He did it for me

Chapter 40

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.

Christopher just turned 19, Chris was already 19, and Wyatt is three months shy of his 21st birthday.

Disclaimer in chapter 1

AN: Ok, 40 won't work for me. So I have 2 more chapters, including this one, to go before the epilog. When I'm done, I'll condense it into about 4-5 chapters & repost.

I hope you like it and thank you all so much for being a part of my story:)

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Wyatt emerged on the other side of the portal just in time as he checked his watch hurriedly. Glancing around, he saw that the potions hadn't been touched, so he quickly sensed for his little brother and orbed downstairs to his room.

As the two-hour deadline approached, Christopher began to get nervous with no sign of his brother. 'But then he's rarely ever on time.' Sprinting up to the attic to get the potions, he prepared to go and find his brother and drag him home, kicking and screaming if necessary. He knew how worked up he could get when fighting.

Wyatt cursed loudly as soon as he got there, finding that his brother had beat him by a few seconds and was already heading for the attic.

Christopher picked up a glass and started to put it in his pocket when his older brother orbed in to the other side of the attic. "It's about time!" he yelled.

Wyatt knew he had only seconds to prevent history from repeating himself, and he quickly rushed over to his brother, grabbed him roughly and shoved him into a corner. He stood in front of him protectively, Excalibur in hand while he looked around anxiously.

Christopher bristled in annoyance at the extremely rough treatment and angrily shoved at his brother currently doing an impression of a brick wall. "What is wrong with you? Get off! You're squishing me. Could you please move so I can BREATH!"

Wyatt gritted out sardonically, hoping to quiet his brother so that he could concentrate. "I'm not moving so that you continue to BREATH! Now would you please shut up so I can—" suddenly he stopped, held his hand up to his brother as he sensed the demon approaching.

The instant the remaining Korack brother shimmered in with his sword in hand, Wyatt decided not to waste any time parrying with him—he swung Excalibur and aimed for the heart.

As the demon's immediate scream signified its untimely end, Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief and allowed himself to relax for a moment. 'At least that's one disaster averted,' he thought.

Not quite so annoyed any longer, Christopher tapped his brother on the shoulder, seeing that he had to have had a good reason for his actions. He asked him calmly while staring curiously, "Can you move now? And do you want to tell me what that was all about?"

What Christopher expected was an answer, not to have his brother throw his arms around his neck in an uncharacteristically emotional response. He hugged him back for a moment, eyeing the older man strangely before pulling away. Well trying to pull away as Wyatt still clung to him tightly. "Wy? Squishing was better, cause now you're suffocating me…"

Wyatt backed up a bit, a self conscious and quirky smile gracing his features. "Oh, sorry. It's been a long couple of days."

"You haven't been doing anything for the last couple of days. And I just saw you like, two hours ago?"

"It's been a few days, Christopher. I came back to the past. To save you. That demon would have killed you just now."

"Since when do you call me Christopher?"

"It's a long story. I have to have a way to tell you apart in my mind."

"Yeah, I bet it is," Christopher laughed out loud, seeing the explanation as one of his brother's more interesting stories—the product of his overactive imagination. But the serious expression on the Twice-Blessed's face told him in no uncertain terms that it was no joke. The color suddenly drained from his face. "Wait—you're serious? I was supposed to die?"

"Yes. I mean no. You died, but you weren't supposed to. Look, before I explain what's going on, I have to get the family here to look after you while I'm gone. You've been set up, and he was not the only one who will come after you. And they won't stop until you're dead." Wyatt shot his head up to the ceiling, "DAD! AUNT PAIGE! I need help! Bring Mom and Aunt Phoebe."

As soon as his family all orbed in, worry and confusion evident on their faces, Wyatt grabbed his little brother's arm and drug him into a corner placing protection crystals around him and ignoring the protests from the younger man.

His father asked him in a panic, "Wyatt, what's going on, what are you doing?"

"Dad listen to me—This is serious and I don't have a lot of time—I just got here from a couple of days into the future. If I hadn't, my little brother would be lying on that floor dead right now. Long story short—this Angel of Death, Julius set him up to be killed. He's hired way too many assassins to be able to keep him safe. I've got to fix this where it all started—about 19 years ago. You all have to stay here and protect Christopher with your lives until we get back—the world depends on it."

"Where all what started, Honey? What are you talking about?"

Wyatt bristled at his mother's question, still fairly annoyed they had not never told him about the other Chris who had died trying to protect him. "I mean--I have to save him."

"Save who, Wyatt?" the Empath asked.

