Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed nor do I have anything to do with its production. I just wrote this story.
Chapter Sixteen ---
Balloons cluttered the living room, streamers hung from every available spot on the walls. Party pies, party sausage rolls and other general party food now adorned the tables set out for the teenagers to feast upon. The party was not for him, the party had not even begun, but Christopher Halliwell was already having a great time. The fact that he was surprised many people considering the circumstances, namely his father having arrived, but it went a long way in showing them how much the boy had grown.
He ran through the living room, a large smile stretched out across his face, silly string caked onto his head, his best friends, both similar in their appearance, chasing him as he ran. Chris dodged around chairs, crawled under tables and made any and all balloons in his path take flight. After much effort the two chasing caught up with their friend. The first, Ryan, grabbed his arm and restrained him from breaking away, the other, Kel, wielding a new can of silly string, attacked.
Yellow collided with the green already adorning his body. He cast a quick glance to his left where Ryan was standing, still restraining him. A short, silent conversation was had and both boys nodded their heads ever so slightly, identical gleams appearing in their eyes. A beat passed then the plan was put into action. Ryan let go, Chris grabbed at the bottle, Ryan grabbed Kel and Chris attacked. Kel let out a high-pitched scream which caused many in the manor to come running.
"What? What happened?" asked Piper, slightly frantic as she skidded to a halt before them.
The sight that met he eyes caused a smile to appear on her face, although it was quickly replaced with a frown. Her son was all but lying on top of the girl who had screamed, legs holding down hers, left arm pushing her right to the floor. His right hand held a can of green silly string and he was pouring the contents of that can all over her. To their right Ryan was stepping back from the pair, figuring he wasn't needed for this part of the attack.
When he heard her questions Ryan walked up to Piper and whispered, "Do you think he will let me be best man at the wedding or do you think it'll be Wyatt or Shawn?"
Piper shot the boy an amused look before turning back to her son.
"Chris, get off the poor girl. And you Kel, I thought your mother dropped you off to help not to terrorize my son," she said, fighting hard to keep the amusement out of her voice and the frown on her face.
"Sorry Piper," Kel grinned up at her from under Chris clearly not meaning her words.
"Yeah sorry mom," said Chris, inclining his head slightly towards his mother's direction, though making no move to get up.
Kel however saw this slight distraction of Chris's as an opportunity and quickly rolled Chris off her, gaining the upper hand. She then bent down close to him and whispered some words not heard by the other occupants of the room. A split second later they were both on their feet and chasing Ryan back the way they'd come. Piper just stood there and shook her head, a small smile playing at her lips.
Leo, who had arrived in the room at the same time as her, looked at her confused.
"Aren't you going to tell him off? He just completely ignored you," he asked.
"Not completely," she said defending her son. "Let him have his fun Leo, he isn't hurting anyone."
"But he's wasting decorations and making a huge mess," he stated, thinking surely Piper would find something wrong with this. He hadn't spent a full day at the manor in a very long time and this stay was proving to be quite educational.
"Oh don't be silly, I brought that for him, he's always loved playing with it, and he's a teenager, of course he's making a mess," said Piper waving him off. She sighed and continued, "You always have to find something wrong with him Leo, just please do me a favor and keep away from him, he's happy, just leave him be." Piper walked away before he could even think about replying.
Some time past and the guests began to arrive. The party consisted of two parts. First there was the dining room and kitchen where all adult guests were situated and then there was the rest of the downstairs area where all the children were situated.
In the dining room Piper, Owen, Victor and Leo sat conversing, while Phoebe, Les, Nick and Paige sat at the other end of the table in their own conversation. All the chatter was brought to an abrupt standstill however, when a mass of blue orbs began to appear above Paige's lap.
"Hi sweetie," Paige said to her four year old once she fully materialized, "Did you orb away from daddy?"
"Sorry mommy," the girl said before she had even been admonished. "He's coming right now, see," she said pointing towards where her father was walking hurriedly through the house.
"Pate!" exclaimed Kyle once he entered the room, "Don't do that to daddy ok, you can't keep scaring me like that!" He then bent down a gave his wife a quick kiss hello, "Sorry I'm late by the way, I meant to help with the setup but Bane called just when I was about to leave."
"Don't mention it," said Owen waving him off, "How is he anyway? I haven't spoken with him in a while."
"Good, or so he says. Apparently he's found himself a new lady friend. He tells me the woman in New York aren't all that bad," said Kyle smiling at his brother's words.
Piper noticing how still Paige had gone at the mention of Bane, decided to turn the conversation elsewhere.
