Chris looked over at the box of crystals he had on the table beside him ready to circle them if he needed should she get a little too survivalist on them. And even though she was standing right in front of him he could not believe he had allowed himself to get drawn into such a crazy scheme. Somebody was definitely going to pay for this, but clearly not today. So he shook his head to clear his mind and attempted to answer the young girl's question.
"Take it easy. If you look around for a second I'm guessing you recognize this place. You're at the Manor," Chris finally responded to her question.
"Thank you Captain Obvious. I know where I am physically, but since you aren't one of the three owners of this house that I know then my question still stands. Where am I?"
"You're in the in the attic of the Manor… about 22 years in the future. I'm Leo. I don't know if we've met before or not, but I believe you know my wife, in your time, very well. This is Wyatt," Leo pointed to his tall blonde slouching son, who was giving this girl what could very well be called the Halliwell once over. "And this is Chris."
Barely looking up at the girl Chris gave her a lackluster wave of acknowledgement.
"Mother of God, when the nuns told me I would be in nothing but trouble I don't think they had any idea what kind or how much. How is this even possible? Are the sisters here? I'm really freaking out here. The Wyatt and Chris I know are just almost talking and not potty trained."
"Whoa, I so don't need to hear that." It was the first thing Wyatt had said since she made her appearance.
"Why don't you come over here and sit down and maybe I can explain things the way I've come to know them." Leo reached for her hand and led her to the sofa across from the attic door. Surprisingly she extended her hand to him and seemed grateful for the opportunity to sit for at least a moment. Wyatt, following his father sat on the other side of the still unnamed girl before them. Chris proceeded to clean up the circle they had cast and kept eyeing the young lady with a great deal of suspicion.
"What is your problem?" The girl asked defensively.
"Don't mind him. Chris is the designated worrier for the family. If he doesn't keep that scowl on his face at least 90 of the day he thinks things as we know it will cease to exist." Wyatt alleged.
Chris was not happy about things as they were, but Wyatt's attitude was putting him over the top. He stopped what he was doing and faced the sofa with all three of them staring back at him and asked what he thought should have been an obvious first question, "who are you… I mean what's your name?"
"You drag me here from 22 years in the past and you're asking me my name. That's seems a wee bit cart before the horse don't you think?"
"Cute, but not really an answer," Wyatt answered before Chris said something else to set her off.
"Right. My name is Marly and I just left a hell of a mess behind, so if you don't mind I think I better get going. I'm assuming if you got me here then that means you can get me back. You can get me back can't you?"
"Ok Marly, here's the situation… and I don't want you to panic…."
Chris cut into Leo's spiel and took a much more direct and aggressive approach. "This is all too ridiculous and I don't have the time or energy to sugar coat things. Look apparently in your time you've pissed off some very powerful upper level demons who want you dead in the worse way. The Charmed Ones in your time are trying to save you and you keep getting in the way so the almighty, see all and hear all Elders have decided to ship you off to the future to screw with our lives until yours gets straightened out. You all up to speed now?"
Wyatt, Leo and Marly just stared at Chris like he had lost his mind right there in front of them. It wasn't that he said anything that wasn't true, but his delivery did lack certain finesse. Leo turned to Marly and did what he could to lessen the blow.
"Is there anything else you can tell us about what's going on in your time?" He inquired.
"You brought me here and you what; want me to fill in the blanks. I don't think so. As a matter of fact I don't know you from Adam, why should I believe one thing you say. I want to talk to Paige"
Wyatt pulled himself up on the arm of the sofa and informed their guest that that wasn't really an option. "No one from our time can know who you really are or that you're from the past. So, just think of this as mini vacation from all your troubles and enjoy your time here." He gave her a most winning and encouraging smile that appeared to have no affect on her disposition.
"Yeah, how about I don't and you all blow me." With that Marly sprinted across the attic and through the door to head God knows where.
"Looks like your charge is a bolter and I wasn't the track star, so go get her brother." Chris sauntered through the door throwing his finally comment over his shoulder, "I guess you have the first watch!" With that he was gone. And as Wyatt got up to orb downstairs before Marly got out the front door Leo rose and said that he too was leaving.
