FALSE MEMORIES
My first posted story here. Also my first Charmed Fanfic, although I have written fanfiction for other shows.
Disclaimer: The characters in Charmed do not belong to me. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Summary: Loved the Piper/Leo/Chris family dynamic in Season 6 so that's when this story is based. Set after Chris-Crossed and Prince Charming. Nobody knows who Chris is yet, but they're about to find out, courtesy of an unexpected visitor from the future…
Notes: Hi! As promised, not such a huge gap between updates this time. :-)
So, with no further ado, let's find out how our fallen hero is doing…
Chapter 26
Summoned by Piper's frantic call for help, Leo orbed in from the heavens at exactly the same moment that his sister-in-laws did the same from downstairs at the Halliwell Manor. "What happened?" he asked, rushing to join his wife at their stricken son's side.
"I don't know!" Piper said, agitatedly wringing her hands over Chris's prone form. "I heard a crash and when I got here, he was unconscious on the floor."
"Okay – help me get him onto the bed," Leo said, hefting Chris into a sitting position with a grunt of effort. "He'll only cut himself again if we don't move him first," he explained off his wife's disbelieving look.
Pulling one of his son's arms over his shoulders, he hooked his other arm around the boy's waist and awkwardly manoeuvred his limp body onto the bed with Piper's help. Perching on the edge of the mattress, he then held his glowing hands out over Chris's unconscious form, while Paige cleared up the mess of broken glass and pottery on the floor with her orbing power.
With Phoebe hovering anxiously behind her, Piper watched with bated breath as the bleeding wounds on her son's bare arms and torso slowly closed up under the healing yellow glow from his father's hands. Her initial relief ended up being short-lived however, because - while his physical wounds repaired themselves quickly enough - Chris's eyes remained resolutely closed, despite Leo's continued efforts to heal him.
"What is it? What's wrong?" she demanded as her husband slowly lowered his hands, his expression one of grave concern.
Leo shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe it's not a physical illness."
"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked sharply, and then quickly turned towards her son when he let out a low groan and began to stir.
Moments later, Chris's eyelids fluttered open and he looked up at his worried parents, his green eyes confused. "Whoa! Did I faint?" he asked, his voice slurring over the words.
"It looks like it," Leo replied. "Do you remember what happened?"
"Umm - I woke up with a horrible headache and then when I went to get up, my legs didn't work."
"How do you feel now?"
"Err – the headache's not so bad, I guess, but I still feel really weird."
"Weird how?" Leo asked.
"I don't know – strange – all light-headed and weak."
"All right," Leo said, quickly going into doctor mode. "You need to get some food inside you – porridge would be good - it releases energy slowly so it will help stabilise your blood sugar levels."
"I'll get it," Phoebe offered, knowing that her sister wouldn't want to leave her son's side at the moment.
Leo smiled gratefully at her and she quietly left the room. When she'd gone, the Elder continued to interrogate his son. "You need to tell us everything that you did yesterday," he instructed.
"You can't heal me," Chris realised, finally understanding why they were all looking at him as if the world was about to end.
"No, no I can't," Leo said, "Which is why it's important that we trace the origin of what's happening to you, so we can work out how to reverse the effects. Other than death, very few things can circumvent an Elder's healing power in this way."
"Okay," Chris replied, trying to sit up but finding that his arms weren't strong enough to bear his weight. "I'll tell you what I did, but I warn you, yesterday was pretty uneventful."
"Dammit!" he swore, flopping back against the bed, frustrated by his inexplicable weakness.
Without comment, Leo propped up several pillows against the headboard and helped him into a half-reclining position. "It doesn't matter," he assured his son, once the young witch-whitelighter was comfortably settled. "Just tell us what you did do."
"Well, I was here with Wyatt for most of the day. Mom had to go to the Club, and as you were 'up there' and the girls were at work, I got stuck with the babysitting duties."
"And nothing unusual happened while we were gone?"
"No – unless you count having to change the world's stinkiest diaper, which was definitely an experience and a half, I can tell you. Baby poop should come with a government health warning attached if you ask me."
