Do You Really Want to Know? Do You Really Want to Know? Ch 11 to 15, a charmed fanfic

Do You Really Want to Know?

Chapter 11

(Now that the story is finished, I have combined the chapters into 4 parts. This is chapters 11-15)

By: teal-lover

Summary: Chris has a deeper reason why he hates Leo so much, and why he wants to save his brother so badly. Phoebe is determined to help him through his issues and find out what it is. WARNING--Rated "R" for violence and the mention of rape.

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Phoebe: "Ok, how are we going to summon Leo? Is he dead?"

Piper: "No, but he's gonna' wish he was. Let me see the spell you wrote to get us here. Pen please." She started crossing a few things out here and there, then handed Phoebe and Paige the revised version.

Paige: "Piper, are you sure you want to say this line?"

Piper narrowed her eyes indignantly, "What's wrong with it?"

Phoebe read her scribble and chuckled, "It's just that we might not get the right "jackass" we're looking for."

Pier snatched the piece of paper and re-worded it, "Alright. Will this work?"

Phoebe: "Yeah, I think that'll do it." She walked over to draw on the wall but Piper grabbed the chalk from her.

Piper walked over to the sofa and stared at her sisters as she started pushing it. "Don't just stand there, help me!"

Paige was a bit confused, "Where do you want it?"

Piper: "in the center of room."

After they had moved it, Piper climbed on top and began drawing a triquetra on the ceiling. When finished, she hopped down and examined her handiwork. Satisfied, she grabbed one end of the sofa, while her sisters grabbed the other and pushed it back into the corner of the room.

Paige covered her mouth to hide the grin and elbowed Phoebe as she realized what Piper had in mind.

The three sisters stood back away from the center of the circle and began chanting…

"Here these words,
Hear our cries,
And heed the hope within our minds,
Husband, father, from futures past,
In this time, we summon thee
As never have we done before,
Come forth and settle here,
Come now, through this door."

When done, the triquetra on the ceiling illuminated briefly before it opened itself to the future. Moments later, flailing arms, legs, and a muffled grunt accompanied a disheveled figure as it tumbled out and landed face first on the floor.

A bit disoriented from the fall, the figure's eyes found it difficult to focus on anything except for the foot tapping impatiently on the floor in front of him. The further up his eyes traveled, the more he recognized the body that the foot belonged to. The arms folded in front of her made him question whether or not he wanted to look up further into her face. But he did it anyway out of curiosity. He knew that look. He'd seen it hundreds of time before when she faced off with demons. Fortunately, it had never been directed at him before--that is until now.

Piper: "Hello Leo. Nice of you to drop in."

He did his best to cover the surprise in his voice. "Piper?"

She reached down and grabbed the front of his collar and yanked him up off the floor with surprising strength. "Don't you Piper me. You are so lucky that I need you to find my son right now, or I would---" She shoved him and screamed in frustration as she blew up a table next to where he was standing.

Phoebe cautioned her, "Piper--we need him." She grabbed Leo's arm and spun him around none to gently to face her, "If you like all of your body parts where they are, I recommend you keep your mouth shut and just find Chris and take us to him."

Leo stuttered, "I-I can't"

Piper advanced on him, "What do you mean you can't? I'm not exactly giving you an option--because that was NOT A REQUEST!"

Leo turned to her looking extremely distressed as he babbled uncharacteristically, "I'm so sorry Piper--I've already tried--This is all my fault--I should've listened to him--and now it's too late because he's…." His voice trailed off as he sunk to his knees.

Paige was the first to notice, or perhaps care; how haggard he looked. Despite being immortal, he seemed to have aged 20 years since she had last seen him. His clothes were torn, singed, and just plain dirty.

Paige moved to kneel down in front him.

Piper threw her hands up impatiently, "We don't have time for this!!!"

Paige silenced her with a glare before questioning him, "He's what, Leo?"

Leo looked up tried to focus on her face through the salty tears in his eyes, "…He's. He's dead."

Paige shook her head, "No, he's not Leo. Why would you think that?"

Leo: "Wyatt. I saw him--I saw the hologram. Wyatt showed me. She took him back there--and he killed him. He killed his own little brother. He said he wasn't safe…"

Phoebe seemed to be the only one in the room that knew what he was referring to. But after what he had done, she just couldn't find it in her heart to feel any sympathy for him. She replied with a bitter intonation, "Bianca? Leo, listen. She did take him back--but he didn't die. I don't know what Wyatt showed you, but he was screwing with your head. Chris escaped and came back here. And if you really did try to find him, then you just didn't know when to look."

Leo looked up in confusion, carefully avoiding the angry eyes of his son's mother.

Phoebe: "You're in 2004, Leo. And so is he."

Leo was really confused now. He knew that Paige and Piper looked exactly the way they did when they died.

Paige anticipated his question, "Yep. We're still dead, Leo."

Piper: "Look, none of this matters right now. I need for you to GET UP AND FIND MY SON--because he's here, he's alive, and he needs me! Now get your sorry ass in gear, and start sensing for him--right now!"

Phoebe leaned in and whispered to Paige, "Is it just me, or is a dead Piper more scary than a live Piper?"

Paige: "She's had a very long time to dwell on being pissed."

Leo stumbled up quickly and sensed for his son with a new found hope. His eyes lit up as he realized that they were right. He held out his hands for the sisters to orb them to Chris.

Before leaving, Piper pinched his arm, "I'll deal with you later."

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Leo orbed the three sisters to the peak of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Not used to such heights, the only ones comfortable with it seemed to be Chris and Leo.

The sisters clung tightly to each other as they cautiously made their way over to Chris, who heard the orbs and immediately backed away from them, "What are you doing here? Don't you ever listen?"

Leo reached for his youngest, but Piper slapped his hand down possessively.

Piper: "BACK OFF!"

