One More Time - Chapter 4

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.

Orbing upstairs in a panic, Chris, Piper and Sheila froze at what they saw. Or rather, what they didn't see.

All three children were backed against a corner with Wyatt's protective bubble surrounding them. Robbie, a child of about eight years old, was protectively holding the screaming seven month old Christopher, while Wyatt stood in front of them as he glared at the shield that seemed to be rippling on its own.

The older boy cried out when he saw his mother and aunt enter the room. "Mommy help! There's something there!"

The desperate cry from her child made Sheila step forward, but Piper and Chris both held her back.

Piper raised her hands to try to blow up whatever was attacking them. Frustrated, she called out, "I don't see it! But something is there. His shield is moving like someone is touching it."

Chris poised his hands to move it telekinetically, "Neither do I."

Wyatt's concentration faltered when he heard Chris' voice and turned in his direction, momentarily collapsing the shield. He turned back immediately and raised it again.

"Chris--Get out of here, you're distracting him. Take Sheila with you, I'll handle this."

Chris started to protest, "But.."

Piper yelled , "GO!" Feeling the other woman's eyes on her, she spoke not taking her eyes of the children, "Sheila--I won't let anything happen to Robbie. I promise. You can help more if I don't have to worry about you getting hurt. Now please--Just go and get my sisters."

Chris reluctantly grabbed Sheila's arm and orbed them back over to the manor to get the others.

"Wyatt? Honey, I know you can see it. Show momma where it is so I can blow it up."

Wyatt pointed to the left side of the shield and Piper flicked her wrists. She wasn't sure if she had blown up anything until Wyatt suddenly pointed to the right side of the shield. Spinning quickly, she flexed her hands several times until she heard a howling.

Chris orbed Sheila back to the attic where Phoebe and Paige were flipping through the Book of Shadows. Sheila ran over to them as soon as her feet hit the floor, "Something's attacking the children! Mom stayed with them. Wyatt is holding whatever it is back with his shield."

The sisters dropped what they were doing and grabbed a few potions off of the table. Paige addressed her friend, "Sheila, stay here with Leo. They'll be ok." She ran to the door and yelled downstairs, "LEO!"

Leo came running up the stairs a little out of breath as he was not used to running, "What's wrong?"

Paige and Phoebe spoke at the same time, "Something's attacking the boys. Stay here with Sheila."

Seeing that he made no move to join them, Paige prompted him anxiously, "Chris, let's go."

"I can't. Just go, I'll explain later."

Nodding, the sisters orbed out to Piper's side.

Chris put his arm around Sheila to comfort her, "Don't worry Aunt Sheila, nothings going to happen to him."

Sheila looked distraught, "But how do you know?"

Chris smiled, "I'm from the future, remember? Besides, I grew up with Robbie. And you are going to be looking forward to me and him getting into trouble a lot."

His father questioned, "Why didn't you go? You still have your powers right?"

"Yeah, but I was distracting Wyatt. He almost lost the shield when he heard me in the room."

Sheila's eyes darted around nervously, replaying the scene in her mind. "What was that thing anyway?"

"I don't know." Looking to Leo, "It was invisible and we couldn't see where to hit it. Ringing any bells, Dad?"

Leo bit his lip as he mentally scanned through all of the possibilities in his head. Shaking his head, "Nothing."

"Shouldn't we help them? I can't stand just sitting here waiting like this."

The boy's shoulders sank depressively, wishing that he could re-join the action instead of waiting idly by. "Join the club."

Leo took her hand and led her to the couch, "Actually, I think we'd do more harm than good right now. We'd just get in their way and give them more to worry about. But don't worry, Chris is right. Piper won't let anything happen to your son."

"Its not just him I'm worried about. My godchildren are up there too."

"She'll keep them safe too. And when the three of them get together, they'll kick its ass for messing with our children."

Despite the situation, Sheila laughed a bit and appreciated Leo's attempts to easy her worry.

The former Elder tried to put the pieces of the puzzle together, but it just didn't seem to make sense to him. "I don't understand. Why are they attacking now? I mean, demons have been attacking the Charmed Ones as usual, but in the seven months since you've been born, they've left the boys alone."

