A Charmed Story - Part Four:
Marriage with Obstacles
Chapter 2
Fifteen minutes later, the whole family was gathered in the attic. Chris was pacing from one corner to the other, stepping heavily and nervously on the floor. Leo had sat down, pensive and worried, as he saw how Paige tried to comfort Bianca, and Phoebe was calming Victor down, making him drink a lot of water.
Meanwhile, Piper was taking a look at the book of shadows, and Cole, as always, was playing with little Wyatt, who had woken up with all the noise and stress generated around him.
"Chris, please... Just relax. This might be a simple hitch, nothing to worry about o.k.?" Piper said while she flipped through the pages of the book, in search for something.
"No... nothing to worry about..." he exclaimed sarcastically, "we've spent some really quiet weeks, and now, that there's only ONE day left for my wedding, suddenly, problems come back!" He kicked one of Wyatt's toys, which were on the floor, and the boy started to cry, scared.
"You're not helping, man," Cole said, looking at him with a grave expression on his face. "You're only losing time. Just relax. We always find a way, remember? We'll do this time too."
"Of course..." Chris mumbled, sitting on the floor, frustrated. Those words had been Wyatt's when they were trapped in that cave, running out of oxygen. He felt now that he lacked oxygen, actually. He felt a bit sick for a moment...
Leo realised, and went to him quickly: "Are you fine?" He held him upright, so that he didn't fall down.
"Chris!" Bianca said, standing up very distressed.
Paige grabbed her arm gently: "He's ok, it's just the stress. He needs to calm down, that's all."
"Yeah, I'm fine." Chris answered, with a trembling voice. Piper had left the book and was also stroking his hair. Wyatt was still crying, and Cole trying to make him laugh.
Meanwhile, Victor just stared in silent, grateful that Phoebe was hugging him. He had seen the demon... He had seen it disappear in the middle of a bunch of flames. He hated demons so much!
Chris leaned his head on Piper's shoulder: "Why is this always so hard, mom? Why is there always something that ruins my life?"
"Hey, sweetie, don't worry. I promise you'll be married tomorrow. Now, please... focus. What was the demon like?" she asked to both men.
Leo shrugged: "We've told you. He wasn't very different from a simple human being... He was just a tall man, red-streaked dark hair... He disappeared too quickly!" Chris nodded. He felt really helpless.
Phoebe looked for Cole's and Bianca's eyes. "Hey, you don't have any idea of which demon this could be?" she asked.
"A very ugly one..." mumbled Victor, as the two alluded ones shook their heads.
Paige had to laugh at that: "Man, you haven't seen many demons... According to those characteristics, he could be 'Mister Underworld'."
Cole raised an eyebrow, so Paige went on, rectifying: "Well, that's since our old friend the source Cole left his kingdom."
Bianca and Chris chuckled, a bit more cheered up. Even Victor laughed. By that moment, Wyatt had stopped crying and was about to fall asleep, so Cole decided to go out with him.
"Ok... getting back on topic," Piper intervened, going to the book again, "Some mark some signal, some... something?"
The two men shook their heads. "Nothing." They said all at once. Piper sighed.
"He only said 'they want him'." Leo repeated for the zillionth time.
"Great." Piper closed the book with a strong thud, making Victor startle, and sat down by Phoebe's side. "'They want him'. So we only need to guess who is 'they' and who is 'him'."
Phoebe jumped up scared of her own idea: "Wyatt? What if they want Wyatt again?"
Piper raised an eyebrow: "I don't think that a demon would come here to tell us that other demons want Wyatt..."
"Well, that's the funny thing..." Bianca said, who was very pale, and had been pensive all the time. "What kind of demon would have come to tell us that someone wants any of you? They'd be really glad that any of the Charmed Ones died, or any of their children... No... the 'him' has to be someone they're interested in keeping alive... Someone who serves their interests, that's to say, someone with evil blood?"
Chris and Paige turned to her suddenly: "You don't mean..." Paige said, as Chris looked at her womb, terrified.
Leo shook his head this time: "They said 'him', we don't know if it's a he or a she, and what is more... technically they'd be after Bianca, not after the baby itself... They would have said 'her', not 'him'."
