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: Hi! Sorry for the big delay in updating both my stories. For various reasons, real life has been very busy and stressful recently, so I've hardly had any time to write. Anyway, things have calmed down now, so here is an update of 'False Memories'. I've put in a recap of the end of the last chapter, so you remember where we are.

All being well, 'Unrequited' should be updated in a few days time.

Last time…

Taking his son's face in his hands, Leo leaned forward and planted a firm kiss on Chris's forehead, and then turned towards the chalk-drawn triquetra.

"Ready?" Paige asked.

"As I'll ever be," Future Leo replied.

Closing his eyes, he listened as the three sisters began to speak in unison.

"In this place and in this hour,

We call upon the ancient power,

Open a portal in this place,

To send Leo home through time and space."

The ground shook and the triquetra began to glow blue as the time portal opened. Future Leo took a deep breath, shot one long, lingering look back over his shoulder at his son, and then stepped through it.

There was silence as the portal closed behind him and the attic wall became solid wood again. Finally though, Leo handed Wyatt to a quietly sobbing Phoebe and moved towards his other son. Chris was standing staring blankly at the chalk triquetra with tears pouring, unchecked, down his face.

"Chris," he said quietly, reaching out with sympathy towards the distraught witch-whitelighter.

"Don't!" Chris snapped, making his hand freeze in the act. "Just don't. I… just leave me alone!"

With that, he rushed from the room, leaving his worried family staring at the spot where he'd just been standing.

Chapter 19

Several days later, Leo wandered into the kitchen to find Piper standing at the counter, vigorously stirring pancake batter in a bowl with a hand-whisk. Wyatt sat in his high chair nearby, happily eating a banana and some baby rusks soaked in milk.

"They're for Chris," Piper explained off her husband's quizzical look. "He said they were his favourite when I took him breakfast the day after your future self's arrival."

"And he's damn well going to eat them," she added fiercely, her tone belligerent.

Leo smiled, if anyone could coax Chris out of the blue funk that he'd been in for the past few days, then it would be Piper. Much to their relief, their son had only retreated as far as Wyatt's nursery when he'd fled the attic the other night. They had gradually come to realise that it must have been his room in the future, and Piper promptly set about making sure it stayed that way for the rest of his sojourn in the past, instructing Leo to clear out the small box-room next to theirs for Wyatt.

Chris had barely left his room since then however, only venturing out to visit the bathroom. Any attempts to engage him in conversation were met with monosyllabic answers and repeated requests to 'leave me alone.' The three square meals, which his mother was providing him with each day, mostly went untouched.

Piper had obviously decided that they'd let him wallow in his grief long enough now though, and was working herself up for a forthcoming battle of wills with her son. Piper versus Chris – he had his money on the former emerging as the eventual winner. His youngest child may have inherited his mother's obstinate streak, but Piper still held the title of 'Queen of Stubbornness' as far as Leo was concerned.

"And that family day out that we talked about a few days ago?" Piper continued as she expertly spooned some of the batter into the hot pan. "It's happening today, so no disappearing off 'up there,' understand?"

"Wouldn't dream of it," Leo told her with a grin. It wasn't as if he intended to go anywhere today anyway, especially not given what day it was.

His wife nodded in satisfaction. "Good – then you can get Wyatt ready while I deal with Chris. He is not spending another day locked in that room. I'll drag him out by his hair if I have to."

OOOOO

Chris lay curled up under the covers, staring blankly at the wall. He'd been awake for a couple of hours, but was yet to move from the bed.

All the fight had gone out of him after his father's departure, and he'd been crippled by emotional inertia ever since. The cloying sympathy of his family irritated, rather than comforted him. All he wanted was for them to go away, so that he could hide under the rumpled bedclothes and ignore the fact that his whole existence had been turned on its head.

He knew in his heart of hearts that he couldn't carry on like this forever, but he couldn't muster the energy to do anything about it right now. Instead, he let his melancholy overwhelm him, remaining closeted in his room where he didn't have to face up to the reality of his irrevocably changed life.

