Hi there! Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up for those of you who were waiting. It was Midterm time so I had to take a moment to focus on tests and papers. Thank you so much to all of you who reviewed! I really appreciate it. If you haven't reviewed please do! It really does motivate me to write.

So Long Marianne

Chapter Two

"Hi, I'm Marianne. You must be Chris."

Chris wasn't sure when he turned back into a sixteen-year-old boy who forgot how to speak as soon as he came face to face with a pretty girl. Luckily, he was able to snap out of it before he made a complete fool out of himself. He lifted his hand up to shake hers and put on the most charming smile he could muster.

"Hi," he said as her smooth hand slipped into his. "Yes, I'm Chris. It's nice to meet you."

Behind him he heard his mother snort again and he turned around to glare at her. Marianne looked between his family in confusion. They all had a mix of indescribable looks on their faces and she wasn't exactly sure what to be thinking at the moment. Chris placed a hand in the small of her back and pushed her gently toward his family in the dining room.

"Allergies…" Piper said in an attempt to explain her snort. Leo smiled uncomfortably and Paige was biting her lip to keep from laughing at the new state of things.

"Marianne, this is Piper my….other aunt, and Paige and Leo…"

"It's lovely to meet all of you," Marianne answered. "I'm sorry. Would you mind terribly if I used the loo?"

"Of course-" Piper was quickly interrupted by Chris.

"Sure thing," he said walking with her up to the landing on the stairs. "It's just that room there on the left," he stood there and watched as she got to where she was going. When she closed the door behind her he spun on his heel and skipped down the stairs to his family.

"Well you've certainly turned over a new leaf…" Paige mumbled with a quick arch of her eyebrows. Chris pointed in the direction of the stairs.

"Did you see her?" Chris asked.

"Yes, Chris. We saw her," Piper said. "She's very pretty."

"Pretty!" Chris asked. "Leo," Chris said, turning to the only other man among them for support. "Leo, come on. You saw her right?"

"Yeah," Leo released with a breath. Chris gestured to his father as if he had just given all the answers needed to explain Chris' change in demeanor. Piper turned around a sent him an unsatisfied glare. He made the ruse of clearing his throat and looked down at his feet.

"Yeah…Piper is right. Very pretty. Very pretty."

Piper rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "See, I knew that this was going to be a bad idea. I don't think we should open up this can of worms…You're too attracted to her."

"Mom, a blind gay man would be attracted to her!"

"Oh, now you're being ridiculous."

"I dunno…" Leo said. "I think Piper might be right. This might have consequences that could seriously screw up the space/time continuum."

Chris rolled his eyes. "What consequences? If there were consequences for every person I interacted with in the past the whole universe would have crumbled by now. It's fine."

"I'm not worried about everyday interactions…." Piper said with a pointed look. Paige let out a slow and amused laugh and Leo shuffled his feet in discomfort. Chris lifted a hand to his heart and feigned hurt.

"Now I get the feeling that you are doubting my gentlemanly honor."

"Oh brother…" Paige said.

"Can it," Piper said. She turned to Phoebe who had been standing there biting her lip and furrowing her brow in worry this while time. "You're going to have to figure something else out, Phoebe."

"Well I…"

"Mom, she's already here!" Chris said, finally returning to rationality. "What exactly do you suggest I do? Wouldn't it be extremely rude to just tell her that all of a sudden I can't take her out?"

"Yes," Phoebe said. "Exactly. Chris is right."

Piper glared between her sister and her son silently. But before either one of them could wither under her gaze he heard the sound of the toilet flush. She pointed a finger in her son's face and looked at him threateningly.

"Fine," she said in a whisper. "But no funny business, mister!"

"No funny business," Chris agreed in a whisper. Marianne appeared at the top of the stairs and Piper's intimidating look quickly morphed into a wide smile. She looked up at Marianne who seemed to be somewhat uncomfortable with whatever she had just walked in on.

"Well…you two have a great night!" She said. Marianne smiled once more, apparently eased from the tension before. "Chris…" Chris turned to look at her sharply. "You should bring her by P3 tonight."

"P3?" Marianne asked, while Chris and his mother competed in their own personal glaring contest. Piper broke it first to send the girl another smile.

"My club. I own it," Piper explained. "My sisters and I are usually there."

"Oh…." Marianne said, turning to look at Chris who was still glaring at his mother. "That sounds like fun."

Chris smiled. "Sure does. Well….we'd better be going."

"You bet!" Piper said. "You two have fun now!"

