Chapter Sixteen

As it turned out, Clark wasn't able to find out exactly what happened right away. The minute he stepped through the front door, his mom was there, asking if he knew where Chris had gone and what happened to him.

"I tried to ask him." Martha's eyes had been filled with worry. "But he said he was tired and went right upstairs."

So, Clark told her as much of the story as he knew, which wasn't a lot. "I'm going upstairs to ask him for details right now."

"Okay, honey. But only if he feels up to it."

Nodding, Clark started up the stairs. But, when he arrived at the guestroom, he found Chris sprawled across the bed, fast asleep.

Clark sighed. It looked like explanations would have to wait.


Chris opened his eyes onto a shadow-filled, moonlit room.

Sitting up, he stretched his hands over his head, wincing a little from a couple of aches and pains. Glancing at the clock, he was surprised to see only a few hours had passed since he'd lain down. Still, he felt more rested than he had in days.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he left his room and started downstairs. He really needed to apologize to Mrs. Kent for orbing out on her this afternoon. And, while dinner was probably long over, he was sure there was plenty left over to fill his empty stomach.

As he walked into the kitchen, he found Clark placing several plastic food containers on the counter.

"Hey, you're up." Clark smiled. "I was starting to think you'd be out until tomorrow morning."

"Yeah," Chris said, remembering feeling like he could do just that. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. Mom and Dad already left for their 'date', and I'm just raiding the fridge for dinner."

"Oh, yeah," Chris said. He'd forgotten all about that date thing.

"Mom almost didn't want to go. But dad told her you were fine, probably just tired."

Chris nodded, feeling relieved. If there was one thing he hated, it was being a bother to anyone. If the Kents had missed their evening out because of him, he would have felt guilty for days.

As Clark pulled more containers out of the fridge, Chris's stomach growled. "So, what have we got?"

"You name it. Fried chicken. Roast. And"—popping the lid on one bowl, Clark nodded—"spaghetti with meat sauce."

"So we definitely won't starve?"

"Nope. Not with these around." And he pushed a plate stacked high with chocolate chip cookies across the counter.

"Wow!" Chris whispered in awe, mouth watering. "Have I told you how much I like your mom?"

Clark grinned. "I've always thought she was pretty great. But she did make me promise we'd eat a real meal before we started in on these."

"Hey, I can do that."

"Plus, there's a movie I've been wanting to see coming on cable in about half an hour. Have you ever seen Last Count?"

"Hey, yeah!" Chris exclaimed, smiling. "I love that old movie! But I haven't seen it in ages."

Frowning, Clark gave him a funny look. "Old? It only came out last year."

Chris's eyes widened as he realized he'd slipped a little. The first time he saw the movie—thirteen years from now—it had been considered old. But he couldn't exactly explain that to Clark, could he? "Oh. Uh, what I meant was...well, I saw it when it first came out, and it feels like forever since then. And, well, you know what I mean."

Clark looked skeptical but, after a pause, he said, "Well, I guess."

As the two started to fix their plates, Chris wondered why he didn't just tell the Kents the rest of the truth. After all, they'd been pretty cool about everything else. But trying to explain that he'd traveled back in time from over twenty years in the future, and why, seemed too complicated. Just thinking about it made him tired. And, really, telling them wouldn't help anything.

Finally, the two young men sat down at the kitchen table to eat.

"So," Clark began. "What actually happened this afternoon?"

Chris grimaced and rolled his eyes. He should have seen this coming. "Lex didn't tell you?"

"Not all of it. He told me about the mugger. But he said it's up to you to decide whether to tell me the rest or not."

Chris was a little surprised. After all, he hadn't asked the other man not to tell anyone what happened. Although, now that he thought about it, he probably should have.

"Well," Chris began, "let's just say traveling between dimensions is turning out to have some interesting side effects."


The stretch of road leading into town was deserted. Otherwise, the passers-by would have been witness to quite a spectacle.

At the side of the road, the air began to ripple. It would've been hard to see at night if the ripples been glowing, like wisps of electric smoke shooting out of a hole that wasn't there.

There was a flash of brilliant, blinding light. And three women were standing where there had been no-one before.

"Whoa." Paige Matthews swayed drunkenly from side to side. "That was...Whoa."

"I couldn't have said it better myself," Phoebe Halliwell agreed, putting one hand to her head. Then, looking around, she grinned. "But, hey, we made it!"

"Ow," the eldest Halliwell gasped, putting one hand to her stomach.

Instantly worried, Paige and Phoebe hurried towards their older sister.

"What is it, honey?" Paige demanded, grabbing Piper's arm. "Are you okay? See? I knew you shouldn't be dimension-hopping in your condition. I just knew it!"

"Hey, calm down! I'm fine," Piper assured her. "It was just a kick. Well, a lot of kicks. I've gotta ask Chris if he ever played soccer. Little him certainly has the legs for it."