The door opened, but he didn't respond. It would just be his Mom with his breakfast. After the first day or so, she'd given up trying to get him to talk and had simply left his food on top of the chest of drawers. Hearing her set down the tray, he waited for the inevitable sound of the door closing behind her.

It didn't come however. Instead, the steady clip-clop of her footsteps crossed the room towards the window. With brisk efficiency, she pulled back the drapes and flooded the room with much needed light. Raising his hand to shade his eyes, Chris squinted against the sudden glare of bright sunlight, the shock forcing him up into a seated position.

"What are you doing?" he demanded of his resolute mother.

"Bringing you breakfast, which you're going to eat," she told him firmly. "And then, you are going to get up, take a shower, and shave that disgusting stuff off your face," she said, waving her hand at the several days worth of stubble shadowing his chin and upper lip.

"After that," she continued before he could even open his mouth to protest. "You, your father, brother and I are going out for the day."

"Like hell we are," he growled back. "What are we? The Brady Bunch?"

Piper's expression immediately turned frosty and Chris cringed back, despite his stubborn determination to remain aloof from his mother's mollycoddling. Geez! He was twenty-two - how could she still have so much power over him?

"Given the circumstances, I'll ignore that," she said calmly. "However, this wallowing in self-pity is going to stop, you hear me?"

"You don't understand!"

"Yes honey, I do - more than you know. You're a Halliwell though. When bad stuff happens, we pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and just get on with it. I know losing the last link to your future was tough, but it's not as if you don't still have family around to love you. There are lots of people in this world, who are much worse off than you are, you know."

As she was delivering this little lecture, Piper had walked over to retrieve his breakfast, and now stood by the bed, holding the tray of food in her hands. She raised her eyebrows expectantly and Chris gave in.

"Okay, I'll eat it," he said sulkily. "But I'm not going out."

"We'll see," Piper said as she calmly set the tray down over his lap.

Perching on the mattress next to him, she watched as he picked up the knife and fork and began to eat. As the familiar taste of his mother's cooking began to combat the cold emptiness inside, Chris finally admitted defeat. Raising his eyes to her face, he shot her a small, apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, I just…"

"I know, it's okay," Piper returned, reaching out to squeeze his arm. "We promised your father that we'd take care of you though, and that's what we're going to do, whether you like it or not."

Chris nodded and lowered his eyes back to his plate. Moments later, he felt her warm lips against his forehead. "Happy Birthday, sweetie," she said softly, tenderly brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"How did you…? Oh right – Dad."

"Yes – he left you a present."

Chris's breath caught in his throat. "He did?" he asked hoarsely, unable to prevent the tears that welled up in his eyes at this information.

"Yes, but presents later. Eating and making yourself look presentable is the priority right now. No son of mine is going around resembling a vagrant."

Despite himself, Chris laughed. "Okay Mom," he agreed.

Piper smiled broadly. "Good," she said, getting to her feet. "That's the spirit."

"Mom?" Chris called as she reached the doorway.

"Yes?"

"Thanks."

"Any time, sweetie. Any time."

Chris sighed as the door closed behind her. Maybe his alternative life wasn't going to be so bad, after all.

OOOOO

Leo walked down the path towards his family, carrying three cups of take-out coffee in a small paper bag. As he drew closer, he smiled at the domestic scene that greeted him. Piper was seated on a blanket spread out on the grass, playing peek-a-boo with a giggling Wyatt, while their other son sat on a wooden bench nearby, watching them with a glimmer of a smile on his face.

Chris had been pretty quiet all day, but at least he had shaken off the black cloud of despair that had been hovering over him for the last few days. All too aware that he didn't match up to the father that Chris had so recently lost, Leo felt decidedly awkward around his youngest son. He was deeply envious of the easy relationship that Piper seemed to share with their second child, but had no idea how to break the ice between Chris and himself.

"One moccachino," he said, offering the hot drink to his wife.

Piper stood up, lifting Wyatt up into her arms and perching him on her hip. She then reached out to take the drink from her husband.

