Ok, here's a quick update...I don't have a lot of time since I have relatives visiting from out of town. I thought I would let you see how Chris was adjusting to life at the manor though. I do not own Charmed.
Over the next few months, Chris continued as the Charmed Ones white lighter, but now he was also something more. He was a child, a son. He was no longer the lone warrior he had appeared to be in the future. Piper had shown him the love he had been missing all of those years after her death in the future. He was almost happy to be with her and with Leo. Leo had been there the way he should have been in the future and he claimed he would always be there. "To hell with the Elders." He had said at one point. Chris had to smile when he heard that because it certainly wasn't anything the future Leo, his Leo, would have ever said.
Demons had been attacking as usual and Chris, with the help of his father, had helped the sisters through their battles and guided them as well. Chris still sent them after countless demons to try and insure his own brother's safety, but deep down he still had bad feelings about Gideon.
Wyatt had been quite scarce over the months, not wanting to get close to anyone like he had mistakenly done before. He only came when he knew Chris was in absolute danger and it was only to keep him alive. He didn't bother sticking around to share words or even glances with any of his family members. Chris had no idea where Wyatt had been staying all that time or what he had been doing aside from avoiding his family.
Bianca was out there, trying to find Wyatt, to eliminate him and even his baby self. She had attacked at the manor a few times and managed to barely escape with her life on each attempt. Chris assumed she must not have even found the adult Wyatt, because he surely would have killed her in an instant. She had even attacked Chris, trying to kill him as well. It pained him to see Bianca attacking him and his family like such an animal, with dark fury in her eyes. She was cold and empty inside. All feelings she used to have for him were seemingly lost or locked away somewhere in her mind where she couldn't access them.
As sun crept it's way across the attic floor, Chris was stirring on the couch. It wasn't the most comfortable couch, but at least he fit on it and at least he was home, right where he belonged. His arms stretched out and he peeled back the blankets. He sat up, reaching for a pair of pants that were folded on the table next to the couch. He slowly pulled those over his boxers.
There was a knock on the attic door and Piper peeked her head in. "Hey, I'm making omelets if you're hungry."
"Great, just give me a minute." He answered. Soon after, he was making his way down both flights of stairs, eager to eat something.
Chris walked in the kitchen as Piper was grabbing her pregnant belly almost in pain. Her face twisted in as if something was wrong. "Are you alright?" Chris asked, walking over to embrace her.
She looked up at him with almost a smile. "Well if you would quit kicking my bladder..." She trailed off, pulling away from him. "I'm fine Chris."
He glanced at her belly. Oh, how it had grown over the months. It felt weird to see his mother carrying him inside of her, but he was happy to know that she was doing all she could to assure his existence. "Do you want me to cook instead?" He asked. "You should sit and rest."
"You can cook?" She asked, almost in shock. In all the months he had been at the manor thus far, he had never indicated he knew anything about food.
"Yes, I had the best teacher." He smiled, a pearly white smile. He had smiled a lot more since he had been staying in the manor, despite what he was fighting for, why he even came back to the past in the first place. "Go and sit at the table."
Piper wanted to argue with him, but he took the spatula out of her hand and motioned her over to the table. "Mushrooms and cheese right?" Chris asked, remembering her favorite type of omelet.
"Yeah, how did you...never mind." Piper replied, shaking her head in dismay. She wanted to ask how he knew what her favorite was, but deep down she knew already.
His movements with the spatula were quite graceful. He cooked like someone who could have been a chef, Piper thought. "So you like to cook?" She asked him.
"You could say that, but I don't get to do it much in the future." He replied.
After a few minutes, the omelet was finished and Piper was able to take the first bite. It was wonderful, delicious. Omelets weren't hard to cook, but she had never dreamed Chris' would be so perfect. Shortly after breakfast, Chris heard her in the bathroom throwing up the very breakfast he had served her. Her morning sickness was growing weary on her, especially since it had seemed to last all day.
