A/N: Sorry it's been a while but thankfully exams are all over and I'm back for my holiday! This chapters extra long to make up for the wait!

Kandie-Spirit-Dragon (Hey glad you're still reading, and I'm definately glad you liked the bit with Casie and Chris, I was kinda worried people would hate me for doing that! Thanks!)

IcantthinkofaFnick (I love writing those wee lines, always fun, so i'm glad you liked reading them! Put a few in this chapter, so hope you like!)

Kikistar (Yay someone new, and yay you like my strange little story :o) Thanks for reviewing!)

Miss Poisonous (Thanks, and Casie is 21, and Chris is like 23, so they kinda are the same age if you try not to think about the fact that he's from the future! I know it's a little weird, blame my strange imagination!)

Dominique1 (Yay you're back, I missed you, thought you dropped off the planet, but anyway good that your back and glad you're still liking my story! Yes you figured there would be kissing but I couldn't tell as it would have spoiled it! Hope you like this one, I had fun writing this chapter as you'll understand, oh and update 'In Love, Actually' will you!)

Teranika Meneldil (I thought the whole switching bodies thing might have been done too many times, so it's definately a relief when people say they like it! Thanks so much for reviewing!)

Kigichi Ishiritari (wow, I love you for saying that, and don't worry I was right there with you, crying my eyes out when they killed off Chris, so sad, anyway yay a new reviewer :o)!)

As always a huge thanks to my great Beta Nemesis' Arrow! And one with the story...

Chapter 19

Casie sat on Piper's desk in the back office of P3, she was staring intently at the Chinese food she was eating. Her theory was, that if she concentrated on the task at hand, namely devouring some delicious chow mien, then she wouldn't have to think about the mess that was her life right now.

She quickly discovered it wasn't working.

After a short visit to China town to get some potion supplies and food, they had returned to P3. Both were still soaking wet from Casie's little freak rainstorm and had donned some of Chris' clothes. Casie felt silly, the jeans rolled over a couple of times to stop them from falling down, and the black shirt was also far too big. But she couldn't help giggling at Chris. Since Seth was a slightly bigger build and taller, his jeans didn't even reach his ankles.

Reaching the bottom of her dish, her mind wandered back to darker things. She couldn't get Seth out of her mind. She longed to hurt him, make him feel even just a little of the pain that she had lived with all these years.

"Revenge isn't a good emotion," Chris said, startling her out of her thoughts.

"So?" she questioned, cocking her head to one side.

"I know how you feel," he told her as he ate another mouthful. "I've been there. Be careful, because before you know it, the revenge will consume you. It's all you think about, dream about it. Trust me; it's not the way to live."

Nodding her head, she let out a heavy sigh. She knew he was right, he usually was. But that didn't mean she had to like it. She wanted Seth to pay for his crimes. Preferably at her hands.

"Why does life have to be so complicated?" she asked as she dumped the empty carton down beside her. "Why can't we get a happy ending, huh? Is that too much to ask?"

Chris gave her a weak smile. "Life's not all bad."

"Could've fooled me," she scoffed.

He shoved another forkful of the Chinese in his mouth before handing the still half-full carton to Casie. She smiled gratefully and dug her fork in.

Note to self: if I keep this up, I'll get fat, she thought. Comfort eating was a natural response that many people go through, but the comfort was starting to wear off.

After all these years, she thought that she might get some closure from knowing how her mother really died. The questions and speculations over the years had been hard, but now the truth seemed to hurt even more.

Confusion lingered in her thoughts. She still didn't know why Seth had murdered her mother. Had it been random or planned? Why had he needed her to remove his curse?

Pushing her wet curls out of her face, she thought about her new power. She scoffed slightly. Power. Who knew that she would be able to control the weather? But this only brought more questions, like why had her power been bound? And by who?

Too many questions and no answers.

Chris reached over and gave her hand a small squeeze. "We'll get through this."

She gave him a simple smile in response. He knew the smile was forced, he knew that she was going through hell, having once been there himself.

He had meant what he had said, that revenge can consume you and he didn't want that for her. But he couldn't sit there and tell her everything was going to be ok, because it never truly goes away. Scars remain behind, to forever remind you of the darker times.

