Title: The Lost Future

Disclaimer: I don't own anything

Re: Kitty-Witty-Kate: I know, I felt sorry for Piper also, even if she really should tell Chris the truth.. Like all parents, she is only trying to do what she thinks is best for her children. Her life is just a little bit more complicated because she is Charmed.

Re: Calen: Yes, Chris is twenty-three. And yes, he lives at home. And if you read this chapter, you will find out why. :)

Re: bunn2007: Yes, the Seer is very sneaky. Very intelligent too. She was actually one of my favorite villains, because I never really thought the Source was that scary without her. And she always seemed so cunning because she managed to trick Cole into becoming the Source. Of course, I also hated her for that...

Re:CharmedOne24: Funny you should ask for more of the Chris-Wyatt relationship. That is a major focus of this chapter, and you'll get to see even more of it in the next chapters. So, read on.

Re: Martina G: Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like it so far, and keep reading (and reviewing).

Re: rozzy07: Yes, the angst is definitely being cranked up. And there will be much more drama. But actually, the current family issues are more of a starting point, and (although the issues will still be there throughout the rest of the story) the real focus and plot will be revealed in later chapters. But I don't want to give too much away, so keep reading. :)

Re: NothingButSarah: Glad you like it! I am trying to update about once a week. I post the name and date of the next chapter at the bottom of each previous chapter so that you know when to expect the next installment. Please keep reading.

As always, read and review.


Chapter Three: The Picture

"Okay, so was it like a premonition?" Wyatt asked. He was perched on the edge of Prue's bed. Prue was sitting on the chair by her desk, and Chris was leaning against the wall by her door. The three were hanging out at Phoebe's and Jason's house today because it was Saturday, and none of them had anything else to do.

"No, not exactly," Chris replied. "I don't really know what it was." Chris started pacing across the floor in agitation.

Prue frowned and said, "And you didn't tell Aunt Piper and Uncle Leo?"

"No," Chris replied shortly. "I couldn't. I mean, that haven't even met Bianca and I have been dating her for two years. How am I suppose to tell them that I am now having sort-of premonitions of proposing to her? It would raise too many questions."

"Like how you could be dating someone for two years and not tell any of your family?" Wyatt replied evenly. "I'm actually a little curious about that myself." He folded his arms over his chest and glared at Chris in annoyance. This was the brother who told him everything, how could he keep something as important as a two-year relationship secret?

"Me too," Prue added.

Chris grimaced and said, "Well I am telling you now. Better late the never, right?"

'Two years late, Chris. You used to confide everything to us. How could you let something that big slip? And don't tell me you forgot," Prue retorted.

Chris paused by the bed and grabbed a pillow, a large feather pillow with a pink pillowcase, and hurled it at Prue. She caught it and stuck her tongue out at Chris. Wyatt rolled his eyes at their antics and said, "Wow, you two really know how to act grown up."

"Look, I just didn't tell you. But I am telling you now, and I really need your help because this is creeping me out."

"Maybe you should tell Mom and Dad," Wyatt said. "You've been keeping a lot secret from them, but sooner or later they are going to have to find out. This…what did you say her name was…Bianca?…is not going to want to be kept a secret forever. Girls don't like that."

"Actually, it was her idea. And since when do you give me advice on girls, Wy? You've never been able to keep a girl interested for more than two minutes," Chris replied, grinning.

"Hey, Courtney and I are doing just fine, thank you very much, and it has been a full year!" Wyatt replied in mock anger. He smiled fondly at the mention of his girlfriend. Things were going well with her, and, unlike his past significant others, she had not freaked out when she found out he was a witch.

"Yeah, and how many girls dropped you after one date before you met Courtney? A few hundred?" Chris shot back, a grin on his face. He could tell by the far away look in his brother's eyes that his relationship with Courtney was getting serious. He was glad, because he genuinely liked the girl.

"It was Bianca's idea not to tell Aunt Piper and Uncle Leo?" Prue broke into the boys' conversation, confused. "Why would she want that?"

