He did it for me

Chapter 11

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

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She was stunned by his words, and Piper had been prepared to answer any number of questions that might have included why he died; if they were working on the problem; how they were doing; what's happened since last night; etc. But to ask where her other son was? It seemed a little strange to her. But it did prompt her own concern for her oldest child. For the first time, she looked around and noted that he had yet to come home. In her own haste to get home last night, she remembered that he had appeared to be in a fog when he sought her out at her friends home. She knew how close the two brothers were, and after seeing the devastation in his face last night--she had reason to fear for his sanity. And with that, the world. She quickly thought back to the descriptions she held in the back of her mind of how he could have turned out, and in fact, did--in another timeline. What would they have done if it hadn't been for Chris coming back to save them all? She brushed that thought aside.

Piper's heart raced again. She had left Wyatt in the care of one of her closest friends outside of her sisters, who also happened to be more like family than anything else. Sheila would make certain that he was alright. Wouldn't she? He would be ok. Wouldn't he?

This was too much for the witch to handle and decided that as soon as she got both of her children back safely, she was never letting them out of her sight again. That is until they were old enough to get married. But even then, they would have to live in the manor with their new families. Yep, that's what she would do.

She somehow managed to stammer, "Um, I left him at Sheila's. He wasn't doing so great after, uh--last night."

Chris saw the new surge of panic in her eyes and he attributed it to her concern for Wyatt. He sighed as he thought of what a wreck the older boy must be. He was very familiar with the delicate nature of Wyatt's mental state under extreme duress—because he had seen him loose it before in his own timeline. He raised his eyebrow and voiced a simple, "Oh."

With a squeeze from Penny, Chris took a deep breath and regained some of his confidence, deciding that he would continue as planned. He just needed to stop thinking about them, even though they were standing right in front of him. He also decided that the best way to accomplish that was to take his mind of the subject by doing something that made him feel good. Chris had always wanted to get to know his brother when he wasn't evil, so he pushed aside any unpleasant thoughts and focussed on doing just that.

Tentatively, Chris' family began to approach him again and he bypassed them casually and decided to ignore them all together.

He headed for the attic door in search of the Twice-Blessed Witch as he disregarded their stunned faces.

Unbeknownst to any of them, Wyatt and Sheila had just entered downstairs into the foyer of the Manor, preferring to walk rather than orb in. He needed the added time to prepare himself. Immediately after entering, he sensed his younger brother and turned to Sheila with an enormous grin plastered on his face. "He's back." He grabbed her hand and quickly orbed upstairs to the attic.

Arriving in a swirl of orbs, Wyatt couldn't believe his eyes at the dark-haired teen that stood before him. "CHRIS!" He shouted as he crossed the small distance to the boy, oblivious to the warning shouts of his family to stay back.

The remainder of his family momentarily forgotten, Chris smiled broadly as his brother nearly tackled and enveloped him in his arms. He was positively elated. He couldn't remember the last time that his brother had ever shown any physical affection for him. Wyatt was just never the expressive type. And from looking in on this version of his brother from time to time, he got the feeling that he still wasn't. So for Wyatt to be holding him so tightly now, almost made everything he went through worth it.

As soon as Wyatt began to pull away, he thought that the blonde was going to relinquish his hold. But he surprised him when instead, he pulled him back in and kissed the top of his head, all the while mumbling he was sorry.

Chris laughed heartily and forced his way out of the strong vice-like grip. "Wyatt, bro. Stop slobberin' all over me. We're good, ok."

Wyatt kept apologizing profusely, "I'm so sorry, Chris. This is all my fault. If I hadn't—"

Chris spoke honestly even though he was referring to something much different than the circumstances Wyatt was apologizing for. Green eyes locked with blue as he replied seriously, "It's ok. I never blamed you for anything, Wyatt."

"Then, you're not mad at me?" he asked.

"Of course not. You didn't do anything wrong," Chris emphasized implying that someone else did.

Wyatt nodded gratefully. He tilted his head in confusion as he stared at his brother. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah."

"Are you sure? You seem, I don't know—different? What I mean is, I sense something different about you."

Chris glanced at his great-grandmother nervously before quickly improvising and bending the truth a bit. "Well. You know. Being dead kind of has that effect on a person."

Wyatt seemed to accept the response and replied sternly, "I promise, bro—it's not gonna' be permanent. I will find a way to fix this."

"I know you will." Chris smiled sadly at the determination in his eyes, knowing that as soon as he did, his time here would be over. And it would be back to the "holding pen" as he liked to call it. Or maybe he could finally go with his aunt, grandmother, and great-grandmother to wherever they went when they left him.

Penny smiled warmly at the two brothers. She was happy that younger boy had finally seemed truly happy for the first time in years. And she hated to break up that moment, but they did have another purpose for their visit, so she cleared her throat to interrupt. "Excuse me, boys? I hate to interrupt. But we still have to find out who killed Christopher if we're going to be able to get him back to you in one-walking-talking-and breathing-piece."

