Chapter 8 – The cat's finally out of the bag

Paige walks into the kitchen, where Jamie and Phoebe were cleaning up after Wyatt's first birthday party.

"Okay, forget about the strawberries, she's onto us." Paige says as she puts some plates into the sink." Phoebe and Jamie look up at her.

"What do you mean?" Phoebe asks. "She knows about Chris?"

"No. She knows we're up to something. I can't believe how hard it is to get two people laid." Both Jamie and Phoebe make a face.

"Paige, that is disgusting." Phoebe tells her.

"Well, it's what we're trying to do, right?"

"No, we are trying to romance Piper and Leo together so they can conceive Chris, our nephew." Jamie nods as Phoebe says this.

"And that's different how?"

"Well, because what you said is very Springer, what I said is very Oprah. Speaking of getting laid." Phoebe looks at Jamie. "The other night, last week, when you and Chris were in our room. Did you…" Jamie shakes her head.

"Nope." Jamie sighs as she continues cleaning up.

"What? Why?"

"Well, we were on the bed, and it seemed like it was going to happen." Both Phoebe and Paige nod. "Until I chickened out."

"What?" Paige asks. "Why?"

"Well, you remember what happened with Jake. I mean, I slept with him and then he left me."

"Honey, Jake was a jerk. Not to mention that Chris isn't Jake." Phoebe says.

"I know that." Jamie nods. "I just don't want things to get complicated. I told him that, and he seemed to understand."

"I don't think they'll get complicated, James." Paige says. "I think you're just nervous."

"I know." Paige nods.

"Well, we should probably get Chris down here and tell him that we're running out of time."

"Yeah. Chris!" As Phoebe yells this, Chris orbs in.

"Hey." He says. "So how's it going?"

"Not so good." Paige tells him.

"What do you mean?" He turns to Phoebe and Jamie. "What does she mean?"

"We're running out of ideas." Phoebe says.

"Well, that's too bad because it has to happen today or I don't happen."

"Wait," Jamie says. "today?"

"Yeah. I did the math. And if I'm not conceived by midnight tonight, that's it. I won't be born, which means I won't be coming back from the future to warn you about Wyatt turning evil."

"Yeah, see that time travel thing." Phoebe puts her hand to her forehead. "Ooh."

"Hey, what about making a love potion and just, like, slipping it to them."

"No, we're not tricking your parents." Paige says.

"Why not? I'm desperate."

"Hey, look, I have an idea." Jamie says. "Call me crazy, but why don't we just tell them the truth?"

"Sure, let's give them a massive case of performance anxiety."

"Well, we're already out of options."

"And time." Chris nods. They hear a crash coming from the other room. They all run in to find a darklighter running down the stairs. Piper is trying to blow him up, but isn't succeeding. Leo runs towards Wyatt, who is sitting in the floor.

"Wyatt!" He yells. The darklighter disappears and reappears beside Wyatt. He points his crossbow at Leo and shoots. Leo orbs out and the arrow flies past Piper. Chris walks in and the arrow heads straight for him. Phoebe and Paige walk in and Phoebe pushes Chris out of the way of the arrow.

"Arrow!" Paige yells. The arrow orbs out and orbs back in the darklighter's chest. Leo orbs in and picks up Wyatt. The darklighter disappears. Piper walks over to Leo and Wyatt.

"You're okay, you're okay." Piper tells Wyatt.

"Thanks for saving my life." Chris says to Phoebe. "Hope it wasn't for nothing."

OOO

Piper, Paige, Leo, Chris, Jamie and Wyatt are all in the living room. Phoebe is in the foyer collecting some blood on the floor with an eyedropper. She joins the others.

"Is that enough to scry with?" Jamie asks.

"Only one way to find out." Phoebe replies.

"At least he waited until after the party to attack." Piper says. "That was nice of him."

"You know what I don't understand is why would the darklighter attack at all?" Chris says. "I mean, with all of us here at the same time. It's suicide."

