Disclaimer: I don't own the series Charmed or any of the original characters.
A/N: It's not a really long chapter, and I'm sorry about that, but I find this part of the story extra hard to write. I hope you at least like it...
"He is half a Whitelighter, half a witch," Melinda explained turning to her Aunt "Just like me."
"Chris has my powers," Piper noticed her mouth hanging slightly open, but Melinda shook her head.
"No, that one is mine," she mumbled. Piper gasped not really knowing what to make out of it "He...he tapped into my power to stop the truck," she explained.
"This is a different time line though, it doesn't prove that we can trust Chris in ours," Leo spoke still trying to wrap his head around the fact that Wyatt and Chris knew each other since they were kids.
"As an Elder I thought you'd know the answer to this. Both mine and Chris' time lines haven't yet happened for you, therefore they both should be considered alternate and parallel universes, they are the two outcomes that came out of one certain event," her eyes unintentionally turned to Piper for a second.
"Yes but there has to be a diversion point," Leo said.
"And there is, but up to that point, everything is practically the same. And there are some similarities even afterwards," Melinda concurred.
"Your power," Piper said finally and Melinda's gaze turned to her "My power is your power?"
Before Melinda could provide some kind of an answer the setting around them changed. Feeling a bit dizzy, Paige steadied herself by holding on to Piper's shoulder. When the world stop turning around her head she noticed that they were back at the Manor, in the conservatory. Paige gasped. A few feet away was standing another, version of her. She was definitely older, but Paige couldn't make out how much in the future she was seeing. A young girl was sitting on the couch, her dark hair caught in a ponytail.
"Is that you?" Piper questioned. Melinda gave an affirmative nod and focused on the scene.
"But I wanted to go with them!" the younger version of Melinda was nagging. Paige huffed and sat next to her, patting the girl's knee.
"I know sweetheart, but the hospital is no place for little children."
"Chris went!"
"Chris went because he is ill," Paige said and her eyes darkened for a long second before she smiled to the girl "Hey, I have an idea, would you like to practise on your orbing?"
"Yeah!" Melinda said excitedly bouncing up and down on her seat. Paige chuckled at the sight.
"You do definitely look close," Phoebe observed her voice kind of distant; Melinda looked so much like Prue at that age that at first Phoebe thought that they had somehow transported back in the past.
"Okay, so, stand there," Paige said pushing Melinda in the middle of the room "Now, close your eyes. Think really hard that you want to go to the kitchen. Picture the house and pin point exactly where the kitchen is."
"I never had a problem with orbing," Melinda admitted smiling as she saw her younger self's face twitching in concentration "I had some issues with direction, but not with orbing in and out."
"Then why..." Paige started and Melinda flashed her a smile, cutting her off.
"I loved our sessions."
"Hah!" Melinda orbed next to the table and exclaimed loudly "I did it!" then she lost her step and crashed on the table.
The vase on top of it wobbled dangerously. Both versions of Paige flinched and turned their heads the other way as it toppled over the edge. But it never crashed; Melinda blinked and looked at her hands, her mouth forming a perfect 'o'.
"Paige! Mel! We are back!" Piper's voice travelled through the house and Melinda jumped back.
"Chris!" she yelled.
An older version of Piper strolled in the room followed by an ill-looking Chris who was barely visible under a pile of clothes. Melinda rushed to him and wrapped her arms around him.
"Is Chris okay?" Paige asked pushing some hair out of her face. Piper looked at the two kids; Melinda was helping Chris out of his jacket, and smiled.
"He will be, he caught a bug."
"Shouldn't we call..." Paige trailed off her eyes on the ceiling. Piper shook her head no "Okay, you're the boss..." Paige's eyes fell on something and then they grew wide "I think we have a problem." Piper frowned and looked around. Not seeing anything out of the ordinary she turned back to her sister. Paige inclined her head to the left and Piper followed her gaze. "I think someone's got a new power," Paige murmured. The vase was still standing mid-air as Melinda and Chris entangled themselves in a game of tag.
"Oh boy," Piper sighed.
"Your freezing power is better than Piper's!" Paige exclaimed stunned.
"Could you sound any more gleeful?" Piper snapped and Paige stuck out her tongue.
"You are Piper's daughter, aren't you?" Phoebe asked her hands pressing against her chest as Melinda's feelings changed rapidly. Melinda blinked and lowered her head.