Chris knocked on the bathroom door. "Mom, are you sure your ok?" He asked, feeling bad that he was technically the cause of her nausea.
"Yeah." She said through the closed door. Then she spoke sarcastically. "I'm just fine." The door burst open and she walked out.
"No you're not." He replied, catching on to her sarcasm. "I'm sorry about, about me."
"Oh Peanut, you don't have to be sorry." She said back. "It's all worth it in the end."
A loud screech made it's way across the manor, putting Chris and Piper on immediate alert. They ran down the hall as Phoebe came out of her room, holding a red dress on a hanger. "What is it?" Chris asked.
"The dry cleaners ruined my dress." Phoebe answered. She pointed out a stain in the center of it. "What am I supposed to wear to my reunion tonight." She had her ten year high school reunion that evening.
Paige came to the top of the stairs. "What's going on?" She asked, after hearing the screech herself.
Chris glanced back at her. "Nothing demonic." He said with a tone of annoyance.
"But..." Paige wanted to argue. "What was the screaming all about?"
"Phoebe was yelling about her dress." Piper said with the same annoyance that Chris had. She sent a sharp glare at Phoebe. "You should know better than to scream like that in this house."
"I know, I'm sorry. I just wanted tonight to be perfect." She replied. "I haven't seen these people in ten years."
Paige stepped forward, placing a hand on Phoebe's shoulder. "Come on. I'm sure there's something else in that closet of yours." She motioned Phoebe around, back towards her room.
Chris rolled his eyes as they walked off. "Well, I have some demons to find." He said, turning from his mother.
She grabbed his arm. "You can't go. Dad's finally coming out to see us and he's anxious to meet you." She said.
He turned back surprised. "Grandpa's coming?" He asked.
She nodded. "He wished he could have come sooner, but his job keeps him on the road a lot." She explained.
Chris smiled. "Don't worry, he'll be around a lot more when he retires." He replied. "I have some demons stuff to do, so just call me when he gets here ok."
"Sure, but maybe I can help you." She thought. She was desperate for something to do, anything.
"No, no." He replied. "I can handle it. I'll get your help when and if I need it ok."
"But..." Piper argued. Since her pregnancy had progressed, her family had been making her cut back on her Wiccan duties. They didn't want her stress to get to high and put baby Chris in jeopardy. Her stress had interfered with her pregnancy with Wyatt and they didn't want a repeat of that.
"No." Chris said sternly. "Just stay here and relax. I thought you had some paper work to deal with, something about the club?"
"Yeah, but..." She trailed off. "Ok."
Chris loomed over the book of shadows, flipping the pages quite frantically. He had infiltrated a group of scabber demons without even bothering to research much about them. It was a quick decision, merely because they had mentioned something about a being going after the Charmed offspring. He wanted to know who.
Now that he had infiltrated the demons, he thought he ought to get a little knowledge on them. He hadn't the slightest clue how to vanquish them or weaken them. He landed on the page and began to read to himself. "Pack demons who attack by spraying toxic acid from their mouths, causing their victims to burst in flames upon impact." The book didn't mention how to vanquish them.
He orbed out, heading back to the cave in the underworld where the scabber demons had considered their sanctuary. They hadn't done much since he had left them, though he hadn't been gone long either. The pack leader was quite suspicious of why he had left, but Chris fed him some lie about wanting to get even with a woman, about wanting to kill her and smell her flesh burning when his acid hit her. His answer seemed to please the pack leader.
The pack leader, Rowlin, addressed the other Scabber demons. "I spoke with Bellock again and he has offered us a huge bounty to go after the Twice Blessed witch." He started explaining. "Apparently, he has someone else on the task, but it's taking too long for him to get it done."
Chris wasn't sure he was hearing correctly. He thought the name Bellock had been mentioned. How was that possible though? "Did he come back in time?" Chris asked himself and immediately came to another conclusion "No, he's an old demon, he must have existed in this time."
"We can't go after the child of a Charmed One, it would be suicide." One of the other scabber demons argued.
