A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed! I'm not sure whether or not to do a sequel to this, and how this fic ends will depend on whether or not I do. Please tell me in a review whether I should do a sequel or not, and if so, whether you want it to be about Chris' life in the future after he returns, or about his life if he stays in the past. Or, of course, if I should kill him off. I'm also interested in which of the season six and season seven episode plots you all think I should include in this story. Everything in italics is their mind voices. Oh, and sorry if I got the thing with Tempus wrong, I thought they vanquished him but I'm not sure. Anyway, I hope you like this chapter and please review!
Chapter 9-
"How are we going to find Wyatt?" Piper sobbed. "I was right, I'm a terrible mother..."
"Don't ever say that," Chris said harshly. "Ever."
Leo looked at Chris in slight confusion, and then shrugged inwardly. The kid was weird; that was for sure. He must be around Zach and Wyatt a lot in the future.
"Oh, and Leo?" Zach said, turning towards his father. "They know. I told them."
"What else did you find in his memories?" Leo asked eagerly, looking at the sisters, who all shifted uncomfortably in their seats.
"Nothing," Paige said casually.
"Nothing much," corrected Piper, shrugging awkwardly.
Leo looked at her with an expression of disbelief. "Piper, we were married for several years. I know when you're lying."
Phoebe looked like she was about to burst. She had one hand clapped over her mouth, and she gestured wildly towards Chris with the other one.
"Yes, Phoebe? What do you want to tell me?" Leo asked, knowing he'd most likely get information from her.
"Chris is your son!" she practically yelled out, and then groaned, sinking back, her head in her hands.
"See, this is why I always liked Paige," Chris muttered. "At least you could tell her something knowing that not all of San Francisco would hear about it."
"Hey, that's harsh," protested Phoebe.
"My son?" Leo gasped. The rest of them looked at him, seeming to just realize he was there.
"Yes, your son, Leo. As in your child," Cole told him, rolling his eyes.
Leo didn't even bother wondering how Cole knew. He jumped to his feet.
"You-" he pointed at Chris. "-Can not be my son."
"You're right, Leo," Chris replied. "I'm not your son. You lost the right to be called Dad years ago."
"Look, he's somehow hoodwinked you all," Leo told the Charmed Ones desperately. "There is no way he's my son. I'm starting to doubt that even Zach is."
"Just what I've been saying," Chris muttered. Without waiting for an answer, he orbed out.
"Good one, Leo," Zach said angrily, shooting his father a death glare, before orbing out after his brother.
"Did you have to do that?" a very pissed-off Piper asked. "Our son almost died and you've practically denied his existence!"
"Look, Piper, you have to see reason," Leo protested. "He just- well, he can't be our son."
"Why not?" Piper challenged.
"He just-" Leo stopped. "Fine! I'll go and find a way to save Wyatt on my own!" he stormed out of the room.
Piper sighed. "Great, now all three of my sons are missing."
"Is there anything I can do?" Cole asked, rather apologetically.
Piper eyed him mistrustfully. "You just- stay here and don't try to kill yourself again." She looked around at her sisters. "Paige, can you stay with him? You can help me look through the Book upstairs if you want, Phoebes." She looked Phoebe in the eye and knew her sister got the message.
"No, it's okay, I'll stay up here with Cole," she said, looking around at her sisters. "Paige might get the urge to kill him herself otherwise."
Piper laughed, knowing how much her youngest sister hated Cole. She nodded hesitantly, and went upstairs with Paige.
"I don't think it's fair to blame Leo, you know," Zach told his brother, once they were standing on his favourite place, the Golden Gate Bridge. "It's like blaming baby Wyatt for what his grown-up self has done."
"I do blame baby Wyatt though," Chris replied immediately. "Besides, you blame Leo too."
"Only 'cause you do," Zach replied.
Chris shrugged. "Look, we have to find baby Wyatt," he told Zach. "I say we look in the Book."
"That's your solution to everything," Zach grumbled good-naturedly.
"Only because it works," Chris told him, grinning. Then his face hardened. "Most of the time."
"Chris! Zach! You're back!" Piper exclaimed, running to hug them as they orbed into the attic. Zach returned the hug cheerfully, but Chris stiffened, then stepped back.
"We just came to look in the book," said Chris, already flicking through the pages.
"Can't that wait a second?" Paige protested. "We were wondering if we could ask you some stuff-"
"Later," Chris replied distractedly.
"Just one question?" Piper pleaded.
"Piper, you don't seem to grasp what this means!" Chris replied, frustrated. "You didn't live in the future; you don't know what it's like. For months I've been working on keeping Wyatt safe, and now he's been kidnapped! I shouldn't have let that happen; I shouldn't have gotten injured!"
"Told you so," Zach muttered under his breath. There was no need to explain what he meant; Piper and Paige could both tell that this was Chris' newest case of blaming himself.
