Standard Disclaimer

Chapter 7

Sunday 5:45 PM

A silence was raised through the attic at the fuming whitelighter's last declaration. No one moved. Nothing made a sound—it wouldn't dare—except for the shallow gasping breaths of the crumpled boy in near the wall of the attic.

Paige noticed the breathing and silently wondered how Chris could be so insensitive he could be right now. The afternoon had unexpectedly shocked her. One minute, she was finally relaxing after a long week of temp jobs, when suddenly another just-happened-to-be lost soul/future boy came running out of yet another time portals. This week was too tiring as it was, without magic butting in right now, on her only day off. At least they weren't talking about future secrets or future consequences yet.

Now was so not the time for a headache, especially when they were running low on Aspirin... You'd think Charmed Ones would know better...

She stole a glance at Phoebe. Paige's face contorted when she realized that Phoebe was staring awkwardly at Chris, as if willing him to calm down or "talk."

Her sister could be so annoying sometimes.

Paige stood there, disbelievingly, willing Phoebe to look at her. How could she possibly side with Chris right now?! Sure, she loved her nephew...and she could understand how he would be angry at Brett for cheating with Chris' own brother (which was a number of things: ew, scary, ew, gross, ew, nearly unforgivable, and, oh yeah, ew!), but no one deserved to be sent flying across the a room an innumberable amount of times and beaten to a bloody pulp because of it!...well...no one who seemed as sincere as Brett was when he (at least) tried to apologize.

Paige stole a glance at her other sister. Piper's eyes were closed. She seemed to be taking long relaxing breaths, but were careful as to not let anyone really hear her, indicating just how close to being seriously angry again. This was a good thing. An anger Piper is a violent Piper, and, as blessed as Leo was with healing, Paige wasn't sure just how too well his powers worked on missing body parts or disassembled molecules.

The abrupt scream of anguish pierced through all her thoughts as she found herself back in the attic.

But...was she? Paige realized that she hadn't noticed that the attic had dissolved into a rather lavish room, seemingly outside the manor and a part of another building entirely, not unlike the former apartment Phoebe had shared with her former lover, the lawyer/Source of All Evil. Paige couldn't help but smirk a little at the thought of his job being so aptly matching his title.

She was the first to recover. "Where are we? What happened?"

Chris' reluctant voice spoke low and breathy. "He's flashing," he almost sneered, obviously not glad that he had to be here at the moment. Paige noticed his entire tense as he thought about what to tell them.

Phoebe blinked. "Come again?"

She noticed Chris voice didn't change from his last attempt at civil speech...keeping in mind, of course, that she too was pissed off when she found out that a particular lying jerk had also been cheating on her (well...technically, she was the other woman...but, but, but, she didn't know about his wife until it was too late...so...you know, not her fault) not too far back in the past, and so gave him a little slack for going uber-postal on a certain chestnut haired boy, that, surprisingly, was no where to be seen.

"I said that Brett was flashing...or flashbacking," Chris sighed, annoyed and—was that hurt he was trying to hide so well?—obviously warring on how much to tell them. "Ever since we were little, whenever Brett got to upset, he would flash into a memory and replay it. He doesn't realize he's doing it until after it's already played out. Usually, it was a good way for us to find out if he was hiding anything or if anyone was hiding stuff from him or anyone else that was there with him when the memory took place."

Paige could have sworn that there was just a hint of returning warmth in his voice until and a small smile fighting for control on his lips before the scowl won the battle and his voice returned to its apathetic tone after Paige asked her question.

"He's usually not in his own flashes," Chris answered. "His subconscious is what takes over and is the one responsible for projecting his 'memories,' not him. He explained it to me once. There was something about how it worked like the brain did, how when you don't want to remember something or when something becomes too painful, your consciousness is pulled into your brain to stop the thinking. Brett's powers make it work differently or something and instead, cast the image forth, outside of his brain, instead of him having to replay it in his mind... He said it was, like, a preventative measure for brains...so they wouldn't go crazy or something. That's about all I know. He can tell you the rest after he wakes up."

Paige bit her tongue at his cool tone. God, couldn't he care just a little bit more. The poor guy was trying not to go insane here! Not to mention, he (probably) feels guilty for Matt's life (hmph...I wonder if matt is as neuroutic as his brother....hmm...anyway...), and he has to deal with his ex! A little sympathy, some understanding, would be nice!

God, was that ever the understatement of the year...

She scoffed before rolling her eyes and studying at the scene around her, obviously having a little time before the memory started to replay for her.

I'd like to thank Kalinara for e-mailing me. I realize some of you may be frustrated with how the characters are responding and think that the characterization might be off. Please bear with me. Sad to say is that we are still in the exposition area of my story. We have barely come to see the odd behaviours of the characters and have not been told anything else to prove what their real thoughts are beneath the surface. In fact, we have not really covered what the main story is about. I mean, surely, you can see the main problem surfacing (fighting Wyatt, of course) but you've yet to see any bit of the real part of the story. Again, please bear with me. Patience is a virtue and, unfortunately, I enjoy using subtlety more then anything else, so...

Also, this is not a Marty Stu fic! (God, I hate those!) I repeat, this is not a Marty Stu (male version of a Mary Sue) fic! It just seemed to start that way...

The next two or three chapters will cover Phoebe's, Piper's, and Paige's reaction to Brett's flashbacks, and I promise to write them as quickly as possible. Please stay tuned...and review.

Thank you.