Hey there. I know it's been a long time. It took me forever to write this chapter.

Chapter twenty-seven: Upstairs?

Chris old apartment

Chris was one step away from freaking out completely. His brother lay motionless in his arms and no matter what he tried, he just wasn't waking up! He had already shaken him, slapped his cheek lightly, slapped it harder and called his name.

He was contemplating whether or not he should take the vase and split water in his face when he heard Benji screaming "No, no, no!"

When Chris looked up he saw Benji kneeling beside Adrianna's lifeless body, trying in vain to heal her. Jesse pulled the black haired witch gently, but determined away from her. Benji was fighting him half-heartily. Tears were silently flowing down his cheeks.

Chris sighed inwardly. Another dead body, another friend lost. How many else would die? Without notice, he tightened his hold on his brothers body.

Dream 2

Wyatt was grabbing the wall for support. "She's dead." His son's words echoed over and over in his head. Dead. Isabelle was dead. He would never see her again. His knees gave way and he slumped to the ground. He suddenly felt empty. It was as if someone had installed a black hole in his midsection which was now sucking everything out of him. His eyes fell on Alex. His son. His baby. Which was now half orphan. He screamed.

Chris old apartment

"I'm gonna kill that bitch!" Benji practically seethed with anger. After the first wave of sadness had passed he was now fuming. He brutally removed Jesse's arm and stormed over towards the door, not caring to step over the dead assassin, instead stamping mercilessly on her upper body.

'Terrific!,'Chris thought as he quickly let go of his brother and chased after the furious witch. He just managed to grip Benji's arm before he reached the door and spun him around so the black haired guy had to face him. "Benji stop! Stop it! Where do you think you're going?!"

"I'm fed up! I'm fed up with the people I care about dying around me like flies! I'm gonna go and do what I should have done a long time ago!" Benji tried to rip his biceps out of Chris grip.

"You'll only get yourself killed!"

"Doesn't matter!"

"Ah really? And who's gonna protect us when you're gone?!" Benji was now yanking and pulling and struggling fiercely against him and Chris tried hard not to loose his grip on him.

"You still have Bianca! Let me go, God damn it!" Not able to pull his arm loose, the black haired man now pushed hard against Chris.

"No!"

When this didn't help, Benji swung back his fist and punched his friend hard in the face. Chris went down pulling Benji with him. Outraged, Benji placed a hand on Chris chest. And just like Isabelle all those years ago, Chris suddenly went rigid under him, eyes wide with shock. Benji's blind rage had once again manifested itself in his power to drain other people's energy.

However this time he wasn't the only one in the room who could do it.

He suddenly let out a pained cry. Bianca had seen enough! Nobody was messing with her boyfriend! Without Benji even realising it, she had stepped behind him and had her hand now firmly punched into his unprotected back, sucking up his own energy with her abilities.

Dream 2

Alex was slowly backing away from his father who was howling in what he could only presume was rage and pain. His face was twisted in a mask of pure agony.

Around them the walls and the ground started to shake like there was an earthquake. The teen briefly remembered what his uncle Chris had told him about his powers being tied to his emotions. The stronger the emotions, the stronger the powers – the harder to control them.

'This is so not good.,' the boy thought. He wondered about the look his father had given him. Did he hate him now for being the bearer of the bad news? Would it have been better to keep his mothers death a secret? What damage would this news do to his fathers already confused mind?

He then felt a familiar pull. And maybe for the first time in his life he was glad to fade away into reality once again.

Chris old apartment

When Wyatt came around again he struggled to get hold of his nausea while sitting up. His head was throbbing painfully. He would have to speak a serious word with his boys about messing with magic of which they had no clue.

Narrowing his eyes against the bright sunlight shining in the room he slowly looked around. The first thing he registered was Bianca using her powers on a hunched down Benji. "What the hell are you doing?"

His words seemed to remind her of the situation. Reluctantly, the phoenix witch pulled her hand away from her prey.

Like a meal bag, Benji sacked down next to an already unconscious Chris.

The boys bedroom

Alex awoke with a start. The rushed movement made him dizzy and disoriented. His chest felt tight, he was still feeling the fear from his dream. Next to him his brother groaned as he too started to wake.

Nicky blinked several times before his eyes finally found his brother. Seeing the fear and confusion in his twin's face let him instinctively reach out to him, rubbing his arm in a light way, providing comfort. 'You ok?', he asked silently – and was surprised to hear his brothers unspoken answer. 'I've been better.,' Alex admitted mutely. Seeing Nicky's shocked expression he allowed himself a little grin. He too, had nearly forgotten that they could hear each others thoughts. However the brotherly moment was quickly shattered when they heard the by now familiar voice of their aunt.

