A/N: Thank you all for the reviews! I'm glad that there are people out there who find my ramblings interesting enough to read. Mild spoilers for season 7, based on some of the spoilers currently posted. Thoughts and emphasis' are in italics. A shorter chapter, as I think this was the best place to cut it off. Oh, and changed the rating due to some mild language.

Rating: PG

Chapter 2:

"Are you sure Ms. Halliwell is going to be okay with this?" the man asked Elise. The man, in his late twenties, with dark brown hair and a million dollar smile, flashed his white teeth at Elise.

"Of course she is! You heard me on the phone. She's going to come right over as soon as those people are done fumigating her home." Elise flushed, as she told the white lie. Running her hand through her hair, Elise sighed. "Look Leslie, Phoebe might be a little, well, um, abrupt with you later, but don't take it personally, okay? She's just a little bit miffed with me right now, and that may channel onto you."

Leslie's right eyebrow rose.

Elise reached for a bottle of mineral water on Phoebe's desk and poured out two glasses, handing one to Leslie. Seated behind Phoebe's desk, Elise motioned Leslie to sit down. Nodding his thanks, Leslie proceeded to make himself comfortable in the chair across from her, sipping his glass of water.

"At the end of the day, I'm still the boss here, the last time I checked, unless you've heard differently?" Elise said, pausing for effect, her eyebrow arched for effect. "Look Leslie, you know the reason I hired you. I need you to help Phoebe out for a bit, be a team player. If you can't do that..."

"Of course I can. I just don't want to cause her more stress than she's obviously already under. I mean, that's why you called me in, right? To help alleviate her stress? I just want to make sure we're all on the same page. Are you sure she's not going to mind me being her ghostwriter?" Leslie asked, casually. "After all, I've heard she's pretty obsessive over her advice column."

"I'm sure once she meets you, she'll realize what a great addition to our team you are. After all, you came highly recommended from Spencer Ricks." Elise smiled at her new ghostwriter, as she glanced at her watch. "Why don't you get yourself settled in, and we'll meet up after I finish my meeting with the advertisers?"

Leslie nodded his agreement, and moved to the side as Elise came around from the desk and exited Phoebe's office.

As the door shut behind Elise, Leslie walked behind Phoebe's desk and sat down into Phoebe's chair. The desk was hopelessly disorganized; papers and notes with handwriting on them littered the surface of the desk. On the corner of the desk, a silver frame held a picture of three young women, whom Leslie recognized as Phoebe and her two sisters.

Reaching into his shirt pocket, Leslie pulled out a photo of his own and traced the outline of the subjects with his index finger, reminding himself once again why he was here. The picture was obviously a treasured keepsake, creased and faded with age. Gazing down at the picture, with one last sigh, he put the treasured photo back into his pocket and leaned back into the chair. Propping his feet up onto the desk, Leslie poked around the papers on the desk until he found one that looked like a letter. Pulling the tear stained bubble gum pink stationary from the pile, Leslie rolled his eyes, grabbed a pen and notebook and began to make notes.

It was time to earn his keep.

No fate. No fate but what we make. Chris had always loved that movie line. It pretty much summed up everything he believed in. He smiled, humorlessly, to himself. Who knew that the fate he would make for himself would be to choose to live the rest of eternity in Hell?

It was kind of funny when you thought about it, in a sick to your stomach kind of way.

The Tribunal had whisked him away so quickly, he hadn't had a chance to even say goodbye to anyone. It would have been nice to at least say goodbye to his great grandmother, grandmother and aunt Prue. He briefly regretted not having the chance to thank Clarence for all his help. Nice of the Elders to be so efficient and all, Chris thought, sarcastically

Hell wasn't really what he was expecting. Well, he didn't know exactly what he had been expecting, except that he was pretty sure it had to do with lots and lots of pain. He had been half expecting to be burning alive in a pit of fire or lava or something really hot when he had materialized.

Instead, he took in his surroundings, noting that he was in a dark cave, with five tunnels extending from it. He could see reflections of flames along the walls of the tunnels, and he could hear the muted screams and pleas from other poor souls lost somewhere else in the maze of tunnels, kind of like the Underworld, in fact. In other words, not so different from the future where he had come from.

Scary thought.

Standing across from him, Chris realized it was the demon from the Tribunal. Eyeing Chris up and down, the demon muttered, "I didn't expect this. I had a really good eternal punishment for Leo all planned out, but you're a whole other ball game. I can't understand why you would take his place. But then again, I am a demon. Personal sacrifice was never high on my list."

