Of All the People
Chapter 7
By teal-lover
Summary: Wyatt reflects on the events after Chris Crossed and decides to do something about it.
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: The family's reaction…
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"Chris," Leo whispered in shock as his body sagged heavily against the wall. "It was my father's name."
As soon as the young men had left, Piper fell through the force field landing on her hands since it had been the only thing supporting her weight. She looked up in shock to her sisters. "He shimmered. Did my son just shimmer? My son…And I have another son…Oh my—" she put her head down between her legs trying to control the rapid breathing. "My son. And I tried to kill him…"
Phoebe clutched at her head before falling to her knees from the sheer pain of the emotions in the room. Coupled with her own guilt over the situation, the empath was on overload. Not even the blocking potion had done much good in this case. Her eyes glazed over lethargically before she finally curled up on the floor and passed out. Everyone else was so caught up in their own grief, that no one noticed.
Wiping her eyes repeatedly, Paige shuffled her feet over to her oldest sister, dropping down next to her heavily. She clasped her hands together pleadingly, her words running together almost incoherently. "I'm so sorry, Piper. I should have thought first. I should have known who he was—he looks like—and—I almost killed him. I'm so sorry…"
She stared at her shaking hands. It was those hands that had nearly murdered her own nephew. She pictured the imaginary blood on them, and they were covered in it. She would never be able to wash them clean. Paige knew that the image of his near death; the horrible sounds of what were nearly his last moments, knowing that she was the cause, would haunt her until her dying day. But I deserve it, she told herself.
For the first time, the youngest Charmed One wished that she never had orbing telekinesis. This just wasn't right. How could this have happened, she thought bitterly as she rocked back and forth rhythmically. She was only trying to protect her family. Not destroy it. How was she ever going to look him in the eye again? She worried if they could ever repair their relationship, but mostly, she worried if he would ever forgive her. The murdering Aunt, was the self imposed nicked-name that echoed in her mind. How could he? She reasoned. Because she could never forgive herself...
Piper barely heard her baby sister through her own emotional turmoil. She couldn't believe how utterly wrong she had been about him. While it was true that most of what he said had been packed with lies, he did it with an obvious reason. To save his family. His older brother. But when he finally had spoken some truth about his true mission to the past, they hadn't believed him. After he was born, she was going to have to remember to teach him an old fable about the boy who cried wolf when he was old enough.
Her thoughts soon drifted to her oldest son's demeanor. He certainly hadn't seemed very good, especially in light of his authoritative and overly demanding tone. And to begin with, he had fired an energy ball at his little brother when he first arrived. They both had certainly looked the worse for wear when they first entered. She surveyed the room briefly, finally noticing that the room was practically in shambles, a result of their earlier altercation. So apparently while Wyatt didn't wish him dead, maiming his sibling was perfectly acceptable.
Piper recalled a time just after the incident with Bianca. She had passed by the bathroom one afternoon when he apparently thought no one was home. Backing away quietly, she had watched him curiously as he removed her makeup from the cabinet. She inhaled sharply when she spotted the heavy bruising surrounding his neck—which he made a point to conceal from them upon his return. She backed away quickly when he turned suddenly, nearly catching her spying on him.
Craning his neck suspiciously, his vision found nothing for the sounds he thought he heard. Satisfied that he was alone, he returned to his task.
She crept back slowly and watched as he carefully dotted on her foundation and covered up the dark markings. She remembered thinking sadly that Leo could have healed that for him. But he obviously didn't want to talk about it, and thinking it none of her business at the time, she had slipped back down the stairs quietly unnoticed. She now knew that her oldest son had most likely been the cause of those bruises. And that thought only made her cry harder.
And last but not least, her oldest son could no longer heal—and he shimmered. His whitelighter powers seemed to have been traded in for something more sinister, a true sign of evil if she ever saw one. Chris was right all along. Her son had turned. And Chris had tried so desperately to prevent it. The all night and frequent vanquishing requests, well, more like demands. The constant research—he was simply covering all bases because more than likely, he didn't know what had caused her oldest son's downward path.
But Chris had offered the knowledge that he had, in his own way of course, his very life even to save his brother and the rest of his family. And the only thing they had offered him in return was distrust, maltreatment, and a handy dose of verbal abuse thrown in for good measure.
