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: Hello, me again. Not that much action in this part, mainly because it's the set up for the next chapter. However, there should be plenty of character moments to keep you happy – I hope:-) Please read and review.

Also, I'm moving house next week so they'll be a delay until I get organised at my new place. I'm hoping to post one more part before I move, but I might not manage it, so the delay could come after this one instead. I will be back with an update as soon as I can.

Last time...

Present Leo looked over at his future self, and saw that the man was as shocked as he was. "I don't understand. Why would Piper hate you?"

"Because I couldn't save her," Chris burst out in anguish. "I tried to but I couldn't… And Wyatt, it wouldn't have happened if she… It's all my fault. I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. It's all my fault."

With that, Chris buried his face in his hands and started to orb out, unable to face what he mistakenly perceived as his father's disgust…

Chapter 9

"Whoa!" Both Leo's made a grab for Chris's orb cloud, easily preventing him from escaping between them.

"Just go, let me deal with this," Future Leo said to his past self, catching his son as he stumbled and fell, unbalanced by having his orb so abruptly interrupted. "This is my responsibility."

"He's my son too," Present Leo retorted, stubbornly standing his ground and refusing to leave.

"Yes, I know. But you can't possibly understand what he's going through - you weren't there."

"Yeah well, neither were you by the sound of things. Tell me – exactly where were you when our family was being torn apart?"

"Don't you lecture me! You haven't got the slightest idea what you're talking about."

"I wouldn't have failed my family so miserably, I know that."

"Sorry Leo, but whatever responsibility is mine is yours too. We're one of the same whether you like it or not."

Just as their pointless bickering threatened to spiral out of control, an agonized plea from Chris brought them both sharply to their senses. "Stop it! Please just stop it!" he cried.

As his future counterpart quickly turned towards their son, Present Leo reluctantly stepped back, knowing, deep down, that he wasn't the best one to deal with the situation. He watched as his other self reached out and cupped Chris's tear-stained face between his palms, forcing the young whitelighter to look at him.

"Listen to me, okay?" Future Leo said gently. "You were not responsible for what happened to your Mom – or your brother for that matter. It wasn't your fault.You're a victim in all of this, just like the rest of us. More so even - you were only fourteen years old, for god's sake, hardly more than a child."

"I tried to save her, I did."

"I know you did, son. I know you did."

Future Leo's voice cracked as the full horror of that terrible day overwhelmed him for the first time in a very long while. So much had happened since then and he'd had to keep it together for the sake of his sons, his sister-in-laws, everyone in fact. Consequently, he'd not allowed himself to dwell too much on the event that had sparked off all subsequent happenings, because he knew that if he did, it would bring him to his knees.

Blinking back the tears, he stepped forward and drew his son into a comforting hug. Chris slumped against him, weeping in broken-hearted anguish as all the guilt and self-recrimination that he'd harboured since his mother's death rushed out of him in a raging torrent of pain.

"Ssh, it's okay. It's wasn't your fault, it's wasn't your fault," Future Leo murmured reassuringly, rubbing a soothing hand up and down his son's back as the young man sobbed in his arms.

Present Leo watched the scene with tears in his eyes. His future self was right – he didn't know what they were going through but he could imagine easily enough. The thought of losing Piper filled him with fear beyond which he'd never known. It wasn't going to happen, he vowed; he wouldn't let it happen.

"Hey."

Leo jumped as he felt a warm hand on his arm. Turning around, he looked down into Piper's pain-filled brown eyes, the anguish therein a mirror of his own. Wrapping a hand around the back of her head, he tugged his beautiful wife into his arms and buried his face in her sweet-smelling hair.

"Err, Leo – breathing would be good," the brunette witch protested, even though she was clinging to him just as tightly.

After dropping a kiss on the top of her head, Leo released her and stepped back. "I'm sorry, it's just, you know."

"I'm not going to leave my children motherless," Piper said with steely determination in her voice. She glanced over at the future version of her husband and her adult son, who were still lost in their shared grief.

"Is he all right? Chris, I mean," she asked softly.

"He thinks you're gonna hate him."

"What? I would never… Why would he think that?"

