Love's a Witch (in which Chris is too much of a kid)

You're getting sloppy, Halliwell, Chris told himself as he turned over the tiny vial of empath-blocking potion in his hands. Obtaining it had taken far more effort than he'd anticipated, and in his haste to get back to finding the Kotochul egg the potion required, he'd slipped up multiple times over the course of the day.

His first mistake had been being such a brat to Piper's date, which admittedly was less to do with wanting to get his hands on the potion and more to do with protecting his Mom (future Mom, he tried to remind himself) from that idiot. He hadn't planned on doing it, though he couldn't say he hadn't been pleased when Phoebe's meddling gave him a good enough excuse to disrupt the date.

He'd honestly just planned to go in and get Piper out of there.

And then her date had opened his mouth. And Chris hadn't been able to help himself. He'd fired back a retort and a smirk without any thought.

"Me? I'm from the future."

He couldn't lie and say that the complete and utter confusion on the man's face hadn't amused him. Best case scenario, he thought Chris was crazy and stayed away from Piper because of her association with him. Worst case scenario, Chris would just have to try that little bit harder to drive him away.

Wouldn't be the first time he'd scared off someone interested in his mother, although it would be the first time he did it without any help from his big brother.

He only hoped that Piper hadn't picked up on the protective edge to his voice when he asked her about how serious this thing was. Another slip up he couldn't help. But the guy was nowhere near good enough for Piper. No guy was, as far as Chris was concerned. And he'd be damned if Piper didn't know that.

His second mistake had been with Leo, the one he'd been trying to stop himself from making since he'd arrived in the past. The one Bianca had warned him over and over again to be careful of. And he had been careful. He had been so careful and hadn't allowed past (or future, technically) issues to bubble to the surface. No, he kept a tight lid on those, knowing that if he let himself slip back into those old feelings of anger and resentment, he would inevitably end up spilling all of his secrets.

Again though, he just hadn't been able to stop himself when he heard Piper and Phoebe calling for Leo.

"Whoops. Look like Wyatt needs another babysitter, Dad."

Only what was supposed to be a taunt came out a little more scathing than Chris had intended.

Maybe I don't have as much of a handle on my shit as I thought I did, Chris mused, turning the potion over again.

Had his future family been more observant, Chris probably would've outed himself. Thankfully though, they didn't seem to have noticed any of his slip ups.

But they would if he didn't do something soon. That was why he'd been so desperate to get this potion. Phoebe developing the power of empathy wasn't something he'd been expecting, and even though she was still struggling to get the hang of it, her unintentional channelling of his emotions was getting to be too much of a risk. Especially with Leo hanging around all the time. If memory served him right, it wouldn't take Phoebe long to get the hang of her new power, especially after her sisters took the empath-blocking potion and effectively stopped Phoebe's compulsion to meddle in their lives, allowing her to focus on actually controlling it. And once she had control of her powers, Chris had no doubt that the Charmed Ones would turn it on him.

Not that he could blame them. He'd been secretive with them from the beginning, out of necessity, but it made it difficult for the sisters to trust him. Any opportunity they had to learn more about him or his motives would and should be seized.

It's what Chris would have done, in their situation.

So why was he so hesitant to actually drink the potion? He wasn't quite sure how, but he knew it was, in fact, the potion he'd requested and would block Phoebe from being able to read his emotions (barring of course anything that affected or drained his powers, but what were the chances of that happening?). And it wasn't the side effects he'd been warned about; Chris wasn't actually too concerned about those. He knew that in the original timeline, Piper and Paige had eventually gotten desperate enough to go searching for something that would block Phoebe's powers, which had led them to the potion. Which they had obtained from the very shopkeeper Chris had sought out, which was how he'd known he could trust the man, at least to brew the potion correctly, though apparently not to screw him over with Leo. And as far as Chris knew, neither Piper nor Paige had experienced any side effects.

So why was he hesitating? Even if he was worried about side effects, there wasn't really anything he could do to test the potion. Not unless he was willing to use his future mother and aunt as guinea pigs. And what kind of monster would that make him if he was?

I just want to make sure it works. It's not about the side effects, I just don't want to take something that's not going to work.

He slipped the potion back into his pocket, repeating those words over and over in his head.

Hoping that if he said it enough, it might be true.

"I don't get it. Leo didn't give you the empath blocking potion?"

Okay, so this time he was being a shit on purpose. Chris couldn't deny the tiny spark of joy it gave him to sic the Charmed Ones on the Elder for a change. Chris barely managed to hold in a smile at the desperate way the sisters demanded the potion, and the resulting annoyance on Leo's face when he realised what Chris had done.