"Thanks," she said, before turning her attention back to the little boy in her hold. "Shall we go and see the ducks, Wyatt?" she asked in a singsong tone. "Would you like that, huh?"

Gurgling unintelligibly, Wyatt bounced up and down in her arms and Piper smiled. "Guess that means, yes," she commented to Leo.

"We'll leave you and Chris to it for a little while then," she said pointedly, before she turned and headed off in the direction of the lake.

"I think that was a not-so-subtle hint," Chris said drolly as Leo sat down beside him and handed him his coffee.

Buoyed by the fact that his son had willingly raised the subject, Leo smiled. "Oh you think?"

Chris's lips curled up into a grin at his quip, but his smile quickly faded and he looked away with a sigh.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Leo asked quietly.

"I don't know why it's so much easier with Mom," Chris began after a brief pause. "To accept another version of her into my life, I mean."

"Probably because you lost your other Mom eight years ago," Leo replied. "And no matter how painful that still is, you must have accepted, deep down, that she's gone for good. With me though – the other me, I mean - it's probably all still too raw. It's only been a few days."

Chris nodded. "Yeah, I guess," he agreed. "I suppose I feel like I'd be betraying him somehow…"

"If you let yourself get close to me?"

"Yeah. I know it's stupid."

"It's not stupid if it's how you feel, Chris," Leo told him. "But please believe me; I'm not trying to replace him. I'm not sure I could anyway – he's the one who's taken care of you for twenty-two years, brought you up to be the man you've become. I'll be all of that for this timeline's version of you. In twenty or so year's time however, you'll be one half of the whole that makes up my son, and I want the chance to get to know you properly before you go back to the future. That's not too much to ask, is it?"

Chris shook his head in reply. "No."

"Good," Leo replied with a satisfied nod. "So let's just start off by making the effort to get to know each other better, okay?"

"Okay."

There was a short silence and then Leo spoke again. "There's something else you should know," he said, somewhat hesitantly.

"Mmm?"

"Your father – he asked me to… well, to take on his memories of you. He didn't want you to have to deal with the memories of that time, especially the darker ones, by yourself."

"And you said yes?" Chris turned and stared at him, his green eyes wide and incredulous.

Leo nodded.

"But… but why would you do that?" the young witch-whitelighter stuttered. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Because you're my son."

"You barely even know me."

Leo smiled. "That's kind of beside the point, Chris. When you have children of your own, I think you'll understand. You'll want to do anything just to protect them. You'll willingly lay your life on the line a thousand times over if needs be."

"I… I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. Just know that I'm here if you ever need to talk."

Chris looked down at his hands, stunned at the enormity of what Leo had done. To willingly take on those memories, knowing the emotional pain that they would cause, all for him, it was just… well, there were no words. The hidden knot of resentment that still existed inside of him started to crumble. He'd never been able to view this Leo as his father before, but he couldn't escape the fact that this was exactly something that his Dad would have done. His father's words of a few days earlier rose, unbidden, into his mind.

"I think in time you'll start to understand that I'm not really gone at all. Not completely anyway. There'll always be a part of me here, because the other Leo is the man I used to be. Twenty more years of existence hasn't changed me that much."

"He knew you'd say yes," Chris mused aloud as the truth slowly dawned on him.

Leo nodded, quickly picking up the thread of his son's thoughts. "Given that he would've agreed in a heartbeat, I guess he assumed that there was a pretty good chance that I would too."

Lifting his head, Chris looked him straight in the eye. "Thank you," he said simply.

Leo reached out and patted the young whitelighter on the back. "Any time son, any time," he said, unconsciously echoing his wife's earlier words.

Glad that they'd reached an understanding of sorts, Chris's shoulders rose and fell in a relieved sigh. His eyes then sort out his Mom and brother on the water's edge. "So – how much longer?" he asked, his tone lighter.

Leo frowned in confusion. "How much longer for what?"

"Until we're permitted to go back home," Chris explained with a ghost of a smile.

Realising where the conversation was heading, Leo grinned. "What makes you think we can't go back any time we want?"

