Heaven Help Us
By
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx

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Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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You don't know a thing about my sins,
How the misery begins.
You don't know,
So I'm burning, I'm burning.

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Midnight had been and gone.

Piper sighed, happily, her hands wrapped securely around a steaming mug of coffee as she stared into space, snuggled comfortably into the sofa in the conservatory.

So that was it, for another year. Her birthday was now, officially, over.

Phoebe and Paige had departed for their respective 'spouses' a few minutes ago; Paige making a hasty departure as her fear for Richard's wellbeing overwhelmed her, and Phoebe reluctantly tagging along, if only for an orb to Hong Kong.

Wyatt was away in Dream-land, exhausted after the day's excitement. Piper envied her son for that. It was so easy for him to forget about everything and just sleep, without a care in the world.

David had gone poof, already, so he was gone, too. She still felt slightly guilty about that, but was grateful to her sisters for 'making' him. And … in all honesty, Piper agreed with them. They were right. Giving up on Love was just … well, out of the question.

Leo was still 'Up There', but as she sat, absently contemplating her mother's charm bracelet, a bright smile lighting up her features, she decided that her resentment towards him had considerably diminished.

How the Hell had he found it?

No, she didn't care, really. All that mattered was that he had. He'd found it for her.

And she loved him for it.

But … what now?

Her smile quickly faded.

It was midnight. She was alone. And with so much to think about, she couldn't sleep.

Only now could she properly consider the unwanted secret that her Whitelighter had recently revealed to her.

That was a birthday present she had never wished for. Sure, she'd wanted information. But not the kind she received.

Her son was evil in the future.

She didn't want to believe it. And had she not seen Chris in the attic, moments ago, fighting tears, she wouldn't have even spared it another thought.

But he'd been crying.

Chris never cried.

And to Piper, those tears were honest. They spoke the truth, more than the Witchlighter ever could, himself. They verified that Wyatt was, indeed, the evil that Chris had come to the past to stop.

And that knowledge broke her heart.

How could she let it get that far? Was she really such a terrible mother? Surely she should have noticed something, and she knew that if she had noticed, she'd have done everything within her power to prevent Wyatt from turning.

But apparently, she didn't notice. She hadn't prevented it.

And Chris had had no choice but to return to the very beginning. He'd abandoned his friends and family in the future, if indeed he'd even had any, to travel through time, just to save her son.

And that, in turn, had unearthed yet another question of its own.

Why Chris?

Were he and Wyatt allies? Acquaintances? Enemies? Friends? Lovers?

Piper shook her head in denial at that last thought. Chris was engaged to Bianca. Or at least, he had been engaged to Bianca. Piper wasn't certain, but she was willing to bet her left arm, complete with newly discovered charm bracelet, that when Bianca had left her mother's house for the future, her life had been tragically torn away not long after.

Tears welled within her sparkling, auburn eyes, piercing, stinging, as she wondered if Bianca's death was really her baby's fault. Had Wyatt ripped apart a young and blossoming love, just because his 'friend?' had tried to save him?

No, she couldn't handle that. She dearly wanted to forget everything Chris had claimed. To push it from existence, and pretend he'd never said anything.

But she simply couldn't.

Wyatt couldn't be evil. He couldn't be!

But … Chris … the tears …

She needed to talk to him. Now. She had to know, once and for all, just how truthful the Witchlighter was being. Deep down, a part of her knew he wasn't lying about Wyatt, but her motherly instincts overruled her head. As a mother, she simply could not imagine her son fighting against everything that their family had fought and died for.

Her mind made up, Piper jumped to her feet, mug still in hand, and made for the staircase, never one to waste time. A small hint of anxiousness thriving within her chest at the thought of her hopes being crushed to dust, Piper hurried up to the attic, grabbing five large white candles as she passed the table and replacing them with the empty mug, and arranging them on the floor. Sighing, she knelt down and lit them, one by one.

Satisfied, she headed straight for the Book of Shadows, thumbing absent-mindedly through the worn, aged pages. Calling his name would do no good. He was avoiding them, so he wouldn't answer her.

