A Charmed Story - Part Eight:
Chris To The Max
Chapter 4

Christopher went up the stairs. Wyatt was telling the family what he had found out, Christopher should be with them too... But nature was calling, he really needed to go to the bathroom.
Short before he reached his destination, the door to the kids-room was opened.
"Hey honey," Bianca said. She hugged him and gave him a loving kiss.
Christopher was too surprised to react... He was just like frozen in shock.
Bianca looked at him frowning, when he didn't answer her kiss: "What's wrong?"
At that moment Chris orbed in, in her back. He had felt the confusion of his 'brother'. But Bianca kept looking at the blushing Christopher, so her husband cleared his throat.
Finally she turned around looking at Chris confused, then she looked at Christopher, and then at Chris. "What's going on here?" she asked and stepped backwards, suddenly afraid that one of them was the demon.
But Chris kept grinning. He went over to her and put his hands around her waist: "You know honey... if Wyatt wouldn't have told me that you are not his kind of girl, I would be really jealous now?"
Christopher looked to his feet. He felt embarrassed. Being kissed like that by the wife of your brother was... well it wasn't good... A great impression he had made with that. 'That's typical for you, Christopher,' he thought to himself. He just hoped Chris wouldn't be too angry...
Bianca was still frowning. But Chris went on: "May I introduce you to 'mini-me'?"
Suddenly Bianca's eyes grew wide, when she began to understand all that. "WHAT?" she exclaimed.
Chris began to chuckle, and when Christopher realised that his brother wasn't pissed off at all, like he had thought he would be, he chuckled too.
Now Bianca was the one who blushed. "Sorry," she said to Christopher, "I really didn't..."
"Never mind," he said, "but now... excuse me!" With this words he went to the bathroom and closed the door behind him.
Bianca turned back to the grinning Chris: "Why didn't you tell me?"
"He arrived just a few minutes ago... and I thought you were sleeping. I'm sorry."
"That's amazing," she said.
Chris nodded: "I know... and so weird."
Bianca smiled and kissed him. Then she wrinkled her nose and frowned, like if she would thinking really hard: "Well... He's kissing very much like you..."
Now Chris frowned in response. "Really?" he asked and then kissed again, this time wild and with all his heart, making her moan against his lips...
When he finally released his wife she smiled widely: "I think I have to correct myself... you're kissing veeeeeeery much better."
Chris grinned. "Ohhh I hope so..." he replied and kissed her another time.
"Come on, let's go down there..." she said when she had finally freed herself from his kiss, which wasn't that easy at all. "There is still a friend who needs our help."
Chris nodded with a sigh. Then he took her hand and orbed with her back to the others.

°°°°°°°°°°

When Nicki looked into the bedroom, Steve was sitting on the bed. His back turned to the door, he was looking out of the window.
When she saw him like that, she was about to leave him alone again, to give him some time to relax from Tom's visit. But when she turned to leave, Steve suddenly said: "No... Please... don't go." He didn't move, he just said that.
Nicki was unsure what to do. She didn't know if she should get closer to him, or better not. She didn't want to make him flinch again. She sighed. Then she put all her strength together and walked over to him.
She sat down on the bed, next to him. She felt her heart beating faster and tears welling up... tears of anger and frustration, because she could do nothing to take that pain away from him.
And she felt guilty... guilty because she didn't noticed that Adam was involved in all that... she should have noticed it... she should have... And she felt guilty, because she didn't go to search for him, when he didn't came that evening... because she had waited till the next morning... If she hadn't, they maybe would have found him earlier...
Steve took a deep breath. Then he slowly turned to her, to look at her. It hurt him so much to see her crying. It hurt him so much to know what he had done to her, when he wasn't himself. He had hurt her... He knew he wouldn't never be able to forgive himself for that... Even if she kept saying that she wouldn't mind.
"I'm sorry," he said.
"No, honey... don't feel like that..." Nicki said under her sobs. "Please... all I want is that you don't push me away again, ok? I want to be there for you... I... I love you."
Steve closed his eyes, when the tears fought their way out of them. Nicki shook her head, helpless. Then she pulled him into a strong hug, crying too, crying with him.
Steve cried, he cried his eyes out. He wanted it to stop, but it didn't. This time his tears were stronger than his will.