And now because they had refused to give him the benefit of the doubt, he was out there somewhere. With someone who could, and probably would, do him harm.
Her body shook as she recalled every horrible glance; every horrible thought; and every horrible action that they had directed towards him from the moment he arrived. She wished she could take it all back. But it was too late for that. The only thing she could do now was find him. Sparing a glance to her former husband, she noted that he was coping with the new knowledge just as well.
Leo sagged against the wall in the foyer, finding it difficult to draw in air suddenly. If he hadn't already been dead, the lack of oxygen for so long would have certainly killed him.
Christopher had only sought to help them. This, he now finally believed. All of the young man's seemingly duplicitous actions over the past few months now made complete sense to him. He simply loved his family more than life itself. And had nearly paid the ultimate price for doing so.
He found it hard to digest, that the man that he had grown to distrust, barely tolerate, and sometimes even hate with such a passionate fury, could turn around and be someone he was supposed to love unconditionally.
He had been suspicious of him since day one, and rightly so. The Elder had always thought that Chris had sent him off to Valhalla to have him killed, and that he had just been lucky enough to avoid that fate. But if the boy hadn't even been conceived yet, it was a pretty safe bet that Leo's survival could not have simply been his own good fortune. Chris had to have played a roll in keeping him relatively safe, yet still out of the way in order to accomplish his mission in the past.
A mission to save his family, Leo thought grimly. And I was going to let him die… What kind of father am I who doesn't even recognize his own son when he sees him? All of the signs were there. A whitelighter comes back from the future wit the sole purpose of saving Wyatt—his son. Who else but family would travel across time and space to right a wrong?
And if the action alone wasn't enough to stir the question in him, then how about the boy's looks? It was only now that it was pointed out to him that he saw it, but Christopher was the spitting image of his mother. And his eyes—he had bright green, soulful eyes that were most definitely Leo's own. The only difference being that his own were a pale shade of blue.
How could he have not seen it? He berated himself angrily. And if all of that wasn't enough, after he had come back from the future a few months ago, they found out that he was half witch/half whitelighter. Who else but a Halliwell would defy the Elders so boldly as to have a child with a whitelighter? If they had speculated on his approximate age correctly, the timing would definitely fit with him being the son of a Charmed Sister. And there was only one ever involved with a whitelighter. Make that Elder, he thought wryly before pinching the bridge of his nose.
They had already produced one child out of that previously forbidden union, and now they apparently had produced two. He tried to push off from the wall, but his last thought took his breath away as he crashed backwards again.
Finally, he gave up trying to stand. He found that his legs were shaking so badly that they refused to support his weight, so he took a seat on the floor. He mumbled out loud in disbelief, "I almost killed my own son! I was going to let him die."
The toddler shifted his curious gaze from his mother, to the other adults in the room. He had just done a good thing. So why was everyone rolling around on the floor? They were just all confusing. He pouted now that they all ignored him. Letting out a shrill cry, he knew that he would be picked up immediately. That would get their attention.
Not even a year old, Wyatt was very perceptive. Everyone was broken out of their thoughts and turned to him. Piper was closest and reached out to comfort the small boy. In doing so, she finally noticed her middle sister's condition and made her way over to her. "Phoebe! Leo, help her."
Leo finally gathered his wits and orbed over to his sister-in-law. Hovering his hands over her head, Phoebe finally began to stir.
She grabbed her head to stop the pounding. Moaning softly, she asked "Did you get the license of that truck?" The pounding increased and she knew it would only get worse unless her family quickly regained control of their emotions. "You guys, please? You have to focus—you're all overloading me here with guilt. I have enough of my own without dealing with yours as well." They all looked down guiltily, trying to get a handle on their emotions, for their sake as well as the empath's.
Moments later, Piper decided that they couldn't afford to dwell on what had been any longer. They needed to focus on what was happening right now. Her youngest son needed her. She had let him down. And even though she had done nothing but since the day he arrived in the past, she was determined not to let it happen again.
After the demonic cult had tried to turn her toddler into their leader, Piper had been the strongest supporter that Wyatt couldn't possibly grow up to be evil. But after what she saw earlier, she no longer held that faith in him. She pointed out to her family, anxious to go after them, "Wyatt...Chris was right. He's turned. He shimmered. And he's got Chris! We have to go after them."
