A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, the answers to your questions will be revealed as the story progresses, there is an explanation for everything! Appologies if this chapter seems a little filler –ish, I just have a few things that need to be settled before the events of the chapter 8.

Chapter 7: Seven Long Days.

Phoebe sat on the bench in the park, basking in the warmth of the sun. Ben was playing in a nearby climbing frame. The past week with Ben had been one of the happiest, if not the most exhausting time of her life. After his initial shyness Ben had begun to come out of his shell and had even started to speak to people without having first to be prompted, although Phoebe could tell that he had inherited some of the shyness that the human side of his father was prone to. They had laughed, coloured, baked cakes, made mud pies and watched cartoons, not letting each other out of their sight since that Saturday afternoon, exactly one week ago when Cole had shimmered into the attic with his little bombshell.

She smiled to herself. My son, she thought, my son, there's a nice ring to those words. Lost in her thoughts the heat began to lull her into a gentle doze, she felt her eyes become heavy and begin to close, she may have even fallen to sleep if it wasn't for the shadow that suddenly loomed across her face.

'Phoebe!" A voice yelled.

Phoebe opened her eyes with a start 'Elise!' she croaked as the shape of her boss loomed large in front of her. "What are you doing here?"

'It's a public park Phoebe, so called because everyone is allowed to use it, but i must say i didn't expect to see you here" she exclaimed "or indeed looking so robust!"

"robust?" she asked weekly.

"yes, according to your sister the reason you actually haven't been in work all week, and we have therefore been forced to print a series of 'best-of' articles, is because you were bed bound with shingles"

"shingles?" Phoebe repeated, making a mental note to warn Piper not to use illnesses that she had never heard of when inventing excuses for missing work.

"I could of sworn there was an echo, yes Phoebe shingles."

"well. I um, thought it was shingles, when in fact it was something else..."she trailed off

"I'm sure it was" The tone in Elise's voice indicated anything but.

"As you seem to have recovered enough to come to the park with your nephew" she indicated Ben who was now walking toward the pair "then i shall expect to see you in work on Monday, 9 am sharp"

"about that.."Phoebe began

"Mummy" Ben shouted as he approached the two women "Mummy look I picked a flower for you" He extended an arm to show Phoebe the Daisy clasped in his hand.

"What did he say?" Elise goggled.

"That's' lovely sweet heart thank you" Phoebe gave him a hug." do you want to go pick 2 more? I'm sure aunty Piper and Aunty Paige would like one too"

"Okay" he ran back toward the climbing frame.

"that's your son?"

"yes"

"Can I ask how, over the 3 years we have worked together, you have never actually mentioned that you have a son?"

"It's difficult.. he, ugh, lives with his father most of the time..i don't really like to talk about it, too painful" Phoebe hedged.

Elise arched an eyebrow clearly not believing a word of what had been said.

"I don't understand you sometimes Phoebe, really I don't" She sighed, her phone suddenly began beeping. "that's my ex-obviously going to be late dropping off the boys..i'd better go." She paused. "see you Monday?"

"Yes" Phoebe replied almost hesitantly " see you Monday".

As Elise headed off, Ben came running back. "I got them"

"Good boy" Phoebe stroked his cheek.

"these ones are blue and.." he stopped dead.

"Ben?" Phoebe grew concerned.

"It's Daddy!" He shouted, and shimmered out.

XXX

"So where's Chris?" Leo asked his wife. It had felt like the longest week of his life, being stuck up there in Elderland away from his wife and children, and he had just returned to bring Chris the aging potion, only to find his second son no where to be seen.

"Out Back" Piper motioned toward the window where a solitary figure could be seen sawing wood with venomous zeal.

"he does know what day it is right?" Leo continued as he placed a little red bottle on the kitchen table.

"Of course he does"

"So what's he doing? Has he made his mind up?"

"You ask me. He's been like that all week, every time I approach the subject with him he flies out the back door and begins digging or hammering or sawing, he's going to have that thing built by the end of the month! What you see now, is the result of me reminding him what day it was."

" I see" Leo stalked over toward the window "CHRIS" he shouted. No response.

He hammered on the plane of glass "CHRIS!"

"already tried that" Piper told him.

"Fine" Leo approached Wyatt who was sat in his booster seat " Hey buddy can you orb Chris to us please?"

