Neurotic


Summary: "My name's not Chris Perry," Chris said, as if it was the hardest thing he'd ever had to say. "It's Christopher." He paused, almost reluctantly. "Christopher Halliwell."

Disclaimer: Charmed and Chris don't belong to me, doo dah, doo dah, I'm not making any money from this, oh, dah doo dah day. No songs used in this fanfic belong to me, either.


Chapter The Twenty-second


"Okay, that was the most pathetic attempt ever."

Paul tried to avoid looking Wyatt directly in the eyes. "So maybe I wasn't feeling one hundred percent happy with doing it."

"Yeah, well, you know the price," Wyatt said easily. "Now Mel's not one hundred percent happy with where she is."

"You son of a bi-"

Wyatt was laughing. "Oh, come on, Paul. Piper's your mother too."

Paul glared at him in mutinous silence.

"That's two plots that have failed, both with you at the helm," Wyatt mused thoughtfully. "Strange, don't you think?"

"God, well why don't you fucking try it yourself?" Paul demanded, anger colouring his voice.

"Temper, temper!" Wyatt drawled, getting to his feet and brushing sand off his pants. "Maybe I will. You just watch and see how it's done."

Wyatt orbed away, and Paul stared at the spot where Wyatt had just been standing.

Then he felt like hitting himself when he realised what he'd just done. He'd set Wyatt on them, and he wouldn't deliberately try to fail…

Paul decided to throw caution to the wind. I'm so sorry, Melinda. But he couldn't afford for Paige to die. If Paige died, there'd be no Power of Three, and then his Aunt Phoebe would be more vulnerable to attack. And if Phoebe died, no more Melinda. And if Paige died…

He threw away the selfish though, and orbed.

Right into the sitting room of the manor. He smiled weakly at the shocked looks he was getting from Piper, Pippa, Paige, Phoebe, Chris, Leo, Victor and Dan.

"Uh," Paul said weakly. "I'm back?"


"Okay, conference time!" Paige had instantly hustled Leo, Piper, Pippa and Phoebe out of the room, leaving Paul under the guidance of Chris, Victor and Dan. "Do you think we can trust him?"

"His powers didn't work against you," Pippa said stubbornly. "So it proves he's good. And if he's being watched, that's why he did the bad things."

"Yeah, but you have to think those things, you're his mother," Phoebe said softly, her brown eyes peering around the corner to where Paul was gingerly sitting. "I can't feel anything from him, but he'll have probably drunk a suppressing potion already. With me as his aunt, it's very likely."

"I say we give him a chance," Piper said, her eyes flickering into the sitting room, and then back to the group. "We just keep an eye on him. He's my son," she said, her voice wavering slightly. "And he could have easily killed you, Paige, if he'd wanted to. We all know it."

Paige bristled slightly. "I know. I just don't trust him. There's something he's hiding."

"What, like Chris?" Phoebe questioned briefly. "Chris is hiding a lot from us, and we trust him."

"He's done a lot more to protect Wyatt," Leo defended automatically.

"You're being awfully defensive of him," Piper said accusingly.

Leo looked at her awkwardly. "I trust him, is all," he said offhandedly. "He's been through a lot to get here in a position to help us."

"I'm just worried about what got him to snap and turn to us so suddenly," Pippa said, her older face creased fretfully. "He must have been… assisting Wyatt… for a reason."

"Well, why don't we ask him?" Paige said brusquely, pushing past them and into the sitting room. "Paul, okay, we get that you're a good witch and all. But what happened to make you come to us now?"

Paul sank onto one of the soft footstools, and sighed. "Because I accidentally managed to goad Wyatt into making an attempt on your life," he said simply, looking at Paige heavily. Paige got the impression he was looking at her as if she was a ghost, and it unnerved her. "I was supposed to kill you, but I couldn't. As for now…" He sighed, heavily. "Wyatt has my cousin Melinda in custody, and has been threatening to kill her if I step out of line. Melinda was the only real family I thought I had left."

"Oh, my god," Pippa breathed, sinking to a couch and looking at Paul hard. "You've been doing this to protect her-"

"Of course I have," Paul snapped angrily, his eyebrows curving high in astonishment. "Yeah, I guess it's easy to think that once Wyatt has turned, the rest of us could easily well turn too!"

"I didn't mean it like that!" Pippa retorted. "Baby, you know I didn't."

Paul's face softened slowly. "I… I know. It's just—" Paul frowned suddenly. "Chris?"

At the sound of his name, Chris looked at Paul slowly. The others saw that Chris was shaking, and pale, and knew this was what had caused Paul to say his name. "The son of a-" Chris stopped and caught himself before he finished that. "Paul, Melinda's dead. I saw that." He shook his head slowly. "There was no way I could mistake that death," he said, his words reminiscent of his earlier conversation with Leo.

Paul shook his head, hard. "I don't understand."

"Then see," Chris said simply. The others exchanged confused looks as Chris got to his feet and blankly held his hand forth to Paul.

Paul stared at Chris' hand as if it was just about to explode.

"Go on," Chris said, his voice and eyes cold.

Paul was shaken by the certainty on Chris' face. "No, uh, I-" He paled. "I believe you," he said, his voice shaking, his words broken up as he forced them out.

Just as coldly, Chris stalked back and folded his arms, staring at some point above the fire.

