False Memories

by CharmedBec

Nobody knows who Chris is but they’re about to find out, courtesy of an unexpected visitor from the future.

37. A Time for Goodbye

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! New chapter for you all. Note the time jump at the beginning of it. Please read and enjoy, and it'd also be nice if you reviewed too!

OOOOOO

Chapter 37 – A Time for Goodbye

The Golden Gate Bridge, three months later…

Chris sat in his usual spot, his legs bent and his arms lightly hugging his jean-clad knees. A pleasantly cool breeze ruffled his hair and teased at his skin, taking the edge off the sun beating down on the top of his head and uncovered forearms. The altitude had the unfortunate consequence of masking the true strength of the sun's rays up on the Bridge, something that the young witch-whitelighter had discovered to his cost several weeks before, when he'd inadvertently fallen asleep up here and ended up resembling what could only be described as a boiled lobster.

Paige and Phoebe had found the whole episode highly amusing of course, whereas his Mom had been utterly horrified. "Did I not teach you anything growing up?" she'd scolded him as she liberally applied creamy liniment to his red, sunburned skin and sternly chastised him about not using preventive sun block.

His father had been closeted 'up there' with the Elders for the whole of the previous day and wasn't due home for another twenty-four hours, so, unfortunately, Chris had to endure the soreness and blisters for rather longer than he really cared to. Piper had viewed this as apt punishment for his carelessness, but that didn't stop her hovering over him like a proverbial mother hen until Leo eventually returned and healed his hapless son. Having family around was all very nice, Chris supposed, but anonymity did have its compensations every once in a while, he had to admit.

The last three months had been an intense period of personal adjustment for him. For the first couple of weeks after his rather miraculous recovery, he'd been so wiped out, both mentally and physically, by everything that had happened in the past few years, that he hadn't been able to do much more than lounge about at the Manor, reading books, watching TV and generally being fussed over like a newly hatched chicken.

As he slowly regained his strength however, he was faced with the dilemma of what happened next. It was weird - his mission to save Wyatt had consumed his every thought and action for so long that he didn't know what to do with himself now that it was finally over. He took the opportunity to bask in delicious and unproductive inactivity for a while, but idleness had never been part of his nature, even before Wyatt had turned, so it wasn't long before he got bored by that.

He'd eventually resorted to asking his Dad to get the Elders to assign him a charge so that he at least had something to do while he figured out the rest. Leo had given him a rather quizzical look when he'd requested this, but had gone ahead and arranged it anyway. Chris soon discovered that all of his assignments were strictly short-term in nature however – a future whitelighter who had temporarily stepped off the chosen path, for instance, or witches with minimal power who only needed a whitelighter's aid occasionally instead of a more permanent guide.

He knew why, of course, but it was something that was deliberately not spoken of. His Mom and Aunts were experts at avoiding the subject and Chris played along because he wasn't quite ready to face it himself. His Dad was a bit more altruistic about the whole thing, but he too held his peace, waiting for his son to broach the issue once he'd come to terms with the past that he now had to leave behind.

His return to the future wasn't something that Chris could avoid for much longer however. With her second child's birth now less than a month away, Piper looked like a rising moon at the moment, her stomach seemingly growing bigger with each day that passed. Although he wasn't working to any strict timetable, his baby self's entry into the world was the unconscious deadline that Chris had set for himself. The two of them would become one person in the future, so he didn't think it was a good idea for them to co-exist as two separate people at any other point in time. If the family started to view them as separate individuals rather than two halves of the same whole, things could get very complicated indeed - and things were confusing enough already.

He sighed, knowing it was finally time to say goodbye in spite of the lingering doubts that still plagued him. Whichever way you looked at it, his return to his own time would alter him in ways that were impossible to predict. What if something happened in the next twenty years that changed things so dramatically that he stepped out into a world that didn't bear any resemblance to the future that he'd once known? Or the present that he now lived in, come to think of it. He would be armed with his other self's knowledge of that time, certainly, but, right now, he was more or less operating on blind faith and that was justifiably daunting for him.

Reaching into his back pocket, he withdrew one of the letters that – other than his real and Leo's implanted memories – were one of the few lasting reminders of a future that, thanks to his efforts, no longer existed. It represented a dark and painful time for him, but was also an existence that he was acutely familiar with, and therefore a lifeline that he desperately wanted to cling to for as long as he could.

