Thanks for the reviews. Okay some dialog is taken from the episode Prince Charmed. I don't own the lyrics to Fall to Pieces but I love that song.
Chapter 17
Weeks had passed since the incident at the Manor. Chris still saw a lot of Lizzie but not nearly as much as he saw that particular night. Things had cooled off a good deal but his girlfriend could still be extremely frisky. The pressure to go forward was gone but the sexual tension remained. Chris was just happy being able to spend time with Lizzie and he didn't want to push things any farther.
They were still sneaking around despite the fact that Lizzie's father had not changed his mind about the whole situation. It seemed no matter how hard Jo lobbied for them nothing budged Sam's decision that Lizzie not see Chris.
Lizzie was allowed over to help Piper with vanquishes while Phoebe was living abroad and Leo was to orb her to and from the vanquishes and she wasn't not to have any physical contact with Chris while she was at the Manor.
Of course him being to orb and her being able to astral project helped bend the rules a bit. They could see each other without her father knowing. Chris thought that Lizzie learning to master her power would out weigh the personal gain.
His relationship with his parents however was another story. Since the sister's had moved out Piper had began to behave strangely. Chris knew the true reason for his mother's erratic behavior.
It had nothing to do with her sisters moving out and everything to do with the fact that she'd had a fling with Leo, and as a result conceived Chris. The only thing was she didn't know about him just yet. And Chris was going to keep it that way.
Chris was thankful that he didn't have to go to extreme measures to make sure that happened to ensure his own survival.
And Piper's birthday was only a day away. And Chris just knew his mother's birthday would be a crazy if the planning was left in the hands of his aunts. Lizzie wouldn't be able to come to the dinner because Matt's recital was at the same time as the planned surprise party. And Chris was just going to have to sit through the bulging male strippers and boring chit chat alone. After all he had made a promise to his crazy aunts.
Chris looked at the time Lizzie would probably be waiting for him. He orbed to the school. He materialized behind an SUV in the parking lot. He hoped no one saw his little magic act and he headed for the courtyard where he knew his girlfriend was waiting.
Lizzie had been waiting for ten minutes sitting alone on a stone bench in the busy courtyard. Gordo and Miranda had to prepare for the fall musical which was coming up in before Thanksgiving break. They were doing Wizard of Oz and Miranda and Gordo seemed to be joined at the hip arguing about whether to dress "Dorothy" in daisy dukes or a micro mini.
Lizzie could almost swear something was going on with them. She almost hoped it did actually. She wanted them to be happy and maybe if they were together they wouldn't be poking around in her relationship.
And things in the McGuire home were going less than smoothly. She wasn't speaking to her dad. And her mom wasn't talking to him either which Lizzie found hilarious. Matt had become the go between for them and the messages came out all screwed up.
Lizzie really hoped that she wasn't causing a rift in her parent's marriage. But her dad was being really unfair.
"You know McGuire I don't see what could be soooo interesting about those shoes." The unmistakable voice of Kate Sanders rang in Lizzie's ears.
"Mine are much better, Prada. Spring collection, not even released in the states." Kate declared.
Lizzie looked up squinting at Kate and her posse. And then down at the other girl's shoes.
"Those sling backs are ugly. They make your feet look even worse. I don't know why you would waste time buying them at all much less ahead of season." Lizzie said.
"You are so going down McGuire!" Kate bellowed.
"I don't think you're the one to decide that."
Lizzie looked up astonished to see her boyfriend.
"I am so sorry I'm late." Chris said bending to kiss her on the cheek.
"It's okay. You came right on time." She said.
"Are you ready to go?" Chris asked.
"Yeah I am so starving."
"You're always starving. I'm beginning to think they don't feed you at home." Chris said.
Lizzie whacked him on the shoulder.
"Did you seriously just say that to me? We need to feed your boney ass." Lizzie said pushing her boyfriend down the street.
"Fine. Where do you wanna go? We can have Mexican, Japanese, French. We can have bangers and mash. I don't know what that is but I'm sure they make it in England." Chris said.
"Let's just get hamburgers and fries like the simple folk."
"Alright."
"We don't have long we've got to go by my aunt's boutique and get Piper's birthday present." Lizzie reminded him.