"Is that for Wyatt?" she asked indicating the package in his hand.
"Yeah it is," he responded, "So where is the birthday boy?"
"My guess would be in front of a mirror somewhere. Not a hair on that gelled head of his can be out of place when his women arrive. Gets that from his mother I think," said Owen humorously.
"Oh please, like you're any better," said Phoebe while Piper ruffled her husband's hair, smiling as he tried to bat her hand away.
"Mommy I'm going to go find Prue and Patty ok," said Patience. She didn't wait for a response, she just smiled and orbed away.
"She does realize she can't do that when the non-magic folk start arriving," Victor asked Paige.
"God I hope so." Off Piper's look she sighed and hopped up off her chair, "Alright alright I'm on it."
"So how is everyone anyway?" asked Kyle once his wife had left the room.
"Are you kidding? My house is about to be taken over by thirty fifteen year olds, half of them magical, and three very rambunctious thirteen year olds have already taken a slight hold. And then there is the little ones, who judging by who they spawned off will be just as bad," said Piper slightly hysteric.
"Kids from magic school are coming? I thought Wyatt had issues with them," said Kyle whiling taking his seat.
"No the ones his age are fine, it's the older ones who get him all riled up," said Piper with a heavy sigh.
Soon enough the teenagers had arrived and the other half of the party was in full swing. The music pounding through the walls was causing Piper to wince every few seconds while the others laughed at her. The three sisters' had secluded themselves to one end of the table while everyone else sat talking in their own conversations on the other side. Since they had each gotten their own families they hadn't had the time they used to have to really just sit down and be the sisters they once were, a fact which hadn't sat well with any of the three. Therefore they took advantage of events just like this one to catch up.
"You know been an empath can really suck sometimes, there is far too much joy in this house right now," said Phoebe while rubbing her head.
"Oh don't be such a party pooper," said Paige frowning at her sister.
"Yeah Pheebs, I think we all deserve a little joy after all we have been through," Piper stated.
"I know but that doesn't take away my right to complain," said Phoebe.
"So how are you and Les these days anyway?" asked Paige.
"We're good, everything's great," Phoebe answered though she didn't sound very enthused.
"Alright, spill, what's going on," Piper demanded.
"It's nothing big. I mean we're happy together, we still love each other, us three barely fight demons anymore, I have two beautiful little girls and I have a great job that basically makes me a celebrity. Everything's just perfect."
"And that's the problem," stated Paige with a knowing gaze.
"How did you…?" Phoebe asked surprised that she understood.
"Oh honey we've both been through it, we were actually surprised it took you so long," said Piper.
"Us three have had just a little too much action in our lives, so much so that normal seems really boring," said Paige while patting Phoebe on the arm.
"So this is what just a phase or something?" asked Phoebe glad that she wasn't alone in this.
"Yeah, just relax, wait till your kids become teenagers, then you'll start been messed up again," said Piper.
The conversation was stopped from going any further when Phoebe's six-year-old Prue burst into the room.
"Mommy, mommy," the little girl exclaimed running up to Phoebe, "Shawn froze my water and now it's stuck in the glass," she whined looking up at her mother as if expecting her to fix it. Phoebe however just turned to Paige.
"How come we never thought of doing that?" she asked inspecting the ice in the glass her daughter had handed her. "It just froze solid, became ice."
"Well that's generally what water does when it's frozen," said Paige sarcastically.
"Yeah but…whenever we needed ice cubes and we didn't have them, we could have just gotten Piper to freeze water."
"Phoebe!" Paige exclaimed sending a pointed look at Prue who was looking at her mother wondering why she wasn't helping her.
"Oh right, Piper…"
She never got the chance to ask her to reprimand her son as Piper was already across the room with her head poked out into the living area.
"Shawn Parker Johnson!" she yelled, her voice loud enough that the entire party stopped to look at her. "Would you come in here for a moment please?" she asked in such a sweet voice that it made her son gulp.
"Jees, what did you do?" Wyatt asked as Shawn sent him a pleading look.
"Aw Shawnie, are you in trouble," Kel teased laughing at the boy who was taking the smallest steps possible to where his mother was standing. The crowd laughed then turned back to what they were doing.
"Shawn, reverse the water now," Piper demanded once he was inside the room. Once he had doneit she continued, "Do you want me to slip a binding potion in your drink? Because I'll do it if you keep this up."
"I'm sorry mommy, please let me keep my powers," Shawn pleaded. "I promise I won't do it again."
