Chapter Three: Someone Familiar
A/N: sorry about how long it has been. I had the chapter basically finished before I posted the last one but my internet has been playing up. It's quite long though if that is any consolation.
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"Pass me the God damn rice!"
"Patricia," warned Piper.
Patricia turned back to Wyatt and smiled sweetly at him, "Pass me the God damn rice . . . please."
"That's better . . . sort of," said Piper. "I know I say this every week but it's good to see us all together."
"Not all of us," said Chris pointing with his fork to the empty chair beside his mother.
"Chris, your Dad is a very busy . . ."
"I know, I know, no need for 'The Speech,'" said Chris, going back to his dinner.
Piper sighed. It was becoming more and more clear that Chris resented Leo for the amount of time he spent away from his family. Unfortunately, she didn't know how to prevent history repeating itself.
"So how was everyone's day?" asked Paige brightly, trying to lighten the mood by changing the subject. "Didn't have the best time myself, one of the younger students was in Spells when they accidentally made another student projectile vomit continuously for about an hour."
"Thanks for that, right in the middle of dinner," said Phoebe.
"Entirely welcome," said Paige, chirpily.
"We were studying the Salem Witch Trials in History," said Polly.
"Always a fun week in history," said Wyatt. "So come on, what stupid thing did you say?"
"I don't know what you mean," said Polly, who suddenly found her plate very interesting.
"Honey, it's ok, we witches aren't great when studying the Witch Trials," said Phoebe, comfortingly.
"I didn't say anything!" Polly insisted.
"It's ok Polly," said Jason. "I remember Chris, Patricia and Wyatt coming home after studying the Witch Trials, feeling angry and stupid."
"Hey!" said Chris.
"Oh get over it you did," said Piper.
"Maybe I'm not as stupid as my cousins," said Polly, causing Patricia to stick her tongue out at her.
"Oh, Polly, the suspense is killing me, just spill," said Paige.
"I may have went on a rant when one of the boys in my class said that all witches were ugly with pointy hats and warts on their noses so how could the people not know which ones were witches," said Polly quickly. "I sort of stood up and started screaming at him."
"Those damn stereotypes will get you every time," said Wyatt with a resigned sigh.
"Yeah," said Adam, who was also a witch. He and Paige had met when they had saved his sister from a demon. "I got pretty angry and stormed out of class, I got detention for like a week," he said, half laughing at himself.
Just then, a swirl of blue and white lights appeared in the dining room and disappeared to reveal Leo. "Sorry, I'm late," he said, giving Piper a kiss while sitting down in his seat.
"Hey Dad!" said Wyatt.
"Hey, Wyatt, hey Patricia, Chris, everyone."
Chris gave his dad a general nod of acknowledgment, "Aunt Phoebe, I saw your new billboards today, they are pretty cool," said Chris.
"Thanks, it must be pretty cool having a famous aunt huh?" she joked.
"Let's not get carried away there Aunt Pheebs, your hardly famous, your more of a locally acknowledged columnist," stated Chris matter-of-factly.
"Christopher!" yelled Piper.
"Chill, mom, he's only taking the piss," said Wyatt.
"Wyatt! Language! Why do I spend half of my time yelling my children's names?" she asked.
"Because we are such little troublemakers?" suggested Patricia.
"You are too much like your brother," said Piper.
"Stop saying that like it's a bad thing," said Chris.
"Well it's true," said Piper. "And why would you assume I was talking about you? She might be following in the footsteps of Wyatt," said Piper.
"Yeah, like that's going to happen," snorted Patricia.
"What's wrong with being like me?" asked Wyatt clearly offended.
"Nothing, nothing," said Patricia. "It's just that I am more likely to be coming home drunk and trying to skate up the stairs than bring home sport trophies and perfect report cards," she joked.
"You will be doing no such thing young lady," said Piper sternly.
"Chris did what?" asked Leo, anger clear in his voice.
"Oh, here we go," said Chris rolling his eyes and putting his cutlery down on his plate, before folding his arms, waiting for what was to come.
"Honestly Chris, don't you think your mother has enough to do without having to worry about your descent into a life of alcoholism?"
"Oh cut the elder bullshit," said Chris. "I'm hardly a raging alcoholic and besides maybe if you were around more you would know that and maybe then mom wouldn't have so much to do!" yelled Chris bitterly.
