Chapter 14

They were in the basement at the manor now. They saw Chris sitting against the far wall, rocking back and forth in agony.

Chris was trying with all his will to fight off the infection he had received from the spider demon. The harder he fought, the more pain he felt, but he couldn't let it take him over. It had already caused him to help the spider demon to escape, nearly taking his mother and his unborn self with her. Fortunately, his aunts had saved her by scaring her off with a vanquishing potion and knocking him temporarily unconscious.

Through his agony, he could hear his father's voice coming down the steps.

"Chris? Chris, it's Leo."

Some of the pain Chris was feeling became suppressed as his rage took over. The anger that Chris felt pushed him to his feet. He staggered over to the stairs.

Upon seeing his father, Chris screamed, "Bastard!" He let loose spider webbing from the palms of his hands, aiming it at Leo. Leo orbed out, the webbing just missing him.

The pain again took over, messing with his mind. He slumped back to the wall and fell to the floor, continuing to rock back and forth in pain.

"Chris!" a voice sang out. "Oh Chris! Come closer!"

Chris stumbled to his feet again, held out his palms from which he shot spider web up against the wall. The image of the spider demon appeared on the web.

"That's it," she smiled back at him. "Now, bring me the cocoon."

"No," Chris defied her, shivering from fever. He suddenly winced from sharp pain that seared through his entire body.

"Don't fight it," she ordered. "Embrace your new powers! Use them!"

"How?" he asked, just wishing the pain would stop. It was unbearable now. "I don't understand."

"You will," she smiled. "All in good time, my sweet. All in good time."

He couldn't fight it anymore. Nor did he want too. Giving in to the infection seemed to take away any pain he was feeling, both physical and emotional. His green eyes turned red as he allowed the infection to take over.

They were now viewing another scene that Leo remembered well. They both recognized the cave of the spider demon.

Chris had Leo pinned to the wall with spider webbing. He was pacing back and forth, trying to suppress any human emotions that remained inside of him.

Leo was trying to reason with him. "That's not the demon talking, Chris. That's you. You just need to fight this."
"Why fight when I've already won," Chris shot back, shooting some more webbing at Leo.

Leo then got an idea. "Tell me why you hate me so much, Chris."

"It doesn't matter anymore," Chris sulked.

"Sure it does," Leo said, egging him on. "Deep down you hate my guts. Admit it." Leo was trying to bring Chris' human emotions out in an effort to get him to overcome the spider demon infection. As Chris got up in his face, Leo continued, "Why don't you just admit it? What are you—afraid?"

"I'm not afraid of you," Chris said defiantly.

"Then why don't you tell me what I did to you? What? Did I miss a school play? Did I take away your favorite toy? Did I play favorites with Wyatt?"

With that last part, Chris' rage flared to the surface and completely took him over. Using all the strength he had gained from the demon infection, Chris picked his father up and hurled him across the cave.

As Leo tried talking to Chris, Chris punched him in the gut, saying, "You don't know me!" He threw his father down to the ground and continued punching him, screaming over and over again, "You don't know me!" All the rage he felt for his father over the years was pouring out of him.

Suddenly, the infection left his body. Unbeknownst to him, his pregnant mother had swallowed the antidote in an effort to cure her son by inoculating him against the infection before he was born.

However, it was no longer the infection working in Chris. All the pain and anger he had been keeping pent up in his entire life had come to the surface. He had lost all control over himself and continued hitting his father again and again.

He did not notice his mother and his aunts entering the cave.

His mother ran over to him, screaming, "Chris, no!" She grabbed him by the arm to pull him off his father, ordering him, "Chris! Look at me. Look at me!" Chris stopped hitting his father and stood facing his mother, who had him by the arm. "It's okay. It's over," she said, trying to calm him.

Chris, regaining control of himself, looked at his mother, then over to his father and realized what he had done. He had lost control and everyone saw it. His mother, father and aunts all witnessed. Angry and embarrassed, Chris broke away from his mother's grip and stormed out of the cave past his aunts.

The scene in Chris' mind ended, but it brought back memories for Piper and Leo.

Moments after Chris stormed out of the cave, Piper went after him.

"Chris!" she called out to him outside the cave, realizing he had already orbed away.

Her sisters and Leo, who had already self-healed from the beating his son had given him, followed Piper outside the cave.

"Piper, he probably needs some time alone right now," Phoebe tried consoling her with.

Leo felt awful knowing he did something that would cause a child of him so much pain and anguish. "I'll go talk to him, Piper," he said. "But first we need to get you home."

When they got back to the manor, they were surprised to find Gideon there waiting for them.

"Sorry to come by unannounced," he said, "but I wanted to extend an invitation to Piper and Wyatt to come stay at the Magic School. Sigmund relayed to me what Leo told him, about your pregnancy and the danger you were facing. I thought maybe you may want to convalesce at the school until the baby's born, since the school is protected. For your own safety."

"Actually, that's not a bad idea," Piper agreed, rubbing her stomach.

