A/N:
o.o
Paige and Chris automatically assumed that Piper heard their conversation. They both became very confused though when Piper walked towards them and came to a halt right in front of Chris, a huge smile gracing her features. Somehow it struck them as odd that Piper's immediate reaction to finding out that Chris is her son would be happiness and glee.
Piper enveloped Chris in a big hug. Chris' arms hung limply at his sides, his expression one of extreme confusion. Paige looked on in equal bewilderment.
"You're my nephew! That's great! I always feel a strange chemistry every time you're around, and now I know it's because we share the same blood! I'm so happy for you, Paige!" exclaimed Piper, turning to give her sister a hug.
Paige gave a nervous laugh, returning Piper's hug uneasily. She looked at Chris over Piper's shoulder and they raised their eyebrows at each other, silently deciding to go with the flow of whatever Piper understood from their conversation, which was apparently that Chris is Paige's son.
Piper finally let go of Paige and they stood in a triangle, Piper holding her 'nephew' and sister's hands, looking between them.
"Chris, why didn't you tell us?" she asked, echoing everyone's question and causing Chris to roll his eyes.
"Future consequences." answered Paige for him. She suddenly remembered how panicked Chris became when she asked him if Piper knew about him. He was just about to say something before he broke out of the spell. She looked at Chris inquiringly, trying to read him as he looked at the hand his mother was holding. She noticed his expression going from blank to pained, but the next second he was back to normal and Paige presumed she'd imagined it.
Chris mutely communicated to his aunt through a warning glare to keep quiet, and Paige nodded. Piper caught their exchange and cocked her eyebrow at them.
"Ha, you've hardly known the truth for a couple of minutes and you already share secrets, I see... Well, it's great to know who you really are, Chris." Realization suddenly dawned on Piper's face. "Oh, that explains why you slept on the couch. Leo and Phoebe know about this, don't they? Why am I always the last one to find out about things like this?"
Neither Chris nor Paige answered and Piper walked away after giving each of their hands a squeeze. Paige was still confused. She'd just found out that the man who'd been their whitelighter for the past months and brought so much drama into their lives is her nephew. And now Piper somehow came to think that Chris was Paige's son. Paige shook her head in bemusement.
Chris was very anxious. In the past two days, his dad, his aunt Phoebe and his aunt Paige had found all out his true identity. He remembered how Bianca had warned him not to let the sisters know who he really is. "Stick to the cover story", she'd said. And he blew it. As time passed by and the deadline was looming, it became harder and harder for Chris to pretend. At first it was easy. He came back from years of training in lying to Wyatt, pretending to be on his side. Pretending was a special talent of his. It was especially hard for him to act around his mom. It was really hard not to run and hug her the first time he saw her when she came back. And then he really wanted to hit Leo. It took a lot out of him to pretend to like his dad and to act impassive around him. Inside he was boiling. But after the time portal incident and several months of seeing what Leo had to go through and finally understanding his dad, it became easier. He didn't let go of his hate towards his father, but he did learn to separate the Leo from this time from the Leo in the future. Then there was Paige. He lied to them when he said Paige died and that titans took over, that was just part of the cover story. And Phoebe... whenever Chris looked at her, he saw his cousin in her. She looked so much like her mom... Lying had only become harder when Piper told Chris to leave after he'd told her about Wyatt turning evil... so much of his plan had gone wrong. He didn't even know how different the future was because of everything that happened in the past 30 hours or so. He remembered wanting to tell Leo when his dad told him "You're not family." He liked to pretend that it didn't affect him by keeping a blank expression, like he was so used to doing with Wyatt. Inside, he was hurting, even though he'd never admit it to himself.
Chris shook the depressing thoughts out of his head and turned cockily to Paige.
"Well, MOM, what do we do now?" he asked, coming to the conclusion that with both sisters and Leo knowing the truth, it really wasn't going to be an option to keep the truth from Piper. His heartbeat got louder as realization dawned on him; he was going to have to face his mom for the first time in 8 years.
Paige looked at Chris very seriously and asked, "Why are you so scared of her finding out?"
Chris held her look for a minute before finally breaking down. "Because... I can't confuse her with the Piper from my future. Because separating her from the mom I know in my future is the only way I've survived these past months. And I can't tell you why", he said, trying not to let his façade fall.