"I know." Chris said.
"Well, hurry your ass up." Lizzie said.
"Don't rush me McGuire. I think we're being followed." Chris said glancing behind them.
"Followed?" Lizzie asked.
"Did I get a girlfriend or a freaking parrot? Yes, Lizzie we are being followed." Chris said talking slowly.
The blonde gave him the finger.
He stuck out his tongue. They weren't the most mature couple. But they had fun.
"Contrary to popular belief I'm not a dumb blonde." Lizzie said knowing full well he'd been playing with her.
"What do you think it is? A demon? A warlock hell-bent on killing good witches? A cult of zombie aliens?" Lizzie asked trying to glance around covertly.
"Some guy in a black suburban." Chris replied.
"He's probably not even following us your just being paranoid." Lizzie shrugged.
Chris laughed, "You think I'm paranoid? You were just checking behind us for a cult of zombie aliens."
"Whatever if the Garbage song fits." Lizzie said.
"Whatever." Chris said shaking his head and taking her hand and leading her into the diner.
After having grabbing bite to eat and orbing over LA.
Lizzie's aunt Jenny was actually her father's sister, but she didn't share her brother's dislike for Chris which made things easier.
Chris was glad that Lizzie knew what Piper wanted for her birthday. He had no idea what his mother would like.
But Lizzie had discovered that Piper wanted a new outfit for her birthday. But she had to choose between buying a pair of designer jeans and paying to get her brakes fixed. And getting furniture repaired after demon attacks.
Chris offered to pay for it. He had a lot of his winnings left over from the poker match he had played with Richard and some of his rich friends.
"Piper is going to love this outfit. I saw her eying it when we went to the mall last week while you were playing poker with Richard." Lizzie said.
"We'll even get her the shoes to match." Chris said.
"She'll be so thrilled. You certainly are in a generous mood future boy." Lizzie said.
"Well, I figured it was the least I can do. It's like a thank you for getting me conceived and what not."
"Having sex with your father and carrying you around for nine months and gaining weight is not what not Chris." Lizzie said.
"Whatever." Chris said.
"Guess what," Lizzzie said.
"What?" Chris asked.
"My dad said that it was cool if you were going to take me to Halloween dance next week." Lizzie said.
"I can't believe we're going to that stupid thing." Chris grumbled.
"It'll be fun. We get to dress up in cool costumes and dance." Lizzie said.
"I totally forgot about the lame costume part of the dance."
"Yeah and I'm picking the costumes." Lizzie said proudly.
"Just as long as we're not going as the Rocky Horror Picture Show." Chris said.
"Nope." Lizzie said.
"Okay how did you get your father to change his tune about us not seeing each other?"
"Well, he's going to be there." Lizzie said.
"He's like chaperoning the dance."
"No just our date." Lizzie blushed.
"Ummm… that's weird."
"My mom is working on him." Lizzie said.
"Soo…" Chris said let the sentence hang forever .
"Soo what?" Lizzie asked.
"So what are you doing tonight that's what?"
"Oh… nothing." Lizzie said.
"You wanna like go see a movie or something?"
"I would love to. But I have to sit through another excruciating family night." Lizzie said.
"Sounds harsh," Chris replied.
"But I can um…hang out until six thirty. I am allowed to come by and give Piper her present."
"Right present." Chris said pulling Lizzie in for a kiss.
"That's my story and I'm sticking to it." Lizzie said pulling Chris into an alley way so he could orb them to the Manor.
Lizzie knew something was not right at the Manor.
Phoebe and Paige were down stairs whispering in hushed tones at the kitchen table when they orbed in.
"What's up?" Chris asked noticing their somber faces.
Phoebe looked up raking a hand through her short dark hair, "Wyatt got attacked by a demon to today. And Piper just gave up on love."
"Just the usual." Paige added after a beat.
"What?" Chris and Lizzie both asked at the same time.
"Where is she?" Chris asked.
"Folding laundry in the nursery. See if you can talk some sense into her." Paige said.
Chris shot her glare and started upstairs.
"Is Wyatt alright?" Lizzie asked.
"He's fine. Piper blew up the demon that attacked him and she has decided to swear off men and concentrate on his upbringing." Phoebe said.
