A/N: I first want to say thank you all so much for the reviews! I really wasn't sure if anyone other than me would want to read it, so I'm very grateful that so many people are enjoying it...I know a lot of people wish the chapters were longer, I'm trying to work on that but...I'm not even sure where the story is going to go anymore, it has kind of taken on a life of it's own...
As always, reviews are welcomed and even appreciated. If you think I suck, by all means, tell me. :) And if you love the story, I'd really like to know that too.
Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or anything Charmed related besides the Discs I bought...I wish I did though. No copyright infringement was intended...
Summary: The Charmed Ones haven't seen Chris since Piper told him she didn't ever want to see him again. Heartbroken by his mother's words and more desperate than ever to save his brother and the future, he's been working himself beyond the point of exhaustion and barely taking time to eat. Will visitors from the future be able to talk some sense into himself before it's too late? Piper is about 2 months pregnant and Leo doesn't know.
A Chris! Revelation fic. A/u
Previously…
"Chris, please…just" Piper tried again. She couldn't give up.
"Don't…Don't act like you care." His voice was hard as he cut her off.
"Chris, we do care…you're" Phoebe started, trying to reach out to the nephew she'd been so hard on for months.
He glanced from his father to the sisters and back, "You told them, didn't you?" He couldn't keep the panic from his voice or face.
"No, Chris, your brother did when he used the Sleeping Spell last night." He answered nodding his head toward his oldest son.
Chris looked back and forth between the sisters, his brother, and his father his heart racing. He couldn't do this! He couldn't be here! His breathing was speeding up and he started to feel lightheaded as he tried once again to fight his brother's hold. "Let me go. Wyatt, let me go! Please!" Taken back by his brother's reaction, Wyatt did as he asked. Chris didn't wait before orbing out of the attic, Wyatt right behind him.
Chapter 11: Believe it or Not
"Chris, wait!" Piper called as she watched her youngest son orb out in a panic. She turned to the future version of her ex, "Where'd they go? Did Wyatt go with him? And shouldn't you be going to make sure he's okay?" She could feel her own panic starting to rise. Chris was too vulnerable to be out there alone…with an evil Wyatt.
Future Leo closed his eyes briefly focusing his attention on his sons, "They're on the bridge." He paused not liking what he'd have to say next, knowing that Piper and her sisters would like it even less, "Listen, you guys should try to come up with another spell or a potion or something that can send Wyatt back to the future. I need to go Up There and check wit—"
"No. no, you need to go check on Chris –our son—didn't you see how upset he was?" Piper cut him off.
"I know who he is, Piper, I've known who he was long before you did…at least in this timeline…and yes, I did see how upset he was, but that's not the big issue here—"
"Not the big issue here?" She cut him off again, her voice raising. "He's not eating or sleeping, and he was practically having a panic attack just now! How is that not the big issue here?!"
"And whose fault is that?" His tone was clearly accusing.
Phoebe and Paige dropped their heads ashamed but Piper refused to be held responsible for treating him the way she did when she didn't know who he was, "I didn't know! How was I supposed to know if he didn't tell me?" Her voice was bordering on shrill.
"All you should have had to do was look at him, Piper. He looks so much like you...how did you not see it?" He was getting exasperated. They didn't have time for this. They needed to be looking for a way to send Wyatt back to the future. And if there really was no way to do that, then they needed to figure out why he was really in the past and come up with a way to stop him.
"I..." Piper trailed off. She hated to admit it but he was right. Looking at him now and knowing the truth, she could see it. There was no real excuse for why she hadn't seen it before. She didn't see it because she didn't want to see it. "I…" She hung her head.
"Anyway," Future Leo continued trying to get back on track, "As much as it pains me not to be able to go to him right now, I can't. He wouldn't want me to anyway, but even if he did…we can't allow Wyatt to remain in the past. It's too dangerous."
"Why wouldn't he want you to go to him?" Phoebe asked.
"Are you sure, I mean, absolutely sure, he's not just here for Chris? I mean, he seems pretty preoccupied with taking care of him right now, doesn't he? Maybe he's not here for some evil purpose?" Paige asked at the same time.