"Because your death was the trigger that turned Wyatt, and he couldn't save you. I guess he thinks you'll blame him for Wyatt's loss."

"But… but that's crazy."

"I know. I can understand how he could twist everything around in his head and arrive at that conclusion though. We have to be talking about one of the most traumatic events in his life, Piper."

The eldest Charmed One nodded and then hurried across the yard towards her youngest son. When he felt her familiar touch on his arm, Chris pulled away from his father and looked at her warily, fear darkening his eyes to a bottle green colour. Piper's heart immediately went out to him and she reached out to take his hands in hers.

"Listen to me," she said. "I know I can't be the Mom you knew, but I hope you'll let me try at least. I wasn't that bad at the job, was I?"

"No, no, of course not. You were the best."

"Then why would you think that I could ever hate you? It doesn't matter that I don't really know you yet - you're my son and I'm destined to love you. It's what mothers do."

"But I let Wyatt…"

"No," Piper placed two fingers over Chris's lips. "Whatever happened to Wyatt was set in motion in this time and place, not fifteen years in the future. It can't possibly be your fault; you don't even exist yet."

"Your Mom's right, Chris," Future Leo said, reaching out to squeeze his son's shoulder. "By then, it was too late to stop it happening - Wyatt was already lost, we just didn't know it."

Although Chris could see the logic in his parent's argument, it didn't really stop the guilt, he wasn't sure anything would. Nevertheless, Piper's gentle reassurances had allayed his fears about her rejecting him and that was a significant load off his mind. He couldn't have coped if she'd reacted badly to the truth about his identity. He was emotionally strong - most of the time anyway – he'd had to be. But that would have been too much to handle, even for him.

Drawing in a deep breath, he closed his eyes and tried to get his tumultuous emotions back in check, while his parents looked on in concern. Focusing on the warmth of Piper's hands in his helped Chris pull himself together, and he subsequently opened his eyes much more in control of himself.

"I need to go clean up," he said, his voice stronger and steadier in tone.

Piper nodded. "Okay, and then we'll talk."

"Talk about what?" Chris asked, immediately panicked by the idea. "You know I can't tell you too much about the future," he warned her for the umpteenth time.

Piper rolled her eyes. "Relax - I just want to get to know you a bit better, that's all. Find out what your favourite colour is, what movies you like, what you like to eat, that sort of thing."

"Oh," A beat then, "I suppose that's okay."

"Good, glad to hear it." Piper smiled, reached up, and lightly stroked her son's cheek with her fingertips. "I think we've had enough of the heavy stuff for today, don't you? Let's just take some time out and relax a little, shall we?"

Feeling less awkward, Chris nodded, shyly returning her smile before he docilely allowed her to lead him back into the house.

"Wait!" Present Leo reached out to stop his future self as he made a move to follow Piper and Chris inside. "I need to know what happened," he said, when Future Leo looked at him enquiringly.

His other self sighed and sat down in one of the garden chairs, his head bowed and his eyes studying his hands. "I'll tell you what I know, but it isn't much. Chris was the main witness and he was too traumatised to speak of the details. I guess I should have pushed harder – I had no idea that he blamed himself for everything."

"Why didn't you? Push him to talk about it, I mean." Present Leo asked, sitting in a chair alongside his future counterpart.

"Because he got so upset whenever I tried; he completely retreated inside of himself for a long time after Piper's death. Trying to get him to talk about what happened was doing him more harm than good, so I let things be. Then later on, when he probably was ready to talk, Wyatt's memory spell put this huge barrier between us. He didn't trust me enough to confide in me. He would barely even speak to me most of the time."

Present Leo nodded. "So tell me what happened."

"You need to understand – the attack, it came totally out of the blue. There was no warning, nothing, which I guess was precisely the point. It all happened so fast; non of us had any time to react. If we'd been even remotely prepared, they never would have succeeded."

Future Leo paused to gather his thoughts and then continued with his emotionally painful narrative. "It was just a normal day, you see. The four of us – Piper, the boys and I - we were about to sit down to lunch, when these four demons shimmered in, taking us completely by surprise. They each had their own target; two of them dealt with Wyatt and me, another sent Chris flying out into the hallway, and the last one… the last one stabbed Piper in the back with an athame. And then they just shimmered out again."

