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.
Chapter the Twenty-Third
Gideon was preoccupied as he swept ominously through the bookcases in the library. This was his last proper day there, and he couldn't even work up the energy to reprimand Sarah as she lazily used her powers to put the books back on the shelf.
Preoccupied, he made the rounds and let his feet wander the course. The Charmed Ones had found out about Witch Wars. He would have to deal with the incompetent demons behind it before they blabbed to the council about his involvement.
It was the son from the future - Paul. He was trouble.
No- there was one thing he could do. Cause a big enough disturbance, to get their minds on something else other than the impending doom that Chris Perry was apparently babbling on about. And he knew just what to do to get their attention - get one of the girls onto a parallel plane, and divert their attention to getting her back.
A smile covered his face, and he walked past a student he didn't even recognise without the rush of guilt that he wouldn't have time to know all of them any more. He had a mission.
The strange student smiled slowly. His dark black eyes were pools of nothingness. Tangled blond hair fell to his shoulders. He peered along the list of books until finding the one he wanted. Wyatt's fingers closed around it, and, looking around to make sure he was unobserved, he orbed out.
Smiling, he looked down at the book and fingered it, letting his fingers run over the engraved words. "Crossed, double-crossed."
He allowed himself the small moment of triumph, before orbing away. With one sister down, he could gain his revenge on his traitorous brothers...
Chris exhaled, and rubbed his hands together. This was so difficult. He struggled for the right words.
"Um. I'm really sorry I didn't tell you this before, but, you know how it is, Piper. Future consequences and all that." He pulled a face, feeling all the awkwardness in his posture and words painfully. "But I'm your son from the future. The good one. The second one, I mean." The second face he pulled was one of disgust. "Man, that's awful!"
Sinking down onto the small stool in the bathroom, he looked up at the mirror in which he'd been practising. This was not going to go well. He supposed it might be easier if he really did want to tell them. But he didn't. Leo had been right when he'd accused him of being scared of telling them.
He wasn't just scared, he was bloody petrified. Having lived for a long time without parents, Chris had gotten painfully used to not having anyone to be proud or disappointed of him. Bianca had given him those things for a brief period, but... now there was a real chance of rejection. Now was the time when he could hear those words every child is deep-down scared of - that their family think that they're worthless.
Chris exhaled hard again, and rose to his feet. He automatically rinsed his hands again, even though he'd already done it once, dried them one of Victor's coarse towels and left the bathroom.
Victor was leaning against the wall, looking at him with an unreadable expression. Chris winced, embarrassed.
"You heard, huh?" Chris said, toeing the ground and staring at his shoes as if they were the most interesting thing in the world.
"You've decided to tell them, then," Victor said lightly. "You want me there when you do it?"
Chris nodded heavily. "Yes, please," he said in a very small voice, wretchedness splayed on his face. Victor smiled at him.
"Come on. Let's pick up Dan and go," Victor said. Chris looked a little confused. "After the destruction yesterday, Dan offered to held rebuild the front wall."
"Yeah, he's good at that construction stuff," Chris said absently. Victor blinked at him.
"Is Dan around- a lot- in the future?"
Chris turned to him, his expression confused. "How- oh." Chris realised what he'd said. "Um, yeah, I guess you could say that."
"Let me guess. Specifics have been dumped in favour of future secrecy?"
Chris grinned wryly. "Got it in one."
The phone rang out. Pippa leaned over the counter and grabbed the cordless, whisking batter as she did so. She'd forced her past self to go sit down - Piper hadn't been feeling too well - and they had chuckled a little about the benefits of having two of yourself running around.
"Hello?" Pippa smiled at the voice on the other end. She listened for a while, nodded, and then - realising no one can see a nod down the phone - said, "Yeah."
"Who is it?" Piper questioned, coming into the kitchen.
Pippa covered the mouthpiece. "Paul," she said. "He wants to know if it's okay to come over for breakfast."
They'd set Paul up on a campbed at P3, knowing the house was a little crowded.
Piper smiled. Her third son apparently had manners. Definitely her boy. "Of course," Piper said. "He doesn't have to ask."
"Apparently he's still a little embarrassed that he poisoned your coffee," Pippa said quickly. "I'll tell him he can come. Paul, yeah, it's fine."
No sooner had Pippa pressed disconnect than Paul had orbed into the room. His hair was completely mussed as if he'd not done anything to it when he'd woken up.
Huh, Piper thought, maybe not all of my influence stuck around, obviously.
"Look at your hair," Pippa said, starting to fuss, and she pulled Paul over. He let out a squeak of surprise, as Pippa pulled a comb from seemingly nowhere and started to attack his hair. Paul winced, but managed a smile at Piper.
