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The Ties That Bind
Chapter Five

Chris felt strange, or not so much strange as… comfortable. Safe. And, whole, he could feel the ground under the house, feel his powers thrumming inside of him just like they used to. He hadn't felt like it for years so to feel so now was very strange.
Somebody was stroking his hair, just like his mom did when he was little; he turned towards the sensation and snuggled down further and heard a light laugh. He knew that laugh; he breathed in deeply and knew that scent too, that mixture of perfume and her favourite spice, cinnamon. He opened his eyes and blinked in the dim light, staring blearily at a blurred brown-haired figure beside him, "Mom?"

"Yes, honey, it's okay, you're safe now."

Chris rubbed his eyes to remove the sleep that'd settled in the corners of his eyes and wondered what was wrong with this scene. He strained his ears and heard nothing, except a few undeterminable sounds from the kitchen and realised, as his sleep-addled brain woke up with a jolt, that he was still in the past. That's why it was so quiet; there was only little Wyatt alive at the moment… where was Caden?

"Where's Caden?"

"Caden?" Piper looked confused, making room for him to sit up on the couch that Paige must have orbed him to.

"Cadey, my," he paused, he couldn't give away anything about the Halliwell's and their future families, "my friend from the future?"
He watched her eyes take on that hardened look that he knew meant she was angry. What had Cadey done? Surely she wasn't in trouble already?

"She left," There was that cold tone too. "She must have blinked after she did whatever it was she did to you. It's okay she's gone now. Honey, I don't think she was who you think she was."

An icy lead weight settled in his stomach as what Piper said began to sink through and he sat bolt upright, getting his legs tangled in the blanket that he was snuggling in to just a minute earlier.
"Blinked? What! No, mom she saved me! I fell off the bridge and she made sure I was safe, that I didn't die!"

"Then how did she get here? Only warlocks can blink and only demons can shimmer, Chris. There isn't any other way she could've got here. Maybe Wyatt sent another of his lackeys in your friends form…"

"Mom! She isn't evil, she's good! And there are other ways of transportation, I've, I've got to go find her. I'll be right back," he quailed under her gaze that dared him to not be right back and orbed out with a final, "I promise."

Chris found Cadey in the same place he found her last time she went missing: at the beach. Except that in this time the water wasn't sludge and it wasn't a horrible brown-green-black murky colour; it was a crystalline blue-green to his eyes, crashing into the rocks and smelling of salt. The beach was sandy too, there weren't any bodies rotting in corners or under the shadows of the rocks or being washed in by the sluggish sludge-filled tide. The sand was still soft. "Why did you leave the manor? It isn't any safer for an eleven year old to roam the streets of San Francisco now that it is in our time y'know."

"Piper was mad at me for hurting you. I don't want her to be mad at me, I don't wanna be yelled at by her."

Chris sat next to her, watching his sister from the corner of his eye. She sat like she did that day when he was fourteen and she was five: legs pulled up to her chest and arms hugging them closer.
The only differences were they were older now and their mother was alive.
"You can still call her mom with me, you know that right?"

She shook her head fiercely screwing her eyes shut; her ponytail began to fall out of the overly stretched hair band.
"No I can't. If I think of her as Piper I'm less likely to slip up in front of them."

"What about Leo?"

"His name's on my birth certificate don't mean I have to call him dad."

"You used to," he pointed out, "and for you it's doesn't, you're not allowed to have bad grammar yet." He wiped some of the sea-spray from his eyes and noticed that she didn't bother: the seawater intermingled with salty tears that were slowly tracking down her face. He knew then she hadn't noticed, otherwise they'd have been hastily rubbed away and lied about already.

This was why he didn't want her in this time -for all her ability to deal with evil (an ability, he told himself, she shouldn't have had to cultivate in the first place) she was still just eleven.

"Yeah well," she said and sniffed in the cold air, "Leo sucks, you shouldn't have tried to keep what he did to you guys from me for so long. I'm not a child."
He shook his head; there was the other problem. She acted and sometimes even thought a lot older than she was, because in their time not growing up meant not living to grow up.
Another thing on his list: to make sure all his family got a childhood.

"Is Piper still mad at me?"

"She thinks you're evil, that you shimmered or blinked into the attic."

"Oh." She played with the laced of her sneakers and strands of hair fell forward, "She's not gonna blow me up is she? Or try to vanquish me?"

