The frustration was overwhelming as he watched his first opportunity wasted. For one moment there, he thought his message may have been heard, but that was not to be. His patience was now going to be tested as all he could do was wait for the next opportunity to present itself or he remained doomed to spend eternity in the void he had been sent to as a result of the paradox; just as the world would continue living the same years over and over again, unless he could somehow break it, somehow get a message out. He had to keep trying.

And so this timeline continued, and Chris returned to save Wyatt, not knowing his quest was destined to end tragically. They were all completely unaware they had lived through this before. Many times. Chris arrived from the future and helped saved Paige and the world from the Titans. As a result his Father became an Elder, which allowed Chris to become The Charmed Ones' new Whitelighter. His plan had worked perfectly and now he could set about trying to find the demon that had turned Wyatt evil. One thing Chris hadn't counted on was, in splitting his parents up, he nearly prevented his own conception. Once that was overcome, there was nothing to stop him tracking down the demon he was looking for. Finally after everyone agreed that the demon reality game show hosts were the culprits they'd been searching for, it was time for Chris to return to his new future. Nothing changed, not one detail was different. Everything remained the same, until one day when Chris was visiting his Mum at Magic School.

Piper was sitting at a desk in her room, perusing some time travel books she had borrowed from the extensive library at her temporary place of residence. Her oldest son, Wyatt, was playing happily in the playpen next to her, and the adult version of her not yet born younger son, Chris, was quietly sitting on her bed also reading one of her borrowed time travel books. She stopped reading for a moment and looked at Chris. She liked how frequent his visits had become lately. She knew from information her Father had told her that in Chris' original future she would die young, so she could understand Chris wanting to make the most of their time together, before returning back to the unknown future he had created. Chris had no idea whether he had been able to change her future as well, and the prospect of returning to a better future, but still one without her was obviously something he didn't want to think about, nor to her frustration, talk about. Piper had often tried to imagine the future Chris had come from, but his reluctance to give out any information at all had made it difficult. She knew Wyatt had been evil, and that Chris had been engaged to marry the Phoenix Witch, Bianca. She knew Leo hadn't been a part of Chris' life at all it seems, and that Chris seemed to hate him for it. And she also knew that she had died when he was young. It pained her to think about the life Chris had lived with no Father around, a dead Mother, and an evil brother. It was ironic that the person he seemed closest to was her Father, who had never been around when she was a child.

After spending nearly two years with them, he was only just starting to let a little of his guard down around them, especially her. She still couldn't believe how he'd managed to fool them all for so long, never once letting on that he was their son. Not even when facing imminent death when Bianca came to visit and dragged him back to the future with her. That was another thing he wouldn't talk about. He refused to tell them who he had been fighting with in the future. At the time they hadn't been aware that Wyatt was the evil he had come back to stop. That was just another secret he had kept from them. Since then, when she had asked him straight out if it was Wyatt, he refused to answer, saying it was not important.

"Mum, can you hear me?" Chris said waving a hand in front of her face.

Piper jumped, not realising she had been so deep in thought she hadn't noticed that Chris had moved in front of her.

"Sorry, she said," smiling at him, "I was just thinking."

"You were miles away, I've called out to you at least three times." Chris told her.

"What did you want?" She asked him.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked.

"Yes, I'm fine. I was just thinking of everything that's happened since you've been here. And how much I'm going to miss you." She said honestly.

Chris smiled, slightly embarrassed, but grateful for the comment. "I can't believe it's all over." He said, sighing. "I can't believe we actually did it. We saved Wyatt, and I'll be going back to a better future in a couple of days."

"If we can get the spell right, I'm not sending you back unless we know for sure." Piper said firmly.

"Between you, the girls, Dad and Gideon, I'm sure you'll work it out." Chris said confidently.

"Talking about your Dad," Piper said.

"Mentioning his name is not talking about him," Chris said, dismissively.

"All I wanted to say," she said cautiously, "was that you two seem better lately."

Chris nodded, "We are," he confirmed.

Piper waited for him to continue, but of course he didn't.

"Can you give me a little more, Chris?" She asked, frustrated.

Chris shrugged his shoulders defiantly, "I don't know what else you want to know, Mum." He said.

"Anything, Chris. Don't be afraid to open up a little. I know you've been used to keeping everything bottled up inside you, but you'll be gone in a couple of days, so just tell me a little more about you, and your life. These last two years, it's always been about Wyatt. I just want to know more about you." She said to him.

"Wow, where'd that come from?" He asked her.

"It's just so frustrating not knowing much about you." She answered. "And I feel like a beached whale at the moment, and I'm not sleeping well either."

