A Charmed Story - Part Four:
Marriage with Obstacles
Chapter 4

After Victor had relaxed from the orbing, Chris had shown him the whole school. Now they went back to Bianca. She had told them that she would prepare some coffee and cake.
But when they entered the room, they found there also Steve, Nicki and Tom, already sitting on the table and eating.
"What are you doing here?" Chris asked.
Tom grinned: "Your mom sent us home."
"So you live here too?" Victor asked.
Steve shook his head: "No... but... well... If Piper doesn't want us to help them, we thought we could help Chris... and protect him..."
Chris laughed: "Thanks guys, but I don't think that's necessary."
"Better too much protection, than less," Nicki replied, and grasped another cookie. "We want to see you marry tomorrow," she added before she took a bite.
Chris sighed smiling, and sat down by Bianca's side. Victor took the seat next to him. As he sat down he whispered to his grandson: "They really like you, you must have been a good teacher." Chris just smiled.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Did you just see that, his look?" asked Piper, still shocked after they had sent the teens home, too.
Paige nodded slightly. "Yeah, weird... very weird... 'There's something about Chris'," she joked, but when she received the glares of every single member of the family, she lowered her eyes and muttered a soft 'sorry'.
"Actually I think I felt something strange..." the empath said
Leo stared at her: "Yeah? Apart from the fact that he didn't struggle to stay here?"
Phoebe shrugged: "Maybe it was only my imagination, because his attitude was weird enough, and I might have thought he was feeling something... That's it."
"Whatever..." interrupted Cole, "are you going to tell us what happened exactly? What did they tell?"
"Well..." said Leo, "apart from the fact, that Chris is in a big danger, that THEY want him, whoever this 'they' are... and that HE had told him - the messenger - to warn us, whoever this 'he' is, too."
Piper sighed: "Is that all? How are we going to protect Chris this way? From what?"
Paige shrugged: "Well, he said this was enough information to keep him save, anyway... If we have him in the school, he'll be save."
"There's something else..." added Leo, "this... messenger, said he knew us very well. He discovered me..."
"Wow..." murmured Piper, in shock, "how is that possible?"
"No idea..."
"And what are we gonna do? Because I won't just stay here, waiting, you know?" Cole said, becoming impatient.
Piper, obviously in a foul mood, demanded, "What else do you propose then, huh?"
"I don't know! That was why I was asking!" Cole shot back.
The tension in the room grew thicker quickly. There was an uneasy silence, and no one knew what to do. Suddenly, Leo decided to break the silence.
"Let's... let's stop this, okay? Everyone is worried about Chris, so it wouldn't do us any good to fight. Right now, all we need is everyone's cooperation, and without it, we -"
"Yadda yadda yadda. Go on and play mediator then! If talk is all you know, then go ahead and let's just watch Chris fall deeper and deeper into this... this... goodness-knows-what!" Cole blurted. "I can't stand another minute just waiting here... not knowing what it is after Chris.. not knowing about his safety... not knowing ANYTHING!"
"And you think we can? Come on, Cole, you know perfectly well that everyone - EVERYONE ELSE - is worried too. Chris is not just your friend, but he is our son, our nephew... he means something to everyone here, we all love him and care for him as much as you do!" Paige said; then sighed. "Tell you what. I have a plan - not too big, just a fundamental one. We can bring Chris back here. "
"Are you crazy? The demon or whatever-else-it-is-called might appear anytime and claim him!" Cole yelled.
"Get a grip, will you, big man?" Paige glared at him. "What I meant was, we could bring Chris back here, and leave him in a crystal cage, so that he will be protected. I'm not sure about this... but there is a slight possibility that the demon, or whatever it is, might show up once he senses his presence. In other words, Chris will be playing bait; only, he will be safe. Meanwhile, Piper, you can conjure up as many vanquishing potions as possible, especially the most potent ones, while Phoebe and I will go up to the attic, check the Book of Shadows and come up with spells. Oh, and we can help scry too, except we have nothing to scry for."
"I... I'll go check with the rest of the Elders to see what they know." Leo offered. That was his classic line.
"What about me?" Cole demanded. "Hey, I want to help, too!" Then, spotting the grim expressions on all four faces, he sighed. "Right, Wyatt again. I get it, I get it. Damn, at times I really wish I had my powers back, you know?"
"You can come on up with us." Phoebe suggested. "We could do with some help. Moreover, I suppose we can call upon our ancestors for some guidance too."
"And I'll bring Chris back as soon as possible, after I've been up there." Leo assured.

