Part 3
---
Chris pulled back from Willow and faced the people in the room. Willow grabbed hold of his hand and have it an encouraging squeeze, knowing he hadn't seen many of the people in the room since he was just a boy. "Okay would someone like to explain to me what is going on? Willow who is this?" Piper asked, clearly annoyed and confused. Willow sat Chris down on the couch and then sat herself down motioning for everyone to do the same, which they did.
"I think its about time I told you exactly who I am and why I'm here" Willow looked at Chris and he took over before anyone could say something.
"We're from the future" Chris paused to let that information sink in before continuing, "The world has become a very dark place, a world where all good magic and the light in life has become secret and underground for our safety. Willow was chosen to be sent back in time by the remaining elders as she was familiar with the time. I had to wait until it was safe to join her"
"And who are you exactly?" Phoebe questioned, she could tell that Willow trusted the guy as happiness was rolling off her in waves.
"Chris, Chris Harper" he glanced at Willow, "We can't tell you what we're here to do exactly, but you're going to have to trust us" Piper looked a Leo and unsurprisingly he didn't look to happy, but it wasn't his decision to make.
"Well I suppose you can stay here. I guess you'll want to stay with Willow. But what about Spike?" Piper asked, thinking back to the time when she had seen them together and had thought she was seeing him. Chris shot a look at Willow and Willow glared at Piper before looking back to Chris,
"Spike is just a friend. Someone from my life before, you know that you are everything in my life" Willow kissed him on the lips softly and Chris seemed satisfied with her answer.
Leo looked at the two, "I'm not happy about this" Phoebe sighed,
"When are you happy with anything anymore? I have to meet Jason, see you guys later, it was nice meeting you Chris" Phoebe stood up and left the room. Leo glanced around the room before orbing away. Paige looked at the two, there was something familiar about Chris that she couldn't quite place.
"So you're from the future? What exactly is it like?" Chris looked from Willow to Piper,
"Its a lot like I said before, magic has to be kept a secret, if you are caught with magic..." Chris trailed off and stared off into the distance, "Everything just seems darker than it actually is, Whitelighters like Willow and I meet in secret every now and then and there is little to look forward to in the future we come from" Piper looked sympathetically at the two,
"But we survive" Willow cut in, "Our house is our home, and I've made it as colourful as I could" Willows fingers were intertwined with Chris' and Piper smiled at the two,
"Well its nice to see that love is still able to survive" Willow looked at Chris and smiled. Piper picked up baby Chris and motioned for Paige and Wyatt to follow her, leaving Willow and Chris alone in the room.
"Why now?" Willow asked and then let Chris pull her close to him, her back against his chest. "I can't believe you made it here, but if you're here then..." Chris looked down at Willow,
"Yes, he was becoming too powerful. Leo decided to send me back as there was nothing anyone could do anymore. We did... reconcile in the end, I'm sure you're happy to hear that... He seems so suspicious of you... of us" Willow sighed,
"I find myself having to remind me that he is not the Leo that we both know. He's still so confused about why this is all happening and he hasn't yet accepted the elder part of him fully." Chris smiled fondly at the red head in his arms,
"You were the one who changed that. You made him see what had to be done, you still might be able to make him realise, there is still time"
Piper walked back into the room with a tray of cookies and drinks, "Paige is looking after the boys, I thought you'd like something to eat. Willow why didn't you tell us that you were from the future?"
"I wanted to wait until Chris was here, so that I knew how things were going. I left in a time of uncertainty and it appears that so far nothing has changed"
"I was opposed to the idea of willow arriving first" Chris spoke up, "But now I see that it was for the best, my father ey? Always knows what's right" Willow's eyes widened at Chris' comment but luckily Piper didn't notice. Willow looked at Chris and then Piper,
"I was wondering if I could take Chris to see Spike?" Piper nodded and Willow orbed out of the Halliwell manor with Chris following her, she landed just outside the house. "It brings back a lot of memories doesn't it?"
Chris stared at the house before hardening his face, he didn't want to get too emotional about the situation but the thought of what his childhood home had become in the future, a museum, a sick shrine that 'he' had created. "Thankyou" Chris said, realising that Willow was giving him some time away from his unaware family. She took his hand and orbed them into the lobby of Wolfram and Hart. Chris was surprised to see that the woman attached to his hand looked completely different to when they had left the Halliwell Manor.
"Glamour" Willow explained and then a perky voice spoke up from behind them,
"Hi, can I help you?" it was a familiar voice and Willow turned around saw Harmony behind a receptionists desk and she and Chris walked up to her,
"Uh, do you know where I can find Spike?"
"Did I hear someone actually wants to see Spike?" A familiar voice said and Willow and Chris turned to see Wesley, "I'll take you if you'd like" Willow nodded and smiled at the ex-watcher,
"Thank you, yes we'd like that very much" Wesley led the pair away from the lobby and Chris whispered to Willow,
"What are we doing here?"
"I'm showing you what my life used to be" Willow whispered back and Wesley looked at them suspiciously,
"Where did you say you were from?"
"We didn't, we're friends of Spike's from San Francisco, we were in LA for the day and we thought we'd stop in and say hi" Willow lied through her teeth. Wesley stopped in front of an office and opened the door, "Spike, hi, Piper let us come down and say hi" Willow hinted to Spike who quickly realised who he had with him,
"Well pet, come on in then. Watcher, I'd think you would have been questioning these two all you could" Wesley looked confused, "They're whitelighters watcher, sheesh, ad you're supposed to be the observant one" Wesley looked surprised and Willow turned around,
"I'll be happy to answer any of your questions" Willow walked with Wesley to the door before turning around, "Spike, Chris, play nice" and she left the room.
