***This is my favorite chapter so far—I hope you enjoy reading it as much
as I enjoyed writing it!!
"We're at P3," Chloe noted mockingly as Chris finally stopped orbing them. "Why are we here? We could have talked anywhere," she painstakingly took a seat on a barstool.
"I need a drink. You're driving me to drink," Chris answered walking around the back of the bar and picked up a shot glass. "We got a shipment of Jack Daniel's today, and I don't mind if I do," he poured the drink and chugged it. Chloe averted her eyes and looked around. The club definitely was different. She felt comfortable here. She could hang out in here unhindered by the life she lived outside the walls. In her's and Chris's time it was Wyatt's headquarters—demonic central. Anything and anyone after ultimate power lurked inside this club. Chris hadn't been in there since his mother's death when he was fourteen... not until he came back to the past anyway.
"This place is different," she finally spoke lowering her eyes to the napkin she had been unconsciously shredding, "I can see why it used to be so popular. I've only ever been here as a bouncer. And that was only so I could keep an eye on Wyatt."
"I know," Chris frowned, pulling out another glass and filling both glasses with whiskey. He pushed one shot glass to Chloe who studied it and then looked back up at him, "What? You're legal. Your mom's not around. Not that that has ever stopped you before," he concluded as he chugged his second shot.
"Or you," Chloe fired back gulping her own drink. "This place needs a little atmosphere for us tonight, Chris," she informed him as she twirled around in the barstool, "Music," she motioned to the stereo system as Jason Mraz's song the Remedy sang "I won't worry my life away..." Chloe turned to Chris, "You need to take a lesson from that," and winked at her sly cousin. "And now for mood," she rose from her chair and sauntered into the middle of the dance floor and looked up. She waved her arms in a huge gesture and small lightning bug size fireballs entered the air. Satisfied with herself, she walked back to the bar and her barstool.
"Impressive," Chris gawked, "I see you've learned a few new tricks in my absence. But I can still top you," he winked. He started low to the ground but began circling and spiraling up to a point above his head forming a cone of glowing white and blue orbs. Chloe applauded him. As Chris bowed he pointed his finger in the direction of the dance floor and the orbs joined Chloe's fireballs spinning around the ceiling of P3. "Better than any disco ball I've ever seen," Chris admired.
"I second that," Chloe held up her shot glass, now empty. She then placed it back on the counter as she watched Chris hum with the music and make himself another shot. "Wyatt trusts me, Chris. And I don't mean just little innocent and sweet Wyatt. I mean the sulking, brooding and down- right frightening twenty-five year old Wyatt at home. Why do you think he let you cross as many boundaries as he did?"
"Well, I was hoping it was because I am his baby brother...and the boy was raised by the same mother as me. He loved her more than anything," Chris took another shot of whiskey, "I was hoping that would have given me some leverage."
"You'd think, yeah...but you have been running low on the brother card excuse. He'd already lost Piper. He wasn't going to kill you because then he would lose me, too. And if he lost me, he lost the Avatars—the epitome of power. And then what?"
"I'll tell you then what, Miss Priss... going off and not keeping anything a secret about where we're from!" Chris pops back another whiskey, "Remember when I left the first time you were dead. I was at your funeral. Grandpa, me, and Wyatt--somewhere brooding and evil--were all there. That is what gave me hope, Chloe. Seeing him there. Knowing he was still capable of love. I had to come back. There was something there worth saving. So Bianca and worked it out for me to come back here and I stopped the Titans. I sent my own father to Valhalla so that he would become an elder and stop the titans. It worked. And Paige is still alive... when she wasn't in our time. How's that happening?" Chris pouring back another whiskey noted, "That means you know her? From growing up?"
Chloe mixed herself a White Russian and joined Chris back at the bar. "This is the first time you've even thought to ask how life has changed, Chris. And it has, I can assure you—and I can show you. You wouldn't recognize it anymore. And I can say that because I do remember what it was like when you left. Even though you say I was dead. Whatever event you changed here, subsequently kept me from dying, because I saw you come back with Bianca. I was there, hooded, and shrouded, and being a good fake demon." She sat down next to him, and put her arm around his back then buried her face in his left shoulder, crying. "I have missed you so much, Chris. This past year has been almost unbearable. After Bianca brought you back, and you left again... Wyatt told everyone that you had been killed. And he had proof. It was your ring." She looked up at Chris, "but that's when I knew he was lying. Chris, he had my ring. He had taken it from me when Bianca came to get you so he could read you. But everyone believed him."
