A/N: Thanks so much for your kind reviews. And thanks to anyone that's still reading, I hope the story isn't too confusing, any questions just ask.

Chapter 21: Hidden reasons

Wyatt was getting angrier every minute. He was in control; Chris couldn't resist any orders from him now. And that wasn't the only power he had over Chris. He also knew Chris and he knew his reactions. Till now, Chris was reacting as he had expected and Wyatt was enjoying the sensation of being the one that owed powers and the information. He was expecting Chris to yell about killing Brittany. He also knew that Chris would be incredibly mad when he learned that Ashcroft was Piper's true killer. But now Wyatt had lost that control. Chris was thinking about promises and a little girl and Wyatt had no idea of what that meant. Wyatt could read Chris' desperation at the idea of that girl dying. Even with all his powers Wyatt couldn't figure out what Chris' thoughts meant, so he waited for his answer angrily. Of all the sensations, the lost of control was the one he hated the most. But Chris had chosen not to answer his question.

"Tell me who the hell Christa is, now!" he yelled shaking Chris again. How Chris could be thinking on how he had failed in protecting that girl instead of thinking how to take revenge their mom's death?

He was so angry that he kept shaking Chris not realizing that his brother was already answering his question just because he couldn't help doing so.

"She's Ashcroft's youngest daughter."

Chris was angry, sad and scared. He was betraying Christa, now the poor girl was going to die and Wyatt was going to be mad, all at the same time. This wasn't good, it wasn't good at all.

"I don't get it," Wyatt hissed angrily. "I know everything. I have a lot of spies. I've tortured Laura non-stop. How could I miss the fact that her father had another child?"

Chris frowned at the mention of torturing Laura. "You are really disgusting Wyatt. But I guess Laura protected her little sister and that wasn't so hard because you never asked the right question. You've always assumed Brittany was the youngest. Think about it, I can't deny you any answers but it wasn't till now that you asked the right question. Besides, no one really knew. Some people at the resistance know Christa but they don't know how she's related to Ashcroft. Besides me, only her sisters and very few people know who she is. One of them was Daniel," he added sadly.

"And Bianca?"

"No, I never told her. She only knew Christa is my godchild."

"Godchild? You have a godchild I never knew about?"

Chris felt suddenly ashamed. Wyatt could sense that and he got even more confused. A new idea was forming in his mind, at it wasn't a good one.

"How old is this girl?" Wyatt asked suspiciously. He realized he had been right at his first impression because Chris turned suddenly red before answering softly.

"She's five" he hesitated but added "Almost six"

"Almost six? But that means…she was born before I..?"

"Yes, before you turned evil. But good and evil don't exist so you didn't turn to any of them, remember?." Chris said quickly. He was desperately trying to change the subject. He was reading disappointment from Wyatt and that was making him nervous…and strangely guilty even if he had done the right thing and he knew it.

"Don't make stupid jokes, Christopher. I meant after I became the source. So, you had a godchild and you never told me. I thought you told me everything back then. Guess me taking care of you wasn't a reason enough to trust me."

Wyatt seemed so offended that Chris felt hurt.

"Well I was going to have a niece and I never knew till I read your thoughts. Eve was pregnant and you never told me! And if I remember I was working my ass off to keep our mom's club and help in our maintenance, I never gave you a reason to hide anything from me. And in my defense if I had told you about Christa she would probably be dead by now."

"Maybe not dead, because making the potion takes time, but she would be in my power, that's for sure. "

"Oh, I'm sorry then. You are right, I should have told you," Chris spat rolling his eyes.

They remained in an awkward silence that was broken by Wyatt. He didn't know why but he felt he had to explain himself. He had always trusted Chris by then and he had to tell him there was another reason to hide things from him, not distrust.

"I just didn't want to hear your preaching. You've told me thousands of time to tell Eve about magic. I never did and then she got pregnant. So, when I told her she already had a magical child inside her. I was going to tell you, eventually. I just didn't want you to give me a hard time over that, I felt guilty enough."

"Oh. " Chris looked down.

"And in my defense, I trusted you would follow me when I explained you what I was doing in the underworld, I was going to tell you then and look how that turned out."

"I won't discuss that again, but I didn't care what you were doing there, just why you killed innocents in the meantime. I still don't get that."

Wyatt got angry again.

"Let's see if this explanation helps. Can't you see how they used you?"

Chris decided Wyatt was going to go to one of his "you should turn because everyone is against us" speech. He wished he could orb away but as he couldn't orb he just answered angrily.