"Besides, and most important," Piper added, frowning, "That child doesn't have any evil blood at all, girl. Forget it."
Phoebe separated herself from his father, little by little...
"Then... who's left?"
"Why has it to be someone from the family?" Victor asked, suddenly. "Maybe those demons are trying to get your help because they know you're the only ones that can help them?"
"Yeah... but I don't know... He said those words as if the 'him' was someone we cared of, or something. I don't know..." Chris rubbed his temples, feeling a growing headache: "This is so frustrating!"
All the people in the attic kept silent, pensive, trying to get some clue or some good idea about what was happening. But they were completely lost.
"O.k.," Bianca said then, "I don't want to give up all my plans for tomorrow, so... as long as nobody knows what to do with that little information, I'll go to my room with Phoebe... there is still some work about the dresses." She smiled at Chris who couldn't help smiling back.
Paige sighed: "Yeah and I need to go back to the school." Then she orbed away.
"Dinner in half an hour!" Piper yelled, not sure if her sister had got this.
One by one left the attic, only Chris wasn't able to relax. Again, he went over the book of shadows and flipped through the pages. He did it without touching them.
Victor was also still up there. He wanted to leave, too, but then he turned around. Now he stood in the doorway and looked at his grandson. 'Unbelievable,' he thought, 'I have a grandson... and he's... old...' Victor smiled, slowly realising all that. Then, another thought came to his mind. "How is it, to be kicked out of your own time?" he asked.
Chris raised his head. He hadn't noticed that his grandfather was still there. "What do you mean?" he asked back.
Victor went a little closer again: "I mean... You can never go back to the world you lived in, to your family there, to your friends..."
"Believe me, there was nothing like that in MY time..." Chris answered a little irritated.
Victor watched him for a moment; then he sighed: "Sorry, I... I just..."
"Never mind," Chris answered.
Victor smiled: "I really didn't want to..."
"Forget it," Chris sighed, "and... I was a little wrong... there was something good..." He made a short break, taking a deep breath. Then he went on: "There was you..."
His grandfather smiled. He was something good for him... Hell, he had never been a good father so how could he be a good grandfather?
"...and Patricia of course," Chris added.
"Patricia?" Victor asked thinking of his ex-wife.
"Aunt Phoebe's daughter," he explained with a sad smile.
Victor noticed that: "You miss her, right?"
"No, not really," Chris replied, "she is in a better world now, she is a different person... the version of her that I left, is gone... So I'm happy for her, that she didn't have to live with all those horrible memories as I do."
Victor smiled weakly. He still didn't understand what his grandson was talking about, that was all... a little too much. But he understood that he had lived a very hard life. "I'm sorry, that your life was so..."
"No!" Chris exclaimed, "you're the last one who has to feel sorry... and anyway, I'm here now. And I'm happy! I'm going to marry the girl that I have loved since I was 14! And man, she's pregnant... I'll be a father on my own! So why should I wish to change one single thing of MY past, when all that shit at the end leads to such wonderful things." Chris smiled and his eyes were sparkling. He was really happy, and everyone could see that.
"You really love her, right? I mean... she is a..."
Chris frowned, not knowing what his grandfather wanted to ask, but then he understood: "Well... you know... in MY time there was no good and evil... like here... There was only 'be on Wyatt's side', or 'be not'... There were demons and witches on both sides... and actually... actually she is a good one, so no need to worry, o.k.?"
"Do you know what?" Victor replied after he had nodded, "You remind me of your grandmother. You have her eyes..."
Chris smiled. Then he looked down for a moment. His grandpa had told him the same very often... in HIS time. And for a moment some of those memories came back and made him a little sad.
"Are you o.k., son?" Victor asked.
Chris nodded: "Yeah, it's just... I heard that a lot of times from you." Victor nodded too. And again he felt sorry, that he had reminded Chris of something.
Then they heard Piper yelling from downstairs: "Dad? Chris? Come down, we want to eat!"
Chris sighed a bit tiredly: "Would you mind to go without me and tell mom that I'll be working a little more here, please? "
Victor stared at him, then nodded and walked out of the attic, but after having descended a couple of stairs, he turned again to look at his grandson, who was once again submerged in the book, flipping through the pages and completely concentrated on his task.
