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…

Notes: So you're not confused, I should mention that it wasn't Gideon who turned Wyatt in my little story. It didn't really fit with the plotline that I came up with, so I've changed canon events a bit.

Last time…

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?"

Chapter Three

She knew what he was going to say before he spoke the words. The look of pain that flitted across his face confirmed her worst fears, and her heart sank like a lead weight inside of her chest. She had been hoping against hope that it wasn't true, but she could no longer bury her head in the sand – her sweet little boy really was going to grow up evil.

Future Leo's answer, when it finally came, was simplicity itself. "Yes."

"But… but how?" Piper stammered, struggling to take things in.

Leo shook his head, pinching the bridge of his nose between his thumb and forefinger. "I wish I knew, Piper, I really do. All we've been able to figure out is whatever got to Wyatt did so before his second birthday."

A stricken expression descended over Piper's features at the thought of losing her baby in just over a year's time, and Leo hastened to set her mind at rest – as much as he could anyway.

"We didn't lose him immediately," he told her. "The evil – it lay dormant inside of him for years. Maybe, they wanted him to learn as much from us as he could before they took him, I don't know. He was sixteen when they finally pulled the trigger."

"Oh, oh god!" Piper said, her hands rising to cover her mouth. Patty quickly rose to her feet and crossed to sit beside her daughter, slipping a comforting arm around her shoulders.

"He wasn't good one day and evil the next though; he just started to go off the rails. There was other stuff going on at the time, so I thought his acting out was because of that. By the time I realised there was more to it, it was too late."

"So if you knew he was turned as a baby, why didn't you come back to warn us yourself? Or why didn't one of us come? Why was Chris sent instead?" Phoebe barely paused for breath as the questions tumbled from her lips.

Future Leo sighed and closed his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts. "You haven't been visited by your future selves because none of you are able to travel back in time," he eventually replied.

There was a pregnant pause as that sank in. "You mean we're all dead?" Phoebe asked, her face pale and her voice strained.

"No - not all of you anyway. Two of you are still alive, but Wyatt stripped you of your powers years ago. He has you imprisoned somewhere in the underworld."

Phoebe opened her mouth to ask the obvious question but Future Leo immediately cut her off. "Don't Phoebe," he pleaded. "Just don't. I can't tell you any more than that right now."

Phoebe reluctantly nodded, capitulating to the anguish that she could hear in his voice. Taking a deep, calming breath, Future Leo forcibly shook off the sudden wave of grief, and continued with his explanation.

"As for why I didn't come - there are two reasons. Firstly, I'm an Elder so it's very dangerous for me to time-travel. I could tip the balance of destiny too far one way."

"But you're here now," Paige pointed out.

"Yes but I can't stay long – 72 hours at the most. Any longer and I could seriously mess with the delicate equilibrium of the cosmos."

"Spoken like a true Elder," Penny commented with a sarcastic roll of her eyes.

Future Leo's face split into a grin. "Sorry – I slip from time to time."

"And the second reason?" Paige asked.

"Huh?"

"You said there were two reasons."

"Oh right. The truth is we – I mean the other Elders and I - have been trying to turn Wyatt back in the present. It didn't occur to us to send someone to the past to prevent him from being turned in the first place."

"But I thought the Elders sent Chris," Phoebe said, puzzled.

"No, that's just what he told you. In actual fact, he and a small group of his friends came up with the whole idea by themselves. We had no inkling of what they were planning; it took us completely by surprise."

"I don't understand," present Leo said, frowning in confusion. "How could you not know? The Elders watch constantly over all witches and whitelighters, especially in times of upheaval."

Future Leo looked over at his past self. "Things have changed, Leo," he said and then broke off. "Okay so that was weird."

"Tell me about it," present Leo agreed with a wry grimace. "Changed how?"

"Wyatt has great power – you know that already – but he's nearly twenty-three now, you have no idea what he's capable of. The higher realms are vulnerable, he knows too many of our secrets. The Elders came to the conclusion that the only way to protect themselves was to seal off 'up there' from 'down here' completely."

"They abandoned their children!" Leo said incredulously. He couldn't believe it. "There's no link to the human world at all?"

"No, we maintained a link but Wyatt found a way to weaken it."

"Okay, so where does Chris fit into all of this?" Paige asked.

Future Leo hesitated before eventually deciding to answer the question – at least partly anyway. "He and I were the link," he explained.

"And Wyatt weakened it how?"

"He cast a spell to alter Chris's memories of me. For the past five years, Chris has believed that I wasn't there for him while he was growing up, that I had better things to do than spend time with him. It's not how it was, but to him it's reality."

"I don't understand," Piper said. "Why would Chris expect you to be there for him as a child anyway? Was he a special charge of yours?"

"Something like that, yes."

"You're not telling us everything," Piper accused, her deep brown eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I haven't managed to persuade Chris to tell you the whole truth yet. Things are difficult between us as it is. I don't want to betray his trust and make things worse."

"The potion you gave him returned his memories," present Leo guessed.

His future counterpart nodded. "I've laboured for five years trying to find a way to circumvent Wyatt's magic. When I finally cracked it, I couldn't wait; I had to come here straightaway. I got myself into a whole heap of trouble with the other Elders by doing so, of course. I don't doubt that it'll be worth it though."

"Chris is very confused right now however. He has two sets of memories and it's difficult for him to decipher what's real and what's fabrication. I think the effects of Wyatt's spell will eventually fade but it's going to take some time."

"Were Chris and Wyatt friends then?" Phoebe asked. "I mean they must be about the same age right?"

"Chris is a couple of years younger but yes, they used to be close before Wyatt..." Future Leo left the statement hanging, his blue-green eyes darkening with pain.