"Enlighten me, oh, wise brother. Who used me and how?"

"What reason did Ashcroft give you to keep the girl as a secret?" Wyatt chose to ignore his brother's sarcasm.

"Because the Elders resented the fact that he had her with a human woman, and to make things worse a woman who wasn't even his wife"

"But his wife was dead."

"But that could have exposed magic. The woman was in poor health to begin with, and the birth and the magical pregnancy sapped the rest of it. She died when Christa was a year old." Chris made a pause, a little confused " I don't see what you're getting at?"

"That's not the reason, silly boy. The real reason is that he killed mom and he didn't want anyone to find out. He wanted you to grow fond of the girl in case we ever learned about Hammorand demons."

Chris wanted to think this was another of Wyatt's plans but he found himself thinking this made some sense. That's what he had thought when Wyatt had told him that Ashcroft was that person. The book and the story of the demons could be a lie, but it didn't seem that way. Chris could feel the book's power. Years of black magic had been stored in it; it wasn't just an invention of Wyatt's. If Wyatt wasn't lying about Ashcroft's family being one of Amanda's descendents, what he said made sense. It made a lot of sense, actually. He remembered how Ashcroft had hid Christa, almost never visiting her. Chris had acted like a father for the little girl, especially because Ashcroft's attitude had reminded him of Leo's. But he couldn't believe that Brittany had been faking just to make him protect her sister.

"Are you implying that Brittany..?" The question came out of his mouth before he could realize that with that question he was giving some credit to Wyatt's words.

"No. She didn't know any of this…I told you I tortured Laura, believe me I'm sure she didn't lie to me in those circumstances. You are right, she took advantage that I always assumed Brittany was the youngest and I never asked if she was. I don't think she would have dared to lie. She told me she knew about the demons but Brittany didn't. She acknowledged that her father was Amanda's' descendant and the one controlling the link with the demons now. Laura is the person that will manage the link if Ashcroft dies so, she had to know. She admitted that killing her youngest sister the link will be broken and the demons will probably die. She also said that probably his father can make the demons do things. But she denied that Ashcroft used that link for anything. I think she suspects he killed mom. She knows I want Brittany to break the link, she knows I think Ascroft killed mom. She thinks he didn't but he could have done it without telling her. She wasn't even twenty when mom died. About Brittany, I guess her father used her too."

"But Brittany was the one that named her Christa, later on she told me that it was because she was already in love with me."

"I'm sure it was her father's idea and it made it sound like hers. Think about it, Ashcroft hates us….why choose one of us to be the girl's godfather? He needed to choose one and you were the softer one and Daniel's friend". Wyatt said the last words with disgust. Daniel had been Ashcroft's two (or three) daughter's whitelighter. That was another reason for Wyatt to hate him. Chris felt anger and hate growing inside him and he realized he was feeling just what Wyatt wanted him to. He couldn't. He had to be better than that.

"If Ashcroft did it there has to be another way to find out. I'm sure there is a way that doesn't imply killing Christa. Please, Wyatt. I'll help you, you won't have to force me, and if I ever find out he did it you won't have to order me to kill that bastard. I'm going to make him suffer so much, that he'll be the one pleading with me to kill him." He realized he had just sounded like Wyatt but he didn't care. It could still be a lie. The fact that Ashcroft's family was related to the demon didn't exactly imply he had done it. Wyatt was really powerful. Nothing could stop him. If Wyatt helped him they would find a way, a way to let Christa live and find out the same.

"Three things little brother " Wyatt was happy at his brother's trust in his powers even if Chris didn't trust him personally, it was a start already. It was great to see Chris trusting he would fix things, just like the old times. "One, the only reason Ashcroft is alive is to prove to you he did this, I personally don't need to be 100 percent sure to kill him…and I'm 90 percent sure , that's more than enough for me. I don't think there is another way to prove he used the link; the only one is breaking it. If we do that, he'll be able to use mom's powers and even if he doesn't use them, we'll sense them. But even if I find a way to know if he did it without breaking the link, the number of demons is growing. If we don't kill Christa and do the ceremony this month, the number of demons will be so much that nothing, not even the ceremony will stop them. And that will be the end of the world, at least the magical one. "

"And since when do you care about the world?"

"I know you like to think I'm awful and I don't care about anything. But the point is, people that follow me live in peace, they are safe and they know it. Especially witches, I take care of the humans but the witches know that if they follow me they can practice their magic and no one will attack them for that."