There was silence at the table as everyone stared at Chris in shock, it took a lot to breech the cool, calm and relaxed exterior of Chris and so seeing him that worked up scared them all.
"Maybe I should go," said Leo quietly.
"Why change the habit of a lifetime?" asked Chris.
"Christopher," said Piper, unable to work up anger in her voice. Instead, sadness peremated her words.
"It's ok Piper, I'll see you later," said Leo orbing out.
"Well, now that things are back to normal, who wants desert?" asked Chris, getting up and looking around.
"Chris," said Piper looking at her younger son, studying his face for any trace of emotion.
"Can we just drop it ok?" he asked going into the kitchen, leaving out his plate.
Soon everyone was eating their deserts and things seemed to be normal, but the mood had definitely shifted since Chris' little outburst. Chris, however, was acting like nothing had happened, and was his normal relaxed, sarcastic self. Not wanting to upset him, everyone else had just tried to go with it.
They were now talking about demon vanquishes. "Do you remember that time, we were fighting that Cornificus demon and he blew himself up?" asked Paige laughing, "that was the easiest vanquish ever."
"Mom? When can I start help with the demon fights?" asked Petulia.
"Well so far the rule seems to be about fourteen, fifteen, but we'll see how well you manage your powers," said Paige, democratically.
"Does that mean that I could be fighting demons in two years?" Polly asked Phoebe hopefully.
"I'm going to have to agree with Paige sweetie, it'll depend on how you are at controlling your powers."
"I think the rule should be made that they have to be sixteen," said Adam, "that's how it was with our family."
"That's not fair!" yelled Patricia. "I'm finally being allowed to take part in the odd demon vanquish, you are so not changing the rule," she said, threatening the adults at the table with her spoon.
"I don't see why they have to fight at all," said Jason. "I mean you three are the Charmed One's after all. Wyatt will be eighteen soon, he'll be able to do what he wishes and Chris is just so damn scary when he goes all super witch he's a bit of an asset during an attack," said Jason.
"How do you know?" asked Wyatt. "Aren't you usually behind the couch?"
"You're just jealous that I am an asset," said Chris.
"It is pretty strange," said Phoebe.
"What?" asked Chris.
"You are so laid back that you are practically horizontal most of the time when it comes to school work or, well, anything really," she said.
"Yeah, but when it comes to a vanquish you are so precise and serious!" said Paige, finishing of her sister's train of thought.
"When knowing the frequencies of all the waves in the electromagnetic spectrum becomes an important life skill, I swear to you that my grades will go up," said Chris. "Besides, I bet you lot were glad when I skipped Physics to come home for a snack the other month and the three of you were tied up and about to be dust until I came along," said Chris.
"No need to be arrogant," Piper reminded him. "Besides, I remember a certain Halliwell who had the oh-so-brilliant theory that if you orbed in behind a demon, he wouldn't be able to sense you coming."
"Yeah, well that was why I called it a 'theory,'" said Chris. The three sisters all looked round at each other with a smile.
"What?" asked Chris.
"Nothing, nothing," said Piper, still smiling.
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A while later the sisters were in the kitchen clearing up.
"Is it just me or does that boy become more like Chris everyday?" asked Phoebe, who was wrapping up any leftovers and putting them in the fridge for general snacking use.
"He is Chris!" said Piper.
"Oh, you know what I mean," Phoebe said rolling her eyes.
"Actually, I kinda do," admitted Piper.
"When he said 'that was why I called it a theory,' I almost died," said Paige. "I just remembered when his 22 year old self said that to me and it creeped me out a lil. He is coming back right before our eyes, the sarcastic comments, the incessant demon hunting . . . did I mention the sarcastic comments?"
"Yeah, actually you did," said Piper.
"Well there are a lot of them," reasoned Paige.
"It's just so strange," said Phoebe. "This past year, he just really turned into Chris suddenly."
"I know, one day I was looking at Chris, my youngest son and the next, Chris, my sarcastic and mysterious white lighter from the future, who just happens to be my son, was right there in front of me."
"I always remember how complicated and strange our lives are when I hear stuff like that out loud," said Paige, trying to shake off the headache that she could feel coming on.
"Tell me about it, he's my son. Though I am a little worried about his relationship with Leo," she admitted. "Things there don't seem to have changed much."
"At least he isn't beating the bloody pulp out of him yet," offered Paige, thinking she was being helpful.
