You have to fix this 2: Afterwards
Chapter 3
By teal-lover
Summary: After her trip to the future, Piper vows to build a better relationship with Chris. Things are going well, or so she thought—and she just has to make sure.
Rating: PG13, T
Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, just borrowing, promise to give them back when done, don't get any money for this.
AN: I'm so sorry I haven't updated this in so long, but work & classes have just been so crazy. When classes are over Dec. 20, I'll try my best to finish both this and 'Of all the people'—if they're not already done by then. So, wish me luck:)
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Last time…
Chris turned back to his mother, the warmth immediately softening the harshness in his green eyes as she strode over to him. She hugged him quickly, glad that he was safe, before pulling back again. "What was that about? Will somebody explain this to me?"
Wyatt suddenly remembered his question earlier and joined them with a quirky grin. He grabbed one of her hands in his, making sure to emphasize the dampness as he rubbed his fingers together. "I will if you will."
She yanked her hands back, and looked down at the floor shamefully. He was on to her. She tossed her hair over her shoulders indignantly as she replied. "I'm your mother, and I'm not obligated to explain anything to you."
"Well how about to me?" Leo asked softly. His expression as he crossed the room slowly, mirrored Chris's when she first arrived.
"Uhm—"
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Chris looked from his father to his brother with a mixture of fear and worry. "Mom? What's going on?"
Piper was suddenly at a loss for words when her gaze fell on the three men in the room—her youngest with an expression of worry, his brother with smugness, and finally her husband with a look of longing.
Wyatt spoke up for her and nodded to his brother, "Mom, would you like to do the honors or should I?"
The gentle smile from her husband gave her the courage to take Chris' hand. "Sweetie, I'm not your mom."
He pulled back, "What?"
"At least, not the one who apparently died. I'm from the past." The look of hurt he wore nearly broke her heart. She ran the back of her hand down his face gently, "but you're still my baby."
"No wonder you feel so real. You are…" he said with a hint of disappointment before his eyes suddenly lit up. "But you're still alive! That means we can change it!" He spun around to his brother, "We can save her! All we have to do is tell her to look out—" He was abruptly cut off when Wyatt covered his mouth.
"No Chris, I'm sorry."
The younger man pulled away suddenly, ripping out of his grasp only to find himself backing into his father's strong arms. "Dad? Come on! What's wrong with you two? You said we couldn't go to the past, but you never said the past couldn't come to us!"
Wyatt tried to calm the younger witch, knowing that as worked up as he was getting, nothing he said would work at the moment. He spared a glance to his father, who seemed to agree. He reached into his pocket subtly while Chris was pleading his case. "Chris, you have to listen to reason—"
"NO WYATT! There's NO reason for this! We have a chance to save her—both of you! We can't just let it go. Maybe you don't, but I need her," he jerked his head around to the woman was moving toward him on unsteady legs. "June—" Chris was cut off abruptly again, only this time, Wyatt had blown a handful of gold dust in his face.
Piper was both panicked and infuriated as she rushed to her youngest child's aid. "What the hell is the matter with you two!"
With one hand, Leo supported the limp brunette and held the other out to block her path. "It's ok, Piper. He's alright. That was just sleep dust. Wyatt wouldn't hurt him—I swear to you on my life."
Piper glared at him crossly. "Why did you do that? Why are you so hell bent on making sure that I stay dead?"
Wyatt stepped closer to her with a look of hurt in his eyes, causing her steely gaze to wither a bit. "That's not it at all, Mom. You have no idea how much I love and miss having you around every day. But this is the way things were always supposed to be. Chris doesn't understand that, and he's not ready to hear it yet either. He's got a destiny that can not be fulfilled if we change what happened that day."
Leo grasped her hand for the first time since he laid eyes on her, and he found it hard to fight back the tears. He spoke without looking at him, "Wyatt, why don't you take him downstairs to his room where he can sleep it off."
Piper reluctantly let go of her youngest son's hand that she had subconsciously taken in a vice-like grip. She stared at the spot where Wyatt had just orbed him away.
"Piper, look at me," Leo demanded softly. He placed a finger under her chin, turning her head gently. "You can't—can't imagine how much I miss waking up next to you every morning. I—"
She cut him off as the tears spilled on his hand cupping her face, "Then why Leo? I'm not afraid to die, you know that. But you told me to fix things and make it better with Chris, and I did. You showed me how to love him the way he deserved to be—and I did—with all my heart and soul. I did everything you asked me to do. And now when we've formed that bond you said was missing, he's heartbroken after fate decides to play its cruel games with our family again. And now you want me to just go along with it and abandon him?"
"No, I'm not asking you to do that. And I can't tell you how thankful I am for everything you've done for him. It's because of your influence, your love for him, that gives him the strength to do what he knows he has to do. Piper, your death was horrible for all of us. But sadly, its what gave him the courage to step up and fulfill his destiny. He did it because he wanted you to be proud of him. It's probably what gave him the strength to come back to he past the first time."
"And just what exactly is this destiny that he has to fulfill?"
Wyatt spoke suddenly and she jumped visibly, not having heard him reenter the room. "His destiny to rule as the heir to the throne of Camelot."
Leo added proudly, "And it won't just be the magical world, Piper, as it was before in the time of King Arthur. The knowledge of magic will spill over into the mortal world, only this time, it won't be forgotten or pushed aside as a fairy tale. People will look to our son to control it, to lead them."