She shooed them out the door and watched them as they made their way to Phoebe's car. Chris, like a proper gentlemen opened Marianne's car door and whispered something in her ear that made her giggle. Once they drove down the street Piper turned her to family and crossed her arms on top of her belly.

"I swear to God if I am a grandmother in my thirties I am going to be pissed."

This place felt so much like….home. She didn't know how he did it, but he had managed to completely nail the type of place she wanted to go. With its dark mahogany tables, bar, and wall paneling, the red Persian looking carpet, the TVs plastered on the walls playing various sporting events, and the dim lighting, this place was just like a pub back home. It was wonderful, especially considering how homesick she was. The only thing missing was a pint of London Pride and a plate full of fish and chips. But, she was in America now…. and when in America…

"I'll have a cheeseburger and fries, please."

"How would you like that cooked?"

"Um….medium, please."

Chris sat across the table staring at her in amazement while she placed her order. It made her slightly nervous and not just because she wasn't particularly found of going out with people she had never met before.

"What?" Marianne finally asked after the waitress left with their orders. Chris shook himself out of his stupor and shook his head with a small laugh.

"Nothing," he said. 'It's just…I'm not used to going out with a woman who orders a cheeseburger and fries is all,"

Marianne's eyes went wide. "Was I not supposed to?"

"No!" Chris said. "No, not at all. Its just….my fiancé was a vegetarian and she was…um…athletic…" Chris said, not knowing how to put the words 'a former assassin trained in martial arts' into socially acceptable words. "She was obsessive about what she ate. It was a little tiring. Sometimes a guy just wants to order a pizza, you know?"

"Fiancé?" Marianne asked. Chris suddenly felt like banging his head against the table. Not only was this the first time he had mentioned Bianca without being emotional since she died, he had done it on a date with another woman.

"Yeah…um…" Chris began, scratching his head awkwardly. "She died a few months ago…"

"Oh my God," Marianne said. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. Hey, let's change the subject," Chris said. "So…England."

"Yes," Marianne said, giving him an odd look. "It's on an island in Europe."

"No," Chris said, chuckling. "I mean….tell me about England. Where are you from?"

"London," Marianne said.

"What brings you to the States?" Chris asked.

"Grad School," Marianne answered with a nod of her head. "Stanford. I took some time off to come check out my options. I was hoping if I got in I might be able to live with my aunt until I get on my own two feet. What brings you to San Francisco? Elise said that you've been staying in your aunt's club?"

"Um….yeah…" Chris said. "It's just um…family stuff. I guess. I… can't really explain why I came here."

Marianne nodded. "I know the feeling."

Chris in fact knew that Marianne didn't know the feeling at all. She didn't understand that he really couldn't explain why he came. However, the haunted look in her eyes told him not to challenge her about it.

"So…your mom left America and now you're coming back?" Chris asked. Elise smiled in amusement.

"My Dad actually," she said. "Elise is my Dad's sister. My mum's an only child."

Chris nodded as a silence fell between the pair. God she was beautiful. It felt almost wrong how beautiful he thought she was. He felt guilty in a multitude of ways. He felt as if he were betraying Bianca somehow, and then he felt guilty that he didn't really care. It had been almost a year since she had died and he was beginning to get over her. But he wasn't over her to the point where he could completely abandon his bone crushing guilt about getting over her. He felt guilty about his behavior toward Marianne, mostly because she seemed like a really nice girl but all he really wanted to do was lie her down on bed and do unspeakable things to her.

He had to remind himself that he hadn't had sex in over a year – that actually made him feel a little less guilty.

God she would sound like a choir of seraphim screaming his name.

"So what are you studying then?" Chris asked.

"Literature," Marianne answered. "Victorian."

Chris nodded and turned to look out the window behind her. He was never good at this whole small talk thing. He never knew what to say. He was much better at talking to people once he actually knew them. It created quite an impasse between him and people, but it wasn't like he was clamoring to be the most popular person in the world so he didn't really care.

"So how much did your aunt pay you to take me out?"

Chris was shocked out of his stupor by the blunt question. He didn't answer her but suddenly his eyes grew wide. Marianne simply laughed.

"Please, don't look at me like that," she said with a smile. "I'm not an idiot. It's not exactly like you're the elephant man, you know. I highly doubt you were jumping at the chance to take out some girl you've never met on your aunt's suggestion. Let's just be honest with each other."

Chris stared at her for a couple seconds longer before clearing his throat. "She….paid me a lot."

Marianne smiled and nodded. "That wasn't so hard," she said with a laugh. "I wasn't exactly thrilled about this situation either to be completely honest."

