A.N: I own nothing of Doctor Who, Charmed or Buffy the Vampire Slayer but I have used speech from the Charmed episode 'Love's a Witch'. Hope you like this chapter. Please review so I know how I can improve it.
The next morning, after Chris' revelation I walked into the manor and stopped short at what I saw. Piper was vacuuming near the stair way while Phoebe was floating in the air, trying to meditate. Fortunately I had walked a bit away from the front door before I had stopped because it opened a minute or two later. I turned to see Paige standing there with her hand against a bloodied wound on her shoulder. I heard a thump from behind me but I was more concerned with Paige.
"Oh my God! Paige, are you ok?" I exclaimed.
"Hi, how's it going, don't ask." She replied carefully, walking to the kitchen. I didn't need to be an empath to know that she was scared out of her mind. Piper asked what happened, making her stop at the table near the stairway, but Paige just shrugged it off.
"You're not fine, Paige, you're scared to death. Why don't people in this family own their emotions?" Phoebe informed us all like we didn't already know.
"Okay, this empathy thing, very annoying," Paige said, looking annoyed. She wasn't the only one who was annoyed at it. I had to carefully control all of my emotions when I was around Phoebe, in case my emotions hurt her.
"Copy that," Piper and I agreed together. Paige stormed off to the kitchen with her sisters following. I was about to follow as well but Chris orbed in.
"You haven't seen Leo, have you?" he asked. I rolled my eyes and followed the sisters calling over my shoulder-
"Not now Chris."
"Do you want me to get the Book?" Piper said as I came in.
"No, actually, I don't. I wanna follow this one through all by myself." Paige replied. I could understand why she wanted to go alone. She was the type of person that liked to be independent, wanted to find what was right for her life. She didn't want to have to always fall back on her sisters. She wanted to prove to herself that there was more to her than being a third of the Charmed ones. The only problem was that the Charmed ones were sisters. While I personally had no experience with that I knew it meant that she couldn't have her life like she wanted it. Her sisters couldn't leave her alone if thought she was in danger.
Phoebe said how she was feeling suppressed by her sisters. Well of course she was. Everything to do with magic in her life, which she really did love, was her sisters as well. She needed something she could call her own.
Chris walked into the kitchen and tried saying something about not finding Leo but he was ignored for a conversation between the girls on Piper's dating issues. I tuned in and out of the conversation, intent on looking at Chris. Last night we had talked for hours. Then again we had lots to talk about. He told me that he was Piper's and Leo's son. So was Wyatt's younger brother who he had come from the future to protect. He didn't tell me what happened to Wyatt to make him need protecting but I didn't ask because. It was obvious he wasn't ready to talk about it. We also talked about me. About what I am, how I got here and what I've done, my name. We were both confused at how I became a slayer but we decided it wouldn't be a good idea to research it in case the Watchers Council found out. Chris told me that the watchers council could be dangerous at times. Chris also told me what little he knew about the Timelords. He explained that when we die we can change our bodies. Regeneration, he called it. That explained what happened when I was shot, I thought. Chris didn't know enough for my liking but I couldn't do anything about that yet.
"Someone's hiding something from me," I heard Phoebe say which broke me out of my reverie. My walls in my mind to protect me from empaths were still up. They weren't very strong but they were strong enough that I knew it wasn't me. Chris looked shaken up and quickly covered it up by saying "Just let me know if anyone sees Leo, okay? Buffy, you coming?" I didn't know where we were going but I went with it. I nodded my goodbyes to the girls and followed Chris out.
"So where are we going?" I asked him when I had caught up.
"We're going to find a way to mask my emotions from Phoebe," he replied and held out his hand for me to take which I took. He finally stopped just grabbing my wrist.
"Know how?" I queried.
"Yes," he answered and we orbed away.
We reappeared in what looked like a cave which I had found out that the entire underworld looked like. Why did it have to look like a cave though? There was a table and various other things. Every available surface was covered with powders and books and liquids and an assortment of other things. There was an old man there. He reminded me of a Chinese medicine man, I could see that he was missing a few of his front teeth and he was busy mixing something with a mortar and pestle.
