Author's Note: Okay, I know you all have been waiting for this chapter so here it is. I worked very hard on it and if you are wondering there will be some Piper, Leo and Chris interaction. Thank you all very much for your reviews, I really appreciate them and it's cool to know that there are others out there who are enjoying this story as much as I am writing it. All right, enough for all of my ramblings, you get to reading and reviewing and I'll go work on the following chapters.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Truths Pt. 1
Chris sat up with a start, his eyes darting open and his body in pain from the fall. He looked at his surroundings and realized that he was no longer outside, but in a bright room which was separated from the broken table and chairs by two doors. Taking deep breaths, he found Daniel and Derrick pacing in front of him, neither aware that he had woken up. Making a coughing noise, the two turned and Daniel smiled as he walked over to his friend's side.
"You woke up," he said, stating the obvious.
"Yeah," Chris said, his voice hardly there. "Where are we?"
"In the house," Daniel answered. "We were afraid we were going to loose you, but what's-his-name brought you inside and healed you. He has to be a Whitelighter, because I have never seen anyone else heal like you and he did."
"His name is Leo," Derrick replied in mid step as he stood close to the formal dinning room. "And he is a Whitelighter."
Derrick could hear his son telling Chris about what had happened after they had arrived and Wyatt attacked, but he was more occupied in listening for Piper and Leo. The two had locked themselves away in the kitchen and Derrick didn't have the heart to bother them, for they each seemed upset about something. Both had been as surprised as he when Wyatt had showed up, but Derrick wasn't sure how they had known who Wyatt was.
Knowing that they probably did not have much time, Derrick readied himself, told Daniel and Chris to stay put and made his way to the kitchen. He and Daniel had been able to hear Piper and Leo faintly, but the two voices seemed to get louder and louder as he neared the kitchen. Quietly pushing open the door, Derricked entered and stood in the background and watched as Leo tried to console an angry and confused Piper.
Piper was pacing back and forth in the kitchen, her hands flailing around her as she rambled on and on. It had been a shock to hear that her youngest son had been found and another to finally see him in person, but it was what Leo had said that had really thrown her through the roof.
"I can't believe you had the nerve to call him Wyatt," she shouted, speaking of the blond young man who had attacked her son.
"Piper you have to listen to me," Leo began, "I think it is him."
She laughed. "That is impossible Leo. Wyatt is not evil."
"Didn't you seem him orb away? He tried to freeze you too, and it didn't work, did it?" Leo asked. "His magic doesn't work on good witches, regardless if he is good or evil, and his magic wouldn't work on the one he had inherited them from."
"Coincidence."
Leo sighed. "I thought there were no such thing?"
Before Piper could come up with a reply or excuse, Derrick made a brave move and walked further into the kitchen, letting his presence be known. The others stopped and turned to him and calmed down, not wanting to involve him in their personal matter, not knowing that he was already involved.
"Sorry to interrupt," Derrick began, "but we really need your help."
"Of course," Leo said.
"Look, I'm sorry Phoebe never mentioned it to either of you that we were going to be coming down, but she said that someone would be here. Anyway, I remember how you had helped me and wanted to know if you could help my son's friend."
"Chris," Piper said.
Derrick nodded, wondering how she knew whom he was talking about before he had said his name. "That's right. You see he's been attacked by who you saw here and chased away, Wyatt. This Wyatt person has attacked my son and killed Chris' mother Cathy. I still am not all that familiar with the world of magic and demons, trying to keep my life as free from that as I can, but I didn't know if you could help us figure out what Wyatt is and how to stop him."
Pausing, Derrick watched Leo and Piper's faces as he explained the situation. The two were horror stricken when he said the name Wyatt and he wondered if the Charmed Ones had dealt with him before. It was then that Piper shook her head and began to leave the kitchen.
"I can't do this," she said. "This is too much for me to handle right now."
Derrick and Leo followed her out into the formal dinning room, trying to stop her. Neither one of the three knew that both Daniel and Chris were in the conservatory listening. The two teens were curious about what was going on and Daniel wanted to know how the Charmed One and her Whitelighter knew Wyatt and how they were going to help. Chris was still shaken by what had happened, but he wanted to get to know the people were to help him. But, there was something else that was bothering Chris. Not so much in a bad way, but he felt drawn to the strange man and woman and he wanted to know why.
"Piper, come back," Leo shouted, grabbing her arm.
"No Leo, I can't. I just can't do this."
