Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I'm sorry about the delay in updating –it's been pretty busy lately, so I haven't been able to get a lot of time for writing. Hopefully the chapter length makes up for it! Please review, it's helpful to hear your feedback.


Piper was worried. Well, according to Paige, she was always worried, but things have been truly screwed up lately, even by their standards.

She also had this disturbing feeling lately that someone, or something, has been watching them. Piper always was slightly paranoid, trying to have a normal life but at the same time constantly watching her back, watching her child's back. It figures. All this damn trouble just happens to all collide together while she's pregnant. It just adds to the danger of it all. If anything happens to Piper, the child growing in her womb would . . . die. She could never let that happen. Piper already felt a connection, a closeness, to her baby, to Wyatt's little brother.

The baby kicked her again, hard, this time towards her kidneys. "Your brother never gave me this much trouble," she grumbled to her stomach.

"You look stressed out," Phoebe commented, smoothly striding into the room. "Stress isn't good for the baby. Remember what happened with Wyatt, with your blood pressure?"

Piper rolled her eyes. As if she would let anything happen to the baby. "I know, Phoebe."

But Phoebe kept on talking, not acknowledging her sister's answer, "Not that I can blame you though; there's so much crap going on lately, it's a wonder you haven't had a nervous breakdown or something."

Piper bristled indignantly, "I'm not a doll, Phoebe! And what are you talking about 'nervous breakdown'?"

Her sister shrugged. "Well, you have been really hormonal lately."

The eldest Halliwell sister eyed Phoebe suspiciously. "And you've been really snippy. What's up?"

Phoebe sighed. "It's Chris. It's just . . . you know how he's always been really, I don't know, cold and unattached? The fact that he's hiding something is obvious, and he doesn't lie about that. I guess it just bothered me to see him so . . . vulnerable. His eyes looked so haunted and sad, like he's afraid of something that we can't see. I'm scared, Piper. I never feel anything from him, but that fear was so raw that I could feel the backwash. This threat is big, and he can't tell us anything. It might be future Wyatt, it might not . . ."

"Hey . . ." Piper, sisterly instincts taking over, put a comforting arm around her sister, and said, "We'll figure it out. We always do."

Phoebe nodded, but her gaze wandered to the world outside of the Manor's kitchen window, with people oblivious to magic, unafraid of demonic attacks, people who don't have to deal with neurotic whitelighters.


"What are you, a shrink now?" Chris asked, sarcasm dripping heavily in his tone.

He couldn't believe the nerve of this guy. He tries to electrify Chris, and invades his privacy because he wants a session of "talking through our problems", so to speak. Ok, fine, maybe Leo was an Elder, and they're supposed to be all serene and pacifists and all. But from the impression he had gotten from Paige, most Elders were all jackasses, and in Chris's opinion, this label clearly included Piper's husband.

"I just . . . think that if we're going to work together to help the sisters beat whatever this evil is, we have to at least learn to be civil with each other." Leo defended. Chris was amazed at the arrogant causality in his voice.

"I thought you are supposed to be in Heaven or whatever," Chris spat back coldly, "And who are you to talk about being civil?"

Leo sighed. "Look, I know we got off at a rocky start –"

"Damn right." Chris muttered.

"–but if you want us to trust you, you have to give us a reason to."

Chris vaguely recalled a random memory about a cartoon called Peanuts, where the adults made a "wah, blah, wah" noise every time they spoke. That's exactly what Chris felt Leo was doing right now, speaking the language of bullshit.

"Trust? You want to talk about trust?" Chris snarled, shooting daggers at Leo, who winced.

Leo sighed. He didn't know why he was even trying. The boy was far too stubborn. But he felt like he had to make things right somehow, despite the dislike he'd had for the whitelighter from the beginning. Leo hated it, the guilty knot that tore his insides. How could he loathe Chris one minute, and then seek forgiveness in the next? Maybe it was a collection of events, the recent event finally tipping him over the edge.

After all, he had left Piper and Wyatt for the Elders, almost caused them to lose Piper forever to the Valkryies, and left them again to raise yet another son alone? Not only that, but Piper obviously didn't feel that she could tell Leo that he had another child. He probably wouldn't find otherwise until the baby was long born if the sisters hadn't called him for Chris's amnesia. Leo didn't peek on the happenings on Earth that often, especially not in the Halliwell home, when he was Up There if he could help it.

