SAME SPOILER WARNING AS LAST TIME

CHAPTER SIX

Phoebe and Paige were standing in the attic near The Book of Shadows talking when Leo entered the room.

"How's Piper?" Phoebe asked him.

"She's just putting the boys to bed, she wanted to do it by herself tonight for some reason." Leo told them, and then paused, obviously thinking about something. "You know, she seemed better this morning," he continued. "When I left with Wyatt to go to Magic School, she was happily cooking in the kitchen. But tonight she seems very quiet and withdrawn again."

"Yes, I noticed that too," Phoebe agreed.

"Well, it's been a very big week for all of us. Those Zombies freaked us all out." Paige commented.

"I think for Piper it was more of a reality check." Phoebe added.

Paige and Leo looked at Phoebe wondering what she was getting at.

"You, know how she's so desperate for a normal life. Well, having innocents that we couldn't save come back as Zombies and attack us, I think, just made her want that even more. Made her wonder why we're doing this."

"Maybe." Leo wondered. "Also, I think having Future Wyatt here and turning evil didn't help things. Not only was it stressful to see what he was going through and then try to fix it, but I think saying goodbye to him brought back memories of Chris."

Paige and Phoebe both nodded as they considered what Leo had just said.

"I don't think she's ever really dealt with Chris' death." Leo told them.

"I agree," Paige said. "The only time we've talked about it, she told me that Chris and Wyatt were okay and that was all that mattered. She's definitely not dealt with it at all."

"Have any of us?" Phoebe asked. "I mean, on the one hand we had Big Chris living with us for nearly two years and we all grew to love him for who he was. When he died saving Wyatt, I think we all just moved on pretending that Baby Chris is really him so he didn't really die. We all know that's not the case."

"They are the same person, though." Leo said.

"Yes, but they won't have the same personality. The Chris that we all got to know really well, the one who gave up everything to save his brother, is gone, and we'll never see him again. I think it's about time we all faced that, and realised that it is all right to talk about him. I don't know about you, but I haven't heard anyone talk about him at all since he died. It's like he never existed." Phoebe insisted.

"Well, I think we've been a little busy, what with the whole Avatar thing." Paige said, justifying.

"Plus, we all knew Chris came back to save the future, and that's exactly what he did. He hated the world he grew up in, and now that won't happen, so in a way he did get what he wanted." Leo explained.

"I don't think he wanted to die a slow and painful death, though." Phoebe said thoughtlessly.

"You don't have to remind me how he died, Phoebe," Leo said sounding a little bit angry at her thoughtless comment. "I was there, remember."

"Sorry, Leo, I didn't mean it to sound that way, I just meant.."

Before Phoebe could finish her sentence, Leo interrupted, "I know what you meant, and I actually think you're wrong. I do think he was willing to die to save the future, we all know how many chances he took while he was here. It was a miracle he wasn't killed before." Leo paused for a second, thinking, "But I do agree with you that we never talk about him, and maybe it would be better for everyone, including Piper, if we did start to talk about him more."

Leo had just finished saying that when Piper walked up the stairs and into the attic.

"You'll be pleased to know the children are asleep." She said as she walked toward them. "Talk about who more?" She asked.

"Chris." Phoebe answered before anyone else could.

"What about Chris?" Piper asked, suddenly alarmed.

"No, not Baby Chris. Big Chris." Phoebe told her.

"Why would we talk about Big Chris?" Piper asked, perplexed.

"Phoebe just thinks that it's not healthy that we don't really talk about him." Leo tried to explain.

"I don't understand, why would we need to talk about him? He's gone, and now we've got Baby Chris, that's who we need to concentrate on." Piper said.

"I think what Phoebe is trying to say," Paige tried to explain in her own words, "is that none of us talk about Big Chris because we've never really accepted his death."

Piper looked away when Paige said that to her. She wondered why they were talking about this tonight, of all nights. "But he didn't really die, he was reborn into Baby Chris." Piper said, still not getting it.

"That's just it, sweetie." Phoebe said gently to her. "The Chris we knew, the one who lived with us for nearly two years did die. We will never see that Chris again, and I really think we all need to face that so we can move on."

Leo could see that Piper was starting to get upset. "Phoebe, I think we should drop this now, okay?"

Phoebe also noticed that the conversation did not seem to be helping Piper's fragile emotional state. "No problem." She agreed.

The four of them stood in awkward silence for a while, before Paige finally said, "Well, we've come here to talk about what we're going to do about Zankou, so let's get started. After pulling off that Zombie thing, I think we need to find a way to get rid of him once and for all."

She had no sooner finished that sentence when, all of a sudden, a triquetra shaped portal appeared on the attic wall. They all turned to look at it, and automatically took up defensive positions.

"Oh, no, what now?" Piper cursed as she prepared herself for whatever was going to walk out of the magical portal.

After about 30 excruciating seconds of waiting, finally two figures emerged.

They all immediately recognized them as Big Wyatt and Big Chris.

No one could believe that they had all just been talking about Chris, and now there he was standing in front of them. All four of them stood there, staring, absolutely gob smacked!

"Is this a bad time?" Wyatt asked.

"Don't worry, Wyatt's not evil." Chris said, not really knowing what else to say.

Wyatt turned and looked at Chris incredulously.

Chris shrugged and then added, "Nobody's evil, really, and it's great to see you all, especially you Mum."

"Why are you here?" Leo asked them, not convinced they were who they appeared to be.

Chris was too busy staring at his Mother to answer. It was the first time he had ever seen her like this. After Zankou had taken over, using magic was forbidden, with the penalty of death, so there was no way their Father would allow them to risk summoning her from the afterlife. Chris couldn't believe she looked even more beautiful in real life than she did in her photos.

"It's going to take a bit of explaining," Wyatt answered, "But first of all you need to know that I am the same Wyatt who said goodbye to you about a week ago. That's if we've arrived in the right time?" He checked.

"Yes, that's right." Piper answered cautiously. She was trying to be careful not to give too much away in case everything was not as it seemed. Also, she couldn't help but notice Chris was staring at her.

"Well, when I got back to the future it was changed." Wyatt explained.

"Changed how, exactly?" Phoebe asked.

"Not in a good way, I'm afraid." Wyatt said and then paused trying to think of how to phrase what he wanted to tell them. "When I got back to the future, I was hit with a new set of memories and Mum, Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige, none of you were there anymore."

"What are you trying to say, Wyatt?" Leo asked impatiently.

"He's trying to say, that the Power of Three was vanquished when I was a baby." Chris said deciding to get to the point. "Because you were gone, Zankou took over all magic and the use of good magic was forbidden. That's the world I grew up in." Then he turned to look at his Mother. "I've never even met you Mum, to be honest I don't even remember you, or Aunt Phoebe or Aunt Paige. And Wyatt and I have come back to fix that."

Piper, Phoebe, Paige and Leo all turned to Wyatt for confirmation of what Chris had just said.

"I'm sorry you had to hear it this way, but Chris is right. Something I did when I was here with you changed the future and I, or we, need to find out what that was so we can change it back to how it's meant to be." Wyatt confirmed to them.

"How long do they have?" Leo asked, looking completely shocked.

"A little under two weeks." Chris answered.