Chris sneered, "You should take your own advice, Piper."

Piper: "Chris, Honey--You didn't give us a chance to explain--"

Chris: "Nothing I need to hear from any of you anyway"

Phoebe was getting nervous watching him, "Chris--please stop backing up. You're awfully close to that ledge."

Chris looked down quickly with a wry grin. He turned back to them with a slight gleam in his eyes, "I did my job. I warned you about Wyatt. Just remember Phoebe--this is on your hands."

He closed his eyes as he leaned back and free fell off the bridge. He heard their screams echoing above him, muffled by the sounds of the rushing wind.

TBC…..

AN: No--it doesn't end here-but in my defense, the next chapter was just too long to break it anywhere else:)

Do You Really Want to Know?

Chapter 12

By: teal-lover

Disclaimer in part 1

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As he was nearing the bottom, Chris smiled at the look on their faces when he jumped. He orbed himself down to safety where he crossed his arms and waited, as they would inevitably follow.

He didn't have to wait long because Leo orbed directly in front of him moments later.

Chris raised his eyebrows with a cocky grin at Leo's panicked expression. "You sure took your time about it--Leo. In a few more seconds, I would have gone splat! Very messy by the way."

Leo's fear quickly turned to anger, "You did that on purpose! Just to scare us?"

Chris: "Ahhh--You catch on quick, Elder. I did it to let you know just how serious I am about wanting to be left alone. Because if you don't--I will do it. Now, I don't know what they told you, but I see you didn't get the message--SO LEAVE ME ALONE!" He started to orb but Leo pulled him back.

Leo: "I know you're angry with me, but don't punish your Mom and Aunts for it."

Chris shook his head, "No, I'm done with you people. Now let go, Leo."

Leo: "No, Chris. I'm not sure what's going on here myself, but I am sure that if I let you leave, your mother is not going to be a happy camper." He reached into what was left of his robe. Inside, he had squirreled away anything left of the other elders that he could carry. He found the pouch of sleep dust and reached in to pull a handful out while he held Chris' arm with the other. He blew the dust into his sons face even as he apologized, "I'm really sorry about this, buddy."

When Chris realized what was coming toward him, he tried to back away or orb but wasn't quick enough. The dust reached his lungs just as he started to lunge for Leo. "You bas--", he cursed no further as he passed out in Leo's awaiting arms.

Leo held his son for a few minutes as he wept with relief for his safety, knowing full well that he wouldn't get that close again if Piper had her way. He leaned over and kissed his forehead gently as he noted how peaceful the young man looked. "I don't know if you can hear me or not, but I just wanted to say how sorry I am for everything. I love you, son." Not expecting a response, he reached under his knees to pick him up, "I'd better get you back to your mother before they jump down after you."

Leo orbed his sleeping son back to the top of the bridge where the Charmed Ones waited hysterically.

When Phoebe saw the limp figure in Leo's arms, she swayed and nearly passed out with grief as Paige caught her. "NO! I killed him…"

Leo: "No, he's just sleeping. He was going to run again, and then he'd be nearly impossible to find, so I gave him some sleeping dust."

Piper rushed over and started patting Chris down to check for any signs of injuries. She looked up a bit surprised to find none. "You caught him? He didn't hit?"

Leo: "No. He actually orbed down to safety, probably as soon as he thought we couldn't see him. I don't think he was trying to kill himself, just upset us."

Paige laughed through her tears, "Well he did a good job."

Phoebe was still in shock, "He's OK then?"

Leo smiled as he watched his son, "Yeah."

Phoebe sighed with relief as she tried to calm her palpitating heart. "Oh, thank goodness. I'm gonna strangle that boy when he wakes up."

Leo's face fell again at her words. "How is this possible? I saw Wyatt kill him. He had him pinned against the wall. Then he started to choke him and--Chris, he just hung there--"

Paige: "It was a trick, Leo. He's in your arms right now, so you know it wasn't true. So let's get back to the manor and maybe we'll talk about it later. We have to do what we came here for so that the Paige and Piper of this time can come back. Besides, being up here is making me nervous."

When they orbed back to the attic, Piper checked on Chris again and looked up worriedly, "Why isn't he waking up?"

Leo: "It'll wear off in a while; possibly up to a few hours."

Phoebe yelled, "A few hours! Damn, I was hoping to have him vanquished by then."

Leo looked up nervously.

Paige: "Not you, Leo. Well, at least I don't think so. She means Tem'al."

Leo: "Who?"

At the mention of his name, Piper's anger returned full force. She spun around suddenly and asked her sisters, "Phoebe, Paige--could you watch him until I get back?"

Piper started walking out of the door without turning to look back. She asked in a deceptively saccharine voice, "Leo, can I see you downstairs please?"

Phoebe nodded and muttered under her breath to Paige in a childlike taunt, "Uh ohhh. Somebody's gonna' get it."

Paige nodded in agreement, "What I wouldn't give to be a fly on that wall."

Leo barely heard Piper and instead focussed on his son's sleeping face.

When Piper saw the he didn't follow, she turned and yelled, "LEO!"

Reluctant to turn away and leave him, Leo stole one last wistful glance at his son before rising to follow Piper for what he knew would be a heated confrontation. But he knew how wrong he was, and so he expected her to be angry with him and to scream at him the second she thought they were out of earshot of the others.

What he didn't expect was to be knocked on his rear-end by her fist before he even had a chance to open his mouth.

Piper glared angrily as she hovered over him, "GET UP!"

Leo rubbed his jaw sorely where she hit him. He held one hand out in a stop gesture, "Piper, I don't want to fight with you--"

Piper cut him off with words of her own, "Oh, I'm sure you don't! That inherent survival instinct is kicking in."

Leo: "Please, Piper. I know you're angry with me, but--"

Piper snorted in disbelief, "Oh, you have no idea."

