memory even too old for Chris to remember.
Then the image flickered to a different time when Chris was a few years older. He was standing in the Manor’s kitchen at his mother’s side as she was baking his favorite cookies. “I want to do the flour, Mom,” he called out looking up to the woman beaming in complete innocent adoration.
“Okay, Peanut. Here it is,” she said handing him the sack of flour which she thought was a little bit big for him to handle but still he wanted to help and she wouldn’t try to stop him. She waited expectantly for him to poor the flour into the measuring cup but instead he looked up to her in that wonderfully devious way he had and then used both hands to crush the sack sending a cloud of flour dust into his mother’s face.
With that he giggled in laughter and then dropped the sack turning to run from his mother’s wrath. “Christopher Perry Halliwell,” she called more in surprise than anger and took off after her son scooping up the bag as she went.
After several turns around the kitchen table with both of them laughing all the time Piper stopped on one side and Chris on the other. “Now, Mom, remember, you wanted to teach me to cook.”
“Oh yes, yes I did. And you young man are going to be lucky if I don’t cook you right along side the cookies,” she warned with a large wicked smile on her lips.
“Mom, sorry to burst your bubble, you may be a witch but you do not live in a gingerbread house,” he came back and then dashed under the table hoping to surprise her but Piper was smarter than that and raced to the left catching him just as he came out and then proceeded to dump the entire bag of flour over his head grabbing him around the waist and rubbing the flour in for good measure.
“Mommmmm!!!!” he called only half trying to free himself. When she was done he beamed up at her.
“Well, Peanut, you look good enough to eat now,” she whispered leaning down and placing a kiss on his forehead leaving an imprint in the flour dust as her smile brightened at the love she felt for her youngest prankster. Nothing he did could ever truly anger her. He was just too lovable for her to ever be mad with for long.
“Oh, Mom, I’m too old to be a Peanut,” he said in annoyance but only half heartedly as he snuggled into her arms enjoying their time alone.
“Chris, you will always be my little Peanut, whether you are seven or thirty-seven,” she whispered hugging him tight.
Chris didn’t respond to that but as he pulled away from her and picked up the empty flour bag he turned to her smiling brightly with the complete adoration of a child shining in his eyes. “Can we cook together more often, Mom?”
Piper’s hand shot to her face covering her mouth as tears of joy streamed down her face. She had never seen so much love from one being in her entire life and that love was being directed at her or at least her older self. She couldn’t wait for the day that she saw that look from her youngest son.
Then a third image projected showing all three Charmed Ones and both Chris and Wyatt sitting together in a park. Chris looked to be about ten years old and he and Wyatt were playing frisbee together. It looked as if the family had just enjoyed a picnic and for once there were no demons and no one evil trying to destroy them and they were all happily enjoying the day.
Chris threw the frisbee to his brother and waited for the return throw, but Wyatt overthrew and when Chris tried to jump to catch it he landed right on top of his two aunts.
“Whoa there, fly boy,” Paige called out catching her nephew. “That’s just a little too high for you to catch.” Paige looked around shifting Chris onto Phoebe’s lap and then tele-orbed the frisbee to her hands.
Chris smiled at his aunt as she handed the object back to him. “Thanks, Aunty Paige,” he said standing and pecking her on the cheek, and then started to walk away again.
“Hey, what about me, little buddy?” Phoebe asked and watched as he came back and pecked her on the cheek too. “That’s much better.”
Chris just shook his head and rolled his eyes at his aunts as he took back off to continue playing with his older brother. “Catch, Wy,” he yelled sailing the toy over his brother’s head, grinning madly when Wyatt landed in a shallow duck pond trying to catch it.
The image faded to nothing as all present were left with a feeling of warmth at seeing a few of the good memories that Chris had kept all these years. At least he had had that.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: And I bet you thought the memories would stop now that the revelation was over and done with. Oh no! Not quite. I decided that a nice warm and fuzzy ending to this chapter would help get everyone into the mood for the hardships to come. Besides we all know that Chris had to have had some good memories in his past, otherwise he would have never grown into the loving young man he is. So you got three memories for the price of one. I hope you enjoyed reading them as much as I enjoyed writing them. Next chapter, some heavy decisions are made.
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Post by Meluivan Indil on Nov 18, 2007 9:00:45 GMT -5
Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed universe belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Okay, small warning. I stole another scene from Chris-Crossed for this chapter but I completely rewrote it the way I would have wanted it to go so yeah it’s original.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 9 ~ What Are You Gonna Tell Them?
“I did love him,” Leo whispered after the image faded. “I wonder if he ever really knew.” Then he looked down to his grown son and prayed that he would someday be able to tell him.
“I’m sure he knew, Leo. Somehow, he had to have,” Phoebe answered smiling encouragingly “And his life was good at times, even with you.”
“Did you see the way he was? I’ve never seen a child so full of both mischief and love,” Piper commented still happily remembering the look on her young son’s face. It wasn’t hard at all to see how Chris had grown into the man he had become. Though it was sad to see that out of the two traits it was much easier to see the first while looking at his grown up self. She tried to think to a time since Chris arrived in their timeline that she had seen love in his eyes instead of pain, anger or annoyance. If it had been there she had never noticed it. She hoped that it was just that she had never noticed it instead if it just not being there at all.
“He sure seemed awful smart for a kid so young. No wonder he’s so cunning and devious now,” Paige said smirking.
Piper gave her sister a dirty look. She wasn’t ready to hear disparaging remarks about her little Peanut yet. And devious was not a word she really wanted to incorporate with her son. Either version of her son.
“Well he is. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, you know,” Paige said defensively. “It’s kept him and us alive on a few occasions and saved his brother from the Order.”
They all shared a nod at that. Maybe some of the things they had all considered to be bad things about the Witchlighter were actually a blessing in disguise. “He has done a lot of things that are pretty quick witted since coming back here,” Leo pointed out. “Look at the way he kept that Blob Demon at bay until you three could get back from the Summer of Love. He’s the one that noticed its aversion to electricity.”
“And he realized that those three blonde bimbos were not us that one time, just by the way Piper acted,” Phoebe mentioned. “I don’t know how many others would have seen through the spell they cast.”
“Not to mention the fact that he spends endless hours in the underworld getting information from god knows what demons. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t have the guts to do that, let alone the smarts to keep me alive on their turf,” Paige added what she thought was beyond cool about her nephew.
Unfortunately the others weren’t quite so pleased with her comment. “My god, he has a death wish,” Piper immediately said her eyes going wide. Why was she just now realizing this? “I am never allowing him to do that again. Never.” Piper’s voice had raised an octave with the realization that her baby took way too many risks with his life.
“Piper, he’s an adult,” Paige reminded her.
“You heard the memory. He’s my little Peanut no matter how old he is and I’m not gonna let him get himself killed.” Piper’s voice was bordering on hysterics with that as she imagined all the horrible things that might harm her son while she wasn’t watching.
“Yeah, that’s another thing you might want to reconsider doing there, hon,” Phoebe warned. “Calling a grown man Peanut might not win you any cool mom awards, right now.”
Leo had been listening to his wife rant on about how she was gonna treat her son once he woke but he knew that they were getting way ahead of themselves and it would be best to slow down. “Piper, we need to talk about something important, before he wakes up.”
She immediately clammed up and didn’t remark on what Phoebe had said. “What, Leo?” She had heard the serious tone he took and could see the worry in his eyes.
“How are we gonna handle telling him that we know who he is?” Leo knew if they pushed him too hard he’d bolt faster than they could say anything to allay his fears. Piper said nothing thinking of exactly how that conversation should go and honestly couldn’t see it ending with anything but Chris orbing away never to be heard from again.
“Eww, yeah didn’t think of that one,” Paige said a scowl on her face. “Touchy subject that one might be. Let’s see. Okay I got it. Chris, you know all those little secrets you’ve been desperately trying to hide from us, don’t think a thing about it, hon. We saw it all while you were napping and it’s cool with us.”
Groans came from the other three as they discarded the suggestion completely. “We need to be very sensitive towards his feelings. He can’t even slightly think that we see this as a bad thing,” Phoebe warned knowing that that was probably Chris’ biggest fear when it came to revealing who he was.
“Of course it’s not a bad thing,” Piper said never even considering it to be otherwise.
“We know that, Piper, but he doesn’t. He’s been through a lot in his life and the possibility of rejection is probably one thing in the forefront of his mind at all times.” Phoebe glanced at Leo, who winced at those words. It wasn’t hard to tell why Chris would feel that way at all and Phoebe wasn’t trying to remind Leo of the fact either.
“I wonder if he would have ever told us?” Leo asked solemnly. Had Chris planned on telling them or would he have just eventually went back to his changed future leaving them in the dark?
With those words the center tile illuminated showing a very similar grown image of their son and Bianca sneaking into the attic at the Halliwell Manor/Museum.
“What are you gonna tell them?” Bianca asked walking around the room checking that everything looked on the up and up.
“You mean my family, right?” Chris asked swallowing hard on the word ‘family.’
Bianca smiled sympathetically knowing how difficult this would be for him. She was the only one who he ever confided his feelings to after the cancer had taken his grandfather two years before. Before that Grandpa Victor had been the only one he could talk to but now Bianca was all he had left and she knew how hard the thought of seeing them again was on him.
Chris had stopped moving and stood with his arms folded across his chest his face looking down slightly with his eyes closed. “I’m not gonna tell them anything.”
Bianca’s eyebrows rose skeptically. She hadn’t expected that. “Won’t it be hard to get them to help you if they don’t know who you are?”
He opened his eyes again looking towards her. “Not if I can get myself assigned as their Whitelighter.”
“And how do you plan on doing that? Don’t they already have a Whitelighter?” she asked not even bothering to mention his dad. That was one name she never spoke unless he brought it up first.
Chris swallowed hard again. “Dad always did want to be an Elder,” he said simply his eyes shining a little more brightly from the moisture collecting there.
Bianca nodded understanding his intentions. “But won’t they be suspicious of you? From the stories you’ve told, it seems they don’t trust easily.”
Chris turned away from Bianca and made his way to the podium that projected a false Book of Shadows for the public to see. “I can handle their suspicions, Bi. I just don’t think I can handle their smothering love.”
“Chris, this would be a good opportunity for you to come to terms with what happened. They could help you…” She had been so worried about him for a long time now. His guilt and depression at times was almost overwhelming.
“No, Bi. I can’t think of them as family. They can’t be my mom and my aunts. I have to think of them as Piper, Phoebe, and Paige, the Charmed Ones. If I allow myself to think of them as anything else I’ll end up going down a road that frightens me. I don’t have time to have a breakdown. I have to save Wyatt and then get back here where I can spend the rest of my life dealing with everything else.” His voice was raw with emotion and his overly long hair covered his eyes so she couldn’t see the pain there.
