Disclaimer: Nothing in the Charmed universe belongs to me and no copyright infringement is intended.


Chapter 28 Something Missing

It wasn't hard for Chris to find his brother. Even with all of the changes they had went through Wyatt was still Wyatt and he could have sensed him a world away. So Chris orbed onto the top of the bridge, still thinking that it was ironic that they had somehow found that place even without Leo there to show it to them first.

Wyatt was standing on the edge of the bridge looking up to the heavens of all places. "Dad would be happy to know that we still come up here. I remember the first time he brought us up here," Chris started to tell the story but realized that that had not actually happened in this timeline. Wyatt turned and gave him a dark look. "Sorry, I forgot that was from my other timeline. It wasn't that good a memory anyway. Dad sort of forgot I was there and I nearly fell from the bridge."

Wyatt's eyes widened in horror. "And that's something you want to remember?"

Chris shrugged. "I'm not trying to make you feel neglected Wyatt. I know it's hard for you to hear about the memories I have of Dad but you need to hear them. You need to know all of it if you're ever going to be able to deal with it. And to set the record straight for me it is a good memory. Dad was in my life then, even if he was a rotten bastard to me he was a part of my life. I'd take that over a life without him anyday."

Wyatt shook his head in disbelief. "I don't get you, Chris. That makes no sense at all. If he was such a horrible father then why not leave things as they are? We are happy right now. No one is evil. Mom and the Aunts are very much alive. Why not leave well enough alone?"

Chris stood very still for several minutes trying to decide exactly what to say. He knew that those words probably made sense to his brother but Wyatt had never seen just how great a father Leo could be when the Elders weren't in the picture. "Wy, how happy are we really? Is mom happy? Don't the Aunts miss Dad? They once told me that they could barely function without him in their life. And look at you. You're becoming consumed by hate for a man that was willing to clip his own wings and become mortal to save you from becoming evil."

Wyatt threw his head up and closed his eyes sighing in frustration. "I don't know that man, Chris. All I know is the man that looked me straight in the eyes and said he didn't have any sons. I don't know how you expect me to just forget that."

Chris understood his brother's mindset. Hadn't he truly hated Leo when he first went back in time? All he was able to see was the man that had mistreated him for so many years. It had taken quite some time to see past that and find the man that he loved. The man that he truly considered to be his father. "Wy, at one point in time I hated him just as much as you do right now. I hated him for everything he was and everything he wasn't. I hated him because of the way he treated me and I hated him because he couldn't save you or Mom." Chris had to admit this. He knew Wyatt would never believe what he was about to say if not. "But then I met a completely different man when I went back in time. A man that the Elders hadn't gotten to yet. He may have hated me for a while there when I was being that lying, manipulative, jerk but once the truth was out he showed me just what type of man he really could be. He sat and talked to me and he listened to my hopes and fears. He took care of me when I was sick and almost dying. He gave me everything he had to take my pain away. I watched that man who loved his family enough to do anything for them. I watched him kill to protect me even though he knew there would be a penalty if 'they' found out. And then again I watched him holding you in the nursery late at night whenever you'd have a nightmare and he was the gentlest being on the planet then. You could always see his emotions in his eyes, Wy, and whenever he looked at Mom or one of us it was as if he was the happiest man alive and I knew that he'd die a thousand times over just to have us in his life. That is the father that I want back, Wy. That is the father that I want you to have in your life."

Wyatt had lowered his eyes as Chris spoke. He could see in his own brother's eyes all of the emotions he was going through. He truly did love their father more than Wyatt could ever imagine possible. "It's so ironic. When I took you 'up there' I wanted you to get a chance to meet him. I thought that it wasn't fair that you hadn't ever gotten to meet your father. Now look at us. You know him so much better than I do." He paused for a moment almost afraid to continue with his thoughts. "Chris, I'm ashamed to admit this but I took you up there so you'd hate him as much as I did. I didn't want to be alone in the way I felt about him. I wanted to share that with you. I guess I figured if you felt that way too that it wouldn't be wrong for me to hate him." Wyatt looked truly sorry for what he was admitting and Chris could sense just how much it was tearing him up inside. "But you know what? Even after that, you never hated him. I could see it in your eyes. You wanted him to love you even then. I never understood why, but I guess part of you always knew what he could be."

Chris smiled at that thought. He was glad that his new self was able to still love Leo even though he never really knew him. "He still can, you know."