Victor went back to him, shaking his head: "No son... You've already seen that there's nothing else you can do here. You're tired, so come down for dinner and relax, that's exactly what you need for tomorrow."
Chris smiled weakly: "I don't want that anything spoils my wedding... It's too important for me..."
"Well, you'll spoil it if you don't relax... Even if you're an adult, and an Elder, and a hero, which it seems you are..." Chris smirked sarcastically at his words. "You're still Piper's son, and my grandson, and even if that's difficult for me to understand, I know one single thing. You should listen to your elders' advice. Piper is down there, relaxed. I know her very well. If there's something to worry, she'll be the first to be there. So just, relax, man! Tomorrow is your day! And now, let's go to the dining room, and have dinner, all together, like a big weird family."
Chris kept on smiling, and let Victor pull him to the door. But once he was there, Chris orbed them both with the rest.
°°°°°°°°°°
"Wow!" Victor exclaimed, stumbling once he got to set his feet on the floor. "Don't do that again, young man!" he cried. All the faces turned to look at the couple, and laughed, except Piper.
"Chris, sweetie... Your grandpa hates orbing!"
Chris chuckled: "Oh, don't worry about that... I guess he'll get used to this... in the future." He stared straight in his eyes.
Victor rolled his eyes and staggered towards the table, mumbling in a very low voice: "That's if I get to the future..." Chris followed him and sat down between Bianca and Cole.
Well, his grandpa was right... He had been afraid that something bad could happen precisely that day. It was family tradition, as far as he knew, since his own parents had had to sort out one problem after another to finally be able to marry... But they were alright... Or he wanted them to be... and this stuff of the demon was probably a mistake. The demon was deadly wounded and he might have shimmered to the wrong place!
Everyone around him was laughing and talking, trying to forget that something at all had happened, so he decided to join them. Wyatt had already had lunch and was dozing in his playpen.
Chris approached Cole and asked, naughtingly: "Hey, what did you do to my brother, to make him be sooo quiet? Did you put sleeping pills on his food?" Bianca and Phoebe, who were besides them, chuckled.
"Yeah... you caught me, man." Cole sighed.
But, by when they had all forgotten about everything, someone shimmered in the room, just in front of them all. They startled before they noticed who he was.
"Tom!" exclaimed Paige, shocked. "Have you just shimmered in here?"
Chris stood up immediately and ran towards the boy. "Is everything ok?" he asked nervously.
Tom nodded: "I'm fine... I'm... learning to use my new-found powers." He smirked. "But I've come for other things..." He stretched out a note to Chris. "Maybe this is not very important, but I thought I should show it to you, anyway..."
Chris took it and read it for himself. Then he turned pale. Victor and Cole frowned, and the others stared at him, expectantly.
"What's wrong, son?" Leo asked, walking towards him. He took the note from his hands.
'They're after him. We can not talk... Someone has tried to warn them, but was seriously wounded. We need them, but it's too dangerous to give names, or to go straight there. So, we hope that you understand who this note is meant for. For them: Be on the gate made of gold as soon as you read this note.'
"Oh..." Leo looked a Chris's pale face, and then to the questioningly countenance of Tom.
"So... I was right, the note is for you..." he said, "is there any problem?"
Everyone had stopped eating by then. Cole and Piper approached the two men to read the note.
"Did this just appear like that in your house?" Leo asked.
Tom shook his head. "No, actually... someone brought it. He said 'be fast', and then disintegrated..."
"Nothing really important..." Chris mumbled, staring at Piper and Victor, "great... just great!"
Bianca jumped up and went over to him. She grasped his hands an looked him into the eyes: "Honey, don't do that to yourself... Please stop worrying..." She hugged him tightly.
"Yeah," Victor said, "too much worrying will only let your hair turn grey sooner!"
Chris smiled: "Yeah, you're right... but..."
"No buts," Piper commanded, "first, we finish the meal, then you two go home to the school and relax for tomorrow. Paige, Phoebe, Leo and I... and Tom if he likes, will try to find out what this letter is about, alright?" Chris nodded.
"And what about me?" Cole asked and then added: "No... wait... playing with Wyatt, right?" Phoebe grinned.