"And the ones that don't follow you die?"

"Of course. What better reason to follow me could anyone have? I take care of my followers. I rule the word and no stupid mindless demons will stop me. Ashcroft almost did it hiding his daughter, he was clever but now I know. Sooner or later I'll have that girl."

"I won't let you harm her," Chris hissed.

"Chris, I'm not lying, I know you can sense that. The world is really going to end if we don't kill this girl. If we kill her, I get to prove to you the Elder's killed mom, because you know that if Ashcroft broke the balance in such a way it had to be with the Elder's approval. If we don't kill her you'll never know and the world will be taken by stupid demons that suck powers. It's not really a hard choice for me. You can't seriously put one girl's life over the world's sake. You know, some of my followers are what you like to call "innocents". We don't want them to die, right?" Wyatt asked mockingly.

"You should know by now that if saving the worlds implies killing a person I love I won't do it. If I didn't think like this , you wouldn't exist any more."

Wyatt looked hurt at that remark. He hated thinking how his brother had fooled him and gone to the past, where he could have killed him. He felt tired of this; it was time to discuss something useful.

"Enough talk" he said angrily. "It's time to summon your godchild so that we can save the world and see if that bastard killed mom."

"I'm not going to summon anyone."

"Oh, yes you are. After all, saving the world is your favorite hobby, not mine." Wyatt said with a calm smile. He couldn't believe his brother. Chris should have learnt by now there were no arguments with him.

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"I told you this wouldn't work. Ashcroft probably gave her a blocking potion, thank God." Chris was exhausted. Wyatt had made him summon Christa non-stop. The little girl wasn't answering. Wyatt was trying to make her orb to the manor but it was useless.. But Wyatt was too stubborn to give up.

Wyatt had finally allowed him to leave the "evil room". Now they were back at the office. Chris was sitting in a chair in front of Wyatt, giving some longing looks to a couch near by. But Wyatt didn't (or didn't want to) notice that. He was also ignoring Chris exhausted state.

"There aren't blocking potions that powerful, I'm enhancing your power, and nothing can fight that. Perhaps we can't summon her here even if your sensing and my powers should be enough to do that. Still, I'm sure she can listen, so use her trust and make her come. The potion won't keep her out if she wants to come. And don't you dare use the fact that I can't control your thoughts or I'll make you kill people and hurt her, and I mean it."

After that threat Chris didn't dare fight any more and he kept trying. Luckily, the blocking potion seemed to be effective enough and Christa didn't answer at all.

"Don't forget I made the potion. You've always said my potions were the best." Chris finally stood up and went to the sofa, he wanted to lie down. He felt tired and weak. "Now, please, Wyatt I really need to sleep."

"All right, but don't you dare think you won. We'll find the girl tomorrow. Are you ok? You seem…pale." Wyatt couldn't place it but something was definitely wrong with Chris.

"I'm all right besides…"

A voice in his head stopped him.

"Chris, daddy is sleeping. Is it true that you don't love me any more? That you want to hurt me?"

"Of course not, Christa, I'll always love you. Now..." He wanted to tell the girl to go to sleep and not listen to him but he didn't do it fast enough. Wyatt quickly flamed to his side and whispered in his ear. "Tell her to come here, don't you dare disobey or the next thing you'll know is that I killed her and made you kill all my prisoners after torturing them."

"Is Lord Wyatt with you? Can I meet him now? You said that when you were back you'd let me meet him, why can't I sense you, Chris? Are you hiding?"

"I'm here; Christa and I can't wait to meet you. Chris was right everything is great now and we both want to play with you."

"Is that Lord Wyatt, Chris?" Christa sounded so excited that Chris felt confused.

"Yes, it's me" Wyatt answered before Chris could say anything.

"Are you as powerful as they all say? Are you twice blessed? Chris always said you were the best. I know your song, I wanted to buy the dolls but daddy didn't let me. I had one that I found but daddy found out he got angry and he..."

"All right Christa, come here and I promise I'll give you all the dolls you want" Even in his head Wyatt sounded excited.

While he talked, Wyatt was trying to summon the girl through the mental connection she had with Chris and that Wyatt himself was using to communicate with her. It was an advantage that Chris now had Wyatt's telepathic powers but still it was useless. The god dammm potion was preventing him from summoning Christa.

"Why doesn't Chris say anything?" The girl sounded distrustful. Wyatt sent Chris a warning look.

