Mistake

Chapter Five

"Alright," Piper said as she settled herself on the couch in the living room. Beside her, Paige was leafing through the Book of Shadows, searching in vain for more information on the Harpy. "Chris is in your bed Phoebe, you'll have to sleep on the couch tonight."

The empath sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "That's fine. I doubt I'll sleep much tonight anyway."

Chris hadn't said much after the Harpy attack. And even if he had, there was little a seven year old could know about why a demon was so interested in him. After a very tense dinner, the sisters and Leo had agreed that the best place for Chris was a bed. In the Manor, of course, since he couldn't very well go to his room in P3 as a child.

Paige groaned and sat back from the book. "There's nothing else in here. Any ideas why a seven year old whitelighter is being targeted?"

"Well, he is half-witch and the demon seemed very interested in that," Leo said, then wrinkled his nose. "He called him a half-breed."

"Yeah," Paige said, "and Chris has obviously got quite a bit of power in him. He froze a demon Piper couldn't even touch."

"Do you have to rub that in?" Piper grumbled. "And where's Prue? You would think she'd be a little bit more active on her charges behalf."

"This is something you have to deal with by yourselves," Prue said, shining in abruptly and startling them. "Young Chris mustn't come to depend upon my presence, it could adversely effect his future. I must stay on the sidelines and in the background as much as possible."

The Charmed-One-turned-Guardian disappeared in a flash of bright light and Piper huffed. "Well I guess that answers that question."

Phoebe let out a frustrated half-yell. "When Chris gets to be his usual self again, he is gonna have a lot to answer to," she declared. "Why would he keep that kind of power a secret from us? More importantly, how did he keep that kind of power a secret from us? We've made him so angry so many times, you'd think he would have accidently blown up a vase or something."

"He could just have better control than you," Leo began, but changed direction when his wife and sisters-in-law shot him murderous looks, "or maybe at twenty-three he no longer has those powers. Someone could have bound his powers during his youth."

"It makes sense," Paige said tentatively. "After the way he acted when he accidently froze that Harpy today, it sounds like his family isn't too fond of him being able to use magic. It follows that they might take more drastic measures to make sure he couldn't use it."

"Yeah, but for that kind of binding, they would need the Power of Three," Piper said. "And I can't see us binding an abused and well-meaning child's adolescent powers."

"Unless there's someone stronger than use in the future," Paige said.

"Or his family twisted the situation so we didn't realize what was happening," Phoebe said.

"Look, this isn't helping us right now," Leo said. "I doubt we'll get any solid answers until Chris reverts back to his normal self, and right now we have more important matters to be worrying about. Like that Harpy demon. I'm gonna go check with the Elders about the demon, and see if they know anything about Chris' condition. I'll be back soon."

Leo disappeared in a jumble of blue orbs and the sisters looked at each other, lost for ideas.

"It's odd..." Piper said after a few moments of comfortable and speculative silence. "Having another child in the house with Wyatt. Having a demon that's not after Wyatt. Protecting another child that's not Wyatt."

"I know," Phoebe said. "It's strange isn't it?"

"But it feels right," Paige said. "It feels like something we're supposed to do, even if that child is Chris."

20 Years in the Future

"Ocypete," Wyatt greeted, standing in a rare show of respect, "Celaeno. Aello. I trust you bring me good news."

Celaeno tilted her head at their liege lord, regarding him with blood red eyes and a hardened gaze. "The Death Sisters bring no threats of good tidings son of a Charmed One. I expect this would much defeat your purpose."

Wyatt refrained himself from lashing out at her impertinence. Celaeno was the eldest, and most powerful of the Harpy three, but she was also the least accustomed to dealing with the outside world. He remained silent and waited for the other two to report.

"All preparations for the half-breed have been made," Ocypete said, her dark and blackened eyes latching on to his in a show of equality that made his blood curdle, as much as he had to endure it.

"His arrival is imminent upon our departure," Aello said, her golden eyes the only one of three which showed any sign of human expression, a type of repressed amusement. This, if possible, irked Wyatt more than the other two's more blank responses.

