Author's Notes: So somehow, I managed to pinch a nerve in my right arm, which is just...not awesome, because I use it to type, obviously, and it hurts to type this right now. So updates may be a little spread out like they already were. I'm on chapter 14 in writing so I have more coming, but I just wanted to give everyone a heads up. Hope you enjoy this chapter as well. :)

Lily stared at herself in the full-length mirror that hung on the inside of her closet door. She was still wearing the same light blue blouse and white capris from before, and she admired the way that they all fit on her body. She had worked hard to make herself look so good. How was she going to be appealing, otherwise?

With a wave of her hand in front of the length of her body, Lily's figure transformed to a skinnier, slightly scragglier looking form. Now reflected was jet-black hair, even paler skin, and eyes that burned with intensity despite the bags beneath them.

Lilandra cleared her throat. In her real body, wearing what she was made her look like one of those common whores on the street. She quickly changed back into her original outfit—her tattered black pants and loosely fitting red and black tunic. That was much more to her liking.

She noticed a whimpering sound coming from within the closet. After she identified it as her victim, she shut the closet door and growled. "Shut up, girl. You're lucky I kept you alive. If you don't behave, I'll kill you in an instant."

One of the only reasons that she didn't kill her was exposure. Lilandra wasn't stupid. If she killed her, there was a chance that Wyatt would catch wind of it and discover that she was there. She couldn't let her plan end like that, not that quickly. It had taken long enough trying to find someone in the complex whose life she could assume in the first place, and that had been through sheer luck. She refused to allow these chances to slip through her fingers.

One by one they would fall, she told herself yet again. They would pay for what they did. She couldn't wait to feel that delightfully euphoric feeling that came with revenge. Veris didn't know what he was talking about, saying that revenge was blinding. She wasn't blinded. Oh, no. Her vision was very clear.

Lilandra was just about to disappear back to her lair when the cell phone on the bed began to ring. She didn't want to answer it, but she wandered over to it and checked it nonetheless. Her lips curled upward into an undeniable smirk.

The caller ID read: Wyatt Halliwell.

. . .

Chris hadn't felt quite this antsy in some time.

For the most part, he almost never went over to Landon's apartment; he could count the number of times he had been there on both of his hands. But he preferred it that way, because it kept each time unique and special. He could recall all of them, too, unlike majority of the times that the two of them went out on the town. While he liked those, he definitely preferred the quiet time they got at Landon's home.

There were even fewer times that he stayed the night there. As of the present day, he only had done so three times. Part of that was Chris' desire to keep things fresh and enticing. He knew that if he slept at Landon's apartment every time they went there, he wouldn't feel that good anxiousness in the pit of his stomach as they went to sleep… knew that he wouldn't enjoy it as much, and that he wouldn't anticipate staying over as happily.

But as he waited for Landon to pick him up, the logical part of him told him that he really needed to not be quite so excited about it. After all, it wasn't like this wasn't going to happen again. He ignored that part of him as best he could, because it felt almost as if he were trying to sabotage his own happiness by thinking like that.

All of these thoughts flew out the window once he heard Landon's car pull up to the front of the house. He hadn't told his parents that he was going over to his house, nor had he told his sister. The only person who would know—but who didn't even—was Wyatt, and with any luck, it would stay that way. Chris had been sneaky thus far in keeping everything under wraps, but in honest truth, he was getting a little tired of it all. Things with Landon seemed serious…he needed to get over this hump and tell them, he told himself.

Eh, he thought, I'll deal with it later.

A honk came from outside, and Chris picked up his bag that had a change of clothes, a toothbrush and some other things in it, to take along with him. Soon he was out the door and into the sunlight, and he squinted his eyes despite wearing sunglasses, so as to protect himself further.

He climbed into Landon's car and was about to greet him with a kiss when he noticed something strange.

"…Where'd your goatee go?"

Landon paused, blinking. "Oh! Yeah, shaved it off. This crazy weather was making me break out around my mouth, so I got rid of it. Last thing I need is an ingrown hair or something around there…"

The two of them shared a kiss, after which Landon lifted his foot off the brake and drove them back to his place. The ride there only took a couple of minutes, just long enough to get out of the residential suburb and into the more densely populated streets with apartment and commercial buildings. His complex was along one of the slightly less busy streets, and he pulled up into the driveway that would lead to the parking lot down below it, sliding a card through an electronic device that opened the gate.

Landon drove them down into the lot, taking a right and curving around a corner, right into a parking space. Chris almost felt like the car was going to tip over, but thankfully, it didn't. It always felt like that, and every time, he still thought the same exact thing. He doubted that he would ever get used to it.

