Declaration: I don't own charmed or the characters etc. Sigh pity!
This is just another concept that has been whizzing round in my head for a while and I needed to get it out.
It takes place after 'The Courtship of Wyatt's Father' but Chris has not been busted so nobody knows who Chris is.
The Hill
Leo stood upon the top of the Golden Gate Bridge looking down at the city, watching men and women rush home to their families. Leo was jealous at how simple their lives were. Of course every one of them though their lives were busy, hectic and full of stress, but at least the important things were easy, love was easy. Boy meets girl, girl meets girl or boy meets boy and if it was true love things just seemed to fall into place and they got there happily ever after.
Leo thought he had that once. He thought that after all the fighting they went through; once they got the elders blessing things would be easy. Hell was he wrong, it just got harder until it seemed it was too hard to fight any longer and now they were separated. Usually people separated because they fell out of love, but not Piper and Leo. There love was so strong he was sure nothing could destroy it. It was the world, destiny and duty that pulled them from each other and in the end they realised that all the fighting was just causing them more pain. They had leant the hard way that destiny couldn't be fought.
So here Leo stood about to leave earth and his true love behind like he should have done months ago when he was first promoted, but he couldn't bear to leave her and their son behind. But now Leo had put them in danger and he could not forgive himself for that. He needed to leave for good, but first he had one last thing to deal with. A certain whitelighter, or should he say half whitelighter named Chris Perry.
They boy had been a constant thorn in his side since he first laid eyes on him. He manipulated him into becoming an elder and every moment after that he had been lying and manipulating. Leo knew the boy had even committed murder, killing multiple Valkeries, but Leo had let Piper talk him out of putting the boy on trial that time.
Of all these things, one thing bothered Leo more. It was the unsaid and unseen things. Leo could swear there was something very familiar about the boy's soul, his essence that he couldn't put his finger on. Perhaps they had met in another life. Leo also had trouble locking down where Chris was. If he was a normal whitelighter Leo should be able to find him in an instant by simply closing his eyes and focusing, but Leo never could. He had been reduced to orbing into the manor to find the boy then following his orb trail. As much as he thought he was very good at stalking the boy it was almost as if he knew when Leo was following him and unless he was desperate he would never do anything suspicious while Leo was there.
Leo knew one thing and that was that Chris Perry was up to no good. The whole 'here to save Wyatt to save the future' thing was only a cover so he could do what he truly intended to. He couldn't leave while he could still hurt the sisters, hurt Piper. There was only one thing he could do to get rid of him and that was to send him back to the future. He had already got the approval of the elder council, now all that was needed was to corner him and for that he was going to need the sisters.
Piper sat on the edge of the bath waiting anxiously for the results of the pregnancy test that lay on the vanity. She had started to feel nauseous and have strange cravings a few days ago and while most of these symptoms could be explained as a simple stomach bug the recent events, including some unprotected sex, made her take the test. She wasn't absolutely sure how she felt about the concept of being pregnant again but a part of her smiled at the thought that she might have one last small piece of her beloved Leo growing inside her. She only wished that if she was indeed pregnant that the child would have Leo's amazing green eyes.
She was broken out of imagining what the child might look like, strangely ending up with someone who looked quite a lot like Chris, by Phoebe yelling for her from the top of the stairs. It sounded urgent, test results would have to wait for later. She hurried up towards the attic.
Her sisters were both in the attic with the last person she ever expected to see again, Leo. It had just been a week since he had told her that he was leaving forever, not because he didn't love her. He said that he never once stopped loving her and he would lover her with all his heart for eternity. He was leaving because his presence put her and Wyatt's life in danger and he would not be able to live with himself if any hurt befell them. He kissed her and the next instant he was gone. She had spent the first two days in bed crying before the tears slowly stopped and a numb sense of mourning settled in. And now he was standing in front of her just as the acceptance of his departure was sinking in.
After quite a long moment she snapped out of her shock. "What are you doing here?" She couldn't help the cold tone of her voice.
