Present, a charmed fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed

Present

He hated shopping. Absolutely hated it. While his aunt Phoebe, bless her, had seen her taking out all the Charmed children shopping as a treat every week, Chris had quickly begun to think it was a punishment of some sort. Mind you as he was entrusted to keep an eye on Wyatt, maybe his aunt had just needed the backup.

Chris sighed as he looked in each of the windows on the street, looking for something for his mother's birthday. He had to do something to prove he wasn't all bad he supposed.

He kicked at the ground resentfully as he walked along the street. He had come back to the past months before in order to try and prevent his brother turning evil, an event which was begun back here. However, after months of failed leads and the hostility of his own family, he was no further on and verging on depression to boot.

It wasn't that he was actually depressed, although you would be hard pressed to find anyone to disagree that he had reason to be depressed. After all, when every person you cared about was dead, killed at the hands of someone who you loved and was meant to protect you, there was little to be happy about. But it was being back here in the past that was getting to him.

The problem was his family. Wyatt, the one he had come back to save, only a baby at the moment, was the easiest to get on with out of the lot of them. Too young to know any better, and somehow making the connection that Chris had had something to do with his father disappearing, he reflexively put up his orb shield whenever Chris was around. That he could cope with. Wyatt didn't know any better at the moment, and what was more Chris wasn't particularly fond of his brother at the moment anyway as he had killed his fiancée, Bianca.

However his mother and aunts were an entirely different story. Back in the future, before everything had gone down the toilet and had went straight to hell effectively, he and his mother had been incredibly close. With Leo uncaring about his younger son, Chris and Piper had just gotten closer and Chris hadn't minded one single bit, until a demon had taken her away from him. Attacking on the night of his fourteenth birthday, the demon, who Wyatt had later made his favourite assassin, had struck, and had killed his mother, with a terrified Chris watching the entire thing. He had been devastated by his mother's death, and it was for that reason why he had been so reluctant to confront Wyatt when he had learned that he was turning evil.

However by the time he and his aunts had confronted Wyatt, his brother was too far gone and had become the Source. By then it had been too late. Wyatt had killed Paige as a demonstration of his power and of the costs of not joining him and had captured both Phoebe and Chris. With his aunt heartbroken over the loss of both her sisters and the thing her nephew had become, Chris had been the one left to fight. He had made Wyatt promise that their aunt would go free...only to watch as Wyatt decapitated their aunt right in front of him.

Ever since then Chris had been kept under a sort of loose house arrest, all the while trying to figure out a way to save his big brother. Eventually, with Bianca's help he had decided to come back here to try and save him.

That was a lot easier said than done. As Leo had become an Elder upon his arrival, something he was forever getting blamed for, but something that if Leo had had any sort of spine his wife had he could have refused, he was about as welcome in the house as dry rot, especially when his mother got her emotions back.

Knowing what Leo had done to Piper made Chris' blood boil. He hadn't known when he had sent Leo to Valhalla that he had done anything to her, but if he had he sure as hell wouldn't have sent him to a place as nice as Valhalla. But ever since then it just seemed like Chris' presence in the past just made things worse. Due to the lack of information he had given them, the sisters clearly didn't trust him, and that he probably could have dealt with. However, the undercurrent of resentment, if not actual dislike from his mother and her sisters hurt, and hurt a lot. The snide comments Phoebe made about what Leo would do if he were there hurt. He knew full well that he wasn't a very good Whitelighter (the fact that his mother and Paige had died in front of him attested to that) and he didn't need Phoebe rubbing that in. Piper thought he was paranoid and jumping at shadows and that he was deliberately out to try and prevent her from having the normal life that she so clearly wanted. He didn't begrudge her a normal life, far from it. Actually, if he and Wyatt had grown up the way they were meant to Chris suspected that he would probably want a normal life as much as his mother did. She acted like Chris was just a bother, like nothing he said mattered to her. Fair enough, him warning of a distant threat in the future probably didn't make much impact, but he was willing to bet that if it had been the other way around and Wyatt had been the good one who had come back she would have listened to him intently. But, he wasn't born yet so what did he expect?

Paige on the other hand was generally alright with him. While, like Piper and Phoebe, she missed Leo and was exasperated at the lack of information from their Whitelighter, she did actually listen to whatever he had to say. Fair enough she then did the exact opposite of what he said, but he supposed Leo had never had much luck getting them to do what they were meant to do either.

Chris was interrupted from his thoughts by a small necklace in a window. It was a small grey locket, inlaid with a red jewel, and Chris thought it looked quite nice. Looking at the price, he saw that it was just under the amount of money he had, enough to buy a card and maybe something else if need be. Smiling, Chris went in and bought the locket, hoping that his mother would like it.

"Happy birthday Piper!" Paige said happily, handing her present over to her sister, who was in the middle of trying to feed Wyatt his breakfast.

"Thanks Paige. Look Wyatt honey, open wide! It tastes nice!" Piper cooed, but Wyatt stubbornly remained looking the other way.

"You're a liar and he knows it." Paige said with a grin as she poured herself some coffee.

Piper shot a dirty look at her sister and turned back to Wyatt, who refused to eat the oatmeal she was trying to give him. Rolling her eyes and figuring her son inherited his stubbornness from his father, she set about opening her presents.

To Mom, lots of love from Chris

Chris looked at what he had written, and cursed. Much as he might want her to know the truth, even if he could just tell her how much he missed her and loved her, he couldn't. So sighing, he put that little piece in his pocket and wrote:

To Piper, love Chris

Relatively impersonal considering she was one of the people he loved most in the world, but it couldn't be helped. As such, he put the little piece of paper on the top of the box the locket was in and taped it down. He had done his best writing and had tea stained the paper the night before, to make it resemble the paper in the Book of Shadows, something which his mother had always been impressed by his ability to do, as whenever she had tried she had wound up soaking the paper.

Feeling unaccountably nervous for some reason, he picked up the box and the card and orbed to the manor.

"You know, you are entitled to have a lie in on your birthday." Paige said as they moved Piper's things through to the living room.

Piper, who had noted with some amusement that Phoebe seemed to have forgotten and wondered if she had resurrected her old tradition of a card three days late, smiled grimly.

"That was the plan believe it or not. Someone had other ideas." She said, pointing to her son who was cuddling his bear.

Paige was about to respond when Chris orbed in, and the look in his eyes made him look like he was about to be convicted for murder.

"Chris, what's wrong?" Piper asked in amusement, seeing how nervous he looked.

She supposed he might be nervous if they had to go demon vanquishing on her birthday but truthfully she didn't mind. It was basically a normal day to her now. Maybe a big birthday, like forty or something, but not a run off the mill one like this one.

"Nothing's wrong, I just...wanted to give you this." He said nervously and handed her a box with a card on top, looking very unsure and worried about her reaction.

"Aww Chris you didn't have to get me anything." Piper admonished slightly, but was quite touched. She hadn't exactly given the kid an easy time of it since he had arrived here, and yet he was still willing to do something nice for her.

"I know, but it's your birthday, and you should celebrate them. You never know when you might stop enjoying them." He said, and his eyes looked a little sad as he did so, something Paige picked up on as she looking at him, narrowing her eyes thoughtfully.

Piper however only heard his words and smiled slightly, remembering a rather sweet Chinese ghost who had once said much the same thing. She opened the card and the proceeded to the box just as a tired looking Phoebe entered the kitchen. Piper smiled as she saw the locket.

"Oh Chris, it's lovely, thank you. Looks sort of familiar to." She said as she took a hold of it.

"Really?" Chris asked in confusion and Phoebe's eyes widened in alarm.

"Piper, no!" she yelled, but just then the locket opened and a stream of black smoke issued out, with a person twirling in the middle and it came to a stop to reveal a man with long dark brown hair and dressed in very old fashioned clothing that had to be centuries old.

"What the hell?" Paige demanded, knowing that this couldn't be good as the man looked around, saw Piper and Phoebe and smiled evilly.

Piper cursed and raised her hands at the man, who smiled smugly. Meanwhile Chris took a horrified step back. How the hell had this happened? He had just set a warlock loose on his mother!

"Piper no!" Phoebe yelled as Piper blasted him.

However, rather than blow up like most of their enemies usually did he just gave a smug grin as he took a step back to cope with the momentum of Piper's attack.

"Thanks for the power witch." He said, his voice having an English accent.

"Yeah, that's not good."Piper said worriedly, and Phoebe turned to her and smacked her on the arm.

"That's why I said no!" she said irritably.

The warlock then blinked over to Piper and sent her sprawling to the ground by smacking her in the mouth. Chris gasped as he watched his mother fall, visions of when he had last seen her fall like that flashing through his mind...only that time she hadn't gotten back up. Paige threw a knife at the warlock, who blinked away, then looked at her curiously, as if seeing her for the first time.

Chris, looking shocked by the warlocks appearance, moved, his leg arcing up and kicking the warlock in the eye, and then Phoebe followed through with a roundhouse kick to the gut. The warlock stumbled and fell back into the table, prompting a screaming Wyatt to put up his force field.

"Wyatt!" Chris yelled, and the warlock smirked, victorious.

"Thanks. I'll be back later to kill you." He said, and blinked out.

The kitchen was quiet as Phoebe pulled her sister to her feet while Paige rushed to Wyatt and picked him up, trying to soothe him as he bawled his lungs out.

"Phoebe, that..." Piper said in outrage, as they had vanquished the warlock six years ago.

"Yes. It was Matthew Tate, which is why I said not to blast him!" Phoebe said grumpily, as Matthew had the ability to copy any power used against him.

Piper then span onto Chris, looking a lot scarier than Matthew could ever manage on his best days. Actually, she could look a lot scarier than the Source himself.

"You tried to kill me!" she yelled furiously.

Chris took a step back (his mother's wrath was always best endured from a distance) and shook his head adamantly, hurt blossoming in his chesty. He had only wanted to do something nice for her.

"Piper, I swear I didn't know he was in that locket! I just thought it looked nice, that's all!" he protested, feeling slightly hurt that his mother thought he would try to kill her.

"Looked nice? A warlock jumped out of it! A warlock we vanquished years ago I might add! And you just thought it looked nice? He now has my power and Wyatt's shield, so he's probably invincible now and it's your fault!" she yelled.