Paige took his hand in hers, her eyes getting misty as she looked at him and whispered: "She died, didn't she? And you're scared of getting close?" it was more of a statement then a question.
Chris gulped and orbed away from his aunt, struggling not to let the pain of his mom's death resurface.
In the manor, Paige was left alone and afraid, not knowing what to do. She heard Piper whistling from the kitchen happily, and made a decision, orbing to her sister's room.
o.o
Phoebe woke up to the excruciatingly bright light shining through the window, being nudged awake by Paige. She whined and fidgeted around in bed, refusing to wake up, until a part of her mind told her that maybe a demon attacked. Her eyes flew open and she sat up abruptly, now wide awake.
"Paige, what is it? Did a demon attack? Is Wyatt okay? Is anybody hurt?"
"Whoa, slow down there... no demon attack. We need to talk." said Paige.
Looking closely, Phoebe noticed that Paige's eyes were a bit red and she looked really confused.
"Paige, what is it?" asked Phoebe worriedly.
"I know about Chris." she revealed.
"Y-you do? B-but... how?"
"He told me. Well, I made him tell me. I cast a truth spell."
"Paige, oh my god, how could you, what if Piper finds-"
"He fought it, it wore off."
"You can fight the truth spell?" asked Phoebe, startled.
"Apparently, you can if you're powerful enough. I think Chris is really powerful, more powerful than us."
"Wow..." Phoebe turned to Paige excitedly. "Aren't you excited to know we're going to have another baby? Another nephew?"
"Yes, yes I am Phoebe, but we have more pressing issues at hand. You see, after Chris told me we were talking, and Piper walked in on us."
Phoebe inhaled sharply. "She knows? Oh no! Chris said she absolutely can't know! When he told us I felt so much fear and pain from him, I just know telling her couldn't have been a good thing for him-"
"No, Phoebe, she doesn't know! Apparently she only heard snippets of our conversation, which for some reason led her to believe that Chris is MY son, her NEPHEW. And then after she congratulated me for having a future child-"here Paige stopped to smile sarcastically- "she went to the kitchen and I asked Chris why he's so scared to let Piper find out- and he practically had a complete breakdown, I've never seen him like that, Phoebe! He was totally freaked out, and I've never seen him so hurt! It's like for the first time he let his guard down and then he just orbed away after telling me something about Piper not being around in the future! Get it, Phoebe? Piper's not going to be there in the future... she's going to die!" said a frightened Paige.
Phoebe looked at Paige in shock. "Paige, you can't just go assuming stuff like that without proof! Did Chris tell you that specifically or-"
"Phoebe, I'm telling you, I may not be an empath but I can read people and I can't possibly see another explanation for Chris' reaction whenever we want to tell Piper the truth!"
Phoebe looked down at her hands, her heart beating twice as fast as normal at the thought of her sister's death. She remembered how unbearably hard it was to accept Prue's death; if Piper ever died, Phoebe didn't know if she'd be able to keep living.
Phoebe finally looked up. "So, what are we gonna do?"
"Don't worry, I already have a plan." said Paige confidently.
o.o
Leo sat across from them guiltily, trying to avert his gaze while they told him about their big discovery: Piper's death. Only he already knew about that. He also knew that thanks to Chris, they weren't going to let it happen. His heart wrenched at the thought of Chris; he could sense him, he was on the Golden Gate Bridge, probably trying to clear his thoughts. He wanted to go there and talk to him, try to make things better. But Paige and Phoebe ranted on and on.
"Leo! Leo, we just told you that the MOTHER OF YOUR CHILDREN is going to die in the future, and all you can do is look at the window and not say anything?!"
Leo finally snapped out of it and looked up to see Paige and Phoebe looking at him with a mixture of anger and fear.
"Look, I already know about that. –" Paige's jaw fell – "But right now I'm more worried about Chris."
Phoebe, feeling his concern, said understandingly: "Go and talk to him for us.
o.o
Argh! I'm having a major writer's block! I have it all planned out, but I'm having a really hard time writing today, my creative juices just aren't flowing! Everything just feels very forced to me. I'm sorry if I'm disappointing all of you, I'm trying to build something here, maybe build up a lot of tension, leading up to the big climax in which Piper finds out or something. I'm just having trouble building up the story, you know? It's alright though, a couple more chocolate chip cookies and maybe some apple sauce and I will be liberated from this horrible writer's block, or near- writer's-block. Please review!
o.o
Paige and Chris automatically assumed that Piper heard their conversation. They both became very confused though when Piper walked towards them and came to a halt right in front of Chris, a huge smile gracing her features. Somehow it struck them as odd that Piper's immediate reaction to finding out that Chris is her son would be happiness and glee.
