Disclaimer, I don't own Charmed or any of the characters, only the plot/storyline is mine, and the dialogue. You guys have no idea how much you write this story.

Oh, and the story wasn't intended to just be a comedy, although I do love torturing Chris, The emotional drama is there too, which you'll see a lot more of in this chapter. I know it's been a little action lite, but I do have something I think is good coming up. Anyway, read on, oh devoted reader.


Being orbed away always felt a little different from regular orbing. Rather than starting inside his body and working outward, the orbs grabbed him from the outside and whisked him away before he could react.

When the orbs released him and dissipated, Chris found himself lying in his crib.

Well, I guess this is better than the front yard. He thought. If I orb back to dad, Wyatt's probably just going to orb me somewhere else. He sighed and rolled over. Looks like I'm spending the night like this.

Just then, Leo ran into the room, the panic on his face and unshed tears in his eyes obvious to Chris, even in the darkened room. His son had disappeared from his arms for the second time that day.

"Chris…" he started, the tears finally spilling down his face, "I'm so sorry."

Leo crossed quickly to the crib and picked his son up and hugged him fiercely, his face pressed to the top of Chris's head smelling the sweet fragrance of his skin, his hair.

"I'm so sorry Chris. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I couldn't save you, I tried, I really tried. I'm so sorry. Please forgive me, Chris. Please." Leo rocked back and forth until he realized Chris had fallen asleep. He gently set Chris down in the crib and covered him with a blanket.

Leo was surprised to see tears on Chris's cheeks too even though he hadn't heard him cry. He wiped away the tears with his thumb and sat down in the rocking chair in the corner, intending to watch him all night, but he soon lost the battle against sleep and drifted off into a fitful slumber.


Chris woke up to the sun streaming into his eyes through the bars of the crib. He was momentarily disoriented as he stretched and yawned.

Bars on the bed? And why is Leo over… he abruptly remembered the events of the past night and his predicament looking at Leo's face, still puffy from crying. His heart twisted painfully as he remembered Leo rocking him and apologizing to him last night. Not to the baby about Wyatt, but to Chris for losing him.

He wondered how long Leo had sat up watching him sleep, and decided not to wake him.

Chris lay in bed for nearly an hour trying to recall something, anything from the book that he could use to either communicate with his family or tip them off that he wasn't just a baby, he was a 23 year old man, that he still had his memories, but he kept coming up blank.

He couldn't recite spells and it was unlikely he'd even get close to the book with them being so protective of him

Chris's stomach started to rumble. He looked over at Leo, but he was still sleeping.

Paige is usually an early riser, maybe she'll get me something to eat.

He paused, worrying about what Leo would do if Chris was gone when he woke up. It would be completely normal for Paige or Phoebe to come get me to feed me, err, the baby. He'll be fine.

He found the trigger spot more easily this time and within seconds he was laying on Paige's comforter. His timing was perfect, she was blow drying her hair at the mirror and saw him orb in behind her.

She quickly shut off the blow-dryer and turned to the bed, hands on her hips. "You are going to be very difficult to keep track of aren't you?"

Chris just smiled widely at her. "How about we get you something to eat." She suggested, crossing to the bed and picking him up carefully. She settled him in her arms before orbing downstairs.

"Now don't go telling your mother we orbed downstairs today, that's just our little secret, okay?" Paige orbed the playpen down from the attic into the middle of the kitchen. "You don't need to mention that either, she has this problem with personal gain, but if I'm going to have to fight demons on a daily basis, I see no problem with using a little magic when convenient."

She started to set him down in the playpen, then hesitated, and Chris knew instantly that she too was having difficulty with his death.

Paige pulled him back close to her and then walked to the refrigerator with him. "You're probably going to get tired of us holding you all the time." She began as she pulled the formula out of the fridge. "But you only have yourself to blame, well, your future self that is." She continued pouring formula into a bottle and screwing the lid on tightly. "I don't know what your mother will do when she finds out we let the future version of you die." She filled a frying pan with water and set it on the stove to warm up with the bottle in the middle of the pan. "I don't even know if we should tell her… I know Leo can reform, but I can't."

Oh no, thought Chris. If they don't tell Mom I died, she'll have no reason to try to find me. Mom's the one person most likely to want to find out what happened to me after I died, and she's also the most likely to sense that something is wrong with baby me, If they don't tell her, I could be stuck here until I learn to talk! His anxiety temporarily got hold of him and he started to cry and squirm in Paige's arms.

"Hey, hey, it's all right. I won't let anything happen to you, I promise. I will always keep you safe" Paige rocked him back and forth until he finally got control of his emotions again.

This sucks. He thought, still pouting a little. And now I'm really hungry, can't a guy get breakfast here?

As if she read his mind Paige moved to the stove, checked the bottle on her wrist and then offered to him.

Chris looked at the bottle warily, I am never going to live this down. He thought miserably. His stomach gave an even louder growl. Chris sighed and gave up control to his instincts. This stuff isn't half bad, better than milk. He mused. He quickly finished the bottle, and then burped on his own.

"You're the most self-sufficient newborn I've ever seen." Paige looked at him curiously, like she was trying to figure something out. "You know, your older self was very independent too. Well, you better not start running off to vanquish demons on your own until you can tie your own shoes, you hear me?

Chris didn't notice what Paige was saying, he was too busy staring at the magnetic letters on the refrigerator.

That's perfect! I can spell something out for her. Do we have all the letters for "help"? He spotted the "P" and with a little effort, he telekinetically plucked it from the fridge and brought it over to hover in front of him.The "E" was in the upper-right-hand corner, and he pulled that one towards them too, to spin in front of the "P".

He found the H and started to bring it over to join the other letters when he and Paige heard Leo calling for them.

Paige orbed his letters back onto the refrigerator. "We can play with those later, but for now, we need to go see your daddy so he doesn't flip out on us. Chris started to protest but they were already orbing upstairs.

Why can't I get a break here? Chris screamed in anger. Before Paige could even hand him over to Leo, he was having a full blown temper tantrum.