"Oh, sweetie, it's not your fault," Piper told him.
Chris ignored her, flipping through the book. "He'd most likely be protected from summoning spells, but we could try scrying from him," he said, more to himself than anyone else.
"I'll get something of his to scry with," Paige told them.
As soon as Paige had left, a figure orbed in. It was Leo.
"Oh. You're here," he said, glaring at Chris, who just rolled his eyes.
"What sort of proof do you want that we are your biological children?" Zach asked furiously. He pulled the sleeve of his shirt right up, so they could see the black triquetra tattooed to his shoulder. "Do you really think anyone other than a Halliwell would have this mark on them? Chris has one too."
"You got a tattoo?" Piper exclaimed. "How old were you?"
"Twelve," Zach replied quietly, pulling his sleeve down.
"You got a tattoo at twelve?" Piper said.
Zach shrugged. "The world was already starting to fall apart. I just told the guy doing it I was eighteen, and that was enough for him. People needed the money, you see, and were prepared to overlook that sort of thing. Companies started going out of business pretty soon after that, which is one of the reasons that Chris and I never finished school. I-"
"Future consequences!" Chris interrupted loudly.
"You never finished school?" Piper repeated, horrified.
"It doesn't matter, they aren't your sons!" Leo said loudly, causing everyone to look at him. "There is just no way it's possible."
Piper turned around to face her husband, fuming. "You are the most idiotic person I have ever met in my entire life, Leo Wyatt!" she hissed angrily. "Look at them! They look quite like each other; both of them have your eyes, my cheekbones, Phoebe's smile and Paige's sarcasm. From what I can tell, Chris has telekinesis- Prue's power –and Zach has molecular combustion, which is my power. They both apparently have tattoos of the triquetra; they're familiar around the Manor and know quite a lot about our lives. Besides that, they can also touch the book. What does that tell us?"
Leo had gone stark white. "Oh, god," he whispered. " I am so sorry."
"How many times have I heard that before?" Chris asked, turning to Zach, who looked just as mad as Chris.
"I didn't know," Leo said desperately.
"Whatever, Leo, save it, 'cause we don't care," Chris replied. "Tell that to the only child of yours who isn't wanting your blood on his hands."
"Uh, Chris, Wyatt does have Leo's blood on his hands," Zach pointed out. "He killed him."
Chris tilted his head to the side slightly. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that," he said. "Oh well. For now, we have to focus on finding him.'
Leo's mouth was wide open in shock. He orbed out.
"And don't tell me that was harsh, because you don't know what he's done," Chris said. It was quite obvious he meant Piper, even though he didn't look up from the book.
"I do, Chris; I saw my death," she told him.
Chris looked up. "You saw it?" he said, practically shouting. Anyone who thought the whitelighter-witch had no feelings would be very surprised just then.
"We won't let it happen this time," Piper promised.
"Don't you get it?" Chris said angrily. "I was the only one there! And I let you die! How can you even stand to look at me?"
"Because I know it wasn't your fault," Piper replied calmly.
"I was the only one there, Piper, how was it not my fault?" he replied, turning away from her.
"Because you weren't the one who killed me," she replied softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. As she expected, he stiffened, and she would have tried to hug him if Paige hadn't entered the room.
"I found something!" she said brightly, holding up Wyatt's pacifier.
"I was thinking something a little more... personal," Piper said, looking at it.
Paige frowned. "He's a baby, what's more personal than a pacifier?"
Piper sighed, already starting to scry for him.
"So... how are you?" Phoebe asked Cole, and then winced at how stupid she sounded.
"Well, I've just been brought back from the dead, by the very people who killed me," Cole said. "I'm a little confused about why you don't want me to die, but apart from that, yeah, I'm good."
"I do so want you to die!" Phoebe replied immediately, and then winced. "Oh. I didn't mean to say that."
"Don't worry," said Cole, turning away from her. "At least you're being honest with me."
"No, I'm not..." Phoebe trailed off. "I mean I am. I mean- Argh, this is so annoying. Hey, did you know I got a new power?"
Her change of subject was very obvious, but thankfully Cole took the hint. "Yeah. I've been watching you guys ever since I died."
"Oh," Phoebe replied, dumbfounded. "That's kinda creepy. Like, stalker creepy."
Cole laughed. "What else could I do? Nothing. I couldn't even talk to anyone."
"Uh-huh," Phoebe replied, squirming nervously. Her empath powers were driving her crazy; she could feel Cole's pain and now felt incredibly guilty knowing that she caused it.
"Chris?" said Piper.
"Yeah?" he replied absently, watching Paige scry for Wyatt.
"Why was Prue in your future?" Piper asked quietly.
"I can't tell you!" Chris asked, throwing his hands up in frustration. He looked at his mother and relented, seeing her disappointed look.
"She came back as a whitelighter," Chris said. "And that's all I'm saying."
