A/N: Sorry this took so long, I've been really busy…as ever, thanks so much for reviewing, you guys! Please keep it up!

Disclaimer: If you think I own Charmed, I strongly suggest you consult the nearest psychiatrist immediately for all our sakes…

Summary: The first time Wyatt saw his little brother, his nose wrinkled in distaste. But he learned to like him. Actually, he learned to love him. brotherly love fic

Wyatt is now seven and Chris is nearly five. Enjoy! This is the first part of a two part scenario.

5.

When the bough breaks

"Wy! Wait! My shoo-lace…"

Wyatt rolled his eyes, lugging his school rucksack higher on his shoulders, and traipsed slowly back down the corridor to where his little brother was hastily bent over his feet. He glanced down at his brightly coloured watch, frowning.

"Chris, we're already late."

"I know! Shut up! M'trying to con-cen-trate."

Wyatt couldn't help but smile as he looked down at his brother. Chris' still chubby face was scrunched up in concentration, a small pink tongue poking out of the side of his mouth. He fumbled with the coarse string laces on his newly bought sneakers, clearly not having much progress.

Wyatt sighed resignedly, knelt down on his knees, and batted his brother's hands gently away.

"Here, I'll do it."

Chris beamed gratefully up at him, as Wyatt tied his shoelaces neatly, before frowning uncertainly.

"Thanks, Wy! But…didn't Mummy say I had to learn it myself?"

Wyatt nodded, pulling the knot tight and checking none of the ends were loose, before straightening up. Immediately, Chris seized his free hand tightly in his, using it to pull himself up. They began walking down the corridor, Chris looking expectantly up at Wyatt, who took a moment to consider his answer.

"Well, we're late, and Mummy's not here. I'll teach you to do it properly later, if you like. Then you can show Mummy."

Chris smiled widely, skipping a few steps in his elation, and Wyatt smiled in amusement. Chris had always been the more expressive of the two of them, and quite often showed his emotions with great enthusiasm; jumping up and down with excitement, and wailing bitterly in sadness.

"And Daddy?"

Wyatt halted abruptly, startled, and Chris gave a little yelp of surprise at the movement as he slammed into his brother's leg. He shook Wyatt's hand gently, a concerned.

"Wyatt?"

Wyatt smiled reassuringly, squeezing his brother's little hand in his, and continued walking as he answered softly:

"Yes, and Daddy."

Their Father tried so terribly hard to be around, he truly did, and Wyatt knew it. But still, he could never quite dismiss his frequent absence. It was wearing on Wyatt, when every morning his little brother would ask him where 'Daddy' was, if he was coming today, if not, when would he?

After all, Wyatt had had two years more of his Father than Chris had. Chris had once looked at a picture of their Father, squinted, and seemed to take a while to recognise him. That had shocked Wyatt, and he had promptly arranged them all to go out on a weekend trip to the beach.

"Well, now, here's a surprise! Late again, nephews, blessed be?"

Wyatt was jolted out of his reverie as a tall figure rounded the corner, long black robes swaying around fashionable jeans and a comfortable striped halter neck. His Aunt's twinkling dark eyes smiled down at him, and Wyatt grinned.

"Auntie Paige!"

Paige was immediately attacked with two brightly coloured blurs, one of which threw its arms around her waist, and the other which latched onto her leg. She pretended to stagger, laughing.

"Alright, alright! Come on, you two. Wyatt, you remembered you've got a field trip today, right?"

Wyatt nodded, prying Chris away from his Aunt and holding his hand tightly in his own. Recently, Mummy had been trying very hard to get Chris to gain independence from his brother. Neither Wyatt or Chris liked this idea, at all. Chris especially not. He had taken to orbing after Wyatt, whenever he was away from him for too long a length of time.

"Yeeeeeees, Auntie Paige. To the zoo."

Chris immediately perked up, tugging on Wyatt's arm, looking wide eyed from his Aunt to his brother.

"Wy's going to the zoo? Can I go too?"

There was a hesitant pause, and Chris subtly jutted out his bottom lip, widening his eyes as far as he could. He had long since mastered the 'puppy dog' eyes look which could make most anyone melt…even Wyatt, at times. Unfortunately, the exceptions happened to be his mother, and…Auntie Paige.

"No, Chris, sweetie. You're not in Wyatt's class. You can go one day, though, or maybe get Mummy to take you?"

Chris' grip on Wyatt's hand grew painfully tight, and Wyatt sighed as he felt an explosion imminent. Chris' eyes clouded over with petulant frustration, and he abruptly stamped his foot against the floorboards of the corridor.

"But I wanna go with Wy!"

Paige leant down so she was on a level with her youngest nephew, resisting the urge to smile at his petulant expression. Little Chris was quite the stubborn young man when he wanted to be. He probably got it from his mother.

"What about class, Chris? You can go with all your friends instead, when you're all old enough."

