Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! This chapter wasn't going how I wanted it to, but your encouragement urged me on until I got it sorted.

Stony Angel, in answer to your question, this story is set before anyone finds out that Chris is Piper and Leo's son, but they do know that he is part-witch and that Wyatt turns evil in his future.

P2: Insomnia

Chris stared up at the ceiling. Only it was too dark for him to actually make out any of its features. So, really, he was staring at nothing, in vain hope of boring himself to sleep. It wasn't working.

He was beginning to wish he'd taken Paige up on the offer of sleeping pills. The unintentional nap he'd taken in the day indicated that he was in desperate need of a decent night's sleep, not to mention the starting to hear voices thing. Worse side effects could present themselves next; hallucinations could easily be on the cards and he recalled someone telling him you forget your own name after six days without any sleep. Forgetting who he was definitely wouldn't protect Wyatt and create the future he strived for.

He tried shutting his eyes. There wasn't much difference to having them open - same blackness and same lack of slumber. He opened them again and his pupils dilated in hope of seeing something interesting on the ceiling.

A frustrated sigh fell heavily from his lips. He needed to sleep. He wanted to sleep. But he couldn't.

Chris pounded the old sofa with clenched fists and sat up, pushing back the covers and swinging his legs over the side. There was no point in wasting precious hours just lying there. He snapped on the lamp, bathing the backroom of P3 in a yellowish glare, and swiftly dressed. He would try the sleeping malarkey again tomorrow.

After taking a moment to skim over the text in an open book, Chris disappeared in a shower of blue-white droplets of light.

A few fluttering torches dimly lit the Underworld cavern from where they burnt in holders on the walls, casting shadows across the rugged ground and leaving the dark recesses untouched. The coppery tang of blood was thickly spread like melted butter in the cold air, almost forcing Chris to gag. He slipped a hand into his jeans pocket and was comforted by the feel of the little glass bottle.

With the intention of having the element of surprise on his side, he crept towards the entrance to a tunnel. The Jekeele demon was unlikely to expect an attack at this time of night, so hopefully he would be able to sneak up on him and carry out the vanquish without a struggle.

A mass of hair and claws was suddenly upon him.

Chris hit the ground hard, a heavy weight pressing down on him and fetid breath in his face.

So much for surprise.

His first instinct was to orb, but when he tried nothing happened. There was something preventing him from dematerialising.

A white-hot droplet of alarm slid through his chest. He was pinned to the floor, unable to reach the potion in his pocket. His eyes flew around the cavern, searching for something to aid him. Crimson-stained, serrated teeth were seconds from being wetted with fresh blood.

Chris's eyes stilled. He lifted a wrist, making a grasping and sweeping motion.

With a loud crack, a stalactite was telekinetically snapped off the roof of the cavern. The rod of calcium carbonate soared through the air and stabbed the hairy mass on top of Chris. With a roar of agony, the Jekeele demon reared up, clawing at the stone icicle embedded in his side.

Chris quickly scrabbled to his feet and got well out of the way. He shoved his hand into his pocket, pulled out the vanquishing potion and threw it at the roaring demon.

It struck the ground and shattered at the Jekeele demon's clawed feet, tiny shards of glass flying outwards along with a puff of thick smoke.

The creature's roars turned to screams, as it burst into flames.

Moments later, only a pile of ash remained and the cavern was quiet once more.

Chris yawned and brushed greasy Jekeele hair from his crumpled shirt. His second attempt to orb failed, which didn't surprise him. He'd heard there was a demon around who was sealing others' caves - for an ample fee, of course. It was an easy enough potion to make, which needed to only be poured in a circle, and would then allow whitelighters to orb in but prevent them from using their power again. However, it only had an effect if you were within the circle - Chris had no doubt that his ability to orb would be restored once he entered the tunnel. Also, the potion stopped working after only thirty-two hours of being applied. It was far from a new discovery, the mixture having merely been forgotten by most due to its ineffectiveness. Soon the demons would realise they were being conned, but Chris fancied putting a stop to the dealer's exploits a little sooner.

Anyhow, there was information he wanted out of Hychek.