"They're really anxious about that potion you got for them."

Satisfied that he had done enough to get the potion to Piper and Paige, Chris took a little step back and watched Leo try to convince them not to take it. Piper practically snatched the potion away as soon as Leo very reluctantly held it out to her. Paige had been just as eager to gulp it down.

Then came the moment of truth. Chris tried not to appear too interested as he watched the sisters clearly. Relief coursed through him when he realised the potion had worked, and didn't appear to have any side effects.

Just as expected.

"So it worked, right? No nausea, queasiness, nothing like that?" Chris asked Piper as Phoebe and Paige left the attic.

"Nope, nothing," Piper replied happily, turning on her heel and following her sisters downstairs.

"Looks like we're one big happy family again."

Again, he just couldn't help himself. Couldn't resist the urge to taunt Leo and revel in being able to one-up the self-righteous Elder.

"You're not family," Leo retorted.

Ouch. Chris winced at that, though he quickly adopted what he hoped was a more neutral expression. Another slip. If he was lucky, Leo hadn't noticed. If he had, well, Chris just had to hope that it wasn't enough for the Elder to figure out his secret.

If he did notice, Leo didn't say anything. He walked away, leaving Chris alone in the attic. Chris waited a moment and then, satisfied that neither Leo nor the Charmed Ones were coming back, pulled the potion out of his pocket. In one smooth motion, he pulled the top off and poured the entire contents of the vial straight down his throat. He didn't need to drink the whole thing, and logically he knew that more potion wouldn't make it any stronger or long-lasting. But leaving even a drop behind ran the risk of the sisters, or worse Leo, finding it and working out what he'd done. Now, even if they found the vial, it was empty. They'd have no way of knowing what had been in it and, better yet, no real way to trace it back to Chris.

Of course, if they've been taking notice of me the last few days, the potion might be the least of my worries.

Chris shook the thought from his mind. These versions of the Charmed Ones weren't as observant as the ones he'd known in the future. Even Leo, as suspicious as he was, was too caught up in his own dislike of Chris to recognise all the clues in front of him.

No, his secret would be fine. There had been more than a few near misses since he'd arrived in the past and forced his way into their lives, and yet none of them had ever figured out any of his secrets. What made this time any different?

Leo frowned as he walked down the attic stairs. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was missing something important. Something about Chris.

Following the whitelighter hadn't yielded nearly as much as information as Leo had hoped. Especially given the effort it had taken at times. Other than the potion that was, which Leo still didn't believe had actually been intended for the sisters. But other than that, Chris had either known he was being followed or he really wasn't up to anything. Leo had his money on the former.

So why did he keep going over their interactions over the past couple of days? Why did he feel as though Chris had actually revealed more in those short conversations than he had the entire time Leo had been trailing him? It just didn't make any sense.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he almost didn't see Piper in the hallway. He came to an abrupt stop.

"Everything okay?" Piper asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Yeah. Maybe. I don't know," Leo sighed, "It's about Chris."

Piper frowned exasperatedly, "Leo, we've talked about this."

"I know, I know. But…" Leo trailed off, hesitant under the weight of Piper's dubious gaze.

"But?" Piper repeated.

"I just can't shake the feeling that I've got all the pieces of the puzzle and I just need to put them together."

"Okay, you've lost me."

"The way he's been over the last few days. I can't explain it, but I feel like it's more clues about who he is than we know."

Piper considered that for a moment. Now that she thought about it, Chris had been really weird when he disrupted her date. It wasn't the disruption part, that was expected from their dutiful, nothing-but-magic-matters, demon-hunting-obsessed whitelighter. And as it turned out, it had actually been completely necessary this time. Phoebe and Paige probably would've killed each other, and neither of them had thought to test Paige's shirt to work out exactly what had hit her. They wouldn't have realised who was behind the reignited Callaway-Montana feud as quickly if Piper hadn't come home.

No, it wasn't the fact that he'd disrupted her date, it was the way he'd done it. The almost challenging way he'd told Seth he was from the future. The amusement in his eyes at the mortal's reaction. It was so not what Piper had come to expect from the normally tight-lipped Chris. He'd basically broken the most important time travel rule, which was just so unlike the 'future consequences' attitude he normally adopted.

And then there was the way he'd asked her about Seth. So derisively, as if there was no universe in which Seth would ever be good enough for her. If Piper hadn't known any better, she'd think Chris sounded like a jealous ex-boyfriend. But that just didn't seem quite right.

