Disclaimer: See First Chapter.
Author's Note: Yep, two in one day...I hope you like!
Oh P.S! I used Richard; and I plan to use Jason... because as of now they are longest running, recent relationships the girls have had. Don't worry though, this story is mostly about the Halliwell's (and Leo)... everyone else is a fringe character...
"Okay, I think I need a quick crash course on this family or I'm gonna blow this big time…" Chris said as soon as Leo and he entered the car.
"And why are we driving by the way?" he asked, as his father pulled out of the driveway.
"Rebecca has a-" he cut himself off, "Rebecca is Becky's mother. She's mortal and she doesn't like it when people orb into her apartment."
"Wyatt married a mortal…" Chris mused, "He really is different. My Wyatt wouldn't marry anyone unless they had power almost to equal his…"
"I don't like it when you refer to the evil Wyatt as your Wyatt… let's call him the other one." Leo said firmly, but didn't pause to hear Chris's reaction to his command, "And he didn't marry her. He got her pregnant."
"Ooooooooohhhh…."
Leo laughed, "He was engaged to her… but things got complicated when she found out about magic… and that her daughter had inherited it… Becky can orb herself and things already…" Leo said proudly.
"So what's Wyatt doing about his almost wife…?"
Leo sighed, "I think this week they're not talking… he says its complicated, I think its just plain confusing… you should avoid the subject... since usually you're the only one who understands what's going on…"
"I am…?"
"You and Wyatt talk about everything… and Rebecca can't help it—she likes you…" Leo flashed his son a sudden grin as they turned the corner, "Everyone likes you…" he said, just as proudly as when he'd been talking about Becky.
Chris swallowed hard and looked out of the window. They were silent as Leo drove—each lost in thoughts of the past.
"So Mattie exists in this world…" Chris said a few minutes later, forcing himself to ignore the memories of his past life and focus on learning everything about this one.
Leo nodded, "Is he the boy cousin you mentioned before?"
Chris nodded, "Yeah, is he Paige's only one here too?
"Yep."
"So I can assume the girls belong to Phoebe." Chris murmured.
Leo chuckled, "This is just great," he said, privately amused.
"Share the greatness, Dad."
"You and Mattie, don't exactly have a stellar relationship, but he's the one you remember… you and the girls, as you call them… are practically psychically linked but you have no idea who they are… it's just… hilarious…"
Chris rolled his eyes, "Great. Just what I need… to have to fake a psychic link…do the girls have names…?"
Again his father laughed, "Do you want full names or nicknames…"
"Whatever name isn't going to get me in trouble when I call them that," he stated, remember the incident in the kitchen.
"'kay then, that would be nicknames—Polly, Lee, and Cia."
Chris nodded, "Polly, Lee, and Cia…" he repeated, cementing the names in his memory; then suddenly he frowned a little, "Why don't Mattie and I get along? I thought you said everybody liked me?"
Leo sighed, "It isn't you. Mattie isn't getting along with anyone right now. His father has taken a hiatus from parenthood… we have no idea where to find him or even how to look. Paige says if he doesn't want to be found then she isn't going to put the effort into finding him… but Mattie… well he isn't taking it too well…"
"Richard, right? Richard is his father?" Chris asked, double-checking.
"Yeah, apparently though, after… what— decades of association with us— he's decided that the Charmed lifestyle is too much for him."
"What an ass…"
"Yep, so anyway… Mattie's hating the entire family right now—except Becky of course—because we all refuse to find the jerk."
"Paige wasn-"
"Aunt Paige," Leo interrupted, shooting his son a quick look, "Don't forget to add the Aunt to their names, Chris, or there'll be hell to pay…"
Chris sighed, "Yeah, I noticed… ummm… anyway, Aunt Paige wasn't… you know… in love with him or anything…"
Leo shook his head, "I don't think so… I don't think she wasn't even in love with him when Mattie was conceived. Technically by that point they'd broken up…"
Chris grinned, "It never makes a difference… once a Charmed Guy, always a Charmed Guy… after all, I was conceived after you and Mom technically broke up…" Chris taunted.
Leo laughed again, but didn't respond a moment later he slid the car to a stop.
"We're here." He said softly.
Both men got out of the car and Chris followed Leo's lead; when they reached the door Leo knocked.
A moment later the door was swung open by a tall, auburn haired woman, "Hi guys," she said moving aside so they could walk in.
"Hey, Rebecca…" Leo said kindly, and then asked her what she had planned for her day.
Chris hardly heard anything at all; his complete attention had been snagged by the tiny blonde creature jumping up and down in a playpen at the center of the living room.