"Aww, how sweet." Pulling away from each other they both snapped their heads in the direction of the voice in a similar motion. There, a few feet in front of them, stood their aunt Lara, smiling sweetly at them. Next to her, holding her hand in his own one, stood their uncle, Chris.

Chris old apartment

"... Jesse had dragged him away from Adrianna. He was just going crazy with anger. When Chris tried to keep in line, he went completely nuts and used his powers against him. If I hadn't interfered, Chris would be dead now.," Bianca explained, sending a glare towards the unconscious witch.

Wyatt groaned. "Not half an hour I was out of it and promptly everything goes south!"

He was sitting on the carpet next to his unconscious brother while Bianca filled him in on what had happened after he had passed out.

He let his gaze wander around the room when he suddenly noticed something. "Speaking of Jesse, where's he?"

At this, Bianca looked around, too. Seeing neither Jesse nor Anna, she got up and quickly checked the rest of the apartment. Nothing. Alarmed she returned to the living room.

"They are gone.," she informed Wyatt, inwardly cursing herself for not realizing sooner.

"Just great!," he huffed. "And what do we do now?"

Streets of San Francisco

A few hundred feet away Anna was asking her husband the same thing.

"That's a good question.," Jesse mused while he pulled his wife through various alleys. "We have to get Nicky somehow out of Lara's manor."

"But how? How in God's name are we supposed to pull that one off? Lara's a powerful witch, how are we even getting in the manor without the others?" Anna's voice held no hope.

Jesse stopped short and turned around and took his wife's face into his hands. "Listen to me, Anna.," he pleaded. "We can't count on them any longer to solve this problem. Wyatt is powerless, our Chris is bewitched, his past version is injured, Benji's going crazy, Adrianna is dead and Bianca... well, it's none of her business. The twins mean nothing to her, they are not related to her. We are on our own now."

Anna swallowed thickly and nodded. "So, what are we going to do?"

Jesse was pulling her already along again. "We need a plan... and a few other things to free Nicky."

"So?"

Her husband smiled grimly. "So, we first need to make a stop at one of the old resistance shelters."

The boys bedroom

Nicky's eyes widened as he recognized their uncle.

"Chris," he and his brother said in sync.

"Missed me?," the brown haired man smiled at them.

At this moment, it didn't matter that he was under a love spell, didn't matter that their aunt was watching, didn't matter that Nicky was a 14-year-old for crying out loud! Before he knew it, he was up and flung himself into Chris arms, tightly holding on to his protector, his guardian angel, his only connection to his former life.

Chris crouched down and held Nicky close to his chest. The kid wasn't hurt. Relief washed over him. When Jesse had told him about the demon kidnapping his nephew he had been honestly afraid for the boy's safety. Demons weren't famous for handling their prey with kid gloves, but apparently Nicky had been lucky.

Seeing his twin standing a mere foot away, looking self-conscious at his brother and uncle in front of him, Chris flashed him a reassuring smile and grabbed his arm to pull him in close, too. Alex stiffened a bit before he too relaxed into the embrace.

Chris then looked at Lara who appeared to be a bit uneasy and mouthed "I'll give you some private time.," at him before quietly making an exit.

Satisfied, he pulled away a bit to get a better look at his nephews. It was the first time since they were babies that they stood together in front of him. He bit back the guilt that was threatening to swallow him at that thought. After all, it was his doing that they got separated. The resemblance of the twins was still baffling, but Chris couldn't help but grin at their obvious disagreement in the field of styling.

That earned him a double "What?" from his nephews.

"Nothing," he chuckled lightly. "It's just good to see you two back together again."

Neither of the brothers knew how to react to that.

"So," Nicky started. "How are my parents?"

"And my mother?," Alex added quickly.

"They were ok when I saw them this morning." Chris tried to sound reassuring, knowing full well that things could have easily changed in the last few hours. "Of course, they were overtired and going crazy with worry, but given the situation I think that's normal."

The two teens exchanged a quick look before Alex admitted "Yeah, we thought so."

For a while no one said anything. The twins desperately wanted to press for more information. They wanted to ask their uncle how they would get out of here, how they were supposed to rescue their biological father and get back to their adoptive parents, but the insecurity whether they could still trust their uncle or not was just too big. After all he was under a love spell. Would he help them or betray them to Lara? Probably the latter. They realized as long as he was enchanted they were on their own.

So, after some more small-talk their uncle stood up and left, promising to return as soon as lunch was ready.

