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 47

"What are you talking about? You were all against my investigations just this morning!" Paige said incredulously, not understanding why Chris was making a hundred-and-eighty degree turnabout.

"Let's just say that I've observed some things that have unsettled my confidence a bit," Chris replied, choosing not to get into details.

"Can you be any more vague with your answer?" Paige asked, frustration evident in her voice. "You didn't tell me anything in your response."

"That was the point," Chris answered matter-of-factly.

"As much as I love you, you can be really annoying and frustrating sometimes, you know that?"

Chris shrugged in response. "Hey, it's my natural talent."

Paige rolled her eyes at the typical response that she had come to expect from her nephew. "Fine, act all mysterious. When you're ready to reveal your findings, let me know."

"Will do," Chris answered with a grin as he left the room.

"Smart ass," Paige muttered with a small smile. "Well, at least one nephew still loves me," she thought as she delved into the heavenly cake that Chris had made for her.

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"Go away!" Wyatt yelled as he barricaded himself in his room.

"Come on, Wyatt," Chris tried again. "Let me in!"

"I said go away!"

"Fine, be that way. I'll just wait," Chris challenged.

Wyatt chose to ignore Chris as he continued to fume and rage in his room. It was several hours later before he decided to leave his room. By this time, everyone in the house was already fast asleep. Wyatt was about to head down to the kitchen when he noticed Chris sitting on the floor. He was leaning on the wall and was quietly sleeping. Shaking his head, Wyatt carefully lifted his younger brother off the floor and placed him on the bed. He had thought of taking Chris back to his own room but he didn't want to wake Ryan up in the process.

Chris stirred as he felt himself being put on the bed. He slowly opened his eyes and it took him several minutes to get his bearings. "Wyatt?" he finally asked, still groggy from sleep.

"Go back to sleep, Chris," Wyatt said quietly.

"What time is it?"

"3 in the morning, so go back to sleep," he said again.

By now, Chris was fully awake and he quickly sat up in bed. "Gee, took you long enough to decide to leave the room."

"What were you doing outside?" Wyatt asked. "And why were you sleeping on the floor and not in your room?"

Chris rolled his eyes in response. "I told you I'd wait if you didn't open up the door."

Wyatt stared at Chris as if he was an alien from outer space. "I didn't expect you to take it literally, you know."

"Whatever," Chris dismissed. "So are you finished being angry yet?"

"Why didn't you just orb in?" Wyatt asked, still fixated on the previous topic.

"Because I didn't want to intrude on your privacy," Chris said matter-of-factly. "I'm not going to force my way in if you didn't want me there, you know."

Once again, Chris reminded Wyatt of the meaning of true power. In his time as the ruler of all evil, Wyatt would have forced his way on everyone, thinking that doing so would make everyone fear and respect him. But once again, he was reminded that having power but not unleashing it was the meaning of true power.

"Hello! Earth to Wyatt!" Chris called out, waving his hand in front of Wyatt's face.

"I'm not deaf, you know!" Wyatt said as he swatted Chris' hand away, a smile on his face.

"Could've fooled me," Chris smirked. "I only called you like a thousand times!"

"I think your ability to exaggerate is becoming stronger by the day," the older Halliwell commented.

"Funny," Chris scoffed. "So back to my question. You still angry?"

"Angry? No. Furious? Definitely."

Chris sighed, knowing that Wyatt had a tendency to hold grudges. "She didn't mean it, you know."

"That's what you said last time."

"And it still holds true now. She was only trying to help," Chris defended his aunt.

Wyatt scoffed at the comment. "Well, maybe she should have realized that I didn't want her to help so she should butt out."

Chris sighed and contemplated his next words. "Wyatt, you know when I came back to the past?" Wyatt nodded and sat down beside his brother, waiting for him to continue. "Well, let's just say that Mom and the aunts didn't like me much."

"Hey, but that's different..."

"Wait, just hear me out, Wyatt," Chris pleaded. "At one point, they threw me out of the house and banned me from the manor. Mom...she even threatened to blow me up if she ever saw me again..." Chris stared at the bed as he relived those memories.