"Piper?" Leo's voice broke her from her musings.

"I was just thinking about my date," Piper replied. Leo eyes tightened at that and Piper found herself tripping over her words in her haste to explain, "Not- not about my date, but about my- about the way Chris was when he came to get me on my date."

"Oh."

Was that relief in Leo's eyes? It doesn't matter if it is, Piper reminded herself, trying to squash the traitorous feelings that were threatening to well up, You're not together anymore. You can't be together ever again.

"It was weird-" the phone rang from downstairs, "- I don't know if I can really explain it."

"Try," Leo said desperately, wondering if this might just be the final bit of information he needed to work Chris out.

"Piper, Seth's on the phone," Phoebe called from downstairs.

Piper's eyes darted to the stairs, then back to Leo's. Something told her that this conversation was more important than whatever Seth was calling about.

"Take a message," she called back, her eyes never leaving Leo's.

Leo tried to suppress the urge to smile at that. It's not because she wants to talk to you over some other guy. It's because figuring out who Chris is is important, Leo told himself.

"So, what did Chris do on your date that was so weird?" Leo asked.

He wrinkled the nose at the phrasing. "On your date." Made it sound as though Piper and Chris had been on the date together, which was just about the worst thing Leo could imagine. Worse than whoever it was Piper was actually dating. But only just.

"The way he spoke to Seth. It was almost like he was trying to scare him off. I kinda got the feeling he didn't think he was good enough for me," Piper explained.

He probably isn't, Leo thought, but didn't say aloud.

Instead he said, "What like he was jealous, or something?"

Piper shook her head, "No, that's not it. Honestly, the closest thing I have to compare it to is the way Prue used to act whenever Phoebe or I bought a guy home in high school. That whole protective, no-one's-good-enough-for-my-baby-sisters sorta thing."

Leo wrinkled his nose in thought. What reason would Chris have to act so protectively over Piper? Whitelighters weren't known for interfering in the personal lives of their charges, so long as it wasn't preventing them from fulfilling their destinies.

"So, what've you got?" Piper asked, "What's he said or done to you?"

"I don't really know how to explain it either. It's just some things he's said. Like, he called me 'Dad' yesterday. And I think it was meant to be a joke or- not a joke, him trying to get under my skin maybe. But there was something about the way he said it," Leo paused, thinking about the venomous way Chris had spat the word, "It was- there was something personal about it."

"Personal?" Piper scoffed, "What do you think he's really your son or something?"

The words were teasing, but they hit Leo like a tonne of bricks. In fact, they seemed to have a similar impact on Piper. They fell into silence as they both turned that over in their minds.

"It's not possible, right?" Piper finally whispered, her eyes wide in disbelief.

For Leo, it was as if everything had fallen into place. All the clues he had been storing away about Chris suddenly made sense. It was as though they were arranging themselves into a giant neon sign that said 'SON!' in capital letters, with the word 'DUH!' being screamed at him every time the lights flashed.

The fact that Chris had travelled back in time to save Wyatt. He'd wondered why it had been Chris, of all people. They all had.

The way he knew the Manor, knew the Book. As if he had been walking those stairs and flicking through those pages his entire life.

The almost immediate animosity he'd gotten from Chris when they first met, before they even really knew each other (which undoubtedly pointed to some other issues that Leo really needed to clear up sooner rather than later). Like Chris actually did already know him and wasn't a fan. Which may have actually been understating it, if their subsequent interactions were anything to go by.

The fact that Chris had sent him to Valhalla to keep him from meddling in his plans, rather than just kill him. As if there was a reason he needed to keep Leo around.

That Chris had known Leo would be suspicious in the first place. Because he'd had to have known that in advance to make a deal with the Valkyries and have Valhalla ready to hold an Elder and he certainly wouldn't have had time to arrange it all while they were dealing with the Titans.

The fear in Chris's eyes when Leo (oh god) threatened him with the sword. Full whitelighters couldn't be killed with swords. They were already dead. But half-whitelighters, on the other hand. God, I really threatened my son with a sword. And hit him. And threw him into a cabinet. I could have killed him.

Chris had also been the one to see through those other witches' identity theft spell. Leo hadn't thought much of it at the time. He'd been too pleased that his 'rumour' had worked and drawn Chris out.

And he'd been sleeping at P3, not Up There, ever since he arrived in the past. Active whitelighters didn't have homes on Earth. Except for Leo, but he'd been a special case. How had he never thought anything of that before now?

