Standard Disclaimer

Chapter Eight

Sunday 5:45 PM

Something was wrong. It was frickin'...5:45 PM!, and something was wrong. Great. Just great. Ugh. Bright and cheery in the face of some ass backwards problem was so not her thing...(people always seemed to see right through it, anyway...or not care...). She needed some aspirin...or a drink, because they were out of aspirin.

You'd think the Charmed Ones would know better...

Today just couldn't get worse, could it? The week with Elise was bad enough, but nooooo, there just had to be something to make it worse on Sunday, her only day off. Not to mention the fact that she still had about a week's worth of mail to sort through and at least a column and a half to catch up, and it's not like the demons were letting up either.

And now, now she has yet another problem on her already long list of things to do! Great. She needed this the same way she needed Cole to come back from the dead...again.

Oh! Don't think that...he just might...

She looked at Chris is consternation. Something there was up. He didn't act like this. He was bitchy and snarky and a general pain in the... But, he didn't act like this...well except that time last week, after Leo goaded him. But that's just the thing, he was already really mad at Leo, and still he needed to be goaded to cause the historical eruption of Mt. Saint Chris... There was something wrong here, something she was missing. This wasn't just an old time lover's spat. No, something big must have happened, something bad. She swore, she could almost feel some...pain?...off of him. Could it be? Chris Peregrine Halliwell Wyatt actually had emotions?! The last time she was able to feel something from him was that thing with Bianca, but, than again, that was when he was less than conscious. If something was bothering him now, whatever it was, it was stronger than whatever feelings he had when Bianca came...intresting...

She didn't want to look at Paige. She knew her sister was shooting her disbelieving glances (not to mention daggers), but... Paige just didn't see that something else was wrong here. Don't get her wrong, Phoebe cared about the new future boy as much as the next sister, but family comes first. Phoebe knew that Paige loved her nephew, secretly admired and adored him even, but she also knew that Paige was so gung ho on saving the innocents, and (probably) just didn't like the way Chris just beat up the poor guy.

If the situation were lighter, she would have laughed at that. The rationalization just didn't make much sense. If anything, it was because Paige was secretly annoyed at him for keeping secrets, keeping a tight lip on the future, and making them tired from going on the constant, rather more vigourous, demon hunts he was putting them on recently.

Subtle, Paige. Real subtle.

Was it her imagination, or was he rushing with the demon hunting? If she didn't know any better, she would have sworn he had, like, some sort of deadline...

She didn't look at Piper. She knew that Piper would be trying to control herself. What she didn't know was what Piper was really feeling. She knew she was mad, but...mad at whom? Mad at Brett, Chris...the situation? Something told her that Piper probably saw something there that she didn't, and, if Piper was able to find out all that stuff earlier, then she probably had an idea on what was going on now.

So...no. She wouldn't focus on anything else but Chris right now. Something was up and, by God, she swore she would find out what. She was barely phased by the scream that erupted from the shady character on the floor (she didn't trust him, regardless of what she made it seem like, especially now that she knew he cheated on her nephew...even though, technically, it was with her other nephew, but that was something she so didn't want to get into right now). She was, however, momentarily concerned about their new surroundings.

Huh, illusion...so that's what they were talking about... It was just all too déjà vu for her. Penthouses that looked like they were given to lawyers always seemed to freak her out now...but...

No, right now she was concerned for Chris. She heard faint grumbling, something Paige asked, and saw Chris answer. She didn't care what the question or the answer was (she'd just get it from Paige, later on, anyway) and focused more on how he answered. She took in the sneer, the almost laugh, but she also, heard something underneath that...was that...pain he was hiding? The way his entire body tensed in response to the situation didn't exactly help him on the—she wasn't certain that it was an act. In fact, she could just be paranoid and seeing things that weren't there—act he was trying to emit, nor the cocky, smartass exterior she knew he always seemed to put up as a mask or barrier to hide what he really felt and what he wanted them to see. She had to be certain.

"Come again?" she asked.

This time, when he answered, she saw how his entire body moved with gesticulations and hand movements, emphasizing his points. It then that she was glad she took those psych and communication classes in college and how they covered nonverbal communication. He was unwittingly trying to distract Paige (probably myself, too, even if I wasn't paying attention) from looking at his face.

You sneaky, sneaky bastard...

For a brief second, she saw how his eyes glazed over, and his voice get a tad bit warmer, almost nostalgic, the smallest of smile grace his lips, before he just suddenly seemed to stop all emotion.

Damn! He was getting too good at that...

The infamous scowl she saw him carry around seemed to come back faster than she could have known they could and seemed to impossibly get sharper, deeper. She heard his attempt at an apathetic tone, but she couldn't help but hear the undercurrent of emotion beneath his voice. He was schooling his emotions now, so she couldn't feel much anymore, but she could get a slight sliver here or there, plus, the undertone in his voice was a dead give away. Aside from the anger and rage, she could make out pain, hurt, sorrow, betrayal, and...was that...disappointment?, from the wisps she was allowed to see, feel.

What shocked her was that, it wasn't just disappointment in Brett...no. It was disappointment in his self.

Insert sound of record scratching here. Where the hell did that come from? Also, hmmm...interesting...

She was forced to look away as a man walked into the bedroom through door she just so happened to stand in front of. She stepped out of the way, and crossed to Chris' other side, away from her sisters, and studied his face, his posture, his entire body as his eyes focused on the man passed in front of him. She let herself glance at him, too, but looked away when she realized she didn't recognize him, but she did find it rather odd how he stepped into a darkened corner, obviously trying to stay out of sight in the lavish room. Phoebe turned back to study Chris, and noticed how his entire body tensed again, his hands, clenching and unclenching, and his scowl, firmer than ever before. She could sense a hint of anger coming from him, as he stared at the floor. She turned to look at the blonde man again, then faced Chris once more, and sighed.

Something was going on with him and she felt bad because he felt bad...well that and the fact that she couldn't figure it out even with her empathy and premonitions. She really wanted to help her nephew, but, let's face it, he's not exactly the most forthcoming with his "feelings" or "secrets" (Damn, he was annoying!).

God, that was an understatement...

She shook the thought from her mind and focused on him again and sighed.

Yep, this was juuust what she needed.