A/N: I had a question earlier about whether or not I was still going to incorporate the Gideon storyline from canon with my own and the answer is no. I never really liked the whole Wyatt-turned-evil-because-someone-he-trusted-betrayed-him story line. C'mon the kid was like two. How much do you remember when you were two? With everything that little boy had been through and saw when demons were attacking, why would Gideon be the one thing that turned him? I feel that what I put Wyatt through was much more traumatic and plausible. Plus it explains why he didn't display any evil tendencies until he was nearly an adult. I'm hoping you still are enjoying the story. Chris's identity will be revealed soon!

Chapter 8- Forgotten Memories

It was nearly midnight when Chris finally showed again. The group had not left the attic in the couple of hours since LEO dropped his bombshell, other than to give Wyatt a bottle and put him down to sleep for the night. They had searched the Book of Shadows to no avail and were currently brainstorming possible strategies of attack should they find the demons. Most of them were occupying the couch and the chairs they had dragged over earlier. Paige was still determinedly flipping through the Book.

"Hi," Chris said, looking very uncomfortable as he surveyed the group.

"Chris, you're back," said Phoebe, a smile spreading across her face.

"Yeah… sorry about leaving like that. I had to sort through some stuff," Chris replied, running a shaky hand through his hair.

"No, I'm sorry," said Piper rising to her feet.

This statement seemed to startle Chris greatly and he took a step backwards in shock. "What?"

"I'm sorry for how I treated you," Piper apologized.

"What?" he repeated, looking at her in confusion. Piper had never apologized to him for anything before and certainly not for her indifference towards him all these months. He began to worry that LEO might have slipped his identity. "Really?"

She nodded and she took another step towards him as if she intended to hug him or something. "I didn't realize that you were so close to the family in the future, and here I was treating you like a stranger."

"It's okay," he said, gently pushing her away.

He really was not ready for Piper to be hugging him or anything. It reminded him too much of her- his mother. He knew that they were really one in the same, but to stay sane while he was in the past he had to separate them in his mind as two different people.

"No its not," she said firmly. "Especially after I learned what you went through when we died."

Chris's heart skipped a beat. "You told them?" he asked LEO.

"Not everything…" he replied, hoping that Chris would appreciate his discretion. LEO rose to his feet and walked over to the far corner of the attic and motioned Chris over to join him.

Chris followed, knowing that LEO probably wanted to speak somewhat privately. When he had reached the older man, LEO reached out to him, gently taking Chris's wrists into his hands once more. "Are you alright?"

Chris hesitated for a moment and then nodded. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking down to for any tell tale signs that the opposite was true.

"I'm stronger than that now," he said softly, removing his arms from LEO's grasp and crossing his arms over his chest. "You don't have to worry."

Out of the corner of his eye he caught the strange look Paige had given him, but chalked it up to curiosity about his future relationship with LEO. She couldn't possibly know what he had been asking Chris.

Hoping to change the topic away from himself, he said, "I've been thinking over what you said… about Wyatt turning… and it makes sense. I don't know why I didn't think of it myself. I was so sure that something must have happened to him when he was younger that I didn't even consider any other possibility."

"It's okay," LEO said. "You didn't know. I probably would have thought the same thing."

"What did you tell them?" Chris wondered.

"Only what I had to. Just the basics."

Chris let out a breath in relief and nodded. He didn't think he'd be able to handle it if the sisters knew what had happened to him. The pair joined the others once more.

"So what you are going to do about the demons?" he asked the Charmed Ones, his arms still crossed over his chest.

"We're gong to vanquish every last one of those demons and stop our deaths from happening," said Paige, nodding her head as if it were a piece of cake.

Chris smirked. He knew that it wouldn't be that easy. "And do you know who they are?"

"Not a clue," she admitted, flipping through another page in the Book.

"Good start," he said, falling back in to the role of their annoying, sarcastic whitelighter.

"Thanks!" said Paige in a mocking tone.

"Chris, maybe you could help us," Phoebe began, rising from her seat to join the others around the podium.

"How?" he asked, already dreading where she was going with this.

"You were there during the attack… didn't you see anything that could help us?" she asked carefully. Now that they knew that Chris had been taken, she felt hesitant to put him through any of this, but knew that it was absolutely necessary.

Chris looked away and shook his head, not trusting his voice to say anything aloud. Truthfully he was probably no help to them anyway. He had fought for too long to forget everything that happened to him when he was taken. A mental block had formed as a result. As much as he wanted to save Wyatt… and possibly their mother, he was terrified to allow himself to remember any of those awful events. To do such would inevitably send him spiraling down a path of self destruction. They could never know the truth about what happened to him.

Paige stared at him in disbelief. "Really? Nothing?"

"No, alright?" Chris snapped at her. "I can't remember anything!"

"Sheesh… just asking," Paige said, holding her hands up in defense.

"How about a memory spell?" Phoebe suggested. "It could help you remember whatever you have suppressed."

