Soul mate. Noun. Eight letters. Two words. Two syllables. Plato philosophized that once, a long, long time ago, all people had four legs and two heads. And then the gods threw down thunderbolts and split everyone into two. Each half then had two legs and one head. But the separation left both sides with a desperate yearning to be reunited because they each shared the same soul. And ever since then, all people spend their lives searching for the other half of their soul.

Christopher Benjamin Hall defied both time and space to find his other half. The sparks of a soul mate, the lightning preluded by the thunderbolt millennia ago, lie within the young couple and before it can truly thrive, they're in danger of being squandered… And that scares him because now he knows what it feels like beside her, the sheer brilliance of feeling complete.

He'll do anything to keep it…
Anything.

Strong hands latch onto the jacket of the man he knew by the title of Agent Murphy. From behind he lifts him upright and slams him hard against the wall before relocating his grip to the man's throat. Assault on a federal officer; not even minutes into his vow to do anything to save her and he's committing his first crime.

Chris: What aren't you telling us? (lets up on Murphy's throat a bit so he can speak)
Murphy: Told you everything I've got.

Growing up in what was considered to be WWIII gave Chris a certain skill set added to his survival tactics and instincts. Reading body language was like a second language to him. This particular skill set and Agent Murphy's typical reactions all pointed to one thing. The man was lying. Unfortunately, neither have time for it. Chris's hands grip the agent's white button-down to pull him off the wall only to shove him back against it twice as hard as before.

Chris: You wanna keep playing games? Fine. How about we play a game of let's-see-how-long-you-can-hold-onto-the-window-sill-before-plummeting-thirteen-stories-to-your-death?
Agent Murphy: (fear filled eyes aiming towards Piper) Piper?
Piper: You're not telling us everything Agent Murphy and lives are on the line of both the evil and good persuasions.

Those famous magical hands known to pack a blast fly open and the desk lamp explodes. Agent Murphy's eyes widen and jaw drops to the floor at the sight, fearful that if he doesn't talk one of those blasts will be aimed his way. Unintentionally his gaze shifts towards the files on another desk on the other end of the room just for a second but in that second Chris realizes where his gaze went. Immediately he tosses the man forward into his desk and walks over to the spot where the files lie.

Chris: We've got what we need.
Agent Murphy: You can't just burst in here and take what you want. This is a federal office.
Piper: If you ever want us to work with you again, you'll forget this ever happened.

With a smirk, Chris turns to the woman that isn't his mother based on a technicality. For a moment the woman that raised him flashes before his eyes, the stubborn, strong, and all around super woman that he admired. The woman he was able to call mom and mean it whole heartedly. The moment she looks at him, Chris scoops up the files and holds his hand out for her to take. The mother happily obliges noticing he's looking at her for the first time in a long time and not just through her.

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They touchdown in the manor just as Phoebe began to call. Worried eyes shift towards the rapidly shaking form of the girl he loves. Casting the files into Piper's hands, he raced forward kneeling by Billie's side and holding her hand until she transformed back into the breathtakingly beautiful woman he adores. His eyes never leave her but his concern leads him to ask questions.

Chris: Paige what'd the elders say?
Paige: It has no prejudice against good and evil, magical world is in a frenzy, just another day in the office.

Her tone betrays her words; what's intended to be confidently sarcastic words are oozing with fear and frustration. Gorgeous green eyes meet the brown ones of his aunt to confirm his suspicion. She's just as scared as he is. They all are. Unfortunately, Chris has no time for this fear or to console theirs. Lives are at stake and everything that he's been taught to do tells him to act.

Chris: You guys go through the files we borrowed from Agent Murphy's office and find me a Patient X. If I'm right that'll be the cure.
Phoebe: But Chris-
Chris: Just go! (Takes a moment to control himself) Just, please. We don't have much time.

As far as he's concerned the conversations over and to declare it, he turns his back to them and redirects his attention where he finds it needed. She's been his life raft through treacherous sea, the calm through his storm. Strong arms scoop her up and carry her to the couch. Gently, he sets her down and kneels by her side. Similar to the careful fashion of a man dealing with an ancient artifact, Chris brushes her hair out of her face.