"I need a potion that hides a persons emotions from an empath." Chris commanded of the Old man. The old man barely looked up from his mixing to answer.
"All sold out I'm afraid. Good for me, bad for you."
Chris looked really stressed out. He was pacing in front of the man while he asked how long it would take to make more. I just stood to the side watching the whole thing. I knew barely anything about magic or about this man I just hoped Chris did.
"The potion you desire is pricey for a reason. The main ingredient is quite rare and hard to come by. What secret are you so eager to hide?" the old man told him. He seemed to nosey for my liking so I quickly answered before Chris could.
"That is none of your business just tell him how long." The man finally seemed to take notice of me and studied me for a second before saying-
"The impatience of youth. Then again it takes a young heart to brave danger." Even I rolled my eyes at that.
"Spare me the Morpheus speech, old man. What are you saying?" was all Chris said. He was clearly getting annoyed at the man's lack of response. I felt something appear in the room. Something familiar. It felt like it was coming from Chris' right but it stayed invisible.
"Swamp land is where you'll find the Kotochul egg your potion requires." The man informed us. Chris gave the impression that he recognized this Kotochul. I'd never heard of it but Chris looked like he finally realized that this would be harder than he thought. Did he really think it was going to be that easy? The old man must have noticed is look to as he said "Now you understand the difficulty." Chris seemed to gather his resolve and retort back-
"Fine. I'll get your damn egg. Just make sure you're ready by the time I get back." I admired Chris for being so determined and I wanted to see how he would do it but I had something I needed to do. Chris walked over to me and held out his hand again.
"I think I'm just going to wait here. I want to see if I can find out more about what we were talking about last night." I explained when I didn't take his hand. I hoped he got the hint that someone else was listening by me not saying it outright. He looked at me strangely for a second then at the wall that I could feel the magical presence of at before orbing away.
"Leo you can show yourself now," I called out. Leo finally revealed himself. He looked surprised, probably that I knew he was there, I thought, but didn't say anything. Instead he said commandingly -
"What was Chris doing here?" why couldn't he just trust Chris? What had Chris done to him? I knew that was a stupid thought the moment it crossed my mind. Chris had inadvertently broken up his and Piper's marriage then sent him to Valhalla. Though Leo had no proof of the last thing even though, even I didn't know for sure I just assumed it was Chris. I would have to ask later.
"Can't you leave him alone? He's just trying to help." I implored him. Chris shouldn't have to deal with his father's hatred of him.
"He came to find a potion to conceal emotions from an empath," the old man revealed from behind me. I cursed silently; I'd forgotten he was there. Doesn't he believe in client confidentiality, I thought?
Leo actually glared at me for a minute before orbing out again. Once he was gone I turned to the old man and shouted- "Did you have to tell him that?" I was really angry at Leo and I was taking it on the old man but I didn't care. Chris was Leo's son. Shouldn't there be some sort of connection there between them. For the second time I stopped short mentally this time though. I thought hard about Leo's and Chris' relationship..... It sort of reminded me of Dad after I was 'born'. He was very hostile towards me and I never really found out why. If I ever found him again I would have to ask why.
The old man just grinned up at me then made work on a potion. The thoughts of my Dad reminded me that I wanted to find out about the Timelords.
"Now I have a little job for you too," I told him. "I need anything you have on Timelords."
A few hours later I was sitting in a chair in the corner of the cave. I had a pile of old, dusty books next to me, one of which was sitting open on my lap. I hated reading. I was more of an action kind of girl and just sitting here reading was boring me to death. The old man had found me some books that had references about Timelords. There wasn't much information but I was plodding through the information. According to what I had already read there have only been a few Timelords that had come to Earth and they were the Doctor and the Master. The name the Master made me think of my first year of Sunnydale and how I died for a few minutes. The references mention that these two Timelords seemed to be rivals of sorts. The books also talked about regeneration and the machine that Timelords seemed to use. The TARDIS. The TARDIS, according to the books, allowed the Timelords to travel through time and space.
