Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. I do however, own the characters of Seth and Nathan.

Chapter 12

It was a warm and sunny morning in San Francisco that day, and the distance to the store was only about 4-5 miles at Chris's estimate, so he hoped that maybe this could be an uneventful trip.

But what Chris hadn't counted on what Seth and Nathan's undisguised amazement at almost everything they saw. Their wonder was plastered across their faces for all to see as they were so taken aback by there being no demons roaming the streets, no ruined buildings, and no one in any immediate danger from just walking around the city… Everything was safe and peaceful (or as safe and peaceful as a city with the crime rate of San Francisco could be anyway). But possibly what surprised them the most was the way that everyone was just taking it for granted.

Of course, they remembered a time in their pasts when life had been like that, when having a bed to sleep in, knowing where your next meal was coming from and assuming that you would see the next sunrise unscathed were things that moat people still took for granted. But unfortunately, their memories of the war-torn San Francisco, where each and every day was a fight for survival, those memories were stronger.

The distant childhood memories of when the world was safe seemed like a lifetime ago to the people of the future, and everyday they got even further away.

Chris looked around, at the blue cloudless sky, and at all the pedestrians and motorists hurrying around, going about their everyday business. He remembered when he'd first arrived in the past, he'd been just as overwhelmed as Seth and Nathan were now.

His first action had been to orb up to the top of the Golden Gate bridge, which in itself was a novelty – being able to orb without a demon instantly appearing to kill the 'unsuspecting whitelighter'. Once up there he merely sat there for several hours, taking in the noise and bustle of the city that was, to him, so miraculously alive compared to the ghost town he'd become so used to.

The three men didn't really speak much on the way to the store. Seth and Nathan were a bit busy taking in the sights, although after the first mile they were getting a lot better at disguising their shock and unfamiliarity to their surroundings.

By the time they were half way to the store, Seth at least was feeling a bit more used to this time. He couldn't describe his feelings as familiar though. Even when the world hadn't gone to hell, he wouldn't have been exactly familiar with this area of town.

He and his mother had lived in another part of town where everything had always been a little more run down and… economical than around here. Others might say it was the 'dodgy' end, which Seth would have to say was a description he agreed with.

It had just been him and Ma in the house, due to a thankfully absent demon father, and yeah, they'd had some rough patches. Ma had had some problems with alcohol and lack of employment, and while he was younger he had been taken away by social services several times. But they'd managed. And Seth never blamed his mother, it hadn't been easy for her, being knocked up by a demon (though she hadn't known the father's true identity until years later) when she was barely out of high school, and she really had tried to kick the alcohol habit, which she'd eventually succeeded with.

On hearing about his childhood, most people would immediately think that he'd been miserable, and had had a disadvantaged start in life. But that, Seth completely disagreed with. His mother had loved him, and on the whole, he'd been happy as a child. Sure, they'd had some issues, and he definitely hadn't been happy while he was away from his mother and in care, but he'd also had a group of very loyal friends.

If anything, it was growing up in such a tough neighbourhood, as well as his somewhat unusual heritage that had helped him to survive later on when everything changed.

At last, the witch, witchlighter and half-demon arrived at the store. Entering through the automatic doors, Chris got out Piper's list from his pocket.

"Right, now lets do this quickly so we can get out of here. We need—" he stopped, realising that Seth and Nathan were no longer behind him.

They were stood just inside the door, staring at the vast amounts of food stacked high on the shelves. It had been a long time since they'd seen so much food.

"Holy shit," Seth whispered under his breath, while beside him, Nathan merely gaped silently.

Chris glanced around, and to his chagrin, noticed that they were beginning to attract some weird looks from the other shoppers.

Pull it together, guys, he said telepathically, we're attracting a lot of attention. Remember, this much food is normal here.

Yeah, sorry, Nathan muttered back, tapping into Chris's telepathy to answer.

Once they'd managed to get used to being around this amount of food again, Chris could tell that Seth and Nathan actually quite enjoyed doing Piper's shopping, and –he would admit to himself— he did a bit too. He supposed it was probably the novelty of doing something so normal for once.

Unfortunately, they didn't quite manage to get everything that was on Piper's list, because she'd wanted them to get some alcohol and none of them had a valid ID for this time. In their own time, both Chris and Seth were old enough to legally buy alcohol, but in this time, Seth was only 5 years old and Chris wasn't even born yet.

But they also got a few things that weren't on the list. They were mostly things that contained chocolate or an insane amount of sugar, because Seth or Nathan (or Chris for that matter!) hadn't had them since they were kids.

Chris was sure that Piper wouldn't mind, she'd always been pretty cool about things like that when he was a kid, and he was positive that she was going to be doing her best to feed the three of them up anyway. Ever since she'd found out he was her youngest son, and ever since she'd laid eyes on his friends, she'd been nagging about how thin they all were. So she'd probably rejoice at them getting more food than she'd asked them to. Although the mom he remembered would have disapproved that most of the extra was junk food.

When they eventually got to the checkout, the girl at the till, who had cropped brown hair, tanned skin and a pretty face, smiled slightly suggestively at them, her eyes twinkling. "So, why would three gorgeous guys such as yourselves be doing the shopping on a day like this?"

Chris didn't respond to her comment, and Nathan merely blushed, but Seth smiled back disarmingly, turning on the charm. Chris had seen him do so many times before and it had always ended with the girl being putty in Seth's hands.

"We're doing the shopping for his ma," he said, gesturing at Chris.

The subsequent conversation as they paid, between the girl, who's name they learnt was Katie, and Seth was very flirtatious and seemed to draw out far too long. In the end, they practically had to drag Seth away from the till, and the three of them hefted their numerous bags towards the exit.

They were only one step away from the automatic doors when the energy ball shot past Chris, missing hitting him by millimetres, but still searing a seriously painful burn across his face. It hit the glass of the doors, shattering them on impact, and sending millions of shards of glass flying everywhere, ripping clothes and cutting flesh.

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Ok, I'm so so so so so sooooo sorry about how long I've left it since the last chapter! Can you find it in your hearts to forgive me?! Please?...

Anyway, about this chapter, not completely happy with it and I haven't checked it to see if it makes sense… and like most of what I'm posting these days 'twas written in strange places! Also, I've only just noticed a mistake I made in chapter 10, which hopefully by the time you're reading this, I will have corrected! Basically, when I first thought up Seth's character, my idea was that his father brought him up, but I decided I didn't like that idea (for many reasons). But in chapter 10, somehow I'd gone with my original idea and completely contradicted other comments in ch 11 and ch 12… anyway, changed now!

Also, about my ignorance… I know nothing about America or San Francisco, and I was also guessing about the legal drinking age – here it's 18, but I had a feeling that in America it was 21… sorry if I'm wrong!

So, please review!