Living with it
Piper wasn't too terribly surprised to find Kaia on the wall again a week later, waiting patiently for her. She wasn't sure how long she'd been waiting, and for a minute she was tempted to leave her out there; but finally she gave up and went outside.
"Hi." she said, a little warily.
"Hi, Piper." Kaia responded. "Can we talk?"
"Sure." She gestured the other girl inside and closed the door after her.
"I don't want to make trouble." Kaia said hesitantly.
"Good, cos I don't want to have trouble." Piper answered.
"That doesn't make it any easier, your mothering complex." Kaia told her.
"It's not supposed to." Piper said sweetly.
"I'm trying to help your son, Piper. That's all I want to do."
"Why?" Piper asked.
"Because Wyatt has all the help he needs." Kaia answered, deliberately misunderstanding the question.
"Not what I meant."
Kaia sighed, looking away. "Because I think he deserves it. I got bits and pieces about his future—things he said, or you said, or I put together—and I think that he was incredibly strong and brave coming back here, and through absolutely no fault of yours he got some pretty rotten treatment. I feel bad, and I want to make it up to him."
"Still not what I meant. Why Chris above anyone else?" Piper looked away. "I know in the beginning we didn't treat him very well. But we're trying to make up for that now. Why him?"
"Chris is very special. Equally as special as Wyatt, in a slightly different way. It truly is as simple as that, Piper. I think he got some bad treatment, here and there, and I want him to have something good. He thinks he has to go back to the future, you know."
"Is that even possible?" Piper asked, side-tracked.
"I'm really the wrong person to ask. Time travel, not something I can think about."
"Does he have to?" Piper asked softly.
"It's sort of up to him. I can anchor him in this time, if he wants. He may prefer to go back." She moved, sitting on the extreme edge of the seat. "I'm not trying to steal him away from you, Piper. Really I'm not. I'm just trying to help him be happy. What he's carrying…it's too much for one person."
Piper eyed her. "You really think he needs it?"
"I think he needs away from this house every so often. You think it's easy on him, watching your baby grow up with the life Chris should have had but didn't? Don't have to be an empath to know what he's feeling when he looks at the baby."
"Anger and guilt." Piper said quietly.
"Right. He hates little Chris for having his life, and then he feels guilty for it. Not little Chris's fault, after all, is it? So he's getting all tangled up inside." She slid off the seat to kneel beside Piper. "He loves you. And he loves the kids. Just…let him have something outside this house. I'm not going to steal him away. I wouldn't let him leave you anyway." She hesitated. "I mean, not on my account."
"Do I actually have a choice here?" Piper asked, suddenly tired.
Neither noticed Chris come to the door; seeing them, he moved back around the corner, out of sight.
"Yeah. You can accept this, or not, but if you don't you'll be fairly unhappy. I'm not giving him up."
Piper studied her for a moment. "Are you in love with my son?"
Kaia rose to her feet, moving away. "Not the way you mean. He's very special to me. Very precious."
"Precious?" Piper repeated.
"I told you. Chris is special. I've put him under my protection and he's staying there. For now, anyway."
"Your protection?" Piper repeated with a laugh. "I think we can manage. We vanquished the Source, didn't we? We defeated the Titans."
"You defeated the Titans with power borrowed from me!" Kaia said sharply.
"No, we defeated the Titans with the power of the Greek Gods."
"Who had it from me." Kaia insisted. "All earth power comes back to me, in the end."
"Well, if Chris is under your protection, where were you when he nearly died from that Darklighter arrow, or got turned into a spider demon, or vanished from existence?"
"Around. If something serious had happened I'd have known."
"Serious?" Piper laughed. "Something more serious than that?"
"You're not hearing me. It's not his body I'm protecting. That's just part of it. I'm protecting his soul."
"His soul?" Piper was well on her way to hysteria.
Kaia rolled her eyes. "He's special! I've taken responsibility for him, and I'm keeping it. Chris is a charge I'm not giving up."
"Who have you taken responsibility from?"
"That's not what I meant. I chose this. I think he's worth it."
"Worth putting up with me?"
Kaia laughed, coming back to her seat finally. "Even worth that." She settled herself and looked at Piper. "Are we ok?"
Piper hesitated. "He's really that special? I mean, I know he is, he's my son and I love him, but…"
"More than Wyatt, maybe, in his own way. Don't forget about Chris just because he's not first-born, Piper."
"I haven't!" Piper protested. "It's just…everyone was so…when Wyatt was born everything got turned upside down."
"And so it was when Chris was born, only a different way. Piper…if you want I'll stop coming here. Don't ask me to stop seeing Chris, because I can't. But I can stop rubbing your nose in it."
Piper sighed. "No. I can handle it." She looked straight at Kaia. "Is he in danger now? Is that why you're here?"
"This minute? He's standing in the hall, I think he's safe enough. I came to sort things out with you."
Faintly, from the hall, came the sound of someone's head hitting the wall.
"Chris?" Piper called sharply. "Have you been listening to us?"
"No?"
"Come in here." Kaia said, smiling. Chris stepped into the doorway and stopped, eyeing them cautiously.
"How long have you been there?" Piper asked.
"Since…" he gestured to Kaia. "Protection?"
"Protection." she agreed. "Wyatt has a cool glowy force field, after all."
Chris laughed softly. "I had one of those when I was small. I can't do it anymore, though."
"Don't need to now." Kaia said cheerfully. "Did it go away around when you met True Adele?"
"I guess so." Chris answered.
"Who's True Adele?" Piper asked, frowning.
"In Chris's future I kept an eye on him, but I used a different glamour to do it and I called myself True Adele. So that Wyatt wouldn't know who I was." To Chris, she added, "Sorry. That should be your past, right? Our future?"
