Thanks for all the reviews!! I wasn't really sure about the last chapter- it wasn't one of my best... but I didn't have much time in writing it; this chapter is focused on the rest of the family; but I hope u guys enjoy it anyways!

Chapter 8

Wyatt stood by the kitchen window, arms crossed against his chest and staring intently into the sun rise that cast splashes of color into the fresh morning sky. His eyes were blood-shot and still slightly puffy from the tears that had been shed the previous night.

The moment Chris's orbs had left the manor, the atmosphere had shattered as Chris's words had sunken in to everyone's heart. He wasn't coming back...

Ryan had immediately run up the stairs without a word and the sound of his bedroom door slamming echoed throughout the dead manor. After an hour of letting Ryan cope, Wyatt had gone up to check on his little brother, only to find him in Chris's room silently sobbing on the bed.

::Flashback::

At the sound of Wyatt's footsteps entering the room, Ryan lifted his head off the pillow and stared up at him.

After 16 years of growing up with him, Wyatt had never seen Ryan like this. All the laughter and joy that danced around in his eyes were completely shattered leaving behind two brown orbs full of sorrow, regret, and guilt. Trails of tears remained on his flushed cheeks and his nose was blushing red... for the first time ever, Ryan looked lost and broken.... he looked like Chris...

At the sight of his baby brother, Wyatt felt his heart break for the second time that night. Suppressing his tears that threatened to fall, Wyatt stepped over to the bed... he was the oldest, he had to be there for his younger brothers... he already made the mistake once, like hell he was going to do it again.

The bed squeaked and sank a little from his weight as he sat down by his brothers still form. Raising a hand, he rubbed Ryan's shoulder in a comforting motion to let him know he was here for him. The moment his hand touched Ryan's shoulder, he felt him jerk away at his touch.

Flipping over onto his back and sitting up against the backboard, Ryan glared his red eyes at Wyatt, "Don't touch me."

Wyatt blinked... was this his baby brother? Trying again, Wyatt reached out his hand to touch Ryan's knee, but froze when Ryan flinched away. Was he mad at him? Did Ryan blame Wyatt for Chris leaving?

"Ryan, I know how you're feeling-"Wyatt slowly began, but was cut off by Ryan's heated voice.

"Shut up! Don't say you know how I feel! I don't want to talk to you right now! Don't you get it?! I don't want to talk to you, or mom or dad, or any of our aunts! Just leave me alone!"

Feeling some anger rise inside himself, Wyatt tried to calm himself down... his brother was hurt right now... he needs to comfort him.

"Ryan... I understand you're worried right now, because I am too. But you have to calm down if you want to help Chris. He's-"

"He's not coming back.." Ryan answered bluntly.

Wyatt blinked... the whole family had understood that Chris had no intention of coming back to them, he made that much clear. But hearing it said in such a blunt form- it felt like he was stabbed by a knife.

"He's not coming back... he hates us." Ryan continued.

At that, Wyatt felt himself snap. Jumping on his feet, Wyatt whirled around to tower over his younger brother; all his pain and frustration that had built up from the previous events came out in anger and rage. Face livid, and eyes filled with tears, Wyatt released his pent up emotions.

"Don't you dare say that. He is coming back. I don't know how you feel?! Like hell!! I was his brother too dammit!! I'm the oldest! I was the one who was supposed to watch over him and help him! I let him down by not noticing he was in pain and not taking the time to help him!! While I was out having a blast, I was too stupid to realize my brother was alone at home and needed some comfort!! So you can stop rubbing it in my face that this is my fault, because I realize that too!! Sitting here and wallowing in your self-pity isn't going to help bring him back, Ryan!! So I suggest you stop feeling sorry for yourself and start helping the rest of us find him!!!"

Also on his feet, Ryan stood right in Wyatt's face, feeling equally raged, "Help?! Help do what?!? Mom is having a mental breakdown in her room!!! Dad is on the brink of self-destruction!! Aunt Phoebe and Aunt Paige are too busy crying their eyes out and feeling guilty to do anything!! Is this how we're going to get Chris back?!?! Tell me Wyatt; is this your master plan?!?! Get it through your head!! Chris doesn't want to come back!! And can you blame him?!?! After the hell we put him through?!?! I would hate us too if I were in his shoes!!

"And now he has a new family on the way! Why on earth would he come back?! We forgot his 18th birthday Wyatt!! Now that I think about it, we probably missed almost all of his birthdays!! While I was distracting mom, dad, and the aunts with my stupid soccer tournaments, they never had time for Chris!! It's my fault that he never told us about the baby and Bianca and why his life was so miserable! He hates me!! I know it!! And now, I'm never going to see my brother, or sister-in-law, or be an uncle to the baby ever again!!"

Breaking down, Ryan fell to his knees. Face in his hands, sobs racked his body and his shoulders quivered.