"Because I know this family - it's my birthday, which probably means a surprise party. I recognised the signs this morning – the furtive whispering, Aunt Phoebe trying to look like she's not up to something and failing miserably…"

Leo laughed and glanced at his watch. "Actually, we're meant to be there in half an hour," he said, amazed at how quickly the time had passed. "Piper!" he called, lifting his arm and tapping his wrist.

The dark-haired witch quickly rejoined them. "Try to look surprised, won't you?" she said to Chris, as she bent down to buckle Wyatt into his stroller.

"Look surprised at what?" her son asked innocently, while Leo bit back a laugh.

Piper shot him a look. "I don't believe for one second that you haven't guessed – your Aunts are as transparent as glass."

"No kidding," Chris drawled sarcastically, making her smile. He grinned back. "Don't worry," he told her. "I'll be suitably astonished – I've had enough practise over the years, believe me."

Piper looked over at Leo, who nodded and reached inside his jacket, pulling out a square package, wrapped in silver paper.

"Your father left you two presents," Piper explained. "He told us to give you this one away from everyone else."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Chris took the package that Leo held out to him. He carefully removed the paper to reveal a blue velvet-covered box. Not knowing what to expect, he opened the lid to find a wristwatch nestled inside. The design of it was classic, timeless – the metal strap a burnished silver colour and the face inlaid with black mother of pearl.

Turning the watch over, he bent close to read the engraved inscription on the back of the dial. It was simple and yet somehow meant so much - 'For Chris, Happy 22nd, Love Dad xx' - the date of his birthday with the year 2003 was etched underneath. Discarding his other watch, he slid this one over his hand and onto his wrist, snapping the clasp shut. It fit perfectly.

"There's a note," Piper said quietly, pointing out the folded square of paper in the lid of the box. Chris pulled it out and unfolded it.

'Chris,

I wanted to give you something that would last, something to remember me by, I guess. As this is all about time, a watch seemed particularly appropriate. Just remember, time may change, but your memories will last forever - as will mine for that matter. Ask your other father to explain that one if you don't already know.

Be safe and happy, son,

Love Dad (No 1) xx'

Blinking back the threatening tears, Chris refolded the paper and tucked it back into the box.

"Are you okay?" Piper asked in a worried tone.

Chris turned to her and managed to smile, albeit a little wobbly. "Yeah Mom, I'm fine. Don't worry, I'm not going to go back to hiding under the bedcovers, I promise."

He traced the dial of the watch with his forefinger. "This helps, I don't know why, but it does."

Piper reached out and absently brushed a wayward lock of his hair out of his eyes, something that he found both annoying and comforting at the same time. "Maybe I shouldn't have agreed to the party idea," she said. "It's too soon…"

"No, no, it's okay. I can't promise to be the life and soul, but it's something normal, you know. Something that's the same in this timeline as in the other. It reminds me that not everything has changed and there's something reassuring about that."

"As long as you're sure."

"I am."

A few hours later, surrounded by his family, he was. Phoebe and Paige had mercifully kept the guest list short - Darryl, his wife and children being the only other people invited. Most of the time, Chris sat quietly, watching the activity going on around him, slowly but surely emerging from the emotionally debilitating effects of his grief.

"Okay, last one," Paige said, struggling with a huge box. "It's from Future Leo."

She placed it on the table in front of Chris, who was surrounded by discarded wrapping paper and a neat stack of presents. These included a new shirt from Phoebe, two concert tickets for a rock band he'd never heard of from Paige, who claimed to be determined to make sure he had some fun while he was in the past, 'because all demon-hunting and no play makes Chris a very dull boy.' He wasn't sure whether he should be insulted by that or not.

Best of all though, there was a leather-bound diary and pen, together with a matching photo album from Piper and Leo. These items, they said, were something in which he could record all his thoughts, feelings and experiences of the past, present and the other future. They had also promised to keep the diary and photo album safe, so that they would be waiting for him when he arrived in the new future and merged with his other self.

