"I mean, he's been avoiding me for weeks, he won't even look at me. What could I have done in the future that would be so bad?"


Neurotic


Disclaimer: Charmed does not belong to me.

Summary: His name is not Chris Perry. It's Christopher. Christopher Halliwell.


Chapter the Thirty-fifth

"Completed Circle"


"You explain." Paul agitatedly shot Chris a look of frustration over his shoulder. "I'm going to help Cole. I already wasted enough time getting that damn vial."

Chris blinked as Paul quickly ran over to Cole, a little perplexed.

"Huh," Piper said. She looked up at Chris, who was sporting a peculiar expression. "He's been through a lot too," she said gently, tugging at his arm.

Chris looked down, open mouthed, a little surprised at the gesture. "That's not- I was just-" Inexplicably he fell silent, and watched Paul as he sat down next to Cole. Some sort of conversation passed between them as Paul sat down, and Paul's cheeks were paler than usual.

"I hope your explanation of where Phoebe is is a lot clearer," Piper said dryly.

The sound of Phoebe's name seemed to snap Chris out of the reverie he'd seemingly sunk into, and he nodded sharply at her words. "I'll get the book, you sit down," he commanded curtly, dashing up the stairs.

"What do you need the book for?" Piper bellowed after him.

There was no response, even though Piper was sure he must have heard her. She turned quizzically to Cole and Paul, engrossed as they were in scribbling frantically in the book. She chewed on her lower lip thoughtfully.

"It's really dark," she said worriedly, fully aware that she was going into "mother hen mode" as Prue (oh, Prue) would have jokingly reminded her. "I'm sure Paige can look after herself, why don't you two get at least an hour's rest, and-"

"No! We can't!" Paul turned to look at her angrily. "We need Paige out today, otherwise…"

Piper was surprised at his surge of anger. Cole looked slightly stricken and apologetic.

"Food would be good," Cole suggested. "Paul, why don't you take over here, and I'll try and rustle something up?"

His words netted him a full-on growl from Piper that would put many wendigoes to shame. "I'm the chef in this house," she said tightly, through gritted teeth.

"You're also two weeks overdue," Cole snapped back.

"But I can work a phone just fine," Piper retorted, just as quickly. She lowered an uncertain look to Paul. "Besides, I sort of recall someone in the household who really likes noodles."

Paul twisted his head at that, a faint hopeful look in the depths of his eyes, but he could only muster up a very small smile. Piper was struck quietly by the emotions she felt from seeing that smile, and it disturbed her even though she didn't understand why until it hit her.

She'd seen that smile before.

On Chris.

Perturbed, she just flashed him a watery smile and waddled into the conservatory; collapsing on one of the wider wiry chairs heaped up with cushions and grabbing the cordless from the table. She hit the speed-dial, feeling a rush of gratefulness towards Phoebe's late night Chinese cravings, and waited for Number One Noodle Son to pick up.

"Hello, this is Number One Noodle Son. How can I help you?"

"Uh, this is Piper Halliwell, 1329 Prescott Street… Yeah. I'd like to order-" She faltered, pulling a face. "Excuse me a second." She heard a faint affirmative, and she covered up the receiver. "Guys, what would you like to-"

"Anything," Cole said, trying to be helpful.

"Want me to do it?" Chris appeared at the doorway, the large volume of spells under his arm. Piper nodded gratefully. Chris dropped the Book of Shadows onto the small rickety table and took the receiver from her.

"Uh, hi. We'd like one number 12, four of number 89, three of 11, two of 2, one 86, one 46, two- no, three 54, uh-" Chris frowned for a second, looked back into the dining room speculatively. "-five 76, one 35, one 45a with a 13 and a 63, and two large bottles of coke." Chris covered up the receiver. "Paul's got a caffeine addiction," he muttered as an aside before making an affirmative sound into the receiver and pressing disconnect. "They'll be here in an hour."

"You've very good at that," Piper opined, her eyes twinkling. Chris bobbed a curtsey.

