Fix It

Chapter Seven: Last Two Travelers

Mel rubbed her temples. It had been nearly seven hours and no one had returned from the past. At this point she was going to assume that they weren't returning for the time being. Dirk had gone over to the half of the base where the demons had taken residence. He needed to speak to the Clan Heads and explain to them what was going on.

She headed towards Ben's room. The quiet beep of the machines that he was hooked up to was a normal sound to her now. Her cousin's tall form reminded her of a child. His coma had been going on for over a year now; it seemed like he was wasting away in the bed. After Rose's death and him subsequently going after her killers it had seen like he had just given up. Ben had been injured badly enough that the coma had been medical at first. When he didn't come out of it though and he should have they all realized that something was wrong. Kali had been the one to theorize that Ben had just given up and wouldn't wake up and face the world without Rose.

A tear slipped down Mel's cheek. It wasn't fair that he was like this! Rose should still be alive and they should be happy, or at least as happy as they could be. Ben should be helping her run the Resistance; Rose should be helping heal injured members. Instead she was…..

Gold lights formed in front of her in a familiar manner. It was the way a spirit formed when they came into the living realm. Rose Veran stood in front of her.

"Rose," Mel breathed in shock. "How the hell…"

"Hi Mel," Rose said quietly. Her light purple eyes were both happy and sad. "I…I figured out how to cross the divide. It took me a really long time though; I think it only worked because of what I am."

"Oh Rose," Mel sighed. "I take it that you saw what happened to Ben?"

"Yeah," Rose replied, tearing up. "I want to try to wake him up."

Mel blinked in response. "Wait, what? He's been in the coma for almost a year now; you've been dead for almost a year and a half. How do you think you're going to wake him up?"

"I'm dead, so I think I can sort of shift into his mind," Rose explained. "His one power was astral projection. It means that he's more open to movement between the different planes and I should in theory be able to traverse into the astral plane and make contact with his mind."

"That actually sort of makes sense," Mel said nodding. "Try it. Please."

Rose shut her eyes and disappeared into a whirl of silver lights which floated over Ben's head and faded into his mind.


Rose looked around Ben's mind. It resembled Ben's old bedroom back when his home still existed. It had been destroyed in the demon attack that had killed his mom. It was still a sign of comfort for him. He was sitting on the bed, a picture in his hands.

"Ben," she said softly.

He jerked his head up, bright blue eyes widening in shock. Ben's mouth fell open slightly as well.

"Rose?" he whispered, not fully able to believe it.

"Hi Ben," she said walking towards him. She crouched in front of him placing her hands on his cheeks. She lightly kissed his lips.

"How," he breathed.

"I figured out how to cross the divide between life and death," she explained. "I figured that it had to be similar to cross from mortal plane to mental."

Ben smiled down at her. "So good to see you again," he murmured, leaning down to kiss her.

"Ben you need to wake up," Rose said, reaching the reason she was there. Ben just shook his head.

"I can't," he admitted. "I'm not actually stuck in the coma because I can't face the world. I was literally just hurt that badly. I don't think I can ever wake up again."

Rose's purple eyes widened in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think you'd be able to astral project out of your body," she asked curiously.

"I'm not sure," he said with a slight frown. "I never thought to try," he admitted.

"Try," she encouraged. "I'm going to cross back into the living realm. If you can astral, follow me. If you don't after a half an hour I'll come back in."

"Alright."


Mel watched Rose reform in front of her, a faint smile on her lips.

"So, how'd it go," Mel asked hopefully.

"He can't wake up," Rose said, smile slipping slightly. "He was hurt a lot worse than anyone realized. He's going to try to astral project though. I think he should be able. If he can't, I'm going to go back in."

Just as she said that Ben formed in a glow of pale red light. He smiled as he saw Rose and Mel.

"It worked," he said happily, pleased to see the real world for the first time in almost a year.

Mel took in the sight of her cousin. He was almost as tall as Wyatt and strongly resembled his father. His hair color was more reminiscent of his mother's though. His astral projection form wore dark blue jeans and a red button up.

"So," he said with a smile, "what's been going on?"