“Oh, Chris, I’m afraid for you,” she whispered moving over next to him and laying her forehead against his shoulder placing a small kiss on his arm.
“I’m afraid too, Bi. I know it’s not gonna be fair to them to keep it all to myself. But if they ever find out…If they find out, I don’t think I could stand to be anywhere near them. I can’t handle their love, not after I lost it so many years ago. The aunts would be fawning over me all the time and I’d never get anything accomplished and Mom…” With that he paused his voice becoming almost choked but he pushed on with what he had to say. “ I can’t let myself love her. There is no guarantee that even if I change things, even if I keep Wyatt from becoming evil, that she’ll survive past my fourteenth birthday. I can’t let myself love her and then come back here where she’s not. That would destroy me, Bi.” Chris turned to the woman he loved and the tears had started to stream down his cheeks. “They can’t ever know.”
She reached up and kissed his tears away from each cheek and then drew him into a tight embrace knowing his tears were far from over. “You do whatever you have to, baby. I’ll be waiting here for you and we’ll handle it together once you get back.”
With that the image faded away and silence again blanketed the room until Piper couldn’t take it anymore. “He doesn’t want to love me,” she whispered tears streaming down her cheeks. She couldn’t believe how happy she had been just before that memory played out and now all she could feel was utter despair at losing her son’s love. No wonder she never saw love in his eyes. He wouldn’t allow himself to love any of them.
Phoebe who had not even guessed how bad the memory would be this time shook her head wishing that she could just get one empathic feeling from her nephew’s image. If only she could read him and see if that was truly how he felt. But she couldn’t and she had to somehow comfort her sister after being completely devastated. She kneeled beside where Piper was still sitting next to Chris. She had yet to leave his side. “Piper, I know how much it has to hurt to hear him say that, but you need to understand where he is coming from. He knows how tenuous his own sanity is after everything he’s been put through in his life. He can’t risk anything getting in the way of his mission. It’s more important to him to save Wyatt than anything else in the world. And he’s afraid of losing it and becoming a nervous wreck if he has to deal with his emotions about you and us dying. He does love you. He just can’t get close to you for fear of everything overwhelming him. I can’t say as I blame him for that either.”
“But what am I supposed to do now, Phoebe? Pretend that I don’t love my son. Pretend that he means nothing to me.” Piper couldn’t ever imagine doing something so heinous to Chris. It just wouldn’t be right.
“No, no. That would make it worse. If he thought that his mother didn’t love him, it’d destroy him faster than anything else possible.” Phoebe feared what their only choice now seemed to be.
“So what, we force him to deal with his feelings. Sort of like an intervention,” Paige suggested.
“No,” Leo whispered sighing deeply. He knew what they had to do and it was gonna tear them all to pieces to do it. “We can’t tell him that we know, can we?”
“What?” Piper snapped her eyes going wide. “What do you mean, not tell him?”
Leo reached out taking her hand holding it right above Chris’ chest as he looked down to his son. “Piper, we can’t risk hurting him again. You heard him. He’s not ready to deal with that kind of pain and I think that whenever he is, he’ll tell us.”
Piper was shaking her head in denial at her husband’s words. “How do you expect me to be able to do this, Leo? How can I go about my days acting as if I don’t have another son?”
Phoebe had started crying again as she heard the anguish in her sister’s voice. “I don’t know how any of us are gonna be able to mange it, Piper. But Leo is right. For Chris’ sake, we have to.” She pointed out. “And we don’t have to act like we don’t care about him at all. We can have a change of heart concerning our ‘bitchy Whitelighter.’ Nothing says that we have to act like we hate him.”
“You don’t think he’ll get suspicious if we all have a sudden change of heart?” Paige asked not sure they’d be able to pull this off.
“Well I think we just need to play it down as not that big a deal, if he starts asking about it. We just can’t act suspicious,” Phoebe explained.
Paige snorted looking away from Phoebe. That was rich coming from her second oldest sister. “Oh and you, Miss I Can’t Keep a Secret for Nothing, are gonna be able to do that?”
Phoebe gave her younger sister a dirty look as she wiped the tears away from her eyes. But she had to admit Paige was right. She out of all of them had the hardest time keeping secrets. How long had she managed to keep Leo’s Whitelighter secret. Oh maybe ten minutes. But then it occurred to her. “You can cast a spell on me.”
“What?” Piper asked staring at her sister in disbelief. Most often when they cast spells on each other things went very wrong and none of them were too eager to volunteer when it had to be done.
“You can cast a spell that won’t allow me to spill the secret until Chris tells us himself.” Phoebe stated nodding to herself. She knew it would be the best way.
“And you are actually willing to let us do that?” Paige asked wondering if her sister was coming down with something.
Phoebe only half smiled looking down at her unconscious nephew. “For Chris, yes I am,” she whispered.
Piper was very touched by her sister’s willingness to go through something like that for Chris. It showed her just how much her sister cared for him and that was something that she really wanted to see. She wanted them all to care for him just as much as she did, to be able to show him how much they cared. But now she knew they couldn’t; she couldn’t. Not just yet at least. “Can you write a spell that will keep my heart from breaking?” she asked her voice becoming unsteady. “Because I don’t know if I can just pretend that he’s nothing to me.”
Leo understood exactly what she was saying. There were so many things that he wanted to make up for and he wasn’t sure he would be able to do that if he had to pretend to be nothing more than an acquaintance to his son. But somehow he’d manage it. He knew he had to. “Piper, I know it will be hard, but I promise you, we’ll all be there to help you with it.”
“How are you gonna be there, Leo, when you are supposed to be up there?” she asked motioning upwards, not sure how he expected to do both.
“I’ve defied them before, haven’t I? And besides, things aren’t completely back in line up there since the Titan attack. I think I can get away with being gone more often if I try hard enough.” Leo smiled remembering the words Chris had said. ‘He could get them back if he tried hard enough’. He was willing to give up everything for that chance.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: Alright, so do we like the decision or do we hate it?
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Post by Meluivan Indil on Nov 18, 2007 10:26:19 GMT -5
Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed universe belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
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Chapter 10 ~ Waking Up
“It won’t be long now,” Leo said looking at his watch and as if time had heard him a loud chime sounded throughout the room and it was as if a gust of wind swept through them. Leo reached down covering Chris’ shoulder and the golden glow of healing poured through his hands. He smiled as he felt his son’s wound heal beneath his fingers.
He was about to attempt the same treatment on Chris’ head when Piper placed one hand over his. “We should take him back to the Manor before you finish. I don’t think he’s gonna like waking up in this place.”
Leo nodded understanding her words. Chris had been terrified when they first arrived. The thought of waking him up there was not one he thought Chris would appreciate. With that he laid his hand on Chris’ chest leaving Piper’s where it rested above it and they orbed back to the Manor with Chris landing softly on the couch and Piper kneeling next to his head with Leo right next to her. Paige and Phoebe followed close behind.
“We are gonna run upstairs and work on that spell for Phoebe,” Paige said as soon as they appeared, wanting to give them time alone with Chris for the few moments they had before he woke. With that she pushed Phoebe up the stairs in front of her.
Piper suddenly had the urge to put the inevitable off. She had felt so close to her son while she watched some of his better memories and she was reluctant to have to let that go. It was probably why she hadn’t yet took her hand from Leo’s where they rested on Chris’ chest.
“We have to do this, Piper,” Leo whispered.
“I know, Leo. I’m just memorizing his face like it is now. He looks so at ease and peaceful right now,” she answered. But she knew stalling was not good for her son. He still needed to be healed. But she had the urge to do one more thing anyway. She leaned down and softly placed a kiss on his forehead and then stood to leave the room. She couldn’t be there when he woke. It would just be too hard.
Leo watched Piper go, knowing she wouldn’t be too far away and then turned back to the task at hand. He took a calming breath affixing a passive look to his face as he placed both hands above Chris’ head and let his healing touch flow through to his son, healing the wound, not even leaving a scar behind.
Afterwards Chris slowly started to come around and just before he was fully aware he said something that startled Leo. “Dad?” he asked hesitantly his voice full of trepidation. It made Leo’s heart constrict to hear that word spoken in almost fear from Chris’ lips.
But he had to get a hold of himself. “No, Chris. It’s me, Leo,” he said in a strong voice. “Come on. You can wake up now. Everything’s gonna be okay.”
Chris’ eyes flew open in surprise and he sat straight up on the couch. He looked around wincing as he did so and then suddenly realized where he was. He reached up touching his forehead, which was still slightly tender but healed as he could feel. “You healed me?” The way he said it was almost as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Of course I did, Chris. I couldn’t see leaving you unconscious forever,” Leo said shaking his head in false mirth. He had to play this off as no big deal. Remember no big deal.
“The Tribunal Chamber?” Chris asked in some confusion.
“Yeah, well that place seemed kinda creepy after you passed out so we got out of there as soon as our powers came back.” He was beginning to think this would really work.
Chris looked at him suspiciously. “And what else did the chamber show you after I passed out,” he asked in fear. ‘Please say nothing, please say nothing.’ Chris pleaded in his own mind.
“Not anything worth commenting on,” Leo finally decided on. “We mostly just talked after you went out.”
Chris wasn’t so sure that was a good thing either. “About what, may I ask?”
“Well honestly we talked a lot about you, Chris, and Wyatt and the horrors of the future.” Leo decided that being partially truthful was better than an out and out lie.
“And I’m assuming you came to some conclusions.” Chris knew it. The other shoe was about to drop. They wouldn’t believe him. They’d kick him out and never trust him again.
“Yes, yes we did,” Leo said a touch of sadness in his face, knowing too well that he couldn’t tell his son how they truly felt but at least he could say a few good things. “We decided that we’ve been too hard on you.”
Chris had expected a lot of things but that statement was not one of them. “Pardon. What did you say?”
“I said that we’ve decided to trust in you more, be more supportive of your mission here.” Leo knew his words were gonna be taken with a grain of salt. He would have been a fool to think that Chris trusted him to be telling the truth.
“By we, you mean the sisters right?” Chris asked skeptically.
“I mean all of us, Chris. Me included. Especially me.” Leo’s voice held a slight amount of guilt that he was unable to squelch. He just hoped that Chris didn’t read too much into it.
Chris sat thinking for a few minutes not sure how to take that statement but he had to wonder at Leo’s motives. Sure he had been sitting on the fence for some time now when it came to trusting Chris but he had seemed to be leaning away from trust for the most part recently. But the memories they had seen were pretty hard to refute. But still, Chris’ instincts were not to accept the offer easily. “Are you sure this isn’t just a round about way to keep tabs on me?”
Leo sighed in exasperation. “Chris, would it help if I said I trusted you?”
Chris hadn’t expected an out and out admission of trust. It wasn’t something Leo said easily. “I guess so,” he finally said slowly accepting. “But what about the sisters?”