Leo smiled, reassured by the fact that his son's biting wit still seemed to be intact despite his weakened physical state. "And you had no visitors? No salesmen at the door or anything like that?"
Chris shook his head. "No. It was just me and Wyatt."
"Right and what about when the girls came home?"
"Well, I helped Mom with dinner and then I went to the demon bar to meet Nazcheck. After listening to his nasty anecdotes for a few hours, I came home and went to bed. That's it."
"And you didn't eat or drink anything while you were out?"
Chris shrugged. "A few mouthfuls of beer at the bar, that's all."
"Did it taste strange or odd in anyway?" Leo pressed.
"In that place it always tastes odd," Chris replied with a shudder. "But I didn't detect anything different from usual if that's what you're asking."
"So you think I've been poisoned then?" he enquired of his father after a beat.
"It's possible," Leo answered, "There are some mystical poisons that are immune to Elder healing powers so it's definitely something we should look into."
"I'll check the Book," Paige said as Phoebe came back into the room, carrying a steaming bowl of porridge and a squeezy bottle of maple syrup.
Reaching out eagerly, Chris took his breakfast from his Aunt and veritably drowned the milky concoction in syrup before tucking in with enthusiasm. His body was desperately craving an energy boost so the food tasted like ambrosia on his tongue. Consequently, he couldn't stop the low moan of pleasure that escaped his throat as he swallowed the first mouthful.
"You should check out the Library at Magic School as well," Leo advised his sister-in-law, "The Book of Shadows might not tell us what we need to know. It was created for the benefit of witches, but healing is a whitelighter power."
Paige nodded absently, her attention more on her nephew than his father. "If he was poisoned, wouldn't it affect his appetite? Make him sick in the stomach?" she asked as she watched Chris devour his breakfast in double-quick time.
Leo cast a searching glance at his son. "Probably," he admitted, "But we shouldn't rule it out as a possibility just because it hasn't. I would look into charms, curses and hexes as well though. It could be something like that or maybe even something more obscure."
"Like what?" Piper asked, anxious concern evident in the wide, frightened look in her brown eyes.
Despite Chris's enthusiastic consumption of his food, she could tell from his physical appearance that there was still something seriously wrong with him. He was deathly pale and sporting dark, bruise-like circles under his eyes too. The lack of substantial clues as to what was causing this mysterious illness made Piper's heart pound in fear and her stomach roil in anxiety. She hated feeling this helpless and out of control, especially where her beloved children were concerned.
"I don't know," Leo replied, his blue-green eyes mirroring her parental concern. "I'll go and ask the other Elders; maybe they'll have more of an idea of what could cause something like this."
"So how do we get to Magic School?" Phoebe asked her brother-in-law.
"There's an enchantment to open a mystical door, but you can also orb in – if you know where you're going," Leo answered. "I'll take you - make a few introductions. We'll drop Wyatt off at the nursery while we're at it as well."
"He'll be safe there," he assured his wife before she could voice an objection. Piper remained unconvinced however.
"It's all right, Mom," Chris said, seeing her dubious expression. "Magic School's cool. Wyatt'll be fine."
Piper regarded him carefully for a few moments and then nodded at her husband, who immediately rose to his feet.
"I'll be back as soon as I can," he told her. "But call me if there's anything…"
He stopped and looked over at Chris then, who had wearily closed his eyes, his head lolling back against the mound of pillows that were propping him upright. Leaning forward, the Elder placed his hand on his son's arm and spoke quietly to him.
"Chris?"
Struggling to fight off the aching fatigue inhabiting every cell in his body, Chris forced his heavy eyelids open and looked at his father. "Mmm?"
"We're going to find out what this is, okay?" Leo promised him.
Chris's mouth curled up into a small smile. "I know," he said, closing his eyes again. "So tired…"
"Then get some rest," Leo said, brushing his dark hair away from his face and bending to press a kiss to the top of his head.
"Call me," he repeated to Piper, who had stationed herself in the chair next to the bed.
Piper nodded, her face pale. "Hurry back," she said.