Wyatt's last words to his family were what had convinced Chris that he'd done the right thing in the end. His first father had willingly sacrificed himself for his boys, knowing that his past self would live on and care for them in his stead. But Wyatt? Wyatt had made no such conscious choice. He'd been forced into a situation beyond his control and had had to live with the consequences.

Chris had felt guilty about that, especially after learning of Wyatt's last minute transformation, but the more he read his brother's words, the more he realised that he didn't really have any choice. Aided by his younger sibling's efforts in the past, Wyatt had fought back and regained control of who he was, but, despite all that, he was still beyond redemption. He had admitted that himself in his letter – 'Evil still poisons my soul,' he'd tellingly written, although it was the tone of the message that informed Chris of that more than the actual words.

The letter was obviously heartfelt, but there was a certain pomposity to the phrasing of it – a characteristic that Evil Wyatt possessed in spades, whereas the brother that Chris remembered did not. In contrast, Wyatt's message to himself was much more down to earth and on the level. In a way, it made him feel as if he'd won his brother back, only to cut him off before he had the chance to redeem himself, and that was something that pained Chris more than words could say.

The message that was not directed at him personally was his salvation therefore. It helped to temper the guilt that the flip side of his brother's letter stirred within him. He would not be without the other half of the message, of course. Without it, it would be difficult to remember the first Wyatt with any kind of affection and Chris needed to do that for his sanity's sake.

He'd lost his entire family and discovered a slightly different one in its place. And, while he wasn't going to endure a lifetime of regret over that, nor did he want to deny that his beginnings ever existed. He had loved and been loved during that time, and that was something that should never be forgotten. Love was too precious a commodity to be treated so lightly. It should be treasured and remembered even when it was lost forever.

He sighed and lowered his gaze to re-read his brother's last words:

'Chris,' the letter began.

I honestly don't know what to say. There isn't much time so you'll have to forgive me if some of this comes out wrong. I also hope you're not dead so you do actually get to read this. You're one stubborn little so-and-so, you know that right? Annoying martyr complex or what? And, what's worse, I'm not even frickin' worth it! '

Chris shook his head with a wry smile. That first paragraph always had that effect. There was nothing like telling it like it was, and Wyatt – evil or good - had always been an expert at that. He was intelligent enough to realise that his brother's slightly tongue-in-cheek tone was a cover for more complex emotions though. Dropping his eyes back to the letter, he carried on reading.

'Forgive me' – I need to say that a thousand times over, don't I? Perhaps that's what I should do, just write forgive me over and over until I reach the bottom of the page… But that would be a) the dullest final words ever, b) kind of trite given the circumstances, and c) way too much like writing lines in detention at school – and you know how I used to hate that!

'I must not orb teachers to isolated spots around the world when I'm bored in class…'

'I must not encourage my little brother to help me to create havoc unless I want my Mom to ground me for the rest of my life…'

Aunt Paige was the composer of that second classic example in case you hadn't already guessed! That's what everyone thought though, wasn't it? That you just went along with everything I suggested without any conscious thought. I have to admit I thought that too. I sure know differently now though, don't I? You never once did anything you didn't want to, did you? When it came down to making the choice that mattered, you made the right one and stuck to your guns, no matter what I said or did.

I'm more grateful for that than I can possibly say. I think there was always a part of me that was screaming 'save me' despite all the terrible things that I did. You could have stopped listening to that voice like everyone else, but you didn't. Bianca told me that a lot of people wanted you to vanquish me, but that you refused to consider it until you'd done everything in your power to save me first.

Bianca – that's one of those forgive me's that I do have to say, isn't it? It wasn't intentional, I swear, although I think we both know that I was more than capable of making it so if I'd wanted. I'm sorry is the only thing that I can say and I know it's not nearly enough. I hope you two get a second chance, I really do.

The other major 'forgive me' is Dad – the memory spell, what I did to you both. It makes me feel sick even thinking about it. I took away everything from you because I thought it would somehow bring you round to my way of thinking. It was a truly unforgivable act – especially after the way we lost Mom – and yet somehow, on some level, I guess you must have forgiven me for it. Or why else would you keep on fighting for me?

