Disclaimer: If I could take over the world, I would own Charmed and Drew Fuller (and an unlimited supply of chocolate), but alas, this ceases to occur...so I don't own anything but this plot. So sorry. Lol.

Chapter Three

"Hey, Mom, could I--?" Wyatt fell short in his sentence upon seeing Chris.

Their eyes locked. Emotions radiated between the two of them—nothing like it had been with the other two women. He had braced himself for a creepy vision, a startling insight, but what he felt was cold and empty. What he felt was completely blank. Why was Wyatt looking at him like that? The boy was taller than Chris, more muscular with pale blue eyes. Where had he seen those eyes before? Why did they look so accusing?

Wyatt's gaze was almost looking at him as if he were somebody to blame, or somebody to fear.

"Who's this?" Wyatt asked, tearing his eyes from Chris. His voice was even and steady, not like Chris expected after those waves that had gone on between them. Maybe Wyatt just didn't notice? No, he had to have noticed. Where would those feelings come from otherwise?

"This is Chris," Phoebe explained. "There's a demon after him."

Wyatt put on what seemed to Chris a phony smile. Behind Wyatt's face, he could easily see the irritation. In fact, it was almost as if Wyatt wanted him to see that he was annoyed with the situation. His face clearly read "you've-inconvenienced-me."

"Demons certainly are pesky." He paused. "Do you go to San Francisco High? You look familiar."

Chris shook his head. Then he realized that shaking his head to that was not going to strike up any kind of conversation or friendship, so he forced himself to say, "I've heard of it, though. They have good sports teams, don't they?" Chris wanted to bite his tongue the second he said that. Bad idea! What if they sucked? What if they didn't play sports? What if—?

But Wyatt straightened himself proudly. "You're talking to the quarterback of their football team, actually," he bragged.

Relieved by Wyatt's reaction, he said, "Wow, you must be pretty good—I heard there's a lot of competition there." He was starting to get an idea of how to make nice with Wyatt. Compliment him, listen to him brag, etc, etc. This might be easier than he thought it would be if it kept rolling like this.

"What did you need, honey?" asked Piper.

"I was just wondering if some of my friends and I could go over to his house for a little while. Just a couple of football kids, you know? I'd be back by ten thirty."

"Okay," Piper said hesitantly. "Take your cell."

Wyatt rolled his eyes. "Like I need a cell phone. I could just orb—"

Piper raised her eyebrows towards the other side of the door, indicating that there were clubbers that could be listening.

"You know what I mean," said Wyatt. "Anyways, I'll see you later, then."

"Piper, did you realize how far Wyatt just orbed? That was amazing, son! Three thousand miles!"

"Oh, Wyatt! We're so proud of you!"

"Mommy, I made this in school—"

"Did you see what your brother just did? My goodness, Wyatt. You must be the most powerful being in the world."

This vision stabbed at his heart. He was left breathless for a moment, watching Wyatt slam the door behind him. Why did he feel so angry and insecure all of a sudden? What was that vision? Who were those two little boys, that man and woman?

Of all times to get a new power, when he needed to be the most alert.

"Chris—you just had another vision, didn't you?" Phoebe asked softly. "What are you seeing?"

Think of a lie, he thought to himself frantically. "My parents," he burst, unable to think of any other excuse.

Piper shook her head. "I know it's hard. Our mother died when we were little and our father wasn't around."

Phoebe gave a little half-grin. "He's making up for it now, though."

Chris nodded, not really understanding hat they were saying. He couldn't let their words sink in right now, so he just stored it into his mind for further evaluation. His heart was pounding. Was it possible that they could see it beating through his shirt? Could they sense his panic?

He'd never lied so much in his life before. He was sure any moment he'd be caught, exposed as a fraud, maybe even killed.

"I won't ask you any questions, but it seems that the way you've been living hasn't been…satisfactory. Without your parents to support you, it's no wonder. How long have you been on your own for?"

"Ten years. I mean, they died when I was four, and I was sent to an orphanage. I left when I was eleven," he lied. Lies, lies, lies—it almost felt exhilarating as well as guilty, funny as it seemed. "That's why I can't remember them very well."