"Wow." Lizzie said.
The yelling from upstairs was not quite as loud as they expected.
"I'm not hearing enough yelling!" Phoebe hollered.
"So what's in the bag?" Paige asked.
"Piper's birthday present." Lizzie practically squealed with excitement.
"I wanna see." Phoebe said.
Paige pouted, "I still don't know what to get Piper for her birthday."
Glancing around quickly Lizzie showed them the dark denim jeans and the gold top with the jeweled sets on it and the matching gold slippers.
"That is so cute." Phoebe said touching the shoes.
"Those are so ahead of the curve. They are gonna be bigger than Uggs come next fall." Phoebe said.
"How do you know?" Paige asked.
"Premonition." Phoebe said.
"Maybe I should show her the outfit now it might help convince her that she is far too young to give up on love. You can maintain a relationship and fight demons right?" Lizzie asked.
"In theory you can. Just don't maintain a relationship with a demon. Learned that the hard way." Phoebe said.
Lizzie smirked, "I take it you kissed a few frogs before landing your prince."
"You wouldn't believe how many." Phoebe said.
"She hasn't told him the secret yet, if he doesn't bolt when she does I'd say he was a keeper." Paige said.
"Alright the yelling stopped. I'm gonna go see what's going on." Lizzie said.
The sisters nodded and turned back to their pizza and the episode of Law and Order they were watching on the kitchen TV.
When she got up to the nursery which was formally Paige's room. She found Chris brooding and Piper reading a birthday card.
"Lizzie hey." Piper stated putting down the card.
"Happy birthday! I probably won't be able to get over here tomorrow so I figured I'd say this and give you a little something right now." Lizzie said.
"Thank you. That's very sweet you didn't have to do that."
"I wanted to or we wanted to it's from me and Chris." Lizzie said.
Piper looked at Chris and raised an eyebrow, "You didn't pick this out did you? I don't wanna go around looking like Back to the Future or nothing."
Lizzie laughed.
And Chris was smirking despite himself as he replied. "I just paid for it. I told you I wasn't your fashion consultant."
"Here open it up." Lizzie said handing her the bag.
Lizzie truly enjoyed Piper's reaction to the outfit, "Lizzie! This is…and the shoes!"
"I saw you eyeing it when we went to the mall." Lizzie said.
"How did you guys afford this? Are you selling rock on Fifty First Street?" Piper asked once she finished gushing over the clothes.
"No I beat the pants off of Richard while the two of you had his lucky charm also known as Paige or as I like to call her the witch who cheats for him like every game at the mall."
"Oh okay. Thank you guys this is really nice. Now I'll at least have something to wear to my surprise birthday dinner."
Piper gave Lizzie a quick hug, "I'm sure you can give Chris his half of that."
Lizzie smirked, "If he's good."
"I am so good." Chris said.
"See you later, Piper. You'd better have fun tomorrow." Lizzie said.
"With demons after my son tomorrow is just gonna be buckets of fun." Piper said.
"Here's to hopin. Remember what we talked about Piper. You aren't destined to be alone… Yet" Chris said.
Lizzie heard the last word which was only audible to her since Chris had put his arm around her and steered her out of the room.
"Are we gonna go back to your place and make out or are you gonna take off and find out who is after Wyatt." Lizzie asked.
"How about we make out right now I drop you off at your place and then I go find out who is after Wyatt?" Chris asked.
"Sounds like a plan," Lizzie said hooking her arms around his neck.
Chris tilted her face upwards, "Possibly my best one so far." He whispered before kissing her.
Ten minutes of kissing and some groping later. All done in the workout room so Piper wouldn't catch them Chris dropped off Lizzie a half a block from her house and he watched until she went inside and then he went to find his absentee father. With no luck finding Leo Chris trie d to find out what demons were after Wyatt.
He sensed Leo atop the Golden Gate Bridge. Orbing up there and feeling the wind in his face felt like old times. He could still remember days when things were good with his parents and Leo taking him up there to show him the view of the city when he was three. His five year old brother didn't like heights. Wyatt didn't even like the third floor landing.
"There you are. Do you have any idea how long I've been calling for you? While your up here? What are you doing up here?" Chris demanded of his father.