I'm not sure I'd have the same strength of character in similar circumstances, but then I don't really know who I am anymore. There's this creature inside that's part of me and not part of me all at the same time. It's alien, but it sometimes feels inherent to the person that I am. I hate what I did, but does that mean I'd never do it again? I honestly don't know and that's a hard thing to come to terms with.

I need you to do something for me therefore – I know I don't have the right to ask – but just… if it's truly who I am and you need to destroy me, then just do it and know that I gave you my blessing to do so. I have too much power for it to be used for evil and you are the only one with the means to stop me. You've secured me a second chance and, for that, I'm grateful. If I don't take it though, then I never deserved it in the first place, and it'll be down to you to end it - for good. It's as simple as that.

Sorry bro, but I really have to go now – there's this certain someone that I'm trying my damnedest to save and I'm rapidly running out of time to do so. I guess you know something about that, huh?

I don't know what else there is to say anyway, but I reckon I love you, thank you and goodbye about covers it, even if it's not very eloquent. Make sure you give my other self a good kick up the rear end whenever he needs it, and just carry on being who you are – Chris Halliwell, saviour of the future, no less!

The title will probably end up being a major pain in the ass by the way. I mean, Twice-Blessed? What does that mean? It's just a load of old crock that other people find impressive. We are who we are and that's family. I guess you were right – the person you knew does still exist inside of me somewhere.

Be well and be happy then, little brother, and here's hoping I make less of a mess of the new future!

Your first – and slightly deranged - big brother,

Wyatt'

Chris laid the letter aside and smiled to himself. The last line was a perfect example of what had initially bothered him about it. Evil Wyatt could never have signed the letter in that fashion, but the brother he grew up with could - and, more to the point, would. Wyatt's expressed concern about being inherently susceptible to evil had also troubled him for a while. When he looked back through his childhood memories, there were numerous examples of when his sibling had taken things a step too far without actually crossing the line.

Was it just part of his nature then? Chris had studied the toddler version of his brother carefully for any signs and had come up empty on all counts. The little boy's blue eyes shone with nothing but childish innocence and, ever so occasionally, a harmless mischievousness. There was never any real malice in his behaviour however, so he had gratefully concluded that Wyatt had been wrong. Whatever evil had showed itself was a result of what Alcathan had done to him and that was all.

They would never really know the full extent of that, but Chris did know that it had started way before his Mom's premature death. The spell that he'd cast to bring him to the past had told him that by sending him to this particular place in time. The seed of evil had been planted in the here and now, even if they hadn't matured for another fifteen years or more. Wyatt wasn't born evil; circumstances had just made him that way. An ancient and powerful demon had preyed upon an innocent little boy and turned him into something he was not. That threat was now gone and the future could unfold how it should have done in the first place.

It was as the prophecy said - 'For the offspring of the Charmed Bride and her Groom of Light shall have the power to overcome him. To return him forever to the depths of hell from whence he came, and lead the world back into the light and towards the future that was meant to come to pass.'

Chris tucked the letter in his back pocket and rose to his feet. Closing his eyes, he drew in a deep, cleansing breath. It was finally time to go home, he realised. There were just a few goodbyes that he had to say first…

OOOOOO

The Manor Attic, half an hour later…

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Prue asked her nephew gravely. "This is going to irrevocably change you – you do know that, don't you?"

Chris nodded. "Yeah, I know and I'm ready," he answered solemnly. "Eventually," he added with a deprecating shrug.

Prue affectionately touched the side of his face with the tips of her fingers. "Honey, you've had a lot to come to terms with," she said. "I really shouldn't worry too much about the amount of time it took you to do that."

"Chris? Lunch!"

Piper's peremptory voice echoed up the stairs and Aunt and nephew exchanged a knowing smile.

"Sure Mom. I'll be down in a minute," Chris automatically called back.

Prue sighed. "When are you going to tell them?" she asked.

"Tonight," her nephew replied. "There's somewhere I have to be this afternoon and they'll never let me out the front door if I tell them now."

Prue nodded. "This is going to be rough on them," she predicted. "They'll be saying goodbye for twenty-three years – that's a long time to be apart from someone you love."