°°°°°°°°°°

"It's sad that you can't control that forcfield-thing," Tom said suddenly to his friend. Steve looked at him confused. "Well, then you could protect Chris..."
Chris couldn't help chuckling a little.
"You have a forcefiled? Like Wyatt?" Victor asked.
Steve nodded: "It seems so, yes, but it just appeared one time... I don't know how to pull it up on command."
"Yeah..." Bianca added, "same goes for me... the kid has a forcefiled too, but we can't count on that..."
Now, Chris sighed: "Even if we could, I'm not going to hide behind someone's forcefield for the rest of my life."
"Don't you know who is after you?" Victor suddenly asked.
Chris frowned: "What do you mean?"
"Well... you came from the future so I thought..." he tried to explain.
Chris laughed: "No... You know, in my time, there was only me, I had no older version of myself who was in danger... I didn't even exist at that time... so... no, I don't know."
His grandfather blushed: "Sorry... That's a complicated topic..."
"Never mind."
The others smiled.

°°°°°°°°°°

After their little coffee-break, Chris, Nicki, Steve and Tom went to the library. They wanted to have a look at some books... There was still a lot stuff which was not written in the book of shadows.
Victor and Bianca stayed there in the hall and relaxed.
"So... we have been friends too... in your time?" Victor asked after a while. Bianca just nodded. "And you know Chris since...?"
"Since the day he and Cole brought Patty to us," she explained without thinking about her words.
But then she regretted it, because Victor asked: "To us? To you and?"
Bianca sighed: "Sorry, I don't want to..."
"No, no..." Victor interrupted her with a soft voice, "please... tell me."
The Phoenix looked at him for a while; then she sighed again: "They brought the girl to my mom. She should take care of her."
"Your mom? Why didn't the sisters...?"
Bianca rolled her eyes, she knew there was no way back. "Because they were dead," she interrupted him, "I'm sorry."
Victor was speechless. Bianca just looked at him. She knew she shouldn't have told him that, but... Well, he was asking, so what else could she do? Lying to him? Lying to the only person who was always there for them... Never!
"How?" Victor asked after a while.
Bianca sighed again: "I'm not sure if I should tell you that and... I don't want to lie to you."
Victor nodded, but... he was also curious about that. "Please," he said.
Bianca smiled weakly; then, she simply said: "Wyatt."
Victor leant back on the chair, shocked, completely shocked. Now he slowly began to realise what his grandson had gone through, and what he meant by his words, when he said he wouldn't miss his own time.
Bianca went over to him and hugged him: "Don't worry; this time, he will not be evil... never!"
Victor nodded slowly. Then he turned to face her again, thinking about something else: "Chris told me he met you when he was fourteen...?"
Bianca nodded: "Yeah, that's true..."
"But that means that... Oh my God..." Victor suddenly felt so much pitty for the young man.
Bianca smiled at him: "Hey, don't worry... that all happend a long time ago... well, for us... It took a little while but he got over it... and now, he has them back... And they will never die that early again."
Victor nodded: "Yeah, but... it's not right, that he had to be on his own so early."
"Victor, believe me. Bianca interrupted him, placing her hand on his arm, "he wasn't alone... First, he had Cole, and then he had you an me..."
"Well... my grandson seems to have had a lot of luck to meet such a kind and lovely woman," Victor replied smiling, making the Phoenix blush a little.