Chris sighed and sat down next to Wyatt on the bed. "Because she's a Phoenix."

"A what?" Prue asked.

But Wyatt had recognized the name of the coven and his eyes went wide with shock. "You are dating an assassin? Are you insane?"

"She isn't an assassin. At least, she isn't following in her coven's footsteps. She is going to be a lawyer," Chris replied, defending his girlfriend.

"So she gave up being an assassin to be a lawyer. How ironic," Wyatt deadpanned. His face growing serious, he lifted concerned eyes and held his younger brother's gaze for a moment. "How do you know she isn't evil? She is a demon".

"What?" Prue interjected. "What do you mean she is a demon?"

"She is not a demon. She had demonic powers, but a lot of witches have demonic powers," Chris snapped. "It doesn't make her evil."

"And yet, they are called demonic powers for a reason," Wyatt responded. His concern for his little brother was growing as Chris seemed to be so infatuated with this woman that he could not see the danger he was in.

"Powers are not inherently good or evil. It all depends on who uses them and what they are used to do," Chris replied heatedly, glaring at his brother.

"Okay, is anyone going to tell me what a Phoenix is or an I going to have to guess?" Prue demanded, taking advantage of the momentary silence.

Wyatt turned to Prue and said, "Phoenixes are a coven of elite assassin witches. They have demonic and witch powers. They are very loyal to each other, which is part of the reason the coven has endured for so long."

"Well, if Bianca hasn't tried to kill Chris yet, then I'm guessing she probably isn't a threat," Prue commented after digesting the information Wyatt gave her. "And I agree with Chris about the whole powers not being good or evil thing." She turned to Chris. "And I get why you didn't tell your parents, and why Bianca wouldn't have wanted to meet the family, but I think you are going to have to tell them eventually. Secrets are not good for a relationship." There was something in tone that made both Wyatt and Chris stare at her in surprise and concern.

"Prue?" Chris asked softly. "Something wrong?"

Prue paused for a moment, then said, "I overheard my Mom and Dad arguing yesterday right before dinner. Dad left because of the argument…" She ran a hand through her hair and continued, "He doesn't like being pushed out of the magical part of our lives. He doesn't like Mom keeping secrets."

"Your parents are always arguing about that," Wyatt pointed out. "I'm sure this is nothing new and nothing big."

"It's gotten worse lately. Dad said he wasn't sure the relationship could survive," Prue replied. A few tears welled up in her eyes and she brushed them away angrily. "He said he didn't like being kept out of my life as well."

"He said all of this with you there?" Chris asked.

"No, I wasn't suppose to be there. Mom had told me to leave, but I…" Hid behind the banister at the top of the stairs to listen to my parents discuss their possibly ruined marriage. Prue couldn't say the words, so she let the sentence hang, and stared miserably at the ground.

Wyatt got up and walked over to Prue. He pulled her into a hug and said, "Listen to me, Prue. Everything is going to be okay. Your father understands. He is a little upset, but he does understand."

Chris, however, said nothing. His silence caused both Wyatt and Prue to look at him. He shifted, clearly uncomfortable, then said, "He had a point, though. Being kept out of everything magical. That is a big part of your life, and he is missing out on it." Chris resumed pacing and said, "And maybe he doesn't like that. Maybe he doesn't want to be kept out of what he feels he has a right to be a part of. Maybe it makes him feel left out and unwanted and maybe that is part of the problem. Maybe it isn't all his fault."

Prue tilted her head back and regarded Chris through unreadable eyes. At last, she said, "We aren't talking about my dad anymore, are we?" Chris said nothing, and Prue continued, "I know you don't like being kept out of all of this, but it really is not that great. I have to put up with two annoying cousins so that I can make up a new Power of Three, and Wyatt gets attacked by demons every week."

"But I'm the only one," Chris replied bitterly, pausing to look at his brother.

"What?" Wyatt asked, confused.

"I'm the only one who is kept out. The rest of the family can all meet and talk about demons, but Mom still doesn't let me in on those discussions. It is like you all have this other world, this part of your life that I can never hope to be included in. I don't like missing out on this. I don't like being on the outside, watching everyone else act like a family. It makes me feel…invisible."

