I know this is shorter then what I usually wrote lately, but I just really wanted to avoid having you wait soooo long again.

And there was a lot of minor things that needed to be done before I could really move on with the story. But now you can look forward to some more action and heartbreak in the next chappy.

But before that... How do you like this one?

Again I would like to thank aaaallllll my reviewers. I wouldn´t be doing this without you. So please keep sending them, so that I know, you´re still out there and haven´t given up on me yet.

MissHaunted- I was really worried, but when I read your message I couldn´t wipe the smile of my face! You made my day, what am I saying, my entire week, thanks a lot for that.

DimpleBulbo- Thank you!!!

TriGemini- Whow, Thank you for THAT review. That was easily the longest I ever got. And It´s nice to know that people really understand what my very complicated and at times confused brain is trying to tell you. Would like to hear what you think about the new chapter...

Chapter 11: Time

The night was rough for the Halliwells. Chris was plagued with nightmares to the point where Leo had to hold him down to keep him from thrashing around and hurting himself.

By 4 in the morning Chris´ sleep had finally evened out and he was in a deep slumber. Half an hour later Leo saw that Piper was too in the land of dreams lying next to their son. Seeing that he sent Phoebe and Paige to bed too. They were tired so they accepted his offer.

When the morning came and Piper was still in a much needed and deep sleep, Leo went downstairs to call Victor. He told him about the night and that Chris finally seemed to get better.

"And you really don´t want me to come over?" Victor asked.

"No, I don´t think that would be good right now. Chris gets a little confused sometimes. Then he can´t keep the timelines apart and mixes up present and future people and events. Yesterday he thought Phoebe was her future dead version."

"Dead? Oh my god!"

"Yes I know. I´m sorry to tell you that but apparently all three of them and Chris´ cousins died before their time in his future." You could hear in Leo´s voice how much the pure thought hurt him.

"The kids too?"

"Yes. But we don´t know what happened to you and how he might react when he sees you. We can´t risk another breakdown now that he finally seems to be better. But I promise I´ll come and get you myself when Chris is up for it. "

"Ok, just orb in then. You don´t need to call beforehand."

"Thank you. I´ll see you then Victor."

"Sure. Oh, and Leo?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for the call."

"Your welcome. Bye."

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When Leo came back to Piper´s bedroom he found Chris awake staring at the wall. He kneeled down next to his son to be in his field of vision. Leo put one hand on his forehead to check Chris temperature and was relieved to find it a little colder than a few hours ago though it still felt too high.

"Hey Chris, how are you feeling?", Leo asked him.

"Alive, I suppose?", Chris replied groggily.

Leo chuckled a little, "Yes, but seriously, does your head hurt or something? Do you want me to get you some painkillers?"

"No, it´s ok. To be honest I can´t feel anything right now but that happened the last time too. But I´m sure I´ll have to get back to you about those pills later... Where´s mum?"

"Right behind you actually. But she´s asleep. We had a long night. You worried us quite a lot in the last twenty four hours."

Chris shifted his gaze away from his fathers eyes to some random spot on his chest.

"I´m sorry"

"No Chris, there is nothing to be sorry for. We are your parents, we are supposed to be there and take care of you."

"I know, but I had hoped that it wouldn´t be that hard. That it wouldn´t knock me out like that."

"Chris, you did a noble thing there. Terribly stupid and I´m sure Piper´s gonna have a word with you, but nevertheless... You just shouldn´t have gone all by yourself, we could´ve helped you!"

"No, you couldn´t have..."Chris answered silently with a lot of sadness in his voice, so Leo decided to postpone that conversation." Anyway, where are the others?"

"Well, I sent your aunts to bed a while ago and Wyatt is at the Morris house for the night. And I just talked to your grandfather on the phone. He wants to come over as soon as you are up for it."

There was a little more life coming to Chris eyes when he heard that. "Grandpa?"

"Yes. He was worried about you,too. "

Chris was in deep thought for a second, then he looked back at his father.

"Dad? Would you mind getting him now? I´d really like to talk to him." he asked with his eyes getting a little moist. Leo saw this.

"You sure?"

"Absolutely. Please dad."

As it seemed to be very important to Chris Leo nodded. "I´ll be right back." he said and orbed out.

He returned with Victor a few minutes later. The elder man sat down next to Chris on the bed partly because orbing still freaked him out and left him feel nauseatic. They just looked at each other, one set of eyes worried the other seeking for help.

Leo noticed the uncomfortable silence and decided to leave the two alone for a while. He went to Piper´s side of the bed and scooped her up. "We´ll be in the guest room for a while. Just call if you need something." he said and got two thankful nods in return.

So he left the room closing the door behind him.

In the guest room he lowered Piper down to the bed as gently as he could and managed not to wake her up. Then he got down next to her and put his head next to her shoulder.

Before Leo closed his eyes he laid one hand protectively onto Piper´s swollen stomach. Already half asleep he felt her turning her head towards him and put one hand of her own over his which sent a smile to Leo´s lips.

Maybe we still have a chance.

Maybe it´s not too late.

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About two hours later Piper woke up. She realized that she was in the guest room and found Leo by her side with his arm still draped across her body, her fingers entangled with his.

"Leo?"