Leo rolled his eyes a bit, "I think I can take a guess. I'm sorry Piper--"

Piper leaned over and sneered, "Apology not accepted. The way you treated my son is INEXCUSABLE!"

Leo started to rise, "Our son Piper."

Piper roughly pushed him back down as he landed with a thud. "NO! You gave up the right to claim him as your son when you abandoned him."

By this point Piper, was seething and spoke through clenched teeth. "--When you called him a liar after he repeatedly told you what Wyatt had done."

Her voice nearly spat venom when she added, "When you treated him as if he were some common whore who asked for what happened to him! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!!! He's supposed to be your son. So tell me why Leo? Is it because Wyatt's features favor your own? And Chris favor's mine? Do you hate me that much--that you would take it out on your own flesh and blood!!"

Leo mouthed to speak, but no words flowed from his gaping jaw. He shook his head rapidly trying to convey what his sudden inability to speak couldn't. It wasn't because he hated her; quite the opposite in fact. He forced his lips to obey his mind to try and plead with her, "No, Piper, that's not it. I am so sorry for how I behaved. But you're only partially right--he does look like you. He's so much like you in every other way, too. And it's because I love you and missed you so much that I just couldn't bring myself to see you--but not you--in him. I didn't intend to--but I didn't know how to stop doing it."

Piper threw her hands up in disgust and started pacing the floor. "Oh! Save your PITIFUL excuses for someone who cares!!! You're a father first! You're children are supposed to come first above any misgivings or other issues that you have!"

Leo: "Piper please--"

Piper ignored him and continued ranting, "Where were you when Chris needed you? Where were you when that little bastard son of yours decided to sell my baby for the price of an army?"

Leo's eyes narrowed as he replied sarcastically, "Oh, so that one I can lay claim to?"

Piper held out her hands threatening to blow him up, "Don't you dare take that attitude with me!! You're the one who screwed up as a parent!"

Leo quickly stood up to avoid being shoved back down and shouted back, "You're the one who died and left us alone--"

Piper shouted back even louder, "I HAD TWO CHILDREN, NOT THREE! LAST I CHECKED--YOU WEREN'T ONE OF THEM! Leo, I did what you always asked of me. I followed this stupid Charmed destiny; welcomed it even. I even accepted it when it got me and my sisters killed. But the least you could have done was to take care of my children when that happened. I asked you to do only ONE thing when they were born--and that was to take care of them if anything ever happened to me. YOU PROMISED ME YOU WOULD! If you hadn't abandoned them--one of them wouldn't have grown up to be a psychotic lunatic while the other had to suffer for it!"

Leo: "Piper, I did have other responsibilities to the rest of the world as an Elder…"

Piper fought back the tears as she thought back to her son's horrific night in Valhalla; of her feelings of helplessness coupled with her anxiety of waiting for Leo to swoop down from the clouds and rescue her son. "And you think that makes it alright?"

Her anger grew and caused her hand to strike out and slap him across his cheek, whipping his head around with such force that if he had not already been dead, he would have surely suffered a broken neck. "Chris needed you. If you had been paying attention "UP THERE" to your son instead of the rest of the world, you--could--have--stopped it. You would have heard him as he called out for you…" At his shocked look, she cocked her head to the side as she feigned surprise, "Oh, you didn't know? Well let me show you--"

Piper quickly recited a spell she had once garnered from the Phoebe of her time to force him to witness her memories.

She showed Leo in voluminous detail everything that she saw and could not prevent. Her son's panicked voice as he shouted out for Wyatt and his father as the demons beat and stripped him. His pained expression and deafening screams as they tortured and violated him into the night. His futile and desperate attempts to pass out from pain and exhaustion. His terror at having to face them all a second time. And as she showed Leo, she slowed it down for him to experience the agony that she felt as a mother unable to help her child.

Leo sank to his knees sobbing with grief, still reeling from the shock of his visions. He felt nauseous at what had been done to his son, and even more disgusted by his own mistreatment of the boy.

Piper smiled with some degree of satisfaction, "You call yourself a father--yet you chose to ignore him, Leo--and by doing so, you let all of that happen. And then you blamed him for it. You want forgiveness--well I can't give it to you--not now, not ever. I am so angry with you, that I would like nothing better than to blow you to pieces for my own satisfaction. But I can see that deep down, you seem to care about Chris--maybe even love him. So I think that this revenge is sweeter--you have to live with the knowledge that you could have spared your son that pain. Given that--I think you forfeit all rights as a father. Now do me a favor and stay away from my son."

Paige tip-toed cautiously down the stairs, "I'm sorry to interrupt guys, but I think he's starting to wake, and I know you'd want to be there…"

Piper turned to glare at Leo before breaking into a run up the stairs past her sister.

For his part, Leo felt worse than if she had been generous enough to blow him up. Her words struck a bitter cord in him, and he couldn't deny the truth in them. He was partially responsible for what happened to Chris. And if he really thought about it, he may have even been able to prevent Wyatt from turning if he had just devoted his time to his sons when his wife died instead of avoiding them through the guise of "saving the world" as an Elder. She was right. He didn't deserve any rights as Chris' father.

Paige interrupted his musings, "Are you coming Leo?"

Leo shook his head sadly, "Uh, no. I'd better wait down here for now. I'm not exactly a favorite person--with good reason--to anyone up there. You go on ahead."

Paige just shrugged and ran back up herself hoping she hadn't missed anything.

TBC…..

Do You Really Want to Know?

