Ok then, thank you to all those who reviewed. I've finally got my muse back, although I'm not entirely sure how long she wants to stick around for - hopefully long enough to get a few more chapters written. Well, here's the next little installment. It's not as long as my previous chapters, but not as short as some of them either.

Boarding School Hell

Piper knocked on her eldest son's door. With it being Christmas Eve there was a lot to be done today ready for the big family meal tomorrow, and she could not do it all by herself if she was going to talk to Caitlin's parents. Not wanting to open the door, partly in fear of what she was going to find on the other side of the door, Piper knocked again.

"Wyatt, sweetie." She called through the door. She could hear movement coming from the other side, and her son groan as the door was opened.

"Yeah?" Wyatt asked, rubbing sleep from his eyes. Piper Halliwell smiled at her son, who was only in his boxers, and then saw Chris laid in the bed with his eyes closed.

"Oh good, you're up," The mother of three smiled at her eldest, who laughed slightly shaking his head, "I need you to go to the grocery for me." Wyatt just nodded his head, not really listening as he was still half-asleep, "I need some things for tomorrow's dinner."

"Yeah, mom," the 17-year-old obliged, "I'll go later."

"I could do with it being done before lunchtime."

"What time is it now?"

"Nine."

The younger Halliwell sighed and nodded his head again, and soon shut the door again, climbing back into the bed with his brunette lover.

Piper walked down the hallway, contemplating to wake Caitlin up, but remember what she was like when she was pregnant, especially her first time with Wyatt, and decided to give her another half an hour. As she made her way back into the kitchen, she was met on the stairs by her middle son.

"Hey mom." Parker ran up the stairs, already fully dressed, but she knew he had been woken up three and a half hours ago, when Leo left for work, and had not really gotten back to sleep afterwards.

"Oh, Parker," Piper turned to look at her 16-year-old son, "I need you to do me a favour for me a little later."

"Sure mom," Parker never bothered to ask what it was going to be, he had more important things to think about, "Oh, have you checked on Wyatt at all?"

"Yes sweetie, why?"

"So he's awake."

"Just about," Parker's mother answered, with a soft smile, "Why?"

"Oh, no reason," Parker continued his journey up the stairs, "Just wanted to know." Deciding not to bother asking anymore questions, Piper continued to the kitchen, to find her youngest son sat at the kitchen table, where she had left him, eating his cereal.

"You're brothers are crazy." Piper shook her head, looking directly at Matthew as she went to the fridge.

"You've only just figured that out?" Matthew looked at Piper with a mischievous smile, causing the older Halliwell to laugh.

"Aunt Piper!"

The female voice called out from towards the front door. Piper opened the kitchen door slightly and called out to who she knew was Patty. As the dark brunette Trudeau walked into the kitchen, Piper was pouring her a cup of coffee. She knew Patty took after her mother so would definitely want it.

"Hi Aunt Piper," Patty kissed her eldest aunt on the cheek, taking the mug of coffee from her, "Thank you," as she sat at the table, she greeted her younger cousin, "How's your morning been?"

"I'd like to say quiet, but that would be a lie," Piper smiled to her eldest niece, "Parker's been awake since Leo left for work, with him sleeping on the couch…"

"Oh, yeah, Jackson was saying Caitlin stayed here for the night," the 20-year-old was met with a confused look from her brown-haired aunt, "Parker told Jackson, and you know Jay." Piper laughed lightly, as she sat at the table, with a glass of orange juice.

"How are you, sweetie?"

"I'm fine," Patty smiled, "Mom said you wanted me to help with something?"

"I need you to get Chris away from Wyatt for a few hours," Piper nodded, "Wyatt told me that he hasn't been able to get his Christmas present with him being with Chris, and I know you and him have been getting along, so I told Wyatt I'd talk to you to see if you could take Chris shopping or something…"

"Course I will," Patty laughed, "How is everything now they're out in the open? Mom was saying Leo calmed down a lot."

"He has," the older Halliwell answered, "He came back and apologised after he finished at work the next morning, then we had a drama with Parker finding out, but its all sorted. Wyatt and Parker were getting along great last night when I got back, just like nothing had ever happened."

"What have they done about Caitlin?"

"It turns out it is Wyatt's after all," Piper explained, "Long story though, and complicated. I felt like slapping her when I found out what she had done, but I couldn't really, I'm just glad Wyatt didn't lash out at her."

Just as they were talking, Wyatt and Chris walked into the room, fully clothed.