Derrick joined Leo and stood before Piper. "We need your help, Piper. You and your sisters are the only ones who can help us. I thought you saved innocents?"
"I do," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "We do...but this is too much for me."
Derrick turned to Leo, confused at what she was saying. Leo on the other hand, nodded at what Piper said and pulled her close, hugging her. "I know this is hard, but things happen for a reason and we are just going to have to deal with it. Believe me, my heart is breaking just like yours is and I am just as confused, but we need to stay strong, most of all for him."
Piper knew that Leo meant Chris without having to mention the name. She heard what he was saying, but her heart was torn in two. Her baby was alive and well in the other room, but her older son was out there too, and though he might be safe, he was a danger to everyone else.
"Hard, Leo? It was hard when Darryl came and told me who he had found. It got harder when I saw him lying in my backyard in pain. But it got worse when I saw...Don't tell me you know how I feel and do not tell me we are just going to have to deal. How am I supposed to deal with what I have seem today?"
There was silence for a moment then as Leo tried to come up with an answer. His heart was breaking just as Piper's was, but he needed to stay strong for her and for Chris. Just thinking about Chris made Leo think of Wyatt. After all they had done to try and save him from the future their younger son had come back to prevent...There was so much happening that both Piper and Leo had forgotten about Derrick and he had finally had enough.
"Will one of the two of you please tell me what is going on?" he demanded. "I did not come all of this way to stand here and listen to you two bicker like five year olds. Now, either tell me how we are to stop Wyatt or we will leave and just have to fend him off ourselves."
"You are not going to vanquish son," Leo said, his tone stinging with anger and fatherly protection.
Derrick and Piper took a step back. "What?"
Leo looked Piper in the eye. "I need you to listen to me. The day Chris was born, I went to see you in the hospital...Barbas got to me even before I made it to your room. He stopped me with my greatest fear and while I was paralyzed by it, Gideon murdered our son. But the fear, Piper, was of Wyatt and who he grew up to be in Chris' future. I saw him with my very own eyes and who I saw today was the very same person."
Piper shook her head. "You're lying."
"I wish I was," Leo told her, "but it's the truth."
"Wait a second, you mean to tell me that the person who has been attacking my son, his friend and who killed my friend is actually your son?" Derrick asked.
"Do you remember when we had Daniel here and he had my son as a playmate?" Piper asked. After Derrick nodded, she continued. "That playmate was my son Wyatt."
Shocked at what he heard, Derrick took a seat at the dinning room table, his hand over his mouth. In the other room, Chris staggered back to his seat on the couch and looked back at Daniel. The two teens stared at each other in silence, not knowing what to say. Here they had come all that way to ask for the help of the Charmed Ones in getting rid of Wyatt, and here he was, the son of the eldest Charmed One. Feeling lost and confused, Daniel sat beside his friend and felt terrible.
"And to think, I held them in such high regard," his said, shaking his head. "I can't believe this."
"Fay was wrong," Chris said.
"What are you talking about?"
He sighed. "She told me that after a tragedy befell me I would find others like me and find my way home. I've had the tragedy and I have the unbeatable evil thing down, but thanks to the Charmed Ones not being so charmed, where am I going to find the ones who are supposed to help me?"
Daniel tried to come up with something to say, but stopped when he heard the conversation pick up in the dinning room. Not knowing if Chris would care or not, he moved in closer to hear better, but if would not have mattered, the voices were loud enough to be heard across town.
"That couldn't be the same Wyatt," Derrick protested.
"He was kidnapped a year or so after you and Daniel moved away," Leo confirmed. "A cloaking device or spell must have been cast over him, because even when we tried, we could never find him. But there is more, Derrick."
"Should I be glad that I am sitting down then?" he asked, trying to make light of a dark situation.
"It's about Chris," Leo said.
At this, Chris walked to Daniel's side. "What about me?" he asked softly.
"What about Chris?" Derrick asked. "Is he your son too?"
"As a matter of fact..." Leo trailed off.
Taking over for Leo, Piper turned to Derrick. "You remember when you were here last, I know it's been years, but do you remember the other Whitelighter we had?"
"The young and somewhat inexperienced one? Sure, I remember him a little."
"He was from the future, Derrick," Piper went on. "He had come back to save his brother and to save his family. We didn't know until later, but he was my son. I had him a year after you moved away. He too was kidnapped, but days before Wyatt. His name was Chris, Derrick."
Chris quickly moved away from Daniel, shaking his head. "This isn't true. She's lying."