Chris fought against the wave of hurt that was brewing in his heart. He had just wanted to do something nice for his mother, but it had all gone wrong. And she was actually accusing him of wanting to kill her. How was he to know a warlock was in the stupid locket?

"Piper, I swear that I didn't know! Why would I want to kill you?" he demanded urgently.

"I don't know, why would you send Wyatt's father away? Why would you keep lying to us? Why would you not tell us anything? Answer me that!" she shouted, as mad as he had ever seen her, her frustrations with the Whitelighter who had taken her husband away coming to the fore.

"Sweetie, Chris didn't know..." Phoebe said, but it was too late and now the temper he had inherited from his mother was kicking in.

"You actually think I'd want to kill you don't you?" he demanded furiously, his anger not giving any indication of how much her answer might hurt him, not letting her know that if she answered positively it may break him.

The long pause was answer enough and he glowered at her, his green eyes narrowed to slits, his Halliwell temper temporarily winning out over the hurt he was feeling from having his own mother accuse him of trying to kill her.

"Fine, believe what you want. I'm past caring. And for the record, Leo had a choice. He didn't have to stay as an Elder, but he did. You might want to think of why he did that." Chris said savagely, and fighting the tears he could feel welling in the back of his throat, he orbed out, his eyes hurt and starting to pool with tears.

"Piper!" Phoebe scolded.

"Piper, Chris can't have known about the warlock, why would he? And if he was trying to kill you, would he be stupid enough to still be in the room while it went down? And besides, I've never heard of this guy, so what makes you think Chris would have?" Paige asked pointedly, and Piper, to her credit, did look very guilty.

After all, she did seem to be the one who was the closest to the young Whitelighter. She actually felt a lot of sympathy for the poor kid, and the look he had on his face when he was talking about birthdays, and when Piper accused him...she hated to admit it to herself but she just wanted to hold him and tell him everything was alright. She knew he would probably think she was crazy if she tried it, but the feeling was there. As such she continued to glare at Piper, who, now that she was calming down, she did see that Chris couldn't have known about it. The look on his face when Matthew had come out of the locket had been one of pure shock just like theirs. And she probably had been a bit harsh accusing him of trying to kill her when it was just an honest mistake.

"Yeah, maybe..." she said guiltily, avoiding her sisters glares as she took Wyatt away from Paige and started rocking him.

"Right, that aside, who is this guy? You've run across him before clearly." Paige said.

This was one of the problems of coming into her powers later than her sisters, because they knew stuff that she didn't.

"Matthew Tate. He's a warlock, the one that sold out Melinda Warren and started this entire Charmed thing off. She cursed him into a locket, the locket I just opened." Piper said grumpily.

"And Chris was meant to know this how?" Paige asked pointedly, and Piper avoiding her gaze.

Piper frowned at the mess that had been made of the kitchen. Matthew had been one of the first few evils they had fought, and as such they had fought him with Prue, who had been the one to release him last time. And now, he was back again, after he had nearly killed the three of them back then, and worse he now had her primary power along with Wyatt's shield power. Fighting him was going to be a real nightmare.

"Right Pheebs, do you remember how to do the curse?" Piper asked, thankful that Wyatt was starting to calm down.

"Yeah, it's in the Book." She said.

"Right, you and Paige work on everything else. Wyatt and I will go to the museum and get the spotted owl feather we need."

Paige looked at her sister worriedly.

"Are you sure? Won't he go after you if you go off alone?" she asked in concern, looking at her sniffling nephew with worry.

Piper shook her head.

"He shouldn't do. He's been stuck in the locket, he shouldn't know Wyatt is the Twice-Blessed or anything, so he should be safe."

"He might still go after your freezing power." Phoebe pointed out.

"Don't see why, he's got my blasting power, he wouldn't need it. And besides, you two need to stay here in case he comes for your powers, we're stronger here. With any luck Wyatt and I can get the feather and be back before he comes back for round two."

Piper headed towards the door, and Paige looked at Phoebe worriedly.

"Are you going to call Chris to apologise?" she called, hoping she would receive a positive answer.

"Yeah yeah later." She said dismissively as she left the manor, and Paige supposed that was the best she would get.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Paige said worriedly, and Phoebe put her arm around her shoulder.

"Oh don't worry sweetie, it's relatively simple once we know how. The problem will be getting past Wyatt's orb shield." Phoebe said, looking slightly concerned.

"I've never done a curse before. Are you sure Piper will be ok?" Paige asked as they headed for the attic.

"Yeah, she'll be fine. Now come on, let's see if I can't remember how to do this."

Phoebe began to climb the stairs, and Paige pondered. There was something wrong about the way Chris had acted...well not wrong, but it didn't quite add up. They were clearly missing something. But what was it?

Matthew blinked to the office that the other two warlocks, under the name of Rex and Hannah, had been using the last time he was here. However, it was clear that they were no longer here. The furnishings of the room had changed, and the calendar showed that around five years had passed. Matthew nodded and sat down at the desk.

Clearly, he was dealing with at least two of the witches he had dealt with the last time. However, the eldest, Prue, had not been present at the manor, and the younger, red headed one seemed to have taken her place.

And what was more, their powers had grown. The one who had blasted him, allowing him to copy her power, she had been the one who could freeze time before. This new power was most interesting. First thing was first. He had to find out what had happened to Prue and who the new girl was, and what the range of powers the child had. And the Whitelighter...well that would be interesting if he could get his powers.

The door opened and a well suited man with dark skin walked in and stopped short when he saw him.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

Matthew blinked over behind him, shutting the door. He then grabbed the man by the throat.

"Tell me, what happened to Prue Halliwell?" he asked in his soft voice.

The man's eyes were bulging, shocked by this strangely dressed man who was trussing him up for information. Matthew then slammed him to the ground, and the man made a noise of panic and started to crawl backwards away from him.

"Whoever you are, just leave me alone!" he pleaded.

Matthew smiled. It had been a while since he'd tortured someone, and he'd forgotten how much he liked it.

"I'll leave you alone when you tell me what happened to Prue Halliwell." He said.

The man was sweating, looking worried as he sought for any information that might save his life.

"Prue Halliwell, she used to work here but she quit a few years back, then she was murdered a year and a bit later, that's all I know, I swear!" the big man said desperately, looking frantic.

So, Prue had died. While mortals might dismiss that as a random murder, Matthew knew better. She had to have been killed by a demon or warlock. Someone as powerful as her wouldn't have been killed by just anyone. Very interesting. So that meant that, unless he missed his guess, the new red head must be the one with the power of telekinesis now. She was his next target then. The premonition power had been the one that had gotten him defeated last time. This time, he knew better. He could adapt. And the Whitelighter might be useful too.

"Thank you. Now, let's see how this new power works." Matthew said with a smile, and he made the same gesture with his hands that Melinda Warren would have made when freezing someone.

The man gave a terrified scream as a burst of flame erupted in his chest and with one final petrified scream, flames consumed him and he was gone, leaving only a blackened spot on the cream coloured carpet.

"Very impressive power." He said with a smile.

"Mr Cauldwell, is everything alright?" a woman's voice came from the other side of the door.

Matthew rolled his eyes, and blinked away. Next thing on his list was to blend in.

Then, settle an old score with the Charmed Ones.

Chris sat on top of the bridge, his arms wrapped around his knees to keep himself warm. He was looking down miserably. He had only wanted to get his mother a gift for her birthday. But, even that simple act had gone wrong. It seemed that every time he tried to improve his standing with his mother and aunts, every time he tried to do something nice, something conspired against him. Considering how close he had been to his mother back in his own time, not being able to get something right on her birthday was slightly disappointing. He'd only wanted to give his mom a present.

But that had gone all wrong, and had led to yet another argument between him and Piper. She actually thought he would want to kill her. Was he really such a bad Whitelighter, did he really come across as such a bad person that she would believe that? Or was it just she was angry about Leo and Matthew?

Chris sniffed, and wiped the tears that were lingering in his eyes away with his sleeve. Maybe she was just mad. Surely his mom couldn't believe that of him...but, now he came to think of it...

Well, what if she did? Did she really mean what she had said earlier? He'd only said what he had because he'd been angry. But she, she might have meant what she had said.

With that depressing thought hanging over him, he tuned in to the city, and hearing something slightly worrying, he orbed over to Bucklands.

"Please, don't! I don't know anything about any other Halliwells! Take what you want and get out!" an old woman by the name of Elanna Halliwell screamed from the floor of her charity shop.

Matthew smiled and stripped off his top, pulling on the black sweater that he had found to be roughly his size. He then pulled on a pair of black trousers and smiled. Now, things could get easier.

"You know, I didn't even come here to kill a Halliwell, I just came for clothes. It's just unfortunate that you share that name." He said, and she too was blown apart.

Matthew smiled as she gave a last scream and vanished. Now he had to figure out his next move. And above all else he had to avoid getting put back in the locket.

And then, it dawned on him. A way to use the fact that Piper was a mother against her. The baby seemed to be relatively recent. As such, she would still feel maternal. And the Whitelighter had been the one who had given his locket to her, so there had to be some form of bond between them. Grinning, he realised how he could use Piper's caring nature against her in such a way to engineer the destruction of the Charmed Ones. And that would allow him to do anything. But first, he needed more information.

With the plan forming in his mind, he blinked to the underworld.

Darryl sighed as the car came to a stop. It had been four years since he had been here last. However back then it had been rare to go a week without a visit to Bucklands, because that was where Prue had worked and where witchy stuff usually seemed to get going when she was still there.

"I suppose I had a good run without being here. Back we go. Let me guess, the call came from the twelfth floor?" he asked the duty sergeant as he stepped out of the car.

"How on earth did you know that?" the man asked, stupefied.

Darryl snorted.

"I'm just charmed I think." Darryl said, smiling at the inside joke he had just made.

Darryl took the lift up to the top floor, reading the notes they had gathered already. Mr Cauldwell, the owner of Bucklands, had last been seen going into his office on the twelfth floor, but that was the last anyone had seen of him, and he definitely hadn't left. The only thing that remained was a black mark on the floor. So why did Darryl suspect this was something magical?

