Disclaimer: I own nothing more than the Reeses sitting next to me.
Happy New Years. Hope yours is better than mine. I'm currently in a fight with my boyfriend.
"Has anyone seen Leo?" the first words out of Piper's words the next morning. Chris looked up sharply, then his eyes diverted back to the bowl of cereal in front of him.
"No. Not since...the cave. Why? I thought you were done with him anyway?" he said, not able to keep the slight bitterness out of his voice.
Patience tried to catch her cousin's eye across the table, but apparently Special K was more interesting than she was. She sat back and sighed, taking a bite of her Cheerios. She knew how much Chris hated Leo: and for good reason too. After all the missed birthday parties, and the 'boys day out' with.. Wyatt, and only Wyatt, Patience had grown to have a certain distaste for the man too. And she had never even met him before she pulled Chris off of him. Wyatt had killed Leo shortly after he "snapped." She often found it ironic: Wyatt killed him, yet he was the one showered with praise, and attention. If anything, Patience would have thought that Chris would kill him.
She looked up at her cousin again through thick eyelashes. But he could never do that. Chris, in all reality, had a heart of gold. Which made Patience even angrier when she heard the stories about how he was treated in his family, before their deaths.
In fact, even in the present, or the past he was treated with a certain distrust that drove Patience crazy. If something didn't happen, and soon, Chris was still going to grow up in a house where he was the enemy.
"Goddamn the government!" Phoebe yelled, storming into the kitchen in another tight outfit. Patience looked at her and shook her head, smiling. No wonder she was sleeping with her boss, if that was what she called a work outfit...
"What are they doing now?" Chris asked in amusement, leaning back on two legs. Phoebe slammed the newspaper down on the table.
"They won't legalize abortion!" Chris dropped back on all fours as Patience choked on her orange juice, her stomach rolling.
It was often wondered in the Halliwell household why Phoebe, after she had been raped, hadn't gotten an abortion. Chris was too young at the time to ask his aunt such a thing, and by the time he was old enough to ask her such a personal thing and get a real answer, they would barely pass him the rolls at the dinner table.
Chris eyed Patience warily as she tried to stop choking, but turned to Phoebe when their eyes met and said, in a shaky voice, "I didn't know you supported abortions." Phoebe nodded.
"Of course I do. I mean, only in certain situations. Like, if you're married and suddenly you're pregnant but don't want to give up your career or something, then I oppose it. I believe you should let what happens happen. But there are some sick people in this world, and some of them will like rape a woman, just to get her pregnant. In which case, I think you should be able to dispose of the wittle baby immediately." she said, grabbing some juice and chugging it. Patience gripped the table and tried not to faint. Chris glanced at her and pressed on.
"So like, if a woman gets raped and then, finds out she's pregnant, she would go to get an abortion? I mean just because of the way she's conceived, doesn't really mean anything.." he said, shrugging. Phoebe shook her head violently and didn't speak for a moment, a gesture which meant she felt very passionately on the subject.
"Absolutely not. I refuse to give such a monster the satisfaction." Phoebe said, putting her hands on her hips and looking at Chris as if daring him to argue against her. Chris knew better. He got up and came around the back of the table, and then put a firm hand on Patience's shoulder. She looked up at him breathing deeply. Phoebe frowned. "Is she ok?"
"She's fine. She just choked on her juice. Wrong tube, you know? We'll be back later. Got... umm supernatural stuff to do." Chris said nervously and orbed them both out. After they were gone, Phoebe turned to her sister and crinkled her nose.
"Supernatural stuff?" she said confused. Piper shrugged.
"Don't ask me."
Chris and Patience landed in P3 a moment later. Patience leaned over the trash basket and gagged, trying to take deep breaths. Chris sat back against the wall, his face in his hands. Patience sighed deeply, then skooched over next to him, laying down, putting her head in his lap and closed her eyes, feeling dizzy. He looked down at her, and stroked her head lightly, before sighing also.
"What are we going to do? I mean, if Phoebe, I mean Mom doesn't become... Mom, then I'll disappear." Patience said frightened. She opened her eyes, her sapphire gems looking deeply into Chris' concerned emerald jewels. He sighed.
"We have no control over that." he said finally, as the realization dawned on him. "That's not for another 7 years. Wyatt was turning evil before then." he said, sighing. "There's nothing we can do, except hope that whatever happened in our future's past, happens in the present's future." there was a moment of silence when both Patience and Chris sat there, then they both burst into laughter.
"Did that make any sense at all?" Chris said laughing. Patience nodded.
"Frighteningly, yes, yes it did."
"Chris!" Chris sat up straighter, sticking a finger in his ear and wiggled it around a bit, making a face. "You know, whenever Paige calls me, it always tickles my ear." he said in awe. Patience giggled as he disappeared in orbs.
A moment later Chris formed on the couch. He stood quickly.
"What?" he said, cooly.
"We found Leo." Phoebe sighed sighing, massaging the bridge of her nose. "He's on Valhalla again." Chris felt the blood leave him.
"Obviously they want him a lot more than we do. Just leave him be, and let's focus on the new demon Patience and I almost got ourselves killed trying to fight." Chris said briskly, making it up as he went along.