It's peculiar to see her so weak, especially when he's never seen her as anything but the strong, fiercely independent woman that brought direction, beauty, and meaning back into his life. She woke him up, showed him what it meant to live, and now she's dying. How was that fair?

Chris: I spent an entire year left adrift in the dark never believing I could find my way back to the light. That is, until I came across this beautiful warrior of a woman that quite literally shocked me back to life… You saved me, Billie and I swear I'll do whatever it takes even if it means Phoebe's premonition comes true because I don't want to live in a world you're no longer a part of.
Leo: What premonition?

A deer in the headlights expression takes over the whitelighter's features as he turns to the man he'd had a complicated relationship with. Actually until he came back to the past, he wouldn't even say they had one. But the fear that fills the man's eyes as a series of dark possible outcomes filled his eyes proves otherwise. Chris softly kisses Billie's forehead before making it to his feet and turning to Leo.

Chris: It's nothing.
Leo: (Firmer) Chris, what premonition?
Chris: Oh so now you care again? Jesus Christ man! You disown me, love me, forget me, and love me again. Hop off the merry-go-round and leave me the hell alone.
Leo: I'm not going to leave you alone, Chris. Never again.
Chris: Broken records tend to fall on deaf ears, Father.

He spoke, accentuating the name like an intended insult but the father never faltered in stance or expression knowing that his son would run if given half a chance. Instead he closes the gap refusing to show any hint of backing down.

Leo: What premonition, Son?

Tension boiled over and soaked the room in its hostility until one of its inhabitants snapped. Chris growls while extending thick hands forward until they clasp onto the older gentleman's shirt. Then quick feet and boiling rage propel both men backwards until Chris has him pinned. As he struggles under the whitelighter's grip, Leo flashes back to when roles were reversed. Chris's heavy breath on his face takes the man out of his reverie and gathers his undivided attention.

Chris: A vision of me doing what you'd do if that was Piper lying there fighting for her life; whatever it takes.

The sheer intensity of a man possessed in Chris's eyes brings clarity. The woman lying unconscious on the living room couch is Chris's Piper. She's the woman that makes him whole, just like Plato said. It holds the older man motionless, lost in the splendor that is love at its strongest. In fact, he's so lost that he didn't notice Chris release him from his grip or Piper making her way down the stairs.

Piper: Is everything okay down here?
Chris: Yes ma'am. Leo and I were just getting reacquainted. Isn't that right, Leo?
Leo: Yeah.
Piper: Right… well Chris your aunts and I—mean we need you upstairs.

The musty smell of the attic hits his nostrils and nostalgia creeps up like a thief in the night. However, he's quick to bat it away. Now is no time for memories, no time for sentiment. Chris is about to dive deep into the rabbit hole of lies and deceptions, a place he's sworn to never go again. Of course, when he said he'd do anything for Billie, he did mean anything. Even this…

Chris leaps into the role of the neurotic nephew and the devoted son by helping out when asked, letting the four letter A word slip from time to time, and intentionally placing an accidental slip of the mom card. They're like putty in his hands and he hates how readily they get played but he has to. It'll save their lives in the long run.

Chris: So you found our Patient X.
Phoebe: Yeah, I've got all his information right here.
Chris: Alright, we'll head out just let me check on Billie.

Chris made sure to take the paper from Phoebe's hand before initiating the plan. He only hopes the plan doesn't get one of them killed… not by the demon but by Piper. As Piper reaches the top of the stairs he speaks loud enough to bust them.

Chris: Oh and about that premonition you had of me dying—
Paige: Just be careful.
Chris: I will. I just wanted to thank you for not telling Piper. She'd freak is she knew.
Piper: You bet your ass I would!
Paige & Phoebe: Piper!
Piper: Chris, can I have a moment with my sisters.
Chris: Sure, I'll be downstairs.

For a man working super hard to separate the women in this time from his family in his, he sure used future knowing to manipulate them. 'Maybe they aren't so different after all,' h e thought but quickly erased. Now isn't about him or the family. It's about Patient X. Unrolling the piece of paper he was handed, he reads the name and location. And before orbing off, he vows that he'll return with Patient X or in a body bag.