She was hoping and waving small little arms at him, her big blue eyes staring up at him, her mouth open in a baby grin to reveal four tiny teeth.
"… my god…" he whispered, as he approached the child, noticing that the closer he got the more excited she became.
"Yeah, so I snipped her bangs, it's not a big deal, Chris, you don't have sound like the earth just trembled," Rebecca commented moving over to them, Leo followed wanting to see the look on his sons face when he first held his niece.
'You what?" Chris asked, not really following the train of conversation. Unfortunately to an already defensive mother it sounded like criticism.
"She's my daughter Chris; I know you feel like you own every hair on her head, but strictly speaking you don't…"
"Rebecca…" Leo began.
"No Leo, it's not fair… if Chris takes Becky to a fair and puts purple paint in her hair everyone thinks it's the cutest thing and snaps pictures. If I do something… anything to my daughter… everyone in your family has a cow…"
"That isn't what he meant-" Leo tried to explain.
"She's my daug-"
"Her hair looks great," Chris interrupted the woman, then bent down and lifted the bouncing child into his arms.
His brother's big blue eyes stared back at him as baby squealed happily, "Unc K-w-iss…" she cried and Chris swallowed hard.
She looked so much like the baby Wyatt he'd just left behind; so sweet and innocent and looking at him with utter trust.
"Oh… well… thanks," he heard the woman say, but he didn't bother to look at her; his gaze remained on the child in his arms.
The room was silent a moment, then she spoke again, "Are you okay Chris?" she asked.
Chris's head shot up, "Yeah, of course, why wouldn't I be?"
"'cause you're staring at Becky like you've never seen her before… when usually you're tossing her in the air right about now, and telling me to chill out…" she said wryly.
Chris swallowed hard, "Well… I uh… I'm turning over a new leaf…"
She gave a short laugh, "We'll see how long that lasts…" she said skeptically. "Anyway, tell your Mom I said thanks for watching her today…"
"You don't have to thank us, Rebecca, she's our granddaughter," Leo reminded her. The woman nodded slowly, then glanced at Chris again.
"Are you taking her for the day?" she asked him.
"Well, actually… uh… Le- I mean… uh… Dad and I were going to spend the day with her…" Chris stuttered, getting more and more uncomfortable by the minute... how was he going to pull this off? He couldn't even get by a non-relative without arousing suspicion…
"Yeah and we should go…" Leo stated, realizing his sons predicament.
Rebecca nodded, but shot Chris one last odd look. She handed the ready baby bag to Leo and opened the door for them. They were both through it, when she called out, "Oh don't forget Ooogie…!"
Chris paused, "Ooogie?"
Again he received the odd expression, "Sounds more like your turning over a new tree, than a leaf…" she commented, "You know she won't nap without Ooogie…" and with that she disappeared into the apartment.
A moment later she reappeared with a stuffed giraffe in her hands, and Chris remembered his Mom mentioning it.
"Here," she said handing it to him, then after a regarding him silently for a moment added, "If you have a problem… you should to talk to Wyatt… he'd want to know…" her words were soft.
She had dark hazel eyes and they were focused intently on his face; and the intuition that had served him well in "his" world leapt to life, "He'd want to hear yours too," he told her, hoping he wasn't out of line.
Her gaze lowered a moment, then came back to him, "I know he would…" she said softly. Then took a deep breath and leaned up to press a kiss to her daughter's cheek, "Have fun with Uncle Chris and Pop-pop, baby," she told her daughter.
Becky was nuzzled into the crook of Chris's neck and not paying her mother much attention. Leo said his goodbye's and a moment later they were on the street. Becky, he could feel, was falling asleep on his shoulder.
"Uhhh… Dad… what do I do here…" he said awkwardly as they neared the car.
Leo chuckled and opened the back seat, "Be prepared for her howl when you set her down…" he said motioning towards the car seat.
Chris looked from the austere car seat with its buckles and straps to the nearly sleeping, blue-eyed doll in his arms, "Do I have to put her in there?"
"Yep… it's the law…" Leo stated simply, his lips twitching, "Go ahead…"
Chris sighed and bent into the car, as soon as Becky felt the seat beneath her she gripped – with one hand a chunk of her uncle's hair and with the other a fistful of his shirt, while unleashing a bloodcurdling scream.
"NOoooooo!"
Chris pulled her out immediately, "She doesn't like that thing…"
Leo laughed outright this time, "You're a soft touch no matter what timeline you're from," he told his son and promptly took the now sniffling Becky from his arms.
A moment later—through howls and kicks of protest—Becky was safely strapped into the car seat.
"God, Dad, she hates that thing…" Chris muttered as he rounded the car to get in.