"Chris!" he yelled. "The Chris that came back from the future to stop me from turning evil! I have to stop him from dying! He wasn't supposed to die! He was supposed to have come back to the future and merge with our Chris. I mean--Christopher."

All of his family immediately looked on in astonishment. Both from the fact that Wyatt suddenly knew so much about what happened, and from the anger that surfaced in his own voice.

Christopher only stared at his family in complete confusion. From the guilty looks on their faces, he guessed that he was the only one here in the dark about this situation. He leaned his head in, listening intently so as not to miss a single word uttered.

Piper took a deep breath, trying to calm herself and the tears that trickled down her face. Seeing as how he knew so much, denying it was no longer an option. "He is a part of our Chris, Wyatt.

Wyatt shot back and pointed to the ceiling, "No, he isn't. He's up there, right now—mad as hell because you never came looking for him and never bothered to check that he hadn't been reincarnated or whatever." He stalked over to the Book of Shadows, flipping to the pages that summoned a spirit. Holding out his hand, he conjured several candles and proceeded to set them up in the center of the room. "Then see for yourself. Ask Grams. Or better yet, summon Chris here directly."

The Charmed sisters hesitantly stepped around the circle and recited the familiar words that they knew by heart, this time concentrating on the one person they knew so long ago. The words had been used many times throughout the years, but this was the first time that they were used in apprehension. The women glanced at each other nervously as the figure began to coalesce in the center of the circle.

Piper breathed a sigh of relief when her Grandmother appeared and stepped out of the circle. "You see," she told Wyatt, "I told you. Chris isn't up there. Because he's right here with us."

Penny shook her head sadly, "No he isn't dear. I'm not sure how you finally found out, since I was hoping you would have thought of this so much sooner, but Chris is up there. And you have to understand, he's just feeling very hurt. He—he doesn't want to see any of you right now, so he sent me."

Piper gasped in shock, her knees weakening to the point that if her husband hadn't been standing behind her reaching out suddenly, she would have collapsed to the floor. "All these years…I thought he was—Leo, how could we have not known? He's just been up there all alone…"

Penny offered in a sad tone, "He hasn't been alone, dear. Your mother, sister, and I have all been with him. We've taken good care of him."

Piper stood steadier on her feet and grabbed Penny's hands pleadingly, "I need to see him…Please?"

"I don't know if he will come…"

"Please? You can go back up and ask him. Tell him I didn't know, and that I love him. Please—I'm so sorry."

"Well, I don't actually have to leave. I can hear him from here." Giving in, Penny clasped her hands together and closed her eyes to communicate with her great-grandson. Her head tilted curiously as he fired back a response rather--emphatically. She certainly couldn't verbalize that to his family. Shaking her head slowly, she instead answered with the gist of his message, "He still says no. I'm sorry Darlings."

Wyatt stepped away from the wall he was leaning on and faced his great-grandmother, "Tell him that I need to talk to him. And that it would really mean a lot to me if he would come."

Penny nodded and proceeded to translate, waiting patiently for a response. Several minutes went by with no word from the boy. She had begun to think that he wasn't going to respond to all until the shining trail of lights began to form within the circle answering her with his presence.

The young man stepped from the circle becoming corporeal, his back still turned away from them. He crossed his arms as he turned around slowly, his chin jutting out defiantly.

Inside the protection of the crystals, Christopher let a whistle of amazement at the exact double of himself standing just a few feet away from him. He was too much in shock at the sight and almost missed his brother's words.

Wyatt extended his hand from Christopher to Chris in introduction, the only people in the room who hadn't met. "Christopher Perry Halliwell, meet Christopher Perry Halliwell."

Chris glared stonily at his family, turning to Wyatt as the only exception with a softened look. "Since I know they never told you about me, how did you find out?"

Wyatt ignored the question at first, instead choosing wrap his arms around the brother who had done so much for him. "It's a long story, Chris. I'm from a few days into the future. And with the help of your little time traveling spell on the back of your letter—here I am. But the point is, that I know. You yourself have told me a lot about your life. A lot of messed up things have happened in the past few days, and then I found out what happened to you so many years ago. You died saving my life, and while I can't thank you enough—I can't let you do that for me."

It warmed his heart to see the caring and concern in those familiar blue eyes, but Chris's eyes lowered in defeat as he felt that he had to inform the witch. "It's a little late for that, Wyatt. I'm dead. Have been for 19 years."