"You can take care of our guest," Piper answered, looking over to her dad.
Victor tried to smile but it looked more like a grimace. It was clear that he still had some problems to forget what Cole had done in the past.
Cole sighed; then he mumbled: "Babysitting, as I said..."
°°°°°°°°°°
Later that evening the sisters were up in the attic. They examined the letter again. Tom was also there sitting on the sofa, with the book on his lap. He was trying to find the creature who had brought that letter to him.
After a while he closed the book loudly. The sisters looked up. "Nothing," he said, and went over to them.
"Yeah, with the letter it's the same," Phoebe sighed.
Piper read the letter again: "They're after him. We can not talk... Someone has tried to warn them, but was seriously wounded..."
"If it's true what Chris said, then the 'them' must be you... but who is the "him"? Tom asked.
Paige sighed: "Well the only 'hims' here are Leo, Chris, Wyatt... Cole maybe... Don't think that they mean Victor..."
Phoebe chuckled but then turned serious again: "Do you think the source had his hands on that?"
Tom shook his head: "No, he has been calm all the time, he knows that we could vanquish him... I don't think that he's so stupid."
"But who else could want any of us?"
"Oh damn!... Why this weekend...? I really wanted my son to have a great day... And not such a mess as I had on my wedding day." Piper exclaimed all of a sudden. Then she sighed.
"I'm sure he will have a great day," Phoebe tried to cheer her sister up.
At the same time Leo returned from the council.
"And?" Paige asked, "do they know that Golden Gate?"
"No," Leo answered, "they have no idea..."
"But I have one," Tom interrupted them frowning. The others looked at him waiting for an explanation.
He hemmed; then he rose to speak: "In the letter they talked about a gate made of gold, right? But the whole letter is written like in a spy-movie, so maybe that is a kind of code..."
"A code?" Piper asked.
Tom nodded: "Yeah... A gate made of gold, none of us knows that, right? But a golden gate?"
He looked at the others waiting for any reaction.
And then Phoebe got it first. "The bridge," she said. Tom nodded.
Piper frowned: "Could it be so easy?"
°°°°°°°°°°
Chris was looking at his love. They were at the magic school. They lay in the bed in their little 'apartment'. She was lying in his arms, looking to the ceiling.
"A penny for you thoughts," he said.
"What?" she turned her face to him.
"What's up with you, sweetie?" he asked with a soft voice.
"Nothing..."
"You're not good at lying," he remarked.
She smiled: "I just thought about our baby."
"Is there something wrong?" Chris asked suddenly worried.
"No," she answered still thoughtful, "I was just thinking what it will be able to do."
"To do?"
"Orbing or shimmering?... For example..."
Chris smiled: "You really care about that, right? But... You know... I don't care about that Phoenix-Elder-witch-stuff... I know it's my child... and it's your child... so everything that this little kid can do will be wonderful! Because we are its parents, and we love it... right?"
She smiled at him and nodded.
Chris grinned; then he moved under their cover. Bianca began to laugh because he tickled her. Then he softly touched her womb and kissed it. "Right, little kid, you will be a wonderful kid, and we will love you so much... you will be the happiest kid in the world."
Bianca smiled, he was so cute. Then he crawled back to her, facing her, kissing her...
°°°°°°°°°°
"Well..." Phoebe shrugged, "sometimes the easiest of the solutions is the most difficult one to find..."
Leo nodded, agreeing with her. "Besides, it's the only choice we have, without enough clues. These... people, whoever they are, seem to be really desperate. They wouldn't make it difficult for us to get there. They're in a hurry..."
Paige smirked: "Yeah, in hurry to get the Charmed Ones."
Piper hesitated a little bit: "Paige is right, what if it's only a trap to get to us? We'd go straight to it. It's like biting the bait so easily..."
Tom looked at Leo: "They're right, aren't they? This could be a trap... It has no sense, that it is demons that are looking for their help."
Leo kept pensive. Then he said: "But what if it isn't?"
"We should go," Phoebe insisted, "as soon as possible, to make sure that we finish with this stuff before tomorrow!"
Paige agreed: "Ok... but maybe we should take precautions."
"Like some potion?" Piper suggested.
