You guys - I am BACK! I'm so sorry it took so long but it took my arm forever to get better -.- It's still not completely fine but at least I can write again if I'm careful. However, I was finally able to finish the 11th Chapter! Since you had to wait so long it's a lot longer than usual and there's so much happening!

I really really hope none of you have forgotten this fanfic! Please remember to review if you haven't.

Chapter 11 » Revelations

Christopher Halliwell was a jerk.

No matter how he looked at it he always came to this conclusion. What he'd said to Melinda had been a lie. He wasn't going to marry Bianca because he thought it was right - in fact, by now he thought this marriage was the very definition of wrong. With that in mind, he was more than a jerk – he was an ass. Billie had been wrong about one thing and he knew it very well: Calling off the wedding that was a real option. Who said Chris had to be with anyone just because he couldn't be with the one he actually wanted to be with?

Why he went along with it anyway? For one thing he was hurt and needed distraction. But there was another thing, a very sad truth: A part of him did it to get back at Billie. He understood why she pushed him away but it still hurt and a part of him wanted to hurt her as well. It had worked, of course, but he had never felt worse in his entire life.

Being alone in the living room with nothing but time to think about the consequences of his actions he was more and more convinced that he needed to make things right. He shouldn't go through with this. After all Billie was only trying to he supportive, to do the right thing... she didn't deserve getting hurt. Neither did Bianca. This wasn't fair to any one of them.

He was getting ready to get up and rejoin Melinda in the kitchen when Wyatt walked into the living room with a big smile on his face.

Frowning Chris asked: "What are you smiling about?"

"My little brother is getting married tomorrow. You know what that means for tonight..."

"Oh no."

"Oh yes! Bachelor Party!" Wyatt laughed. "Don't worry. I'm not going to get you a stripper. But I was thinking about taking you out for a beer. Interested?"

"I'm not sure. I was just going to talk to Melinda."

"I wouldn't if I were you. She's in the basement trying to vanquish a sandbag. I didn't even dare to ask what's wrong... I was afraid she'd confuse me with the sandbag."

Chris sighed. "Yeah. She's... not exactly happy with me marrying Bianca."

"Come on. Let's talk about this over the beer I mentioned. What do you think, do we get a family discount at P3?"

"If I had to guess I'd say no. After all, the you and me of this time are three and one and not exactly allowed to drink alcohol."

Even so, a couple of minutes and an orb later they were sitting at a table in P3, with two beers.

"I gotta tell you, I don't get what Melinda's problem is. I mean, I get that she likes Billie more than she likes Bianca, but she's not the one who's going to marry her." Wyatt said.

"No, but thanks for that mental picture... She just thinks that marrying someone you don't love is wrong. And to be fair she is right..."

Wyatt nodded. "Under normal circumstances I would agree. But all of this is far from normal... I mean, before you came to the past you were in love with Bianca and happy. Right?"

"Yeah, I guess..." However, thinking about it he became more and more uncertain. "The thing's just... I'm not sure if I ever was in love with this Bianca. She's different from the Bianca I've known in so many ways... sometimes I even think they're completely different people. Sure, I was dating her and proposed, but I can't say with absolute certainty that I didn't just do all of that because I was used to it. Used to having Bianca by my side. Even if it was a different girl."

Again Wyatt nodded but this time very slowly. Chris could easily see that there was something he wasn't telling him. "What?"

"Nothing, just... maybe you're thinking about this too much. Sure, everyone's different than we were in the world you grew up in. But you have to remember that that's a good thing."

"I know that."

"I don't think you do. You changed the past... you did it for a good cause but maybe you're just waiting for it to backfire on you. If there's one thing we're taught is that changing the past could be catastrophic. And even though it worked with you... unconsciously you might be waiting for that catastrophe to happen. You're looking for mistakes, for reasons why the world you created is wrong. And since there's nothing to find... you see mistakes where there are none."

Chris frowned. "Are you saying I'm imagining Bianca being different?"

Shrugging his shoulders Wyatt replied: "I don't know. All I know from Aunt Phoebe is that the subconscious can be very strong in making us believe in something that isn't there. We can't control it even if we try to. For example: If I tell you not to think about a pink elephant - what do you think about?"

"A green cat." Chris replied immediately but got Wyatt's point. Maybe he was right. Maybe all of this was just inside his head. Still, it didn't change anything. "Okay, I'm not saying you're wrong. But whether it's in my head or not my feelings for Bianca have still changed."

"Obviously. But once we eliminated Christy we have to go back to the future and Billie has to stay here."