"Well not if I can help it—and that's what I'm here to do. I'm going back to save you. I'm not going to let you die this time. It wasn't supposed to happen that way. You were supposed to have come back to the future—alive—and become a part of the Chris I've grown up with." He suddenly turned to his other brother with a hopeful expression, "…if that's ok with you?"

Christopher was still sitting back observing with wide-eyed wonder. He nodded absently before realizing that his brother probably needed to hear a verbal response. "He's me right?"

"Yes."

Christopher answered without hesitation, "Then yes. I'll do it. Just tell me what I need to do."

Wyatt handed his mother a letter, "Actually, you guys just have to make sure you read the spell on the back of this paper. When Chris and I get back from the past, we won't remember going there. The future will be changed, so you guys will have to remember for us. This spell will allow you to do that. And then you have to send me and Chris ahead exactly two days so that we arrive just when I left. But we have to come here first, in order for Chris to merge with Christopher."

Phoebe took the spell from her sister's hand and read it over. She eyed it with surprise, "This looks like something I would have written. You've always had such an ineptitude for writing spells, but this one--it's pretty good, Wyatt."

Wyatt rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Aunt Phoebe—but you were the one who wrote it. I just copied it down on paper."

Sinking her shoulders down in embarrassment, she muttered a high-pitched, "Oh."

Wyatt mocked her with the same movement, exaggerating her voice and facial movements, "Oh." He ducked as she swatted him playfully, eliciting a soft laughter from Chris. He suddenly grew serious again, "Ok—we have to do this now. It won't be long before the demons realize that Christopher isn't dead yet—and they send several other someone's to finish the job. Ok, Chris--I already know the exact moment, but I need to know exactly where you were standing when it happened."

Chris glanced around the room, frowning in consternation as he tried to recall his last position in the attic when Gideon had stabbed him. He shrugged in disappointment, "Sorry, it looks a little different. I'm not sure."

Leo walked on shaky legs before dropping to his knees heavily. While his son may not have been sure, he was. He allowed the silent tears to streak down his face as he stared at the spot dazedly, his hand hovering over the blood stained outline that had long since been erased from the wood. He looked at loss for words as he began to break down. The images of finding his son lying in a pool of blood had remained for nearly two decades. Had haunted his memory each and every time he stood in this attic since, but had always been pushed to the back of his mind—safe in the knowledge that his son had a new life now, and was growing up happy and healthy. Now that he knew that wasn't the case, he grieved again for the son he had failed, finally allowing the heartbreak of that day to flood through him. He looked up as someone put their arms around him and spoke softly.

"It's ok, Dad. It wasn't your fault. I never blamed you for what happened to me. That was Gideon's doing, not yours. You did everything you could."

Wanting to hear those words for so long, Leo turned and threw his arms around his son. He sobbed into his shoulder while whispering repeatedly, "I'm so sorry," as Chris returned the embrace.

With the exception of Christopher sitting down inside of the protection crystals on the opposite side of the room, everyone else hovered near by, wiping their own eyes constantly.

Trying to liven up the highly emotionally charged atmosphere, Wyatt threw his arms around both men comically. "Aw, can I have some love too?"

As the others looked at each other and laughed at his antics, they found he had the right idea and all joined in, toppling the pile of limbs over. Somehow, Chris ended up on the bottom.

Christopher laughed at his family as Penny inched over to him. "Do you wish you were over there with them?" she asked curiously.

"No way," he shook his head confidently. "Chris is on the bottom. Me—I like my ribs just where they are."

Getting up with a huge grin on his face, Chris strolled over to his counterpart inside the crystals. "Hey there, mini-me," he greeted him. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Sure. As long as you stop calling me 'mini-me'."

Wyatt offered helpfully, "He can call you—"

Sensing a smart comment from his brother, Christopher held up his hand warningly, "Don't finish that sentence, Wy. He doesn't need any ideas from you."

Paige reminded Wyatt, "You know, when you go back--you can't stop Gideon from taking your baby self. You have to let Leo take care of him—we can't risk changing the past too much. Just worry about saving Chris."

Wyatt nodded confidently, "I got it, Aunt Paige. That's actually the exact same thing you said to me before I got here." He rubbed his hands together anxiously before turning and blowing up the potions shelf unexpectedly.

"What did you do that for!" his mother fussed at him while ducking the exploding pieces of wood.

He shrugged defensively, "I need to get access to the carving that Chris made. I had to orb past it when I arrived here and it was just too much trouble. It would be easier if I could just walk through the portal." He quickly recited the spell once again that would take him back in time.

His father waved at him just before he jumped through, "Good luck, Wy."

Tbc…

AN: Thank you for reading and reviewing.