Chris shook his head. "Bad idea. Last time you tried that Paige erased Piper's mind completely," he said.

Paige shifted uncomfortably still looking rather guilty about it all.

"Right… almost forgot about that one," Phoebe replied, looking disappointed.

Piper snorted. "I didn't."

"Sorry," Paige apologized to Piper once more, still looking quite sheepish. She flipped through a few more pages in the Book and said, "I'm beginning to think that the demons we're looking for aren't in here."

"You're probably right," said Piper. "It's most likely something that hasn't been dealt with before. Which means we won't know what we're up against until it's too late…"

Everyone gave her an incredulous look. "Sorry, bad choice of words."

"What if I tried to get a premonition off Chris?" asked Phoebe.

"Won't work," Chris said, shaking his head. "I've been around here for months now and you haven't gotten anything off me yet."

"Besides, you can't force your premonitions," Leo reminded her.

Phoebe seemed to think this over. "But what if we used a spell to help enhance them somehow?"

"What do you mean?" asked Piper, eyeing her skeptically.

Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know… maybe the spell can help direct the premonition so that I can tie into my empathic abilities or something. Maybe if I can see the memory that Chris- "

"Not going to happen," Chris said a little too loudly, as a shiver went down his spine. He was not about to let Phoebe see anything as personal as that. Besides, he had his identity to think about as well.

"Alright, fine," said Phoebe. "But it's something to think about."

"I think its time I went to see the elders about this," Leo said suddenly.

"What?" said Piper, looking reluctant to have Leo leave. "Do you think they know something?"

"I don't know, but it's worth a shot," he said, quickly orbing up to the heavens.

Chris sighed loudly and ran a tired hand over his face. "Seeing as we're out of options I guess I'll go to the underworld to see if I can find any leads," he said.

LEO was surprised by this knowing how much Chris had hated the idea of doing such a thing in the future. "Really?"

"Yeah, I have a few contacts that might be useful."

"I don't think that sounds very safe," LEO said, concern written all over his face.

"Don't worry," said Paige, waving him off. "Chris is in the underworld like all the time."

"Maybe I should come with you," he offered.

LEO dreaded the idea of returning to that awful place, especially after spending the last six years in a small cave in a remote corner of the underworld, but he wanted to help nonetheless. He knew that he wouldn't be of much use without his powers, but the thought of his son in the underworld alone simply terrified him.

Chris ignored him and orbed out before he could even protest. LEO whirled around in frustration only to find himself face to face with Piper, a smirk plastered on his face.

"You seem to send Chris running every chance he gets. What's up with that?" she asked.

"I guess deep down he's still upset with me," LEO shrugged. "I wasn't there for him when he needed me most."

"It will take some time," Phoebe offered, sensing how much pain LEO was in. "There's a lot of history between you, isn't there?"

LEO nodded.

"Wait, a minute…" said Paige looking as though she suddenly remembered something. "I thought you said that it took you three days to find Chris. Wouldn't he have seen what the demons looked like during that time or at least know where we might go to look for them?"

"I don't know," LEO admitted. "He's always said that he can't remember what happened to him. He's never talked about it with me, and I think to some degree he really has blocked it out."

"How old was he?" she asked.

"Fourteen."

"So young…" Phoebe said, sounding sad. "That had to be traumatic. No wonder he's blocked it out."

LEO merely nodded.

"But why don't you know what they look like?" Piper asked, seemingly confused. "I know you said that you weren't there during the attack, but you had to have seen them when you found Chris. Didn't you?"

"Actually, we didn't. Wyatt and I found him alone in an abandoned cave in the underworld," LEO explained, steadying himself by taking a shaky breath.

He would never forget the condition he had found his son in. Chris had been filthy, half naked, and nearly catatonic. He refused to speak a word about what had happened, but his numerous injuries had spoken volumes. The horror that Chris must have lived through nearly tore LEO apart. They could only assume that he was finally able to use his powers to get away somehow, but was unable to orb out of the chamber he had found himself in. It had taken him awhile to even recognize that his father and brother had found him.

"I think Wyatt may have figured it out later, but he never told me who they were," he said.

LEO and his eldest son had had a countless number of fights about the fact that Wyatt had become hell bent on revenge. At the time LEO was desperately trying to care for Chris, nearly at his wits end with the distraught teenager. He had wanted to chase after Wyatt on more than one occasion and drag him back home, but it had been too dangerous to leave Chris alone. Wyatt hadn't really understood why his father didn't want to vanquish the demon's himself or why he tried to stop him at every turn. Wyatt was struggling too much with his own grief to realize that his father simply wanted to keep him safe. To lose another family member or to find them in the same condition as Chris was in would have sent LEO over the edge.

Paige screwed her face as if she were trying to concentrate. "You said that it takes place fourteen years into the future and that Chris was fourteen when he was taken…. so does that mean that Chris is like a baby now?" asked Paige, looking surprised.