"Morning," he said, with a gritted-teeth smile.
"Morning," Piper said, amused, as she sat down on a stool. Pippa let Paul go eventually, after she was satisfied with his hair, and he sank easily onto one of the stools, hooking it in closer to the bench top with one heel.
"How you feeling? My brother not giving you too much grief?" Paul questioned briefly.
"Your brother-" Piper thought he meant Wyatt for a second, and then realised he meant baby number two. "Uh, just the usual kidney shots," she said ruefully. "You know, that's a thought. I don't have a name for him yet. I don't suppose you two feel like dropping a hint or two."
"Sandy," Paul said promptly. "You name him Sandy."
Pippa burst out laughing. "You know if he was here, he'd kill you for that."
Piper watched the easy rapport between the two with jealousy, but with a small kind of happiness swelling inside her that one day she would have it. And with Chris' help, for much longer than they had originally had.
"Aw, Piper, I'm only kidding," Paul said gently. "You really call him Jemimah."
Piper laughed. "Yeah. Wyatt, Jemimah and Paula, my three boys."
Paul started to nod in agreement, until he realised what she'd said. "Hey!"
Piper and Pippa sniggered and high-fived across the counter.
"You want some pancakes, sweetie?" Pippa asked Paul, who nodded eagerly.
"That's like asking me if I want to breathe," Paul said with a very deadpan sarcastic look. Piper recognised that look. It struck something deep down in her, and she shivered involuntarily. She'd seen that look before, but it wasn't on Paul, it was on- A vague memory floated at the edge of her mind. Who had she seen with that expression? If I could only just remember! Who...
"I said, would you like some too?" Pippa said, an edge in her voice.
Piper blinked violently, and then realised Pippa had asked her the question three times now. "Yeah. Raisins and-"
"-honey," Pippa finished with a wry grin. "We're sort of the same person, no matter how much that makes my brain-"
"-collapse, painfully," Piper said, finishing Pippa's sentence this time. They shared a brief look of acknowledgement.
"Wyatt would like some honey too, wouldn't you, little fellow?" Piper asked her oldest-but-currently-youngest (if you discounted the baby in her womb, of course) son in the timeline. Wyatt, in his high chair, beamed happily, and Piper mussed his golden curls.
"Aw, you're not putting honey on mine, are you?" Paul said, pulling a face. "I don't mind the raisins, but honey..."
"Well, you poisoned us," Pippa said sunnily. Paul scowled. "Your face will stick that way," she cautioned.
"Bite me," Paul grouched.
"Where?" Pippa replied, and the two laughed.
Piper rolled her eyes at them. It was obviously an old joke, and- There was that feeling again, that one of deja vu she'd had when Paul had looked at Pippa sarcastically. There was something she was missing, and now she realised that, something inside her felt... gone. It was like there was a tangible hole inside her, a hole that she could fill if only she could just remember...
"Phoebe's already gone, hasn't she," Pippa said out loud, and Piper nodded. "I'll just make Paige some, then. Paul, can you call her down?"
"Sure," Paul said, getting off the stool and running out of the room, yelling. "PAAAAAAAIIIIIGGGGGEEEE!"
"YELL FOR HER FROM THE TOP OF THE STAIRS!" Pippa bellowed. A squeaked "sorry!" came from Paul, and there was the pounding of feet as he ran upstairs for her. Pippa busied herself cooking up a lot of pancakes, while Piper slowly got out some plates, and five minutes later Paul reappeared with a sleepy Paige in tow, still in her pyjamas and dressing gown and rubbing sleep from her eyes.
"Yeah, I am so looking forward to having you in the house properly," Paige grouched as she pulled up a stool. The door bell went.
"I'll get it!" Paul yelled, jumping up from his seat and running off.
"Is he always this full of energy?" Piper questioned, watching him go in amazement.
"Yeah," Pippa said ruefully. "Pretty much." She smiled almost dreamily. "He's been like this since he could run, come to think of it."
"Like I said, looking forward to it," Paige quipped, getting some coffee from the pot and sitting back down, blowing at it grouchily.
"It's granddad and Dan and Chris!" Paul bellowed through from the hall.
Paige looked even grumpier and yanked her dressing gown on tighter as the three men in question came around the corner.
"You boys want breakfast?" Pippa asked, unfazed by the number of people in the kitchen. I would have been, Piper reflected slowly. Guess I actually do get to cater for large amounts of people in the future rather than just over-catering for a few. The thought thrilled her now rather than scaring her.
"We've already eaten," Chris said, speaking for them, but he did glance at the pancakes a little longingly. "I'm going to go grab the Book and write out your assignments for today."
"Great," Paige said, deadpan, not looking very thrilled.
