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 61

Chris slowly maneuvered his wheelchair to rest in front of the door. He was gradually getting used to the wheelchair but it was still difficult for him to move around. He hesitated before knocking gently on the door.

"Come in," Paige's voice replied.

Chris opened the door slowly and was surprised to find Paige and Phoebe there. "Am I interrupting?"

Phoebe smiled at her nephew, taking it as a good sign that he was initiating contact with them instead of the other way around. "Of course not…we always have time for our favourite nephew."

Chris rolled his eyes at the comment. "Didn't you say Wyatt was your favourite nephew when he picked up your dry cleaning last week? And I thought Ryan was your favourite nephew when he got you the chocolate cheesecake the other day?"

Phoebe looked at Paige and stumbled for words. "Did I say that? What I meant was…uh…"

Chris had to laugh at Phoebe's bewildered expression. "I'm just teasing you…"

"I knew that!" Phoebe answered quickly as she tried to restore an air of dignity.

Paige just smirked and turned her attention to Chris. "So what's up, kiddo?"

Chris laughed again at how Paige addressed him. "You do realize that you're not that much older than me…at least in this timeline."

"Technicality," Paige answered light-heartedly.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Chris replied back. "Anyway, I just wanted to apologize…for everything…over the past month…"

Both Paige and Phoebe smiled and they moved to hug Chris. "That's okay, Chris. You don't have anything to be sorry for."

"I've been a total jerk…" Chris answered, ashamed of himself.

"You're going through a hard time…you don't need to blame yourself for that," Paige said soothingly while Phoebe nodded in agreement.

Chris remained silent for a few moments as he formulated his next thoughts. "Can you guys promise me something?"

"What is it?" Phoebe asked with a concerned expression on her face.

"Please look out for Mom and Wyatt and Ryan…I mean…now that I can't really do anything for them…"

"Oh Chris…don't think like that," Paige reasoned. "They all need you so much. And so do we!"

Chris didn't believe that but he didn't want to dwell on it. "Anyway, are we cool then?"

Phoebe could see her nephew smoothly changing the subject. While she might have been fooled in the past, she was becoming better at picking up on Chris' various tactics as time passed. However, she decided to let it go for now.

"Yeah, we're cool," Phoebe answered, bringing a genuine smile to Chris' face for the first time in a long time.

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Piper slowly opened the door to her son's room to see the desk light still on and Chris typing furiously at the keyboard. "Chris, honey…it's almost 2 in the morning. You really need to get some sleep."

Chris turned around and smiled weakly at his mother. "Did I wake you?" he asked apologetically.

"No, I was just going to get a drink of water. What are you still doing up?"

"I'm just finishing up some of my research," he answered as he rubbed the exhaustion from his eyes."

"Researching what?"

"Demons, of course," Chris answered with a wry smile.

"Chris…"

"Mom, let me do this, okay? It's the one thing that I can still do for you guys…"

Piper relented but her heart was burdened heavily. She knew where her son was coming from. Chris still felt that he needed to prove he belonged in the family. He still felt like he needed to make it up to Wyatt for Melanie's death. Worst, Chris Halliwell was trying to prove to himself that he was not worthless. Those were the thoughts that kept Piper awake night after night as she tried to find a way to help her son.

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The months passed by slowly and soon, Chris was relatively proficient moving about in his wheelchair. His emotional stability returned somewhat, although he was still prone to fits of anger, rage, depression, and self-doubt. Life returned to "normal" somewhat but everyone knew that nothing would ever be the same for them.

Chris wheeled himself into the rehabilitation centre for his daily session. By now, it had become a routine for him and in all honesty, it wasn't as bad as he had feared at first. A lot of the positive feeling that he got could be attributed to Jamie. She was always feeding him positive energy and never once did she get frustrated with him or looked down on him. He knew that he was often very difficult but Jamie was determined to help Chris regardless of how he was treating her.

In the months that passed, Chris had grown fond of Jamie and it seemed to him that Jamie shared similar feelings towards Chris. She always spent extra time with him and even outside of the rehabilitation sessions, they always kept in touch and sometimes even hung out together.

Regardless of how Chris felt about Jamie, however, he also knew that she had a boyfriend. Chris had met him a few times before; his name was Brad. Chris didn't like Brad very much, mostly because Brad showed a clear disdain for people with disabilities, and Chris was no exception. His snide comments, his look of arrogance, and the way he talked down to Chris irked him, but he tried not to let Brad get to him.

At first, Chris didn't notice it, but he soon realized that Jamie didn't talk much about Brad. In fact, she rarely smiled when his name was mentioned. He found it kind of odd but he never really asked her about it, not wanting to intrude on her privacy.

Chris looked at his watch and realized that it was almost ten o'clock and Jamie was nowhere to be found. She was rarely late for their sessions and certainly she would have called if she was going to be late by an hour. He knew it was silly but somehow, Chris began to worry.

After waiting for a few more minutes, he decided to check with the staff to see if they had heard anything from Jamie. As he was wheeling himself out, Jamie came walking in.

"Jamie, where were you?" Chris exclaimed, relieved that she was okay.

