Piper was getting fed up with him. He had lied and kept secrets for long enough and now he was neglecting his whitelighter duties. Not that he was doing a very good job in the first place, but now he just had not shown up in a week or longer. The Elders were definitely going to hear from her about this. It was bad enough that Piper had to deal with demons and cranky sisters but a lying, never around whitelighter was too much.
"CHRIS!" she yelled, He'd better answer to her call this time. "Get your ASS down here right NOW!" Standing in the kitchen, she waited for the familiar glow of white orbs to appear. Tapping her foot, she began to count to one hundred to try to keep from getting angry enough to blow something up. He was not coming she finally decided.
An idea occurred to her. Piper was going to summon him and then block his powers so he had no choice but to come to the manor and then would not be able to leave. The Book of Shadows was her next destination, but as she walked through the kitchen door she felt a shock of energy and suddenly became a little dizzy and as she stepped into the dining room she saw a man sitting at the table surrounded by a pile of papers.
"Hey." She called to him. A demon was not what she wanted to deal with right now. The man stood up knocking his chair to the ground. He had a look of shock on his handsome face. His black hair was mussed as if he had been running his hands through it and his clothes were not freshly cleaned.
"I'm sorry ma'am. The museum is closed. You'll have to come back another time." He walked around the table coming closer to Piper.
"Whoa. What the hell are you talking about? This is my house and you're intruding." Piper raised her hands ready to blow him up the second he decided his lie was not going to work and jumped at her. But he did not jump. His brow furrowed and he took a step back.
"Your house? I'm sorry, you must be confused. This house hasn't been lived in since before Wyatt's reign. This is the Halliwell house." His reply was simple yet carried so much information. Piper was suddenly aware that there were ropes barring the living room and the flowers she had set out yesterday were gone. Not to mention there was no light coming in the window. It must be nighttime.
"No this is my house. Just not my year…" Piper's mind was starting to work a hundred miles a minute. How did she get here and why were her first questions. "If this is a museum, what are you doing here in what I'm guessing is the middle of the night?"
"I sort of own the place. What do you mean your house, but not your year?" The man did not seem to be as defensive as he had been a few seconds ago.
"My name is Piper Halliwell and I came here from the past." Piper did not know if this guy had any magical knowledge but she thought trying was better than nothing.
"I'm Carter. Why did you come here?" He did not seem to be surprised about the whole time travel idea so Piper took it that he knew about magic.
"You are just going to believe me? How do you know I am telling the truth?" Piper asked.
"Well, you're pretty famous around here so I've seen pictures and Chris used to talk about you all the time."
"Chris? As in the annoying whitelighter from the future Chris?" replied Piper.
"Never talk about him that way." Carter went on the defensive again. That comment had not been the right thing to say. "How could you talk about him like that? What year are you from? Don't you know who he is?"
"I'm from 2004 and to me he is an annoying whitelighter from the future." Carter gave Piper a warning look and she decided not to say anything to anger him again.
"Maybe you had better sit down and I'll tell you some things about Chris that may make you wish you hadn't said that." Carter gestured to a chair as he went back around the table and sat in the seat he had previously been occupying after picking it up off the floor. "I don't know why you are here and I'm guessing you don't either, but there are some things you need to know. Things I know Chris wouldn't have told you."
Carter organized some of his papers as Piper took a seat across from the young man. He did not look at her or speak for a minute or so as if he were deciding how to start. When he spoke, his voice was low but precise.
"Chris is not just a whitelighter. He is also a very powerful witch actually the second most powerful witch in the world second only to Wyatt. I know you're wondering how he could become so powerful. Well, it's simple. If one powerful baby is born to a whitelighter and a Charmed one then it only makes sense that the second child, of the same parentage, would be equally as powerful."
Carter stopped and met Piper's eyes. She had a pretty good idea at what he was trying to tell her but it was not something she was ready to accept. She opened her mouth to say something, but Carter raised his hand to stop her.
"Let me finish my whole story and then you can ask all of the questions you want. What I am trying to tell you is that Chris is your son, your youngest son." He looked away from Piper and busied himself with the papers again. When he looked back at her his eyes had a glint of sadness that she had not noticed before. "And from what I've been told by people who knew both of you, it's quite obvious. You both have the dark hair and strong proud stance. You are both so stubborn it gets annoying. And you both would do absolutely anything for family.
"About ten months ago Chris decided that he couldn't stop Wyatt from here and that his last chance was to go back to the past and stop whoever it was that had turned Wyatt evil. So he and Bianca set up a plan for his escape to the past and he left. I don't know how long he spent with you but he was gone for two months.
