Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed.

Author's Notes: Oh my God! I can't believe it took me so long to update! I feel horrible! lol, just kidding. I do feel bad, but I'm updating, and you should be happy, even if it is such a short chapter e.e Anyways, this chapter covers a lot of important ground, the next chapter is going to be fluff (I think), and then we should start hitting some of that wonderful angst, so we'll see how it goes.

Alright, here's the deal. I started a Charmed Fan Fiction Forum, and I'd love it if you guys would go and join. I'd prefer if you posted and helped get it off the ground, but if you absolutely can't, I understand. Just go to my profile and click on my homepage, and it'll take you there. Hope to see you there!

Finally, it opened, and Chris stood at the door. His face remained passive, but they could tell that he recognized them. "Can I help you?" he asked politely.

"Yes, can we talk to your brother?"

-------

Before he could respond, the decision was taken out of Chris's hands. "Chris, who's at the door?" a voice asked from inside.

"Those charity people from the other day," Chris replied, and they heard rushed footsteps approaching the door.

The door opened, and Wyatt was staring at the group with a horrified expression. "Chris, go to your room," he said, turning to give his brother a smile, "I'll take care of it." Chris snorted, but did as asked.

Wyatt stepped outside, closing the door behind him. Rubbing his arms to ward off the cold, he asked, "What do you want?"

The Halliwells looked at each other nervously, and Phoebe chuckled slightly, tossing her hair behind her head with a quick flick of her wrist.

The group stood outside the house for a minute in silence, before Wyatt shook his head and turned towards the door. "If you aren't going to talk, don't bother coming back."

Panicking, Piper lunged forward and grabbed hold of Wyatt's elbow. "Wait!" she yelled, causing Wyatt to stiffen.

A woman with long brown hair singing to a blond, blue eyed toddler as she held him in her arms.

"Are you okay?"

Blinking, Wyatt wrenched his arm free and asked, "What in the hell was that?"

"What was what?" Paige asked, catching her sister as Piper stumbled backwards. "What in the hell are you doing? You're twice Piper's size!"

"What are you talking about?" Wyatt yelled back, "She grabbed me first!"

Phoebe glared and yelled, "That's still no way to treat your mother young man!"

"What in the hell do you mea-" Wyatt took a couple of steps back and stared at the foursome before him. "No," he said, shaking his head. "There's not way you think-"

Leo stepped forward, "Hey, we understand that this is a lot to take in, and we know that this really isn't the best time to tell you, but we do have a reason-"

Wyatt interupted him, "Damn right it's not a good time! Why in the hell would you come here and try to lie to me, saying that you're my 'family', just after my parents died last week?"

Piper stepped forward to stand near her husband. "Wyatt, we are your family. We were going to handle this a little more delicately, but-"

"Get off of my property," Wyatt shouted, "you are not my family!"

"Wyatt, we are your family!" Piper desperately said, "And we did have a good reason to leave you on that doorstep-"

"I told you to get off of my property! If you're not gone in five minutes, I'm going to call the police!" Wyatt opened his door and slammed it angrily.

"Well that went well," Paige muttered as they headed towards the S.U.V.

//linebreak//

Wyatt sighed and leaned against the door as he closed it behind him. Why were they trying to hurt him like this? They couldn't prove that they were his parents, and even if they were, Wyatt wasn't interested. He had had parents whom he loved, and now he had to focus on Chris.

"What did they want?"

Chris's calm voice made Wyatt jump, and the elder brother glared as the younger snickered. "Well?" Chris demanded, "what did they want?"

Wyatt sighed and answered, "Nothing really. Nothing you should be worried about."

"Come on, Wyatt, just tell me! We never used to keep secrets from each other!"

Smirking slightly, Wyatt teased, "Curiosity killed the cat."

"And satisfaction brought him back." Muttering under his breath, Chris added, "Not that it did Nemo any good."

Wincing at the mention of their mother's old cat, Wyatt tried, "Whatcha talking about? Nemo ran away."

Rolling his eyes, Chris dryly informed his brother, "Wy, you ran over the cat 'cause you weren't paying attention when you were backing out of the driveway."

Wyatt remembered the incident with vivid memory. Chris's birthday had been the day before, and, per family tradition, Chris didn't have to go to school for a few days. Unfortunately for the older, he had hung out with his brother, joking and talking the night before and had woken late. By an hour.

He had rushed through his morning routine and had been pulling out of the driveway fifteen minutes after his mom had woken him up. He had been sure he was going to make it to school before the first bell rang, but a bump accompanied by a sickening squelch ended any hope he had. Getting out of the car, Wyatt had prayed that it wasn't what he thought it was. Maybe his mom had left one of the boxes of fruit on the driveway, or maybe it had been a squirrel. He looked; it wasn't a squirrel.