"Yes, that's a given fact. Do you have a point?"

"Billie is a very pretty girl. The thing is, pretty girls can be very distracting. Sometimes they're so overwhelming you forget what's important and even about your feelings. I think that once we're back and you're not distracted anymore... you're going to see things more clearly again. Your feelings for Bianca might still be there but you can't see them anymore. Not just because of Billie but because you're trying to sabotage your own happiness. You have never been able to adjust to the world you created. We all know it."

Leaning back in his seat Chris was silent. Wyatt had hit a sore spot there. His entire life in this modified world seemed fake, it had never felt right to him. Up until now he just hadn't realized that his family had noticed...

"Don't feel bad about it." Wyatt said. "You've only been there for a couple of months. I would think it takes a lot of time to get used to a different world. Even if it's better. You just have to try to accept that it is. Stop looking for mistakes and give it a real shot."

"The world or my relationship with Bianca?"

Raising his glass Wyatt said: "Both."

Taking a deep breath Chris figured that his brother was probably right. He had lived his new life but never even tried to accept that maybe it was right, even though it felt wrong. As he raised his glass he tried to ignore the fact that things had felt right again once he'd met Billie. After all, maybe that was all him, sabotaging his chances to be happy.

"To giving it a real shot." he toasted and as he drank his beer he found that it tasted a bit weird.

oOoOoOoOo

"Ow..." Her own voice hurt her head. Come to think of it, it hurt without speaking as well... Melinda slowly opened her eyes caught in a place between confusion and pain. It took her a moment to recall what had happened right before... Wyatt had knocked her unconscious.

No. That couldn't be right.

She kept replaying the scene in her mind but came to no other conclusion – Wyatt had knocked her unconscious! But... why?

As it turned out: Opening her eyes didn't do any good because there was nothing but darkness surrounding her. Even though she had no evidence to back up her theory she figured she'd be in the basement of the manor. So, of course, she started yelling for help.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." At first Melinda just heard a voice, Bianca's voice. It didn't take the attached body long to walk towards her, carrying a lit torch. "Demons can get pretty nasty when they find a witch. True, this is a very solitary spot of the Underworld, but you might not want to put your luck to a test."

"My luck?!" Melinda sneered. "My own brother knocked me unconscious and locked me in a cage in the underworld. Yeah, now that you mention it, I do see the luck..." She could see it all now. Not just her soon-to-be bitch in law but also the cage she was in. And there was no way to confuse these walls with a spa either.

"You should. Because technically we have no reason to keep you alive. It's not like we can let you go back to Chris, god knows you can't keep a secret – especially if you don't want to keep it."

"Gee, I wonder why I want to warn my brother that he's about to marry an evil witch. Oh, I'm sorry... I meant to say bitch."

"With all due respect... which I admit isn't very much." Bianca said and got an annoyed look from Melinda in exchange. "You're being an idiot. I could kill you right now and instead of begging for your life you keep pushing me to do it."

"Sorry, but I'm not really the begging type. Besides, you didn't kill me until now and I'm thinking you didn't spare my life out of the goodness of your heart. There must be some other reason why I'm still alive." It didn't seem that way but Melinda was scared. Only that people never noticed when she was because she always used offense as defense.

Bianca sighted. "Unfortunately there is. But not for long. Christy wants Billie back and once she has there is no reason of keeping you alive anymore. Until then we don't want to risk that we might need you again for something."

At that Melinda snorted. "Billie won't come back to her! In case you haven't noticed: She's pro-good and anti-killing! But speaking of getting siblings back... what have you done to my brother? Wyatt would never betray his family like that!"

No reply.

Melinda sighed. "Alright, fine, so you're going to leave me here, get Billie back and wait for some demon to kill me? Because I assume there's no point in my trying to orb out of here?"

"Yes and no." Bianca said and started to sound annoyed or maybe it was disappointment, Melinda wasn't sure. "You can't use magic inside the cage so you can't get out, but no demon can get through it either. As long as you're in there you are about the safest sitting duck on the planet."

Okay now she was confused. Even more. She didn't dare to ask why they had made the cage demon-proof. Maybe it was just in case they'd need her again. Or... Melinda thought of Wyatt. Maybe he had asked for her not to get killed. Mel didn't want to ask what the reason was because she wanted to believe in her brother. Sometimes you needed to believe in something, because the only alternative was to lose hope completely.

"I should go now. After all I have a wedding to prepare."

"You won't get through with this. Chris will not get married without me and Billie sure as hell won't turn her back on my family."