°°°°°°°°°°

Angela was completely freaked out by what she had seen. What she had remembered, actually. Some minutes ago she was afraid of that fake Chris that had kidnapped her, but now? Now she also feared Chris Halliwell and his family... She remembered everything, all that had happened in those 20 years she thought she had lost somehow. She remembered, that she had been imprisoned in a magical world, that she had been held ransom... everything.
Therefore, she had been living a lie all that time! She couldn't believe it... Even Michael had lied to her. Or was he in the same situation? Did he know who Chris was? A weird monstrous magical being?
Suddenly she felt bad for having thinking that way. She also remembered that he had saved them all. All those people...
Angela shivered and pressed her body against the wall behind her, a cold and rough rock. She hadn't been bound or anything. For what? She would not be able to escape anyway. Actually, she would not dare to move.
At that very moment she was so afraid that the only thing she got to do was curling on the floor and starting to cry hysterically. She needed to wake up, she needed to wake up, she needed to wake up... But every time she opened her eyes, there she was, in that terrific cave, all alone.

°°°°°°°°°°

"I got her," said Cris to the demon he had in front of him.
"Well done. But be careful... They won't give up so easily."
Cris smirked: "I know... I'm just like him, remember?"
The other demon nodded slowly: "I gave you these powers because I trusted you. And I'm impressed how quick you learned to handle your new powers, but... Don't disappoint me, Cristóbal."
"I wouldn't. I wanna see that Chris dead as much as you."
"I want to see the whole family dead. Last time I failed. This time I don't want to make the same mistakes."
Cris nodded simply. "I won't fail. I'll get Chris, and you'll have the rest of the clan. But don't forget your part of the deal... I want Chris for me."
The other demon smirked: "I will give you your prize..." Then he added in a threatening tone: "But don't you forget that here, I am the boss."
"Of course..." Cris answered, half-smiling ironically in the darkness of the cave. Then he shimmered away.
The time was coming... After Cris had disappeared, the old demon went outside to listen to his beloved wolves howling at the moon.

°°°°°°°°°°

Tom got home and said hello to Veronica absent-mindedly, as he headed into his room.
"Hey, are you ok, honey?" she asked when she saw him rushing by the lounge, where she was.
"Yeah, I'm in a hurry, that's all." he said in a loud voice, while he opened the drawers in search for something.
Veronica frowned and went to him. "How was Steve?" she asked, staring at her frenetic boyfriend.
"The same as always. I mean, the same as he has been these two days."
Veronica nodded, without taking her eyes away from him, as he continued moving around the room. "What about you?"
Tom turned to look at her, so she could see his red eyes. "Oh... Honey, have you been crying?" She went nearer and then hugged him, but Tom shook his head.
"I'm ok, I don't have much time."
"For what?" Veronica asked, somehow annoyed for his rejection, and also surprised.
"I'm gonna find that demon. I've seen him... I've seen what Steve saw, everything. I think I can find him."
"If you could he'd also be able to, but he can't say where he is, or how to find him."
Tom stopped again his searching, and took Veronica's face in his hands: "Sweetie, I know... But first, he's totally freaked out. My mind is clear. Second, he doesn't want to find him, he just wants to forget. I do wanna find him. And third, I think we can do it. I wrote somewhere what I saw in his mind. Every detail. I mean... We only need to work as Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, we only need to think as them. Where can we find caves?"
"In the Underworld?" Veronica said sceptically.
"Caves, and moisture? Caves and the smell of nature? Caves with fresh air? And wolves around it?"
Veronica frowned. "Steve didn't say anything about that..."
"But he saw it! Or at least he felt it! He couldn't see but the smells, the noises... were there. Unconsciously he did!" he gestured exaggeratedly.
"Anyway... that could be lots of places."
"But something to begin with, girl!" he said impatiently.
Veronica rolled her eyes. When Tom became so passionate about something it was impossible to persuade him not to go on. "Ok... What do we do?"
Tom smirked: "Go to the Underworld and find out who's hiding in woods and where?"

