"I thought you said you were giving up the fight." said Bianca, a hint of smugness in her voice.
"I did. I am… I was." said Chris, uncertainly. His talk with his uncle had affected him more than he had expected and he was seriously considering fulfilling his promise to his mother.
"So your idea of quitting being a Halliwell is to spend twelve hours speaking to your uncle, trying to find a home for your friends, refusing to sleep, and then bringing your family together?" clarified Bianca, a hint of incredulity mixing in with her mirth. "Wow Chris, what's the next stage of this rebellion, huh? Oh! I know: why don't you consult the book of shadows for ideas?" Chris waited for her to finish her sarcasm and then continued to explain.
"I am stepping away from bothering to save Wyatt because the sisters are going to go back to their time and fix it all. That is why I can feel good about just helping people and living a real life rather than having to deal with all the bull that comes from associating with my family. I stand by that decision. The only reason I am even considering bringing the family together is because I am concerned that the sisters need more information if they are going to properly save Wyatt. If they can speak to him then they will have a better idea of what they are dealing with."
"Uh huh, and it has nothing to do with you wanting to find out what happens if you, Wyatt and Melinda are put in the same room with your mom as referee?"
"That is correct. I just want to help the sisters."
"At least do this with the full use of your powers. They might both want their mother's love, but they are also incredibly powerful and angry with you."
"I am saving my powers for an emergency. I am just going to let them think that whatever they do to me, you will do to Leo. That should help."
"I will do to Leo what they do to you." promised Bianca, although Chris hadn't technically asked that of her. "Do you really think that'd stop Wyatt though? I mean he held your dad for years. He must have tortured him for information and pleasure at some point." Chris shook his head.
"As far as I know he tries never to even visit him. Seems to avoid all temptation to snap and injure Leo. The cells he designed to hold the family in are completely cut off- not even any surveillance- there is a pretty good chance Wyatt doesn't even know Leo is gone unless he freed Henry. For some reason or other he is more condoning of our family than I am."
Wyatt felt like his head was about to explode. He held the Source of all Evil in side of him- it was how he controlled his army of demons in the beginning- but for the most part his powers had been enough to keep himself in control. Now though, every day his family seemed to find a new way to test his will power and as his anger built, so did the control the Source had over him.
First: his mother returned, did not recognise him as her son and then joined the resistance; then his cousin betrayed him by sending Chris to the resistance and now, the final knife in the back, Chris had vanished and even managed to take the hostages with him.
Although he would never admit it, the truth was it had been his connection to his family that had kept him in control all these years. His utter belief that he was doing the right thing was a part of it, of course, but he had also done everything in his power to keep his family safe even as they fought him.
He had allowed them their little safe haven on Valhalla where they could pretend the resistance was still valid for the whole of their long lives. He had let Chris move freely around the city for years even knowing that he would help any innocent he found even if he had to flout Wyatt's rules to do so. Even during the final battle, he had never intended to directly face his family- knowing utterly destroying their pitiful armies would be enough to force them to retreat.
Despite this constant display of generosity on his part, however, they seemed determined to push him over the edge and let the Source of all Evil win entirely. He had nearly killed his father that day on the battle field when he had arrogantly orbed directly in front of him. He had nearly killed Chris when he came back from the past. And he and almost killed Henry when he realised the final member of the Halliwell family had at last betrayed him.
Enough was enough. He needed to get them all under his control before the Charmed Ones encouraged them to do something stupid and force Wyatt's hand. Fortunately, Chris had given him an idea.
He was in the Underworld, in the caves magically protected by Sources all through time. It was where he kept his most secure prisoners, and the demons that were too dangerous to allow out in the world full time, and too useful to vanquish. Barbas was here. So was Shax. But Wyatt wasn't here for them. He walked to the end of a long, dark corridor- where his long-stay victims of the most brutal tortures could be found- and unlocked the door in front of him, letting it swing open dramatically.
"Hello, Coop. I thought we could have a little chat about your wife and daughters."
The sisters had been given a spare cabin on Valhalla to stay in while they remained in this time. Paige spent the most time there, researching the world from written reports by the Resistance's agents and trying to figure out a way to help the situation while Phoebe and Piper were off with their respective daughters helping them track down their wayward siblings. No one was having any luck.
