I´m soooooooo sorry for the delay. But I was really busy and then there was my birthday on the 18th and then I couldn´t go online for a whole week!!! I almost died, let me tell you that.

But hey, I´m back and I really hope there are some people out there who still like to read my story. I´m not that far away from finishing it but there is still a lot to come. I´m still full of ideas.

But anyway. Here comes chapter number ten and I have already a big part of eleven done. So you definitely won´t have to wait that long again.

Please tell me in a rev if you still like the story and want me to continue. Don´t tell me if you don´t. You might just break my poor little heart. Sniff.

Chapter 10 : Dreams and Memories

Phoebe and Paige had been in Pipers bedroom with Chris for a while now. He had started tossing and turning in his nightmares a few times but they had always been able to calm him down with a few soothing words and a gentle touch.

In a few more lucid moments he´d asked for more water and Leo or Piper strolled in and out of the room every now and then to check on him or bring fresh cold water for the sisters to cool Chris´forehead down.

Leo had decided to give him some medication a while ago but no matter what he tried the fever would´t break. Leo started to come to his wit´s end just as Chris seemed to reach the end of his rope.

It was getting dark outside. "Paige? Maybe you should bring Wyatt back now. It´s getting time for him to go to bed." Phoebe whispered trying not to wake Chris.

Paige nodded, "You´ll be ok here for a while?"

"Yeah, sure. I think he has calmed down a little now, though I´m not sure whether I should be happy or worried about it."

Paige just wanted to agree when they heard Chris groan again. They looked over and saw that he turned in bed and curled up on his side drawing his legs towards his chest.

Phoebe sighed and looked at her sister who was unsure whether to leave now or not.

"We´re going to be fine here Paige. You just go and take care of the other nephew of ours and I´ll look after this one here. I won´t be alone for very long anyways as I´m sure Leo and Piper will join me here pretty soon."

Paige knew that Phoebe was right. She didn´t want to leave Chris but she had to do what she could. So she got up, took one last look at her nephew and left the room.

Phoebe went over to Chris and sat down besides him. It was hard for her to see him like that. When she first found out about him it wasn´t easy to believe that Chris was really her nephew.

It wasn´t that it was so abstract or unimaginable. ...Her heart knew it was true. Just her head had to get round the idea.

Chris didn´t make it very easy for her either. He´d always been secretive and distant, but in the first time after she found out she thought it was because he hadn´t wanted to let anything slip or that he was afraid that they found out one day by just looking at him, which they actually shoud have because he was every ounce a Halliwell and he was so much like Piper and Leo that it was almost ridiculous.

But as time went by she saw that his attitude didn´t really change so there had to be another reason. He had those huge invisible walls build around his heart, around his soul and now Phoebe knew why.

His mother had died when he was fourteen and it just ripped him apart. She knew what it was like growing up without a mother and not being able to remember her, because she herself had been too young when Patty died. It was hard. But it was also some kind of blissful.

As a child and later too, maybe even still today, she had wondered what her mother was like and how her life would be if she was still around.

Chris knew all this, experienced all this when Piper was taken away from him. Longing for something is hard, but longing for it knowing exactly how wonderful it could be must be unbearable.

Phoebe didn´t know how he coped with it and she couldn´t even imagine how hard it was to have his dead mother around him now with a million memories of her in his head and her having non.

No wonder he wasn´t letting her come too close. Seeing her here alive and well, knowing she would´t be there when he went back?

Phoebe didn´t even know if she and Paige had been there for the boys back then to help them through it all. She didn´t know how it happened, if it was a demon attack or something else. An if it was a demon it was even likely that he had taken all three of them, once he was able to get to one.

Phoebe didn´t know. But now was not the time to wonder about that. Whether she was there or not in the future didn´t matter, he needed her now. And so she started caressing his face hoping her touch would have a calming and cooling effect on his troubled and tortured mind.

But instead he opened his eyes and looked at her confused as if he wasn´t sure about where he was. His forehead formed a deep frown, "Aunt Phoebe?"

"Yes Chris, I´m here."

"But how?..." Then there were suddenly tears forming in his eyes.

"No, no, no... I´m not finished yet... Wy´s not save!... I can´t be dead... I need more time...no..."

Chris now was again scratching the walls of a panic attack. Phoebe could see that he had trouble breathing. He was shaking his head vigorously so she took his face in both hands and forced him to look at her.

"Chris!... Chris, look at me!"

She finally seemed to get his attention. He looked in her eyes and she saw pure fear in them.

"Chris, you are not dead. And you still have time. Trust me, ok? I promise everything is going to be fine but you have to calm down, ok?"

He nodded and tried to get his breathing under control but there were still so many questions he needed answers for.

"But how are you here if I´m not dead? I didn´t summon you, did I? And where is mom? Why didn´t she come with you?"

For a moment Phoebe didn´t know what to do. Chris was dead set on her being her future version. He was obviously too delirious to see the twenty or so years age difference.

Obviously he knew that he was trying to save Wyatt but she couldn´t be sure whether he was aware of being in the past and she didn´t want to confuse him even more by explaining the whole thing now.

She was also shocked to have her suspicions confirmed that she was indeed dead in the future. When and how, she didn´t know and couldn´t care.

Instead she jumped onto Leo´s train and tried to explain to Chris why his dead aunt was sitting next to him, praying that he would buy it.

"Chris sweetie, you are not dead, you are just dreaming and I came to visit you. I´m the only one who can because of the psychic abilities I used to have. But your mom says she loves you and she misses you so much and that she´s so proud of you and the man that you´ve become."