Leo couldn't help but flinch at the cold tone and the way she was glaring daggers into him. He knew how deeply he had hurt her emotionally and wished he didn't have to be here causing her even more pain, but this was for her physical protection. He had tried not to draw Piper into this, he had purposely waited for a moment where he could catch Phoebe and Paige alone and then orbed in, patiently waited for them to finish yelling and ranting then asked them to call Chris, explaining that it was whitelighter business. Each of them called but no Chris appeared. He had only one option left, Chris always came for Piper no matter what, no one knew why, only that he did.
"I'm sorry Piper but I have one last thing I need to do before I leave. Can you call Chris for me? I can't find him and I need to talk to him."
So, he was still going. If that was the case the sooner he was gone the better. It would hurt less. "Chris," she called to the air and in the space of five seconds he was standing in front of her.
"What is it Piper?" his tone was strange; both annoyed at being disturbed but also gentle, maybe a little concerned. Did he know she was pregnant she wondered. He was from the future, but why hadn't he said anything? She was a little taken back by it and could only point in Leo's direction.
Chris turned and at the sight of Leo his eyes narrowed and a scowl formed on his face. "Leo, what are you doing here? I thought you left?" Everyone could hear the hatred dripping from his words.
Leo didn't let it faze him staring back at him with a stony glare, "I am, but there is one last thing I need to take care of before I go. To protect my family."
Before Chris could come back with something along the lines of, you chose to abandon them, they're not your family anymore!" five more elders orbed in forming a circle around Chris who was standing in the middle of the attic. It was at that point he realised he couldn't orb out. His previous resort forgotten and replaced with, "What the hell, dude!" He was more than a little more anxious.
"Were sending you back to the future."
"Why?" he stuttered fear starting to leak into his voice.
"Why! Because you are a manipulative son of a bitch! You set me up and made me an elder tearing me away from Piper. You sent me to Valhalla! You killed those Valkeries! You lied and manipulated and put the sisters in danger at every turn. You're up to something and I won't let you succeed in you evil plan!"
"Evil? Is that what you really think of me?" Chris had never really met his father, he had never returned to earth after that last night with his mother, in which he was concieved, only seeing each other when he and Wyatt were brought to the heavens by their whitelighter Max for education and training, something the elders had deemed compulsory because of their 'breeding' and power. Even then they hardly talked, Leo choosing to watch him from afar. Chris had thought it was because Leo felt he didn't have a place in Chris's life as he left before he was born. But now Chris couldn't stop himself from doubting his previous assessment. Did his father always think he was evil? Surely not! "Has it ever occurred to you that you would become and elder during the Titan event whether I was here or not? I just sped everything up a bit so more of you damn elders would survive. I saved your F'ing lives. As for Valhalla, it kept you around didn't it? You got to spend eight more months with Piper than you did in my time. You could spend longer, stay forever, but oh no, you have to leave! I should have known that you would always abandon your family!" He couldn't help but let years of abandonment issues out, this was probably going to be his last chance to do so.
Leo was having none of this, the bastard was trying to make himself into the hero. He nodded to the other elders who started to chant in an ancient, all but forgotten language.
Chris very quickly realised that this was no joke and started to panic as the air around him started to divide into a rainbow of colours and wizz around him taking hold. "Please Leo!" He started to beg, "You don't know what you are sending me back to!" His eyes screamed with desperation. "I came here to save Wyatt, please believe me! If you send me back... If you...! I'll have to do it! You don't know what you're making me do!" He screamed, begging the one man who could stop this as he felt the elders' magic latch onto every atom of his being and start to pull him away. All he received was a cold callous stare.
At that look Chris gave up, there was no use fighting it. He let all his hurt and betrayal pour into his eyes for what his own father was condemning him to do. "Goodbye." He managed to get out before, with one final tug, he went flying through time.
"Goodbye Chris." Leo said to the air where the boy once stood. Without turning around to say anything to the still shocked and flabbergasted sisters he orbed out with the other elders. The sisters stood there staring at the place where Chris and the elders had been, the whole confrontation had happened in less than a minute.