As Leo helped Piper pack her bags, he asked, "Do you have any idea why Chris is so angry with me?"

"Not really," she said sympathetically. "He hasn't really opened up to me. He keeps giving me that whole spiel about not messing with the future, but I think it's more than that…Chris seems to keep his feelings bottled up. It's like he's just holding it all in…"
"Until he explodes," Leo finished for her. "Like tonight."

"That was the demon, Leo," Piper tried telling him.

"No. That was Chris. The demon just brought it to the surface." He then asked, "Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant…that Chris was our son?"

"I didn't want you to feel obligated to stay with us, Leo, You needed to go up there," she explained. Then, "I'm sorry. I was wrong. I didn't realize how much that would hurt you…how much it would hurt our son."

Leo said, "It isn't your fault, Piper. Chris was angry at me when he first came here from the future. Now I need to find out why." He placed his hand on Piper's belly. "I just hope he'll talk to me." Just then he felt a kick, bringing a smile to his face. "I don't know if that's a good thing or not."

After Leo dropped Piper and Wyatt off at the Magic School, Leo had gone talk to Chris. Chris was blocking Leo from sensing him, but he had an idea of where he might be. Leo orbed to the Golden Gate where he found Chris sitting, looking at the traffic below.

"Can we talk?" Leo asked, hopeful.

Chris really did not want to see anyone at that moment—especially Leo. He was embarrassed by how he lost control of himself. He still had not completely pulled himself together. That emotional outburst he had left him feeling wrecked.

"There's nothing to talk about," Chris replied, wishing Leo would just go away.

"I think there is. A lot actually," Leo said.

Chris replied, "It doesn't matter."

"It does to me. You're my son, Chris. I think I deserve to know what I did that was so bad."

"You were never there for me," Chris answered. "You were there for everybody else…Mom, Wyatt, half the world, but you were never there for me. You didn't have the time."

Leo thought about this for a moment. "Maybe you didn't just come here to save Wyatt. Maybe you came back to save us too."

"I doubt it," Chris said, orbing away.

For Chris, Leo's absence for the past six months proved to him that nothing would ever change between them. He felt he wasn't important to his father.

It was extremely distressful for Leo. He was shocked when Phoebe first told him that Chris was his son. He was also surprised that he never thought of the possibility when he was trying to find out who Chris was. Now that Leo knew, he could see that Chris definitely resembled Piper—something that had never dawned on him before. There was also a lot of guilt Leo was feeling. He was hard on Chris the first few months he knew him. He even through him into a wall in anger. He was also feeling guilty for something he hadn't even done yet to hurt his son so much.

Leo was unable to track Chris because he had blocked his father from being able to sense him. Leo was spending a lot of time at the manor hoping to catch Chris there, as well as at the Magic School with Piper and Wyatt. One day he orbed in to the school to see them and Chris was on the floor playing with some toys with his brother. It brought a smile to his face to see his sons like that, imagining Chris and Wyatt both as children playing together. The moment Chris spotted his father he told his mother he had to go. Before Piper could protest, Chris orbed out.

Another time at the manor Leo orbed in under the guise of checking up on Phoebe and Paige. Phoebe was the only one home at the time.

"Chris isn't here," she said sympathetically as soon as he orbed in.

"I'm not here to see Chris. I was coming by to see how you were," he lied.

"Yeah, sure," Phoebe side-eyed him. "Have you spoken to him at all?"

"He won't speak to me," Leo answered. "I don't know how to reach him."

"He'll come around, Leo. Just give it some time."

The time came when Chris was forced to work with Leo to help the sisters. The Charmed Ones and Darryl were in trouble over some magic exposure, and Leo and Chris worked together to save them. While that helped to ease some of the harsher feelings Chris was having towards Leo, he still would not discuss anything personal with him.

Then Chris was arrested. It wasn't his fault, really. He was after a demon that was getting away in a Porsche the demon had stolen from a new car lot. Chris chased after him and when the demon orbed away, Chris was stopped by the police.

He felt like he had been sitting in the jail cell for eternity. He thought maybe they were just going to leave him there when Leo finally orbed in.

"Took you long enough," Chris said, obviously pissed.

"Shhh," Leo said, pointing out the guards nearby. "I'm getting you out of here."
"Great. So, Darryl's going to cover?"

"Forget Darryl. Come on," Leo ordered Chris.

"Wait. What about exposure?" Chris asked, concerned.

"Right now I'm more concerned about them exposing you. Now come on. You have an aunt to save."
A grateful smile came over Chris' face. "Thanks, Dad."

Leo was taken back. That was the first time Chris had called him Dad without sarcasm in his voice. From that point on, Chris seemed to have let go of any resentment he had towards Leo.

Later, when the situation with the demon was resolved, Leo asked Chris why he stole the car rather than just orbing after the demon.

"There were other people around," Chris explained. "I didn't want to expose magic. Besides, Dad, when else would I ever get the chance to drive a Porsche?"