A small tear escaped Casie's eye and trickled down her cheek.

"I can't stand feeling this way," she whispered, staring at anything but Chris. "I feel. . .lost."

"Well, there is one thing that might make you feel better," he told her. "Always worked for me," he added as an afterthought.

Meanwhile, at the Manor…

The darkness and the haze slowly disappeared. Piper reached her arm across the bed, expecting it to connect with the sleeping Leo beside her. But all she found was empty space.

"Leo?" she mumbled, as she slowly opened her eyes.

"I'm over here," he informed her.

Rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, she saw him leaning on the door frame staring at her.

"What happened to the other you?" she asked confused.

"Paige and Phoebe managed to put the two of us back together," he replied as he walked over and sat beside her on the bed. "How you feeling?"

Letting out a little yawn, she said. "Tired. Did I sleep long?"

"About an hour."

She had told her sisters that she was fine but they had insisted she rested. Now she was glad that they had insisted. She had needed that sleep. After all, you never know when she would get a chance to sleep again. They still had the Seth problem to fix.

"Paige also cured Phoebe's blindness," he informed her. "Everything's still blurry for her and she keeps walking into things but at least she can see something."

"That's good. How's Chris?"

"Ok, still very quiet, but otherwise he seems fine."

She ran a hand through her long hair. "I think something happened down there."

"What do you mean?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"He's been different since we got him back," she sighed, not sure how to explain it. "I just think something happened when Seth had him, something that he isn't telling us."

Leo nodded slowly. He had started to notice the little changes in their son's behaviour. He thought it was just his imagination, had tried to ignore it but Piper was right. Chris wasn't acting like himself. Maybe it was just everything that had happened, nearly dying and being kidnapped all in one day. He hoped that's all it was, that Seth hadn't hurt Chris, physically or mentally.

"This is Chris we're talking about. It's not really like him to keep secrets now is it?" he asked, trying to keep the mood light.

Smiling at his comment, she laid a hand on top of his. "Maybe with a Mother's touch," she said quietly.

He knew she was right, Chris adored Piper and if she asked he would probably tell her. That is, as long as it had no future consequences, his favourite excuse.

"You wouldn't send him up, so I could talk to him," she asked before adding in a soft voice. "Alone, if you don't mind."

"Sure," he said, kissing her on the cheek before getting up and leaving.

Something in her stomach told her something wasn't right. She couldn't explain it much more, but she had learned over the years to trust her gut.

Downstairs, Paige was attempting to cook something. 'Attempting' being the key word.

"I hate to tell you this, but that stinks," Phoebe giggled.

"I don't see you trying," she shot at her sister. It was getting late and her stomach wouldn't stop grumbling.

Phoebe, who was also hungry, had wanted something a bit more substantial than toast, hence why Paige was trying to cook some pasta. The sauce was causing the problems.

"Well, it's too much fun watching you fret," she admitted. "Plus it's hard to cook when everything is still one big blur!"

Smirking at her sister, she dumped the sauce in the trash, placing the now empty pot in the sink. "At this rate, we'll be eating pasta and nothing else."

"Yuk," Phoebe said screwing up her nose.

Paige glanced around her before going to one of the cupboards and pulling out a small packet that had been hidden behind a box of cereal.

"Piper's asleep," she mumbled, trying to reason with herself, as she took a clean pot out of another cupboard.

"What's that?" Phoebe asked.

"Pre-made sauce," her sister replied, as she added some water to the mixture.

"Where'd you get that?" she questioned. "Piper will kill you if she finds out; you know how much she hates all the pre-cooked stuff."

"I know, but what she doesn't know, can't hurt her," Paige replied with a sly grin.

"Your funeral!" Phoebe joked.

"I always have one or two hidden somewhere," she explained. "Because it really isn't fair that Piper's the only one who got the cooking gene."

"True," she commented. "But also handy, because we rarely have to cook."

Laughing, Paige nodded in agreement and continued to stir the sauce.

"Yep, that definitely smells better."

Seth had retreated to the back corner of the kitchen. Staying silent he watched the witches, as they bantered and bickered over food. He had decided to wait until Chris and the girl came to him, which he knew they would. It was only a matter of time.