"Thank you, kind lady." Feeling suddenly awkward, Chris pulled a slightly worried face and pulled up a chair opposite Piper's. Sitting down, he began to absently rifle through the pages.

"You said you'd explain that science-y thing," Piper said as gently as she could manage.

"I did," Chris said lightly, his sea-green eyes analytically scanning the pages as he looked for some specific spell. "Do you remember much about quantum physics."

"I remember 'Quantum Leap'," Piper said, as helpfully as she could manage.

Chris made a sound of frustration, but by the sudden grin that quirked onto his face, Piper knew he was amused, even as the smile disappeared just as quickly. "How about particle-wave duality?"

"Is that English?" Piper asked plaintively.

Chris laughed, and paused from looking through the books. "According to quantum physics, all matter exists in both particles, and waves." He gestured vaguely with one hand. "Just think of particles as little dots, and waves as… waves," he explained, wincing at his own lack of vocabulary. "Let's just pretend, for the sake of argument, that Phoebe was magically put out of phase with our particles by 180 degrees, right down to the sub-atomic level."

Piper tried to think it over, and frowned. "I've had a really long day. Spell it out to me."

"If she was exactly that much out of phase with us, she could be on this plane. We wouldn't be able to see or hear her. Light and sound acts like waves and particles, you see, and-"

"-so Phoebe's just a little… out of shift with reality?" Piper shook her head, a little dazed. "So why can't we touch her? Why didn't she touch us?"

Chris shrugged. "It's not an exact scientific theory. That's why they call it a theory."

Piper was sure there was some dig at her there, but couldn't quite work it out.

"There's been a lot of debate in the scientific world whether someone 180 degrees shifted could touch something," Chris elucidated.

"So we've proved some big scientific theory? If Phoebe can't touch anything-"

"But Phoebe's been put that way magically," Chris said despondently. "We don't know what other magical measures have been put on her. Besides, when you try to directly affect something scientific with magic, you get anomalous results. Why do you think in science lab in high school you sometimes get a really dumb result? It's because in pretty much every class, you have one magical person, who affects the experiment."

"…I think you got your brains from your father," Piper said, a little winded.

"You know right where to hurt me the most, don't you?"

Piper's head flew up at those words, disbelief raging through her, until she realised he was chuckling at her. "Hmm."

"And I think I got my brains from you, thank you very much," Chris said, pseudo-primly.

"Hang on a second…" Piper massaged her temples slightly. "How on earth did Wyatt see her, then, if she's out of shift with the rest of the world?"

"Because it's an Elder power," Chris said absently, resuming his search through the Book. "Wyatt killed the last Elder and took his powers." Chris bolted up from the Book as if it had electrocuted him. Alert and startled, Chris looked at Piper. "It's an Elder power," Chris repeated.

"What have you just Eureka'd yourself into this time?"

"Wyatt wouldn't waste the energy hiding one sister, and then using another method to hide another one," Chris said, a little unsteadily. "Just getting one out of the way would exercise his objective to put us off balance. That means someone else interfered. I would bet a lot to suggest that Wyatt was behind Crossed, Double-Crossed. I mean, why would you expend that much energy to put Phoebe out of shift with us, only to have to go to the trouble to get her back afterwards? So if Wyatt was behind Paige's disappearance into the Book, then…"

"…an Elder was behind Phoebe's disappearance?" Piper's eyes were wide. "Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes," Chris said unsteadily. "That's precisely what I'm saying."


"Cole. Cole."

Cole had been busy trying to eavesdrop on what Chris and Piper was saying. It sounded very serious, and it involved Phoebe, and something about her being trapped…

There was an insistent tugging on his arm. "Cole. I've only got twelve hours left." Paul sounded horrendously desperate. "Come on. Mom and dad have been going around in circles for hours…"

"Mom and-" Cole's brow furrowed. "Dan is your-"

"-sssshhhh," Paul hissed. "I reckon Wyatt's busy with Phoebe, but I can't run the risk he doesn't have a spy or anything."

"Look," Cole snapped, "you go in there and entertain Chris and Piper, okay?"

Paul growled at him, and lifted up his sweater slightly. His midriff was completely gone. "I can't."