He could have been referred to as an informant, but that title would be too classy for the weak-willed, double-crossing, money-grabbing, lower-level demon.

Hychek was a tattletale.

His powers were no greater than the talents of a mortal shifty salesman, though with the additional ability to shimmer out before the fist of an angry buyer could collide with his horned brow. Though, 'horned brow' is something of an exaggeration - the two bony knobbles on his forehead were far too short and blunt to fulfil the requirements needed to be called 'horns'. He was a dab hand with potion making, but Chris had stirred his first cauldron at the age of seven, so it wasn't something for the thousands of years old demon to brag about.

Hychek certainly wasn't bragging when Chris had a fistful of his shirt and his other hand drawn back with a potion in it.

Chris shook the little corked bottle, tauntingly, the florescent green liquid sloshing up the sides of the glass. The mere two-point-five centimetres-cubed of potion was enough to send the demon to a very hot place. Torrents of sweat dripped from Hychek's face, suggesting that his thoughts had already gone there.

"P-please no, please, please!" The panicky grovelling was befitting of a demon of Hychek's quality. "Let's be reasonable about this, eh? Please! I mean, hey, we're friends, right? Buddies, pals! Ok, maybe not...but, uh, hey, I've helped you out in the past and, and, and I'm going help you in the future. And, uh, the present, actually. 'Cause a funny thing happened to me today, I was - "

Chris cut the self-appreciating drivel off. "Was this before or after you doused a Jekeele demon's cavern with anti-orb potion?"

"Oh." Hychek looked shocked and relieved. The latter particularly bothered Chris, as did the words that followed. "This is about that? I thought you'd..." The demon cut himself off this time.

The fist clutching the front of the demon's shirt tightened. "You thought I'd what?"

"Nothing. Nothing." A repeated, hasty reply generally stunk of untruth.

Chris slipped the vanquishing potion into his pocket, Hychek's gaze nervously following the movement and fearing the freed hand.

"I had you confused with someone else." The demon tried to laugh, almost choking on the lump in his throat.

"Oh, really? Well, let me remind you who I am."

"No! No! I'll talk!"

Chris lowered the whitelighter/witch-empowered hand he'd raised. Hychek was not just a tattletale, he was a cowardly tattletale - an attribute that made Chris's job that bit easier.

"You were saying?" Chris prodded, the demon having fallen silent.

"What would you like to know?" Hychek swallowed nervously, attempting to wiggle out of the tight hold Chris had on his shirt.

"First, let's start with you telling me what you've found out about that Carrion demon." He pulled the shirt tighter.

"Navacar had a brief interest in the Charmed Ones, but he's left town for a while. Something about a family gathering."

"He'll be back," Chris said, confidently. "Let me know when."

"Ok. Anything else you want to know?" Hychek tried to smile gamely.

"How about that thing you don't want me to know."

"Oh... I may have possibly, perhaps, there's a slight chance that I..."

"Yes?"

"...let slip to Rinide that you were the one who lured his warlock minions into the trap you'd set up with the Charmed Ones. It was an accident, I, I..."

Chris had let go of Hychek's shirt to grab his neck in a choking grip, the potion appearing again in his other hand.

"No, Hychek. He paid you and you talked."

"He wouldn't've given you any information, anyway," Hychek gasped out. "He's conspiring with Yelligh and Brecin."

Chris threw the demon to the floor by the neck. With a whimper, Hychek covered his head with his arms, as if that would protect him from a vanishing potion. However, seconds passed without a magical explosion and he was still there. He dared to look up and saw Chris scowling down at him with disgust, but the potion had been returned to his pocket.

"My instructions are these," Chris told him, a little heatedly, "tell me when Navacar returns, keep an eye on Rinide and the others, and your little anti-orb cave scheme is to stop."

Hychek nodded in compliance, rubbing his neck.

"Remember, I always keep this little bottle on me." He patted the pocket containing the florescent green potion.

As Chris moved away, Hychek got to his feet.

"Hey, uh, Chris."

He paused and looked at the demon.

"You should watch your back," Hychek warned. "I don't know much, but there's talk of a Nightmare demon interested in your ΓΌber-powerful brother."

Chris gave him a curt nod of thanks and orbed out.