He did it for me
Chapter 8
By: teal-lover
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Being twice blessed, Wyatt thought that nothing could ever hurt him. It's devastating to find out how wrong you can be. Takes place in the future that Chris changed.
Chris just turned 19, and Wyatt is three months shy of his 21st birthday.
Disclaimer in chapter 1
AN: You guys have just been so wonderful to me with the reviews, that I got so excited and worked alllll weekend to get this update. I hope you like it :)
Chris now sat in a chair with his head between his legs. He had felt lightheaded after hearing the shocking information from his Great Grandmother and she insisted that he sit before he fell. He shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair, "NoNoNo. That's not possible, Grams. There's just NO WAY he can be me." He stood up and pointed to his chest, "I'm me! Not HIM"
Penny smiled patiently at the second version of her youngest grandson while she tried to explain to him once again, as she had been doing repeatedly for the past several hours. "Darling, it is true. He is you. He is Christopher Perry Halliwell."
He shook his head adamantly again, "Nope. I don't believe it. My family wouldn't have kept something like this from me. They would have told me if this were true. Now who is he really?"
Her patience wearing thin, she clenched her teeth as she spoke and tried to get him to accept it. "Well it IS true. Whether you like it or not. They didn't tell you because they didn't want you to have a complex over it. Although, I'm starting to see the wisdom in their decision. Now accept the facts and move on. We've got bigger things to worry about right now other than your little identity crisis! NOW LET'S GO!"
Penny Halliwell spun on her heels, her bracelets dangling and dancing in tune to her angry march back down the hallway. Halfway down, she didn't turn or look up when she paused and shook her finger in the air, "There must be something wrong with my hearing because I don't hear footsteps behind me!" She cocked her head and listened for the hurried shuffling of his feet. She smiled and murmured to herself as soon as she heard what she was listening for, "Hmm. After over a quarter century of being dead, I still got it."
She burst open the door to find her daughter Patty and her granddaughter Prue gathered around her original great-grandson Chris.
Patty watched with a humorous grin as the young man slinked in behind her mother looking sufficiently scolded. Before greeting him, she quietly walked over to the older woman to calm her before they continued, "Mom. Take it easy. You know this is hard for him. I knew Prue and I should have gone to meet him. Your temper got the best of you, didn't it?"
Penny whispered to her only daughter so the other's in the room couldn't hear. "He's just so damn irritatingly stubborn. Just like his mother."
She grinned knowing that Penny's temperament had obviously worn off on her family in question, "Hmm. I wonder where they both got that from?" Penny huffed and was about to reply just as they were interrupted by the heated confrontation arising on the other side of the room.
"Impostor!" Chris accused.
"YOU'RE THE IMPOSTOR! I was Christopher Perry Halliwell long before YOU came along! I was the one that got YOU conceived. That means I'M the original, YOU'RE the copy!"
"BULLS--"
Penny stormed over and stood between them, "WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE, young man. Didn't your mother ever teach you not to swear in front of a lady?"
"Ha!" the other boy gloated.
Penny faced him, "And you! Stop egging him on, Chris! You've been here long enough to know better."
Pointing to himself, the younger version sniped, "He's not Chris, I am."
"Well so am I!"
Prue saw her grandmother trying to reign in her own fiery temper and decided to mediate between the two identical boys before either they came to blows, or Penny did. "Look, you two. I love you both, and I don't want to see you get hurt. Because that's what's going to happen if you don't knock this off. I've seen Grams get angry before. And it's not pretty."
Patty took her cue from her oldest daughter and tried as well. "We're going to have to come up with a way to distinguish the two of you apart. At least as far as names go."
Penny spoke up with her definitive answer, leaving no room for debate. "That's easy. I know that neither of you like the name Perry--so one of you will be Chris, and one of you will be Christopher. The only thing you two get to decide is which one you will be. Now what's it going to be?"
They both spoke at the same time, "I'm gonna' be Chris!"
"No I'm gonna' be Chris!" they tried again.