Leo opened his eyes and looked at her sleepily. "Oh, hi Piper." He sat up and pinched his eyes to clear his mind.

"How did we get here? Who´s with Chris?" Piper asked.

"I carried you here about..." he looked at his watch "... geez! Two hours ago! I didn´t mean to sleep that long." Leo sighed now fully awake. "Anyway, Chris seemed better this morning. He woke up and we talked a little. I think his fever went down a few degrees. I told him that I called Victor and he asked me to go get him because he wanted to talk to him."

"Oh, I understand."

"What do you mean, you understand?", Leo asked not quite getting what she was talking about.

Piper sat up too. "Apparently, after the so called "event" happened, Chris and my father got really close and according to Chris they talked a lot in the future. My dad seems to be the only person he trusts enough to actually open up to and confide in. I mean if dad hadn´t told me that something happened to me in the future I never would´ve known why Chris couldn´t take being around me for very long and avoided me after Phoebe and Paige told me who he was."

Leo looked troubled "Piper?"

"Yeah?"

"Where was I in that future?"

"I don´t know Leo ... I don´t know."

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Piper and Leo sat in silence for a few minutes both lost in their own thoughts. When the heard a knock on the door they snapped out of their trances and Piper said "Come in!"

The door opened and Victor walked in. "Hey you two. Did I wake you up?"

Piper smiled at him and got off the bed. She walked over to him and gave him a hug. "Hey dad." She hugged him a little longer than necessary. "Don´t worry. We woke up a while ago."

Leo joined the two. "How is Chris?"

Victor sighed "Well, he´s still pretty weak, but at least he´s asleep now. And his fever is quite high, but according to what you told me it was last night, he seems to be better."

Running a hand through her hair Piper took a deep breath. "Ok, why don´t you go downstairs and get a coffee and something to eat and I´ll go check on him."

But her father objected "No Piper, I don´t think that´s a good idea. Chris had real big problems falling asleep after we talked and I could hardly leave the room without waking him up again. He really needs to rest and I gave Phoebe the baby phone before I came here. It was on his nightstand and I thought it would be a good idea to keep an eye on him that way. So we´ll know if anything is wrong."

Piper wanted to object but she didn´t want to risk waking Chris up. So she gave in. "Maybe you´re right."

Victor looked at both of them. "Why don´t we all go downstairs and grab a bite. I´m sure we could all use it. And maybe you should also prepare something for Chris. He´ll need to eat to get his strength back."

When they got to the kitchen Phoebe and Paige were already sitting around the kitchen counter with a huge cup of coffee each. Phoebe had a hard time putting on a smile and asking them, "Hey, good morning. How are you?", because she already knew the answer.

Piper got herself busy making some tea for herself and handed two mugs of coffee end everything that was needed for breakfast over to Leo.

Piper growled "What would I give for some caffeine!!!"

But she knew that was off the limits and settled down with her tea next to the others. There was an uncomfortable silence in the room because they were all depressed and worried and felt that nothing they would say could actually make the situation any better.

So the family just sat together trying to find comfort in each others presence and having a little breakfast, though they all weren´t much into food right now.

When they finished eating and had their mugs refilled, Victor decided to finally break the silence.

"I know you´re all dying to know what Chris and I talked about and I will tell you. But first I need to ask a couple of things from you." He took a deep breath. The whole situation was hard for him too.

"First and foremost, do not ask him any questions about Pipers death. He doesn´t wanna talk about it."

Paige frowned. "But he doesn´t need to worry about future consequences anymore. He changed all that." The others faces showed that they were more or less wondering the same.

"Yes he has changed the future. But ours, not his. At least not yet. Events might be different now, but he still has the memories of his mothers death and he hurts. He hurts so badly that he is afraid that if he talked about it, brought it all back to his mind ... that it will never stop. That he will never heal.

What happened the past two days already forced him to remember and it pushed him to his limits. But telling you about it ... it would make it real.

Something he apparently for the past eight years has been trying to deny. Of course he knew that it happened, but... I mean, we all know more than anyone else what it´s like to lose somebody. How you struggle to think that it´s not real, that it´s just a bad dream, that one day you´ll wake up and everything will be fine..."

Lost for words Victor looked at the girls and Leo and Piper said, "Yes I think we know, what you mean and how much it hurts when the day comes where you do actually wake up."

"I don´t know any details about that day you died and what happened afterwards. But I can´t get rid of the feeling that whatever happened was just the beginning. That ever since then Chris never really had the time or the power to mourn properly. Something caused him to just bury the pain somewhere deep inside so that he was able to function and do whatever needed to be done."

Leo nodded. "Yes, that would explain some of his behavior and his breakdown. But not talking about it at all is not healthy either."

Victor took another zip of his coffee and replied, "That´s what I told him too. And I think he understood that. But the second thing I wanted to ask you was to give him time. Chris promised me to consider that on one condition."

"Which is?", Phoebe asked her father.

"That he would choose when that would be and we wouldn´t bug him until he feels ready for it. Just let him feel that it´s ok and that you understand why he needs it to be this way. The more comfortable he feels the sooner he will open up.."

Chris parents and aunts agreed on that as they were all willing to wait as long as Chris needed them to. They stayed in the kitchen a little longer, wile Piper started preparing a light soup for her son to eat when he woke up.