"Well alright, you can just stay in here for a little while then, you're not getting off scott free mister," Piper stated calming down. Prue smirked at him and once again left the room.
Barely five minutes had passed before Piper got so fed up with his squirming that she decided to just let him go. He was out the door in a flash and not a second passed before Chris came barreling into the room red-faced and sweaty.
"Hey sweetie, you having fun?" Piper asked.
"Yeah it's great. Hi Aunt Phoebe, Aunt Paige," said Chris giving each of his aunts a kiss on the cheek.
"God Chris I know I just live next door but it feels like ages since I last saw you. You've grown so much, you look more like Piper every day," said Phoebe while giving him an extra hug.
"Hear that Perry, I told you you look like a girl, didn't want to believe me though," said Ryan who had followed Chris into the room. "Piper I've got to ask, what's with these middle names you've given your sons?"
"Hey what's wrong with Wyatt's?" asked Paige.
"Oh there's nothing wrong with that one Paige, you know I think anything that comes from you is simply gorgeous," he said as he threw a wink in her direction.
"Can you please stop trying to chat up my aunt?" asked Chris pretending to be annoyed. Ryan ignored him and kept smiling at Paige while she glared at him playfully.
"Well what's wrong with the other's?" asked Piper rolling her eyes at the two. Ryan had been trying to flirt with Paige since he was five years old, much like Shawn had been doing with Kel.
"Perry and Parker, are you kidding me? The insults practically write themselves. Now I have become accustomed to, you might even say fond of, Perry while overusing it, but Parker, jees louise is all I can say."
"Well you can blame Perry on Leo and Parker, well it runs in the family to have names starting with P," said Piper defending her name choice.
"Yeah whatever. Look Perry, I just came in here to say goodbye, the folks are out front waiting."
"Oh ok, I'll see you Monday morning then," said Chris.
"Bright and early right."
"Yeah, cya." They knuckle-knocked and he left.
Once he was gone Leo, who had been watching the exchange from the other side of the room, came down to join them.
"So we didn't get to talk much before Chris," he stated, completely oblivious once again to the change in Chris's demeanor. "Maybe we can go sit down somewhere and catch up a bit." The man was obviously trying so Chris relented.
The two walked away from the women and sat down to their own private conversation. Piper watched them go with worry stretching across her features. Chris had forgiven Leo once, she didn't know if he could do it again, and she had absolutely no idea how he would react if asked.
"So how's school going?" Leo asked awkwardly. He had no idea how to talk to this boy.
"Its good, well recess and lunchtime are I suppose," stated Chris rigidly.
"It seems like you have found yourself some good friends, " Leo said, grasping at anything to talk about.
"Yeah Kel and Ryan are great. I've got more, but they're the best."
"They seemed nice."
There was an awkward pause as Chris saw Kel slip into the room. When Kel's eyes landed on Chris she walked hurriedly up to Piper.
"What's going on?" she asked furiously, "He doesn't need this."
Chris, not hearing her words but knowing exactly what she was saying, smiled softly. He decided to help Leo out who was obviously stumped, unable to find another subject.
"It's good you could get today off for Wyatt. I know he liked that you did and we both know how busy you get so it was good," he said struggling to keep the envy out of his voice.
"I tried to be here for your birthday as well but I couldn't get away," he stated quite panicked.
"No you didn't," mumbled Chris.
"What? Of course I did," defended Leo.
"Don't pretend like you care. If I fall for it again I don't know how I'll pick myself up when you disappoint me again." His eyes were on the floor and his voice was still a mumble.
"Chris I wanted to be here. I'm your father, of course I did. I wrote you a letter didn't I?"
"Don't pretend."
"Chris I did, stop been so stubborn and just believe me," Leo snapped, losing his cool.
"I said don't pretend," yelled Chris. The yell went unnoticed by the party beyond the dining room but every occupant of the room turned to look at them. Chris, noticing this, dropped his voice to a low growl.
"If you wanted to be here you would have been. If there were a life or death emergency your letter would have come sooner than six weeks after. If you actually cared about me you'd know a little bit of information, at least enough to hold a proper conversation with me, and you would not have to ask me questions to find out how I'm doing at school, you wouldn't get the sport I play wrong. You haven't once shown me that you care, so don't pretend that you do."