Chapter 13

By: teal-lover

AN: OK--some things I have to clear up because I noticed that there was some confusion in the reviews (THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH by the way--You guys out there reviewing are awesome and I am just so thrilled to see your comments)

--present Paige, Piper, Wyatt and Leo are all still up in the clouds with the Elders and haven't come down yet. Only Present Phoebe, Chris, Future (or spirit Piper & Paige) and Future jerk, cough--I mean Leo are currently in the past on earth. And I like Leo's character--I really do--but they made him such a jerk this season, that I had to keep in character:)

And you guys are probably gonna hate me for this one, because it's extremely sappy, but trust me--I really needed this for Chris to realize who he was dealing with.

Disclaimer in part 1

Chris opened his eyes slowly as he tried to take in his surroundings and recall what happened. He went to sit up, but found himself lying on the floor and trapped in his mother's arms. He looked at Phoebe and grimaced as he remembered why he ran from them in the first place. "Let me go!"

Piper responded by holding on tighter and kissing the top of his head. "No. I'm not letting you go this time. So if you orb, I'm coming with you. You didn't give us the chance to explain earlier..."

Chris struggled a bit before finally giving up in frustration. In the year that he had come to know Piper; and come to think of it, his mother as well--she always meant and did exactly what she said. She would definitely follow wherever he went, so there was really no point in trying to run again unless she wasn't latched onto him. He glared at his Aunt coldly, "I said I didn't want them to know, Phoebe. You had no right!"

As soon as Piper felt him relax in her arms, she knew she had the perfect opportunity to let him know who she was. She recalled a song she used to sing to him when he was a small child. As he got older, embarrassment forced him to outgrow the idea of his mother serenading him, so she would write down the lyrics to the song anywhere she thought he alone would read it--in his lunchbox, a birthday card, in his jacket pocket, under his pillow at night. Despite his need to feel grown up, it had always brought a smile to his face and made him feel special when he thought he was insignificant and unimportant to everyone else, especially in light of his older brother's "twice-blessed status".

As a result, while Wyatt had always gravitated to his father, Chris on the other hand had always been her baby. Piper had always known that the words to the song fit because he was the light of her life since the day he was born.

She remembered the first time that she sang it to him, less than a year old--she had looked into his striking emerald eyes and noticed the slight change into a crystal blue shade. As his mother, she was probably the only one who had ever noticed the subtle transformation when he was upset or troubled. To her, the green into blue always signified the calm before the storm. It saddened her deeply that the beautiful green she was used to seeing when he was a child, now only seemed to be embodied by the storm.

That first time, she bundled him in her arms and sang to him softly as he gazed up at her. He sighed contently before falling asleep as if he knew at that tender young age what the words meant.

Piper motioned at her sisters to back away and leaned in so that only he could hear and whispered into his ear, "you are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy--"

Before she could finish, he twisted around quickly in her arms to look at her. 'No. It can't be…' Even as he told himself that it was impossible, his eyes continued to drink in her features to tell him otherwise. The subtle laugh lines that hadn't been there yesterday; the few strands of graying hairs around her temples. No, he thought. She certainly looked like the woman he knew as his mother, not the vibrantly stubborn young woman he had been used to calling Piper over the past year.

Piper saw a flash of recognition dawn in her son, immediately followed by a shadow of doubt. She allowed him to sit up as she no longer sensed his desperate need to flee from her.

Chris took a deep breath but needed to check to be absolutely sure. He reached out to her stomach, but pulled back as he sought her approval with his eyes. At her nod, he cautiously felt underneath the poncho sweater that she always seemed to be ensconced in. Though now he knew it that it started because she never liked anyone touching her pregnant belly, and it was a way to disguise the fact that she was indeed. As a child, he believed that she simply liked it. It had an added bonus of guarding her flicking wrists from a demon's watchful eyes.

Seeing his hesitance, Piper reached down and grabbed his hand to press it against her stomach. She smiled warmly at him as his face finally registered her identity. She confirmed verbally what his eyes and hands were telling him, "This oven hasn't had a bun in it in a very long time, Chris."

Chris: "Mom?"

Piper nodded, "Yes, baby--it's me."

Chris nearly knocked her over as he flew into her outstretched arms.

Chris: "How? I mean, I understand if we were in the future and someone summoned you, but how can you be here?"

Piper smiled and glanced at Phoebe on the other side of the attic, "You know your Aunt Phoebe is very resourceful. She can come up with just about anything when she puts her mind to it."

Chris looked up to Phoebe as she cautiously moved forward.

Phoebe: "I made you a promise, Chris, and I swear to you I did not and would not break it." She motioned to her baby sister, "This is your Paige too."

Paige needed no further prompting as she ran to hug her nephew, "I missed you, kiddo." She pulled back to look at him fondly, "You've gotten so big."

Chris smiled shyly as all three sisters enveloped him in a group hug.

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After a while, Chris pulled back and looked up. "I'm sorry Phoebe. I guess I jumped to conclusions."

Phoebe smacked his arm playfully. "That's not the only jumping you did. Don't you ever scare me like that again!"

Chris looked genuinely apologetic, "I'm sorry…"

Phoebe: "It's alright. As long as you promise never to do that again. You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

Chris motioned to his mom and aunt, "Why did you bring them here, Phoebe?"

Phoebe suddenly looked nervous, "Several reasons actually. Number one, you needed them. And number two--"

Piper interrupted, "Maybe I'd better explain number two." She locked eyes with her son while she spoke to her sisters, "Could you guys give us a moment?" As soon as the door closed, she took his hand and spoke softly to him, "Chris, honey--I know this has all been hard for you…"

Chris sighed as he had an idea of what she wanted to talk to him about. He looked down to avoid her eyes.

Piper: "You don't have to be ashamed, honey. What happened was not your fault."

Chris still wouldn't look at her as he mumbled, "How would you know. Maybe I did bring it on myself."

Piper shook her head adamantly, "Because I was there Chris, and I know that there is nothing on this earth you could have done to deserve what happened."

