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


Chapter 29 Surprise Attack

"I promise, Mom, we'll be back as soon as we can and besides we are about to go see the younger version of you again. Don't tell me you didn't worry when you never heard from me again after I left," Chris chided her knowing exactly how worried she probably had been wondering for years if everything had turned out okay for them. He had wrapped her in a tight hug and could feel the tension in her, knowing how great her fear must be at that moment.

"Of course I worried," she scolded him slightly but gave him a large smile knowing they were gonna do this with or without her blessing. "Just be careful, okay," Piper said hugging him back, resigned to the fact that her son was once again gonna go back and try to change time. Correction, both of her sons were.

Paige gave them each a hug as well shaking her head the entire time, but not saying a word.

"What?" Chris asked tired of waiting for her sarcastic comment, which he knew she was dying to say.

Paige scowled. "I thought I told you that you only got one goodbye. Now if you count the last one and this one and you'll have to come back here again, that will make three. You are seriously pushing it, kiddo."

Chris couldn't help chuckling at that. "Aunt Paige, I've always been the pushy type, you know that."

She rolled her eyes and slapped him playfully on the arm. "Yes, I remember all those late night demon hunts you insisted we go on. The only way to shut you up about it was to just give in and go."

Wyatt couldn't quite smother his laughter under his breath with that one. "That's one thing that has never changed."

Phoebe had just given Wyatt a hug and wished him luck but when she turned to Chris she couldn't help making an observation. "You do realize that if you pull this off, you'll now have three sets of memories floating around in that skull of yours and Wyatt will have two."

Wyatt really hadn't taken that part into consideration. "Yeah, how confusing is that exactly?" he asked Chris seeing as he already had two sets himself.

Chris shrugged. "For me it's not that bad since I have a good grasp of how time travel works but, Wy, well you never were the bright one, so you might be in some trouble." Chris had adopted an impish grin with that statement and waited for his brother to explode.

Wyatt nodded once and then it struck him. "Hey! Oh you just wait till I get you back here. You are gonna pay little brother."

Chris smiled broadly, " Now that's the Wy I'm used to."

Wyatt also smiled rolling his eyes right along with it. "Yeah, and you're the Chris I'm used to too. No doubt about that one."

Chris nodded and turned to the Triquetra symbol on the wall, "Let's say we do this."

Wyatt joined him and Chris pulled out the spell and a pencil to make a few changes. "Okay, it's ready. Say it with me, Wy."

The both began to chant together.

Hear these words,
Hear the rhyme,
Heed the hope within our minds,
Send us back to where we'll find,
What we wish in place and time.

With that the Triquetra glowed blue and the brothers stepped into the portal and back through time again. When they stepped into the attic back in 2004 no one else could be seen around.

"So I wonder where they are," Chris asked but it wasn't long before they got their answer. All three of the Charmed Ones orbed into the attic and Piper's hands were up ready to defend before she realized that her sons were standing before her.

"Whoa, Mom, chill! It's just us," Chris yelled as Wyatt's shield automatically rose around them.

"Chris!" She immediately moved forward wanting to grab him in a fierce hug but she was stopped by Wyatt's shield. When she got within a few inches of the shield she noticed Wyatt with him. "Wyatt, is that really you?" she asked staring at the very different version of her grown son than the one she had most recently seen.

Wyatt had been slightly shocked to see his mother looking so young and so very pregnant. "Sorry, forgot the shield," he said as he let it drop.

Piper walked forward nervously. She glanced at Wyatt and then at Chris, who was smiling from ear to ear with that 'look what I did' look. She reached out a hand and softly touched Wyatt's cheek and could see the smile that that elicited. "My baby boy. You look so good to a mother's heart," she whispered as tears collected in her eyes.

Wyatt knew that this version of his mother had only seen the evil grown version of himself from Chris' other timeline so he also knew that she'd need to be reassured that he was good now. So he reached out wrapping her in a hug, making sure not to squeeze her too tight. "You are looking pretty good yourself, Mom. Not to say that you don't look awesome in the future that is, because you sure do."

With those words he had told her what she wanted to know. He was good and she was alive and very much loved by her sons. He held her for a very long moment and then let her go so she could greet her other son.

"And you, young man, had me scared to death," she said wrapping Chris in a tight hug too. "You never told me how I was supposed to know whether things were good or not in the new future. I guess I was just supposed to wait twenty years or so to find out."

"Sorry, Mom. I was so caught up with Wyatt and seeing you and the aunts alive and trying to incorporate an entire new set of memories into my head," he answered returning her hug. He really had hated the idea that he hadn't been able to let them know everything was okay but this little trip would make up for that.

As she hugged him though and heard his words one thing seemed to be missing from what he said. "And your father?" she asked pulling back biting her lip nervously.

Chris just shook his head and then admitted what he knew would hurt her to hear. "The Elders have pretty much wiped his memories. Wyatt and the other version of me orbed 'up there' about a year and a half ago. It didn't go well."

Piper took a deep breath willing herself not to cry at the thought of never seeing her husband again. "So, you came back here to try to change it."