No, she'd have to be smarter than that.

Her eyes brightened slightly as she found the page she had been looking for.

The Summoning Spell.

Perfect.

It was time she gave her Whitelighter a chance to prove his honesty. If only to settle her own mind.

It was time she received some answers.

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Struggling to maintain a firm grip on consciousness, Chris forced his lungs to draw in a much needed supply of oxygen.

Everything hurt. His body hurt so, so much.

And why was he so cold?

What had happened to him?

Where was he?

Who was he ??!

His mind was numb. He just wanted to sleep. The cold, hard concrete beneath him was as good a place as any to rest, wasn't it?

'No, of course it's not!' he tried to argue, but his body just wasn't listening to him, anymore. It couldn't handle the strain, the stress, the pain, the ache, the cold. Why the Hell was it so cold???

The House was feet away from him.

But those few feet seemed like miles. He couldn't do it. He just couldn't do it.

And even if he could, what good would getting inside do him, anyway? Piper hated him! She wouldn't help, no way. And, deep down, a part of him didn't disagree with her. He'd really screwed things up.

Hell, maybe this was justice. Maybe he was finally paying for everything he'd done in the past. Maybe it really was his time, this time.

'But what about Wyatt?'

No, the Sisters knew about it, now. They could handle it, themselves. And, honestly, what help was he being? He knew no more than they did, for crying out loud! They didn't need him. He'd warned them about the threat, now. Maybe that was enough.

'But they don't believe you!'

Chris prayed to the Heavens that that wasn't true. Because if they didn't believe him … if they didn't take him seriously, he was going to die for nothing. The future wouldn't change.

And that would be his fault. And his fault alone.

He should have told them. Everything.

He should have confessed everything the moment he'd given them his name. He should have told them the truth from the off. Why did he stop after 'Chris Perry'? Only one more word, one more name, and everything would have been out in the open!

'Chris Perry Halliwell'!

Oh, why the Hell had he been so stupid ??!

No, they wouldn't have believed him if he'd told them the truth, anyway, would they? How ridiculous would it sound? 'Hi, I'm your unborn son from the future, and I came back to save my brother from becoming the next Source of All Evil. How's it going? What's for lunch?'

Even in his head the words sounded absurd. Piper would have blown his ass back to the future before he'd even finished the sentence.

Nevertheless, he still couldn't believe how badly he wished now that he could confess everything. He didn't want to go knowing that they didn't understand.

He was going to die alone.

He was going to die a stranger, a nuisance. He wouldn't be missed. At most the Sisters would regret his death, and move on. They wouldn't grieve, not as they would for a son. Because, to them, he wasn't their son. Yeah, he was someone's, but he wasn't theirs.

And, worst of all, he was going to die with Piper still hating him.

His mother hated him, and he could do nothing, nothing at all to change that.

He'd let her down. And that was killing him more than his wounds were.

He'd let her down, and she hated him.

Chris couldn't handle that.

But it was too late, now.

It was over.

'I don't want to die alone!'

The pain was unbearable. The cold was biting, worming its way under his skin, freezing his very soul. His eyelids were far too heavy, and despite his best efforts to keep them open, they fluttered shut, anyway.

The ground beneath him was swaying like the deck of a ship, leaving an increasing feeling of nausea to rise up his throat.

Or was that blood? The irony taste within his mouth, choking him, strongly suggested that the sticky substance was, in fact, the cause of his inability to breathe properly.

His head was spinning, the pain numbing his thoughts until they were little more than a hazy mist.

Chris didn't want things to end as they were. There were so many things he regretted!

But he could do nothing about them, now.

It was too late.

Almost detached completely from his aching, failing body, Chris vaguely panicked as he felt a strange, unwelcome sensation overcome him. It felt like he was flying. Bright, shining lights illuminated the back of his eyelids, and the ground vanished from beneath his bleeding body.

The last thing his pain-racked mind could register before his body gave up completely was a startled, high-pitched scream.

His mother's scream.

Then, the blackness consumed him.

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Paige sighed in frustration as she reached over Richard's prone form, her hands scrambling around in the dark for her cell phone, no longer able to ignore the incessant ringing.