"Er, excuse me, but how could he see it?" Piper question, confused.

"Retrocognition," Pippa said softly in explanation.

"It's one of my passive powers," Chris explained. "I can't receive premonitions, per se, but I can… pass memories on to others."

"The Seer could do that," Phoebe said, her eyes a little wide. "Isn't that an evil power too?"

Chris instantly bristled. "No!" He folded his arms and raised his eyebrows. "You're just jealous 'cause you're not the only one with a cognitive power."

Phoebe opened her mouth to speak, and shut it. "Humph. Well."

Pippa was laughing soundlessly. Phoebe glared at her.

"What's so funny?"

"You had that same expression when he developed that power," Paul said smoothly, sniggering a little himself.

Phoebe narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "How long have we actually known Chris?" She demanded.

"Dude, are you kidding?" Paul blurted, before Chris walked over and gave him a friendly smack in the arm.

"They don't know, stupid," Chris hissed. "So shut up."

Paul started to laugh. "And you've been here, what, over a year and they still don't know? Dude, I'm impressed."

"Well it's not like I'm related to Wyatt like the rest of you ingrates," Chris muttered, lying brazenly, a little loudly, and with a distinct look of panic in his eyes.

"Ohh, yeah," Paul said, and he sounded a little strange. "Moving on. Wyatt's not going to be pleased with my little escape."

"And Wyatt- he's here? Future Wyatt, I mean," Piper questioned. She shuffled as if to get comfortable, and winced down at her bump. "Great timing."

"Here's a thought," Paige said, sounding a little disturbed. "What if future Wyatt is the one who turns this Wyatt?"

They all turned to Pippa, who was chewing her lower lip thoughtfully. "It's possible," she admitted, "although in our timeline neither Wyatt, Chris nor Paul came back to the past, so if that's the case, my timeline's future Wyatt came back very surreptitiously."

"That's how he works," Chris said, and then jumped when he realised Paul had said it at the same time. The two eyeballed each other warily.

"He would be a friend who is not a friend," Phoebe said speculatively. "In the vaguest of readings of the phrase…"

"Since when has fortune telling ever been really clear?" Paige said.

"But the whole surreptitious thing…" Paul rested his elbows on his knees, and put his chin in his hands. "Whatever Wyatt will do will be very subtle. He doesn't normally go for big-"

WHAM!

The house shook.

"I think you spoke too soon!" Chris yelled, as a loud roaring filled the air.

WHAM!

Looking fearfully at each other, Chris was the first one to move, gingerly skidding around the corner to see what was attacking the house. Not wanting to take any chances, he gestured with one hand to open the door, knowing he could always blame the breeze if there was a logical explanation for the sounds.

It turned out there was rather a logical explanation for the sounds, for as soon as Chris opened the door, an eight foot ogre with a club ran in roaring and smacked him unconscious.


"Oh, god, I feel like a thousand smurfs decided to have a party in my head," Chris groaned as he woke up. He could feel a tingling heat through him, and Leo's eyes on him, and knew he'd needed to be healed.

Raising his head, he looked around to survey the damage. There were a few large holes in the wall and a smashed table, and a scorch mark on the floor.

Leo helped him to his feet, and Chris was proud of himself for managing a courteous nod to the guy.

"He was from Witch Wars," Phoebe said, quietly. "He kept yelling about how he was going to smash us up, right on TV."

"TV?" Chris blinked. "We're on… TV… now?" He looked around, as if actually expecting to see a demonic camera crew running around.

"I'm guessing there's some kind of cameras," Paige said, looking around, picking up different objects.

"Well, there's one way to find out," Paul said softly. He ignored Chris' "what?" and went hunting for a pen and paper. He scrawled something on it gently, and then passed it to him, with his hands shielding the words. Chris understood. If they were being watched, then anyone could see what they were writing.

Chris bent over the note, and nodded slowly. Go underground and watch the thing.

"I'll go," Chris offered, orbing away and screwing up the note as he went.

It was only ten minutes later that Chris was back. He purposefully walked past a surprised Phoebe into the kitchen, and came out with one of the large hammers that they'd been fixing the earlier damage to the house.

Piper opened his mouth to say something as he strode in, but he held a finger up to his mouth, and then methodically walked over to the mantelpiece.

CRASH!

"Chris!" Piper yelled. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Chris tossed her a wry look, and walked over to the piano, smashing something on that, too, and then he walked over to the doorway and smashed something by there.

CRASH!

"I just destroyed the three cameras that are definitely in this room," he said evenly, if a little quiet. "It's on a live feed, and it kept switching between those three views. I don't know if I got all of them, but I know what to look out for, now." He held out a black crystal, which was a strange cuboid shape. "You can tell it's transmitting if it shimmers."

Chris passed the "camera" over to Piper, who turned it over in his hand. He turned to look at Paul. "And I'd bet a large-sized amount of money, if I had any, to say that Wyatt knows of your betrayal."

Paul nodded, especially worried at Chris' low look of concern. Chris didn't add out loud the other thing that was worrying him.

If Wyatt knew, through Witch Wars, that Paul had turned, Wyatt would also know that the family didn't know who he was. And if Chris didn't tell his family soon who he was… he was positive that Wyatt would gladly do it for him…