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A Charmed Story - Part Four:
Marriage with Obstacles
Chapter 1

Piper was in the kitchen, preparing the meal for that day; which was really difficult, 'cause Chris was pacing around there nervously.
"Honey, you're stressing me, and that means you're also stressing your little self, so... could you please stop this?" she asked.
"He should have been here since half an hour ago," Chris remarked.
"Well there might be heavy traffic..."
Chris nodded: "It's just... I..."
Piper smiled at him: "I know, honey, I understand you. I remember how it was for me when I was..."
The bell of the front door interrupted her. Chris looked up, smiled, and ran out of the kitchen.
"Chris, sweetie, please be..." but it was too late.
Her son was already at the door. He opened it and looked into the eyes of a man with grey hair but with a still-young-looking face... for his age.
"Grandpa!" Chris exclaimed, smiling happily. He hugged the man, who seemed to be a little scared and unsure about what to do.
"Dad, hello!" Piper called form inside. She had already gone into the hall. "Chris, stop scaring him, or he will get a heartattack before the great day!"
Chris looked at his mother, then at his grandfather, then back to her: "You didn't tell him?"
"Tell me what?" Victor asked with a sigh. He was used to the fact that his daughters were always surprising him, but that seemed to be a little too much... He didn't understand what was going on.
"Come in, Dad," Piper said with a smile. So he did. Together they went into the living room, where Victor sat down on the sofa.
"I can't believe that you didn't..." But Piper stopped Chris with a movement of her hand, and even more with her angry look.
Victor raised his eyebrows: "I'm listening."
His daughter sighed. She was thinking about how to start. So... she began with a little introduction: "Dad, this is Chris."
"Oh, your new whitelighter?"
"Em... yes," Piper nodded.
"Not exactly," Chris added. Then he turned to his mother: "Why didn't you tell him all this before?"
"Because I don't like discussing something like that on the phone..." his mother answered trying to stay calm.
"What?" Victor asked.
"Well, I'm pregnant," Piper went on.
"Yeah, I noticed..." he replied a little confused, looking at her womb. She had been pregnant for five month now, so you could already see it a little. "Well... That's fantastic... But I thought you and..."
"Oh... we are together, again..." she said smiling. "But the problem is... that..."
"Look," Chris broke in impatient, "I came from the future, to save Wyatt. And I did it... But I changed too much, so I was separated from my own time, and now I'm stuck here and..."
"Chris, stop it," Piper yelled.
"But..."
"STOP IT!"
He sighed: "Yes mom."
All the time Victor had been listening to the conversation of his daughter and her whitelighter in confusion, but now he was shocked: "WHAT?"
Now Piper sighed. "He is Wyatt's little brother, your grandson," she explained, or better, tried to. Victor was looking at them with his mouth wide open. Piper pointed on her belly: "He is this child, dad, he..."
"Look grandpa, I lived a whole life before I came back to the past to save my little brother," Chris helped her to explain it.
"And now you... are... here... forever?... And this one," he pointed at the belly of his daughter, "will be here, too?" Piper and Chris just nodded. Victor sighed: "And that's why you asked me to come here?"
"Well..." Piper looked at her son who looked at her too.
"Not exactly," Chris said then to him.
"That means..." Victor asked a little afraid and still confused.
"You're here because I'm going to get married tomorrow! And we want you to take over the part of the father of the bride." Chris said with a smile.
Victor was just looking at him, trying to understand all that, which he wasn't able to... at that moment. He felt his mind was spinning around...
Meanwhile Cole went down the stairs. He was just with Phoebe and Bianca, who were trying on their dresses. "Chris? Where are you? Man, you will be getting crazy tomorrow when you see how beautiful..."
He stopped in the doorway.
Victor jumped up from the sofa. "What the hell is HE doing here?" he asked scared.
Cole smirked, amused: "Good morning, Victor!" He approached the scared man stretching his arm to shake hands with him: "It's been a long time!"
Victor retired his hand and stepped backwards, really spooked by the sight of the ex-demon. At the sight of which, Cole himself retired his hand, feigning his shame and disappointment: "Oh... A reaaally long time... It seems you don't remember me, do you?"
Victor turned to look at his daughter and his newly-found grandson, who was actually hiding his mouth behind his hand, trying not to laugh.
"What? Of course I remember you! I thought you were...! Well, they... You're a demon, for God's sake! What are you doing here... alive?" He stepped backwards again as Cole took a step in his direction, and looked at his daughter in search for some kind of explanation.
But Cole didn't let her talk. Instead, he went on, in a fake hurt tone: "Oh... I thought you liked me... You know, for your daughter... How am I going to marry her if my future dad-in-law hates me and insults me by calling me... demon! That's too much, dad..."
Chris chuckled at the sight of his grandpa's shocked stare.
"Ok, man! You're veeeery funny, really," Piper intervened, taking Victor by his arm and leading him to the sofa. "Dad, you'd better sit down, and listen to me, and only ME, carefully, because there's much to talk about, and these two men here think it's amusing to have fun on a poor old man."
"Hey!" he complained. "I'm not that old..." He was saying this when Cole sat heavily by his side, grinning widely, and Victor jumped to his other side as quickly as he could.