Just because Prue was gone it didn't mean that magic couldn't happen here.

Darryl entered the room and crouched down beside the black mark on the floor. Yup, this was magical alright, he could feel it.

Just as he was about to call Piper, he saw the new kid, Chris, orb in discreetly and wave to him. Sighing, knowing that this case had just gotten a lot worse, he headed over. As he did so, he saw that the boy's eyes were a bit red, as if he'd been crying.

"Hey Chris, you alright?" he asked in concern, and Chris nodded, but refused to meet his eyes, which Darryl took to mean he wasn't.

"Yeah I'm fine. What happened here?" Chris asked, looking into the room curiously.

Darryl sighed and beckoned him in, and Chris followed him through. Darryl pointed at the floor, and Chris winced when he saw the black mark.

"Let me guess...demon?" Darryl muttered, and Chris shook his head.

"No, warlock. Um, do you remember the first year the girls were you-know-whats?" Chris mumbled.

"Remember? This place was my home away from home back then." Darryl said and Chris sniggered.

"Well, do you remember a guy who achieved some sort of invincibility? Or transported himself across the room or something?" Chris asked, and Darryl cast his mind back, then it hit him.

"Yeah, a guy came out from Prue's window and landed without a scratch. But surely they got rid of him?" Darryl asked and Chris nodded meekly.

"Yeah, but we sort of accidentally might have set the same guy loose this morning. So, if he remembered this place, he might have come here." Chris explained and Darryl rolled his eyes.

"Great. So why did this warlock off the boss of Bucklands?"

Chris frowned, and then a disturbing thought occurred to him. His aunt Prue had been alive at that time, and now clearly wasn't. He'd been after information.

"Prue. He wanted to know what happened to Prue. So he came here, because she worked here back then and got the information from this guy." Chris said, put out and slightly worried about what that meant.

"Great, so we know why the guy came here and when he'd done he killed the poor bloke. So what happened to him?" Darryl asked, figuring he may as well get everything.

Chris looked at his shoes.

"Well, the warlock can copy powers. And Piper blasted him with hers..."

Darryl thought about it, then looked around to see that the other officers were still outside the office interviewing people, and he leaned closer to Chris.

"So?" Darryl asked, and made the same hand movement Piper did when she used her powers.

"Yeah." Chris did, copying the act and aiming it at the blackened mark on the floor.

Darryl growled.

"Great." He cursed as his radio went off.

"Hold that thought." He told Chris and answered it. The news clearly wasn't good and Darryl turned to Chris.

"A woman called Elanna Halliwell has been reported missing, the only thing is a mark like this one. Thoughts?" he asked and Chris swore.

"He's on a manhunt. Right, I'll go and alert the girls."

"And I'll figure out some way to list these people as dead, but we have no bodies as they were killed by supernatural beings with wacky powers." Darryl said irritably.

Chris patted his shoulder and smiled weakly.

"Thanks Darryl."

Darryl looked at him in pleasant surprise, then smiled, took Chris' hand and shook it, making Chris look at him in alarm.

"You know, in the six years I've been doing this no one has ever said thanks. Thank you." He said cheerily, and Chris grinned.

"That's ok. Now, I gotta go." He said, left the office and headed for the lift to orb off.

Darryl nodded. Just once it was nice to get a bit of thanks. Smiling, he got to work.

Matthew blinked into the underworld to see a beautiful, scantily clad woman overlooking a seeing bowl.

"You can come in you know. I don't mind warlocks generally." She said, and Matthew approached.

"I seek information about the Charmed Ones."

The woman shook her head, smiling.

"Sweetie, if you go up against them you'll only get yourself vanquished." She said certainly.

Matthew blinked over to her and took her throat in his hands, and she looked at him warily.

"No. This time I will succeed, I just need your help. So, tell me what I need to know." He said firmly, releasing her neck.

The Seer rolled her eyes and sighed.

"If you want revenge on the eldest, Prue, you're three years too late, she's dead. She was killed by Shax a few years back. You might have heard of him. Blue guy, didn't say much, no dress sense. Anyway, he killed Prue and then Paige took over. Since then the sisters have taken out Shax, the Seer, Kurzon, Barbas again, Belthazor and the Source himself, so what makes you think you have a chance honey?" she asked, and Matthew gave her a wicked grin.

"The Whitelighter. What do you know about him?" he asked curiously, and she wrinkled her nose in disgust.

"Nothing sadly, I can't get a read on him, he must be blocking me somehow, blocking Phoebe's premonitions as well I reckon. Why?"

Matthew tapped his chin ponderingly.

"Because he is the way to get to them, well to Piper, and then hence to her sisters. You know anything else?" he asked forcefully.

The Seer looked and was quite surprised by what she saw. Ah well, she would neglect to mention that, that would serve the jumped up warlock right.

"No, nothing." She said, and then he kissed her fiercely, making her take a step back in shock. She hadn't foreseen that.

"After I have dealt with the witches, I'll come see you again." He said and blinked out.

Kyra shook her head, mystified. Probably a good thing he was going to get his backside sent back to where he'd came from then. The thought of being kissed by an uncouth, centuries old warlock didn't sit well with her.

"Right, never thought I'd say this, but go witches." She said, changing her pool so she could watch the show, and the rather cute Whitelighter to boot.

Chris orbed into the attic, looking around nervously, and Paige smiled.

"Don't worry, she isn't here." She soothed and he relaxed a little. He didn't want another fight with his mother.

"Good, but...wait, you do know I didn't give her that locket on purpose don't you?" he asked uncertainly, and Phoebe nodded.

"Yeah. And Piper even admitted she was a bit harsh, we know you weren't trying to kill us sweetie. Besides, you can't fake the look of surprise you had on your face." She said with a grin and he glowered at her.

"Not funny. Anyway, we have serious problems. Matthew has gone on a killing spree. He killed the owner of Bucklands." Chris said, and Phoebe cursed while Paige looked confused.

"The auction house? Why would he kill him?" she asked.

"Prue used to work there, and she was working there the last time we fought him, so he might have gone there to find out where she was, as he won't know that she's dead...damn it."

Paige sighed, looking a bit put out, and Chris smiled at her half-heartedly, knowing how she felt. She had never gotten to know her big sister, and was frequently compared to her, by herself and others. He on the other hand was always compared to his brother and did know him, he just wished he didn't know him considering everything he had done.

And then, it hit him. A way to help defeat Matthew, cheer Paige up, get back in his mother's good books and probably save Phoebe from a hurt sister. And there was only a teensy risk if exposure, but they would hopefully be so overwhelmed that they wouldn't notice the exposing article.

"Has he done anything else?" Phoebe asked, disturbing him from his reverie, and he nodded grimly.

"Killed a charity shop owner with the second name Halliwell. Guess he hasn't forgotten how much he hates you in the last six years." He said, and Phoebe shot him a bemused look, which he grinned at.

"It's not fair, how you lot know all this stuff about Prue and I don't." Paige moaned.

"Well she was our sister." Phoebe said in a conciliatory tone, but Chris privately felt that if she was trying to cheer Paige up that might not be the best way.

"Yeah, so am I." Paige muttered, and it then dawned on Phoebe what she had said, making her stop from chopping up

"Aww honey, I didn't mean it like that!" she protested but Paige just looked away, and Chris could sympathise with how she felt: excluded.

"Hey Phoebe, what did you get for Piper's birthday?" he asked, and Phoebe turned back to him, looking guilty.

"Um...its in the post!" she said brightly, and Paige smiled a little.

"You forgot again didn't you?" she asked with a grin and Phoebe grunted.

"Oh alright, I forgot. I remembered Prue's this year though!" she said brightly.

Paige snorted.

"A fat lot of good that will do her." She said tartly, and Phoebe blushed.

"Well...I had an idea." Chris said hesitantly, and the two sisters looked at him, and Paige winked.

"Another? Who you trying to set loose this time? Cole?" she asked, and while it would appear random that she chose him, Chris knew better, and Phoebe glared at her.

Chris sniggered.

"Well, do you remember how you got rid of Matthew last time?" he asked, and Paige looked away, once again feeling excluded, and Phoebe nodded, looking at him thoughtfully.

"Yeah, we summoned Melinda Warren...why?"

"Well, I reckon that if we do much the same thing, we can surprise Matthew, I can make it up to Piper and you can club technically with me, and it will cheer Paige up." Chris said proudly, though he was actually a little worried that she wouldn't go for it.

Phoebe pondered, then looked at him sceptically.

"You want to conjure Melinda Warren?" she asked in confusion.

Chris rolled his eyes. Why couldn't it be the other way around and the cleverer aunt would know what he was talking about? Cursing his aunt's slow uptake, he tried to explain without actually explaining.

"Same principle, different person." He said irritably, and then Phoebe's eyes widened and she smiled.

"We can do that?" she asked hopefully.

"Yeah, you're not doing it from on high, so the Elders can't stop you." He said, and Paige was looking between the two of them in confusion.

Phoebe then stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. Chris blushed in surprise. That must be the most affection anyone had shown for him since he had arrived here, in fact it was the most affection anyone bar Bianca had shown him in years.

"You are a genius! Paige, we need a small prick!" Phoebe said as she got out the spare mixing cauldron.

Paige looked thoughtful then orbed her diary to her.

"Hmm, I've got Donnie, remember the one I set all the girls in the office on when I first found out I was a witch?" she asked hopefully, and Phoebe shook her head while Chris snorted.

"Not that sort of prick! A prick on your finger!" she scolded and Paige looked at her finger, winking at Chris out of the corner of her eye.

"I haven't got one there!" she said in a whining voice and Phoebe sighed in exasperation.

"Alright Blackadder, get on with it." Chris said with a smile, and Paige smiled at him.

"You know about Blackadder?" she asked interestedly.

"Yes. Now, help us do this ok?" he asked as the three settled around the table as Phoebe added the last of the herbs.

Chris then orbed a necklace to him and stuck it into the pot, and they were ready to go aside from the blood.

He took the athame and poked his finger, dropping blood into the pot.

"Oh, we have to stab ourselves?" Paige protested.