"I'm in conference with the other Elders. What are you doing up here?" Leo asked not even bothering to open his eyes.
"There was an attack at the Manor yesterday." Chris said.
Leo's eyes shot open, "Piper?" he asked.
"She's fine." Chris said.
Leo closed his eyes and got calm again.
"Actually it was Wyatt who was attacked." Chris said.
Leo's eyes shot open again. Chris loved doing that.
"He's fine. Piper vanquished the demon." Chris replied.
After a few minutes of having the Elder teach him about sensing evil. They orbed back to the Manor to find Phoebe and Paige behaving strangely. Neither of them could get any information out of them about how they were handling the situation besides that they had set up a demonic alarm system.
Chris and Leo were in for another shock when Piper walked into the house wearing her new outfit with a poncho over it and a weird balloon hat on her head that could have only come from the children's fair.
"Where is Wyatt?" Chris asked calmly.
"Oh he's coming," Piper said taking off the hat.
Through the closed door Chris could hear some Latin man singing some horrible children's song about being happy.
The door opened and sure enough Wyatt was strolled in by a long haired Latin man.
Chris wanted to laugh because Wyatt was wearing cat face paint and the ten month old looked like he didn't want it on.
"Um… I thought you were like swearing off men or whatever?" Chris asked.
"Who's he?" Leo asked at the same time getting into surly pose.
"That's right you don't have a name do you?" Piper said coming over to put her hand on the guy's very muscular arm.
"What about David you've always liked that name no?"
"No. I mean yes. Isn't he wonderful?" Piper said.
Paige and Phoebe did a collective sigh, the two women who were in their late twenties were behaving like thirteen year old Justin Timberlake fans.
Leo scoffed.
And Chris tried to look indignant. But it was much too funny.
"Why don't you put Wyatt down for a nap he must be all tuckered out from all the excitement?" Paige said.
"Alright." Piper smiled and she and "David" took Wyatt upstairs.
"Okay what did you do?" Chris asked.
"What did Piper mean by her date not having a name yet?" Leo asked.
"I know we've got some explaining to do. But I wanna start by saying that this was all Paige's idea." Phoebe said.
"Sellout!" Paige hissed at her sister.
"What? He had angry face." Phoebe said.
"Fine! I made him out of my own little brew. What Benedict Phoebe here forgot to mention was that Piper was going to give up on love. We had to do something. So we conjured Piper's perfect man." Paige said.
Chris caught the flash of defeat in his father's eyes.
After minutes of discussion about the order and about the possibility of Wyatt being turned evil. The sisters seemed to regain some semblance of self control.
The doorbell rang throwing the house into chaos once again when a demon pretending to be Darryl came in and was allowed up to see Wyatt.
Piper vanquished the demon and they all went into the living room.
"I think we've come up with a way of stopping all these attacks." Piper said.
"Oh really what?" Phoebe asked.
"We bind Wyatt's powers," Piper stated.
"It would protect Wyatt and Piper can have a normal life." David continued.
"That was my argument last night." Chris said.
"And it's a good one." David said.
"No it is not a good one. Its a bad one a very bad one in fact." Phoebe said.
"Are you fucking kidding me? We are not binding Wyatt's powers." Paige asked.
"She's right binding Wyatt's powers is not the answer." Leo said.
"Do you want your son to have a normal life?" Piper said.
"Of course I want that. But I'm not gonna allow you to bind his powers." Leo said.
"It'll will take the Power of Three to bind someone as powerful as Wyatt and we aren't gonna support it." Phoebe said.
"That's right." Paige said.
"Well, I do support it one hundred and ten percent," Piper said.
Chris suddenly got an idea of how to get the sisters on the binding bandwagon. He would just have to make a few adjustments to Mr. Right.
"Can I take Wyatt up there? He'll be safe and the three of you can decide what you are going to do that doesn't include the binding of anyone's powers." Leo said.
"Okay." Piper said handing Wyatt to Leo.
"Hey Lorenzo Lamas how about we go upstairs while the fight this one out?" Chris asked the Latin man.
"It's David."
"Whatever." Chris said.
"Alright."