"It would be suicide, but I seem to be unable to refuse the task." He claimed. "The boy must die."
"You've never wanted to kill him before." Another demon chimed in. "You never even seemed to care about him before."
"Yes, well I changed my mind." He replied harshly. Anger flashed in his eyes. "Believe me, I tried to refuse. Something is pushing me to do this and it will be done."
Chris remembered Ethanial saying something about Bellock being able to plant a thought in ones mind, a power he had only recently learned of. Maybe that was why Rowlin suddenly had the need to kill little Wyatt. As far as Bellock was concerned though, Chris wondered how he went from wanting to kill Wyatt, to working under him? That thought would have to wait, as someone else began to emerge from the shadows.
"Excuse me." A familiar voice spoke. "I come on behalf of Bellock."
Rowlin turned, facing the one who spoke. Chris immediately knew whose face belonged to that voice. It was Bianca and if she saw him, his cover would be blown. He stepped back, trying to keep to the shadows.
"Who are you?" Rowlin asked curiously. His eyes had a hunger in them, a thirst. Something only a woman could quench. Obviously, he had been turned on by Bianca's dark beauty.
"That doesn't matter." She replied. "I came to warn you that Wyatt has a lot of protection, a white lighter that came from the future. Bellock didn't realize that when he told you to go after the twice blessed child. Just keep a look out for him." She looked away from Rowlin, realizing the hunger in his brown eyes. It was quite pathetic actually.
"Why don't you join me in my chambers?" Rowlin asked. "I could use a little company before I go risking my life to kill the twice blessed child."
"Ugh." She sneered. "I have someone already and..." She trailed off. Something, someone, caught her eye in the shadows. Chris knew why she stopped mid sentence, knew why she was gazing at the shadows so intently. She had seen him. His cover was busted. "That's him." She screamed.
The other scabber demons turned to Chris. "Traitor!" One of them had screamed. They came at him, spitting acid in his direction. In a panic, he orbed out.
Chris wasn't concentrating on where he was orbing to, as long as he got away from the demons. He appeared in the upstairs hall of the manor. Piper walked out of her bathroom and through her room, greeting him in the hall. "Hey, there you are." She said.
"I can't talk now, I've got scabbers on my tail." He replied quickly, trying to get around her so he could get to the attic stairs.
"You've got what on your tail?" She asked in confusion. What on earth were scabbers? "I've been calling you for ten minutes now. Didn't you hear me?"
"She was calling me?" He questioned to himself. He hadn't even heard her calling. He was already on his way up the attic stairs though.
She followed him, curious to know why he seemed to ignore her question, curious to know what the heck scabbers were. "What are you doing? Where have you been?"
He made his way over to the book of shadows, double checking the entry on scabber demons. "What do you know about Scabber demons?" Chris asked Piper. Just as he remembered, there was no vanquishing method listed in the book for them.
"I don't know anything about them." She replied, making her way over to the book. She glanced down at the page Chris had it open to. "Acid, they spit acid?"
"Yeah and I think they're working with Bellock." He answered. Maybe Bellock was in the book of shadows? He started flipping the pages. "No, if he was in the book, Wyatt would probably know all about him and probably never would have worked with him." He stopped.
"Bellock came back from the future?" Piper asked. Her stress levels were starting to rise a bit.
"No." Chris assured her. "But he existed in this time. The scabber demons mentioned his name." He didn't tell her about seeing Bianca.
A yell came through the house. "Piper, are you ok?" Victor Bennet asked. He stood in the living room, shouting up the stairs.
"Oh, I almost forgot about Dad." She replied. "Come on." She grabbed Chris, practically dragging him through the house.
"But..." He argued and tried to pull away.
"Piper." He yelled again. She had complained about her morning sickness and went up to the bathroom. She had been gone for quite a while though and it worried him.
She emerged at the top of the stairs with Chris in tow, though he was reluctant in following her. He had other matters to deal with. "Sorry I took so long."