Chris shrugged. He didn't want to think about what was coming. It was something he had learned to do really well in the future, suppressing his emotions. It helped to keep the fear in the pit of the stomach, threatening to crawl right out of his throat until it choked him, under tight control. "I figured it couldn't be any worse than the future where I had come from," Chris joked, half-heartedly.

The demon jerked his head up, his beady eyes staring into Chris' green ones. There was no other way to describe it, but as soon as the words left Chris' mouth, the demon's mouth formed the most evil grin Chris had ever seen in his entire life. Uh oh. Chris thought. Me and my big mouth. This can't be good.

"Than I guess that's exactly where you'll be. Enjoy the rest of eternity." The demon smirked, and before Chris could react, the demon stretched out his hand and a sword materialized, which he plunged through Chris' stomach, pinning Chris to the wall of the cave.

What? was all Chris managed to think, as blackness overtook him.

And then he opened his eyes. He looked down, his hands still clutching his side. Remarkably, given it was the second time he had been stabbed in the gut, no evidence of either attack was apparent. Tentatively probing his side with his hands, he reassured himself that he was whole. He glanced up, wondering where he had been sent now.

And then he realized.

He was back in the future, and it was exactly how he had left it. The city lay in ruins; buildings demolished, the sounds of demons rioting in the street echoed around him, and smoke was rising from fires burning merrily away in the streets.

Huge, black clouds covered the city in darkness, signaling that a fierce storm was not far off. It seemed even the weather had turned evil in the future; Chris hardly remembered a day in the future where the sky had been blue and the sun had been shining once Wyatt had established his dominance. It was just one of the many differences that Chris had appreciated, back in the past.

Chaos, violence and destruction was prevalent everywhere he looked.

Chris sank to his knees, and took in the devastation that was San Francisco.

He had failed to save Wyatt.

He had failed the Resistance, his friends. Bianca.

He had failed his family.

Mom, Dad. I'm so sorry.

Back in the attic at the manor, the three sisters were taking the news about their nephew hard.

"What do you mean, he's in Hell?" Paige asked, horrified.

Piper looked blankly at her grandmother, not comprehending, still as a statue. Then she began to rock back and forth, "My baby, my baby boy..."

"Piper, YOUR Chris, your baby boy, is here, with you. You need to concentrate on him and Wyatt, especially with Leo hell-bent on revenge, excusing my French." Grams reminded. "Your children need you."

"Yes, my CHILDREN need me..." Piper shook her head furiously, coming out of her shock. "That Chris IS my Chris, my child. As much as this baby is, here and now."

"Uhhhhh....my head hurts. I hate time travel." Phoebe complained, pinching the bridge of her nose. "Okay, Grams is right, and so is Piper."

"It doesn't matter which, or is it whose, or whatever! Chris is in Hell, and all that matters is he shouldn't BE there!" Paige exclaimed, exasperated.

"Paige is right. Grams, you had no right to keep this from me! I can't just pretend that baby Chris is the only one that matters. He's my son! In any timeline!" Piper glared at her grandmother.

"I know dear." Grams sighed, guiltily. "Which is why I didn't want to tell you. I was hoping to spare you the pain of knowing where he was, and not being able to change it. Look, there isn't anything any one of you can do. This isn't a demon or evil creature that you can vanquish. Chris was SENT to Hell."

"Spare me pain? Grams, your great grandson is burning in the fires of hell! I have to get him out of there! Tell me how!" Piper exploded.

"Don't you think I would have told you straight off if there was a way? Don't you think I would have come to you as soon as I heard what had happened, if there was a way to save him? He's my family too, you know! That's why I didn't want you to know in the first place. I hated not being able to do anything to stop this, to help him! I don't think he should be in Hell either, but it's not up to us." Grams retorted, angry.

"Piper, don't worry. We'll get him back." Paige quickly interjected, before a full-scale argument could blow up between her sister and grandmother. Paige directed her glare at her grandmother. "Well, then, who did this? The Elders? We'll just go and knock some sense into them!"

"No Paige, it wasn't the Elders. At least it wasn't the decision of the Elders." Grams sighed again. "It was Chris'."

Leo materialized in the Underworld, his eyes searching the dark cave for signs of Barbas. He couldn't see him, but he could feel him.

