FALSE MEMORIES
My first posted story here. Also my first Charmed Fanfic, although I have written fanfiction for other shows.
Disclaimer: The characters in Charmed do not belong to me. No infringement is intended, no profit is made.
Summary: Loved the Piper/Leo/Chris family dynamic in Season 6 so that's when this story is based. Set after Chris-Crossed and Prince Charming. Nobody knows who Chris is yet, but they're about to find out, courtesy of an unexpected visitor from the future…
Thanks for all the reviews of the first part. Here is the next chapter. Hope it's not too difficult to work out which Leo is which!
Chapter Two
"Whoa! Easy buddy!"
Future Leo quickly reached out to catch Chris as he toppled forward, unsteadied by the potion's effects. While the others looked on in abject amazement, he helped the disorientated young man over to the sofa and sat down beside him. Rubbing his hand in soothing circles over his son's back, he calmly waited for the magical brew to run its course.
Chris eventually lifted his head, his eyes wide with horror and his handsome face drained of all colour. He swallowed hard a couple of times, then clamped his hand over his mouth and orbed out. Future Leo immediately followed in a swirl of blue lights, leaving the rest of them to stare dumbly at the spot where the two of them had just been.
"Where did they go?" Piper whirled around to demand of a stunned Leo.
The Elder closed his eyes and concentrated. "Only downstairs," he said. "To your bathroom."
Piper was out the door and heading down the attic stairs in an instant, her sisters, mother, grandmother and ex-husband close on her heels. They all skidded to a stop in her bedroom and looked in on the scene in the on-suite bathroom.
Future Leo was just handing an extremely pale Chris a glass of water. Their whitelighter was slumped on the floor next to the toilet, a thin sheen of sweat dewing his forehead as he trembled in obvious shock. His teeth chattered against the glass as he took a few sips of the cool liquid, and they watched as a concerned Leo reached out to steady his shaking hands.
"I'm sorry." Chris's voice was thin and reedy in quality.
"Don't." Leo's voice was steady and firm. "It's not your fault."
The whitelighter wasn't to be deterred though. "I'm sorry. Everything's so messed up. I'm so sorry."
With that, he dissolved into tears, his sobs hiccupping in his throat as he buried his face in his hands. Future Leo sat down beside Chris and pulled him close, wrapping his arms around his head and shoulders.
"Ssh, it's okay, you're okay," he murmured as he smoothed his hand over his son's mussed hair. "You're okay."
Her mouth dropping open in astonishment, Piper watched the future version of her ex-husband comfort their crying whitelighter with gentle care. There was something so familiar about the scene, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was. Shaking her head, she pushed those confusing thoughts aside and focused on the current situation instead.
"Ahem!" she loudly cleared her throat. "Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?"
Her sharp question garnered the immediate attention of the two men in the bathroom, who both jumped and turned to look at her. Chris's red-rimmed eyes inadvertently met Piper's, and she reeled under the wealth of raw emotion that she saw in his gaze. He was usually such a closed book but right now, he looked so vulnerable. Something had happened to knock the cocky confidence out of him, she realised.
Their gaze held for only a short moment, before Chris quickly glanced away in a vain attempt to hide his anguish from her. Piper sighed and shifted her attention to Leo, who appeared significantly more in control of his emotions, despite the unshed tears glistening in his eyes.
"Piper," he said in calm tone. "I need to talk to Chris first, okay?"
"No, no, not okay," Piper said, emphatically shaking her head. "You can't just come here and not explain why. You're not just some random whitelighter from the future, you're Wyatt's father!"
"We'll be back, I promise." With that infuriating statement, Future Leo placed his hand on Chris's shoulder and orbed them both out of the Manor.
"Ahh!" Piper shattered the vase of flowers on the chest of drawers in frustration.
"You don't grow out of that habit then," Phoebe quipped with a sly sidelong glance at their Leo.
"Where are they?" Piper practically screeched at her ex-husband.
Leo shook his head. "I don't know, I can't sense them, he's blocking me."
"I guess he-I know you too well," he added with a faint smile.
