THE BEST LAID PLANS

Chapter 7

"Victor? I thought his middle name would have been Perry, a 'P' name." Grams said, not happy with this turn of events.

"I don't know how he ended up with Perry as a middle name the first time, if he did. He never would explain. But the name Christopher is for Leo's father and after finding out from him what an "awesome Grandpa" that Dad is going to be, and how Dad's the one responsible for getting his "surly new grandson" to speak to me, I thought that his middle name should be Victor." Piper explained firmly.

"Thank you, honey. I'm honored." Victor said, trying not to tear up.

"Haruumph" Grams snorted, but quickly turned away at Piper's angry glare. "I'm just saying, it's not a 'P' name. Family tradition."

"That's only been the tradition for a few generations, Mother. Piper is free to name her son whatever she wants. I like the name." Patty interjected, hoping to head off a fight.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road. Time's a wasting." Phoebe chimed in, looking at her watch.

"We keeping you from something, Phoebe?" Piper asked sarcastically.

"Well, actually I do have a date tonight." Phoebe said sheepishly. At her sisters' annoyed looks, "What? I got a little sidetracked by the whole Wyatt thing, but I seriously am running out of time here people."

"Do I want to know what's going on here?" Victor asked, confused.

"No, you don't. Trust me." Paige said, patting him on the arm.

"Alright, lets go bless the baby." Piper said.

"Mind if I carry my sort of name-sake?" Victor asked Leo, who was cuddling baby Chris.

"Sure, Grandpa." Leo said, smiling, handing the baby over to Victor. Leo and Victor had never been overly fond of each other. Victor hated whitelighters, blaming Patty's whitelighter Sam for breaking up his marriage. And Leo was well aware of the pain that Victor's leaving had caused his daughters. The same pain Leo had apparently caused Chris in another time line. That gave him something in common with Victor, which Leo wasn't entirely comfortable with.

Leaving Chris with Victor, Leo walked over to Piper and Wyatt. He took Wyatt out of Piper's arms and playfully tossed him up in the air. Piper and Leo, with a giggling Wyatt, walked out of the living room into the foyer, followed by Phoebe, Paige, Patty and Grams. Victor and Chris brought up the rear.

Before Victor could carry Chris out of the living room, a trio of demons shimmered into the room. The same type of demon that had attacked Piper in the attic earlier.

Seeing Victor and Chris, a demon tosses a fireball in their direction. Grams, the last one out of the room, hears the explosion and turns around. Seeing the demons, she holds up her hands and telekinetically flings the closest demon into a wall, then the ceiling, before dropping him back down on the floor. The others turn and see the demons as well. They run back into the room. Piper blows up one of the two remaining demons.

The third demon goes to throw a fireball at the witches, but Paige calls out "fireball" and when the fireball orbs into her hand she tosses it back towards the demon, incinerating him. The third demon, the one Grams has been battering, shimmers out.

"Dad? Chris?" Piper asked, panicking as she looks around and doesn't seem them, just a scorch mark. "Leo, where are they?"

"I don't know." Leo says, concerned. 'Not again, he thought. I'm not losing him again.'

Upstairs in Piper's bedroom, Victor felt the need to sit down. First a demon had attacked and then his infant grandson had orbed him up here to safety.

"Good going, Chris." Victor said, kissing his grandson's head. "But, I will never get used to orbing, no matter what the other you said."

"What do you mean you don't know? Where's my baby?" Piper demanded, terrified.

"Piper, sweetheart…" Grams hesitantly started to speak.

"Here we are." Victor called out, coming down the stairs carrying Chris.

"Oh, thank God." Piper cried out, and ran over to her father and youngest son. She took Chris out of her father's arms and cuddled him close.

"Victor, what happened?" Leo said.

"How did you get upstairs?" Patty asked.

"It was Chris. He orbed us out just before the fireball would have hit us." Victor explained.

"Way to go, buddy. Way to use your powers." Said the proud father. "Your brother orbed." Leo said to Wyatt. Wyatt gave him a 'big deal' look and glared at the baby his mother was holding.

"Yeah, Chris!" Paige chimed in.

"Definitely a Halliwell." Was Grams' contribution.

"Such a smart boy. But then, we already knew that." Phoebe said, reaching out to pinch his cheeks.

"I can't believe those demons attacked again." Piper said.

"Again? It's happened before?" Patty asked.

"Yeah, earlier today." Phoebe said.

"Demons are attacking the manor and you didn't mention it? We can't call the matriarchs for the wiccanning until this is straightened out." Grams said.

"The matriarchs are probably fine, Grams. But were they after Chris this time? They threw the fireball at him." Paige said.

"I thought we dealt with that already. How many times do we have to teach those demons that they can't mess with our kids… sorry, Piper, your kids and get away with it." Phoebe added.

"So what do we do?" Victor asked.

"We?" Grams asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe I can't fight demons like all of you, but he's is my grandson." Victor said angrily.

"We need to figure out who's doing this and stop them." Patty added, coming between her mother and Victor.

"I'll check the Book of Shadows, see if we can figure out who these demons are. See if there's a spell or a vanquishing potion." Paige said. Grams and Patty went with her to the attic to check.

"No one goes after my kids and gets away with it." Piper said angrily. Chris, sensing his mother's anger, started fussing. Piper rocked him and soothed him with her voice.

"Hey, looks like you're not afraid anymore." Leo said, watching Piper cuddle Chris.

"I'm too angry to be afraid." Piper admitted. "I lost one child. I'm not losing another."

TBC…