"Kiss!" The little boy yelled, waving his arm.

An orb cloud filled the room "What?" Chris howled as he materialised.

"You know what" Leo stated.

"It's time Chris " Piper said gently " we need to know your decision"

Chris stared at the little bottle on the table. Funny he thought, how often the things which contain the greatest power come in the smallest of packages. His heart began to race, and his palms began to sweat. This is it.

"What about the baby?" He shouted, in a last ditch attempt to stall for time. "you can't have two children with the same name" he sounded almost triumphant, as if he had found a flaw in their great plan.

"Well" Piper began "Given that you have had your name longer, and that the baby is only a few months old, I think it makes more sense to rename him, don't you?"

"to what?"

"Victor, after your grandfather"

"Oh" Chris seemed to contemplate this for a few moments.

"And I won't have to go to High School?"

"No, Chris you won't have to go to high school" Leo reassured him. "You can help me with the house and work shifts at the club until you find your feet and decide what you want to do"

"Cool".

His pulse began to race again, it was now or never. His body began to work independently from his mind as he saw his arm reach out and grab the bottle, and pulled out the rubber stopper. He closed his eyes, opened his mouth and tipped the contents down his neck, swallowing the minty liquid in one go. He opened his eyes and waited. And waited. He opened his eyes; nothing had happened.

XXX

Paige sat in the restaurant, her once manicured nails had been bitten down to the wick, and the napkin in front of her had been shredded into Confetti. She glanced at the clock again. Where was he?

For Paige it had been the most stressful week of her life. After Kyle had left on Sunday morning she had immediately gone down stairs and related the whole incident to her sisters. Piper and Phoebe had been in agreement. He should be told. Sam had orbed in to take Jo bowling and offered his opinion ' he has a right to know'. Hell even her tarot cards and tea leaves were telling her as such. However that was much easier said than done. They had met up twice, once for a coffee, and once for mid week drinks. Both times Kyle had attempted to keep the conversation flowing, but both times a sense of awkardness hung in the air as Paige struggled to think how best to reveal her secret.

This time she had invited him for brunch, and was determined that she would tell him, that or die trying.

"Sorry I'm late" Kyle appeared in front of her " Work called"

"That's ok, I took the liberty of ordering us two specials"

"Good I'm starved".

They made small talk until the food came, when finally Kyle could stand it no longer.

"look Paige I think I know why you asked me here"

"you do?"

"I think it's obvious?"

"Is it?"

"You want to break up with me isn't it? Not that we even got to the stage where we were even going out, but I had been kinda hoping that it would do..but nevermind"

"No! it's not like that at all!"

"Well then what is it? We had such a good time the other weekend and now everytime we meet up it's as if your on edge"

"Kyle I need to tell you something"

He paused in his attempt to cut up his sausage, his knife poised in mid air. "Go on then, I'm listening"

You know I mentioned I have a daughter ..Jo"

"the little girl who was at the reunion with you?"

"Yes, although she's not quite so little, she's 12"

"12? Jeez, you must have fallen pregant with her just after I moved to Chicago at the beginning of Junior year."

"You moved to Chicago? Well that explains why I never saw you again after that summer..and no actually you're wrong, I didn't fall pregnant after you left"

"Help me out here okay, I'm a little confused."

"She's yours" Paige whispered "You're her father"

"What?" Kyle gasped. "are you sure?" The knife fell from his right hand and cut across the back of his left hand , however no sooner had the 2 inch gash opened up then there was a sparkling of tiny lights and the wound healed up.

"Completely" Paige replied.

XXX

"Ben!" Phoebe screamed at the top of her lungs frantically looking all around her for any sign of her son. "Ben!"

"Over here" A low voice cried. Phoebe spun round, it seemed to becoming from a row of bushes to her left. She crept forward. Pushing back some of the foliage she breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"oh thank god" she cried, as she spotted Cole, Ben in his arms.

"Don't ever do that again!" She reprimanded

"Did you shimmer away from mummy?" Cole asked

Ben nodded his head, his bottom lip beginning to tremble " I s ss sorry"

"It's ok" Phoebe reassured him " I was just really really worried"

"mummy's right Benny Boy, no shimmering without telling people where your going ok? And no shimmering in public"

"Ok"

"good, now give me another hug."

