Ok, I'd like to carry on with the story now please. Yes I do realise that its been an unacceptably long time since the last part (I sort of lost my nerve) and no I don't expect anyone to still care what happens next. However, on the off chance that someone/anyone is persevering and reading this THANK YOU.

Also, thank you to everyone for their feedback, particularly to Stony Angel who might just be the personification of kindness and Ligia Elena whose comments and advice I truly appreciate and value.

She looked down on him sadly as he stood in his office. If they could only see him now, Leo, her sisters, Chris; see Wyatt as she did, without the followers and the pomp and the façade, they might understand. She knew what they thought; they thought that her maternal love blinded her to the monster he had become, that perversely she refused to accept reality. It really pissed her off, they should know her better than that. She had seen her family possessed and over taken by Evil time and time again, Hell, she had even been there herself. This was different.

Wyatt just stood there, staring at the leprechaun dagger that he held in his hand, eventually he flicked his fingers and a cloaked display cabinet appeared packed with weapons. A vast assortment of swords, athames, daggers, all souvenirs of various assassination attempts. It was a grisly collection, epitomising a life of danger and violence. He placed the dagger at the end of a row, then thoughtfully picked up another, the first, it was Gideon's. From his expression she knew Wyatt was thinking of Chris, thinking that this was the blade that had/would /did kill him.

Piper came here often to watch over Wyatt, or rather surround him, experience him; it was difficult to describe the sensation, like explaining sight to someone born blind. She came in the hope that he would somehow feel her presence and be less alone. It began three years earlier when she had stormed here looking for a fight, straight from a distraught Leo. He had been beside himself with grief, broken down by his son's iniquities, relaying how before thousands of witnesses Wyatt had massacred a wood full of nymphs to prove himself to the underworld. She had come enraged, looking for answers and found instead her shell shocked little boy still reeling from his father's rejection. Then she knew, no matter how it looked, no matter what the rest of the world thought, she knew in that moment that Wyatt wasn't evil, hadn't changed and trusting him as she trusted herself she knew he must have a good reason to act in this way. It was enough.

Well nearly enough, it had still been hard to bite her tongue and watch, passive observation was not exactly her style and almost daily she fought the urge to demand what the hell was going on. The effort to keep her peace almost killed her, if she had been alive it probably would have done, but death brought at least that advantage. She'd watched how Wyatt isolated himself, almost deliberately pushing away everyone else that loved him and it made her determined to not let go, trusting that a steadfast display of unconditional faith and love would give him something to hold on to.

Totally absorbed in his thoughts, Wyatt didn't appear to notice as Gideon's athame began to hover and spin under his focus, catching the light and forcing its reflection to dance over his face. It had always been that way, as though his mortal frame could not hold in all of the power it contained. As a child surrounding inanimate objects would come to life reflecting his emotions, skipping in circles past him and Chris while they chortled as babies, or more sinisterly rising up to smite the never ending succession of demons that came to kill him.

Accepting this as natural it hadn't seemed to faze him, nothing did. She thought bitterly how smug they had always been about their beautiful, well adjusted son, congratulating themselves on avoiding the horrific destiny that Chris had described. She could still picture him, a miniature version of Leo following his father around, proudly wearing the tool belt that Paige made for him, two normal guys finding things to fix. Normality. That had been a big thing to Wyatt. Born with so much power, acquiring more meant nothing, and fitting in, being the same as everyone else was a craving that she of all people could understand. While Chris and his friends were absorbing new magical skills and revelling in their abilities Wyatt would badger Leo for trips to the Museum or games in the park. She smiled ruefully, it was always Leo. Chris might have been his Mommy's boy but Wyatt had worshipped the ground Leo walked on. That made this....

The athame had stopped spinning and she noticed Wyatt was smiling up at the ceiling. "Mom, I've got a plan. I know how to bring him back"

Nothing happened.

"Oh for God's sake Mom, I know you're here, lurking, I can sense you. Do we have to go through this charade every time? Do I really have to summon you?"

Piper materialised, looking sheepish, and after a beat became corporeal too.

Wyatt smiled. "Well its about time you figured that out, I wondered how many times I'd have to say the spell before you'd catch on"

"Hey! Less lip, more explaining. What about Chris?"

"Ok, we can't send anyone else after him, because after the Bianca thing he won't trust them and will think it's a trap. I can't go, because no doubt he will try and get you guys to vanquish me and we all know how persuasive he can be. We can't send someone to a time before Bianca's trip because that will really screw with the time line"

"So?"

"So, he stays where he is and we eject him from that moment in time and reinsert him to exactly the same place in this time"

It was an absurd plan, inconceivable to anyone but Wyatt. For a moment she thought about asking if he could really do it, but that was stupid, Wyatt could pretty much do anything. He looked thoughtful now.

"The only problem is for this to work we need to know exactly where he was at a particular moment in time, this is precision stuff"

She hesitated. "We know where he was just before he died. For at least fifteen minutes before 9.22 on his birthday he was on my bed, but that's no good he was too sick to heal by then"

Wyatt looked amused. "9.22? What, did you write it in your diary?" Then off her glare. "Sorry I forgot Chris's death is a humour free zone."

Raising her eyebrows in disapproval she continued. "Your Dad went berserk and blew everything up, including all of the clocks. It, it always felt as though time stopped for him"

He rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Look there's no point in getting maudlin about this he's not dead yet and about the sickness I've got a plan for that. Leo couldn't heal him because he was injured by good magic...." He saw that she was about to protest and raised his hand as though to fend her off. "...Ok then, Elder magic, all we need is an evil healer, one that specialises in healing wounds inflicted by good, sorry Elder, magic." He smiled smugly. "And one of the perks of being the ruler of the underworld is pretty much all of them work for me"

Her eyes were alight with hope and she looked so positive that he felt a thrill of happiness at pleasing her. It seemed so long since he had experienced that sensation.

She was business like now. "Ok. Now that's a plan, a wordy somewhat boastful plan, but still a definite workable plan. We need to go to the Manor, summon your demonic healer then you can call your father and we are all set"

"What? Wait! No! No one said anything about Leo"

Her face was determined. "Wyatt you are not going to fight me on this. Your father deserves to be here, we can't leave him out of this, I couldn't do that to him"

And, loath to spoil the happiness he had given her, The Great Wyatt Halliwell, Twice Blessed, Wielder of Excalibur, Supreme Leader of the Mighty Halliwell Alliance, Terror of the Underworld, Scourge of the Elders answered in the only way he could. "Aw Mom, do we have to?"
Leo, Piper, Prue and Phoebe were gathered in his room, positioned around the potion they had made and blessed. Paige poured some into a vial and passed it wordlessly to Leo.

Phoebe brooded in a corner while Prue, very much in charge, spoke. "Ok, we're agreed. Leo has the potion to use as an absolute last resort, but before he does anything we will try an intervention and talk to Wyatt and...."

She stopped and glared at Leo who was staring at the potion in his hands, clearly not listening "Leo?"

"Sorry, what?" seeing Prue's face he began to make an apology but broke off distracted as he received a call. To their surprise he stood up, obviously shaken.

Pheobe reached out to him "What is it?"

"Its Wyatt. He, he just called for me". He looked at them in amazement, then down at the vial gripped tightly in his hand and with his face set in grim determination orbed out.