“They do too,” Leo answered without doubt.
Now that, Chris was not prepared just to accept. He snorted in disbelief. “Yeah well, that one’s a far stretch, Leo.” Chris sat fully up and swung his legs off the couch ready to stand and orb back to P3.
“They do, Chris. Give them a chance. They know they made mistakes and are ready to make up for them.” Leo had suddenly become very concerned that if Chris left he might not be coming back. He knew it was an irrational fear but one he couldn’t shake anyhow.
Chris shot him a strange look. That was not at all what he had expected to hear. “Okay, Leo. If that is true then why are you the only one here right now? If they want to make up for their mistakes as you say, then where are they?”
Leo hadn’t been prepared to answer that but he did know where each of the sisters were at that moment. “Paige and Phoebe are in the attic with the Book looking into some stuff and Piper is close. Probably in the kitchen. You know how she is. If anything disturbs her she immediately starts to cook. And a vision of her son becoming evil is quite disturbing, to say the least.” He could tell that Piper was actually quite closer. She was right outside the family room door backed up against the wall next to the front door. She stood there with tears running down her face, not able to hold them back as she listened to the distrust her son held for them all. But she knew that she would have to face him. One of the sisters had to otherwise he’d never believe what Leo was telling him. So she dried her eyes and then walked around the corner into the family room.
“Oh, Chris, you’re up. How are you feeling?” she asked as emotionless as possible.
Chris looked up at her and thought how strange it was that she would suddenly just appear out of nowhere. But she had asked him a question. How was he? Well he was confused. He felt drained after a terrible day. He had a headache left over from his injuries and his shoulder was still a bit stiff from where she had tried to blow it off. Other than that he was “Fine. I’m just fine.”
“Glad to hear that,” she said with just the slightest of a smile on her face. “I’m gonna fix us a late dinner, since we were otherwise occupied earlier. You’re welcome to stay if you’re hungry.” Piper knew it wasn’t something she normally did but hoped that her and her sister’s new found trust in him would explain away the invite. Besides she remembered just how he looked without his shirt on. He was severely undernourished and she meant to do something about that.
Chris just stared at her slightly in shock. She had never offered to feed him since he came to this timeline. Not once. Oh he had snuck a snack or two while he passed through the kitchen a few times, but that was always when he was alone. He had to admit that he was ravenous with hunger but he still wasn’t quite sure about this new event. “I’m actually really tired. I think I’ll just orb to P3 and get some sleep.”
Piper was disappointed but she knew she couldn’t say anything about it and she fought hard to keep the look from her face. She was about to suggest that he stay at the Manor but she could see the slight shake of head that Leo gave her. He was right. That would be too much. She had to back off. “Well maybe you’ll join us for breakfast tomorrow instead.” She didn’t make it sound pushy, just an open invite and then she turned and left the room heading up to the attic.
“Maybe,” he said still curious as to the changed attitude that Piper seemed to be displaying. “I’m gonna head out. I need some sleep,” he finally said turning to Leo.
“Yeah, I bet you got a hell of a headache right now,” Leo said nodding sympathetically. “Listen, Chris, I’m really sorry about that. I shouldn’t have ever struck you.”
Chris’ eyebrows rose in surprise. He was tempted to make a sarcastic comment but he could see that Leo really meant it this time. “Let’s just try not to have a repeat performance, okay.”
Leo nodded “I’d never dream of hitting you again.” The words seemed a little strange to Chris’ ears but he could see that Leo wasn’t just blowing smoke. He truly was ashamed of his actions. But Chris new better than to trust his father’s mood not to change at a moments notice, so still he would keep a wary eye on Leo.
“Fine. I’m going now.” With that blue and white orbs shone in the spot he just was in and he was gone.
Leo immediately sunk to the couch where Chris had just been sitting and it wasn’t long before he felt the first tears streaming down his cheeks as his whole body shook with the force of the emotions. That had to be one of the hardest things he’d ever had to do. But he had pulled it off this time. Part of him hoped and prayed that it would get easier as time went by but then another part of him knew that it shouldn’t. That it should always be hard not to be able to tell his son how he felt. To not be able to promise him that he’d never be mean to him again, or that he’d never abandon him. No it should be hard on him. He should feel pain. And he was sure that that was exactly how it would be.
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She only made it halfway up the steps before the tears started streaming down her face as she felt as if her heart was breaking into a million little pieces. Every second of every day that she had to pretend not to know who Chris was, was just one more second that she lost with him. One more second that she could be telling him how much she truly did care about him. One more second that he could be smiling at her with that look of love in his eyes that she so longed to see again. One more second that she could be holding him and telling him that ‘mommy’ would make everything all right. But those seconds were slipping away and she knew she’d never get them back. She only hoped that she eventually would have many seconds, minutes and hours to do all of those things.
When she entered the attic her two sisters were talking quietly while they sat at the table in the middle of the room. Phoebe had a piece of paper and pen in front of her on the table and was scribbling on it as they talked. She looked up though when Piper entered the room. It was as if a wave of sorrow floated over her. “Oh, honey. Come here,” she said immediately standing and wrapping her sister in a tight hug. Paige also stood and joined them holding her tight as the tears flowed freely and Piper started to sob.
Once the sobs had subsided and the tears were down to a trickle she pulled away from them and took a seat at the table reaching out and reading what her sister had come up with. She nodded scanning the words and then took the pen making a change to make the spell more specific. “Are you sure you want to do this?” she finally asked Phoebe passing the spell to Paige. She wasn’t sure she could say the spell without breaking down so she'd leave it to her youngest sister instead.
“Piper, you know it’s the only way. If I don’t, I’ll have to completely avoid Chris. And I’d really like to get to know my nephew, even if I can’t tell him that I know he is my nephew.” Phoebe had thought it through and was sure she knew what she was doing.
“And what about personal gain?” Piper asked.
Phoebe scowled a little at that. “Well technically I won’t be gaining anything and neither will either of you. We are doing this to protect an innocent who knows nothing about it.” It was strange to speak of Chris that way but it was the only way she could think if she thought the spell would work without consequences. “We just want to keep from hurting someone we love. How can they fault us for that?”
“I guess not,” Piper said running her hands through her hair nervously and then motioned for Paige to say the spell.
Paige nodded and then read the words written on the slip of paper.
Secrets revealed from another time Lock them away within Phoebe’s mind Never her lips to be unsealed Until the time, through Chris, they become unveiled
After saying the spell Paige paused and waited to see if anything would happen. “How do we know if it worked?”
Piper’s eyes got slightly larger and she shrugged then looked at Phoebe. “What’s Chris’ secret?” she finally asked going at it in the direct approach.
Phoebe looked at Piper and her mouth opened but then it immediately closed. “What secret?” she finally choked out.
“I’d say it worked,” Paige said nodding.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: All right then. So how did I handle Chris waking up? I was really trying to keep him in character there. And what did you think of my little spell there. You’d all think I was crazy if you had seen me writing it down as I drove to the school to pick my kids up. I knew I’d forget it if I waited till I got home. So pen in hand and using the steering wheel as a desk I wrote and drove at the same time. Yeah, I know, safe driving practice there.
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Post by Meluivan Indil on Nov 18, 2007 10:47:54 GMT -5
Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed universe belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: All right then, anyone who knows the meaning of the word rapacious is probably squirming right now. I know I was when I looked it up online. And I should mention that this fic starts about three months before Chris is conceived and will continue on until the day he is born. So that gives me a year worth of stories to tell. Oh my, I’m gonna like this. And I will say that most likely I will not include any of the episodes that aired on tv during that time. I really want to do my own original stuff, so pretty much just ignore what you saw and go with what I write. I might include a few elements from the show but I doubt I’ll ever rewrite any of the episodes.
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Chapter 11 ~ Rapacious Demons
Piper had risen early the next day and had decided to fix a large breakfast. No one questioned why she did so but soon the dining room table was filled with bacon, eggs, pancakes, sausage, waffles, french toast and various breakfast beverages. Strange looks were passed between Paige and Leo as they ate a small amount of the overabundance of food. Phoebe had opted to just have coffee and toast after the late disturbing night they had had and Piper just picked at the food on her plate.
Every so often she would glance at her watch and then look up expecting blue and white orbs to suddenly appear, but by 10:30 it was pretty obvious that the breakfast ‘maybe’ had turned into a ‘no.’ Phoebe and Paige had already left for work but Piper tried hard not to let Leo see the look of disappointment she wore as she removed the food to the kitchen to stuff most of it down the garbage disposal. But Leo had noticed and he too felt disappointed that Chris hadn’t taken her up on the invite.
He followed her into the kitchen and stood next to her at the sink while she cleaned up. “Give him some time. We have to do this when he’s ready. It won’t happen before then.”
“I know, Leo. I just was hoping to get to know him a little better today,” she whispered. She had promised herself that after crying most of the night she would not start in on it again today. Crying was doing nothing to bring her son closer to her. But still she could feel pinpricks of moisture in the corners of her eyes.
Leo nodded in understanding and then leaned in closer to her wrapping his arms around her waist pulling her into his arms. She didn’t fight the action as she leaned into him. Now that she knew they were meant to get back together it was easier to give in to her own whims and let Leo comfort her.
That was the sight that greeted the young Witchlighter as he orbed into the kitchen behind them and for a moment he was shocked to see it. Leo and Piper had heard him appear and both turned. Leo looked sufficiently embarrassed to be caught holding his technically ex-wife but Piper’s smile brightened noticeably. Chris put that off as her just trying to cover for the intimate moment. “Chris, hello,” she said happily.
Chris was frozen for a moment. What had he just seen? Were his parents holding each other? Did that mean that just maybe things were on the right track for them again? Then a thought occurred to him. He had disturbed them. ‘d**n,’ he thought to himself. ‘What rotten timing.’
Truthfully he had never wanted to split them up. They were good for each other, no matter how tough it got later on in life. They always loved each other even if they didn’t often understand each other. “If I’m interrupting something, I can come back later,” he said in an apologetic tone.
“No, Chris, your fine,” Piper rushed to assure him. “I was just cleaning up from breakfast. Would you like anything?” She glanced back quickly to see what she hadn’t shoved into the disposal yet.
Chris’ stomach growled just as he said. “I’m not hungry.” Both Piper and Leo tried to hold back their chuckles at that but Piper just couldn’t keep quiet.
She gave him a questioning look as her eyebrows rose. “Chris, do you have a demon tucked under your shirt?” She couldn’t help it. The embarrassed look on his face was just too priceless.
Chris turned a dark shade of scarlet and looked down. “Well maybe I am a little hungry.”
“Sit down,” she ordered, motioning him to the kitchen table then started reheating the food that was left. “You would have had a better selection if you’d been here when the rest of us ate, but seeing as you had a rough day yesterday, I’ll forgive you for that,” she said as she bustled around the kitchen setting sausage, pancakes, toast and bacon in front of him along with both juice and milk. The eggs and french toast had already met their demise in the garbage disposal.