°°°°°°°°°°

"What are we searching exactly?" Steve asked.
Chris sighed loudly: "Well... I think first we should look up any recorded attack to an Elder. Cause I think this is the smaller part."
Nicki nodded: "Definitely!"
They took out some books and started to flip through the pages.
"Can I ask you something private?" Tom asked after a while.
"Sure," Chris answered.
"Is it true that you and Bianca will go back to the Halliwell manor when the baby is born, that you'll leave the school?"
"Who told you that?" Chris asked smiling.
"Just a rumour," Steve added.
Chris looked from one to the other. "Well," he said, "It's right, the sisters want us back home... But first they have to do some enlargements there... And there are also Cole and Phoebe, who need a little more room, so... It won't happen, not for now."
"But in the future you will leave the school?" Nicki asked.
Chris laughed, because now he understood their question: "No, never... I really like being the head teacher and I plan to keep that job as long as I live. So... Don't worry, alright?"
The friends nodded smiling.
Then they kept silence for a while, concentrating on the old written lines.
Suddenly Chris raised his head again. "Wait," he said reorganising his thoughts.
"What did that man tell them about me? Did anyone of you know that?"
"When you were gone, Leo told Piper that he just said the one they want is Christopher," Tom answered.
Chris frowned.
"Shit!" he exclaimed then, and stood up.
"What?" The others asked at the same time.
"Forgotten? I'm not the only Christopher in this family," he said and orbed back home to his mom.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Chris!" exclaimed Piper when he materialised in front of her, in the kitchen, where she was preparing some vanquishing potions.
She sighed: "I should have guessed your submission wouldn't last forever..."
Chris ignored her comment, and went straight to her, with his eyes widely open because of his anxiety. "They're not after me, mom!"
She frowned, stopping suddenly what she was doing: "What? Have you discovered something?"
"They're after Christopher, mom. Your son Christopher... I think it's actually THAT son..." he pointed to her womb, with his finger, and the woman looked down, following the direction it marked.
"Well, Chris... he's not born yet... o.k.? And you're here, in flesh and blood. The percentage that it's you that is in danger is..."
"Listen," he made her stop talking, "I'm here, alive, and very healthy, yes... But I'm what... ten years younger than you? Even less. They said they were after your son, didn't they? I don't look like your son, and not every demon which is after us has to know that... I guess. And they said Christopher... You always call me Chris, like that, I don't know... But I have the feeling that the baby, and you, are in danger. Not me. At least not THIS me."
Piper stared at the floor, pensive: "You might be right..."
Chris nodded. "Where are the others?" he asked, noticing suddenly their absence.
"Phoebe, Paige and Cole are trying to find out something about all this... stuff, and they said you could be the bait, actually... But I think they were going to call some ancestors first..." she frowned.
"And where's dad?"
"Dad went to talk to the other Elders..."
Chris nodded again, as he saw Piper's wiping her hands, and said: "Well, the bait is here. But maybe they shouldn't be calling the ancestors... I don't think that that is necessary..."
"Piper!" Phoebe cried, in a very excited tone, "Piper, come here right now, come on! Oh... my God..."
Chris and Piper looked at each other, and then, the young man took her hand and orbed them both to the attic.
There was a big circle of candles in the middle, and apart from the light these gave away, it was quite dark. However, just in the middle of the circle there was a strong and blinding bright, that made Chris and Piper close their eyes.
"Did you invoke mom, Phoebe?" Piper asked.
Paige approached Chris and smiled, as he tried to open his eyes, and Cole placed his hand on Piper's shoulder, comfortingly...
"Not exactly!" Phoebe was almost dancing in front of her sister, unable to stay quiet and still.
"Phoebe what the h...?" she had to stop. She had just opened her eyes, and could see who was there, getting out of the magic circle and gaining a more human aspect.
"Oh, my God..." she almost passed out, but Cole and Chris took her by her arms.