Nothing about the hallway in which he orbed into seems significant. From the tiled floor to the dim florescent lighting, the place looked like any other federal or office building in the world. Chris eyes set on the man that was in a lot of ways similar to the building; bland, timeworn, and unimpressive. But Chris sees past the Janitor's exterior and sees the man with the fate of the magical world on his man stares at the angel that came in a shower of white and blue orbs letting the broom slip from his hands and jaw drop.

Patient X: A-a- are you an angel?
Chris: Technically but now I come to you as man asking for you to help save magic and the woman I'm falling madly in love with.
Patient X: How can I help?
Demon X: By giving me you blood.

Chris's attention snaps to the demon and his army that shimmered in behind him moments ago. Fluid motion pulls Patient X to the ground to dodge a sea of fireballs and extends his other hand to retaliate by hurling bolts out of his hand. From his position of the floor he grabs X's arm and tries to orb them back to the manor but gets a fireball to the ankle.

The two collapse in a heap a little further down the corridor and Chris turns back to the hulked out demons and their leaders with a look of shock. As if his physical injury isn't enough her puny voice hits his ears- the sign that she's slipping away and he can't keep her hanging on.

Billie: *soft feeble whisper* M'sorry Chris.

She'd been fighting it. He knew that struggle better than anyone- lying on some cushy piece of furniture trying to overcome that darkness that pulls at the corner of your vision, the grip on your throat that makes breathing next to impossible, and the blinding pain. Knowing she's even going through causes that heart in your throat feeling of dreadful misery. Heavy breaths come from a heaving chest as fireballs whiz past.

Swallowing the lump in his throat he whispers…

Chris: Just hang on Pretty Girl. Hang on.

It's as if her heartbeat pounds in his ears the fading sound unbearable. In an attempt to make different choices and warp the outcome, Chris brought himself to where he was meant to be. The warrior rounds the corner firing bolt after bolt with the sheer aggression of a final stand. Every nerve ending in his body feels as if it'll explode, the sheer intensity of raw power from the gods themselves.

He sees Piper's goofy ear to ear grin when the M word slipped for the first time.
He sees Leo calling him son and fighting for forgiveness.
Then his mind flashes to pushing him out of the way of an arrow without the knowledge Paige'd be there to save her.
Paige stands willing to slip her sister a love potion if it meant keeping him alive.
Little Wyatt trusted him enough not to put up his shield and Melinda looking up at him with his green eyes.
He doesn't see his life flash before his eyes. He sees his family just the way they are.

Charmed Ones: Chris!

Changing his fate, Chris's power surge came to a screeching halt. His fatigue ridden body falls to the ground face first. As the war wages on without him, beads of sweat poured from his pores matting his hair to his forehead and caused clothes to cling to his body. To even keep his eyes still open was a miracle in and of itself but he was still breathing. Thank God, he was still breathing. Green orbs momentarily disappear behind soft lids and when he opens them he's staring at a blurred figure hovering over him. After several blinks the woman's image becomes clear.

Chris: Mom?
Piper: Yeah, it's me, Piper.
Chris (grinning): A simple yes would suffice, mom.

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Two vials of blood are in one of the whitelighter's hands while the very lovely, very alive woman he loves holds the other. Thanks to Piper's freezing and a very fearful Agent Murphy, she was saved. A smirk teases his lips as he stands before the Tribunal. This time he's the one with the tricks in his pockets and ace up his sleeve.

Chris: The virus going around has no prejudice; good and evil all targets. With so many in danger of contracting it, a cure is in great demand. Now I could go to the Elders with the cure and let the demons die… should save me a lot of trouble too. But if I give it to you, the virus will be extinct and both parties win.
Demon: Why would you help the demons when it's your desire to destroy them?
Billie: Selfish desires. We want the names of those responsible for my sister's death…
Chris: And I want something that you've denied me for far too long. Whataya say? Deal or no deal?
(after much discussion) Tribunal: Deal. What is it that you want Christopher?

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Don't shoot!
The cliff hanger ending isn't just to keep you on the edge of your seat and reading (though that is definitely a positive)
It's to get you, the readers, more involved!
It's not about what Chris wants… it's about what you want!
Either next chapter could be the conclusion of the story and I can divert my attention elsewhere or do you want me to continue farther with this (maybe go into Billie's vengeance, Chris's battle and Chrillie! As well as MORE Charmed Ones)
The Choice is Yours.