"Well sit there and shut up," Cole said unsympathetically. "I'm going to try and redirect them, stop them from this path so they don't keep going around in circles and at least try and get this plot moving on."

Paul snapped his mouth shut mulishly, mumbling something under his breath.

"I told you before," Cole said primly, "my parents were married when they had me."


"This is ridiculous." Paige kicked a stone off the sidewalk, feeling mutinous. "We've been walking for hours in circles. I don't even see why we're going after Eddie."

"Didn't you hear him apologise when he turned us in?" Dan questioned her, lengthening his stride to keep up with her sudden forceful pace. "Criminals don't say they're sorry."

"Yeah," Paige said bitterly, "and innocents don't try and get you killed."

She started to storm off so fast that Dan had to grab her arm and stop her. "We've been down there," he said, quietly. Paige sighed, pursed her lips and went down a different alleyway instead.

"Paige." Dan stopped impatiently, and folded his arms across his chest. "Paige! Hey! Wait up!" He ran to catch up with her, and she slowed enough to let him. Even though she was mad, she wasn't stupid enough to be on her own in this crazy world. "Paige, I know that kid. I was that kid."

Paige did stop then, turning wide brown eyes on him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"When my parents died, I went a little out there for a while. Got in with the wrong crowd. I blamed myself," Dan said quietly.

"I didn't know," Paige said in a small voice. He's so much like me. "How did they-"

"Drowned in a boating accident." Shadows fell on his face, clouding his expression. It was because of the lack of light in the small alley, but it suited his mood.

"I'm sorry," Paige said, and Dan believed her. "I blamed myself, too. But I didn't try to hurt anyone else but myself." Self-righteousness blazed on her face.

"I did."

Dan's quiet admission unnerved Paige. She stared up at him, her eyes scanning his face. He suddenly seemed older, more tired, as if a thousand lifetimes of pain were crowding in on his face. She knew that expression. She'd seen it on her own face a thousand times when she'd tried to come to terms with her parents' deaths.

"I didn't believe I was worthy of being helped, so I did anything and everything I could to push people away – cops, teachers, social workers, you name it." Dan sighed, and looked down. "Maybe Eddie feels the same way."

"Maybe." Paige's admission caused him to look up again. "But maybe he crossed the line."

"I'm starting to think that might not be the case," Dan countered. "You haven't seen a lot of Film Noir, have you?"

Paige shook her head, bewildered. "What has that got-"

"This is a Noir novel," Dan said evenly. "I think Johnny the Gent got him to set us

up. He's playing Eddie, but what Eddie doesn't know is that Johnny is the one that killed his brother."

"I thought- the cops-"

"The cops didn't kill him. It's classic noir. That's just a red herring. If the cops

did it, they would have beaten Eddie until he told them where the Falcon was,

but they're still looking for it."

Paige blinked. "So the gangsters killed Dan?"

"Apart from that being very eerie to hear: yes, that's what I believe. Besides…" His face was grim. "Who else would it be?"

"Then maybe we need to end the story by collaring the gangsters," Paige said determinedly. "All right, let's go. They're back this way."

"Hold on, what about Eddie?" Dan asked.

"Eddie can just-" But she couldn't finish her sentence as suddenly the heavens opened and rain roared down on them. "What in the world- there was absolutely no sign of this before!"

The rain reached a roaring crescendo to their ears and fell like broken sheet glass around them. Paige instantly huddled back against the wall, but it didn't offer much protection. Dan whipped off his jacket and tried to hold it over them, but it didn't offer much protection either.

"We need somewhere to hide out until this stops!" Dan yelled over the sudden downpour. He'd had to get really close so she could hear, and his breath ghosted over her cheek.

"I think I saw a motel 'round the corner!" Paige managed to get back. Dan nodded and together they skittered out into the heavy rain, soaked through. Paige's dress clung heavily to the back of her legs. They slammed through the doors of the motel, breathing heavily.

The clerk at the desk looked at them, obviously amused. "Got caught in the rain, did you?"