Chris shrugged, not unsympathetic but simply accepting of the situation. "It's the way it has to be," he said. "I came here to change the future – this is the consequence of that. And it's not necessarily going to be a bad thing anyway…"

"Oh, I know," his Aunt concurred. "I'm just saying that they're going to find it difficult, that's all – your Mom and Dad especially."

"They'll have mini-me to distract them."

"And I'm sure that'll be a comfort. It won't stop them missing you however. I don't think there's anything that can do that."

"CHRIS!"

Piper's voice was bordering on impatient now – her advancing pregnancy was making her decidedly waspish, her short-temperedness rising in direct proportion to her increasing girth, it seemed.

Prue grinned. "You should probably go before my sister has a coronary," she said.

"You're not staying then?" Chris asked with surprise.

The eldest Charmed One shook her head. "No, I crossed over before I was meant to. With good reason perhaps, but it's upset the balance of things all the same. I need to prepare for what it is I have to do. It won't be long now and I don't want to make any costly mistakes."

She smiled impishly at him and he grinned back. He knew that his future life depended on her saving him at the appropriate time, but he didn't really have any concerns about that. She'd done it once before already, and he trusted her to repeat the favour.

"Touché," he responded with an incline of his head. "I'd kind of like it if I made it into the future in one piece too."

"I'll try my best," she assured him. "I'm still nervous about it, but both of your Dads seem to have the utmost confidence in me so…" she trailed off with a shrug of her slender shoulders.

"Both of them?" Chris questioned with a slight frown.

"Yeah – I spoke to Future Leo about it before he left. I was trying to get some clues about what it is that I have to do."

"And let me guess, he wouldn't tell you," Chris said knowingly.

Prue wrinkled her nose in mild disgust. "No, he played the whitelighter motivational card instead. Apparently I shouldn't worry because it's instinctive in who I am. And to quote Leo number two – 'If I trust in myself, then I can't go wrong'."

"Nice to know," Chris remarked with a chuckle.

"CHRISTOPHER HALLIWELL! If you don't get you're butt down here right now, I'm going to blow you into a million orb pieces so help me god!"

Prue threw back her head and laughed uproariously. "I so love her," she declared when her mirth eventually died down.

"Are you going to call Social Services or should I?" Chris quipped dryly.

Prue laughed again and then drew him into a warm hug. "Well, I would," she said. "Except I know that she doesn't actually mean it."

"You wanna a bet?" Chris remarked acidly.

"Do I have to answer that?" Prue jested, smiling affectionately at him. "Now send me back to where I belong," she instructed, "And I'll see you in twenty-three years, kiddo."

"Don't change too much," Chris beseeched of her.

"Not much chance of that," she replied. "I'm kind of dead so I'm more or less destined to stay the same for all eternity."

"It's one way to hold onto your youthful looks, I guess," her nephew dryly observed, and then quickly dodged the reproachful slap that she aimed at him.

"Hey! Cut it out with the Auntly abuse," he protested.

"Err – excuse me! Pot and kettle, mister?" Prue shot back indignantly, making him laugh.

Laughing also, she pulled him into another hug before they finally took their leave of one another, Prue crossing back over into the beyond in a swirl of golden stars and Chris orbing downstairs immediately after her departure.

"What were you doing up there?" Piper demanded irritably, as she placed a plate of doorstep sandwiches on the table in front of him and lowered herself into the chair opposite.

Chris mumbled some vague, indistinct reply, and then enthusiastically tucked into his lunch, suddenly realising he was ravenously hungry. "Aren't you eating?" he asked his mother around a mouthful of sandwich.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," she absently chastised him, and then shook her head with a grimace. "No, little you is angling to join the gymnastics team right now, and baby aerobics on a full stomach is definitely not a good thing."

"Eat them nicely, sweetie," she gently admonished little Wyatt, who had decided to disassemble his small sandwich triangles into their component parts before eating them.

Chris grinned, warmed by the commonplace event of him and his brother having lunch under their mother's strict supervision. She'd always been very insistent about good table manners and – mostly - he and his brother abided by them.

"Trust me I will never want to join the gymnastics team," he told her with an exaggerated shudder, "Definitely not my thing."

Piper laughed a bright, sunny laugh. "So, out of interest, what after-school clubs will I have to ferry you to?" she asked.

