Chapter Seventeen

Chris couldn't run anymore. He was finding it hard to catch his breath from a mixture of running too long and laughing so hard. He rounded the corner of an ally way closely following his father who was in just as bad a shape.

Chris stopped and lent forward with his left hand pressed against the nearest wall for support. He began laughing uncontrollably "Did you see that guys face," he grinned "I thought he was going to lamp you one,"

"He should learn to lighten up a little," Leo laughed leaning up against wall trying to catch his breath.

"Lighten up!" Chris repeated laughing, "You asked him whether he had a guide dog to go with that girlfriend! Talk about looking for trouble,"

"Yeah but you have to admit the woman was rough looking," Leo laughed "She fell from the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down,"

"Yeah I suppose," Chris agreed "But I'd never have told him though. And why didn't we just orb out,"

"The thrill of the chase Christopher," Leo told him "There's nothing like it. Talk about an adrenalin high!"

Chris shook his head and grinned. His dad was a nutter!

"What?" Leo asked with a bemused look.

"Your mad! Anyone ever told you that?"

"Frequently!" Leo stated

"Today has been nuts. I've gone from drinking whisky at nine-thirty in the morning. To Nascar racing at lunchtime, then a spot of joyriding and bar room fight his afternoon,"

"So you enjoyed yourself then?" Leo asked needing some sort of reassurance.

"Are you kidding? Today's been the best," Chris exclaimed.

"I'm glad," Leo grinned "Look Chris, there's something you should know," he added, his tone becoming more cautious and apprehensive.

"What?" Chris asked concerned.

"You have to promise me that you wont freak out ok,"

"Alright," Chris shrugged.

"No I'm serious," Leo answered "You have to let me explain before you do or say anything ok,"

"Ok," Chris nodded.

He wasn't sure what to expect, but whatever his dad wanted to tell him he knew it would be serious. Several different ideas of what it could be had gone through Chris's mind. Was Leo leaving? Would he come back? Did he want Chris to go with him? The last thing he expected was what had dematerialised before his own eyes. Leo had disappeared in mass of black orbs.

Right now Chris felt a mixture of emotions. He felt shocked, scared and angry. Leo re-materialised in front of him with a look of uncertainty on his face. He had no idea how Chris was going to react. He had lied to his son, would Chris forgive his betrayal? Well at least he hasn't freaked out, Leo thought looking on the upside. "You ok?" Leo asked.

"I…I," Chris was speechless. How the hell did he answer that? "Your… Your…."

"A Darklighter," Leo confirmed.

"But how? I mean I've been with you all day. Your orbs they weren't black earlier,"

"I took a potion to disguise them,"

"You lied to me," Chris stated his voice getting edgier as the anger inside him began to surface.

"I had to," Leo answered sadly "I knew you wouldn't trust me if you knew the truth,"

"Damn right," Chris spat "You're a darklighter. It's your job to kill whitelighters. To kill me,"

"No I couldn't. I wouldn't," Leo pleaded "Chris I know I should have been honest with you from the start. But I figured that if you knew who I really was you wouldn't want to get to know me,"

"Are you going to kill me?" Chris asked meekly. "Has all this just been away of getting close enough to attack me?"

"What! No!" Leo answered surprised "Chris you're my son. Please I couldn't bear the thought of you being scared of me,"

"I…I don't know what you expect me to say," Chris sighed, "This is the last thing I expected. I have to go,"

"No wait," Leo made a grab for Chris' orbs. "Please don't leave like this,"

"I just need some time to get my head around all this," Chris told him. "I'll be back I promise," Leo nodded and watched his son orb out.

When Chris' orbs appeared in his bedroom the last person he expected to find sitting waiting for him was Matt. Chris sighed, the last thing he wanted to deal with right now was his perfect 'never does anything wrong' brother. He had enough on his mind at the moment.

"What are you doing here?" Chris spat.

"Well hello to you to little brother," Mattanswered sarcastically.

"What do you want Matt?" Chris snapped.

"To find out what the hell is wrong with you," Matt answered slightly annoyed and taken a back at his brother's attitude.