When he was gone and they had time to think things through they both realized boiling hot the mistake they made sooner.

They looked to the couch table where they had left the things for moving the glass. It was empty.

Nicky stared confused at the table. Turning to his twin he then asked: "Hey, did you put the items on the table away?"

"No, didn't you?"

"No." Nicky shook his head.

Alex furrowed his brows. "Then who did it?" Then an idea hit him. "Oh God, please don't let it be Lara!"

Nicky made a dismissing gesture with his hand while he began searching for the items. "I think if it were her she would have throttled us by now!"

Alex shot his brother a nasty look. "Way to calm me down!" When he too looked around the room he noticed something half hidden behind the couch. "What's that?"

"What's what?"

Instead of an answer, Alex just pointed toward the spot.

Nicky crouched down and shoved his hand in a small gap between the wall and the couch. He pulled out the sheet, the glas and the pen. Perplexed he looked at his twin. "Huh. I really do start to believe we have some sort of guardian angel."

"Well, let's get it started," Alex mumbled. "Before they'll come back."

"Ok," Nicky breathed. Hesitantly he put his index finger on the rim of the glass, his brother mimicking his action. Both their hands were trembling slightly. Nicky realized that Alex was just as nervous as him, although he was better at concealing it. Apart from his hands and the look in his eyes, his face was a blank mask. Nicky suddenly wished that he could be just as good at hiding his feelings as his brother was. He didn't like the fact that his face was always an open book. If Alex had read his musings, he didn't show it. "Ready?," he asked.

"As ready as I can get."

"Good." Alex took a deep breath. "Mom? Are you with us?"

They both held their breath. For a few moments, nothing happened. Then it seemed as if the temperature in the room had suddenly dropped a few degrees. The twins started shivering. Inch by inch, the glass began to move. Nicky felt his eyes nearly pop out of his sockets. The glass stopped on "yes". The boys glanced at each other.

"Oh my God!," Nicky breathed. They were talking, no, communicating with their real mum! Or her ghost, for that matter. He could feel Alex letting his eyes travel around, as if he expected her to be standing in the room all of a sudden.

The glass started moving again.

"Mum, what?," Nicky gasped.

U-P

"Up?" Alex looked confused. "What are you trying to tell us?"

S-T-A-I-R-S

"Upstairs?," Nicky concluded. "Upstairs where?"

One moment later, there was a knock on the door.

"Boys?" It was their uncle Chris.

"Shit!," Alex cursed. "Sorry mum." In a hurry, he grabbed the sheet and the glass and stuffed both behind the couch again while Nicky blew out the candle.

"Can I come in?," their uncle asked.

After also putting the candle away they both jumped on the nearest bed. "Sure.," they said in unison.

The door opened and Chris walked in. He stopped short in his tracks. "Do I smell smoke?"

Nicky's head shot panicked to his brother. However, Alex was cool as a cucumber. "Yeah," he answered casually while he grabbed Nicky's hand and pressed it just a little too hard. "I demonstrated Nicky my pyrokinesis."

"Oh, yeah?," Chris asked as he looked at them with an I-know-exactly-when-you're-lying-expression. Luckily he let it slide. "Come on now, lunch is ready." With that he shooed them out of the room.

Lara's dining room, lunch time

'Upstairs.'

Nicky shot his brother a questioning look. 'Huh?'

Alex flinched. 'Sorry, I just don't know what mum wanted to tell us. Upstairs where?'

The other boy furrowed his brows. 'No idea, but maybe uncle Chris would know. You think we should ask him?'

Alex rolled his eyes. 'Sure, if we can get him and Lara to stop bill and coo long enough. BTW, I think it would be better if our dear auntie would stay oblivious to our speculations.'

'Then we should figure out a way to ask him without getting her suspicious.'

'Any idea how we gonna do that?'

Nicky grinned. 'Guess we have to be sneaky - and choose the direct way.'

Before his sibling could protest, Nicky asked: "Hey, what's upstairs?"

His aunt and uncle stopped gazing into each others eyes and shot him a wary look. "Upstairs?"

Nicky nodded. "Yes, upstairs. Is there an attic above us?"

Chris relaxed. "Oh, and I thought you meant UPSTAIRS." Seeing Alex confused look, he added: "The heavens, elderland."

Alex shot him a confused look. "Elders?"

Lara mimicked his actions as she also glanced at Chris. "They don't know about the elders?"

"I do.," Nicky piped up.

Chris face suddenly became hard. "I think the elders are something we'd all like to forget!"