Chris' head shot up and looked positively mortified. For the first time in as long as he could remember, tears flowed readily down his face as he shut his eyes tightly in denial. He wrapped his arms around his middle protectively and tried to block out the sounds of her voice. He couldn't fathom his mother witnessing what was to him, the weakest moment of his life.

Piper inched closer and wrapped him in her arms, stroking his back comfortingly. She whispered soothing sounds to her son while she rocked him gently.

Chris murmured into her chest, "Why? How could you do that? I can't--"

Piper: "Shhhh. How could I not, Chris? Until you left to come back here, I was always with you--hoping that you could feel me beside you and draw strength to survive that horrible life. And if I could have, I would have followed you here too."

Chris: "But now, you--"

Piper: "I know what you're thinking. And there are no buts. Baby, I'm your mother--and I love you, so don't you ever believe that I would think less of you for any of that. You did absolutely nothing wrong, and I don't care who tells you otherwise."

Piper felt him lean in closer to her and could feel his body tense. She knew he was trying to fight it, to be strong for her--but damn it! She was his mother, and if he couldn't let go in front of her, then to whom could he? She knew he needed that cathartic release if he was ever to face what happened head on and finally let it go.

It infuriated her further that he had no one in his life to help him do that. She had to remember to thank her empath sister later for giving her the ability to do it now. Immediately, she stroked his hair soothingly and murmured her encouragement. "It's ok, baby. Let it out. Don't be afraid, I'm here." She sighed in relief as she felt his body begin to shake and give in to its need for release.

They stayed that way for several hours until he drifted off to sleep in exhaustion.

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Piper called her sisters in a low voice to avoid disturbing her son, "Phoebe, Paige?"

She had to shush them with her finger to her lips since they came rushing in, apparently waiting just outside the door.

Paige: "How's he doing?"

Piper: "He's exhausted. I didn't even get to tell him about the vanquish yet. Do me a favor and tell Leo to come and orb him into my bed?"

Paige: "You don't have a bed Piper, you're dead."

Piper rolled her eyes, "Well the other Piper's bed. She's not using it right now, and won't be until we leave--so would you please just do as I asked?"

Paige nodded and clambered down the steps to find her brother-in-law. "Leo, Piper wants you to come and put Chris into bed, he fell asleep."

Leo hesitated, "Are you sure Piper said that?"

Paige: "Positive. She asked me to come and get you twice already."

Leo orbed upstairs without further prompting and cautiously padded over to his son and former wife. She didn't warn him away, so he bent down and touched them both as he orbed them to their old room, relinquishing his hold only when he set them on the bed.

He moved to stand in the doorway and watched with awe as she gingerly tucked her son under the covers. He thought back to when he was a little boy and frequently observed the same scene, usually after the child would refuse to go back to his own room after a demon attack. He smiled at the irony--his children were probably the only ones on the block that when they said that there was a monster under the bed, the parents would have to go racing to the room to get rid of it. Then they'd trek back to their room and tuck one or both of the boys into their own bed, while they curled up into whatever space was left over.

Leo noted that she curled up at the foot of the bed with Chris in it. He spotted a small corner on the opposite side of the bed and cautiously approached it before sitting down. He knew he wasn't really welcome from the hardened stare Piper gave, but as long as she didn't voice her displeasure verbally, he would take whatever contact he could get for now.

TBC…..

AN: Well? So what do you think? Are you ready to shoot me yet? ;) Cause if not, I'm hoping that the next one will be much more interesting when Chris wakes up--and Leo has to face him.

Do You Really Want to Know?

Chapter 14

By: teal-lover

AN: This chapter has a few swear words.

Disclaimer in part 1

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When Chris awoke from his second nap for the day, he noticed his mother curled up and asleep on top of the blankets. He thought it had all been merely a dream since he felt an overwhelming sense of peace that he hadn't felt in years. Probably not since the last time he was with his mother. Not even being back in the past with Piper alive had made him feel this way. The younger version was definitely a close second, but had he had never been able to bring himself to feel like the Piper of this time was really his mother. He had guessed that she probably felt the same way, since she was not the person that had raised him; along with the fact that they were less than a decade apart in this time. When he first arrived in the past, it had been so easy for him to call the sisters by their first names, as none of them really seemed like the caregivers he had grown up with--Mom, Aunt Paige, and Aunt Phoebe. He smiled widely when he looked down again. After all, the woman at the foot of the bed wasn't Piper. She was Mom.

His smile turned into a grimace as he realized who was next to her. 'Leo. Or is that Dad?' He didn't really know; but it didn't matter. They were both Leo to him now.

Chris spoke quietly to the other man, "Who are you?"

Leo was a bit confused, "You don't remember?"

Chris replied bitterly, "No, I'm not that lucky. I mean, if Phoebe brought Mom here, and Aunt Paige too--then which one are you?"

Leo: "I'm your father, Chris."

The young man narrowed his eyes and hissed venomously, "I wasn't asking you if you slept with my mother and got her pregnant. I just want to know which time are you from?"

Leo sighed, "I'm not from this time either, Chris. Look, I know you're angry with me and have every right to be. And I know I don't have the right to--after the way I treated you when you tried to tell me, but I just want to ask for your forgiveness."

Chris shrugged, "There's nothing to forgive. Because you're not my father." He grinned, "All I can say is, thanks for the donation, Leo--because that's all you've ever done for me."

Leo clasped his hands together pleadingly, "Please--Chris, just give me one more chance?"

Chris shouted back and leaned forward, "I DID GIVE YOU ANOTHER CHANCE! When I begged you to take me with you to get away from him, but you didn't give a damn! You had your chance and you blew it!"

Piper was startled awake by her son's yelling and immediately raised her hands in his defense. She dropped them when she saw not a demon attacking, but the pitiful excuse for a father she had once loved.

