Disclaimer: I do not own any characters from the television show Charmed. All characters belong to Spelling Television, and The WB.

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The Pain of Future Wrongs – Chapter 43

Chris laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. His conversation with Piper the night before had had a healing effect on him, helping him to calm his nerves. He really had no idea what possessed him to act so out of character the past few days but at this point, he was more worried about his powers. It wasn't that he craved his powers, but the fact that he didn't know when they would work or when they would decide to take a holiday was extremely worrisome. Of course, Chris' tendency to worry about every possible scenario didn't help matters.

"You okay?" Chris shifted his position on the bed to see Ryan standing at the door.

Chris chuckled a bit as he looked at his younger brother. "You can come in, you know. I promise I won't try to blow you up."

"Very funny, Chris," Ryan smirked as he sat on his brother's bed. "But seriously, you alright?"

"In what sense?" Chris asked.

"I don't know," Ryan answered with bewilderment. "Physically? Emotionally? Magically?"

"Hmmm, that would be sort of, sort of, and no."

"Oookay..." Ryan answered. "Let's start with the easy one. Are you sick? Injured?"

"What's with the questions?" Chris laughed. "I thought I'm the one who usually asks the questions around here."

"Hey, I learned from the best," Ryan quipped.

"Don't worry, okay?" Chris reassured his brother. "I'll figure this out eventually." Chris shuddered at the look of death that Ryan was sending his way. "Fine. WE'LL figure this out eventually. Happy?"

"It's an improvement," Ryan answered with a grin. "Are you sure..."

"Yes, old man!! I'm fine at the moment. I'll let you know when I think something is wrong. And no, I'm not going to try to fix this all by myself."

"Just checking."

Chris just rolled his eyes and grinned at Ryan. "Yep, Ryan is sure growing up now," he thought to himself.

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Chris walked downstairs and was about to go into the parlour to watch television but stopped when he saw Wyatt and Melanie inside. It was obvious that they were having some intimate conversation and Wyatt seemed to be completely in love with the young woman. For a brief moment, Chris stared longingly at the couple before he shook his head to clear his mind. Quietly, he headed for the kitchen to see if his mother needed help with preparing dinner.

"What are you doing up, Chris? You should be resting in bed," Piper said as she continued to chop up the vegetables.

"Mom, I'm fine," Chris replied with a laugh. "I'm not an invalid."

"No, but you sure aren't feeling 100 either."

"I'll live, Mom. I've been through much worse." The chopping sound stopped abruptly as Piper looked at her son. The comment once again reminded Piper of the horrors that her son must have gone through in his time.

Chris cringed the moment the words left his mouth, realizing that he shouldn't have said what he said. "Mom, don't read so much into it, okay?" he asked weakly.

By now, Piper knew Chris well enough to know when not to prod any further and this was one of those times. She smiled at her son and resumed her chopping. Sure, her son was a brave and amazingly powerful witch-whitelighter, but it didn't mean that she would ever stop worrying about him or trying to compensate him for all the sacrifices that he had made.

"Mom, you don't have to try and compensate me for anything. I wanted to do this...for you, for me...for all of us, okay?"

The chopping sound stopped again. "Wh...Are you reading my thoughts?" Piper asked incredulously.

"Sorry," Chris answered sheepishly. "I couldn't help it...it's hard enough to control this power in the best of times, so it's not surprising that I'm having a tough time keeping this one in check right now."

"This is soooo not fair!! How many powers do you have??'

"Too many, if you ask me. I was doing fine with orbing, telekinesis, and energy balls, you know."

"Don't gloat," she warned her son, although a smile was evident on her face.

"Sorry," he said with a mischievous smirk.

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After being forbidden to do any cooking for the day by Piper, Chris decided to head to the play with baby Wyatt for a bit. He walked into the nursery to see big Wyatt and Melanie kissing passionately in one corner of the room.

"Oh for the love of God!!!" Chris exclaimed in horror before turning away, causing the two lovebirds to break away in surprise.

"Chris..." Wyatt laughed nervously.

"Could you guys not get a room?" Chris asked as he turned back to face his older brother, whose face was now red as an apple. "And to do it in front of your baby self??" Chris wrinkled his nose in disgust and shuddered. "He is going to be traumatized for life," he added dramatically, pointing to baby Wyatt.

"Oh come on, stop exaggerating," Wyatt finally said with a smile. "It's not like you never saw Mom and Dad..."

"Okay, stop it right there," Chris warned. He walked over and picked up baby Wyatt. "You guys continue on. I'll just take Wyatt to somewhere more suitable for his age," he shuddered again as he walked out of the room.

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"Kwis!!" baby Wyatt exclaimed happily as he pounded his stuffed dolphin against Chris' forehead.

Chris laughed and leaned forward to tickle Wyatt, causing the infant to laugh even louder.

The two brothers continued to play and baby Wyatt was having the time of his life. His laughter was so loud that Piper briefly came into the room to make sure that he was alright. The sight that greeted her brought tears to her eyes. In the time that she had known Chris, there have been very few instances where she saw her son so happy.

"So how does it feel to be playing with the baby version of your older brother while the adult version is making out upstairs?" Ryan asked as he sat down on the couch.

Chris closed his eyes and tried to get the image out of his mind. "Ryan, that was gross and very, very cruel," he finally said. "I don't need those types of images in my head right now."

"So you're saying that at other times, you wouldn't mind those images."

"I..." Chris stopped when he noticed Ryan's smirk. "You're starting to become extremely annoying, you know that?"

"That's what siblings are for, right?" Ryan asked. In truth, he was happy to have this bantering with Chris. Ryan knew that he needed to keep Chris' mind off of his troubles. After all, even super powerful witches who are bent on saving the world deserved some time off once in a while.

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Chris crouched over in agony as another painful attack was launched on his body. His hands gripped the kitchen counter as he tried to keep himself on his feet. He was gripping so hard that his knuckles were beginning to turn white. "This is not good," he thought to himself. With each attack, the pain was getting worse and the attacks were becoming more frequent. The sound of someone walking towards the kitchen sent waves of panic through Chris. He didn't want anyone to see him like this and he begged the pain to go away. Surprisingly, the pain stopped just as he heard someone walk in.

He turned around, expecting to find Wyatt or Ryan or even his mother standing there. Instead, he saw Melanie staring at him with concerned eyes.

"Chris, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah..." he lied. "Just getting some juice. You want some?" Melanie ignored the question and crossed the distance separating the two. Her hand reached up to Chris face and she searched his eyes for clues. Chris tried to pull away without making it seem too obvious. "Uh, Melanie...I'm fine...really."

Melanie pulled her hand away and an awkward silence filled the room. Finally, Melanie sighed and sat down by the kitchen table. "Chris, we need to talk."

"About what?" Chris asked as he poured some juice in his glass.

"Us."

- to be continued -