The figure approached Piper slowly, with a slight smile on her face: "You've done great as the oldest sister, Piper... I knew you would handle that perfectly... in my absence."
Piper's eyes welled up in tears, as she started to shiver. "This cannot be true..." she mumbled.
Chris narrowed his eyes. "Aunt... aunt Prue?" he asked, shocked.
The woman turned to him grinning, and caressed his face: "I've been observing all of you from up there... All our ancestors, as well as myself, feel so proud of you!" she said, "some of the most conservative have applauded that the first male offsprings of the family are so... brave."
Chris smiled back at her, his own eyes getting watery. Paige pressed his hand in silent. "Thanks..." he muttered.
Prue turned to Piper and Phoebe again: "Don't cry, my girls... You should be happy!"
Phoebe was, she couldn't hide it. She was just so moved! But Piper felt really sick. She had always dreamt with that moment, and now... Now she felt she could lose it at any time.
Prue kissed her forehead and hugged her, as Cole stepped aside to let them alone, and went to Chris.
"But how...?" he was going to ask.
Paige and Cole shrugged. "We wanted to bring someone who could give us some responses, you know..." she explained, "we didn't try to invoke any ancestor the way we usually do. But we didn't even think she'd come. Man, I wanted to meet her so badly!"
Cole smiled, but Chris was very confused. "How is she supposed to help us?" he asked.
Prue, who had heard him, let her sisters go for a moment and turned around to him. But suddenly she stopped and closed her eyes for a second, unnoticed by the others.Then she replied: "Because of the prophecy..."
Now the whole group stared at her, wonderingly.
"The day in which the Sun is defeated, in which the whole sky falls down, that day, two lives will collide, and the world will tremble in awe at the new power."
"What's that?" Cole asked, without understanding a word.
Prue smiled: "The longest day of the year, June, 24th... Midsummer Night is the night in which the sun is defeated, since the following day, the days start to decrease..."
Paige nodded: "That's what people believed in the past, yes..."
Prue went on: "There will also be a great star shower, that's why the sky falls down..."
Chris became paler: "That day is..."
Prue turned to him: "...your birthday. The little one's too..."
Chris nodded, and everyone looked at him, in shock. "Two lives will collide... But," he looked in Prue's eyes, "that prophecy didn't exist in my time."
She laughed. "Of course not... There was only one of you... But that day, magic started to work... You were born to make that prophecy real, to come to the past and get the two lives collide..." she explained.
Chris nodded, but preferred not to ask about the 'new power' and the awe, and the trembling stuff. "But..." said Paige, since her sisters were a bit lost, "why YOU?"
Prue didn't answer quickly. She looked at Chris smiling again: "Because... There will be a part of me in that baby... as well as there is in you, Chris."
At that moment, Leo reappeared: "They don't know much... They just say that someone is really afraid of Chris, and weirdly enough, there's some demon, or witch-demon, interested in his being alive... They talked to me about a prophecy that..."
All of a sudden he noticed the presence of Prue, and gasped: "Prue?"
"But there are still four months to go till my birthday!" Chris remarked without paying attention to his father.
Prue nodded: "Yeah only four months left, for that person who is after you to solve his problem."
"Wait, wait, wait... There is something form you inside him?" Piper asked still confused about all what she had heard.
"The telekinetic witch-power," Chris explained shortly. Prue nodded.
"But...does that mean, that... that the world will be..." Piper wasn't able to end that sentence. She couldn't believe that her sons could be a danger, not after all what Chris had gone through, what she had gone through.
"That we will destroy the world?" Chris spoke out her thoughts, with a weak smile.
"No!" Leo exclaimed, "I don't think so, 'cause it's a demonic prophecy."
Prue nodded again: "Yeah and there was also a prophecy about Wyatt, before he was born, and..."
"Oh fantastic... Wyatt was only just about to destroy the whole world in my time... great!" Chris felt very sick at that moment.
"And now?" Phoebe asked still not able to clear her mind.