They were in the kitchen now. Piper was with her back to them standing in front of a high chair. A baby fussed and there were footsteps coming down the stairs.
"Morning mom," Wyatt's voice flew in the room and he quickly followed. Piper flashed him a smile and picked up a plate of pancakes placing it in front of him.
"Mommy!" a blaze of brown and grey zoomed past them and crashed on to Piper. A pair of tiny arms clad in grey pyjamas, wrapped around her leg and the boy pressed his face on it. Piper looked down at him with a wide smile.
"Morning to you too peanut," she picked him up and planted a kiss on his forehead.
"A second son?" Piper whispered. Her hand came to her forehead. The boy didn't look that much younger than Wyatt, maybe a year or two.
"Can I say morning to Mel?" the boy asked and Piper with glinting eyes moved over to the high chair. Chris leaned over her arms and placed a sloppy kiss on the baby's chubby cheek.
"Momma," the baby cooed.
Piper nearly fainted; despite Phoebe's proclamation she wasn't convinced about Melinda. But hearing the words coming out of the baby's mouth, her heart flared. Three children. She was going to have two more babies, two more little babies that would call her mommy. And from the looks of it the kids had a very small age gap between them.
"Is that Chris?" Phoebe asked peering at the little boy with the green eyes that held tight on her sister's neck. Melinda gave a stiff nod feeling guilty for giving Chris' identity away. She couldn't fix it now. It wasn't her fault really; they used the truth spell on her.
"Oh my god, that's Chris!" Phoebe shrieked and Paige, who stood next to her, put her hands over her ears.
"Try to get me deaf, why don't you?" she said to her sister.
"Paige! Chris and Melinda are Piper's kids! Your hearing is so not important right now!"
"Well we knew that Melinda was family," Paige said lowering her hands "She told us so before we got here...Hey! You said that Chris was your cousin."
"Actually Phoebe theorized that he was my cousin, when I nearly gagged the day you interrogated me about my personal life, I just never denied it," Melinda answered trying desperately to avoid her mother's gaze. "Technically though considering that he's from another time line he's my...nothing," she came up sort with her vocabulary.
There was a loud crash and baby Melinda looked up at her mother's eyes grinning.
"Ohh," the baby bubbled looking down at the mess she'd just created.
"And your dad is...?" Paige trailed off. As if in answer the scenery shifted.
Chris had gone through the whole book twice and there was nothing there to help him get them back. Wyatt fussed in his playpen and Chris looked up to find a pair of blue orbs pinned on him. Wyatt was gripping the railing of his playpen, swaying back and forth in crescendo.
"Mama," he said and his eyes turned to Piper. Chris followed his gaze and sighed.
"She's okay, you don't have to worry."
"Dada."
"Dad is okay too, I just need to find a way to wake them up, is all," Chris shut the book and ran his hands through his hair "No pressure there."
The dark room in which they appeared was silent. The curtains were pulled so no light from the moon could get through the window. A soft breathing was the only thing that could be heard in the dark silence. Slowly but steadily the breathing grew faster and laboured.
Piper did not expect the piercing scream that came from somewhere to her left. She clenched her fingers around Leo jumping back scared not yet fully realising what she'd just learned. Melinda was her daughter, and Chris her son. She'd purposefully put her little boy down time and again and she'd used a truth spell on her daughter. This was just too much for her to bear, so to prevent the mental break down that was sure to ensue her mind pushed the information away.
Melinda sat up on her bed, her chest heaving, tears streaming down her face. She put her arms around herself rocking back and forth as she cried, her dark hair creating a perfect halo around her face. The door creaked loudly as someone pushed it open. The hallway was also dark and the figure remained faceless as he stepped in the room and made his way to the bed. Melinda scooted over and allowed the man to put an arm around her shoulders. The girl was quick to snuggle to him and hide her face on his chest.
"Shh, it's okay," the man spoke in a soothing voice. Phoebe's face turned palle white. She quickly looked at the younger witch, and then at her sister. No, this wasn't possible, her ears were playing tricks to her.
"No it isn't!" Melinda snapped but still held on to him "I saw it again and I'm starting to believe that it isn't a dream, he was there! And he did nothing!" Melinda's words were incomprehensible after that.
"Shh, c'mon it will be alright. We'll make sure that whoever did it will pay, I promise you that," he said and Melinda pulled a little away to peer at his face.