"All the more reason to find him and stop him before he tries again."

"I don't think he was after a Whitelighter." Leo says. "I think he was after me. Or Wyatt."

"Well, then why don't you take Piper up there and take Wyatt too." Paige says.

"Yeah, I'll go with you." Piper tells him.

"But you're not allowed." Leo says.

"Alright, so then we'll go to the magic school. You'll be safe there, you can't be hurt, right?"

"That's great." Paige says. "One big happy family."

"You change him, I'll pack him." Piper tells Leo. Piper and Leo, who is carrying Wyatt, leave the room.

"Think now's a good time to tell them?" Chris asks his aunts.

"No." Paige says. "The sooner we take care of the darklighter, the sooner we make you."

"I'm gonna start scrying." Phoebe leaves the room.

"And I will go start the love potion." Paige says.

"Wait, I thought you were against making the love potion." Chris says.

"Not if it's gonna save one of my two favorite nephews." Jamie smirks as Paige winks at Chris. Chris smiles, but it quickly fades as he looks at the clock. 3:00 in the afternoon.

OOO

Chris is sitting in the back room at P3, looking at charts. Clarence the janitor stands at the doorway.

"What are you still doing here?" He asks Chris. "I thought you'd be out and about by now."

"Clarence, hey." He says. Didn't hear you come up."

"You mind?" He points to the garbage can.

"Please, come in."

"Beautiful day outside, isn't it?" Clarence asks.

"Is it? I never really noticed. I've been too busy, uh, rechecking something."

"Whole world seems to be too busy now days. Nobody's got time to just enjoy their day anymore."

"Well, it doesn't get any better in the future, either." Chris looks up at him. "I mean, I imagine."

"Future don't mean squat to me. I'm too old to worry about it. Shouldn't to you either. You're too young."

"Unfortunately, I'm kind of obsessed with it." Chris sits down slowly and grabs in head.

"You alright?" Clarence asks.

"Yeah, yeah, I just probably need to eat."

"What you need is to get out of this hole. Get some sun, live a little."

"Believe me, I'm trying."

"Do that." Clarence walks out to find Jamie walking up to the back room.

"Clarence, hey." She says.

"Take that boy out of here, get him outside." She stares at him for a second. Then nods.

"Uh, okay. I will." He smiles at her and walks away. She shakes her head and walks into the back room. "Hey." Chris looks up at her.

"Hi."

"What's up with Clarence? He seems a bit… off." Chris nods.

"Yeah, he's acting a little strange today." He tries to stand up but groans and falls back and misses the chair.

"Chris!" Jamie drops her purse and runs to him. He's lying on the floor. "Chris, are you okay?"

"Yeah." He slowly sits up. "I'm fine." Jamie helps him up and he sits down in the chair. "I'm just a little queasy." Jamie nods.

"Still, I think we should go see Paige and Phoebe." He looks up at her and nods.

OOO

Jamie and Chris were walking up the stairs when they heard Phoebe's voice.

"Paige, I know, but there's only so much we can do. Especially now with that Darklighter out there. I just think that we have to face the reality that Chris's destiny might have been just to come here and warn us about Wyatt, and that's all." Jamie and Chris walk in. Paige and Phoebe look at them.

"Hey." Paige says.

"Oh my god, Chris, I'm so sorry." Phoebe apologizes.

"No, it's okay." He says. "I've actually been wondering the same thing."

"You have?" Paige asks.

"Yeah. I've had the strangest feeling, like, I don't know, it's really hard to explain. But it feels like I'm, I'm floating, like I'm not really here, you know?"

"Well, that doesn't sound good." Phoebe says.

"He fell out of a chair at the club." Jamie tells them. She looks worried.

"Well, you have to fight it." Paige tells Chris. "We still have time."

"Not much." He says. The scrying crystal stops at a point on the map and spins around on the spot.

"I've never seen it do that before." Paige says.