After panicking for ten minutes about what he was going to do, the choice had been taken out of his hands when his father came out of the house asking him why he hadn't left for school yet. After quietly chewing his son out for a few minutes, Jon helped Wyatt to get rid of the cat's body before Mary saw it.

The only one who was genuinely sad that Nemo had "run away" was Mary; everyone else hated the cat with a passion, and the cat had definitely returned the feeling.

Shaking his head from the memories, Wyatt asked, "How do you know about that? Dad swore he wouldn't tell anyone."

Chris blushed and murmured, "It doesn't matter." Setting his face in a hard expression, he yelled, " Why won't you tell me what they want?"

"Because it doesn't matter and you don't need to know!" Wyatt snapped. "God Chris, it's none of your business!"

"Itis my business! They're bothering you, and you never talk to me anymore!"

Wyatt growled, "Chris, I talk to you all the time, but I don't want to talk about this. Go to your room."

"Fine!"

Chris whirled and stomped up the stairs. A few moments later a door slammed. Wyatt sighed and quietly walked to his room; he had an essay to type.

//linebreak//

The group of sullen adults walked into the Manor, Leo trailing behind so he could gently shut the stained-glass door. Phoebe and Paige were keeping their eyes downcast and remaining quiet. Calmly putting her coat on the rack, Piper turned to her sisters. "Maybe you should go home, your families probably need you, you guys have been here for days."

Piper turned her back on her family and buried her face in her hands as her shoulders started to shake. Leo carefully moved so that he could hug her from behind. "Piper, it'll be okay."

"No it won't Leo!" Piper shouted. "It won't be alright! He hates us! And he's right, he should hate us, hate me!"

Phoebe gently stepped forward and rubbed her older sister's arm. "Piper, he doesn't hate us. I couldn't get a good read on Wyatt, but I didn't sense hate."

"Phoebe's right," Paige added, "I've never hated Patty and Sam. The only feeling I ever had was sadness because I didn't understand why they abandoned me. Was it my fault? Maybe I wasn't good enough. Piper, his parents are dead, and he doesn't have anyone to lash out at except himself."

"I understand Paige," Piper said, leaning against her husband and clenching her eyes, "but it still hurts. He won't even give us a chance!"

The quartet waited in silence for a minute before Phoebe's cell phone went off. Flipping it open hurriedly, she gasped, "Peyton, what is it honey? A demon? What did he look like? I'll be right there honey."

She snapped her phone shut. "I gotta go. A demon attacked and the girls barely held him off long enough to get away. Paige, can you orb me over there?"

Piper's face set in a hardened expression; no one attacked her family. "Wait a sec', let me grab the book and I'll come with you." Turning to kiss Leo, she hurried up the stairs to the attic.

//linebreak//

Wyatt sighed and powered down his laptop; he couldn't concentrate on fifteenth-century Europe when he was feeling so guilty about lying to his brother. He didn't understand it, why couldn't he tell Chris about those people? It didn't matter if they thought he was their long-lost-son, he wanted nothing to do with them. Well, that wasn't true; if they were his family, he wanted to ask why he wasn't good enough, why they had abandoned him.

Sighing, Wyatt closed the laptop, clearing his thoughts as he stood up. He and Chris needed to spend some time together, they hadn't done anything just the two of them for a long time.

Grabbing a coat out of his closet, he left his room and closed his door behind him. Crossing the hall between his and Chris's room, he rapped on the door and opened it. After he stepped inside, he shook his head in amusement.

Chris's desk faced away from the door and the brunet twelve-year-old was tapping away at the keys of his computer as a dark classical piece reverberated through the room. Wyatt stood watching his little brother for a few moments before remembering why he had come in the room in the first place.

"Chris," he called, "Chris!"

The younger Perry jumped and turned down the volume on his computer. His face was pained as he turned to look at his brother. "What do you want Wy?"

Wyatt smiled. "What's that piece called? I could almost tolerate listening to it."

Narrowed eyes leveled at the "I-only-listen-to-rap-and-R&B" older brother. Chris replied, "Rex Tremendae, Mozart."

Nodding in acceptance, Wyatt pushed on with his reason for disturbing his brother, "Hey, do you want to go out to eat and catch a movie? We haven't gone anywhere just the two of us since summer, and I think you need to get out of the house."

Chris hesitated, casting a quick glance at his computer, before agreeing. "Sure. Let me grab a coat and I'll be downstairs in a 'sec."

Smiling, Wyatt left the room. Maybe this would help things between them get better...

Word Count: 9649