Wyatt boasted pompously, "Well that's easy. Because I killed the demon responsible last night. So what do we have to do now to get Chris back?"

Penny narrowed her eyes at his arrogance. She hated when he got cocky like that. 'Must be all that testosterone' she thought grumpily to herself. Penny would never say anything negative out loud about her grandson, but she secretly thought it was a large part of the reason why they ended up in this situation right now. She placed her hands on her hips and replied smartly, "Now we just have to find out who hired him."

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Wyatt's jaw gaped open in shock as Penny's words registered in his brain.

Chris saw his expression and found it rather amusing. Having always wanted to joke around with his brother, he reached under Wyatt's' chin and pushed his mouth shut with an audible snap.

The Twice-Blessed grinned at his brother's antics momentarily before turning back to his great-grandmother in shock. "Hired him? You don't mean…"

The older witch raised her eyebrows self confidently, "That's exactly what I mean. Someone set your brother up. And if we don't find out who and why, it's not going to matter if we bring him back because he'll just be a target again."

Wyatt grew angry at the thought. He turned to his Godmother, "I knew I should have just killed them all!"

Leo spoke up worriedly, "Killed who?"

Sheila could see the distress forming in all of their faces and quickly added to settle their nerves. "He means the demons in the underworld. We took a little trip last night. "

Leo asked in confusion, "But how did you know who to go after?"

"I just went after them all."

Chris watched the gleam in those blue eyes apprehensively. He had seen it all to frequently in the version of his brother he had known all of his life. It was the reason he had come back to the past in the first place.

He remembered all to clearly how Wyatt had lost control after their mothers' death. It wasn't immediately apparent back then—barely noticeable, in fact. But it was there. And it had gown, slowly but surely. It had started as a quest for vengeance that had eventually led to a pleasurable past time.

His world had been destroyed all because of that little gleam. And if left unchecked, all of his hard work and sacrifice could very well have been for nothing.

Chris started to issue a warning, but didn't want the knowledge to reveal his identity, so he quickly closed his mouth. Maybe, he thought, he was fretting over nothing. But it didn't hurt to be too careful where the Twice-Blessed Witch was concerned. He moved away from the circle of family deep in thought.

Piper started to call after Chris but Penny stopped her with a "not now" look. Her motherly instincts were rearing to go, but she reluctantly agreed to give him more time. She turned her attention to her other son. He had seemed to be doing fairly well in the care of her best friend since she had last seen him. However, she was aware that the change was most likely due to seeing his brother again. "How are you doing, Wyatt?"

"How do you think I'm doing, Mom?" he asked incredulously, "My brother and best friend was just killed last night because of me. And if that wasn't bad enough, I find out that it's NOT THE FIRST TIME!" His raised voice drew everyone's attention toward him.

Leo caught the end of his words and gathered what the argument was about. He rushed over to the two and orbed with his oldest son and wife downstairs to prevent Chris from hearing any of the discussion.

In the kitchen, Wyatt shrugged out of his father's grasp and smoothly shifted to avoid her touch as he stared at his parents. His wide blue eyes shone full of hurt and betrayal when he asked, "How could you not tell us about him? About what I could have been? All these years—how could you have not told me everything that my brother did for me?"

Leo stood over his wife as she reached back and locked hands with his for support. He blinked back the tears that welled in his eyes as he recalled how hard he had tried to forget the day his son was killed by his mentor. He had felt devastated by the event for years. But with each passing birthday of his youngest child, the pain gradually lessened. With Wyatt's accusatory words, it had returned full force. "Because we thought that it would be easier for you and Chris if you didn't know what happened."

"I had a RIGHT to know that!" his voice spoke vehemently at first, then suddenly drained of energy as his anger with himself returned. "And maybe if I had, I would have protected him better. He'd still be alive instead of hanging around in the attic with his life hanging on the line…"

"Wyatt, there was nothing you could have done to prevent this!" his father reasoned, "it was all too well planned. We've gotta' focus on that fact, son, if we're going to get him back!"

Wyatt clenched his teeth with barely controlled fury, "Whoever did this is going to pay. I intend to make sure of it." He glared at his parents one last time before heading back upstairs. When he arrived, Wyatt immediately joined his brother on the other side of the room.

Together with the rest of the family, they conversed animatedly and began brainstorming ideas on the conspiracy initiated against the Halliwells.

As Leo orbed Piper upstairs, he found everyone in the corner and joined them, preparing for the long day ahead.

Piper on the other hand, stood back watching her two sons in tears. They were both pulling away from her and things were rapidly spiraling out of control. All of it in the course of only a day, and she didn't know how things had gone so wrong in such a short time.

She headed over to join her family with one additional thought. Wyatt was right about one thing—whoever had caused her family so much grief was going to pay.

Tbc…

AN: Thank you for the reviews! They mean so much to me. They mean I update more often, and stay up later. And they mean I'll get less sleep tonight, and be tired when I go to work in the morning. But then you wonderful people will review and it'll be all better again:) I so hope you like it.