"I tell you what Leo," he continued with his rant after a heavy sigh, his voice softer, sadder now rather than angry. "You don't have to feel guilty about me anymore, you don't have to worry about the son you never cared about because it doesn't matter to me anymore. I don't care anymore. I have a father who cares about me, loves me even, I don't need you. You can do whatever you want from now on, you can come to a birthday party of mine, or a soccer game, whatever you want and I won't even bat an eyelid because I don't care. I can stand here and say that I forgive you, absolve you of all your sins, but I will never let you build up any sort of a relationship with me because I don't want one. I don't want to know you. Goodbye Leo." And with that Chris turned and ran from the room, Kel following in his wake.
Kel ran down the street chasing her dark haired best friend, tears glistening in her eyes at the thought of the pain he was in at the moment. Finally she saw him turn in the park two streets from his house. When she caught up with him she found him kicking a trash can with all his might, almost knocking it off the post it was attached to.
"God Karate really messed you up hey Chris," she began, making her presence known. "You can't even kick the crap out of a bin without doing it looking like a pro."
He kept his back to her, "Go home Kel, your mom should be there by now."
"Not until you talk to me," Kel stated defiantly.
"There's nothing to talk about," said Chris shortly.
"Of course there is. We could start with you telling me what the hell you even began talking to him for before I just get annoyed and knock some sense into you."
There was a moment of silence and Chris finally relented.
"You know when he wanted to talk to me today I got a little excited. This guy who has never given a crap about me before wanted to talk to me and then he went and screwed it up. First he thinks I play baseball then he doesn't even know how to have a conversation with me. But I'm over it now."
"No your not," stated Kel calmly. "If you were over it you wouldn't be out here kicking a bin to bits, you'd be inside having a good time."
Chris finally turned around and his broken appearance almost broke Kel's heart. She gently led him over to the swinging chair that was attached to the largest tree in the area.
"It just hurts so much but I don't know why, I should be used to it by now," he said, his body shaking as he did so.
"It hurts you because he is your father and despite knowing better you love him."
"He's not my dad," said Chris rather defensively, "I have one and a good one at that."
"Chris he's not your dad but he is your father, nothing can ever change that fact. And because of that you look to him for acceptance, you want him to be proud of you because you know he is supposed to be. Owen is most defiantly your dad but Leo is your father. For most people those two figures are the same person, but for you it's different. Leo will always be your father, or at least he will be until you can stop looking to him for acceptance, till when those words you said to him tonight are actually true." She sighed softly and rubbed his back to comfort him.
"I wish I didn't care," said Chris softly, "I wish he meant nothing to me but it still hurts. I just wish it would all stop hurting. You know he hasn't been to a birthday party of mine since I was two years old. How can I still care what someone like that thinks?"
"You just do. I can't explain it but you just do. I think part of it might be that you know that he isn't always like that because of how he treats Wyatt but other than that I don't know."
"I guess your right about that. Wyatt has two dads but just one father. He sees Leo completely different from the way I see him because he's always had a proper relationship with him. He still loves dad, Owen, though because dad is always there for him, dad lives with us and makes mom so happy."
"It's times like these that I feel like I'm three years old again. You know my earliest memory of Leo is that Christmas when I was three. He left us alone and I broke my arm and when he came back he yelled at me. I feel exactly the same as I did back then when he says things to me." Chris reached up and wiped a tear that was threatening to fall down his face away.
Kel had no idea what to say to that so she simply hugged him. As she did that his hard demeanor dropped and his body collapsed onto hers. He didn't cry, he wouldn't let himself but as she held him in her arms his troubles seemed to dissipate. They didn't know how long they held each other like that for but eventually they we broken apart by someone clearing their throat. Once they were apart Chris immediately missed the circles that Kel had been drawing on his back. At the time he hadn't even noticed she was doing it but now it was gone he wished she'd just begin again.
"Kel I'll take it from here if that's ok, your mothers waiting over at the road." It was his mother.
"Sure Piper, thanks for having me," she said as she pecked Piper on the cheek.
"Always a pleasure." The two left at the scene watched Kel leave. Once she was out of site Piper turned back to her son. "I was listening, sorry." Rule number one, never keep anything from Chris, he didn't like it when he found out. "I just didn't want to interrupt."
"It's ok," said Chris softly.
"I heard what you said. You're not my baby boy anymore are you, you have really grown up lately Chris." She sighed and took the seat beside him. "I know you don't want to talk about it again, once has always been enough with you, but I want you to know that I'm here for you alright." Chris nodded and she continued. "I'll always be here for you whenever you need me." Once again he nodded. "I love you sweetie."
"I love you too mom, I always will, you have always been there for me, you don't need to remind me of that." He sighed and looked to the floor, "He's never been there and I won't believe him if he ever promises to be."