Chris cocked his head to the side and looked at his father inquisitively, "What? Do you think its Wyatt?"

Leo raised his eyebrow, "He's two, Chris. I don't think he could coordinate a strike yet."

Chris rolled his eyes in return, "I meant "MY" Wyatt. He wasn't too pleased when I did it again."

"So he was pretty angry, huh?"

"Angry isn't quite the word I would use. More like, um, homicidal? The point is, I wouldn't put it past him to try and have me killed before I become a threat to him. Especially since he couldn't talk any sense into me, as he put it."

"But why would he risk hurting himself?"

"I don't know. I'm just running some theories right now, since me or Dad didn't recognize it. I know a good part of what's in that book, and I don't remember coming across anything like it. And since Dad didn't know of it, I thought it might be from the future."

"Well if it's from the future, wouldn't you have likely come across it before?" Sheila speculated.

Her godson answered quickly, "Not necessarily. Wyatt's very smart, by the way. Kind of like a mad scientist--only without the scientist part. You know, he was always creating some new demon or technology to do his bidding." He added with admiring quality to his voice, "Some of it quite ingenious actually."

Tired of waiting on the outcome while her son was in danger, Sheila stood up abruptly prepared to march back over to her house. "I can't wait anymore. My baby needs me."

Leo followed her lead and held his hand out for his son expectantly. "Ditto. Let's get over there. Chris--orb us."

Chris shook his head, "Not me. I'm not incurring mom's wrath."

Leo glared at him before running out of the room and bounding down the steps; Sheila hot on his heels.

Chris looked around the empty attic. Not wanting to be left out, he ran after them.

Minutes before, Paige and Phoebe orbed to Robbie's room just in time to hear a thunderous howling. Standing next to Piper, they were all thrown to the floor when something they couldn't see barreled into them.

Paige cried out sharply when she felt a large claw dig into her arm in it's desperate attempt to flee.

Phoebe scrambled to get up and go after it when they heard it crash through one of the first floor windows. She stopped as Piper called her back.

"Let it go, Phoebes. Just for now. We can't fight what we can't see. We'll come up with a way to track it later." She helped Paige up then went over to the children, "Wy? Honey? It's safe now. You can put your shield down."

Glancing around suspiciously, Wyatt blinked a few times before he lowered the shield. Piper immediately grabbed him in a hug, "You did real good protecting them, I'm so proud of you, sweetie!"

Wyatt pushed her away and walked out of the room.

Piper was taken aback by his strange behavior. A hurt look flashed across her face briefly before she put on a smile again and went over to Robbie. Hugging him as well, "Robbie, honey. You are so brave. How can I ever thank you for keeping my baby safe."

Robbie smiled shyly as if nothing had happened, "It's ok, Aunt Piper. How about some ice cream?" He leaned in whispered to her, "Mommy won't let me have it in the daytime. Can I have it in the daytime?"

Piper stood up and kissed him on the top of his head, "You've got yourself a deal, mister."

Leo reached the front steps of the house when Sheila pushed past him to enter. "Robbie!"

Robbie called to her from upstairs, "We're ok mom."

Shocked to see him standing there by himself, Sheila paused and looked up at Wyatt standing at the top of the stairs holding onto the banister. Leo and Chris slammed into her at the abrupt halt, causing all three to fall forward.

Chris was the first to get up and cautiously walked up the steps toward Wyatt. As he approached, Wyatt raised his shield.

Chris spoke quietly to the child, "Wyatt, come on. You know I won't hurt you. It's me--Chris." He moved forward again.

The boy backed up slightly as Chris got closer, eventually backing up against the wall. When Chris got as close as he could with the shield, Wyatt's eyes flashed with blue orbs, warning him away.

Piper was surprised at his behavior and tried to talk to him, "Wyatt? It's ok. He's your brother. No one is going to hurt you." She gasped as he turned and flashed the orbs at her. "Is that what you used to do to all of my dates?"

With all of the adults closing in on him, the two year old panicked. His eyes grew wide just before he lowered his shield and orbed away.

Leo reached the top of the stairs at that point, "Where did he go?"

TBC...