Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Charmed except my own.

At Phoebe's outburst, Piper's head shot upwards in surprise. She had been so engrossed in Wyatt that she hadn't been paying much attention to the conversation. "Uuh...what exactly did I miss here," Piper said slowly. No one answered her. Paige and Chris seemed to be in shock, the both of them staring intently at Alonna's stomach. Phoebe took one look at Alonna's face and instantly regretted opening her mouth. Phoebe walked closer to Alonna, wringing her hands nervously. She didn't mean to just blurt that out. It was up to Alonna if she wanted to confirm anything, but Phoebe was quite sure that what she said was true. Alonna was pregnant. The waves of nausea hitting her as well as the pain throbbing in her head felt very real and she knew intuitively that they were coming from Alonna. "Alonna...please say something," Phoebe said softly. "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay," Alonna snapped. "Well how should one respond to that? Let's go over the basics, shall we? Let's see...I finally figure out a spell to travel through time, leaving my family behind to try to save the world from Wyatt only to see someone else already beat me here. That someone else, being Chris, doesn't seem to remember who the hell I am and oh yeah...my head is killing me and I feel like I'm about to throw up all over your rug!" She was upset. No scratch that...she was totally freaking out. This was not supposed to happen. Alonna took a couple shaky breaths and finally allowed her eyes to meet Chris's green ones. To say he looked shocked was an understatement. His mouth opened and closed and then opened again as if he was about to say something but couldn't. Alonna rolled her eyes and grinded her teeth. I can't deal with this shit right now. Should I just be honest? Even if I lie, Phoebe may still tell them the truth anyway. Alonna sighed and ran a hand through her hair again.

Piper walked over to Wyatt's playpen and placed him lying down; whispering to him 'take a nap'. She then smoothed her hands down her own protruding stomach as she walked forward, before stopping to stand next to Paige and Chris. Piper paused for a moment, trying to find the right words to break the awkward moment. Finally, she realized there was no way to break the awkwardness. She knew her sisters, as well as Chris, were wondering if Alonna really was indeed pregnant. She didn't appear to be. Her stomach was flat as a board. Piper felt a pang of jealousy as she glanced down at her own rounded belly. She frantically pushed her hair behind her ears before walking forward to get a closer look at Alonna. Alonna didn't look too good. Her face was pale and she was practically shaking.

Phoebe reached out her hand and touched Alonna's arm. Alonna gazed at Phoebe and felt her anger subside at Phoebe's contrite expression. Phoebe hadn't meant to just blurt it out like that. She was an empath and it was hard to suppress that power sometimes. Alonna let out a shaky breath and cleared her throat. "Yes Phoebe," she said finally. "I am pregnant. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I'm just really stressed out right now. You have no idea what I left behind...the state that the world is in now and....well...being pregnant makes my emotions go all haywire." Phoebe nodded in understanding.

"They may not know how the world turns out but I do," Chris chimed in. Chris looked at Alonna's stomach again, shaking his head in wonderment. "I can't believe you're pregnant," he continued. "Wait a minute...you never explained how you knew me and how you knew Wyatt?"

Alonna's mouth gaped. She didn't know what to say. Phoebe grabbed her hand and squeezed it. "Just tell us the truth Alonna," she said. "Whatever it is we can handle it." Alonna glanced at Piper and then at Paige.

"It's okay Alonna," said Paige. "Chris came here telling us all sorts of cryptic things before he finally told us the truth about who he really was. Even though we understood his reasons for not being completely honest with us, we still resent the fact that he didn't trust us enough to tell us the truth."

Chris threw his hands up in the air in frustration. "So we're back to this again," he remarked sarcastically. "I thought we went over this...several times in fact. I couldn't tell you too much about the future because it could possibly change it."

"Chris, we know but I thought that was the point...to change it," Paige said while placing her hands on her hips as she sent a glare at her nephew.

Chris sighed. "Yes we want to change the future, but only for the better...not to make it worse," he said.

"Please...just be honest with us Alonna," said Piper. As Alonna looked into Piper's eyes, she knew she would have to tell them. Piper was like a mom to her, especially since Alonna had lost her own parents so long ago. She could never lie to her in the future, so why should it be any different now. She gave Piper a half smile. "You know...I could never lie to you," she said. "Every time I tried to lie you would always call me on it."

