Disclaimer: I still don't own Charmed. Something about Kern wanting more money than that…

Chapter 2

Everyone stared in amazement at the fully grown, and fully naked, Chris standing in front of them amidst the debris that used to be a crib and baby clothes, looking very confused.

"What…?"Chris stuttered, and then glanced down. Noticing his current state, he crouched, turning bright red, and looked around frantically. Noticing an extra baby blanket on the dresser, he quickly waved his fingers at it. When it didn't move, he glared at his fingers and tried again. Giving up, he ran over to the dresser and grabbed the blanket, wrapping it around him. "What the hell is going on?" he shouted.

Leo finally found his voice and asked, "Chris, how did you get here? I thought… I mean, I saw you…" He couldn't finish. He felt his stomach turn to ice. Had he been wrong? What if his son hadn't been dead, but trapped somewhere and he'd done nothing to help him?

Chris screwed up his face. "The last thing I remember, I was on the bed and I was sure I was dying. Everything went dark, and then I felt myself being pulled. I thought I caught a glimpse of the attic and Mom, and then all of a sudden I was here. What happened? And why am I naked?" By the end of his speech, Chris was obviously panicking.

Phoebe could see that emotions were running high, and was silently thankful she couldn't feel them. "Everybody relax. There's got to be some sort of explanation for all of this." She said.

Just then Piper shouted "Where's the baby?!" She ran over to where the crib had previously stood and frantically started digging through the debris.

Realization crept into Leo's eyes. "Piper…" he said tentatively. "When the crash woke me up, you weren't in the room. What were you doing?"

Piper looked up guiltily. "You couldn't tell me what happened to him, where he was. I couldn't accept that, I just couldn't! I-I had to make sure he was safe. But, it didn't work." She looked completely defeated and her sisters had to turn away, unable to look at the pain on her face as they realized Leo had told her the truth much sooner than they had anticipated.

"You summoned his spirit, didn't you?" Leo asked quietly. The look on Piper's face was confirmation enough. "No! Piper! Don't you think I thought of that? But little Chris had already been born. A spirit summoned to our plane will automatically be drawn to their body if the body is alive." He was exasperated and upset with himself for not realizing his wife would try this.

Piper looked at him in horror. "You mean, in trying to contact Chris, I… What did I do? Is the baby just gone?" When Leo didn't answer, she whispered, "Forever?" A tear trickled down her face as the implications of what she had just done struck her.

"I don't know." Leo said quietly.

The whole group jumped, startled, as a strangled whisper came from the corner of the room. "I'm a spirit? I'm dead?"

Piper's eyes melted as she ran over and engulfed her son in her arms. "Oh, Chris, I'm so sorry! I thought you knew. I'm so glad to see you though! You're safe."

Chris just stood there, frozen as a statue in his mother's arms. He wanted to sink into her embrace, but he didn't seem to be able to move. "This is wrong." He whispered. "I shouldn't be here. Dad, please! Fix this!" He stared pleadingly at Leo, and then suddenly collapsed into tears. "What was the point?" He sobbed. "All this for a better future, and of course I go and mess it up!"

Everyone stared at him in shock. They'd never seen him so upset and didn't know how to react. They were used to Chris bottling everything up and turning it into anger. This was something new, and they were unprepared.

Leo helped his son up from the floor with a supporting arm. "Chris, it's going to be ok. Don't worry, I promise we'll fix everything. But right now, I think what we all need is some sleep. We'll deal with this problem tomorrow. Come on, let's get you some clothes and then we'll set you up on the couch." Chris looked up at his father gratefully and silently let himself be led downstairs.

As Piper started to walk out of the room, she realized they hadn't heard a peep from Wyatt. Had he slept through the whole thing? She glanced over at his crib and saw him standing up, watching the whole scene with an extremely disconcerting emotionless stare. Piper suppressed an involuntary shiver and walked over to her son.

"I'm sorry we were so loud and woke you up, baby. You go back to sleep now and I'll see you in the morning." She tucked Wyatt in and kissed his head. The child continued to stare at her in the same manner. Piper quickly turned off the light and shut the door behind her.