It hurt too much to see all that he couldn't have. He didn't want to watch something that he used to possess, a love so pure and healing, and risk orbing down there to taste it again, to hold his son in his arms once more, only to have that feeling violently ripped away every time he had to go back to "Elder Land", as Piper called it.

Maybe, by attempting some form of peace with the rebellious, mysterious, whitelighter, some of that baggage would lessen, and maybe the guilt wouldn't hurt so much.

"I know you don't remember, but you've done things that made me want to kick your ass over and over again," Leo began, only to be interrupted by Chris.

"As if you could!" Chris interjected sarcastically, crossing his arms definitely. If magic didn't exist, and Leo didn't have all his stupid Elder powers, Chris was confident he'd win if they ever fought fairly.

A flustered look flittered across Leo's face for a second, and he sighed impatiently. "Let's just start over –for Wyatt's sake."

The last, sly comment may have cracked the old Chris, when he had all of his memories of his driven mission, but it had no effect whatsoever on the memory deprived Chris standing before him.

"Why should I care about that?" Chris shrugged casually. He knew the reason he came back to the past was important, stopping a great evil and all, but he couldn't feel the importance.

Chris couldn't comprehend the true reason, the urgency, of achieving his mission. Now, it was as if he was merely doing something he was preordained to do, something that served as nothing but a bothersome chore.

As much as he wanted to care about his quest –for that would be a clue as to not only his identity, but his soul –he couldn't. He just couldn't.

Leo knew that was his last card, playing on Chris's vigorous determination to supposedly save Wyatt, and it failed.

But he knew that, not only for his own self satisfaction, but for the love of his son, the need for Wyatt's safety, Leo would have to somehow get Chris's memories back. And to do that, he had to get him to cooperate with the sisters, something Chris seemed reluctant to do if Leo was in their presence.

"Obviously you do care . . . why else would you travel twenty years into the past, a world that you're a stranger to?"

Chris snorted. "You almost sounded angelic and wise there."

Knowing that it was a lost cause, Leo was still determined to restore Chris's memories –then get the truth out of him. Knowing that Chris would be pissed with this action, Leo waved an arm and orbed Chris by force back to the Manor, hearing Chris's distorted voice shouting, "Hey!" as he disappeared in heavenly lights. Leo sighed and followed the orbs, bracing himself for whatever reaction the whitelighter would have.

Leo orbed in to a heated glare coming from Chris, who had apparently landed ungracefully onto the carpet. Oops. The Elder could see the carefully contained rage bordering on explosion in Chris's eyes, which flashed angrily.

"I told you I didn't want to talk!" Chris yelled, his voice echoing in the Manor's hallway.

"What the hell are you yelling about?" Paige's concerned voice asked from the stairway, frozen in mid-motion of grabbing her purse.

Chris glared heatedly at Leo. "Nothing."

But by then they had an audience. Piper and Phoebe joined them from the kitchen, eyes glancing at the scene in confusion.

"Okay, what'd you both do this time?" Piper asked, throwing up her hands in frustration. Can the two ever get along for a second?

"Leo orbed me here –against my will." Chris answered quickly, beating Leo to the punch. As the Elder sighed and moved to help him off the floor, the whitelighter scowled, flinging his arm out angrily, telling Leo, "Forget it –"

Instead of merely warning Leo, the Elder was sent flying into the nearby wall with Chris's gesture.

Chris's eyebrows shot up, and he glanced down at his hands in disbelief. Can whitelighters send people flying with a flick of their hand?

Piper made a distinct choking sound in her throat, unable to form words. Phoebe stood in shocked silence beside her, while Paige silently moved over to help Leo up.

Chris got up slowly, standing to face the Halliwells, who read their shocked expressions as a sign that apparently meant that he wasn't supposed to be able to do that.

"How did you do that?" Leo asked, his voice unsteady. "Whitelighters don't have telekinesis."

"I –I don't know." Chris stuttered, not really sure what was going on. This whole thing was getting more complicated by the minute.

Leo took a few very large steps towards Chris, who took a few very large steps backwards, only to back into the wall, with nowhere else to go.

"So. You've been lying to us, again." Leo hissed, his eyes blazing with fury.

Chris could feel the sweat on his forehead. He glanced behind Leo, at the sisters, who all looked equally shocked, and . . . perhaps angry.

