Love and fear

Chapter 9: A mother and son talk

Piper stood in her room and looked out of the window. It was slowly getting dark and she had never been gladder about the end of a day. Today had happened too much. First Barbas had almost killed Chris with his fears and then Wyatt had shown up and stolen his brother's powers. She turned away from the window to look at her younger son who was lying sleeping in her bed for the second time this day. Piper could understand that he was tired after everything he had to go through today. Quietly she walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge.

The images of her grown up first born came back to her mind and caused her to tear up a bit. She had slowly started to accept that he was evil in the future, but she had never believed that he would be so cruel to his own brother. Trying to get these thoughts out of her head, she grabbed Chris' hand with one of her one and with the other she caressed his face. He looked so peaceful in that moment. Since she had met him she had barely seen him relaxed or happy and that made her incredible sad.

"Mom?"

Piper smiled slightly when she heard her son calling her mom. It was still amazing to think that this brave young man was really her little boy. Hers and Leo's. She watched how Chris opened his eyes to look at her and gave his hand a soft squeeze. "I'm here, Chris. Just sleep" she whispered in a voice she would use to get Wyatt to sleep.

For a second Chris just wanted to do what his mother told him and sleep a bit more. He was really tired and felt very weak somehow and it would be good to get some more rest, but then he started to remember the events from this day and he sat up straight. "Where's Wyatt?" he asked, while he looked frantically around the room, like he was expecting his brother to be staying there.

"He's gone" Piper answered quickly, trying to calm him down.

"What? What do you mean, he's gone?" Chris asked confused. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know, sweetie. Just relax, I'm not letting him hurt you" Piper said soothingly and tried to fight the thought that she didn't even know if she could stop her older son from hurting his brother. She had heard his evil laughter and his promise that he would make Chris pay for 'betraying' him and even though she was determined to keep her younger son save, she didn't know how to do it.

Chris sighed. "I don't think you can stop him, mom" he said dejected. He couldn't believe it that everything he had gone through in the last months had been for nothing. He knew that Wyatt would be back soon. He had said that after he had tried out his new powers, he would be back… New powers? Chris was confused. From where did Wyatt get new powers? Then he remembered this strange thing his brother had done to him. Was it really possible that he had stolen his powers? But it didn't make sense. Wyatt also had telekinesis and orbing. There wouldn't be anything new for him.

"What did Wyatt do to me?" he finally asked his mother, already knowing the answer. It would also explain why he felt so weak.

Piper became very uncomfortable when she heard her son's question. She knew how obsessed Chris was with protecting them. It would be horrible for him to find out that he couldn't do that anymore. "Listen, why don't you just rest a bit while…"

"No, I'm not going to sleep when Wyatt comes to get me so you have to fight him" Chris cut her off, knowing what she was trying to do. "If someone's going to fight him, then it'll be me."

"No! You will not fight him!" Piper exclaimed with a louder voice than she had wanted to use. But she couldn't help it. She was too scared that Chris would do something stupid…

"Why not?" Chris asked, raising his eyebrows.

Piper was about to reply when she noticed that Chris already seemed to know what Wyatt had done. He just wanted it confirmed. "Sweetie, please just do what I say and let me handle this" she then pleaded.

Chris shook his head. "Sorry mom, but you can't expect that Wyatt will listen to you and you have not enough power to fight him."

"And you have no powers at all!" Piper finally yelled, upset at her son's stubbornness. "I will not let you get yourself killed! You will do whatever Leo and I tell you and let us protect you, because it's time you realize that we're your parents and it's our job to do that! Do you understand this now, Christopher Perry Halliwell!"

"It's scary when you use my full name" Chris joked, instead of answering.

"Chris!"

Chris sighed again. "Mom, I'm really glad that you don't want me to get harmed, but just think about it my way. If anything happens to you now, then I'll never be born anyway. You can protect me the best way if you let me handle this."

Piper saw a bit truth in his words, but she wasn't able to accept it. "And how are you going to do that? Chris, you have no powers. You can't even defend yourself" she said desperately with tears in her eyes.

Chris immediately hugged her, his fear that she maybe didn't like it when he did it, forgotten. His mom was upset and he needed to comfort her. "Don't worry, nothing's going to happen to me." He stopped, knowing that he was lying. "And even if something does happen to me, than you just have to save Wyatt and everything will work out somehow. You'll see."

"Chris, please, let your father and aunts handle it" Piper suggested, finally understanding that her son didn't want anything happen to her. But she was his mother; she didn't want anything happen to him either.

"I'm sorry, mom. But I can't risk them getting hurt" Chris said while he still held his mother close. He wanted to stay in her arms forever, feel save and loved, but he knew that he would soon have to leave. Before Wyatt would come back.

Piper pulled away from him and looked at him with tear filled eyes. She didn't know what to say. Her son was just way too stubborn and determined for his own health. She knew that she couldn't do or say anything that would stop Chris from trying to handle this on his own. She sighed before she called loudly for her husband. If her son didn't listen to her than he would have to deal with the consequences.

Chris watched nervously how his father orbed into the room. Why did Piper call him? A second later he got the answer.

"Leo, take Chris up there and then come back down here so we can find a way to send Wyatt back to the future" Piper ordered, without looking at her son. She knew what would come now.

"What! No, no way! I'm not going up there!" Chris exclaimed like expected while he backed away from his parents.

"Yes Chris, you will" Piper said firmly and then turned back to Leo. "What are you waiting for?"

Leo still hesitated. He and Chris had already enough issues without him keeping his son against his own will somewhere. But did he have a choice? After all he would rather want a mad son, than a dead. He reached forward to grab Chris, but then something happened that neither Piper nor he had expected. Chris orbed away.

"What the hell just happened?" Piper exclaimed scared. "I thought he can't orb anymore!"

Leo nodded. "That's right, he can't. Wyatt took…" He trailed off when a thought hit him. He turned to his wife with a frightened expression, before he said "I think Wyatt summoned him."

TBC… (Sorry for the short chapter, but I found it good to end it here… I know, I'm an evil person. Please review anyway!)