Chris wanted to say that he preferred coffee but held his tongue worried that she’d snap out of whatever had gotten her in the mood to feed him. Leo sat at the table across from him and when Chris looked at him questioningly. He just shrugged and mouthed the words “Go with it.”
Chris decided maybe it was a wise idea and picked up his fork digging into the huge breakfast. He couldn’t remember when the last time was that he had ate a meal so good, but was surprised when he wiped out a plate holding more than twice what he would consider a healthy meal.
Piper had been moving about the kitchen cleaning sporadically trying not to hover over him. But the moment she realized his plate was empty she focused her attention on the table again. “Would you like some more? It wouldn’t take long to make some,” she asked removing the plate from in front of him.
Chris’ eyes widened in surprise. “Um, no, Piper. I’m fine, stuffed actually.” What exactly had gotten into her? His mind started to swirl in fear. Surely she didn’t know something. He almost immediately discounted the idea though. If they had found out they’d all be all over him. There wouldn’t be any calm laid-back breakfasts with just the three of them. They’d have a million questions and probably a few accusations to boot. No this wasn’t what he’d expect if they did find out.
Piper saw the warning glance that Leo was directing at her and decided to back off. “Good, so what do you have planned for today?” she asked returning to the sink to finish the dishes trying to act as if everything was all business.
Chris remembered why he had orbed there to begin with. “Yeah, I needed to take a look at the Book of Shadows. I’ve got another theory.”
“Anything we should know about?” Leo asked leaning forward.
“Well it’s just a theory right now, so if it’s all right with you I’ll wait to discuss further when I have more on it.” Chris wasn’t exactly sure how their new desire to help him in his mission would exactly work. And for some reason he felt like he should clear his idea with them before he just did what he’d normally do.
“Chris, if you want, I’ll help you work on this theory,” Leo suggested.
Chris wasn’t exactly sure he had heard Leo right. Had he just said he wanted to work with Chris? “You don’t have to do that, Leo. It may be nothing. Just some leads I’ll need to follow up in the underworld.”
Leo looked down to the table and waited for it. Clank. There went a dish into the sink. He certainly hoped that Piper wouldn’t come unglued. That would certainly not be a good thing. But she didn’t turn to look at them and acted as if she hadn’t really heard. ‘He’s going to the underworld. Oh god, he’s going to the underworld. Please let him be alright.’ Piper chanted to herself resisting the urge to go into full mothering mode and tell him that he could not go.
Chris had been distracted by the plate falling but looked back to Leo when he realized Piper had just let one slip from her hands. Leo looked back up to him. “I don’t mind, Chris. I’m actually gonna be around here more often and it will give me something to do.” With that he glanced at Piper for a moment and Chris followed his line of sight.
Whoa that was an unmistakable lay of claim in Leo’s eyes. They were definitely getting back together. Chris just nodded. “I guess it’s okay,” Chris said only slightly reluctant. The idea of being around Leo more often was sort of frightening but if it would help to get them back on track, it was worth it. Chris still had his own existence to take into consideration.
With that Leo and Chris both orbed to the attic, where Chris started to thumb through the book of shadows. As he did so he explained his theory to Leo. It seemed that there was a group of low level demons, that he had always discounted as a threat before, that if he remembered right had gained a little more power in the near future but suddenly blinked out of existence just about a year from then. Chris’ theory was that somehow they had managed to gain the power to turn Wyatt but once that happened he had been forced to destroy them all for his own safety. It was a little far fetched but Chris wasn’t about to discount anything completely. “Okay, so we are looking for the Rapacious Demons. Oh and isn’t this nice. They eat human flesh.”
Leo grimaced at the disgusting thought. He had heard of them before but it wasn’t often that they took witches so they were usually under the radar of the Elders. Mortal murders happened every day and it was often hard to determine if the deaths were the demons or some animal by the time the remains were found. Then a thought struck him. “Chris, how do you know that this clan of demons are gonna be wiped out in about a year?” It was such an obscure event that it was hard to believe that he’d have even known about it. He wasn’t even born yet. “You actually seem to know a lot about a lot of demons.”
Chris scowled some at that question. He figured Leo was still trying to find a way to make him out to be something evil. Chris decided that since they had already seen Wyatt and he as friends in his memory that slipping a little more harmless information in wouldn’t hurt. “Magic School detention with Paige Matthews.”
Leo began to chuckle at such an innocent explanation, but then realized what Chris was saying. “Wait, Paige becomes a teacher at Magic School?”
“Yes, she does, and she was the toughest teacher I ever had, especially if you got detention and believe me, Wyatt and I had it a lot. She made us copy text from demonology books for hours at a time.” Chris thought it was ironic that all of that punishment from his youth came in pretty handy in his current situation. But then a thought hit him. “That’s not to say that we were troublemakers or anything. We just…” Chris broke off not exactly sure how to explain away his slip up.
“That’s okay, Chris. Boys will be boys,” Leo said smiling. “And I promise, not a word to Paige.”
“Thanks,” he said sighing in relief. He wondered at how strange it felt to actually be able to talk about something in his past and not feel as if at any moment the world would end because he had said too much. It honestly felt pretty good.
“Anyhow, what’s the plan for today?” Leo asked expectantly.
Chris was about to say something then realized his mistake. He had told Leo that this would be just a fact-finding mission before he had volunteered to help. But truth be told in most of these cases Chris would just vanquish the demons in a preemptive strike. There were many times when he hadn’t bothered to take the sisters on a vanquish. As a matter of fact unless the demons required a power of three spell he never even bothered them with it at all. He wasn’t sure exactly how to tell Leo that though. “Chris, is something wrong?” Leo finally asked when he hadn’t said anything.
Something told Chris that telling the truth would probably get a complete refusal to help from Leo. It wasn’t as if Leo would care about how dangerous it would be. Heck he was an Elder. It wasn’t like the demons could kill him. But still it wasn’t something Chris could ever imagine Leo doing. In all of his days Chris had never seen Leo accompany the sisters on a vanquish. He usually was left at home to watch the kids. It just wasn’t something a pacifist did. So how was Chris gonna handle this? “You know, Leo, you don’t have to go down there with me. You’ve helped enough and I’m sure Piper would rather you stayed here with her and Wyatt.”
Leo wanted to immediately scream that he wasn’t letting his son run off to the underworld alone but he held his tongue and shook his head. “No matter how much I want to be with my family I can’t be on top of them twenty four hours a day, Chris. I think spending more time down there will help open up my eyes to the threats the sisters have to face and make me a better more protective father.” In a roundabout way Leo was being completely honest. He was attempting to protect his son, just not the son that Chris thought he was referring to and it wasn’t very often that the Elders faced the evil that they were so against in this world. It could be good for him.
Chris nodded realizing that he wasn’t gonna easily dissuade Leo. “Okay, I guess this will be a spying mission. Let’s see if we can find out what they are up to.” With that he walked over to the bookcase next to the cauldron and moved a few of the items in the front picking up a medium size leather bag that was behind them.
“What’s that?” Leo asked realizing that he hadn’t ever noticed it before.
Chris opened the bag and pulled out a couple of potion vials. “Emergency kit. Never hurts to be prepared when heading down there.” Truth be told there were at least fifteen potion vials and a very sharp Athame in the kit and he was positive he’d be using them very soon.
Leo nodded and wondered how often Chris did this, but kept his mouth shut not wanting to push Chris and make him think he didn’t trust him.
“All right the last time I was down there I discovered where their lair was, and there is a chamber not far from there that’s not used so much. We can probably just orb directly in, without worry of being discovered.” Chris had planned this all out a couple of days before but then things had went to hell but the plan was still a good one.
“All right, I’ll follow you,” Leo agreed.
As the two men’s orbs reformed in the chamber, Chris realized the mistake he had made. He should have went about getting there the hard way seeing as the chamber was now filled with chanting Rapacious Demons. They looked up at the pair and another demon who was standing next to an alter quickly called out a phrase in Latin and several red crystals around the room lit up forming a circle around the demons, Chris and Leo. Their attempts to orb away were met with a very painful jolt as they were held fast to the circle.
“This is not good,” Chris called opening his leather pouch grabbing several of the vials out.
Leo backed to the edge of the crystal circle as far away from the demons as possible putting his back to the relative safety of the boundary. “Chris, over here,” he called seeing that he was fighting off several of the demons. He had already used half of his potion vials.
But Chris was surrounded by too many of them. Everywhere he turned there were demons grasping at him and biting at him. It wasn’t long before the potions were gone and Chris had started slashing at the demons with the Athame in one hand and tk’ing them away with the other. He hadn’t ever expected there would be this many of them. None of the text had said over a dozen in a clan. But there had to be at least fifty of them in that one chamber. It must have been a meeting of the clans for some sort of ritual. Chris had just picked the wrong day to strike.
Leo knew the rules as an Elder. He wasn’t to use any of his Elder powers to harm anyone or anything, even demons. But he watched helplessly as Chris started to become overrun by the monsters. He watched in horror as one of the creatures jumped onto Chris’ back and sunk its teeth into his shoulder and that was the last straw as far as Leo could see. He raised one hand and called, “Chris,” realizing that even though they couldn’t orb out they could still orb within the crystals. With that the young witch orbed to him landing sort of slumped over his arm. Leo easily laid his son on the ground and then stood facing the demons. If ever there was a time to break the rules, now was it. The demons had been concentrating on the witch that was attacking them and were leaving the other one alone until their prey just suddenly disappeared from their midst. In anger they turned to the other one who they could see was protecting their intended prey.
It was now or never. Leo held both hands aloft and steams of electricity flew from his hands and the moment they touched a demon it would disintegrate into nothing but ash. He continued to do that over and over until the only demon left was the one who had trapped them to begin with. Leo could see it was about to shimmer out but he wasn’t gonna allow even one of the demons that had harmed his son to survive. With that he used his power one last time and the demon exploded into a million pieces. At that the crystals around them deactivated and they were free.
Leo immediately kneeled next to Chris seeing that he was conscious but in a terrible amount of pain from the bites he had sustained. “It’s okay, Chris. I got ya. But you have to hold on a minute. I have to orb us out of here before anymore come.” Leo grasped Chris’ hand and orbed them back to the Manor where they appeared in the entry hall.
Piper had just been walking down the stairs when she saw them appear. Chris was lying on the floor gasping in pain as Leo kneeled over him. “Chris!” she screamed in fear and ran to where they were. “What the hell happened, Leo?”
“I’ll explain later. Help me get him to the couch,” he answered her trying to pull Chris up without touching any of his wounds.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: Oh, I know, horrible cliffie. Why must I do this? Yeah kick me if you want but you all know I’ll update real quick, as long as you don’t maim me, that is. Any questions or concerns that aren't life threatening to me?