"Grams." They whined simultaneously.
She laughed at their intonation, "Do you girls hear an echo in here? Well I'm glad you both finally agree on something." She turned to the newest version and spoke in no uncertain terms, "I'm settling this right now. You will be addressed as Christopher. He will be Chris." Since he never liked his full name, he started to protest but she narrowed her eyes, "Get over it. He's had it longer. He will continue to have it." She flicked her eyes from one boy to the other, daring them to say anything else. "Now. Onto more important matters."
Christopher spoke up timidly, almost afraid to face his great grandmother's wrath again. "Can I ask a question?"
Penny had calmed considerably and was back to her normal and sweet demeanor. "Yes dear?"
"Is this heaven? Cause I didn't think I could ever get in trouble in heaven."
The three women laughed and decided that they would probably have no more trouble from him.
"It's not quite heaven." Prue answered. "More of a layover until you get there. But it is a spiritual plane. You see, we came down and intercepted you before you could actually make it to heaven."
"Why? You don't think I'm good enough to make it to heaven?" he asked indignantly.
"Of course we do, sweetie. But if you made it all the way there, there's no chance for you to go back to your family. And none of us are convinced that this was supposed to happen. Like for me, I was supposed to die, so that they could meet Paige. It was even prophesized that the "Eldest Charmed Sister" would give birth to you and your brother. And since some of them even mentioned Leo, that meant that I wouldn't be in the picture at that point."
"There are prophecies about me?"
The older version of the boy, now officially known as Chris, walked over and tapped the younger boy on his forehead as if he was knocking on wood. "Not anymore genius. News flash! You're dead!"
Patty glared at her grandson that spoke while she responded to the other, "Ignore him. He's just a bit irritable because we haven't put him down for his nap yet. Yes Christopher, there are prophecies. And you can't possibly fulfill them if you're dead. That's why it was such a total surprise when we heard what happened to you. We came right down to meet you."
"Then why did you bring him here?" he sniped pointing to the older version of himself.
Chris answered even though the question wasn't directed at him. "Because I never left here. I chose not to go up there."
Christopher raised his eyebrows in confusion, "Why would you want to do that?"
The three women were saddened by the answer they knew he wanted. It broke their hearts to see how much Chris was secretly hurt by his family's actions. Or lack thereof. He tried to pretend that it didn't bother him when they didn't come for him after Gideon killed him. But they knew better.
Patty looked to her daughter and mother and willed them silently to let her handle his question delicately. She knew that the other two could be very blunt in their explanations, and didn't want to hurt the older boy currently in the room. "Well. In case your mother and father tried to bring him back." She added hurriedly, "But you have to understand that they thought he had simply been reborn as you."
Chris mumbled before walking out of the door, "Yeah, sure they did. More like it was just easier for them to pretend like I never existed."
Everyone jumped as the door slammed on his way out.
Patty explained to the boy, "I'm sorry about that Christopher. He's just—very upset right now."
Christopher stared after the door where his mirror image had just exited. The other boy's behavior and reaction that his family hadn't come for him in all these years made him reconsider his identity. Add that to the fact that he reminded him of himself, which was probably why he irritated him so much. They were too much alike. He began to wonder out loud, "He really is me, isn't he?"
All three women sighed and nodded their heads.
"Then I don't understand. How could this have happened?"
"We're not entirely sure ourselves, dear" Penny replied. "But "the how" doesn't really matter at this point. We need to focus on trying to get you back where you belong, on earth with your family." She turned to her daughter and grand-daughter, "Were you two able to find out anything while I was explaining things to Christopher here?"
Prue answered, "I looked in on Piper and Leo, and they were starting to figure out that Christopher had been set up. I don't think they know by who yet, and I wasn't able to find out either."
Christopher's mouth gaped open in horror, "What do you mean I was set up? You mean I was murdered?"
Patty wrapped her arms around his shoulders as she led him to the couch. "Yes, you were. We've been trying to find out who planned all of this, but everyone up there is being very tight-lipped about it."
