Chapter Fifteen

When Chris orbed into the attic the first thing he expected was to be in trouble for leaving the house while he was grounded. He had prepared himself for screaming, shouting and some over the top punishment. But the last thing he had expected was for his mother to pull him into a hug and to start sobbing on his shoulder.

"Mom I need to breath," Chris reminded her.

She didn't seem to be listening though. She just began to cry even harder. "God Chris… I'm sorry… so sorry baby,"

Chris looked over at his aunts bewildered. This morning his mother had been screaming at him, telling him how irresponsible he was and why couldn't he be more like his brother. The thought of the last comment still stung as deep as it had this morning and Chris instinctively pulled away from his mother.

Piper looked up at him hurt as he backed away from her slightly. "Sweetie?" she questioned.

"What?" Chris asked void of any feeling.

"I…I just wanted to…. say h…how sorry I am," she stuttered through her sobs "Forgetting your birthday is unforgivable..."

"Yeah it is," Chris agreed without any emotion. Piper noticed this and it scared her. She had always been able to read her son so easily. She knew when he was happy, sad, scared just like any other mother would. But right now looking into his cold green eyes that usually shone so bright with emotion, there was nothing!

"Can I go now?" Chris asked as if he was bored with the situation.

"Sure honey," Piper answered, "Please don't leave the house though. I'll be starting dinner soon," She smiled "I thought I'd make spaghetti and meatballs tonight,"

"Not hungry," Chris grunted as he started to make his way out of the attic.

"But honey it's your favourite," Piper reminded him slightly downhearted at his attitude.

"So," Chris said turning back around to his mother "I'll have it another day. Not like it's a special occasion. Is it?"

Now Piper felt guiltier than before. The comment may have seemed rather innocent; he had made a fair remark. It wasn't a special occasion. His birthday had come and gone, today was just like any other day, expect for the fact that Piper couldn't recall a day when she felt more miserable than she did that second, the moment she watched her youngest son, walk away from her.

Piper felt like all the air had been sucked out of the room. "He hates me,"

"No he doesn't," Paige answered her.

"Yeah he does," Piper nodded her head in conformation as she sat down on the sofa next to Phoebe. Leaning into her sister Phoebe wrapped her arm around her. "Honey he doesn't hate you, he's just upset. He's gonna give us all hell for a while and then after he's cooled down he'll forgive you first then the rest of us,"

"Phoebe's right," Paige agreed, "He's just venting out some anger,"

"But he's never like this with me. I'm the good parent. I'm the one he comes to when he's hurting. Leo's the screw up. Or so I thought. Maybe I'm just as bad as he is,"

"No sweetie," Phoebe cut her off "I won't listen to this. You are nothing like Leo. You've been there for that boy for the last fifteen years of his life. Leo can't even spare him fifteen minutes. There's a world of difference between you and my former brother in law. You've been preoccupied lately, we all have. With Wyatt, sorry Matt…" she corrected herself "…coming back into our lives. Training him so he can use his magic, preparing him for demon attacks,"

"Yeah Piper," Paige cut in "Plus nobody could blame you for wanting to spend time with the child you lost,"

"But in the meantime I neglect the other son I have. When we found out about Matt, as much as I wanted get to know him as soon as possible, I promised Chris I wouldn't make him second best. I'd put him first because I knew that the one thing his father wouldn't do,"

"Honey just think about it like this," Phoebe began "Out of you and Leo which one of you is here right now for Chris? Which one of you has always been here for Chris?"

"Me I suppose," she sniffed.

"And when he's cooled down and things are back to normal, which one of you is going to be here for him then,

Piper didn't need to answer. She knew that it would be her, she'd make it up to him and hopefully the guilt she was feeling right now would subside. "I'll start dinner," she told them getting up from the couch and making her way down stairs.

Piper had made Chris' favourite meal for dinner as a way of an apology along with sticky toffee pudding and custard, which he had always loved. Leo had taken it up to him in an attempt to make his own apology but Chris had treated him much the same as his mother. He barely spoke to his father, again showing none of his emotions. Telling him to thank his mother but he wasn't hungry.

Now Piper was trying again. She was standing outside Chris' bedroom preparing herself for whatever was on the other side. Would it be tears, anger, frustration or would he be just as closed off as earlier. She knocked before entering to find Chris lying on his bed looking up at the ceiling. His dinner lay on the floor still untouched. "Honey," she began timidly "Are you alright?"

"Peachy," Is all Chris said. This was going to be harder than she had hoped.

"You haven't touched dinner,"

"Told you I wasn't hungry,"

"Honey you have to eat,"

"Why?"

"Cause you'll get sick if you don't,"

""Like you'd care,"

"Of course I do. Honey I know you're upset,"

"I'm not upset," Chris told her.

"Your not," she eyed him suspiciously.

"What's the point of being upset? Not going to bring my next birthday forward any quicker is it,"

Now Piper felt even worse than before. "Maybe we could do something special this weekend. We could do or go anywhere you want,"

"No thank you," he answered too politely

At least if he was yelling at me I'd feel better, she thought. But the scary thing was Chris was showing no emotion whatsoever. His voice stayed level. No strain from stopping himself from yelling or breaking down into tears. No trembling from working himself up into an anger. He wasn't even really trying that hard to make her feel guilty. Nothing! It was as if he had given up, to tired to care. Hiding his feelings behind a mask, a wall he had put up to keep her out.

"Alright honey," Piper answered defeated "But if you change your mind," she left Chris alone. Momentarily Chris felt guilty. His mother was trying and she did seem genuinely sorry. But the feeling soon passed. His other dad was right they needed to suffer for a while. He decided to get an early night. The sooner he was asleep, the sooner it was morning and he was looking forward to spending time with Leo again.