Whatever happened to being civil?

The supposedly pacifist Elder pinned Chris to the wall with one hand. Chris desperately wanted to fight back, but he felt so small and weak as Leo stared him down.

"You know, I wonder if you've even really lost your memory," Leo accused, "Maybe you know everything –this is all just a ploy to feel sorry for you, or distract us from something."

"No!" Chris shook his head vigorously, "I did lose my memory! I'm not lying!"

Leo examined Chris's scared expression. "Then why are you sweating?"

Chris stared back at Leo, in shock at the familiarity of that phrase. Once again, he was pulled into another memory.

Leo and Chris were both in Valhalla, searching for Piper's whereabouts. Leo had just convincingly told the other bravehearts to leave, saying that he was going to question Chris, the "intruder", himself.

Chris was impressed that Leo could act so well. This was a side of Leo that Chris had never seen. He was always sort of a pushover.

"Gotta hand it to you, Leo, that was a pretty good act you had there, even had me believing it for a sec . . ."

But Leo closed the gate to the Gladiator cage behind him. Chris was confused, but he felt a sense of dread when he saw Leo's hard, serious eyes staring back at him, devoid of emotion.

"What are you doing?" Chris asked, trying to keep his voice steady. There was no way he was going to show fear in Leo's presence. No way. Leo didn't respond as he calmly picked up a sword and a shield off the ground.

"Leo, what's going on?" He asked again, this time with uncontrollable panic at the edge of his voice. Why wasn't Leo answering him?

Finally, Leo spoke. "I'm going to get the truth out of you, once and for all. No sisters around to save you, no way out, not even orbing. Just you and me."

Chris took a few steps backwards, his heart beating faster with each step. "You're joking, right? I mean, we be getting back? You know, to fill in Phoebe and Paige? To find Piper?"

Leo hesitated, then replied, his tone icy and bitter, "I've already lost Piper." He tossed the shield and sword to a stunned Chris's feet. "Pick it up."

"This isn't funny, you know, and it's not very Elder like either." Chris answered sarcastically, trying to joke his way out of this. But, from the look on Leo's face, there was no way he could.

"Yeah, well, five weeks trapped in here fighting for my life changed me. A lot. Pick it up."

Chris shook his head. "Forget it."

But Leo swiftly picked up another sword and shield and charged Chris, screaming out a battle cry. Panicked, Chris was barely able to grab his sword and shield in time to block Leo's incoming attack. Leo kept on coming at him, with Chris just barely able to fend him off.

"I didn't do it!" Chris attempted to calm Leo's attacks, with no avail. With two well placed thrusts, Leo successfully knocked Chris's sword out of his hand. Chris cursed in his mind as he dove for his only protection against the crazy Elder. But as he spun back around, Leo was already there, the cold, sharp, metallic tip of his sword at Chris's throat.

Chris was sweating, fear overwhelming him. Oh god, he's going to kill me. I can't die now, not before I save Wyatt! He thought, his heart rate racing even faster. He could see Leo breathing hard as well, and Chris didn't dare move in case Leo really did slice his throat open. Maybe this was just to intimidate him. Maybe. Oh god.

"I'm a whitelighter, you can't kill me!" Chris informed him, praying to whatever forces were out there that Leo wouldn't try.

"No?" Leo asked, "Then why are you sweating?"

Leo stared in confusion at the present Chris, still pinned to the wall. The liar's eyes had been glazed for the past few minutes, as if he was in a different world. But now, they were clear again, and he stared at Leo as if he at just noticed something about the Elder.

"I'm not a whitelighter." Chris whispered softly, almost to himself. The memory confirmed it. Whitelighters don't die. They're already dead.

"Obviously," Leo replied sarcastically, hearing his admittance. But the Elder was confused by the surprise in Chris's voice as he whispered it. He must have gotten another flashback.

So maybe he is telling the truth about the amnesia, Leo thought, grudgingly, but he still lied about being a whitelighter.

"So what are you, then?"

Chris and Leo turned to face Paige, who had walked over to them and had been the first sister to recover. "Are you . . . like me?"

"That's impossible," Leo disagreed, "It's already against the rules. I doubt the Elders would be okay with another witch-whitelighter union."

Paige scrutinized Chris carefully. "Do you know?"

