"Chris!" exclaimed Piper, running to her son's side. "Are you ok? What happened?" Chris was surprised by the concerned tone in Piper's voice. He had expected that by now his sister would have turned the Charmed Ones against him- he had certainly given her enough ammunition over the years- but apparently she wasn't as persuasive as he had given her credit for. As Chris looked up into his mother's worried eyes; a glimmer of hope ignited within him- maybe all wasn't as lost as he had expected.

"I'm... I'm fine." He stammered. He pushed himself up from the floor, swaying slightly

"No you're not." fussed Piper, examining his bruised face and steadily reddening shirt- the shoulder wound Bianca had stitched up had been pulled open by Henry's attacks. "Quickly; heal him." she ordered, turning to her daughter. Melinda froze. Her natural white-lighter desire to help witches was being clouded by her undiluted hatred for her brother.

"No." She replied petulantly.

"He's hurt!" Piper insisted. Melinda bit her lip- clearly not wanting to have an argument with her long dead mother.

"Fine." she spat, glaring daggers at Chris. She step forward to heal her brother and as the siblings came face to face a light suddenly switched on in her eyes. "Well- as I am going to heal you any way..." And before anyone could stop her she punched him hard in the face. "That was for dad." She hissed before proceeding to heal him. The Charmed Ones were all astonished by the act of cold blooded violence, but Chris just chuckled.

"Missed you too, sis." he said, infuriating Melinda even more. "Though you know my face was pretty numb from the beating it already took. If you wanted it to hurt you should have healed me first, punched me and then healed me again."

Melinda clenched and un-clenched her fists, clearly ready to attack her brother for real, but before she got a chance; Prue stepped forward.

"You know, he does have a point, Mels." She said. Then she too punched Chris hard in the face. "Better?" She enquired. Chris shrugged- clearly having expected such a reaction.

"About the same- Mel hits harder." Both teenagers now looked about ready to murder the new arrival but before they had a chance, Henry stepped forward.

"Alright enough!" he ordered, taking charge of the situation before it got out of control. He pulled the only chair in the room away from the desk. "Chris, take a seat. Girls; other side of the room. Now." Chris obeyed without question- he saw no gain in either pissing off his uncle or seeming unreasonable. Melinda and Prue both hesitated but quickly bowed under the parental pressure in the room.

"Chris, what happened to you?" asked Piper, crouching down besides Chris's seat.

"There's no point asking him anything yet!" Cut in Melinda before Chris had a chance to answer. "He'll lie through his tee-"

"Melinda." said Henry, raising his voice ever so slightly. "You need to cool off right now, or you can go join Parker."

The youngest Halliwell hadn't been invited to take part in the interrogation. Her recent poor behaviour, Henry had decided, meant that she couldn't be trusted. Instead she had been sent to join one of the training sessions and one of the few remaining Valkyries was keeping an eye on her. Melinda opened her mouth to protest further, but her uncle shot her a warning look and she gave in, muttering curses under her breath. Piper nodded her thanks to her future brother in law and continued.

"Chris; tell us. What happened to you? Did Wyatt find out what you did?"

"Wyatt doesn't use his fists and I don't get caught."

"So then what happened?"

"I covered my tracks, but they still don't trust me so they set me a test. I can't tell if it's Wyatt's plan or not but either way; Junior took me out into a field and- as politely as he knows how- told me to either come back with information on your movements or not to return at all. Then he pinned this flower to me and waited." Henry's eyes flicked down for the first time to the flower Junior had attached to Chris' shirt. For a second Chris could have sworn he saw a hint of recognition in his eyes but it was concealed in an instant if it had ever been there at all. "Mean anything to you?"

Henry Senior examined it slightly closer then shrugged. He opened the question to the rest of the group, Paige commented on its beauty but no one revealed any hidden symbolism beyond that.

"Must have been his idea of gift wrapping." suggested Prue. Chris' eyes were still fixed on Henry Senior, but he was giving nothing else away.