"That explains why Chris is so neurotic about saving him, I suppose," Phoebe said.

"Well, you're not exactly helping on that score," Future Leo retorted, his tone full of censure. "From what I can see, you're just carrying on with your lives as if everything were normal."

"That's not completely true," Phoebe half-heartedly protested.

"Isn't it? The poor boy is carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders because non of you are taking this threat to Wyatt seriously enough. He looks exhausted and he's lost weight. It's about time you gave him some support - he's only twenty-one for pity's sake."

"All right Dad, I think we've got the message," Paige cut in. "You can save the lecture."

With a great deal of effort, Future Leo reigned in his parental instincts before his over-protective tirade gave away the true nature of his relationship to Chris. "I'm sorry – I know some of Chris's actions have made you wary but you have to understand, he only has Wyatt's best interests at heart."

"I think we've got that now," Piper said softly.

Future Leo nodded. "Good – the future of our family depends on it."

"Can I ask a question?" present Leo said then.

"Ask away."

"Why are you still wearing your wedding ring?" Leo had finally worked up the courage to broach the delicate subject of his and Piper's relationship with his future self.

Future Leo glanced down at the gold band on the third finger of his left hand. "Why shouldn't I be?" he asked, obviously confused by the question.

"Because you and Piper are divorced," Paige told him.

Future Leo stared at her blankly for a moment, and then his mouth dropped open in shock. "I'm sorry?" he exclaimed, his voice strangled.

"Okay so I'm guessing that didn't happen in your timeline," Paige said.

"But… What? How?" Future Leo spluttered, his eyes flitting between Piper and his past self as if he was watching a tennis ball in play.

"Oh I don't know – maybe it had something to do with you agreeing to be an Elder without even consulting me," Piper said, somewhat bitterly.

"I did consult you," Future Leo said absently, and then his eyes widened. "What? Wait – you're an Elder already?" he demanded of his past self.

Present Leo nodded and Future Leo shook his head in disbelief. "I don't get it."

"When did you become an Elder then?" Phoebe asked the future version of her brother-in-law.

"Nineteen years ago."

"Which in this timeline is…?"

"In two years time."

"I guess stopping the Titans from killing Paige, and preventing them from taking over the world changed things," Phoebe concluded.

"The Titans didn't kill Paige," Future Leo said, his brow furrowing in confusion. "And you did defeat them in my timeline. Alagon released the power from the Urn and made you Goddesses."

"Who's Alagon?"

"One of the Elders who survived the Titan attack," Present Leo explained, immediately recognising the name. "Chris said Paige died," he told his future self. "He persuaded me to turn the girls into Goddesses. He said I was the only one who could do it, that the other Elder's wouldn't because it was forbidden."

"And you became an Elder in the process," Future Leo finished for him.

"Didn't Chris tell you any of this?" Patty asked her son-in-law.

"No - it seems my charge forgot to mention a few things when he was bringing me up to date on recent events. Thinking about it though, it was a pretty good plan. Chris needed to get close to the girls in order to protect Wyatt, becoming their whitelighter was the obvious way to achieve that."

"So he deliberately split you and Piper up?" Paige asked, outraged.

Future Leo shook his head. "I seriously doubt that was the intention – I imagine it was just an unfortunate side-effect."

"You're sure about that are you? You said it yourself – you're hardly Chris's favourite person."

"Maybe not, but he would never deliberately do anything to hurt Piper, I am certain of that."

Piper's eyes opened wide in astonishment at Leo's emphatic statement. "Why?" she asked.

Future Leo smiled softly at her. "All Wyatt's friends adored you," he explained. "Chris especially."

Piper's face lit up. "I was a cool mom, huh?"

"The very best."

Piper blushed, warmed by the endorsement. "So we found a way to make it work?" she asked.

Future Leo nodded. "It wasn't always easy but yes."

"But how?" present Leo burst out. "Being an Elder is a fulltime commitment."

Future Leo looked over at his past self. "I kind of negotiated a deal," he explained. "The Elder's were decimated by the Titan's attack. They needed to increase their numbers and fast. I said I'd only do it if I were free to come and go as I pleased. And I insisted that six months of every year were spent with my family."

"And they agreed to that?"

"They had to – it took nearly five years to repair the damage the Titan's attack wreaked on the Higher Realms. Potential Elders are hard to come by; they could hardly afford to let one slip through their fingers."

"I suppose not," Present Leo concurred, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. "Five years, you said?"

"Gives you something to think about, huh?" Future Leo said with a grin.

Present Leo nodded, his eyes bright with renewed hope, but then his shoulders suddenly slumped. "What if it's too late?"

"It's not is it?" Future Leo asked, turning to look at Piper, his steady gaze holding hers captive

Piper was flummoxed and a little freaked out. All this was happening way too fast. She'd only just gotten used to being single again, and now there was a possibility that her marriage wasn't as over as she thought. A few seconds later, her brain finally caught up with her racing heart, however. And when it did, she couldn't deny the truth.

"No," she quietly admitted, looking shyly over at the Leo from the present timeline.

"All right!" Phoebe and Paige high-fived each other, while Penny and Patty faces split into delighted smiles.

While Piper and his past self lost themselves in each other's eyes, Future Leo sat back against the sofa cushions, immensely pleased with his marriage counselling skills. Of course, it did help knowing the two people involved and their problems inside out. All in all though, he decided it was a job well done.

To be continued…

Apologies for the lack of Chris – this is a Chris-centric story, I swear! He'll be back next time, I promise. Lots of Chris/Piper/Leo goodness on the horizon. He needed to be out the way for this chapter though.