Piper glared at him, her brown eyes icy, but then her shoulders slumped in defeat. "You know Chris," she said, stating the obvious.
"Seems so," Leo agreed, as he sat down heavily on the edge of bed, trying to process what he'd just witnessed.
His future self clearly cared for Chris a great deal. But why? The young whitelighter's attitude towards him vacillated from casual indifference to outright contempt. Chris had rarely shown any warmth towards him, or made any real attempt to get to know him. Leo knew that his own antagonistic behaviour had contributed to that state of affairs, but the boy had never once acted as if they were personally acquainted. It just didn't make any sense.
"Do you think we know Chris?" Phoebe said, asking the million-dollar question.
"Well, I'm thinking, yeah," Paige replied with heavy sarcasm. "Seeing as he's so very good at manipulating us. I don't know why we didn't see it before."
Phoebe nodded. "Me neither – talk about blind, deaf and dumb. Why didn't he tell us?"
A beat, and then…
"Future Consequences," the Charmed Ones said in unison, collectively rolling their eyes.
"Chris's favourite saying," Paige explained to a confused Patty and Penny.
Patty nodded. "So, you're saying this boy is what? A friend of the family?"
"Maybe a friend of Wyatt's?" Phoebe suggested. "I mean he'd be about the right age."
"But Chris said Wyatt was evil in his future," Piper cut in. "How can they be friends?"
"Maybe whatever it was that got to Wyatt as a baby didn't properly manifest itself until he reached adolescence," Paige postulated. "If they had some sort of personal connection, it would explain Chris's determination to stop him from turning evil, wouldn't it? I mean, come on, he's totally obsessed."
"And we've been fighting him every step of the way," Piper said, her voice thick with guilt.
"Piper," Penny said sharply. "If your gut instinct was to be wary of this boy, then you were right to go with it."
"Were we, Grams?" Piper replied, her expression pained. "What if we've endangered Wyatt by doing so?"
"Well, it seems to me that the only person who has the answer to that is Chris."
"Or Leo," Phoebe put in thoughtfully.
Paige turned to look at her brother-in-law. "That was you, wasn't it?" she asked. "I mean, you didn't sense anything odd about him, did you?"
Leo shook his head. "No, that was me. I'm almost sure of it."
"Almost?"
"I can't be a hundred percent certain. Do you know how weird it is sensing yourself?"
Paige shrugged. "Whatever – a little question and answer session should confirm it one way or the other anyway."
"If we can get him to stay in one place for more than five minutes," Piper said acerbically, throwing a pointed look at her ex-husband.
"I'm sure we could come up with a 'Power of Three' spell to achieve that," Paige told her sister, her lips curling up into a wicked smile.
"WHAT?" Leo spluttered, outraged at the idea.
"Oh come on, Leo – you want to know too, don't you?"
"Yes but…" Leo trailed off. "He said he'd be back," he said defensively
"Yes, he did. We're just going to make sure he stays put when he does," Paige replied, her tone sweetly reasonable.
"It's unethical!"
"Too bad, you're outvoted," Piper said unsympathetically.
"What about the demon you're supposed to be vanquishing?"
"We'll cast a seek and find spell, Paige can orb me there, and I'll blow him up."
"That's not very elegant, Piper," Penny reproved, her forehead creasing into a disapproving frown.
The look that the eldest Charmed One directed towards her grandmother was sufficient to freeze hell over. "So?"
"Maybe now isn't the best time, mother," Patty swiftly interjected as Penny Halliwell drew herself up to her full height and prepared for battle. "She's worried about her baby – you can relate to that, can't you? It's not as if you bothered with etiquette when any of the girls were in danger."
As soon as that sunk in, Penny deflated like a popped balloon. "All right, I agree this situation demands a swift resolution. We'll go with Piper's idea."
"There are proper ways to do things though," she added, not completely giving in.
"Oh, you're good," Phoebe murmured to her mother. "Can you teach me how to do that?"
"The trick is not to try it too often," Patty whispered back. "That way it takes them by surprise."
"Okay, I'll remember that the next time Piper is in bulldozer mode."