Once they got out of the car, they headed over to the elevator that led up into the apartment complex itself. Landon's place was on the fifth floor, with a relatively decent view of the surroundings. And since his apartment was somewhat on the higher end, there was air conditioning throughout its hallways and inside his place itself.

Chris headed right for Landon's comfortable La-Z-Boy Courtney style sofa, sprawling over its nice, cool surface much like a cat would. Because it wasn't made of leather, it wasn't too cool, nor would it get slippery if he lay on it for too long. He let out a content sigh.

"You gonna lie on the couch all day long?" Landon asked with a chuckle as he set Chris' bag on the floor beside his kitchen counter. "I didn't bring you over here just for that, you know."

"No," the young witch replied, "but…can't I enjoy it for just a little while?" He smiled.

"Yeah, yeah…"

It was only mid-afternoon, but neither Chris nor Landon had any desire whatsoever to go out. The heat was too much, for one thing, and for another, this was one of the special days they set aside specifically so that they could spend it indoors, together. They had both already eaten lunch, and so they got comfortable on the couch, flipped on the television, and picked a movie that they wanted to watch.

About twenty minutes into the movie, Chris' phone—which he put on vibrate mode—began to move around vigorously in his pocket. He shifted for a moment so as to pull it out, and when he did, he wrinkled up his nose. It was his sister. She was probably calling about something that she couldn't find, or that he hadn't done before leaving the house. She had changed her mind and told him she wasn't going to do any of the things they had agreed upon until after she got home from work that night, so it couldn't have had anything to do with that.

"What's up?" Landon asked, looking down at Chris, who was slipping his phone back into his pocket.

His phone vibrated again to let him know that he had a new voicemail. "Nothing, just a phone call. Nothing big."

Landon shrugged, lifting his arm back up so that he could wrap it around the dark haired witch's shoulders and bring him closer. Chris shifted down a little and came to rest against his chest, where he could feel the beating of his boyfriend's heart.

They went uninterrupted for a few more minutes, but suddenly his phone was ringing again, and now it was from the house line. Given the time, it was probably from his dad or mom, wanting him to pick something up for whenever he was coming home. Irritated, he put the phone back into his pocket with a faint growl.

"Another call?" Landon asked. There was light exasperation in his voice.

"Yes," Chris grumbled.

But now that he had ignored a second call from his family, his nervous instincts began to kick in. Maybe something was wrong. He reasoned, however, that if there were, that they would have called for him through his whitelighter powers. The phone was for mundane things, non-magically related. That was the agreement that they had made, wasn't it? That was what he remembered. It kept their worry level down.

Keeping that logic in mind, he threw his phone over to the other side of the couch, where it would be neither felt nor heard. He curled back up with Landon and focused on the movie at hand.

Or tried to, anyways. It wasn't but another few minutes later when he heard that familiar, ethereal calling of his name in his head, from a voice that he clearly recognized as his sister's. She sounded irate, exasperated…

With a light grunt, Chris pulled up and away from Landon, who looked at him weirdly.

"What's wrong?" Landon asked.

"I need to go to the bathroom," Chris lied. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time this sort of situation had risen, and it was likely not the last. Before he headed to the bathroom he grabbed his phone, intent on sending his sister a text message telling her to leave him be for the moment.

Shutting the door behind him, he moved further into the small bathroom and flipped open his phone, mouthing and whispering the words to himself as he typed them. "I'm…busy…so…leave…me…alone…"

He pressed the send button and closed his phone, intentionally leaving it on the counter. The second he did that, however, he felt guilty. She wouldn't have called him that way if it hadn't been important. And maybe it had been her who had called using the house line, thinking that he would pick it up then. What if something was wrong? What if she needed him to help her with something?

But Landon…he couldn't just up and leave him like this. He had done that before, and he regretted it. Plus, if something was wrong and he orbed out of the bathroom, who knew how long he would be gone? There was only so long someone could stay in the bathroom before it was weird, uncomfortable or worrisome.

He didn't know what he was going to do. Chris put his hand on the knob, but he looked over his shoulder at the phone resting on the counter. Mel hadn't responded yet, either through mental calling or by text message. If it were urgent, she would have made some other kind of effort. He should have listened to her message…

All of the sudden, Chris felt rather lightheaded. He gripped the bathroom doorknob, thinking of Landon, but also of his sister, and how she likely needed him…

In the blink of an eye, the lightheaded haze in his head became thicker, and everything descended into black. When it all came into focus again, he was standing in the attic of the manor, staring at the back of his sister's head.