The morning after, the sister say silently in the kitchen stuck it their own thoughts. None of them had got much sleep as all of them had been thinking about Chris. Well that is not exactly true, Piper had finally got back to the pregnancy test and it confirmed her suspicions that she was indeed pregnant, so she spent the whole night alternating between thoughts of Chris and thoughts of the baby within her, little did she know she was thinking about the same person. None of the sisters could shake the look of Chris's face in the moments before he was sent back from their minds, the fear and horror at what Leo was doing. Could his fate be that bad, and what was he talking about when he said that if he was sent back he would have to do it? The sisters had always been a little suspicious of Chris and his motives, often wondering if they were bad and may harm the family, but the fear on his face, the way Chris had almost broken down completely, the look on his face as he said goodbye. Could Chris be good after all? And if he was what had he been sent back to? Was Chris their innocent?
It was Phoebe who was the first to vocalise what they were all thinking, "All the fear I felt, I don't think he was evil, I think he was actually here to help."
"I've been thinking the same thing." Paige confirmed. Piper nodded to say she too was in agreement.
"Good or evil, I don't think anyone should have that much fear, and Leo didn't even give him a trial or a chance to defend his actions." Phoebe added
"Do you think he was telling the truth about Leo being made an elder without his help in his lifetime and about the trying to keep Leo around instead of him going up there?" asked Piper
"Yeah, I think he was telling the truth, he didn't seem to have his blocks up so I could read him, though it is Chris is could be the most elaborate trick, but I don't thinks so."
"I'm with Phoebe, no one should be condemned without trial, and Chris didn't have one. And if the future is that bad! I don't know but I have this feeling that he needs saving like Chris is our innocent or something. We at the very least need an explanation." Said Paige.
"Saving Chris would mean going to the future and I don't think we have the power to do that." Piper added with grief in her voice, she felt fully to blame as she was the one that drew Chris into Leo's trap.
The sat in silence for a few minutes contemplating if there was any way to get to the future, until it occurred to Phoebe, "We might not have the power to go to the future, but there are being out there that do."
Paige scoffed, "Like the elders, it not like they are going to help. They sent Chris to the future in the first place."
"No, I'm not deluded, I wasn't thinking about the elders. Wait here I have an idea." And with that Phoebe grabbed a pen and paper and headed to the lounge to start scribbling. Twenty minutes later she had something and she brought it over to show her sisters. "It is not exactly a spell, more like a plea or a prayer or something but it could work."
Piper nodded after she had read the passage quite impressed with what Phoebe had come up with. "That could work, but if it does we all need to go, from the look on Chris's face the future is bad and we could quite well need the power of three. I need to get someone to take care of Wyatt."
Out of habit she called for the person who usually baby sat there son when Piper was doing magical business, "Leo!" He didn't answer and Piper got a little pissed. "Leo, get your butt down here this instant! I'm going to the future to get Chris and I need someone to look after Wyatt."
That did it, all most as quick as Chris had appeared for her, Leo was standing in front of Piper, "You're going to do what?" Leo all but shouted at her, clearly shocked and angered at her action.
"You heard! We are going to the future to get Chris!"
"But..." Leo managed to stutter
"Yeah, because you sent him back to the future without a trial, without even hearing him out, which if this was the normal world would be illegal, like convicting someone and sending them to jail without evidence they did the crime." Paige put in, not happy with Leo after the stunt he pulled yesterday.
"And you saw how scared he was, I don't know what he was afraid of but no person good or evil should have to be that scared." Phoebe finished.
"But..." Leo couldn't get his words worked out, he was shocked at what the sisters were about to try and do.
"There is nothing you can do to stop us, we're doing this, so are you going to look after Wyatt or not?"
"There is seriously no way I can stop you from doing this?" Leo said once he managed to overcome his speech problems, to which the three sisters shock there head. Leo sighed, he was only trying to protect them, "Fine, if you insist of doing this I'm coming to. I've been trying to do my best to protect you and you just want to get yourself into danger. I'll orb Wyatt over to Victor's" With that, leaving the girls with no change to protest he orbed up to the nursery to grab Wyatt then orb him to his grandfather's place them back to the sisters who had moved up to the attic to say the spell.
We sisters ask the Powers That Be
To help us solve our mystery
Chris Perry be he friend or foe
Take us through time so we may know
At first it felt like it hadn't worked, but a second latter they felt a huge tug and found themselves spinning in a green-blue porthole. With a bang, they found themself landing hard on the ground. They looked around. They had landed in a city, they assumed it was San Francisco but it had been destroyed. It looked like a war had happen here. After a moment they noticed that the war must be over as the city was in the process of being rebuilt. The four of them stared around in wonder, what on earth had happened?