"Like 'I can go in your place, glamouring'," Leo asserted, determined to do it.
"What? No way, Leo..."
"Yes, honey," he kissed her adoringly, and smiled, "you're pregnant too, don't forget it. Besides, if they get the three Charmed Ones, we're done. It's better if one of them stays out of this... It's like when the President travels on his own, and the First Lady in a very different plane."
"He's right," Tom nodded, receiving a terrible glare from Piper as a response.
"Yeah, I agree, sweetie," Phoebe backed him.
"So... let's do it!"
"Hey!" Tom and Piper exclaimed as they saw how Paige grabbed Phoebe's hand and the three of them orbed away.
"I'm not pregnant!" a very mad Tom yelled.
"Great..." Piper mumbled, sitting down heavily.
°°°°°°°°°°
"So...?"
"So..."
The two men kept sitting on the sofa, each one in one end of it, silent and uncomfortable, with little Wyatt as a barrier, in the middle. Cole was making some music with his fingers on the wooden table, and from time to time, looked at Victor out of the corner of his eyes. Victor, meanwhile, observed him secretly, a bit wary, and tried to avoid his look, but when Cole caught him, he just smiled, embarrassed. After a while, he started to whistle.
Cole then tried to start a conversation: "So...?"
"So..."
"Unce Co" giggled Wyatt.
Cole smiled and took him on his arms, before the worried look of Victor.
"Yeah, little warrior? Are you bored? Huh?" he started to tickle him, making the child laugh out loud. "Do you wanna play, huh?"
Victor smiled, softened: "He likes you..."
"It seems so," the ex-demon answered, still playing with Wyatt. "He's forced to, the others don't let us play with them, so we have to play on our own..."
Victor chuckled. "He's a cute boy..." he continued, feeling more at ease, little by little.
"Yeah, and very clever, with all those riddles he invented and all. And really protective and..."
"Wow! Wait! I get the protective part, I know about his... field, since he was in Piper's womb, but... He invents riddles?" Now he was shocked.
"Oh, no, no..." Cole turned to look at him, amused, "I meant the adult one, the one from the future, you know..."
"He also came?" Victor's eyes were wide open.
"Yes, he actually paid us several visits!" Cole grinned, tickling Wyatt a little bit more, "didn't you, big man?" Then he turned to Victor again: "But I really prefer the second one. The first one was somehow... scary."
"Oh, my God..." was the only thing Victor was able to utter.
"Well, it's a long story, and..."
"Yeah, yeah, don't worry. I know that. Got it..."
Cole frowned: "No one told you about that?"
"A bit... sort of... But not much, actually..."
"Future consequences, I guess," Cole sighed.
"So... Wyatt was able to go back home, and Chris wasn't?" Victor asked.
The other man leant his head on the back of the sofa and frowned: "Well, Chris changed too much, it seems, and there was this thing about remembering the whole timeloop and so on... very complicated... Wyatt was somehow... different. We sent him back before really turning him, you know... So he was in the future when this happened. Chris was still here... Now the new Chris would have never come back, so technically, if he went back to his time, he'd disappear... There will be another Chris, you know, Piper is..."
"Yeah, I know," Victor smiled, "It's o.k... I think I've got a headache now..."
Cole smirked: "I had many, trying to understand all this. I saw Back to the Future, Timeline, Frequency, I read A Yankee in King Arthur's Court, the theories of Hawking... and I got lost with Einstein, and you know what? Rubbish. None of them has any idea of what this is like. I think not even Chris or the other Elders know. He just did it, was brave enough to do it... and accepted the consequences as they came. And that's it. I guess he had luck! Or he got a reward from destiny. He, and Bianca. They deserved it..."
Victor nodded, pensive. "You've changed, Cole..." he said, finally.
"No I haven't... I'm the one I always was... Only that I was too afraid to accept it."
At that very moment, a very angry Piper and Tom came downstairs.
"They went there on their own, and left us behind! I can't believe it! SHOOT!"
"What's wrong, Piper?" Victor asked.
"Nothing, dad... except that I had to stay at home... again."
"And me, too," Tom added.
"Boy, you should be happy that the sisters don't let you get in TOO much trouble," Cole remarked.