"Wait; am I missing something." chimed in Piper, turning to Melinda "Who is Junior? Is that the same guy you mentioned before- the one that was trapped with you in the manor until he joined with Wyatt?" All of the future dwellers turned their focus to Henry, and the three Charmed Ones followed their lead. Henry cleared his throat and ruffled his hair awkwardly, looking anywhere but at Paige as he contemplated how to answer. Unfortunately Melinda replied before he had a chance.

"He's Henry and Paige's adopted son." She explained, using the same disgusted tone she reserved for all the male Halliwell kids. "Like you said he joined with Wyatt in exchange for demon powers. He's been his second in command ever since." Paige was stunned. She had been waiting eagerly to learn of any children she might have since she had arrived in this time and now her news was just as bad as Piper's. She opened her mouth but before any sound came out, Henry cut in- apparently he wasn't so eager to discuss the matter.

"Chris, we have some questions for you, and we need honest answers." Chris' eyes darted from Henry to Paige, feeling a strange and unprecedented urge to defend his cousin's actions, but in the end no defence jumped to mind.

"Ask away." He said.

"And as much as I am sure you would answer honestly; you don't exactly have the best track record when it comes to the truth." Henry suddenly found himself unable to look at Chris. Truth potion wasn't a nice experience- particularly not one of the strength Melinda, Piper and Paige would have concocted. You lose almost all free will- your mind is practically blank other than for the answer to any question asked, which the potion forces you to speak aloud. You're paralysed because your brain can't even remember how to move its limbs and any attempt to fight its affects results in serious pain. Henry hadn't endured the experience personally, but after witnessing it's work a few times- to his mind; it was second only to torture and he couldn't believe he was about to give it to his nephew.

It didn't take Chris long to put together the pieces- none of the adults could look at him and both his sister and his cousin had adopted cruel smirks. He shot up out of the seat, turning to each adult in the room, looking for an ally.

"No way." he stated, and for the second time that day his heart accelerated in panic as he lost control of the situation. "You can't be serious!" Henry, his head resolved even if his heart wasn't, pushed down on his nephew's shoulder, forcing him to sit back down.

"I am sorry Chris, but we can't risk you playing any more tricks." His eyes flicked briefly to Paige, then back to Chris. "Not now."

Chris had experienced truth potion three times in his life- each time at Wyatt's hands. The first time he had been completely helpless, but fortunately that had been during the early stages of the Empire so Chris had had nothing of great importance to hide. The second time; Chris had recognised the taste of the potion which Wyatt slipped into his food a few weeks after Melinda's escape. That time he had been quick thinking enough to act- orbing the food out of his mouth and as close to the bin in his room as possible- it had been messy, but Wyatt learned nothing. After that, Chris took matters into his own hand. He wrote a spell to help resist the effects, but that had required his magic to be at full strength, and Chris knew that without his powers he would once more be defenceless- well maybe not entirely. He perhaps had enough magic left to tell one lie. He would just have to make it count.

"Mom, you can't let them do this to me!" He implored. For a second Chris thought it had worked, but then Piper sighed and held Chris' hand sympathetically.

"Chris, you lived with us for months and that is the first time you have even acknowledged I am your mother. Surely you understand why we need to do this."

"But-" Began Chris, though he had no defence. He could point out that he only kept his identity a secret to prevent serious future consequences, but their minds had already been made up and if he had any hope of getting out of the cell he was in; he needed their trust. As Bianca had pointed out, he hadn't technically done anything wrong and it had all been with the goal of stopping Wyatt. "Fine." he conceded. He had no choice and it would be better for him in the long one if he seemed cooperative.

Henry handed him the potion and Chris downed it quickly. It felt just like drinking water except it wasn't at all quenching and all too quickly he felt his mind begin to cloud. He didn't bother to fight it- a; because he knew he couldn't, and b; he needed to save all of is power up for one single, potentially crucial lie.