Wyatt turned away from Chris at those words shaking his head. "How, Chris? You saw the memory. He can't even remember us and that other Elder is shielding him from us anyway. It's hopeless."

Chris walked up close to Wyatt and gently took his shoulder in his hand and pulled him around to face him. "You heard Mom. It's just gonna take both of us. My other self didn't really try to bring Dad back. He didn't know what to do and he was already confused because he didn't feel whole. But I'm whole now and I'm willing to try." Chris found it rather strange to talk about himself as if he was another person but he knew that until the memories were complete in his mind he'd probably see it that way and maybe for some time afterwards.

"So you want to go 'up there' again?" Wyatt asked skeptically but he knew deep down inside that if it was what Chris wanted to do he'd do just that. He had never been able to tell his little brother no when it came to the important stuff.

"Yes and no," Chris answered beginning to form a plan in his mind. "They are way to organized 'up there', but don't worry, I know how to fix that. I need a little time though. These memories pouring into my head are distracting me. By tomorrow I'm thinking the merge will be complete or at least close to it. Then you and I have a father to save."


Chris had been right for the most part. It had taken all of the rest of that day and that night for his memories to merge into something that resembled a semi-normal existence. To him it seemed almost as if he had lived two lives back to back with his time in the past as a middle barrier. He realized that that was probably the only way his mind could understand what it had went through. And it did make sense to him even if in a way it made him feel twice as old as he really was.

"Okay, you've been pretty closed lip about what we are going to do here," Wyatt stated as he and Chris stood atop the bridge again the next day.

"Yeah, I guess I have but I wanted to make sure you were capable of a few things before I committed to my plan," Chris explained.

"Like what?" Wyatt asked frowning.

"Like what active powers do you have?" Chris asked. He knew what powers Wy had had in his original timeline but they were very advanced due to his lack of inhibitions. Chris was hoping that somehow Wyatt had retained some of them though.

Wyatt thought it was a fair question. After all they might actually end up having to fight Elders to save their father. "Of course there's the orbing, tele orbing and the healing, courtesy of being half Whitelighter. I also have an advanced form of telekinesis that is very powerful. I can manipulate objects to go exactly where I want them with that. It comes in a lot handier than your normal swipe and throw technique like what you use."

Chris nodded. Wyatt had had those since he was a baby so it was no surprise. "What else? No chance that you can throw energy balls is there?"

The look on Wyatt's face said just what he thought of that idea. "Chris, that's a demon power. Why would I have it?"

Chris just smiled at that and said, "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Wyatt's eyes widened in surprise. "No! Are you really saying that I had that power in the other timeline?"

He nodded and went on. "You could also shimmer, had almost supper human stength and could choke someone by just clenching your fist. That one's an extension of your telekkinesis." With that Chris reached up and rubbed his own throat remembering his own experience with that power.

Wyatt's glee turned to guilty fright. "Oh, I didn't."

Chris held his hand out grasping Wyatt's arm. "Hey, it's okay. I'm alive aren't I?"

Wyatt pulled his arm away from Chris' hand. "No thanks to me it seems."

"Wyatt, you need to understand something. Just as I can forgive Dad for what he did in my old timeline, I feel the same about you. You know he even told me once that whenever I made it back to this timeline I couldn't hold it against you; all the things you did in my original timeline. He was right and I don't. And even if I could hold all that against you, I'd still have to admit that you did everything in your power to protect me as we grew up. You were a very good older brother, Wy, in both timelines. The best as a matter of fact." Chris wasn't about to let his brother start down the same old track of guilt that the rest of his family had traveled over the past year and a half. This Wyatt hadn't ever done anything to harm him and he wanted to make sure that he understood that. "So, how about we get back to those powers."

Wyatt shook his head slightly. This Chris seemed just as driven when he set his mind to something as the one he had grown up with. Correction, they were the same person. Wyatt had to keep reminding himself of that. "All right. I still wield Excalibur even though I don't really do that too often. It feels strange to see myself as the next King Arthur or something."

Chris understood that one too. Even his own Wyatt from the other timeline had felt that way to some extent, preferring his other powers to using the sword. "And what about your shield?"

Wyatt made a face at that. "Aren't shields sort of for children, Chris? I mean, yeah it comes in handy at times but I'm usually on the offensive in a demon hunt not the defensive."