Paige wished she could spend time with her future family as well. She knew Piper was having a hard time dealing with her emotions about Wyatt; Chris' role in all of this; and the fact that Leo was imprisoned but at least she had Melinda. The girl looked exactly like Piper had when she had been eighteen and, although she wouldn't be born for many years in Piper's time line, Paige knew Piper already really loved Melinda. Phoebe too, of course, had to deal with her missing daughter and husband but again she had someone to share it with.
Paige hadn't even spoken to Henry Junior; and Henry Senior seemed to be doing everything in his power to avoid her. She understood why, of course. After everything he had been through Paige understood how her presence was painful for him, but that didn't mean she was happy about giving him space. She wanted to know more about Henry Junior. She wanted to speak to him. To understand why he made his choices.
"Hey." said Piper as she entered the hut, pulling Paige's mind away from her son. "Look what Melinda showed me." she was holding up a broken and battered book. Paige didn't recognise it at first but when Piper brought it closer she realised that was because half the book- including the front page- had been torn away.
"Is that the book of shadows?" she asked, taking it from her sister's hands and placing it carefully in front of her. As she flicked through the battered pages she saw not only the old familiar spells that were in their book in their own time, but also new entries and spells written in her own or her sister's hands. "Should we be reading this?" she asked, hastily flicking away from the page written in her own hand which was about a demon called Sirk and a new spell written by her that had apparently stopped death. There was a note next to it saying 'do not use' and half of it had been crossed out perhaps to prevent anyone from ignoring this instruction.
"Probably not, but I was thinking. There might be something in here that could explain how Wyatt became… how he is." said Piper eagerly. "It describes a lot of the demons we faced after all."
"But surely if there was something in here someone would have spotted it by now." pointed out Paige sceptically.
"Maybe not. Only Chris seemed to be looking for causes of this whole thing in the past. Melinda thinks it's the shock of… well…" her voice lowered to a whisper, "my death."
"How did it get like this any way?" asked Paige, quickly changing the subject. She hadn't told her sisters the story around her own death and she was eager to avoid the whole sad topic.
"Apparently Phoebe tried to steel at the same time as Leo went to rescue Melinda and Chris. They agreed that Wyatt would want to deal with both situations personally, but if they happened simultaneously then he would at the very least be unable to catch both parties. Unfortunately, they didn't add Chris into the calculation. When he and Wyatt confronted Melinda that evening, Chris sensed Phoebe's presence and orbed to her in time to fight over the book. It ended up breaking and each side got half."
"Chris did this?" clarified Paige.
"Well he did say he didn't believe in the resistance. I guess he thought it would be more use in his hands than in the resistance's. Or maybe he just wanted to make sure neither side had it all." Piper sighed. "I wish I could understand him. He is somehow more of a mystery now that we know his identity."
"At least you have Melinda." said Paige, putting a hand on her sister's.
"Henry is great too." replied Piper, knowing where her sister's mind was. Paige nodded and, not wanting to discuss the matter any further, she pulled out a pile of papers that Piper instantly recognised as Chris' plans.
"So, good news. I have broken Chris' deception enchantment and now we can see some of the stuff Chris has been working on. I didn't want to show it to anyone else yet. He wasn't happy with us for keeping them and I thought it should be you who decided what we do with them." Piper was blown away. She sometimes forgot how much Paige had learned in her studies as a full-time witch. She eagerly began to flip through the pages and then stopped.
"Wait. These are still nonsense!"
"Well yeah. It is a complex charm and I have only decoded one so far." she pulled out the relevant page from the bottom of the pile. "It is his plan to rescue Leo."
"We could get him back?"
"I think so. I mean assuming Chris worked everything out correctly. They look finished but he said there was more to do. No way to know if that was true or not without testing them out. It is a big risk…"
"It's Leo."
"So how are you going to pull off this little family reunion then?" demanded Bianca as she and Chris walked through Chicago in the middle of the day. They wore concealment amulets to prevent themselves being summoned or scryed for, but still kept their hoods up to avoid demonic eyes.