Chris' idea to make all the sisters want to bind Wyatt's powers was relatively simple. But it was by far the sneakiest thing he'd done besides sending Leo to Valhalla. And if he was caught well, he was very sure that he'd be in a lot of trouble but if it stopped Wyatt from turning evil it would be worth it.
A few minutes and a ton of pheromones later, Chris realized that he might have made a mistake.
Once Darryl and Sheila arrived the girls were fighting for David's attention. Chris was pacing. He had wanted to cancel the dinner but the girls insisted that they wanted a party.
Chris paced throughout Paige's magically made dinner. And before he knew it the girls had turned it into a full on food fight. Darryl and Sheila snuck out around the time Chris had got pelted in mid step with green peas.
The fight indeed when Phoebe was hit in between the eyes with some carrots and proclaimed, "I'm hit."
After which she fell right over landing at Paige and Pipers feet.
Chris and David managed to end the food fight between the last two sisters standing and they had got them all up to the attic to bind Wyatt's powers when Leo decided to show up bringing Wyatt back.
"What's going on?" Leo asked putting Wyatt in his play pen.
"We're binding Wyatt's powers," Piper said pitifully as she wiped cake out of her hair.
"What?" Leo asked.
"You are going deaf way earlier than you should. You should see a doctor about that old man." Chris snarked.
Leo glared at him and stepped forward to talk to Piper just as two robed demons shimmered in. the next thing Chris knew Wyatt's shield was up and they were sent careening to the ground. He looked up the see the demons shimmering away with Wyatt.
And that was right around the time all the extra pheromones on David wore off. And the girls turned on him and then Chris.
Chris was backed nearly into a corner by the sisters and the all looked hella pissed.
Chris swallowed thickly, "Hey you know what we havent sang happy birthday yet andI think we should right now."
"Save it Chris the pheromones have worn off." Phoebe said.
"Right after they took my son." Piper growled her eyes practically glowed with rage.
"Okay so your blaming me for this?" Chris asked.
"Its just such a coincidence that we all fell for Mr. Right shortly after you disappeared into the attic with him?" Paige asked.
"What if I told you that um…I asked him to uh…. Damn." Chris said he had nothing no lie to get him out of this mess and he was covered in mashed peas.
"I don't think so Chris." Piper said.
"You see Chris all they really want is…" David started.
"For you to get the hell out of here." Paige told David over her shoulder.
"I knew that." David said.
"This is stupid. Leo tell them. I'm not the one who orchestrated this whole thing." Chris said.
"I'm wondering the same thing myself." Leo said.
This was great no one was on his side.
He missed Lizzie. She would offer a blessed distraction by asking a really dumb question giving him time to think while Phoebe gave her a long stupid answer.
He flinched under their harsh gazes, "Fine, whatever so what if I did? I was just trying to protect Wyatt."
"By tricking us? I thought you were smarter than that Chris. We were gonna find out." Piper said.
"I had to it might be the only way," Chris said he could feel all the unresolved tension and pent up frustration that had been building for as long as he could remember.
He didn't want them to look at him like that like he was the evil one. He remembered the way they'd treated him when he told him that something was going on with Wyatt.
"Why?" Leo asked he was the only one not seething with rage.
However that actually affected Chris most.
"Because the only reason I came here is to keep Wyatt from turning evil!" Chris shouted it was the first real emotion he'd shown them.
He knew he must have been a sight covered in peas and whatever other favors Paige used to set the table his eyes were wild and he knew he had to look positively crazy. So he could forgive their shocked expressions.
"Turning evil?" Leo parroted.
"You mean stop some evil from hurting him?" Paige asked her face was the picture of disbelief.
"I didn't think you would help me if you knew the truth. You didn't believe me when I told you before. Why would now be any different? Well fine you want me to lay it all out for you. The evil I came back to stop is Wyatt. Are you happy now?" Chris asked.
"You're lying!" Piper said.
"You wish I was lying but I'm not. You said all this before. That I was liar, that I was crazy, you even said I was jealous. But if we don't do something that precious little boy of yours is going to grow up and torture good witches, he's going to destroy everything to take over the world." Chris said he was shaking with anger and fear, horrible images of what he'd seen as a teenager during Wyatt's first steps at taking over the world flashed through his mind.