Leo nodded and then went to fetch his baby son from the nursery. Returning a few minutes later with Wyatt in his arms, he held out his free hand towards Paige and Phoebe, who both closed their fingers around his. Locked together in this three-way handhold, they orbed out to Magic School.
As the blue lights dissipated into nothingness, Piper sighed and turned back to Chris, who was clearly struggling to stay awake. "Lie down, honey," she encouraged him, gently cupping the side of his pale face in her hand.
Her son silently obliged, snuggling down under the covers as she tucked them over him and planted a soft kiss on his forehead. He was asleep in a matter of seconds, and Piper settled herself back into the chair to watch over him while he slept…
OOOOOO
Magic School, four hours later…
Paige snapped the book shut and threw it aside with a frustrated sigh.
"No luck?" Phoebe asked as her sister dropped her head into her hands and massaged her temples with her fingertips.
Paige shook her head. "No – nothing of any use anyway. I found two poisons that are immune to whitelighter healing, but the symptoms involve stomach cramps, violent vomiting, high fever – all the physical effects you'd expect to get from ingesting something toxic, but that…"
"Chris doesn't have," Phoebe finished for her.
"Exactly," Paige said. "What about you?" she asked hopefully.
"Err… a curse that induces internal bleeding," Phoebe replied, "But there are particular side effects associated with that too."
She pulled the relevant book towards her and began to read from the text. "Bloodshot eyes, bleeding from the fingernails, blue lips…"
"Still - it sounds a lot more promising than what I've got," Paige said. "Maybe we should look into it some more."
Phoebe shook her head. "No, it's a dead-end. Piper would have called if Chris had gotten any worse. We just have to keep looking - the answer has to be here somewhere."
Paige cast a dismayed look at the floor-to-ceiling bookshelves that lined the walls of the room. "It's like searching for a needle in a haystack," she said in despair.
"I know," Phoebe replied, "But we can't give up, you know we can't."
Paige squared her shoulders and rose to her feet. Now that she had exhausted the poison possibilities, she was intending to check out the section of the Library devoted to hexes. However, before she'd even taken two steps, a germ of an idea suddenly popped into her head.
"Maybe a little magical intervention might help," she said over her shoulder to Phoebe.
Before her sister could ask what she meant, she lifted her voice and spoke in a commanding tone, making a grand sweeping gesture with her right arm as she did so.
"Books containing things immune to whitelighter healing," she called out.
Nothing happened for a moment, and then the room was filled with a veritable array of turquoise lights, as books from all over orbed from the shelves and onto the large table in the centre of the room.
"Well, that narrows it down a bit, don't you think?" Paige declared as she inspected her handiwork.
In spite of her concern for her nephew's state of health, Phoebe couldn't help but smile at her younger sibling's self-satisfied tone.
"A bit," she concurred before her face fell a little. "We've still got some serious reading to do though," she added, eyeing up the six tall stacks of reference books piled up on the table in front of them.
"Let's get to it then," Paige said, taking the top book from the nearest stack and handing to her sister before commandeering the next volume for her own perusal.
Phoebe bent her head over the thick, heavy tome in front of her and began to leaf through it, intent on finding the elusive clue that would hopefully lead them to the solution they were looking for…
OOOOOO
Back at the Manor…
Piper lifted the saucepan lid and took a cautious sniff of its contents. The warm, soothing smell of homemade chicken soup filled her nostrils and she nodded in satisfaction. It was nearly done.
Chris had barely stirred all morning but he had finally roused himself from slumber about an hour ago. When she'd asked him if he needed anything, he had looked up at her with those big green eyes of his and requested this – chicken soup of all things. Evidently, her other self had given it to him and Wyatt whenever they were ill, and she guessed that it had turned into a kind of comfort food for him as a result.
"Why didn't the other me just get your Dad to heal you?" she asked when Chris volunteered this information.
"She did – if it was more serious or went on for too long," he told her. "But if it was just a simple cold or stomach virus, we were made to suffer. Apparently, a little bit of misery is good for the soul."
"I didn't want the two of you to take your good health or your father's abilities too much for granted, you mean," Piper immediately redressed.
Chris's lips curled up into a small smile. "That too, I guess," he agreed.