Bianca had already turned to walk away but stopped and turned around again. The confidence in her whole appearance scared Melinda but she didn't let it show. "Up until now Chris and Billie have done everything we wanted them to do. Do you honestly think that is going to stop now?"

Melinda frowned. "You... you've been playing them? How? And... why?!"

"Do you honestly not get it? This is all about the wedding. Well, technically that was Plan B, but you know, we're flexible."

"What the hell is going to happen at that wedding?!"

A satisfied smile crossed Bianca's lips. "What happened to Wyatt."

While Melinda knew that what happened to Wyatt was definitely a bad thing and it couldn't happen to Chris, too... she didn't understand how that was going to help them get to Billie? When Bianca turned to walk away Melinda was stunned and not able to say anything in response. It wasn't until the light of the torch faded that she found er voice (and courage) again.

"GREAT, THANKS!" she yelled after them. "AND I WAS AFRAID YOU WERE GOING TO BE CRYPTIC ABOUT THIS!"

oOoOoOoOo

As suggested by Piper Billie hadn't told anyone else about the Ultimate Power – but she didn't help with the Wedding arrangements either. She'd spend the entire night in the attic going through the Book of Shadows, knowing there would be nothing in there to help her situation, but she'd had to at least look.

However, she came across something that might help another problem of her's... a spell called To Forget A Loved One. If she used it she might at least get through the wedding without having her heart crushed, right? On the other hand, some poet had once said it was better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all... they had discussed this once in school. Billie had never agreed. Having lost her sister at a very young age she knew how painful it was to lose something you loved so much. And now she was in the same situation – in a way it was even worse this time because she'd always had hope to find her sister again. But Chris, she would lose forever.

She looked at the spell for several moments but then closed the book. In the past she hadn't agreed with the poet... she did now. As much as it hurt her she didn't want to forget about Chris or the way she felt about him.

Yawning Billie went down the stairs to get something to eat. She hadn't eaten in what felt like weeks and not having slept all night didn't exactly make it better. As she got to the kitchen she saw Melinda going through the fridge.

"Don't tell me I have to fight you." Billie said and walked over to her.

When Melinda looked at her she seemed shocked. "What?"

Billie smiled. "I meant, about the food. I was going to rob the fridge."

Melinda relaxed. "Right. And no... I'm pretty sure we can share." She pulled a couple of things out of the fridge asking: "Sandwich?"

"Yes, please. I'm starving, I'd eat the bread without anything on it."

"Now now, we can't let that happen. You deserve better."

Billie couldn't help but find that Melinda seemed to be different but then again, that might just be herself. After everything that happened she was bound to be a little off.

"Is everything okay?" Melinda asked as she made the sandwiches.

"Yeah, sure..."

"It's okay to admit you're upset." When Billie didn't reply Melinda added: "About the wedding."

Billie sighed and sat down at the table. "Is it that obvious?"

Melinda brought the sandwiches over and sat down. "To me, yes. But don't worry, I won't say anything."

"Thanks. I won't go to the wedding anyway. I know the sisters want me to, but there's no way-"

"I think you should go." Melinda interrupted her. "I mean, you know why Chris is doing this, right?"

Billie frowned. "Do you?" She'd told him to get along and marry Bianca but how would Melinda know that?

"He's a guy. It was almost predictable... he's obviously in love with you. I wonder why no one else can see it. But he can't have you, so he goes along and marries the next female available. It's like when guys get broken up with. They get drunk and sleep with the next best thing, which is hopefully a girl of their own species. Chris is hurt and tries to make up for it."

Up until now Billie hadn't seen it that way but maybe Melinda was right. "I don't think it matters why he does it. He'll fall in love with her again and one day he'll be happy." Even as she said it, she found it hard to believe... but she needed to. She needed to believe that Chris would be happy again. "All I'm saying is that I don't want to be there when he gets married to her."

"But that's my point: If you don't go he'll know you're not okay with this. Maybe he won't even go through with it. He'll lose Bianca and he'll be alone... not happy. You have to go to show him that he's doing the right thing."

"How am I supposed to do that? Even if I go he'll see I'm so not okay with it... I'm not that good of an actress."

Melinda grabbed her hand. "I'll help you. It'll be alright. I promise."

Billie smiled and didn't disagree with her, but that didn't mean that she believed it.

"Weren't you starving?" Melinda asked after a while and let go of her hand.

Right. "I was. But now I think my stomach my have eaten my hunger..."

"You should eat something for real." She pushed the plate toward her. "Food is always comforting."

Nodding Billie took the sandwich. "I guess you're right."