Chris chuckled slightly. "Well I guess this is one thing you do need to learn. The Wyatt in my timeline adjusted his shield to grow and not only to keep attackers out but to keep his prey in, so to speak. It came in handy when he was after beings that could orb or shimmer."

Wyatt formed a slight "o" with his mouth. "Wow, never thought about that one, but it shouldn't be too hard to do." With that he concentrated on throwing up his shield around them. He had always been able to include others in his shield but they could get out by simply walking or orbing away but today he was concentrating on making his shield hold Chris in. "Try to get out," he said as he finally thought he had it right.

Chris obeyed and tried to orb away only to meet a barrier that threw him back to the hard metal below him. "Ouch. I forgot how much that hurt."

"Sorry, but at least it worked," Wyatt pointed out as he lowered the shield.

"Yes it did, now I think we are almost ready," Chris said climbing back to his feet.

"So, do you want me to just orb us 'up there' or do you want me to try to sense him in particular?" Wyatt asked ready to take them where they needed to be.

Chris had neglected to tell one part of his plan because he wasn't so sure what the others would think about it. "Neither, yet. We need to go back to the Manor."

Wyatt looked in confusion at his brother. What could they need from the Manor he wondered but followed his brother's orb trail anyway ending up back in the attic. All three of the sisters were there also and they stared strangely at Chris as he looked through a few things until he found what he wanted. Then he walked over to a bare wall and started to draw on it.

"What are you doing, Chris?" Piper asked in concern. She could see exactly what he was drawing and she had started to feel panic gripping her heart.

He looked back at her and smiled. "You didn't think I'd try this in this timeline did you? What good is it to get Dad back if we still have to miss a quarter of our lives with him?"

"Chris, don't you think you've pushed the time travel thing just about as far as you should?" Phoebe asked in concern. What if he somehow messed it up, she worried. What if he caused something horrible to happen? "We sort of figured you'd just try to save him in this timeline."

"No, I don't think I have pushed it nearly far enough," Chris answered turning back to the drawing of the Triquetra. He had thought it through the night before and he knew that the only way to truly save them and to give Wyatt the father he deserved was to make the change in the past, not now. He was petrified that even if he could win his father back for them that it would be too late to fix what was between he an Wyatt.

He could tell that his mother and Paige were about to add their own concerns to the discussion but he cut them off before they could. "Listen, after everything I've went through to fix this timeline, do you think I would give up only partway?" He turned on those words and they could all see the look of determination on his face. "Yes, I saved Wyatt from becoming evil and you all lived this time around and from what you've told me even Grandpa Victor didn't die. All of those things are awesome but it's not done, not without Dad. And I'm gonna tell you right now that I will do this a hundred times if I have to until I get it right."

Piper could see the obsession in her son's eyes and feared it slightly. Part of her wondered if just maybe he had taken this too far this time. She crossed over and stood next to him with her hand on his arm looking up into those expressive crystal green eyes. "Chris, you don't have to do this. You don't have to give up your entire life to try to save us again. You've earned a break."

Chris shook his head fiercely. "I don't want a break, Mom. I want my family. All of my family. Do you realize that in that past timeline I'm gonna be born tomorrow? I'm gonna be born and you and Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige are gonna be there to welcome me home and you are all gonna spoil me and let me get away with murder as I grow older, and Wyatt and I are gonna fight just like brother's will but he'll always protect me, because that's what big brothers do. But there is still gonna be something missing. Something that I'll always want but won't be able to quite reach and I'm not gonna be whole until he's apart of my life. I don't want to let him slip away."

Wyatt walked forward and took the chalk from Chris' hand and for one second there Chris thought he'd have to fight his brother to get them to let him do this, but to his surprise Wyatt walked over to the wall and finished the drawing for Chris. "Well 2004 here we come," he said finishing it and throwing the chalk down turning back to his brother. "I said I trusted you, Chris, and I meant it."


A/N: Yes, I can say roller coaster ride and yes that is what I'm putting poor Chris through. Let's see, original future, past, original future (Chris-Crossed), past, changed future, past… And so on and so forth. Poor guy and Wyatt even gets to come along this time too... Oh and yes I do realize that I did not give Wyatt any really cool new powers like I often see in fics but I figured that just advancing his powers to a point beyond any of the other members of his family would be enough to fit his strongest Halliwell power title. It just makes more sense to me that way. And besides if I make him too powerful the fight with the bad guys won't be as much fun. See there is method behind my madness.