"I know honey and I'm sorry for that."
"It's not your fault mom, it never has been." Chris turned to look at his mother but as he did a figure in the distance caught his eye. "I don't want to go home right now mom, can I just go to magic school, get lost in the library or something?"
"If that's what you want, do you want me to come with you?" she asked.
"No, go back to Wyatt, as you said it's his day."
"Chris… Oh come here sweetie," she sobbed softly as she pulled her son into a hug, "Just be home before midnight alright, that's when the older kids are going home."
"I promise." Piper nodded and watched her son orb away. As soon as he was gone she broke down, tears cascaded from her eyes. She couldn't believe the pain her baby had been through in his life, he was only thirteen years old. Her dad hadn't exactly been father of the year but at least he had treated all of them equally, no one was favored over another.
A moment after he left Chris arrived at magic school and his Aunt Prue materialized a second after him.
"Oh Chris…" she pulled him against her and finally he broke.
His sobs echoed through the stone room as his body collapsed to the floor. Prue looked down at him, tears running down her own cheeks, and orbed him across to the sofa on the other side of the room. Prue was the only person who he didn't mind letting his guard down for. She was, as far as the majority of the family was concerned, dead. And that fact made her completely removed from the situation. She became his confident and helped him through all the tough times that life dealt him. Eventually Chris calmed down enough to be able to simply sit and talk with his aunt, only hiccupping every now and again.
"You know that place you were at tonight, that's where my boyfriend from high school and I used to meet. It was our secret hideaway. Seeing you and Kel there tonight brought back some memories."
"Me and Kel, where not like that, we're just friends you know?" Chris asked, slightly alarmed at the thought that anyone could think anything differently.
"Yeah I know Chris, you've been best friends since you were little." Prue shook her head thinking that Chris had inherited something from Leo after all, they were both oblivious.
"Now are you going to help me with any of my research? You've only got about twenty minutes before you have to be home, you could at least make yourself useful while you're here," she said nudging him up off the couch.
"I suppose I could," said Chris looking toward the tables where thick volumes of dusty old books were laid out.
"While you guys have been down there all carefree and happy the elders have been getting anxious. They know something big is coming, they just don't know what."
"Didn't you say you thought it was the Avitars?" questioned Chris.
"Yeah but we ruled them out. Now we just know that there is someone who is organizing the underworld, getting troops of darklighters, attacking whitelighters, stealing their powers. The only thing is we're stumped because they aren't using the orbing to get into 'elder land' as your mother so nicely calls it," said Prue thinking it best to get his mind on something other than his family.
"Why didn't you ever get married Aunt Prue?" asked Chris, completely changing the course of the conversation. "It's not like you can use been a whitelighter as an excuse because we all know people have defied those rules before."
"Chris the man I love died even before I did. That boy from high school, he is the only man I have ever and will ever truly love. I can't marry anyone else. I will always love Andy, nothing can change that," said Prue looking sadly at her nephew.
"I think I should go home now," stated Chris rather solemnly.
"Alright," said Prue while shutting the book she had opened earlier. "Just remember, I'm just an orb away whenever you need me alright?"
"Of course." He gave he a quick kiss on the cheek then orbed home.
The next morning Chris woke to find the manor already buzzing with activity. As he walked down the stairs, still clad in his checked pajamas, he saw his little brother and cousins running around the living room. As he came to the bottom his mother arrived in the room.
"Good morning sweetie," she said smiling at him softly. She was about to say something more when her eye caught onto Owen, who was currently frozen solid.
"Shawn!" she yelled at her youngest son. She was cut off from saying anything more by the little boy who wanted to defend himself.
"It wasn't me I swear mommy," he stated with a wide look of innocence on his face. "It was Prue, she channeled my powers."
"Nah, it was Shawn," Pate exclaimed.
"It was herAunt Piper, I saw her do it," stated Patty.
"Tattle tale," said Prue poking her tongue out at her older sister.
"Someone's got to keep you in line," Patty shot back.
Chris just smiled as he walked past them and into the kitchen. Everything at the manor was back to normal. The events of yesterday could be forgotten, he was happy again, free again.
A/N: Ok so this was kind of long. Sorry about that to the people who don't like to read long fic's and your welcome to those like me who think the longer the better. Hope you enjoyed it and to all you guys who reviewed, thank you, it really means a lot to me. Anyway, please keep them coming. God knows I love them. Hope you liked this. I tried to answer your questions in it. I think its better that way rather then me just telling you.