"Yes, it's part of the ritual. You have to Paige." Phoebe said plainly as Chris held out the athame for her to take.

Paige shook her head stubbornly, and Chris was reminded of when the three of them would vanquish demons together after Wyatt started to go dark. She was stubborn then too.

"Come on Paige, we don't want to ruin it, come on!" Phoebe wheedled, and Chris, getting bored, poked her finger with the athame.

"Ow! What was that for?" Phoebe asked angrily, and he smiled at her.

"You were taking too long." He said, then his eyes widened, and he raised his hand, pointing.

"He's back!" he wailed, and Paige whipped her head around, and he seized his chance, poking her finger too.

"Ouch! Hey!" Paige said grumpily, and he smiled.

"See, that wasn't so bad." He said, squeezing the cut on her hand and dropping it onto the pot.

"You didn't have to poke quite so hard!" she complained and he rolled his eyes in amusement.

Of course, it wouldn't occur to them that if Leo had done it, he probably would have done it even harder. Immensely powerful, great fun and nice enough though they usually were, as charges, the Charmed Ones were a real pain in the arse.

"Ready?" he asked Phoebe, and she nodded, taking his and Paige's hand, who only took his after sending him a dirty look, and Phoebe began to chant, with Chris following on and Paige, getting the idea, finished it off.

"Prudence Halliwell, blood of our blood we summon thee!

Prudence Halliwell, blood of our blood we summon thee!

Prudence Halliwell, blood of our blood we summon thee!"

White orbs suddenly swirled behind Paige, and a second later, Prue Halliwell, flesh and blood, appeared in the attic, looking just as she had the day she died, in a black see through top and leather jacket.

"Prue!" Phoebe cried in joy, standing up and rushing to her sister, wrapping her in a big hug with tears in her eyes.

While she did so, Chris breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't seem to have noticed that he hadn't edited the spell. And as Paige was more interested in the arrival of the elder sister whom she had never met, she wasn't likely to spot it either. He was in the clear.

"Phoebe, hi. Oh it's great to see you, to be seen by you. You look great! Oh I've missed you." Prue said, hugging her younger sister.

"I've missed you too! Oh it's so great to see you. Come on, you have to meet Paige!" Phoebe said and before Prue could say a word Phoebe had dragged her to meet her baby sister.

"See, Paige!" Phoebe said in delight, and Chris grinned as both Prue and Paige sent Chris the same exasperated look at Phoebe's exuberance.

"Hi Paige, I'm your sister Prue." She said in greeting, and Paige shook her hand looking nervous, feeling slightly inadequate now that she was finally meeting the great witch herself.

Chris, getting the hint, put a hand on Phoebe's shoulder and pulled her back, giving the other two sisters a bit of room.

"Yeah, its nice to meet you, I mean I wanted to for ages but the Elders said we couldn't summon you, so..." Paige said uncertainly and Prue rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, the Elders are a pain in the rear, always have been always will be. But it is great to finally meet you! My little sister." Prue said and hesitantly wrapped Paige in a hug, who smiled and returned the gesture.

"This was a good idea Chris, thanks." Phoebe said and hugged him, and he smiled as his aunt held him. It made a nice change from them usually not wanting him around.

"Right, so who might you be?" Prue asked curiously, surveying him intently, as if to decide if he was a threat or not.

"I'm Chris, Chris Perry, from the future." He said and she shook his hand, eyeing him curiously.

While he felt he had counted for the exposure risk, he hadn't accounted for her, after all he was a lot like her in several respects. And also, the fact that Phoebe and Paige might tell her he was partly responsible for Piper and Leo's breakup meant that he could get into a whole lot of trouble. However she smiled cautiously at him, obviously unsure of whether or not to trust him. Considering the living sisters had the same problems he supposed he could live with that. The fact that he would summon her when he felt particularly lonely in the future or when he needed help with telekinesis didn't help much though.

"It was his idea to summon you actually, and I agreed." Phoebe said, and Prue grinned.

"You forgot her birthday didn't you?" she asked and Paige snorted in amusement, while Phoebe sent her elder sister a sour look.

"Alright, maybe. But it was his idea and he felt he had to make up for his other present, which is another reason we conjured you actually."

"Why?"

"Because some warlock who you've apparently eighty sixed before came out of the locket that Chris gave Piper for her birthday." Paige explained and Prue groaned.

"Matthew?" she demanded of Chris and he looked down sheepishly, feeling very nervous under his aunt's intense gaze as she eyed him suspiciously again.

"I didn't mean to, I just bought it for her..."

"And of course when Piper touched it, it opened and he popped out." Prue finished, looking annoyed.

Chris looked at her and wondered. Why hadn't it opened for him when he had touched it? As he contemplated this strange thought, the door opened and Piper had clearly just returned home.

"Phoebe! Paige!" she called and Wyatt's accompanying coo let them know all was well, or well enough anyway.

Phoebe took Prue's hand and dragged her sister down the stairs, but Chris stayed resiliently in the attic, looking uncertainly at the door and the sound of his mother. Paige smiled at him encouragingly.

"Aww it's ok, Piper will have calmed down by now, she didn't meant what she said you know." She said and prodded him in the direction of the door.

As Chris reluctantly moved his feet, something began bothering Paige. What he had said this morning about no longer enjoying his birthdays struck a chord with her. At his age, which had to be a few years younger than she was, he should still enjoy his birthdays, he should be out partying and having girl troubles, not be twenty or so years in the past, stuck with three sisters who didn't really appreciate him and trying to save a boy who he had absolutely no connection to. But here he was, doing all of this and all day today he had just tried to do something nice for Piper, and had kept trying even when the first attempt had ended in disaster, and with the way she had reacted afterwards. But something was jarring in her about the way he had looked and had reacted himself when Piper had yelled at him. While that was nothing new nowadays (in fact there were days that she thought she was the only one who actually liked him), he had seemed really hurt by the way she had reacted, and upset by what had happened. Pondering this, she followed him down the stairs to see Phoebe wink up at her.

"Hey Piper." She said, going down the stairs.

"Hi Phoebe." Piper said as she settled Wyatt into his playpen and began overturning his blankets in a look for his bear.

Getting the point, she gave Chris an encouraging smile and went down next.

"Hi Piper."

"Hey Paige." She said, still looking for the bear, which she finally found.

"Hey Piper." Prue said cheerily, and Chris grinned as he watched his aunt head down the stairs.

"Hey Prue. WHAT? Prue!" she demanded, turning in amazement to see her three years dead sister standing at the foot of the stairs, smiling happily at her.

"Prue..." Piper breathed, squeezing Wyatt's bear tightly in shock, and then throwing it into the pen she ran to her sister and wrapped her eldest sister in a hug.

Chris looked down at his mother and for the first time in a while, he actually felt good about something. He had successfully given his mother a present she liked. That alone was good enough for him. Smiling slightly, he tried to edge back up the stairs to check the Book to see if he was right about his loophole theory (as he had no idea what else he could do to confirm it), but then he caught Paige's eyes and she nodded towards Piper, and he felt his stomach plummeting. He had hoped he could have avoided talking to her. After all, what if she was still mad? It was bad enough last time.

"How did you get here? I thought the Elders said..." Piper said in amazement as she stepped back from her sister, wiping the tears out of her eyes while Prue did the same.

"Yeah, well, our genius Whitelighter thought of a way to bring Prue back as a birthday present for you." Paige explained, smiling up at him, and he looked away nervously.

"I helped!" Phoebe protested and Prue rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Yeah, only because you forgot again." She said tartly, and Phoebe glowered at her sister.

Piper ignored her bickering sisters and looked up at Chris, who took a deep breath and went down the stairs and stood at the bottom, refusing to go any further just in case she was still mad about earlier. It wasn't as if he had intended to set the bloody warlock on her.

"Chris, is that true?" Piper asked in a small voice, and Chris inwardly groaned. He had done something nice for her, and it was still going to be turned back on him. Paige and Phoebe looked on in concern as Chris nodded, while Prue tried to hide a smile.

"After the way I treated you this morning, you shouldn't have done anything. I'm sorry." She said, and to his great surprise she stepped across the room and wrapped him in a hug.

Chris savoured the touch, happy that he had finally managed to please his mother. She held him close to her, and for a second Chris could forget he was back in the past, back with people who didn't really trust him and just pretend to himself that he was just being hugged by his mother, something that he hadn't enjoyed since his fourteenth birthday. Piper held him close, and her brow creased in worry as she felt how thin he was. And he had tried so hard today just to try and give her something she would like. She knew that none of them had done anything to deserve that but he had done so none the less bless him.

As she held him, Chris opened his eyes just in time to see Matthew blink in.

"Wyatt!" Chris yelled and he instinctively flicked Matthew away from the pen, as Wyatt began to cry loudly.

Matthew thudded to the floor, and grinned.

"Thanks. Another power." He said and blinked over, smacking Chris in the jaw and sending him sprawling.

"Hey, remember me?" Prue asked and threw a chair at him and he was so astounded by her appearance that it caught him by surprise, slamming into his chest and carrying him into the conservatory.

Paige then orbed the feather to her as he blasted at them, making Prue and Piper dive out of the way as he blew a hole in the couch. Phoebe levitated and performed a spiralling kick to his chest that sent him crashing through the window.

"Phoebe!" Prue cried in exasperation, as Matthew blinked back through into the house.

Chris sat up and flung him from the living room, where he bounced against the wall and ricocheted into the clock, smashing it to pieces.

"Oh crap." Chris cursed, wondering why the devil his mother insisted on keeping the clock here when it could quite easily go to his grandfather's out of harms way.

"We can't afford to keep fixing that thing!" Prue moaned as she leapt to her feet just as Matthew blinked back through.

Chris saw what he intended to do before he did it and he vaulted over the couch and felt a burning, searing pain lance up his arm as he took the blast in place of his mother.

"Chris!" Piper cried in shock as he slammed to the ground, crying out in pain, while Prue flicked Matthew back into the hallway.

"Good try witches." He said, and blinked out, clearly away to recalculate his attack.

"Chris, are you ok sweetie?" Piper asked urgently, rolling her wincing Whitelighter onto his side as he looked at his mangled arm.

