Disclaimer- I don't own Charmed. I just wrote this story.
Chapter Twenty –
"Leo!" He was angry and his voice reflected that. It had taken a deep scathing tone that demanded to be listened to.
As he stood on top of the Bay Bridge and called for the man who he should have been calling dad, his anger magnified. He was not supposed to be using the bridge for these purposes; he was supposed to be up here with his brother, talking to him about all the problems that had started since their mother died nine months ago. He hadn't been up on the bridge for those purposes in nine months. Instead once a week for the past seven months he had stood on top of the bridge and called for Leo. The man had not yet responded to a call.
A voice from behind startled the boy. "Chris." The voice was followed by a tired sigh. "What do you want?"
Chris spun around and sent a glare at Leo. "You need to talk to your son," he stated angrily.
"I am talking to my son." Off Chris' glare he continued. "What's wrong with Wyatt?"
"He's not coping. He acts like he is but I know he isn't. He needs you." Chris stated.
"He's got you. He's got your mothers husband and that brother of yours. I can't help him. I'm too busy. I'm trying to save you from whatever that organization was that killed your mother."
"You've got to be kidding me. The one time that Wyatt actually needs you and you treat him like you spent fourteen years treating me. He needs your help Leo. If you want to start doing stuff for me now help my brother. That's the only thing I'll ever ask of you."
Leo sighed and regarded Chris wearily. For the first time since their conversation began Chris actually looked at his father. He looked old. That was the first thing Chris noticed. He looked old but more than that, he looked broken, the same way Owen had looked for the past nine months. A broken man living reluctantly.
"How isn't he coping?" Leo finally asked.
Chris smiled slightly, finally having gotten through to Leo. "He's trying to find moms killer. Trying to do what you guys are I guess. But more than that, he's so obsessed with becoming powerful. He says he has to protect me and Shawn, keeps saying that he's got to be ready so that he can look after us, defeat moms killer for us. He skips school all the time so he can refine his powers." Chris stopped for a moment and looked uneasily up into his father's eyes, then continued. "I think he's letting his monster take over," he whispered.
"He's doing the right thing," stated Leo, apparently ignoring Chris' last comment. "You should be getting ready for these demons as well. Are you?"
Chris looked down guiltily at that question. He didn't want to admit it but he hadn't used any of his powers, other than orbing, since the day his mother died. Her dying was his fault. He knew that. He had gotten in the way. Leo could have saved her if he hadn't. He had killed her.
Finally he lifted his eyes and looked back at his father. "Just talk to Wyatt okay." He orbed away, never seeing the slight smile that took over Leo's features, not knowing that him rejecting his powers was exactly what his father wanted of him.
He arrived at his new destination with a heavy heart. This place had become so familiar to him over the past nine months. It was his mother's grave. The place where she was laid to rest. When she had been alive her presence was what it normally had taken to calm him. Death had not changed that fact. Just been where she was allowed him to think of life, as he knew it.
In the past nine months his world had fallen apart. His family had lost all that was great about it. His mother's death had changed everything. His dad had become a lost man who only held some semblance of a life together so that his son's could have a chance of living again. His little brother had lost his childish innocence and Wyatt had begun fall apart. He was letting his monster take over. He no longer cared about what was right; he cared about surviving, about becoming powerful enough to survive and to make his brother's survive with him.
His façade as the good child helping his family through their loss stopped everyone, except for Chris, from seeing what was going on. His Aunts were oblivious. That was to be expected though, because after his mother's death everyone had retreated into his or her own families. The unity they had once shared had dissipated. His dad didn't fully understand it so couldn't help. He believed Wyatt to just be going through a phase to cope with his grief. His grandpa didn't understand it either. He had talked to his Aunt Prue about Wyatt, but she had been too caught up in her own guilt at the time to take much notice. When he had approached the subject again, some time after his first attempt, she had talked to Wyatt and, after been unable to get through to him, referred Chris to their father.
Sighing, Chris pulled himself from his thoughts and walked slowly to the manor. He did not orb. If he orbed he would arrive home far too soon. It was a place he desperately avoided these days. Its life had drained. Any happiness within the walls was so obviously fake that it just made Chris sadder. His family was missing his mother. It seemed unable to function without her.
When he walked through the door to his home he felt his body begin to clam. It was no longer a home, just a house, just a place that made him uncomfortable.
As he walked in he could feel a presence he usually dreaded feeling, but this time it caused only relief to course through him. Leo was in the conservatory.
He walked into the room and found his father and his dad mid-fight.
"They're my sons. You can't just orb in here and tell me you're taking them away," Owen growled at Leo.
"Would you at least let me explain? For god sakes I am just doing everyone a favor here," Leo stated, glaring at Owen.
"What are you guy's talking about?" Chris finally interrupted.
Both men looked over at him, startled out of their argument.
Instead of answering him right away, Leo looked to Owen and asked, "Can I just explain to them what I am suggesting? Then you can all make a decision together."