"So you're a whitelighter?" Wesley and Willow were walking down the hallway and back to Wesley's office, "I'm Wesley Whyndam-Price by the way"
"Anne. Yes, twenty-four years now" They entered the office and Wesley sat behind his desk and offered Willow a seat, "So what exactly do you want to know about whitelighters?" Wesley got out a pen and paper,
"Well quite a lot actually, the archives at Wolfram and Hart are quite limited when it comes to whitelighters, only a few references. However there are extensive records dealing with... darklighters" Willow's eyes narrowed,
"Yes well whitelighters are the opposite to darklighters, only darklighter arrows can kill us. We are guardians to witches, they are our charges and we protect them. We are given powers to keep them safe and even bring them back from the brink of death. We answer to the council of elders, they are our, how would you put it... powers that be" Wesley looked surprised,
"You are aware of the powers that be?"
"Yes I know about the PTB, I know a great many things, but most people in the magical world know of many higher powers" Wesley nodded,
"So how do you travel?"
"We orb, by that I mean we change into light particles and travel, by holding onto things and people we can take them with us. We can heal; Chris can't because he is only half whitelighter but because he is also half witch he can move things with his mind. I'm half witch but I that is because I was a witch before I died" Wesley looked interested at this,
"And this was twenty-four years ago?" Willow nodded, "We had a friend, her name was Willow Rosenberg and she didn't have a whitelighter that we were aware of" Willow nodded thinking about how she could explain this,
"I know about her, she was a witch but only because of the influence of the Hellmouth. The difference between her and the witches whitelighters look after is that she was not a traditional witch. Whitelighters are appointed to those who receive their powers from their parents, it's a family thing. Tara McClay had a whitelighter, if you knew her; she was a friend of Willows. Unfortunately the Hellmouth prevented her whitelighter getting to her in time and saving her" Wesley nodded taking this all in.
---
"So you're the bloke red's in love with?" Chris looked suspiciously at the vampire, "You don't have to worry about me mate. Willow's my friend, she told me what she's doing here and I can tell you're good for her" Chris nodded.
"So you knew Willow when... she was alive huh?"
"That I did, when did you...?" Chris looked surprised,
"Oh, no, I was born a whitelighter. My father is a whitelighter so I was born one" Chris plopped down into a seat, "So... nice place you've got here"
"Yeah mate, that's what you get if you help run an evil law firm. Oh don't get me wrong Peaches is doing his best to keep the absolute evil playing nice, but there's always the danger of getting eaten when you're in the belly of the beast itself" Chris nodded and the two men sat there in silence for a while, Chris wondered what was taking Willow so long. He was about to say something when the doors to the office flew open and a dark haired man strode in,
"Spike. Oh you had company...not that I particularly care" Spike rolled his eyes, "I'd introduce myself but you're probably evil and not worth my time" Spike laughed out loud at that one,
"My god Peaches, could you be anymore rude? You couldn't be any further from the truth in fact. Chris here is one of the good guys, aren't you? Yes he is, protector of the good witches in this world. So There!" Angel glanced at Chris and raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything Chris looked at Spike,
"Whatever man, I'll see you later" Spike nodded and Chris orbed out of the room. Angel stared in shock and Spike laughed,
"I guess you really are turning evil Peaches, I think you just made your first enemy of the good side" Angel just glared at Spike.
---
Chris orbed into the room that Willow and Wesley were in, "Chris! Is something wrong?" Chris sat down in the corner,
"No" he looked at Wesley, "Your boss was being presumptuous about where my loyalties lie, that's something I didn't like... so I left" he looked at Willow, "You ready to go?" Willow looked at him in surprise but stood up. She turned to Wesley,
"It was nice talking to you. Tell Spike we'll see him later" Willow grabbed Chris' hand; she didn't quite want to go back to the manor so she orbed them down to the beach. Chris looked around somewhat confused, "I just want you to see what the world was like before, my world. For you to know what we are fighting for and that its worth it" Taking his hand once more they began to walk along the beach, Chris watching the families and couples lying on the sand. He looked at Willow and smiled,
"Thank you"
"Well I'm not just a pretty face you know. I knew this would be good for you" leaning closer to Chris Willow sighed happy that things were just like she'd wanted them to be. As the sun set one could see that the couple walking along the beach were in love, the type of love that lasted the ages.
---
"So you can't exactly tell us who you've come back?" Phoebe said trying to get her head around it all.
"No. But what we need to do is important and worth the risk of travelling to the past" Willow told them as the Halliwell sisters, Chris and herself sat in the sunroom.
"I don't know about this" Piper said, Willow squeezed Chris' hand,
"Piper, I know how odd this sounds and I know you only want to protect your family but we are on your side. Besides if I was here to kill you of something I could have done it on my own, without needing Chris here" Chris rolled his eyes knowing that that analogy didn't quite make things sound any better.
"Look the fact is we are here and we're here to help. We would love your trust in what we have to do, and I would hope that Willow already has your trust" Phoebe and Paige exchanged looks before Piper sighed, she looked at Willow,
"I want you to know that we trust you but others such as Leo is going to find it hard to accept our decision to trust you"
Willow looked at Chris and he nodded, it was times like this that one could see the connection that Willow and Chris had, she knew what he was thinking and he knew what she was. Willow looked at Piper, "Okay, we can tell you one thing. We have come back to make sure that Wyatt doesn't turn evil in the future. We don't know what made him turn, but this time we're going to stop it from ever happening and keep him on the side of good" Willow explained, she had kept her voice soft and was trying not to alarm the sisters but Piper's eyes flew to her son most definitely alarmed and she rushed to pick him up.
"Trust me, Willow and I will do all we can to make sure that Wyatt is safe and that the future of the world is safe" Chris announced looking at his brother as a baby. Willow's hand slipped into his and they hoped everything could turn out all right.
TBC...