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Post by Meluivan Indil on Nov 18, 2007 12:07:40 GMT -5
Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed universe belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
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Chapter 12 ~Do It Again
Piper had just been walking down the stairs when she saw them appear. Chris was lying on the floor gasping in pain as Leo kneeled over him. “Chris!” she screamed in fear and ran to where they were.
"What the hell happened, Leo?”
“I’ll explain later. Help me get him to the couch,” he answered her trying to pull Chris up without touching any of his wounds.
Once they had him on the couch Leo started to heal his wounds. There were so many of them. During this time Chris lay with his eyes squeezed shut feeling as if every inch of his body was on fire.
Piper was pacing nervously behind Leo wringing her hands. “Why is this taking so long, Leo?”
Leo was wondering that himself. He had never healed the bite of a Rapacious Demon before. “I’m not sure. The wounds are healing but for some reason I can still feel something very wrong inside.”
Chris had barely caught Leo’s words and some of the things he had learned while in Magic School started to come back to him. But he felt so weak and the information was confused inside his head. “Leo… need the demonology books,” he said weakly gritting his teeth in pain.
Leo heard what Chris had said but frowned trying to think of what books he was speaking of. After a moment he began to remember what Chris had said about Paige and Magic School. “Of course. Don’t worry, Chris. We’ll get them.” He turned to Piper, “We need Paige and Phoebe.”
Piper immediately looked up and yelled, “Paige, we need you.”
Paige orbed in with an annoyed look on her face. “You know they do make something called the telephone. What’s the big emergency?”
Piper pointed to Chris and Paige’s eyes widened when she saw how bad he looked. Leo had managed to heal his wounds but he was covered in sweat and his eyes seemed to be fogged over in pain his face locked in a permanently twisted grimace. “What happened?”
“No time to explain, Paige. I need you to go get Phoebe and then come back here,” Leo said looking nervously at his son.
“Okay, right back.” Paige immediately orbed away leaving two very worried parents behind.
“Now, Leo. Can you tell me what happened to Chris?” Piper asked standing right behind where he was kneeling staring over him at Chris. She wanted so badly to sit next to him and hold him but knew that wasn’t possible.
“We got ambushed by about fifty demons,” Leo explained checking Chris’ breathing. It seemed way to fast to him. “Chris, you still with me?” he asked trying to get his attention. Chris looked up at him but could only nod.
All color drained from Piper’s face. Fifty demons. “Wait, those were bite marks. What demon does that?”
Leo was beginning to become annoyed with his wife. He had more important things to worry about than easing her fears right then. But still, she was as concerned as he was and had the right to know. “They are called Rapacious Demons and they eat human flesh.”
“Ewww, no… And you two went looking for them?” she asked incredulously. “Leo, what is wrong with you?”
Chris was so surprised to hear her jumping all over Leo for a change. That usually would be his unfortunate fate. But maybe since he was hurt she had decided to lay off him. But still it hadn’t been Leo’s fault. “Piper… My fault. I miscalculated,” he coughed out defending Leo.
Piper turned on Chris completely surprised that he’d defend his father after everything that had happened. “Chris, I appreciate you trying to take all the blame on this, but don’t. You were both irresponsible.” That was all she could think to say to him without blowing his secret. “Now all we should be concerned about is getting you better.”
“My thoughts exactly,” Leo said under his breath just as Paige and Phoebe orbed back in.
“Oh, Chris,” Phoebe immediately said kneeling next to him. “You look horrible.”
He looked to her and tried to scowl. “Thanks.”
Leo stood and walked out into the foyer standing at the base of the staircase. He seemed to be concentrating very hard on something. The sisters followed him out and waited expectantly. All three were surprised when a door appeared halfway up the stairs on the landing.
“What is that?” Piper asked nervously.
“That’s a door to Magic School. Again I’ll explain later,” Leo said turning to them with his hands out trying to allay any questions before they started. “Paige, Phoebe, I need you to go in there and find the school headmaster. His name is Gideon and he’s an Elder. Tell him who you are and that I need every demonology book he has that mentions Rapacious Demons. Get back here as quick as you can.”
“What do you think is wrong with him?” Phoebe asked staring back to where Chris was lying. He had started moaning really low and she could feel the pain he was in.
“I’m not sure but I’m guessing some kind of poison was transmitted when they bit him.” Neither of them had seen the bites all over Chris’ body and it brought shocked gasps from them both.
“We’re gone,” Paige said pulling Phoebe with her up the stairs and through the door.
Leo went back into the family room and took up his place next to Chris. His eyes had closed and his face was a mask of pain. Leo was reminded of the day that Bianca had tried to drain his powers. He seemed to be in just as much pain. It had been so much easier to watch Chris’ suffering before he knew who he was though. He had felt horrible back then that Chris was in pain but now it was almost as if he could feel his son’s pain himself. “Chris,” he whispered in concern. “Can you still hear me?”
Chris’ eyes flew open and went to Leo. The look in those eyes was one that broke his heart. His eyes were full of unshed tears and it was as if they pleaded for him to take his pain away. He opened his mouth but only one word was forced through his teeth. “Hurts.”
Leo leaned over and placed one hand on Chris’ forehead brushing his hair back. The other hand he hovered over Chris’ chest trying to heal him yet again. He knew it wouldn’t heal whatever was causing his son's pain but just maybe he might be able to offer him just a little bit of relief anyway. “I know, Buddy. I know. I promise we’ll find a way to heal you.” After a moment or so Chris’ breathing slowed slightly and he seemed to relax a little. “Does that feel any better?” Leo asked hopefully.
“A little,” Chris managed swallowing hard.
Piper had went upstairs and brought Wyatt down placing him in his playpen in the sunroom. She knew that if she stayed in the same room as Chris, she wouldn’t be able to hold off on her mothering ways for long. But still it was harder than she might have ever imagined. She found herself walking back and forth from the sunroom to the family room. She tried to stay in the sunroom with Wyatt but every time she heard any painful noise from the family room she’d find herself at the door just staring at her grown son. Then she began to wonder how many more events like this she was going to have to suffer through, with both this Chris and the one that was yet to be born, not to mention Wyatt. Was she gonna spend her entire life in a panic over worry for her children? She knew the answer without having to ask anyone. Decidedly yes! She turned again and walked back into the sunroom picking up Wyatt and clutching him to her chest as she paced the room with tears streaming down her face.
Chris’ mind had begun to clear some after Leo’s healing touch had decreased the pain. But Leo had to keep applying that touch and often to keep the pain level to a bearable level. Chris knew that the Elder’s powers were not boundless and eventually Leo’s healing would start to fizzle as he became exhausted from doing so. “Stop, Leo. I can handle the pain,” he said weakly.
Leo’s eyes snapped to Chris’ and he shook his head. “You’re still in pain, Chris. I can’t stop.”
Chris looked at him appreciatively. “You’re gonna exhaust yourself. Between healing and the fire power I saw you use back in that cave you should be about to run dry.”
“You let me worry about that,” Leo instructed reaching out again ready to heal but Chris grabbed his hand stopping him.
“Leo, save it for later. It’ll be worse then.” Chris had begun to remember more about the bite of the Rapacious Demon and none of what he remembered was good. He then tried to push himself to a sitting position. Leo grabbed a pillow and shoved it behind his back knowing Chris wasn’t gonna just lay back peacefully.
“Paige and Phoebe will find a cure, Chris. And then you’ll be just fine. Have a little faith in your … them.” Leo had almost slipped and said ‘your family.’ He’d have to be more careful he decided.
Chris hadn’t seemed to notice the slip though as he seemed to be thinking of something else. “Leo, you used your Elder powers to destroy those demons.”
Leo looked away from Chris staring at the rug between his feet. “Yes,” he finally said in reluctance.
“But the other Elders…” Chris began to say in worry. He knew there had to be penalties for what Leo did.
“What they don’t know, won’t hurt them,” Leo finally said looking up to Chris and giving him a smile. He didn’t regret his actions at all. He had done what was necessary to save his son and that’s what mattered to him. “Chris, I’d do it again if I had to.”
Chris’ eyes widened in surprise. Not only had Leo used his powers to save him but he was also prepared to lie to the other Elders because of it. The father he had grown up with wouldn’t have ever done anything like that for him. Maybe for Wyatt, but never him. He couldn’t help the question that came to his lips. “Why?” Leo could hear the disbelief in his voice and he had to admit that it hurt like hell to know that his son would never expect him to care enough to want to save him. But he had to remind himself that Chris did not see him as his father yet and the man who had been his father probably would not have cared enough to save him. Leo tried to hide the hurt expression with a strained smile but it still had flashed in his eyes for a moment. This confused Chris even more. This wasn’t the Leo he was used to.
“Chris…” Leo paused not exactly sure what to say. Right then he knew he had to think of this as if Chris wasn’t his son. His answer could not be affected by that fact at all if he was ever to keep Chris’ secret. “You deserve better,” he finally settled on looking back on what Chris was doing to save Wyatt and all of the pain he had suffered because of it. “Better than the life you’ve had to live. Better than the treatment we’ve given you. What you are doing here is amazing. You’ve lived through hell and you came back in time to save the person that put you through that. You told Piper once that I was one of the best sources of pure goodness in this world. But I’ve never been as selfless as what you are right now. So please just let me help you when you need it. I want to.”
When Chris had traveled back in time he had never expected to find his father as such a different person than the one he knew. He began to wonder what on earth could have ever changed him so much. The man before him had a very large and generous heart, but then again would it be that way if he knew who Chris really was? At that moment he wanted so desperately to tell his father who he was exactly, in hopes that maybe his eyes wouldn’t cloud over in suspicion and hate like they did so often in his childhood. He wanted to see his father’s eyes filled with love for him, for his son just once. He began to open his mouth to say something but the notion quickly faded away as Piper walked into the room, holding baby Wyatt. It was probably for the best that he hadn’t said anything he decided. But still he felt disappointment at the lost opportunity.
Piper had dried her eyes but she still wore a worried look. “You’re sitting up. Shouldn’t you be lying down?”
Chris’ eyebrows arched slightly. Was that worry in her voice? “I’m okay for now. Leo helped it a lot,” he answered wincing slightly at the pain he still felt.
Piper saw the wince and looked to Leo. “I think you need to do some more.” The look on her face had that ‘or else’ quality that Leo and Chris were both used to seeing.
“Not yet. He needs to save his strength for when it gets really bad,” Chris explained but he was still staring at Piper curiously. Why did she seem to be threatening Leo over his well-being? That just seemed wrong.
“How bad will it get?” she asked her face showing even more concern than before.
Chris blinked again in surprise. “Piper, are you okay?”
She realized too late just how much concern she was showing. Too much for someone who could barely be called a friend. “I’m fine.” She smiled nervously. “Why are you asking about me when you’ve been poisoned?” she countered. “I’m not the one who was used as a demon sized chew toy.”
