Disclaimer: Story's mine. Characters aren't.

Summary: No-one can ever have that perfect a cover on their first go. What if Chris blew it the first time round?

Recap: Chris once again reached into the small bag. Bianca stepped behind him. He sifted some dust into his hand and blew gently. As the dust swirled into his family's faces, their eyes drooped and they fell to the floor, asleep. Chris stepped backwards. Bianca took his hand comfortingly.

"Goodbye, for now." Chris whispered, before orbing out.

Chapter 9

"So what do we do now?" Chris asked his fiancée, as they orbed into the back room of a bustling P3. The Phoenix held Wyatt carefully in her arms.

"Well, I'd say we'd better send this little guy back home first of all." She suggested.

"It's so weird." He commented, gazing at his brother. He raised his eyes to Bianca. "You know, seeing him like this. When I think about who he is now, I can't remember him like this. So…"

"Good? Innocent?" Bianca filled in. "Yeah, it's weird. But you can save him, Chris. You just have to remember to keep your eyes open. And don't tell them who you are this time." She rebuked him.

"Hey, I told you that they found out on their own." He protested. He broke off as he saw the grin on Bianca's face. "That's not fair."

"Life never is." She told him solemnly. Little Wyatt gave a huge yawn, and closed his eyes, only to open them again. He was clearly fighting off sleep. Bianca smiled down at him as she rocked him in her arms.

"You're a natural." Chris complimented her fondly as his brother dropped off to sleep.

"I've had a lot of practise. Remember, I was around when most of your cousins were babies." She reminded him.

"So was Wyatt." Chris said dryly.

"Yeah, and look how he is with Charlotte. He raised her practically by himself."

"That's different. Lottie is his daughter." Chris said. "And we were all around to help. I wonder how my little goddaughter is." He mused. They hadn't seen her for quite a while. Wyatt was determined that they wouldn't be allowed to "force their way of thinking" on her. Chris just hoped he was keeping her safe.

"Hey." Bianca said, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Do you think we'll ever have a baby?" she asked wistfully.

"Count on it. Just – let's wait until I get back, ok? When it's fixed, then we can start trying." He smiled, then kissed her forehead. He glanced down at the sleeping Wyatt.

"I think it's definitely time to get him back home." He told her.

"Yeah." She agreed. "You'd better wait with him until your parents wake up, just to make sure he's safe."

"In that case, we'd better send you home first. Just – be more careful this time, ok?"

"I will." She promised. "I'll just make the portal appear somewhere other than the Manor."

"And nowhere near any of the Resistance locations." Chris reminded her. His fiancée nodded.

"Come back safely?" she pleaded.

"I can't marry you otherwise. I will." He promised. Bianca sighed.

"So how will we do this?" she asked. Chris furrowed his brow for a minute.

"We could ask an Elder. They're all about the whole balance thing, and I bet having you here is screwing that up."

"I won't take that bet. But Chris, we don't know any Elders in this time, or at least none that know us." Bianca pointed out.

"Hmm, good point." Chris consented. "Oh, wait. What about Gideon?"

"The Magic School Headmaster?" Bianca said doubtfully. "I don't know, Chris, he gives me the creeps."

"He was my dad's old mentor." Chris explained. "I'm going to have to tell the Elders about me some point soon, and who better to trust than a friend of the family's? Plus, he was always there to talk to in the future."

"Yeah, I know Chris. It's just – a feeling, I suppose. Gut instinct. I really don't like him."

"So I've heard, Bi." Chris replied tiredly. "A hundred times before. Unless you can come up with a better idea…" he coaxed. His fiancée remained silent.

"Well then. Look, I know you don't like it, but it's the only way. There is no spell to send you forwards in time, Bi. It can't be done. Except possibly by the Elders."

"I know, Chris, I know. Go on then." She sighed.

"Thank you. Gideon!" he called, startling Wyatt into wakefulness. "Oops. Sorry, Wy." He apologised to his brother as the Elder orbed in. Gideon looked confusedly from the witchlighter from the future, to the Phoenix witch bouncing Wyatt in her arms, trying to shush the crying baby into sleep.

"Do I know you?" he blurted out.

"Umm, that would be a no. Hi, I'm Chris Perry." Chris introduced himself.

'Yay!' he cheered himself. 'No slip-ups that time!'

"This is my fiancée, Bianca Ryan." He continued. Gideon acknowledged his head toward each of them, regaining his Elder composure.

"Nice to meet you both. Can I help you with something?"