"I am going to build a new safe house." said Chris. His tone was excited, more than Bianca had heard for a long time. Bianca knew his good mood was down to the clever magic he was about to perform and not the prospect of possibly helping to mend the world, but it was still nice to see.
"You don't have your powers. How do you expect to create anything?"
"I don't need to cast any spells for this particular plan. I have a safe house already protected by enough spells to pacify my siblings for a while; I just need to get some things that will keep them inside. Ah, here we are."
They were stood on a pedestrian shopping street. In the past few years, most cities had managed to rebuild some semblance of economy and consumerism so it was reasonably crowded with people and there were plenty of open stores. There were even places to buy magic supplies and pre-made potions, though of course they were incredibly regulated and monitored by Wyatt. The particular store Chris had taken them too was a locksmith. According to the sign they cut keys, repaired shoes and replaced phone screens.
"So are we here because you are locked out of the safe house?" asked Bianca. Chris didn't reply and simply walked through the door to the small shop. They were the only customers there and judging by the incredibly bored young man behind the counter, there were probably the only customers he had seen all day. He jumped to his feet to greet them but before he could talk Chris held up his hand to cut him off.
"I am here to see Layla." he said. The boy sighed and nodded. He sat back down and pulled open a draw, pulling out a large stack of photographs and flicking through them, looking up at Chris and back down again every so often to remind himself of what he looked like until finally he reached the correct photograph.
"You're Damian?" he asked, clearly a little surprise. "I expected you to be older. Or at least I hoped you were." Chris' ears went red at this comment and he avoided Bianca's eyes as the young man showed them through to a back room.
Instantly, Bianca smelt burning sage to mask conversation and felt the effect of several protection spells- some of which seemed to even be trying to push her out. No doubt this was to do with her Phoenix blood.
"Damian." crowed a female voice from the shadows.
"Hello Layla." said Chris opening his arms wide not to hug the woman but to show that he was unarmed. "Have you missed me?" he spoke with a slight accent and was playing the role of an overconfident frat boy. Bianca would have laughed if she weren't still distracted by what the man had said in the shop.
The woman laughed and moved into the light. She was in her mid-thirties but the shadows around her face made her look older. She wore long robes and her purple hair was tied in a messy knot on top of her head, decorated by a long scarf and various ornate hair pins.
"It has certainly been a long time. I thought you were surely dead. Were you caught? Are you here to sell me out to save your rotten skin?"
"Layla, I promise if I were you would be the first to know." said Chris keeping his arms visible.
"Or perhaps you grew bored of me after our night of fun and decided to go looking for a younger model." she had noticed Bianca and was looking at her with great suspicion.
"Layla, you know there is only room for you in my heart. This is my cousin, Stephanie." said Chris at the same time as Bianca muttered 'night of fun?' into his ears in an unreadable tone.
"She doesn't look much like you." said Layla still suspicious.
"To her great misfortune that is true but if you are done insulting my dear cousin, I have another mission I need supplies for." said Chris, lowing his arms and flashing the older woman a charming smile.
"If I remember rightly, your important mission turned out very well for me." said Layla, returning Chris' smile with a wink. A loud thud came from where Bianca stood examining some of the magical items on sale. She bent down to pick up the dropped athame and turned to the pair.
"Oops." she said coldly, toying with the Athame with her eyes locked on Chris. "I can be so clumsy with these things."
"Put it down then." snapped Layla, but Chris got the message and quickly moved away from the witch to examine Layla's collection of magical roots and herbs. "What you see is all I've got, I'm afraid." said Layla when she saw where Chris' attention was. "The blasted Emperor has made it virtually impossible to move magical product these days. I have to grow most of it myself now since my best smuggler abandoned me."
"I didn't abandon you." said Chris, examining two different dried mandrakes. "It became too dangerous. I have been laying low for the last year. I even blocked my powers. The emperor's making it difficult for everyone Layla. Not just merchants. Do you have any crystals?"
"Over in the cauldron." said Layla, gesturing towards a pile of black pots and pans. "So, did you hear? People are saying the Charmed Ones are back."
"People have been saying the Charmed Ones are back for years." pointed out Chris. It was true, there were always rumours that the resistance had summoned them back from the dead, or that the next generation of Halliwells had inherited the powers but it was never true.
