A Charmed Story - Part Eight:
Chris To The Max
Chapter 11
Chris and Christopher walked step by step closer to the demon.
'The same way?' Christopher asked his big brother in his mind.
Chris stopped for a moment, then he went on, asking back in his mind: 'How can we talk like that, we're not telepaths, right?'
Christopher nodded: 'Dad said, it's maybe because we're still one person in a way.'
'Sounds logical,' Chris replied, getting used to it. Then he stopped again - they had been close enough: 'And yes, I guess the same way.'
Christopher grabbed Chris hand, and both raised the other one, while Rhashirk looked at them with a mixture of anger and fear. But before they could set that white light free and end the existence of that demon, Wyatt orbed next to them and pushed them down to the ground.
"Wyatt?!?!" Christopher exclaimed confused.
"What the hell...?" Chris cursed.
Rhashirk, surprised and confused by all that, knew he shouldn't waste this chance that fate was giving him. He smirked; there would be another chance for him... 'Maybe if the Elders wouldn't help the sisters...,' he thought. Then he shimmered away, and the same second the forcefield disappeared.
"DAMNED WYATT!" Chris yelled furious, after he saw the demon disappear.
"Chris..." the twice-blessed tried to explain. But his brothers wouldn't let him. Chris and Christopher just yelled at him without understanding. And Wyatt let them, because they had all rights to be angry, at least as long as they didn't know...
After a few minutes of yelling the brothers seemed to realise that they still hadn't got an answer. "So can you finally explain us what that should be!?!" Chris yelled. Then they both kept silent looking at the blonde witch-whitelighter expectantly.
"Is it enough when I tell you that YOU told me to let him escape... because of future consequences?" Wyatt asked.
Chris and Christopher looked confused. "So that was the second thing?" the Elder-witch asked. Wyatt nodded.
"Ok," Christopher said, "forget about the future consequences, I want a real explanation."
Wyatt sighed: "Alright... The world we both came from... The Elders are our friends, a lot of them are like family for us, right?" Christopher nodded, while Chris looked surprised from one to the other. But Wyatt went on: "If you would have vanquished him now, all that would not longer be real, the Elders would fear us and we would fear them..."
Christopher and Chris sighed. The latter didn't understand this at all, but he trusted his future self to know what he did... Finally he sighed again: "Ok, let's go home."
°°°°°°°°°°
Bluish orbing lights filled the library as the brothers orbed in.
"And, did you vanquish him?" everyone asked immediately.
"No..." Chris hesitated, "well... he escaped before... we could hit him..."
Phoebe, who was wrapped into Cole's strong arms, sighed: "Great, so we still have a demon to kill."
"I wouldn't worry about him," Wyatt said. "He was seriously wounded, so I guess he will not come back so fast." Christopher and Chris nodded.
Then both Chrisses were suddenly wrapped into a pair of arms. "Thank you, thank you so much," Michael whispered while hugging them. Then he hugged Wyatt too, while he continued: "Thanks for saving her..."
Chris smiled at him: "You're welcome."
Wyatt, while returning the hug, added: "Any time... We're always there for you..." Christopher and Chris agreed.
Then the latter went over to his wife and his baby, who was sleeping on the sofa. He sighed when he watched his little girl. Thanks God she was fine.
"Are you ok?" Bianca asked, pulling him into a hug.
Chris nodded and hugged her back lovingly, then he looked at Angela and Michael, who had sat down again. "What about them?" he asked his wife.
The Phoenix sighed: "I don't know... But if their love is as half as strong as ours, they will work though this, honey." He couldn't help chuckling and kissed her on her forehead.
°°°°°°°°°°
"Hey grandpa..."
Victor startled at the voice behind him, and let the eggs fall on the floor. "Shit..." He turned back, grabbing his chest as if he was suffering from a strong pain: "Chris... damn it, man. I have told you thousands of times that you should not do that. You'll cause me a heart attack!"