Chris couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped his lips even if it did hurt like hell to do so. By the time the mirth was gone he was holding his stomach in extreme pain. “Please… don’t… make… me… laugh,” he said wincing between each word.
“Okay, Chris. Lean back. It’s getting bad again.” With that Leo took both his shoulders and pushed him back as he placed his hands above his stomach and they started glowing again. Within a few moments Chris had stopped breathing hard again and he no longer clutched his stomach. But Leo was worried about the look in Chris’ eyes. So much pain. He could tell it was getting worse. He laid one hand on Chris’ shoulder squeezing it comfortingly. “Rest now, Chris. If I see you in more pain I’ll help. I promise I won't let you down.”
Chris nodded once and let his eyes fall closed smiling softly at the warm feeling those words gave him.
Piper had seen the way Leo was with Chris and felt a longing to be able to be that way with him too but she knew it would have to wait. Chris needed Leo then, not her. “Where are my sisters?” she finally asked trying to force her mind away from more painful subjects.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: Okay I know, not much plotline in this chapter. I do realize it was mostly hurt and comfort but I’m really trying to have Leo and the sisters gain Chris’ trust and affection and doesn’t pain bring a family closer together? Actually I had planned on having the sisters back before the end of this chapter but I got carried away with the whole father/son bonding thing. Sorry, it is certainly my weak point. I should also mention that I am not exactly sure whether Elder power is limitless or not but I'm thinking not since the Avatars power wasn't and the Elders feared them. It just makes more sense if the Elders have some limits.
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Post by Meluivan Indil on Nov 18, 2007 12:28:44 GMT -5
Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed universe belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Due to popular demand flashbacks are back and again represented in italics.
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Chapter 13 ~ Healing
Chris had finally managed to fall into a restless sleep, which didn’t exactly allay his parent’s fears. Piper stood watching him struggle in his sleep wanting so badly to do something to take the pain away.
“What could be taking them so long?” Leo asked in exasperation.
“Leo, why don’t you go check on them?” Piper suggested but she could see by the look on his face that he didn’t want to leave Chris’ side. “If he gets worse I’ll call you, I promise,” she assured him. “You can hear me in there, can’t you?”
Leo nodded. Orbing in and out of Magic School was allowed. The only reason he’d created the door before was because Paige wouldn’t know how to get there on her own. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.” He gave Chris one last look as if leaving him was the most painful thing he could do and then disappeared into a swirl of shining orbs.
Piper pulled a chair closer to the couch so she could sit next to Chris. She could see how his head turned from side to side as if he was trying to fight something off. She wondered if he was having a nightmare. She reached out and stroked the side of his face whispering to him, “It’s okay, Chris. I’m right here and I won’t let anything hurt you.”
With the words Chris seemed to quiet noticeable and she could see the pained expression on his face fade slightly. She decided that talking to him might have its advantages. “You’re very sick right now, sweetie. But we are gonna take care of you and soon it will be all better.” These words seemed to bring him even more peace.
Chris could hear his mother’s voice and it was the only thing that seemed to drive away the pain. He couldn’t remember where he was or how he had gotten so sick but he knew it was bad this time. His mind began to wonder to the first time he could remember being close to this sick.
“Mom, it hurts,” he said trying to keep the tears back. At the age of six, shortly after he started school he had decided that it was definitely not cool to cry in front of anyone not even his mom. But he was fighting a losing battle, as the pain became worse and worse.
“I know, baby, but we are gonna take care of you and it will be all better soon.” Piper tried to sooth her son’s worry.
Chris had been sick for almost two weeks now but for several days he had kept quiet about it trying not to worry his mother. But that morning when he had woken up and felt like his throat was swollen shut he had finally given in and went to her. That in itself was enough to tell Piper that it was serious this time. Chris very rarely would admit to being sick. He hated to worry his mother, and his father most of the time just shook it off as nothing important or told him to quit acting like a baby.
They were sitting in the emergency room at the hospital waiting to hear what the doctors had to say. Piper could see the pain in his eyes and wanted to be able to banish it from his small form but knew that there was nothing she could do about it right then. But she did know how to comfort her youngest son. She slid onto the hospital bed next to him and pulled him into her arms. When he did not pull back she wondered just how much pain he really felt. Instead he laid his head on her shoulder and wrapped his arms around her waist pressing his damp eyes into the fabric of her blouse.
She began to tenderly run her hand over her son’s back as she placed soft kisses on his forehead and whispered words of comfort that only he could hear.
It wasn’t long until the doctor came in and told them that Chris was suffering from a very severe case of tonsillitis. Not unusual for a child his age but the fact that it had went on for too long without being treated had made it so much more painful for the child. He was given antibiotics for the infection but as the doctor stepped from the room he added something that made Chris turn pale as the sheets on the bed. “As soon as that infection clears up, I want to schedule him for surgery. I’ll be back in a little while with the surgery schedule and we can decide when would be the best time.”
Piper nodded knowing that that would be coming. She remembered having her own tonsils out at Chris’ age. But then she noticed that her son was shaking all over. She turned her head back to him and saw the fear in his eyes. “Oh, it’s okay baby. Tonsil surgery is very simple and doesn’t hurt at all.”
Chris looked up to her with those huge green eyes and she could tell that this time he would cry. “I don’t want to.”
Piper hugged him tighter. “Chris, sweetie, I know it’s scary to think about but it won’t hurt you.”
“Mommy, please don’t make me. I promise I’ll be good and I won’t do anything wrong ever again,” he pleaded with her.
“Peanut, this has nothing to do with you doing anything wrong. It’s just something that some children have to deal with,” she hated to think that he thought he was being punished for something by having to have surgery. “Wyatt had his tonsils out a couple of years ago too and he could tell you that you have nothing to worry about.”
Chris looked skeptically at her and then did the one thing he could think to do. “Wyatt,” he called out in fear.
Piper’s eyes widened. Wyatt appeared right next to Chris on the other side of the bed from her and she quickly scanned around them worried that someone had seen, but the curtains were all drawn around the bed and hopefully no one had noticed the blue and white orbs lighting the space. “Wyatt, you can not orb into a hospital,” she hissed quietly.
“But Chris needed me,” he explained as if that made all the difference in the world and to him it probably did she realized.
“Okay fine. Honey, can you please tell Chris that having your tonsils removed is not anything to be afraid of.” As long as he was there he well as help his brother.
Wyatt looked at his brother and saw the tears in his eyes nodding in understanding. He quickly crawled onto Chris’ side of the bed and sat next to his brother’s legs facing him. If he’d been any closer he would have been sitting on top of them. “She’s right, Chris. I had mine out and at first I was scared like you.”
Chris loosened the grip he had on his mother so he could sit up and face Wyatt. “Really?”
“Yeah, then Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige told me about when they had theirs out. They said that it only hurt a tiny bit, a lot less than before they took them out, and afterwards they got to stay in bed for a few days watching whatever they wanted on TV and eating all the ice cream they wanted.” That to Wyatt was the best part of the whole ordeal.
Chris’ eyes widened in disbelief. They got to eat ice cream every so often for dessert but it was a treat and only after they had eaten everything else, even their vegetables. But to be able to eat it whenever they wished seemed like a dream come true. He turned to his mother though and she could tell that he wanted more reassurance. “Yes, Chris, all the ice cream you want.”
Chris smiled at that thought and snuggled even deeper into his mother’s embrace. Wyatt then crawled up the bed and scooted in next to Chris opposite his mom and wrapped his arms around his little brother. He knew that his mom would make him orb back home soon but for now he wanted to be there for his brother. He remembered when he was in Chris’ position and knew that Chris’ tonsils were probably a lot worse since he never told anyone when he was sick until it got too serious to ignore.
Piper could see the smile that lit her son’s face and wondered exactly what was going through his mind. Whatever it was she was thankful that it was soothing his discomfort. She reached out taking his hand into hers hoping that somehow it would help him even more but it wasn’t long until she could see the pain returning anew and he started to whimper as the hand she wasn’t holding drifted to his stomach. She remembered how he had been clutching his stomach earlier. “Leo,” she called out quietly trying not to pull him from his sleep.
Leo immediately orbed next to her along with Paige, Phoebe and a man she did not recognize. “Leo, he’s beginning to hurt again,” she said urging him to do something.
“We’ll get started on the potion,” Paige said grabbing Phoebe’s hand and orbing them to the attic.
Leo immediately kneeled next to Chris again placing his hands above his stomach and concentrated hard on healing him, but it wasn’t hard to see that the healing glow was fading. His power was so close to being drained he realized.
“Leo, what’s wrong,” Piper asked in confusion.
Leo pulled his hands back and slumped down to the floor. “Chris was right. My powers are too drained. I can’t heal him anymore until I have rested.” His voice sounded so disheartened and he looked almost broken. He was failing his son.
The other man who had arrived with them walked over next to Leo, “Let me,” he said smiling down at his friend.
Piper stood quickly her hands out ready to defend her son. “Who are you?”
Leo reached up and grabbed Piper’s hand pulling it down. “This is Gideon, Piper. He’s my friend and mentor. He won’t hurt Chris.”
“An Elder?” Piper’s voice was laced slightly with suspicion.
“Yes, Piper, an Elder and one who stood up on our behalf when we wanted to marry,” Leo explained.
That surprised Piper but she backed away giving Gideon room to heal Chris.
Gideon quickly started the healing process. “You know this is only temporary, Leo. I’m no stronger than you. That potion is the only thing that can save him.”
“Yes I know. I just want to take his pain away for as long as I can. He’s had to deal with too much pain in his life already.” Leo’s voice sounded bitter at the last words and Gideon looked at him strangely.
“You are going to have to tell me about this young man someday. Someone who can garner this much devotion from you must be something special.” Gideon smiled to Leo and Leo just nodded. He couldn’t tell Gideon Chris’ secret, but maybe someday if Chris ever decided to reveal it himself, it would be nice to have a friend to talk to about everything he had learned about his future self. Maybe the other Elder could help him to understand why in Chris’ time he had become such a horrible father.
After he was finished healing Chris, Gideon stepped back and watched curiously. He had had discussions about Chris with some of the other Elders and had been under the impression that the Whitelighter from the future was not high on Leo’s list of trusted friends. So why the change in heart all of a sudden? What had he learned from the young man that would make Leo this concerned over him? It was a curious occurrence for sure. “I must be heading back to the school, but if you need me before the potion is ready just call.”
Leo and Piper both just nodded, neither of them taking their eyes from the young man. With that Gideon orbed back to Magic School with a puzzle in his mind to try to decipher.