"Perhaps, but I heard this from a demon."
"You speak to many demons?" demanded Bianca, setting down a protective amulet to turn accusingly towards Layla.
"Occasionally. Nothing wrong with being informed."
"What else did you hear from the oh so trustworthy sources that are demons." said Chris, cutting Bianca off before she used this information as an excuse to turn on Layla. The older witch smiled conspiratorially in a way that suggested she had been longing to spread her gossip to someone.
"Well-" she said dramatically. "Apparently, Our good lord Wyatt has a brother."
"No." said Chris uncertainly, as though he only had passing knowledge of the family. "I am fairly certain he has a sister."
"He has both!" said Layla eagerly. "Apparently little brother tried to stay as neutral as possible through all of this. Not even interesting enough to be worth a mention but now that mommy's back he ran for it."
"He sounds pathetic." said Bianca bluntly. "He should be more like his sister. At least she knows what she wants."
"That whole family are idealistic fools who dammed the world." snapped Layla in a voice that had lost all the charm and humour it had carried before. "If this kid has stayed out of it all this time then he is alright by me."
"Forgive my cousin." said Chris gently, depositing the items he wished to purchase in front of Layla. "She lost a lot in the past few years and thinks the best way to get over it all is by fighting back. I am trying to make her see it our way." Layla nodded and began examining the items for their worth. "So…" continued Chris who wanted to know more about how his story was spreading. "Tell me more about the brother. What's his name? Are there any pictures?"
"His name is Chris I think, but the demon wasn't sure. From what I heard most of the demons didn't even know he existed. I am sure the information will get out soon though. I can't wait to see his picture. The emperor it pretty good looking and that face on a not pure evil personality…" she sighed wistfully. Chris turned away to hide his embarrassment and Bianca was more annoyed than ever.
"If he's Wyatt's little brother than he would be a little young for you wouldn't he?" said Bianca coldly. Layla was clearly growing tired of Bianca's negativity as she dramatically swept all of Chris' items into a cardboard box and then slammed it on to the desk."
"So. How are you paying?" she demanded, no longer even being sweet towards Chris. Chris reached inside his jacket pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper.
"I wrote a new spell especially for you and your customers. It is a perception charm. All the instructions are here and anyone who wants to make it will have to buy several ingredients from you which has to add on value. This thing is so effective it makes any dwelling unnoticeable. Even the Emperor would struggle to overcome it."
Layla took the spell and unfolded it. Taking several minutes to thoroughly study it before giving her verdict.
"Very clever. I see how you have never been caught. I will need something else to sweeten the deal though."
"I told you, that was a one-time thing." said Chris quickly.
"Not that. My son is down stairs and he'd never forgive me. All I want is for you to never bring her here again." she said, emphasising the word 'her' particularly nastily. Chris ruffled his hair. He could feel Bianca glaring daggers into his back but since he suspected they would be having a strongly worded conversation after this trip no matter what he agreed and took the box.
Once they were outside he had to walk at double pace to keep up with Bianca. When they were a few blocks away, she gripped him tightly by the arm so her finger nails dug deeply into his arm and shimmed without warning so he didn't even get a chance to take a deep breath. When they emerged several streets from the house Chris felt nauseous and dizzy from the journey and Bianca took that opportunity to strike.
"You slept with her didn't you?" she said without emotion.
"Yes." said Chris, closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths to recover from the simmering.
"When?" Chris paused and Bianca knew what that meant. "We were together weren't we? Was it at least in the early days when we couldn't tell what we were?" again Chris didn't speak and Bianca felt anger boiling in her chest and spread down to her fists. She wasn't sure if she was going to use magic or simply punch him. Maybe both.
"She was the person I went to to find out the security on the Halliwell museum. One of her men died trying to hide in the manor for the night to see if it could be done. She blamed me and didn't want to give me the information you and I needed for our plan so I had to convince her to tell me."
Bianca punched him in the jaw. It wasn't hard enough to break anything or even to send him to the floor but it at least relieved a bit of her tension.
