Back to the Past

by Lady Dawson

Chapter Three: Attack and Capture

The oldest of the three shook his head in exasperation at the boy who had called Jaina 'Mom.' "Nice going, Matt," he remarked. Chris felt a ripple of surprise fly through him at the name. Matt? "You know perfectly well what Dad says, don't you?"

"Something about not revealing who you are when you get knocked out of your time?" Matt said, looking at his brother tiredly. "Give me a break, Perry, it's not like they would've found out sooner or later."

Perry? Matt? Chris tried to pull his thoughts together, finally starting to understand what his own parents had been going through the last year. "Hold on a minute," he sputtered. "Are you . . .?"

"Your sons from the future, yeah," the youngest one said lightly. His vivid blue eyes, so like Jaina's, twinkled as they looked at his father. "Hi, Dad. Jeez, you haven't changed a bit."

"THIS IS YOUR FATHER?!?!?!" Wyatt yelled. Chris jumped, startled, and looked at his brother. He had almost forgotten that he was there. Wyatt was glaring at Chris with a mixture of loathing and contempt.

"Yeah," Matt said, looking surprised at the question. Jaina bit her lip, frowning slightly, and Chris caught her gaze. It was easy to see that—while she hadn't been expecting them to appear—she had known about them. How could she have known about them? "Why do you ask?"

"Long story," Jaina muttered, shaking her head slightly. She twisted a strand of her red hair, which had grown steadily more vibrant over the past year since she had escaped the war and havoc of the future. "The question is, what are you three doing here?"

"Oh, we were chasing a demon and then he escaped to the past," Matt said. Perry glared at him. Ignoring his older brother, he bantered on, "And so we pretty much think that he's trying to get rid of us and the best way to do that is to kill you guys so that we won't be born."

"Dude . . ." the youngest boy that Chris hadn't caught his name yet said. Matt looked at him questioningly. "I think Per's going to have a meltdown if you don't pipe down."

Jaina looked at her eldest son and suppressed a laugh; he had a look on his face similar to the one that Chris wore when he was freaking out about future consequences.

Before she could even comment on this, Wyatt interrupted her thoughts. "I don't have time for you children," he grumbled. Jaina looked towards her foster brother. "Look, I'm giving you this one chance, Jaina. Come with me and live. Otherwise—" He conjured an energy ball to prove his point.

Only looking at him warily, Jaina shook her head, wondering if he had completely lost it while they had been gone. "Wy, you might be able to pull that trick on your demons, but they're not going to work on me," she told him. "We've been through this before, remember? Right after the Event, when you offered both of us to join you? I refused you then and I'll refuse you until my dying day. And anyway," she added quickly, "you and I both know that you're not going to kill me. You need me alive."

"Mom, what are you talking about?" the youngest asked. Chris wondered the same thing as his brother's face coloured deeply and turned into a deep shade of furious scarlet. Why on earth would his brother need Jaina alive? And for what reason?

"Jared, not now," Matt said quietly, looking at his mother quickly.

"So . . ." Wyatt said quietly, keeping a trained eye on his future nephews while looking at Jaina. "Your father told you, then?" The energy ball dissolved in his hand.

"Yeah, he did," Jaina agreed, her face slipping back into the expressionless mask she had become accustomed to wearing in the future. "And even if he didn't, I would have figured it out eventually. I always knew that there had to be a reason why you kept me alive."

"That Whitelighter always did talk too much," Wyatt grumbled. "Should've gotten rid of him when I had the chance. He's given us a good bit of grief back home."

"Must be genetic," Matt said with a grin. Jaina looked at him, unable to suppress the chuckle that escaped from her.

Wyatt's eyes narrowed as he looked at him. "I think, boy, that you need to be taught a lesson on how to respect your superiors," he said coldly. The look in his eyes chilled the blood.

Quick as a wink, Jaina pushed Matt behind her, shielding her son from his uncle. Chris orbed out and reappeared in front of their other boys. "Harm any of them," Jaina said fiercely, "and you'll answer to me in blood." She had the air of a lioness protecting her cubs.

"You expect me to believe that you would kill me just so you could have your way?" Wyatt's laugh made Jaina cringe, used to it as though she was. Even though she had lived through his terror, night and day, for eight long years, she still did not like to think of this man—her foster brother—as her enemy. Because evil lord of the underworld or no, he was still her family. He was her brother, as much as he was Chris's.