"Okay, okay," Chris said thinking for a minute. "Let's see, before I came here I hadn't seen Dad for more than two years, except for the night before when he paid me a strange visit." He remembered, then continued, "I was engaged to Bianca…"

Piper cut in, "I know all that stuff, Chris, I want to know things like, do you work? If so where? Where do you live? In the Manor? Your hobbies? Just general stuff."

Chris sighed, "Mum, my future was not like it is here. No, I didn't work. Wyatt wanted me to work for him, but I refused. I moved around a lot, never stayed in one place too long, it was too dangerous. Hobbies? My hobby was to try to stay alive each day." He said, completely seriously.

"Oh, Chris." Piper started to say, but Chris interrupted her.

"But, that's all changed now, so there's no sense in talking about it. Why aren't you sleeping well? Is it just being pregnant?" Chris asked, trying to change the subject.

"I see what you're doing," Piper said to him, "Okay, fine we'll drop it, for now. Yes it's the pregnancy, but I've also been having these really vivid dreams for the last couple of nights. I don't know, I'm probably just worried about you going back to the future." Piper told him.

"That's not good, you need your rest," Chris said.

'I'll be fine, you just look after yourself, okay?" Piper said, genuinely worried about him.

"Don't worry about me, I've always been able to take care of myself," he reassured her. "I suppose I'd better go and check on how everyone else is doing," Chris said standing up.

Piper went to stand also, "No, don't get up," he said walking over to her. "I'll drop by again tonight. Bye." Chris said as he bent down and kissed his Mum on the cheek.

"Bye, honey," she replied as he orbed out.

Chris orbed into the attic a few seconds later and found his Dad and Phoebe deep in discussion.

"Sorry to interrupt." He said to them as he walked over to the Book of Shadows.

"No problem." Phoebe assured him, "How's Piper?" She asked.

"She's fine, although pretty fed up I think. It's really weird to watch her go through all of this just for me. It's just not right to watch your own pregnancy." Chris said. "Oh, and she said she hasn't been sleeping well, Dad, she's been having bad dreams or something. Maybe you could help her with that?" Chris asked him.

"Bad dreams? Did she say what kind of bad dreams?" Leo asked his son.

"No," Chris said thinking back to their conversation. "She didn't say."

"Well, that's a coincidence." Phoebe said.

"What do you mean?" Chris asked.

"I was just telling Phoebe I've been having these really disturbing dreams the last few nights." Leo explained. "Like nothing I've ever experienced before. Like someone's trying to send me a message or something, I don't know. It's a shamePhoebe doesn't have her powers or she may have been able to sense something." Leo said, but Chris' mind was obviously elsewhere.

"Chris, did you hear me?" He asked him.

"Yes, sorry, I was just thinking about something." Chris tried to explain.

Leo looked annoyed at how rude Chris had been, "If you didn't want to listen to my answer then why did you ask me?"

"No, I was listening, believe me," Chris said honestly, "It's just that, what you said reminded me of something."

"Of what?" Both Leo and Phoebe asked at once.

"I don't know whether I should say, it happened in the future." He said.

"Chris, that future's been changed now anyway, just tell us." Leo said, frustrated.

"I suppose you're right," Chris agreed as he walked toward them. "The night before I left, you came to visit me Dad. Now that may sound normal, but I hadn't seen you in over two years and to choose that night to visit me, well, the timing was very strange."

"I was probably worried about your time travel plans," Leo suggested.

"No, that wasn't it," Chris said, not wanting to tell his Dad that he hadn't confided in him. "The reason you came to visit was to tell me about these strange dreams you had been having. The words you used then to describe them were almost exactly the same as the words you used just now."

"Wow, that is weird." Phoebe commented. "Coincidence?" She suggested.

"I don't know," Leo said, as he still pondered what Chris had just told them. "So what you're saying," Leo said attempting to clarify, "is one night before your time travelled back here, I told you I had bad dreams. Now in this time, two days before you're due to time travel back to the future I'm having bad dreams again."

"Yes, and Mum is too," Chris added.

"Did she have dreams in the future as well?" Leo asked.

"No," was all Chris said, not wanting to go into the reasons why. It was obvious his Mum hadn't told his Dad about her dying young, and Chris was happy to leave that up to her.

"Well, I think we should have a family meeting and discuss this." Leo concluded.

"Agreed," Phoebe said nodding.

"Okay," Chris agreed.

"Phoebe, you go downstairs and get Paige, and we'll meet you at Magic School," Leo said.

With a plan decided, Phoebe headed downstairs as Chris and Leo orbed to Magic School.