The young witch-Elder lowered his eyes, sadly: "I'mmm... I am so sorry..."
"It's ok... " Victor smiled, as he bent to take everything and clean the mess. His grandson would not take the eyes from him, while he supported his body on the frame of the door.
"Have you come to tell me the news? Because I am sorry, but I was the first to..." He raised his eyes, and saw the boy's confused expression: "Oh... You don't know yet..."
"Don't know what?" he asked tiredly.
"Cole and Phoebe... Doesn't matter, they'll let you know sooner or later."
"Oh, yeah, that... I know..." he was staring at his grandpa, with his mind a bit lost.
Finally, Victor put everything on the table, removed his apron, and looked at him furrowing his eyebrows: "Are you ok? Is there something wrong? Are they... are...?"
His grandson smiled weakly: "I'm fine, grandpa. This is just... weird."
Victor frowned even more, and came nearer him to feel his temperature. This made the boy laugh: "I'm perfectly well... I just wanted to come and say hello."
"Nice. You come all the time and say hello. What's wrong, Chris? Is it Wyatt?" a now very worried Victor asked.
The young man shook his head, half amused, half sad: "I am... I am Christopher."
Victor opened his mouth and closed it again, as he picked up the phone: "Ok, sit down. I'm gonna talk to your mother... You need a doctor, you..."
Christopher smiled at him, and took the receiver to return it to his original place: "It's better that YOU sit down grandpa... I am not Chris. I am Christopher. Little Christopher. From the future."
Victor opened his mouth and eyes widely, and sat down slowly, even if he didn't want. He felt he was gonna faint.
Christopher ran to him, and held his arm, worried: "Are you ok??"
Victor nodded, absently: "Yeah... I think."
"Sure?? Your... your heart?"
Victor looked at him. Then he smiled, weakly: "Another Chris?"
"Christopher," he said, and then smiled, sitting by his side. "Yeah... But I am about to go back, I just wanted to come and say hi... Grandpa. I wanted to see you."
He took his hand, and stared in his eyes, as the old man looked at him shocked: "Oh my God... I'll never get used to this family..."
"You'll do, grandpa. And I promise that I'll never ever in my life scare you like that again. I promise." His hand was trembling, and his eyes welled up in tears.
Victor looked at him, unable to speak. "It's ok, buddy..." he said, smiling reassuringly. "Forget about the heart attack, I was just kiddin'. I know this family very well..."
Christopher smiled, and cleaned his tears, shivering a little bit: "Yeah... sorry." He was staring at him.
Victor smiled back: "Ok... I guess we have a lot to talk about so... Would you like to have a drink with me?"
"What about your breakfast?" Christopher asked, concerned.
"Oh, that can wait... Don't worry. Do you have time?"
Christopher tried to laugh: "Oh, yes, I have... Actually I meant what about having breakfast together."
Victor looked at him serious: "Are you sure you are not Chris?"
The other one shook his head: "Sure... It's not the fool's day, I think. Well, I am him, somehow... But you know..." Both men laughed.
"You'll have your breakfast, buddy. And I'll have a clear explanation." The old man stood up to finish cooking, as he muttered 'unbelievable, unbelievable...' constantly. Christopher kept staring at him, as if he had seen a ghost, full of love and sadness at the same time.
°°°°°°°°°°
Steve was still wrapped into Nicki's arms, when Chris orbed in. "Sorry," he said, thinking that it maybe had been better to orb to the other side of the bed room door and knock.
But Nicki smiled at him relieved that he was back. She turned to Steve, gave him a kiss on his cheek and then left the two men alone.
Chris took a deep breath and went over to his friend. He sat down next to him and patted his shoulder. "Hey... how are you?" he asked. Steve looked at him and grimaced. Chris nodded. For a few minutes they kept silent.
"You said, that... I mean... you..." the young witch tried to ask, but he didn't know how to say it.