Chris tapped the side of his nose slyly. "Now that'd be telling, and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for you."

Piper nodded. "No, perhaps it's best at that," she agreed with a sigh. "It wouldn't be good for me to have expectations of the other you. He should be allowed to develop into the person that he's going to be naturally."

She smiled at him rather sadly then, and he was forced to look away from her. He didn't really want to have this conversation yet. She'd become very possessive of his time the moment she knew that he was leaving, and he had other things to attend to first. Luckily, though, Piper took the hint and changed the subject.

"So, what are you up to this afternoon?" she asked conversationally.

"Umm, I thought I'd look in on Stacey," he replied. "I haven't heard from her in a few days."

"Is that boyfriend of hers still around?" Piper asked.

Chris grinned, knowing where this was leading. "What? You mean Paul?" he queried innocently. "I imagine so, yes."

"And that doesn't bother you?" Piper pressed.

"Should it?"

"Well, I just thought that… well, you know."

"She'd old enough to be my mother, you know," Chris pointed out sagely.

Piper frowned, obviously only just realising that. "Perhaps it's better that you're just friends then," she decided, and Chris began to laugh at her blatant inconsistency. First, she wanted him to have a girlfriend and then she didn't.

She made a protesting face at him. "Stop it! Can't a mother take an interest, or is that a crime now?"

Chris, however, only laughed harder. His Mom was just the best sometimes, she really was.

OOOOOO

Stacey Macklin's apartment, an hour later…

Paul Bradshaw glanced up from his book at the tinkling sound and flare of blue orb lights. "Chris," he calmly greeted the young man who had just appeared out of nowhere in the centre of the living room.

"Paul," Chris acknowledged with an incline of his head. "Visiting again, huh?" he enquired, his green eyes dancing with speculative amusement.

"Looks like," Paul returned mildly, refusing to be drawn on the matter despite Chris's best efforts to extract information out of him.

The young witch-whitelighter graciously conceded the point. "Is Stacey about?" he asked instead.

"She's in her studio," Paul told him. "Go on through – I'm sure she'll be pleased to see you."

Chris nodded, and then sought out his friend in the bedroom that she'd converted for use as her creative space. He found her sitting on a low wooden stool in front of a large rectangular canvas, dressed in a pair of paint-spattered sweatpants and an old t-shirt - an outfit that she somehow managed to made look cool and sophisticated despite its distinctly casual nature. She was adding delicate brushstrokes of watercolour to her current work in progress, biting her bottom lip in concentration as she worked.

"It's looking pretty good," Chris remarked as he came up behind her.

Stacey startled a little at the sound of his voice, and then smiled over her shoulder at him in greeting. "Chris – hi! Yeah, it is turning out rather well, isn't it?"

As promised, he'd orbed her up to the top of the Bridge so that she could view the famous landmark from that unique perspective. The experience had gotten Stacey's creative juices flowing like they'd never done before – once she'd gotten her vertigo under control that was. The painting was only half-finished, but already she knew that it would be one of the best works of art that she'd ever produced.

"Your squatter's taken up residence again, I see," Chris remarked slyly, as he sat down on one of the comfortable lounge chairs nearby.

Stacey flicked a fine spray of rust-coloured paint at him with the bristles of her brush. "And since when is that any of your business?" she said, despite the rosy blush colouring her cheeks.

"Just taking an interest," Chris told her airily.

"Sticky-beaking more like," Stacey retorted knowingly.

"Well, I have to make sure you're properly settled before I leave, don't I?" Chris replied in a deliberately offhand manner.

Stacey, however, noticed the subtle reference immediately. "You're leaving?" she asked, a small catch in her voice.

Chris nodded gravely. "It's time," he told her simply.

Stacey sighed a little sadly. "I'm gonna miss you," she proclaimed.

"You've got Paul and your other friends to keep you company," he replied. "And you don't honestly think that my Aunts – or my Mom for that matter – are going to let you be a stranger now that they know of our future family connection, do you?"

"You still think you and Sarah are going to end up friends this time around then?" Stacey asked.

Chris frowned. Up until now, he hadn't really considered that that wouldn't be the case. His life would be different in the new future though, and that possibly meant that his friends would be different too. He wasn't sure he was all that enamoured of that idea. Not to have Sarah in his life was simply unthinkable. She was like a sister to him.