"Thank you. Now; have you been completely honest with us since you arrived?" Chris's eyes could no longer focus on anything but he was fairly confident he was still talking to his uncle.

"No." He replied- or rather the potion replied, for he was no longer in control.

"What did you lie about?"

"I said my face was numb so I couldn't feel Mel's punch, but I could- the other bruises made the pain of that punch ten times worse than Prue's punch." If Chris could focus on her, he would have seen a small satisfied smirk on his sister's face. Henry sighed- this element of truth potion annoyed him as without asking very careful questions the interrogation takes twice as long as the subject tells irrelevant truths.

"But did you lie about how you came to be here? Is Wyatt really testing you or is this part of a more devious plan?"

"As I said before I don't know if Wyatt is behind this, but it is a test and as far as I am aware there isn't currently a bigger plan in play. The arrival of the Charmed Ones has thrown everything off for him- he needs more time until he can work out a counter move."

"And do you plan on passing this test? Are you on Wyatt's side?"

"I do plan on passing the test." Admitted Chris and this response made Melinda raise her arms as if to say 'I told you so' and made Piper and Phoebe exchange astonished looks. "I have to. There are people whose lives rely on me proving myself. But I am not on Wyatt's side." Now Piper sighed in relief and Melinda slowly lowered her arms. She was surprised by this response, but not completely ready to admit she was wrong.

"But are you on our side?" She demanded.

"No."

Melinda turned to the group triumphant, but Henry just rolled his eyes- bored of the sibling rivalry- and continued with the interrogation as if the interruption hadn't happened.

"Chris, why did you go back in time?"

"To save Wyatt."

"Save him from what? The resistance?" Even under the influence of the potion Chris found this notion amusing.

"I wanted to save him from himself- to stop him turning into what he is today. The resistance isn't a threat to Wyatt. It never was. Before you had poor leadership and now you have no army." Melinda recognised this thinly veiled insult towards Leo but fortunately Henry did too, he held up his hand, silently requesting her patients, and then carried on.

"How could you possibly do that from 2003? All of this started much later." Chris attempted to shake his head, but he had such little control that his head simply flopped limply to one side then circled back to its normal position.

"It was starting way before mom's death." He said, the potion blocking the filter in his brain that would usually sugar coat his words. "I heard mom and Paige talk about it one night when they thought I was asleep. Something happened to him before I was born that changed him. It was like he lost faith in the system- he started raising his shield against white-lighters as well as demons and when he started to talk he said he didn't want to be a part of any of it. Leo started spending more time with him to show him how important it was, but Mom said she wasn't sure if he ever really believed in the fight or if he just got better at hiding his feelings."

"Wait, what happened to him?" demanded Piper.

"You never said. That's why I was sending you after any demon that could be a threat to the twice blessed; it was a process of elimination."

Silence fell as everyone processed this. They had all believed that it had been Piper's death that had pushed Wyatt to the dark side, and the idea that it had in fact started so much earlier concerned them all. Piper didn't want to believe she could ever allow something so terrible to happen to Wyatt, but she could hardly accuse Chris of lying. There was only one small flicker of light she could gleam from Chris' tale.

"So you're not on his side." She breathed, relief flooding through her. Paige and Phoebe too seemed to be relishing in this revelation. Even Henry placed his hand proudly on his nephew's shoulder. Only Melinda objected. She pushed her way to the centre of the group angrily shaking her head.

"No." She stated. "No! You can't all be buying this! This doesn't prove anything. So his conscience made one final push to be heard. How did he react? He didn't try to find us- he tried to wipe the whole slate clean with some half-cocked scheme that could have made everything worse. He's as much against the resistance as he is against Wyatt's empire. Aren't I right Chris?" Chris, who probably have responded truthfully with or without truth potion shrugged as best as he could with next to no control over his muscles.

