Chapter 6- Differences of Opinion

Piper was somewhat surprised to see Leo and Chris hugging each other so fiercely when she and the others finally entered the attic. She figured they had given them enough time to talk and now it was time to get some much needed answers.

"Everything alright?" she asked, when neither one seemed to notice the sisters' presence.

The pair broke apart quickly, looking somewhat embarrassed. She noticed that both of them seem to be a little teary eyed and she wondered what their conversation had been about that had upset them so much.

"Yes," LEO responded quickly. "Just catching up."

Piper was starting to feel a little guilty about interrupting them, but not enough to ignore the fact that the spell brought LEO here for a reason. "We were wondering if we could talk about Wyatt," she said, glancing down at the toddler she was carrying on her hip.

"But we could come back," said Phoebe, feeling all of the tension in the room.

Piper shot her a look and Phoebe shrugged in response.

"That's alright," said Chris. "I'd like to know what LEO has to say about Wyatt's turning myself."

Piper placed Wyatt in his play pen with a few toys and joined her sisters, who had sat down on the couch. LEO and Chris had pulled a couple of chairs from the table over to sit on, but Leo had opted to sit on the arm of the couch near his ex-wife.

"So what happens to my little nephew that he becomes evil?" asked Phoebe directly.

LEO opened his mouth to reply, but was cut off by Chris.

"Before he says anything, I'd like to see the spell that you wrote so that we know exactly what you asked for," he interrupted.

"Is that really necessary? It brought him here, didn't it?" asked Piper, gesturing towards the future version of her ex-husband.

"I'm not going to allow him to tell you anything until I read it. If we're not careful with information about the future there could be-"

"Consequences," Piper finished for him with a roll of her eyes. "I get it. Do either of you still have it?" she asked her sisters.

"I do," said Paige, raising her hand. She reached in her pocket, where she had stowed the spell earlier, and pulled it out. She handed it over to Chris who quickly read it before passing it on to the other two Leo's.

"Innocence corrupted, A good witch turned, Protecting Wyatt is what we yearn. A future of darkness will come to be, Reveal the evil responsible to me."

"It looks alright to me," said Leo, glancing over the spell. "I don't see anything wrong with LEO telling us anything."

Chris nodded somewhat reluctantly. "I will allow it, but within reason," he said.

"Don't worry. I'll be discreet," said LEO, looking over at the young whitelighter. He knew already just how careful he had to be about this.

"But how do you know for sure what made Wyatt turn? I've gone over it all a thousand times and I'm no closer to figuring it out than I was before," said Chris, frustration etched into his face.

"I know because Wyatt told me," LEO said simply, "during one of his visits to my cell."

"He told you what turned him evil?" asked Chris in disbelief. "But he doesn't even believe in good and evil anymore. He thinks its all about power."

LEO nodded. "You're right about that. But he said he knew what the turning point was for him. It was the day that he decided that he needed to be in control... of everything."

"Well, what happened?" Piper asked impatiently.

LEO sighed and looked away. He was beyond exhausted by now but he knew this difficult conversation still had to take place. "It's hard to explain…"

"Well, try!" she said, her irritation growing.

"Piper, give him a chance. This is probably hard for him," Paige chided her older sister.

"Well this is hard for me too! I don't want to hear that my baby will grow up to be evil!" Piper said defensively.

"But you haven't lived to see that yet," said Phoebe, taking her sister's hand to comfort her. "LEO has… so give him some time."

"Alright," said Piper. "I'm sorry to push, but I just need to know."

LEO rubbed his face tiredly with his hands, looking at a loss as how to begin. He glanced at Chris, wondering if he should ask him to leave the room, but knew that it wouldn't happen anyway. He'd just have to do this as carefully as possible as to not upset the young man.

"It will happen 14 years from now…" he began.

"But I thought that the evil that gets to Wyatt happens when he is a baby?" Paige asked in confusion. "At least that was what Chris told us."

LEO shook his head, surprised by Chris's mistaken belief. "Why did you think that?" he asked.

Chris leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. "Because I can't remember a time that Wyatt was ever taken, so I figured that it must have happened before I was born," he said with a shrug.

"I understand why you might have thought that. But what triggers evil inside of Wyatt happens when he is a teenager," LEO explained.

"That can't be right. He was never taken then," Chris argued. "And anyway he was much too powerful then to be kidnapped by a demon. He could have easily vanquished them. It has to happen when Wyatt is still young."