"I just don't know what dolls or songs you are talking about, but come here, honey and we can play like we used to." Chris was too afraid to say anything else. If Christa appeared there he would try to help her to escape. That was the best he could do.

"Is Lord Wyatt as great as you said he used to be?. You said he was going to be your brother again and that he would play with me…"

Wyatt looked at Chris and Chris swallowed. But he couldn't risk angering Wyatt. He wouldn't stand killing anyone else and Wyatt would go on with his threat, he knew it.

"Yes, Wyatt is that great again come and..."

"Then he'll listen to my song. Do you want to listen lord Wyatt?"

"Yes, sure, come and.."

"No, now I want to sing now. I can never sing, I learnt the song for you so that I'd know it when Chris saved you and now you don't want to listen" The girl seemed about to cry, Wyatt still couldn't summon her and he was getting nervous.

"All right, Christa, sing. I'd love to hear how you sing my song"

"Lord Wyatt is so powerful

lord Wyatt is so wonderful

he he he..is greeeeat. I'm sorry I couldn't learn it better. Daddy never let me listen to it. But I want to sing it again"

"No please come…" Wyatt didn't know what to do. He couldn't summon her and as much as he was using Chris' powers to locate the girl, that didn't seem to work.

"I'm not doing anything. I'm sorry daddy, please don't be angry again."

After Christa thought that, Chris and Wyatt lost their connection with her.

"Bring it back and summon her." Wyatt ordered angrily.

"I can't."

"You are trying to fool me. Your whitelighter powers are more powerful than this. I lost my sensing when I became the source but you didn't, I'm sure you can sense her and summon her. And I'm enhancing your power. There is no way a potion can block our power. We are too strong."

"I'm not doing anything; I really can't sense her or bring the mental connection back. But I think that if Ashcroft is stopping us, that makes sense. He probably gave her the potion again and his connection with her is really strong since he's her father. I hope he didn't get too angry with her for talking to us."

"Tell the truth Chris, how are you stopping me from summoning her?"

"I'm-not-and-that's the truth." Chris yelled remarking every word. "Bastard" he added. He was starting to feel exhausted. He thought that he would fall asleep right there. He approached the couch , lied on it and closed his eyes, surprised that Wyatt wasn't stopping him.

"Your sensing is what's wrong. She couldn't sense you and that's not right, now that I think I feel like you are far away even if you are right here. If it weren't for our power we wouldn't have been able to talk to her. What's wrong with you? Has anyone hurt you?"

"You put a spell on me, don' you remember? And as to my sensing or my presence, I don't know what's wrong. I can sense you perfectly well, even better than before. But I'm feeling weak, may be the time trip affected my powers or your stupid spell did that, who knows." Chris closed his eyes and he thought it would be a good idea to sleep on the couch till Wyatt got tired of talking.

"But your sensing was all right this morning." Wyatt mumbled. He studied Chris carefully letting his brother sleep. He looked exhausted, but nothing major. Yet, he had the feeling that something was wrong but he couldn't place what. He just knew that his brother presence wasn't as strong as before. He could still sense him.

Even if he was trying to avoid memories, nights where he used to carry Chris to his bed after a rough night at P3 came to his mind. "Like old times" he thought sadly. Determined not to let stupid thoughts win, he decided he would take care of his brother's problem tomorrow. May be Chris just needed some rest. He decided against carrying him. His brother seemed like the tender kid he used to be and Wyatt used to love, but Wyatt knew he was a powerful threat, and he wouldn't let Chris fool him again.

Still he approached his brother and he mumbled slowly.

"Chris, orb to your room and change your clothes, get ready for bed. Let me know when you are ready, go now."

Half sleep Chris obeyed. Wyatt watched him silently. Now that Chris was in his bedroom he felt his brother's presence weaken, but it was still strong. "It can't be that serious. It's better if he rests. We'll deal with that tomorrow."

He heard Chris' voice saying he was ready and he orbed to his brother's room.

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"As I've said I'm ready to go and nothing is going to stop me," Piper was drawing quickly and the whole family was watching her.

"But you don't have a spell," Phoebe reminded her.

"Well, think of something while I finish the drawing. If you don't, I'm going to try every spell in the book till I make it to the future. No one is going to lay a finger on my baby. Besides, I want to see what the hell happened to Chris."

"Leo, why don't you stop her?"

"Because I think she's right."