As she ate it she found that she didn't like it. It had some kind of weird taste although Billie didn't know what it was. She also didn't say anything because she didn't want to hurt Melinda's feelings – after all, her mother was a cook, and she couldn't make a sandwich? No, Billie had hurt enough Halliwells for a lifetime.

oOoOoOoOo

"You look very handsome." Piper had tears in her eyes as she adjusted Chris' fly.

He lightly smiled at her and then looked at the mirror. He did. They had given him his father's wedding suit, Paige had worked on it all night so it would fit him and she'd done a great job. Chris however still didn't feel good about marrying Bianca today. Wyatt hat made some pretty good points last night but they'd changed his decision to call of the wedding. They hadn't changed how he felt about it. He felt even worse in his father's suit... Leo worn this when he'd married his mother, the love of his life. And Chris simply wasn't sure if his love for Bianca could ever be like the love his parents shared. Billie and Wyatt were probably right – he'd learn to love Bianca again once they were back in the future. But what if he didn't?

"And a little nauseous."

Chris blinked at Piper. "What?"

"Don't worry, getting cold feet is completely normal. But once you see her and the wedding starts... you'll feel so much better. And we can trust that neither Melinda nor Wyatt are going to ride in on a motor circle, ruining the ceremony."

Chris took a short lighter. "I always thought aunt Prue was a bad ass because of that."

"She wasn't herself that day but... she was pretty bad ass. I wish she could be here today. And your grandmother and great-grandmother... but apparently you do have a life when you're dead."

"Well, that's something to look forward to." Chris joked but was actually relieved that no one else from his family would witness his wedding, because it felt like a lie to him.

"Don't go looking for it any time soon, do you understand? We still have to get back your father so he can yell at you for getting married without him."

He nodded. "I promise. But for that we still need to find the Ultimate Power."

Piper got silent very quickly which caused Chris to frown. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing. I'm just confident that we'll find a solution for everything. No matter what happens, you keep that in mind, okay?" She cupped his face with both hands and smiled at him through shimmering eyes. "But for now... let's focus on your big day."

Even after Piper had left Chris still thought about this conversation. There was something she wasn't telling him, or waited to tell him until after the wedding. Something, she trying to protect him of, like his mother always did. She had real issues when it came to that but that was probably a mom-thing.

He was definitely going to ask her about this when the wedding was over but until then he had something else to worry about – saying the right name for example.

No matter what he tried he couldn't stop thinking about Billie. Even when he was thinking about his family, the Ultimate Power, the wedding... she was always right there on his mind. And with her, the pain he felt because she was the one he wanted but couldn't be with. Again he thought about his parents. When the elders hadn't wanted for them to be together at the beginning they must have felt just like that.

The only thing he took comfort in right now was that Billie probably wasn't going to be at the wedding. It would be nearly impossible for him to go through with it if she was.

After he walked down the stairs he saw that everyone was already in the living room. His mom, his aunts, the priestess Bianca had wanted, Wyatt, Melinda and...

Billie.

His heart skipped a couple of beats when he saw her. For what it was worth, she didn't look any less uncomfortable when she saw him. He took a deep breath and walked over to her.

"Hey..." even though he was more than surprised, he was also happy to see her. At least as long as he blocked out the wedding.

She forced a smile on her face. "Hey."

"Don't take this the wrong way but... what are you doing here?"

"Well... the sisters really wanted me to be here. And Melinda. Also I wanted to make sure you know that you're doing the right thing. This... is right. It's good. And I'm fine. And you'll be fine... and-"

"You're babbling." Chris interrupted her with an amused smile on his lips.

At this Billie took a short laughter but still didn't seem relaxed. "Yes, I am. That's my thing. I babble."

"When you're nervous."

"Sort of, yeah", she admitted and her smile faded.

After a short silence Chris said: "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

He lowered his voice as he continued. "Marrying Bianca here. Now. I suggested it because..."

"You don't have to explain yourself to me. It's okay. I mean, I told you to marry her so that's what you do. I really can't complain when you do what I tell you to do, so..."

Chris grabbed her hand and she held her breath. He looked at her for a moment before he repeated: "I'm sorry."

It took her a while but then she slowly nodded. She didn't say another word but he knew he was forgiven. It didn't make him feel much better about the wedding but at least this way it was okay for her to be here.

Out of nowhere Melinda popped up right next to Billie. "So... are you ready? I think it's about to start."

Chris frowned. She didn't appear to be pissed at him at all anymore. This was complete atypical behavior for his sister. Apparently Melinda noticed his anxiousness, rolled her eyes and said: "Yes, I've made my peace with Bianca becoming my sister in law. Big deal. But you might want to hurry things up or I might change my mind."