"You aren't invisible," Wyatt replied, shocked that his brother would feel that way. "I know you don't ever train as extensively as I do, but…"

"I don't train at all," Chris snapped. "Mom never let me go to magic school. As long as I knew how to orb so I could orb myself away from a demon, that was all that mattered."

"Well, you learned how to control your telekinesis on your own, didn't you?" Wyatt replied.

Chris laughed bitterly and shook his head. "No, I didn't. Dad used to orb in at night and take me up to Elder Land so I could train in secret. I never would have learned if it wasn't for him."

"Dad did that without telling Mom?" Wyatt asked. "Is this entire family keeping secrets from each other?"

Chris sighed and didn't answer the question. Instead, he resumed pacing. After a moment of silence, he said, "Sometimes it feels like Mom is smothering me. Like everyone is smothering me. I mean... do you remember when I tried to get my own place?"

Last year, after graduating from UCLA, Chris had moved out into an apartment close to P3. He had found a part time job working as an assistant in the same social services office Paige had worked out when she first met her sisters, while also picking up a few shifts a week at the bar in his mother's club. He had felt free, like he was able to live his own life. He had been able to invite Bianca to his apartment without worrying that his parents would walk in on them. He had been able to go where he wanted, when he wanted, and not worry that his mother would call 'just to make sure he was safe.'

And then the attack had come.

He had barely managed to avoid being killed. The place had been trashed, and he had escaped with three dark-lighter arrows in his chest. Only a combination of Leo's healing powers and his own stubborn refusal to die had saved his life.

Within a matter of days the entire magical community had known about the attack. The Elders informed Leo that they had heard rumors that the Underworld had decided to target him because since he was on his own, he was easy pickings. So Piper had insisted that he move back to the Manor until they took care of the threat.

But the threat never went away. And so he was still living with his parents, still stuck in the house he wanted to escape. And part of him understood why he had to stay there. Even with extensive training, he would never be able to take on the entire Underworld. He just wasn't that powerful. Moving out of the Manor would have been suicide.

"Is that why you didn't tell us about Bianca?" Prue said suddenly, cutting into his thoughts with an unusually shrewd look on her face. "Because you wanted a part of your life that was all your own since you were forced to stay at home, but still kept out of magic?"

Chris didn't answer, and Wyatt said, "Well, now that you have told us about her, I say we get the chance to meet her." Chris glared at him and opened his mouth to respond, but Wyatt, guessing what his brother was going to say, said quickly, "And I promise I won't say anything about her being evil." He held up his hands in mock surrender.

"And the three of us will get to the bottom of your weird premonition thing, together," Prue promised. "We're family, after all."

Chris looked at his cousin and his brother and couldn't help but smile.


Bianca sat on the loveseat in her apartment, staring out of the window. She watched as a few fluffy white clouds made their lazy way across the incredibly blue sky. The beach spread out below her window, the golden sand glistening in the sun. It was another perfect autumn day in San Francisco, and the Phoenix felt way too warm and comfortable to actually do any work.

At the sounds of orbs behind her, Bianca turned around, expecting Chris. She was surprised to see two figures step out of the mass of lights. One was Chris, the other was a slightly taller, blonde-haired, blue-eyed man. Bianca had never seen Wyatt before, but she could tell by the amount of power radiating off of him that this was the prophesized Twice Blessed One. She frowned slightly at Wyatt, feeling a sudden, inexplicable, surge of fear

There was a momentary silence, then Bianca said abruptly, "You know, Chris, your brother doesn't look a thing like you."

Chris smiled while Wyatt looked slightly taken aback by the blunt comment. "Wy, this is my girlfriend, Bianca. Bianca, this is my brother, Wyatt," Chris said, quickly making introductions to forestall the awkward silence that was about to settle over the group.

Bianca smiled and said politely, "Nice to meet you, Wyatt." She turned to Chris and jerked her head to the side. Chris nodded and stepped away from Wyatt. Bianca followed and the two crossed the room. Once they were out of Wyatt's hearing range, they began to talk in hushed whispers.