Chris watched in silence as Marianne took a sip of her drink. He was staring at her again but this time in a completely different way. This whole honesty thing had come out of nowhere and wheels were beginning to turn in his head – wheels that he wasn't entirely proud of. He cleared his throat and Marianne made eye contact with him. He placed his hand on the table and leaned forward and Marianne could tell he wanted to get down to business about something.

"In the spirit of being honest…" he said.

"Yes?"

Chris took a deep breath and encouraged himself to continue. "Look I just told you that my fiancé died not too long ago. I'm not from this….um…city and I am going to be going home soon. And…well…you're pretty much in the same position. I'm not looking for any type of relationship whatsoever. I'm not even looking for a string of casual dates. I went out with you because my aunt was desperate and I needed money and she gave it to me. That being said…" Chris cleared his throat once again and Marianne looked on intrigued. "I think you're a lovely person. And I think that if we can put all pretense of anything with any strings whatsoever happening between us tonight aside….we could still have a very fun evening together."

Marianna smiled amusedly at him across the table. Chris sat watching her as she pulled apart a piece of bread while smiling to herself. A smile crossed his face as well as he waited for her to respond. He wasn't sure if it was due to the fact that the pause was extremely awkward or if her smile was simply contagious. It was probably a mix of both.

"And your opinion wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that when I walked in the door you realized I wasn't an eight-hundred pound bald woman with acne and a wooden leg?"

Chris smirked. "Was is that obvious?"

"The look on your face was pretty sizeable giveaway, yes." Chris laughed uncomfortably. "Don't worry about it," Marianne continued. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't thinking the same thing myself."

She blushed as she looked back down at her piece of bread and began picking it apart, this time just to have something to do with her fingers while Chris stared at her with a satisfied smile on his face. She had to agree with him. Tonight could turn out to be a spot of fun in an otherwise boring series of months.

Leo fingered the flimsy cover of The Flowers of Evil delicately. Not only did the book feel as though it could fall apart at any second he felt as though he was treading in some seriously dangerous water. This was a measure he hadn't even taken when Chris had first entered their lives and he had devoted so much of his time to finding out who he was. He had never rooted through his things. He lifted the cover slowly, as if moving too fast would somehow make it that Chris would be able to know what he was doing. But he couldn't feel bad as he found exactly what he was looking for on the back of the front cover, written in the handwriting of what he assumed to be a woman.

"I thought I'd leave little something to remember me by. I had Bianca slip this in your pocket before you left. It's full of pictures and notes from the people who love you. I knew you would put up a fight about taking anything this compromising with you so I had to do it covertly. You know this is my favorite book so you should feel honored and privileged for it to now be in your possession, and maybe once and a while you might even take a break from being your obsessive neurotic self and actually read a poem or two… you know, get a perspective on life? Too much to ask? Perhaps.

"I'm not entirely sure how this whole changing the future business works but I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that I will probably never see you again – at least not this me, and that's the only me that really matters at this point in time. I know I wasn't too forthcoming with my emotions when we actually said goodbye, but you know me and how hard it is for me to use the L word (and I don't mean lesbian. I have no problems with homosexuality, thank you very much).

"But, before I run out of space to write on this page I guess I should say that I do love you, you know. You're my favorite big brother (not that the competition is that fierce). I honestly don't know how I'm going to get by without you. But don't worry about me. I'm a big girl. I'll figure it out. I guess I've always got Jon for protection, or he has me ; ). Don't do anything stupid like get yourself killed, and try not to piss Dad off too much. I know how hard that is for you in any time. Say hi to Mom for me….or don't, that would probably be a bad idea… I love you. ~ Mellie."

Leo's hands were shaking by the time he finished reading what this girl….his daughter had written to Chris. He didn't know why he had been deluding himself into thinking that this whole threat wasn't as big a deal as it was. He should be spending every waking moment trying to keep Wyatt safe. He was so wrapped up in the here and now. He hadn't thought about the future – not really. He hadn't thought about how this would affect their family in the future, how it would affect his kids, Phoebe's kids, Paige's kids. He hadn't thought of anything.

After reading this note the future seemed closer than ever. But the point of flipping through this book wasn't to make himself feel like a failure in the present or the future. It was to find out something about Chris. So far he hadn't found out much other than he had a little sister who loved him and that Chris' tendency to get under his skin was no different with the future version of himself. He needed to look on. He picked up the book because it was stuffed full of loose pieces of paper, most of which he was hoping would hold some bit of information about his son.

