I accidentally posted this as Chapter Twelve, so if it sounds familiar, that's why. I'm reposting it. Thanks again to everyone for reading my fic--especially to those who have taken the time to review! I appreciate it SO much!

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Prue and Piper continued to talk, Prue trying to convince Piper that things would work out between her and Leo, even if he was an Elder, Piper insisting that that was impossible and she was better off looking for another guy so Wyatt could have a father. Neither noticed when Chris orbed out.

Later, after I got home from work, Paige and I were talking in the conservatory. Piper and Prue had decided to go shoe-shopping. Prue agreed to be careful, and Piper swore she'd freeze any strange-looking people then yell for Chris to orb them back to the Manor.

I was just about to suggest to Paige that we take Wyatt clothes-shopping, and maybe find something new for Prue, too, when suddenly Leo and Chris orbed in. Leo looked infuriated, the look on his face the same one we'd seen on his face in Valhalla. Chris was looking down at the floor. He looked as if he'd been in that situation before. In fact, he had the look of a scared child who was about to be punished I had no idea what he'd done, but my heart went out to him.

"What happened?" we cried, and Leo explained:

The other Elders had been watching Chris, still trying to decide if they should send him back to his time, no matter if Leo no longer thought they should. They had noticed some strange going-ons and sent Leo to check up on Chris at P3. To his surprise, what he walked into the back room and turned on the lights, there was Chris with a woman! Both were naked, and both were wrapped tightly around each other, kissing each other passionately.

"Oh, my God!" Leo exclaimed. He was just about ready to give them their privacy and orb away and let the Elders know that it was nothing to be concerned about, when the woman turned her head and looked up. "Go away, Leo," she said. She turned back and continued to kiss Chris. Chris went beet-red and tried to pull away, but the woman was totally unfazed by Leo's presence.

Leo stopped his orb because he recognized the woman's voice. "Mist!" he cried then he growled at Chris. "You son of a bitch!" and again I laughed when I heard this, wondering what he would've thought if he knew who he was insulting!

But Leo was so infuriated that he didn't even notice my snicker, as he kept regaling Paige and me with his tale:

"Leo, this is none of your business," Mist told him. "What? Are you his father or something?"

Yeah, he is, I thought, but I knew Chris wouldn't say anything. Instead he tried to pull away from Mist, but she grabbed on to him tightly and began kissing him even more passionately, rubbing her naked body against his.

Leo was infuriated. "Of course, I am not his father, and am I glad! I only have one son, and that's all I'll ever have." Then he spun on the son he didn't know he had. "You get out of here in ten minutes, you hear me, Christopher?" and he marched out, slamming the door.

When I heard about this, I knew those words must've hit Chris like a knife. All I could think was: Oh, Chris, what do you expect from someone who doesn't know? If only... But having some idea of what Chris thought of his future father, I knew he would never tell this version of him.

When Chris stepped out of his room, Leo was standing with his arms crossed, looking on with extreme disapproval. "Did you and your little playmate have fun?" he demanded, again sounding like the Leo who had just returned from Valhalla. And that's what he must've been thinking when he accused, "Plotting with her to send me away again, are you?" He took a few steps toward Chris. "Just a warning to you, Chris--if I disappear, so do you. Got that?"

Chris looked up, rather shocked, and Leo repeated his words. "If I disappear again, the Elders will send you back to the future."

"It's not what you think," Chris insisted.

But Leo wasn't listening. "You sure are tight with the Valkyrie." Then he growled. "You are coming with me!" and he grabbed Chris and forcibly dragged him into the back office, closing the door behind them, where he orbed them both out and back to the Manor.

Now he told Paige and me that he was back to being suspicious about Chris' real intentions. "He's trying to send me back to Valhalla! I'm sure that he's the one who did it the first time and now he wants to do it again!"

"What? No, Leo," Paige insisted. "Chris wouldn't do that."

"Especially not now," I chimed in. "He needs you."

"What does that mean?" Leo demanded, still angry.

"Nothing!" and Paige shot me the kind of death stare that means shut up or else.

Leo looked at both of us, unable to believe that we were actually sticking up for Chris. "Oh, c'mon! I caught him in bed with a Valkyrie. Doesn't the fact that he is still in contact--" He stopped mid-sentence as he heard the jingling call from the other Elders. He turned to glare at Chris. "This isn't over yet!" he warned, then orbed out.

"I don't get it, Chris," I told him. "How is messing around with a Valkyrie going to get Leo and Piper back together?"

"Yeah, how will it save you?" Paige added.

"It won't," he admitted then he added with a smile, "But maybe someone else."

"What?" Paige asked as she and I exchanged a confused look.