Chapter 13

As Piper and Leo watched the scene, Piper realized for the first time how Chris must have felt when she decided not to tell Leo she was pregnant with him—that Chris was their younger son. At the time, she had been too overwhelmed to see it, but now she could. By choosing not to tell Leo at the time, she was unintentionally making Chris feel like he was an unwanted burden.

She whispered to Leo, "I'm sorry. I should have told you right away. I was trying to protect you and I ended up hurting you both."

Piper remembered the first few months of her pregnancy after learning Chris was the baby she was expecting. After he left the manor, her sisters tried to convince her to tell Leo, but Piper insisted it was better that he not find out just yet. When they continued persisting, she snapped at them and told them to mind their own business.

After the initial shock wore off, she wanted to talk to Chris. After twenty-four hours had gone by and she had not yet heard from him, she decided to call him.

She was standing in the manor living room when she called for him.

Chris orbed in immediately.

"Yeah, what do you need?" he asked, all business as usual.

"I just thought we could talk," Piper said, somewhat nervous.

Chris appeared edgy. "I don't have time right now. I'm trying to work on some demonic connections to find out who might be after Wyatt."

"Well, can't that wait for awhile?" she asked.

"No, it can't," he insisted, getting upset.

"Chris, I think there are a lot of things we need to talk about," she implored. "I mean, I have questions."
"I can't tell you anything about the future," Chris told her, expecting this.

"I know. But…I mean, can't you just tell me your birth date? That's not going to mess up the future."
"November eleventh," he answered quickly. "Is that it? I really need to get going."

"Chris, don't you think we should sit down and talk? I mean, I'd like to get to know you. You are my son."
Chris sighed, exasperated. "You'll get plenty of time to know me when I'm born. I didn't come to the past for that. The only reason I'm here is to save Wyatt and I'm working on that right now. So if you don't mind, I really need to go."

"Sure," she nodded, slightly distressed.

With that, he orbed out.

It was then that Piper started to believe her younger son hated her for something she had done to him in the future.

Piper could not let it go. As the baby version of her younger son continued growing inside of her, she was constantly trying to make excuses to see Chris. She decided not to call for him again unless it was in relation to his whitelighter duties to them, but she called him every time a demonic situation came up, whether they really needed him or not.

A few days had passed without Piper seeing Chris. She was aware he was orbing into the attic to look at the book when she was not around—Phoebe and Paige had seen him. She felt like he was purposely avoiding her. Her sisters tried to talk to him about it, but he just brushed them off and would make an excuse to leave as soon as the topic came up.

This had been going on for a couple of months when one day she arrived at P3 before opening and he was still there in the office, which is where he had been staying.

"Hey," she said, surprising him.

Chris had been looking over some notes he had taken on various demons when Piper entered.

"Hey," he said, caught off guard.

"How have you been?" she said, not sure of what to say.
"Fine," he said, clearly uncomfortable.

"You haven't come by the house in a few days."
"I've been busy," he explained, avoiding looking at her.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" she offered. She was really trying to reach out to him.

"No. I got it." His uneasiness around her was becoming very apparent. "I need to go now."

Piper said, "Wait. Chris, why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not," he lied.

"You know, I was thinking," she said. "Maybe you should come stay at the manor."
"I don't think so," he replied.

"But you came here to protect Wyatt, right? Well, if you stay at the manor, you'll be better able to protect him. We have a daybed in Wyatt's room. You can stay in there with him," she said, trying to convince him. Then, thinking, "I guess that would be your room to in the future, huh?"

"Yeah," he nodded, remembering. "I'll think about it. I have to go now." He orbed out.

Chris decided to take Piper up on her offer as he realized it would make it easier to protect Wyatt if he was staying there, but he continued to avoid his mother. He was often out long hours during the day and night. Sometimes he didn't come home at all. Piper found herself staying awake worrying about him. She felt like she the mother of a teenager. But she tried not to push him.

Piper was four months pregnant when she decided to see if maybe Chris would speak to her own father.

Piper was shocked at how happy Chris seemed when he first saw Victor. He was like a little kid, running up to him and hugging his grandpa. Apparently, Chris was very close to her father in the future. It was Victor who was able to get Chris to open up about why he was keeping his distance from his mother. Victor was also able to convince Chris that was all the more reason to get close to her now.

When Piper first realized the reason why Chris had been keeping his distance from her, she became very upset and scared about dying young. That only lasted a moment though, when she realized how it was affecting her son. This was why he was so afraid to get close to her, because he had lost her in the future. She tried to reassure her son, told him the future might have changed, but deep down she wasn't so sure.

The next couple of months they became very close. Piper began to realize how much Chris missed having his mother. In some ways, he resorted to being a kid around her, which was understandable since he was only a kid when he lost her. She tried to get him to relax once in awhile. She worried that he was working too hard. She hated that he had to give up so much.

As close as they became, she still could not get him to open up about anything. He refused to talk about Bianca, how he survived in the future, specific things Wyatt had done to him. He absolutely refused to talk about Leo at all. Every time Leo's name came up, Chris seemed to get upset. She would soon find out why.