"From what I can tell, just give him time," said Piper.
"I don't think it is the same. The other Chris hated Leo, our Chris just seems to resent him for never being around," said Phoebe. "And after they had a little heart to heart and spent some quality time together, they worked things out. Chris even started calling him 'dad' again."
"Yeah, but resentment leads to anger and anger leads to hate," said Piper, who was clearly worried.
"And hate leads to the dark side," finished Paige earning herself a glare from Piper. "What? You sounded like a trailer for Star Wars," she said holding up her hands defensively.
"Paige! I'm worried about my son and you are not helping! I mean, Pheebs you are right, it hasn't escalated yet to hate but it looks to be heading that way. And in the past they were able to bond because Leo was around a lot then. Sure, it was because he didn't trust Chris, but still he was around! What if they never get to have that time?"
"They will," assured Paige, putting a comforting arm around Piper's shoulders.
"I hope so," said Piper quietly. "But at the moment we have something else to talk about."
"We do?" asked Phoebe.
"Chris turned sixteen last month," she said, sitting down on a kitchen stool.
"We noticed," said Paige.
"Well, does that not ring a bell with anyone? What happened a month after Chris was born?" she asked trying to jog their memories.
"We had a visit from a sixteen year old Chris and someone who turned out to be Wyatt!" exclaimed Phoebe remembering.
"Exactly," said Piper. "Which means that sometime within the next few days, Dermairon is going to attack us," she finished spelling it out for them.
"So what should we do?" asked Paige. "I mean should we be prepared and vanquish his ass or just let him take us in order not to mess with the timeline?"
"That's why I brought it up," said Piper.
"I don't know, Piper, they are your sons. Whatever you think is best. Besides it could do them good, after all didn't Chris get a new power during that little trip to the past?"
"Sort of, he finally mastered the skill of healing."
"In that case, I think we should let ourselves be kidnapped. When the other Chris came back, he couldn't heal and he had an extra six years experience than our Chris! As you said, Leo isn't here all the time and it would be nice to have the safety net of having a healer in the manor once again," said Paige.
"I think you are right, both of you," said Piper. "We could mess with the timeline if we don't let it happen and I remember my future self telling me it was like a right of passage for them anyway. Sort of like the way we had to deal with Abraxas on our wiccan anniversary."
"Abrax-what now?" asked Paige.
"Never mind," said Phoebe. "So what then?" she asked turning to Piper. "We just go about our normal, daily routines until we get kidnapped and then don't put up a struggle?"
"That's pretty much the plan," said Piper.
"Ok, am I the only who is a little worried about putting their life in the hands of two people who set the kitchen on fire while attempting to cook a ready meal?" asked Paige.
"Not really," said Phoebe. "I mean as long as we don't fight out instincts we are bound to do the same things as our future selves did and Chris and Wyatt got them home safely. Besides we said it ourselves, Chris takes his wiccan responsibilities very seriously and Wyatt has enough powers to . . . well . . . pretty much do anything he wants. I think you just need to have a little faith," she told her younger sister.
"God, I knew this talk was going to result in a headache," said Paige, rubbing her head with her hands. "Faith, sure, faith, I can do that," said Paige. "Trust two spacer teenagers with my life, no problem. Ah crap the doubt is back," he whined scrunching up her face.
"Why Paige! Anyone would think that you didn't have faith in my sons' wiccan abilities!" said Piper jokingly.
"Chris tried to skate up the stairs yesterday! Have we all forgotten that?" she asked.
"No, but have we also forgotten all the demons he has vanquished with us?" asked Phoebe.
"No," said Paige. "You two are absolutely right. I don't know where that came from at all," she admitted. "Sorry," she said sheepishly. "I guess that I just feel that were are living longer than we are supposed to, and that death is looking round the corner. Very few Halliwells live to be our age. Though, now that I think about it, we have Chris to thank for us being alive, well other Chris. I mean thanks to him I didn't die that day the titan's attacked and you two are still alive, not sure why, probably because you still had the power of three."
"Man, he is going to get the hugest superiority complex when our past selves tell him of his own good deeds," said Phoebe. "His head won't fit though the time portal!"
"He sacrificed so much for us back then, though," said Piper. "He died to create a better world for all of us. You know, I think that is why I let him of easy sometimes. He went through so much in his other life, I think he deserves a little happiness in this one," she said.
