Hi there!!!

First, my eternal thanks to As Always for she keeps my fic in it's tracks.

Second, a very big ovation to my reviwers. I do really read and re-read you reviews... and when I can't write or I don't find the way to go on with the story, I read 'em again... Flattering is wonderful for a writer's block. My point is that I really appreciated your reviews although I can answer them one per one now (that's another thing that i love to do... U) because it's late and tomorrow I have to wake up soon and still have lots of things to do but I wan't to post this now because it's unfair to keep ypu waiting. I really don't want to be rude and I'll try to answer both sets of reviews in the next chapter.

Why I'm taking all this time in updating? I'm living in my grandma's home this days for she is sick, and although I can type the story in my laptop I can't send it to my beta or post it as easy as before.

By the way, some of you said that the last two chapters were a l little caothic... I know and I'm sorry, my own mind wasn't really stright at that moment.

Ok, stop the babbling, start the fic.

By the way, you all will kill me at the end of this chapter... (and Icantthinkofanick, you can't go and read it!! You have to wait... XD sorry, couldn't resist it, you can go and read if you want, although I pretty recommend you to wait.)

Now, the fic...

Chris paled, whirled around and ran upstairs.

That left Leo, Phoebe and Wyatt in the bedroom.

"So much for the almighty cold headed boy..." muttered the elder. Then turned to the witch. "Do you want me orbing you upstairs."

The empath cocked her head, doubtfully.

"Are you sure? This demon could infect me... shouldn't I stay here?"

"Well, Phoebe, no offence meant but for what I know you could be the aforesaid demon, so I''m not leaving you alone with Wyatt."

She sighed.

"You have a point there."

And the two of them orbed back to the attic.

Leo and Phoebe orbed in to see a furious Paige yelling lots of highly censored words to Chris who was, unsuccessfully, trying to explain her why he'd trapped her inside a protection stone circle.

The moment they were fully materialized there, the ranting turned in their direction.

"Phoebe, can you tell to our demented whitelighter that I'm not possessed?"
The middle sister grimaced at her.

"See hon? The fact is that if you were possessed, that's exactly what you'd said... although it really doesn't matter if you're being honest or not."

The empath cocked her head, thoughtfully, and looked from her younger sister to her older. Finally she turned to Chris who had picked up a new set of protection stones from the shelf.

"Hey, I know you wouldn't trust me very much right now, but if she was really possessed, I would be sensing something... and I don't. She, on the other hand..." Phoebe signaled Piper. "... is broadcasting general evilness. But as I said..." the witch looked down. "You won't
be trusting me."

"I don't think you're the host Phoebe..." confessed the half whitelighter getting up with the, now empty, box.

"Then why am I surrounded by stones?"

"Precaution" he answered. "Anyway, I hope you understand my point and the fact that I just can't trust your empathy."

Phoebe sighed from her own shield.
"And what now? Are you gonna trap Leo too?"

The alluded smirked at Phoebe's command, but then saw Chris thoughtful expression and frowned.

"You're kidding, are you??" Leo wasn't really convinced.

"You could be some kind of shape shifter working with the demon." The half witch explained in matter-of-fact tone of voice..

Leo snorted again and was relieved when he saw Chris half smile and say.

"Of course you're not a demon, the idea was stupid."

"Of course."

"I mean, Wyatt shield would have jumped if you weren't hi father."

There was a brief silence broke by Phoebe.
"Jeez man... you do really take in consideration every small detail."

Chris shrugged, he had nothing to say about that.

"I am glad you two are having such a great chat... now, if the demon is in Paige, can you free me from this?" Piper's voice focused the general attention to her. The witch was sitting on a pillow on the floor, and generally glaring at the world.

"Oh, no. No way!!" yelled Paige. "Piper's still the demon... I mean that she haven't even left the protection circle, so the SoulShadow can't have escaped."

"Uh... the shield doesn't work with this demon." Phoebe explained.

"But since it can't possess Leo or Chris, they can spend their time finding out that's in Piper and then..."

"And why can't it posses them?" Paige was grwing angry at the whole situation.

"Beacuse it just possesses women... as you should have read in the Book of Shadows" Chris answered, involuntarily mimicking Paige's tone of voice int the future, when scolding them.

"We did read that... even if Paige have the memory capacity of a fish." Growled Phoebe. "So that means that the demon is in one of the charmed... and I vote for the older one."

"It's not in me!!" yelled Piper taking a distracted step and receiving a warning shock from the shield.

Unnoticed by the rest, Chris jumped in pain, biting his lip to stop a sudden yelp.

What the hell was that?? He thought, looking around for the origin of the pain. There was nothing but the sisters arguing.

"It's so you..." Phoebe said, lamely defending her point with what would amount to a five
year old's debating skills.

"So not!" Piper said, also replying childishly.

"Oh, so yes!"

"So not!!" Piper took another idiotic step and received another bolt.

Chris gasped, momentarily out of breath

Shit!! Shit shit shit!! Damn!! Damndamndamndamn!!!! He cursed, suddenly realizing the main problem.

Why me??? Why? What have I done to screw my karma this much except for creating devices to trap lawful magical being like elders or whitelighters?