Everything made sense now. Ryan was never mad at Wyatt or anyone else in the family, he was mad at himself. He thought it was his fault that no one ever paid attention to Chris, that he had hogged all the attention for himself. Now he was afraid Chris would hate him and he would never see his brother again.

"Oh my god, Ryan..." Wyatt whispered as he fell on his knees next to his brother and wrapped his arms around his shaking form. Immediately, Ryan buried his face onto his older brother's shoulder and let himself sob.

Not caring that his tears were falling down his face, Wyatt shushed his baby brother while whispering words of comfort into his ear.

"Ryan, don't ever think that. This is not your fault! None of it is. And Chris could never hate you- ever. If I'm sure of anything, it's that Chris loved you so much. In fact, I bet you were the only person in this family that ever made him truly smile. We'll bring him back, Ryan. I swear to god. Even if it's the last thing I ever do, we'll bring him back home."

Hearing these words of comfort and lying in his brother's rocking arms, Ryan cried himself to sleep.

Carrying his baby brother to his bed, Wyatt took a moment to watch him sleep, feeling good that he could at least comfort one of his brothers.

If only he hadn't been too late in helping the younger brother more in need....

::End Flashback::

Shaking his head, Wyatt turned away from the window and sat down at the kitchen table exhausted. He hadn't slept a wink that night, searching for a way to help Chris.

After leaving his baby brother's room, Wyatt had found his two aunts in the attic searching through the Book of Shadow, both with tear stained, yet determined faces.

The three of them had tried calling for Chris, sensing, spells, scrying, potions- nothing had worked. Something was counteracting with their magic- like a shield, or maybe a potion. It was obvious Chris didn't want to be found and had probably been planning this for a while.

Needing a break, Wyatt had come down to the kitchen, leaving his two aunts to continue their search.

It was now 5:30 in the morning, and neither of his parents was in sight. Since Chris's departure, Piper had locked herself in her room without a word to anyone and refused to look at anyone. Leo had left a long time ago without saying where he was headed to.

Sighing in desperation and exhaustion, Wyatt turned his head to the window,

"Where are you Chris?"

Phoebe was pacing back and forth in the attic in front of a worn out Paige who was scanning through the book for the 5th time.

Looking up with swollen, blood-shot eyes, Paige told her, "Pacing isn't going to bring him back Phoebe."

Stopping at her sister's voice, she stood still and stared back at her before nodding her head. Sighing, she walked over to where Paige sat on the couch and took a seat next to her.

"I know.... I just don't know what to do? I feel so... lost. God... how did everything get so screwed up? I mean, how blind were we to not notice his pain? Pain that we caused!"

Rubbing her sore eyes, Paige nodded. She had been wondering the same thing the whole night. How had they all been so stupid and blind? Chris was right there the whole time, yet they still managed to ignore him? Did she really become so thick that she would openly favored Wyatt and Ryan over Chris without even realizing what she was doing?

"I'm not even sure what we're going to do once we find him... What can we say to make this all better, Phoebe? A simple 'I'm sorry' and a hug doesn't seem to cut it here... Every time I imagine what he had to go through alone- it just breaks my heart. Imagine how scared he probably was once he found out Bianca was pregnant! He was just a kid!! And he had no one to talk to. Or when they got engaged, his 18th birthday, the list just goes on and on... all these occasions are meant to be spent with family... we're his family and we failed him." Tears spilled over Paige's eyes and slid down her cheek.

Putting an arm around her sister's shoulder, Phoebe felt her own heart throb.

"If anyone should feel guilty, it's me. I've been so busy with my work these days that I didn't even have time to notice anyone. I put my work before my family, something I promised myself I would never do," Phoebe sighed as she bent her head forward and into her hands.

"I wonder how Piper and Leo are taking it. Have you seen either of them?" Paige questioned.

Lifting her head, Phoebe shook her head, "I'd imagine they're not doing so well right now. Pipers in her room and Leo- god knows were he is. I just hope neither of them do something stupid."

Shaking her head, Paige whispered, "Only a miracle can help this family now...."

'Or Chris...' Phoebe silently answered.

Piper sat on her bed with her back against the backboard. In her hands was a photo of their whole family taken a couple of years ago. She stared at Chris as he stood with his hands hitched in his pocket and a smile on his face. With her thumb, Piper brushed against his face as more tears cascaded down her face and splashed onto the photo.

She felt like her whole body was in agony as her face was completely swollen from so many tears and flushed red from her sobs.

Looking into the photo, she noticed how empty and sullen Chris's smile truly was. It was like a mask had been pulled up to cover his true emotions. Nevertheless, even a mask could never hide the truth that lied in his eyes. What 18 years of neglect and damage could do to a boy. In all her years, Piper had never seen a smile as tragic as the one that lay on her son's face.