"What do you mean 'dealt with Wyatt and me'?"

"They threw a potion at us - a sleeping potion. It put us both out for several hours."

"So neither of you could heal Piper."

"Exactly. The plan was simple and yet so horribly effective."

"What about Chris? Why didn't he call for help?"

"He did but nobody heard him, and he couldn't get out. They put a magical shield around the Manor and trapped us all inside until Piper was gone."

Leo looked at his future self in open-mouthed horror. "How long was Chris…?"

"I was the first to wake and that was four hours later. Whatever happened in those intervening hours is still locked inside Chris's memory. I know Piper didn't die straight away, but how long she lasted and how long he sat with her dead body, I don't know. He did try desperately to save her though – there was evidence of that all around. The Book of Shadows was downstairs and the cupboards were emptied of all magical supplies. Nearly every window in the house was smashed as well - I think he tried to break his way out when he found that he couldn't orb."

Present Leo shook his head. "Poor kid – no wonder he's so fixated on saving Wyatt."

"That's what worries me," Future Leo said. "It's turning into an out-and-out obsession with him. Saving Wyatt is important, but I don't want it to be at Chris's expense. That gains us nothing. Promise me you'll keep an eye on him after I go back to the future. Make sure he takes proper care of himself, and don't let him do anything stupid."

Present Leo nodded solemnly. "I promise. You needn't worry too much – once she's gotten used to the idea, Piper is probably going to mother the poor boy to distraction. Chris's status has changed whether he likes it or not."

Future Leo laughed, despite his heavy heart. "I imagine it'll probably comfort and frustrate him in equal measure," he said sagely. "It'll do him good to be surrounded by family again though. That's something that's been missing from his life for far too long."

Both of them were silent for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts, and then Present Leo spoke up. "I'm sorry I yelled at you before – it was kind of dumb really."

"What because you were essentially yelling at yourself? Don't worry about it – you weren't saying anything I haven't already said to myself at some point since all this began."

"We will save him, you know. Wyatt, I mean," Present Leo said. "I'll do everything possible to protect him – and Chris – I swear."

His future counterpart nodded. "Let's hope that's enough," he replied.

Several hours later, Future Leo found himself out in the back garden again. It was dark now and the sweet smell of honeysuckle and jasmine hung heavy in the night air.

True to her word, Piper had deliberately kept the mood of the rest of the day relaxed and light-hearted. Aided and abetted by her sisters, mother, and grandmother, she had subtly drawn Chris out of his protective shell and got him to open up about himself. As Penny and Patty were to return to the afterlife in the morning, they were all determined to make the most of the time that they had together.

Leo had mostly sat on the sidelines, watching the healing effect that this family time had on his youngest son. The dark cloud of tension that usually hung over Chris lifted as he relaxed in the company of the people he loved. For a few short hours, the young witch-whitelighter was able to forget about the nightmarish reality of his future life, and simply bask in the warm glow of his family's affection again.

Leo was immensely relieved that the secret of Chris's identity was finally out in the open. Although going back to the future would still feel as if he was abandoning his son, at least he knew that he'd be well taken care of now. The girls wouldn't allow Chris to isolate himself again, and that could only be a good thing as far as his worried father was concerned.

"Hot chocolate?"

Startled out of his reverie, Future Leo turned to find Piper standing behind him, offering him a steaming mug of hot chocolate, made just the way he liked it.

"Thanks," he said, gratefully taking the drink from her and sipping at the sweet, creamy liquid.

Piper sat down beside him on the bench, filling his senses with her comforting presence. The aroma of her light, flowery perfume surrounded him, and tears pricked at the back of his eyes at the aching familiarity of it. She had been missing from his life for such a long time, and now here she was – the living, breathing woman of his heart. Without thinking, he reached out and took her hand, needing to feel the touch of her skin on his.

Piper tensed a little but she didn't pull away. Leo shot her a small smile, understanding her confusion. "Weird huh?"

