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The Ties That Bind
Chapter Fifteen

Phoebe curled up in her bed, distressed in her sleep by something unseen. She went to sleep restless with worry over their youngest-come-oldest nephew who was still in the Underworld when she finally called it quits at a little past midnight.
The minute she fell into a slumber, the images began and hadn't ceased since.
Phoebe, still entrapped in her sleep, wrapped her hands over her ears as her eyes flicked back and forth, up and down; back and forth, taking in everything they saw; the good, and the bad.

"Hey Wyatt, you can come in now buddy." Leo smiled at his eldest son, taking him by the hand to lead him into the attic.

"Meet your new brother, Wyatt." Piper held the tiny baby to her chest but lifted a weak hand to rearrange the blankets and let Wyatt see the baby. Unseen by her, but seen by Phoebe, the five-year-old scowled at the baby. Piper glanced around, trying to find something, "Speaking of brothers Leo, where's Chris?"

Phoebe watched as the whitelighter's eyes widened and he sprinted back down the stairs, re-appearing a minute later with the two-year old in his arms, "Mommy!" Chris reached out for his mother, squirming in Leo's grasp.

Another cry broke through the scene; a louder one and Phoebe had the odd sensation of seeing herself stand-up from a conversation with what looked like an elf midwife and hasten off.

"Hey honey," said Piper, "come here and meet your little brother."
Unlike he had done with Wyatt, who was more than capable of walking himself, Leo gave up trying to pacify Chris and put him on the floor with a frustrated sigh, leaving the toddler to make unsteady steps over to what looked like a make-shift bed on which Piper lay. The whitelighter picked up Wyatt, who promptly stopped scowling.
"Aw who's a clever little boy? You wanna say hello?"

Chris grasped the edge of the bed with determined fingers and clambered up to get a better view of the latest addition to their family.
He smiled lightly when the baby cooed at him, "Bruva."

"Brother."

"Brathar."

"Close enough, hun."

With the ability of dream logic the scene shifted, morphing to something similar to before, except this time it was she on the makeshift bed, Jason next to her with a little girl as Piper and Paige handed them each a little baby. Twins. One wrapped in pink, the other blue.
Once more she wasn't bound to the mortal way of seeing, and her viewpoint encased whatever needed to be seen, and this time she saw an older Wyatt, about seven, glaring through the barely-cracked-open door. He didn't seem all too happy about his young cousins.

The scene altered again and Phoebe found herself observing older children. A group of boys were throwing a ball randomly amongst themselves -not in any particular pattern, by the looks of it the aim was to catch each other off guard. Their surroundings looked distantly familiar. Almost like the Manor's own back yard but it was much too big, a double check confirmed that indeed, the Manor was too large as well -it was joined to the left neighbour now and the fence was gone… hence the now large garden. 1330 had the biggest back yard for half a block.
The boys chatted about random things -baseball, school, football, basketball, demons, football, school plays, basketball, homework, baseball, warlocks... Yes, definitely Halliwell children.
Suddenly a younger boy with light-brown hair faked passing to the left, reversing and throwing it straight across the circle to the tallest one, definitely a teenager, who fumbled it. As it slipped from his grasp it disappeared in a shimmering of orbs and reappeared in his hands.
"Wyatt no powers! We're not allowed doofus!"

The teenager, Wyatt, smirked at the other boy, "Do you see any of our mom's around? What they don't know won't hurt them."

"We'll tell mommy, Wy!" The two youngest spoke up in unison -another set of twins. Piper's twins, identical even down to their shoelaces.

Wyatt rolled his eyes, something that she saw Chris do at least twice a day, but the way this teen did it held no humour, no sarcasm, just a condescending annoyance. The amicable mood of a minute earlier was gone.

"You won't tell mom if you like those trucks you play with so much."

The second oldest stepped between the twins and Wyatt, and from the hair and deep green eyes she recognised so well she knew it could only be Chris, using himself as a barrier.
"Don't threaten them, Wy, they're playing by the rules. You should too, take a forfeit."

"And why should I?"

The original spokesperson piped up, "Because they're the rules?"

"Oh shut up, Nate. Rules like that are for losers. You can't make me do anything."

"We can tell mom that you used your magic for personal gain again. 'Cause we saw you using it on your school work a few days ago too!"