She decided not to intervene for the moment when Chris jumped out of bed and paced the floor. She knew he needed to work through his anger at one of the people responsible for all of that pent up rage. So she observed the interaction carefully, ready to come to his aid if need be.

Leo stood up to block his pacing, "Chris please--I really wanted to take you with me, and I was going to. But--"

Chris: "Oh yeah, right. You had no intention of taking me."

Leo: "I did, Chris. Right after you left that night in the park, I went back up to convince the other Elders to let me bring you. But when I got there, the place was in ruins. There was no one left."

Chris bowed dramatically and made a gesture of tipping an imaginary hat, "Courtesy of your precious little Prince Wyatt!"

Leo looked down at the floor ashamedly, "I know that now. You've never lied to me before. And I should have believed you because you've never given me a reason not to. And for that, I am so sorry."

Chris quickly agreed with him and laughed sardonically, "You're right about a lot of things. You are sorry. And not in the apologetic kind of way…" Out of the corner of his eye, he noted with amusement that is mother had chuckled at his last statement, but hurriedly put it aside as he pressed on, "And yes, you should've believed me! But even if you didn't when I first told you what he did, you still left me all alone after what happened! You were the only person I had left in the world. And you ditched me for your stupid-assed job! Again!"

Leo: "I didn't intend to, Chris. Wyatt put a ward on the apartment so I couldn't get back in."

Chris shot back angrily with his arms flailing, "THEN YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE LEFT IN THE FIRST PLACE!"

As Leo was trying to plead with Chris, he unconsciously moved to put his hand on his son's arm. He found himself hoisted into the air just before crashing into the wall as the young witch flung his arms out in defense.

Chris' voice dipped dangerously low as he warned him, "Don't--touch me."

At the loud thump coming from the bedroom, Paige and Phoebe burst in fearing a demonic attack.

Phoebe eyes darted back and forth as she questioned nervously, "Is everything all right?"

Piper turned her head towards her sisters and waived her arm in dismissal.

Paige whistled as she realized that the crash she heard was most likely Leo since he was currently lying in a heap on the floor. She babbled nervously, unsure of how to back out of the room gracefully. She grabbed Phoebe's arm and motioned back toward the doorway, "O.K. Yell if you need us. I mean not yell, well, I mean we heard yelling, but I mean--of course you're free to yell all you want…"

Piper: "PAIGE!"

Paige: "Right. We're just gonna' be going now." She spun Phoebe around and quickly shooed her out the door and slammed it closed.

After the intrusion, Leo glanced up at Piper glowering over him poised to strike. He thought absently back to a time when a four-year old Chris was kidnapped and nearly killed by demons. When she found out, she hunted them down and blew them up--one limb at a time. Before she vanquished them, he found it mildly amusing when one of the demons used a play on her name and called the deadly mother "Viper" instead of Piper. However, it was only amusing when that over-protectivness wasn't directed at him. He stood up cautiously, keeping his hands to his sides to avoid getting tossed again either by the son, or blown up by the mother.

Leo's eyes kept warily darting back to Piper while he addressed Chris, "It wasn't my choice. He banished me up to the other Elders after we argued. I didn't want to leave you like that. You have to believe me."

"Oh that is rich." Chris scoffed and turned to his silent mother in open-mouthed disbelief. He thumbed his finger at his father, "Do you believe this guy?"

Piper glared at her former husband, but spoke honestly in an icy tone. "At the very least honey, he is right about that. I was there."

Leo had started to smile at her gratefully but she quickly wiped it from his face with her accusations, "But that doesn't matter Leo. The way you treated Chris was despicable coming from any human being, let alone his "so called" father."

Leo focussed all of his attention on Piper at her outburst.

Piper: "He needed your love and compassion, Leo. Especially after what happened. Was that so much to ask for? But instead, all he got from you was hatred and anger for something he had no control over."

Leo admitted, "Yes, I was angry, Piper. But not at Chris! Not at you, son. I was angry at what had been done to you--what had happened…"

Chris saw his father's tearful reluctance to delve any deeper into the subject, and could see the pain it seemed to cause him reflected in his blue eyes. Instead of feeling any pity for him because of it, he felt an enormous sense of satisfaction as he grasped on tighter to that little tidbit of information to twist the proverbial knife in further.

Chris replied bluntly, "What happened? You can't even say it, can you? You certainly didn't have any problems with it before. I guess that's because I was never really your son--I'm too normal for you. No, that honor is reserved for the complete lunatic who thought he was actually doing me a favor by letting his friends FUCK me!"

Everyone visibly blanched at Chris' words. From Phoebe and Paige with their ears pressed against the outside of the door, to Piper and Leo staring with their mouths agape on the inside. The crassness of the statement seemed to have spewed from his mouth out of anger, but most likely for the sole purpose of shock value. The boy seemed to derive a sort of twisted pleasure from upsetting his family, particularly Leo.

As his mother, Piper gasped and quickly covered her mouth at the memory. Tears once again flowed readily down her cheeks.

Chris went on with a cheerfully false smile, contrasting with the dark intensity of the words that poured from his lips, "But that's ok. After all, according to you, I asked for it. I really enjoyed feeling like my insides were being ripped from by body from the inside out. In fact---"

Piper could take no more and covered her ears as she yelled at him, "Chris. STOP IT!!"

Chris abruptly ceased his tirade at her the distress he heard in her voice. He never meant to cause her any pain. He folded his arms and was temporarily content to glare at his father.

Leo: "I'm so sorry for that, Chris. You'll never have to worry about any of that again. I swear I'll be the father that I never was but you've always deserved. Just, please, Chris, forgive me. Come home with me, and I promise you he will never hurt you again."

Chris laughed without a hint of amusement, "You know what? I thought Wyatt was a real piece of work. But I guess that crazy little apple didn't fall too far from the tree, huh? You expect me to go back there with him???? You can't control Wyatt! When are you gonna' learn to STOP MAKING PROMISES YOU CAN'T KEEP! He'll do whatever he damn well pleases if I get in his way again."