Wyatt shifted uncomfortably, and shared a meaningful glance with his brother. Chris did not fit in as easily as Wyatt tended to. He was shy, and more content to sit quietly by himself than to join in with the games the other children played. In fact, when he had first entered nursery, he would sneak out of the room and toddle into Wyatt's class, in which he would sit on his brother's lap and refuse to leave. Once he learned to orb, it only made it easier for him to escape.

"I don't like them. They're mean. I wanna go with Wy."

"Chris, honey-"

Chris shook his head violently from side to side, his dark hair flailing out around his reddening face. Wyatt flinched as his little brother exclaimed loudly:

"NO! I go with Wy."

Wyatt hastily clasped his brother's shoulder, and Chris looked up at him, giving him a look which was half angry, half despairing. Sort of like the look their Mother have him when he was being stubborn. Chris looked so like their Mother, at times it was creepy.

"Chris, I'll ask Mummy to take us this Saturday. Just you and me and Mummy, ok? And I'll bring you back something. How's that?"

Chris shrugged Wyatt's hand off his shoulder, frowning.

"I'm not a little kid anymore Wy, I don't wanna-want go with Mummy. I wanna go with you."

Paige opened her mouth to exclaim something, but stopped short as she glanced up at the large clock on the wall above them. She gasped, and checked her wrist watch, just to make doubly sure.

"Oh God, look at the time…come on Wyatt, the class has already gone. I'll orb you there. Chris, sweetie, off you go to class now, alright?"

Paige touched a brief hand to his cheek, then took Wyatt's shoulder, steering him away. Chris started forwards, eyes wide with desperation, then narrowing in determination.

"But-"

He grabbed Wyatt's sleeve, exclaiming, but was cut off by his brother;

"Be good, Chris."

Chris let go, glaring furiously, and protested loudly;

"Hey! Don't talk like Mummy! I…"

But they both had already disappeared in a shower of bright blue orbs, Wyatt giving him an apologetic look, Auntie Paige smiling and waving a cheerful, oblivious farewell.

Chris stood perfectly still and alone in the corridor for a moment, caught between wanting to stamp his feet, or curling into a ball on the floor. After a few moments of angry breaths, he chose the latter; he cried out angrily, although he knew they could no longer hear him.

"You'll see! I'll get there! I'm gonna go with Wy, you can't stop me."

He lugged his school knapsack higher on his back, and huffed in determination. He spun about in a circle, took a deliberate step forward, before he hesitated, and deflated a little.

"I'll orb…but…I don't know where it is…um…"

He murmured to himself, thoughtfully, disgruntled. He pushed his hair from his eyes and frowned hard as he thought, face scrunching up with the effort.

"Ah!"

He punched the air, and spun back around, tearing down the corridor towards his Aunt's office. He glanced quickly around, before slipping inside the door, which was luckily ajar. Once inside, he stared wildly about, before snatching a small leaflet up from the desk in the centre of the room.

He smiled triumphantly down at it; it was brightly coloured, with a picture of a giraffe on the front, smiling cheerfully. Large, bold lettering at the top proudly proclaimed:

Abra-Cadabra-Zoo, Town Centre.

Chris beamed, clutching the leaflet tightly between sticky fingers. He looked nervously to the door.

"Auntie Paige'll be back soon. I'll hide…then I'll go. Yeah."

He headed out into the hallway once more, and looked around for a suitable hiding spot. He selected a nice large, but protected space behind a towering potted plant, and settled himself comfortably down, ready to wait.

He frowned, a thought suddenly occurring to him.

"But I still can't orb, cos I dunno how to get to…New York…oh…"

He concentrated hard, and, unbidden, his Mother's voice sounded in his mind. It was a memory, of sorts, but blurred…only a vague recollection. He could remember the sound of her voice, smells, blurred dull colours, Wyatt's face leaning over him…it seemed so huge.

'Even though we bound his powers, he'll still be able to orb and use non-active powers…so he can make up spells when he's older.'

He can't have been older than a baby in this memory, because he was obviously in a cradle at the time. He really shouldn't have been able to remember that far back. Still, Chris wasn't complaining. The beginnings of an idea had formed in his mind.

"Spells…"

He muttered to himself, quietly. Mummy, and all the grown ups used spells all the time. They…rhymed, that was it. The words on the end of each sentence sounded the same. A small smile began to creep across Chris' face, as he concentrated, immersing himself once more in the memory; his Mother's voice was clearer now, chanting:

'Powers forever dwelling within,

Be bound, now, by your own kin,

Sleep within till the time is right,

Hinder us, hear our plight.'

He frowned. There were far too many long, old fashioned words for him to understand properly, but powers had been mentioned. And, oddly, sleeping. Chris sighed, and shrugged his shoulders lightly. There would be time enough to think on it later. For now, he had to get to the zoo. Get to Wyatt.

"Ok…um…uh…"

He cleared his throat nervously, and placed the leaflet with the picture of the zoo down on the floor in front of him. He clasped his hands, and stared hard at it. Perhaps seeing the place would help, at least a little.

"Powers sitting inside…um…me, take me where I want to…see! Yeah."