°°°°°°°°°°

Chris orbed in with Bianca downstairs. "Found out anything else?" he asked as soon as they had appeared.
Piper sighed and then she just rattled: "We only had a couple of minutes, there's just a tiny chance we did, and we didn't." She saw a vase, looked at it very strange and then blew it up. "I never liked that vase," she said right after it.
Now the entire family (at least those, who had been there) sighed. "Honey, you don't have to blow things up when you don't like them," Leo said with that typical soft voice, "you did that once and we all know what happened then." After those words Piper calmed down and turned her attention back to the discussion.
Then Christopher came downstairs too: "Found out anything else?"

°°°°°°°°°°

Phoebe was dreaming about her wedding, she was still so happy! Then suddenly she got a premonition, she was sure that it was one, she had that feeling.
"Cole!! Wake up!!" she screamed and Cole slowly did... she grabbed him by his arms and started to shake him up and down, sort of.
Soon Cole was fully awake and terrified: "What...? What's wrong honey? What is it?" Phoebe didn't say anything, she just collapsed.
"Phoebe, honey, wake up!" He listened to her heart. She wasn't breathing.
"CHRIS!!!!!!!!!!!! LEO!!!!!!!!!!" he yelled as hard as he could, he couldn't lose her, he just couldn't.

°°°°°°°°°°

"Cole!" Chris said again shaking his uncle. Phoebe sat on the other side in the bed looking worried at her husband. He was crying in his sleep, so loud that even Chris came when he called for him.
"Cole!" he said again. Meanwhile Phoebe started to cry flashed by the mass of emotions he was sending out.
Finally the man opened his eyes slowly, still breathing heavily. But then he sat up startled and yelled: "PHOEBE!"
"I'm here," she said and hugged him from behind.
Cole turned around and looked at her shocked. "You...? What...? You were...?? I..." he didn't know what to say. He felt weird and his mind was spinning.
"You've been dreaming," Chris explained.
Cole sighed relieved, coming back to reality, realising that Phoebe was alive, that she was next to him, with him... still alive. He took her head into his hands and kissed her.
That was when Chris noticed the ring on his finger, wondering. But then he began to understand. Smiling widely he thought: 'THAT's so great... and really Cole-like...' He had a hard time not to start chuckling: 'If mom would know that...'
But then he turned serious again: "So what was it, your dream I mean... Why did you call me?"
Cole looked back at him: "I saw... I saw Phoebe dying... actually I was asleep and suddenly she yelled she had a premonition, and that I need to wake up... and then she broke down, not breathing... I... I just couldn't..."
"Shhhhhh..." Phoebe hugged him. "Don't worry, I'm here and I'm alright..."
Cole nodded: "But I still have the feeling that something is wrong..." Then he turned to Chris again: "Earlier that day I had another dream where you and Wyatt got attacked at the manor... And I felt strange after that... like I feel now..." He made a short brake: "I... I mean... Is everything alright?"
Chris looked at his uncle thinking about what to say... Of course nothing was alright at the moment, but after all... this was their honeymoon, for God's sake. And he didn't want to spoil that... They deserved some time off, like he had with his wife... even if he also could really enjoy only a few days of that time...
"Everything's fine," he answered therefore. Then he stood up: "I have to go now... I promised Bianca to be back as soon as possible. See you tomorrow!" And with this he orbed away.

