He did it for me

Chapter 27

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: I had to break up the chapter for consistency because it was so long. So, I'll split it into about 3-4 parts.

And LOOK OUT, 1 curse word here:)

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Wyatt waived his hand, immediately sheathing the room in complete darkness. If they got through, he wanted the element of surprise on his side. He blocked off his whitelighter senses to avoid detection. The only problem was, if they couldn't sense him, he couldn't sense them either. But he would just have to rely on good old fashioned eyesight and intuition. Wyatt was glad that his father had thought to train him in such circumstances should his powers ever fail.

He crouched down into a fighting stance, waiting patiently, sword in hand. His eyes adjusted to the darkness just as the familiar trail of orb lights coalesced in front of the cabins only entrance. Wyatt felt that it was because of him that both of his brother's were dead. Determined that the intruders would not harm his new found brother, he decided to attack first, ask questions later. He wouldn't let Chris down again. It just wasn't an option.

As soon as the figure was partially formed, he charged as fast as he could run, which happened to be extremely fast for the former captain of his high school track team.

The blonde's bare feet pounding across the floor was the only indication that something was headed for the newly formed intruder, who barely had enough time to send the other's scrambling before ducking.

The intruder stared up in shock from his position on the ground as the sword imbedded itself only millimeters from where his head had just stood. "SHIT!" he cursed and rolled away as the sword came crashing down towards him again.

"Are Elder's even allowed to swear?" a disembodied voice asked.

"WYATT! PUT THAT DAMN THING DOWN BEFORE YOU HURT SOMEONE!"

Excalibur clattered to the floor as he asked in shock, "MOM?"

"Would someone please turn the lights on?"

It was Chris who had flipped the switch from his position on the balcony watching the scene unfold. He was still mesmerized by the fact that his brother had very nearly taken his own father's head off. 'I wonder if something like that would have been permanent?' he mused.

"Sorry Dad," Wyatt said sheepishly as he helped his father up, "I was only looking out for Chris. And you kind of snuck up on us…"

"I WAS NOT SNEAKING! And you couldn't sense it was me!" The man yelled incredulously, still a little unnerved by what had just transpired.

"I blocked my sensing so that whoever was breaking in wouldn't know where to find me and get the upper hand. Look, whatever is going on, we thought it may involve the Elders, and Grams was worried enough to send Chris away from the Manor so I wasn't going to take any chances…" he babbled defensively.

Piper placed her hand on his shoulder while she glanced up at Chris, "It's ok Wyatt. I'm glad you were looking out for him."

"How did you find us? I cloaked myself, and I thought I did it pretty well" he sighed in disappointment.

Leo looked on proudly, "You did, son. I couldn't sense you at all, and we had a hell of time getting through your shield. If it wasn't for the Power of Three, I don't think we could have. But we had a little help finding this place." He said as he nodded in Sheila's direction.

She stepped forward smiling warmly as he welcomed his godmother, "It is my house, Wyatt. But like I told you before, you're welcome to it anytime. And since no one else knew about it, I figured that with it being such a remote location, this would be an ideal place for the two of you to hide out." Pulling out of his embrace, she stared in amazement while she ran her fingers along the deep lacerations extending across the wooden entrance, courtesy of Excalibur, "This thing is solid oak, Wyatt. And don't think you're going to get off scott free by the way, Mr. You owe me for that door."

Wyatt smoothed his hair back and blushed furiously. "I don't exactly have a paying job, Aunt Sheil."

Sheila added helpfully, enjoying watching the Twice-Blessed Witch squirm. "That's ok, we're always in need of a copy boy at the firm. You can work it off."

While Wyatt groaned in disappointment at the idea of working in a normal job, Leo's eyes focused intently on the brunette glaring down at them from the balcony. "Listen, Wy. Do you mind staying down here with your Aunts while your Mother and I go and talk to Chris."

"Yes, actually I do mind. Whatever you have to say to him, you can say it in front of me."

Piper shook her head and added firmly, "Wyatt, this really doesn't concern you."

He folded his arms defiantly, "It does if it involves my brother."

Phoebe leaned in and whispered, "He's not exactly who you think he is. Listen—I upset him earlier, and I know I screwed up. But there's just some things you don't understand so we're all going to have to tread carefully around him."

Wyatt backed away from her defensively, "Don't tell me how to behave around him, I think I know him a whole lot better than you do!"

Piper was growing angry, "Wyatt, you don't know him at all."

"Neither do you. And that's part of the problem," he answered.

Piper threw her husband a questioning glance, silently asking if he thought their oldest son was aware of who was currently standing on the balcony. She tried to sidestep her oldest who was standing at the base of the steps blocking their path. "Wyatt. Please move out of the way. We need to talk to Chris."

Chris folded his arms and called out to them, "Say whatever you have to say. Just do it from down there."

Piper reasoned, "Chris, please come down here. What we have to talk about isn't something that should be shouted from one floor to another."