He gasped as he felt a tingling sensation envelop his entire body, pulsing gently from the top of his head to the tips of his toes. He felt suddenly light, and the corridor faded around him in a roaring whirl of colours and shapes. After a moment, the world slid back into place around him, and he landed sprawled in a heap on paved flooring.

Groaning softly, he sat up, and looked around, wide eyed. He rubbed his aching head, still feeling very dizzy, squinting in the now blinding light. Slowly, a wide grin spread across his face, and he scrambled up to his feet, giving an elated jump and punching the air above him.

"Oh, wow! I did it! YES!"

A large, brightly coloured arch spiralled high up above him, proudly proclaiming that Chris had arrived in precisely the centre of the picture on the leaflet. The ticket office was only a few metres away, and, standing impatiently in line beside his classmates, stood Wyatt.

"Wyatt!"

Chris cried out joyfully, lugging his knapsack up higher on his back and running over to greet his brother. Wyatt jumped slightly, snapping out of his bored reverie, and frowned, staring around.

"Funny, I could have sworn I heard-"

"BOO!"

He let out a strangled cry as something small and familiar slammed into his waist, almost knocking him clean over into the railing behind him. He was halfway through opening his mouth to mutter a curse, when he identified the offending projectile which was now firmly latched onto him.

"Chris! What…? How did you-!"

Chris let him go, grinning widely, and bounced on the balls of his feet excitedly, babbling.

"I casted a spell, all by myself!

Wyatt blinked, positive he had misheard. But…no. Surely that wasn't possible? Even he had never tried to cast a spell…and Chris was only...well, only a kid! He couldn't have. No.

"You…you…what? Chris…you're not saying you…you cast a spell? But how!"

Wyatt carefully steered them both out of line, and snuck around the back till they were hidden by a large tree. It was a stroke of luck that Auntie Paige had left, mere moments before Chris had…appeared.

"I made it up. I remembered what Mummy said to Auntie Paige and Auntie Phoebe aaaaaaages ago, and I made it up."

Wyatt's head was reeling with the wealth of information in those few simple sentences. Chris remembered the binding of his own powers, vaguely? But he had been barely two, then. Wyatt himself couldn't remember it very well.

He gathered his thoughts, and managed to give his brother a shaky smile. He worded his next few sentences carefully.

"Well, that's…um…great, Chris. But don't you think you should have stayed at school? What if something had gone wrong? What will Mummy say? What if you'd been hurt, and-"

Chris raised an eyebrow and folded his arms, looking uncannily like his Mother. He interrupted Wyatt mid-sentence, proclaiming in a confident tone:

"Don't be silly, Wy. If something had happened, you'd have come to get me."

He stated it as though it was simple fact, such was his conviction. Wyatt blinked, surprised, and really quite touched. Such innocence from his little brother was testimony to just how well he had sheltered Chris from the harsher side of the world. Nevertheless, Chris was getting older now. And such innocence could be dangerous when the world closed in; as it inevitably would.

"Chris, I…it's not that simple. Listen."

He bent down so that he was on a level, and spoke in a slightly shaky voice, but tried his best to remain calm. The full weight of realisation had begun to creep into his veins, making his head spin. If Chris was telling the truth…and he hardly ever lied, not to him, anyway…then any number of terrible things could have happened to him, had something gone wrong.

"Of course, if I know you were in danger, I would come at once…but a day will come when I can't, or I don't know…and then what?"

Wyatt swallowed; suddenly, the thought of what could have happened, and of losing Chris…seemed unbearable. The hand on his brother's shoulder suddenly tightened convulsively, and Chris yelped, trying to squirm away. Wyatt stared blankly into Chris' face, the utter terror and dizzying relief making his head spin.

"Wy, you're scaring me…"

Wyatt blinked, eyes returning focus, and clasped his brother tightly by the shoulders.

"Don't ever do something like that again! Not without…God…you could've been…that was so dangerous! Spells are dangerous. Magic is dangerous."

Chris smacked his hand away, glaring, anger now filling his eyes. He backed away, partly afraid, partly frustrated, and more than a little hurt. After all, he had only done all this to be with Wyatt, like he used to. And now, Wyatt was reprimanding him, like a kid. He was only two years younger!

"Stop it! Just because you can use your powers, and I can't! Well, I'll show you! I'll show you all, you and Mummy, and Daddy too! Just you wait!"

He clenched his fists as he spoke, his anger filling him with the same odd, tingling feeling. He wished he was away from here. He wanted to go away. Far away. Yes. He had to get away…

"Chris, I…Chris, NO!"

Wyatt lunged forward, utter terror filling his stomach with lead. Just as his hand went to grasp his brother's shoulder, the small form disappeared in a blinding swirl of crystalline orbs.

A/N: Oooh, a cliffhanger! Naughty me. Well, the second half should be up shortly, so keep your eyes open! What trouble can Chris get himself into in a zoo? Quite a bit! I almost feel sorry for Wyatt (winks)

Oh! Someone asked which timeline this is, the first or the altered. Well, I'm leaving that to be revealed later. Which do you guys think it is? I would like to hear your opinions!

Feedback is love, as you know, so please review! Thanks for reading!