Chapter 3

The word "Mommy" and those eyes that were filled with rejection and sadness came back to haunt Piper. She was at a lost. How could she not have seen it when the all the evidence had been right in front of her all along and all the clues that she should have noticed. She felt worse as she recalled when Chris had called her mommy. She mindlessly dismissed him and broke his poor little heart. She would do anything for him and to make him forgive her. Then, there was also this nagging feeling all along that there was something different yet familiar about Chris and she ignored it. Her senses had never been wrong and the only time that she should have trusted it, she didn't. He's my baby, Piper thought, my own precious baby and I not only brushed him off but also disregarded him. At the thought of this, Piper started to sob.

Meanwhile, after seeing Chris passed out, Leo immediately rushed over to heal him. Though he managed to heal him, Chris was still unconscious. He looked at Chris and thought about why when he had sensed for Chris, it was just like sensing for Wyatt. And how Chris's little tantrum at the bridge reminded him of Piper. He was interrupted in his thoughts by Piper's sudden sobbing. He went over to Piper and wrapped his arms around her to comfort her.

"Honey, what's wrong?"

"Chris, I hurt him so much and now he's angry at me."

"I'm sure he's not, Piper"

"No, he is. I can tell from his eyes and after how we all treated him."

"Well, you can't blame us after all the lies that he told us."

"Of course, we should have known better"

"No we couldn't and how did he managed to get onto the bridge in the first place, he shouldn't have his powers …….so what did tell you about him lying to us."

However, Piper was not paying attention to what Leo was saying. She saw the still unconscious Chris lying on the couch and asked Leo

"Did you heal him?"

"Yes, I did"

"Then why isn't he awake yet?"

"He was exhausted by his excessive use of powers, side effects of a potion and fatigue so he would be out for a while."
"Well, then what are you waiting for, orbed him to our bed" snapped Piper.

Leo was taken aback by Piper's harsh tone but nevertheless orbed Chris to the big, comfortable bed. He was curious about Piper's sudden preoccupation and concern over Chris but before he could question her about it, a familiar jingle sounded and Leo informed Piper that he had to go.

Piper lied beside Chris, running her fingers through Chris's hair and staring at his face. She took in his facial features and placed her right hand over his chest, afraid that he would just orb away when he woke up. How could I not have noticed how much he looks like me, Piper thought and tears started to well up in her eyes again. She wanted to just lie down there with Chris the whole day but Wyatt started to cry so Piper had to get up to attend to him.

A few hours later, in the early evening, everybody was back home, including Leo but except for Leo, the others still did not know that Chris had been turned into a little boy. Piper, who had went to her room to change her clothes, saw Chris waking up. She just sat beside him and watched him as he started to take note of his surroundings.

"Mmph"

"You were sick so I asked Le.. daddy to orb you here to rest"

"But you dun wan me"

"Of course I do, sweetheart"

"No you dun"

"Yes, I do baby"

"But you say you only wan Wy and you say you are not my mommy."

"Of course not baby, remember that demon that hit you with the potion, he also hit me with the potion that made me only want Wyatt" Piper replied with the best lie she could think of at the moment. Luckily for Piper, due to Chris's naivety, he actually believed what Piper said.

"Really?" he asked.

"Really" Piper replied, "come on let's get you something to eat."

Piper stood up, beckoned him to follow while she went to take Wyatt who had also woken up from his afternoon nap. With one hand carrying Wyatt, She held out her other hand for Chris.

"Who's dat?"
"That's Wyatt, your brother"

"No, Wy's not a baby"

This had Piper stumped. She did not know how to explain to Chris that he had actually traveled to the past, posing as their whitelighter and got turned into a kid all thanks to a demon. Or better still, would his young mind even understand if she was to tell him the truth. No, she decided, she couldn't tell him and anyway it was not like she knew what to tell him.

Stories formulated in her mind as to what she would tell Chris but every idea just seemed so ridiculous and illogical. Young as Chris may be, she seriously doubt that even he would believe her lies. Lies, oh yes, he had been telling them ever since he got to the past and Piper made a note to teach her baby not to lie when he's born.

Although Piper was very much against the idea of lying especially to Chris since she would be setting a bad example. But well, since he had been lying since he got here, he can't blame me for lying to him, thought Piper. And what do you know, everything's worth a shot.

"Do you remember the demon that hit you with the potion; he also hit Wyatt with a potion that turned him into a baby."

"Then how come you remember me"

"You're my baby. Of course I would remember you" though this had not been the case at all since Piper had never once recognized Chris.

"Then are you going to vanqwis the demon"

"Yeah don't worry about it. I won't let him hurt you."

"Piper, are you planning to eat your dinner" Paige's voice rang from downstairs.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm coming." Piper replied, a bit annoyed at her sister's impatience.

"Come on, sweetheart" Piper said in a soft voice to Chris.

Needless to say, Phoebe and Paige were surprised to know that their whitelighter was turned into a kid but that also meant that they didn't have to go on his annoying weekly demon hunts. The dinner went well, rather uneventful except for the fact that Phoebe and Paige kept bombarding Chris with questions about himself. Chris of course was confused as to why his aunts acted like they didn't know him but thought it could be because they too lost their memories of him due to the demon's potions.

Piper busied herself with distracting her sisters from asking too many questions and those that would reveal too much. So far, Chris had managed to miraculously refrain from calling them aunt and daddy even though Piper had not told him to do so. Curious as she was about her son, her sisters and Leo still did not of Chris's identity so before she could tell them in private, she did not want them to give away her lie that she feared may result in Chris's orbing away again.

Just as Leo was about to ask his fair of questions, Piper interrupted by serving dessert which she spent the entire afternoon preparing. Chris's face broke into a grin when he saw what his mother had prepared for dessert. Piper's heart melted when she saw Chris's delight and all the effort and essence of tiredness spent on preparing the sumptuous dinner evaporated.

"Hmmmm…. This's really nice. Can I have a second helping?"

"So say Chris, how old are you?"

"Three" he replied holding up four fingers proudly.

However, a few seconds later he closed two fingers revealing only two fingers. Knitting his eyebrows, he looked weirdly at his fingers as if confused about how many fingers three would be. Everybody laughed at this as they saw just how cute exactly Chris looked.

"Actually I'm going to be four soon. Right, mommy?" Chris asked Piper

"Err…." Was all Piper could mutter as the question momentarily had her at a loss of words.

"Mommy?" came the distant voice of Leo.

TBC

Sorry, I had a writer's block so I wouldn't mind suggestions. And, yes I know and agree that putting Chris to be 16 was a stupid mistake but at that time I was thinking of the sacrifices that Chris had to make (all the games and lessons that he would missed; the latter is ridiculous but not for geniuses like Chris) and giving up his life as a teenager to save his brother. Lots of thanks and love to those that reviewed.