"Actually, yes." Chris replied, glancing at Bianca. When it appeared she wasn't going to talk to the Elder, he sighed imperceptibly and kept talking to Gideon. "We're from the future. And, we need to get back to the future. Well, Bi does. I have to sort something out here first."

"And how do I know that neither of you are demons, and me doing magic for you won't wreck the future?" he narrowed his eyes suspiciously. Bianca snorted.

"You don't." she told him shortly.

"Bi!" Chris hissed. He grinned at Gideon. "Sorry. I'm a Whitelighter, Bianca's a witch. We're good, you can trust us." He assured the older man.

"How do I know that?" Gideon scoffed. "If you're demons, then obviously you'd say that."

"Look," Chris sighed. " See that baby in Bianca's arms? Who do you think he is?"

"Your son." Gideon shrugged.

"Ok, that is wrong. On so many levels." Bianca commented. Chris' face screwed up in disgust.

"Seconded. No, he's not my son." He told Gideon.

'He's my brother, but that's a whole different ball game.'

"That's Wyatt Matthew Halliwell. Twice-blessed child, son of a Charmed One and a Whitelighter, future Sou-never mind. The point is, he's good, and he trusts us."

"How do I know that?" Gideon repeated. "You could have just kidnapped him. Besides, he's just a baby."

"We've haven't kidnapped him, you pompous old…" Bianca trailed off. "We're babysitting him. Well, Chris is going to be babysitting him. I have to get back to the future, before I screw up the past. And besides, Mr. I'm-so-great-just-because-I'm-an-Elder, have you not heard of the fact that he has a force-field? No way to get through it. We wouldn't be able to touch him if he thought we were a threat." She educated the Elder. Chris nodded, while Gideon gained a considering look.

"Alright." He agreed after a few minutes. "I'll send you back. And you." He added to Chris.

"What? No. I have to stay here."

"Why? You could throw off the delicate –"

"Balance of the cosmos, yeah, yeah, I know. I'll be careful. I know what I'm doing." He assured the Elder.

"Why are you so determined to stay?" Gideon asked him, eyes narrowed in distrust.

"Because I have to protect Wyatt." Chris informed him. "Some evil is going to get to him before I'm – before his second birthday. I'm staying here to make sure it doesn't happen. To make sure that Wyatt stays … alive for the future. He wasn't supposed to die young." Gideon nodded.

"Alright, then why won't you let his parents handle it? After all, his family are the Charmed Ones."

"Because I don't know what it is that got to him. If I did, do you really think I'd be letting my fiancée go back to the future without me?" he pointed out.

"I suppose not." Gideon acknowledged.

"Right. So will you help us?" Chris asked. The Elder nodded. He closed his eyes and concentrated. A swirling time portal appeared in the wall of P3. Gideon opened his eyes. Bianca handed the baby to Chris, kissed him briefly and headed towards it.

"Bi!" he called after her. She turned towards him.

"Try not to get caught this time." He told her, grinning. She smiled back at him, then went through. After she disappeared, Gideon closed the portal. He glanced at Chris.

"I'll be keeping my eye on you." He said. Without another word, he orbed out. Chris, left standing with Wyatt in his arms, rolled his eyes.

"Maybe Bianca's right about him." He told his brother. "I mean, purple orbs? Who has purple orbs?" The baby gazed solemnly up at him.

"Right. You can't talk yet." He remembered. "Ok, Wy, we'd better bring you home to your mommy and daddy. Here we go." He said, and disappeared in a swirl of lights.


Later on, he sat in his grandfather's small apartment, thanking his lucky stars that Victor was away for a few weeks. Little Wyatt had been brought safely home. Chris had waited around until he heard his parents waking up in the room next to the nursery, and then he had gone. He reasoned that Wyatt would be protected by his shield in case a demon attacked in the next few minutes.

He now sat on the couch he had made into a bed, thinking about how best to go about his task. He reminded himself not to interfere in the Titan affair until after the two Whitelighters had gone missing. If he stopped what was to happen too soon, he could end up erasing his whole future, instead of just changing it a bit.

'Screw a bit.' He thought. 'Making sure Wyatt is good is changing the future a lot.' But other than that task, he shouldn't interfere.

'One week.' He told himself. One week's time was when the Titans would attack. One week's time would be when they killed his Aunt Paige. Or tried to, anyway. In one week, he'd have to re-introduce himself as the Whitelighter from the future, Chris Perry.

And this time, he wasn't going to screw up.

AnimeAlexis: My God, it's over. Wow, that took me forever to get to. Arrival is now officially finished! But you all know what happens next anyway. Season 5 finale, and the three seasons after that. Review this one last time please!