As she gave the simmering soup one final stir, the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs startled Piper out of her thoughts. Returning the lid to the pan, she went to investigate, hoping that Leo or her sisters were back at long last. They had been gone for several hours now, and the continuing lack of news was starting to feel like an eternity.
Instead of her husband or sisters though, she found Chris slowly making his way down the steps, holding tightly onto the banister for support.
"What are you doing?" she sharply admonished him. "You should be in bed."
Chris sank down wearily on the steps and shook his head. "I keep falling asleep," he said, resting his forehead in his right hand. "And I'm not sure that's such a good thing right now. I thought that I could maybe watch some TV. It'll give me something to focus on."
He looked at her with mute appeal shining in his green eyes and Piper instantly caved in. "All right," she said, crossing to join him as he heaved himself upright again. "But you should have waited until I could help you. You might have fallen down the stairs."
"I'm okay, Mom," Chris assured her, belying his words by leaning heavily on her for support as they slowly made their way across the hall and into the living room together.
When he finally reached his intended destination, Chris lowered himself onto the couch with a deep sigh of relief. He felt like he'd run a marathon and then some. His whole body ached with weariness and the addictive pull of sleep was difficult to ignore, despite his stubborn determination to push it aside.
While her son struggled to fight off the encroaching tiredness, Piper tried to ignore the horrible feeling of dread growing in the pit of her stomach. Chris's adamant assertion that it was a bad idea for him to sleep worried her immensely. He hadn't said it in so many words, but she got the distinct impression that he wasn't convinced that he would wake up again if he gave into the relentless fatigue, and that scared the hell out of her.
"The soup's ready," she announced when she noticed his eyelids beginning to droop again.
"That's good. Thanks Mom," Chris replied, his voice sounding extremely slurred and oddly childlike. "Can we watch a movie after? You know like we used to?"
"Sure we can, sweetie," Piper answered, trying to keep her voice steady as a cold bolt of fear ran through her entire being.
Although Chris had eventually allowed her to love him as a mother should, he'd always kept her separate from the other version of herself. The fact that he was now mixing the two of them up was not a good sign. It meant that his memory was getting more and more clouded and confused; a happenstance that could only have bad connotations for the state of his health as far as Piper was concerned.
Resisting the urge to call out for her husband, knowing there was nothing much he could do right now, she went back into the kitchen to serve up the soup. While she was buttering several thick slices of bread to go with it though, Leo orbed into the kitchen almost as if he had been summoned by her silent plea for his presence.
"How is he?" he enquired.
Piper shook her head. "I don't know – he's been asleep most of the morning, but he just came downstairs, said he wanted to watch some TV. I think he's scared to go back to sleep, Leo."
Her husband nodded gravely.
"What did the Elders say?" Piper asked him.
"They think it might be something more metaphysical in nature," Leo replied. "That's if it doesn't turn out to be one of the things that Paige and Phoebe are researching, of course. Other than that, they're not really sure."
"I don't understand. What do you mean - metaphysical?"
"Some thing to do with him being out of his own time for so long maybe?" her husband suggested.
"So what do we do? Send him back? Deny him a chance to see a new and different future?"
Leo shook his head. "No – in his letter to me, my other self warned me not to send Chris back through the time portal unless we were absolutely certain that the threat to Wyatt had been eliminated. Wyatt views Chris's actions as the worse kind of betrayal, you see, and my other self thinks he might inadvertently step over the line in a fit of temper and… well, you get the picture."
Piper nodded. "So better he die here surrounded by people who love him? Is that what you're saying?" she asked, her voice shaking with suppressed tears.
"If it comes to that, yes," Leo replied sombrely, "But we're a long way from that point yet, Piper. It's far too early to give up hope. We need to be strong. We'll find a way through this, I know we will."
Piper sucked in a calming breath and nodded, then picked up the tray of food from the counter-top and turned to leave the kitchen. Leo followed her through into the lounge, where they discovered that their son had once again succumbed to the potent pull of sleep. It took an inordinately long time to rouse him and Leo quickly realised that Chris was probably right about the need for him to stay awake. Sleep was gradually slipping into unconsciousness, something that needed to be avoided at all costs.