"Yes, but-"

"So before we rush to judgement based on this one irrational act let's review some of your other decisions in the last six or so years." The adults all exchanged uncertain looks, but no one tried to stop this new line of interrogation. "That day when dad came to rescue me, didn't you try and stop us by telling Wyatt?"

"Yes but I knew you would get away."

"Really? You knew me and dad would escape? You knew about Aunt Phoebe's distraction?"

"No. I knew you would escape. I believed Leo would sacrifice himself to save you. Obviously if I had known Aunt Phoebe's plan I would have taken..." Melinda gasped, drawing further conclusions not yet obvious to the rest of the group and then slapped Chris hard across the face and tears appeared in her eyes.

"I knew it was you." She hissed. "You were there in the battle. You sent him straight to Wyatt to finish off your pathetic, adolescent revenge against dad for slights you exaggerate." If Chris had any control over his muscles, he would have rolled his eyes or made some other critical gesture in response to the poor summary of his relationship with his father. As it was, however, all he could do is insert the smallest hint of sarcasm into his voice.

"Do you have a question?" Melinda was practically shaking now- a part of her hadn't believed Chris to be capable of such despicable acts until now.

"Did. You." she began, emphasising every word through gritted teeth, "Send. Dad. To Wyatt. That. Night?" For just a second Chris was able to make eye contact with his sister- but a second was enough.

"Yes." Melinda raised her hand to slap him once more, but Henry caught it, bringing Melinda back to the room. Melinda pulled her arm free but didn't fight against the implication. She backed off and allowed her uncle to resume the interrogation.

"Why, Chris?" He demanded. "Why would you betray your father like that? It must be about more than just his quality as a parent?" Piper's focus was flicking quickly between Melinda, Chris and Henry looking for some kind of explanation for her husband's apparently poor parenting techniques.

"It was about his quality as a leader." conceded Chris. "You can't put a pacifist in charge of an army- they don't know what to do. The Valkyries were warriors- they pushed him towards war and the only person left to talk sense was Phoebe. Five years ago I betrayed Leo because I hoped that if she took command then she would be smart enough to avoid head on conflict. During the battle I saw that Wyatt was heading after Phoebe. I needed to distract him. I had to choose between Leo and Phoebe and when I saw him orb I took that as a sign- not that I needed a sign." He added- the truth potion compelling him to speak the absolute truth. "If he hadn't have orbed himself I would have done it for him."

"So you did it to save Phoebe?" clarified Henry.

"I did it so save the most innocents possible. It stopped being about saving family members a long time ago."

The interrogating group once more exchanged glances- silently determining if they had any more questions for Chris whilst they could guarantee his honestly. Piper was satisfied with her son's responses and was now far more eager to interrogate other members of the room. Melinda too had gained all the answers she sought- even if she wasn't happy with what they were and Phoebe and Paige were keeping out of the fray. Only Prue stepped forwards.

"My father-" She began hesitantly- no doubt dreading any answer Chris could provide. "What happened to him?" This was the first question that had genuinely surprised Chris- he had noticed, of course, that Coop wasn't amongst their number but he had assumed him to be with Parker.

"Coop's missing?" He questioned. Prue nodded her head, now more panicked than ever- at least if Chris had have said her father had been captured by Wyatt she would have had an answer- not knowing was so much worse especially as her sister was so determined to get answers. "Wyatt doesn't have him- I was in the Halliwell area of the prison yesterday and Coop wasn't there. On the bright side; Wyatt would have told me if our uncle had been killed by one of his demons so there is a safe chance your dad is still alive." Prue closed her eyes, fighting back tears. In part she was, of course, relieved, but she was also terrified about how far Parker might go to locate their father if she heard this news.

"One final question, Chris." said Henry after Prue stepped away. "Going forward; can we trust you?"

This was it. This was the question Chris had reserved all of his last vestiges of will power and magic to answer. Pausing only briefly to summon every last reserve and chanting his specially prepared spell in his head; Chris locked eyes with his uncle.

"Yes."