"If you try to hurt any of our sons, then yes," Jaina snapped. She could feel Matt's surprise, though she ignored it. Hopefully, in their future, they will have changed all of this. The man that stood in front of her will have never existed.

Wyatt snorted. "You know, Jaina, you could have been a worthy ally, if you knew how to pick sides. Even a worthy consort. But you had to break the plan that I had set, didn't you?" His crystal eyes flew to where Chris was, glaring at Wyatt furiously. "You had to fall for the wrong brother."

"What are you talking about, Wyatt?" Chris was torn between exasperation and confusion. Jaina looked at her fiancé, unaware as to how to proceed with this.

But she didn't have to wonder how for long. Wyatt let out a bark-like laugh and shook his head, smirking broadly. "Don't tell me that you never told him, Jaina?" he said mockingly.

"Told me what?" Chris growled, looking at Jaina quickly. She quickly shook her head, trying to tell him to wait. Everything would be explained later. But by then it was too late.

"About the prophecy that was long ago foretold. That spoke of Mother's sons—in other words, us—and a young woman raised by a Charmed One but who wasn't their child." Chris's eyes flew to Jaina. "Yes, the prophecy referred to her and it was she who was supposed to be the mother of a trio of witches more powerful than the Charmed Ones. The father was to be one of the two of us, though the prophecy didn't indicate which one it was meant to be." The smirk placed across his lips again. "Amusing, isn't it? You find out you have sons, but they'll never come to be. She'll come with me and it's my children that she'll bear."

"Over my dead body," Jaina growled, trying to avoid Chris's gaze. Even without Phoebe's empath power—or being a telepath—she knew what he was thinking. Why hadn't she told him? How could she have told him, when they had so much going on around them, when they had enough worrying about Wyatt turning evil besides telling him that she was meant to bear his or his brother's children?

"Uh, Uncle Wyatt, I think it's kind of obvious that that won't happen," Jared remarked. "Seeing as how we're kind of standing here, right in front of you, as living proof?"

"Do all of you boys have a death wish?" Wyatt demanded, not looking happy. That was the understatement of the century. He was never happy. "Attack them!" he screamed at the ceiling.

Before Jaina could even react, demons started shimmering in. Jaina threw two of them against a wall. Chris blew two of them up. Matt made a gesture with his hand, throwing a cryokinetic blast towards some of them. Perry's eyes narrowed and two of them were vanquished. Jared orbed an energy ball into his hand and threw it to one of the demons. In a matter of seconds, the demons were gone. But to their surprise, more shimmered into the foyer.

"We could use some help in here!" Phoebe shouted from the living room.

"Yeah, well, we've got some problems of our own here!" Jaina shouted back. Piper, it seemed, had gone to help her sisters, ignoring the dangers to her unborn child. But, then again, so was Jaina. She made sure not to give Wyatt any reason to attack her than necessary. Because she knew that the tiny life that she was carrying inside of her at the moment was the same son that she saw grown up behind Chris.

"Mom, look out!" Matt yelled, shoving her to the ground. Jaina stared at her son as an energy ball grazed him and fell down beside her. She grabbed her son, terrified, as someone grabbed her from behind and she felt the sense of involuntary orbing.

The next thing she knew, the foyer of the manor vanished from sight and she landed inside a cage, locked securely, with her son beside her. Jaina looked at her son worriedly. "Matt, are you all right?" she asked worriedly, hoping that she hadn't misunderstood Perry when he had addressed his brother.

"Yeah," Matt mumbled, sitting up straight. He was a bit disoriented from the landing. "I'm fine." His blue eyes blinked up at his mother, then he shook his head. "Where are we now?"

"I'm not sure," Jaina answered, looking around at her surroundings now that she was sure that her son was safe. His injury wasn't serious, although it had to hurt. She had been hit by countless energy balls and although many of them weren't life threatening, they hurt like crazy.

Getting to her feet, Jaina crossed over to the cage door and tried to use her telekinesis on it to no avail. She frowned slightly reaching to the outside and yanking on the lock. Usually, locks would come right open whenever she touched them, but this time, nothing happened.

Looking back towards her son, Jaina managed a weak smile. "I think we're in trouble, honey," she said warily.