Chris laughed as he sat down on a chair in front of the three people on the sofa, and Cole winked at him.
"Well, that's enough! You two are grounded until I decide the contrary!"
"But mom! I get married tomorrow!" exclaimed Chris, amused, but a little bit worried about his mother's countenance. Maybe they had taken the joke too far... Grandpa was so pale!
"Yeah, well, then you get married and come back home." Cole laughed.
"Piper, sweetie... please," Victor begged.
Piper gave him a glass of water and said: "Look, daddy, it's been a long time, Cole is right. And you've missed so many things, that I thought I should tell you them all, face to face! This Cole you see here now has come from death, thanks to your grandson here too... But he's come back alone... I mean, he's now human."
"Completely."
"Totally." Both men corroborated at the same time, gesturing with their arms and nodding, in order to make sure it was clear.
"But... how?" Victor seemed more relieved, but he was pressed against his daughter, with a huge space between him and Cole, and looked at the latter out of the corner of his eyes.
"Well, that's also a loooong story. But for now, I'll give you the short version," she went on, "He came back trying to save Chris, Phoebe forgave him - well, all of us did, actually - and he's now living here with us. He was allowed to stay but without powers at all."
"Sure?" asked Victor, staring at the ex-demon.
"Sure," said Chris and Cole again, at the same time.
"Belthazor is gone. Literally," explained Cole.
"Literally? so he's dead... The red half of yours? Did the Elders do some kind of spell, or something?"
Cole chuckled: "No... literally means 'literally'. Belthazor is gone. We're separated now."
"Yeah... he, Belthazor, his red half, lives somewhere down there in the Underworld, and he's the new source of all evil... but you know, that's another story..." Chris added.
Piper glared at him and her eyes said: 'Shut up now!' So he did.
"Oh..." Victor nodded, nervously, "I understand..." He looked at them one after another, and then he reached the glass of water and drank everything in a single gulp. Then he stared at Cole again, a bit tense.
The man smiled at him kindly and stretched his hand towards him: "So... are we friends now?"
Victor nodded slowly, in a pensive attitude. Then he shook his hand, shivering, and said:
"I... I guess so."
Piper and Chris smiled at the sight, glad that Victor had taken everything so easily... Easily, taking into account that any other non-magical human being would have probably died because of the shock. At that very moment, two figures shimmered in front of them.
"Daddy!"
It was Phoebe, who ran towards Victor's arms and hugged him so tightly that she almost strangled him. "Hey, I see you have made peace with my ex-husband, and husband-to-be-again-soon-in-the-future-I-hope!"
Victor smiled at her, but once he got free from her embrace, he looked even paler.
He was looking at Chris and the woman in black sitting on his knees, and kissing him lovingly.
"Sweetie..." Victor said with a trembling voice, "Have you just... done that thing demons do instead of orbing?"
"Oh... yeah... You haven't told him, have you?" Phoebe asked looking questioningly at Piper, Cole and Chris, the same as Bianca did.
Piper rolled her eyes: "Actually, we were on it..."
"What... well, wait... Just tell me if there's something else I should know, please, before I faint," Victor said.
"I think I'm gonna bring another glass of water for dad," Cole stated as he stood up and walked to the kitchen.
Bianca frowned, worried: "Did I do something wrong, honey?" she asked in a concerned tone, staring at Victor.
"No... Ok. Grandpa... Phoebe doesn't shimmer, that's how we call it. Bianca did it. She's my fiancée." Then he turned to Bianca, and smiling: "And this is my Grandpa... well, you know that. But since he doesn't know you yet, well..."
Bianca grinned, stood up and walked to Victor, who was too scared to stand up, too: "Yeah, grandpa, I know you, but anyway... I'm really glad to see you again! You were always so kind to us, that I had to ask Chris if you'd like to be play the father of the bride tomorrow... If you agree... because my father... well, let's not talk about him."
Piper smiled: "Easy, easy... I think he's a bit lost now..." Phoebe hugged him again.
"So..." Victor said, "I knew you... and you are... what kind of magical creature? Don't tell me you're a demon, please..." Then he saw her hurt countenance. "Sorry, I mean... a bad demon. I guess you might be a good demon, if such a thing exists," he mumbled.
Chris took Bianca's arm, and pressed it gently: "He's just confused, sweetie. He'll understand everything soon. You know how understanding and kind and cool he was." Bianca smiled.
"Yeah, dad..." Cole intervened, entering again with the glass of water that Victor took from his hands reluctantly. "You take your time. We the ex-evil demons here understand how you feel. Don't worry about that."
At that moment a jingling sound came from up there, making Chris look upwards: "They're calling me..."
"The Elders?" Victor asked, immediately. "Why should they be calling my grandson from the future? You're not a whitelighter are you?" Everyone in the room chuckled.
"Well, actually, I'm an Elder now, as well as dad." Then he saw Victor's face. "No, I'm not dead... I'm ok... Well, really fine! Anyway, it's not the Elders. It's the magic school..."
Then he added, turning to Bianca: "Guess what, even in our free day before our wedding, they keep calling me... I'll be right back, ok? Promise." Then he kissed her sweetly. "Just try your dress on again, before I'm back, because Cole says you're soooo beautiful that I won't be able to stay out here without peeping from behind the door."
He winked, and orbed away before the shocked look of Victor, and the amused smile of the rest.