Chris would have been happy that she had actually just shown some form of affection for him but he was a bit preoccupied with his mangled arm. Some of the skin was blistered and a large gash was bleeding profusely, and the rest of his arm looked burnt away. As a result, Chris was quite glad he had never really upset his mother enough for her to blast him whilst hear in the past.

"I'm ok." He said, wincing as she started to clean the cut with a cloth that Phoebe had just brought her.

"Ok? Chris you just got blasted by Piper's power! Don't tell us you're ok!" Paige cried, looking slightly squeamish at the sight of all the blood coming from his arm.

"I'm fine Paige." He responded, gritting his teeth as Piper cleaned it gently, just as she would when he was little when he had skint his knee or something.

Prue was looking at him calculatingly, while Phoebe observed the damage that Matthew had caused, looking annoyed that the house was a mess again due to another supernatural smackdown.

"Why did you do it?" Prue asked curiously, and Chris shrugged, then immediately wished he hadn't as his arm started searing again.

"I don't know, I just did it. I didn't want Piper to join you I suppose, so I just sort of did it. I couldn't let her get blasted could I?" Chris asked defensively, and Piper smiled at him, the maternal smile she had always given him when he had hurt himself when he was younger.

Prue however was looking at Chris intently, and he didn't like it one bit. There was something odd about the way she was looking at him, and he didn't like it one bit. Was it possible that she had figured out who he was? If she had...well, he didn't know how he would feel about it. There was a reason he hadn't told them who he was. If he had, it might have risked harming the future even more than he was attempting to do at the moment. And what was more...it would hurt a lot more if he told them. Eventually, he would have to go back to the future and leave his mother and aunts behind, go back to a place where they weren't. And that would hurt even more than he could bear. Or even worse, they would know and they would still hate him. He wouldn't be able to cope with that either.

But if Prue had figured out who he was...well, he supposed that would be alright if she kept it to herself. But there would still be the fact that a woman who had been dead the last three years would know before her sisters, who saw him every day. She had always been the smartest of all four of them (aside from his mother but maybe he was biased), so could she have figured it out when her sisters hadn't? Well he couldn't deny that that wouldn't hurt a bit.

But all he knew was he had to get out from under her scrutiny.

"Thanks Piper. I'll see you later." Chris said, and before she could protest, he orbed off, leaving her holding the cloth in her hand and looking in confusion at her sisters.

"Ok, what was that about? He saves me from getting blasted and then he high tails it out of here like a bat out of hell. And he's still hurt!" Piper protested, throwing the cloth down in frustration.

"Alright, we need to prioritise. We can worry about Chris later. Phoebe, you and Piper go and start the stuff we need for the curse. Paige come with me." Prue ordered, and Paige looked at her in confusion, but Prue inclined her head, making Paige shrug.

"Where are you two going?" Phoebe asked curiously, and Prue smiled.

"For a little sister bonding while looking for a spell that will hopefully let us take our powers back from Matthew." She said and the two went upstairs.

"Couldn't we just use the powers of the witches rise spell?" Paige asked as she headed to the book.

"Yeah maybe...Paige, how long has Chris been here?" Prue asked curiously, and Paige looked at her curiously.

"Hmm, about six months, why?"

Prue frowned.

"Why, what do you think him taking the blast was about?" Paige asked.

Prue then twirled the book around on its stand and looked at the spell he used to conjure her.

Paige's mind however was going off on its own tangent. The way he had taken the blast spoke of a deeper connection than just Whitelighter and charge, especially when the charges didn't treat the Whitelighter particularly well. And he had to know he was in danger, because as they had found out, he was actually part witch, meaning getting blasted would actually hurt him, so why would he do it?

"He's in love with her!" Paige exclaimed, clapping her hands in realisation.

Prue smiled and shook her head.

"No, I don't think he's in love with her." She said, and Paige sighed, put out.

"Well Piper has a thing for Whitelighters, what am I supposed to think?" she asked, and Prue winked at her.

"She also has a thing for blonds, or at least she used to. But no. Cute though Chris is, I don't think she could love him like that. Or that he could love her. But, I am beginning to think he does love her." Prue said thoughtfully, looking at the spell they had used to summon her.

"You just said he didn't though." Paige said, looking at her sister in confusion.

"No. I don't think he's in love with her, but I do think he loves her. Think about all the times he's been with her since he arrived, anything he might have given away?" Prue asked, looking at the book with a guarded expression. Something about the way Chris had looked at Piper, it had started her thinking. And just the way he seemed so determined to do something nice for her on her birthday, especially after the way she had treated him after Matthew had attacked, well it just didn't add up. Yeah he might be fond of them as their Whitelighter, and Leo had always said that a good Whitelighter was meant to love their charge, but that still didn't add it up. They were missing something, and the way he had been looking at her when she had been chasing these various ideas of hers around in her head had intrigued her. Deer in headlights sprang to mind. He was clearly worried that she would figure something out about him, and she had a feeling that was why he had done a runner. But what was he so afraid she would figure out?

Paige pondered. Had Chris given anything away? He was so tight lipped on the issue of the future and about himself they were lucky that they knew anything at all. However, one instance did spring to mind. When they had been replaced by those blonde bimbettes, Chris had said something rather strange, saying that in all his life, he had never seen the three of them take the bait so easily. And while he had been a little bit wary of the ones posing as her and Phoebe, he had looked most convinced when the one posing as Piper had missed. After all Piper never missed.

"Yeah now you come to mention it, he did make one slip, but we couldn't figure out what it meant. How, you reckon him and Wyatt were friends as kids or something? That's how he knows so much about us?"

Prue shrugged.

"I'm beginning to think he knows you lot more than he lets on. Maybe Piper became a sort of surrogate mother to him or something and that's why he seems so close to her." Prue said, turning the page absently, turning away from the spell used to call her to see the Nicholas Must Die spell.

"Nicholas Must Die...I remember...that...spell..." Prue said, her face concerned and thoughtful.

"Who was Nicholas?" Paige asked curiously but Prue's mind had suddenly kicked into overdrive.

They had gone to the past to save themselves. Chris had come to the past to save the future. It had hurt like hell, both physically and emotionally, when Grams had banished them from the manor with her powers. Chris always looked sad whenever he was around the girls, as they had constantly mistreated him. They had found it hard to leave, particularly Phoebe, because they had all lost their mother far too young. He said he had known them all his life. He could touch the Book. He had wanted to do something nice for Piper's birthday, and had seemed upset that it backfired and even more so when Piper had started on him. He had taken the blast for her, being elusive with his reasons for doing so. He hadn't changed the wording of the spell, it wouldn't have worked if he had, the spell that summoned her. And he was part witch, part Whitelighter, which as far as they knew there were only three in existence of, him being one of them.

"Oh God...Paige..." Prue said breathlessly as the final piece clicked into place.

Paige looked at her sister, whose mouth was hanging open and she looked at her warily.

"Ok, I've just met you but I'm going to assume you've just figured something out." She said, and Prue turned to her.

"Nicholas was a warlock we had to go back in time to get Mom and Grams' help to defeat. Phoebe didn't want to leave because she would have to leave mom again. Anyway, I'm thinking the same sort of thing has repeated itself."

"Phoebe went back in time again?" Paige asked in confusion and Prue shook her head.

"No, don't be daft. Chris didn't change the wording of the spell when he summoned me did he?"

Paige thought about it. She had been so excited about the fact that she was about to meet the eldest sister that she had heard so much about that she hadn't really been paying attention to Chris...which knowing him was probably what he wanted. But now she came to think of it...

"No, he didn't. But if he had it wouldn't have worked anyway." She said, but then it clicked into place what Prue was getting at.

"He said blood of our blood." She stated breathlessly, and a supernova went off in her head, as everything finally began to make sense.

Why an apparently random stranger would come back to save Wyatt, how he knew when to come to save her from the Titans, how he knew his way around the house, the book not harming him when he was clearly shady to say the least, the way he had rumbled those bimbos and what he said after, the way he always seemed not to want spend time with them when they knew they were just doing it to prove to themselves that they weren't being completely horrible, how upset he had been this morning, throwing himself in the way of the attack aimed at Piper...it finally all made sense. Everything he had done finally made sense!

"There's only two other witchlighters in existence, you and Wyatt. As far as we know there aren't any others. Think Paige what does that tell you?" Prue asked and Paige too finally connected the last dot.

"Oh no!" Paige said dramatically, and Prue nodded.

"Paige...Chris is our nephew!"

"I'm a lousy aunt." Paige said miserably as the two headed down the stairs.

"Yeah you are." Prue said, grinning slightly at her sister.

"What do we tell Piper? 'By the way Piper, just thought you ought to know, the kid we've been mistreating for months, the one you nearly reduced to tears this morning, he's actually your son'? Yeah I can see that ending well." She said, and Prue shook her head.

"We don't say anything to Piper until we've talked to Chris. But Paige, can you imagine how messed up the poor little guy must be? You lot bitching at him for months on end, treating him so badly when he was your nephew...how the hell has the poor kid kept going?" Prue asked in a moaning voice, wanting nothing more to find her nephew and cuddle him (while perhaps reminding him that she was the only aunt who hadn't picked on him), she thought with a grin.

"Yeah, sure, rub it in why don't you? Do we tell Phoebe?" Paige asked and Prue abruptly stopped and spun around looking alarmed. She grabbed Paige's shoulders and shook her slightly.

"No, you can't tell Phoebe, for the love of God Paige! Phoebe has a mouth as wide as the Atlantic Ocean, she can't keep a secret to save herself. You cannot tell Phoebe until after Piper knows!" she said urgently and Paige smiled as Prue let go of her, laughing.

"Alright lady, I get the picture. But I need to compare notes of how the hell we get our nephew to talk to us considering how we've treated him."

"Look honey, I know you're worried, I am slightly too, but first we need to deal with Matthew. Then we can figure out what to do about Chris ok?" she asked and with her nod the two entered the kitchen.

"Anything?" Phoebe asked as Piper prepared the last stage of the curse.

"We could try the to call a lost power spell, but there's a chance he might be able to do turn it back on us and then we'd all be screwed. How's the curse coming?" Prue asked.

"We're an owl feather away from success." Piper reported happily as the potion flamed slightly in front of her.

