Chapter 8
Future Piper stared lovingly at her son as he continued sleeping soundly against her. She and Future Leo had decided to stay with the boy while the others made their way through the jungle to find the flower that they needed to save the boy's life. The woman's heart ached at she imagined the amount of pain her youngest child must be suffering at the moment and she couldn't help but blame herself for it. "I should have see it coming" she chastised herself quietly as she put her face in her free hand and sighed deeply. Sensing her distress her husband made his way to her side.
"So how are you holding up?" asked Future Leo as he sat down putting his son's legs across his lap.
"I'm so numb right now Leo. We came all the way back here to save him from Gideon and ourselves only to end up almost killing him in the process" she spoke in a soft voice as she wiped the sweat from her son's forehead.
"This wasn't anybody's fault Piper, least of all yours" the man said putting one of his hands on hers.
"Isn't it? I mean I knew what was going to happen next and I just froze. When my little boy needed me to protect him, I let him down, again!" she raised her voice a little causing the boy to stir.
"No you didn't. In fact he would have died by now if you hadn't come up with the idea to take him to magic school. Something I should have done when Gid…" the man trailed off trying to regain his composure.
"That was different Leo and you know it. Gideon used special magic on the athame and he's the one who protects magic school so even if you did bring Chris here, he would have died anyway" she said choking on her last words.
"I guess we both have a lot of things to work through as far as he's concerned. Something tells me that we're the reason he's so neurotic" the man teased as they both giggled.
"Hey I heard that" the boy spoke as loudly as he could.
"Hi there sweetie" she giggled.
"You can not make jokes at my expense then call me sweetie" he grinned slightly.
"We're your parents it's our job to annoy you as much as possible"
"Oh don't worry you do, and often" he said jokingly.
"I'm going to try not to take too much offense to the fact that my son sees me as a nuisance" his mother replied with a grin.
"You're not that bad Mom. Ok, maybe you are, but I love you anyway" he finished giving the woman's hand a squeeze. At this both Piper and Leo smiled.
Future Leo was about to say something until he noticed the bright blue lights that appeared in front of them.
"We found it" his counter part spoke raising his hand with the exotic flower in it.
"How is he doing?" questioned past Piper referring to her future child.
"He's holding his own. But the more poison makes its way through his body the less likely we'll be able to counter it" she heard her own voice reply.
"Alright Phoebe, Leo, go get started with the ingredients that we already have" the woman said as the group moved to get started on the potion.
"Listen Piper" Future Leo said pointing to his version. "Why don't you go walk around some and stretch a little, I'll stay here with Chris" the man said getting to his feet ready take his wife's place.
"No Leo, I'm fine where I am. I don't want to leave him" she whispered lost in her son's eyes.
"Mom, Dad's right. You need to take care of yourself, maybe go back to the house and get something to eat" the boy spoke once again putting on his brave face for her making sure she remained unaware of how much pain he was truly in.
"He's right, maybe I can go with you and don't worry I won't probe you for information" Past Piper smiled weakly knowing what her counter part was thinking, after all they were one in the same.
Future Piper looked at herself with great discomfort but knowing that she didn't have the energy to argue she simply nodded her head in agreement.
"Ok, I'll go for now, but I'll be right back" the woman said as she kissed her son's head and stood up. "I know you don't have your powers here, but can you still orb?" she questioned Future Leo.
"I think so" the man said as he waved his hands and sent the girls into the kitchen of Halliwell Manor.
Past Piper busied herself making sandwiches for the two of them while Future Piper stared vacantly out of the kitchen window. Once the food was complete the women sat eating quietly until Past Piper was able to find her voice.
"I know how you must feel" Past Piper said causing her future self to look up.
"Listen I don't have the strength to do this with you so please just drop it" the woman replied not bothering to make eye contact.
"I'm aware that you must have gone through hell over the last several months replaying everything from the past year and a half over and over again and still coming to the same conclusion. That we hurt our son badly when all he wanted was to save us. I know that's how you feel because well we're one in the same and I can tell you that I feel really lousy right now. So what I'm asking of you is to trust me enough to take care of him. Just tell me what I need to know so you can go back to our future, to our boys" she couldn't help but smile at her last words.
"I will once I know everything is ok and that Chris is going to be safe" she paused for a second before continuing. "You know you're lucky that you won't have to go through what I did. I mean I wasn't there when he died, but it still tore me apart. It's like I lost Prue, Mom and Grams times a thousand. I keep imagining how horrible his life must have been, at the hands of his brother none the less only to die trying to save his family after we treated him so badly most of the time. And every time I look into my baby's eyes, all the pain and the guilt comes flooding back. Not to mention poor Leo, he can't even hold him without breaking down" Future Piper spoke in a trance like state.