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris orbed to his office at the school, where Paige was waiting for him.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing to worry about," she smiled.
"So why did you call me?"
Paige sighed: "Because Freddy from the 7th grade has made the lab explode for the third time this month, and..."
Chris sighed and ended her sentence: "...and I told you the last time that if that happenned again, you should send him to me..."
Paige nodded.
Chris sighed again: "So send him in."

°°°°°°°°°°

A few minutes later Victor sat in the kitchen while Piper went on preparing the meal. Meanwhile, they went on talking.
"So Chris came back to save Wyatt from turning evil, and then he separated himself from his own time?" Victor asked still confused.
"Yeah, himself and Bianca," she nodded, "they saved Wyatt and that's why they have to stay here."
Victor sighed: "And Cole...?"
"Cole is just a human, no need to be afraid of him," Leo said.
Victor turned around surprised. The Elder had just orbed in. Then they hugged.
"Good to see you," Leo said.
Victor smiled: "Yeah, it's good that you're back here."
The Elder nodded." Have they informed you?" he asked then.
"Half way," Piper replied with a smile.
"Yeah right, there is something else I want to ask..." Victor went on, "why is Chris an Elder? I thought... only dead people..."
"Well...," Leo sighed, "actually we're not sure about that. Piper and her sisters cast a spell on him which should have made him a complete whitelighter to be able to save me. But... we forgot the part that he already had changed his past, and that he wasn't a half-whitelighter anymore, he was a half-Elder."
"And even if that's impossible, it happened; he is now one of them, but he's still alive and he has still his witch-powers." Piper added.
"And his fiancée is...? Well...I hope I didn't offend her before."
"No, I don't think you did...And she is a Phoenix," Piper said.
Victor rose his eyebrows: "Is that good or bad?"
"Well..." Piper started, but then she was interrupted again by some blue orbing lights as Chris returned.
"Hey dad," he said, as he noticed his father was there, too.
Leo hugged his son: "Hey, are you nervous about tomorrow."
"Ahhh... A little..." Chris smiled embarrassed.
Victor looked at the boy still amazed. Then he smiled at him: "So you make me feel really old, you know that?"
Chris smiled: "Well... no... But I know who will do that..."
"Who?" his grandfather asked frowning.
Piper turned around trying to say something to stop Chris, but...
"Well your grand-grandchild," Chris answered smiling and a little proud.
... it was to late.
Victor looked at him shocked; very slowly, that last information sank into his mind.
"Chris!" Piper yelled.
"What?" Chris asked. Then he looked at his grandfather's surprised eyes, while Leo smiled.
Chris turned to his mother again: "I thought you've already told him that!"
Piper was about to answer something, when they heard a noise, a kind of breaking wood, from the hallway.
Leo and Chris went out to see what was going on. On the ground lay a deadly wounded demon.
"What...?" Chris asked surprised.
Leo went a little closer. "They want him... they want him..." the demon repeated. Then he ended up in flames.
Leo looked to his son while Chris shook his head. "Oh no... not this weekend!" he mumbled.
Both men kept looking at the floor, where remained only a pile of ashes.
"Oh, my God..."
All of a sudden, Chris and Leo turned to see who had pronounced those words, only to find Victor grasping the frames of the kitchen door, and his legs trembling.
Piper was behind him; she had taken a cloth and was drying her hands with it.
Chris swallowed, unable to utter a word, and Leo patted his shoulder, also silent.


(Chapter 1 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)