Disclaimer: I give up...no amount of baby sitting money will be enough to buy Charmed off of Brad Kern! (Sighs) Oh, well. At least I have my fantasies...For you slow people, that means I don't own Charmed! (lol, kidding...i'm not that mean...)

Chapter Three:

Surviving

Everything hurt. It hurt to move, it hurt to breathe, it hurt to think. He felt completely numb, not feeling anything but the immense pain shooting through the stab wound. His mind raced and he felt himself panicking. Now what? Would he just lay here and wait for death? No, he was stronger than that. He'd find a way out of this, somehow.

His body wracked in sobs. Leo had no right to just poof right back into his life after two years...he had no right! His vision blurred from tears and red lights of pain shooting through him seemed to dance in front of his eyes.

He tried to say "help," but all he managed was a hoarse cough. He could taste the blood in his mouth and he moaned, realizing that he was completely trapped. Catty would never forgive him if he left her and the Alliance on their own. He thought of those people Wyatt had murdered...of the people that he was going to kill...of the people that the Alliance had to save...

"Alia, are you sure?"

A voice. Catty's voice! Chris' heart leapt. They could get help...

"I'm absolutely sure. This is the place I saw in my vision," came Alia's shrill, panicked voice.

"There's nobody in this alley!" Catty wailed. "Alia, what if you're wrong? What if he's dead? Alia! Where are you going?"

"Just stop panicking, I'm trying to think!" Alia cried. Chris tried to alert them to his presence, coughing and gasping for air. But he couldn't even breathe. The attempts seemed to be squeezing his lungs and twisting them painfully.

"Oh my god, Chris!" Catty shrieked. "Alia, call the police! Do something!"

Chris felt the pain slipping away. He felt dizzy, like he was floating. The blurriness became almost reassuring. All that he could make out through the last struggled gasps of air was Catty's hair and the brick walls.

"No, wait...in my vision I...I called for...LEO!" Alia's scream alerted him out of his trance. Leo? Why was she calling for Leo? "LEO! WE NEED YOUR HELP!"

The sound of orbs filled the alley. Chris could vaguely hear it over Catty's sobs. "Save him, save him..." she shrieked hysterically. "Hurry!"

A warm feeling radiated through him before he fell into the peaceful darkness.

"He'll be okay," Leo assured the two girls. He turned to Alia. "Thank you so much. I don't know what I'd do if I lost him. How'd you know to call for me?"

"My vision," Alia explained.

"Excuse me..." Catty sniffled. "But—who are you?"

"I'm Chris' father. And you must be Catty and Alia."

"Chris never mentioned that he had a father," said Catty suspiciously. "I thought he was an orphan...after Piper died."

"I was busy," Leo said, voice filled with regret. He ran a hand through Chris' hair. "I'm an elder. It's been two years since the last time I saw him..."

"Don't you know how much he's suffered?" Catty whispered through the last of her tears. "He's alone. All alone. How could you do this to him?"

"What's he like?" Leo asked shakily.

"He's a wonderful person, no thanks to you. He's saved more people than you'll ever know!" Catty stood up, looking down at Leo with hatred glinting in her eyes. "You abandoned him and left him to live on the streets. He has nobody to take care of him. He takes care of us and the Alliance! He has nothing, and it's your fault. Why do you even dare show your face back on earth after all this time?"

"I—I couldn't sense him," Leo choked, tears forming in his eyes. "It was as if he wasn't even there anymore."

"Yeah, well you know what? He's not there anymore. You're dead to him and you always will be. Now...now..."

Leo gasped and his clothes began to smoke.

"You go back up to elder land where you belong," she hissed as Leo still smoked, as if baking under immense heat. "GO!"

Leo cried out and orbed away.

Catty panted for air, staring at the spot that he left for a long, hard moment. "Chris," she sobbed after a moment, crouching down beside him. She drew the unconscious boy into a hug. "Oh, god...I thought we'd lost you..."

"Catty," Alia breathed. "You're...you're a firestarter!" she exclaimed.

"I know. Mom and Dad told me not to tell you," Catty admitted. "Or anyone else, for that matter. It's a dangerous power. If you tell the wrong people, then demons might find out. I don't want to be working for Wyatt or anything..." Suddenly she paled. "Don't tell Chris. I don't want him to know. Nobody can know."