I felt a magical presence appear in the room and looked up to see Chris orb in. He looked terrible. He was covered in mud and looked exceptionally tired but he was also holding an egg which he handed over to the man.
"Nicely done. These aren't easy to find," he appraised.
"Tell me about it. How long before it's ready?" Chris asked impatiently.
"You'll have it when you need it." Was all he got in reply. The egg was cracked open and the yolk was dropped into the cauldron on the table that the old man had been working on while I read. A fire burst out of it before slowly waning.
Chris walked over to me and sat on the edge of the chair I was sitting on.
"How you doing over here?" he asked.
"Found a few things out but mainly just the same things you said or that I already knew." I informed him. It was nice having him be so comfortable with me and having him so close. He gave off an aura of safety, or that's what I felt when I was around him.
We stayed like that for a while till the old man said that the potion was ready. Chris quickly moved to him. I felt Leo appear in the room but I couldn't see him.
"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Chris queried. He was crouched down at the side of the table watching the man pour out the potion into a small bottle.
"As long as it doesn't make you violently ill." Was his reply. Chris stood up worriedly. "Side effects, you never know." The Man explained.
"Thanks for the tip," Chris thanked reaching out for the now bottled red potion. The potion maker snatched his hand back before Chris could take it and asked-
"You sure it's worth the risk?'
Chris had a serious look on his face as he answered- "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't." The old man finally gave him the potion which Chris turned towards the fire in the middle of the cave to examine.
"He won't tell me," the man said, seemingly to no one but I could tell he meant Leo.
"Tell you what?" Chris asked absently. I stood up and walked over to Chris, guessing what was about to happen.
"What you need the potion for." Leo's voice rang out. Chris quickly turned his head to the wall as Leo materialized. "Other than to hide your secrets that is." Chris was obviously worried but he covered it up by hastily saying-
"What? This was all a set-up? Is this even legit?" The old man seem affronted at the mere idea that it wasn't legit as he answered-
"It's legit alright. But I'm afraid you have to answer to a higher power now." He almost bowed as he said higher power before walking off to the side. I could almost see the wheels turning in Chris' head as he spoke again-
"Go ahead, take it,' he covered. He threw the potion to Leo who caught it. "It wasn't for me anyway."
"Really?" Leo scoffed.
"I got it for the sisters. Phoebe's new power is wreaking havoc on their relationship, or haven't you noticed?" Chris retorted.
"You expect me to believe this wasn't meant to protect your secrets?" was all Leo had to say. He was so smug that he thought he had caught Chris out.
"No, I don't. But seeing as you haven't figured me out yet, why would I even bother?" Chris said carelessly. From Leo's eyed I could tell he was raging at the comment but he snapped back as calmly as he could-
"Don't get too cocky, kid. Wouldn't want me to clip you wings now, would you?" I felt a sudden surge of anger and possessiveness at the threat. I did not like hearing Chris getting threatened. I felt my nails dig into my palms as it rid to quell the urge to inflict violence on Leo.
Both the boys looked up like they could hear something.
"Whoops, looks like Wyatt needs another babysitter, dad," Chris mocked. They must have heard one of the sister's call. Leo gave one last glare to me and Chris before orbing out. The second he was gone he asked the old man how long it would take to make another potion.
"You are lucky." The old man told him. Then went to the cauldron and poured out more of the potion from it. So he didn't give us the entire potion before. Chris turned to me and I could see a twinge of hurt in them.
"Why didn't you say Leo was here," he asked.
"It would have been more suspicious if I stopped you from talking or getting the potion," I told him which he seemed to accept. He took the potion from the old man and walked back over to me. I took hold of his hand and we orbed to the manor.
"So are you gonna take the potion?" I asked him when I got bored of the silence.