"She'll stop in a few minutes," Leo said calmly as he went to the driver's side.
"Before or after she makes herself sick from screaming?" Chris asked sarcastically.
Leo settled himself behind the wheel, "Hopefully before…" he commented casually, then looked into the rearview mirror until his eyes met Becky's, "Shhhhhhh, baby girl, we're goin to see Daddy…"
But Becky didn't care, her crying intensified until Chris couldn't take it anymore. He turned towards her from the front seat, "Shhhh, sweetie, its okay… I'll take you out of there as soon as the car stops moving…" he told her as softly as he could.
And to his astonishment she stopped howling. She sniffled and tried to reach him with chubby little arms that couldn't extend very far.
Chris shifted his entire body to face her, reached out, and took one of her tiny hands in his. She immediately made a fist around one of his fingers. She looked at him with woeful, big, wet blue eyes and Chris marveled again at how much she looked like the baby version of his brother that he'd left behind.
Her curls were longer, her cheekbones a bit more prominent, her lashes longer… but that was it… if he could take her back to 2004 and set her side by side with baby Wyatt, they'd look like twins.
"Unc K-w-ss…" she whimpered and Chris's heart hammered in his chest.
"Jeez, Dad can you drive faster…" he grumbled, shooting his father a heated scowl, "She hates that thing…"
Leo laughed again, "Actually she doesn't… not as much as it seems to you right now… she'd rather be held of course… but she usually settles down in five minutes tops… today though…" he glanced at his son quickly, "… well… let's just say she knows a sucker when she sees one…"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Chris asked nearly outraged.
"She knows she just might be able to con you into taking her out of there…" Leo continued to explain.
"She's not even two…"
"She's brilliant." Leo argued.
Chris rolled his eyes at him and faced his niece again who was pounding both her hands—and consequentially one of his—against the arm rest.
He didn't know what to say to her, she wasn't crying anymore… she seemed content enough having a hold on one of his fingers… so he just watched her.
Occasionally she'd look up at him and flash him that toothless smile and he just knew that his Dad was probably right—he was a soft-touch in every timeline.
"Okay," Leo said softly, as he pulled into a parking spot, "We're here…"
Chris turned around, carefully removing his hand from Becky's grip—they were at a police station.
He swallowed hard as he gazed at the building—his brother was in there… his new brother. He got out of the car before his father could say another word and just stared as a host of emotions flooded through him.
Fear, nervousness, hope, excitement…
He felt his father's hand on his shoulder, "Just be careful, Chris… remember Wyatt saw you last night; and very likely spoke to you this morning…"
The boy nodded without speaking, trying to use the words to stamp down some of the emotions… it wasn't working too well.
It was hard to stamp down emotions when it came to the person who'd practically defined your entire life…
Wyatt had been a reason for so long that he hardly knew how to think about him otherwise.
"Let's go in… before Becky starts to fuss," he said, shifting the baby in his arms.
Chris nodded and took a deep breath.
Leo led the way.
Inside they received many greetings and smiles and Becky happily waved back.
"What is this? A field trip?"
The familiar voice… rough yet amused, helped Chris relax a little. Darryl was approaching them with a smile.
"Hey there princess… came to visit Daddy, huh?" he cooed to Becky, who giggled and made baby sounds.
"I've told you people, you can't just stop by everyday…" Darryl said, looking between Chris and Leo. His eyes though, were twinkled with amusement.
"What? Being a close, personal friend of the Police Chief's doesn't count for anything anymore?" Leo joked.
Daryl grinned, "Nope, and I gotta tell that boy of yours everyday that being the police chief's first godson means squat …"
Leo chuckled, Darryl's eyes trailed to Chris, "Yeah, I know…" Darryl said before Chris could speak, "Being the second godson means a helluva lot more…"
Chris smiled a little, it sounded like a long running joke, and he knew he was expected to say something… to play along… but at the moment, he could think of only one thing…
"Where's Wyatt?"
Darryl's smile faded a little, "Is something wrong?" he asked, his voice dropping a little.
Leo shook his head quickly, "No, no… Chris just wants to get home… we're getting ready for the party ya know; and Becky was being fussy for her Daddy…"
Darryl gave Leo a skeptical look and sighed, "Okay, if you say so… I just don't want whatever it is to end up on the news, got it…"
Leo grinned, but said nothing.
"Wyatt's at his desk… don't stay long, I'd like to get some work out of him today." Darryl stated good-naturedly.
The men said there goodbye's and Leo led the way to Wyatt's desk.
Silently Chris followed.
Wyatt Matthew Halliwell looked up when he sensed someone approaching...
...Chris froze in his tracks...
It was his brother.
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