Richard grunted, but remained otherwise oblivious to the annoying sound. Paige was faintly irritated by that. The guy could probably sleep through an earthquake without so much as breathing irrationally. What she wouldn't give to have skills like that!

A frown on her face, Paige's irritation soon evaporated as the contact name grabbed her attention.

Piper was calling her.

In the middle of the night.

So, something wasn't good.

"Hey, Piper. What's up?" she whispered, abandoning the warmth and comfort of her bed and hurrying into the bathroom, so as not to disturb her oblivious partner.

"It's Chris," came the somewhat horrified reply. Piper's voice seemed a little higher than usual. Which quickly increased Paige's worry.

"What about him?" she asked, slowly, wondering if she even wanted to know.

"He's hurt! Bad. I need you to grab Phoebe and come home, right away!"

"Whoa, hold up, hurt how? What's he done?"

"Well, how the Hell should I know ?!" Piper demanded, angrily. "I'm not his baby-sitter! And he's not exactly up for explaining his condition, right now!"

Paige's worry increased ten-fold. If Piper was panicking, things must have been bad. She nodded in reassurance, but the oldest Charmed One couldn't know that.

"Right. 'Kay, we'll be there in thirty seconds. Let me just get dressed and grab Phoebe," she stated, hurriedly.

"Don't be long, Paige. He's not lookin' real good," Piper pleaded, and Paige was quite surprised to hear a small amount of guilt within her voice. What did Piper have to be guilty about?

"See you in a minute," Paige reassured her, deciding to question her sister's feelings when they could actually talk face-to-face, and she put the phone down. Sighing heavily, she hurried back into the bedroom, grabbed her shirt and a pair of faded jeans from the wardrobe, and orbed away, still buttoning herself up.

"Here we go again," she found herself murmuring to thin air, as her orb trail vanished from sight.

Richard merely grunted in reply and turned over, an unconscious smile illuminating his features as he snuggled deeper into the quilt, his face falling once again into shadow as the bright bluish-white lights disappeared from existence.

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"Leo!"

Piper sighed, frustrated, as her ex-husband's reassuring orb trail once again failed to manifest itself in front of her.

Why wasn't he answering her calls?

Giving up for fear of saying something she might later regret, Piper exhaled sharply, shaking her head and reaching out a trembling hand to the unconscious form on the Attic floor.

But her hand soon withdrew again as her senses realised just how cold Chris really was. The violent shivering should have been enough to give it away, but her sudden and unexplainable desire to comfort the kid made her discover it for herself.

His skin was ice-cold to the touch.

The fatal-looking stab wounds that appeared to litter his entire body like gleaming red scars were oozing out scarlet blood, that was quickly soaking through his clothing and pooling around him on the polished wooden floorboards.

A blood-bath. Almost literally.

His skin was paper-white, and dark circles stood out like beacons against the starkness of his gaunt features.

Piper shivered involuntarily.

Why was she suddenly feeling so guilty?

Wasn't it just this morning that she'd said she never wanted to see him again? Her exclamation had been an adamant one, too. She'd meant every word.

So why was she suddenly wishing beyond all hope that she could take it back, to tell him to his face that she was sorry and that she hadn't meant to say what she'd said?

What the Hell was wrong with her?

She hated him!

…

No, she didn't.

It wasn't true, she realised. She'd thought she hated him. She was furious with the kid for lying, for manipulating them, but she'd never really hated him. That word was too strong. Anger and hate were funny words, one often being mistaken for the other.

She'd thought she hated him. But she simply couldn't. She was angry with him. And with good reason. He'd done some pretty questionable things during his months in the Past.

But for some reason, she just could not bring herself to hate the kid.

Kid …

Oh, God. He was.

It hit her with the force of a speeding train.

With an audible gasp, she drank in his every feature, finally realising just how young he was. She'd never really thought about it, before. But his youth shone through, now. Glaring at her. Dragging along with it a look of innocence and vulnerability, as he lay there, motionless.

But why did she care ??!

This was all backwards!