"You hardly let him of easy," said Phoebe. "You yell at him all the time!"
"But not as much as I should for some of the idiot things he says or does."
"That's true," said Paige. "But I think you are right Piper, I mean if he had grown up with a family before he came back to us, he would have been as fun as he is now! He would have like had drinks with us at P3 and stuff!" she said getting excited at the idea.
"He was fun!" protested Piper.
"Yeah, but in that whole 'lets track down another hundred demons while making amusing comments,' kind of way," said Paige. "I prefer our little troublemaker Chris. He has all the charm of his other 22 year old self plus a whole lot more!"
"Yeah, well hopefully he will have learnt his lesson and no more troublemaking for the moment," said Piper, going back to washing the dishes.
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"Just put on some of my music really loudly and they'll think I am still here," said Chris as if it was the simplest thing in the world.
"Why should I?" asked Wyatt. "If you get caught, I'll getting trouble for helping you to cover it up!"
"You can call me if they come up the stairs and I can orb back in . . . and if you don't I will show the entire school that video of me totally kicking your ass at basketball last summer," he said.
"Just be quick back when I call," said Wyatt rolling his eyes.
"Thanks man," said Chris about to orb out when Wyatt stopped him.
"How are you going to get back in without being caught?" he asked.
"The window?"
"What happened to it 'not being very stable,'" asked Wyatt.
"I'll take my chances," said Chris, shrugging before orbing out.
Not long after, Wyatt heard noises coming from outside the bedroom window. He formed an energy ball in his hand, just in case, but quickly extinguished it when a familiar figure with long dark hair tumbled into his room.
"Hey Wyatt!" said Katie, picking herself up of the floor, grinning like an idiot.
"Oh, hi Kate," said Wyatt
"What?" he asked when she tilted her head giving him a funny look. "Nothing, it's just that Chris is the only person who calls me Kate," she explained.
"Oh, sorry," said Wyatt. "I didn't mean to-"
"Don't be silly. So where is Chris?" asked Katie, sitting on the bed beside Wyatt.
"On his date with Melissa," said Wyatt.
"I thought he was grounded," said Katie, confused.
"He is."
Katie broke out into a grin, "That'd be Chris," she admitted. "I just thought I'd call over and keep him company since he was banned from leaving the house or having others enter it."
"I see you have that rebellious streak of Chris'," commented Wyatt.
Katie shrugged it off, "So what's with the music?" she asked. "I didn't know you liked Blink 182."
"I don't, really," said Wyatt. "It's Chris's CD. Another of his brilliant ideas on how I can cover up for him."
"He can be very persuasive like that," said Katie. "I remember he managed to convince me to tell his English teacher that he would be unable to attend her class that day because he had forgotten how to speak and so the class would not be beneficial for him. I mean it was funny for him, well until he went back into class the next day, but I was the one who had to tell Mrs. Bailey that awful excuse!"
"I can imagine her face," said Wyatt laughing at the mental image in her head.
"It was pretty priceless," admitted Katie.
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Leo orbed into the kitchen while Piper was putting away the last of the dishes.
"Aww, honey," said Piper when she saw the lost look on her husband's face. She went over and hugged him. "It'll be ok," she ensured, even though a matter of minutes ago she had been seeking such reassurance from her sisters.
"I don't see how," said Leo. "After Chris died, I promised myself that things would be different this time around. At times, I thought I was beginning to play favourites with Chris. Then the teenage years hit and that was the end of that," said Leo with a sigh.
"That's a good thing," insisted Piper. "I think that I am a bit too lenient with him. It's good that what past Chris did doesn't affect you parenting," she said rubbing is back.
"What parenting?" asked Leo.
"Leo, you know that Chris didn't mean it."
"You know as well as I do Piper that he did. What's worse is that he's right. It's hard not being with my family, but I'm an exception as it is. Elders aren't supposed to have connections to Earth, and now I know why."
"Sweetie, it's not anything you have done, you have been a great parent to Chris. With the other Chris your other self played favourites and didn't have time for him. But you haven't. It's just that in this life you are an elder, you have more responsibilities, other Chris didn't have that problem. It's different, our Chris has more powers that the 22 year old Chris that we knew because he is the son of an elder. The circumstances have changed," Piper told her husband, looking him straight in the eyes so that he could see the sincerity in her eyes.
"Maybe," said Leo pensively.
"No not maybe, definitely," insisted Piper.