Future Wyatt sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "My relationship with Chris is…complicated…but I can't get into that right now, we need to focus on Wyatt and getting him back to the future." He looked at Paige, "I know it looks like he cares about Chris right now, and maybe on some level he still does, but I don't believe that's why he's here." He paused to think about his answer. He couldn't give too much away. There was still so much they couldn't know. "I think if anything, Wyatt's trying to trick him into thinking he cares. He's been trying to get Chris to join him for years but so far Chris has refused. I think he sees this as an opportunity to get him to change his mind. We can't let him do that. We need to get him back to the future and away from Chris. If they joined forces…"
"But what if you're wrong? What if he's really just here because we screwed up so bad, because we let Chris disregard his own wellbeing so devastatingly that he felt he had to come back to take care of his little brother? I mean, couldn't that be possible?" She shrugged. She couldn't let it go. There was just this feeling in the pit of her stomach telling her Chris needed Wyatt right now. Beside her, her sisters looked hopeful at the thought.
"No, I don't think so, Paige, I'm sorry, I just don't. The little boy you love so much isn't the same as the man that came back here last night. And even if that is the reason he's here. Even if his only reason for coming here is to take care of Chris, it's too dangerous for him to be here. It's not a chance we should take. Not a chance I'm willing to take. I'm sorry." He looked at each sister imploringly.
"But if he's really here to help convince Chris to take care of himself, why isn't it worth the risk? I mean, he needs someone right now and I don't think he's going to let us help," at her sister's pained look she added, "I know that hurts, Piper, but we've been really hard on him and I'm not so sure he's going to just let it go just because we know who he is now. You saw how he reacted when he realized we knew. If anything, I think he might pull away more before he reaches out." Looking back at Future Leo she asked again, "So why can't we just keep an eye on Wyatt and let him stay? I really think Chris needs him."
Future Leo shook his head, "It's too dangerous, Paige. I know it looks like I don't care about Chris, I'm sure he probably feels that way a lot of the time, but I do care about him. I just have a lot of responsibility and a lot of people counting on me. I can't put those responsibilities on hold for anyone, not even Chris. You don't know what the future is like."
"He's your son. How does he not come first?"
"Piper." Phoebe placed her hand on her sister's arm, "No one's asking you to put your responsibilities on hold, Leo. Besides, isn't it better for the people in the future if Wyatt's here and not there?"
"I can't go back until Wyatt does and I need to go back as soon as possible. And no, Phoebe, like it or not, I don't think it's better with him here then there. His followers will continue doing his biding until he goes back. I told you, it's too dangerous for this timeline for him to be here. He could change too much, throw everything out of balance." He paused again, giving Piper a pleading look, "I'm sorry, we don't have time to keep talking about this. Chris will be okay. He's strong and he's been through a lot. He'll get through this, too. We need to focus on getting Wyatt back to the future before it's too late. I need to go Up There and you guys really need to work on another spell or a potion or a combination of the two that will send Wyatt back." He orbed out before either of the sisters could respond.
"Wait! Leo! Get your ass back here!" Piper called out in vain. "Are you kidding me?!" She threw her hands up causing a lamp nearby to explode.
"Piper, calm down. Blowing things up won't help."
"Well, it'll help me feel better, Phoebe" She left out a huff and pulled her hair off her shoulder, "Okay, so what do we do? Are we supposed to just ignore Chris and his needs and just work on finding a way to send Wyatt back to the future?"
"You heard what Leo said, it's not safe for him to be here."
"I don't know, Phoebe, I'm not sure I agree with him. I think maybe Leo's letting his emotions cloud his judgment."
"But, Paige, he's evil, I mean you saw that. He has dark orbs."
"Phoebe's right. As much as I don't want to face it, and I really don't want to face it, we can't ignore something that obvious." She stifled a yawn.
"I know, I know…I just can't shake this feeling that maybe he really is here for Chris, because he cares." She shrugged her shoulders, "I mean, we spent all that time distrusting Chris, treating him badly, not really helping him even when we kind of trusted him, and then flat out refusing to believe him and kicking him out…we were so wrong about him, what if we're wrong about Wyatt too. What if we send him back and something bad, I mean really, really bad happens to Chris?" She shrugged again as she walked over and sat down at the table, waving her hand, "Bowl. Kitchen."