"What happened to not telling your family?"

"I needed to tell someone about the weird premonition thing that I got. I told Wyatt and Prue, and I had to tell them about you since you were in it. Don't worry, Wyatt won't spill the secrets," Chris explained.

Bianca nodded apprehensively. She glanced over at Wyatt, who was now staring out of the window, allowing the couple their privacy. "It's weird…"

"What?" Chris asked.

"I feel like…I get the same feeling from Wyatt that I did when I first met you," Bianca said slowly.

"Like you know him already?" Chris questioned. He too glanced at his brother and frowned. Things just kept getting weirder and weirder...

Bianca nodded and ran a hand through her hair. "Yes, but…"

"But what?"

"I don't think I like him," Bianca replied. She looked at Chris and sighed. "Actually, I think I am afraid of him." She bit her lip, contemplating what to say next. How could she explain the terror and hatred that felt so real? She didn't even know Wyatt, how could she feel such strong dislike for him?

"That doesn't make any sense," Chris said. "You aren't afraid of me, how could you be afraid of Wyatt?"

Bianca shrugged and met Chris' gaze. She shifted uncomfortably, then turned and called out to Wyatt, "Do you want anything to drink? Water, juice, soda?"

Wyatt turned around and said, "Some water would be great, thank you." Bianca nodded and headed towards the kitchen, squeezing Chris' shoulder as she passed him.

Wyatt waited until Bianca was in the kitchen before turning to his brother and saying, "She didn't seem pleased to meet me."

Chris crossed the room and shook his head, replying, "It wasn't that. She's just a little surprised because she didn't know I was going to tell anyone in my family about her." He didn't think it was a good idea to tell Wyatt about Bianca's...what should he even call it? Like his weird memory, her 'feelings' weren't premonitions, but they seemed related. And yet, as far as he knew, no Phoenix witch had powers like that. And he knew he certainly didn't.

"Well, I'll give you this, Chris, you sure know how to pick them," Wyatt commented, bringing Chris out of his thoughts. He picked up a picture of Bianca and Lynn from the coffee table and stared at it. "She's got one hell of a body."

Chris grinned at his brother and replied suggestively, "You have no idea…"

At that moment, Bianca walked back into the room carrying three glasses of water. She handed one to Wyatt and one to Chris, then took a sip of her own drink. She was still staring at Wyatt with suspicious eyes, unable to shake the feeling that she knew him. And definitely didn't like him.

"So…what brings you here?" Bianca asked, trying to start a conversation.

"I just wanted to get to know the person my brother has been dating for two years," Wyatt answered calmly. He stared at the Phoenix, noting the way she carried herself. She may be reformed, but she certainly had the aura of someone who possessed the ability to kill swiftly and easily. A true assassin.

"Maybe we should sit down?" Chris said, hoping to break the uneasy silence.

"Sure," Bianca replied, gesturing to the sofa. Chris took a seat on the sofa while Bianca quickly cleared off the armchair for Wyatt. As she moved a box of papers and two books from the chair, an athame slipped from the cushion and fell to the floor. Bianca quickly summoned it to her hand and walked over to a cabinet by the wall. She pulled the doors of the cabinet open to reveal two shelves of athames and potion's bottles, a Grimoire, and a few candles. She placed the athame on the shelf and shut the cabinet with a snap.

Bianca turned to see a set of suspicious blue eyes trained on her.

"So, what do you do for a living, Bianca?" Wyatt asked causally, switching his gaze to the now closed cabinet. "I hear you aren't in the family business anymore?"

Bianca tensed slightly, but refused to take the bait. She shook her head and said, "No, I'm not. I'm a law student." She hesitated, then continued politely, "What do you do?"

"I'm in medical school," Wyatt answered casually. "With demon hunting on the side." He narrowed his eyes and said softly, "You know, demons that mess with my family tend to meet unhappy demises…"

"Wyatt!" Chris hissed, glaring at his brother in anger. He chanced a brief glance at Bianca and saw that she had stiffened. Her hands were clenched into fists at her side, her knuckles white.