"A lot," Mel sighed. "To make a long story short, Chris went back to the past to save Wyatt from turning evil. Bianca was captured when Chris went back initially; Wyatt did something to her and she attempted to drag Chris back to the future. Chris managed to get back to the past, Bianca almost died but Wyatt saved her for some reason. The Resistance managed to save Bianca from Wyatt. About eight hours ago Kali, Wyatt and Bianca all went to the past and now we don't know what's going on," she finished.

"Damn," Ben blinked. "I've missed a lot."

"So have I," Rose agreed, nodding her head vigorously.

Mel gave them both a tight smile. "I'm not sure what to do now," she admitted. "I need to find some way to make contact with the past without going back myself. We literally no longer have anyone we can spare. Bianca was the last person."

"I think we should go back," Rose suggested.

Mel opened her mouth to argue. This was starting to sound a bit too familiar to her. She had already allowed Bianca to go back even when she knew that she shouldn't have allowed the other woman to do so.

"Mel, we can't do anything here," Ben said bluntly, cutting her off. "I can astral project sure, but that's not going to do much. Chris was always the military leader; I was the diplomat. Once Kali joined our side I ran out of things to do. I don't have to convince more people to join our side; whoever isn't is either dead or on Wyatt's side already. There's nothing I can do here."

"I'm dead," Rose pointed out. "I really can't do anything for the Resistance at this point. At least if I go back to the past I can pass information between now and then."

"And just how do either of you expect to get back there?" Mel dryly asked. "Neither of you have usable, corporal bodies in which to cast spells."

"Maybe we could shift between time, similar to how we shifted between planes," Rose proposed.

"That's not magically possible," Mel said, shaking her head. "If someone could do that they would."

"I shouldn't be able to pass between life and death the way I just did. Some one should have had to summon me over," Rose reminded her. "If I use the theory behind that I may just be able to reach the past. Ben may be able to follow too."

"Try then," Mel said, not really expecting anything. "If it works, come back and tell me immediately. Both of you."

They both nodded and disappeared into orbs of silver and gold.


The Charmed Ones and Leo all felt uneasy. It was humiliating to be taken to task over how to treat a child by a demon and that was exactly what had happened. Kali, Wyatt and Bianca just stared at them in satisfaction.

"Somehow I'm not surprised to see that Dirk is still a better father than Leo," Wyatt said causally.

"What do you mean by 'still a better father,'" Phoebe asked confused.

"Leo sucked as a parent," Wyatt stated bluntly. "Dirk's always been a drastically better father, always there for Kali and her two siblings. He never played favorites and he actually paid equal attention to all of them." A hint of resentment floated in his voice. Dirk was the type of father he wished Leo could have been.

"How could I have sucked as a parent," Leo demanded. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"You pretty much abandoned your entire family," Kali informed her, voice dangerously soft. She realized Wyatt should be answering but watching her father berate the Charmed Ones and Leo brought back memories of when they had all been younger and she had seen how Chris was treated by his father. "You pretty much ignored anyone who wasn't Wyatt!" She shouted the last part.

Leo tried to open his mouth to respond but Wyatt cut him off.

"And because you ignored Chris he almost died once," Wyatt said, his voice dark.

"Twice actually," Kali corrected. Her voice was as sharp as one of the knives she used to fight. "The second time was not long after you took over, he got attacked by a gang of demons, was really horrifically injured and Leo didn't respond to our calls. Luckily we managed to reach Rose and she orbed over to heal him."

Wyatt blanched at that story. "I didn't know that," he said hoarsely. He narrowed his eyes at his father again. Leo had become agitated the more they spoke. He was shifting in an almost suspicious manner.

"But outside of you not being able to hear Piper earlier, you haven't endangered Chris at all, right Leo," Bianca asked, sickly sweet. The Elder couldn't meet her eyes. They widened in fury when she realized the implication to that. She had been being sarcastic. Piper spoke before she could.

"What did you do to Chris Leo," Piper demanded. There was a sinking sensation in her stomach.

"I almost killed him on Valhalla," Leo admitted.

Wyatt charged in energy ball in one hand. Kali grabbed his arm, knowing that if he threw the ball he would be endangering Chris and Mel's conceptions.

"Wyatt, don't kill your father. He needs to live for a few more years unfortunately," she reminded him. "I don't want anyone to not get conceived. I happen to like most of your family."