Prue crossed her arms sternly, "Which leads me to believe that this goes very high up the ranks. I wouldn't put it past those sneaky Elders to do something dirty like this. What I can't figure out is why? I mean, you fight on their side! Why would they want to loose an ally as powerful as you for no reason?"
"There has to be a reason, Prue" Patty added. "We just don't know what it is."
Prue paced back and forth trying think of an explanation, "Then we need to find out what it is. But we're extremely limited as to who we can question by being up here. If the Elders are involved, we don't want to tip our hand and let them know that he's here instead of up there." She turned to her nephew seriously, "Because if they find out you're here, your death is likely to be permanent."
Penny snapped her fingers as an idea formed, "We need to be down there to gather as much information as possible. And I think I know just how to do that. Christopher? I want you to stay here with your Aunt Prue. You'll be safe here with her."
"Where are you going?"
"We're going down to see your family. I think we can figure this out quicker if we all work together."
"Then I should go with you!"
She shook her head, "No, Christopher. Technically, you're not fully dead, so we're not sure if you can be summoned. Besides, Chris will be coming with me."
"WHAT!" he yelled.
Penny covered her ears at the high pitched screech he gave her. "Darling, he's had more experience with investigating things like this than you have. And--"
"No!" Christopher replied emphatically. "You can't take him! I should be the one to go, they're my family!"
Penny glared at him, "Don't be selfish! They're his family too! He has sacrificed everything he ever knew so that you could have the wonderful life you've been enjoying for the past 19 years. He's never gotten to experience any of that, but he earned it! He lost his mother when he was 14, and the rest of his family shortly after. His brother was an evil tyrant that ruled the world and made his life a living hell every chance he got. His life was positively miserable. And the few good things he did have, he gave up for you! We're going to fix things so that you get to go back to them for the rest of your life. Why can't you spare just a little of that happiness for the one person who made it possible for you?"
Patty crossed her arms angrily at the young man in silent agreement with her mother.
Prue looked on disappointedly at his selfish behavior, "You owe him!"
Christopher turned away from the three generations of Halliwell women to avoid the glares. He really felt bad now, but he couldn't help it—this was all a lot to take in. First he finds out that he's dead. Then he finds out that somehow, his soul managed to get split in two. Then he finds out that he had been murdered—most likely by people that his family had trusted. But then he thought about what Grams said about how bad the other Chris' life had been. And how he had sacrificed everything for his future to be a good one. So when he really thought about it, he really did owe his life—and everything in it to the other Chris. They were right. The least he could do was let him share a little bit of the happiness that he had.
He blushed and stared at his feet shamefully, "Ok. I'm sorry. You guys are right. He should go."
Penny nodded in appreciation and ruffled his hair, "I'm so glad you agree, Dear."
Before she turned to head out, Patty pulled her aside and asked her quietly, "Do you think he's ready for that? To see them again? After all they've put him through? He was so hurt when they didn't come for him, Mom."
"I think this will be good for him. He's been here so many years, and maybe now he'll finally be able to move on and come with us."
Sighing heavily, Patty threw her arms up and gestured wildly, "I just don't want to see him hurt again, Mom."
Penny stood her ground and replied firmly, "He won't be. Because I'm not planning on telling them who he is. As far as they're concerned, he was reborn as the Christopher standing right here in this room. And they'll shower him with all of the love and attention he's always deserved."
Patty crossed her arms in disbelief, "Mom! That's dishonest. And they'll never believe it."
"No it's not. And yes they will. Chris and Christopher look completely identical, which is really no surprise since they are essentially the same person. They even act alike. Trust me, My Darling Daughter--none of them will ever notice the difference."
Penny kissed Patty's cheek and turned to leave in no uncertain terms, "Now I'm taking him and that's final."
Tbc…
AN: Just for clarification—the Chris from this timeline that died in the first chapter will now be known as Christopher, and the original Chris that Gideon killed will still be known as Chris.
So what did you think????
Ok, more on the family next chapter.