They wandered through the rebuilding city, through the streets, watching the people go about their day, carrying wood and hammers, paint and bricks as they helped each other rebuild what they had lost. It amazed them to watch the sense of community that connected these people. It seemed that selfishness had gone out the window. To look into these people's eyes was to see into their soul, they bared everything of the suffering they had been through during the event that brought destruction on the city. As well as the pain and loss that shone in their eyes, something shone brighter, hope, hope for the future, for a better one.
The sisters and Leo were also shocked by the open use of magic, they watched as a witch with the power of telekinesis lifted planks of wood high into the air, holding them in place while a mortal man hammered nails through the board securing it. Another witch conjured a can of paint for a group of people.
"What happened to personal gain?" wondered Leo, as he watched. He had never seen magic being performed in the open like this.
"I don't think they are doing it for themselves," Phoebe replied, "they are doing it for each other, to help them rebuild."
As they got further towards the centre, the rebuilding became greater, businesses were starting to open up, new trees were being planted and there growth accelerated with magic. As much good as they could see through the rebuilding, they couldn't stop thinking about what could have caused such a disaster, it was as if the underworld had surfaced and destroyed the city. The destruction was definitely magical related, they could feel the remnants of evil spells and curses embedded in the brick, stone and concrete of the city. Who could have done such a thing?
The density of people was growing, but still there weren't many people at all, in their time these streets would be bustling, constantly full of cars in a never ending peak hour, but now there were very few cars, most people travelling around the city either by walking, riding push bikes or through some magical means.
The streets were slowly taking them down to a very familiar part of the city, to the golden gate park. They gasped as they saw the Golden Gate Bridge. It had clearly been torn apart, but now was being rebuilt like many parts of the city, the two sides being built out nearly connecting but not quite. The park seemed to be the first place they had seen that seemed to be fully rebuilt. The trees were full and tall, the gardens bright with blossoming flowers and the grass lush and green. The park had changed in its rebuilding, it retained some elements that were the same to their time but many things had changed, it was calmer, gave the wanderer a sense of mediative reflective peace, but it too held the deep sense of mourning and loss. The main change in the park was the addition of a hill right in the centre sitting in direct contrast with the bridge in the background. A white stone path led up the hill in a spiral to a white marble structure on top. It was hard to see what it was from this angle, but the architecture was classical, Greek columns held up a roman pediment roof. As they followed the path and the front of the structure came into view, they saw a word carved into the frieze, 'HALLIWELL'. They stood in shock as they saw their name scribed across this prominent landmark, they were only just getting used to the idea that magic was in the open, but clearly their family had something to do with it. How?
Paige suddenly gasped as she realized what the structure was, causing the two remaining sisters and elder to look at her. "It's a memorial." A memorial? A memorial was only made for someone or some ones who had died. Had they died? They slowly continued up the path, unable to take their eyes off the building. They could now see that it was an open air building, sheltering a large rectangular stone box in the middle, they all knew what it was, but they wouldn't believe it, not yet. They approached the gate to the marble wall that enclosed the area in which the building stood. On the marble gate post was a simple sentence, one that brought so much pain to the visitors,
"Here lies the Halliwell son. He made a great sacrifice so we could have a future."
Piper and Leo looked at each other before Piper burst into tears in Leo's chest. The Halliwell son could mean only one person as far as they knew, "Wyatt!" she sobbed into her ex-husband's shirt. All four were shocked, they had been preparing for it to be one of them, not their child and nephew. Minutes had past as they stood at the entrance of the memorial, no tomb. It was a tomb; their son lay dead in the marble box, the sarcophagus they could just make out at the top of the stairs. When Piper's sobs had lessened into a quiet falling of tears and the other had pulled themselves together enough, the four people, Leo supporting most of Pipers weigh climbed slowly up the stairs, they had come all this way, they were going to pay tribute to their son.