He crashed Piper's date. How often did you hear of kids scaring off their parents' prospective new partners?

"Looks like Wyatt needs a babysitter, Dad."

And worst of all, the brief flash of hurt on Chris's face only moments ago, when Leo had declared he wasn't a part of their family. Oh my god, what have I done?

"Chris is our son."

Damnit, I have a lot to make up for.

Piper shook her head, "He can't be. He- he can't, because that means-"

Leo watched Piper come to a similar realisation as he had. He wouldn't have been surprised if she was counting all the slights she'd committed against… their son since his unexpected arrival in their lives.

At least she didn't threaten his life. Or hit him. Or throw him into a cabinet. Dimly, Leo recalled that Piper had actually thrown Chris into a cabinet in her bedroom, way back on that very first day, before she'd gained control over her Goddess powers.

That wasn't what Piper was focussed on though.

"Oh my god, Leo, we- I made him sleep at the club! What kind of mother makes her own son sleep on a couch in the back of a nightclub? Is he even old enough to be in a nightclub? What kind of mother doesn't know that? What kind of mother doesn't recognise her own son?"

"He doesn't exist yet. How were we supposed to know?" Even as he said it, the excuse sounded weak to Leo. Because he was wondering the exact same thing. How the hell had they not known it from the moment they laid eyes on him? How had they not known?

"That doesn't matter! I'm his mother, we're his parents! We should've taken one look at him and known exactly who he was," Piper argued, knowing that it wasn't logical at all but unable to convince her heart of that, "God, how much must it have hurt him that we didn't know?"

"We can't change that. But we know now," Leo pointed out.

"What do we do? Do we tell him we know?" Piper asked, not giving Leo a chance to respond, "How would we even do that? And what if he freaks out? I mean, clearly he doesn't want us to know or he would have told us himself. But we can't just pretend we don't know. That's craz-"

"Piper!" Leo interjected, stopping Piper's nervous rambling, "Just- we just need to take a breath and think about this for a second."

"Okay," Piper replied, her voice less panicked and more shaky, "Okay."

Leo waited a moment, as much to give Piper a chance to pull herself together as it was to pull himself together.

"You're right, we can't pretend we don't know. If Chris were to find out that we knew and never said anything…"

He'd think we don't care. Leo couldn't bring himself to say the words aloud.

Piper swallowed, "So, what do we do? How do we even talk to him about this?"

"I don't know," Leo admitted.

"He's obviously a good liar to have been able to hide this from us for so long. And he obviously doesn't want us to know or he would've told us. What are the chances he'll even admit it if we ask him?"

"I don't know," Leo said again, "Although, I'm almost certain that he'd lie to me about it. I'm pretty sure he hates me."

"Of course he doesn't!" Piper insisted, "I know you two haven't gotten along since he's been here, but that's just because you thought you had to protect us. You didn't know. But now you do, I'm sure-"

"Something tells me our issues predate Chris coming here," Leo sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Piper raised an eyebrow curiously, but didn't say anything more on the matter. There would be plenty of time to deal with any father-son issues after they told Chris that they knew.

"Okay, so we know there's a pretty good chance he'll try to lie. And we know he's damn good at that. And I'm pretty sure casting the truth spell to circumvent that would just make things worse. So how do we make sure he can't lie to us?" Piper asked.

They lapsed back into silence, thinking on that for a moment.

"If only there was a spell we could use to know whether he's telling the truth," Piper mused.

"How is that different from the truth spell?" Leo wondered.

"Well it's not forcing him to tell the truth, it's just letting us know if he tries to lie," Piper explained, "Think of it like a human lie detector. Only I have no idea how we would even-"

"Phoebe," Leo interjected. Piper raised her eyebrow questioningly, prompting Leo to elaborate, "She can use her empathy to tap into Chris's emotions. Even if she can't tell if he's lying, at least then we know how he's feeling when we're talking to him."

Piper frowned, "If we tell Phoebe, we have to tell Paige. And the more people that know, the more risk there is that it'll get back to Chris before we have a chance to talk to him. Especially Phoebe…"

"She's better at keeping secrets than you think. The important ones at least."

"Are you sure we're talking about the same Phoebe?" Piper scoffed disbelievingly.

"She kept my secret," Leo pointed out.

"For a whole hour maybe. The only reason that secret even remained intact was because we didn't believe her!"

"She kept the Cole secret."

