The Past Will Haunt You

"Chris, it's your birthday! I know you have plans to go out with your friends! Go! I can clean up." Piper told her son as she picked up more dirty dishes and walked into the kitchen.

This night had been an unusual one in the Halliwell Manor. Everyone had been there for the dinner. Phoebe and her husband Coop and their three children: Prue, age 20, Patty, age 18, and Pen, age 12. Paige and her husband Henry and their three children: Henry Jr, age 18, and Stacey and Lucy, age 16. And of course Piper and Leo and their three children, Wyatt, age 24, Chris age 23 and Melinda age 19.

All 15 members of the Halliwell family had met for dinner in honor of Chris' 23rd birthday. While Phoebe, Paige, and Piper had remained close, and their children were more like siblings, as opposed to cousins, several of their children were either in college or nearly there, so the family hadn't had as many dinners together lately. But Chris' 23rd birthday, and subsequent anniversary of his death, was an occasion that neither Paige nor Phoebe had allowed their families to miss without actually giving them the reason. Even Chris had no idea why his other had insisted on a family dinner.

"Mom, I'm not leaving you to clean up after everyone on your own. Wy and Lyn have finals to study for, and Dad is doing his grades. This won't take that long, and I'll be on my way." Chris said. This is why it made no sense for us to have a huge dinner this close to the end of the semester,Chris thought, but did not say aloud, having had this argument several times in the days leading up to his birthday. While it wouldn't affect him as much as his cousins and siblings, since he was taking a year off trying to decide where he wanted to go with his college degree, his cousins were all still in school, of one kind or another, his sister was working towards her Bachelor's degree, and his brother was working on his graduate degree, so they were all affected.

Chris picked up some more dishes and headed into the kitchen where Piper was already washing dishes. But with her back to him, he did not see his mother's smile as she thought about how much her baby had grown.

Minutes passed with Piper washing dishes and Chris bringing her more. Her thoughts of the past were interrupted by the sudden crash of dishes breaking in the dining room. Piper ran into the room, her hands outstretched and ready for the demon she was sure she would see. What she saw instead made her blood run cold.

Chris was kneeling on the floor, dishes broken in front of him, his hands pressed against his left side.

Piper ran to her youngest son, kneeling in front of him, ignoring the dishes. "Chris!" Piper tried pulling Chris' hands away from his stomach, but Chris began to pull away from her and fall towards the ground and into unconsciousness.

So focused on Chris, Piper didn't even hear Wyatt orbing in. "Mom, what's wrong with Chris? He's in so much pain!"

"I don't know, heal him!" Piper demanded.

Wyatt rushed to his brother, but as he got within 2 feet an unseen force pushed him back, flying towards the front door. "What the hell?" Wyatt spared his mother and brother a glance for a few seconds watching as his mother attempted to wake Chris up. Wyatt orbed to his brother from the opposite side and reformed in the backyard, after his orbs crashed through the now broken windows.

"Paige! Paige!" Piper screamed. "Get your father, Wyatt! Paige!"

Wyatt orbed back to the dining room, far from his brother and then called aloud. "Dad."

At the same moment Paige Matthews and Leo Wyatt orbed in – Paige with a look of worry at her sister's cries and Leo with confusion as the sudden act of being orbed with no warning.

Paige and Leo saw the devastation in the room and were moved into action towards the man they had seen die 23 years earlier.

"What happened?" Leo asked as Paige held her hands over Chris – but no glow came.

"I don't know. I heard a crash and when I came in he was holding his stomach. Why isn't it working?"

Seeing his father and aunt have no problem, Wyatt tried one more time to get to his baby brother but again the unseen force threw him in the opposite direction.

"Wyatt! Couch!" At Paige's commanded Wyatt crashed on the couch in the parlor, instead of the wall he had been aiming for.

"There's nothing wrong." Paige finally said, sitting back.

"What do you mean?" Piper asked.

"He's in pain and he's unconscious, that's not 'nothing wrong'." Wyatt insisted.

"I mean he's physically okay. There are no physical injuries. Even from where he was stabbed." Paige clarified, "I can check with the elders and see what they know."

"Wyatt, can you orb your brother onto our bed?" Piper asked after nodding to Paige.

Wyatt, completely afraid for his brother, and not understanding what was going on, as Chris had never been stabbed. He knew all of Chris' magical injuries and being stabbed wasn't one of them. Wyatt waved his hand intent on orbing his brother to his parents' room. Instead he felt the magic come back at him and orb him. Wyatt was able to counteract the magic and reform in front of his parents. "I can't. Something won't let me near him, and the magic just comes right back at me."

"I'll do it on my way up there," Paige said and a moment later Paige and Chris were gone. Piper, Leo, and Wyatt ran upstairs and Wyatt watched from the doorway as his parents went up to the bed, one on either side of Chris.

"Mom? Dad?" Wyatt asked, hating the way his brother was so still. "What's going on? Why can you guys get close to him and I can't?"

"Wyatt, I'm not sure why you can't get close, but I really believe Chris is going to be okay. He's strong, he's a Halliwell." Their mother stated.

"That didn't matter last time," Leo protested, "he still died."

"Leo!"

"Chris died? Someone really needs to tell me what the hell is going on!" Wyatt demanded, pulling out a rarely seen side of his personality.

"Wyatt, we will tell you. But right now we need to make sure Chris is okay." Piper said. "I can't explain, I just... We need to tell you both together."

Wyatt shook his head and sat on the floor, just watching his parents and brother, and waiting for some kind of an answer from Paige, or his brother to wake up.