The feelings were scaring her. Why should she care so much about him? Sure, he was their Whitelighter, but that was it. It wasn't like they were related. She liked him … well, sort of, when he wasn't lying through his teeth and berating them for not taking the 'threats against Wyatt' seriously.

Or did she?

The kid was annoying, neurotic enough to crack any therapist, blunt, rude, obsessive, defensive, inconsiderate, manipulative …

So why did she like him, exactly?

She just couldn't understand it!

Was it the fact that he'd risked his life to save her son? Was that why she couldn't bring herself to hate him?

She didn't have a clue. But it was scaring the Hell out of her!

And hate him or not, she couldn't bare to see him in such a state. Prepared for the coldness, this time, she replaced her hand on Chris' shoulder and squeezed it gently, vaguely wondering if she could coax him back to reality, somehow.

Telling herself that she was only helping him to get answers out of him, she quickly banished all other thoughts and raised her head, once more, intending to call for Leo, again.

But a flurry of blue and white lights on the other side of the room bound her tongue.

Paige and Phoebe's blurry forms quickly solidified as their scattered orbs rejoined, and Piper let loose a sigh of relief.

"Oh, my God," Phoebe whispered, as her eyes fell upon the immobile being before her. Her sister was by his side, a shaking hand just grazing Chris' shoulder, almost comfortingly. "Piper, what happened?" she asked, quietly, following Paige towards them and crouching at Chris' other side.

"I don't know," Piper replied, sadly, still unable to withdraw the hand from the boy's shoulder. It seemed glued to him. "I wanted to find out what was going on. I wanted answers! I mean, if he's going to tell me that my son's evil, I at least deserve to know the details. So I went to summon him, only this is how he turned up. I dunno what's happened, but I can't wake him up."

Piper was as surprised as her sisters to hear the hint of desperation behind her words.

There it was again.

That feeling.

The one she just couldn't make head nor tail of.

The one that told her to care for the kid. To love him.

To save him.

She ignored it.

"Have you called for Leo?" Paige asked, taking charge.

Piper raised her eyebrows, faintly insulted.

"Well, what do you think?" she asked, sarcastically. Paige, at least, had the decency to blush and nod, her eyes downcast.

"Right," she murmured, shrugging guiltily. Piper sighed, heavily, and let her eyes travel back to the unmoving being beneath her.

"I've called for him, but he's not answering me. So, I guess we're on our own with this one."

Regretfully, her sisters nodded in agreement.

Curious, Paige suddenly jumped to her feet and made straight for the Book of Shadows, hoping to find something to help within their priceless family heirloom.

Phoebe, on the other hand, imitated her sister's movements and made for the stairs, instead.

"Where are you going?" Piper asked, an intense feeling of anxiousness messing about with her mind. Her senses were working overtime, and it was all Chris' fault. She couldn't fathom out how, but he'd really gotten to her. Unable to understand why, she soon realised she was determined to save him.

"To the kitchen," was the cryptic response she received.

And, then, Phoebe was gone.

Piper and Paige shared a look, unsure of what to make of the advice columnist's hasty departure. Shrugging, Paige returned to the Book, flicking through its pages with renewed vigour.

Piper, not as easily distracted, made to follow Phoebe, her own curiosity peaking.

But a soft, pain-filled, almost inaudible moan halted her, mid-movement.

Silence fell over the Attic like a shroud, as two pairs of startled eyes darted to the prone figure on the floor.

Chris was stirring.

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Thanks to Amantine, Lady Gallatea Ravenclaw, foxfieldco, Bianka, Love Angel 1705, DemonessLeader, Cassie, Joralie, sp, Laurie, sailor cyanide, serendipity-surprise, rozzy07, Pandora of Ithilien, shadowhisper, santanaann, angelbird12241, rachel.m.g, and Fhulhi the Crazy for reviewing last chapter!

Wow, I'm gobsmacked! Never in my life have I had a single chapter receive so many reviews! So thank you so much! 19! Wow! Amazing!

Please continue to review! It really does motivate a writer! Honest!

Huge hugs,
xXx MissHaun†ed-MoonLigh† xXx