Now Nicky was confused. "Why? I thought they were the former forces of good?"

His uncle snorted. "They were a bunch of hypocritical self-righteous bastards, who only cared about the maintenance of their own power!"

"Whoa, what did they do to piss you off?," Alex asked.

Instead of giving him a direct answer, Chris let his eyes slowly travel to his twin. "Did Jesse tell you that I went to the past?"

Nicky nodded. His uncle didn't turn his intensive stare away from him. "Did he tell you why?"

The teen felt a lump form in his throat. I felt incredibly uneasy when he remembered the stories of his father's doing. He forced himself to answer. "Because you wanted to stop your brother from killing people."

Chris nodded sadly. "Yeah, I thought he was in danger. I thought something evil got to him when he was a child." He let out a bitter laugh. "And I was right. But guess what? It wasn't a demon that turned him – it was an elder!"

Lara looked surprised at him. "But why would an elder want to turn him evil?"

"He didn't want to turn him, he wanted to kill him.," Chris deadpanned. "The result was a trauma that let my brother loose his faith in anything good."

The twins were speechless. At least for a while.

"But why would an elder want to murder an innocent child?," Nicky asked, finding his voice again. How could someone who was supposed to be a source of good be so cold hearted and cruel?

"Power.," Chris replied – and boy couldn't he sound any more bitter. "Wyatt was a threat to the elders power. He was able to challenge them."

Lara's gaze had hardened, too. "I guess Wyatt was right. It really is all about power."

They ate in silence for a while.

Then Alex dared to ask: "What happened to the elders?"

Chris gave him a pointed look. "Your father killed them. He went upstairs into their realm with some of his darklighters in tow and vanquished them. Some managed to escape. Over the years, he hunted them all down, one by one."

Alex couldn't help but wonder what his father would do to Lara once he was free.

His brother had heard his thoughts. 'Hmmm... given what she has done to him? I guess a slow painful death would be an act of mercy.'

The teenager suppressed a shudder. He thought of his last encounter with his dad in the dream realm. 'Jeez, remind me again not to tick him off.'

Then the two realised that they had been too silent so that both their aunt and uncle now eyed them wary.

Nicky rushed to fire another question. "So, what's now up there?"

This time it was his aunt who answered. "Nothing. The chambers are empty. The clouds have turned into grey fog. A few scorch marks are left here and there."

Chris eyed her suspicious. "How do you know that?"

Lara bit her lip. Shoot. She shouldn't have let this information slip. "Because I've been there."

"Why?"

The black haired witch eyed her lover carefully, contemplating whether to lie or not. An intense look into his soul searching eyes convinced her that lying was out of the question. He would immediately call her on it. But she couldn't tell him the truth either. Lara had noticed the way his eyes had flashed with burning anger when he talked about the man who wanted to kill Wyatt. Love spell or not, he wouldn't react positive on what she had done to his beloved big brother. Finally she decided it would be better if she told him another truth instead.

"Why?," she echoed in a "isn't that obvious" voice. "After the..." She paused with a look at the twins. "After the 'event' all of you were gone. I couldn't find you anywhere. I was sick with worry!"

Chris looked apologetic at her. "I'm so sorry, love."

Lara nodded, then she went on. "I went upstairs in search of a way to find you. I thought if the elders could spy on the world, then I could use the thing they used to spy to look for you."

Nicky and Alex shared a quick look.

"Did you find the spy glass?," Alex asked, trying not to sound too eager.

Thankfully Lara concentrated on Chris as she answered. "It isn't a spy glass – it's a seeing pool. But no, apparently you need whitelighter powers to find it."

"I thought you needed whitelighter powers to get up there in the first place?," Chris asked. Lara was a really powerful witch, but she wasn't half whitelighter like him.

The queen shrugged. "The barrier to keep intruders out broke with the death of the elders."

The twins shared another look.

'Do you think what I think?,' Nicky asked his brother telepathically.

Alex eyes sparkled. 'Yeah, not only do we know where to look, we may have just found a way to find dad.'

Lara's bedroom, early evening

"I love you so much." Lara murmured as she devoured Chris mouth. After spending the whole afternoon with the twins she was now glad to get some 'grown up time' with her lover.

"Yeah, I love you too." Chris smiled and returned her passionate kisses.

He then hooked his arms under her thighs and lifted her up. She giggled surprised and let him carry her over to her bed.

Suddenly, Chris bumped against something and they both fell forward landing heavily on the bed.

"What the..." Chris started and stopped their out making, searching with his eyes for the thing that had caused him to stumble. His jaw dropped when he relalized it was a craddle.

