Learning to Fall

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize from the show. The inspiration for Morgan's powers came from Garth Nix's Abhorsen trilogy. It seemed to fit with what I wanted.

Sorry it took me so long to update. I honestly thought I had put more than one chapter up. So, I'll give you two for one. Please review!

Chapter 2:

Chris managed to finally relax as he watched the sunset. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" He turned to see Alyssa, eyes on the horizon. She stretched her arms out and tilted her head as though trying to catch the rays of sun. The light caught the fire of her hair as she turned to look at him. He shook his head, trying to banish the thoughts. She wasn't Bianca, and anyway, she was someone's girlfriend. "Fiancée, actually" she said. He stared at her, and she blushed. "Sorry, I'm a telepath. Don't worry," she added dryly. "I actually have no objection to people thinking I'm pretty, as long as they don't try to act on it. Then I have to teach them a lesson." Chris laughed at her mischievous smile. Her voice held a slight Southern accent. "Seriously," she added. "I wanted to apologize to you for earlier today. We should have talked to Elisa first."

"Forget about it," Chris replied. He tried to forget how terrified he had been. "Tell you what, I will when you will. Deal?" Chris shook his head. "I told you, it's nothing."

"Let me explain something to you," she said in a wry echo of Wyatt, "I'm more stubborn than any of you Halliwells put together. Heads I win, tails you lose. So, do we have a deal?"

"I guess I don't have a choice, do I? Deal."

Alyssa sat down on a rock beside him. "Why are you scared of Wyatt?"

"I'm not scared of him!"

"Telepath, remember? You're terrified."

"I don't want to talk about it."

"So, he was an evil dictator who killed your girlfriend?"

Chris stared at her in shock. "You need to work on your shields," she told him with a smirk.

"You have an unfair advantage," Wyatt said from behind him. He looked at Chris warily, nodding slightly. Alyssa's face seemed to light up as she saw him. He gave her a brief, one-armed hug. "Alyssa isn't entirely human," he explained to Chris. "Her mother was a light elemental." Chris understood instantly. Light elementals were light that was shaped into human form. They formed for reasons no one knew, not even them. Sometimes they were trapped for a time, until their mortal bodies died. Alyssa's heritage explained her uncanny beauty and the way the light wrapped itself around her. He noticed suddenly that she was glowing a little. Seeing his reaction, she blushed and the light intensified. "Hey, you shocked me," Wyatt laughed. Alyssa giggled as she perched herself back on the rock. "Like you're not used to it. I obeyed my marching orders, now you obey yours." Wyatt turned to look at Chris. "Chris, I really am sorry." Chris looked away, not sure what to say. Wyatt looked helplessly at Alyssa, who gestured at him to continue. "Last year, Chris, a demon stole your form. Before we realized he wasn't Chris…you, he nearly killed Laura." He was silent for a moment. "Actually…he did kill Laura. Morgan brought her back from the dead." Chris stared in shock. "So, we thought it was happening again and we jumped the gun." Chris nodded slowly. He had to admit, it was understandable. Alyssa jumped off the rock. "Let's go inside. It's getting chilly out here." Both young men followed her inside. Chris noticed that she continued to glow in the fading light. Chris closed his eyes, glad to sleep. Too much had happened today.

Chapter 3

He woke up the next morning to find Kari bouncing on the bed. "Wake up, wake up, wake up," she chanted. Chris moaned and rolled over onto his stomach. Kari promptly climbed on his back and demanded a piggyback ride. He heard someone give a low chuckle. "Come on, sweetheart," Wyatt said as he picked Kari up. "Go wake Elisa up."

"She'll spank me," Kari protested. Wyatt laughed. "Go wake Laura up, then you two get Elisa. You can run away." Kari giggled with delight. Bouncing out of Wyatt's arms, Kari ran out of the room. "Come on, Chris, it's time for breakfast. Mom's making blueberry pancakes." Chris debated for a moment, then decided the pancakes were worth it. Seeing him climb out of bed, Wyatt orbed downstairs, with Chris close behind.

The delicious smell of pancakes hit Chris as soon as he appeared in the kitchen. The twins were already sitting at the table, watching the food like sharks on the hunt. A sleepy Elisa glared at a giggling Kari and an equally sleepy Laura. "Kari spent the night here while Billie was working," Wyatt explained to Chris. As soon as everyone was sitting down, they began eating. Silence reigned as all the Halliwells concentrated on the important task of eating Piper's pancakes. Piper fussed over Chris continually, to the mild annoyance of the three youngest. Laura kept shooting Chris wary glances; she was not quite sure what to make of this strange older brother who didn't recognize her. She stayed close to Wyatt, and said little to Chris. Matt and Jamie were absorbed in their own conversations. Elisa was barely awake, and responded with monosyllables or silence. Kari automatically assumed Chris would love her as much as anyone else, and chatted nonstop.