"Maybe that means there's more than one?" Phoebe stands. "I'll go get Piper. She leaves the room.

"I'll go too." Chris starts to leave.

"No, you stay here, okay." Paige tells him. "Finish the potion, when we come back your parents will be in the mood." Chris nods and walks back into the room. Jamie follows him. She sits down on the couch and sighs. He looks at her as she puts her head in her hands.

"What's wrong?"

"What? Nothing." She says. He walks over to her.

"James…" She looks at him as he sits down next to her.

"I'm just worried about you." She holds back tears. "I can't lose you, Chris." He sighs and puts his arm around her.

OOO

Later, Chris was finishing up the love potion while Jamie went into the other room. He reaches for the vile to put it in but he misses it. He tires to grab it again but fails. He looks down to see his hand go thorough the bottle.

"Jamie!" She runs back into the attic.

"What's…" She sees his hand. "Wrong." They both stare in shock. "How did that happen?"

"I don't know." He shakes his head. They hear Paige and Phoebe downstairs. They both walk out of the attic and down the stairs.

"Uh, Phoebe, Paige?" Chris says.

"Chris, you're okay." Paige smiles.

"Which means Piper and Leo are okay." Phoebe says.

"Well, I don't know about that but I'm, uh, definitely running out of time here." Chris holds up his arm, which is slowly fading away. Paige and Phoebe stare at him.

OOO

After explaining to Jamie and Chris that Piper and Leo got transferred to an alternate-universe, or something, Phoebe went up to look in the Book of Shadows for something to help Chris. After a little while, Paige walks up there. Phoebe groans and puts her head down on the book.

"What?" Paige asks.

"I don't know what else to try." Phoebe tells her sister.

"What do you mean?"

"What do you mean, what do I mean? There's nothing else to try."

"Oh, great. Why don't you try telling that to Chris as he fades away? And while you're at it, you can tell Jamie that there's no way to save her boyfriend."

"No, I can't."

"Right, well, here's the deal. You felt Piper, so that means she's gotta be out there somewhere, and if we can figure out where, then maybe we can figure out how to bring them back. You said we weren't gonna lose her."

"The bus driver." Phoebe says. Paige looks confused.

"The bus driver what?"

"Well, he was dead, right? I mean, at least for a little bit, so maybe that wasn't a coincidence, maybe he actually did see Leo in limbo."

"That's good. No, that's bad because that would make them dead." Paige says.

"Not if someone put them there. Like the darklighter."

"The one Piper vanquished?"

"Unless it wasn't really a vanquish, it was just made to look like a vanquish." Phoebe flips through the Book of Shadows. "Okay, ghosts. Ghosts, ghosts."

OOO

A while later, Chris and Jamie were sitting in the living room.

"I'm gonna go see what's going on upstairs." She says.

"Okay." She looks down at her boyfriend, who is almost transparent.

"I love you." She tells him.

"I love you too." She walks up a couple stairs and looks down at him. She quickly brushes away a tear that rolls down her face, before walking up the stairs.

Chris stands and walks towards the next room, he walks through the wall.

"Whoa, not good." He says. Clarence is standing in the next room.

"It's almost time, Chris." Chris hides behind a wall.

"Clarence. What are you doing here?"

"Actually, I've come for you. It's okay, son, I know." Chris walks into the room where Clarence is standing.

"Who are you?" He asks.

"Someone who was sent to make this easier for you."

"This? What do you mean this?"

"I think you know."

"You're an angel of death."

"Yours is an unique situation, Chris. One which requires special handling. That's why I wanted to meet you early. So you could get to know me, trust me. There's really nothing to be afraid of."

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say."

"Don't fight it, Chris. It'll only make it more difficult for you."

"No. Forget that, alright?" He backs up to the stairs. "I still got time. You stay away from me." Chris goes upstairs.

OOO

Meanwhile, in the attic, Phoebe is lighting candles.

"Are you sure a séance is the right move?" Paige asks her sister.