Chris sighed and lied back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, knowing well what Steve meant. And for a moment he wondered if he should really tell him, if he really wanted to. Because actually he didn't really like it... telling anybody about his own past. But... this was Steve and he needed his help... And who knew, maybe it would help Chris himself, too. He sighed again. And when he finally spoke, he tried to sound somehow emotionless: "Yeah... it was kind of annoying to be tortured by my own brother... One time he nearly killed me... well, no actually a few times."
Steve stared at the Elder-witch surprised. He knew that Wyatt had been evil, that this was the reason Chris was in the past - they had told them... But that???
"So," Chris said turning to him again, because he felt the need to change the subject back to his friend, "what did they do to you?"
"Beating me..." Steve said with a sad and serious voice, "they were beating the hell out of me... But that was nothing compared of..."
"...the feeling of being completely alone," Chris finished for him.
Steve stared at him for a moment with watery eyes, then he nodded.
The Elder-witch sat up again and hugged his friends: "Believe me, you are not alone. You have Nicki, and Tom, who is really worried about you, too... and of course me and my whole crazy family... We're always there for you..."
"I know, now I know," Steve muttered, but his voice nearly broke. "And I'm thankful that you're here..."
Chris just hugged him, knowing that there was more he wanted to tell, but the last thing he wanted was to push him. So they just sat there for a while, just existing side by side.
Then Steve sighed again: "You know, there was a light... in that room... It was so strong, it gave me a terrible headache." Chris just looked at him, not sure how to react. He didn't want to interrupt him.
"But there was more," the young witch said then, "they showed me pictures... I don't know... the pictures were just in my mind... pictures of my friends, of Nicki... They showed me, how... they... killed her..." Again he broke down crying on Chris's shoulder.
"Shhhh, it's ok?" the Elder-witch said, "that wasn't real..."
"I know," Steve sobbed, "but it felt real..."
He kept crying for a while, before he slowly calmed down again, while Chris was caressing his hair. Then Steve sobbed: "I'm sure Wyatt never meant to hurt you... I mean, he's your brother.
Chris chuckled sadly: "Believe me... he did... he didn't care about us... and as I said, he nearly killed me."
"Yeah... that's it... you said 'nearly'."
Chris sighed. And before he knew it, he said: "Yeah, but that was my fathers intervention... You know... Wyatt had already killed everyone I loved, including Piper... he hadn't mind one more dead family member..."
"He killed your mom?" Steve asked surprised. "But it's also his mom..."
Chris just nodded, feeling suddenly very uncomfortable. He didn't mean to tell Steve all this... but he did. 'God, not even Mike knew that much details.'
Steve sighed, closing his eyes. If Chris could go on with his life, after those things happened to him... If he could live such a happy life, like he has now... Shouldn't he be able to face his own problems - which were really small compared to that - in kind of the same way. Maybe all he needed was someone to talk to... someone who could understand him. And Chris could, he was sure about that...
°°°°°°°°°°
Wyatt had reached the door to Steve's bedroom a while after Chris went there. He knew his brother felt he needed to talk to his friend as fast as possible... But still... it was time for him and Christopher to go back before they would mess up more things. So he wanted to pick his brother up to give them a proper chance to say goodbye.
Nevertheless, when he reached the door, he couldn't help eavesdropping. But what he heard hit him in the bottom of his heart and let his blood freeze in his veins. He had done what? He couldn't believe it... He knew he had been evil in Chris's timeline, but that...????
So he just orbed away... orbed on top of the Golden Gate Bridge where he sank down to the red-colored metal to is feet and broke down crying...
°°°°°°°°°°
Chris stayed only a few more minutes with Steve, until he calmed down and seemed to feel better. Now he knew his worst secret. And Chris knew Steve's. And they would share that forever, which would help them both survive with their memories... But he had to leave...
He called Nicki, who came back immediately. He convinced Steve to have breakfast together with her in the lounge.