"Not yet. I want to see if it works on the sisters first." He replied. We went to the attic and sat down on the sofa that was there and just talked. We seemed to do that a lot. It was nice. I'd never really talked to someone this much, even with Angel. Thinking about Angel didn't even hurt as much when I was around Chris, it was strange. But I felt like there was a connection between us that I couldn't explain. We talked about all that had happened today. Including what the girls had gone through and what new things I'd found out about Timelords. When I asked about what Leo was like in the future I was surprised that he actually answered.
"I wouldn't really know,' he said, acting nonchalantly but I could see the pain in his body language and eyes. "He never spent any time around me. He was always training Wyatt or teaching or with mum. He didn't really have time for me." My hearts almost broke hearing him try to sound like he didn't care. I could feel tears in the corners of my eyes and the same surge of anger and possessiveness that I had felt earlier and quickly pulled him into a hug. I tried to break out of it for a second but then relaxed into it and put his arms around me. I didn't hear a sound from him. I wouldn't have known that tears had fallen if it wasn't for my shoulder becoming wet.
The next morning I walked out of my shabby apartment just as Chris orbed in front of it, making me walk into him. He quickly apologized.
"It's okay. What are you doing here so early anyway?" I asked.
"Thought you might want to see how Piper and Paige try to get Phoebe to unlock herself from the attic,"
"Well let's go then," I told him, adding some excitement to my voice. I felt a bit awkward from the uncharacteristic hugging last night. Chris laughed. I think my hearts skipped a beat. It was so unusual to hear him laugh.
At the manor Paige and Piper were pounding on the attic door trying to get Phoebe to open the door. Finally they got fed up and orbed in with me and Chris right behind them. We went to sit on the chair a bit away from the girls letting them try and sort it out for themselves, watching silently, Chris on the chair and me on the arm of it. I snorted when Paige said Phoebe should try to control herself, even Chris was trying not to laugh.
"I don't get it, Leo didn't give you the empath blocking potion?" Chris inputted to their conversation, acting confused. I stayed sitting, trying to hide my smirk. Phoebe and Piper looked confused.
"What potion? Leo!" Piper shouted and Leo orbed in. He is so in for it, I thought. Chris glanced back at me for a second sharing a grim before he turned back around. "Where is it?" Piper demanded.
"Give me, Give me, give me. Faster" Phoebe almost begged eagerly.
"Come on, come on, come on," Piper added on just as eagerly.
"They really need that potion Leo," I teased. I could hear the laughter in my voice. I got up and stood next to Chris, showing whose side I was on, like it wasn't clear already.
"Yeah, only I think you should wait to take it, Phoebe was giver her power for a reason..." Leo started but Piper interrupted.
"Forget that." All the sisters motioned for him to give them the potion which he reluctantly did to Piper. Everyone was silent and watched as Piper tilted her head and took a bit, then Paige. We looked expectantly at Phoebe.
"Nothing, nada, zilch!" she was so happy when she told us. I heard Piper and Paige shout out "Yes!" and "Hallelujah!" before Paige said that she was going to finish some game with a grandma Callaway.
"Maybe you'll run into Richard," Phoebe said. I was confused at the comment but Phoebe said it was a sister thing, not an empath thing then they both walked out.
"So it worked right? No nausea or anything like that?" I questioned Piper.
"Nope, nothing." She replied, and then followed her sisters.
"Looks like we're one big happy family again," Chris joked but held a reserved look in his eye.
"You're not family," Leo told him with a faint smile like he was glad for that. He turned to follow Piper and I really wanted to go after him to punch him for the comment. I looked up at Chris and heard him sigh. He pulled put the potion and drank half of it.
"You should probably drink some too. It must be hard keeping mental barriers up around Phoebe," He said and held out the potion. I was surprised he knew that I put those walls up but didn't comment. I went to take the potion but when our hands touched all I could do was look into his eyes. Looking at the hurt from Leo's comment and seeing how much growing up he had to do in his world, I knew one thing. I would do anything to make him forget the hurt.