As Chris began to eat his lunch, Leo placed his hand against his son's clammy forehead and attempted to heal him again. Although it didn't solve the underlying problem, the warm, yellow glow did seem to revive the boy a little, which was at least something. Maybe it was possible for him to slow down the progress of this mysterious illness and give them more time to find an appropriate cure.
"Any news?" Chris asked when he took his hand away.
Leo shook his head. "Not yet," he replied, "But we're working on it."
"Okay," Chris said mildly, absently taking a bite of bread and chewing it slowly.
"Are you in any pain?" Leo asked, concerned by the lack of a reaction from his usually neurotic son. Normally he would be demanding all the details.
"No," Chris said vaguely. "I'm just tired and… floaty."
"Floaty?" Leo queried with a puzzled frown.
"Yeah, like I'm Elder-Land, you know."
Leo nodded, assuming he meant the slightly detached feeling you got from being so high up in the clouds. He didn't understand why anyone would feel that way here on Earth though. "What about the headache?"
"Umm… it's gone, I suppose."
Leo sighed; this was getting more perplexing by the minute. Chris's symptoms just didn't seem to tie in with what you'd expect from poisons, hexes or something else of that ilk. By their very nature, such things were designed to cause pain and suffering to their victims. He had never heard of anything making someone feel 'floaty' before, it simply didn't make any practical sense.
The only logical conclusion, therefore, was that this was something to do with his son's time travelling as his fellow Elders had suggested – which meant that Paige and Phoebe were looking for answers in the wrong place. That thought had him scrambling hurriedly to his feet.
"What is it?" Piper asked worriedly from where she was sitting on the sofa next to Chris.
"I need to speak to Phoebe and Paige," he replied. "I think they need to widen their search a little. Will you be alright here if I help them look?"
His wife nodded. "Of course," she said. "I'll call if we need you."
Leo gave her a curt nod and then orbed out to Magic School…
"We need to start investigating the physical effects of time travel," he informed the younger two Charmed Ones before they'd even properly registered his presence.
Paige and Phoebe exchanged confused looks. "You think that's what this is about?" the latter asked.
"The other Elders do," Leo replied shortly, "And I'm inclined to agree with them. Why would anyone cast a spell to make someone feel tired and weak but otherwise pain-free?"
"They wouldn't," Paige said. "If you were going to do something like that, you'd want to make sure your point was made."
"Exactly," Leo concurred. "I don't think this was purposely done to him, I think it's a consequence of something else."
"Like what?" Phoebe asked.
"Well, that's what we need to find out," Leo said. "This Library has a time-travel section somewhere, I'm sure of it."
OOOOOO
The Manor, 7pm…
Piper closed the bathroom door with a click and headed back down the stairs to rejoin her son. They'd spent the last few hours watching movies, playing board games or simply talking, anything to keep Chris awake and – relatively – alert, although she was starting to sense that his grip on reality was beginning to slip. Under any other circumstances, she would have cherished the time that they'd just spent in one another's company. Unfortunately, the underlying reason behind it had weighed constantly on her mind all afternoon, subsequently driving all enjoyment out of the activity.
Loud music was still blaring out of the speakers when she re-entered the lounge, but to her horror, she saw that it had not been enough to keep Chris awake. He was slumped sideways on the couch, his head on one of the cushions and his eyes closed, his dark lashes resting against his pallid cheeks. He was so still that, for a brief instant, she thought he wasn't breathing - until she noticed the slight up-and-down movement of his chest a few heart-stopping moments later.
Rushing to his side, she frantically tried to waken him, but unfortunately to no avail. There was no getting away from the horrifying reality – he wasn't asleep; he was unconscious. They were starting lose him…
"LEO!" she wailed in a cacophony of grief. This was not happening, it wasn't. It couldn't be…
Her husband and sisters arrived in seconds, each clutching a large book in their arms.
"I can't wake him," Piper said desperately, tears pouring down her cheeks.
Leo dropped his book with a loud clatter and rushed to his son's side. "Chris?" he said, shaking him urgently. "CHRIS!"