The tomb was beautiful; it was carved with leaves and characters, good magical beings of all kinds. Like the rest of the city, their faces were deeply sad yet hopeful. They were just amazed that so much emotion could be carried by the faces of inanimate carvings. The actual tomb stood about a metre high and the people from the past could see an inscription on the top. The triquetra topped the panel, proving that the person who lay within was indeed from their family and that he was a witch, this was a magical memorial, there was no double about that anymore. Their eyes drifted down from the familiar symbol to the writing, what they read they didn't understand.
"Here lies Christopher Perry Halliwell, son of Piper and the Elder Leo, 2003 to 2026. May his soul find the peace that he never had in life. He gave his life so we may live and build a new future, together."
The four people could not tear their eyes away from the words, how was this possible? It was Paige that was the first one to let her tears fall for the boy. How could they have been so wrong about him, how could they not realise who he was? His hair, his attitude, even his 'species' had shouted Halliwell. In hindsight it made so much sense to her. It was the only logical person he could have been. But why were they so blind? Why could they not see it till it was too late?
Piper finally came out of her shock and collapsed onto the tomb, one hand on her stomach where the infant inside her grew and the other clawing at the top of the tomb as if she was trying to rip through the stone to the person beneath. It was impossible to explain what she was feeling. She had only found a few days ago that she was pregnant and she had yet to tell anyone. She was still mourning at Leo's announcement of his departure when she found out. She loved the baby from the moment that she found out about its existence, but here she was confronted with that baby's death. Her dislike for the man had instantly evaporated when she read the name and date, knowing now exactly who he was. Now all she wanted was the man back, in the past in her house with them, alive and safe.
Leo knelt down trying to pull his wife off the tomb, to stop her from tearing up her fingers more than they already were. As he tried to wrap his hands around her she turned around, her eyes full of anger and hatred. "This is all your fault, our son is dead because of what you did, you sent him here, if he stayed in the past with us he would still be alive, you killed my son."
She was right, Leo knew it. As much as he wanted to deny that this was true, that the boy wasn't his son, the evidence was overwhelming, yet he had refused to see it until it was too late. A part of him has always known that Chris was his son, the whitelighter had sensed part of himself in the boy, but the way the boy had looked at him with such hate and anger, no son of his would hate him that much. It was enough reason to squash that part. But now, with it all confirmed with his son laying dead in front of him, his guilt was ripping him apart. The only thing holding him together was the need to stay strong for Piper, to look after Piper.
They stayed there for what seemed like hours, Piper and Leo on their knees leaning on the tomb, Piper sat stroking to top of the coffin, when her son's cheek lay below the marble slab. Paige and Phoebe had found a column and we leaning against it in each other's embrace, crying silently.
They became aware of footsteps approaching up the path, and turned to see a young woman and a small girl, perhaps three years old walk up the path silently, hand in hand. They seem not to have to noticed them. The two people quietly made their way up through the gate and up the stairs. As they reached the top they could be clearly seen by the sisters and Leo. The woman was about 20, she had long red hair and brown eyes, she was fairly tall and was giving the small girl, now in her arms a sad smile as the girl leaned her small head on her shoulder. The girl, had dark brown hair and very familiar bright green eyes, tears running down her cheeks.
At first the woman looked shocked at the four, but after a moment a sense of recognition and understanding crossed her eyes before the sadness took over yet again. "Come to get him? To take him back and apologise for your mistake?" She questioned in a cold tone, "Well your seven month too late."
"You know who we are?"
"Yes, I know who you are. How does it feel to stand at the grave of your son? You did this you know?" She directed more at Leo than at anyone else. "Had you not sent him back, had you let him complete his mission, none of this would ever have happened. This world wouldn't even exist, the city would still be standing and we wouldn't be rebuilding it."
They all looked down, yes they did know.
Paige was confused "What do you mean seven months too late? The spell was meant to take us to the day Chris was sent to the future."
The girl looked at her coldly, "Chris came back 7 months ago and died a week later. What exactly did the spell say?" Phoebe handed over the spell and the woman scanned the text. "You do realise you were never specific on when you wanted to come forward to, all you said was for a time where you could see if Chris was a friend or enemy which lead you here. Truth be told with this spell you would never have come to a point in time where Chris was alive, he would never willingly tell you who he was, so the spell chose a different time so that this memorial could tell you. "
"How...how...what..." stuttered Piper unable to string the right words together.