Phoebe was completely making this up, except for the mum part as she was sure that this was exactly what Piper would have wanted her son to know. She felt pretty bad for lying to him, but nevertheless it seemed to work.

"Really?" Chris asked a little unsure.

Phoebe smiled at him, "Really. She´s been watching you every step of the way and she couldn´t be more proud of you. She knows it´s been hard,but you´ve always pulled through no matter how much you wanted to give up. And you never lost your path, never gave into evil no matter how much your brother wanted you to."

He had been speaking during one of his nightmares earlier and the words "No Wyatt, please stop it! I will never join you no matter how much you hurt me!" were a hard to digest, but nevertheless a clear give-away for the fact that Wyatt had probably crossed a certain line trying to lure Chris to the evil side. He´d hurt him, maybe tortured him even.

"You are so strong, so determined and you even risked your own life trying to save your brother. Your mom wants you to know that she loves you more than anything else in the world."

Chris smiled weakly at these words and let himself sink back into the pillows, relaxing at the soothing touch of his aunt. But suddenly his demeanour changed and he looked at her with pleading eyes.

"I´m so sorry aunt Phoebe! I promised myself that I would keep the girls save. That I wouldn´t let anything happen to them, but I failed.

I should have stayed in the shelter with them that day and not gone on that mission, but I didn´t know what was gonna happen that day and I had to get those kids out of the other shelter.

Our spies said that Wyatt planned on attacking them. I didn´t know that he wanted to attack our shelter too. I lost so many innocents that day and when I came back to our hiding place I found it all in ruins and they were all dead. "

His voice broke and he needed a few moments to continue. Phoebe didn´t know how to react, she was even too shocked to cry. She knew that those girls Chris talked about were her daughters, maybe even Paige´s. She felt it. She just sat there and let Chris speak.

"It wasn´t Wyatt´s fault though, please don´t blame this on him. He clearly instructed the hunters not to hurt any of us but they betrayed him and simply killed anything they found. He punished them for that. It wasn´t his fault, it was mine! I shouldn´t have left them alone, they were my responsibility. They would´ve grown into wonderful, and strong witches if I wouldn´t have failed. I´m so sorry aunt Phoebe. Please don´t hate me!"

This finally snapped Phoebe out of her shock.

"Chris, listen to me. Non of this was your fault. As you said you didn´t know this was going to happen. And the girls shouldn´t have been your responsibility, non of this should have been.

But you took it upon yourself to keep them safe and I know you did the best you could and I´m so thankful for that. But this was simply not in your hands, there was nothing you could have done!!! ", she pleaded him to understand and pulled him into a tight hug.

Chris was too tired too argue anymore and let himself believe his aunts words. She had never lied to him before, had she? He needed to believe her.

After a while Chris let go of his aunt. He lied back down in desperate need to sleep. But before he allowed his mind to shut down he looked at her one last time.

"Aunt Phoebe? When you go back can you please also tell aunt Paige that I really tried my best? That I fought so hard to keep both your daughters safe?"

Phoebe felt like her heart stopped that moment. Her worst suspicions had been confirmed. They were all dead and her and Paige´s daughters too! But she forced herself to answer.

"I´m sure she knows that already. And she loves you too. We all love you and we will always be with you, don´t ever forget that. "

"I love you too and I miss you so much. Please tell them that."

"I will. And now sleep a little, I know your tired."

Chris wanted to say something, to tell her not to leave. But he was too exhausted so he just closed his eyes and let sleep wash over him.

I´ll see you again someday aunt Phoebe. All of you...

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When Phoebe was sure that Chris was fast asleep, she got up and left the room. In trance she walked down the stairs into the living room where Paige just orbed in next to Leo who was holding a broken-hearted Piper.

Leo saw her first, "Phoebe, are you alright? Is something wrong with Chris?"

But Phoebe just walked past them into the kitchen. The others didn´t quite know what to make of her behavior and followed her.

They found her over the sink getting herself a glass of water.

Paige was worried, "Phoebe what...?"

But instead of answering Phoebe took a zip of her drink. Then all of the sudden she spun around and threw the glass at the opposite wall, smashing it next to her sisters and Leo.

Piper threw up her hands to freeze it to avoid being hit by the shards.

"Phoebe, what happened?" Leo was clearly worried now.

"What happened? ... Let me tell you what happened. Your son just thought he was talking to his dead aunt. Let me repeat : DEAD aunt and apologized for not being able to protect our daughters Paige, from Wyatt´s demons who basically slaughtered them while Chris was out trying to save innocent KIDS from another group of his brother´s little helpers just to come home to find all his cousins dead!

But it´s not Wyatt´s fault, noooo. Because he clearly told them not to hurt anybody. It´s Chris´, because he should have been with them when it happened! And on top of it all he begs me not to hate him because of that!!!"

Phoebe was done with sarcasm, she was done with yelling. There was only one thing left to do now. She grabbed the kitchen counter to steady herself after her little rant, the first tears rolling down her cheeks.

Paige ran over to her sister and pulled her into a tight hug. When she calmed down a little Phoebe let go and said rather sheepishly, "I´m sorry. It´s just that all those emotions in this house start taking their toll on me and what Chris just told me... It was simply too much and I can´t really blow things up to vent, you know?"

Piper smiled but it didn´t really reach her eyes. "Yeah, I know." Then she turned to her husband and said with a firm voice "We will not let this happen. We will stop this! We will not let Wyatt become this person who sends demons after his own family and we will not let Chris live this life where he has to be afraid of his brother to come and kill him someday!!! "

Without even giving Leo the chance to answer she left the kitchen and walked up to her son´s room to be joined by Leo and her sisters a few minutes later.

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So, see you soon... And pleeeeeeezzzzze review!!!