"Ryan, you go cryin' to mom and she'll never believe you, or Ben or Brennan. Or any of you, for that matter."
A silence fell over the group; apparently what Wyatt said held a heavy truth. Satisfied that they would keep their silence, Wyatt orbed the ball away and stomped back into the house without a backward glance.

The twins sniffed and rubbed their eyes, "Our ball!"

Chris knelt down to their eye level and smiled sadly, "Don't worry, he'll bring it back eventually. How 'bout we play with one of my and Ryan's baseballs?"

"'Kay." The one on the left whispered, and the other nodded in agreement.

The colours blurred in the now familiar way she recognised as being taken to a different moment.


It wasn't the last of the night, and when the alarm started its daily rude awakening at six-thirty Phoebe awoke just as tired, if not more so, than when she went to bed.
So, going on two hours later, after a lukewarm shower to wake up, Phoebe got dressed and made herself up for the day (granted with slightly more concealer underneath the foundation around her eyes than she usually used) and went downstairs for the obligatory cup of extra-strong coffee.

"Have you seen Chris around?" she asked Paige, trying her very best to sound nonchalant as she took the biggest mug on hand from the cupboard and poured the last of the coffee into it.

"Sorry hun, not for awhile. Why?" Paige spread a dollop of something on her bagel and took a bite.

"Oh no reason, but if he doesn't show up soon I'll be the one killing him."

"Any reason?"

Phoebe gave her a grim smile, unwilling to reveal what her dreams had shown her -dreams that felt real but, lets face it she thought, still could've been just very realistic, lucid dreams. "Several, but I've got to go if I'm gonna be on time. Just let him know I'm after his future butt, alright?"

"Righty, well is it alright if I leave him a note? 'Cause I've got to go pick up some information about my newest temp job in like, half an hour."

"Fine, just so long as he knows!" Phoebe said, walking out of the kitchen as she did so and picking up her keys and jacket in one swoop was at the doorway as Piper came down the stairs with Wyatt in her arms.

"As long as who knows what?" she asked inquisitively.

"I've got to go, talk to you later." Blowing a kiss goodbye to her sisters and nephew she flew out the door, though not literally, and prayed that Chris was all right.

Piper shook her head at Phoebe and carried on into the kitchen to fix up breakfast for Wyatt and herself; ended up having to make a whole fresh pot of coffee (nobody else bothered to after the last was finished) and make Wyatt two breakfasts after he threw the first all over the kitchen walls with a giggle and a wave of his hand.
"Has Chris been in yet?"

Paige rolled her eyes as she drained her own coffee, "No, he hasn't."

"Hey hey hey! What's with the eyes there, missy?"

"You, Pheebs… between the two of ya I'm surprised you don't know when he uses the bathroom."

"Paige."

"Yeah yeah, but tell Chris Phoebe wanted to speak to him, alright? I've gotta go, y'know, work." Paige finished with a groan and left mother and son alone, the former with ill soothed fears dancing with her unborn child. Something wasn't right.

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Author's Note: I swear the attack is coming.... :D However, down to Prudence.Halliwell's request I've decided to give you guys the opportuinty to vote for more family bonding in the form of flashbacks to the future, or flashbacks to things i've mentioned (i.e: the shopping trip). So, just say so in the review :) Yes or no, detail if you want :D

Review Thank You's and Replies To:
Panther28: Aww thank you :) I guess from your perspective, this update was SUPER fast! :D

Pruedence.Halliwell: Let me down? Calm down girl! I'm just glad you reviewed! Every review I love :D More bonding? Well.. maybe I'll put that in. I've got an interesting thing planned around Chapter Twenty Two/Three, I could have a flashback to that trip if you want :D Just lemme know in a review... tell you what (adds more to the A/N)
Future Piper's ignorance to her children's powers is... both her fault and the kids. THEY didn't want her to know, and SHE wasn't looking to find any more than what she knew about. Presumptions. It aaaall comes down to presumptions, I guess :) Does that help any? Feel free to say no and I'll work it into the story sooner :D
ChArMeDcRaZiChIcK: Hay score for your baseball team :D Mmmm sleep :D

Queen of the Elven City: LMAO! Aw man you and me are soooo on the same ironic wave length :D

psychokitty3: How could I resist that enthusiasim!!

Sparkling Cherries: Okay I am taking a bizarre pleasure in pulling ya'll along... Yeees my plot... my plot is my preeeeecious :D

DrewFullerFan4Life: Didn't want to have you waiting too long :D