"God damn it—Chris." He could hear the frantic clicking of the buttons on her phone. She must have been sending him a text message.

"What?" he asked.

Mel jumped and gave a somewhat surprised shriek at the sound of her brother's voice. She turned around quickly. "What the hell, when did you get here?"

"I…dunno," Chris replied warily. He looked around. "The last thing I remember, I was at—" but he paused. Where could he lie and say he was?

"Where?" Mel demanded. "I've tried calling you twice. Three times, if you count shouting your name. What the hell was so important that you'd ignore me? Especially if I call you magically?"

Whether it was simply the fact that he was tired of her constantly harassing him, or that he was just tired of having to lie about it, Chris threw his hands up in the air. He was fed up with it.

"Fine. You really want to know what's so important? Okay. It's my boyfriend."

At first, Mel didn't seem to know how to respond. Then she snorted. There was a look of disbelief on her face. "That's the worst joke ever, Chris, seriously."

His expression was as stern as ever. "I'm not joking."

"…Oh." Piper's youngest blinked, it slowly dawning upon her. She made a face, moved over toward him, and promptly smacked him on the arm. "What the hell, Chris, why wouldn't you tell me something like that?"

"Because I just didn't, okay?" he erupted. Being hit hadn't made it any better. "It's not a big deal. I'm still me, la de da! Still the same uptight, neurotic freak of an older brother! I just like boys!"

Mel's expression quickly changed into one of slight confusion, mixed with a bit of concern. "Uh…yeah, that's great and all. I couldn't care less, really." She now seemed even slightly offended, although it faded into a look of musing. "I mean, I always suspected it, but—"

"What?"

"I always kind of suspected it," she repeated, and without any kind of malice. "You…I dunno, you were just…different. It's hard to explain." When she saw Chris' crestfallen face, she smiled softly, almost ruefully, rubbing his arm. "But I just figured you'd tell me when you were ready. You didn't have to yell at me about it, though."

"Well, I—" Chris had no reasonable response for that, however. Mel looked kind of hurt, and that made things a whole lot worse than he wanted them to be. Softening his tone, he said, "Look. It's…complicated. Okay?" He wanted so badly for it to just drop right then and there. "What was so important that you needed to talk to me, anyways?"

"Work called me and said I didn't have to come in today," Mel explained.

What she said sort of went in one ear and out the other. Chris felt lightheaded again, and before he knew it, he was blacking out once more. When he awoke, he was back in Landon's apartment, in the bathroom, but he was sitting up, cradled in the older man's arms.

"Oh, Thank God," Landon said, letting out a relieved laugh. "You worried the crap out of me. I thought you'd passed out."

Chris was confused. "Passed out? What…?"

"I dunno," he replied. "I just…I heard this thud in the bathroom a minute ago and I came in here, and you were lying on the floor. I thought something happened to you. I was just about to call 911."

The witch's heart sank. Thankfully you didn't, he thought. Chris reached up and rubbed his eyes. "No, I'm totally fine. I just got a little lightheaded, is all. I think it was from lying the way I was."

Landon was about to say something else when he was interrupted by the clattering vibration of the phone on the counter. Chris' gaze immediately shot upward.

It had to be his sister.

"Could you—" he began to ask.

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

Landon grabbed the phone and extended it to Chris, who picked it up and flipped it open. Before Mel could say anything, he said, "I can't talk right now." There was a barrage of words from the other line, all of which sounded confused, but he cut her off with another insistent, "I can't talk right now." After that, he hung up. Landon gave him a weird look again, but Chris just laughed.

"I think my sister got into my parents' alcohol," he said. "She's been acting weird all day. I swear."

Unfortunately, there was something in the way that Landon was staring at him that made Chris think he didn't entirely believe what he said.

"If you say so…"

Landon helped Chris to his feet, after which Chris gave him a long, thankful kiss. That seemed to appease him just fine.

"I'll be out in a minute, though. I never did go pee like I needed to."

Once left alone, the young witch grabbed his phone and sent his sister a text message that read, "I'll call later tonight". Landon always took a long shower before he went to bed, and now that the heat had become so powerful, he was sure that he would tonight. Until then, in order to keep things from seeming too weird, he had to pretend like nothing was up.

Only something was up. He had passed out in one place and awoke in another, and he had come out to his sister. There were so many loose threads that he needed to tie up, and he wasn't even sure that he had the power to do it all. Fighting demons he could do. Dealing with family and relationship pressures, he really couldn't.

But he was going to have to learn, or else everything was going to come unglued.