"What happened to you?" Phoebe asked as she took in the sight of her ex-husband for the first time. His face appeared gaunt, his trousers were ripped and he had several angry looking scratches on his left arm.

"was hiding out in the wasteland" he whispered, so that Bem wouldn't hear "had a bit of a run in with a snarkle, but it's fine, you should see the other guy!"

"Not funny"

"I know"

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I sent a sonic blast into a kyriad den on the astral plane, it should stall them for a few minutes so I thought I would nip here and see Ben"

"How did you know we'd be here?"

"I sensed you"

"Cole you need to take better care of yourself otherwise you'll wind up getting killed. When was the last time you ate?"

"No time.." he paused "there on to me, I gotta go…"

He thrust Ben back into Phoebe's arms "I'll be back soon"

"Cole, wait!"

"Take care" He shouted , ignoring her cries, and shimmered out, back into the path of possible death.

XXX

"What's going on?" Chris asked his father " I'm still exactly the same! What went wrong?"

"Nothing went wrong" Leo explained "Nothing happened because all you just drank was a mint liquor"

"what? You said it was.."

"Actually I never said it was anything, you just assumed.."

"But ..I" Chris began only to realise that his father was correct, no one had actually said that the red bottle contained the potion. "you tricked me!"

"We needed to know how you truly felt" Leo continued, as he removed a second bottle from the pocket of his elder robes and placed it on the table. "and now that we know, you're ready to take the real potion."

"So, if I drink this potion, I really will turn 18 , no messing about this time.?"

"If you drink this potion, you will become physically 18, but the effects will last only for 12 months. After which time you will have to decide whether you really wish to stay here or if you want to go back. However this will be your final descion. No more time travelling, if you stay that's it. If you go, you can't come back. The elders have spoken, they won't change their minds about this."

"Let's get this over with" Chris grabbed the bottle once again, uncorked it and drank the murky liquid.

A blue light radiated from his body, blinding both Piper and Leo, who had to shield their eyes from the sight. When they opened them they were in for a shock.

"What a difference 4 years make" Piper gasped.

Although Chris remained the same height and build, his face had softened and become younger. His jeans and shirt had given away to board shorts and a t-shirt emblazoned with 'mile high fcuk", which revealed the prominent tattoo that snaked around his left wrist, his formerly short hair, now fell down to his shoulders.

"ah crap" Chris surveyed himself in the mirror " I can't believe I thought this looked good back then" he exclaimed tugging at his top.

"Nevermind the clothes, what about your hair" Piper exclaimed "we'll have to sort that out right away, how you ever managed to see anything is beyond me, it's all in you eyes."

"mom!"

"Don't you 'mom' me young man" she continued "and a tattoo? You got a tattoo! what on earth possessed you to get a tattoo?"

"where did the tattoo come from?" Leo was intrigued "you didn't have it before"

"I had it removed, it only takes seconds to surgically remove them in the future"

"I should hope so!" Piper interrupted "you obviously saw sense!"

"Like you can talk" Chris shot as Piper hastily pulled the sleeve of her top down to cover the celtic band on her own left wrist.

"Nevermind about me, we're talking about you, coming to your senses"

"No mom, I had it removed out of necessity"

"How so?" Leo asked.

"Wyatt and I both had them done" Chris detailed "I'd just turned 15 he was soon going to be 17. We thought it would be cool, that it would be our special thing, having identical tattoos that would mark us out as brothers. Only…"

"what?" Leo prompted

"only when he turned evil, and began attracting followers, they all thought it would be a good idea to get the same tattoo too, to show their allegence."

"why?" Piper didn't understand.

"Think about it mom, the most evil tyrants in history have all had their symbols, such as Hitler with his swatstika, hell even lord Voldemort had his death head mask, so it follows that the Rose Amongst Thorns tattoo became Wyatt's." he looked forlornly at his wrist " a sign of hope turned into the mark of evil"

He glanced up at his parents who stood watching him "when I joined the resistance, having this tattoo marked me out as suspicious, how could I show my commitment and prove that I was not a spy, when I had the rose amongst thorns etched into my skin? I had no choice, it had to be removed, every tie I had with Wyatt, both physical and symbological had to be severed."