Than Chris left. He knew, Christopher and Wyatt were about to leave... But when he was back in the manor, none of them was there. "Did they leave already??" he asked Piper, freaking out.
His mother shook her head: "Actually... Wyatt went to pick you up. Didn't you see him??" Chris shook his head.
"Oh, my God... Don't tell me that something bad happened again," Phoebe said, hugging Cole. Paige and Leo shook their heads.
"What about Christopher?" Chris asked nervously.
"He went to say hello to grandpa. He insisted that he wanted to go. He was kinda curious to see him in this time, to see what he was like."
"Oh..." Chris said. "I see..." he closed his eyes, trying to contact Wyatt at least.
"They should be here soon..." Paige muttered. "I promised Kyle we'd lunch together a dinner today, when this was done."
Leo and Piper frowned: "What? When did you talk?"
Paige blushed. "When I was preparing the potions, between potion and potion..." she confessed, making Phoebe and Cole chuckle.
"I can't sense him," Chris said, really worried.
At that moment Christopher came back: "Hey, I am sorry about my delay, I really had a lot to talk and grandpa would not let me go easily. He wanted to make sure that I wasn't... Chris? Is everything ok?"
All the faces turned to the twins, as Chris shook his head: "Wyatt... I can't sense him."
Leo sighed and tried to sense him himself. "I can... he's on the... on the bridge."
"He disconnected me??!!" Chris exclaimed, now very shocked.
"He disconnected US!" Christopher said, as he looked at them. Without more words, Chris orbed to the bridge, followed by Christopher, who hardly understood the reason of that behavior.
"Great... simply great," Paige sighed, sitting down on the sofa with a resigned sigh.
°°°°°°°°°°
Wyatt was weeping full of sorrow, when his two brothers appeared by his side.
"Wyatt, what the...?" Chris started, but stopped suddenly when he noticed how bad his brother felt. He exchanged a quick look with his mini-self, who kept silent.
Then Chris sat down by his brother, patting his shoulder: "Wyatt... What happened?"
"I'm sorry, Chris... I am so sorry. I... I can't... I just can't look at you. You should hate me and I would understand it..."
Chris frowned, as well as Christopher, who sat now by his other side: "Wyatt... I am sorry, but I don't get it. What are you talking about? Why did you disconnect us?"
Wyatt swallowed and shook his head: "I tried to kill you. I really wanted to do so... You were nothing for me, were you? My own blood... What kind of monster I was?"
Chris gasped feeling how everything spun around him. "Wyatt... what are you saying...?" he asked in a whisper, barely understanding. Not knowing to understand.
Wyatt laughed sarcastically: "I heard you Chris... Shit! You should have told me that! ...what you told Steve!"
Chris's eyes filled with tears, as he looked aside. Christopher, meanwhile, was listening, silent as a grave, but pressing his big brother's shoulder to comfort him.
"You were there... Wyatt, you were not supposed to hear that," the Elder-witch muttered.
"WHY! Why not, Chris?" he asked angrily, as he turned to look at him.
"Because that did not happen. Not for you. That is only part of my life. You are not him, you are not that Wyatt."
"What? You don't understand, do you??? I AM that Wyatt! And I will always be. Only the circumstances changed me, but that monster is inside me, Chris." He was desperate, and Chris was so overwhelmed he did not know what to say. "The fact that Gideon did not get to me does not change the fact that there is something in me that can make me change. He did not use a spell, did he? It was the 'trauma' as you always say..."
"Wyatt..."
"No, Chris, it is my turn to speak. I tried to kill you. That is not what a trauma does. I could have hit you, yelled at you, even made you leave your home. But I killed my whole family, Chris. And I tried to kill you, too. And if you escaped it was not because I felt mercy towards you. How do you call that, Chris?? For me it's a monster, a psychopath! That is still here!" He touched his heart. "You only changed the circumstances... That wasn't a trauma."
Chris lowered his wet eyes, and kept silent, his lips shivering. That was exactly why Wyatt shouldn't know.