"Open it then," Phoebe said, nudging him impatiently. "I'm dying to know what it is."

Chris tore off the paper to find a note taped to the top of the cardboard box inside. It read - Something for you and Dad No 2 to 'enjoy.'

Chris was confused at the word 'enjoy' being written in quotation marks, until he lifted the lid and peeked inside the box. Grinning widely, he pulled out one of the two pairs of rollerblades contained within.

"I think these are for you," he said, handing them to Leo.

The Elder grimaced as he took them. "Fabulous," he intoned flatly.

"I don't get it," Phoebe said with a frown.

"You're not supposed to," her nephew told her maddeningly.

"Do you get it?"

"Yeah, I get it," Chris replied quietly, looking contemplatively over at Leo as the more serious message behind the gift registered.

The weight of guilt lifted from his shoulders - his father was saying it was okay for him to let the other Leo into his life, encouraging it even. It was funny, but the rather ridiculous present said that more than any words could have done. His Dad knew him far too well, he decided.

Leo turned over the roller-blades in his hands, also recognising the significance of the gift, having been party to his son and future self's discussion about Chris's favourite pastime a few days before.

"I don't suppose there's any protective padding to go with them?" he asked plaintively, his forehead creased in consternation.

Chris laughed. "No – I think the point is you have to suffer too."

"And here's me thinking fatherhood was supposed to be a joy," Leo said sardonically, the playful twinkle in his blue-green eyes belying his words.

"Okay – time for cake," Paige said then, getting purposely to her feet. "Don't worry, your Mom made it yesterday," she added off her nephew's slightly panic-stricken look.

"I take it my baking skills don't improve all that much over the next twenty years then," she queried as she returned from the kitchen with the birthday cake.

Chris shook his head. "Not noticeably – although we did manage to get a knife through one of your cakes once," he informed her, prompting Paige to poke her tongue out at him, while the rest of them laughed.

Leo exchanged a smile with Piper, both of them glad to hear their son cracking jokes again. As his wife rose to cut the cake, he glanced back over his shoulder at the bureau in the hall – one letter still remained, unopened, in the bottom drawer.

On the day that he left, his future self had cryptically told Leo that he would know when the right time was to hand out the letters. That'd had been easy with his own and the girls – he'd read his almost immediately, and given Piper, Phoebe and Paige's theirs, the following day. Wyatt's, he had stashed away upstairs for safekeeping until his son was old enough to understand.

That left Chris's and herein lay the dilemma – Leo simply hadn't known when to give it to him. He'd held it back so far, fearing that it would only make his son's depression worse. Now though, he wasn't so sure – Chris seemed to take comfort from the gifts his father had left for him. Would the letter have the same effect? Or would it just send him back to square one? There was no way of knowing for certain.

Leo agonised over it for the rest of the evening, before he eventually decided that holding it back any longer would do more harm than good, especially as far as the newly established trust between himself and his son was concerned. He therefore stopped Chris on the stairs, just as he was heading up to bed after bidding good night to his mother and aunts.

"Chris?"

"Yeah."

"Your father left this for you," Leo handed him the letter. "We all got one. I would have given you yours before now, only I wasn't sure whether you were emotionally ready to read it or not - at least not until today anyway. I hope I made the right decision. I'm sorry if I didn't."

Chris nodded as he took the sealed envelope. "Thanks," he said, his tone unreadable as his gaze dropped to the letter held between his suddenly trembling fingers.

"Okay – well, good night then."

"Yeah – good night."

Chris started back up the stairs and then stopped, looking back over his shoulder. "Dad?"

Leo's heart jumped. "Mmm?" was the only response he could manage.

"You did the right thing."

Leo sagged in relief. "Glad to hear it."

Chris nodded at him, and then retreated upstairs to his room. After getting undressed, he climbed into bed, the precious letter still clutched in his hands. He sat contemplating his name written across the front of the envelope for a long while, before finally turning the letter over and opening it. Pulling out the several sheets of paper inside, he unfolded them and began to read.

'Dear Chris….'

To be continued…