Piper stood up angrily, "They'll look to him and all they'll see is a witch—right before they burn him at the stake! You're talking madness! This is what you want me to accept, Leo? That is exactly the kind of thing that Chris came back to the past to prevent!"
As soon as the words left her mouth, she blanched visibly and covered her mouth when she realized that Wyatt was still present.
Wyatt offered her a sad smile, "Don't worry, Mom. I know about me being evil the first time around. The Elders explained everything to me. To help me adjust. Then Dad confirmed everything, so I understand. I'm not bothered by it. But it does help me to understand my place in all of this. Excalibur wasn't meant for me—which is why I was evil the first time around.
" And what exactly is your place in this? And why do you and your father seem to have some crazy idea that magic should be exposed? Do you know what happened when we were exposed? Because it's the reason you never met your Aunt Prue! Ordinary mortals just aren't ready for any of this."
"Trust me, Mom. Magic was meant to be known again to the mortal world eventually, but not the way I apparently did it when I was evil, and not the way it happened with you and your sisters—because the world wasn't ready for it then, and none of us were meant to do it. The point is, Chris was."
She wrinkled her brow in confusion, "But how can that be? I thought you were meant to be the next King Arthur? What happened? How can the two of you share Excalibur?"
Wyatt avoided her eyes, trying to find a way to explain. Luckily, his father noticed his discomfort and took over.
"Piper, Wyatt is a whitelighter."
She narrowed her eyes with a droll response, "I know that, Leo. I was kind of there when he was conceived."
"No, I don't mean 'half'. Wyatt is a full whitelighter, like I used to be when we met."
"How is that possible, Leo? Even Paige couldn't become a full whitelighter because she was part wit-" she trailed off as she suddenly heard Leo's voice in her mind as she remembered the conversation with Leo in that first trip to the future. 'Wyatt is dead. He's not evil, not in this lifetime. He died in the same car accident as you. It wasn't until the Elder's brought him back as a full whitelighter…'
Her mouth fell open in shock as she stared at her oldest son in a new light. 'No wonder he looks so young…' she thought to herself. She had hoped that because he was standing here and was obviously such an integral part of his brother's life, that he had somehow escaped her fate. "You died?" She stated simply, needing to hear it confirmed if her mind was to believe what she knew in her heart to be true.
"Yes," he admitted somewhat nervously.
She nodded in understanding, "Is that why Chris is the heir?"
Wyatt's eyes darkened somewhat at the implication and he immediately corrected her. "No, of course not. Chris didn't get it by default—I did the first time around. It was supposed to be his all along. My time as a witch is over. My destiny with Excalibur was never as royal successor, but as Chris so often likes to put it, the 'Lady in the Lake'. I was only meant to give it to him and train him in its use. And I couldn't do that being a witch."
Piper was thoroughly confused now. "Wyatt, I wasn't implying that Chris is inferior to you, but it's just that I don't understand—magic stopped the day you were born…"
Wyatt conceded with a hint of amusement, "True, that was a sign. But it wasn't a sign that I was coming. It was like a warning for the entire magical community to be prepared—that the true heir to the throne would be coming soon. I was actually just the messenger."
"He's more than that," Leo said proudly while his arm snaked around his shoulders.
Wyatt shrugged a bit bashfully, "Possibly. In addition to being Chris' whitelighter, I was also born to be his guide and counsel. And as you just saw, he doesn't need much in the way of protection, but it's also my destiny to act as his protector. We just kind of lucked out that we're brothers and that makes the job a whole a lot easier. I mean, what's a big brother for, right? But it was the sword's influence on me that was probably responsible for what happened in the first timeline."
"But I thought Gideon"
"Helped the process along, I'm sure. It had to be the influence of a sword that wasn't meant for me that likely finished me off."
Leo added, "Just as in the first timeline, the sword would corrupt him again as a witch. But as a full whitelighter, Wyatt's now immune to any adverse effects of it. He's safe from evil now. And the fact that they're brothers and trust each other so completely, really make it the perfect situation."
"So you're not the next King Arthur?"
Wyatt grinned bashfully. "No, the only time I was ever royalty was when I was four and insisted on dressing up like a princess for Halloween." He complained with mock annoyance, "And why didn't you stop me?"
Piper couldn't help the slight chuckle that escaped at the fond memory. "You were adamant about it. And having the ability to either orb it back on yourself, or conjure a new one was tough to beat. Besides, you looked so cute. I still have that picture."
"Yeah, well for a mom it's cute, for a little brother, it's blackmail material. I've tried to destroy all of the evidence, but somehow, they just keep turning back up," he added with glare in his father's direction, who rocked on his heels and stared at the ceiling trying to hide his conspiratorial grin.
Momentarily swayed by their easy camaraderie, she quickly refocused her attention on the questions that nagged at the back of her mind. She narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the two. "How do you know all of this?"
Leo gestured to the blonde in a way of an answer, "Wyatt, take your Mom to see the scroll, I think it's the only way for her to understand. I'll stay with your brother to make sure he's alright." He turned back to the woman and continued excitedly, "It's the same prophecy we heard about when Wyatt was a baby. If you remember, we just assumed it spoke of him, but we never actually saw it. Well, we found it a few years ago. Wyatt is mentioned, but just as he said—Chris's guide and protector. The text describes everything we've ever seen in Chris, right down to his appearance, and then there's one surprising little fact that can't be denied."
Wyatt was a bit saddened by her wary and suspicious gaze in his direction, but he forced a smile onto his face and held out his hand for her. Tentatively, she placed her smaller hand in his before he whisked them both away to get the answers she sought.
TBC…