Leo steeled his gaze and flexed his fists openly, "No, son. He won't."

Piper glanced at her husband suspiciously, "Why not, Leo? What's ever stopped him before?"

Leo looked down at the floor, unable to look her in the eye, "Things are different now."

Chris: "What is that supposed to mean?"

Piper snarled at him, "What did you do? Tell me."

Leo stood his ground and refused to answer any way other than cryptically, "What was necessary."

Piper pushed past him hastily and called for her sisters, "Fine. If you won't tell me, We'll do this the hard way. Phoebe! Paige!"

TBC…..

Do You Really Want to Know?

Chapter 15

By: teal-lover

Disclaimer in part 1

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The sisters crowed around Leo as they backed him into a corner, but it was Phoebe who spoke. "What's going on?"

Piper: "Leo seems to think he can hide something from me. Do you have the spell that you used on Chris?"

Phoebe: "Yes, I memorized it."

Piper: "Good. Write it down for me. I want to make a few minor adjustments."

Paige: "Why don't we just use the truth spell on him?"

Piper: "Because I want to see for myself what he's hiding."

Chris: "I want to see too."

Leo looked to Chris, "No, you don't. Please, don't do this."

Phoebe: "It's a little late to be asking for favors, buddy."

Leo panicked and tried to orb, but every hand surrounding him reached out and rooted him back in place.

Chris quickly muttered the anti-orbing spell he had picked up from one of the dumb blonde sisters who tried to usurp the Charmed Ones lives a few months back. Smirking at Leo, "You're not goin' anywhere."

Phoebe recited what she remembered, "At this time, and in this hour
With this rhyme, give me the power Blood of my blood, so let this be. Allow me to see, this one's memory." She smiled at Piper proudly, "Huh, what do you think? And we just have to be touching his forehead to physically see them."

Piper was in no mood for stroking her sisters ego and replied sarcastically, "Did it work?"

Phoebe: "Yes."

Piper: "Then it was fine for the purpose of seeing Chris' memories. But he's an Elder. And we all want to see what he's hiding. So we're going to need to beef it up a bit. And we don't need to be touching him, you worked that out a few years from now to project your memories."

Phoebe pointed to herself proudly, "I did?"

Piper ignored her sister and quickly reworded the spell and told Chris to speak his lines, along with her sisters.

Paige, Phoebe, Chris, and Piper:

At this time, and in this hour,

With this rhyme, gives us the power

Chris alone speaks the next line, followed immediately by the sisters again.

Blood of my blood, so let this be,

Allow us to see, this one's memory,

Destroy the barrier, shielded in his mind,

Release this deep dark secret,

To the power of three, along with their progeny"

One by one, the sisters and Chris closed their eyes. When they opened them, they found themselves transported to the vision of Leo's memory. Watching on the sidelines, the four Halliwell's relived the memory that Leo Wyatt only wished he could forget.

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A particularly anxious demon spoke, hoping to win favor by hauling his latest find before his master. "Look what I have brought you, Master Wyatt. It is the last Elder. He murdered several of our kind before I apprehended him. He was found once again trying to break into this compound." He turned to Leo and twisted his arm further behind his back, causing him to gasp at the sudden sharp pain. "He hasn't been hurt. Much--I knew you would want that honor personally, Master."

Wyatt circled the group of demons holding Leo hostage and eyed them calmly. "Perhaps I have become feeble minded, Hmm?"

The demon looked at Wyatt questioningly, "No, Master."

Wyatt looked them up and down with an arrogant air, "Then why would any of you presume to think that I would not be aware of "who" this is? Tell me--has the word demon become synonymous with the word imbecile?"

Faster than any of his minions could respond, he waved his hand and incinerated the one who first spoke, thus releasing Leo. "That was a rhetorical question and did not require a response, by the way."

Unaided by the body that held his arm and with it, his balance, Leo fell forward and landed on his knees by his oldest son's feet. As he looked up, he found Wyatt's face hampered by a sinister grin that he never would have thought belonged on his child.

Wyatt address his minions, "Leave us, for now. I will call for you shortly--to escort him off of the premises."

As all of the demons shimmered out, Wyatt turned and spoke with a fondness in his voice, as if he were reminiscing about old times. "This makes at least a dozen times in as many months you have tried to break in here. And as much as I have enjoyed your little bouts of comedic entertainment, they have since become a bit--tiresome. " He bent down and poked his finger through one of the holes in Leo's robes, the result he knew, was from a darklighter's arrow during one of his father's previous attempts. "And you don't seem to be fairing very well from them either. So why don't you give up? Why must you harass me incessantly?"

Leo's voice trembled not from fear, but of sheer exhaustion. "Then you're just going to have to kill me. Because I am not going to leave you alone until you tell me where my son is."

Wyatt smiled falsely with open arms, "But I am your son. And I'm right here, father."

Leo: "Where is Chris? What have you done with him?"

Wyatt tossed his unruly hair over his shoulders and slapped his hands against his thighs in mock frustration. "CHRIS, CHRIS, CHRIS!!! That's all I ever hear from you. When did you start giving a damn about him, anyway? No need to answer that, it no longer matters. Christopher was always making a nuisance out of himself, and you and I both know it. I even used to find his behavior mildly amusing. That is until he decided to cross me. I must apologize to you Leo for what I am about to say, for it was an error on my part--I truly thought he had learned from that painful lesson I was forced to teach him when he was just seventeen. I thought he had taken it to heart, and understood why I did what I did. That there were simply no sides of good or evil to take anymore. I misjudged him, and apparently, he just never got over that. As time went on, he only became more stubborn and willful, and it became clear to me that he would never, could never--rule by my side. Christopher, as a son of a Charmed One, had so much potential, and I had hoped to help him realize that."