"Well, if they are stuck in the spirit realm, then they're ghosts, right?" Phoebe asks.

"Hopefully."

"What, now you're a pessimist?

"Hey. A girl's allowed to vacillate, it's not like this is an exact science, right?" Phoebe stares at her. "Okay, the spell is done."

"Okay, let's do this." Phoebe says as Chris walks in.

"Sorry, I don't mean to be pushy but..." They look at him, he's still fading away.

"Yeah, we're working on it, we're working on it."

"You don't look so good." Paige tells him. "Okay, 'Sister's spirit I call to thee, cross on over so we may see.'" Chris disappears as Paige finishes reading the spell. Jamie stands.

"Wait, that wasn't supposed to happen, was it?" Phoebe asks.

"I'm thinking no." They both look at Jamie, who's not saying anything.

OOO

Chris appears in the attic in the ghostly plane, where Piper and Leo are.

"Chris?" Leo asks.

"Not exactly who I was going for but I guess it'll work." Piper says.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ceasing to exist I think." Once he says this, Chris disappears. He reappears in the attic. Jamie's eyes grow big and Paige and Phoebe both blink.

"What happened?" Phoebe asks. "Where'd you go?"

"I just say Piper and Leo." Once he says this he disappears again.

OOO

"Where'd he go?

"I don't know." Leo says. "Ask him." Piper turns around to see Chris standing in front of her.

"What are you talking about?" Piper asks. "What do you mean ceasing to exist?"

"No time to explain." He says. "I'm a connection to your sisters and they wanna know how to get you guys back."

OOO

Chris reappears in the attic with the Paige, Phoebe and Jamie.

"They think somebody made a portal for the darklighter to pass through." He tells them.

"Somebody who?" Paige asks. Two darklighters appear behind them.

"Darklighters!" Chris yells. Paige and Phoebe quickly run to get Vials of potions. "Jamie, look out!" Chris yells as Jamie dodges an arrow. She jumps behind the couch, soon joined by Phoebe and Paige. They throw the potions at the darklighters, vanquishing them.

"Piper's not here anymore, I can't sense her." Phoebe says.

"It's too late, and not just for Piper and Leo." Chris turns to Jamie. "I love you." A tear runs down Jamie's face as he vanishes.

"No!" She screams as she falls to the floor. Both Paige and Phoebe kneel down next to her.

"Honey, it's gonna be okay." Phoebe says as she puts a hand on her back. Jamie shakes her head.

"No, h-he can't be gone." She cries. "He just can't." Paige and Phoebe look at each other as Phoebe puts her arms around Jamie.

OOO

After going to Gideon at Magic School, Paige and Phoebe found a way to find Piper and Leo. They, along with Jamie, found the place and said the spell. They found the darklighter pointing his crossbow at Piper and Leo.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you because this time I'll vanquish you for real." Paige says.

"Well, it's about time." Piper tells them. They walk over to them.

"Who sent you?" Phoebe asks. Another darklighter on the roof shoots his crossbow and hits the other darklighter in the chest. He screams and is vanquished. Jamie screams in joy as Chris appears.

"Yes!" He says with a smile. Jamie runs over and throws her arms around him; he picks her up and spins her around. "I'm back!" Jamie smiles as she kisses him.

"Wait. What?" Phoebe asks. "How is that possible?"

"Don't ask me, ask..." Chris looks over to find Leo falls backwards. "Them." They all run over to them.

"Paige, come on, quick, we've got to get him to Gideon." Paige runs over and they all orb out.

OOO

Later that day, Paige and Phoebe were sitting in the living room when Jamie walks in. They look at her.

"Wow, a Chris-less Jamie." Phoebe says with a smile.

"I didn't think that was possible." Paige tells her. Jamie blushes.

"I can't help it, he almost died today. That gives me a reason to be with him all day." They all laugh when Piper walks in.

"Hi." She says. They all look at her.

"Hey." Jamie says.

"What's going on?"

