Leo didn't have much time to contemplate the revelation about Chris because he and Paige were transported back to her room right afterwards.
Paige looked around. "We're back."
"T…the spell played itself out. We learned what we needed to learn," Leo said before collapsing onto Paige's bed. He couldn't believe it. Chris was his son. He was the dad Chris talked about never being there for him. He'd been so angry when he heard that. He blamed Chris' father in part for how broken he was. He had no idea that it was himself he hated.
"Leo, are you okay?" Paige asked. She was shocked by what they'd just learned as well. Chris was her nephew. He was Piper and Leo's son. Oh God. Piper had exiled her own son from the house. She'd threatened his life and called him evil. No wonder he'd tried to kill himself. Who wouldn't? If you didn't even have your mother to turn to, what was the point? That had to be what he was thinking. Piper was never going to forgive herself for this, and she wasn't sure Leo would either.
"M…my son tried to kill himself because of me. Nothing about that is okay," Leo said. He put his head in his hands and began to cry. He kept seeing Chris back on the floor at the club bleeding to death. He'd put him there, he and Piper did. They'd done this to their boy. They'd pushed him to the point where he thought death was his only salvation.
Paige sat down next to Leo and put a hand on his shoulder. "Leo, you said it yourself. Chris did what he did for a lot of reasons."
Leo breathed heavily for a few moments. "I said that because I thought though his family and us were not one in the same. Now I know that Piper and I are the sole reason Chris tried to commit suicide. We are responsible, no one else.
Paige wanted to tell Leo that he was wrong. She wanted to say that he wasn't responsible for what happened to Chris. But she couldn't. She couldn't say it any more than Leo could say it Piper just the other day. The fact was they were all responsible.
"You know, Chris let a few things slip about his parents. He said his dad was never around when he needed him. That he loved his brother more than him. He was talking about me. I basically abandoned my own son. I cast the first stone that led us to where we are now," Leo said guiltily.
"Leo, that hasn't happened yet," Paige said.
"It doesn't matter," Leo said before getting up and crossing the room.
"Of course it matters. You can't blame yourself for something that you haven't even done yet," Paige said.
Leo turned back to her. "Okay, fine. How about what I have done? Can I blame myself for all of that? Can I blame myself for beating my own son to a pulp? Can I blame myself for threating to have his wings clipped or have him recycled? Can I blame myself for looking him straight in the eye and saying he wasn't family. I think I can. And don't say not to blame myself because I didn't know because that's not an excuse."
"You're right. It's not an excuse. It's not an excuse. It's not an excuse for any of us. We all treated Chris terribly. We all aided in his suicide attempt," Paige said. It filled her with more pain and regret than she'd ever felt in her life, but she knew that she too played a part in her nephew's decision to kill himself.
"But I'm his father. I'm supposed to protect him and I nearly killed him. I nearly killed my own son," Leo said.
"No, Leo. You saved your son's life! I can't say that you didn't aid in Chris' suicide attempt because you did, we all did, but you saved him. I believe that something inside you knew something was wrong and that's why you went to the club. You saved your son that night. You got him help. And you didn't abandon him afterwards. You stood by his side. You gave him a reason to live," Paige said.
"No, I didn't. He still wants to kill himself, Paige. That was the whole point of the spell that took us to the future. To try to stop him from trying again," Leo said.
"Yes, right now, Chris still wants to die, but you made the first step. You stood by your son's side when he didn't expect you too. True, it hasn't done anything yet, but eventually it will. Down the road, he's going to remember that you were by his side. He's going to remember that you promised to help him and you kept that promise. That just might save him," Paige said.
"You really think that?" Leo asked skeptically.
"Yeah, I do. Chris may be angry with you and he's been more than a little hurt by you, but he loves you deep down, and as long as you keep doing what you're doing, you're going to be the first person he starts to trust. He needs you," Paige said. She got the feeling that Chris was going to need Leo even more than he did Piper. Chris' relationship with Piper was way too broken right now for her to help him, but Leo had already started trying to repair the damage he'd done. Leo had the ability to reach Chris.
Leo was quiet for a few moments as he thought about what Paige was saying. "You're right. Chris needs me. He needs me to be the father my future self never was to him. He needs to know that for once, he comes first."
"Good. I'm glad to hear you say that, not that I expected anything less," Paige said with a slight smile.
"That means I have to do something that I don't necessarily want to," Leo continued. He knew what he had to do. Piper would probably never forgive him when she found out everything, but if he didn't do it and something happened to Chris, he would never forgive her or himself.
"What do you mean?" Paige asked nervously. No part of her liked the way her brother-in-law said that. She got the feeling nobody was gonna like what Leo was about to do.
Leo looked right at her and spoke in the most determined voice he had. "I'm taking Chris away."