Chris shook his head. "Sorry," he added for good measure. No need to infuriate them any further. He lowered his eyes timidly at the floor, a wave of shame overwhelming him.

"Get out."

They all turned to the new voice. Piper, her face slightly red, her hands shaking, repeated coldly, "Get out of my house."

Chris forced himself to look up into Piper's eyes, and recoiled at the fire in them, the hatred.

The disappointment.

"Get the hell out of my house!" Piper screamed, her anger vibrating off the Manor's walls.

Her resounding voice snapped Chris out of his shocked stupor. He muttered sadly, "I'm sorry," before orbing out.

"Wait –" Paige called out after him.

"Wait? Wait for what, for him to hurt Wyatt?" Piper demanded incredulously, her eyes flashing angrily.

Paige shook her head vigorously, her own fiery eyes meeting her sister's. "No. Piper, the guy'sgotno memoryright now! Where is he supposed to go?"

"I don't know, and I don't care," The eldest Halliwell replied coldly, "Anywhere far away from here."

Phoebe was confused at Paige's defense of Chris. He had lied to them, pretended to be a real whitelighter. Sure, he could be like Paige, but for all they know, Chris could be a warlock!

As if she had read Phoebe's mind, Paige snapped, "Look, I don't think he's evil. A person is the sum of their experiences, and with of the experiences of the horrible future he came from stripped away, we saw the real Chris. And I don't know about you, but he didn't look evil to me."

"Yeah? Well that doesn't erase all the times he's manipulated you," Leo argued, his voice icy, "And it doesn't make up for him taking me away from my family."

"We should still give him a chance. He's vulnerable right now," Paige pleaded. This newest revelation about Chris's identity really clicked with her; she understood the confusion he was feeling right now. Paige thought she was just a regular girl for most of her life, only to find out just a couple of years ago that she was not only a powerful witch, but a whitelighter too.

If the future really was as chaotic as Chris implied it to be, then he must have had to manipulate things in order to survive. He had to learn to survive. If the future had been better, maybe Chris would be a different person. If Paige's parents had never died, if she hadn't felt the loss, who knows what she would have been today? She could have been some drunk or a druggie with no purpose in life, with no desire or ability to help anyone, or herself.

It had been their deaths that had broken through her, that guilt was what made her driven to change her ways and try to make them proud in death, to make something of her life.

But, as it seems, Chris's future had a more negative impact on him. Either way, Paige felt that Chris was good, and that he deserved another chance, just as she had.

"I'm going after him," Paige announced, glancing at each of her family members in the eye, "Seriously, you guys, just think about it."

Not having any more to say, Paige sensed for Chris and orbed in his direction.


Am I evil? Chris wondered miserably. They obviously thought so, with their negative reaction to him. Why did he lie so much? Why do they all hate him so much? There was so much distrust, so many secrets and hidden agendas.

Chris didn't feel evil. But then, can you feel your own evilness? Does that even make any sense?

Then again, Chris didn't feel dead either when he discovered that he was a whitelighter. Wait. He wasn't a whitelighter. He was a witch-whitelighter. So most likely he was alive, like Paige. Most likely.

So how do you tell? Do you just . . . know? Because right now, Chris felt nothing but utterly confused and hurt. They had thrown him out, just like that, with no thought to it. Oh, well, maybe they were thinking angrily.

Chris winced as he recalled how angry Piper was. She was viciously protective of her kid. He felt so timid when she yelled at him, and he felt as if she had punched him in the gut. Her reaction had hurt him greatly, but he couldn't figure out why.

Caring about Piper's reaction, experiencing very human emotions, must be evidence that he's good, not evil, right?

He was interrupted from his musings at the sound of chimes beside him. Chris looked up to see Paige forming from blue orbs.

"How are you doing?" she asked him gently, her voice surprisingly soft.

"So you're not here to, um, vanquish me?" Chrisasked steadily and casually.His green eyes shyly met Paige's slowly, a mixture of undefined emotions expressed in them.

Paige shook her head. "No, honey, I'm not," she soothed. It felt very natural to her, but maybe it was just her social worker/Wyatt's aunt instinct kicking in.

Chris was confused. So what was the youngest Halliwell sister doing then? Coming to fetch him back? Somehow, Chris doubted Piper and Leo would forgive him so easily.

"Listen, they're still upset about finding out that you lied to them," Paige began.

"But I don't even remember lying to them!" Chris exploded suddenly, the indignation of how they were treating him bursting out of him.