Leo tried to reason, still clinging to the hope that he hadn't raised a son that could turn out so horribly. "But he can't be all evil. He still obviously cared for Chris and wouldn't let him die. Not like I did," he added sadly. "I don't think he'll hurt him."
Piper pounded her fist into her hand. "But he would! First of all, as soon as Chris came to the door this afternoon, Wyatt hit him with an energy ball. I don't call that brotherly love, do you? Don't you see—Wyatt is the one who sent Bianca back for him. He was the one Chris was fighting with in the future. I know I should have said something before, but I figured it was his business. But when he got back from the future, I saw bruises on his neck that he covered up with makeup. It was pretty obvious that someone had tried to strangle him. And I think it's pretty obvious now that that someone was Wyatt. Maybe he won't kill his little brother, but he has no qualms about hurting him one little bit."
The color drained from each of their faces. Leo began to worry and tried to sense for Chris, "I can't sense him. What do we do now?"
His wife answered with a calmness she didn't feel. She wasn't sure what it meant that they couldn't sense the half whitelighter, but she was sure it wasn't good. "We find him. He's out there somewhere right now. With someone who's not afraid to harm him."
"You're a bit late for that. Aunt Paige already beat me to it." Wyatt commented dryly as he shimmered in behind them.
Piper pushed her way forward to meet her eldest son. To anyone else, the power emanating from him would have been intimidating to say the least. His tall and overbearing presence only added to the effect. But Piper Halliwell wasn't anyone else. She was still his mother. She grabbed his shirt collar boldly, "What did you do with him?"
Wyatt had to laugh at his mother's brazen behavior and the fact that she would never change. He shimmered out of her grasp and landed on the couch in the living room. Crossing his legs, he leaned back into the cushions and made himself comfortable before answering. "Just a few short hours ago, you were all content to let him bleed to death on your dining room floor. So now you care what happens to him? Don't make me laugh."
"We didn't know..." Paige defended weakly.
"As if that's an excuse," Wyatt tossed at her harshly as he rolled his eyes in disgust. "You're all supposed to be GOOD. Protecting the innocents and all...yet how long did it take you to condemn a man to death without even a trial? It seems as if the line between good and evil has become blurred for you four. I've been lucky enough to overcome that. But because of your influence, Christopher wasn't."
Piper asked him incredulously, "You want to blame us for the mess you've created? None of this would have ever happened if he hadn't come back to save you from turning evil. And I think it's pretty obvious that you have indeed turned. Now I'll ask you again, where is he?"
Wyatt couldn't remember the last time anyone had ever talked to him like that, except for his brother. And for some reason, he found it strangely amusing. Growing up, his brother always used to be the trouble maker for their parents, earning him that scolding look she now gave him as her patience wore thin. And Chris would make the most out of irritating his mother until she wished she could blow him up, or at least send away him to summer camp. Now he knew why his brother used to do it so often.
He cocked his head to the side and held his hand up to his ear, "I believe I heard an 'or else' in that sentence. What are you going to do, ground me?"
Phoebe recognized the stalling for it was and asked her oldest nephew. She asked him calmly, "Where is your brother?"
Wyatt ignored them as he smiled invitingly to his younger self. With a wave of his hand, the child appeared in his lap and stared up at him wondrously. He didn't even speak as the child intuitively sensed what he wanted and began to heal the wounds from Chris' spikes in his leg and shoulder.
When they were healed, he sat the toddler on the couch next to him. He waved his hand and removed the spikes that had caused the injury out of the wall and onto the floor. Being active and in the wall could potentially spark a fire, and he didn't want to change too much of the past.
Paige bent down and tried to pick up the curious object, but dropped it back to the floor in literal shock as the electricity coursed through her body.
Wyatt grinned at the stunned look on her face as she dropped to the ground on her backside. "Oh, I forgot to mention—those spikes that Chris shoots out of his hands are still active electricity for half a day. I wouldn't touch them for a while, if I were you."
Piper also recognized the stalling tactic as she bent down to help her sister up. A feeling of dread began to form, and she asked him with a new sense of urgency, "Wyatt, please. Where is your brother? What did you do?"
The older blonde folded his hands in his lap as he looked to his mother, regret evident in his bright blue eyes. "I removed an obstacle in my path," he said grimly before shimmering out.
TBC…
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