"Because she was scared of what Prue would do to her if she found out she'd lied! That's hardly a ringing endorsement!"

"Well make her scared of you then!" Leo retorted.

"Leo," Piper replied exasperatedly.

"You know what I mean. This isn't some little secret, this is our family. And Phoebe would never do anything to hurt our family."

Piper frowned, considering the idea.

"She's your sister, Piper. It's your decision," Leo said.

Piper sighed in concession, "Okay. Let me talk to Phoebe and Paige. We can figure out what to do once they're both on board."

"What did you just say?" Paige said, her eyes wide with a strange mix of surprise and disbelief.

Phoebe was staring at Piper with a similar expression on her face. Piper sighed.

"Chris is my son," Piper repeated, "Mine and Leo's."

"So I did hear that right," Paige replied, "Holy shit."

"Oh my god, Piper! You're going to have another baby!" Phoebe cried excitedly.

"Apparently," Piper replied wryly.

"And you and Leo- I mean, obviously you guys…" Phoebe trailed off.

"Hold up a minute," Paige threw a hand up before Piper could respond, "Just rewind. Chris is your son? You're sure?"

"Pretty sure," Piper replied.

"Wh- Pretty sure?" Phoebe spluttered, "You think he's lying?"

"That's the thing. Chris didn't actually tell us," Piper said sheepishly.

"So, how do you-?" Paige asked.

"Just these things he's said to Leo and I. It's hard to explain, but as soon as it occurred to us, it just felt… right," Piper shrugged.

"A lot of things would make sense if it's true," Phoebe pointed out, "So, what are you gonna do?"

"We have to talk to him, before he realises that we know. But- well, we all know what Chris is like. He's such a convincing liar, I'm sure he'll be able to convince us all it's not true even if it is," Piper admitted, "That's why we need your help, Phoebe."

"Me?" Phoebe cried incredulously.

"You're the only one who can get a read on Chris. If he tries to lie, you'll be able to tell," Piper explained.

"Only if he didn't take the same potion we did," Paige pointed out, "I wouldn't put it past him."

"Oh god, I didn't even think of that!" Piper said dejectedly, "He probably did though, right?"

"I won't know until I see him. Should we call him?" Phoebe asked.

Piper shook her head, "No. If he did take the potion, we're back to the drawing board. And we can't do anything to make him suspicious."

"So what, we just wait until he shows up again?" Paige asked incredulously.

"It's Chris," Piper reminded her, "When have you ever known Chris to stay away for longer than a day or two?"

Almost as if he knew, Chris stayed away from the Manor for a whole four days. Four agonising days of waiting for him to show. On the second day, Piper began to wish, for the very first time in her life, for a demon or a warlock to cross their path, to give them an excuse to call for Chris. On the third day, it crossed Piper's mind that there was plenty of evil in the city, and all she had to do was scry for something and then call Chris. It was only the knowledge that seeking out evil had never served the Halliwells well that stopped Piper from that course of action.

On the fourth day, something in Piper snapped. After she found herself looking at the clock for the third time in as many minutes she knew she had to do something. She had just pulled herself up from the spot on the floor where she'd been playing with Wyatt when the familiar sound of orbing chimed behind her.

Piper whirled around, trying to school her expression so her relief didn't show on her face.

"Chris," she said as calmly as she could manage, "Long time no see."

"Yeah, I've been following up some leads," Chris replied dismissively, seemingly not taking any notice of Piper's strange reaction to him, "Are your sisters here?"

"I think they're upstairs. Everything okay?"

Chris only gave the slightest indication of being surprised by Piper's question, his eyebrows raising ever so slightly. If she hadn't been watching him so closely, Piper never would've noticed it. Her heart sank as she realised that Chris was surprised she would ask him that. She wondered if she'd ever actually asked Chris how he was, shame filling her as she realised she honestly couldn't say.

Have I ever even asked him anything about himself?

"There's a demon," Chris said simply, pulling Piper from her thoughts. There was a hint of defensiveness in his tone, as if he were steeling himself for an argument.

"I guess we better get Phoebe and Paige then."

Piper realised her mistake too late. Chris couldn't hide his surprise at her agreeableness. He openly gaped at her.

"What?" she asked in the most casual tone she could muster, inwardly terrified she was gonna scare her kid off before she could even talk to him.

"You- you're not gonna lecture me about ruining your weekend? Not gonna argue or tell me it can wait until it's convenient?"

Ouch. Is that really what we've been doing? What I've been doing?

Not trusting herself to speak straight away, Piper bent down to pick Wyatt up, balancing him on her hip.