His voice quivered slightly at the thoughts of his former life. "Now do you see why I want to stay in the past?"

XXX

"Kyle" Paige tried to elicite a response from him as he sat there opened mouthed. Such had been his shock that he hadn't noticed the knife cutting hand incident, which Paige noted was a good thing, as they certainly didn't need magic to distract them from the matter at hand.

"Kyle please talk to me"

Still nothing.

"Kyle I know this is a huge shock for you, and you can walk away from it all if you want, it's entirely your decision, but.."

"No" Kyle shouted a little too forcefully, finally finding his voice. " I don't want to walk away…I just, just don't know what to make of it all"

" I know, It's a lot to digest…it was a surprise even for me"

"does she know?"

"Who?"

"Jo?"

"No, she doesn't not yet"

"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant ?"

"I didn't know myself until after you'd disappeared"

"she must hate me"

"why would she hate you? she doesn't know you"

"exactly , I've read about cases like this, she must think I'm some loser who bailed on the two of you before she was born..how did you cope all of these years?"

"I didn't..not exactly..it's complicated, I'll explain all of it in time, but the important thing is, she has no preconceived ideas about you, if that's what you are worried about."

"I never thought I would ever have kids" Kyle admitted "and now all of sudden I find I have a 12 year old daughter!"

"takes a bit of getting used to huh"

"sure does"

"well like I said, the ball is entirely in your court, if you don't want to be part of her life then I won't persue you, I just think you have a right to know"

"Can I meet her?"

"Of course, if you want, not right now obviously."

"I know that"

"Good, well we can arrange something"

"I'd like that"

They lapsed into silence again.

"Is that why you came up to me at the school reunion? Because you knew I was Jo's father?"

"No, to be honest I didn't really recognise you, and I didn't realise you were her father until later."

"How come?"

"I hope you're sitting comfortably, because it's a long story…."

XXX

"So how did it go with Kyle?" Phoebe asked as Paige parked her car on the driveway after having collected Phoebe and Ben from the Park on her way home.

"Not too bad, I explained the whole adoption thing, and we decided that it would be best of he got to know Jo slowly, so we're going to introduce him just as a friend of mine to begin with and…"

"wait one second you explained the adoption thing? As in the whole adoption thing as in Elder's sticking their oars in and everything?"

"No, that part is for another day"

"are you nuts?"

"No! turns out Kyle's a whitelighter too, I don't know how or why, and I don't think he realises that I know either..ugh…why is nothing ever simple?"

"Because we're witches!"

"too true"

"hey" Jo greeted them as the entered the house " how was brunch with Kyle?

" I though you were swimming with Sam" Paige avoided her question.

" I was, he just dropped me back, the elders called him. Don't change the subject"

"Good you're back!" Piper joined them, " Just in time"

"For what?" Phoebe enquired.

"For my celebratory lunch" Piper explained , leading them into the dining room, where the table had been set and Leo , Wyatt and Baby Vic were seated..

" Great I'm starving" Paige exclaimed, as she had done nothing but play with her food at the restaurant, her nerves not allowing her to eat. "what are we celebrating?" she asked as they took their seats.

"Well, I thought we haven't given Ben a proper welcome to the family party, and also we need to acknowledge the fact that baby 'Victor' has a new name, and most importantly because, Chris has decided that he will be staying in the past, at least for a year"

As if on cue Chris walked in, carrying a large lasagne dish.

Phoebe , Paige and Jo stared at him gobsmacked.

"what?" Chris asked feeling the eyes of his family upon him.

"Nothing" Phoebe babbled "you just look rather hirsute, that's all"

"and brooding" Paige contributed

"and young" Jo chimed in.

"Shut up!"

"Kids!" Piper interrupted "Lets not spoil things shall we?"

"I think we should have a toast" Leo added, as they all picked their assorted glasses of water and juice

"Good idea" Piper agreed "Here's to having had a nice few demon free weeks and building a new life now that we are all finally together properly."

"Here Here" They toasted, clinking their glasses happily, before tucking into their meal.

Of course it wouldn't last. If only they had noticed the signs, the storm clouds gathering on the horizon, bringing a wind of change in the air. Fate was not yet finished with the Halliwell family, if only they had known what was to happen next, if only they had known…