72 Hours
By: Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell
Chapter 4: I Can't Lie to…Me?
Paige and Chris looked at each other, stunned. They had no idea she was even conscious. But that was a good thing.
"What do you mean?" Chris asked. Keeping secrets was second-nature to him, even under these circumstances.
The young girl walked in and leaned against the doorframe. "Who are you?"
Paige looked to her, her mouth open in shock. "I uh, I'm…your guardian angel?" she asked, but even as she said it she wished Chris would slap her. Who the hell would believe that?
Young Paige laughed. "G-guardian angel? Yeah, right! Where are your wings? Do they sprout from your back or something?" she asked, dripping with sarcasm.
Paige rolled her eyes. "I have no wings or halo, but…" she orbed across the room, causing her younger counterpart to fall to the ground.
"W-whoa! What the hell are you?"
Paige walked over and helped her back to her feet. "Just a much-needed friend."
"Y-you're not gonna kill me or anything?"
"Kill you?" she asked with a grin. "Oh, no, no, no. You've got it wrong. I'm a good angel. I'm here to help you."
Young Paige nodded. "How did you know so much about me in the park when I said so little?" she asked crossing her arms.
She sighed, sitting at the table, gesturing for her to follow. "You won't believe me."
Her younger counterpart sighed. "Try me. You're actually like the first person to give a damn about me, the real me, not the perfect child my parents claim that I am."
Chris coughed in a not-so-discreet manner. "Paige."
"What?" They both asked at once.
"Let me rephrase that, Aunt Paige."
She raised an eyebrow. "What?"
"Are you sure you want to do this? Think about it, if you were in her position right now."
She did think. "She's not going to listen to me if I don't tell her the truth."
"She is right here and her patience is wearing thin," Younger Paige reminded hotly.
The elder Paige nodded once and motioned for her younger counterpart to sit.
"Well, let's not beat around the bush here," Paige said. She thought for another moment, did she go slowly, or rip it off like a band-aid?
She decided with the less 'painful' form. "You're a witch with bound powers and I'm you from the future and a different time line. I'm from a time-line where I wasn't, um...as troubled as you. You're from Chris's time-line. He brought me back so I could help you."
Younger Paige sputtered out a laugh, but then controlled her face and decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. "So, you're...me, but me from a different future entirely and that kid over there is your nephew?"
She nodded.
"So, I'm like Superman just my powers aren't active?"
Chris cut in."No, you're twisting it around to sound ridiculous. You're a witch. Not a fucking comic book character."
"Oh, because stirring a cauldron while chanting 'Double, double toil and trouble' is so much better?"
"This was a bad idea." Older Paige groaned. "Why didn't you stop me?"
Chris narrowed his eyes. "I tried. And don't give up now. Try harder."
Younger Paige stared at them both. "I wonder what the fuck you guys are shooting in your blood stream to actually think this shit is real."
Older Paige was getting a tad bit desperate. "Didn't you see me Orb earlier? That was magic. Your magic that you'll have soon, just not now."
"That was probably just the drugs messing with my eyes. I mean, c'mon. Time travel, you being me and a witch, that's crazy. No, worse than crazy, fucking demented. You guys sound like you should be locked in a padded cell with white jackets."
Chris had enough, and he Orbed behind his younger aunt and Orbed her across the room. Paige yelped as she fell to the floor and Chris couldn't hide his smirk.
"Believe us yet?"
"Trippy," Paige muttered.
"Don't traumatize her." Older Paige admonished, yet she couldn't hide her smile as she heard her younger counterpart utter, "So, witches, huh?"
Chris Orbed back over so he could slump down in his chair. "Finally."
Younger Paige walked back over and hesitantly sat down in her own chair. "So, what did you mean that I'm from Chris's time-line?"
"I'm from your future." Chris chimed in. "I went back in time to fix something."
"I was, um, really upset, and Chris as my, erm, Guardian Angel, decided to help me. He thought it would be a good lesson for me to help myself, a different self, so it didn't disrupt my time-line."