"How'd you get it back?" Chris brushed a tear from Chloe's eye.
"He threw it at me, 'You won't be needing this anymore'. So sinister. So cold. It's almost impossible for me to believe that little darling turns into that mean man."
"Chloe, I play with him and he smiles at me... and I can't help but smile at him. It breaks my heart to think... to think of what he'll become if we don't win this. Of what will happen to our moms. Our family," he finished putting his head down on the bar.
Chloe played with his hair like a sister would, "Were our moms dead when you came back?" she asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.
A muffled, "Yes," arose from the bar.
"How old were we?"
"I was fourteen, you were eleven," then with a little hope Chris added, "has that changed?"
"No, not really. You were seventeen, I was fourteen. But they still died. Seems like death is the destiny of any Halliwell woman. Be grateful for that 'y' chromosome, my friend," she kissed him on the top of the head. "Chris, I spoke with Grandma Patty tonight. That's how Leo caught me. She told me to tell my mom she said, 'Hi,' but I haven't yet."
Without lifting his head, "I was wondering when we were going to get to that."
"Well...yeah...I summoned her, and unbound her from time," Chloe began the story.
"You can do that?" Chris interrupted lifting his head a little.
"Yes," obviously irritated with the interruption Chloe pushed his head back down to the counter, "and she knew me since she was unbound. And she knew what I needed," Chris turned his head to look at his cousin, "I've got all I need to vanquish Batterak and somehow get my father back. Which left me completely dumbfounded because hello, the Power of Three has never worked vanquishing Batterak before?" Chloe sat on that thought for a moment, letting her fingers instinctively run through Chris's hair. He had always loved having his hair played with. She saw his memories of the past year, with Wyatt, with his mom, aunts, and his dad. *You were so close to bonding with Leo, Chris, why'd you give that up?* being grateful for the first time that night that he couldn't hear her thoughts.
"What are you reading up there?" Chris quizzed her.
"Nothing much, you know your own head," Chloe jostled his hair.
"Seriously, joker," Chris was a little irritated, but the alcohol kept him subdued.
"Just seeing what's been going on here for the past year. You saved Paige, Chris. And you've gotten to know her. That's so cool," Chloe smiled.
"Do you know her? Or does little us get to know her and grow up with her?" Chris turns his head to look in his cousin's eyes.
"Yeah, we do. She's great. All three of us go to Magic School, not just Wyatt. She's our teacher," Chloe loved being able to tell Chris happy memories from their childhood. "You and Leo..."
"Let's not talk about me and Leo. But speaking of dads, what about your dad? What did Grandma say?" Chris lifted his head just enough to swig the shot of Jack still sitting on the counter. Chloe stood up from her seat, "Hey, I was liking that!" Chris shouted.
"Be quiet, I'm having a thought. A big, big thought." She paced sipping her drink and talking to herself.
"I've had more than you... but you're the one talking to yourself. That's it, I'm doing the orbing home," Chris watched from his reclined position on the barstool. "Think I'll fix me up another one of these," he motioned the bottle and two additional shot glasses to himself, "and let's make them whiskey sours just for fun." Chris continued to mix his drinks without the conventional use of his hands because "this is more fun" he would giggle. Chloe continued to pace with a smart grin on her face and finally crossed her legs and sat in the middle of the air in front of Chris. "Fancy pants, don't do that at home. You'll be way too busted. Then they'll really be able to figure out whose kid you are," Chloe watched him, waiting for him to realize something... tick... tick.... "Why can't I hear what you've been thinking?" There it was!
"Paige still has the ring. Which means she could be in here right now," Chloe finished.
"But she's not. She's home in bed. No one's here but me and you. I would sense any of them," Chris answered drinking his first whiskey sour. "Damn, that was good!"