But the sound of the voices and the orbing in and out had worked to bring Chris’ mind back to consciousness and soon his eyes were fluttering open. The first thing he saw was his mom standing over him with a look of concern covering her face. For a moment he thought that maybe he was six years old again and she was watching over him while he recovered from being ill. But something about that didn’t sound right and he let his mind process the reality around him. He looked around and also noticed his father sitting on the floor beside him and the look on his face was also full of concern. That above everything else convinced him that this could not be his reality. It only took a few seconds more to register what had been happening. Oh if only he could have been locked in that memory for a little bit longer. He groaned at the thought of having to leave the comfort and warmth he had felt while in it.
“Are you in a lot of pain, Chris?” Piper asked sitting back down on the chair next to him.
Chris looked up and still she wore a look of concern. And no matter how much he knew it wasn’t possible, for just a minute he wanted her to be the mother he remembered. He wanted her to hold him and tell him that they would take care of him and he’d be all right. But even though Piper was showing concern for him, she still was not his mom. She wasn’t the woman who had nursed him back to health when he was sick and the one who used to wrap her arms around him and kiss his forehead to see if he was running a fever. She never needed a thermometer to gauge his illness. That one kiss always told her when he was ill and how ill he was. He had to shake his head to extract himself from the wonderful memory he was immersed in before he really did something stupid and called Piper ‘mom’ or something else just as foolhardy. She had asked him a question. Pain. Was he in a lot of pain? He had to admit there was some but not more than he could bear. “I’m fine, Piper,” he settled on finally seeing her worry as he didn’t answer her.
She looked at him in disbelief. “Chris, I’m not that naive,” she said crossing her arms over her chest giving him a look that would melt ice.
Now that was the Piper he expected. He was on a more even keel when she was around. He wasn’t exactly sure how to take the Piper that was all concerned and mothering, and it reminded him too much of the mother he had lost. “Okay, as fine as can be expected in my situation,” he corrected.
“Thought so,” she answered. “I’m gonna go check on Paige and Phoebe and see if they have that potion done.” She was about to turn and leave when they heard steps come charging down the steps. Paige and Phoebe both came sliding around the corner and into the room, nearly tripping over the antique rug in the foyer. “Never mind.”
“We got it,” Phoebe called in triumph. “We just need a drop of your blood, Piper.”
Piper blinked slightly, “Excuse me.”
“We thought that blessing it with the power of three might make it work a little better,” Paige explained.
Chris looked at them strangely. He knew it probably wasn’t a necessary step but still it was a kind gesture.
Piper nodded. “You two already blessed it?” she asked. They each nodded. “And you didn’t faint,” she asked Paige. Everyone knew how Paige hated the sight of blood.
Paige just gave her a sarcastic grin. “Hey, we gotta take care of our favorite Bitchy Whitelighter.”
“Nice,” Chris said rolling his eyes at Paige. “I can feel the love.”
With that Phoebe came forward and went about the steps necessary for Piper to bless the potion too. Once done Leo helped Chris to sit back up and handed him the potion.
Chris looked at it and then back at Paige and Phoebe who were waiting expectantly. “There aren’t any side effects to this potion are there?” he asked worried by their intense stares.
Phoebe made a swiping motion with her hand. “No go ahead, Chris.” Then he downed the potion in one swallow. “Let us know if he grows fangs, okay?” Phoebe added smiling at Piper, who couldn’t help the grin that crossed her face at her sister’s joke.
Chris glared at Phoebe and then closed his eyes waiting for the potion to take effect. After just a few moments he felt a cool wave sweep over him and when it had left all of the pain had left with it. His eyes snapped open and he smiled large, something that he didn’t do too often.
“So, how do you feel?” Leo asked expectantly.
Chris looked down to where Leo sat finally realizing just how worn he looked. “I feel great. Better than I have in a long time.” As a matter of fact he couldn’t believe exactly how good he did feel. It was almost as if the warmth from his dream memory had managed to invade his waking world and he was completely utterly happy. But still the look of his father worried him. “You don’t look so good though. I told you not to use the healing so much.”
Leo just smiled at his concern. “I’m just tired but glad that you are better.”
Piper too had noticed just how drained Leo was and now that her son was safe her concern turned to her husband. “Come on. You need to get some rest, Mister,” she said helping Leo to his feet and then walked with him to the stairs. She had forgotten about the door to Magic School but motioned to it. “Is that permanent?”
Chris and her sisters had followed them into the foyer and for the first time Chris noticed the door.
“No, I’ll get rid of it later though,” Leo answered knowing he wasn’t strong enough to vanish it.
Chris frowned really realizing how weak his father was. And it was all because he was protecting him. It struck him as the most profound thing he had ever seen and it touched him to his very soul. “Leo!”
Leo and Piper froze where they were and turned back to him waiting to see what Chris would say.
Chris had always thought it would be so difficult to praise his father for anything but not today, not at this moment. “Thanks, for everything.”
Leo gave Chris a large smile. “You’re Welcome.” And then they turned and headed back upstairs.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: Ha, I told you all that Chris would get better. And as you all may have noticed I’ve started putting Chris’ memories in the story again. I realized just how much they made the story in the first few chapters, and even though Leo and the sisters don’t see them anymore they can really help Chris to accept his family again so it just seemed like the right thing to do. So does anyone agree with me?
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Post by Meluivan Indil on Nov 18, 2007 14:11:30 GMT -5
Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed universe belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.
A/N: Well I have decided just to keep everything balanced I will not put flashbacks in every chapter or at least if I do the chapters need to be on the longer side. I don’t want this fic to become just a trip down memory lane, but the memories are a good way to get to know Chris better. So you never know when I’ll add a memory, so don’t expect one but if there is you can be pleasantly surprised. Okie-Dokey?
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Chapter 14 ~ Arguments
Sitting on top of the Golden Gate Bridge, Chris had many things running through his mind and all those things revolved around his family.
He couldn’t believe how the last three months had been going. It seemed that ever since their little trip to the Tribunal Chamber, Leo and the sisters had changed their attitude towards him completely. Oh they weren’t jumping hoops or anything like that to make him feel comfy but they had seriously been trying to be nice to him at every turn. Piper was constantly trying to feed him. Paige, well Paige was still as sarcastic as ever but she actually acted as if she was fond of him. Phoebe treated him almost the same as before but all of the biting marks were gone and she always asked him how he was feeling. Then there was Leo. Leo was the biggest surprise of them all. He had started spending a lot of his time with Chris, discussing theories on how Wyatt would be turned, and many times had accompanied Chris to the underworld on demon hunts and fact-finding missions. Every time Chris asked what the other Elders would do, Leo would just smile and tell him that they would never know. And it wasn’t just his mission that they spoke of. It seemed as if Leo wanted to know as much about Chris as he possibly could. All in all everything seemed strange but also nice in a way.
All of their actions were fine with Chris actually. He was much more comfortable when he was around them now and he often times found himself remembering his own past with them. But then there was the one memory that always ruined it for him, which paralyzed him in terror. And when he’d remember that one he’d pull away and come here to the bridge. It had happened again that morning shortly after breakfast. He wasn’t even sure what was said that brought the memory to his head, but it came and he had to quickly excuse himself and escape.
Several times in the past three months he had had the urge to tell one of them who he was and it was growing more and more stronger with each passing day. But then he’d think about how things had been before the Chamber and he’d imagine how angry Piper would be because of his lies. All he could imagine was her telling him that she didn’t believe him or worse that she hated him. And if she did, that would be it. He couldn’t be anywhere near her again. And he truly did not want the last memory he had of his mother to be of her telling him that she hated him.
But then there was his deeper fear. The fear that she wouldn’t hate him. The fear that she would love him and accept him, and then when he went back to his own time and she wasn’t there it would kill him. “I’m sorry, Mom. I can’t lose you again,” he whispered into the wind blowing around him as it blew wisps of his hair into his eyes.
Then he heard the call. “Chris.” It was Piper. He ignored it at first. Her voice did not hold a hint of fear in it, so he was sure whatever it was could wait. “Chris! Don’t you ignore me young man,” she called out in irritation.
Chris rolled his eyes and stood orbing to the Manor. He landed easily in the kitchen and looked around to see if there was anything to worry about. Piper was standing just a few feet from him and he could see the rest of the family sitting at the kitchen table getting ready to eat lunch. Nothing at all looked out of the ordinary. “What’s wrong?” he snipped at her.
Piper gave him an innocent look. “Nothing’s wrong. We were just about to eat lunch and I wanted to see if you were hungry.”
Chris’ mouth dropped at her words as he gaped in astonishment. “Have you lost your mind, woman? You called me here for lunch.” He hadn’t meant to snap at her but he truly had wanted to be left alone for a while longer.
Piper’s eyes widened and Leo scowled for a moment. Chris didn’t often talk to Piper with that kind of disrespect. “Chris, I don’t think that’s called for...”
Piper turned to him giving her best ‘back off’ look. “Stay out of this, Leo. This is between Chris and I.” Then she turned back to Chris. “Why shouldn’t I call you to ask if you want lunch?”
“There’s such a thing as a telephone, Piper. Look there’s one right over here on the wall,” he said as if talking to a small child and then walked over and pulled the receiver off the wall turning and showing it to her. “If you call P3 and I answer then you can invite me for lunch but if I don’t you can’t.”
“Don’t talk to me in that tone of voice, young man,” Piper said indignantly. “I did try to call you. There was no answer.”
He ignored her first statement. Normally he wouldn’t have talked to her like that but she had caught him when he was at his most vulnerable when she called him, and that scared him and made him angry all at the same time. “Well then, maybe that should have given you the clue that I was out. What if I had been in the underworld? What if you had distracted me and it got me into a load of trouble? So if it’s not important, don’t call.”
Piper had heard the horrible tone of his voice but the only thing she had really caught was him mentioning the underworld. “I thought you weren’t going down there alone anymore.” Her voice had changed from anger to worry in just seconds.
Chris gaped at her statement. “Wha… Piper, since when do you keep tabs on where I go and what I do?”
Piper set her face in determination. “Ever since you and my husband decided to take on a large clan of flesh eating demons. You gave up the right not to have some one watching over you when you did that. Because knowing you, you’re probably already trying to find some other demons to kill you as we speak. And I for one am not gonna let you do that.” At that moment it didn’t matter to her whether she sounded like a mother or not. All she cared about was keeping her son alive and safe.
“Piper, I’m a grown man and haven’t needed anyone to watch over me in …” Chris began but was not given the chance to finish.
“I don’t care if you are seven or thirty seven, you still need someone to look out for you, young man. So stop arguing with me, sit your *ss down at that table and eat a pleasant meal with us.” Piper’s voice had rose with every word and Chris’ face went stark white. For someone who he was trying to convince himself wasn’t his mother she sure had sounded like it at that moment. She could see panic in his eyes and reached out grabbing his arm. “Don’t you dare orb out on me, Christopher.” She had meant the words to be stronger but somewhere in the second when she had feared he would flee, her will had broken and she wasn’t above begging for him to join them. “Please.”