°°°°°°°°°°

Bianca and Victor were still talking. Little by little their talk became more and more friendly. Victor really liked her, and he understood why his grandson loved her so much. She was really a very special, very kind person. And the most important thing for him, she seemed to be really a good one.
Bianca was also happy about how their talk went on. After their first meeting at the manor, she was a little afraid about if they could be such good friends like they had been in her time, or not. She was worried that he could not like her... because she knew how important his grandfather was for Chris.
"Do you already know what it will be?" he asked pointing at her womb.
She smiled: "No... We don't want to know it... It shall be a surprise..."
Victor nodded with a smile.
"But anyway," she went on, "Chris is already thinking about names..."
"Really?" he replied laughing.
Bianca nodded: "If it's a girl, he will call it Hope, but we're still discussing that... and if it's a boy..."
At that moment Steve, Tom and Nicki ran into the hall.
"He's gone!" Nicki said.
Bianca jumped up: "What?"
"He orbed home," Tom explained.
"He believes that the person they want could also be the unborn Chris!" added Steve.
"O.k., you guys stay here and keep an eye on Victor!" she commanded.
Victor wanted to say something, but Bianca had already shimmered away.

°°°°°°°°°°

When they noticed the air waving, Prue was ready to attack the intruder. But Chris put her hands down: "No!"
At that moment Bianca shimmered in. She ran over to Chris and kissed him, and then she hit him on his chest: "How can you do that, you're in danger here!"
"Sweetie, calm down," he said with a smile, "I'm alright... and I still think that they are after mom and the baby." Holding her in his arms, he felt a little better than a few seconds before. She always managed to cheer him up, she just needed to be there. He smiled and they kissed again.
"Maybe they want you both?" Paige said.
Bianca turned around to her: "So maybe you should both go back to the school." Then she looked at the new guest and her eyes turned cold: "Hello Prue!"
Prue didn't answer, she just looked at the Phoenix with distrust.
"O.k.," Phoebe asked frowning, "what's going on here?" She could feel a kind of hatred from Bianca. A feeling she never felt before from that woman.
"Nothing," Bianca replied.
Chris sighed: "Come on... she isn't that... she even don't know you yet."
Bianca looked at him: "She is still the same person, she doesn't like me, she didn't trust me, from the first second." Then she turned around and focused on Prue.
The witch just looked back at her and kept silent.
Phoebe stared at Prue, then at Bianca, and finally at Chris, and then, feeling uneasy, she grimaced rather than smiled, and said: "O.k., o.k... I think I don't get it... You both met in the future? In the other future?" She was pointing alternately at the two women, who immediately looked back at her.
"O.k... let's see... Chris, this means by any chance that you brought her to life too in the future, as you did with Cole?"
This time Piper as well as Phoebe, and all the others, except Bianca, turned to stare at Chris, who stepped backwards shocked and shaking his head nervously.
"Oh... hell, no! What do you think I am? A God?"
Leo chuckled: "Almost... An Elder."
But he choked back his words at the glare of the, this time, four sisters and Bianca.
Prue jumped suddenly: "Cole, you brought Cole back from death?" For the first time she realised he was the other one there, the man she had ever distrusted and that had proved to be fatal to their family. "You brought him, and not me?" Prue was surprised, and even angry.
"No!" exclaimed Chris, watching Cole stepping back, too, "I didn't bring him back. Not that way... He was not dead exactly, he was in the ghostly plane... And I just... don't know what I did, it just happened! It was him that saved me, Prue!"
Prue relaxed, and nodded: "Oh, yes sorry... I've seen all that too... I was a bit jumpy, sorry Cole. But anyway... I understand the present but not that other future in which it seems..."
She paused and glared at the Phoenix: "I don't get on well with this woman."
Chris sighed: "It's your soul in the future, Prue... Just like now. That's why we both know you too. We invoked you all the time. Well, I did. Until you met Bianca..."
The sisters and Leo looked back at Bianca, frowning, and saw her cold glare, that evilish look she had hardly ever shown.
"But I think..." Chris added, patting Bianca's shoulder comfortingly, "that we should take advantage of this second opportunity we've been given... And there are other things to think about right now..."
Leo nodded this time, and stepped forwards: "O.k... Let's go back to the prophecy, and the 'THEY' who want any of our Chrises dead, and the 'HE' who's helping us from the shadows..."
Piper pushed herself against Leo's body, looking for his comfort and protection.
Phoebe intervened then: "Remember the riddles? If Wyatt knew all what happened before, maybe he also left a riddle for us in the book."
Chris stared at his aunt, thoughtful: "I don't remember anything that could actually look like this stuff..."
But Paige and Phoebe were already flipping through the pages of the book.
Leo looked at him: "Whatever... I think you two," he pointed up at Piper and Chris, "should go to the magic school, just for your own security."
"But..."
They both were starting to complain, when a noise came from downstairs.


(Chapter 4 written by Chrissy.W.x, Belén and aKaNeMiZuKi)