As he flipped through the first few pages a picture fell out. It was a younger Chris, in his early teenaged years and another slightly older, blond young man. Wyatt. It had to be Wyatt. Even though his oldest was just a year old he could see the resemblance. He raised his eyebrow at the clothes they were wearing for a moment before noticing that they were standing in front of a pumpkin. It must have been Halloween. Chris was dressed in a black suit with a blue tie, holding a bloodied croquet mallet. Wyatt was dressed casually with his short blond hair spiked upward. He was wearing a tee shirt, red zip-up sweater, and holding a small potted plant. He turned the picture upside down and saw two notes written in different hands and different inks. The first he recognized as Piper's saying, "Wyatt and Chris as Shane and Silas Botwin – 2018." The second was the same hand writing as the first note. Mellie's handwriting.

"I thought I'd stuff this in there first to remind you that at one point you and Wyatt used to get along. Dare I say even love each other? Ironic how you dressed up as the psycho and he dressed up as the normal one…"

"Hey."

Leo could have launched himself into the air with the amount of adrenaline that that sudden greeting from Piper solicited in him. He slammed the book closed quickly and stuffed it in his pocket before Piper could get a good look at it. She was, however, looking at him very intensely.

"What are you doing up here?" She asked, walking closer to him. Leo was seated at the table in the attic, in hindsight he probably should have gone somewhere a little more private. He stood up as Piper walked closer to him and leaned against the table hoping to hide the bulge in his pocket from the book he was hiding.

"I was just…." He said, at a loss. "You know, thinking."

"Right…" Piper said skeptically. "Listen, do you want to stay for dinner?"

Leo looked down at the hand he had placed on the table and began drumming his fingers as he audibly contemplated his answer with a string of 'ums' and 'uhs.' Piper raised an eyebrow. It was obvious that her ex was hiding something. Leo never did hide things well. The dead give away was usually the nervous smile playing on his face right at this very moment.

"Phoebe and Paige aren't going to be here," she continued. "It would be just you and me….and Wyatt, of course."

"Sure," Leo finally answered while meeting her eyes. "You know how I love seeing….Wyatt."

Piper nodded and silently turned around. She walked downstairs without another word and left Leo standing awkwardly by himself for a moment in the attic before following her. He wasn't ignorant to the fact that this would be the first time they were alone together for a substantial amount of time since Chris' conception. He already wasn't looking forward to it – not that he didn't want to see Piper. It was just….bound to be uncomfortable. For both of them. When he finally caught up with her she was standing over a boiling pot of water and breaking a bundle of pasta in half.

"Spaghetti with Prego?" he asked.

Piper turned around and brushed her hands together with a smirk. "Linguini Bolognaise," she corrected with a smirk. Leo smirked back. He was just teasing her, of course. As if she would ever simply boil some noodles and pour a jar of sauce over them.

"Sounds good," he said. Piper smiled and continued with the food preparation.

"Dad-uh!" Wyatt uttered happily from his high chair while pointing at his father with noodle covered fingers.

"Hey, Buddy!" Leo exclaimed. He walked over to Wyatt's highchair and squatted in front of it to get a better look at his son. "I see you're wearing your Yankees shirt. Are you trying to butter me up for something?" Leo lightly poked the little boy in the stomach and Wyatt giggled in response. Piper watched the exchange with a smile.

"As if he would have to try that hard," she said.

"I wonder if Chris likes baseball…" Leo thought out loud while he stood up. The first thing he had ever thought of after finding out that he had a son was how he was going to be able to take him to games, teach him about the greats like DiMaggio. Now he was wondering if he ever did any of that with Chris.

"He's a Red Sox fan…" Piper said, as her smirk grew so large that it almost split her face in two. She couldn't watch the color drain out of her ex-husbands face for the sheer fact that it would cause her to burst out in laughter.

"What?" Leo asked in a tone as though he had just found out that he wasn't really Wyatt's father. "Why…Why would he be a Red Sox fan? He's lived in San Francisco his whole life! I mean I would understand if he was a Giants fan…"

Piper shrugged. "He likes the Giants too. And you've lived here your whole life too, you know. Why are you a Yankees fan?"

"Because Joe DiMaggio was my favorite player as a kid! And he is one of the best ball players of all time!" Leo insisted.

Piper shrugged again. "So was Ted Williams."

"Chris wasn't around to see Ted Williams!" Leo sat down at the kitchen table completely dumbfounded. How could any son of his ever be a fan of the Red Sox?

"…and try not to piss Dad off too much…I know how hard that is for you in any time..."

Leo look a deep breathe as he finally came to a revelation. "He became a Red Sox fan just to piss me off…" he said.

"I wouldn't put it past him," Piper said. Leo looked up at his ex-wife and smiled. It was rare that they had conversations about baseball in this house – and not just because it was full of women. It was rare to talk about anything light hearted these days.