"And you kiss your mama with those lips! For-shame Christopher..." Chloe teased.
"So, don't you want to know what we got out of Goran?"
"I read it off you earlier, slick, when you were hugging me after Leo healed me. Batterak followed me here. But I don't know why. The Avatars told me they were specifically sending me here on a mission to save my dad. And I believe them—they consider me one of them—at least one that walks within the realm of people. I have amazing influence with them, I don't think they would lie to me."
"Maybe that's not what they were lying to you about. Maybe they weren't lying at all." Chris practically sang.
"Then tell me oh great inebriated one, enlighten me from your high place," Chloe gloated in the state of Chris's mind.
"Maybe they sent you back here because that's the only way your vanquished dad becomes your unvanquished dad. You said Grandma said you had all the answers you needed here. The Avatars are unbound by time, they have to know the same things she does," Chris stood and then slid down into and through a big fluffy chair.
"Oh, epiphany! Chris, you're brilliant!" two little fire balls shot from her hands as she clapped them, "Ew, Piper's not going to like that."
"C'est la vie," came a voice from within the fluffy chair.
"Chris," Chloe walked over to the chair to find his rear sitting on the floor, but his head and arms coming through the cushion and resting on top, "this is why you are a lousy drunk. You can't control your powers and you end up in the most bizarre places. Do you remember having your head in one room and your butt in another at my house party last year?" Chloe pulled him out with no sympathy. "You need to tell them you can dissociate objects. It might come in handy someday."
"Piper can't do it yet, might confuse 'em," Chris slumped back onto a bar stool and put down his last empty glass.
"Come on, we're going home. I'm going to force feed you water, and you're sleeping until I wake you up so no one else will see you like this."
"Just like the old times," Chris laughed, "hey, how many of those have you had. Maybe we should call Paige to orb us."
"I had one and a half senor brainiac, I think I can get us home. Grab your coat. Oy..." Chloe began to shimmer she and Chris back to the manor as Chris finally asked, "What was your epiphany?"
"I'll tell you in the morning," Chloe answered as not a trace of them was left in P3.
"We're at P3," Chloe noted mockingly as Chris finally stopped orbing them. "Why are we here? We could have talked anywhere," she painstakingly took a seat on a barstool.
"I need a drink. You're driving me to drink," Chris answered walking around the back of the bar and picked up a shot glass. "We got a shipment of Jack Daniel's today, and I don't mind if I do," he poured the drink and chugged it. Chloe averted her eyes and looked around. The club definitely was different. She felt comfortable here. She could hang out in here unhindered by the life she lived outside the walls. In her's and Chris's time it was Wyatt's headquarters—demonic central. Anything and anyone after ultimate power lurked inside this club. Chris hadn't been in there since his mother's death when he was fourteen... not until he came back to the past anyway.
"This place is different," she finally spoke lowering her eyes to the napkin she had been unconsciously shredding, "I can see why it used to be so popular. I've only ever been here as a bouncer. And that was only so I could keep an eye on Wyatt."
"I know," Chris frowned, pulling out another glass and filling both glasses with whiskey. He pushed one shot glass to Chloe who studied it and then looked back up at him, "What? You're legal. Your mom's not around. Not that that has ever stopped you before," he concluded as he chugged his second shot.
"Or you," Chloe fired back gulping her own drink. "This place needs a little atmosphere for us tonight, Chris," she informed him as she twirled around in the barstool, "Music," she motioned to the stereo system as Jason Mraz's song the Remedy sang "I won't worry my life away..." Chloe turned to Chris, "You need to take a lesson from that," and winked at her sly cousin. "And now for mood," she rose from her chair and sauntered into the middle of the dance floor and looked up. She waved her arms in a huge gesture and small lightning bug size fireballs entered the air. Satisfied with herself, she walked back to the bar and her barstool.
"Impressive," Chris gawked, "I see you've learned a few new tricks in my absence. But I can still top you," he winked. He started low to the ground but began circling and spiraling up to a point above his head forming a cone of glowing white and blue orbs. Chloe applauded him. As Chris bowed he pointed his finger in the direction of the dance floor and the orbs joined Chloe's fireballs spinning around the ceiling of P3. "Better than any disco ball I've ever seen," Chris admired.
