One More Time - Chapter 2

by shjohnso.

Summary: Future Chris risked his life to save his brother from a fate worse than death—evil. But did it work? Or will he have to do it all over again? This is my take on the events that followed his birth.

Rated PG

Disclaimer—I don't own charmed, or any of the characters from the show, so don't sue me because I get no money from this.

Leo charged through the attic door brandishing a baseball bat, which he promptly dropped when he saw who was standing next to his wife. His eyes rolled back in his head as he started to fall.

"Oh!" Piper quickly flicked her wrists at Leo and froze him halfway down.

Chris looked worriedly at his mom.

Phoebe decided to explain, "Um, yeah. He's been doing that a lot lately."

Paige added helpfully, "He's not really used to being human again, and any shock just knocks him flat on his a..."

Piper cut her off and yelled, "PAIGE!"

"What do you mean being human again?"

Piper flailed her arms, "Never mind, just go catch him before he unfreezes."

Chris rushed over to encircle Leo in his arms. Seconds after he reached for him, Leo unfroze and stared into the bright-blue eyes he had been mourning for months. Unable to believe his own eyes, he touched his son's face, "Chris?"

"Yeah, Dad. It's really me."

Leo looked at him for a few more seconds before coming to his senses and believed what his eyes told him. His son was alive. He grabbed him into a bear hug and held on tight.

Piper cleared her throat after a few minutes, "Leo? You're smothering the boy. And speaking of boys, what did you do with my other two?"

The father of two remarked absently, unable to tear his eyes away from the adult version of his youngest son that stood before him. "I ran into Sheila on the way in and she took them."

Scrunching up her nose warily, Paige wasn't fond of the situation. "Are you sure that's a good idea? What's Darryl going to say?"

Leo grinned, "She said that he'll just have to live with it since now we're apparently just "her" friends. Besides, she couldn't turn her new little godson away." He stood up still grasping Chris' hand. He asked quietly, "Chris, what happened? I watched you die. How can this be?"

"I guess I should've waited on the explanations?" He stared at his father's glistening eyes. Seeing him now, looking so vulnerable, made him feel terrible for what Leo had to go through with watching his son die and not being able to do anything about it. He decided to spare him the exact details of his demise and gave him the abbreviated version. "I did die, but Clarence was waiting for me and sent me to the future. I stayed there long enough to see that not much had changed, including Wyatt. But you changed, Dad. I couldn't ask for a better father. You even taught me how to heal."

Leo asked shyly, "I did?"

Chris clapped him on the back, "You did."

The joy Leo felt at Chris' admission was short lived and his face fell, "But if I was such a good father--what happened to Wyatt? Why is he still evil?"

Chris replied sadly, "It wasn't you, Dad. It was me. I caused him to turn and give up on anything but survival of the most powerful."

Leo raised his eyebrow in confusion, "What do you mean? How could you have done this to him?"

"I got myself killed right in front of him, just when he was depending on me to protect him."

Piper spoke up, "Then actually Chris, it was me--since it was my death that set him off."

He lowered his head despondently, the mop of shaggy brown hair shielding his eyes. "Yes, but I planted the ticking time bomb in him that was just waiting to go off. It could have been any of us that was the last straw."

Leo spun around with a sudden realization. "Wait, but you already died. So are you saying that he has already turned?"

"In a way, yes. It's started to change him, but there's still time, or they wouldn't have sent me back."

"Who's they?"

"I don't know. But they sent me to the future first to see what I had changed before coming here."

Leo looked determined not to fail his son this time, finally getting the opportunity "Well then we have to go back and stop you from dying."

"I don't think we can. Or at least, I can't. They didn't send me back to before I died because I--well, the other me--was already here. Something about there not being three of us in the same time line."

Phoebe commented, "But there would only be two since you hadn't been born yet."

Chris practically whined, "But I still existed in mom. As it was, I had to share my powers with my baby self. I don't think it would have worked with the three of us."

Paige decided to point out helpfully, "But you only had orbing and telekinesis to begin with, and you had those before you were born. Whoa! That sounded kind of weird."

Chris raised an eyebrow at his aunt before giving her his trademark cheshire grin. "I never said that was all of them. Remember, when I first came back here--I was still trying to hide them from you. And after Mom got pregnant, I figured out that I couldn't use any of my other powers." Turning to Piper, "And by the way--please don't be mad when I accidentally set fire to Wyatt's hair when I turn five."

Piper crossed her arms and glared at her youngest.

Everyone's confused expressions demanded further explanations and Chris was only too happy to oblige. "Ok. Let me show you." He surveyed around the room and found a broken table in the corner. He focused intently on it just before it burst into flames.

Paige jumped up startled and called for the kitchen fire extinguisher.

Piper was just as startled and flicked her wrists to freeze it. She turned to Chris with her hands on her hips, "Are you crazy!"

Chris held up his hands in defense, "Just watch." He flicked his wrists one time, and unfroze Piper's work.

Piper scratched her head and seemed rather perturbed, "Did you just unfreeze my freeze? And the table is still on fire, Chris. Did you plan to burn down the manor?"

Chris ignored her and closed his eyes. He felt around in his mind for the fire. Within seconds, the flames shrank back down and dissipated.

Leo's eyes widened, "How did you do that?"

Chris grinned smugly, "Which part?"

Paige rolled her eyes jokingly, "Show off! Well let's start from the beginning. Like how you started the fire in the first place?"

"With my whitelighter senses. I can see the object at a molecular level if I choose. Then I use telekinesis to move the particles around until they combust. I just do it in reverse to make them die back down."

The eldest witch still seemed annoyed that someone had undone her work. "And the unfreeze?"

Chris shrugged, "I don't know. I've just always thought that your powers copied themselves exactly to me when I was born. Because as far as I know-- at least from the new memories from the future--I was always able to react to your powers and you to mine."

Paige nodded her head appreciatively, "So you can freeze, huh?"

"Yes. It came in real handy a few times when Wyatt threw energy balls at me."

Phoebe gasped in surprise, "You mean when he was little?"

Chris scoffed, "No, I mean last week. He wasn't too happy about me coming back here and "meddling in his destiny" as he calls it."

The youngest Charmed sister tilted her head in curiosity. "So your powers work on each other?"

"Yeah."

She pouted a response, "Ours don't."

"Actually, yours probably can too."

Paige looked a bit excited, "Really? How?"

Piper scolded her, "Why are you asking?"

Paige crossed her arms defensively, "I'm just curious, OK?" Resuming her excitement, she turned back to Chris, "So how?"

Chris looked down at the floor sadly, "Break the sibling bond. That's how Wyatt did it. Once he saw me as just another obstacle in his quest for power, our powers suddenly worked against each other. They didn't used to. It was like that in both timelines."

Piper walked up and tried to comfort him by stroking his back soothingly, "We'll fix it this time."

Chris smiled wistfully, "Yeah. If I don't end up getting killed this time around..."

TBC...