"I call that a mistake," Christopher answered shyly and very lowly. His two brothers turned their faces to him. "That timeline never existed, that Wyatt was never there... It was just a mistake." He was also crying now, shocked by what he heard, but sure that what he was now going to say was the truth. "You were never that Wyatt and you will never be."
Wyatt tried to interrupt him, but Christopher gestured to make him keep silent: "Now it's MY turn. Wyatt... You are the best of the brothers in the world; you are always there for me. You do more for me than anyone would be ready to for anyone else. I have been listening to you all the time, trying to figure out how all that could be possible, and for as much I look at you, I cannot see a monster in your eyes, Wyatt. I just can't. There's nothing like that in you. On the contrary, you're the kindest person; even if I'm a pain in the ass most of the time... you are there for me. I... I believe that you're wrong in your reasoning right now. As I see it, there's a Mr. Hyde in every Dr. Jekyll. I have one, you have one, and you, Chris, too. Or we all had. That is our evil part... But we killed it. The evil Wyatt was killed by your good self, and you did that thanks to your own actions, and your love for us all, brother. You have no monster inside, anymore." He paused, and turned to look at the sky: "And I feel like shit right now because I said so many ridiculous things in one minute, and you seem to be thinking, what the hell does he have to do in this? I am sorry... This was not my business."
He started to orb, ashamed, but Wyatt grabbed his arm, and then hugged him strongly: "Don't say that ever again in your life, Christopher. This is your job... And I need you as much as you needed me when you fell off the bike, man. Thanks..."
Chris smiled, with tears in his eyes. "You talked like the big guys, mini-me." Christopher chuckled. "And he's right, Wyatt..." the Elder-witch said seriously, "that other Wyatt disappeared. You will never be like him. Forget what you heard today... I came to change that because I love you, and the best of the blessings is to see now that you two love each other so much."
Christopher was hugging Wyatt strongly. "You've heard that? Promise you'll never ever disconnect me again." he sobbed.
Wyatt stroke his hair: "I promise... I promise."
Chris stared at them full of happiness. Finally he cleared his voice: "Can I... can I join you?"
Wyatt and Christopher chuckled. "O course, Christopher," Christopher answered.
Chris looked at his smiling mini-self, startled. Then he grinned. "Thanks... Chris," he muttered, as the three brothers hugged each other.
This went on for a couple of minutes, until Wyatt growled: "Oh, crap... Forgot to disconnect dad."
'You three, what are you doing on the bridge? Are you planning to escape, not to have to go back home?' A pause. 'Move your butts immediately back to the manor!' A pause. 'I'm sorry, Piper wanted me to say that.'
The three brothers looked one another in the eyes, and burst into laughter.
°°°°°°°°°°
Short after Chris was gone, it knocked on the door. Nicki went to open it. Surprised she looked into the eyes of Tom. "Hey," she said tiredly.
Veronica, who stood next to her boyfriend, stepped forward to hug her. "Do you both have some time? We've a lot of things to tell..." she asked.
"Well... I'm not sure..." Nicki hesitated.
"We have Pizza!" Tom added showing her the boxes.
At that moment Steve appeared in the hallway and stepped next to Nicki. His eyes were still red, and still he looked really terrible, but... Tom noticed a kind of light in his friend's eyes, a light which he had thought was gone forever. And Steve smiled, he smiled at them.
"Pizza for breakfast? With a lot of chilli?" he asked and smiled even a little more.
Tom nodded a little confused. But Steve just smiled and said: "Sounds great!"
°°°°°°°°°°
When the three brothers orbed home, everything was already prepared. The trinquera was painted at the wall, and the whole family was there to say goodbye. Odin and Silas had come, too. Even if they should be up there now, and calm down the other Elders, who of course noticed the huge power Chris and Christopher had set free. But they wanted to say goodbye too.