Piper's eyes enlarged and then she smiled. "Really...so you know me too...you know all of us," she asked. Alonna nodded. "So are you and I close," Piper questioned.

"Yeah...like mother and daughter," Alonna answered, her eyes filling with tears before she blinked quickly to dry her eyes. "Actually we're all close, just in different ways. Paige and I...well she helped me a lot with my magic...always helping me with my spells and learning my craft. Phoebe and I have a special bond because of our abilities. She's an empath and I'm telepathic. It's great because we're so in tune with each other's feelings, but bad because our emotions tend to travel to each other, which is why Phoebe's probably a little nauseous right now."

Phoebe's eyes lit up. "You're telepathic," she asked her tone incredulous. "Wow! So like you can read our minds and stuff. And we're really close?"

Alonna laughed. "You have no idea," she said, rolling her eyes playfully. "It's so frustrating because I can't keep a secret from you."

"We know the feeling," said Paige dryly making Phoebe glare at her. "Chris gave us a spell that blocked her empath powers though, so now she can't read our emotions anymore. It's a good thing, because we were about to kill her."

Phoebe huffed and placed her hands on her hips. "Look you're my sisters and I care about you guys," she said. "It's my job to but into your lives!" Paige's eyes widened and she was about to respond when Piper placed a hand on both her and Phoebe's arm. "Alright guys...please...not now...at least not in front of company," Piper said, gesturing at Alonna.

"It's ok," said Alonna as she let out a giggle. "I'm used to it. They're always like that." Chris stood silently watching the exchange between the women. He hated to break up this 'moment', but Alonna still hadn't revealed how she knew any of them. "Uh...I hate to interrupt here but Alonna still hasn't answered my question." Alonna bit her lip and hung her head, desperately trying to avoid Chris's eyes. She finally met his gaze and she sighed.

"Alright, I'll tell you but I'm not sure you're going to like what I have to say," she said slowly. Chris placed his hands in his pockets. "Why don't you let me be the judge of that," he said his voice suddenly quiet. Alonna turned around and walked away a couple steps, trying to put even more distance between her and Chris. "I'm from the year 2034. That's exactly 14 years forward from your time, so that would make you 20 years old now...right?"

"Yeah...I'm 20...go on," Chris urged.

Alonna turned around to face him again, but her eyes were closed. She didn't know if she could take seeing the disappointment in his eyes after what she was about to tell him. "We're...um...kind of together...you and I."

Chris raised an eyebrow. "We're together," he replied carefully. "As in together...like dating?"

"Yes...you can say that," Alonna said, finally risking a glance at Chris surprised to see only a look of curiosity. Then his face changed as he glanced at her stomach. "So wait a minute...so you're saying that...that baby is---," Chris faltered suddenly unable to form a complete sentence.

"Yes, Chris the baby is yours," Alonna whispered. Chris's mouth dropped open as he tried hard to get some sort of response out. He ran a hand through his hair and turned around, walking away before stopping and heading right back to where he stood before. He just stood there staring, completely in shock. How does a guy respond to a strange woman just showing up and saying 'hey we're together in the future and oh yeah I'm pregnant with your child'?

"Are you...well...you know...are you sure it's mine," he asked instantly regretting his words at the sight of her face crumbling. Her lower lip trembled and then she pulled her shoulders back and glared at him. Alonna couldn't remember the last time Chris had made her so angry. Oh yes...that's right...it was the time he had accused her of flirting with Wyatt. Chris had thought she was encouraging Wyatt's feelings for her, when she had only tried to be nice to him because he was a part of Chris's family.

Phoebe abruptly turned to Chris, her eyes blazing with anger. "How dare you say that to me," Phoebe said powerless to stop herself. "How could you think I would sleep with someone else? You're my husband. I'm your wife. Last time I checked, that was called adultery." Alonna cringed as she ran a hand down her face, closing her eyes in frustration. Phoebe did not just say that. Now she fully remembered why she sometimes hated the fact that they were so close.

"What," Chris shouted his eyes becoming wide as saucers. "Oh my God! Oh God!" Chris ran a hand through his hair again, wondering if he should have ever got out of bed this morning.

Note: I'll explain in the next chapter how 20 year old Chris could have traveled back to the past, but still exist in Alonna's time. Please review.