Chapter Twenty-Six

Chris lounged on the sofa tapping his fingers edgily. For the first time in many years, he had absolutely nothing to do.
It was strange. Very strange. There were no pressing demons to vanquish, no leads to other demons to follow, no demon groups to infiltrate, no… nothing. He didn't even have to worry about what Caden was doing, because Paige and Phoebe had taken her out to a movie. Leo was at the club, sorting things out for tonight's band and Wyatt was at nursery school.

And, to make matters even worse, there was absolutely nothing on television.

"Make room for your old mother, Chris!" Piper said, edging her way to the sofa with two mugs in hand.

"You're not old," he was quick to reply, "not compared to dad, anyway."

Piper swatted his legs and pursed her lips together into a thin line, arranging herself and her large belly as comfortably as possible before handing him one of the mugs and sipping her own steaming tea with a sigh.
"If you need something to do, the kitchen needs cleaning."

"I'm good."

Nodding, they drank in a secure silence until Piper had nothing but dregs left and a pressing need for the toilet, to which she attended to and returned, finding that Chris hadn't moved, still resting peacefully.
"How are you feeling, Christopher?"

He lifted a sleepy eyelid like it had a tonne weight attached to it and eyed her carefully as she sank onto the cushions again.
"Not bored, if that's what you mean."

"Hmm."

Letting the nothingness continue, Piper relied on Chris to do the talking in his own time; she was discovering, now that she had time to pause for breath that he just needed a chance. A chance to think and sort through what he was feeling, and what he could risk letting people know.

"I guess. This is weird, y'know? I haven't got anything to do. There's no one to protect anymore."

"Innocents?"

"Aside from them -they'll always need saving, but you're safe, Wyatt's safe, Caden's safe… but there's no one else left." He rubbed a hand over his face distractedly, "And then when we go back, they'll all be back, but I'll just see them dead all the time."

"Uh-huh."

"Does dad even know about Ryan yet? Or Jules? And then there's actually going back…"

"You keep talking about going back,"

"I know."

"You're welcome to stay as long as you like."

"I know, but Caden needs to go to school… if it works like that."

"Why don't you go out? Relax? Mix with people your own age for a change?"

"I don't see that going down well if I get ID-ed, mom. For one, if I had one it would say I'm not even born yet, and two, I left it in the future."

"Smart ass."

Silence consumed them, one neither felt obliged to break immediately again, until, some minutes later, Piper bought the conversation back 'round to the point they had to sort out.
Returning, as it were, to the future.

"You're going back soon, aren't you?"

He paused, holding her gaze for a full five seconds before looking away and speaking, "We have to: we don't belong here, mom. I've done what I came here to do and now, now the only thing left to do is go home, I guess."

"Have you told Cadey?"

"We talked about it last night, she's scared -"

"Don't deny you aren't either, Chris."

The twenty-two-year-old rolled his eyes at his mother but didn't disagree with her, instead he merely carried on, "and we don't know what to expect, but we've got each other so…"

"When, Chris?"

"Tomorrow night," he sighed, "We're going home tomorrow night."

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Author's Note: 27 up in a couple of days!

Avius: heheeeheee you'll soon know:)

Sparkling Cherries: i did kinda forget about it (ooooopsie, would forget my head if it wasn't tied down to my neck!) but i'm so happy to see you're back and still enjoying it:D yup i did, it struck me as a wicked way to go :D

Night-Owl123: :D

bunn2007: here ya go :D happily provided!