"Please tell me there's coffee…" Wyatt moaned, "You know, you didn't have to send Parker in as a human alarm clock."

"I didn't."

"That's not what he said." Chris smirked as he sat at the table, while Wyatt got them both coffee. He laughed as he watched Piper roll her hazel eyes with a smile on her face.

"Oh Chris," Patty looked to the 18-year-old, "How about you and me go for coffee a little later this afternoon. Just the two of us."

"What have I done?" Chris asked, looking suspiciously at his boyfriend's eldest cousin.

"I just thought it would be a good idea to get you away from in here and this plank of a boyfriend of yours for a few hours."

"Yeah, Chris, you should go," Wyatt smiled and then turned his attention to the Trudeau, "And I'm not a plank!"

"Yes you are." Matthew joined in with the conversation. Wyatt decided against arguing and drank his coffee in silence.

"Oh, is your dad working tomorrow?" Piper asked her niece. For the past few years, Andy had to work on Christmas Day, so always missed the family meal, but Piper would check to see how many people she was cooking for. She had already found out Henry had the day off, but then again he was a Parole Officer, not a regular Detective Inspector like Andy Trudeau.

"No he's not actually," Patty smiled to her aunt, "First Christmas off in seven years."

"Seven years!" Chris looked at the 20-year-old, "What does he do again?"

"Police," Patty rolled her eyes, her father's job kept him away which as a daddy's girl growing up, she hated, "Is Uncle Leo working?"

"He's on call tomorrow," Piper sighed, "I swear he spends more time at that hospital than he does at home." The adults at the table laughed, but Matty just looked at his mother, his face blank.

"Hey, maybe we should do the shopping now," Chris turned to Wyatt, smirking as he just looked at Chris, not saying a work, "What am I getting the silent treatment for now? I'm not the one that called you a plank, that was Patty and Matt!"

"You never disagreed with them." Wyatt pointed out, but a small smile was playing on his mouth. The Perry simply rolled his green eyes and then looked at the older Halliwell.

"What do you want us to get, Piper?"

Piper smiled at Chris, she was glad that Wyatt had found someone who was so caring and genuine. She could see why Wyatt loved Chris, even if it initially did come as a shock, and knew that Wyatt had found someone who would not intentionally hurt him. Although she sometimes found herself worrying for Chris, especially with Wyatt's lack of anger management. She knew deep down that Wyatt would never turn out to be like his real father, but it did not stop the worry that someday he may accidentally go a step too far and never come back from it. She was finding herself more recently, looking at Chris as another son, and wondered just how far Wyatt and Chris' relationship would really go.

"There's a list on the fridge, sweetie," Piper smiled, "You don't have to go with Wyatt, you know. I swear you two are joined at the hip."

"It's either that or hanging around here with his pregnant ex-girlfriend who kind of hates my guts."

"Why?" Patty looked to the Perry, slightly surprised. Why would anybody hate Chris? She thought Chris was the sweetest guy to ever come into the Halliwell Manor, of course Wyatt had told her that Chris went with him the first night he spent in his car on the bank overlooking San Francisco Bay.

"She found out about us," Wyatt replied, "Last night."

"Oh." Patty simply stated, realising that Caitlin was obviously blaming Chris for Wyatt turning out to be gay.

"Anyway, mom, me and Chris will go now," Wyatt smiled, walking to the fridge to get the shopping list. He wanted to get this over with soon, so he could get Chris' present, "We'll be back soon."

Piper watched her son and his boyfriend leave the room and then turned to Patty, who was looking at her a little worried.

"I'm hoping Caitlin's parents listen to me."

Patty sighed and looked to the table, but had a small smile playing on her face again as she looked back at her eldest aunt, "This is definitely my most interesting Christmas."


"We need carrots and cauliflower…" Wyatt said, looking around the store. He hated shopping in here, he could never find anything, but surprisingly Chris knew where a lot of things were.

"This way." Chris smiled, leading his 17-year-old lover down an aisle to where all the vegetables were. He was used to this, when he lived with his grandfather, they would take it in turns to do a weekly shop. Just as he stopped at the carrots, he pointed out to where the cauliflower was to Wyatt, and then saw her. Someone he never thought he would see, well, not here anyway. He hoped he could go unnoticed, Chris did not need this, especially not on Christmas Eve, but there was no such look for him.

"Chris!"

"Bianca!"

Wyatt turned to look at the brunette, as he heard a female call out Chris' name, and was even more shocked when he heard the one name he was hoping not to hear.

