Here's a nice long update for you! I couldn't find a decent cliffie before this without making it too short of an update!

I've had some reviewers think that by having this part of the fic written as a conversation, it takes away from the fic being truly a story. I'd love to know how many of you agree with them, so please let me know! This is the only fic I've written his way and this is the only part of my uncompleted novel, "No Greater Love..." that I wrote this way, just because this part of the fic that this is based on had Phoebe go to the party, so she'd have no idea what happened, and I liked getting to show the closeness between the two younger sisters, something we never saw on the show past S4, and their reaction towards what happened with the rest of the family. So please be sure to let me know. Thanks much!!

And if you're one of the ones who doesn't like the way this is written, but want to know what happens, remember that you can always check Aurora Nightstar's "Aftermath of a Wish" and let her know what you think of her ideas. Personally I love them—they truly make the perfect tweener--the reason why Prue couldn't stick around--she's never mentioned during S6! But I agree with the sisters--it's better knowing that she's alive on Valhalla than thinking of my favorite Charmed One as dead!

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Paige grinned. "Nope, I made him feel better."

"Really? How did you do that?"

"Oh, Phoebs, you should've seen the way Chris stared at Leo, the shock and horror on his face, then he just orbed out. Leo didn't get it and wanted to know what he had said."

"That must be the other reason why he was so upset. See? This whole thing is hurting him as much as it's hurting Chris! We have to tell Leo!"

"Phoebe! How many times do I have to tell you? We can't! You can try to talk Chris into it, but I don't think he'll listen."

And I stomped my foot again, knowing she was right, but not liking it one single bit.

"At any rate," Paige continued with a roll of her eyes at me, "I told Leo to never mind that and told him to go get you, so you could say good-bye to Prue, and he agreed."

I smiled. "Thanks, Paige. I would've felt miserable if I hadn't had a chance to see her one more time before she left."

"I don't think Prue would've let that happen, Phoebs. But I had to find a way to get Leo out of there, before I told him Chris' secret! Once he was gone, I introduced my father to Prue, and you're right about her being smart--she figured it out about me and him and our Mom right away, and didn't even seem to mind that much—must be that Valkyrie influence again. Then I told them that I was going to go talk to Chris before orbing out, leaving them behind."

I smiled. "Golden Gate Bridge, right?" I asked, remembering what Leo had told me about how special that spot was to him and his sons because it reminded them of Up There.

She nodded. "Oh, Phoebs, you should've seen how dejected he looked! I was thinking that that's how I must have looked when Chris orbed in on me earlier tonight. All I could do was hope that I could do as good of a job cheering him up as he did for me, but somehow I doubted it.

"And did you?" I wanted to know, hoping she had..

"Well, let me tell you how it happened."

I nodded, motioning her to go on. "Don't leave anything out!"

"I softly called his name, and he turned to look at me with tears in my eyes. Then he looked back at the ground again. Oh, Phoebe, he was so miserable!"

"Oh, poor Chris! I wish I was there! I would've given him the biggest hug he ever got!"

She smiled. "Well, I'm not sure if it was the biggest one he ever got, but I gave him the biggest one I could. He snuggled into me, muttering, 'It… I would be a disaster! He doesn't even want another kid!' Then he looked at me and mumbled, 'That explains a lot'."

"What does that mean?" I asked, my heart breaking for him.

"You know Chris, Phoebs--he refused to tell me. So I told him that Leo didn't mean that. Not the way it sounded."

"Of course, he didn't! He was just thinking about the fact that he and Piper aren't together right now and the Elder wants him to stay Up There, so if he and Piper had a child, he wouldn't be able to help raise it--which is exactly what must've happened! Maybe the fact that Leo wasn't able to help raise his kids is part of the problem of what happened in the future!" I started to say we really had to tell Leo, but Paige shook her finger at me warningly.

She nodded. "I tried to get him to understand, Phoebs. I told him that he doesn't know Leo like we do and Leo doesn't really know him either, but that just seemed to make things worse."

I nodded sadly. "From what I can tell, he and Leo don't have a very good relationship in the future. But he shouldn't take that out on our Leo! He might feel differently!"

