Purple twirled in the air, cascading down off the little frame of the girl. Her giggles brought the attention of the park to her. The child's soft, little hand held Chris', as he twirled her some more. His laughter joined her giggles.

The park had few people playing in it, most just passed through; their glances went toward the pair.

"Daddy! Daddy should be here. He want to be." The girl's laughter mumbled the words, but he had understood.

"He'll be here, sweetie. He just had something to do." He picked up the girl, planting a kiss on her forehead, then twirled himself, with the child in his arm. Their laughter became one.

"Chris!" Shocked the man out of his slumber. He didn't move, only opening his eyes.

"Hm?"

"Piper filled me in on the demon. I just wanted to know if you found out anything more, since your last trek to the underworld." Paige inquired. From the sofa, in the living room, the man shook his head, still not moving more than he needed to. Figuring that his head shake was sufficient, Chris closed his eyes again. Paige moved closer, increasing her volume.

"You sure? 'Cause, you know, demon after us, kinda like to know all that I can." Under his closed eyelids, Chris rolled his eyes.

So now they want me to do my job…and the dreams were so wonderful.

Chris waited for his yawn to subside before he spoke again.

"Few demons, some higher level, some lower…oh, you know the usual drill…kill you to make a name…but of course, it will end horribly for them." Paige placed her hands on her hips while her eyebrow raised.

"Phoebe and Piper, told me you were completely frazzled when you came back, but now you are all cool beans?"

God, Questions, questions, questions. I hate them.

His hand met his face, and brushed back the growing nuance on his forehead, it tickled his eyes. Normally, he wouldn't allow his hair to reach this length, but it wasn't like the old days. Here, he didn't have to worry about it getting in the way.

"That was before I went back down…I somewhat took care of it…maybe." Paige didn't move from her stance.

"What does that mean?"

I'm tired, shut the fuck up, and let me sleep. No more stupid questions, and yes, there is such a thing as a stupid question.

"Posed as a demon, threw them off the real scent. Put them on a wild goose chase." Paige chuckled, but stopped.

"Aren't you just stalling, they will figure it out." Chris finally smirked.

"Hopefully not before they die."

"What did you do?" Chris sobered for a moment, and answered seriously.

"They did pose a threat; they were very dangerous, and I did worry. But I have this friend, that takes that worry away."

"A friend."

"Ok, not so much a friend, as an acquaintance of the demonic sort. But me knowing him helps this situation out immensely."

"You trust him?"

"Hell no."

"Then wha-"

"Didn't let me finish. I would not trust my life to him, nor yours. I however, would trust my death, and the death of others to him." He locked eyes with the youngest sister, "He will get rid of your problem, and you will never see him. Their wild goose chase ends with him; they end with him." Paige stepped closer, dropping her arms off her hips.

"How do you know such a dangerous demon, and have his trust?" This time, Paige could see him roll his eyes.

"I do what I needed to. He was a means." The sister caught something foreign in the man's eyes.

"To what?" Her whitelighter shook his head.

"No more." Of these questions, no more of your bothersome voice, no more of this distrust. No more of you watching every move I make, and you're not that good, because you don't see half the moves I make.

"Chris, is something wrong?" Phoebe asked from the living room doorway.

Fuck

Chris, still sitting on the sofa, turned to look at the other sister.

"I'm being grilled by the inquisition." Phoebe's gaze flickered toward Paige then back to the sitting figure.

"About what?"

Paige spoke first, beating Chris.

"That horrible plan he came crying about, but now seems a calm as a fluffy cloud, mere hours later."

"That is odd, Chris." The man sighed, throwing his head into the cushions of the sofa, and curled into a ball.

"I want to sleep." He mumbled into the fabric on his face. Both girls exchanged glances, silently debating. Though Chris' eyes were closed, he felt the girls leave the room together.

Thank God for the little things.

It didn't take long for the dream to come back.

Even if the girls left the room, it didn't mean they were done talking. They were sister, which meant, they loved to talk to one another.

"Have you ever seen him just want to sleep?" Paige quickly asked, as they entered the kitchen, where Piper was.

"Nuh-huh. Chris isn't the lazing around type." Phoebe turned toward Piper, addressing her. "Did Chris tell you he took care of that demon problem?"

Piper continued to stir the contents of the pot as she looked up to meet Phoebe's gaze.

"No. He just came home a few hours ago, you two were still gone, and just took over the sofa. So it's gone, the trouble, no worries?"

"That's what Chris said," Paige spoke disbelievingly. "Talk about a deuz ex machina." Piper sighed, placing the spoon down on the counter. She moved to the kitchen door, and observed the resting figure on the sofa.

She couldn't be sure, but he could have been asleep again, like he had been for the past few hours. It struck her strange, that out of all time times he could have started to look lazy, it was this time.

No, not lazy. If you had to take care of three people, while worrying about the future, and keeping careful lies in check, tired wouldn't even begin to cover it.

Piper returned to her kitchen duties.

"I think we should let this slide. He did circumvent an entire disaster." Piper cut off Paige's attempts to intervene, "I've been thinking-he has done a lot for us. I am not saying he is perfect, in fact, he is far from it. But-haven't you noticed it, in these past few weeks? There is something there, something not wrong- I can't even begin to tell you what the hell it is-"

"He's heartbroken when he watches you with Wyatt," uttered Phoebe; off her sister's looks she continued, "He makes sure no one sees him, but I have. It's actually really painful to see him watch you two. Misery shows itself in his face- probably why he hides."

"Chris did say that he had no family. Maybe he just misses him mom," guessed Paige, but Phoebe already was shaking her head.

"Remember that demon that fed off of children? How we finally found it in the park." Piper nodded her head sadly. "And do you remember what Chris did when we found it feeding off that child?"

"If he hadn't done that, I would have," declared Piper.

"You're a parent. That's how any parent would react, and that's how Chris reacted."