Derrick stood up. "You mean to tell me that you want me to believe that Wyatt and Chris are brothers?"
"Trust me, this is much harder on us, but yes," Leo answered "Darryl had come to Piper and told her about Chris. He is a police officer with the San Francisco PD and the two of us went to Cathy's house to see if it was true. When we saw Chris here, and Wyatt...I know it's them, Derrick. A father always knows his children."
Chris stood in the middle of the conservatory. He was filled with rage and confusion and couldn't believe a word he was hearing. Those couldn't be his parents in the other room; he wasn't the son of a Charmed One. Besides, if it were true and they were his parents and Wyatt really was their son that would mean that Wyatt was really Chris' older brother. Shaking his head, Chris stormed into the dinning room and confronted Piper and Leo.
"You're lying!" he shouted. "Tell me you are lying!"
Tears formed in Piper's eyes as he looked upon her son for the first time in almost seventeen years. He had gotten so tall and would keep growing for another year or so. His hair was dark like hers, but he had Leo's eyes. It was all there and she wanted to do nothing but take him into her arms and love him as she would have done all of his life. But there he was, standing opposite her, her strong defiance shining through him as he fought what was the truth.
"I said tell me!" he shouted again, as if he wasn't heard.
"We can't," Leo answered.
"He is not my brother," Chris stated. "He is not my brother and you are not my parents. I may never have had a father, but I sure as hell had a mother and I don't need another one."
Without warning, Chris disappeared in a swirl of bright lights and the three adults were left alone. Slowly, Daniel made his way in and stared at his father, the man and the Charmed One in awe. He still wasn't sure exactly what he had heard and he did not know whether or not he wanted to believe it. Looking at Piper and Leo clearly, Daniel could see Chris in each of them and realized that Leo was a Whitelighter and Piper a witch with a few of the powers Chris had. His own words echoed in his mind.
Maybe you're half, like me. One of your real parents is a Whitelighter and the other is a witch, which would make you both.
"He just needs some time," Daniel said, the adults looking at him. "It's a lot to process, but he'll come back after he's had some time to himself to think things through."
"It's a lot for anyone," Leo replied. "He has to be just as confused and as hurt as we are. There's nothing wrong with that. I don't want him to think that we are going to pressure him into coming back, either. We'll deal with Wyatt, but that is going to be another story. But, Chris should know that he isn't going to be forced to do anything he doesn't want."
Taking a deep breath, Piper walked passed Leo. She didn't say a word and left the lower level of the Manor and entered the security of her room where she could have the time to think that both Leo and Daniel were talking about. Her actions mirrored most of Chris' as she lay on her bed and Chris laid on what would have been his bed at his ruined home. They cried, almost not wanting to believe any of what had happened, yet knowing deep down that it was true. For both, it was too much and they didn't know if their hearts could handle it. Piper may have found two sons, but she felt as if she had lost them both all over again and the pain was shared by Chris who wept for his dead mother.
"It's not true," Chris cried.
He didn't want it to be, but he couldn't help but remember the feeling he had had when he stormed into the dining room, when he had seen Piper and Leo for the first time. The feeling wasn't the same as when he had met Bryn or Wyatt; it was magical but it was more than that. Perhaps he was wrong about what Fay had said. Maybe she was right in saying that after the tragedy he would find those who could help him and find his home, where he belonged.
"If they really are my parents it would mean that Wyatt is my brother," he told himself. "My brother...how could he be my brother? I have wanted nothing but to kill him for what he did to my mother and what he has done to me, but if he is family how can I?"
Chris had known nothing other than Wyatt being his enemy, with the constant attacks and threats that came his way, but how was he supposed to kill his own flesh and blood? His mind flooding with ideas, Chris wondered if there was any good that was still left inside of Wyatt. He had been kidnapped after all and therefore never knew his real parents, maybe he had been lied to and if he knew the true...? There was even the possibility that Chris could save him and bring him back.
"How corny is that," Chris said, almost forcing a laugh. "I am not Luke Skywalker and he is not Darth Vader. How am I supposed to know if he is good or has any good in him?"
Pacing around his room, Chris stopping in front of the mirror and looked at himself. Even though their meeting had been brief, he could still see the Whitelighter staring out of his eyes and it was as if the Charmed One were standing in front of him, ghost-like, where you could see her and him and realize that there really wasn't much of a difference.
"I am, aren't I?" Chris whispered. "I really am their son."