"Well, magical beings, good or evil, that make threats to my daughter, tend to meet an unhappy demise as well," a voice said, cutting into the conversation.

Bianca spun around in surprise, and all eyes turned to the woman who had just shimmered into the apartment. "Mom!" Bianca said. "I didn't realize you were coming over today."

"You left your sweater at my apartment. I thought I would drop it off on my way out to work," Lynn replied, tossing a navy blue sweater onto the sofa. She continued to glare at Wyatt, the man that she knew was most likely responsible for the hell that the other version of her daughter had grown up in.

"I think we had better go," Chris said quickly walking over to his brother and grabbing him by the arm. He shot an apologetic look at Bianca and orbed away, taking Wyatt with him.

Bianca turned to her mother and said, "What the hell was that for!"

"He was threatening you!" Lynn shot back. "Am I not allowed to be protective of my only daughter?"

Bianca rolled her eyes and replied, "He wasn't going to hurt me, Mom. Chris wouldn't have let him. Besides, he's on the side of good, remember? He isn't going to go around murdering people."

Lynn grabbed Bianca's arm and said in a deathly serious voice, "Don't underestimate Wyatt, Bianca." Her eyes burned into her daughter's, and Bianca was the first to look away. Lynn dropped her daughter's arm and shimmered away.


Prue wandered slowly through the sunroom of the manor, listening as her mother and Aunt Piper talked quietly about some demon that had attacked. She and her mother had been out shopping when the demon came out of nowhere, and tried to kill her. Fortunately no on saw them use their powers. Then the two had headed over to the manor so that Phoebe could check the Book.

Prue ran her hand over to wicker loveseat, then walked over to the mantle above the fireplace. She peered at all the pictures there. Lifting one up, she smiled at it. It was a picture of Chris and Wyatt when they were younger, playing at the park. As she held the picture in both hands, she felt herself suddenly sucked into a premonition.

Piper was destroying some pictures, throwing them into the flames. Leo was watching her in silence, but when Piper's back was turned, he picked up a picture and quickly hid it.

Prue opened her eyes and frowned, unsure of what the premonition meant. She turned and glanced over at her mother and Aunt who were so deep in conversation that they did not notice her. Quickly replacing the picture, she slipped out of the room.

Standing in the hallway, she looked around, wondering if she should call Chris and Wyatt to tell them what she had seen. Deciding against it, she headed up the stairs. At the first floor, she paused and looked down the hallway.

Try Uncle Leo and Aunt Piper's room.

She didn't know where the idea came from, but it suddenly appeared in her mind. Hurrying across the hallway, she slowly pushed the door to her aunt and uncle's room open and stepped inside.

The closet. A box at the back.

Again the idea came from nowhere, but she followed it without thinking. Pulling open the closet door, she searched around the shoes and boxes until she found what she was looking for. Pulling out the small box, she opened it and stared at the contents.

It was a picture. The edges were yellowed with age. It showed a twenty-something Chris playing with blocks on the kitchen floor. He was playing with a toddler who looked like a baby version of Wyatt. Who looked exactly like a baby version of Wyatt…

Turn the picture over.

Prue flipped open the picture and read the one line on the back.

Chris and Wyatt, 2004.

She stared at the picture, trying to understand what she was seeing, but it didn't make any sense. How could Chris be there? And how could he be playing with the baby version of his older brother?


The Seer stared at her pool for a moment, then turned to the demon who had flamed in next to her. "I didn't realize you had the power to send premonitions."

"And influence thoughts through astral projection," the demon said smugly. "I didn't have that power. I picked it up a few days ago, though." He gestured to the pool and said, "It came in handy, sending the girl to find that picture, didn't it?"

He and the Seer looked at the image of Prue reflected in the pool. They watched as she replaced the shoe box, but kept the picture. Then the Seer turned back to the demon and flashed him a chilling smile. "Nicely done."


Next Chapter: Forgotten and Remembered

Due: Tuesday 11/8