"What the hell is this?", he asked when he withdrawed from Lara to take a closer look at the tiny bed at the front part.

Lara, who was frustrated at the interruption, clacked annoyed with her tongue. "Isn't it obvious?"

Chris turned irritated to her. "Of course it is. But why would you have a cradle in your room?"

The black haired witch fought the urge to roll her eyes at her lover. Chris was so naive sometimes!

Deciding to play it cool, she tucked seductively at his pants. "Well, our junior will need a place to sleep, now won't he?"

If she thought that this would calm him down, then she was wrong!

"Junior?!," Chris echoed dumbfounded. "Is that why you wanna sleep with me?! To get pregnant?!"

Shaking his head, he stood up and began searching for his shirt.

Now it was Lara's turn to be irritated. "What are you doing?"

Chris didn't look at her as he lifted his shirt up from the ground and began to pull it over his head. "I think it would be better if you'd gave me my own room to sleep in."

Getting more frustrated by the second, Lara finally stood up. "Why would you say such a thing? Don't you want a child with me? I thought you loved me?"

Chris held his hands up in surrender. "Of course I love you. But, a child? Now?" He shook his head. "I can't..."

"You can't what?," Lara asked.

He shook his head once more.

"I can't be a father!," he finally blurted out.

Now Lara was completely confused. "Why not? I've seen you today with the twins. You love kids. Why don't you want some of your own?"

"That's different!" Chris declared as he started pacing tle room like a caged animal. "It wasn't my decision to conceive them, but Wyatt's and Isabelle's. I didn't ask to be an uncle! I mean, of course I love them! They are my nephews for Gods sake! But I'm... let's be honest: As a parent I'm a complete flop!"

"That's not true!"

"It isn't?" Chris stopped in front of her and she could clearly see the pain in his beautiful jade eyes. "I screwed up with the twins, I completely and utterly screwed up!"

She took his hand in hers, still not understanding. "What are you talking about? They are fine."

"Not my doing.," he muttered. "I did everything wrong. Instead of keeping them with me, I split them up and gave them away. As a result, they barely know anything about their magic, much less about their family."

'Bad for them, good for me.,' Lara thought. But she wisely kept her mouth shut and concentrated on Chris rambling.

"And it's all my fault! I abandoned them because I was too weak! I was drowning in my grief and self-pity. I was unable to take care of anybody."

The queen sighed inwardly. She knew that Wyatt's "death" had hit Chris hard. "It's ok to be weak sometimes.," she tried to comfort him.

But he was having none of it. "No. I was the adult. They needed me and I let them down." Chris gave a short bitter laugh. "That seems to be my fate. I let down the people I love. I couldn't help my mom, I got my fiancée killed, I couldn't save my brother and your sister, I couldn't care for my nephews and I even ran from you! I can't make anything right! So, tell me: What gives you the idea I would do better with my own child?"

By now he looked so lost and desperate that Lara couldn't help but feel bad for him. And she also couldn't ignore the little voice inside her head telling her that it was partly her fault that he now suffered like this.

Gently, she pulled him into a soothing embrace.

"I can't be a father.," he repeated quietly while leaning his head against hers. "I never really had one. My own father had time for anybody but me. I just don't know how to raise a child."

"Don't you think we could figure it out?," she asked as she softly caressed his back.

"I don't know.," he replied unsure.

She sighed. When she had imagined being with Chris she didn't think it would be like this. He always seemed to be so strong, she didn't think he could hold so many issues and doubts. Then again, it made perfect sense. Being abandoned by most of his family, unintentionally or not, Chris had to grow up alone and fast. As hard as that had made him – it had also left him with traumas he didn't know how to get rid off.

It was beginning to dawn on Lara that she would need a lot of patience and convincing to achieve her goals.

Well, she had already waited 13 years, a few days or weeks wouldn't make a difference, would they?

"I just had to choose a love potion that would come as naturally as possible!", she thought somewhat annoyed.

Then again she wanted his love as pure as it could possibly be under the circumstances.

Letting it slide for now, she slowly pulled her love with her to her bed again. When she noticed the slight panic in his eyes, she started to soothe him.

"Everything's going to be ok, my love. We are together now – nothing else matters. We'll have plenty of time to practise our parenting skills by raising our nephews. And I'm sure in time you'll realize what a great dad you are and then..."

"We could start our own little family?," Chris finished smiling gratefully at her as he laid down next to her and gently rubbed her stomach.

***

Later that evening Chris let out a mute sigh of relief after he had closed the bathroom door behind him. He wasn't sure how much longer he could hold this act up.