But things weren't fine. One month passed without any sign of Joy. Chris only stayed at the manor when he was called by the Charmed Ones. He hoped that no one would find out how upset he was about Joy leaving.

One day, Piper called him down to the manor. Uneasily, Chris responded to her call.

"What is it, Piper? What do you need?"

"I don't need anything, Chris. I just wanted to give you something."

Piper went to the cabinet and pulled something out of it. She handed it to Chris. It was a picture frame. Inside was a picture of him and Joy together, both of them smiling widely for the camera. Chris' arms were around Joy's waist and he had placed his chin on her shoulder from behind.

"I thought you might like to have that. It turned out really well."

"Thanks, Piper. This was really...sweet of you."

Chris walked into the hallway, then sat on the stairs. He stared at the picture and tried to remember what it felt like to hold Joy in his arms. But he couldn't. This picture was all he had left of her and he knew it. She would never come back.

Then he felt something. Something inside of him. It wasn't a feeling that was new to him; he'd felt it before. Pain was pulsing inside his chest and he felt light-headed, really dizzy.

Piper heard a sound that came from the hallway. Then she heard a louder sound. When she reached the hallway, she saw broken glass scattered everywhere—the picture frame had shattered—and Chris' motionless body facedown on the floor.

Piper fell to her knees beside him and started to shake him gently. "Chris? Chris? Are you okay?" But Chris didn't move.

"Oh, my God. Leo! I need your help!" In a few seconds, Leo orbed in and was taken back by the sight in front of him.

"Piper, what happened?"

"I don't know, but he's not moving. He's hurt; can you try and heal him?"

Leo nodded and moved toward Chris. He suspended his hands six inches above Chris' body and tried to heal him. But nothing happened.

"I can't. Help me get him to the couch." Piper and Leo lifted Chris to the couch in the living room.

Piper asked, "But he's not dead, is he?" Leo shook his head. "What should we do?"

"I don't know. I'll go find Paige and Phoebe. Maybe they can help us."

Piper nodded as Leo disappeared in a cloud of orbs. A few seconds later, he returned with Paige and Phoebe.

"Oh, my God. What happened?" Paige asked.

"I don't know. I gave him the picture of him and Joy, he walked out into the hallway and five seconds later: boom. " Piper responded, "What should we do?"

No one knew.

Then Phoebe said quietly, "What about Joy? Does she know?"

Piper said no. "I didn't even think about her. But she may be able to help us."

The Charmed Ones hurried up to the attic and Phoebe started to flip through the Book of Shadows.

"Phoebe, what are you doing?" Piper inquired.

""I'm looking for how to summon Joy." At her sisters' blank looks, she continued. "Joy is the princess of fairies. There's a spell in here to summon her. Oh, here it is."

The sisters gathered around the book and read the summoning spell.

Princess of Fairies, wise and true

Come to me, I summon you.

Come and help us where we stand,

Come and help us understand. A cloud of sparkling dust swirled on the attic floor, then Joy appeared in front of them. "Hey guys, what's up?"

"Uh, Joy, we need your help." Paige began.

"Sure, what is it?"

The Charmed Ones looked at each other. Piper hesitated before speaking. "It's...Chris."

Joy's usually cheerful face hardened, becoming serious and concerned. "What about him? What's wrong?"

"He's hurt...badly," Piper explained, "And Leo couldn't heal him. We thought...maybe you could help him." Without another word, Joy turned and ran down the stairs. Piper, Paige, and Phoebe ran after her.

Joy didn't stop until she reached the living room couch, where she stopped, suddenly frozen in horror.

"Oh, my God." She moved and sat in front of Chris on the floor, her hands over her mouth. "What happened to you? Why are you so hurt?"

"We don't know what happened, Joy." Piper said, moving from the hallway to behind the couch.

"Did you guys notice that he's bleeding?" Joy asked. Apparently not. Everyone started moving toward the couch at this new information. It was true. Blood was seeping through his shirt. Joy unbuttoned the top two buttons and looked at the skin underneath. A large hole was where his heart should have been.

Sudden understanding dawned on Joy. "This is all my fault," she said, "I never should have left."

"What do you mean?" asked Leo.

Joy looked up at him. "His heart's broken. It's my fault. I left him. So he would be safe."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll tell you later. First, I have to help Chris." She took a deep breath and spoke to Chris.

Let me heal your wounded heart. I am back from our time apart.

The blood disappeared from Chris' shirt and the hole started shrinking until nothing was left. Chris slowly opened his eyes and looked at the person sitting next to him on the floor.

"Joy?" he asked quietly.

"Hey, baby," she said, helping him sit up, "I'm so sorry that this happened. This is all my fault."

"Shh," he whispered, touching her lips lightly with his fingers. Then he moved his face close to hers and kissed her. She didn't try to stop him; she wanted this as much as he did.

Leo and the girls moved out of the room to give them privacy.

Chris' hands moved down Joy's neck, her shoulders, her back, and rested on her waist. Joy placed her hands on Chris' neck, not letting him break away.

They hadn't seen each other in a month. She had missed him so much, knowing how much their time apart was hurting him. She had just wanted to keep him safe from the evil power that was taking over her world. As she kissed him, she wished with all her heart that the Mazging wouldn't find out. But as she wished, she knew that they would. They always found out.

Even though he knew it would put them in danger, the thing he wanted most was to hear her say that she loved him. He knew she did, he just needed to hear it. He understood why she wouldn't say it, though. He understood what she was doing to make sure that the Mazging didn't find out and ruin both of their lives. He couldn't bear to be away from her for more than a day, let alone eternity.