That was just fantastic!

He now knew where the demon was, but he couldn't tell them.

That would bring too many questions. And with the skills straightly inherited from his mother, his mind added:
Shitshitshitshitshitshit!!!!

She may have touched the shield again, because he felt another paralyzing bolt.

"Stop that!!" He exclaimed angrily.

What was that demon?? A masochist??

But now everyone was looking at him, better say something.

"The thing... er... the thing is that's better for now to have the three of you closed so the demon can't go jumping from sister to sister. And for once, I got Leo supporting me about this, so you can't blame me of backstabbing you or something like that."

The elder felt daggers coming from the sister's eyes at him. Even from Phoebe who generally agreed with the idea but particularly was in serious need of visiting the toilet.

He ignored them and went to Chris.

"Any ideas?"

"None useful. You?"

Leo shook his head.

"I have an idea!!" Piper exclaimed. "You could free me right now and take me to Wyatt."

"That's a dumb excuse... and by the way You-are-not-Piper." Repeated Phoebe who had grown a wide smug smile with her sister last comment. "And I can prove it."

"Leave me alone, Pheebs!" The witch snapped, rolling her eyes.

But Leo at least was curious. "Can you? Remember that your empathy may not be working right, even if you think so..."

"I'm not talking about empathy, my beloved brother in law. Because I ain't just a pretty face with powers... "

"Then?" Chris would have sighed out of relief. Yes yes yes, please please please... let her have a solid theory. Pleeeeaaaaseee!!!

"Then, Chris, why does Piper have waited 'til now to ask about Wyatt? She was possessed when he reappeared and you yourself said that when fully possessed, people aren't aware of what was really happening... and she's yet to ask about why she is in a protection shield, she
didn't even knew about the SoulShadow! What about that, sister?"

"That is the most lame detective work since 'Murder, She wrote' plots." Piper buffed before saying in a matter of fact manner, " Paige filled me up while you were downstairs."

"Did you?" Leo asked to the alluded.

"No! How was I to tell her anything if she was gloating the whole time about how smart she was and how easily she'd fooled us??"

"She is lying!!" growled Piper. "She is the possessed one..."

If Paige had Prue's powers, her older sister would have been stomped in the wall right then.

"Drop dead, Piper! You'll better be the possessed because if I don't see your head spinning in the next minute I'm going to clamp your mouth!!!"

"See?? She's enraged, she's possessed."

"This is useless..." Complained Chris, defeated. He'd hope for this to be an exit way... he needed to find something before the demon got shocked again. He just had no idea about how much a week old fetus could endure.

"No, it's not." Leo frowned, turning to Phoebe who nodded. "Because all this madness excludes Phoebe from the equation... and if Phoebe isn't possessed..."

"My empath powers are still trustful, and they tell me that the demon is inside Piper." Phoebe got up and signaled her older sister like if she was in some old witch trials movie. "Say! Who's the smart one now? "

The oldest Charmed one and, now the reconfirmed again, Possessed one, scolded herself and sat, muttering something in the lines of "Me and my enormous mouth".

Phoebe loved to gloat over her own smartness, but her blatter was in serious issues by then.

"You welcome. Now Chris, can you..." But she saw Leo's dark stare and realized something. "Oh... holy shit!! She is still possessed..."

"I beg your pardon?" Asked Paige, taken aback by the sudden change in her sister's mood. "I thought that knowing who was possessed and who wasn't was good."

"I think it would have been better if you'd been the possessed..."

"I BEG YOUR PARDON???"

"I mean... well... it WOULD have been easier to deal with..." Phoebe's intentions of explaining her words were highly ineffective. However, she didn't know how much the demon knew about the baby, and she wasn't going to tell it " Look... just orb some of these rocks away so we can
finally move free and then I'll..."

"If I could orb the damn rocks, don't you think I'd done that sooner?"
Complained the younger sister.

"Wh..." Phoebe started to ask.

"Those stones are special for whitelighters." Interjected Chris.

Phoebe, who had been planning a witty remark, found herself speechless.
"You made special protection rocks for whitelighters?"

"No." Answered the young man and when she raised an eyebrow, demanding further explanations, he finished. "I created a set of rocks able to trap elders... I just supposed that it would work with whitelig..."

"YOU DID WHAT?!!?!! AGAINST WHAT?!!?!!"

In the other side of the city, Darryl, who was happily having some tea at home, heard the yell and dropped the mug, startled.

Even in the underworld, demons and warlocks stopped and looked around wondering about the sudden interruption. Some of them recognized Leo's voice in it and shimmered away.

Phoebe and Paige were momentarily stunned.

Piper-demon cocked it's head with a smirk.

Chris shrugged.
"What? You can never be too careful!"

"Careful with the elders?" Leo could barely believe his own ears. "They work for the greater good, they work for us!! They..."

"They are powerful! From my point of view that makes them a threat."

Chris wasn't even looking at them, he was picking up the sets of stones and putting them back in their boxes.

"Wyatt is powerful too... " Phoebe stated. "Does it make him a threat?"

