A/N: Emily and Eric belong to me.

Chapter 13

Piper stopped the SUV at the side of the curb. There were a couple of ambulances and a handful of police cruizers on the scene of the crime. Colby opened the door of the vehicle with alternate Chris right behind him as they ran to the house together. Chris glanced into what appeared to be the living room and saw the body bags. He was pulled back into the present as he heard Colby's panicked shout, "Where is he?!"

Chris followed Colby's voice and found Colby bending over a baby crib, picking up the crying baby. A couple of the police officers had tried to quiet down the baby, but they couldn't figure out what to do to calm the baby down. Colby nuzzled the baby in his arms as Eric hiccuped and sniffled in his young father's arms. He turned to Chris and Chris' parents as he asked, "What do we do now? What happened here?"

Darryl stood beside Leo as he explained, "I'm sorry...but from what we can gather, when that scumbag heard the sirens in the neighborhood, he tried to take the baby and run. There were signs of a struggle, so we think he tried to take the baby and run, but it appeared that the girl tried to protect the baby and he killed her before turning the gun on himself."

"That bastard!" Colby wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his sweater. "Emily didn't deserve to die! She was a victim just like me!" He looked down at the baby in his arms who seemed to have calmed down considerably. "I'll never leave you. I promise."

Piper wiped her own eyes before saying, "This is terrible."

"What do we do now?" Leo asked Darryl.

"CPS has aready been called," he answered. "They will decide what will happen to this young man and the baby."

"He's coming with us," Piper told her friend.

"That may not be possible. You aren't even foster parents, are you?" Darryl asked.

"No, but I am," young Paige told him as she walked into the room with the others. "They can stay with me while the case is being handled."

"But...why are you involved in the first place?" Darryl wanted to know as he studied each of his friends. He knew there had to be a logical explanation as to why the boy looked like Chris and he was determined to find out what the Charmed Ones could have to gain from helping the kid.

Leo leaned in and made sure nobody else could overhear what he was about to tell Darryl. "Colby there is Chris' past life, and Chris is our son."

"Uh huh," Darryl responded. Now he heard everything. Alternate Chris, meanwhile, ran a finger along baby Eric's cheek. He felt protective of the baby once he saw him, so now he knew what Colby had been feeling back at the Manor as he was telling Chris and his siblings about his son.

"Would you hold him?" Colby asked. "I want to see Emily."

"You don't need to look at her in that condition," Chris replied. "I came from a place full of death...and that is not something you need to see."

"I have to know if it is really her," Colby told his future incarnate. "I need to know if it is true that it is her in that bag."

Leo placed his hands on Chris' shoulders and said, "I'll go with him so he isn't alone." Chris turned his eyes to his father and gave a nod as he held out his arms for Eric. Colby placed his son into Chris' arms and walked out of the room with Leo.

"You're a natural at that," Piper smiled as she walked over to her son.

"Well, I have a lot of younger cousins," Chris replied. "Had a lot of cousins," he corrected himself.

"You know what I mean," Piper smiled. "You're a natural father."

"He's not my kid," Chris sighed with annoyance.

Piper gave a nod towards the baby in Chris' arms, "He recognizes your soul. That means he recognizes you as his father, even though he is in another room." Paige couldn't help but smile at that, as she watched her neurotic nephew hold the little bundle of Colby's love.

Chris turned his eyes down to the baby in his arms and gazed into the boy's blue eyes and dark hair. "It's crazy, but he looks a little like me when I was a baby."

-o0o-

The officer bent and unzipped the body bag enough to where the others could see the young girl's face. Her blonde hair was matted down by blood in the back of her head. A sob escaped Colby's lips as he fell to his knees. "I-it really is h-her!" he cried.

Leo knelt down behind Colby and wrapped his arms protectively around the teen's shoulders. Colby turned in his spot and cried into Leo's chest. "Shh, everything will be okay."

"W-why...h-how could he do this to his own daughter?" Colby asked.

"Some people are just sick like that. It could be because he was a cruel man, or it could have been because he had mental problems. Most likely it was a combination of both," Leo tried to explain to the best of his ability. He wasn't a mind reader, so he didn't know the circumstances surrounding the crimes that had been committed within that house.

"S-she was innocent and he killed her!" Colby sobbed, which got Leo to tighten his hold on the teen and kissed his forehead.

"It is a tragedy what happened to her, and I'm sorry we were too late to save her...but you have your son to focus on now," Leo tried to tell him. He felt a nod from the teen as he continued to cry. "We'll make sure you and the baby are taken care of. I'm determined to keep you with us, if that's what you want." Colby once again gave a nod, already feeling as if Leo was his own father.

-o0o-

"So you're telling me that Gideon is still around?" older Paige asked younger Phoebe, since her own younger counterpart had orbed off to help with the Colby case. "I thought Leo had vanquished his sorry ass?!"

"He hasn't yet," older Phoebe replied as older Piper set down a teapot on a trivet that was sitting on the coffee table. With so many family members in one house, she felt it best to keep everyone in the living room and sun room.

"There are so many things going on at once, it's hard to keep track of them all," Paige commented dryly. "How are we supposed to put them in order of importance now?"

"Well, obviously, this is no different from our time, except that there are considerably less amount of demons attacking us," older Phoebe put in. "Until today of course...or what would be today for us if we haven't had travelled into the past...oh, you know what I mean!"

"Yeah, time travel doesn't get any easier no matter how long we've been witches," older Piper replied with a sip of her tea.

"I swear, we're like little old ladies sitting around drinking tea and reminiscing about our lives," older Paige laughed.

"Not amusing," older Piper told her sister with a glare.

"Eh," older Paige gave a shrug and a wave of dismissal.

At that time, young Piper and the others returned with Colby in tow. He handed his baby off to Leo and told him, "I want to see if Melinda wants to meet Eric," he gave a sad smile.

Older Piper overheard him and said, "She's up in the attic looking through the Book of Shadows."

"Thanks," he gave her another weak smile and trudged up the stairs.

Once he was out of earshot, younger Phoebe asked, "What happened?"

"His foster father killed his daughter, and then killed himself," young Piper answered.

"Oh, no!" older Piper exclaimed. "How is he taking it?"

"Not well," Leo answered, "but he's trying to stay strong for Eric's sake."

"Trying to stay strong in a difficult situation...sounds like a Halliwell to me," young Phoebe commented.

-o0o-

"I brought Eric back here with me," Colby told Melinda as he walked into the attic. She gave a short squeel of delight before leaving the pedestal with the book and hugged him.

"I finally get to meet him?!" she asked.

Despite his sour mood, he couldn't help but laugh as he said, "You just met me today, and you're already excited about meeting my baby?"

"Of course! Babies are so adorable!" she grinned.

"Can't deny that. He's downstairs," Colby was about to turn to go downstairs before he saw the demon shimmer into the attic behind Melinda. "Behind you!" he yelled.

Before Melinda could turn to see what he was warning her about, two strong arms trapped her beside her body and she was picked up off the ground. "Let go of me!" she shouted as she kicked out to try and get enough leverage to escape. She managed to kick a plant stand, which had a silver tray full of candles and vials. The stand and its contents fell over with a loud crash. Younger Chris ran into the door in time to see Melinda struggling with the demon and Colby jump on his back as the demon shimmered away.

"No!" Chris shouted into the empty air.