Back to the Past

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Two: Ruined Wedding

Matt felt as though he were being flung through a very tight tube the moment that he stepped into the time portal. He could see Perry ahead of him and Jared was right behind him as a light appeared at the end of the blue and white tunnel.

The next thing that he knew, he was lying flat on his stomach, groaning as he slowly got to his feet. Instantly, he was shoved back down as Jared landed on top of him. "Hey! Watch where you're landing!" he said. His brother quickly apologised as he got off.

Perry was looking around at their surroundings. "Well, we made it here," he said. "Wherever here is."

"Whenever here is, you mean," Jared said quickly, an amused smirk on his face. Perry swore at him as Matt walked out of the living room, peering around the corner, letting out a low whistle.

"You sure that we didn't make it to a coronation site, Per?" he asked. His brothers were instantly at his side and Perry's mouth dropped at the sight. The entire first floor had been redecorated for a wedding. Flowers were everywhere and decorations hung from floor to ceiling.

"Guys," Jared whispered. Matt and Perry looked at him. "I think that we should hide out for awhile. This is Mom and Dad's wedding, I think. The first time that they tried to get married."

Perry arched his eyebrows at his youngest brother. "You mean when Uncle Wyatt—the evil one—came back from the future and tried to abduct Mom?" he asked. Jared nodded and Perry swore under his breath. "Great, this is just great. Now what do we do?"

"Wouldn't it be safer to stay here and help?" Matt pointed out, worried about his mother's safety. After all, if something happened to her, then they wouldn't be born. Not to mention, after everything that she and his father had been through in the original future, they deserved to be happy.

"Maybe, but then we'd be messing with the past and that's something that Dad warned us not to do whenever we did any time travelling," Perry pointed out.

"Well, Gathus is going to do that anyway, if he attacks Mom and Dad!" Matt shot back. "He'll be trying to alter our own future!" The middle brother glared at Perry, blue eyes blazing at Perry's jade ones. "He could be trying to kill Mom and Dad so that we won't be born. That could be the very reason why he came back here."

Jared scratched his head as he considered this. "You got a point there, bro," he remarked.

With a sigh, Perry nodded. "Yeah, I hate it when he does that," he grumbled. Matt rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. Jared chuckled, amused at his older brothers. "Which is why I agree with Jared; we should get out of here for awhile. When it's time for the wedding, we come back and keep an eye on things. Not interfere, in case we're wrong and Uncle Wyatt doesn't attack today, but in case it does, we'll be able to help."

Without waiting for his brothers' approval of the plan, Perry orbed out. Matt looked at Jared and sighed, shaking his head and making his red curls fall out of place. "Why do I have the feeling that this is going to end badly?" he wondered out loud, taking Jared's hand and orbing him and his brother out of the manor, following Perry.

--

"Girls, it's show time!" Grams called from where her spectral form stood at the altar. Chris was standing right in front of her, his dad and grandfather on his right as the music began playing.

Chris grinned as the music began to play and his mom and aunts walked down the stairs decked out in the bridesmaids' dresses that Jaina and Piper had spent weeks working on.

"Your mom looks beautiful," Leo said softly to Chris, his green gaze fixed upon the love of his life. Piper was still only a few months pregnant with Chris, barely even showing yet, but she was still glowing with enthusiasm as she looked at her adult son.

"Yeah, she does," Chris agreed in an undertone, amazed at how quickly his dad and him had finally sorted through their problems, something that he thought was never going to happen.

As "Here Comes the Bride" began to play through the CD player, Jaina appeared at the top of the stairs, looking more beautiful than Chris had ever seen her—although his opinion was a little bit biased, seeing as how he was marrying her.

Leo walked over to Jaina as she descended the stairs, tucking her arm underneath his own as they followed the sisters' footsteps over to where Chris were standing. Chris smiled broadly at her and the smile that she returned was enough to light up all of San Francisco. Honestly, he couldn't believe how lucky he was, to be here, marrying the love of his life, here in front of all the people that he cared about. It was more than he could have ever have imagined or hoped for.

"You ready for this, Jaya?" he asked softly and she nodded, grinning at him broadly.

"I've been ready for this for fifteen years, Chris," she told him. Chris grinned back at her, taking her hand as they faced Grams, who immediately began the ceremony.

Chris grinned and they faced Grams, who was smiling at the crowd. "We are gathered here to today, to unite two souls as one," she started the ceremony. "Do you, Christopher Halliwell, and you, Jaina Cromwell, join us here of your own free will, to acknowledge the eternal bond shared by the both of you?"