Chris went over to Bianca, who was carrying Hope and picked the little girl up to his arms, smiling. The baby looked at him with her shining green eyes making Chris's eyes turn watery. He felt an overwhelming joy of having such a wonderful gift like her.
Christopher looked at Wyatt rolling his eyes. The twice blessed chuckled. He could understand both of his brothers...
Then he looked around and noticed that someone was missing: "Where are Mickey and Angy?"
Phoebe sighed then she nodded into the direction of the door: "Downstairs. Michael said I shall tell you two a goodbye and how thankful he is. But he wanted to stay with his wife now..."
Wyatt nodded and took a deep breath. Still he felt the need to talk to Angela. "Excuse me a moment," he said and orbed.
Piper meanwhile went over to Christopher and put his baby-version into his arms.
"What...?" he asked confused.
Piper chuckled: "Thought you would like to share a moment with yourself."
Her son grimaced at her, but when he looked at the baby he smiled. "I'm a cute boy, right?" he asked and everybody nodded agreeing.
"God that's so weird," Christopher said then shaking his head. Even if he now knew how much trouble his time-travel nearly cursed... it was worth it... and finally everything was alright... He just wished he could have spend more time with his grandfather. He missed him so much.
Chris looked up, when he heard his brothers thoughts. He hadn't meant to read his mind, it was just accidentally. And it seemed Christopher didn't notice. Whatever, Chris was kind of shocked about these news. And he suddenly remembered how concerned Wyatt had been when he had met Victor...Chris couldn't believe that his grandfather wouldn't be there anymore in the future. Victor had always been there for him, in his time... And he wanted him to be there for Hope, too... and of course for his brothers... He sighed. He had to solve that somehow... He couldn't let that happen. But how should he prevent that?
°°°°°°°°°°
Wyatt materialised in front of Angela, startling her. "Wow... Wow... please... don't be afraid of me," he said to her with a soft voice.
"Who are you?" she asked, flinching on the sofa as much as possible.
"Me?" he asked smiling. "I'm Wyatt, Chris's... well... Chris's little brother... the cute little boy you surly already met... Piper's son."
Angela frowned. How could that be? Yes, she knew that boy... that boy who let this bear appear in his hands and gave it to her... but... how could he be Chris's brother? Chris had said he's Piper's brother... and the boy was Piper's son... Chris was too old to be Piper's son... And anyway, how could this man be that boy?
Wyatt seemed to guess what she thought. Still smiling he added: "You know, Chris came from the future in first place, and he changed his future completely... Therefore he had to stay in the past and is now my big brother instead of my little one... But, I also have a little brother, Christopher... he's like him, but not really... Oh, and I'm from the future too, from the new future. That's why I'm nearly 26 instead of nearly 3 as the version that belongs to this time... Does that makes any sense to you?"
Angela had listened to every word the man had said... But no, that was all a little too much for her. So she shook her head, even if she had to admit, that this man had the same deep blue eyes, like the small boy.
Wyatt sighed: "Ok, look, I need to go back to my time now, but... I can't do that as long as I'm not sure that everything is alright." He made a break looking her straight into her eyes. "You know... even if this is hard to understand, it's very important for me, that you and Michael stay together... I can't tell you why, because of future consequences, but... I know how much Mickey loves you, you're everything to him. If you had seen him the last days..." Again he made a short break, thinking how he could go on, without spoiling the future again. "Well... what I wanted to say is... He never meant to hurt you... He couldn't tell you the truth, he wasn't allowed, that was part of the deal... he only wanted to protect you... And... I know you love him, too... right?"
For a moment, Angela didn't move, then she nodded.
Wyatt sighed again: "So you give him a second chance?"
She looked at him, he really seemed to care... and, what was more important, he seemed to tell the truth. So again, she nodded.
"Thanks," Wyatt said and kissed her cheek. Then he said goodbye and orbed away after saying: "Send your husband some greetings..."