Sucking in a deep breath, he forcibly threw off the wave of panic that was threatening to engulf him and professionally felt for his son's pulse. It was still relatively strong, although it was obvious that Chris's condition was worsening. The phone began to ring then, sounding jarringly loud in the tense silence of the room. Ignoring it, Leo held his hands out over his comatose son and let his healing power flow, only vaguely aware of Phoebe going to answer the call.
Unfortunately, unlike earlier on in the day, Chris showed no improvement under the healing, yellow glow. Instead, Leo felt like he was trying to force his way through a solid, several metres thick, lead-lined wall. The situation was hopeless. He lowered his hands.
"What's wrong with his finger?" Paige asked then, pointing to where her nephew had his palm laid flat against his chest. The tip of his forefinger appeared to have vanished.
"Just Mrs Jenkins accepting the invitation to Wyatt's birthday party next week," Phoebe said as she came back into the room.
The two things connected in Leo's brain with an almost audible click. "Wyatt's birthday," he murmured. "That's it!"
"What's it?" Paige asked.
"Chris – Wyatt's birthday."
"In English please," Paige complained with a grimace. "You're not making any sense."
Piper however was catching on. "We always believed that Chris was conceived on Wyatt's first birthday," she said, echoing Future Leo's words of a few months earlier.
"Although, realistically, it could have happened a week either side," Leo finished for her.
"Wait! Are you saying he's ill because you haven't conceived him yet?" Paige asked incredulously.
Leo nodded. "It's the only thing that makes any sense. I've hardly been home all week; I've been too busy discussing the Alcathan situation with the other Elders."
"You were home Tuesday night," Phoebe pointed out.
"Well yeah, but we didn't…," Leo broke off and cleared his throat, looking more than a little embarrassed.
"Well, if you ask me, time is rapidly running out," Paige said. "Your son's got a real 'Back to the Future' moment going on here."
Leo followed her gaze to Chris's hand and saw that the whole of his finger had disappeared now. He looked over at Piper, who was staring back at him, apparently rooted to the spot. He swallowed, a sudden bout of inexplicable nerves paralysing him.
"Way to pile on the pressure, huh?" Phoebe remarked with gentle sympathy. Leo simply nodded in reply.
Paige stifled a laugh at the married couple's shell-shocked expressions and then generously offered up a solution. "How about I brew up a love potion to help things along a bit?" she suggested.
"We don't need…," Piper began and then stopped when she saw the freaked-out look on her husband's face. Maybe they did.
"I won't make it too potent," Paige promised. "You just need something to help get you both in the mood, that's all. I mean you couldn't be further from it right now, could you? And you want your son's conception to be enjoyable rather than mechanical, don't you?"
Piper nodded. Paige had a point. If she was going to know the exact moment, she would prefer it to be memorable in a good way. She looked at Chris, still a little reluctant to leave his side. "Are you sure that this is…?" she asked her husband.
Leo nodded. "It has to be," he said firmly.
Piper smiled nervously at him. "Okay then…" she said with an embarrassed laugh. "I'll umm…," She looked down at her nondescript sweatpants and t-shirt, "Go and change," she decided.
Fifteen minutes later, after following her example and taking a quick shower, Leo joined her in their bedroom, two bottles of bright pink liquid clutched tightly in his hand.
"Wow!" he said, his eyes widening in appreciation at the midnight blue silk nightdress that she'd donned for the occasion. "Continue like that and we might not even need this," he said, showing her the love potion.
Piper giggled. "I think we might," she contradicted. "Spontaneous this definitely isn't."
"Tell me about it," Leo concurred with a roll of his eyes.
"You know that I love you, don't you?" he told her after a beat.
Wrapping her arms around his neck, Piper stood up on her tiptoes and kissed him. "Yeah, I know and I love you too."
"Well then," Leo said, handing her one of the bottles of pink liquid. "Here's to…"
"Several months with my head down the toilet," Piper cut in ruefully.
Leo laughed and then turned serious again. "Our second son," he said.
"Our wonderfully neurotic boy," Piper concurred, clinking her bottle of potion against his before she tipped her head back and downed it in one go.