In the mean time Piper blew him up. She had handed Paige baby Wyatt so as to do this easier. Wyatt and Kali turned to watch as the second Leo reformed she blew him up again. And again and again for about ten minutes. Baby Chris giggled in amusement. That made Kali sure that at least some aspect of big Chris was active there. Baby Chris had adored his father at this age and probably would have started crying.

None of them could quite figure out why he didn't have the common sense to orb back to Elder land, but that wasn't there issue. Kali was already plotting revenge for Chris and she could tell Wyatt and Bianca were doing the same. When she glanced over to the other sisters she realized that they were doing something similar.

When Piper finally stopped blowing Leo up he escaped to back to Elder land, knowing not to come back down unless asked. It was likely that one or all of them would do something permanently damaging to him.

"So," Kali began. "Now what?"

Swirls of gold and silver were her response.


Rose and Ben reformed in directly in front of Kali. Kali's eyes grew huge at the sight of her cousin and Ben.

"Hey, we made it," Rose said excitedly.

"Rose?" Kali asked stunned. Wyatt and Bianca both gaped in shock. Kali practically collapsed, pressing one hand on a wall to keep from falling. Wyatt placed a hand on her lower back to steady her.

"Love that no one comments about me," Ben joked.

"You weren't dead, you were in a coma," Rose pointed out.

"True."

"Um, how are you two here?" Bianca asked, realizing the two were going to go off tangent. It was normal for that to happen.

"I figured out a way to cross the divide between life and death without anyone summoning me," Rose said excitedly. "I managed to get to Mel and she told me about Ben being in a coma. I used the same idea to traverse into the astral plane and get into his head." Rose looked at Kali and Bianca more directly and opened her mouth to speak. Ben interrupted her.

"Once she got into my head I explained to her that I couldn't wake up," Ben explained. "The coma I'm in? It actually is being caused by how badly injured I am. When Rose crossed into my mind she reminded me that I could astral project and I followed her out of my mental plane. I seriously managed to forget that was one of my powers. We spoke to Mel briefly, got caught up on events and managed to figure out a way to get to the past."

"Wow." Wyatt, Bianca and Kali were all amazed by that.

"Umm," Phoebe said, trying to get their attention. "Who are you two?"

Ben turned towards her and blanched. Phoebe's eyes widened when she noticed who he looked like. It was more obvious when he was facing her.

Shit, he thought, panicking.

Calm down, Wyatt warned telepathically. You can't tell your mom who you are. I don't think your dad has reappeared yet. Ben, if you tell her what's going to happen next year then you might not get , all of your sisters won't get conceived and your mom probably won't meet Kyra either.

But….but it's my mom, he mentally whispered. It hurts to see her.

It's the same for me and Chris. And imagine how bad it's been for him; he's been here for months and couldn't tell Mom who he is. I accidentally let it slip earlier.

He's going to kill you. Wait, where is Chris?

"Where's Chris," Rose asked, unknowingly repeating Ben's mental question. It thankfully distracted the Charmed Ones from uncomfortable questions about Ben's parentage.

"Here," Wyatt said sheepishly, adjusting baby Chris.

"Why is Chris a baby," Rose asked, giving him a flat look.

Wyatt recognized that expression. He'd seen it enough times when Rose and Ben had started dating; they had started just before he had revealed he had taken over the Underworld.

"I didn't turn Chris into a baby," he said with a scowl. "If I did do you think we would still be here?" It was the expression that meant 'I know this is your fault, just admit it.'

"Yes," Ben replied. "Kali and Bianca wouldn't have let you return to the future with him. I somehow doubt the Charmed Ones would have let you take him away either."

"It's not his fault," Kali said, preventing an argument from breaking out. "We got attacked by demons when we were at the park by the bridge. They hit him with a potion that turned him into a baby."

"Again," Paige said, interrupting them all. "Who are they?" She pointed at Rose and Ben.

"I'm Kali's cousin," Rose said cheerfully. "Ben's my boyfriend."

"And that's the only important thing about him," Phoebe asked hopefully. She really didn't want to find out that this was some kid Cole had while they were still married. It didn't occur to her that Ben looked younger than everyone but Rose; in truth, he was only 21 to Chris's 23 or Wyatt's 25. If he was Cole's son from prior to his vanquish(es) he would have had to be nearer to 26. Rose herself was only 20.

"Yup."