"Why should we believe you? You've proven yourself to be a liar. I mean what's one more lie to manipulate us into do what you want right?" Piper said.
Her words hurt more than he expected. In the end it was her not believing him hurt the most.
"Because you have to," He said simply unaware of the single tear making its way down his cheek.
His mother scoffed, "No we don't have to believe you. In fact that statement makes me believe you less."
"Whatever, don't. Either way, we need to save Wyatt now, and I'm the one who knows how to do it." Chris said pointedly trying hard to make his voice not shake.
"Yeah how?" Phoebe said with her hands on her hips in a defensive pose.
"The order they reversed his sense of morality he thinks good is bad now and vice versa." Chris explained.
"So?" Leo asked.
"I swear the four of you are dumb as hell." Chris said.
"See Wyatt brings his shield up around me normally, he thinks I'm like a threat or whatever." Chris spoke very slowly which only seemed to piss his mother off.
"So this means that his shield will protect him from you but not from me. Just get over yourselves for once and let me do this." Chris said.
"We don't need your kind of help Chris. I can and I will get my son back and when I do. I don't want to see you again. Comprende." Piper said.
The accusing stares are much too much.
"I'm sorry." Chris said in whisper as he violently wiped the lone tear off his chin and orbed away.
A while after he had delivered Wyatt into the hands of his mother. Chris sat on top of the Golden Gate Bridge staring down below.
He let the tears that he'd been holding in fall. He didn't think they'd hurt him like this again.
He heard the jingle of orbs, "Good place to think isn't it?"
"Maybe three hundred and sixty feet ain't so far down." Chris sang ignoring his father.
"Chris! Are you drunk?" Leo asked.
"No, what did you want anyways." Chris said.
"Just to talk. Trust is a precious commodity. You know once you've lost it it's hard to get it back." Leo said.
"Did you read that on the back of a fortune cookie? I swear you Elders are so full of shit." Chris said.
"Shut up. Stop being such a snarky bastard it doesn't help your cause."
"My cause? I've fucked that up already. It really is what I do best don't you think." Chris told him.
"I don't know," Leo said.
"I mean do you still trust me?" Chris asked.
"I'm not your charges. It's not my trust that matters." Leo replied.
"Well teach me Obi Wan what should I do?" Chris asked.
Leo laughed, "Quit playing games. Be straight with them. No more manipulation. And by the way I do trust you. After all you did stop Wyatt from turning evil."
"For now," Chris said simply before orbing away.
Lizzie was alone in her room she had went up to bed early the silence at the dinner table was deafening. She didn't think it would happen but her little brother had run out things to say.
Her parents weren't speaking to each other. It was horrible. And the way her dad looked at her now. Like she was a slut or something.
Miranda and Gordo were busy with the rehearsal for the play. She could go and watch but the drama kids freaked her out. So she just sat there in her ducky pajamas curled up watching a very interesting (not) episode of Punk'd.
Orbs descended in her room taking the shape of her boyfriend.
"Chris," She said excited to see him.
Once she saw his expression she knew something was wrong. She hadn't seen him look so sad.
"What happened?" Lizzie asked.
"I don't wanna talk about it." he whispered taking a seat at the end of her bed.
"You don't have to," she said crawling over to sit by him.
I looked away
Then I looked back at you
You tried to say
Things that you can't undo
He looked at her his green eyes bright with unshed tears.
If I had my way
I'd never get over you
Today's the day
I pray that we make it through
Make it through the fall
Make it through it all
Lizzie put an arm around his shoulders, "You don't have to tell me."
He seemed to fall into her snaking his arms around her and she just held him as he cried.
And I don't want to fall to pieces
I just want to sit and stare at you
I don't want to talk about it
And I don't want a conversation
I just want to cry in front of you
I don't want to talk about it
'Cause I'm in love with you
They stayed like that for awhile until he pulled away and looked at her in a way that made her shiver. And then he kissed her, it was a hot hard kiss that was fierce and she responded with a passion that scared even her.
Want to know who you are
Want to know where to start
I want to know what this means
Want to know how you feel
Want to know what is real
I want to know everything, everything
I'm starting school soon so my updates will not be weekly, (like I got chapters out that fast anyways) but they will be frequent for this story.