"Now's convenient. Your timing couldn't be better actually. We're all together, no dates, no jobs. We can spare a little time to rid San Francisco of whatever it is you wanna send us after this time."

Chris stood gaping for another minute. Piper started making her way up the stairs, hoping he would follow but terrified that he wouldn't. Her heart thudded hard in her chest when she didn't immediately hear footsteps behind her. Had she spooked him? She hadn't heard orbs yet but that didn't mean he wouldn't run away.

And then she heard footsteps behind her. Evidently, Chris's desire to battle evil won out against whatever suspicion he had.

The corners of Piper's mouth quirked into a small smile. She let her satisfaction show only for a moment before pressing her lips into a more neutral expression. She just needed to keep a lid on it long enough for Phoebe to try to get a read on Chris. Then she could call Leo and they could get everything out into the open.

Piper passed by Phoebe and Paige's rooms as she made her way up to the attic, pausing to knock on each door.

"Attic," she called over her shoulder by way of explanation, "Chris has a demon for us."

As soon as they stepped in the attic, Chris made his way over to the Book. Piper set Wyatt in the playpen in the corner as Phoebe and Paige came hurrying into the room. Chris looked up from the Book, his hands stilling over the pages, astonishment clear in his eyes at the haste with which the normally reluctant Charmed Ones had gathered in the attic. To his credit, he only let it stop him for a few seconds, immediately looking back down and continuing to flick through the pages of the Book of Shadows. His fingers moved so quickly, Piper didn't know how he could even see what was on the pages, let alone how he would know when he found what he was looking for.

"Just- one sec," he muttered, "I just gotta-"

No one spoke. Piper watched Phoebe carefully. The empath's eyes narrowed infinitesimally and she tilted her head, trying to get a read from Chris without it being noticeable that that's what she was doing. After a moment, her nose wrinkled with effort ever so slightly. Even before she looked over at Piper and very subtly shook her head, Piper's heart fell.

That was one question answered. Chris had taken the empath-blocking potion.

Damnit. Back to the drawing board.

"Okay, here we go," Chris looked up from the Book, pointing to the open page in front of him, "There's a Lamia demon that's set up a hunting ground here."

"A what?" Paige asked.

Piper squashed down her disappointment, as she and her sisters gathered around Chris and the Book. As usual, the absolute last thing she felt like doing was going after a demon, but with her newfound knowledge she couldn't find it in herself to protest something that was so obviously important to her son.

Besides, if we don't do it, what's to stop him from hunting this thing down himself?

Although they were definitely going to have to have a talk about this demon hunting obsession sooner rather than later. No way was Piper signing herself up for a lifetime of this crap.

"Lamia demons," Phoebe read aloud, "Vampire-like demons that bathe in and consume the blood of good beings to maintain their eternal youth and powers of telepathy and mental manipulation. Gross!"

"Mental manipulation?" Piper asked in alarm, "I don't like the sound of that."

"It's less mental manipulation as it is suggestion," Chris explained, "There should be a spell in the Book that you can cast to guard your mind from their powers long enough for you to vanquish them."

"There's a vanquishing potion here too. Shouldn't be too difficult to brew," Paige commented, "I can get to work on that while you guys look for the mind protection spell."

"How long do you think this thing has been operating in the city, Chris?" Phoebe asked as Piper began flipping through the Book, looking for the spell he'd mentioned.

"At least a week. There've been five victims so far, or at least five that have been connected to the one killer. All kids," Chris said grimly.

"Kids?" Piper asked, her eyes immediately flickering to Wyatt.

Chris nodded, his face still tight and grim, "Lamia need good blood for their sacrifices. And other than you guys, kids are just about the most pure source of goodness on the planet. And they're much easier to kill than a Charmed One."

"You don't think- would they be after Wyatt?" Piper asked softly, terror flooding over her.

Chris swallowed, "I haven't found anything to suggest any of these kids were magical. But if I were gonna sacrifice a source of goodness, I'd certainly be looking for someone like Wyatt." Chris's eyes widened in fear as he realised what he'd said, " Not that- not that I'm planning to sacrifice- I just meant, if I were- but- but I'm not!"

Piper could understand the reaction. A few days ago, the words would have sparked every single one of her protective instincts, and Chris would have found himself on the receiving end of maternal ire.

But he was her son. She hadn't yet confirmed it and yet she was as sure of that as she was that Wyatt was her son. And she knew with all of her being that there was nothing that could ever convince Chris to hurt his brother. Mother's intuition maybe, but she just knew.