"I second that," Chloe held up her shot glass, now empty. She then placed it back on the counter as she watched Chris hum with the music and make himself another shot. "Wyatt trusts me, Chris. And I don't mean just little innocent and sweet Wyatt. I mean the sulking, brooding and down- right frightening twenty-five year old Wyatt at home. Why do you think he let you cross as many boundaries as he did?"
"Well, I was hoping it was because I am his baby brother...and the boy was raised by the same mother as me. He loved her more than anything," Chris took another shot of whiskey, "I was hoping that would have given me some leverage."
"You'd think, yeah...but you have been running low on the brother card excuse. He'd already lost Piper. He wasn't going to kill you because then he would lose me, too. And if he lost me, he lost the Avatars—the epitome of power. And then what?"
"I'll tell you then what, Miss Priss... going off and not keeping anything a secret about where we're from!" Chris pops back another whiskey, "Remember when I left the first time you were dead. I was at your funeral. Grandpa, me, and Wyatt--somewhere brooding and evil--were all there. That is what gave me hope, Chloe. Seeing him there. Knowing he was still capable of love. I had to come back. There was something there worth saving. So Bianca and worked it out for me to come back here and I stopped the Titans. I sent my own father to Valhalla so that he would become an elder and stop the titans. It worked. And Paige is still alive... when she wasn't in our time. How's that happening?" Chris pouring back another whiskey noted, "That means you know her? From growing up?"
Chloe mixed herself a White Russian and joined Chris back at the bar. "This is the first time you've even thought to ask how life has changed, Chris. And it has, I can assure you—and I can show you. You wouldn't recognize it anymore. And I can say that because I do remember what it was like when you left. Even though you say I was dead. Whatever event you changed here, subsequently kept me from dying, because I saw you come back with Bianca. I was there, hooded, and shrouded, and being a good fake demon." She sat down next to him, and put her arm around his back then buried her face in his left shoulder, crying. "I have missed you so much, Chris. This past year has been almost unbearable. After Bianca brought you back, and you left again... Wyatt told everyone that you had been killed. And he had proof. It was your ring." She looked up at Chris, "but that's when I knew he was lying. Chris, he had my ring. He had taken it from me when Bianca came to get you so he could read you. But everyone believed him."
"How'd you get it back?" Chris brushed a tear from Chloe's eye.
"He threw it at me, 'You won't be needing this anymore'. So sinister. So cold. It's almost impossible for me to believe that little darling turns into that mean man."
"Chloe, I play with him and he smiles at me... and I can't help but smile at him. It breaks my heart to think... to think of what he'll become if we don't win this. Of what will happen to our moms. Our family," he finished putting his head down on the bar.
Chloe played with his hair like a sister would, "Were our moms dead when you came back?" she asked, almost not wanting to know the answer.
A muffled, "Yes," arose from the bar.
"How old were we?"
"I was fourteen, you were eleven," then with a little hope Chris added, "has that changed?"
"No, not really. You were seventeen, I was fourteen. But they still died. Seems like death is the destiny of any Halliwell woman. Be grateful for that 'y' chromosome, my friend," she kissed him on the top of the head. "Chris, I spoke with Grandma Patty tonight. That's how Leo caught me. She told me to tell my mom she said, 'Hi,' but I haven't yet."
Without lifting his head, "I was wondering when we were going to get to that."
"Well...yeah...I summoned her, and unbound her from time," Chloe began the story.
"You can do that?" Chris interrupted lifting his head a little.
"Yes," obviously irritated with the interruption Chloe pushed his head back down to the counter, "and she knew me since she was unbound. And she knew what I needed," Chris turned his head to look at his cousin, "I've got all I need to vanquish Batterak and somehow get my father back. Which left me completely dumbfounded because hello, the Power of Three has never worked vanquishing Batterak before?" Chloe sat on that thought for a moment, letting her fingers instinctively run through Chris's hair. He had always loved having his hair played with. She saw his memories of the past year, with Wyatt, with his mom, aunts, and his dad. *You were so close to bonding with Leo, Chris, why'd you give that up?* being grateful for the first time that night that he couldn't hear her thoughts.