"With Wyatt here, I think maybe we can," he admitted giving his brother a small smile. His confidence was at an all time high with his brother there beside him. It had been a long time since they had fought on the same side but it felt like the most natural thing in the world.

"Yeah, you never did tell me what the game plan was, Chris. I think maybe it's time," Wyatt suggested caught up in his brother's excitement.

Chris nodded and they all took seats as Chris started to explain what they were gonna do.

"And what about us?" Paige asked hearing that his plan seemed to only consist of he and Wyatt.

Chris shook his head. "You three are gonna be right here waiting for Mom to go into labor," he explained motioning to his mother's rather large stomach. "Which by my calculations should be sometime tomorrow morning."

"Hello, tomorrow morning. You guys are going to do all this tonight. Why can't we help?" Phoebe griped seeing the error in his figuring.

Wyatt and Chris looked towards each other and knew they were about to piss the aunts off. "Because we can't risk anything happening to you two," Chris explained in a reluctant voice.

"Excuse me, you've been risking us for a year and a half now, Chris. What's so different about this time?" Paige asked an angry scowl darkening her face.

Chris didn't want to answer that but Wyatt knew what his brother was thinking so he did for him. "Because in Chris' original timeline you were already dead. He didn't want you to die any earlier but if it happened he wouldn't be changing things as much. But now in the new future you are very much alive. We can't risk anything jeopardizing that now. We are too close to having the future we want to risk blowing it now."

Phoebe and Paige looked at each other and neither of them liked the explanation. But before they could comment several demons shimmered into the room along with two Darklighters. They had been taken slightly by surprise but between Chris, Wyatt and Paige they managed to fend off the first volley of energy balls and arrows as the family scattered.

The fight seemed to drag on and on, as several more demons appeared to replace the ones that they were vanquishing. For a few brief minutes the Halliwells all managed to duck behind the couch to take a breather. Phoebe was doing everything in her power to just keep Piper down, who was having none of that. She wanted to defend her family just the same as the rest of them. None of them wanted to risk her at that moment though.

"What the hell is this? Mom never said anything about an attack on the day before you were born." Wyatt asked Chris as he popped up and sent an incoming energy ball back at the demon that had thrown it.

Chris also popped up just as a Darklighter arrow sped towards his head. Paige saw it and orbed the arrow away. "Thanks, Paige. Wy, I'm not sure. Maybe someone sensed that we came back in time. The amount of magic you possess on top of the time portal could have alerted someone that something big was up in the Manor today."

"But who?" Wyatt asked standing and deflecting a fireball this time, frying the Darklighter that had shot at Chris.

Chris hated to admit what he was thinking. But something just seemed to click in his mind. "Well, Gideon did try to kill me once before."

For some reason Wyatt seemed surprised by that. "Wait, that Elder that we saw with Dad in the future. You said a demon tried to kill mini-you, not an Elder."

"The demon was working for Gideon. He admitted it before he took Dad. And remember he was holding mini-you with an Athame on you at the time. That is one Elder who is anything but a Pacifist," Chris explained popping up and tking the last demon against a coat hook on the wall. The demon imploded sending demon goo all over the attic.

They all stood and looked around at the mess that was left in the attic. "Wy, you get clean up duty this time," Chris said grimacing at the amount of nasty demon innards that was spread though out the room.

"Nope, you know the rule. Last one to vanquish, is first one to clean," Wyatt countered teasingly at his brother.

"Not to interrupt you two but I'm thinking the mess is gonna be a little worse this time," Piper said grabbing a hold of Phoebe's arm and bending over in pain.

"What's wrong, Piper?" Phoebe asked sensing her sister's fear and pain.

"I think my water just broke," she answered gritting her teeth.

Both Chris and Wyatt's eyes widened in horror. "What you can't. It's not time yet," Chris said in fear. He knew for a fact that his mother wasn't supposed to go into labor until the next morning. She would have told him if it had been any sooner. As it was she only mentioned the twelve hours of labor she suffered at least on every other holiday and birthday to embarrass her son in front of the rest of the family.

"Tell that to him, or you, oh whatever, you know," she said trying to stand straight again. "Phoebe, I think I need to go to the hospital."

"Right away." Phoebe was very concerned. She couldn't see any reason why the baby would come early, unless the shock of the demon attack had something to do with it.

"I'll get Wyatt, or baby Wyatt I mean," Paige said orbing away to the nursery.

Chris was very frightened. What if in coming back in time again he had somehow endangered himself or his mom? "Mom?" he asked his voice trembling slightly.

"I'll be fine, Chris. Just get your dad, okay. I don't want him to miss your birth," she said reaching out and squeezing his hand. "He'd never forgive himself."

Chris nodded but he still was afraid of leaving her. He was beginning to wonder if they were somehow being punished because he was fooling with time. Had he come back to save his father only to lose his mother in the process?

Piper could see the hesitency in her son. "Chris, babies come early. And you always were the impatient type. It'll be fine. I'll be fine," she assured him knowing that he was probably more concerned with her then he was himself.


A/N: Allrighty then. I know that chapter wasn't as exciting as some of the others but I promise next chapter will be.