"I get it," Piper said reassuringly.

Chris breathed a tiny sigh of relief, his body relaxing as if a weight had been lifted from him.

"Look, I think the chances that they could even get close to Wyatt are miniscule. But even if they're not after Wyatt, they'll be after other kids. Kids are a pretty amazing source of goodness, but they're also small. Lamia need to consume the equivalent of thirteen adults over the course of a month. If they're using kids, they'll need at least twice that many kills, depending how young they're willing to go."

Piper shuddered, looking back down at the Book with a renewed sense of determination. No more children would be killed. Not if she had anything to say about it.

As she flicked through the pages, it occurred to her that there was still the problem of how she and Leo were going to talk to Chris. Even after they'd dealt with this Lamia situation, they still didn't have a plan for how to bring it up with him. Or how to have an honest conversation with him.

Only Chris could be this complicated, Piper thought wryly, before turning her thoughts back to the demon hunt at hand.

"So Phoebe's a no-go," Leo sighed disappointedly.

Piper lifted her head wearily from the back of the sofa. The Lamia vanquish had gone as well as they'd hoped but had taken more out of her than she'd expected. Between pulling the potion together, finding and casting the spell to protect them from mental manipulation, and then actually tracking down and vanquishing the demons, it had been a long day.

Not to mention that Chris had promptly taken off as soon as the vanquish was over and he'd confirmed that none of his charges were injured. Piper hadn't planned on trying to talk to him, not without Leo there, but she couldn't deny her hurt at how quickly he'd left. She was beginning to worry how this conversation would go when she and Leo finally figured out how to tell him that they knew.

"No," Piper sighed, "Phoebe can't get a read at all. He definitely took that potion."

"I should've known. He was so desperate for the potion, I should've known that he would find a way to get his hands on another one," Leo berated himself.

"We're just gonna have to talk to him and hope he'll be honest with us. I don't think there's any way around it."

"There really doesn't seem to be any other option. When do you think we should-?"

"Next time he comes by, I guess. We shouldn't put it off any longer than that. The longer we wait…"

"… the worse it will be," Leo finished grimly.

Piper nodded and repeated, "The worse it will be."

It was a good plan. Well, it was a decent plan. Okay, so maybe it was the only plan. In any other family, it probably would've worked too. Of course, something told Piper that other families probably didn't have to deal with confronting future versions of their yet-to-be-conceived children. No, that was a pleasure reserved solely for the Halliwells.

Regardless, as tended to be the case for a plan made by a Halliwell, nothing happened as it should.

Piper had planned to call Leo the next time Chris came by the Manor. What she hadn't counted on was how little time Chris actually spent at the Manor. Was this avoidance new behaviour, or did he really not come by that frequently? She swore it felt like he was always around, always bugging them with some demon or another. Was it possible that he actually wasn't around as often as she thought? What did he do when he wasn't corralling the Charmed Ones?

She wasn't just a terrible mother. She was a terrible person.

Almost as if the universe was punishing her, demons decided to attack the Manor just over a week and a half after Piper and Leo had first realised that Chris was their son.

Piper was there alone with Wyatt, who was fortunately napping upstairs when the demons shimmered in. Three of them, large and grotesque and not-at-all-human-looking. Red eyes locked on Piper and they began flinging energy balls her way. She was able to blow up the energy balls, but had no luck when she directed her powers at the demons themselves. They broke her freezes with ease and any explosions she directed at them merely pushed them backwards.

"Chris!"

The name was out of her mouth before Piper could even stop herself. A reflex she'd developed over years of battling evil. It was one of the cardinal rules of wicca; when in doubt, when in over your head, call your whitelighter.

Blue light filled the kitchen as Chris orbed in. To Piper's horror, he solidified in between her and the demons.

Piper reacted with a speed she hadn't known she possessed. She flicked her wrists to blow up the energy ball that was headed straight for Chris's back, giving him a chance to turn around to face the demons in front of them. The demon closest to Chris snarled, taking a step towards him.

"Hey! Get away from my kid!" Piper yelled without thinking. She flicked her wrists at the demon, forcing him back a couple of steps.

Chris's head whipped to Piper, "You know?"

Piper gritted her teeth. It wasn't how she had planned to bring it up, but it was too late to take it back now. At least he didn't try to deny it.

"Could we maybe do this later?" she asked, blowing up another energy ball.

Chris swallowed hard, but turned his attention back to the demons. To Piper's surprise, he raised his hands and began to direct energy balls back at the demons!

