CHAPTER TEN
Later that night, Paige and I bugged Piper to find out about her conversation with our new Whitelighter, and shaking her head she told us all about it.
She told us that Chris found her in her bedroom, holding Wyatt, telling him she knew how much he missed his Daddy, because she missed him, too. Chris told her that she was needed, and she blew her top that he simply barged into her bedroom without even knocking. Not even taking the time to apologize, he immediately insisted that he needed her to help get her sisters (Paige and me!) to concentrate. She found this funny--the guy who thinks he knows everything was running out of options.
He rolled his eyes and shrugged, saying, well, if she wanted to think that and use it as motivation, fine! He was just upset because he was watching everything literally go to hell again and he was not able to do a thing to stop it!! He said he understood that we need Leo--he got that, he really did--and then Piper reminded him that Wyatt needed his father, too.
Well, that must not have been the best thing to say, because now he really blew his top, telling her that if she could just forget about missing her husband for a moment—
Not Piper! She told him in no uncertain terms that nothing is more important than family! He glared and informed her her that there was no such thing as family where he comes from, that he had no chance to get to know his parents! Later we were to discover that this was not the truth (but then so were a lot of things he told us that day), but he sure knew how to manipulate Piper, hitting one of her hot buttons!! That would have to be Piper's definition of hell--not knowing who her family was.
But even if she didn't like that idea, he didn't push her button quite as hard as he probably meant to, because she simply pointed out that it wasn't her fault. He shook his head and informed her that it wasn't hers yet. Well, that got her good and mad, as he accused him of blaming us, us! for whatever had happened.
He shook his head--he just wants to be sure we got it right this time, which still seemed to insinuate that we had somehow blown it the first time..
Piper glared at him and informed him in no uncertain terms that if he truly wanted that, he better get Leo for us, and she went off to warm Wyatt's bottle.
Much, much later, we were to find out that after she left, Chris Perry went over to stand by Wyatt's crib. Your brother immediately put up his shield. And Chris told him that eventually he'd trust him--eventually we all would. And, nephew mine, I can tell you now that I'm very glad that we didn't find this out for quite awhile--if we had, I don't know if I would've ever trusted him--even now a shiver is going up and down my spine just thinking about it, and thinking what might have happened if his words never came true! We would've wondered who was this guy that our sweet, innocent Wyatt would be afraid of him, and what were his powers that he thought we'd eventually trust him, when we sure didn't then! And we would've been ultra-suspicious of him from then on!
Of course, Paige and I wanted to know what happened when Piper returned to her room with Wyatt's bottle. Chris was no longer there, but suddenly someone orbed in, wearing a robe. Of course, Paige and I knew who it was and so did Piper as soon as he put down his hood--it was Leo. You can imagine how happy Piper was to see him, so glad to know that he was safe.
Leo told her that it was lucky Chris was there. Chris?? Yeah, he distracted the Titans, so Leo could come down to us, but we didn't have much time. That's when Piper noticed the white in Leo's hair. Of course, you know why it was there, nephew mine, but Leo didn't--or if he did, he didn't want to admit it and neither did Piper. He figured it must be because he was Up There so long, but when they began to head for the stairs, Elf Nanny walked by and bowed to Leo Piper tried to tell him that it was just Wyatt's father, but she knew better, and so do you.
They walked into the living room, where Paige and I were reading up on the Greek gods, now frightened out of our wits, even more frightened than when we had to battle the Source of All Evil. How could we possibly defeat a guy like Cronus who swallows his own kids alive so they don't overthrow him? We heard the smile in a familar voice as Leo told us that that's just a myth. Shrieking with joy, we ran to hug him as we welcomed him home.
He wanted to know what we had for him, and we made it clear that we had nothing that could defeat the Titans. Piper smiled, saying this pointed out how much our family needed him. But Leo didn't think so. He said it's not because we were goddesses, but rather that we're the Charmed Ones, the greatest force of good known to humankind, infused with the goddess' powers. We smiled--he was doing it again! My confidence was coming back and so was Paige's focus!
Chris Perry simply stood back, crossed his arms defensively and glared at Leo the whole time. I wanted to grin and say, "You better start taking notes, Future Boy! This is how to be our Whitelighter!"