Hearing footsteps, all three turned to the door to see Leo entering the kitchen.

"Hey Leo, you hungry?" Paige asked.

"Sure, what you making?" he asked as he joined her at the island counter.

"Just some pasta and sauce. I think Piper's culinary skills are finally rubbing off on me," she joked, as she hid the pre-made sauce packet behind her back.

Smiling, he turned around to face Seth. "Your mother wants to talk to you."

Seth eyed him carefully, before getting up and leaving.

"What was that about?" Phoebe asked.

"Nothing," Leo explained. "Piper's just worried about him."

Seth slowly walked up the stairs trying to think of a way of avoiding this mother-son chat. It wasn't time yet to implement his plan and he had to keep up the pretence that he was actually Chris. He needed the witches on his side at the moment.

All those years trapped in a mortal body made you soft? he asked himself bitterly.

He wished that the witches were dead now. But the time wasn't right, so he would have to keep pretending to be a good little witch.

"You wanted to talk to me?" he questioned Piper as he lingered in the doorway.

"Yeah," she smiled sweetly and patted the space on the bed beside her.

Barely stopping himself from rolling his eyes, he walked over and sat on the bed.

"You ok?"

"Fine," he replied, his tone a little harsh.

Deciding not to skit around the subject, she asked him bluntly. "Chris, did something happen when Seth had you in the underworld?"

"No."

Piper could tell he didn't want to be here; he was avoiding looking at her and giving brute and brisk replies.

She tried again. "You sure?"

"Yes," he said as he stood up. "Now I have some stuff to do…"

She cut him off. "I thought we were past this? Past keeping all these secrets?"

Seth remained silent. Being a bartender at P3 had helped him get to know Piper; it was the only reason he actually took the job. So he could pull off this charade. But if she started to talk about in-depth family stuff, he knew he would be caught out.

"Talk to me, please?"

He let out a heavy sigh but remained silent. He sounded like himself, Piper reasoned, but his body language was completely different. It was just little things, like how he was standing straight, whereas he normally slouched. How he kept shifting his weight from one foot to the other and he had this look on his face, like he didn't care.

"Please?" she asked.

Realising she wasn't about to give up, he replied, "What about? I got thrown through a window, my soul kidnapped and almost died. But otherwise I'm fine."

"This is what I'm talking about," she tried to explain. "A lot has happened, and I'm so glad we got you back ok. But you've been acting a little strange."

"Look Piper, I'm fine," he said aggravated. He didn't noticed what he had actually said.

"Piper?" she asked in a small voice. "What happened to 'mom'?"

Realising his mistake, he tried to sound as nice as he could as he mumbled "Sorry."

Piper stood up and looked at Chris, really looking him the eye and what she found scared her. His expression was blank but his eyes betrayed him. She could see his boredom with her and the situation. There was also anger and hated in his green eyes. As she stood there, looking him in the eye, she felt like she as looking at a completely different person.

It can't be? She asked herself. But then again, she hadn't been a witch for almost seven years and not learned for their past mistake. She had to be sure.

"Chris, do you not remember what I told you?" she asked. "After that incident with the water demon. I told you that you didn't have to keep secrets from me anymore."

There had never been any incident with a water demon and Piper held her breath, waiting for him to tell her that.

"Yeah, I remember," Seth said. "But, like I said, I'm fine."

She took a few steps backwards, her hand flew to her mouth. "You're not Chris!"

He figured that she had been testing him, and now his cover was blown. Clapping his hands he told her in a harsh voice. "Congratulations, one point for the stupid witch."

She could feel herself starting to hyperventilate. "Seth?"

"Well, not such a stupid witch, after all," he replied with an evil grin.

"Where's Chris?" she asked as she tried to control her breathing.

"Dead!" he lied and watched as his words had a desired effect.

Piper let out a small sob before she glowed red and disappeared.

Meanwhile at P3…

"You were absolutely right!" Casie declared. "I do feel better, it's a miracle!" she waved her arms about to emphasise her point and almost fell off the desk in the process.

"Oops, silly me," she giggled as she maintained her balance.