"Do you really?"
"Of course I do. You think your brothers or your Aunts will let whoever did it off the hook without a proper punishment?" Melinda shook her head and the man chuckled "I know I didn't have the best relationship with her..."
"She didn't hate you," Melinda was quick to cut him off.
"I know you think that but..."
"No, I'm telling you, she didn't! She knew you changed, she trusted you! Would she let you in the house with us if she didn't?" Melinda demanded the tears still hot in her eyes.
"Maybe you are right," he gave in and pushed a couple of locks away from her face.
"I know I am," Melinda insisted and he chuckled again.
"You're stubborn as your mother, aren't you?"
"You know that this is a compliment, right?" Melinda questioned and smiled "I love you," she said and hugged him tightly once more.
"I love you too," the man kissed the top of her head soundly and stood up "And what did I tell you about drawing those curtains? They won't keep reality away Melinda," he spoke her name softly and pulled them open.
The moonlight flew in the room illuminating the place in its pale glow. Melinda's eyes, red and puffy from the crying, looked huge as she gazed lovingly at the man in front of her. Said man took a moment to compose himself and with a wink and a smirk left the room, allowing the teenager to go back to sleep.
For Leo the hits were back to back; Chris and Wyatt knew each other when they were kids, bang! Chris was Piper's son, bang! Melinda was Piper's daughter, bang! In the pictures that were hanging on the walls in the conservatory there was none of his, bang! And now this. This though felt so much worse than the others. So much so that he violently pulled his hand away from his ex-wife's and moved away from her.
Phoebe was staring at Piper like she'd never seen her before. The rational part of her mind was screaming to her that this couldn't be true, that something was wrong that she had misunderstood. But the other part, the emotional part, the one that was hidden, the one she refused to acknowledge was ready to lash out.
"Will you hold your horses?" Melinda demanded feeling the tension between the members of her family. Her mom's astonished eyes found hers and Melinda's turned away "You asked me who my dad is, not who's my father."
"There's a difference in that?" Phoebe's voice was agitated.
"Of course there is, Paige would know," Melinda said looking at her Aunt.
"Me? How would I know? And didn't you mean, Aunt Paige?" she asked with a satisfied smile as the words left her mouth. Melinda rolled her eyes.
"Because there's your dad and then there's Sam, are they the same person?" Melinda asked and Paige's eyes dawned in realisation "No, they aren't. A father is the man that has always been there for you, the man who holds you when you cry, who laughs when you laugh, who feels proud for you when you win the spell competition in school! My father was none of these things, Uncle Cole on the other hand..." Melinda trailed off.
"Uncle Cole?" Phoebe's voice was emotional and Melinda grimaced.
"I should really watch what I'm saying around you, and how to control this thing because you cannot know everything."
"Sure we can," Paige said challengingly.
"No, no, you can't and you shouldn't. Do you realise how much my reality is going to change if say, I tell you the name of your husband or how Uncle Cole was resurrected? I do hate my future, the constant battlefield, the people I lost, the people I have to worry about, but there are things that I want to stay the same."
"So," Paige started not losing a bit "I have a husband?"
"Yes but please, please don't ask me his name! Because of this stupid spell I'll have to tell you and then everything is going to change and I..."
"Melinda, breathe," her mother admonished. Melinda shut up and took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry I tend to bubble when I'm upset," Melinda said with a sheepish smile.
Piper was amazed at how her attitude towards the girl changed now that she knew the truth. She thought that it was kinda hypocritical but all her trust issues were gone. She looked in the girl's face and her sister's vibrant eyes looked back at her. There was some of her mixed up in there as well, aside from all the features the girl had inherited from Prue. The curve of her neck was like Piper's, and the shape of her eyebrows. The way she held herself, the way she crossed her arms, and the sheepish smile, that was all Piper. Piper brought in her mind Chris' face. How didn't she saw through it all this time? Chris had her colours, her stubbornness, Paige's witty nature, and Victor's facial shape. His eyes were like Leo's, who she knew in her heart, was the father of all three of her children. Chris had come back to save his brother, to save his family he'd said so.
"Who is your father then?" Paige asked and this time she was prepared for the change.
A/N: Did you really I think I was going to have Cole as Melinda's dad? I don't like Leo, but I'm not that cruel. Did you like it? No? Let me know!