"You got that information less than a month before you left! So you are telling me you slept with that… that women…" she said the word 'woman' with considerable venom, "You slept with her and then proposed to me?" her voice was shaking with anger and Chris was shifting his wait in preparation for a second punch.
"It wasn't immediate. And I didn't propose to you out of guilt or anything. Sleeping with her meant nothing. It was for the mission. You and I agreed that was the most important thing! We were planning to change the past! If I had have succeeded then you and I would have been separated permanently. How can you have been fine with that but not with one meaningless night?"
Chris seemed sincerely confused by Bianca's reaction to his action. His dedication to the cause was such that he would have considered walking away from Layla a greater crime than cheating on Bianca.
"How many others?"
"What?"
"How many other woman have you seduced while we've been dating and justified it by saying it was going to help save the world?"
"Why do you think there were others?"
"Because that is how you got me to help! You seduced me! Made me fall in love with you! I never wanted any of this! My plan was simple. I was going to kill your brother to avenge my whole family but then you went and you used your-" she gestured at his face and down his body, "Your general self and you convinced me not to."
"You seduced me too. You slept with me for information about my brother!"
"Yes. I seduced you. And I seduced many others before you but since I fell in love with you it has been different! There is always another way!"
"Your other way is torture B!" pointed out Chris, a little exasperated.
"How many others?" repeated Bianca, folding her arms and making it perfectly clear that she expected a clear and frank answer. Chris sighed and stroked his hands down Bianca's arms until they reached her hands and then grasped them tightly, looking deep into her eyes.
"Bianca, I swear that in the whole time we have been in love I only slept with one other woman and that was Layla. I did not enjoy it and I thought of you the whole time. " His eyes were wide and innocent but Bianca wasn't fooled.
"In the time we've been dating?" she quoted, forcibly dropping Chris' hands and folding her arms. "In the time we've been dating? Do you think I am stupid, Chris? Do you think your clever words work on me?" she began to walk quickly away from them and Chris had to half run to keep up. "
"I wasn't trying to…"
"So what? The instant you went back in time you considered yourself single? You figured I was only five then so technically it would be illegal to be in love with me so you found the first blonde bimbo you could to sleep with to try and get over me?"
"No. Nothing like that!"
"Oh. So it was for the mission?" guessed Bianca. Rolling her eyes and pushing Chris away when he reached out an arm for her. They had stopped in the middle of the street outside their safe house in broad daylight and were about as conspicuous as possible but neither of them were thinking about that. "What was it this time? A seer was going to tell you exactly what turned Wyatt? Some demon cursed you to be incurably horny? A witch had a snake bite in just the wrong place?"
Chris opened and closed his mouth a few times. In the moment he had found it easy to justify his actions. He had slept with the charge Leo had assigned him to get Leo to fire him so he could devote all his time to the Charmed Ones. He had seduced the Valkyrie to get himself an audience with their leader so they would keep Leo trapped on Valhalla. Both of those reasons seemed terribly superficial and avoidable now and he certainly didn't want to tell Bianca the details.
"You're right. I slept with two women. I didn't have to. Both times it helped me with my mission but it was the easiest option, not the only. My only defence was that I genuinely didn't think I would see you again and far from me feeling like I was single and it was a great treat to sleep with them, I did it because I was lonely and sad and I needed to clear my head of thoughts of you and what succeeding with this mission could mean for us."
"So you are saying you slept with two women because you loved me?" clarified Bianca, spitting out the final three words. "No Chris that isn't how that works."
"B-" once more, Chris reached out his hand, but now Bianca took several steps away from him, fire in her eyes.
"I… I just need some time. Get Parker or Sally to help you with the safe house. I'll be back in a bit."
Chris swallowed. A thousand apologies and justifications were on the tip of his tongue but he couldn't bring himself to say them. He just nodded and watched her walk away. At the end of the road she disappeared and Chris was left with a gnawing feeling of guilt and fear that tore at him with considerably more vigour than they ever did when he dealt with his family.
He was only left frozen there for a minute or so, however as the sound of the safe house door swinging open brought his focus back to the present.
"Chris! Chris!" cried Parker waving a large map at him. "Chris! It worked! I did it! I found my father!"
A/N: Please review! You have no idea what a difference it makes to my motivation to finish this thing!