Chris rolled his eyes at her. It had seemed a good idea at the time but now he wasn't so sure.

She hiccupped and poured them both another shot of vodka. Before he could even reach for his, she had downed her own, screwing up her face as the liquid passed down her throat.

Yeah, really not such a good idea, he thought. Casie was completely drunk.

He had figured a drink might make her feel better. She had been really upset, understandably, and he hated seeing her like that. He had told her it always worked for him, but now thinking back he knew alcohol only had an affect while it was in your system.

He smiled slightly at the memory. How could you ever forget being drunk at fourteen and being bailed out by Darryl? Grandpa was so mad!

Of course a bit of Dutch courage on his part couldn't hurt either. He knew it wasn't going to be easy getting his body back. So he had offered her a drink but she had stolen the bottle out of his grasp and refused to hand it back.

He hadn't had much of the food; Casie had eaten most of it. Alcohol on a partially empty stomach meant it always went straight to the blood. So with a couple of drinks down him, he didn't really object to Casie playing bartender.

"You may not know this, but I don't really drink," she said, slurring her words a bit.

He laughed. "Really?"

"Yep," she replied smiling. "I'm your good old fashioned good girl!"

She went to pour herself another drink and noticed him smirking at her. Looking at the bottle, she laughed. "Well, not anymore!"

"Time for a change," she mumbled to herself. "Yes, definitely time for a change."

Figuring both of them had enough, he pointed to the wall space behind her. "Casie, look at that."

"What?" she asked as she swung herself round.

With her distracted, Chris grabbed the bottle away from her. He knew he could've just used his powers, or pure force but Casie was still getting used to this whole witch thing and he didn't want to freak her out. Especially in the state she was in right now. Which is my own fault! he reminded himself

"There's nothing there," she said, turning back to face him with a look of disappointment on her face. She went to grab the bottle and realized it had gone.

"Where'd it go?" she asked as she searched around her.

Barely keeping himself from laughing out loud, he held the bottle tightly behind his back but it didn't take her that long to notice this.

"You took it! Give it back!" she demanded, jumping off the desk but her legs gave out when she landed and she fell forward.

Chris quickly dropped the bottle and caught her before she landed on the floor.

"Whoa, you ok?" he asked as he steadied her on her feet, but she wasn't looking at him.

"The bottle broke," she stated in a sad tone, her gaze never leaving the broken glass scattered on the floor.

"It did."

"Well, I'll just have to go get another one!" she declared with wide eyes, like it was the only sensible course of action.

She stumbled off toward the door of the office bumping into a chair on the way. Snow Patrol was playing and the club was full of people. Knowing he was likely to lose her in the crowd, he orbed out and back in blocking the doorway causing she walked straight into him.

"I think we've had enough to drink, don't you?"

"Nope," she shook her head.

The effects of the alcohol were starting to take their toll on Chris. His vision was slightly blurred and he felt a bit dizzy from orbing. He slumped back against the closed door waiting for the dizziness to pass.

Casie tried to pull him forward so she could get around him but only succeeded in stumbling backwards. She grabbed Chris' arm to stop herself from falling over completely.

Once she had steadied herself she looked up at him. "Is the room supposed to spin?"

He laughed. "No, but don't worry, I'm starting to spin too!"

She whirled her head around. "Like a merry-go-round!"

"Yep," he agreed as she tried to pull him away from the door again but this time she actually fell, he grabbed her before she hit the floor.

"Watch it, you could hurt yourself."

"Sorry," she leaned forward, her nose touching his chest.

With her in such close proximity, he could smell the alcohol on her breath. He could also feel the desire stirring in him. Part of him, most likely the sober part, was saying no, it wasn't right, especially since she was so drunk. But the larger, alcohol fuelled part, was saying go for it.

He looked into her eyes and realized two things; one, his arms were still wrapped around her and two, she was looking up at him longingly.

He couldn't stop himself, so he leant down and captures her lips with his, kissing her hungrily. He pulled back after a moment to gauge her reaction butshe responded by wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him back.

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I know it's a bit cheesey at the end, but i had fun writing it, so hope you had fun reading it! Please review and tell me what you think, good or bad i really wanna know! $