I might, too. He added in his mind but lightly smiled at her. After taking a last look at Billie he walked over to the priestess. It was the one Bianca had wanted; the one who'd married her parents.

And then it started.

The whole time Chris barely felt like he was even there. Everyone was standing in a half circle around him. He tried to focus completely on Bianca, as she walked down the stairs in her wedding dress and on the priestess as she ceremony started. Every now and then he found himself glancing over to Billie. Her eyes were shimmering and she kept staring at the same point on the floor the entire time. At one point Melinda grabbed her hand and squeezed it.

For Chris the ceremony went by like a blur. It was like when you were aware you're dreaming, knowing it wasn't real but it felt like it was – this was the other was around.

He kicked back in when the priestess said: "You may kiss the bride."

Bianca smiled at him and he returned the smile as faithfully as he could, considering he just ripped his own heart out. Wyatt's voice echoed in his head. "Stop looking for mistakes and give it a real shot." Chris felt like screaming. I am trying, brother.

Shutting down the feeling that he was making a grave mistake he leaned towards Bianca and placed a kiss on her lips. He heard everyone applauding. When he drew back the look in Bianca's face had changed. She looked satisfied.

"Thank you", she said.

He frowned with a nervous smile on his lips. Granted, this was the first time he got married, but it still felt like those wasn't what a wife was supposed to say to her new husband. "For what?"

"Marrying her of course." Melinda said and when Chris turned to look at her everyone else did as well. Everyone but Bianca.

"What's going here?" Piper asked.

It was Bianca who answered. "Billie-" she looked at her. "Show Chris what we're talking about."

As she finished Chris was thrown through the room. It took him a moment to realize that it really had been Billie who'd used her telekinesis on him. His head met a wall and he fell to the floor. Luckily he was too confused to feel the pain.

"Billie!" he hear Paige say. "What are you doing?"

"It's not her fault." Melinda said. As Chris got back on his feet he saw bright lights revolving around Melinda and – then it wasn't his sister anymore.

It was Christy.

Everyone retreated from her immediately, only Billie, Bianca, the priestess and Wyatt stayed put.

"I don't understand... what's happening?" Chris wanted to know.

"You're not the first one of your family to be tricked into a dark ceremony." Bianca said. "As I recall it was Phoebe who married Cole and then slowly turned into the Queen of the Underworld. Only that you won't be going down that path. See, now that I'm married to you but you really love Billie... it allows me to control her."

He narrowed his eyes. "You're working with Christy."

"Close." Christy said. "People don't work with me they work for me."

"Where's Melinda?" Piper asked.

"Alive, if that's what you're asking. But now that we got Billie I guess there's no reason to keep it this way..."

Chris stepped forward. "If you hurt her-"

"You're going to do what exactly?" Christy took a short dark laugh. "You lost, Chris. The Ultimate Power is reunited. There's nothing you can do to stop us."

He froze. The Ultimate Power? But... they got Billie...

"That's not true. None of you can orb... you're not going to leave this house as reunited as you are." Piper threatened and didn't seem surprised that Billie appeared to be part of the Ultimate Power. The one they had to defeat – they had to kill – in order to get Leo back.

Christy, however, was unimpressed. "Oh, but my husband can..." As a surprise to everyone Wyatt walked over to her like a loyal pet.

"Husband..." Chris repeated falling from one shock into another, but finally able to put the picture together. "You did the same thing to Wyatt."

"The dark ceremony allows the wife to control either the husband himself or the one the husband is in love with. It's just a small change in the ceremony. All we needed to do was getting some of Bianca's blood in both of your systems."

It hit him cold. The beer. It had tasted weird... he clenched his fists and looked at Wyatt. He had tricked him and betrayed his family... again. But he'd been good... If the ceremony was strong enough to turn his brother against them he didn't have any hope of getting through to Billie. Billie, who had pushed him to marry Bianca... he would have never done it if it hadn't been for her. They had somehow managed to push all of them in the direction where they needed them.

"And now if you excuse us... we have stuff to do." Christy said and Wyatt orbed all of them out. Piper tried to attack them but they were gone before it hit anyone. All she got was the old clock which somehow always got broken when there was a demon attack. Except that this time it wasn't a demon attack. It was worse.

Chris and the others would have to go up against his brother and the girl he loved, since both of them were no longer in control of themselves. But it was even worse than that. Because if he wanted to return to the future he came from, they had to do more than just go up against Billie.

They'd have to kill her.