She nodded slowly. "Okay, so, what were you so upset about?"
"Nothing that affects you."
She got the hint. "So, if I'm a witch, why are my powers bound?"
"Because you were put up for adoption. You couldn't have your powers around mortals."
"Can you give them back to me?"
"No."She said. "You have to earn them, sort of. I don't want to explain it to you."
Younger Paige pouted. "Fine. Wait, he's your nephew? I don't have any siblings. Unless...does Mom...?" She grimaced a bit at the thought.
Older Paige did too. "No, no. I find my birth family. Chris is my sister Piper's son."
Younger Paige's eyes lit. "You found them? What are they like? Who else is there? What does Piper look like? Does she look like a more feminine version of Chris?"
Older Paige snickered. "Actually, I would say Piper is a more masculine version of Chris."
"Hey!" Chris exclaimed and then scowled. "Even in the past I'm still the butt of your jokes."
"Always." They both chimed.
"Anyway, my family?" Younger Paige urged.
"Well, there's Piper, who's my older sister and then Phoebe, who's also my older sister. There's Prue, too, but she passed away...Piper has a temper, she can be very intimidating when she wants to be and her power to make things combust doesn't help her case."
Chris snorted.
"But Piper's very protective of her family. Phoebe's a sweetheart. She's very intuitive, but that could just be because she reads emotions."
"And Prue?"
Paige frowned. "I've never actually met her. But I hear she was like a super-witch. Juggling job, boyfriend, and her magical duties perfectly."
"Who else is there?"
"There's Grams, but she's dead. Whenever she drops by she usually only stays to say something sarcastic."
"Wait, she's dead, but she still drops by? Is she like a zombie or something?" Paige questioned.
"Ha, no, but she's sort of scary like one. We summon her from the afterlife, or she just drops by on her own...to you know, tell Chris he's not as good as our old Guardian Angel or something of the like."
"Who was your old Guardian Angel?"
"Oh, his name was Leo. He's Piper's ex-husband. She kind of broke up with him when he got a...um...promotion? To a higher up Guardian Angel called an Elder. Piper hates Elders. So she kind of broke up with him."
"Leo's an asshole." Chris muttered.
Older Paige rolled her eyes. "Chris has daddy issues."
"Lastly, there's Wyatt, Piper's other son and Chris's older brother. Cutie, he is. He's a perfect little angel, but not in your future."
"He's a vindictive ass." Chris explained. "He turned evil, so I came back to save him. He kind of takes over America and a couple other countries. Wonderful, isn't he?"
Younger Paige couldn't even comprehend that at the moment. "So, why do we have powers?"
"We have powers to protect the world from evil called demons. They try to kill people we labeled as innocents. Whether they be fellow witches or defenseless humans. We kill demons because it's our duty."
"Save the world one week at a time." Chris said with an eye roll.
"Why did my parents give me up?"
Paige smiled sadly. "Because you're part Angel, and witches and their Guardian Angels aren't supposed to be together let alone have a kid. They were afraid the Elders would try to hurt us."
"That's stupid. Why didn't she just use her witch powers to kick their fucking asses?"
Paige let out a little laugh. "Elders are more powerful than us. If she had tried to kick their asses, they would probably have electrocuted her to death."
"That sucks. Why couldn't you have gone back in time to prevent her from giving us up?"
She sent Chris a look just as he opened his mouth. "It would change too much." she explained. For Chris she added in, "Dire consequences that could warp the future to where evolution never happened and we'd all just be monkeys, picking fleas out of each other's fur and flinging shit around."
Chris rolled his eyes.
Author's Notes: Finally, back to my Charmed fics! It's been quite a while and I'm sorry about that. I'm still very focused on Law & Order:SVU, but I'll update when inspiration strikes, like now. Guys, I really am sorry!
Other than this, I've been writing L&O. I'll try to update "Heven's Mistaken Gift" too sometime.
Reveiw thanks to:That70sshowlova
Special thanks to That70sshowlova for being my Beta!
Please read and review to tell me what you think!
Piper Chris Melinda Halliwell