"Naw," Paige said good-naturedly. "We went swimming with some ducks."

The clerk guffawed. "You two be wanting a room?"

"If you have any available," Paige said politely, resisting the urge to wring out her hair on the carpet and instead letting it fall uncomfortably down her back. Her legs stung where her sodden dress hit her.

"One," the clerk said, amused, "but that wouldn't be a problem for such a sweet couple, now would it?"

Dan was about to open his mouth to protest, but Paige elbowed him and smiled up at him sweetly.

"Not at all," Paige informed him. "Paige and Dan Gordon." She sashayed with a smile over to the counter, and filled out the small card the clerk handed her.

"That'll be twenty dollars, twenty five if you'll be wanting breakfast," the clerk said, dangling the key in one hand. Paige delved into her pocket and brought out a sodden wallet, counting out twenty-five and handing it over. He passed her the keys with a considerably lecherous smile. "You two have fun."

"Thank you, kind sir," Paige said, bobbing a soaking wet curtsey at the clerk. She edged a look at Dan, who still looked like he'd been blindsided by an ogre with halitosis. "Come on, then."

In a bemused silence, Dan followed her up the carpeted stairs to the second floor. Paige fumbled with the door and managed to get it open, and they quickly entered the room with relief. Paige slammed the door shut and locked it with a pleased sigh. "Thank god," she enthused, looking around the dingy room with its King sized bed in the middle.

She sighted some bathrobes on one chair and gratefully moved forwards to grab one. Without thinking, she pulled off the dress right there, throwing it against the radiator and grinning at the satisfying thunk! it made against the radiator before sliding the robe on. She turned as she tied it to see Dan gaping at her.

Paige wasn't normally prone to blushing, but she reddened instantly. "Sorry," she murmured, acutely embarrassed. "You see, normally when I spend so much time around a guy we're- you know-" She fidgeted. "It's not that I'm ashamed," she said, defiantly.

"Uh, you've got nothing to be, uh, ashamed of-" Dan managed, before shutting down completely, a similar tinge playing on his face. Paige was suddenly aware of his eyes, still darkened by the pain of his confession. No one had ever looked at her like that before, with so much emotion…

"You need to change too," Paige said, moving over and picking up the spare robe. "And I think- turnabout is fair play."

A smirk played on her face as she moved over to him. Dan was too stunned to really reply. He felt her hand move up to take his hat off, and it tumbled to the ground. Water was dripping from his hair onto his neck, but he barely felt it. Paige pushed his jacket from his shoulders, and he helped her with it, dropping it to one side. A demure expression was on her face, but her eyes spoke a different story. Desire hung in the air like a heavy curtain, blanketing between them tangibly. She reached for his shirt buttons and his hand moved of its own accord to snag hers.

Her hand seemed small in his, vulnerable, and that almost made him snap out of this sudden lust-charged development, but her wrist twisted in his grasp, almost made him lose his balance, and it reminded him of her strength, the quiet strength she had shown so much of during the last few days. Unthinkingly his other hand travelled to her cheek, and it was so soft, and Paige let out the softest moan. He lowered his face to hers, only to be met half-way, and they kissed.

They broke apart after a startled second, surprise ghosting as a whisper of breath between them, but Dan could taste her on his lips, and it was like a drug. He wanted, no, he needed more. He pulled her to him, and the second kiss took on a sense of urgency. They kissed, and like the rain they fell together; fell, fell, fell into forever and eternity, into something that could never be changed, into something they never wanted to change, into something that would change their whole lives…, and together they rose with their kisses, into the sky, into the future, into a thousand arching sunbursts that stained the sky a thousand colours of a thousand rainbows that had fallen to their deaths and now were being reborn in a glorious firework display that lit them up from the inside out, and when they were done they giddily slept, not knowing the consequences of their actions, not knowing that inside Paige's womb a secret curled, warm and safe and alive.


T-18


Note: Please don't mimic Paige. Sex with a first-time partner when you are unsure of their past sexual history should always, always, always be done with protection. Please be responsible. You could end up with worse than being stuck with Paul for a child.