CHAPTER SIX: Welcome

He shook his head quickly as if trying to banish the thought from his mind, turning his full attention to her, forcing a smile on his face. And I knew that none of us would ever hear from him about that time when the Charmed Ones hadn't beaten the odds.

"Of course not," he answered glibly. "Like you said, we've always beaten the odds..."

She appeared doubtful but then nodded, as the song came to an end.

Even as we clapped, my partner must've realized that he had lost my attention, because he quickly melted away. Too bad. He was awful cute and I never did see him again. Paige's partner must've done the same thing, because she walked up to me, nodded towards the bar, and we both walked towards it, towards our sister and her son. Paige's eyes warned me, and she began chattering about the band, so I responded in kind - after all, the drummer was really hot and had been making eyes at me all night.

Piper noticed us, and her face lit up - she must've desperately wanted, needed, someone to break up the tension, and I was glad Paige and I could. Even without Paige's warning glance, I knew that we couldn't let Piper know that we had overheard her conversation with her son, and I made sure that both Paige and I were laughing as we walked up.

"Hey, you two," Paige casually greeted with a grin. "Getting acquainted, are we?" and she nudged me with a knowing wink, while I grinned back.

"So, are you two going to get along now or what?" I asked, showing that I could fib as well as my nephew.

My older sister - the most powerful of the second set of Charmed Ones - smiled at us sweetly, and when she and Chris exchanged looks and small smiles, I knew Paige was right that we should let them think that what had been said between her and her future son would remain between them.

"Perhaps," Piper shrugged, acting indifferent. Then she smiled her biggest, brightest smile - one usually reserved for Leo or Wyatt - at Chris. "Let's say that we've come to an understanding," and for the first time ever around us, Chris smiled full-wattage, his smile identical to Piper's.

Even while both Paige and I inwardly marveled at the sight of those beautiful twin smiles, we put on looks that said we were vaguely disappointed at not having any more details but knew better than to press either of them for more, and again I was so glad my younger sister had figured out the right thing to do. Had to be the Whitelighter in her.

"Well, that settles it," my younger sister announced. "Why don't we have a toast?"

"Toast what?" our older sister wanted to know.

"Our newfound relationship with our nephew!" Paige beamed, as she snagged a couple glasses of champagne from a passing waiter, handing one to me.

I nodded. "What do you say?" I asked the other two.

"Sounds fair enough," Chris shrugged as he lifted his own glass.

He turned to Piper, questioningly. She gave a "why not?" look and lifted her own glass of ginger ale, and we all clinked our glasses together before sipping.

Chris looked at each of us and softly said, "Thank you."

I wanted to ask, "For what?" but then I noticed that that look of bearing the world on his shoulders that was always haunting his eyes was no longer there. I thought I knew why. He knew he was no longer alone. And because he could now trust us to let him help us save our family, our future, he knew that what he had done in the past would stay in the past - we would be able to trust him from then on. He was now truly one of us, no matter where or when he came from.

I wanted to say, "Welcome home!" but somehow it wasn't necessary.

He knew.

THE END