So all they had to do now was get Matthew back here, then once they had stuck him back in his box, then they could figure out what to do about Chris. Exchanging a glace with Paige, Prue settled in to wait for the warlock to show up.

Chris looked at the picture he had, and then gently slid it in to the locket he had just bought. A smaller silver one than the one Matthew had come out of, it had been all he had been able to afford, but he still felt like he had to get something for his mother. While he had certainly made her very happy by conjuring Prue, he wanted to give her something to remember from this birthday, something she could keep. As such, he had done a little bit of personal gain magic (he knew he was skating on thin ice with Leo as it was, but he didn't really care, and he hoped that Leo would look the other way because he was doing something nice for Piper) and he had done his magic on a picture from the future, one when Prue had been summoned down and the four sisters had had their photo taken together. Piper had always liked the picture in the future so he figured that she might like to keep it around the in the present. Technically it was breaking the rules, but he just wanted his mother to remember a time when she and all four of her sisters were together.

And then he looked at the little piece of paper he had to put inside it, and once again forced himself not to write 'mom'. Chris still didn't like the look that had been in Prue's eyes when she had seen him. She knew something, or at least suspected something. It made him nervous. What if she told his mother her suspicions? What if it made the sisters mistrust him even more? It was hard enough getting them to do anything as it was, never mind with Prue reckoning he couldn't be trusted. Maybe conjuring her hadn't been such a good idea. It had been worth it to make his mother happy, but what if the exposure risk that he had thought accounted for had still cropped up?

From going to barely trusted to not trusted at all because of a person he had conjured, he didn't know how he would be able to get his mother and aunts to do anything. Not that they did much at the moment anyway.

Sighing, not knowing what to do, and fed up of the constant struggle he faced with the sisters, he leaned back, only to wince when he leaned on his arm. He didn't know what to do. He was no further on in finding out who turned Wyatt, his aunts and mother didn't like him or trust him, he was stuck in the past with no clue what to do in order to save his brother, a very curious and perceptive aunt was back from the dead on his own doing, he had set a warlock loose on his mother albeit unintentionally, and to top it off his arm was stinging like hell. Sighing, he closed the locket with his yet again impersonal note to his mother and put it in his pocket and leaned his head back to try and get a bit of rest, hoping his arm would feel better when he woke up.

Matthew blinked into the seer's lair again, and grabbed her by the throat, looking furious. She gagged a little, trying to angle on him so she could escape but to no avail. The sixteenth century fashion disaster was certainly causing far more trouble than he was worth, particularly for a mere warlock who wouldn't stand a chance against the sisters anyway.

"The oldest is meant to be dead. So don't you find it a bit curious that she was there with her sisters when I attacked?" he demanded, releasing her and letting her fall to the floor in a heap.

She sighed and dusted herself off as she got back to her feet. Typical. She had foreseen that, that had been what she had decided not to tell him. But she assumed the four of them together would be able to vanquish him without any trouble. Clearly that hadn't been the case.

"Well I'm sorry but they must have conjured her after you visited, hence I didn't foresee her. Despite being brilliant at what I do, I am not privy to the minds of the witches. Goodness knows why they summoned her. But you were lucky to get out of there alive if all four of the Charmed Ones were present." She said, and he glowered at her warningly.

"I will defeat them Seer, and then I will come back for you." He said with a predatory leer which she didn't like one bit. She didn't know what he was implying but she didn't like either of the options that sprang to her mind.

"I look forward to it." She said, but the warlock seemed a bit too dense to get the sarcasm behind her statement. Either that or no one had thought to invent it in his time yet.

"And there's still the question of the Whitelighter."

The seer rolled her eyes. He seemed to believe that the kid was the way to get to the sisters. Why she didn't know. It wasn't as if they had treated him like they cared, they would probably be happy if Matthew took him out.

"Why do you insist on using him as a target? The witches don't particularly care for him." She stated, and she also had a purely personal interest in the Whitelighter. One, she wanted to know exactly who he was and what his deal was and two, well she was a woman after all and he was quite nice to look at.

"There is a bond there, I know there is. And he does at least care for her, he took a blast for Piper." He said smugly, and the seer arched her eyebrow.

"Really? Why would he do that I wonder?" she asked herself musingly, wondering what this new information about the boy from the future truly meant.

"Yes, and he didn't orb when he got hit." Matthew continued.

Now that just didn't make any sense at all. A Whitelighter orbed if they were attacked. But if he bled, then that surely meant he wasn't a Whitelighter. Either that or he wasn't fully Whitelighter. The seer waved her hand over the scrying bowl, her brow furrowed in concentration. Matthew stalked the edges of the room, observing her intently, smiling to himself. Yes, a nice woman like that would be very nice after he had dealt with the Charmed Ones. And if he tired of her, well a power like hers was always handy, he thought greedily.

The seer finally saw what she intended to see. Piper Halliwell, a baby in her arms, a baby which grew into the Charmed Ones' current Whitelighter. Now of course the entire scenario made sense, and she was very relieved about it. He wasn't just a random stranger who had come back for the sake of it, he had come back in order to save his big brother. Of course! The Halliwells and family, it made complete sense, they were always trying to remain together as a family, and actually doing quite well despite everything that had been thrown at them. But why hadn't he told the sisters who he was?

The seer curiously peered into the future and smiled at what she was seeing, a result for all the parties concerned bar one.

"What, what is it, what did you see?" he asked urgently.

The seer smiled, and she realised how she could play her own part in getting rid of the irritating warlock. That would teach him to impose himself on her. After all, warlocks were below demons in the demonic food chain.

"You are right, there is a bond, but for the moment it is quite one sided...Piper does not know the truth about her Whitelighter." She smirked, looking at him seductively and his eyes perked up.

After all these years, he could get revenge.

"Will she risk all their powers for him?" he asked, and she nodded curtly.

"Of course she will. What mother wouldn't?" she asked, and then Matthew grabbed the back of her head and forced his lips against hers. He broke off, eyeing her greedily and blinked away, grinning in delight.

The seer growled in irritation. Yeah she may be cheap but she wasn't easy, and being kissed by an uncouth man from four centuries before, a warlock at that, was giving exactly the wrong idea. The sooner the witches vanquished him for good the better. The seer spat a little on the ground to rid her mouth of the taste of warlock, then shifted her bowl so she could see what was to transpire.

Matthew blinked to the police station, to see one of the cops who had arrived the last time he had been free filling in a report. The boy has used telekinesis on him during the battle, so it shouldn't be that difficult. After all, the Whitelighter had evaded death through magic once, he wouldn't take that chance again, this time he would get him. Matthew discreetly looked about, then flicked the gun from the holster into his hand. Darryl stopped working, looked around and saw nothing, so shrugged and went back to his work. Of course by the time he had looked up, Matthew had blinked away with the gun in hand.

Chris gasped as he darted awake, the image of his mother being murdered once again burning through his eyes and onto his brain. As he took several breaths to steady his breathing, he wiped the inevitable tears from his eyes. Night after night, ever since his fourteenth birthday he had had nightmares of his mother being killed. If not, it was his brother's eyes flashing black and killing Paige with an energy ball, and when it wasn't that it was Phoebe's head coming off as Wyatt swung Excalibur, and lastly it was grandpa dying alone, broken and feeble in the hospital bed. No wonder he always felt tired at the end of the days, he never had a full night's sleep without at least one of those delightful little dramas playing in his mind all the night. Chris stood up, his breathing going back to normal and his arm throbbing. And then something prickled the back of his neck, and Chris spun around, flicking Matthew through the air and crashing him through the door, landing him in the corridor, and Chris flicked him into the bar area, where the warlock thudded to the ground, and threw an athame down the corridor, which Chris orbed out of the way of. He orbed into the bar and sent a table flying into Matthew who was getting back to his feet. Matthew flicked his hands, blowing apart one of the tequila bottles and Chris flicked him over the room, crashing him into the barrier that separated the drinks area off from the dance floor. Matthew cursed and then blinked, and Chris looked around warily. His mother would probably have an aneurism when she saw the mess, but he had more immediate worries...such as where the hell the bloody warlock he had unwittingly set loose on them all had gone.

Chris was trying to look everywhere at once, and as such, he didn't turn around in time when Matthew blinked in behind him and smacked him on the back of the head with the gun he had stolen. Chris moaned a little, his eyes rolled back into his head and he collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"And now Whitelighter, the Charmed Ones will be mine." Matthew gloated, grabbing him and blinking away.

Piper was looking worriedly out of the window, staring at nothing in particular. What had gone through Chris' head to make him want to take a blast for her like that? After the way they had all treated him, over and over putting him down, constantly reminding him that they didn't trust him and that they'd rather have Leo back in a heartbeat. But despite that, he had still been determined to do something nice for her on her birthday, and had kept trying until he had succeeded and had also risked his life to protect her. What was going on with him? Why had he done it? Why was he so determined to save Wyatt and try to make her happy all at the same time?

While her mind raced, Phoebe, Prue and Paige chatted incessantly, making up for much lost time, with the eldest and youngest getting to know each other while playing with Wyatt, who was looking at him mother curiously, wondering why she looked so far away.

"Piper, he's a big boy, he'll be alright." Phoebe soothed, seeing her sister staring pensively out of the window.

Unbeknownst to Phoebe, Prue and Paige grinned at each other. He may be a big boy, but as soon as Piper found out that he was her big boy she would never stop worrying about him.

"I know, it's just I don't know what to make of him. After how badly we've treated him, he's done so much today to try and make up for setting Matthew on us and trying to give me a nice birthday present,"

"Hey, I helped!"

"Only because you forgot, and my point is that he's still trying so hard despite everything, and I don't know why, it's driving me insane!" Piper said irritably, and Prue hugged her younger sister.

"Calm down sweetie. We'll figure it out." She promised, kissing her forehead, while pointedly glaring at Paige who was about to open her mouth.

Wyatt then abruptly started to cry, his shield coming up automatically, and Prue flicked the locket to her just as Matthew blinked in, turned away from them. Piper blasted him, but he simply raised the shield he had stolen from Wyatt and flicked backwards, knocking the four of them into the island in the centre of the kitchen, dazing them and giving him enough time to turn around to reveal that he had Chris in a headlock, with a gun pointed at his head and the Whitelighter looking decidedly worried about the more than lethal instrument pointed at his temple.