"Son you can get through to her just remember everything you learned as a white lighter and a guide. I have to get back to your mother. I'll come by tomorrow and I'll talk to Chris. This may be a lot for him to handle right now, but he'll do his part." Leo gave Wyatt's shoulder a reassuring pat and was gone in a flash. Wyatt orbed out behind him onto the front porch and as Marly was opening the door he fully materialized to stop her dead in her tracks.
"Going somewhere?" He turned her around not too roughly but firm enough to make sure she knew he meant business. Wyatt didn't like playing the "bad" guy in these situations, but since Chris had apparently abandoned ship for the night he had to assume the "bad" cop role. He marched her into the living room and suggested she have a seat. He moved across to the chair facing her and they entered into a starring contest that could only be rivaled by kindergarteners on the playground.
"You loose some of your home training along the way Prince Wyatt? I mean even prisoners are offered a mere glass of water." Marly was trying to push his buttons and the way his body twitched in his chair she thought it was working pretty well.
"Do you have anything useful to say that isn't laced with sarcasm?" He shifted again and kept his eyes on her.
The silence was so loud it was deafening!
Upstairs Chris was in his room sitting in the window seat completely lost in thought. Bianca was in the shower when he came down from the attic and since hearing Wyatt come in with who he could only assume was Marly he had been sitting in this spot rehearsing the lie he was going to tell Bianca. Normally he wouldn't dream of keeping secrets from her, but she was so focused on passing her exam and so intent on keeping herself separated from magic that he felt like telling her the truth would be like sabotaging her efforts. His mother's phrase, "wrong things done for right reasons are still wrong things," kept ringing in his head. There was no way around it… he was about to lie and no amount of so called justification would change the outcome if Bianca found out the truth.
"Hey any chance we have the house to ourselves?" Bianca was standing in the doorway wrapped in a purple towel and her jet black hair piled high on top of her head. Her skin was still glistening from the water where she hadn't entirely dried off.
Just looking at her made Chris become wholly unfocused and wanting to run over to her and lock the door for an hour or so. Instead he just smiled and turned back to the window.
"Well if that doesn't motivate you I don't know what will. I guess things in the attic didn't go well," she looked at him questionably without actually doing any prying.
"They went the way we expected. I can't…
She stopped him before he could go on with the explanation he was starting. Not wanting to force him into betraying his family's trust or breaking their own promises to each other she just asked, "Can I do anything to help?"
"No. Just understanding and not asking questions I can't answer is doing plenty. We're going to have a house guest for awhile. Her name is Marly and hopefully it'll just be for a few weeks. She's fifteen and hell on wheels to say the least."
"Fifteen? And who's going to keep an eye on her? You, Wyatt, me? Doesn't she have to go to school or something? This seems really, really… I don't know." Bianca had slipped into the closet to pull on sweats and a tank top. She was going to get a little more dressed in the hopes that she and Chris would be able to go out to a semi-nice dinner, but that possibility appeared out of the question so she just grabbed her comfy sweats and decided she would brave Piper's kitchen and attempt to make dinner for everyone herself.
"I'm just thinking of her as a charge and so should you. We are not about to become surrogate parents of any sort. We just need to keep her safe until we can get her home straight forward whitelighter stuff. Wyatt and I will split-shift looking after her and right now he's on duty. Although I can't imagine he's having much success."
Chris stood up and walked to stand in back of her while she brushed her hair down and kissed her on her neck from behind. She put the brush down turning to him so she could enjoy him face to face. After a moment he pulled back saying, "we're not alone and even if we aren't playing parents I don't think this is setting the best first night impression"
"You don't get to start this and just put the breaks on mid-stream."
"Believe me I don't want to, but you know how persistent that little voice in my head can be and he's hell bent on doing the right thing. So, why don't you finish up and meet me downstairs because I love you baby, but I don't think you're ready to prepare a three course family dinner."
Bianca turned back to the mirror and picked up her brush. She got this little girl pout on her face and made her eyes go all puppy dog sad before she said, "fine, but one of these days you are going to have to eat my cooking Chris."
"Haven't I had enough excitement for one day," and with that he orbed from the room.