"How did this happen? How did Chris die? How was the world destroyed? Are they the questions you are trying to ask?"
They nodded, and she sighed. They could still fix this she knew. Chris could still live, but they needed to understand what was at stake, what lead to this outcome, she had to tell them the truth no matter how much it hurt them. So she told them about Wyatt turning evil and destroying the world, about him killing them all and Chris building the resistance against his brother, but never being able to kill him until it was the last resort. The second last resort being travelling to the past to fix the problem, only to be sent back to the future by those he loved to face the only remaining course of action. To kill his brother.
"Kill his brother." Stuttered Leo, shocked and in agony at the fact that it was his actions that forced Chris into that situation.
"And he succeeded as you can see, but it was at such a great price, it cost him his life."
"Wyatt killed him, they killed each other." Paige guessed.
"No, Chris survived the battle with Wyatt. I found him stumbling away from his brother's body and helped him out of the strong hold. Once we reached the wall, we could see the demons were running wild with out their master. He had enough strength in him to destroy many of them from where we stood, so that the rest of the resistance could take out the last of them. He collapsed unconscious from that last burst of power, but he lived on. He lived for three more days, but his power and strength would not replenish, instead it was being sapped away from him no matter what we did. It was only hours before he finally passed away that we realised what it was. It was his connection to his brother, they we so closely bonded with magic even though they stood on different sides that they could not exist in different realms. One could not be dead while the other lived. I don't know if such a strong connection existed between them since birth or if it was the final confrontation and the act of one killing the other that sealed such a fate. No matter which it was, Chris knew what was happening and chose to let himself be dragged into the afterlife to make sure Wyatt didn't return to this world, leaving behind what he loved most." She said the last few word watching the small girl with a sad smile. "And that is the story of the death of your sons."
Both their sons had died, one being force to kill the other for the sake of the world. The parents couldn't believe it. They had gone through every emotion possible and now sat there numb.
"If Chris is here, where is Wyatt buried?"
The girl looked down at her knees, this was not a question she wanted to answer. "Wyatt was never buried, his body was taken from his stronghold and fed to the dogs. What was remaining of him was then burnt and the ashes tossed into the sewage." She saw the past people look horrified at the fate of their oldest son, "The people were angry, they took it out on his corpse."
After another few minutes of silence Paige asked, "Who are you? You two seem familiar. You knew Chris really well didn't you?"
She gave her mother a sad smile, "Yes I knew him very well, he was my cousin after all, though he was more like a brother. And now we are his only two living relatives left and I am left to protect what was most dear to him." She was staring at the girl again.
"You're my daughter!"
"She's my granddaughter!"
Paige and Piper said at the same time.
The girl simply nodded, "Yes, on both accounts."
Piper walked on her knees, to the small girl, "Hi sweetie, what's your name?" she asked the girl softly. She was a miniature version of her son, with the dark hair and those bright green eyes."
"Charlie." She answered
"Charlotte Piper Halliwell." The young woman answered to Piper's confused look, "Bianca's."
This was Chris and Bianca's daughter. A girl orphaned at such a young age because of their actions.
"He never told me he had a child." Piper stated sadly
"Did you ask?" was the cold reply she retrieved in return, "Did you ask him anything about himself? Did you ever try and get to know him?"
"He always said 'future consequences', whenever we asked him anything about the future." Phoebe retaliated.
"Did you ever ask him anything that wasn't about the future, a question he could answer without jeopardising the future? Something about him personally?" The past people gave her confused looks, she sighed angrly. "His favourite colour? What type of music he liked? His favourite food? Stuff he could actually answer." The charmed ones looked down at the floor. "He was never important enough for you to care was he?" They couldn't look up at her. "Well he was important to me, he was important to Charlie, he was ... is important to everyone in this city, hell, he is important to everyone left alive! Look what they did for him. They built this place in memory of him. The first thing everyone did, before going and salvaging their homes, their businesses, the first think everyone did after the demons had been defeated was to build this, a place for Chris to rest in peace in one of his favourite places on the planet. Of course Chris probably hates it, I think he would want an understated grave or to be buried alongside all of you, but at least it shows how much everyone here loved and respected him. Why couldn't you have done it? You say you didn't know him, but most of the people in this world didn't know him, they like you, saw his actions from afar." The sisters and even Leo were sobbing now after her little rant. Tears were also running down her cheeks, it felt good to get it out, to put blame where she felt it belonged.