"Yeah – I know you're Leo but in lots of ways you're a stranger to me. And then there's my time's Leo…"

"Don't worry; I don't expect anything more than this, Piper. I know that you belong with the past version of me. My wife has fifteen years of shared experience on you; she's the one I need beside me."

"Only she's not with you, is she?"

"In spirit she is," Leo said sadly, "Even if she's not in reality."

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"Dying, I guess. For leaving you alone to cope with all of this – with Wyatt, with Chris…"

"It's not your fault. And they're my sons, doing everything in my power to protect them is just inbuilt."

"Even if Wyatt is…what he is?"

"Yes. I know I'm probably fighting a losing battle - in my time at least anyway -Wyatt's in too deep to extract now. The only way to save him is to stop whatever got to him in the first place. I can't - I won't - give up on him though, Piper. I don't know how to."

"We will save him," Piper vowed. "I promise - for both our son's sakes."

In response, Leo lifted their joined hands to his lips and brushed a soft, gentle kiss over the backs of her fingers. "Where is Chris by the way?" he asked when he released her hand.

"Oh, I sent him to bed. He looked absolutely worn out."

"Hardly surprising, it's been an emotional couple of days for him," Leo said, and then a worrying thought struck him. "He's not alone at P3, is he?"

"No." Piper shook her head. "I've put Wyatt's cot in with me and Leo, so Chris can stay in the nursery."

Leo nodded, relieved. "Good."

"Why are you so concerned where he sleeps?"

Leo didn't know whether he should answer, but he knew Piper wouldn't let it go if he didn't. "Because I imagine the nightmares will be back again tonight."

"Nightmares?" Piper was puzzled.

"Flashbacks is probably a more accurate term."

"You mean of me, don't you?"

"Of the day we lost you, yes. Chris saw it all you see. He had nightmares for months afterwards; it got to the point where he was afraid to go to sleep most nights. Eventually he found a way to deal with them, but they still come back to haunt him from time to time. Today's events will more than likely trigger a recurrence, and he shouldn't be alone if that happens. He's usually pretty hysterical when he comes out of it."

"God," Piper said, closing her eyes in reaction. "How did everything get so messed up?"

"I wish I knew, Piper, I really do. That's the hardest thing, the not knowing, it makes you feel so helpless, so powerless to do anything."

"There were good times though, weren't there?" Piper asked almost desperately.

"Of course there was. We had our ups and downs like most families, but for the most part, we were very happy. Why do think Chris is trying so hard to save his brother? It's because our family is something worth fighting for. Wyatt may be evil now, but he wasn't always that way. He was a good boy before all this happened."

With tears in her eyes, Piper leaned over and softly kissed his cheek. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"I think I needed to know that it wasn't all bad."

"It wasn't, I promise," Leo told her sincerely.

"We have one very brave son, don't we?"

Leo nodded. "Yes, we do, and I think you can take a lot of credit for that. You were – are – a good Mom, Piper, don't ever think that you're not. Chris surprised me actually, how he dealt with everything. Wyatt was always the more dominant of the two. Not that Chris was weak; he just lacked his brother's ambition. He was perfectly content to stay in the background. And yet, he didn't cave when Wyatt pressurised him into joining him. That took a lot of strength."

"Maybe he takes after you."

"What?"

"Well, you're passive for the most part, but you sure as hell come out fighting when you have to."

Leo smiled. "Yeah, I guess I…" he started to reply, then suddenly became distracted by something Piper couldn't hear.

"What is it?" she asked urgently.

"Chris. I should go check on him. I think it's started." Leo said, getting to his feet.

"He called for you?"

"Not exactly. I can feel his distress."

"You're empathic now?"

"No, not really, it's just an extension of my sensing power. It only works with my children, sometimes with you and your sisters as well. I don't need you to call me by name anymore; I just know that my family needs me."

Piper stood up. "I'm coming with you," she said, holding out her hand towards him.

Future Leo nodded, and orbed them both upstairs to the nursery. Chris was asleep, but it was obvious that his slumber was disturbed. He was tossing and turning against the pillow, murmuring unintelligibly under his breath as his subconscious mind took him back to that terrible day when his whole life had fallen apart…

To be continued…