"How did you know he's a Red Sox fan?"

"He had a game on in the kitchen a while ago when he was making a potion for something or other…"

Leo sighed and shook his head. "It's dangerous to have distractions around you when you're trying to make a potion…." He said unhappily.

Piper sighed as well and threw a now empty can of tomato paste in the trash. "Leo, he knows what he's doing," she said. "Besides what do you want me to do about it? Ground him? He's twenty-two. I just got him to call me 'Mom' for Christ's sake."

"I dunno…" Leo admitted, shaking his head. "But you're wrong. I may not know much about Chris…but one thing I do know after watching him for over a year….is that he has absolutely no idea what he is doing…"

She didn't know what could have possibly come over her. She wasn't that type of girl. She had never had a one-night stand before in her life. What in the name of God possessed her to do something like this? Speaking of God, what would her vicar think? What would her mother think?

Oh Lord if her mother ever got wind of this she would never pay for her to go to school in San Francisco. But Elise would never tell her mother that she had been out all night after going out on a date with her coworker's handsome young nephew….would she? God she hoped she wouldn't.

Holy shit what if she was pregnant? What if she got pregnant with the child of some American bachelor that she hardly knew? Who knew how long he was even going to be in San Francisco? Who knew where he was even from? Holy shit he could be from some town in South Dakota with a population of two hundred people where they didn't have cell phone towers and the closest thing to civilization was a Wal-Mart thirty kilometers away. She was from London! She couldn't live like that. That was assuming he would even care if she were pregnant. She could be pregnant with the child of a man who wouldn't lift a finger to help her.

She needed to stop being ridiculous. She wasn't pregnant. They had used a condom. There was no way she was pregnant. She was just being paranoid. But, God she couldn't wait until she got her period.

What if she got some kind of disease? One in four people have herpes. She could have herpes! Or worse….she could have HIV. Dear Lord, what if she had HIV?

What on earth possessed her to sleep with a man she didn't know?

She felt so…tawdry. She was wondering around the disgusting room of some guy she barely knew collecting her knickers and clothes. It was a scene she had only ever really seen on the telly, and definitely one in which she never pictured herself staring. She had only ever been with three other men, all of which she was seriously involved with.

She had finally found her shirt when she suddenly felt a sharp intense pain at the bottom of her foot. She jumped in the air before grabbing her foot and stumbling down to sit on the small table in front of the couch, all the while biting her lip to keep from yelping in pain. "Bloody fucking hell!" she cursed under her breath as she maneuvered her foot to see a shredded piece of glass impaled in her skin. Taking a deep breath, she mustered up her courage and pried the intruding piece of glass out from the bottom of her foot. She pressed her thumb hard against the cut in hopes of stopping the bleeding and easing some of the pain before she slipped her shoes on again. It was really in vain, however, and she would just have to accept the fact that she was going to walk to the bus station in pain and ruin a brand new pair of shoes in the process. But it wasn't as bad as the time she had limped all the way through Leister Square in the middle of the night after impaling her foot on a broken beer pilsner in a club with blood dripping from her shoe and staining the sidewalk in the process. This was small in comparison really. Her feet and glass did not mix.

Once she stood up, she turned around to make sure that Chris had still not stirred. He was sound asleep, a feat she was certainly not able to achieve under the conditions. She had hard time getting comfortable on a couch with two people, plus she couldn't stop thinking about what a colossal mistake she had just made. But it was probably for the best. From what her friends told her the morning after a one-night-stand was awkward for all parties. Marianne liked to avoid awkwardness at all costs. Maybe she would even be able to make it home before the sun came up and she would be able to convince her aunt that she hadn't in fact been gone all night.

She tiptoed as quietly as possible out of the room, and slipped through the back door of the club. As she stepped into the alleyway outside she was suddenly overcome with a gust of cold air. Fall seemed to be on its way. She stepped forward toward the direction of the street in hopes of finding a cab. In her opinion San Francisco should invest in a Night Bus service. It was just one of the many things she found herself missing about London.

Once she reached the street she found herself in luck. There happened to be a taxi driving down the street at that exact moment and she wasted no time in hailing it down. Relieved that she not only didn't get accosted in the middle of an alleyway but also didn't have to call a company and stand waiting on a curb for lord knows how long, she slipped in the back with a smile.

"1113 Carrendon Street, please," she said cheerfully.

"You know…" the driver said. "I had someplace else in mind."

As Marianne looked into his monstrous face she let out a blood-curdling scream that was quickly silenced by the wave of the taxi driver's hand.

TBC….

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