"When he came back, we all knew that his plan had failed. Nothing had changed and he wasn't exactly in the best of moods. He didn't want to talk about what happened. He was so much quieter than he used to be and I knew why. He was thinking about Wyatt and what was going to happen next. He didn't even resume his place as leader of the Resistance like I thought he would. He spent most of his time alone." Carter shook his head and Piper could tell the story was only going to get worse, but she could not help but hope that she was wrong.
"Two months after he came back, he came to me and told me that he was ready to do what he had to to save the world. I asked him if he was sure and he said that we were going to battle. A couple of days later we had everyone ready to go and we set out to fight knowing we might not make it back. I don't remember how exactly but we ended up in a warehouse. We fought for what seemed like hours and our side was holding its own pretty well. Then Wyatt, who had not been there, showed up.
"When most of us were down and only the strongest were left, things were getting really dangerous. I had Chris on my mind the whole time because I knew what he was thinking. There was only one way the battle and the war could end…and that was with the death of the enemy."
Carter seemed to be reliving the battle in his head. His expression changed several times and his eyes showed so much sadness that Piper felt she should stop him to keep away his pain But she had to hear what happened to…her sons.
"I was wounded and couldn't fight anymore so to save my life I pretended to be unconscious or dead. I heard the fighting around me stop and I opened my eyes. I saw Wyatt and Chris standing about fifteen feet in front of each other and those who were left had made a large circle around them. Chris looked beaten and tired like he could pass out any second and Wyatt. Well, Wyatt looked like he was sweating a little. He laughed and said "Come on, Chris. Just give up. It will be better that way." His arrogance was overwhelming.
"Chris just stood there. He was very serious and then I saw the tears in his eyes. Chris aimed a few blows at Wyatt, the fighting around them started again, and I stayed on the ground watching the Brothers. I saw a bright white light start to glow from inside Chris it seemed like." Carter took a few deep breaths and the sadness in his eyes was forming tears. "I heard him say, "I'm sorry Wyatt." And then the light became so large and bright I had to cover my eyes. I heard short Screams and a bang and then everything was silent."
Carter had tears streaming down his face and He continued only for Piper's benefit. "When I opened my eyes, everyone was lying on the ground. Our people were moving and groaning and our enemies were stone cold and rigid. I got up the best I could and went straight to Chris. He was lying motionless on the ground, but as soon as I took him in my arms he started screaming and writhing in pain." Carter closed his eyes and shook his head. "He…he lived for four days. He screamed until his voice gave out and he cried until he too dehydrated for tears. I would have given anything to find him dead that day."
Carter put his head in his hands and said nothing else. Piper was searching for something to say, but the shock of Carter's speech had left her mind numb. Not being able to stand the silence anymore she searched harder for something to say. There were some things she wanted to know. "You're a demon aren't you?"
Carter looked up at her. His eyes were red and wet and he sniffed a couple of times. "Yes," was his short reply.
"And you were pretty close to Chris?" Piper found it a little strange to see a demon with such emotion over a witch.
"Yeah, he was my best friend and he saved my life. When Wyatt took control of the underworld I was just like all of the other demons and I joined his cause. But when we started the takeover of the planet, he was doing things that I just couldn't support. I wanted out, but every demon who joined Wyatt was bound to him by a spell. Leaving or betraying him meant death. I went to Chris begging him to help me and he didn't want to at first. I don't blame him I was just a demon to him. I got sick and Chris realized that I wasn't a demon because they would just have burst into flames or something. I'm half human so I was dying in a human way. He created a spell to break the bind. When I got better, the only thing I wanted to do was join the resistance and fight with him."
Piper suddenly wanted to return home as fast as possible. "I need to get home. I can fix this."
"I sure as Hell hope you can. But I don't even know how you got here."
"Well, I was in the Kitchen and I was yelling for Chris and then I walked through the door on my way to the Book of Shadows and I ended up here." Piper thought there was one simple thing she could try. She got up from her seat and walked back into the kitchen. As she did so she felt the familiar shock of energy and dizziness. The kitchen looked exactly as she had left it in her time. She turned around and went back into the dining room. Carter was gone along with his many papers and there was sun shining through the window.
Phoebe and Paige came down the stairs and gave Piper a look of confusion. "Where have you…?"
"Chris!" Piper cut her sister off. She had something pressing to do. "Chris, I'm not mad and I'm not going to yell at you. But this is really important. Please." In front of the three sisters, a bright glow of white orbs appeared and formed the shape of a man before solidifying into Chris. Without saying a word Piper wrapped her arms around the son she did not know she would have. "I know everything, Chris." She whispered. When she released him from the hug and looked into his face she saw relief, fear, and confusion all at the same time.