"Yes," he said firmly, "Because you're going to introduce us at the appropriate time."

Stacey smiled. "Which is when?"

Chris thought back. When had he first met Sarah? A glimmer of a memory came to him of a dark-haired little girl with cute pigtails. They were sitting next to each other at a low table with paintbrushes in their hands and she looked about four or five.

"Definitely by first grade," he said, "Maybe even before then though - in Kindergarten, I think."

"Okay, I'll see what I can do," Stacey promised.

Chris nodded in satisfaction. "Good."

"So, when are you leaving then?" she asked.

Chris pursed his lips thoughtfully. The decision was made, so there wasn't really a reason to put it off any longer. "Tomorrow, I think," he answered. "I want to spend some time with my family first, and then…" he trailed off with a shrug.

"So this is goodbye then?" Stacey asked him soberly.

Chris shook his head. "No, it's 'I'll see you in twenty-three years time,'" he told her with a tight smile.

"I'll be in my late-forties then, you know," Stacey pointed out. "Maybe you won't want to know an old lady like me."

Chris laughed. "Forty is not that old," he said, "And trust me; I'll still want to know you, even if I probably will be more interested in socialising with your kids."

Stacey's eyes widened at that. "Wow! I'm gonna be a Mom," she said in quiet amazement.

"What? Already?" Chris teased. "My, my - you and Paul have been busy, haven't you?"

Stacey stuck her tongue out at him. "You're not funny," she told him with heavy sarcasm. "And who says Paul'll be the father of my children anyway?"

Chris grinned rather wickedly. "Call it a hunch," he told her with a sly wink.

Stacey blushed, but didn't contradict his assessment. It was early days, but she had high hopes nevertheless. She and Paul just fit; it was as simple as that. The two of them slotted together like adjoining pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and, somewhere deep inside, she knew that they would remain that way for the rest of their lives.

"He's talking about relocating his studio and gallery to San Francisco, you know," she told Chris.

"But you don't think it's a good idea?" he asked, picking up on her underlying concern over the matter.

Stacey shrugged. "Yes, no. Oh, I don't know!" she said exasperatedly. "Don't get me wrong, I do want us to be together. It's just that Paul is a much more successful artist than I am, and he's worked hard to build up his reputation and client base in Chicago. He'd be giving all that up if he moved here. He'd essentially have to start again from scratch. It'd be so much easier for me to relocate to Chicago, but he won't hear of it."

"Why's that?"

"Because all my family live in San Francisco and he knows how close we are," Stacey explained. "Paul doesn't really have any family, you see. His Mom and Dad were killed in a car accident when he was about fourteen, and he went to live with his Aunt, Uncle and his cousins after that."

"And they didn't get along?" Chris guessed.

"Well, they were kind enough to him and everything, but Paul says he always felt like a spare wheel – the cousin who was staying over temporarily for a few nights, rather than a permanent member of the family. They stay in touch, but they're not particularly close."

Chris nodded. "Trust me, Stacey," he said, "When you lose a parent, you learn the hard way how important family is. Maybe Paul put all his focus into his work because he didn't have anyone in his life to counterbalance that. He does now though, doesn't he? He has you. I would say that might change his priorities a bit."

"You two haven't been conferring, have you?" Stacey said with a slight smile, "Because that was almost word for word what Paul said to me last night."

Chris smiled a little sadly. "I guess that's because we both know what it's like to lose a Mom at fourteen," he said quietly. "Don't worry about it, Stace. I'm sure Paul knows what he's doing and, for what it's worth, I think you're probably worth it."

Stacey beamed at him. "You're such a nice boy!" she remarked and he laughed.

"Just don't tell anyone, okay?" he said. "It'll ruin my fearsome reputation, don't you know?"

A baby's wail interrupted their conversation then, and Chris almost jumped out of his skin at the sound. Stacey giggled at his shocked surprise, and then calmly showed him the baby monitor that had been sitting unobtrusively on the table beside her.

"I have a little houseguest," she explained. "My brother and his wife are in New York for the weekend. I don't know when they've had time to see the sights though, because they must have called about a hundred times already to check how things are. It's the first time they've spent the night away from Sarah, so I guess that means they're excused even if they are being seriously annoying."