"Don't worry about it." Chris advised her.
"If you insist." She glanced past him, out the window. "I kind of have to go…Piper, are we…"
"Fine." Piper agreed.
"Good. I was starting to think there was something about me that made mothers hate me. Chris, don't eavesdrop on me any more and I'll see you soon, ok? Bye." And with that she was out the door.
The door bounced open again behind her, not quite catching, and Chris Tked it shut before glancing at Piper. "You don't trust her?"
"I like her a lot, but she's just…I don't understand her."
"Yeah. I don't think anyone does, really. She's trying her best, though. You do know that."
"I know, I know." Piper waved it away. "Now, about this eavesdropping habit…"
Two weeks later, Phoebe tapped on the door of Chris's old room—or Piper's office, depending on how you looked at it. He hadn't been answering calls from them all afternoon. "Chris?"
She wasn't really expecting him to be here; he'd moved into the Manor even before his younger self was born, and as far as she knew he hadn't been anywhere near here since. But they couldn't find him anywhere else, scrying hadn't worked, and she'd offered to check to ease Piper's mind.
Chris glanced up as she came in, holding a finger to his lips in warning. Phoebe halted, blinking as she took in the sight in front of her.
Chris was half sitting, half lying somewhat uncomfortably on the couch. Kaia was sleeping—or at least dozing—curled against him, and his other arm was wrapped around her shoulders to keep her from falling off.
Phoebe took another step in, letting the door swing closed behind her. From here, she could see tear streaks on Kaia's checks…and then her perspective shifted and she realised Kaia's ears were pointed and her face was slightly different.
"What happened?" she asked softly, hunkering beside the couch.
"Her friend lost the baby." Chris answered. Phoebe closed her eyes, remembering several nights of excited baby talk before they'd ganged up on her and banned it. "She just needed to…"
He trailed off, and Phoebe nodded. "Yeah. She OK?"
"I think so. She cried some and then she fell asleep."
Phoebe brushed Kaia's hair back lightly. "Her ears have points."
Chris angled his head away, trying to see without moving her. "Her glamour slipped, I guess."
He didn't sound surprised. "You knew?" Phoebe asked warily.
"I know it happens. Sometimes."
"It's not exactly secure here, Chris."
"I know." he agreed immediately. "Orbing makes her sick, though, it'd wake her up."
On cue Kaia shifted, waking up, and Chris carefully let go of her shoulders, watching her closely. She blinked, staring straight upwards with no particular comprehension.
"Thariin." Chris said quietly. That caught her attention, and she shoved herself into a sitting position.
"Why're you…oh…"
She leaned forward, shoving her hands through her hair. In the wake of her fingers the colour dulled, turning black, and when she looked back up her eyes were green and her face was Kaia's. "How long, Chris?"
"Couple hours, maybe." Chris said.
She nodded absently. "Hi, Phoebe."
"Hi." Phoebe replied. "You OK?"
"Better, anyway. Thank you, Chris. I needed that." She rose to her feet and crossed to the door.
"Kaia?" Phoebe called, and she stopped but didn't look back. "If we can do anything…"
"Ah, damn." she muttered, reaching to wipe her eyes. Louder, she added, "Thank you, Phoebe."
"Tara." Chris said quietly.
She shook her head. "I have to go."
"You want a lift?" He pushed himself off the couch as he spoke.
"No. Max is coming."
Chris came up behind her and she spun suddenly, burying her face against his chest; her shoulders shook, but she made no noise. After a moment she pushed gently away and turned back to the door.
"Thank you." she murmured again, and then she was gone.
"She OK?" Phoebe asked.
"No." Chris turned back to her, shoving a hand frustratedly through his hair. "Once she goes back to them she won't let herself be sad, or cry or anything. She's got this whole…she thinks she has to be strong all the time. Especially for this, since Cole's her brother. I'm glad Connor wasn't home, that would have made it worse." He shook his head abruptly. "Anyway, we can't…"
The door opened and Tara was there, ushering a man about Chris's age. "Sorry." she muttered. "Max kind of broke down in the middle of the floor out there."
Chris stepped out of the way, letting her guide him to the couch.
"Chris?" Phoebe asked softly.
"Tara. Another…it's still Kaia." Chris answered.
"The word you're groping for is 'avatar', I think." Tara said, sitting close beside Max and wrapping her arms around him. "There we go, kiddo."
Max jerked in her grip but didn't pull away. Phoebe watched, concerned. "Is he OK?"
"Yeah. Max is the youngest of us, and he's…"
"Not a kid." he muttered, still not moving away.
"Closest to Alyssa, I was gonna say." she reprimanded him gently. Looking back at Phoebe, she added, "And it's hard. Things hurt, sometimes." Max nodded, still wrapped in her arms. "Max? You're not really up for walking, are you." He shook his head, and she glanced at Chris. "Little help, Chris?"
"Sure." He glanced at Phoebe. "Two minutes."
Phoebe shook her head quickly. "I was just coming to see if anything was wrong, you weren't answering us. There's no…" She glanced at Kaia-Tara-who was watching them even as she talked quietly to Max. "You take your time." she finished.
Chris was back later that evening, but it was almost two weeks before Kaia came back to the Manor.
"Hi." she called, coming in and bee-lining for Chris's playpen.
"Hey, Kaia." Piper answered. "You OK?"
"No." She shrugged. "Gets better."
"Yeah. How's your cousin?"
"Shattered. Won't let her daughter out of her sight. I have to…I'm going back, in a bit. I just…"
She trailed off, and Piper nodded. "Normal?"
Kaia nodded, resting her head gently on Chris's and staring into space. "Normal."