"Aww," Phoebe gushed. Bending down, she put her hands on either side of Piper's rounded belly. "Hey in there, Baby Christopher," she sing-songed. "Our little trip has got you all excited, hasn't it, little guy? But just look at you. Not even born yet, and already going on your first big adventure. And I happen to know you have plenty of other adventures in store for you. Yes you do. Yes you..."

"Phoebe!" Piper exclaimed. "Stop before you put me and my unborn child into a sugar coma."

"Please," Paige agreed, shaking her head in mild disgust.

"Oh." Chagrined, Phoebe straightened up. "Sorry. I just got a little carried away."

"We noticed," Paige said. "Although, it's too bad Big Chris wasn't here to see that. I would love to have seen the look on his face."

Piper grinned, imagining her adult son's reaction. Hearing Phoebe gush over what a cutie Baby Christopher was going to be always made him blush. And any talk about one of his aunts changing his baby-self's diapers, or giving him a bath, really embarrassed him. Which was probably why Paige brought it up so often.

Piper sighed. It felt good to be able to smile again. The last few days had been filled with fear, worry, anxiety. None of them had slept much. They were up all hours, trying hard to find out what happened to Chris. And trying hard not to think the worst.

But now, knowing they were so close to finding him, Piper could relax, although not completely. She wouldn't completely relax until she saw, with her own eyes, that he was okay.

"This is so weird," Phoebe said, looking around again. "When we left home two minutes ago, it was the middle of the day. But, here, it's the middle of the night."

"Well," Piper said, "different dimension, different rules. Although, according to Leo, this one is pretty close to our own. In fact, demon and warlock wise, it's a lot safer." Leo had really stressed that point. Probably because, when they finally solved the mystery of what had happened to Chris, Piper's head was filled with visions of her son being trapped in a dimension that would make Hell look like Disneyland. Of course, once her mind had been eased on that score, she started to worry about other things. Was he scared? Was he lonely? And, while this dimension might be demon-free, normal humans could be pretty cruel, too.

"Hey," Paige said, interrupting Piper's thoughts. The youngest Halliwell sister was squinting at a sign by the side of the road. "Anyone ever hear of a town called Smallville, Kansas? Because that's where we are."

"Aw, man," Phoebe frowned. "There goes the joke I was working on about not being in Kansas anymore."

Piper chuckled. "Okay, people. Down to business." Looking up towards the sky, which was more of a habit than anything else, she called, "Chris! Chris, can you hear me?"

When a full minute passed, and still nothing happened, she shook her head. Usually, when she called for Chris, he heard her no matter where he was, and orbed to her side within minutes. Well, unless he was ignoring her, like he had when he went to P3 to fight a demon on his own. (And she'd give him a piece of her mind about that later.) But she didn't think he was deliberately ignoring her now.

Piper sighed. She'd hoped retrieving Chris would be easy and problem-free. She should have known better.

"Maybe he just didn't hear you, sweetie," Phoebe said. "Try again."

Nodding, she put a little more attitude into her call. "Christopher Halliwell! Answer your mother!"


It was after midnight. Chris and Clark were sitting on the living room floor, backs pressed against the sofa. They'd already watched Last Count, and were now in the middle of another action flick. They'd also made quite a dent in the chocolate chip cookies, although they'd both agreed—reluctantly—to leave some for Jonathan and Martha.

"Wow," Chris said, staring in disbelief at the TV screen. "This movie really sucks." And he sounded almost impressed by that fact.

"Actually, I think it would have to be a better to suck," Clark said. "You wanna watch something else?"

"No way!" Chris said. "The acting is bad, and the plot is worse. But the fight scenes are pretty cool."

Nodding in agreement, Clark reached into the bowl of popcorn that was sitting between them. Good fight scenes made any movie better.

The hero was just kicking the butts of a roomful of bad guys when Clark suddenly heard Chris gasp. Glancing over, he saw Chris slowly stand up, a look of puzzlement on his face.

"Chris?" Clark asked, rising to his feet. "What's the matter?"

"I don't know. I could swear I just heard someone calling me."

Clark frowned. "I didn't hear anything."

But Chris went on like he didn't hear him. "But that's not possible. Unless..." Then, his eyes flew wide. "Mom?!"

Suddenly, Chris became a column of sparkling blue lights. Clark, who'd never seen him teleport before, was stunned for about half a second. Then, he remembered Chris had orbed off on his own this afternoon, and gotten into all kinds of trouble. Including almost getting stabbed by a mugger.

"Wait!" Clark exclaimed. Without thinking, he grabbed Chris's arm. And. as the world around him dissolved into a billion neon blue lights, he wondered if maybe this wasn't such a good idea.

(TO BE CONTINUED)