LEO knew this would be difficult, but he never imagined just how much. "Chris, Wyatt didn't turn evil because of something that happened to him. It was because of something that happens to someone else… 14 years from now…"

"NO!" Chris shouted, jumping up from his chair so fast that he knocked it over. "That's not what happened! You're wrong!"

LEO wearily stood up beside him. "I know this is hard for you, but trust me when I say-"

"NO! I'm not listening to this and you aren't going to tell them anything else!" Chris yelled. "Whatever happened to Wyatt has to occur in the next few months."

Leo shook his head. "If that were true we would have seen the signs earlier, not after-"

"Stop it! You're wrong!"

"What's going on?" Piper asked, trying to get a word in edgewise. "What happens in 14 years?"

"Nothing you need to know about!" Chris yelled at her.

Piper was taken aback. Chris may be sarcastic and a little rude at times, but he had never spoken to her like that before.

"Excuse me? If this is about my son or something that will affect him so deeply that he turns away from good, then yes I need to know about it!" Piper argued. "Maybe you're the one responsible and you just don't want us to know."

"You're right. This is all my fault, at least that's what LEO thinks!" Chris spat, his eyes a torrent of emotions.

Piper opened her mouth in surprise. "I knew I should have never trusted you!"

Chris turned away from them slightly, shaking from suppressed emotions. He looked as though he were ready to run or orb out of it there at any moment.

"Leave him alone!" LEO yelled at his wife. "You don't understand anything. What happens isn't Chris's fault so don't you ever say anything otherwise again!"

Piper was taken aback once more; surprised to be spoken to in such a manner by someone she had always considered a pacifist. She looked to the present version of Leo and saw that he was just as astonished as she was.

She was suddenly alerted to the sound of crying coming from the play pen. All of the shouting had upset baby Wyatt. Piper was about to retrieve her baby boy, when Paige held up a hand.

"I got him," she said, hurrying to her nephew.

She quickly picked him up and began bouncing him and shushing him in his ear to calm him. Not wanting to miss anything, Paige began to walk him back and forth across the attic, a little away from the others, still bouncing him and whispering sweet words in his ears. Wyatt's cry softened to a whimper, and then finally stopped completely.

"Chris, just hear me out… Please…" LEO begged, grabbing Chris's arm to prevent him from walking away. "If I can save her… If I can save you… then it would be worth any consequences."

"You don't know that. You could just make things worse," Chris countered, turning back to look at him.

"I thought we were saving Wyatt," muttered Leo, from where he still sat on the arm of the couch.

"We are!" LEO yelled at his younger self. Realizing that all of this anger wasn't doing any of them any good, especially little Wyatt, he took a steadying breath. "I just need to explain… but I may need Chris' help."

Chris shook his head adamantly. "I don't want to talk about it… They don't need to know…"

"They won't understand otherwise," he tried to reason. "Please... Just let me explain and you can help me fill in any gaps. I wasn't there so I don't know exactly what occurred."

"Nothing happened!"

He sighed. "Chris, you know that's not true…"

Piper saw her middle sister wince suddenly in pain. "What's wrong?" she asked Phoebe.

"Just getting a little headache," she said, grimacing in pain. "All these emotions are making my head hurt."

LEO realized that he wasn't getting anywhere with Chris and so he tried a different approach. "I'm going tell them what I know whether you like it or not. It will be a lot more difficult to find the demons responsible without your help, but it's your choice. Will you help me?"

Chris shook his head and started to back away. "Nothing happened," he said once more, though he looked like he was trying to convince himself of that.

"Where are you going?" he asked when he saw that Chris was entering into his flight mode.

"Somewhere that's not here."

"Please stay…" LEO begged him.

Chris had never spoken about what had happened to him. Any attempt he had made to force him to had always ended badly. He knew better than making Chris relive those awful events, but he wasn't sure he could find the demons without him.

"I can't," Chris whispered forlornly.

"I know," Leo said softly. He reached out and gently held Chris's wrists in his hands, holding onto him as though he were talking to a small child. "But don't do anything… because you're upset with me."

Chris looked at him sadly, his eyes shining with tears he was still desperately trying to keep in check.

"Please," Leo pleaded. "Promise me…"

"I promise," Chris said.

LEO reluctantly released his arms and Chris orbed away without another word.

"What was that all about?" Paige asked him, joining the others now that Wyatt was calm in her arms.

"He's been through more pain than any of you will ever know," he revealed.

A/N: I know, I know. Why did I leave it there? Don't worry, my version of the "Event" will be revealed in the next chapter.