"I know, Phoebs, I know! But there's nothing we can do about that right now, OK?"

I shrugged, still very frustrated at both Chris and Leo, wanting to grab both of them and knock both of their stubborn heads together, but I nodded. "So what did you say?"

"I told him that Leo and Piper's love is very special. Anything that comes out of that love will also be very special. Wyatt, him… But Chris insisted that he isn't as special as his brother, that even evil, Wyatt is more special than him because of all the things he can do that Chris can't—Chris doesn't have Wyatt's shield. Chris can't heal. Chris isn't the Twice-Blessed Child! He said that sometimes he feels like he's the Twice-Cursed Child!"

I smiled sadly. I'd seen such things so often in letters for my column--younger siblings stuck with living in the shadow of a much-more-accomplished older sibling. I wondered what Chris would think if he knew that when she was in high school, his mother felt the same way about living in Prue's shadow! To me it was amazing that without their father's influence, it was Wyatt who had turned evil and not Chris! That in itself made him awful special to me! Aloud I asked, "So what did you tell him?"

She grinned. "I used some of his own sarcasm on him. I told him, 'Sure you are! You came back in time risking everything to save your family. That sounds pretty special to me.' "

"And his response?" I asked, praying that she had gotten through his thick skull.

She sighed. "He used his own special brand of sarcasm right back at me. He said, 'And by coming back, I could be wiping out my own existence. That's not special; that's stupid. I told you I'm Twice-Cursed!' "

I rolled my eyes at my stubborn nephew then asked Paige, "So what did you say to that?"

"So I laughed and told him, so it didn't go as smoothly as he planned and that I'm sure he thought he would've found out who turned Wyatt long before this, so he could've worked on making his father our whitelighter again, which would've ensured Chris' existence and Wyatt's goodness."

I nodded. 'That's right. I wish we could figure out who this Big Bad is. What did Chris say?"

"He said it didn't matter, and that he should've done more research or been more careful, and I couldn't disagree with him," and I nodded. "And, Phoebs, then he admitted that he should've found a way of being around where he could get at the Book of Shadows and find out who turned Wyatt without breaking up his parents."

"All right! That's a start! A good start!"

She nodded. "But I don't know if he would've thought that if he didn't think he was just going to fade away when we still don't know what turned Wyatt!"

"Not yet he hasn't faded!" I declared.

She nodded. "Just what I told him, and I also told him that I would do everything I can to help. He suggested a love potion of some sort, and I told him that there was no need to do anything that drastic. As close as he came tonight, all it's going to take is a little romance, some champagne, strawberries and chocolate, romantic music..."

I grinned. "Oh, I wish I'd thought about that!"

She grinned back. "What do you expect? You know that I happen to be a love expert!" and I rolled my eyes at her. "Well, not totally," she admitted with another grin. "But I thought it might lighten the mood," and I nodded, proud of her for taking such good care of our nephew. "Then I told him to just trust me, that Piper and Leo would be making themselves a little Chris before he knew it!"

I nodded firmly. "You bet they will! Did that make him feel better?"

"It must've. He hugged me tightly and thanked me. Phoebs, he actually called me 'Auntie Paige'!"

"Hey! He's never called me Auntie Phoebs! Not even Auntie Phoebe!"

Paige laughed, shaking her head at me. "Well, I'm sure he did in his past, our future, and I'm sure he will again. But, c'mon, can't you be happy for me? Can't you imagine how good that made me?"

"Yeah," I grumbled. "As happy as I'd be if he called me Auntie Phoebe!"

"Phoebe!"

I forced myself to lean over and hug her. "Okay, I'm happy for you."

"Yeah, I was pretty touched. So I hugged him back as tightly as I could, telling him how much I love him and he told me how much he loved me!"

"Oh, Paige!" and now I was truly happy for her.

"But we were so busy hugging," she continued. "That I didn't hear Prue and my father orb in. Prue must've told him to take her to us. Prue smiled and said, 'My, my, you got over Richard awfully fast, and now I can see why,' and Phoebs, she actually snickered when she said that it looked like we get the room at P3!"

"What, no!" I cried, shocked. "Ewwwwwwwww!"