None of them had noticed Michael who was standing in the doorway. He had just returned from the kitchen, with a glass of water for his wife, when he had seen Wyatt appearing. He had heard everything Wyatt had said and it had made him cry again. Slowly he went over to Angela and sat down next to her, putting the glass on the table.
When she had noticed him, she just looked at him. She just looked into his eyes... his read, and swollen and still watery eyes. Then she hugged him.
°°°°°°°°°°
When Wyatt returned to the attic, he could feel a kind of sadness in the air. "Oh come on," he said, "you know we HAVE to leave and that we go to a GREAT future..."
Leo nodded: "Yeah, but still it's sad to let you go..."
Christopher sighed. Then he took a deep breath and started saying goodbye. He hugged everyone tightly, especially his mom.
"I'll miss you," she said or better sobbed.
Christopher looked at her smiling: "Remember that when you change my diapers."
When he came to Chris he hesitated a moment, but the Elder-witch hugged him tightly. "Goodbye mini-me," he said, "I'm very proud of you, my little brother."
Christopher sighed: "See you in 23 years, maxi-me."
Meanwhile also Wyatt was busy with saying goodbye. When he came to Cole his uncle smiled.
"Well, little worrior," he said, "I think I should change your nickname to huuuuuuge worrior."
Wyatt chuckled: "No please, I prefer the 'little'..." Then he hugged him tightly.
"I'm very proud of you," Cole whispered to his ear, and that meant so much to the twice blessed.
When the row came to Bianca she hugged Wyatt so tightly that he thought he would run out of air. "I owe you so much," she whispered.
"Yeah, but if you would let me breath, I would completely satisfied with that," he said chuckling.
Then Wyatt turned to Chris.
"Goodbye little brother," the Elder-witch said and hugged him before Wyatt had a chance to do anything. "I'll miss you... I will miss you so much," he added then.
The twice blesses sighed: "I will miss you too."
They separated, but still they looked at each other. Then Wyatt winked at him and told him, telepathically: 'I'm sure we'll meet again.'
At the same moment, Christopher threw the potion at the trinquera, making the wall glow in white-purple-blue shining light. The future-boys waved to their family one last time, then they stepped through the portal back to where they belonged.
°°°°°°°°°°
Sometimes in the future:
When Matthew opened his eyes, he looked directly into those of his mother. "How do you feel, baby?" she asked.
He sat up: "I don't know... a little dizzy..."
Chris patted his shoulder, but then he changed his mind and hugged him tightly. "Don't worry," he whispered to his ear, "everything will be alright... it's just the 'two-sets-of-memories-headache', but that will fade away soon."
"So did it work?" Matthew asked kind of shyly.
Chris smiled at him, same as Bianca and Hope. "What did you do yesterday afternoon?" his father asked instead of answering.
Matthew frowned: "I was at the school... you picked me up there... but... wait... I ... I think I was also at the park with Andy."
Chris chuckled: "See... it worked... your best friend and his twin-sister are back, because YOU helped us rescuing their father."
Matthew smiled proudly. And when he thought about his past, he couldn't understand how he had spend all his time without his best friend...
"What about your powers?" Bianca asked concerned.
"Mom... I'm alright, I swear... I know how to handle it," he said, trying to sound like an adult, or better trying to sound like Chris.
"Ok, son," the Elder-witch grinned, "I think you should lay down and relax a little, just close your eyes a while... that's the easiest way to deal with the changings."
Matthew wanted to answer something when Jim went in. "Hey," he said, "Andy called... He's waiting for you Matthew!"
Now the boy smiled widely, turning to his dad: "See... I have no time!" Then he shimmered away.
Still in the future:
A few hours later Chris sat on the old sofa in the attic waiting for his brothers to return. He grinned to himself, imagine the faces of them when they would hear what they changed this time... actually something good, of course.
A few minutes later Hope orbed in. "Damned," she cursed holding her slightly bleeding shoulder...
