.IV.

When Chris orbed into the maternity ward waiting room, along with his father and brother, he barely had time to take in his surroundings before his two aunts flung themselves onto him. They hugged so tight he actually felt water prick his eyes.

"Ok, ok, um, I can't actually breathe…" he mentioned, smiling all the same.

They released him and after planting great big kisses on his cheeks, they moved on to Wyatt. Who got pretty much the same treatment, being dragged out of Leo's arms and hugged, and kissed, and bounced up and down.

Chris lowered himself onto a plastic chair and leant back, very much in need of some sleep. However, his aunts had said Piper was in the operating room, and he wasn't going to be able to shut his eyes until he knew she was all right. He was worried about the baby, too. There had been a clear link between him and the child in his mother's womb for the last nine months, but now he wasn't so sure they were exactly the same person anymore…

His father seemed to think that what had happened to him in the underworld cavern was the fabric of time struggling to adjust to the numerous paradoxes. It didn't seem to have occurred to Leo that perhaps the reason had been not because his baby self was born, but because he had died…

Chris had encountered disappearing issues before, when his time to be conceived was rapidly running out. He couldn't help but wonder if the same sort of thing had just happened, only the severe alteration to the timeline they had just made had protected him – saved by a paradox.

There was certainly something odd going on. He studied his hands as he flexed his fingers again. Something felt different…

Earlier, Leo had thought he had died. That seemed to suggest to Chris that maybe his baby self had died then…confusing Leo's magical ability to sense him and his well-being. But that didn't match up with his flickering in and out of existence, which had happened significantly later.

Then there was this odd feeling he was having. He felt detached, separate, unconnected…

Chris sighed, heavily. Or maybe he was just tired, he reasoned.

"How's Piper?"

Chris looked up at the sound of his father's voice and saw the doctor coming to speak to them.

"She's resting comfortably," Dr Roberts said.

"Is she ok?" Phoebe asked.

"We stopped the bleeding, obviously had to perform a c-section, but I think she's going to be ok."

"And the baby, is he alright?" Chris called out, ignoring the bewildered looks the others gave him.

"You tell me." The doctor grinned and pushed the doors open to the recovery room.

He stepped aside, letting them see Piper's bed being wheeled into position. A nurse came towards them, carrying a baby wrapped in a blanket.

"Congratulations," the nurse said. "He's perfectly healthy."

"Really?" Chris moved forward, anxiously watching the nurse carefully pass the precious bundle into Leo's arms.

"Oh, look…he's beautiful!" Phoebe cried. "Baby Christopher."

Leo turned to the adult Chris. "Say hello to little you," he whispered, very softly.

Chris bit his lip nervously and awkwardly accepted the baby into his own arms. He looked down into the baby's tiny face, and green eyes blinked owlishly up at him.

And then he knew.

They weren't the same, not quite.

The connection between them had waned in and out of appearance as the future consequences shifted, time rolling and trying to settle into a coherent order. Magical signals had flickered on and off like a faulty light bulb, as the two versions of Chris merged and parted. Until finally, the elder Chris was like a renegade droplet of water, rippling the surface of the universal lake as he moved. However, the ripples had dissipated, and paradoxes had managed to protect him in the end, allowing him to exist alongside everyone else.

There would be no going back to his future – that didn't exist anymore. Also, there would be no going to the future he had strived to achieve – that wasn't his anymore. However, he did have a future; he had a place in time, albeit an unconventional one.

And that was here.

.Fin.

A/N: What do you all think? An enjoyable, credible alternative finale to season 6? ...or not?