Leo smiled up at his wife, and pulled her onto his lap. "Thanks, I think I really needed to hear that," he said.
"Any time, any time," said Piper, glad to have her husband to herself, no matter for how long it lasted.
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Chris started making his way up the drain pipe outside his window as quietly as he possible could, trying to sense if his mother or his aunts were near by. As the window was open, he could hear that music still playing rather loudly. Using the trellis, he hoisted himself up through the window, and into his room.
Standing up, brushing himself of, he was faced with a very pale looking Wyatt sitting on the bed and a very red looking Katie who had sprung to her feet. "Chris!" she said nervously. "Hey, well I gotta go, my mom will be expecting me. See you guys later," she said quickly, her cheeks only going redder as he hurried out the window.
"Uh, that was weird," said Chris looking at the window with a confused look on his face. "What was she doing here?"
"Uh nothing, so how was your date?" Wyatt asked quickly, changing the subject.
"Meh," said Chris. "Not worth sneaking out for."
Wyatt silently thanked God for his brother's short attention span.
"She was too . . . girly. She started shrieking all about the place when she saw this pink plant."
"Bet you any money that didn't stop you making out with her," said Wyatt, grinning.
"Hey! She kissed me!" said Chris, raising his hands defensively. "Besides, it's not my fault that the ladies can't resist my charms," he said cockily, adjusting his jacket collar.
"Don't be such an arrogant little shit," said Wyatt throwing a pillow at his little brother.
"Hey!" yelled Chris, lifting the pillow and thumping Wyatt with it.
Five minutes and one pillow fight later, Wyatt collapsed on the bed in surrender.
"Man, we are so gay," he said looking around at the feathers on the floor.
"Hey, speak for yourself!" said Chris.
Wyatt rolled his eyes at his little brother, but before he could realise just how many times he did this on a daily basis, a large crash could be heard from downstairs.
Looking at each other, Chris and Wyatt got up simultaneously and headed for the stairs.
They came in viewing range of the living room just in time to see Patricia squint and send a demon flying across the room. Before the brothers had any time to react, the demon shimmered in behind the sisters who had just appeared. Chris and Wyatt could do nothing but watch as the demon disappeared with their mom and aunts . . .
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A/N: dum, dum dum! Big thanks to everyone who reviewed, though I was a little taken back by the amount of them (cough, do it again, cough), lol subtle or what?
flephanie: yeah physics exams suck, I had one the other day, ugh it was nasty stuff. But can you guess what happened above? I like had most of this chapter written when I got reviews saying they wanted Chris and Katie to get together! It was really annoying! But I don't know, I did think about it but I just think it is so clichéd when guys start going out with their best friends (female ones anyway,lol.) Because most of the time they realise they are better of as friends! But we'll see . . . I might still change my mind. Thanks for reviewing! (See I ramble too, lol)
Karen: damn you too! Really why do people want Chris and Katie to get together? Answers on a post card please! Lol, a review will do (excellent) but thanks for the review, I'm glad you like teenage Chris, I was afraid he was going to come of badly but it seems to be going ok.
Megan: I'm not the world's biggest Leo/Chris bonding fan as you can probably tell but I'm not opposed to them, so maybe I'll squeeze a few in a little later on . . .hint hint.
Buffspike: Thanks, it's good to know I'm writing the whole brother's bond thing right because I'm an only child so the whole think is a bit of an alien concept to me!
Kc: thanks, once again I'm glad people think the Wyatt/Chris relationship I've created is believable so thanks so much for helping for giving me one less thing to worry about! Also I don't think Chris does what he does for attention, it's more because it's fun! It's just that people say to write what you know and I know guys like this, they are my friends and they don't do it for attention.
Lotamoxie: I did, see!
becka5: thanks, hope you keep reading.
Random insane person: look, see plot! Are you happy? I am, I'm just so proud of myself! I just wanted to get all the family relationships well established before giving the story some actual substance, lol.
Brooke K. : thanks, I hope this was quick enough for you!
Vintagegirl: thanks, you could prob find some sort of 12 step programme to help u with your addiction, lol. But that doesn't mean you should stop reviewing! Oh screw it, embrace the addiction . . . I'll try and feed it the best I can! Ooh, now I feel like some kind of dealer. . . .
angelwitch13: I don't know, I'm pretty much LOVING that word right now, lol. It makes me feel all warm inside.
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