"What happened?" Chris asked concerned.
His daughter sighed and sat down next to him: "Nothing... just a demon... I ran into him, when I left B.'s and Julian's cave."
Chris nodded: "Are you ok?"
Hope smiled at him and her green eyes were shining: "You know me, right?"
"Yeah I do," he answered grinning and moved closer so that he could heal her.
But at that moment the wall in front of them began to glow, and seconds later Wyatt and Christopher stepped out of the portal.
"Welcome back," Chris said grinning.
Christopher went over to him and hugged his big brother tightly. But Wyatt just stood there in front of them with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
When his brothers separated he said, with a really angry voice: "How could you? How could you Chris? Matthew is only 13!!!!!"
Chris sighed: "I know... but it was the only way."
Wyatt wanted to add something when someone else entered the attic. The 19-years woman, ran over to him and hugged him tightly. "God... It's good that you're still here Julia," he said and kissed his girl passionately.
Meanwhile Christopher hugged his nice. "I've seen you when you had been sooooooo small," he said.
"Yeah, yeah, outch" Hope said, pushing him away, "but be careful, my shoulder was hit by a fireball..."
The witch-Elder looked at her confused, then at his big brother: "Why didn't you heal her?"
Chris wanted to say that he would have, if they didn't have arrived that moment. But some bluish orbing lights interrupted them.
When they saw WHO materialised in the middle of the attic, both - Wyatt and Christopher - where kind of frozen in shock.
The grey-haird whitelighter went over to Hope and started to heal her shoulder. "What happened?" he asked.
Wyatt, who still had his arms around his girl, was the first one who found his voice again. "GRANDPA?" he exclaimed surprised and completely lost.
Chris chuckled and then turned to the confused whitelighter smiling: "They came just back through the portal... They need a little time to get used to the changings..."
"And I am a changing?" Victor asked wondering - not understanding. Chris nodded.
"So I think I should fix your wound downstairs," he said then to Hope and orbed with her away.
"Could you please tell me what's going on here?" Wyatt asked, while Christopher still couldn't believe his eyes.
"Well," Chris said, "I was surprised like you when I found out... but then I remembered... short before you both left to the future I read your mind Christopher."
"What?" his little brother exclaimed.
"Accidentally," Chris added and then went on. "From that I knew that he wouldn't be here in this time... And I didn't want that, I wanted grandpa to be there for both of you, like he was for me... So I did some research and when I found out that I would turn to an immortal full-time-Elder when I die... Well I thought it would be kind of boring when I'm still there in 100 years..."
"Get to the point Chris," Wyatt said kind of frustrated.
"Ok, ok," again he smiled, "I found out where the list for future whitelighters is hidden, and then... I broke in there... with some help... and added his name to the list... And now he's my children's whitelighter."
Christopher smiled: "But... even if I'm really happy to have him back... that's against the rules... I mean, that he stays with the family."
"Who cares, I'm an Elder..." Chris said grinning.
Julia was smiling about the confusion of her love... he looked so cute when he looked like that. Softly she kissed his cheek, then she whispered: "And what do you think, who helped him doing that...?"
Wyatt looked at her. How could she know about that, this must have happened before they had fallen in love... But then he remembered that he had told her the story... because he and Christopher had been with Chris...
"I'm afraid," five years old Christopher admitted, looking around the grand hallway of one of those buildings of the Elders.
Wyatt turned to his younger brother and grinned: "Don't worry, nothing will happen to us...Because Chris will protect us, right?" The last words the eight year old boy directed at his old brother.
Chris chuckled: "Absolutely." Then he put his finger on his lips and whispered: "Follow me..."
...they had been the ones helping him. Now Wyatt could remember how they had broken in there. He shook his head smiling. Then he kissed Julia again.
(Chapter 11 written by Chrissy.W.x and Belén)
Well... That's all for this part. But don't worry. Next week on Friday we'll start with the 9th story of our series. So stay tuned.