A warm, fuzzy glow filled her veins an instant later and the rest of the world faded away. Leo was studying her with a soft, speculative gleam in his eyes, and she smiled at him, a wide, cat-got-the-cream smile. Her husband was seriously hot, even if she did say so herself. Better still, he belonged to her and only her, something she fully intended to make the most of while she had the chance…
OOOOOO
Piper slowly drifted awake, gradually becoming aware of the rhythmic thump-thump of a heartbeat under her ear and the feel of gentle fingers lightly caressing her hair. She opened her eyes and groggily absorbed her surroundings, taking note of the crisp white cotton sheets, the sofa against one wall, the sunlight streaming in through a gap in the drapes…
She shot upright with a jolt, waking her sleeping husband in an instant. "What's the matter?" he mumbled drowsily.
"We fell asleep!" she said, clambering over him as she hurried to get out of bed. "I can't believe we fell asleep!"
"Err honey… you might want to put on a robe," Leo's amused voice warned, just as she was about to wrench open the door and expose herself to all and sundry.
"Oh!" Piper flushed and quickly reached for the white towelling robe on the back of the door.
"And relax," Leo added as he also climbed out of bed. "Chris is still with us."
Piper's anxiety abated a touch at that. "You can sense him?" she asked fretfully.
Her husband nodded as he pulled on the blue robe she handed him. "Yeah – he's downstairs."
Exiting the room together, they bumped into Paige and Phoebe on the landing, a circumstance that caused Piper's anxiety to return with full force.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded in a shrill tone. "Why aren't you watching over Chris?"
"Well, after his arm came back and the healthy glow returned to his face, we didn't think it was really necessary," Paige replied with a grin.
Piper sagged with relief, but hurried on down the stairs anyway, needing to see her son for herself before she could completely let go of her maternal angst. As she stepped over the threshold into the living room, she was greeted with the sight of Chris emerging, bleary-eyed, out of a messy cocoon of blankets. She was across the room in an instant, drawing him into a tight hug.
"Mom! Needing to breathe here," he protested when it didn't look like she was going to release him any time soon.
Piper pulled back and affectionately stroked his face, and it was then that it registered on Chris.
"Hey – you healed me!" he said in a delighted tone.
From the doorway, Paige laughed. "Well yeah - if you want to call it that," she concurred as she came into the room, Leo and Phoebe close on her heels.
Chris frowned in confusion, not understanding what she meant.
"I think someone's going to have another baby," Phoebe explained in a singsong tone, her eyes sparkling with mirth.
"Huh?"
Chris transferred his gaze from one Aunt to the other, and then his green eyes widened comically as realisation dawned. He looked over at his parents, both of whom were swathed in bulky bathrobes and apparently not much else.
"Eew!" he remarked with an exaggerated shudder. "Put me off my breakfast, why don't ya?"
His Aunts began to giggle, while his mother smiled indulgently at him and his father cuffed him lightly around the head in mock protest.
"You should be thanking your lucky stars that we figured it out in time," Leo told him. "It was touch and go there for a while."
Chris grinned. "Yeah, all right," he said, "But I'd prefer it if we didn't discuss the details if it's all the same to you."
Phoebe wrapped her arms around Piper's middle then, bending her head to talk to her stomach.
"Hey baby Chris!" she said in a cutesy voice. "How you're doing in there? I bet you're all warm and cosy, aren't you huh?"
Non-baby Chris rolled his eyes and leaned in towards his father. "She does know she's not right in the head, doesn't she?" he asked with heavy sarcasm.
Leo laughed and Phoebe glared at her nephew. "I heard that," she informed him haughtily.
"You were supposed to," Chris returned cheekily. Phoebe poked her tongue out at him and he chuckled.
"Well," Paige cut in before the scene could descend into further chaos. "I think this calls for pancakes all round, don't you?"
Universal approval greeted this suggestion and so they all trouped through into the kitchen to enjoy a celebratory breakfast feast.
Meanwhile, the newest member of the family quietly set up residence in his mother's womb, taking the first, few fateful steps of the nine-month journey that ended in that everyday miracle called human life…
To be continued…