Paige was amused. Even with this one emotional burst, he still didn't sound like the Chris Paige had met almost a year ago. The old Chris almost never showed emotion, other than annoyance and sarcasm. Paige never truly felt that the witch-whitelighter was ever truly honest with them. That one outburst felt more honest than anything he's ever said before.

"I know, Chris. Let's go back and we can talk about it,"

Chris raised an eyebrow skeptically. He's spent enough time with the Halliwells enough to be distrustful of how welcoming they'd be. "And get blown up? No thanks."

Paige rolled her eyes at Chris's natural sarcasm. Looks like memories or no memories, he was always going to be a smartass.

"C'mon," Paige encouraged, grabbing onto Chris's arm and orbing them both out.

"Paige." Piper growled as she saw her sister and the person she had locked tightly in her grip orb in.

Paige cut her sister off. "Piper, just give him another chance. Use your instincts. I think it'll be more helpful to have him around, for Wyatt's sake."

The eldest sister scrutinized Paige's determined expression. Piper could see that Paige believed what she was saying. Then she turned her attention on Chris, who was determinedly staring at his sneakers. Piper really hated Paige right now for pulling the "for Wyatt's sake" card.

I must be going soft in my old age, Piper thought dryly.

"Well, since he's clueless right now, we can't really have him wandering the streets," Piper admitted reluctantly, "He can stay for now."

Leo's eyes flickered over to him for a second, acceptance mixed with distrust reflecting in his expression. He was unsure, first hating Chris, then wanting his forgiveness, then distrusting him, only to be caught somewhere in the middle.

Phoebe, however, walked over to Chris and grabbed his arm, willing herself to get a premonition off him, something to help them decide whether or not to kick him out.

She gasped as sharp and clear images flooded her mind.

It was a late, cloudy night. Only the dim lights of the street lamps provided any light to see by. A surprised yelp filled Chris's ears as he shot up ahead to meet up with the girl he had just been walking with a couple of minutes before.

Darn it, I told her to wait, Chris thought, though he knew Melinda could very well take care of herself.

He arrived to see Melinda struggling with a big, strong man with a knife in his hand. Melinda delivered a swift kick to his crotch, causing him to recoil in pain, giving her the opportunity to knock the blade out of the assailant's hands. She raised her leg gracefully over the assailant's head, sending it swiftly crashing down on his head, efficiently knocking him out cold.

Melinda dusted off her hands, grimacing at the splatters of blood on her hand –her own.

"It's okay, Chris," she reassured him, "I'm good. I was aching for a good workout today anyway." Melinda smiled, completely unfazed. Chris wasn't surprised though. She dealt with this kind of thing every day, although it was usually a different kind of villain.

Chris rolled his eyes. "Next time –" he stopped, sensing movement behind her. He was about to shout and warn her, but the other attacker had already jumped her, sending Melinda crashing to the floor.

Immediately Chris was there, trying to pull the guy off her, only to have him sent flying backwards as the extraordinarily strong assailant shook Chris off.

Chris recovered quickly, and knew he would have no choice but to use his powers. With an angry swipe of his arm, Chris sent the guy flying away from Melinda into a wall. Chris ran over in an instant, landing a well positioned punch into the assailant's nose.

Satisfied that there were more people nearby, Chris rushed to Melinda's side, offering his hand to her, which she gladly accepted. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Melinda answered, one hand massaging her temples, "Thanks to you,"

"Phoebe?" Leo called in concern.

Phoebe snapped out of the premonition. "I second that."

Everybody looked at each other in confusion. "Second what?"

"That."

Piper glared at her sister. Phoebe could be extremely oblivious sometimes. "Clarify."

"Chris staying. I just had a premonition of him helping a girl out . . . which must be some sign that he's good."

"Oh, that." Piper replied, thick sarcasm dripping from her voice. She turned to Chris. "I guess you're staying, for now." She stressed the last two words severely.

Paige gave Chris an encouraging smile, who looked relieved that Piper wasn't going to blow him up.

"But," Piper added, "If I see you hurting Wyatt in any way . . ." she left her sentence hanging, leaving the potential punishment to Chris's imagination. Piper was pleased to see Chris gulp nervously. Now that she had successfully threatened him and made him squirm . . .

"Who's up for some homemade Halliwell cookies?"