Leo found it difficult to swallow, and felt his heart beating out of control. His voice was laced with fear at what he thought was coming. "Why do you keep talking about him in the past tense?"

Wyatt clasped his hands behind his back and displayed an incredulous look as he declared the most obvious answer, "Because that "is" how you speak of someone who is no longer living. He was uncontrollable, and I could not let that continue."

Leo's heart sank as the doubt crept into his voice, "I don't believe you. He's your brother…"

Wyatt: "If you swear to me that you will leave this place, and never return--I will prove it to you." He stared at his father expectantly.

Leo nodded, not trusting himself to speak. He watched with tear filled eyes as Wyatt waved his hand and summoned a projector probe and displayed the scene on the back wall. He saw the day when Bianca brought Chris through a glowing blue portal, he assumed most likely, where the young man had been hiding. His eyes were glued intently to the wall as his youngest son was thrown about into furniture in the old manor, before being pinned to the wall by his neck.

Wyatt paused the scene there, "Would you like to see the rest?" At Leo's lack of response, he chuckled and waved his hand again, producing a probe with an alternate version of events.

As he paused the probe's camera, Wyatt knew that he needed to avoid any dissention in his ranks by letting anyone know that his slippery younger brother had again escaped his grasp. He called upon a power he had learned at just six months old--conjuring. With Chris gone and the Phoenix staring lifelessly up at the ceiling, no one would ever be the wiser. Flicking his wrist, he incinerated and disposed of her body.

Closing his deep blue eyes in concentration, Wyatt soon conjured an exact replica of the traitorous twosome. The only problem, he noted, was that they appeared to be distant and lifeless beings. He left the duplicate woman as she was, but whispered a spell to animate his brother's clone.

Crystal blue eyes shot open and looked around wildly before meeting deep penetrating blue ones. Wyatt grinned satisfactorily as he stood back and telekinetically pinned him to the wall and resumed the recording.

Leo only saw Chris pinned by an invisible force to the wall, clutching his neck in a desperate attempt to draw in air. He jumped as Chris was abruptly dropped to the floor gasping for breath, hoping that this was the end and that Wyatt had lied earlier.

Leo's breath caught in his throat as he watched the scene anxiously. He saw Wyatt move into the picture to tower over his youngest son. Moving swiftly, he yanked the brown locks and forced his head back to look at him. "You should have never crossed me brother."

Wyatt smiled sinisterly as the duplicate's eyes widened in fear, expertly playing the unwitting role of a victim. Still holding his head back, he reached down with his other hand and grasped the boy's neck before slamming him into the wall.

Wyatt laughed again as the clone clawed at his fingers wrapped around its neck, slowly squeezing tighter and tighter. He mentally applauded himself, as he hadn't really expected the result of a spell to be that feisty.

Unable to look into the tortured eyes of his youngest son as he took his last breath, Leo wept openly as he saw Chris' legs dangling above the ground, held up only by his brother's hands around his throat. He felt as if his own heart had stopped as the struggling ceased, and forced himself to look up--seeing nothing but lifeless, bloodshot eyes staring back at him through the camera's lens.

He vaguely thought he heard Wyatt laughing in the background, but all he could hear was Chris' voice haunting him in his mind, "By the way, LEO--If the next time you come to see me I happen to be dead by Wyatt's hands; Don't say I didn't tell you so."

He looked up at the monster that used to be his oldest son as he now believed what his eyes told him, "You killed him. You murdered my son..."

Wyatt shrugged, "So? What do you care? He's better off where he is now--with the only parent that's ever cared for him, he's with his mother."

Leo: "He's my son, I loved him…"

Wyatt circled Leo and stared at him as if examining him under a microscope, "Interesting, so you do care about the boy somewhat? Though it is a shame that your concern can no longer be appreciated by the one you now show it for. It didn't have to be this way, and I tried to teach him that, but he preferred to provoke me at every turn. Just as you now do with these intrusions."

Wyatt's eyes quickly grew cold and menacing, "You see, you didn't have to persist on bothering me. You could have had this information all along. I added this clip to the museum quite a long time ago, as a message--that no one who opposes me shall be shielded from my wrath, not even blood."

Wyatt turned to leave but decided to borrow a page from his brother's book and added a typical dry witted comment, "It's also available for purchase in the gift shop. Oh, but you are family--I'll make sure that you get one at a discount."

As Wyatt taunted him about his heinous crimes against his little brother, something inside of the pacifist Elder snapped. While it was true that after the other Elder's were murdered, Leo had heard the rumors of the horrors that his oldest child had inflicted on his other; on the world; he had been in denial. It simply wasn't possible that the Twice Blessed Child, son of the Eldest Charmed One and an Elder, could have done such things. And yet today, there was no hint of denial or remorse in his words and actions. Even when he broke in to find Chris, he never fully believed that Wyatt would harm his little brother, perhaps keep him from seeing him, but never anything worse. He had finally come to realize that all of the rumors were true. That what Chris told him was true.

Leo watched the black clad figure strolling casually away from him, and he no longer saw his eldest son. He only saw the monster that he had become. His eyes blazed with fury as he raised his hands, and the culmination of power that had ever existed in all of the Elder's was channeled through those hands to form the electricity continuously flowing into Wyatt's back.

Wyatt had tried to walk away as he made his last statement, never fearing for his life at the hands of his own father. But as his body was slammed against the wall in stunned silence, he never got the opportunity to face his executioner.

TBC…..

AN: Yeah, you guys were right. Or were you? So what happens now? I post another chapter, hopefully soon;)

You guys reviewing are just the most wonderful people!!! It's even pushed me to upload another chapter in only a couple of days--a new record for me.J I can't tell you how excited I am to check my email & see a review pop up.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and for the wonderful encouragement.