"I heard that!" Both Piper and Penny exclaimed, wearing twin expressions of indignation.
Patty, Phoebe and Paige broke into delighted laughter, while Leo's face split into a wide grin. Piper and Penny loved each other to death, but their similar personalities often put them at loggerheads. It was a source of great amusement to those around them, especially considering they both insisted that they weren't at all alike. Eventually their combined mirth died down, and they refocused on the task at hand.
"All right," Phoebe said, clapping her hands together. "So we've got a plan – let's get to work."
Three hours later, they were all sitting around the dining room table, coffee mugs in hand, waiting for the wanderers to return. The demon was vanquished and the Power of Three spell written, now all they needed was its intended target.
"They're here," Leo said, startling everyone with his sudden announcement. "Upstairs – he dropped the sensing shield when they orbed back in."
They all reached out to take either his or Paige's hand, and then orbed as one up to the first floor landing, where they materialised in a shimmering array of twinkling blue lights just outside the door to Piper's bedroom. Noting their arrival, Future Leo covered a sleeping Chris with a blanket, and then stepped out into the hallway to join them, pulling the door shut behind him.
He immediately spied the piece of paper in Piper's hand, and Paige and Phoebe's telltale positions either side of her, and his eyes widened in disbelief. He shot a plaintive look at his past counterpart, who held up his hands in mock surrender.
"Don't look at me, it's wasn't my idea. You know how they are."
"Yes, I do," Future Leo agreed with a wry smile. "That won't be necessary," he added, snatching the spell out of Piper's hand before she could react. "I'll tell you what you want to know - within reason anyway. You know I won't be able to tell you everything, it's too dangerous, too many…"
"If you say 'Future Consequences' I swear I'll blow you up," Piper threatened ominously.
Future Leo laughed. "Chris has used that mantra one too many times, huh?" he guessed.
"Oh, you think?"
"Well essentially he's right. You can't know too much about the future. I do think he's taken it to the extreme though. He has his reasons for that, I suppose, but the absolute secrecy isn't strictly necessary. No wonder you're so suspicious of him."
"Do we have reason to be?" Piper asked, her eyes studying his face intently.
Future Leo looked her directly in the eye. "Non whatsoever," he replied, his gaze never wavering.
"Umm," Paige raised her hand diffidently. "Maybe we should do this downstairs," she suggested. "And I still think he needs to prove that he's really Leo."
"It's him," Piper said firmly. "Don't ask me how I know, I just do."
"We're connected – we always will be," Future Leo said softly, reaching out to brush the backs of his fingers over her cheek.
"Uh-oh, not good," Piper murmured as those familiar butterflies started fluttering about in her stomach. "You're not supposed to do that. Tell him he's not supposed to do that," she said, turning to her Leo.
Leo had watched the little exchange with interest - maybe not all was lost for him and Piper after all. His other self acted as if they were very much a part of each other's lives, and he had also noticed what the others had not – Future Leo still wore a wedding band on his finger. Although he couldn't see how they could find a way around the Elder dilemma, all the evidence pointed to the contrary and that lifted his spirits and filled him with new hope for the future.
"I think moving downstairs would be good," Future Leo said, interrupting his thoughts. "This could take some time."
"Just no orbing," Piper said. "We're gonna walk down the stairs. Disappearing acts are strictly forbidden, okay?"
"Yes ma'am," Future Leo teased, saluting smartly and making them all laugh.
The little group then made their way downstairs and ensconced themselves in the various chairs and sofas in the lounge area.
"Where's Wyatt?" Future Leo asked, suddenly realising that he couldn't detect his elder son's presence in the vicinity.
"At Sheila's," Piper replied. "She's one of my emergency babysitters for demon attack crises – which I guess you already know."
"It's a long time ago but yes I remember."
"So, how are we going to play this?" Phoebe enquired, tucking her feet up underneath her and hugging her knees to her chest.
Future Leo shrugged. "I guess you just ask me questions and I'll answer if I think it's safe to."
"Works for me," Piper replied, and then went for the jugular. "Was Chris telling the truth – is our baby boy really evil in the future?"
That's all folks! More instalments coming soon…