For eighteen years, how had she not noticed this till now? She was his mother, and yet she had been fooled along with everyone else by his mask.

She wanted with all her heart to erase the past and start over- she wanted to be there for Chris's childhood, she wanted to make him laugh a true laugh that held no pain, smile with no hidden anguish behind it, she just wanted to be there for him... let him know how much she did love him.

But she couldn't, and her chance was gone. Chris was now an adult and was thrust into the real world with a baby on the way and a wife-to-be.

Knowing this made her heart completely shatter into a million pieces. She had missed all of Chris's childhood....

And now, she was probably going to miss her son's marriage and the birth of her first grand-child!

Another wave of sobs racked her body, and it physically hurt.

Chris would never have a childhood again... He was only 18 years old and would be expected to raise a family on his own? Like hell he will! Piper swore to herself right then and there, she would never leave him again... to have to suffer and carry the burden alone... no, she would be there for him this time.

As she continued to gaze into the picture, bright colored orbs illuminated the room and formed before her.

Without lifting her head, she knew who it was,

"Go away, Leo."

Looking ragged and worn out, Leo stared at his wife's sullen face and ignored what she said by stepping over to the bed. As he took a seat by her, the bed sagged bellow him.

Now looking irritated, she looked him in the face with annoyance, "Are you deaf? I want to be alone. I don't want to hear you tell me everything is going to be okay, because it's not! There's nothing you can say that will make everything better, so just leave!"

Shaking his grim head, Leo gazed into his wife's eyes, "I wasn't going to tell you everything was going to be okay... I know we screwed up, and we can't change that."

Releasing a dark chuckle, Piper retorted, "Then why are you here? If you're here to blame me, and tell me how I'm a horrible mother and that I just scarred my son for life? It's too late because I already know!"

"I'm not going to blame you, Piper. Blaming people won't fix this. Right now, we have to focus on getting to Chris so we can talk to him."

Piper scoffed, "And how're we going to do that Leo? We have NO idea where he could be!! Let's face it, none of knew him well enough to even know where he goes on his free time!!! We know NOTHING about him!! And we're his family for god's sake!! How sad is that?!?! I don't know what his favorite foods are, what he likes to do, who he talks to! I'm his mother and I couldn't even remember his birthday!! My baby became an adult without me even realizing it!! On Wyatt's 18th birthday, we had a huge party and bought him a car and kept telling him how he was an adult now and how proud we were of who he had become. We didn't even tell Chris happy birthday!!"

Fresh tears were rolling down Piper's cheek as she talked and her mind was threatening to go into hysteria.

No matter how hard Leo was trying to stay strong for Piper, tears found their way into his eyes as the truth behind her words hit him hard.

Piper continued her rant as Leo remained silent, "The whole time Bianca was pregnant, the time where he was most in need of our help, he was too afraid to ask for us. That says everything about our parenting skills right there. And now, when we finally realize he needs us, we can't find him! The only people who he really talked to are either dead or with him! I mean we can't just summon them and ask where Chris is! We- we....." A sudden look of awareness swept across Piper's face as she suddenly dropped the picture.

Concerned over Piper's sudden change, Leo placed a hesitant hand over her knee.

"Piper, are you alright?"

In response, Piper leapt to her feet and bound to the door. Quickly yanking it open, she disappeared around the corner.

Worried that his wife would do something rash and crazy in her current state of mind, Leo leapt up and quickly trailed after her.

When he arrived in the attic, he found a frantic Piper gathering candles in her arm and placing them on the wooden floor as she muttered incomprehensible words to herself. An anxious Phoebe, Paige, and Wyatt gawked at her, not knowing what was going on since Piper had just abruptly dashed into the room after a several hour absence.

Thinking Piper had finally lost it and gone into hysteria, Leo took an awkward step towards her, "Piper, what are you doing?"

Too frazzled with what she was doing, she just continued to haphazardly light the candles and mumble to herself.

Phoebe, being brave, took a step towards Piper also, "Sweetie, I understand you're feeling guilty right now, but-"

Whipping around to face her sister, Piper looked at her with a livid face and snapped, "Don't say you know Phoebe! Don't you dare! You've never been a mother, you have no idea how I'm feeling right now! I have to help my son right now, so get. out. of. my. way."

Piper's words opened up an old wound in Phoebe, but she obeyed and stepped out of the way. Piper was only a mother who wanted to find her lost son... She had every right to be upset right now...

Stepping back from her work, Piper began to chant,

Hear these words, hear my cry
Spirit from the other side
Come to me, I summon the
Cross now the great divide

Immediately, golden orbs materialized from the air and cast a luminous glow throughout the attic as it took its shape.

Waiting expectantly with her arms crossed, Piper gazed into the eyes of the new guest without a blink of emotion,

"Where's my son, Prue."