°°°°°°°°°°

Sometimes in the future:
Chris had sat down next to his daughter. He was hiding his face in his hands now, trying to reorganise his mind. He tried to get a clear look on all that... all this mess, his little version was about to cause, or already did... whatever...
"Dad?" Hope asked worried and put a hand on his shoulder.
"What happened, Chris?" Prisca asked.
"Christopher," he said slowly, "he had messed up everything." Then he looked up and straight to his daughters eyes: "Call the family together, we need to stop that from happening."
Hope nodded and orbed away.
Only ten minutes later, they all sat in the kitchen. Chris was sitting between his wife and daughter, his mother sit face to him, Leo stood behind her. Cole and Phoebe stood in one corner, while Paige and Kyle sat near the door. Jim was also their, even if Chris didn't 'invite' the 'kids'... But at least he was one of the new generation of the power of three... and differently from Patty and Nicki, he was really interested in all magic-stuff. Julia was also there, Hope had picked her and her parents up too... Even if Michael and Angela didn't like what was going on between Julia and Wyatt, they were part of the family, not only because of that... And finally on the other side of the table sat Odin and Silas. Everything seemed to be an usual meeting (well, except that Michael's family was usually not there...) everything was like it always had been... But not for Chris!
When he tried again to explain and they didn't understand, he was close to freak out. "THIS IS WRONG!" he yelled.
"Chris, I don't understand..." Leo said tiredly.
But Cole interrupted him: "When Chris says this is wrong, then it IS wrong. You know he's the only one who recognise the consequences of a shift in time."
Chris sighed: "Thanks uncle." At least one person was believing him.
"So what is it exactly that is wrong?" Odin asked.
"For example that we don't have that discussion up there..." he answered pointing at the ceiling.
Piper sighed confused: "But we never had a talk like that up there... the other Elders don't trust you, or us..."
"Yeah," Chris answered, "because I vanquished that bastard, before he could attack them... I vanquished him before he could do anything like that, just because of Christopher... Just because he was there and helped us, when we freed Angy from Cristóbal and that demon. You remember?"
"So you want me to suffer by the hands of that demon, just to be more up there?" Angela asked unsure what to think about all that.
Chris rolled his eyes: "No... of course not... the first time, I freed you on my own and vanquished Cristóbal, but not Rhashirk! He escaped... but he will not, when Christopher is there too... And I don't just want to be more up there... The Elders are supposed to trust me when we save them... But I didn't... I did it before they knew they were in danger... THAT's the problem!"
Hope leaned back on the chair, focused on her fathers eyes: "So shall I go back and pick him up?"
"No!... the time is to unstable at the moment, timetravelling is too dangerous now..." Chris said who felt that there were still little shifts here and there, "no one could say where you will rematerialise... we have to find another way."

°°°°°°°°°°

Back in our time:
Chris orbed back to the family-meeting. He gave his best not to smile widely about the 'great news' he found out. First, it wasn't the right moment, they had other things to worry. And Second, Cole and Phoebe surly didn't want him to spoil their secret. But keeping his mouth shut was really hard.
"So what was wrong?" Leo asked. He had heard Cole's cry too, but they thought one of them would be enough.
"Nothing, he had just a bad dream," Chris explained and then quickly changed the topic turning to Christopher, "so what will we do now? Actually I had an idea, but I'm not sure if you will like that, mini-me."
Christopher looked up: "Well... MAXI-ME... I guess I already know your plan... you want me to play you, right?"

°°°°°°°°°°

Angela's heart was beating irregularly, and she was trying to control her breathing, to calm down. But anxiety was gaining ground... She was still trying to assimilate all her long ago forgotten memories, when some flames prepared the ground for Cristóbal, who reappeared in front of her with his lips shaping an evil smile.
"Hey, sweetie, how are you doing with your memories? It seems you don't like them much..."
Angela bent her legs and tried to find a self-protecting position, shivering under her now wet clothes. She was sweating because of the fear...
Cris shook his head at the same time as he made a noise with his tongue: "Sad to find out that the people you trust are not what they seem... You know what?? Your husband knew that too. He lied to you."
"No, you do, bastard." Angela didn't know where that bravery had come from, but as soon as she had let it out, she regretted it and the shivers became more intense.
Cris turned red in anger. "Don't dare to talk to me that way!" he yelled. "You don't know where you are, who your enemy is! Watch out... you'd better shut up now, or I'll gag you, little rat." He kicked a stone that hit very near her face, making her whimper in fear.
'Just a couple of hours Cris... You can stand her...' he said to himself, sitting against a wall, and taking a knife out, with which he began to play, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes.


(Chapter 4 written by Chrissy.W.x, Belén and charmedfreak)