Wyatt's eyes widened in surprise. Sure, he knew that Chris ran into problems during this time in the past, but he didn't imagine that his own family would threaten to destroy him. He put his hand on Chris' shoulders and gave it a gentle squeeze, letting his younger brother know that he was there for him.

"I tried telling them that all I wanted to do was to help them find out what turned you, but they didn't want me to help. They just wanted me out of their way, out of their lives," Chris recalled. "It would've been so much easier for me to just heed their words and give up. Hell, I hated all the confrontations that we had, the distrustful looks that Mom kept giving me, the things that they said behind my back. But the thing is, if I had given up then, I would never have gotten my older brother back," he said as he looked his brother in his eyes.

"Chris," Wyatt whispered, his voice hoarse. "I'm so sorry..."

Chris shook his head and smiled. "Wyatt, I'm not telling you this to make you feel bad. All I wanted to say was that the only reason I didn't give up on trying to help was because I loved you. I didn't know if I was doing the right thing at the time, but I knew that my intentions were genuine. And that's the same thing with Aunt Paige. You told her that you didn't want her help, but she didn't listen to you because she loves you too much to risk seeing you get hurt."

Wyatt stared at his hands as he let Chris' words sink in. "You know, maybe you should become a lawyer or something. Because you sure have a way of making a guy feel guilty about his actions."

"Uh, I'll take that as a compliment," Chris grinned. "So you're not angry anymore?"

Wyatt chuckled. "Let's just say that I'm not about to go on a rampage. But I'm not ready to pretend that nothing has happened just yet."

Chris shrugged and smiled. "Well, it's progress, I suppose. It would've been too easy otherwise."

"Smart ass," Wyatt laughed.

"That's my other middle name, didn't I tell you?" Chris responded. "Anyway, you want some breakfast?"

"Shouldn't you try to get some sleep instead?"

"It's four in the morning. I usually wake up in an hour's time anyways."

"You wake up at five everyday??? What for???"

"You'll be surprised how much you can get done when everyone else is asleep."

Wyatt looked at Chris with a skeptical look. "Enlighten me, Christopher."

"Well, reading up on the Book of Shadows, researching demons at Magic School, vanquishing a few demons, and making breakfast. That can usually fill up a few hours."

Wyatt shook his head in disbelief. "Chris, you do realize that you're twenty-two, right?"

Chris rolled his eyes in mock annoyance. "And your point?"

"My point is that you need to relax a bit and enjoy life, even if only once in a while. God knows you deserve that and so much more."

Chris smiled at Wyatt's comment. "Thanks, bro. But I guess it's my destiny to be neurotic and all."

"You're unbelievable..." Wyatt said as the two brothers quietly headed down to the kitchen.

It only took fifteen minutes before Chris had a gourmet breakfast in front of Wyatt. The older Halliwell looked both amused and amazed.

"What?" Chris asked as he noticed his brother's dazed look.

"First of all, how can you be so energetic at this ridiculous hour? And second, how on earth do you make a gourmet breakfast in fifteen minutes without the aid of magic?"

"I guess it's one of the great Halliwell's mysteries," Chris replied with a goofy grin.

Wyatt just laughed and dug into the food. "You know, don't tell Mom this," he said after a few bites of food. "But I think your culinary skills are starting to eclipse even hers."

A look of mock horror crossed Chris' face. "She'll kill you if ever she hears you say that. Heck, she'll probably ban me from the kitchen for the rest of my life!"

"My lips are sealed," Wyatt promised. "I have a personal interest in this, you know," he grinned.

Chris laughed at his brother's comment. It felt so good to enjoy this brotherly bond again. It had been so long since he had seen Wyatt so free and so open. Seeing this reminded Chris that all of his sacrifices had been worth it.

"Let me ask you a question," Wyatt asked. "Do you think Aunt Paige's accusations against Melanie are totally ridiculous?"

Wyatt looked on expectantly while Chris looked like a deer caught in the lights as his brain worked overdrive to come up with a decent answer to the question.

- to be continued -