Chris had almost left. In less than a second he would have been gone but something about the pleading quality of her voice stopped him and he knew that if he did leave it would hurt her. Right then he couldn’t bear to do that. He wasn’t sure why it would hurt her, but he knew it would. Did she really feel that bad about all the times they had been cruel to him before the chamber? Did it really mean that much to her? He concluded that it must have. “All right,” he finally answered quietly and then took a seat at the table next to Leo. He didn’t look at her but he could feel her eyes on him. If he had only looked up he would have seen tears misting her eyes but he just couldn’t look at her right then. Not when she was reminding him so much of his own mother.
Lunch was eaten in veritable silence with the tension between Chris and Piper still being felt by them all. Afterwards Leo asked to talk to Piper alone and they headed upstairs to their bedroom. Leo had asked Chris to keep an eye on Wyatt for a few minutes while they talked, which he agreed to without a fuss. Now that Wyatt was no longer shielding himself from Chris, it was much easier and more enjoyable to care for his brother. Phoebe and Paige had headed up to the attic to restock some of the potions they tried to keep on hand in case of demon attacks.
Chris had been playing with Wyatt in the sunroom when he suddenly heard noises coming from Piper’s bedroom, which was right above him. He grabbed Wyatt and wondered up the steps until he was right outside the door but then he realized that the noises were actually two raised voices. Piper and Leo’s. He could easily make out the words. “Don’t give me that b*llsh*t, Leo,” he heard Piper yell angrily.
“Piper, what is the real problem here?” Leo yelled back.
“You, you’re being irresponsible. And you are gonna get yourself and Chris killed because of it,” she came back angrily.
Chris backed away from the door quickly. This was just way to eerily familiar and he really didn’t want to hear it. With that he walked the rest of the way upstairs with Wyatt clasped tightly in his arms.
Once he reached the attic he sat Wyatt on the floor and sat next to him. “Hey, Chris,” Phoebe called out and Paige nodded to him in greeting.
“You guys don’t mind if we hang out up here do you?” he asked nervously. He really didn’t want to be alone downstairs at that moment.
“That’s fine, Chris,” Phoebe said wondering why he would even ask but going back to what she and Paige were doing without questioning it.
Chris looked down to Wyatt and smiled rubbing his back gently. He could see that Wyatt seemed tense also. He remembered when they were both children together in Chris’ other timeline that both of them always seemed to know when their parents were fighting and it upset them more than either would admit to anyone other than each other. Chris’ eyes seemed to become unfocused as a memory came to him unbidden.
Chris woke with a start and looked over to the bed across from his realizing that his brother was not there. That was not a completely unusual event but somehow Chris felt something was very wrong in their home at that moment. So he quickly swung his legs out of the bed with his feet landing on the cold floor. Though the cold did bother him he felt an urge to move quickly and got out of bed creeping quietly to the door and out into the hallway.
He looked around in the darkened hall and saw Wyatt crouching on the floor next to their parent’s bedroom. Chris joined his brother sitting as close as he could and listened to what had drawn his brother from his warm bed.
“Don’t give me that b*llsh*t, Leo,” Mom yelled angrily.
“Piper, what is the real problem here?” Dad yelled back.
“What is the problem? Are you kidding me? Chris was nearly killed today and you didn’t even bother to come to help. Are you really that irresponsible? Or does you son just mean nothing to you?” They could hear the half sobs that accompanied their mother’s painful words.
“I don’t know, Piper. I just didn’t know,” Leo answered her in a pleading voice. “I never hear him.”
“You never hear him, or you don’t want to?” Her voice was so low that they almost hadn’t heard it. And Chris had wished that he hadn’t. Did his father not want to save him? Would he rather he died? Chris stood quickly not waiting to hear the answer as he ran quickly back to his bedroom throwing himself on his own bed burying his head in the pillows and blankets letting several years of pain and anger pour into his pillow, which drowned out the sobs.
Wyatt had followed him and Chris felt him sit on the bed beside him and lay one hand on his shoulder. Eventually Chris was able to pull his face from the pillow and Wyatt could see the pain in his brother’s eyes and could feel it like it was his own. “Chris…” Wyatt wasn’t sure what to say. He couldn’t deny what they heard. He knew how his father treated Chris and had wondered many times if Leo would have been happier without Chris in the family.
Chris just shook his head. He didn’t want to hear it. He didn’t want to hear that his father hated him. He didn’t want to hear that he would prefer him dead. But most of all he didn’t want Wyatt to lie to him to spare his feelings. He finally sat up and leaned back against the wall. He knew he wouldn’t sleep anymore that night.
Wyatt understood that Chris didn’t want to talk but he wasn’t gonna leave him alone so he moved next to Chris leaning against the wall and wrapped one arm around his younger brother pulling his head down so it rested on his shoulder. The only thing he knew he had to say came out very quietly. “I’ll never let you down, Bro. I promise.”
But he had, hadn’t he?
“Chris, hey Chris. Are you there?” Paige asked standing right next to the witch. She had asked him something but he wasn’t sure what.
“I’m sorry, Paige. What did you say?” he asked in embarrassment at being caught woolgathering.
“I said that it looked like you were lost there,” she answered ruffling his hair.
Chris pulled away from the offending appendage and shook his head. “Just memories,” he said with a sad look on his face.
Paige and Phoebe could both see the way those memories were affecting him. “You know, we are good at listening,” Phoebe suggested. She could see the amused look he gave her and rushed on to explain further. “I know you can’t tell us a lot but if there is anything you can and feel it would help you to share, we’d be glad to listen.”
Chris knew he shouldn’t be surprised that Phoebe wanted to help him emotionally. She was a very caring person and an Empath on top of it. He knew he should just stick to his whole future consequences idea but still… “Piper and Leo are fighting,” he finally said.
Phoebe and Paige both looked at him wide eyed. “How do you know?” Paige asked carefully.
“I heard them on my way up here.” He took their shock to mean that they thought he had no business butting into it and quickly added. “It just reminds me of my own parents from my timeline. They fought a lot. Most of the time about me,” he explained sadly picking Wyatt up and holding him tight. “I think Wyatt can sense it too, though and it worries me.”
The sisters for the first time noticed the sad look on their littlest nephew’s face. He normally played happily but instead he seemed not to care to play at all right then as he wrapped his arms around Chris seeking comfort.
Phoebe was astonished by the link she could already see between the two brothers, but it was so sad that they had to share something that was very painful to the both of them in this way. She quickly crossed to kneel next to both of them. Chris thought she would take Wyatt from him but was surprised when she wrapped her arms around both of them. “I’m sorry. I know how hard this must be on both of you,” she whispered.
Paige had noticed in the last couple of months things had been getting pretty tense between her sister and Leo but she didn’t know it was to the point where they were fighting. “So what do we do about it?”
“What do you mean, do about it?” Chris asked uneasily accepting Phoebe’s hug but not pushing her away. She always was the overly affectionate type.
“Well, I for one don’t like to see them fighting. So what do we do?” Paige explained as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
“What can we do?” Phoebe asked letting go of the boys but sitting on the floor next to them anyway.
“Listen you guys, it’s probably nothing. I’m just overreacting. We need to just leave them alone and let them handle it themselves.” Chris had never meant for them to try to do anything. He wasn’t even really sure why he had told them. He had just wanted to share some of the pain with someone who could understand and wasn't a small child. But he also knew how angry Piper would get if they interfered.
Paige scowled slightly but decided to let it go, at least for now. “Okay. Anyway, I have to get to my temp job. Just try to keep your chin up. Things will get better.”
“Yeah, I have to go downstairs and make some phone calls. You guys be okay up here by yourselves?” Phoebe asked in concern. She hated to leave them alone when they both were so very sad but she knew there was nothing she could really do to help them, right then.
“Yeah, we'll be fine,” Chris answered. ‘We always are,’ he added silently to himself.
After they left Chris looked down to his brother in affection. “Looks like it’s just you and me again, kiddo.”
But they were not alone. Piper had stepped into the attic looking for her sisters but instead saw her sons sitting on the floor together. Her heart nearly wanted to burst when she saw the loving way that Chris held his brother. A part of her had worried that Chris wouldn’t be able to show affection for this younger version of his brother because of the evil he would someday become. But her fears were apparently unfounded. “Can I play too?” she asked interrupting the precious moment.
Chris’ head swung around at her voice but it was hard to disguise the sadness he had been feeling and it shown through his eyes instantly sending panic through her. Piper wanted to immediately question him as to what had disturbed him so but she knew that was something that he would see as an intrusion so instead she went over and kneeled on the floor next to them. She reached out stroking Wyatt’s blonde curls. Once he realized that mommy was there he turned in Chris’ arms but did not offer to leave his lap. “How’s my big boy?” she asked him a smile playing across her lips.
Wyatt looked up to her questioningly but didn’t say a word or even offer a sound.
“Not talking today, I guess,” she said slightly sad herself. Wyatt sometimes would clam up around them and she often wondered what was going through his head. She looked around the attic then. “Where did my sister’s get off to?”
Chris finally opened his mouth knowing she would expect an answer. “Paige went to work and Phoebe is downstairs making phone calls.”
Piper nodded and looked down at Wyatt again. She somehow felt like she couldn’t look Chris in the eye. “Is everything okay, Piper?” He asked seeing her uncharacteristic behavior.
She finally looked up at him and gave him a sad smile. “Yeah, Chris. It’s fine,” she lied rather ineffectively. “Listen, I need to go to the club for a bit. I know this is asking a lot but could you stay here and keep an eye on Wyatt for a bit?”
Chris could see through her lie but wasn’t sure what to make of it. “Where’s Leo?” he asked hesitantly.
Piper flinched slightly at the name and Chris got a very bad feeling. “He went to talk to Gideon at Magic School,” she answered. “If you don’t have the time, don’t worry about it. I can always take Wyatt with me.”
“No, no. I don’t mind watching him,” Chris assured her. It had been a long time since he had seen his mom acting this way and he remembered it well. She was hurting badly but she was trying to be brave so no one would see. How had this happened he wondered? Three months before he was sure they were getting everything straightened out and now it was as if they were his parents from his past all over again. Fighting and hurting each other at every turn.
“Thanks, Chris,” she said and then leaned in giving Wyatt a kiss on the forehead. She stood then and headed to the attic door, but she turned one last time to see her sons together. He could see that there were tears at the corners of her eyes. She gave him a smile and then turned and left.
Chris sat dumbly for a minute just looking at where she had stood. He wasn’t sure what exactly had happened between them but he did know that he somehow had to fix it. He couldn’t bear to see his mother like that. “Come on, Wy. We have to fix mommy and daddy,” he whispered to his brother.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/N: Yes, I know. Bad cliffie this time. Anyone know what they are gonna do? Anyone want to guess?
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