Piper enveloped Chris in a big hug. Chris' arms hung limply at his sides, his expression one of extreme confusion. Paige looked on in equal bewilderment.
"You're my nephew! That's great! I always feel a strange chemistry every time you're around, and now I know it's because we share the same blood! I'm so happy for you, Paige!" exclaimed Piper, turning to give her sister a hug.
Paige gave a nervous laugh, returning Piper's hug uneasily. She looked at Chris over Piper's shoulder and they raised their eyebrows at each other, silently deciding to go with the flow of whatever Piper understood from their conversation, which was apparently that Chris is Paige's son.
Piper finally let go of Paige and they stood in a triangle, Piper holding her 'nephew' and sister's hands, looking between them.
"Chris, why didn't you tell us?" she asked, echoing everyone's question and causing Chris to roll his eyes.
"Future consequences." answered Paige for him. She suddenly remembered how panicked Chris became when she asked him if Piper knew about him. He was just about to say something before he broke out of the spell. She looked at Chris inquiringly, trying to read him as he looked at the hand his mother was holding. She noticed his expression going from blank to pained, but the next second he was back to normal and Paige presumed she'd imagined it.
Chris mutely communicated to his aunt through a warning glare to keep quiet, and Paige nodded. Piper caught their exchange and cocked her eyebrow at them.
"Ha, you've hardly known the truth for a couple of minutes and you already share secrets, I see... Well, it's great to know who you really are, Chris." Realization suddenly dawned on Piper's face. "Oh, that explains why you slept on the couch. Leo and Phoebe know about this, don't they? Why am I always the last one to find out about things like this?"
Neither Chris nor Paige answered and Piper walked away after giving each of their hands a squeeze. Paige was still confused. She'd just found out that the man who'd been their whitelighter for the past months and brought so much drama into their lives is her nephew. And now Piper somehow came to think that Chris was Paige's son. Paige shook her head in bemusement.
Chris was very anxious. In the past two days, his dad, his aunt Phoebe and his aunt Paige had found all out his true identity. He remembered how Bianca had warned him not to let the sisters know who he really is. "Stick to the cover story", she'd said. And he blew it. As time passed by and the deadline was looming, it became harder and harder for Chris to pretend. At first it was easy. He came back from years of training in lying to Wyatt, pretending to be on his side. Pretending was a special talent of his. It was especially hard for him to act around his mom. It was really hard not to run and hug her the first time he saw her when she came back. And then he really wanted to hit Leo. It took a lot out of him to pretend to like his dad and to act impassive around him. Inside he was boiling. But after the time portal incident and several months of seeing what Leo had to go through and finally understanding his dad, it became easier. He didn't let go of his hate towards his father, but he did learn to separate the Leo from this time from the Leo in the future. Then there was Paige. He lied to them when he said Paige died and that titans took over, that was just part of the cover story. And Phoebe... whenever Chris looked at her, he saw his cousin in her. She looked so much like her mom... Lying had only become harder when Piper told Chris to leave after he'd told her about Wyatt turning evil... so much of his plan had gone wrong. He didn't even know how different the future was because of everything that happened in the past 30 hours or so. He remembered wanting to tell Leo when his dad told him "You're not family." He liked to pretend that it didn't affect him by keeping a blank expression, like he was so used to doing with Wyatt. Inside, he was hurting, even though he'd never admit it to himself.
Chris shook the depressing thoughts out of his head and turned cockily to Paige.
"Well, MOM, what do we do now?" he asked, coming to the conclusion that with both sisters and Leo knowing the truth, it really wasn't going to be an option to keep the truth from Piper. His heartbeat got louder as realization dawned on him; he was going to have to face his mom for the first time in 8 years.
Paige looked at Chris very seriously and asked, "Why are you so scared of her finding out?"
Chris held her look for a minute before finally breaking down. "Because... I can't confuse her with the Piper from my future. Because separating her from the mom I know in my future is the only way I've survived these past months. And I can't tell you why", he said, trying not to let his façade fall.