"Uh, Maybe you should sit down for a second." Phoebe says.

"Oh, that doesn't sound good." Piper sits down.

"No, no, it's good, it's good." Phoebe babbles. "I mean, it's, you know, it's not bad. It's a really good thing, it's not a bad thing. I think it's a really good thing, don't you think?" She looks at Paige and Jamie.

"Yeah, well…" Jamie looks at Paige.

"I guess it depends."

"Uh-huh, that sounds worse." Piper says.

"No, it's-it's just complicated." Piper stares at them

"Okay, so why don't you guys just tell me what's going on."

"Alright." Phoebe says. "Uh, we know what happened between you and Leo last night." Piper chuckles.

"What? Excuse me?"

"Not because anybody told us or anything, it's just because of Chris." Paige says.

"Chris? Wh-why would Chris know what happened last night?"

"Well, because he wouldn't be here if it didn't." Jamie says.

"Yeah, see we've known for a while, we just didn't know how to talk to you and Leo about it." Phoebe tells Piper.

"Talk to us about what?" Phoebe and Jamie both look at Paige.

"Is this my turn?" She asks.

"Yeah." They both nod. Paige looks at Piper.

"Yeah. Uh, Chris is your son." She says.

"Wyatt's brother." Phoebe says. "Look, I know this is huge..."

"No, it's, it's not huge because it's not possible, it's crazy because I'm not pregnant." Piper says.

"Yeah." All three of them say.

"No, I'm not. I mean, how could that happen? I mean, I know how that could happen but it..." Piper looks at them. "What am I gonna do?"

"Maybe you should talk to Leo about it." Phoebe suggests.

"No, I can't." She shakes her head.

"Why?" Paige asks.

"Well, because, because, because I can't." They hear a knock at the door and Chris walks in.

"Is this a bad time?" He asks. Piper looks over at Chris, speechless.

OOO

Later that night, Jamie was sitting on her bed while Phoebe got ready to go to P3 with Paige. She looks at Jamie.

"Are you sure you don't wanna go with us?" She asks. Jamie shakes her head.

"No, it's been a really long day." She says.

"I know what you mean." Chris walks in and leans against the doorframe.

"Hey." He says. Jamie smiles at him.

"Hey." Phoebe looks at the two of them and smirks.

"Okay, well I'm gonna get out of here." She looks at Jamie. "Call me if you need anything."

"Will do." Phoebe smiles at Chris as she walks out of the room. Jamie looks at Chris. "How's Piper?"

"A little overwhelmed, but that's understandable." Jamie nods. She scoots over and pats the seat next to her.

"Come sit." He walks over and sits down next to her, She links her arms around his and lays her head down on his chest. "I almost lost you today." He sighs.

"I know. But, I came back, didn't I?" She smiles and nods.

"I know, it's just- It got me thinking."

"About…"

"About how I never got to say all the things I wanted to say to you" She says. "Or do all the things I wanted to do…" She sits up and looks at him. "With you."

"Oh." Is all he can say.

"Yeah." She looks down at her bedspread. "Oh." She sighs and stands up. "I'm tired of worrying about if things are going to be complicated or not. I'm tired of waiting, I know you're not gonna leave me. I just wanna get it over with!" He stares at her as she throws her hands up in the air.

"Gee, you make it sound so appealing." He jokes. She chuckles and walks back over and sits down next to him.

"You know I don't mean it like that." He nods.

"I know." He looks at her. "Are you sure you want to."

"Yeah." She nods, then quickly looks up at him. "You still want to, right?" He grins at her worried expression.

"Yes, I still want to." She smiles.

"Good." She leans in and kisses him and they slowly fall back onto the bed. Chris waves his hand and shuts the door.

OOOOOOO

A/N: Hey guys! I am SO happy you like this fic. I know a lot of you have been waiting for Chris and Jamie to "get closer" so… There it is. Lol. I hope you like this chapter. Please review! TTYL!