"I still can't believe that I have another little boy"
"We almost didn't" Future Piper replied sadly.
"What?"
"Long story and it's one that I will tell you about after all I don't want to go back to a future where my son no longer exist"
"Oh no, that means I have to…"
"Sleep with Leo, yeah" Future Piper giggled at the looked on her past self's face. "But don't worry about that right now. We have to focus on making the antidote"
"Tell me about him" the woman spoke just above a whisper.
"About who?"
"Chris, I mean baby Chris, what's he like?"
"He's the sweetest little thing. He has this amazing smile, much like he does now and his eyes are so beautiful. They change to green when he's happy and blue when he's upset" the smile slightly faded from her face when she thought about how adult Chris's eyes always seemed to be blue, something that she hoped would change in the new future.
"Their always seem to be blue when I'm around" she spoke quietly as the feelings of shame and guilt over her behavior returned.
"Not for long. Trust me, our baby's eye's are always green" she smiled to herself. Then something dawned on her "Wait a second, where's Paige?" questioned Future Piper with an inquisitive look.
"She never came back with the book?" asked Past Piper with a worried expression. It was just like her sister to play hero only ending up in more trouble then dilemma that she started out fixing.
"No"
Both of the women shared a look before they ran up the stairs. Once they reached the attic panic began to rise in both of them as they noticed the Book of Shadows was still in its place. When they were close enough they read the page that it was currently opened to. The Piper's gasped as they looked over the spell.
"Oh no, Paige" both women said in unison as an intense wave of fear came over them.
In the underworld the darklighters and an undercover Paige were gathered around a table holding a meeting.
"Now that everyone has their orders I expect them to be followed to the letter" the head darklighter spoke before the others disappeared. That's when Paige decided to make her move.
"I have an urgent matter that needs to be handled" she said while carefully making her way towards the man.
"Oh really and what would that be?" he questioned examining the woman.
"There's a whitelighter that's considering a little side change. The only problem is he's been hit with a Phatu arrow, so needless to say he's not of much use to us at the moment" the woman said eyeing the man for any signs of distrust.
Suddenly the darklighter grabbed her arm and searched for something that apparently wasn't there. Looking down at his arm she found the one thing that she had missed, the darklighting symbol that each of them wore on their wrist.
"Witch! I knew it" the man said tightening his hold on her. "This was a big mistake witch. You should never have come here" the man yelled before knocking her to the floor.
"But don't worry, we're going to have a really, really good time" were the last words the charmed one heard before the darkness overtook her.
Insanechildfanfic-I'm glad you're still enjoying the story! Thanks for the review.
Phoebe turner-Hee. I am still amazed by how much you remember.
Septdeneuf-I know and that's what makes me love her character so much. She's always willing to do whatever it takes to save or protect her family even though most of the time Piper and Phoebe treat her like a friend instead of their sister. Stupid writers
Fire Gazer-Oh you think that's something? Just wait it gets much better.
EveryNineSecondsYouDoThisToMe-Thank you ever so much and I hope that this chapter was enjoyable for you.
Wwolf-Hee. Sé que Paige tiene que conseguir siempre en algo. Pero por lo menos su corazón está en lugar derecho. Las gracias por la revisión y mí esperan que usted tuviera gusto de este capítulo también.
Krystal-Here's the newest chapter. I hope you liked it.
Chosenfire-Thanks for the sweet review.
Wonder-Yeah it was a pretty cool chapter to write and it was totally something that I can see Paige doing. Thanks for reviewing.
IcantthinkofaFnick-That's so much for going through this story with me once again. You are the best!
Kikistar-Thank you so much! You are too sweet and I hope this chapter was satisfying enough for ya :)
Anianka-You are so boosting my ego right now :) ! I'm glad you're enjoying the story this much and I hope that you liked this chapter too. P.S. HA if you're evil then I must be the devil! LOL
Sparkling Cherries-As always it's nice to hear from you and I'm happy that you're sticking with me through the reposting of this story. Thanks for reviewing. P.S If I don't get to e-mail you on Wednesday HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
Karone Evertree-Aw. I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope you feel better soon and here's the newest chapter. I hope that it helps to brighten up your day.
JadeAlmasy-Thanks a bunch!
Teal-lover-Ha I KNOW SOMETHING YOU DON'T KNOW. LOL Don't worry chapter 14 will be up before you know it.
Starr Light1-Who doesn't? LOL Yeah I love Paige and how she puts her nephew's (or anyone else in the family who's in trouble) well being before her own. She's a really great character who I've liked since day one and I really wish that Piper and Phoebe (mostly Piper) would start treating more like a sister.
Ilovedrew88- Sorry to tell you but things with Chris are going to get a whole lot worse (or more interesting depending on how you look at it) before it gets better but don't worry, you'll love every minute of it. :)