"Or maybe he hasn't been born yet," Phoebe offered.

"Something like that," LEO admitted.

"That's interesting. You said that we're close to his family," said Piper. "Do we know them already?"

"I can't tell you that," he said firmly.

Piper sighed, looking defeated. "Whatever."

LEO rubbed his face tiredly. It had been an extremely long day and the weakness he was still feeling from his captivity only magnified the emotional exhaustion that had plagued him since coming to the past. It was to the point that he couldn't even think straight anymore.

The sisters must have noticed how tired LEO was, and they decided to call it a night. They would wait until morning to finish discussing all of this when their heads were hopefully a little more clear. By then they hoped Chris would have found something out or at the very least have an answer from the elders about which demons could cause their future deaths.

They headed down the stairs to the second floor and Phoebe and Paige headed to their own rooms respectively.

"I'll sleep on the couch downstairs," LEO said politely, as they paused in the doorway of Piper's room.

Piper shook her head and put a hand on his arm to stop him from moving. "No LEO, I want you to take my room tonight. I'm going to sleep on a cot in Wyatt's room," she explained.

LEO was surprised by this. "I can't take your bed. What about Leo?"

"What about him?" she asked.

"Why isn't he sleeping with you?"

Piper sighed. "Yeah, I've been meaning to ask you about that," she said.

"About what?" he asked, feeling rather confused now.

"I noticed you're still wearing your wedding ring," she said, taking his left hand into her own and tracing the ring he wore almost fondly.

"Of course I am. Just because you passed away, it doesn't mean I still don't honor our marriage," he said softly.

Piper smiled and released his hand. "That's thoughtful of you, it's just that there's something I don't understand."

"What?"

"Leo and I are broken up…"

This shocked LEO. "What? Why?"

"It's complicated… things just got too hard when Leo began an elder. I asked him to give me some space," she said. She then noticed the distressed look on LEO's face. "You look upset. What's wrong?"

"That didn't happen in my past… that shouldn't have happened…" LEO couldn't have been more upset with Chris just now. Not only had Chris jeopardized Leo's marriage to Piper, but he also put into question his own existence. "We were still together."

"I kind of suspected that, especially after Leo told me that you said you became an elder a couple of years from now," she said. "The timeline is changing again…"

LEO knew she was referring to her sister Prue. When Piper and her sisters had traveled to the future before, Prue was still alive and Piper saw that she had a daughter. A lot had changed from that original timeline and it seemed as though another one had already begun.

"Piper, I don't how to say this, but… my being an elder didn't cause our marriage to end in my timeline... it doesn't have to this time around either…"

Piper gave him a pained smiled. "Thank you for telling me that… now, I insist that you take the bedroom."

"I really can't. It's not right," he tried as she led him by the hand into the bedroom.

"No seriously. It's fine. I'm all set up in Wyatt's room and Leo can sleep on the couch downstairs if he returns from seeing the elders tonight. He hasn't been staying here anyway. You need to rest in a proper bed," she insisted.

LEO looked around bedroom fondly and admired the queen size bed. "I must admit, it's been a while since I've had a bed to sleep in."

"I figured as much." Piper turned to go but then turned back around at the last moment.

Before he realized what she was doing, she had crossed the distance between them and embraced him in a hug. She squeezed him tightly and he allowed himself to rest his forehead on her shoulder, breathing in her scent. It had been so long since he had held her like this and he had to remind himself that this wasn't his wife anymore.

"I'm sorry for leaving you…" she whispered.

LEO choked back a sob and pulled away quickly. He took a breath and composed himself, knowing he couldn't allow himself to breakdown in front of her. She had enough to deal with right now.

"Will you be alright?" she asked, sensing his pain.

LEO smiled at her thoughtfulness. Even after all these years he still loved her with all of his heart. "Yes, I'll be fine," he lied. "What about you? Are you alright?"

Piper paused a moment, as if choosing her words. "I'm just trying to come to terms that I will die young."

"That won't happen now," Leo said determinedly. "We're going to change it."

She nodded, looking uncertain, and bid him goodnight before quietly closing the door behind her.

LEO stripped down to his boxers and t-shirt and climbed into bed, barely noticing the softness of the sheets and blanket. Memories of sleeping beside his wife and making love to her in this very bed came flooding back and he quietly wept for his loss. Even being in the past couldn't quell his misery over losing her; it only made everything so much more fresh in his memory.

Exhausted as he was, LEO soon succumbed to a restless sleep. He had long become accustomed to his nightmares, but it didn't make them any easier to bear. Dreams of death and blood and pills and hospitals and demons and captivity and despair plagued him for most of the night. He could only pray that they could find the demon's responsible so that they could stop those future events from ever happening.

He owed Chris at least that much.

A/N: I know Chris seems to keep popping in and out of this story, but I swear he becomes a more prominent character in the rest of the chapters.