"What are you reading up there?" Chris quizzed her.
"Nothing much, you know your own head," Chloe jostled his hair.
"Seriously, joker," Chris was a little irritated, but the alcohol kept him subdued.
"Just seeing what's been going on here for the past year. You saved Paige, Chris. And you've gotten to know her. That's so cool," Chloe smiled.
"Do you know her? Or does little us get to know her and grow up with her?" Chris turns his head to look in his cousin's eyes.
"Yeah, we do. She's great. All three of us go to Magic School, not just Wyatt. She's our teacher," Chloe loved being able to tell Chris happy memories from their childhood. "You and Leo..."
"Let's not talk about me and Leo. But speaking of dads, what about your dad? What did Grandma say?" Chris lifted his head just enough to swig the shot of Jack still sitting on the counter. Chloe stood up from her seat, "Hey, I was liking that!" Chris shouted.
"Be quiet, I'm having a thought. A big, big thought." She paced sipping her drink and talking to herself.
"I've had more than you... but you're the one talking to yourself. That's it, I'm doing the orbing home," Chris watched from his reclined position on the barstool. "Think I'll fix me up another one of these," he motioned the bottle and two additional shot glasses to himself, "and let's make them whiskey sours just for fun." Chris continued to mix his drinks without the conventional use of his hands because "this is more fun" he would giggle. Chloe continued to pace with a smart grin on her face and finally crossed her legs and sat in the middle of the air in front of Chris. "Fancy pants, don't do that at home. You'll be way too busted. Then they'll really be able to figure out whose kid you are," Chloe watched him, waiting for him to realize something... tick... tick.... "Why can't I hear what you've been thinking?" There it was!
"Paige still has the ring. Which means she could be in here right now," Chloe finished.
"But she's not. She's home in bed. No one's here but me and you. I would sense any of them," Chris answered drinking his first whiskey sour. "Damn, that was good!"
"And you kiss your mama with those lips! For-shame Christopher..." Chloe teased.
"So, don't you want to know what we got out of Goran?"
"I read it off you earlier, slick, when you were hugging me after Leo healed me. Batterak followed me here. But I don't know why. The Avatars told me they were specifically sending me here on a mission to save my dad. And I believe them—they consider me one of them—at least one that walks within the realm of people. I have amazing influence with them, I don't think they would lie to me."
"Maybe that's not what they were lying to you about. Maybe they weren't lying at all." Chris practically sang.
"Then tell me oh great inebriated one, enlighten me from your high place," Chloe gloated in the state of Chris's mind.
"Maybe they sent you back here because that's the only way your vanquished dad becomes your unvanquished dad. You said Grandma said you had all the answers you needed here. The Avatars are unbound by time, they have to know the same things she does," Chris stood and then slid down into and through a big fluffy chair.
"Oh, epiphany! Chris, you're brilliant!" two little fire balls shot from her hands as she clapped them, "Ew, Piper's not going to like that."
"C'est la vie," came a voice from within the fluffy chair.
"Chris," Chloe walked over to the chair to find his rear sitting on the floor, but his head and arms coming through the cushion and resting on top, "this is why you are a lousy drunk. You can't control your powers and you end up in the most bizarre places. Do you remember having your head in one room and your butt in another at my house party last year?" Chloe pulled him out with no sympathy. "You need to tell them you can dissociate objects. It might come in handy someday."
"Piper can't do it yet, might confuse 'em," Chris slumped back onto a bar stool and put down his last empty glass.
"Come on, we're going home. I'm going to force feed you water, and you're sleeping until I wake you up so no one else will see you like this."
"Just like the old times," Chris laughed, "hey, how many of those have you had. Maybe we should call Paige to orb us."
"I had one and a half senor brainiac, I think I can get us home. Grab your coat. Oy..." Chloe began to shimmer she and Chris back to the manor as Chris finally asked, "What was your epiphany?"
"I'll tell you in the morning," Chloe answered as not a trace of them was left in P3.