The two sisters looked at Leo as if he was crazy. "The Elders are hiding things and the answer is in the future. Plus if we take baby Wyatt he might be able to break the spell and Chris will give us some answers."

"Yes Leo but…"

Leo started searching the book.

"Nothing is going to stop us, Phoebe. I don't know why you don't think is a good idea, you were ready to help Piper before, but I really don't care. I'm going to the future and not you, anyone or anything will change my…"Leo was saying but something stopped him.

"What about that?" Phoebe asked pointing to the wall.

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"I don't get it, are you going to read me a bed time story?" Chris asked feeling ridiculous. He had changed his clothes and called Wyatt as he brother had ordered. Now he was in bed and Wyatt was looking at him.

"No, I'm putting you to sleep."

"Put me to sleep…like when you put an sick dog to sleep?" Chris sounded a little scared.

"Of course not!" Wyatt seemed even amused at Chris strange analogy. Then he turned serious again before adding. "But I don't want any tricks like the one you pulled last night. So I'm telling you when to sleep and you can't get up until I say so."

"Come on Wyatt, what if someone attacks me?" Chris wanted to argue further, but he was falling asleep. He didn't know if it was normal to be so tired. Wyatt had also time traveled and he seemed tired but not exhausted. Of course, Wyatt was twice blessed, he thought bitterly.

"All right. You can wake up if you need to but the minute you are up you'll call for me. Is that clear?"

"Yes. It's clear. This is silly. It's just as silly as Christa's song. What was that about, by the way? Wonderful lord Wyatt…"

"Oh, it's nothing. She didn't sing it right...it's just a TV ad I made. "

"You make ads? And you make little dolls that look like you?"

"Well, my advisors do those things. Hey, those things are useful" Wyatt smiled at Chris amused expression. "Kids love me. You heard Christa." Wyatt added.

Chris laughed "She always watches TV in secret, that girl is a serious case. And dolls…I want one. It would be fun playing with a little you, wonderful Lord Wyatt. "

"Stop it Chris. And there are songs about you too. We are launching your doll next month, don't get jealous."

Chris was going to reply but Wyatt interrupted him quickly.

"Sleep now," he mumbled.

Before he could think of a reply Chris fell asleep.

Wyatt watched him sadly. He'd made a lot of progress but Chris was still fighting him. And another thing he didn't understand was why his brother's presence was still weak, weaker even than in the living room. "Maybe it was that room full of evil magic, I should be more careful when I expose Chris to those thing. I'll find a solution tomorrow."

He looked again at his brother, sleeping he seemed harmless. He had really missed him, more than he liked to admit. He couldn't believe they had been apart for five years. There had been a time when they couldn't be apart even for a day. With that idea in his mind, he sat on Chris' bed.

"Chris, wake up. I'm going to ask you a question, answer it and go back to sleep."

Chris opened his eyes and gave him a confused look.

"Did you miss me?" Wyatt asked fearfully. He leaned in closer to hear Chris' soft spoken answer.

"Every day," Chris whispered with an annoyed tone of voice and he went back to sleep.

Wyatt found himself smiling. "I hope you'll have sweet dreams, little brother," he mumbled before shimmering away. He needed some rest before facing a tough day. He had to find Christa. And make sure Chris wouldn't be able to stop him.

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"What about that?" Phoebe mumbled pointing at the wall.

Everyone was looking at the wall that was glowing.

Two men were coming through it. One was blonde and tall and the other was Chris. They were both wearing jeans and funny T-shirts. The blonde guy had his arms wrapped around Chris shoulders.

Paige was happy to see Chris was alive. She wasn't expecting to see him again.

"Chris" she said happily. She heard that Piper was saying the same. Piper felt relief, finally she was having her answers, and with that thought she ran to greet Chris.

Thinking of her premonitions, Phoebe just stayed behind, her eyes fixed on the guy she'd seen in so many premonitions.

"Who's he?" she mumbled. She had seen him too many times; she could feel they had a strong connection. But in all her visions he had been dressed in black and now he was wearing jeans and a funny T-shirt, it was so confusing.

"Wyatt" Leo answered Phoebe's question. He would always recognize his son. Of course that was Wyatt, Wyatt all grown up, Wyatt looking like the good man he would be for sure. Everything was ok and they were probably there to tell them that.

Apparently not everything was ok because the moment he thought that, he fell to the floor. One of the two new comers had hit him with telekinesis.

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A/N: Yes, it's really Chris and Wyatt at the past. How? Why? Good or evil? Next chapter!