"Wow!" Chris' eyes grew wide, looking at his ex-girlfriend, who was dressed simply in denim jeans and a dark purple jumper, with her brown hair flowing over her shoulders, "You're looking great!" As she smiled, she pushed a strand of her hair behind her ear, making a ring on her wedding finger visible. He swallowed as he realised he recognised it. Bianca looked at him and then it and quickly put her hand behind her back. All the Perry could do was shake his head.

"I can't get it off yet," she simply stated, "Been trying everything." The 18-year-old just avoided her gaze, as he realised that it may come back to bite him in the ass, especially if Wyatt found out he was not completely honest about his relationship with Bianca.

"You didn't have it on that long," Chris shook his head, looking in his lover's direction to see him now walking over to him, "I should know." The two just looked at each other as the Halliwell finally got over to them, holding a cauliflower, as Chris realised just how harsh he had sounded to the brunette.

"Hi." He simply stated, putting the white vegetable in the shopping cart.

"Hi." Bianca simply smiled at the newcomer.

"Oh, this is Wyatt a friend from school," Wyatt knew exactly who this was, and was not surprised that Chris had introduced him as a friend, "This is Bianca, my ex."

Wyatt nodded with a confused smile, as he saw the nervousness in the girl. Actually, he was quite surprised at her, at first, she seemed like she should be so sure of herself, and did seem sure of herself when he first heard her call Chris' name, but within the time that it had taken Wyatt to walk over to her, she had become more reserved.

"How are you, anyway?" Chris finally asked the 19-year-old girl in front of him.

"Ok," Bianca smiled and nodded to her ex-boyfriend, now putting her left hand in the pocket of her jeans. Chris obviously did not want to be reminded of their engagement. She knew she should have taken the ring off, but she left it on in hope Chris would change his mind somehow, but it had been nearly five months since they had broken up and Chris had not called once, not even when she knew his Christmas break would start, so he had no intentions of getting back with her, she never knew the real reason why he broke up with her, just that it was not working out. Two years of a relationship and it now was not working out, but people grow up. Chris was only 15 when they were together and 17 when they decided to get engaged, he was too young and naïve to know what he really wanted, she should have known that, "How are you?"

"Good," Chris nodded, "Schools good, too."

"How's your grandpa?" She knew how close he was to him, but was not expecting to hear what she did.

"He, erm…died a few months back," Chris swallowed hard, this was something he did not want to have to talk about, "Lung cancer."

"Oh my God, Chris! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…shit…are you ok?"

Wyatt suddenly wondered why they ever broke up, he never had known the reason, there was never a reason to find out, but now meeting Chris' ex-girlfriend things seemed different. Wyatt could tell she still had feelings for him, maybe that was why she was now so nervous, maybe she had realise there was something going on between the two boys, but either way she still liked Chris which Wyatt feared, maybe she would be able to win Chris back, take him from him, but Wyatt was not about to let that happen.

"I'm ok, now," Chris nodded his head, "I had people at school to help me through it and everything."

"Where are you staying?" Bianca suddenly asked, "What are you doing tomorrow, if you want to come over…"

"It's ok, I'm staying with Wyatt," Chris answered, he was realising the same thing as Wyatt, Bianca still had feelings for him, "Thanks for the offer though." He had to get away, as far away as possible.

Bianca felt like she had been kicked. Chris was staying with Wyatt over Christmas, this was more than a friendship. She had found out what had happened after she and Chris had broken up, she knew about Chris' fling with a guy, and had an idea that something had happened at the school he was at, but never said anything, but all this was beginning to piece together, why he seemed so bothered about the engagement ring. Suddenly she felt hurt and betrayed, and thought of the worst thing to do. She took her left hand out of her pocket.

"I'd better get going," she stated and held up her hand, showing off the diamond ring, "Once I get this off, I'll give you a call, maybe you can call round to get it back." And with that, she walked away, leaving Chris unable to breath as he felt Wyatt's eyes on him. He looked at his blonde lover, biting his lip, extremely worried.

Wyatt saw the ring and immediately realised how serious they had been. He had never asked much about Chris' previous relationships, never saw any point, but now he did. How long had he actually been with Bianca? Had they really thought of spending the rest of their lives together? He looked at the Perry, not really knowing what to say, there was just one thing.

"Anything you neglected to tell me about Bianca?"


I know some of you wanted me to bring Bianca into the picture to see how Wyatt would react, and I thought I would just throw that in. An explanaion into their relationship and engagement will be coming up in the next chapter, I promise. :D

But please review and let me know what you thought of this.