"Chris!" Piper said angrily. "He's the father of my boy. I can't just leave him in there." Paige came back down the stairs again, holding 3 Valkaryie necklaces. She put one on and handed on each to her sisters. As they put them on, they morphed into a warrior's outfit. Chris sighed and just walked out the door.
"Chris-!" he ignored them, and headed into the kitchen where he got a drink of water. He took a few deep breathes, before heading into the Living Room.
It was a few hours later before the Portal appeared again. Chris had fallen asleep on the couch watching the Price is Right its medicinal, I swear, and his groggy green eyes opened just in time for Piper, Phoebe, Paige, and Leo to come out of the portal. Chris sat up, rubbing his eyes. As soon as Leo spotted him he raced over and picked him up the collar, throwing him against the wall. Chris fell, crashing the DVD cabinet as he went down. He groaned from the wreckage and tried to stumble to his feet. Before he could even get to his knees Leo picked him up and threw him again, this time against the big television. Chris contorted in pain as he landed right against in, and fell face first onto the coffee table. When he got up his nose and mouth were bleeding.
"Leo, wait-" he moaned. The girls behind him were screaming at him to stop, but he wouldn't nor would he freeze. It was just then that Patience shimmered into the room.
"Ohhhh Chrissy boy!" she said delightfully. She turned around and gasped as Chris came flying into another piece of furniture, smashing it again to smithereens. Her sapphire eyes narrowed at Leo's back and she went running forward, launching herself onto him. She grabbed his neck and wrapped her legs around him, kicking him in the stomach and then in the groin. As he fell to his knees Chris stumbled to his feet and stared at her.
"PATIENCE NO!" he screamed suddenly, dashing over to her, fear in his eyes. The Sisters ran over to him always, but he ushered them back as he stepped back himself.
"Don't touch her!" he warned, a hint of worry and sadness in his voice. "It's not Patience anymore. It's the Water Mage."
"Who the hell is the Water Mage and what the hell did he do to Patience?" Piper snapped, staring at Patience's all glowing blue eyes and the small ball of rippling, glowing blue energy she held preciously in her hands. Chris sighed deeply.
"Patience is the Water Mage. It means she has the ability to control water. But when she gets too angry and she uses to much of her emotions or powers at once, the Water Mage takes full control." Chris explained. "I was supposed to teach her how to control it. But I never got the chance. Things with the Resistance had been too busy... and I was planning this trip..." he dragged off.
"This is no excuse Christopher." said an unearthly voice from around them. He winced, and suddenly standing next to Patience was a plump black woman, clad in long, elegant white robes. Chris immediately bowed deeply at her feet. The Sisters eyed each other. Were they supposed to copy him? "When I assigned you Patience's fautoris, you swore that your emotional ties to each other would not get in the way." The woman thundered, looking down at Chris like a fierce mother.
"I know ma'am." he said softly, still in a bow, his eyes trained on the floor. "My priorities were askew. It will be fixed immediately. The first thing I will teach her is the proper time to embrace her Mage." he said, biting his bottom lip.
"Stand child!" she ordered, and Chris immediately stood from his bow and took a soldier's stance. "Christopher Halliwell. I entrusted to you the life of a Water Mage, from which I bestowed into Patience Halliwell. By order of her mother you were to be the best protector for her!" the woman thundered angrily, and the whole room trembled. The room was still for the Sisters though. Only two things could run through their minds... "Patience Halliwell, Christopher Halliwell..."
"Something that still baffles me to this day, your Goddessliness." Chris stuttered out. "My Aunt was never particularly found me,"
"Your entire family was never particularly fond of you, Christopher. Something that was meant to toughen your skin for the life ahead of you. The Fates saw to it." the woman interrupted. Chris nodded feverishly.
"Yes, but why would she assign me as Patience's fautoris? I don't think she ever even planned to see Patience again... and yet..."
"When you were only a toddler, I came to your Aunt. She had recently had a vision of her daughter, and you, working together, as fautoris and mage should. She knew then that it was the right thing to do, for her daughter. I will admit, Phoebe was stubborn at first. She wanted to assign Wyatt, as Patience's fautoris. But I had already seen the future, far before she could. Christopher Perry Halliwell, only you can get Patience out of her Mage state. I trust you remember how?" Chris smiled and nodded uncertainly.
"Yeah I do... but, could you possibly stick around, just in case I forgot a step?" he said, giving her a large grin. She looked down her nose at him, but her lips tugged upward in a smile. She nodded gruffly and Chris placed his hands on her forehead, before closing his eyes and saying in a perfect Latin tongue, "Apsolvo hic mage," there was a long moment, where Chris stayed absorbed. And finally Patience came out of it, her eyes returning to their normal sized sapphire blue color, the ball disappearing. When Chris opened his eyes the woman was gone and Patience was coughing lightly. He rubbed her on the back lightly.
"Deep breaths Paye." he said in a soothing voice. A moment later, Patience's breathing was back to normal, and Chris pulled her into a hug. "Don't do that to me again, ok Paye?" Paye nodded, and they pulled away turning around, before they froze suddenly, the three Halliwell sisters staring at them in utter disbelief.
"Halliwell?"
all secrets are out. how will the sisters handle it? find out... next chapter. :) read and review.