"I hope not." He stretched his legs, holding out a hand to help her up, "If she does we'll tell her that after she and Leo got married it was easier for other witch/whitelighter couples to stay together and have kids. You're from one of them."
She nodded and clambered easily over the rocks, leaving him behind to levitate down to the shore -since the beach was empty there was no reason he had to make a fool out of himself with his inability to climb the overly large stones. He was more of a ball sports kinda guy; basketball was what he was best at.
"Ready to go back?"

"Na-uh." She chewed on her bottom lip, pulling it in and over her teeth "I wanna go for a walk."

"We're not going for a walk unless it's to 1329 Precott Street, Pip. C'mon, I'll be right with you the entire time."

"Promise? Even if Piper tries to blow me up?"

"Even if she does try to blow you up." He took her hand, and with one final check for mortal bystanders, orbed them back to the Manor.

The world re-appeared to a disconcerting scene: his aunts were trapped within the crystal cage that they usually used for demons. "Paige? Phoebe? What are you doing in there?"
Their lips moved but no sound came to Chris or Cadey -someone had either removed their ability to speak or soundproofed the cage.
"What? Speak slower!"
It didn't help much, especially since he couldn't read lips, and by the screwed up look of Cadey's face, she couldn't either.

"I think they're calling you a useless pathetic excuse for a witch, since you forgot to finish that spell from earlier."
That voice. That voice.

"Wyatt." He spat, "What do you want?"

"Come now Chris you're supposed to look up to me, not spit at me! And, well, you know me…" he swung something silver around on a finger. A necklace -mom's necklace, "I like to finish the big things that I start."

Piper had been wearing that necklace earlier -if Wyatt had that then he had Piper too. He never thought Wyatt would stoop this low, not on purpose! Chris felt his power bubbling inside him and Cadey glared daggers at Wyatt. The ground began to tremor imperceptibly; the wind outside began to buffet the windows. He stood in front of her, blocking her view and spoke low, "What've you done with mom? Where is she?"

The all to familiar smirk re-appeared, twisting Wyatt's facial features into an even more sickly expression. "You want her Christopher? And you, Caden? You want her too?" He held the necklace, with its tiny row of blue stones swishing along the smooth chain, up for them to see clearly, swaying it in front of their eyes. "If you want her, go find her. She'll be with dead old dad, if he isn't already dead. If you do before the next day chimes its first… eight? Shall we say? I won't kill her today, and you can live a little longer."

"Wyatt don't! Please! They're -" Caden clamped her mouth shut abruptly, remembering that she was Cadey Pearson at the last minute. She wasn't Caden Halliwell anymore.

"Tick tock tick tock, can't waste time because of the clock!" Wyatt let out a harsh laugh before blinking out, taking the necklace with him. Chris ran to the remaining sisters and let down the cage like he hadn't had a chance to earlier.

"What happened? When did he get here? Was mom okay? How did he get Leo?" Chris demanded as soon as they stumbled free.

"Whoah whoah whoah there! Slow down!"

Phoebe put her fingers to her temples and rubbed circles, "Ya, and, Cadey, is it? Honey, calm down. We'll find Piper in time."
Caden ignored her, sitting down on the couch and putting her head in her hands.
"What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing," Chris sighed, "She's just worried. She's… will be… a family friend, whenever Wyatt hid something we never found it. Not without him literally taking us to it."

"And he's hidden Piper now too!"

"Look, we know she's okay, so that's a start, right?" Paige looked so hopeful Chris couldn't fault her for trying, even if their situation was so completely devoid of it. He attempted to humour her, but it didn't come out quite right.

"How is it okay? Piper is gone! How do you know she's okay?"

"Because, silly, you're not fading."

"But I am." Caden lifted up an arm, staring at it, transfixed. She could make out the shadows of Chris, Phoebe and Paige behind it.

Author's Note: Meh... angst soon lol. I've got a whole backstory for Chris' future (the evil Wyatt one) half in my head and half on the computer lol, so I'm trying to work it into the story ;)
-sniffle- I don't have the money to pay for 's extra services, so if there are any lurkers -pokes into the virtual darkness- pleeeeease review! I don't get stats for my stories/chapters and whatever :(

Review Thank You's To:
Jackie: Heheee :)

melissa-p: Well it's a day later than the latest date i intended to post it since this one came out at the same time as chapter four (i was one a roll! woo!), lol, but that's not so bad :D

darcy101: I'm sure you can! Do you have a fanfic account?

rhia: thanks :) And it's not even finished yet!

Queen of the Elven City: I was beginning to think I'd lost you! It was a nice little surprise, I cam on to upload and I had a review alert :D I love that kinda surprise!