"Then I trust that your departure is also imminent?" Wyatt bit out the question with as much respect as he could muster.

The Harpies locked their gaze upon his, then turned on their heel and walked out. Wyatt shook his head and let his nails bite into his fists, the only sign of anger he could allow himself to show.

"Paige. Good," Phoebe said, as blue orbs highlighted her office at the Bay Mirror, the day following the attack on Chris. "What would you say to a woman who feels that she is, and I quote 'withering away in the vain redundancies of corporate America and missing out on the more fulfilling intricacies of life'?"

Paige blinked at her sister's sudden onslaught of words. "Translation?"

"She spends too much time at work."

Paige snorted. "Tell her to try our life for a day. I have a feeling she'll be praising the 'redundancies of corporate America' by the end of it."

Phoebe took off her glasses and regarded her sister with a serious expression. "What's wrong Paige? Has something happened?"

"Nothing too out of the ordinary. I just stopped by to tell you that I'm going to work, Piper's at the club, Leo's 'Up There', and Wyatt is at Sheila's. You are officially on 'Chris duty'."

Paige pulled out the seven year old from behind her and Phoebe made a desperate attempt to stifle her groan. She looked at Paige desperately, waving at all her papers. "Paige, I'm working!"

"So are the rest of us, and we can't very well leave Chris all by himself. Especially with that Harpy on the loose."

"I'll be quiet," Chris said timidly, speaking for the first time. He was wearing new clothes, obviously Paige had taken him on a small shopping expedition before arriving. Phoebe was caught by the child's words and stood up from her desk.

"Well, it's about time for a break anyway. How 'bout some lunch Chris?"

"Sure," he said, his head bowed. Phoebe frowned.

"Good luck," Paige muttered, then orbed out.

Phoebe grabbed her coat and, narrowly escaping Elise and other various newspaper staff, the two walked out of the building searching for a place to eat. They settled at a small café where the two sat down to order. Chris seemed to be slightly puzzled.

"Do you need me to read that for you?" Phoebe asked, indicating the kids' menu he held.

"No, I can read," Chris said, he looked up at her with a torn expression. "I just don't know what I want."

Phoebe had to stifle an amused laugh at the boy's dilemma. She quickly glanced over at the menu. The café they were eating at was a brunch place and the kids menu included breakfast and lunch items. Phoebe pointed out the waffles.

"How about those?" she suggested. "They look good, and you can get them with strawberries."

Chris crunched up his nose. "Nah, I'm allergic to strawberries, they make me pass out."

Phoebe looked at the menu again. It was rather amusing that Chris as a child was almost as neurotic as Chris as an adult, but when child Chris finally admitted some information, it was on such small information as allergies.

The two finally decided on some lunch then trekked back to The Bay Mirror, where Phoebe sequestered some crayons and paper, and Chris got to work coloring while Phoebe went to deal with 'the redundancies of corporate America'.

Piper was just putting the finishing touches on the stage for the band that would be playing tonight when Leo orbed in behind her, thoroughly startling her, and earning him a scolding.

"What if someone had been here with me Leo?" Piper screeched. "What if someone had seen you? You can't just orb in anywhere and everywhere that you like you know."

"Piper," he addressed her calmly. "I sensed for anyone else in the room before I came in."

Piper narrowed her eyes at him but gave up on her lecture. "What did the Elders say about the Harpy?" she asked.

Leo grew serious. "This is pretty major. The Elders have all three Harpies contained 'Up There' for the time being. That means that the Harpy we faced yesterday is from the future."

"Well that explains why she knew about Chris," Piper said.

"As for Chris," Leo sighed. "They don't know much. All the know is that when Chris became a child again, his magical signal flared up to a level that matched, if not overpowered, Wyatts."

"What!" Piper gasped. "But Wyatt's the twice-blessed..."

"Which just begs the question of who exactly Chris is," Leo said. "But unfortunately we won't know that until Chris is..."