"Sorry, Chris," she answered. "Something came up at the last minute."

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, thanks for asking," she answered. Chris noticed that she did not have her usual smile or the jump in her steps. The session progressed as usual but again, it was as if Jamie's mind was elsewhere. Once the session was over, Jamie quietly packed up her things and headed out the door, not engaging in the usual banter that occurred after the rehabilitation sessions.

Concerned, Chris wheeled after Jaime. "You sure you're alright, Jamie?" he asked.

Jamie felt the urge to tell Chris what was on her mind. He seemed so caring and so worried about her, even though he already had plenty of things on his own mind. "I'm fine, Chris. Just tired…"

Again, Jamie began to walk towards the door. This time, Chris reached out and grabbed her arm, preventing her from leaving. Jamie winced in pain and turned around to face Chris. "Something is bothering you, Jamie. I know it," Chris persisted.

"It's nothing," Jamie insisted as she tried to pull away. It was at that moment that Chris saw them. Bruises and cuts.

"Who did this?" he asked in a near whisper. He looked up at Jamie with questioning eyes.

Jamie's response was to look away. She couldn't look into Chris' green eyes for fear that if she did, she would not be able to hold back and would tell him everything. "It's nothing," she simply said.

"Nothing?" Chris cried out. "This is not nothing! You can't just pretend this didn't happen. Tell me, Jamie, please. Who did this to you?!"

Jamie just pulled away from Chris. "And what are you going to do about it even if I told you? Go and beat up Brad?" she cried. "You can hardly take care of yourself, Chris!"

Silence.

Jamie's hand flew to her mouth as she realized the words that had just flowed from her mouth.

Silence.

Chris slowly turned away and wheeled himself towards his bag. He began to gather up his belongings and wheeled towards the exit. He was almost there when Jamie stopped him. "I'm sorry, Chris…I don't know what came over me. I…"

"You're right," Chris said simply. He didn't say this out of spite, but he realized that Jamie had a point. So what if Jamie told him? First of all, it wasn't like Jamie's private life was any of his business. Second, even if it was his business, what could he possibly do?

"No!" Jamie exclaimed. "I'm not right. I should never have said what I said. I was just angry and scared and I decided to take it all out on you. I'm sorry!!" she cried as she broke down in tears.

Chris' heart softened as he saw Jamie sobbing on his shoulders. He felt bad for bringing the whole matter up but he also knew that he wanted to help her. "It's okay, Jamie. I'll help you…and if I can't, then I'll find someone who can help you. I promise," he said very sincerely and soothingly.

Jamie looked Chris in the eye and he could see pain and fear through her tears. "No…you can't get involved, Chris. I don't want to see you get hurt…"

"Is this the first time that Brad hit you?" he asked gently, not wanting to make this more difficult that it already was.

"Only when he gets riled up by something…" she answered timidly, as if ashamed that she was admitting this to Chris.

"You can't let this go on, Jamie. You need to get away from him if he's doing this to you…"

"I can't…" she cried. "He'll just find me and then he'll get even angrier…"

Chris pulled Jamie into a hug as best as he could. "Jamie, you don't have to be scared. There are people who can help you. Don't put yourself through this…" he pleaded.

"Don't put herself through what?" a booming voice sneered. They both turn around to see Brad glaring at them.

"Brad…" Jamie gasped as she pulled away from Chris.

"You're pathetic, Jamie. Now you're even sleeping around with crippled losers like him…"

Chris just glared at Brad, refusing to be intimidated. "You're pretty pathetic yourself, resorting to hitting a woman…"

"What did you say?" Brad hollered, looking menacingly at Chris.

"Are you deaf or something?" Chris taunted. "Only the biggest losers of all time would resort to hitting women to feed their own egos."

Brad grabbed Chris by his shirt collar and lifted him up off of his wheelchair. "Big mistake, you freak," he said through gritted teach as he threw Chris to the floor.

Chris tried not to cry out in pain but the impact of the fall was too great. He fought back the tears that threatened to fall as pain overwhelmed him.

"Brad!! Stop!!!" Jamie screamed as she rushed over to help Chris.

Brad pushed Jamie aside and rested his foot on Chris' back before applying pressure on it, causing Chris to cry out in pain again. "That's right, kid. You're just like the ground that I step on, you worthless piece of crap. You're a waste of space, you know that? Look at you, just lying there on the floor like a useless piece of junk!" Brad began kicking Chris with a vengeance, taking out his anger on the young Halliwell.

"Stop it!! Please!!!" Jamie pleaded with Brad. "Let him go!!"

"I suppose I could spare him," Brad mused. "But you'll have to give me a reason to do so."

"I'll do anything you want," she whispered. "Please…"

Chris looked up at Brad, his vision blurring from the pain. "No…Jamie. Don't go with him…don't…"

Brad kicked Chris in the body once again. "Give it up, loser. She's way out of your league. Jamie would never go for a cripple like you…" He laughed as he dragged Jamie out of the room while Chris laid sprawled on the floor, watching helplessly.

"Jamie!!!" he cried out as he pounded his fist on the floor angrily.

- to be continued -