Leo had channeled his grief into a thirst for vengeance, obsessed with making Barbas pay for his part in Chris' murder. After bringing Piper and baby Chris home from the hospital, Leo had set out on a mission to find and kill Barbas. For two months, Leo had been pursuing Barbas, in and out of the Underworld, forgoing eating or sleeping, vengeance the only nurishment Leo required.

"I know you're here Barbas. I'll get you sooner or later. Why don't you just show yourself, and maybe I'll make your death quick instead of real slow." Leo sneered.

The maliciousness of Leo's comment was so unlike the Elder, that Barbas, the demon of fear, actually felt fear himself. Although, ever so briefly. Hell, he reminded himself, he was the demon of fear, and he would be damned before he let some goody two shoes angel freak him out. Gathering his wits, Barbas tried to turn the tables on the revenge focused Elder.

Invisible, Barbas whispered into Leo's ear, "But you fear vanquishing me won't end your pain...because it wasn't a demon who killed your son, it was an Elder, YOUR mentor..."

Leo whipped around, his eyes searching the dark for Barbas, as he fought off Barbas' mind games. He would not be distracted from the task at hand, not like he had before. He had failed his son once, and he wouldn't make that mistake again. "Maybe it won't help me end my pain, but why don't we try it and find out for sure?" Charging forward, Leo brushed past the invisible Barbas, catching his shoulder. But before Leo could get a hold of him, Barbas quickly flamed out.

Leo held his hand out, sensing for Barbas, and prepared to orb out in pursuit, when a faint jingle brought him up short. Piper.

He clenched his fist in frustration, before shaking off his rage. Piper came first. Family came first. He wasn't going to repeat the same mistakes.

"I'll be back," Leo growled, "You can run Barbas, but I'll get you eventually." And with that, Leo orbed out.

"Excuse me? You're telling me, my son, CHOSE to go to Hell?" Piper exclaimed in disbelief.

Grams nodded.

"I don't believe you. Are you sure? How does one even choose to go to Hell?" Piper pressed, aghast at this turn in events. She thought she had been finally coming to terms with the death of her adult son, clinging to the belief that in death, he was at peace. Her son, relentless in his pursuit of demons to protect his brother, had earned his rest. Instead, her son was being tortured, sentenced to the eternal fires of Hell, for his sacrifice.

"I know, sweetie. I know... but if there's one thing you've learned over the years, it's that there's a reason for everything...which means there's a reason for this, too." Grams spoke, softly. "You have to trust in your destiny."

And at that moment, something inside of Piper snapped. It was like when Prue died. But worse, a thousand times worse. It wasn't fair. Her son was gone. And Gram's kept prattling on about Destiny?

All of Piper's grief threatened to resurface, grief that she had suppressed, in order to continue functioning. Since learning of her adult son's death, Piper had kept it together by the skin of her teeth. Her babies needed her; Leo needed her. She couldn't give into her emotions, because this time Leo had been the one who had needed her to be strong. They had both been devastated by Gideon's betrayal; but Leo had taken it especially hard. Gideon had been a trusted friend, his mentor, the one who had supported them against the other Elders through Leo and Piper's turbulent relationship and subsequent marriage. And the worse cut? Gideon had truly believed he was serving the 'Greater Good' by murdering one of their sons while trying to murder the other.

"Hello! I'm an Empath! Remember? Grams, I can still feel you hiding something from me, us..." Phoebe waved her hands in the air. Phoebe also shot Piper a sympathic look, picking up on Piper's distress.

Scowling, Grams replied, "Girls, I think I've said enough. If you want to find out more, you'll need to get your answers from 'Up There'. All I can tell you is that the Elders gave Chris a choice to decide his own fate, and he made his decision."

Paige shook her head, "He's neurotic, but I hardly think he would've picked going to Hell over going to the afterlife or any other fate!"

"Leo! Leo! Get your ass back here now!" Piper called out. She was angry, furious and wanted to wail her rage against the fates and so called destiny. But with a will of iron, she forced the emontional storm inside her to the back of her mind. Later she would scream her frustration on the unfairness of it all, but now, her son needed her. Everything else, anything else, could wait until she saved her son.

The beginning of orbs forming in the attic indicated that Leo had indeed heard Piper's call.

"Just remember Piper, it was Chris' decision. If you're going to muck this up, then you had better be prepared for the consequences." Grams decided it was time for her to go, before Piper could blow her up, judging by the expression on her granddaughter's face. "Good luck, my darlings. Somehow I think you're going to need it."

To be continued...

Just read that Drew won't be back...sniff, sniff...