"Chris!" Piper cried in panic, raising her hands, but Prue forced them down slightly, her eyes narrowed at the warlock, who was grinning maliciously while casually holding her nephew hostage.

"Chris, orb!" Paige urged, but Chris looked at her worriedly.

"I can't he cast a spell that's taken away all my powers." He said in a voice, a voice that had a lot of fear running through it, and they knew it wasn't just because of the gun. He was afraid they wouldn't want to save him, that his mother wouldn't want to save him, and that was hurting him.

Matthew smiled, confident in his new shield ability and the human shield in front on him. While not nearly as fun as magical powers, they did give one a certain feeling of power quite different from the usual. Chris struggled, grunting and trying to break out of the headlock, but the warlock was too strong for him. Piper was looking at him worriedly and saw how thin and reedy he looked compared to the warlock and she started to worry even more about him.

It was a standoff. They couldn't attack, because he had Chris as a shield, and he also had Wyatt's shielding power to protect him. It was a no winner.

"Get off of him." Prue commanded dangerously, the sound of her voice matched by the look on Piper's face and the glint in Paige's eyes.

"No, I don't think I will actually, he's quite handy as insurance. Now, stop struggling you little witch or I'm going to redecorate these lovely girl's kitchen wall a wonderful new red colour." Matthew sneered, and he tightened his grip on Chris, making him grunt in irritation, but Phoebe was sure she heard a hint of a whine in his voice, and she knew he was scared, and she felt a surge of sympathy for their kid Whitelighter.

"Let him go." Piper snarled, and Matthew turned to her, a malicious grin on his face.

"No. Unless you want to give me all your powers, right now. If you do, your boy goes free," he said, and Paige and Prue exchanged looks. How could the warlock possibly know who he was?

"...And if not, I blow his brains everywhere." Matthew said, and Prue fingered the locket worriedly.

Matthew had them and he knew it. They couldn't risk hurting Chris, at least not if he didn't have powers to protect himself, one blast from Prue or Piper and he could die too. But if they didn't give over their powers, he would kill Chris and then probably finish Piper off by telling her who he really was.

Piper then stood forward, her eyes narrowed, her hands tensing and Chris closed his eyes in fear.

"Alright. You win. Give us Chris, and we'll give you all of our powers." She said firmly, and her sisters and her son all looked at her in alarm.

"No, Piper, don't, just vanquish his sorry ass, don't worry about me!" Chris urged sounding frantic, and Prue wondered if there would have been a snarky comment on the end of that if he hadn't had a gun pointed at his head.

Paige's eyes then realised in realisation and she grinned, tapping Prue's shoulder, looked at Chris, then at Phoebe, then at Matthew. As Prue looked at her in utter confusion, Phoebe turned to Piper.

"Piper, I'm sorry honey, but he's got us outfoxed! What's to stop him killing us after he has our powers? I mean..." Phoebe said urgently, looking at Chris then giving Piper a look as if to say 'you're giving up our powers for him?'

Paige rolled her eyes in exasperation. She would deal with Phoebe later. For now, they had to save her nephew, and Prue, despite claiming to be the smartest of all four of them, hadn't figured out what she was getting at.

Paige took Phoebe's arm and nodded grimly at Matthew, who had just clipped a struggling Chris on the ear, making him swear in pain.

"Piper's right Pheebs, we've lost this round. I reckon we should give him your empathy power first." And behind them, Prue finally grasped it, and smiled, muttering 'smart girl' to herself.

"What, why my power?" Phoebe hissed, and she then received a kick in the shin from Prue, and she rolled her eyes.

"No, Phoebe, don't, I'm not worth it!" Chris cried, and Matthew hit him again, and Piper felt her heart break as he said that.

"Yes you are." She told him fiercely, and Chris looked at her with a shy expression on his face, and Matthew rolled his eyes.

"Touching. Your power witch." He commanded Phoebe.

"Trust us Phoebe." Prue said, and Phoebe used her empathy, despite Chris' urgent head shaking, and when she did so, he looked at her in disbelief, seeming to sag in defeat.

Matthew grinned smugly as he copied the empathy power.

"Interesting. I've never had an empathy power before. Let's see how it works." He said, and used the power, to feel the intense rage coming off of all four sisters, along with the maternal desire to protect the boy from three of them.

"Interesting. Now..." Matthew said, but then got cut off, as he felt a powerful pain in his heart.

Chris then realised what his aunt Paige had planned and grinned. Warlocks and demons couldn't handle human emotions, much the same way Prue had vanquished Vinceres a few years before. Hence, when he felt what sort of an emotional mess Chris was, as he had only blocked Phoebe, he wouldn't be able to cope.

Matthew then began to scream in pain and horror as a terrible burning sensation opened in his heart. Matthew looked down in terror to see a fiery hole ripping open where his heart should be, the result of all of Chris' emotions. Chris then felt his grip on his neck weaken, and he kicked backwards, taking the warlock where it hit, and making him lose his grip. Chris twirled out of Matthew's grip, and slammed his foot into his chin, sending the warlock crashing back into the cabinet, the gun spiralling out of his hand and smashing through the laundry room window. Chris then dropped to the floor, leaning on his hand and kicked out, knocking Matthew's feet out from under him and slamming him to the ground.

Prue smiled proudly, then flicked Matthew through what was left of the door, slamming him against the wall, and Piper then froze him.

"Let's get rid of this guy once and for all." Paige said, and the four sisters joined hands, with Piper using her free hand to grab Chris and pull him behind her protectively and he rolled his eyes in amused exasperation.

"Outside of time

Outside of gain

Know only sorrow

Know only pain!"

Matthew unfroze, and with his heart still burning, and the hole getting larger by the minute, the locket opened, and a grey whirlwind lanced out and whirled around Matthew, and started to pull him into it.

"NO! NO! NO! NOOO!" Matthew screamed, and the locket clicked shut, the jewel shone, and everything was back to normal.

"Phew, that was close." Paige sighed in relief as Piper hugged Chris, who grinned thankfully.

"Yeah, thanks for saving me." He said, smiling at her and hugging her.

"Powers back to normal?" Prue asked, and Chris flicked all the glass into the bin, grinning cockily, glad that something today had gone right.

"Yeah. I reckon so." He said with a grin, and she hugged him too.

Phoebe looked at him curiously, then turned to Paige, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Alright missy, how did you know what would work?" she asked curiously and Paige grinned.

"Well, when you get mistreated as much and as badly as we've treated Chris, well you tend to pick up a lot of issues." She said apologetically to her nephew, who shrugged.

"And besides, warlocks and demons can't handle human emotions, so when he read me, he couldn't cope with it." Chris explained and Phoebe looked guilty.

"We're sorry Chris." She said, and hugged him tightly, and Piper kissed his cheek. Prue then dangled the locket in front of Piper and Chris, and he grinned.

"Thanks for saving me guys. But Piper, I think you can destroy this birthday present if you want." He said cheerfully, and she grinned at him as he threw it into the air and she blasted it apart, confidently knowing that when Matthew reached the wasteland he would be in everlasting pain, trapped in a perpetual vanquish.

"Sorry Chris, just wasn't my colour." Piper said, as Prue picked up her nephew and held him to try and calm him down.

"That's ok. What...what about this one?" he asked shyly, and handed over the other locket that he had bought, and Piper was taken aback.

"Oh Chris you didn't have to do that sweetie." She scolded lightly, but he shrugged and looked away.

"I wanted to make up for the other one. Besides, I put a picture in it that you might like." He said mysteriously, and Piper looked at him curiously before opening the small golden locket, to reveal a picture of her and all three of her sisters, sitting together in the living room and smiling.

"Chris..." she said breathlessly, as all of them looked at it in shock.

"You're welcome. See you later!" he said brightly, and orbed out.

Piper opened her mouth to try and stop him, but he had gone. Just then, Wyatt let out a wet squelch, and Prue promptly handed him over to his mother.

"That's a 'you' problem." She said with a grin and Piper rolled her eyes, placing the locket around her neck fondly, then went to change Wyatt.

Prue then hugged Paige proudly.

"You little genius!" she said, and Paige blushed, and curtsied.

"Thank you. Now, come on." She said, taking Phoebe's arm too.

"What? Where we going?" Phoebe demanded.

"You'll see when we get there." Prue said and Paige orbed them away.

"Let the cause of objection

Become but a dream

As I cause the scene

To become unseen!"

Chris watched as the club righted itself, smiling. For once, he actually felt accepted by the girls, and this had cheered him up no end. And besides, when he was younger he had always rather enjoyed watching his mother and her sisters vanquish demons, it reminded the bad guys of who was boss...at least for a while.

"Ooh, personal gain!" Prue called and Chris jumped in fright, turning to see his three aunts looking at him, smiling.

"What? The place was wrecked and I'd rather go one on one with the Source himself than explain to Piper that I wrecked her club. And technically, it isn't personal gain, I'm doing it so she doesn't get mad." He pointed out, and Phoebe snorted in amusement.

"Yeah, and covering your own backside." She said cockily and he sent her a bemused look.

"What you three doing here anyway? I can't tell you where I got that photo if that's what you want." He reminded them, and Paige shook her head.

"No, we were just wondering if you were going to give Piper the other birthday present you have." She said innocently, but the look in her eye let him know it was anything but innocent.

That said, he didn't have a clue as to what she was referring to. Although she looked devious and cunning (a remarkable feat for Paige at least), he didn't know what she might be referring to, he'd already given his mother everything he had for her, and more.

"You have another present for her? Someone's trying to get in her good books." Phoebe teased and he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Well we just thought you might want to tell her who you are. She'd love that as a present." Prue commented, and Chris about choked on his own tongue, and she and Paige laughed.

"What?" Chris demanded, looking at the sisters fearfully, and Prue smiled kindly at him.

"Sweetie, you're dealing with the cleverest witch in the family here." She pointed out, and Paige snorted derisively.

"Yeah, it still took you ages to figure out what I was getting at though didn't it?" she said tartly, while Phoebe looked between the three of them in abject confusion.