"Nothings wrong with me,"

"Bull shit!" Matt swore "You've been a constant pain in the ass for weeks now. What ever the problem is we can deal with it. Just let me in Chris. Please,"

"My only problem is you!" Chris spat back before turning on his heal and walking away.

Matt hadn't finished though. "What the hellsmeant by that?" Matt asked following Chris upstairs to the attic.

"Nothing. Forget it," Chris dismissed.

"No I won't," Matt, demanded, "I want to know what you meant by that,"

Chris span round to face his brother, glaring hard at him. Matt saw the fire in his jaded eyes. And for the first time he was frightened of his brother, because he had no idea what Chris would do next.

"Ever since you came back into our lives everything's been screwed up," Chris yelled. "I wish I'd never found you,"

Matt paled. He remained silent listening to his brother's rant. "You're the reason this family's so screwed up. Because of you I've never had a father. I lost him before I was even born. He's never loved me, I could never measure up to his precious Wyatt," Chris could feel himself getting more and more worked up by the second.

"Chris I…"

"But I could always count on mom," Chris added cutting his brother off. "That was until you came back. Then all of a sudden I've been replaced. You don't belong in this family, you never have. You've got your own and now you've stole mine!" Chris screamed

"You finished?" Matt asked his voice level masking any hint of anger. But inside he was seething! How dare Chris say those things to him. He didn't deserve this. He was the victim in all of this. He hadn't asked to be kidnapped all those years ago. He hadn't asked for his entire life to have been one big lie. And most importantly he hadn't asked to be found. He had been perfectly happy being blissfully unaware of his true heritage.

"You listen to me you selfish little brat!" Matt lost his cool. His voice was low and threatening, surprising Chris. "You think you're the only one who's ever suffered. You're dead wrong. You have no idea what it's been like for me the past couple of months. Until I met you I was just Matt Turner, all right maybe I wasn't a regular kid but I had two parents who loved me and I thought I knew everything about my family. Now I'm Wyatt Halliwell super witch, the most powerful force of good in the world. My entire worlds been turned upside down. You have no idea how frightening that is,"

"I don't have to listen to…" Chris began

"I'm not finished," Matt, hissed "Your whole life you've had someone there helping you with your powers. Explaining what they were and why you had them. I had no one. I though I was a freak! Every night when I went to sleep Iused to praythat they'd be gone by the time I woke up,"

"Do you have any idea how hard it is getting my head around all this. I keep imagining what it would have been like growing up as Wyatt and not Matt. On one hand I keep dwelling on what I'd be like now, would I be the same. Would I have been as happy? Then there's apart of me that feels guilty, because I would never of had the parents I've got now. I love them more than anything but I feel like I'm betraying them by wanting to get to know who I should have been and who my family are," Matt was crying now.

"Alright maybe you got the rough end of the stick with dad. But that's not my fault. I never asked for him to desert you and I'm definitely not to blame for it. So stop acting like you're the only one who got the shit end of the deal. Because your not!"

Chris glared at his brother for an instant before orbing out, leaving Matt angry and alone.

Chris knew that he should feel bad for Matt and deep down part of him did, but his brother had no right to give him a hard time just because he had way too much emotional baggage. It wasn't his faultMattfelt like that and he was sick and tired of the whole world revolving around Matt. It always had. Since before he could remember every action that had been made in his life had some how a connection to his brother. His father's lack of parenting skills. His mother's overprotective streak. His constant feeling of never being able to measure up to this perfect image of his older brother. He'd had enough of all of it.And now he had the added problem of his darklighter father.Someone else deserved to feel as crappy as he did right now.

He stood outside a rather large and expensive looking home. The owners must be very wealthy, Chris though as he climbed the stone steps to the front door. He hesitated briefly before ringing the bell.

A woman in her mid forties answered the door, her brown eyes shone warmly at Chris as she greeted him. "Can I help you young man?"

"Mrs Turner?" Chris asked.

"Yes,"

"I'm a friend of your sons," Chris smiled sweetly at her "Could I come in for a moment please. I really need to talk to you. I think there's something you should know about Matt,"