Chapter 7

Chris was happy the attention was off his cousin and Sam had not blurted out anything that would have revealed their true identity. However, he was dissatisfied at the fact that the attention he was now receiving. They probably wanted to pry more into his personal life and his past. He fought to push back the growing annoyance; heck they might ask about a totally opposite thing.

Maybe they were going to say that they would start to help him more with the demon hunts. The list of possible threats to Wyatt was long and still incomplete. He would never cover the whole list by his deadline. But he still had time, right? There was still hope.

'Doubt it,' he suddenly thought smugly.

The sisters still seemed stiff with the presence of a stranger. Piper picked Wyatt up from his playpen. He was staring at the newcomer. Sam stared back and shivered from the intense stare. Sam gave Chris a questioning look, unsure of the child. Chris was sure the teen had never seen childhood pictures of Wyatt. Many things had gotten destroyed before Wyatt had turned the manor into a shine. So Chris inwardly smiled; here was his chance to help Sam get his mind off Paige being in the room. Chris once had a great deal of trouble being in the same room with his mom, when he had first arrived in the past. It was once been hard not to blurt out his identity to her. Chris nodded.

"That's Wyatt," he said.

"I thought he was older." Sam stated with a frown.

Piper held Wyatt a little tighter. She didn't know what to make of the conversation that was starting. She silently hoped for clue and facts about her son and the future, since Chris was so tight-lipped.

"How old did you think he was, twenty-five?" questioned Chris with a smirk.

Phoebe could sense what Chris was trying to do. The teen was becoming more relaxed and himself. 'Sam must be his charge,' she thought as she and Piper sat down on the attic couch, Wyatt in Piper's lap. Paige sat on the arm of the couch, quietly observing the teen.

"No. Two-and-a-half. Wasn't he acting weird around that time?" commented Sam.

Chris just frowned and shrugged. He pulled a stool closer to the sisters and his younger cousin, and sat down. He rolled eyes and sighed when the kid sat on the floor near him, legs crossed and waited for the next events to unfold. Wyatt giggled when Sam grinned widely when he saw Chris's reaction.

Phoebe's smile faded when she realized the mood was about to change for the worst as they were about to talk about a very sad topic.

"Chris…" Chris looked at Phoebe. He looked so relaxed around his friend, she hated what she was about to do. "We know."

Chris stiffed; he looked more guarded and suspicious. Sam looked confused, hopeful, and curious.

"About?" whispered Chris just loud enough to be heard. His fingers played with a string on the hem of his shirt. His eyes darted to each of the sisters' faces, as if trying to figure out if what they knew was good or bad.

"Your mother's and sister's death," said Piper. Sam and Chris flinched. The mood changing was tangible. Sam became sorrowful and anxious, constantly looking at Chris. He looked like he wanted to comfort the now emotionless whitelighter.

Making a decision, the boy stood up and placed a hand on the shoulder of the immobile Chris. The only sounds came from Wyatt playing with the ribbon.

"How?" asked Sam, breaking the uncomfortable silence. He seemed to be speaking for Chris. Piper gestured to the ribbon as Phoebe explained.

"Premonition." She felt guilty for even saying it. She hoped Sam was polite enough not to read her mind. She somewhat feared he would tell his guardian angel. Then a random thought struck her, 'is that how my sisters felt about my powers?'

"What d-" started Sam, but Chris cut him off before standing up abruptly.

"Shut up, Sam!" snapped the older male. He grabbed the boy's arm and with one last hard look at Phoebe, the two disappeared in swirling blue lights.

The two males appear in the backroom, at P3. Chris let go of Sam and crossed his arms as he leaned against the desk. It was not hard to tell that Chris was irritated.

"What were you doing? Going to ask what she saw? Allowing her to pry and let her get away with it?" He growled. Sam remained quiet, just watching his cousin, who sighed heavily and ran his hand though his lengthy brown hair.

"Sorry, Chris, I was just trying to help." said the boy. Chris looked on for a second, and then looked at the clock, 9:45pm. Turning his attention to the boy again, Chris gave a small nod of understanding.

"I know, you just… Be careful of what you say. Ok?"

Sam nodded, now understanding that the older boy was going to be stubborn about giving up all of his issues concerning his mother's and sister's deaths. Chris didn't have hope that the Event could be changed.

"Good. Now get some rest, you're going back home tomorrow," Chris said, sounding exhausted. Sam rolled his eyes; his cousin could be so bossy sometimes. Scratch that; all the time.

As Chris sat at the desk to work on a lead after turning off all the lights expect a small desk lamp, Sam lay down. But before the teen fell asleep, he said one last thing.

"You could vanquish the one who planned it. There is always hope, man. It's what second chances are all about."

Chris looked at the now sleeping teen whose words echoed in his mind. 'Was he right?' he wondered. 'I wonder how different the future would be, my life would be, if the event was changed.'

He looked down at the papers in front of him. The papers were covered in notes and ideas, but the words seemed to blur as he thought back.

To the time, he was younger; to before he learned to survive on his own while caring for his shrinking family, to before he discovered he would have to fight his brother.