After what felt like hours of silence, she spoke again, Piper flinching in anticipation of her tearing her down again. "At least promise me one thing?" They looked up, confused, "Don't let this happen again. When you go back, protect Wyatt, don't let him turn evil, don't let him destroy the world."
It was Leo who spoke in response, "But what if this is how it is meant to be, there are good things about this future, magic is out in the open and mortals don't seem to fear it, people treat each other like equals, help each other. What if this was all necessary?"
"I have considered the same thing, why would the universe create two people as powerful as Wyatt and Chris if it didn't intend to cause a great change, but you four being here proves that this world was not meant to happen." More confused looks, "One of the things that seems to be certain about time travel is that the universe, the powers that be, destinies, don't allow people to travel to the future unless they want it to change, like with you Phoebe, you originally were meant to be burned at the stake. I agree that my cousins have some great future, cause some great change, but this is not it, perhaps they are meant to bring magic out, but not like this and not at such a great cost."
They all nodded in agreement, "Now, we best be getting you back to the past." She bent down and picked up Charlie and carried her over to the side of the tomb, near the head so the little girl could run her hands of the triquetra.
"Bye Daddy, we will come and see you again soon." She said in her little voice barely above a whisper.
"Bye Cous, I've got to take mum and the aunts and send them back home, but I'll come back with Charlie tomorrow, and we will have a proper talk, but don't worry Chris, they will fix it, they are the Charmed ones, they can do anything." She then turned away and walked down the stairs expecting the others to follow, when they didn't she stood and waited for them at the gateway.
Piper realised it was time to leave. She went over and one last time lay her hands on the cold stone. "I'm so sorry Chris, but don't worry, we'll fix this, I promise you, you won't be taken away from Charlie this time." With a final sob, she finished with, "I love you Chris." Before she almost ran down the stairs.
Phoebe and Paige also quietly said their goodbyes and scampered down after Piper, leaving Leo alone. It took Leo a good five minutes before he came down and joined the others. No one knew what happened, but Leo had tears streaming down his cheeks, but a shear look of determination planted on his face. "Let's fix this!"
With that, the red head girl took her mother, aunts and uncle in her hands and orbed them to the attic in the manor. She place Charlie on the floor to go and play and approached a chest next to the potions table. Under her breath she muttered a spell that none of the other could hear and the chest popped open. Out of it she drew the familiar green covered book and placed it on its' stand, flipping through the pages until she came to the time travel spell. She grabbed a piece of Chalk and handed one to her mother and silently the two women drew a triquetra on the wall. Piper turned around when she felt a tug on the bottom of her skirt, she looked down to see Charlie staring up at her. She bent down and picked up her granddaughter. What a strange feeling, holding the child of the baby that was still safe in her womb. The little girl rested her head on her shoulder and in a matter of minutes was asleep. "Don't worry sweetie, we will save your daddy." She whispered to the sleeping girl.
Paige and her daughter turned around, "All set." They announced at the same time, causing everyone else to smile as Piper handed over her sleeping granddaughter and the sisters gathered around the book.
"One last thing," Paige asked her daughter before the three started chanting, "What is your name?"
The girl only gave her mother a cheeky grin, "You will have to wait and see, mum."
Paige gave a disappointed and slightly dramatic sigh, before joining her sisters to chant the spell.
Paige's daughter watched as they stepped in the porthole, she looked at the child sleeping in her arms, brushing a few hairs off her face. "Don't worry sweetie, they will fix it, when you wake up you will be in the arms of your mum and dad."
The four people landed rather painfully on the wooden floor, slightly winded.
"Well that was a bit nauseating." Stated Paige, "is that what morning sickness feels like?" she asked Piper. Piper smiled, there was a definite similarity, but morning sickness lasted a lot longer.