Phoebe walked over and put her arms around her youngest sister, "Well, that certainly is a possibility, but maybe you're just letting the guilt that we all feel affect your judgment?"
"Yeah, maybe." She reached up and patted her sister's arm. Then looked over at Piper who had sat down in the other chair, "How you doing, sweetie? You should probably try to get some sleep, let us worry about this stuff."
"No, I can't." She was exhausted, extremely exhausted, but there was too much going on. She was worried about Chris, worried about Wyatt's intentions, feeling guilty about the way she'd treated Chris…sleep didn't sound all too appealing right then.
"Paige is right, sweetie, you need sleep. Baby Chris needs you to take care of him, remember?"
"Yes, Phoebe, I'm well aware of that fact but I can't just go off and sleep when I know his adult self is out there somewhere hurting."
Phoebe was about to respond again when they were interrupted by the appearance of dark orbs…
On Top of the Golden Gate Bridge
Chris immediately felt his knees buckle when he reformed on top of the Golden Gate Bridge and would have toppled if not for Wyatt orbing and catching him, slowly easing him down into a sitting position. "Thanks."
Wyatt nodded and waved his hand to conjure a piece of toast for his little brother. He was so pale and so far every attempt Wyatt had made to get him to eat had been interrupted. "Well, at least it's not baby food." He said when Chris made a face at the toast.
"True." He nodded, then sighed before taking a bite, "Why are you really here, Wy?"
"Is it really that difficult to believe that I'm here because I'm worried about you?" He frowned when Chris didn't respond, "Contrary to what you and everyone else seems to think, I do care about you, Chris. You're my brother. You're the only person I would ever give so many chances. Even now, even after everything, I'm here because I'm willing to forgive you. But I'm not willing to sit back and let you get yourself killed for this insane quest you are on."
"It's not an insane quest." It was just barely above a whisper but Wyatt heard him.
"I'm not here to argue with you about that. We can do that later." He paused a moment before asking, "What happened, Chris? Why aren't you eating or sleeping? You know you can't survive like this." Maybe if demanding Chris wouldn't work, talking to him about what happened might. It was out of Wyatt's comfort zone, he hadn't just sat down and talked to someone in years but it was worth a shot.
Chris took another bite of his toast while he thought about his answer. It was a rare mood his brother was in and it felt weird sitting there talking to him like this after so many years. He didn't want to say something that could tick Wyatt off and he was afraid that no matter how he said it, Wyatt was going to get pissed. "I don't know…just been busy I guess."
"We both know there's more to it than that, Chris." He fought to keep his voice soft, it wouldn't do to lose his temper.
He took another bite even though his mouth felt too dry and his throat felt like it would close up before he could swallow, "I'm running out of time, Wy…I know you don't believe me but I—"
"What I believe is neither here nor there right now. You believe it to be true and right now I just want to know what you're thinking…why you aren't taking care of yourself." In that moment Wyatt realized those words were true. Whether he felt like Chris had betrayed him or not, Chris really believed he was trying to save him, even going so far as to neglect his own needs to do it.
"They haven't been very helpful. I mean, part of me knew they wouldn't be…but I don't know…I just…" he couldn't control the sound of his voice breaking as he fought back a sob and wiped his eyes.
Beside him, Wyatt clenched his fists. He could feel the pain his brother was in and it pulled his anger out full force. He had to fight to keep his mouth shut. He really wanted to hurt them, all of them, for causing his brother this much pain.
"I just…I knew I had to save you…knew I couldn't give up, no matter what they said," Chris continued, too wrapped up in his pain to notice the tension in his brother, "But then when Mom –Piper" he stopped to take a deep breath, "When she told me she never wanted to see me again, I just—"
"She what?!" Wyatt yelled surging to his feet and orbing out before Chris could react.
"Wy—shit" Chris wiped his eyes again and orbed to follow his brother.
Until Next Time!