"Paige and Phoebe had children, didn't they?" Piper asked. "Could you tell me about them? And who were the fathers?"
"I can't say!" Chris replied irritably. "Look, I know you want information about the future, but it's not just some kind of game!"
Zach saw his mother's hurt face and decided to try and soften Chris' words.
"We've already said too much," Zach told Piper, then seeing the look on Chris' face, said quickly, "Okay, I've said too much."
"This isn't working!" Paige said, sighing and throwing down the pacifier. "I just can't seem to find Wyatt anywhere!"
"Maybe his grown-up self could find him by scrying," Chris said thoughtfully. "Zach and I could call him through our minds using our bond."
"Your 'bond'? How exactly does that work?" Paige questioned.
Chris shrugged. "It's just a link the three of us share. We could actually use it to rip apart each other's minds and kill each other if we really wanted to."
"What if Wyatt tries something like that?" Piper asked, looking very nervous.
Chris and Zach looked at each other, trying to figure out how to explain it.
"The idea of using something so sacred..." Zach stopped. "I don't think even Wyatt could do that."
Piper nodded. "Okay, well then should we call him?"
"It's up to you, Mum," Zach said.
Piper beamed, hearing Zach refer to her as his mother.
'Why did you do that?' came Chris' voice in Zach's head.
'Do what?'
'Call her Mum,' Chris replied.
'She likes it,' Zach replied. 'You really hurt her feelings before, you know.'
'Zach... I don't want you to get hurt. When we go back to the future, she may not be there.'
'Well, in that case I want to enjoy the time I have with her, Chris,' Zach replied. 'You should too. You need her, Chris.'
"Hello?" Paige said, waving her hand in Chris and Zach's face. "Are you listening?"
Chris blinked. "Uh, yeah. So, are we going to call Wyatt?"
Paige and Piper nodded.
"'K then," he replied.
'Wyatt?' he asked in his mind.
'Yes, little brother?' came the amused reply.
'Will you help us?' It was Zach this time.
'Why should I?' Wyatt's voice came, almost a whine.
'We need you to scry for yourself,' Chris told him, matter-of-factly.
'Ha. I can find myself without your help,' he replied, and then it was as though a block had come up between them. Not the permanent block, but that told Chris and Zach that Wyatt wouldn't be replying to their calls unless they tried a different approach.
"He refused," Chris said heavily.
"How are we supposed to find him, then?" Piper said desperately.
Chris shrugged. "Maybe another spell..."
Paige shook her head. "If scrying doesn't work, I don't think a spell would," she replied. She looked at Piper. "We haven't eaten in hours. Why don't we have dinner, then maybe check if there's anything at Magic School that would help us?"
Piper sighed then nodded.
"You're just going to give up?" Chris exclaimed.
"Not give up, we'll look later," Piper told him. Her eyes turned wide. "Oh god, I just realised you were sick! You can't have eaten in days!"
"I'll eat when we find Wyatt!" Chris replied stubbornly.
Piper narrowed her eyes. "You are going to come down and have some dinner with us, and until you do there will be no demon-hunting or spellwork."
Zach started snickering, and gulped seeing Piper and Chris glaring at him.
"Uh, maybe we should try and find Wyatt..." he trailed off, seeing his mother's glower.
"I think-" Paige started to say, but was interrupted when a burst of light filled the attic. A woman seemed to step out from nowhere. She had long, thick black hair that fell to her waist and crystal blue eyes. She held a triton and wore robes a deep blue colour.
"Greetings." Her clear voice rang out through the attic. "I am Tempus."
Chris seemed to recover first. "Tempus was a demon the Charmed Ones vanquished several years ago," he said suspiciously.
"Did you memories our history or something?" Paige muttered.
The woman who called herself Tempus laughed. "I am much more capable than any demon ever could be," she said, amused. "I took his place when he was vanquished. I have been doing this job for thousands of years."
"But he was only vanquished a few years ago," Piper pointed out.
Tempus arched an eyebrow. "You doubt my word? I control time, and most of my life has been spent travelling back and forwards through it. I could live through the same time over and over again until I grew old and died."
"Well, what are you doing here?" Paige asked. This time-travel talk was giving her a headache.
"To give some advice," Tempus replied seriously, turning her crystal eyes to Zach. "You, Zachary, were never supposed to travel to the past. It was simply not your destiny. And if you remain here even a full day longer, you may die."
They all gasped. "You can't send him back!" Chris replied, outraged.
"I will send no one anywhere," Tempus replied calmly. "I am just telling you what will happen if he remains here. Normally I would not bother, but it throws off the cosmic balance if someone dies in a time that is not their own."
"How will I die?" Zach seemed to be taking the news slightly better than everyone else, which honestly wasn't saying very much.
"I can not tell you," Tempus replied. Her blue eyes showed sympathy, but before she could say anything else, she had vanished.
A/N: Ooh, something's happening -finally. Please review!