Chris let out a shuddered breath, shivering.

"Poor Chris. We'd better bring him home. Here, I'll call Mom and—"

"That won't be necessary."

"Mrs. Caloski?" Catty squeaked. "You didn't—just see—um—what are you doing here?"

Mrs. Caloski chuckled softly. "Wondering why Chris dashed out of school this morning? I told him I was his whitelighter. His dead aunt, actually." Her voice softened. "He's afraid. That's what Phoebe told me. She's dead now, too, but she's an empath still. He's afraid that he's going to lose me like he lost the rest of his family so he won't believe it." She sighed. "The elders wouldn't let me intervene till about this morning, when I forced them to see what kind of condition the kid was in. Then they let me take action."

Catty and Alia were baffled. "Why was Leo down here, then?" she demanded after a moment.

"Because our clever little friend here came up with a spell, so no one could sense him," Prue explained. "I told Leo, so Leo orbed down here."

"So you're a whitelighter?" Catty smirked, considering this. "Well, you always did seem out of place. Why didn't Chris wake up?" she asked worriedly when Chris let out a moan beside them.

"He's tired and hungry. You can't heal that. I'll orb you guys to your house so he can stay there, okay?"

"Thanks," said Catty with a smile.

"I should be thanking you," Prue insisted. "If Alia hadn't had that vision..." She shuddered. "Let's just say that there would be a lot of lives at stake." She grabbed Chris' hand and the two girls, orbing to Catty's house.

They ended up in the family room, where Catty's and Alia's mother was watching a movie on TV.

"Girls?" she stuttered. "What in the world...?"

"Uh, hi Mom," Catty greeted her. "It's a really long story. Can Chris stay the night?"

"Of—of course he can. Who are you?" she asked Prue. "I know you aren't the girls' whitelighter. Did something happen to Annie?" she demanded.

"No, don't worry. Annie's perfectly safe Up There at the moment. I'm Chris' whitelighter, and I would have been his aunt. Um, sorry to intrude. It's nice to meet you. You've been very good to Chris," said Prue gratefully.

"Chris is like family to us," she explained, laughing as the shock wore off somewhat. "What happened? Is he all right?"

"He's better now." Prue looked down at the unconscious boy and sighed. "He was stabbed. We just barely managed to save him in time, thanks to your daughters."

"What--?"

Prue looked up suddenly. "Oh, sorry, someone's calling me."

"Is it Leo?" Alia snickered. Catty burst out laughing.

Prue flashed them a confused stare. "Huh? How'd you know?" she asked.

"Um...never mind. Just don't mention our names," Catty cautioned with a sheepish grin. "It's...er, complicated."

"Hehe. Something tells me that he won't be happy." She shrugged and orbed up before another jingle from the elders came along.

"Guess we'd better turn in for the night," said Catty, yawning.

"Wait—what happened?"

Alia sighed, grabbing her mother's arm and sending the information through a vision in her mind.

"Oh, god!" their mother cried. "That's awful. Poor Chris." She paused. "Wait a moment...that man...I've seen him somewhere before..."

"Yeah, he's Chris' father," Catty explained.

"But it was a long time ago, four years maybe. I saw him at a park with some blonde kid that orbed right in front of everybody! Fortunately, no one noticed...but still, it's hard to forget when some kid almost reveals magic..."

"Mom, put two and two together. That was Wyatt, Chris' brother. The evil one. The one the Alliance is fighting!"

"Honey, your 'Alliance'..." She sighed. "Don't get any ideas. The adult Alliance is taking care of it."

"Right," Catty huffed. "The 'adult' Alliance. Do they have Chris on their side? I should think not!" She put her coat down on the ground and started up the stairs to her room. "Could you keep an eye on him? The instant he wakes up he'll try to orb away, I know it. He's...independent. You know."

Their mother nodded, grinning slightly. "Night," she called after her daughters.

"G'night," they called back.

The demon crouched over the girls as they slept. "Which one...hmm..." He chuckled coldly, choosing Catty. He sprinkled the dust over her eyes. "Chris is a good for nothing spy working for Wyatt," he whispered in her ear, eyes glinting in sick pleasure.

Catty frowned in her sleep. "Chris...is a good for nothing spy working for Wyatt," she repeated in monotone.

"Perfect." He shimmered out.