"What am I missing?" she whined, but Chris ignored her.

"You know?" he asked in a small voice.

It was as he thought. His aunt, the dead one, who had only met him today, had figured him out in a few hours. Meanwhile, the other two and his own mother, he'd been with them for months and they didn't have the faintest idea. And now they knew. While a small part of him was scared, terrified actually, of what that could mean (endless questions about Wyatt, making it harder to go back, scared they would hate him), he also felt a large amount of relief. They knew...maybe now he could actually get them to be mildly productive for a change.

"Know? What do we know? What do they know? What do you know?" Phoebe demanded incessantly, and Chris looked at her, afraid of her reaction when the other two told her the truth.

"There's only three half-Whitelighters in existence. Chris is one. Who are the other two?" Prue asked her.

"Paige and Wyatt!" Phoebe said, putting her hand in the air for emphasis.

"Exactly. Where would one from only twenty or so years in the future, when he is near enough twenty years old come from? And why would he be so determined to make Piper happy on her birthday?" Paige asked, and Phoebe's brow furrowed as she thought about it, Chris could almost hear the gears grinding.

Then, her face cleared as the penny dropped.

"Oh oh oh oh my god! Oh my god!" she cried, pointing her finger at Chris, and he looked at her uncertainly.

"Phoebe..." Prue hissed, hoping her reaction wasn't about to scare him off.

"I came onto you!" Phoebe finished dramatically and Prue sighed, rolling her eyes in exasperation, and Chris shook his head in bemusement.

"Oddly enough Phoebe, I don't think that is our most pressing issue!" Paige snapped, and Phoebe sat down, flabbergasted.

"You're our nephew... oh god Chris, I'm so sorry! I tried to hand you over to Matthew!" she said in dismay, and Chris shrugged, grinning a little.

"Ah, that's alright, we're not that close in the future anyway." He said, and Phoebe looked slightly put out, while Paige brightened smugly.

"Why didn't you tell us though? It would have made everything so much easier for you...I wouldn't have hit on you!" Phoebe moaned, and he shrugged, not meeting any of their eyes.

"It might have skewed up the future...besides it would just make it harder...and I was scared." He said softly, not wanting to look at any of them.

"Scared of what honey?" Paige asked softly, and he looked up at her with tear filled green eyes.

"That you'd hate me even more if you found out." He said quietly, his voice tearing up.

"Oh honey, we wouldn't hate you!" Phoebe protested in her baby voice and the three of them converged on him and hugged him.

"You want me to tell mom don't you?" he asked nervously, and Prue nodded.

"You'll feel better." She promised, but he looked far from convinced.

"Trust me. I know my little sister." She said smiling, and he looked around at his other two aunts.

"Look on the bright side, at least she hasn't hit on you...no wonder you don't want to talk to us much, your aunt tried to do the dirty on you..." Phoebe said with a sigh and Chris laughed a little, earning him a surprised look from her and Paige.

"What?" he asked defensively, not liking the looks they were giving him and sort of feeling pinned.

"We've never heard you laugh before." Paige said sweetly and he rolled his eyes.

"Well maybe if you weren't such awkward, stubborn, obstinate charges I might." He said cheekily, sticking his tongue out and Paige orbed them home, making Chris go pale.

"There you three are, oh hi Chris!" Piper said brightly, as they orbed in.

Chris made a noise of trepidation, and Prue gently shoved him forwards. Piper looked at him in concern, seeing how pale he was (not surprising considering how thin he was).

"Chris, what's wrong?" she asked, and he looked in terror at her sisters, and she could feel fear and trepidation rising in her.

"I've got something to tell you." He whispered, looking very worried about whatever he was about to say.

Piper looked at him in worry.

"Do I need to be worried?" she asked suspiciously.

"Unless you plan to report Phoebe for incest, then no!" Paige said brightly, and Prue and Phoebe glared at her.

"Incest, what?" Piper asked in confusion, and Chris took a deep breath, then looked down at her feet.

"I'm...I'm your son..." he said softly and Piper's jaw hit the floor.

Later that night, the five of them were relaxing in the living room, with Prue stroking Piper's hair, while she had her arms around Chris and was brushing his hair with her fingers, while Phoebe and Paige sat across from them.

"So...did you like your birthday mom?" Chris asked softly, and she smiled down at him.

"Well, a centuries old warlock coming back was a bit of a drag," she said, and he blushed, "but it wouldn't be a Charmed One's birthday without a vanquish. And I suppose it was one of the best ones I've ever hd. My sister came back for the day, we kicked ass, I got a very nice necklace, and to top it all off I found that the poor kid I've been mistreating for months is actually my son." She said sheepishly, but Chris just smiled and snuggled into her a little more.

"It doesn't matter mom." He said softly, and she kissed his forehead, before turning to Prue and Paige.

"I still don't get how you figured it out when you'd only been here a few hours." She said irritably, and Prue winked patronisingly.

"Smartest one in the family sis." She said and Paige rolled her eyes in amusement.

"Hey, I used to be the smartest!" Phoebe protested, and Paige wrapped her arm around her, grinning.

"Yeah, but you lost that prestigious position when you married Cole." She said with a grin and Phoebe glared.

"Seriously, we go the entire day, with Prue here no less, and you mention that now?" she demanded in annoyance and Chris and Piper laughed, while Prue narrowed her eyes.

"I agree with her. Phoebe..." she said in a voice of pure disappointment, "how could you? I man you've had some stinkers, but seriously..."

Phoebe glared at her sisters and nephew who all started to laugh.

"I don't like you people no more." She said, crossing her arms.

Chris was still laughing, when he gave a yawn, which while his aunts may have missed, his mother certainly didn't.

"Hmm, isn't it time little Wiccans were in bed?" she asked sweetly, and he shook his head stubbornly.

"Nope." He said in a baby voice.

The clock then chimed midnight, and Prue sighed.

"I'm sorry Piper, but I have to go." She said sadly, and her three sisters and nephew looked at her sadly.

"I'm sorry, I need to be back by the end of the witching hour. Trust me, I don't want to leave." She said sadly as she stood.

"It was great to finally meet you." Paige said, hugging her big sister proudly.

"You too Paige. I'm very proud of you." She said, before turning to Phoebe.

"I still miss you you know." She said in her baby voice, as she wrapped her sister in a hug.

"I know Pheebs. I miss you too." She said, hugging her fiercely, before turning to her nephew.

"Bye Aunt Prue, thanks...for everything." He said as he hugged her.

"Thank you for summoning me honey. Be good." She said with a smile, before turning to her crying little sister.

"Come back soon ok?" Piper asked and hugged her, sniffing while she did so.

"I will. Keep looking after them sweetie. Him in particular." Prue said as they parted, nodding to Chris who smiled at her while she wiped tears from her eyes.

"I love you all." She said fondly, tears falling from her eyes as white orbs surrounded her. The four of them raised their hands in farewell, and with a flash she was gone.

Piper turned to Chris, who took an unconscious step back. Yeah, they knew now, and everything had come out, but it was going to take him a while to get used to her not snapping at him.

"Thank you for that honey. It meant a lot, to all of us." She said, kissing his cheek.

"you're welcome." He said shyly, then had to stifle another yawn.

"Like I said, it's time little Wiccans were in bed." Piper said with a smile, as Paige and Phobe both yawned in unison.

"Older ones too." She amended with amusement.

Chris sighed in defeat.

"Ok, see you in the morning." He said, and prepared to orb off when Piper held his arm.

"What?" he asked curiously.

"You don't need to sleep at P3 anymore sweetie, this is your home!" she told him, to Paige and Phoebe's nods.

Chris smiled, but shook his head.

"That's sweet mom, but there's no more room." He said, and Piper turned to her sisters and grinned.

"I think we could fix that..." she said enigmatically, earning the three of them a perplexed look from her son.

They had conjured a nice bed that with a little bit of rearranging, they had fit it into the nursery opposite Wyatt's cot. Paige had orbed his things from P3 and now he was wrapped up in the blankets, looking across the room to his sleeping brother, while his mother sat at his head.

"It's just weird, seeing like that, when I'm so used to..."

"Hating him?" she asked softly, as he had told them about Wyatt's future earlier.

"Well...yeah." he moaned, and Piper stroked his hair as he got comfy, pulling the covers around him tightly.

They sat in silence for a while, then Piper grinned.

"Want me to read you a bedtime story?" she teased and Chris shook his head, grinning.

"Nah...aunt Paige reads me some of her books when I'm younger though." He said, and Piper went pale, images of all the nerdy books that Paige had running through her mind.

"Oh no." She wailed and Chris laughed, but then he sombered up and looked up at her with his beautiful green eyes.

"You'll still be around in the morning won't you?" he asked quietly, and she looked at him curiously.

"After Phoebe and Paige died...you would break all the rules and come down when I was trying to sleep, just to make sure I actually got some...but you would never be there when I woke up in the morning..." he said, tears in his voice, which he wiped on the covers.

Piper sighed and kissed his forehead gently, stroking his hair behind his ear.

"Yes, I'll be here in the morning peanut. I promise, I'm not going anywhere this time." She said, and kissed him gently on the forehead again as she stood up.

Chris looked up at his mother and nodded a little.

"Thank you, for everything you did today." She said quietly, squeezing his hand.

"You're welcome mom. I love you." He said and she smiled down at him, absently clearing away a stray tear with her thumb.

"I love you too. Goodnight peanut." She said, and kissed him again before heading from the room.

She turned back to see her two boys, one sleeping soundly, and the other one drifting off. Yes. It had definitely been the best birthday ever, she thought as she looked at her sleeping second son lovingly. She then clicked off the light, and with a last look at her two baby boys, she headed to her own bed. After all, she was a year older, and older Wiccans ought to be in bed too. Smiling, she blew the boys a kiss and proceeded to her own bed.

Hello there!

Just another wee Chris/Piper one shot (I may break from that tradition soon as I noticed a rather large flaw on the website the other day), hope you enjoy! It was originally meant to have Patty in it, but I figured out how to get her into a sequel to Bonding! So don't worry, all being well that will come your way in the near future.

Hope you enjoy this one until then!