"Stacey? Do you want me to get her?" Paul called from the other room.

"No, it's okay. I'll do it," Stacey called back. "Can you put one of her bottles on to warm though? She's about due for a feed, I think."

Chris went through into the kitchen to join Paul, while Stacey went to retrieve her crying niece. Sarah's plaintive wails for attention dulled to a whimper on the appearance of her Aunt, and Chris heard Stacey cooing softly to the little girl as she carried her in from the bedroom.

"There see, sweetie. Look who it is," she said as she entered the kitchen with the baby perched on her hip. "That's Chris, and you and he are going to be best friends in the future."

"Do you want to hold her?" she asked Chris with a questioning look.

Holding up his hands to ward her off, Chris took a wary step back, shaking his head violently from side to side. "No thanks, I think I'll pass," he said.

Stacey laughed at his wild-eyed horror. "You hold Wyatt all the time."

"Yeah, and that's seriously weird too," Chris returned with a shudder. "It took me ages to get used to that. I think I'll forgo that dubious pleasure this time around if it's all the same to you."

"She so sweet though, aren't you honey?" she cooed to the baby girl in her arms.

As her proud Aunt softly kissed her downy cheek, little Sarah turned her solemn brown-eyed gaze on Chris. Her look was faintly quizzical at first, and then she suddenly beamed at him and let out a stream of delighted little giggles.

Paul laughed. "I guess that means she likes you," he remarked.

"She does sort of look like Sarah," Chris observed, squinting slightly as he studied his future friend's chubby, baby-round face.

"Well, I should hope so," Stacey said. "Is she as cute as this when she's older?"

"She's cute in a different way when she's older," Chris told her with a grin.

"Oh yeah?" Stacey said, her eyebrows rising in speculation.

Chris shook his head in exasperation. "Merely a clinical observation," he said, "I told you before, we're…"

"Just good friends, yeah I know," Stacey cut in with a roll of her eyes.

She sat down at the table then and took the warmed bottle of formula that her boyfriend was holding out to her. Setting the teat against her niece's rosebud lips, she gazed fondly down into Sarah's little face as she began to suckle, her tiny cheeks hollowing with the effort. Paul sat down next to them both, and Stacey smiled warmly at him as he reached out and tenderly brushed her hair out of her eyes.

"Well, aren't you two just the definition of cosy?" Chris remarked teasingly from where he was leaning against the kitchen counter, his arms folded casually across his chest.

"Shut up, Chris," they both said in unison and he chuckled rather impudently.

"So, does my niece have any friends I will approve of?" Stacey asked him with an arch look.

"Boyfriends, you mean?" Chris questioned, deliberately ignoring her sly little dig. Stacey nodded in the affirmative and he wrinkled his forehead as he thought about it.

"Umm, probably not," he eventually concluded. "She has the worst taste in men if you ask me. She's got a real 'bad boy' thing going on, and they always end up letting her down. It's weird. She's so sensible normally, but it's like she hits the self-destruct button when it comes to guys."

Stacey had her private suspicions about the reasoning for that, but she chose not to voice them. It wasn't as if Chris would listen anyway. Once Sarah had finished her feed and had her diaper changed, the three of them took their tiny charge to the nearby park for some fresh air. They spent a pleasant afternoon there - interrupted by several phone calls from Sarah's overanxious parents - and then finally returned to Stacey's apartment around five o'clock.

Chris cleared his throat as his friend lifted her drowsing niece out of her pram and settled the baby comfortably against her shoulder.

"Umm, I should probably get going," he said, uneasily shuffling his feet. He hated goodbyes.

"I know," Stacey said, her voice on the edge of tears.

"Paul," Chris said, offering his hand to the man in question. "Take care of her, okay?"

"I'll do my best," Paul promised, shaking his hand. "Have a safe trip, mate." He turned to his girlfriend. "I'll put the little one down for her nap, shall I?" he said, taking the baby out of her arms.

Stacey watched him retreat into the bedroom and then sighed and looked back at Chris. She held out her hands towards him and he slipped his fingers into hers.

"Thanks for everything," she said before he had the chance to say anything.

"What? For getting you attacked by demons, you mean?" Chris quipped with a wry chuckle.