Victor nodded: "Yeah, he's right..."
"Oh, you're friends now," Piper replied and turned to the kitchen. "That's weird," she mumbled, while Tom followed her, "very weird."
Cole sighed: "Oh, what a wonderful life."
Victor smiled.
"What?" Cole asked.
"Nothing."
"Oh, come on..."
"No, really..." he answered smiling, "I just thought about the time when I was the one, who had to stay at home..."
Now Cole smiled, too: "Frigging job!"
Both man laughed.
°°°°°°°°°°
While Piper cleaned the kitchen, Tom helped her. "What about Chris and Bianca? Should we tell them..." he asked.
"No," Piper said with a strict voice, "they don't need to worry, not today and not tomorrow... So, let them stay in the school... We can handle this alone..." She made a short break putting some plates in the locker. "Don't you think it would be better to go home? It's already late." she asked then turning around to him.
Tom shook his head: "No, I want to stay... if I'm allowed... I want to help you."
Piper smiled: "Still quarrels with your mom?"
He looked at her. 'How could she know that?' he thought. But Piper herself was a mother. And in the last two months she had become a kind of 'best friend' for him. He could talk with her of his problems about the fact that he was half-Phoenix. And sometimes he really just needed that. He nodded.
"What was it this time?" she asked and sat down.
He sat next to her: "She told me not to shimmer."
"Well... maybe she's just afraid that someone could notice. I mean... Bogus has turned a blind eye on that... but the other Phoenixes are still out there, too."
"I know," he muttered, "but... would you go on feet a way of half an hour when you could shimmer in a second?"
She smiled: "No... I don't think so..."
Tom smiled too.
°°°°°°°°°°
Nicki was walking through the empty hallway of the school. She should have already left, but she took over the exam-correction from Paige. There was again 'family-business' forcing her to go back home.
So Nicki spent the last three hours with exams and tons of stupid mistakes. But now... now she was right on the way to meet her friend.
Steve was sitting on the steps of the grand stairway. When he heard Nicki calling for him, he stood up.
She smiled when she saw him.
"Overtime?" he asked.
"Paige's family business!" she answered while she went closer to him.
He nodded smiling and hugged her tightly. Then they kissed.
"I've missed you," he said.
"Missed you, too."
They kissed again. It had taken a long time of 'back and forth', but finally they had come together. And Steve would never let her go again... Well, that's what he had said to her after their first kiss...
They were still hugging and kissing, when they suddenly heard a noise.
"What was that?" Nicki asked.
Steve looked around: "I don't know."
°°°°°°°°°°
"I love you..." Chris mumbled, semiasleep.
"No, I love you more..." Bianca answered in the same tone.
"No, no, no... I DO love you MORE."
Bianca chuckled: "Yeah, as you say, you stubborn Halliwell..." She gave him a soft kiss on his cheek. "But I love you more..." she added in a whisper.
Chris began to laugh and hugged her playfully.
Suddenly, a noise made them startle. Chris jumped to a sitting position: "What the hell was that?"
Bianca sat down more slowly, and frowned: "No idea..."
They stood up and went out, to see what the noise could have been.
"Where did it come from?" asked Bianca grasping his hand tightly.
Chris shook his head: "I don't know... The library?"
Bianca shrugged: "Let's go there, and we'll see..."
On their way, Steve and Nicki passed by them running.
"Hey!" Chris cried, "you two, where are you going so quickly?" He grasped the boy's shirt to stop him.
"Chris!" Nicki said, turning to them.
"Ouch..." Steve complained.
"Ooops, sorry..." Chris said, letting go off him. "I thought you were some naughty boys..."
"Have you heard that?" Bianca asked Nicki, looking towards the library.
The girl nodded: "That's why we were running... I think it came from somewhere over here..." Chris looked in the same direction: "O.k., wait here... I'll go."
"I'll go, too," Steve had placed himself by Chris's side, who was about to forbid him to go, but the young Halliwell remembered how hard it was not to be seen as a real adult, and smiled at him reassuringly. "O.k. ... But stay behind me." Then, they crossed the doors of the library, while Bianca and Nicki watched them from the middle of the corridor.
(Chapter 2 written by Belén and Chrissy.W.x)