Owen hesitated but eventually nodded his consent.
"Go get Wyatt Chris," Leo instructed.
Fifteen minutes later the explanations were finished and Chris wasn't in a very good mood. Apparently Leo's solution to Wyatt's problem was to send both of the boy's to magic school full time.
Chris was just about to make his opinion on the matter known when a voice startled him into silence. "I'll go pack." It was Wyatt.
Shocked, Chris looked to his dad to see what he was going to say but was once again startled. Owen was nodding his head in agreement.
"You guys can come and visit on weekends if you like," he stated softly.
"What?" Chris exclaimed. "You're going to let Leo take us away?"
"Chris your father's right." That simple statement hurt Chris in an uncountable number of ways. "I can't protect you. Without your mother you're vulnerable to those demons that took her."
Chris didn't hear the explanations. He didn't want to hear them. Instead he stood abruptly and said, "Fine! What would be the good in staying here anyway. If Wyatt goes that's my family gone. I'll see you around Owen." It was the first time he'd used his dad's first name since he was six.
His dad appeared to ignore him and instead looked to Leo, "You have to take Shawn as well. I can't look after witches. As much as I want to I can't protect them."
With that Chris stalked from the room, leaving his little brother behind to protest for himself.
A short time later Chris was in his room staring at an empty duffle bag.
"Chris…" It was Owen. "You know I don't want you to go buddy. You have to know that. I love you too much to want to see you leave. I just think it's the best thing."
Chris looked up at him and saw how defeated he looked.
"Mom wouldn't have wanted us to leave," Chris stated softly.
"Your mom would have wanted you to be safe," Owen said, knowing Chris knew that was true.
"We can protect ourselves. Wyatt is going to be more powerful than mom was anyway."
"Wyatt wants to go. And you can't expect him to look after you and Shawn. He's your brother not your parent," Owen said, moving to kneel down in front of Chris.
Chris lifted his eyes off the floor and finally looked into his dad's own. He knew what he wanted to say, knew what he should say in the situation he was in, but the words that were meant to come never did.
"Goodbye Owen," he said instead.
Chris picked himself up of the bed and moved to pack his things. As he did so he felt his dads eyes on his back. He knew exactly what they were expressing. Disappointment, but most of all, sadness. But he was hurt, and stubborn. If his dad didn't care enough to let them stay, then he wasn't going to care about him.
He heard his dad exit the room and when Chris was sure he was gone, he whispered into the air what he couldn't but should have said before, "I don't want to leave you dad." He couldn't tell Owen that, it would just make leaving harder. It was easier to leave when you didn't care about what you were leaving.
Six hours later Chris was sitting on his new bed in magic school, trying desperately to keep the threatened tears in, when Leo orbed in. When he orbed out again the tears finally did fall, but now they were for a completely different reason.
Those people that killed his mother had attacked again that evening. They had split up and gone to three separate locations.
The first group had gone to the Brody family home. A battle had waged. His Uncle Kyle was dead. His mother's whitelighter, Nick, was dead. He had saved Paige's life, losing his own in the process. That family was broken, only mother and daughter remained.
The second group had gone to his next-door neighbors home. His Aunt Phoebe's family had been attacked. His Aunt Phoebe was dead. She had jumped in front of her daughters when the demons turned on them. His Aunt Prue had orbed in and taken over, conquered, and left again before she was seen. His Uncle Les hadn't been home. He had come back to find a family without a wife, without a mother.
"Chris," said a soft voice, bringing him out of his thoughts.
"Come here Shawnie," Chris said, opening his arms to the boy that was hovering in his doorway.
He looked down at the boy gathered up in his arms and saw his dad looking back at him. The same nose, the same mouth, the same hair, but different eyes. He would never see his dad's soft blue eyes again. The third group had gone to the manor. His dad was dead.
"You're still my brother right Chris?" asked Shawn.
"Of course I am. What happened doesn't change anything."
"But you said-," Shawn started but Chris cut him off.
"I was just angry Shawn. I didn't mean it."
"Why did they have to leave us?" Shawn asked, tears trickling down his young face.
Chris had no answer for that, for he was wondering the very same thing. Everyone he ever loved left him. No one stayed. Leo had left, then his mother, then his dad. His Aunt Phoebe was gone now too. He figured it to be only a matter of time before the others in his life left him too. With that thought he tightened his grip on his little brother, hoping that he at least would stay with him for the rest of his life. Another presence should have been in the room and it wasn't. They were losing Wyatt too.
"Can we go home? I don't want to live here Chrissy," Shawn said.
"I'll see what I can do. I want to go home too. Wyatt won't come though. It will just be us."
A sob escaped Chris and he could think only of the last words he ever said to his dad.
"Goodbye Owen."
His dad had died thinking that he hated him.
A/N: Thanks for reading. Sorry for the long delays. Just been really busy. Please leave a review, you know what to do.