"No, for opening my eyes to the things in my life that I was too blind to see," she told him seriously.

Chris shot her a perplexed look. "I'm not sure I follow."

"I don't think I ever understood what being a witch really meant before," she explained, "But I know now, and I'm going to do my bit for the cause from now on. And then there's Paul, of course."

"But I didn't have anything to do with that."

"Yeah, you did. Paul and I - we've known each other for years, but I've always held him at arm's length. I was scared, I guess. I've always been cautious when it comes to love. You said I lived in Philadelphia in your future. Was I married? Living with someone?"

Chris frowned. "I'm not sure."

"Did Sarah ever mention an Uncle? Or cousins for that matter?"

Chris shook his head. "No, no, she didn't."

"I think that's probably because there wasn't any," Stacey remarked shrewdly. "Paul's pretty patient, but I think he would have given up on me eventually, and I'm fairly certain that would have broken my heart. I would have realised too late that I loved him, and some other lucky girl would have snapped him up in the meantime. I'm not sure I would have ever recovered from that."

"You saved me from that heartache though, Chris. When you left me in Chicago three months ago, I was a bit of an emotional mess – knowing that the world might be about to go to hell does that to you, I suppose. I desperately needed someone to talk to, so I took a leap of faith and confided in Paul about who I was. I would never have done that if I hadn't met you, and it was definitely the turning point in our relationship. Without that unknowing little push you gave us in the right direction, I don't think we would have reached the point we're at now, I really don't."

"Do me a favour and don't blow it then," Chris said, heart warmed by her sentiment but a little too self-conscious to admit it.

She poked her tongue out at him, and then pulled him into a friendly hug. "Make sure you look me up when you get back to the future, okay?" she told him. "I'll be very cross with you if you don't."

"Better do as I'm told them, hadn't I?" he responded.

"Mmm, you better had," she said as she stepped back and released him from her embrace.

Chris gave her a whimsical little smile. "Have good life, Stacey," he said. "Make the most of it, okay?"

"I will," she promised him. "I'll see you in twenty-three years, all right?"

"Count on it," he told her with a wink, and then he was gone in a plume of blue lights…

As the twinkling orb sound faded out, Stacey became aware of a presence behind her and she turned to see Paul standing in the doorway to the lounge. "How much did you overhear?" she asked him.

"Enough," he told her, then crossed the room in two strides and enfolded her in his arms. "I wouldn't have given up on you," he said into her hair.

Wrapping her arms around his back, Stacey let out a helpless little laugh and buried her face against his chest. "I'm pretty sure you'd have given me up as a lost cause eventually," she said. "You're not that much of a masochist."

Paul speared his fingers through her hair and gently tugged her head backwards so that she was forced to look him in the eye. "Whatever," he said nonchalantly. "It's all water under the bridge now, isn't it? Whatever happened in the other future is irrelevant. It's what we make of the here and now that counts."

Stacey smiled up at him. "Well, I guess we better get started on that then," she told him softly, then drew his face down to hers and kissed him with everything that was in her heart…

OOOOOO

On his return to the Manor, Chris orbed back into his bedroom rather than downstairs where his family were currently gathered. He needed a few minutes to compose himself for what he was about to do.

Saying goodbye was never easy - he knew that better than anyone. He'd said goodbye to an entire past and future along with everything and everyone in it. This goodbye however – for him at least anyway - would only be temporary, even if he didn't know quite who he'd be at the next hello. For his family though – well, twenty-three years was a long time in anyone's book and the separation was bound to take its toll in some respects.

There was nothing for it however; this was the way it had to be. None of them had any choice in the matter, it just was. They all knew it and they all had to accept it. It was the price they paid for securing a better future – a future that, hopefully, would not be without its ensuing rewards.

Squaring his shoulders, Chris drew in a couple of deep breaths and then purposely turned towards the door. Like it or not, it was finally time for him to go downstairs and give his family the inevitable news…

To be continued…

A/N2: This was meant to be the penultimate chapter, but they'll be two more now – 'The Last Supper' and 'No Place like Home.' The next chapter might be a little shorter than normal though, because it was originally meant to be part of this one, only I waffled a bit too much! LOL!

Till next time then,

CharmedBec x