Prue's power. Huh, Piper thought faintly.

It was effective. Like most demons, these ones weren't impervious to their own weapons, and the energy balls had much more of an effect than Piper's molecular combustion power. Within a minute, all three demons had been reduced to ash.

Piper let out a sigh of relief as the last demon exploded. Her hands dropped to her sides and she looked over at Chris gratefully. Her relief gave way to worry when she took in the panicked expression on the young whitelighter-witch's face.

"How long have you known?" he asked tightly, his eyes large and wild.

Piper held her hands up, wanting to reach for Chris, but not sure it would be appreciated.

"Not long. A week or so," she said, her voice soft and reassuring, "We've been trying to figure out how to talk to you about it."

"We?" Chris clenched his hands into fists.

"Leo and I," Piper answered.

Chris swallowed hard.

"How? How did you even figure it out?" he asked.

"Well, we- Leo should really be here for this," Piper said.

Chris pressed his lips together tightly, looking as if he'd rather be anywhere else. He didn't protest though, so Piper called Leo, who immediately appeared in the kitchen with a nervous expression on his face as he reformed. He looked between Piper and Chris, his nervousness seemingly increasing.

"Why don't we sit?" Piper suggested, feeling as nervous as Leo looked.

Chris remained rooted in place. His head hung defeatedly.

"How did you figure it out?" he repeated, not making eye contact with either of his parents.

"So, it's true. You're our son," Leo said certainly.

Chris's head snapped up to look at Leo, a hint of fire in his eyes that wasn't there a moment ago.

"Don't call me that," he snapped, "How did you figure it out?"

Leo flinched at the sharpness of Chris's tone. Piper winced. He wasn't denying it and yet this was somehow going so much worse than she'd expected.

"Just some things you said last week. The more we thought about it, the more it made sense," Piper said, her voice sounding soft and weak to her own ears.

Chris chuckled humourlessly, "Of course you did. That's on me, I guess. I wasn't exactly being subtle about it. I should've known one of you would figure it out."

"Why didn't you just tell us?" Leo asked.

Chris shrugged, but didn't answer. Instead he asked, "Do Phoebe and Paige know?"

"Yes," Piper answered honestly, though she tactfully did not mention the plan to use Phoebe's powers against him.

"Huh, I'm surprised Phoebe hasn't spilled yet," Chris replied, tucking his hands into his pockets, "What is that, some kind of record?"

"Not exactly," Piper blinked, realising they'd gotten off track, "That's not really important right now though."

Chris grimaced, "No, I guess not. This really doesn't have to change anything though."

"What are you talking about? Chris, this changes everything!" Leo cried.

"This changes nothing. Look, I didn't come here for a family reunion," Chris replied.

"Then why did you come?" Piper asked.

"I told you, I came to save Wyatt."

"From what?" Piper and Leo asked simultaneously.

"I can't tell you that," Chris replied.

"Why not?" Piper pleaded.

"Because I can't, okay?" Chris let out a sigh of frustration, "Look, if I had my way, you wouldn't know any of this, but you do, so I guess I'll just have to deal. I just- I can't let this get in the way of what I have to do, okay?"

"Chris…" Piper stepped towards him, wanting so badly to hug him.

Chris took a step back.

"Don't."

"Don't what?" Piper asked softly.

"Don't do that! Don't look at me like that. Like you're my Mom, like I'm your kid. You're not, I'm not."

Piper didn't really know what to say to that. Hurt washed over her at Chris's words. You're not my Mom.

"I just- I- I can't do this. I'm sorry."

To his credit, Chris really did look sorry as he orbed away. The tears that had been steadily building in Piper's eyes began to roll slowly down her cheeks. She looked back at Leo, who looked as miserable as she did.

That could have gone better.

Author's note: *Hides under a rock* Okay, so this one is a little more open ended than the previous episodes. There's a few reasons for that. Firstly, I'm trying not to have these be too repetitive, but I also figure that the reactions everyone (including Chris) will have to the revelation depends on when and how it comes out. And that means it's not always going to be taken well and it may take some time to get to the point where there's a feeling of closure and they all start acting like a family. I figure that once Piper and Leo eventually get Chris to talk to them, it would probably happen in a similar way to the previous episodes.

Next episode is half written, so will hopefully be out in a week or two. The next two after that are both written, so should be posted fairly quickly. They're also my two favourite reveals (and some of the first episodes I wrote for this story)! I'm excited to get to them.