"An adult again," Piper cut in. "Which he won't be until we see what we need to trust him."

They settled on benches, both pondering the mysterious whitelighter from the future.

"He was pretty beat up," Leo murmured.

"Yeah," Piper responded sadly. "Poor little guy. No child deserves that kind of treatment, I don't care what they've done."

"And with magic that strong, he must have pretty powerful parents," Leo continued. "Powerful and magical. So why don't they want their son to use magic?"

"He said his brother didn't want him to use magic," Piper pointed out. "Jealousy maybe?"

"It's possible. But obviously the parents didn't support him either, otherwise he wouldn't be so paranoid. No child is that afraid of their big brother."

"If we ever do find out who Chris' parents are, we're going to have to give them a solid kick in the ass before they treat their child like that," Piper said, eyes shining.

"Amen to that."

The two shared a look they had shared many times over the years, but which felt somewhat forbidden now. A gaze which revealed all that they felt for each other. Friendship. Fellowship. Trust. Love.

The fact that they could still share a look like that at all was a testament to the feelings they still held for each other.

A week.

That was how long it had been since the Harpy attack. Since then, nothing out of the ordinary had happened. There had been no demon attacks, no sudden, unexplainable disappearances, not even an innocent they had to save. Nothing.

Frankly, it was unnerving.

At least that was what Paige thought as she orbed in from her temp job-which had been surprisingly uneventful. After all, the Halliwell witches had learned long ago not to trust such lapses in demonic activity, especially when there was a known demon on the loose. But nothing had happened.

Which was why it was somewhat of a relief when she found a ball of lightning coming straight at her head from where she had orbed in. She ducked quickly and assessed the situation.

The three Harpy sisters were in the room, identical save for their eyes. One had golden, one had red, and one had eyes that were black. Leo stood in front of Chris, obviously trying to protect him and keep the Harpies away from him. Piper was trying to blow them up, but to no avail, and Phoebe was rubbing the back of her head from where she had hit the wall.

Suddenly, everyone stopped moving, completely. It was sudden and swift, as though some invisible strings had been pulled and everyone was at a standstill. They all stared at each other. It was clear that no one had the upper hand.

Piper couldn't freeze the Harpies, and the Harpies couldn't get a suitable enough hold on the Charmed Ones for long enough to safely abduct Chris without him using his powers, which were strong enough to take effect on them.

Stalemate.

Then, before anyone could blink, Aello had thrown a potion in Chris direction. It landed right in front of Leo's feet and a scent permeated the room. A second later, Chris' eyes rolled in the back of his head and he fell to the floor, unconscious.

Before anyone could react, the Harpy with the red eyes had swept Chris up, and, together, the three disappeared in a swirl of wind and feathers.

The Charmed Ones and Leo stared at each other.

"What...what just happened here?" Piper asked, indicating her mess of a living room and the air which was still permeated with the odor.

"Strawberries," Phoebe said softly.

"Strawberries?" Paige questioned. "Yeah, I guess that it does kind of smell like strawberries. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"No," Phoebe shook her head, waving her hands at the broken vial helplessly. "The potion. Strawberries. Chris is allergic to them, it makes him pass out."

"Which means..." Leo said.

"Whoever is after him knows what his weaknesses are," Piper finished.

23 Years in the Future

When Chris regained consciousness again he realized he was comfortable. Very comfortable, and warm. He opened his eyes to find himself in a cave-like room in a soft, white bed. Beside him, a man with curly, shoulder length blonde hair, and cerulean blue eyes was staring at him.

The man was intimidating, standing six-foot and wearing all black. Despite that, he looked vaguely familiar and Chris tried to place him.

The situation didn't look good. The last thing he remembered was his father standing in front of him, protecting him from the Harpies, then Aello had thrown a potion...strawberries...then nothing.

"I'm sorry about the Harpies, Chris," the man said, giving Chris a tender look. Chris sat up, confused.

"Who are you?" he asked in a firm, solid voice. "What's going on?"

"It's me Chris," the man said calmly. "It's Wyatt."