"We'll get started on the wall, if you remove the- what did you call it? Glamour- so we can see what we're doing," Victor said. "We just came in to wish you girls good morning." Paul looked at him grumpily for a second. "And boys," he amended swiftly. Paul smiled.
Paige waved, to volunteer herself for glamour-removing duty.
"Where's Phoebe?" Chris asked, as he headed out. Paul seemed to be eating his pancakes with extra relish and with big gestures, obviously trying to goad Chris into something.
"Gone to work already," Piper said. "But still give her lots to do," she added. "I think she skipped out early to avoid the madness."
"I'll orb the list into her office," Chris promised as he disappeared off.
Phoebe looked around at her newly-tidied desk. Prevaricating was sometimes a whole lot of fun... Smiling to herself that she'd missed Chris' early morning neurotic lecture of things they had to do that day, she pulled out her box of letters to look through for the day's column, and lounged in her chair to read them.
She pulled out the first one, a plain white envelope with neatly scrawled handwriting. Opening the envelope, she pulled out a single sheet of blue-lined notepaper, and gasped as a premonition hit her.
Paige, Pippa, Piper, Paul, Chris, and her dad... Surrounded by Darklighters... She knew that place... It was just around the corner from the local IHOP...
"No!" Phoebe realised she'd yelled out loud, and then flushed sheepishly even though there was no one to hear her. She grabbed her keys, and pelted from her office, glad that none many people were around to witness her undignified exit.
Throwing herself into her car, she put the keys forcefully into the ignition and gunned the engine. Speeding a little, she drove frantically through the early morning rush hour traffic, cursing as she went. She skidded to a halt, and jumped out of the car, her bag banging against her thigh as she ran full speed around the corner.
The alleyway was empty.
Phoebe felt her mouth drop open, and then felt a hint of something. She didn't have time to turn around, as something clamped around her mouth, grabbing hold of her. She tried to scream and got a mouthful of demon flesh instead.
Orb lights spilled down, and Phoebe's eyes widened in horror at the figure that walked over to her.
Gideon.
"I'm sorry about this, Phoebe, I truly am," Gideon said softly, waving his arms gently. A portal solidified into the air next to them. Struggling in the demon's grasp, Phoebe tried to elbow it, but just got pain for her trouble.
Her eyes watering, Phoebe felt herself being lifted towards the portal and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Her eyes watered, and she tried throwing out mental screams to her sisters as it was all she could do.
IT'S GIDEON! HE'S THE FRIEND WHO WILL BETRAY US! HE'S-
But that was all she managed, as the demon lifted her bodily into the portal and it slammed shut behind her.
Chris was just adding a little incantation to vanquish Liznots when he felt it, smacking him in the chest like a ton of bricks. Aunt Phoebe! He stretched out with his senses, as quickly as he could manage, to double check what he'd just realised.
She'd just disappeared from his radar. Meaning, she wasn't on this plane anymore.
Realising that the front of the house was now gaping open, he thudded down the stairs as fast as he could, considering anyone could see him if he orbed down. Breathless, he slammed down into the hallway, panic blazing on his face. "It's Phoebe," he breathed out quickly, harshly. "She's just disappeared from my radar."
"What?" Piper ran into the hallway, accompanied by a now-dressed Paige and Paul. Worry aged her face instantly. "Oh, god. How-"
"- I just sensed her disappearance," Chris said.
"You might want to be quiet for a second," Dan said quickly. They turned in time to see a guy in a brown uniform carrying a parcel coming up the front steps.
Chris looked at the others anxiously, but couldn't do anything, and it was showing in the way he almost danced on the spot in anxiety. Aunt Phoebe's in trouble!
"Delivery for Halliwell," the UPS guy said, eyeing the damage warily. Piper plastered a large false smile on her face. Dan quickly took the clipboard and scrawled his name, printed it, took the parcel and smiled at the guy until he rolled his eyes and left.
"Which one of us is it for?" Paige asked curiously, stepping closer to Dan to peer at the parcel.
"It's not marked," Dan said, looking worriedly across at the others. They looked at it fearfully. "I'll open it," he said, worry for the girls clear in his voice. He gingerly opened the package as if it could be a bomb. A book fell out in his hands. "It's just a book," he said, in obvious relief. He'd been expecting the worse as much as everyone else. "Crossed Double-Crossed by the Mullen brothers, see?"
"Let's have a look at that," Paige said softly. Dan didn't quite let go of the book, but Paige still leant over and read the cover again before opening the book and peering at the front page.
Which was exactly when light spilled out from the book and Dan and Paige disappeared, and the book dropped to the floor with a loud thud.
Chris looked from the book, to where they'd been, and back to the book, before sitting down on the stairs in disbelief.
"This is so not cool," he muttered disconsolately.
