"Now what are we going to do?" Chris asked in exasperation.
"Don't take that tone with me. I tried to explain, tried to be the voice of reason. All I heard was, 'Do something Paige'." Paige snapped.
"She always this cranky?" Chris asked himself.
"No, usually she's very even tempered." Phoebe defended her baby sister; she was, after all, one of the people urging Paige to help. She directed her question to the other Chris, having known both of them it wasn't very hard, "Where did you come from?"
"I don't know. His head, I guess." Time traveler Chris answered.
"No wonder I had a headache!" Chris quipped.
"Don't be cute!" Paige cried, "Piper is going to blow…."
"What's Piper going to blow?" Asked Piper as she entered the attic and overheard this last from Paige. It took about a second for the situation to sink in.
"Now, honey, we were only trying to help." Phoebe began pleadingly, "Poor Chris had a headache so bad that I thought I'd die from the pain of it."
"So you cast a spell on my son?" Piper asked softly.
"Uh oh. I think I hear a charge calling." Paige disappeared in a swirl of blue orbs.
"Coward." Phoebe muttered, envying Paige her orbing ability.
"Don't be so hard on her. I am pretty mad." Piper cautioned.
"Hey, don't be mad at them. I pretty much begged." Chris defended his aunts.
"If your headache was so bad, Chris, why didn't you come to me?" Piper asked. She wasn't sure if she was more angry with her sisters for another botched spell - weren't they beyond this nonsense? - or hurt that Chris had gone to them for help instead of to her.
"That was my fault, Piper. I didn't even consider you." Time traveler answered.
Seeing the brief flash of pain on his mother's face, Chris snarled, "Dude, that was harsh! What is wrong with you?" He demanded, fire in his green eyes. Nobody talked so callously to his mom, even himself.
"He didn't do it to hurt her. Honey, he was out of his head in pain and he didn't automatically think of Piper because in his life, Piper died when he was fourteen." Phoebe explained. She was proud of herself. She was really getting a hang of her more powerful empathy. With all the emotion in the room, it was easier than it had ever been to know who was feeling what.
Future Chris went to Piper and hugged her, "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, mom."
"I know, Chris. You had a hard life." She hugged him back, "That doesn't explain why you're here, now. Why there are two of you." Piper looked to her son for explanation.
"I think when Paige cast the spell, my memories manifested in…me. I'm still not sure how I ended up with two sets of memories, but it was excruciating."
"So where do you belong?" Piper asked.
"Back in there with him," Chris 2 gestured to himself. "Maybe I'm just here to help him sort through the jumble, or resolve his issues with Wyatt…"
"I don't have issues with Wyatt," Chris protested.
"But I do." The harder, meaner Chris assured himself.
(X)
Chris went back to the loft with his more battle weary counterpart. He tried making quips about talking to himself but with a quelling look from the other him he fell silent. Usually Chris was uncomfortable with... uncomfortable silence and today no less so. With great relief he seized on an excuse, "I gotta go check on the club." Then, feeling slightly concerned and more than a bit guilty, he added, "Be nice to Wyatt if he comes home before I do. He never did those things to you."
"We're never going to merge if you run away from me," Chris cautioned.
"I am not running. But, I do have a job to do. I can't exactly take you to P3 with me. Everyone knows that I do not have a twin. How would I explain you?" Chris tried to get himself to see reason.
"Whatever." Chris said dismissively, rolling his eyes, "I'll be here when you get back."