Paige took his hand in hers, her eyes getting misty as she looked at him and whispered: "She died, didn't she? And you're scared of getting close?" it was more of a statement then a question.
Chris gulped and orbed away from his aunt, struggling not to let the pain of his mom's death resurface.
In the manor, Paige was left alone and afraid, not knowing what to do. She heard Piper whistling from the kitchen happily, and made a decision, orbing to her sister's room.
o.o
Phoebe woke up to the excruciatingly bright light shining through the window, being nudged awake by Paige. She whined and fidgeted around in bed, refusing to wake up, until a part of her mind told her that maybe a demon attacked. Her eyes flew open and she sat up abruptly, now wide awake.
"Paige, what is it? Did a demon attack? Is Wyatt okay? Is anybody hurt?"
"Whoa, slow down there... no demon attack. We need to talk." said Paige.
Looking closely, Phoebe noticed that Paige's eyes were a bit red and she looked really confused.
"Paige, what is it?" asked Phoebe worriedly.
"I know about Chris." she revealed.
"Y-you do? B-but... how?"
"He told me. Well, I made him tell me. I cast a truth spell."
"Paige, oh my god, how could you, what if Piper finds-"
"He fought it, it wore off."
"You can fight the truth spell?" asked Phoebe, startled.
"Apparently, you can if you're powerful enough. I think Chris is really powerful, more powerful than us."
"Wow..." Phoebe turned to Paige excitedly. "Aren't you excited to know we're going to have another baby? Another nephew?"
"Yes, yes I am Phoebe, but we have more pressing issues at hand. You see, after Chris told me we were talking, and Piper walked in on us."
Phoebe inhaled sharply. "She knows? Oh no! Chris said she absolutely can't know! When he told us I felt so much fear and pain from him, I just know telling her couldn't have been a good thing for him-"
"No, Phoebe, she doesn't know! Apparently she only heard snippets of our conversation, which for some reason led her to believe that Chris is MY son, her NEPHEW. And then after she congratulated me for having a future child-"here Paige stopped to smile sarcastically- "she went to the kitchen and I asked Chris why he's so scared to let Piper find out- and he practically had a complete breakdown, I've never seen him like that, Phoebe! He was totally freaked out, and I've never seen him so hurt! It's like for the first time he let his guard down and then he just orbed away after telling me something about Piper not being around in the future! Get it, Phoebe? Piper's not going to be there in the future... she's going to die!" said a frightened Paige.
Phoebe looked at Paige in shock. "Paige, you can't just go assuming stuff like that without proof! Did Chris tell you that specifically or-"
"Phoebe, I'm telling you, I may not be an empath but I can read people and I can't possibly see another explanation for Chris' reaction whenever we want to tell Piper the truth!"
Phoebe looked down at her hands, her heart beating twice as fast as normal at the thought of her sister's death. She remembered how unbearably hard it was to accept Prue's death; if Piper ever died, Phoebe didn't know if she'd be able to keep living.
Phoebe finally looked up. "So, what are we gonna do?"
"Don't worry, I already have a plan." said Paige confidently.
o.o
Leo sat across from them guiltily, trying to avert his gaze while they told him about their big discovery: Piper's death. Only he already knew about that. He also knew that thanks to Chris, they weren't going to let it happen. His heart wrenched at the thought of Chris; he could sense him, he was on the Golden Gate Bridge, probably trying to clear his thoughts. He wanted to go there and talk to him, try to make things better. But Paige and Phoebe ranted on and on.
"Leo! Leo, we just told you that the MOTHER OF YOUR CHILDREN is going to die in the future, and all you can do is look at the window and not say anything?!"
Leo finally snapped out of it and looked up to see Paige and Phoebe looking at him with a mixture of anger and fear.
"Look, I already know about that. –" Paige's jaw fell – "But right now I'm more worried about Chris."
Phoebe, feeling his concern, said understandingly: "Go and talk to him for us.
o.o
Argh! I'm having a major writer's block! I have it all planned out, but I'm having a really hard time writing today, my creative juices just aren't flowing! Everything just feels very forced to me. I'm sorry if I'm disappointing all of you, I'm trying to build something here, maybe build up a lot of tension, leading up to the big climax in which Piper finds out or something. I'm just having trouble building up the story, you know? It's alright though, a couple more chocolate chip cookies and maybe some apple sauce and I will be liberated from this horrible writer's block, or near- writer's-block. Please review!