Piper told the younger kids that they couldn't play until they finished their homework, turning a deaf ear to groans and pleas. Elisa locked herself in her room; she had a project due the next day. Laura, Matt, and Jamie stretched out on the floor to do their homework. Chris heard voices upstairs arguing. "Morgan, he is Chris!"

"I know that, Wyatt, but he's not our Chris!"

"There aren't two of them running around," Wyatt answered dryly.

"You know what I mean! He doesn't remember us, any of us!"

"He may get his memories back."

"And what if he doesn't?"

"Does it matter?"

Morgan sighed. "I don't trust him, Wyatt, I can't. I'm sorry."

"Morgan…"

"Our Chris, the one I would trust my life with, is dead. Or he might as well be."

A cold wind blew through the hallway as Morgan left. Chris tried to slip past the room, but Wyatt saw him. "Chris!" Reluctantly, Chris went inside. "How much of that did you hear?" Chris avoided his eyes. "All of it, then," Wyatt sighed. "Chris, Morgan isn't good at trusting people."

"I can see."

Wyatt grimaced. "Elisa may be able to talk her around."

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes, it does, Chris. The barrier between life and death was damaged back when we were toddlers. It's why Morgan was born, we think. She was raised at Magic School. The two of you started training together when you were twelve. She can certainly work on her own, but she'll lose her edge-and sometimes that's the only thing that keeps her alive."

"Where does she live?"

"At Magic School. She's here most of the time, though. She got to be a handful around the age of twelve, so they sent her to Mom and the aunts to see if they could control her. Wyatt laughed. "She avoided us like the plague; kept running away. One day Mom cast a tracking spell, only something went seriously wrong and it bound the two of you together. It took us two weeks to figure out how to undo it."

Chris had to grin. "What about Elisa's missing hamster?" Wyatt exploded with laughter. "That was all you. You were supposed to take care of it; it died somehow. We buried it in the yard; you asked Morgan to do something so that it wouldn't be found."

"Can I be held responsible for something my other self did?"

Wyatt looked at him soberly. "That's your choice, kid." Chris realized he wasn't talking about hamsters.

A scream from downstairs pushed both of them into orbing into the living room. A group of demons had back Laura, Matt, and Jamie against a wall. The three of them gripped hands as they chanted spells. Time warped a little for Chris then. He and Wyatt instinctively fought as a team, knowing each other's moves without having to consider it. Five minutes later, the demons were vanquished. Wyatt and Chris stared in surprise at each other. Wyatt gave him a half-smile, unable to hold it back. Chris had to smile back. Wyatt checked on his sister and cousins, who were fine. Elisa complained about demons interrupting her homework. "You'd rather do homework than fight demons?" Wyatt demanded. "When I've got a project due tomorrow, yes. Fighting demons won't earn me an A."

"You and your obsession over school," Wyatt said scornfully.

"Oh, like you didn't get straight A's up through college, and mostly A's after that. Not all of us are resident geniuses like you."

"School's not important," Laura said absently.

"What did I just hear you say, young lady?" Piper's angry voice made her daughter flinch. "Come on, Mom, Wyatt's right. Fighting demons is more important than schoolwork."

"Well, then you can stay inside and copy the Book of Shadows the next time you want to go to the movies," Piper retorted. Seeing Laura open her mouth to reply, Chris warned her, "You might want to quit while you're behind."

Stung, Laura glared at him. "What would you know about it?"

"That's it, young lady. Go to your room, right now!" Laura orbed out, muttering about the unfairness of mothers. Piper hugged Chris, making him roll his eyes. "Don't worry, peanut, she'll come around."

"She reminds me of someone else I knew, come to think of it," Paige laughed. Wyatt and Elisa looked confused. "She even memorizes the book of Shadows," Phoebe added. "HEY! Mind explaining this to us!"

"We were just saying she's a lot like Chris."

"Well, why didn't you just say so?"

"Watch your tone, young lady."

"I'm not Laura's age, Mom."

"That's no excuse."

Elisa sighed and rolled her eyes. "OK, OK." I gotta go do homework. Matt and Jamie watched the exchange in amusement, then went back to playing a game.