Chris, that had been placing the boxes in their shelves, answered without turning around.
"You just don't realize how wrong is that question, do you?"

"It's what you said."

They saw his shoulders growing tense and the hands closing in fists.

"Yes Phoebe, he is a threat. That's what you wanted to hear?" His voice was hoarse.

"He is not. Not yet. But you can't go suspecting..."
Began Leo, placing a reassuring hand in the young man shoulder. But rather than being consoled, Chris jumped at the contact like struck by a lightning and darted around, facing the elder. His eyes were burning with angry resolution.

"You're right, Leo, not yet. And he is not going to be because I'm going to stop it." His voice had started calm but grew enraged as he kept talking "And you can shut your mouth!! How can you say I go about things the wrong way?? You just have it so easy, don't you? You live in this... perfect world where bad guys wear black coats and good guys are in ridiculous golden gowns and you think this will last forever?"

"Chris, I don't say that..."

"No, Leo, now you'll let me talk!! Damn it, I've been trying to save Wyatt for six months and even if you don't trust me I've so earned my right to talk without being interrupted!!" Leo relented and Chris continued. "I just can't afford to live in that nice world, Leo... I do know what awaits us there even if I can't tell you, and I have to stop that. And I will save the future even if I have to put every single person in this world in a stones trap until Wyatt dies in his eighties in a bed surrounded by his grandsons!!!" the half whitelighter stopped, out of breath. None of them had never seen him displaying such a range of emotions. He hadn't done so in a long time, and the effort was exhausting him. "So if you don't like the way I do it, if you don't like the secrets, I'm very sorry, but there's so much in the stake and that's just the only way I know."

"We are powerful too... are we a threat to Wyatt too?" Paige wasn't sure if she wanted an answer, but had to ask.

Chris said nothing and simply averted his eyes, divided between what he wanted to answer and what he'd answer if he said something.

"That's mad, we're family!!" The youngest sister gaped, reading his reaction like a silent nod.

Chris reaction was a humorless bitter laugh.
"News, Paige! Family do backstab you too!" and there was so much venom and sorrow in Chris voice that Phoebe felt like crying. Although it wasn't her feelings, his pain was overshadowing the potion like it had when they had met the psycho Chris.

"Siblings too?" She asked, knowing what caused all that pain.

Chris relented, taken aback by the question.

"Yes, siblings too." Answered nevertheless. Averting his eyes to a secret spot in the wall.

"You should know, shouldn't you?"

And the empath jumped at her brother in law sudden comment. She had been unaware of where her question had been leading the conversation. She wasn't anymore, nor was Chris, who's face was wax pale.

The demon inside Piper would have smiled if it had have a mouth. As it was though, it smiled with the witch mouth. All this trash could lend it an opportunity to get away if it played right it's cards.
Just wait for the right moment to strike... would have said an inner voice if it had have one. The right moment... and the young man with serious emotional problems would bring it to him sooner or later.
Not yet, thought, for he was regaining his composure pretty fast.

Once he'd managed to put a nonchalantly face, he surprised them all with a small smile and a shrug.

"Look, people, we haven't time for this chit chat about who I trust or whatever..." Chris said in a no-nonsense voice. "Let's save Piper and then Leo can go up and complain again to the elders about my bad behavior and see if he can get me expelled out of you service. Again."

If she hadn't seen him going pale, Paige would have bought that he just wanted to finish all the possession issue and go on. That, in fact, nothing of what had just been said was really related to him.

But she'd seen his face fall when her sister had talked about siblings and fall even deeper at Leo's words.
"Not now, Chris... she is not going anywhere right now and we have some more urgent things to talk about..." Paige said.

Chris bit his tongue hard to avoid making a face.

They didn't know, he'd been careful, he'd played his cards well, so there was no chance that they knew. Surely they were talking about something else, and there was no time to find out about it now.

"No, we don't, Paige... we must vanquish the demon first. Isn't it, Leo?" He knew Leo would understand what he was talking about, even if the elder was looking at him with a weird fix stare. So fix that he didn't even heard his question and Chris had to repeat himself. "Leo!
Shouldn't we start with the exorcism??"

To Paige surprise, Leo agreed.
"You're right, Chris. We'll save Piper... but later we have lots of things to talk away."

They don't know! It's some sort of new, paranoid theory about me being a bad guy. That's it. Keep it in mind. They don't know! He found himself repeating once and again.

They couldn't know, could they?

No. No way.

Realizing that he was just being too neurotic for once, Chris straightened and picked the little box he'd show Phoebe and Leo in the room earlier and a piece of paper.
"If no one else wishes to interrupt me..." he showed them the paper. "This is for..."

"They know who you are." Piper's voice was low and nice, a little bit cheerful. In a way it made Chris think of her own Piper when playing a joke at him or at Wyatt. "They know you're my son."

---000---

Do you hate me?

I'm sorry for the cliff... er... who am I kidding? I'm not!!

Muhahahaha!!! MUHAHAHAHAHA!!

Cough cough cough cough cough!!!!!

MUAHAHAHAHA MUAHAHAHAHA!!!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

Evil but merciful, please accept a very big cookie as compensation for the delay... and accept some tea and coffe too.