Apparently, Leo thought, that Piper was positive who the young man was. But he himself had no idea what on earth he could possibly ever say to make things right with him if it was indeed the first version. He hoped, even though it was extremely doubtful, that Chris would prove him wrong and answer the question he had just thought of to ask. His heart rate increased as he questioned, "Chris, where did I take you last month where you asked me for something? It was something big. Do you remember?"

Chris blinked, but didn't even bother to look confused. It was clear that he didn't know the answer from his blank stare. He was done hiding from them, it seemed, but he wasn't going to make it easy for them either.

Leo took a deep breath and added softly, "How about we stop pretending and you start with why you're so angry with us?"

Chris realized that they probably knew who he was from the pleading and guilty looks on their faces. He pointed to himself indifferently, "I don't have anything to say. Particularly not to any of you."

Everyone jumped visibly when he turned and stalked back into the bedroom, the door slamming shut behind him.

Having enough of trying to sidestep Wyatt, Leo grabbed his wife's hand and orbed them into the room they had just been shut out of, followed closely by the others. "Fine. If you don't want to say anything, then how about you just listen. You're angry because you think we don't love you too, right?" He surmised.

Chris shrugged his shoulders with indifference, "Nope. To be angry, I guess I would have to give a damn about what you think, but I don't. So why don't you just go about your business, find your real son, and leave me the hell alone and be done with it."

"You are our real son."

"Don't call me that, Leo. I'm not your son!"

Leo clasped his hands together in desperation, trying to get the boy to understand. "Yes, Chris. You were before, are now, and always will be. Look, we know you're not the Chris that we raised. But it doesn't matter. Not to us. I've missed you so much. We all have."

Chris scoffed, "Oh please. If you missed me you would have been looking for me. But I guess in almost 20 years, you just couldn't find the time."

Piper tried to reason, "Why would we look for you when we thought we already knew where you were?"

The young brunette ignored her and stepped closer to the older man, challenging him mere inches from his face, "Admit it Leo. You're just like MY LEO. You've abandoned me every chance you ever got. The rest of you are no better."

Leo tried to convey his sincerity, "No—We would have never—NEVER—I tell you, abandone you intentionally, Chris. We just never thought it was possible for the two of you to exist separately. We've always believed that you were a part of the other Chris. You have no idea how often I—We've thought of you. When he was little, every single day when I looked into Christopher's eyes, all I could see were your eyes."

Green eyes stared back at the Elder incredulously, "Oh, so now you're trying to convince me that you don't love him now either? What is it with you guys? Whoever happens to be in standing in front of you, you'll tell us whatever you think we want to hear?"

Piper placed her hand on his forearm, "Of course not, Chris. We love him. And we love you. Why can't you accept the fact that we love both of you?"

Having enough of feigning indifference, Chris finally lost his patience and blew up. "BECAUSE YOU LEFT ME! NOT HIM. I'm the one you didn't give one damn second thought about, not him."

Phoebe tried hard to keep silent during the conversation as she promised, but she couldn't help herself when she blurted out, "How could you think that, we're your family."

Chris laughed absurdly, "No, my family's dead. You're just a cheap imitation."

Wyatt shouted indignantly, "HEY!"

Patting his shoulder, Chris winked, "You know I didn't mean you, Wy. Can we go shopping now? I'm in the mood for something—pink."

Wyatt narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth, "We're not done yet."

"Oh, yes we are." His eyes narrowed as they met all others in the room, "We were done the second you all decided to sweep me under the rug. It's a real good thing my body disappeared—that way you didn't have to clean up any mess or spend any money on a funeral."

Piper squeezed her husband's hand, his blunt words stinging her eyes more so than the salty tears welling up in them. "Chris, please. We didn't know…"

"And you didn't bother to find out, did you?" a strangely familiar voice reproached behind them.

Everyone spun around in shock, save for Chris who merely smiled warmly at the new arrivals. He had begun to feel like a caged animal with his family closing in around him. He didn't like the way they made him feel like he owed them something; as if he were supposed to just nod his head and forgive them so easily just because they had explained. That he should forget the past 19 years of despair that he had experienced waiting for something that would never happen. For someone that would never come…

Now that two of his biggest supporters had come to his rescue, Chris began to relax. His shoulders slumped and he sighed contentedly as the tension just melted from his body. He watched intently as they made their way through the cluster of gaping family members, ignoring all in favor of reaching his extended arms.

Chris was tired of being on the defensive, and the years of hurt that they had caused refused to let go of him. And he wasn't quite ready to let go of the feelings of betrayal either; wasn't ready to give in and forgive his so-called family. Not yet. Maybe not ever.

And from the hardened looks on the faces of the two that had wrapped their comforting arms around him, they weren't ready to forgive so easily either. He smiled at the thought of the confrontation about to take place that was a long time in the making.

'Oh yeah'. His family was going to get it.

TBC….

AN: Thank you soooo much for all of the wonderful reviews. And I'm really sorry to everyone who wanted to see Christopher in this chapter, but I had a hard time writing it in this one. But I'm posting a short right after this about him—and hopefully, you'll like them both.