"Well, they must have been powerful," Piper mused. "Probably both witches, considering your abilities. They must have been killed in that massacre…"

Phoebe shuddered. "We barely made it out."

Silence hung heavily over the room.

"How'd you escape? I mean, you're the Charmed Ones. I'd have thought, you know, since you're like, really powerful, that you'd be targeted…"

"We were targeted," Piper said grimly. "It was awful. We had more than one son, you know. There was another. His name was Chris, too, come to think of it. He would be about your age…He saved us, orbed us out of the chaos on a fluke. Wyatt's never been quite the same ever since. It was so horrible…" She shook a little, fighting back tears. "I feel so guilty. I wasn't a very good mother to him, now that I look back."

Chris had no idea why those words seem so sickly satisfying to hear. His own mother, wherever she may be, most likely dead, hadn't been very good to him, either. Whoever she was had left him all alone without any memory or hope of survival. He was lucky beyond belief to be alive, no thanks to her.

Then the weird visions engulfed him again. He fought it—not again. The last one hadn't been very pleasant, and he suddenly had this great feeling of dread…

"Wyatt, do something! Wyatt—"

"What can I do? I can't do anything!"

"You're the powerful one! Daddy and Mommy always said you were better! Make them go away, Wyatt!"

"Chris!" Phoebe was nudging him back to reality. "You were shaking. Man, this new power isn't kicking it off too well, is it?" She gave him a sympathetic smile. "Here, why don't we head to the manor? I'll get Paige to orb us. You can rest there for a while. You look exhausted."

"Thank you," he said gratefully. Before they exited, though, he looked back at Piper. "Piper…I think I saw them. Your sons at the massacre."

She looked up at him, her face tear-stained. "Do you know how it happened?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm sorry."

"I just hope it was fast and painless when he died," Piper said, mostly to herself. Phoebe closed the door gently behind them and they fished through the crowd again.

A woman with long, orange-colored hair was working the bar, passing out drinks. Chris felt comforted by the sight of her for some odd reason, but disregarded it. He was tired—all that lying really was a workout for his nerves. How long would he last?

For a moment he was shocked at this thought of "how long he would last." Did he really think that, in the end, he was going to be caught? Is that what his deep, inner conscience truly believed?

No. He couldn't let himself think that way. He was going to earn Wyatt's trust and make it back to headquarters if it killed him. But it wasn't going to kill him. Was it?

He forced his irrational thoughts to cease as Phoebe introduced him.

"Paige, this is Chris. There's a demon after him. He's going to stay at the manor tonight. Could you…?"

"Most certainly," said Paige, her face lighting up with a smile. "Anything to get outta serving more drinks!"

Chris smiled back at her. She made him feel oddly at ease. He followed her into another backroom, and she held out her hand.

"This might feel weird," she warned, "since it's your first orb. But I'm sure you'll be fine. Cole, Phoebe's husband, is baby-sitting the kids. Mel is Phoebe's daughter and Annie is my daughter—they're thirteen and twelve."

"You have a daughter?" he asked before he could think.

"Yeah. Weird, isn't it? I know I don't look the type, but she's the best daughter a mother could ask for. When her father died before she was born, I thought I'd never be happy again…but now I know better."

Chris was startled that Pete had neglected to tell him there was another daughter. Not that it complicated things too badly—he just liked to be aware of details like that.

"Brace yourself," Paige joked, lightening the mood a bit.

The orbing wasn't half bad, though. It almost felt…familiar. Like Paige's whole essence was familiar to him. Why did he feel like that?

When they arrived, they were in the living room of what was assumedly the manor. A man was on the couch with two girls, watching a movie.

"Hey, Cole. There's a demon—"

Cole looked at Chris and leapt up off the couch. "Ch—Chris?"

Paige looked at him in wonder. "How'd you know?"

I like cliffies. I know I kind of recycled this cliffie (it was Wyatt before, now it's Cole) but it seemed like a good place to leave off. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE SUPER COOL REVIEWS! Oh, and just to clarify: This is a slight AU fic in the unchanged future. Thanks again! YOU ALL ROCK!