"I do," Chris answered.

"I do," Jaina answered.

Grams nodded and was about to tell them to recite their vows when a loud crash emerged from the living room.

Jaina's head snapped towards the sound and Chris was about to investigate the noise when his dad stopped him. "Just keep going," he ordered Grams, disappearing into the living room.

Before Grams could even try and tell them to recite their vows—if she was even going to—Leo let out a yell from the living room. Phoebe and Paige immediately excused themselves from the wedding, heading off to help their brother-in-law.

"Jaina, stay with Mom," Chris ordered as he released her hand and hurried off towards where his aunts had gone. He knew perfectly well that it was only going to irritate her later, him going off to fight these demons without her, but it was going to be near impossible to tackle demons in a wedding dress.

"Chris, wait!" Jaina protested. Chris glanced back at her and saw the fearful look in her eyes before he joined the fight that was going on in the living room. His dad and aunts were in the mess of it and he went to go help them. It was only then that Chris heard a voice that made him go immobile.

"Hello again, Christopher."

His mouth went dry at the sound of it and he slowly turned around, his hair whipping around into his face as his green eyes met the crystal blue ones of his brother. "Wyatt," he breathed.

Wyatt Halliwell—the Wyatt Halliwell from his own time—was standing behind him, smirking. "So you were getting married and didn't bother to invite your own brother?" he said mockingly, walking closer to Chris. "I thought that Mom taught you better manners than that."

Unable to speak for a moment, Chris finally managed to regain his composure. "What are you doing here, Wyatt?" he asked quietly, keeping a close eye on Leo and the sisters in case they got in trouble.

"Well, for one thing, I couldn't very well go and miss my own brother's wedding, now could I?" Wyatt smirked, taking another step towards Chris. "For another, I have to come and retrieve something that belongs to me." There was a dangerous glint in his eyes. "Something that you have stolen from me."

Chris laughed; he couldn't help it. "I stole something that belongs to you?" he echoed. "And what might that be?"

"Interesting question," Wyatt replied just as Piper and Jaina appeared in the doorway. Jaina's face went pale at the sight of her foster brother and Piper's eyes went wide when she saw the same son that she had seen when she went to the future almost a year ago. "Hello, Mother. Jaina, as radiant as ever." He made a mocking bow to her.

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Jaina growled, her hands into fists. "What do you want?"

"Exactly what I was about to explain to my brother here," Wyatt answered, glancing at Chris, whose face had become expressionless. "Just you." Something flickered behind Jaina's eyes, but it went by so fast that Chris wondered if he had imagined it. "Now, if you'll be so kind, I'll just take Jaina here and be on my way."

"Yeah, I hate to break it to you, but you're going to have to get through us first," a voice spoke up. Jaina whirled around, her red hair flipping in her face as she saw three teenage boys standing on the staircase. Her jaw dropped at the sight of them.

One of them—clearly, the oldest—was made in the image of Chris, although there was some deliberate mistakes. The mouth was wider, the eyes a little brighter, but that was mostly because Chris had lived through eight years of war, darkening his eyes. But just by glancing at him, anyone could mistake him for Chris if they didn't take a second glance.

The other two were clearly his younger brothers. Closest to him in age was a redheaded boy with Jaina's elaborate curls and vivid blue eyes, although instead of Jaina's short height, he was taller than she was, nearly as tall as his brother.

His younger brother, too, was tall. He had dark hair like Chris, but there was a definite resemblance to Jaina herself in his face, as well as her eyes. Her heart began to beat rapidly in her chest as she stared at the boys. Instantly, her mind was thrown back to a year ago on the bridge, when her father had told her about the three children that she was destined to bear to either Wyatt or Chris. She had chosen Chris and knew that it was his children that she would bear one day. And there was no doubt in her mind exactly who these boys were.

"Oh, my—" she whispered but Wyatt cut her off, glaring at the newcomers as though they were intruding.

"Who are you?" he demanded, the icy look in his eyes enough to cast San Francisco in winter. "And what makes you think that you can stop me?" He actually sounded a little amused that three teenage boys thought that they had a chance against the lord of all darkness.

The middle boy wasn't paying attention to him; his attention was fixed upon Jaina. He ran up to her and hugged her tightly. Jaina was surprised, but not displeased as she reluctantly returned the hug, staring at him in delighted amazement as her future son released her, looking up at her with her own vivid blue eyes.

"Mom, you look great," he told her with a grin.

"Mom?" Chris repeated, his jaw dropping as he looked at the remaining boys on the staircase.