She looked up to be confronted by ten people staring down at them in shock. They saw themselves, five elders and Chris. Chris was here, alive. It was then that she realised when they were. "The spell brought us back to far." She said, unable to take her eyes off the son who's tomb she had been crying at no more than half an hour ago.
"Or it brought us back just enough." Paige supplied in her slightly cryptic tone. The last lines of the spell clear in her mind, "take us back, to where we will find what we wish in space and time." Apparently what they wanted most was the chance to prevent Chris from being sent back to the future. All four jumped into action. The three women started yelling at the elders, while Leo confronted himself.
"You will not send him back, he has a mission to finish, you will not send him back. If you do I swear I will blow you arses to Pluto, summons you back only to do it again." Piper's threat was enough to send the elders running back to elderland leaving behind two sets of Charmed Ones, two Leos and one (or two if you count his fetus) Chris. Leo was yelling at himself, and the girls couldn't help but notice that Chris looked very amused at the whole situation.
"That feeling about Chris, the one you suppress because you can't deal with the consequence if it were true is right. Don't ignore it otherwise it will lead to the death of both your children." Chris was frowning at this but made no comment. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited expectedly for an answer, as were the other version of the charmed ones.
"What happens now?" Phoebe asked Leo.
"I'm not sure." He turned to Chris, "You're the expert on time travel."
"What did you do?" he asked in an accusing tone.
"We may have gone to the future, then said the spell in the future book to come back in time and instead of dropping us off when we left, it brought us here. I guess this is the place in time we really wanted to be, but we are out of our proper time by about twelve hours."
"If it is only by a few hours, you future and past selves should catch up with each other and merge together at some time." As he said it they did just that, and once Piper was one person again, she swayed on her feet before running for the bin, "Oh, now that set of my morning sickness." She said before burying her face in the bin.
Once her stomach was empty and she had taken a few good breathes, she stood up and walked over to Chris, looking him deeply in the eyes before giving him three sharp slaps on the cheek."
He looked up at her shocked. "What was that for?"
"The first one was for not telling us that you were our son. The second is for you..." She looked at her sisters and husband, she could not tell her son that he had died in the future they had just seen. "making me upset," she improvised, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug, soon joined by her husband and sisters.
"And the third?" Chris asked, becoming overwhelmed, this is what he had secretly wanted for so long, but now he had it, it was almost too much.
"The third was for you getting a woman pregnant before you were legal to drink. That said, she was adorable and I can't wait to meet her properly, in twenty years." She added sternly.
Everyone was sobbing now, Chris included, but he couldn't help adding, "Technically I was legal to drink, Wyatt abolished the legal drinking age before Charlie was conceived."
20 years in the future
Piper was happily cooking away in her kitchen as her second son orbed in with a nervous look on his face.
"Hi mum." He greeted her leaning down to place his elbows on the bench.
"Hi sweetie, what are you doing here?" He had moved out of the manor over a year ago to to live like a 'normal student' in the college dorms. She saw her just turned twenty year old son look down at the bench biting his bottom lip as if he didn't know how to start what he wanted to say and she realised what this was about.
"So..."
"Well, mum, you love me very much don't you?" He said testing the waters with his mother, he didn't know how she would feel about being a grandmother at 48 years old.
"Of course, honey, nothing would ever change how I feel about you."
"Ok, the thing is, we, Bianca and I.. we.." the poor boy couldn't get it out. "I know where not married yet but ..."
"Bianca's pregnant, isn't she Chris," She finished for her son, with a smile gracing her lips.
"Yes, how did you know?" Shock was plastered all over his face.
She gave one of Paige's mysterious smiles, "A mother knows these things." She said with a grin, "And you and Bianca are going to be great parents, and she is going to be so lucky to have you?"
"She?"
Piper just gave Chris a big hug, before saying, "Go back to Bianca and tell her that we give our blessing." She kissed him on the cheek, before waving her hands and wiggling he fingers in the gesture that had come to mean "orb" in the Halliwell family.
Once her son was gone, she couldn't help the happy tears flow down her cheeks. The future had been changed. Everything was good.
Just something a little different, a bit of happy and a bit of sad, like stories should be. Hope you liked it.
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