"Is that..." Victor was asking about Chris.
He was cut off. "Grandpa." Chris spoke with excitement. He reached out for the old man, enveloping him in a hug.
"I take it you guys are close in the future?" Piper asked, hoping Chris might give her a little insight into the future.
"Yeah, I mean he practically..." He trailed off, his excitement slowly diminishing, and he finished the sentence in his head. "raised me."
Piper could tell he was pulling back emotionally. There was something hidden behind those eyes of his, something she suspected had to do with her in the future. Over the last few months, Chris had slowly been warming up to her, been warming up to staying in the manor. Slowly, he had been opening up about the future, but deep down, she knew he was concealing something, something that was painful for him to think about, something that would be painful for her to know. Deep down he was holding back a little.
"I don't know how this is even possible." Victor replied, pulling back from his future grandson. He didn't understand much about magic, but he knew from what Piper had told him, that Chris was his grandson and that he had come from the future. "It's great to have another grandson." He smiled, glancing at Piper's belly. He could hardly believe she was pregnant.
Leo orbed into the living room, forgetting that Victor was due for a visit. "Hey Victor." He said, trying to force a smile.
"Hello, Leo." Victor replied.
"Where have you been?" Piper asked him. "You left before breakfast."
"I know, there was an issue with an old charge." Leo answered. "And some issues with the other Elders. We can talk about it later."
"We can talk now if you want." Piper assure him. "We should let Chris get reacquainted with his grandpa."
"Wait, but..." Chris argued once again.
Victor reached an arm around his grandson's shoulders. "Come on." He said in a cheerful tone. "Care for a cigar." He pulled two out of his suite coat and held them up.
Chris shook his head. "No, I don't smoke and you shouldn't either." He answered.
"Oh, well I only have one on rare occasion." Victor admitted. "It's one of my guilty pleasures."
"And it's going to get you in a lot of trouble in the future." Chris replied.
Victor's face scrunched up. "What do you mean?" He asked. Eying the cigars, he knew exactly what Chris meant. "You know, I've been meaning to pick up a new habit."
They both turned when they heard the front door slamming shut and ventured towards the foyer. Paige and Phoebe went rushing passed them, calling out for Piper. Her and Leo came running out of the kitchen and through the dining room.
"What is it?" Piper asked curiously. Worry filled her eyes, though in her family, it seemed she was always worried about something.
"Everything ok?" Victor asked his girls.
Phoebe turned to him with a smile. "Hey, Daddy." She reached to give him a hug and he did the same back.
Paige was the one to actually answer the question though. "No it's not alright." She said and then filled them in on what had happened. "She did some kind of freaky Phoebe flash thingy."
"I'm not following." Leo replied, feeling ever so confused.
"Phoebe had some kind of flashback, literally. Her body flashed back to, I don't know, a teenage Phoebe." Paige tried to explain, though she wasn't sure she was explaining it well enough. Phoebe did seem to flashback to her teenage self. Unbeknownst to any of the sisters, including herself, Phoebe had read something in her old yearbook that seemed to trigger the flashbacks.
"Look, I'm just gonna go to my room." Phoebe said, intervening. She turned and walked to the stairs.
"So, how did this happen?" Chris asked Paige curiously. Everyone else was wondering the same thing.
"I don't know. It all started when someone called her Freebie." Paige answered.
"Oh yeah, that'll do it." Piper claimed with a sigh.
"Ok, well I'm going to go up and see what I can do about Phoebe." She replied, making her way to the stairs.
"I should get back to those scabber..." Chris tried to excuse himself.
Piper cut him off. "Maybe you two would like to go grab a bite, you know get to know each other a bit." She said. "We'll take care of Phoebe and those scabbers."
She turned, heading up the stairs, not even noticing the glare Chris was giving her. Leo noticed and merely shrugged his shoulders and gave an apologetic look before he followed Piper.
"How bout it then?" Victor asked.
Chris shrugged his shoulders and reluctantly agreed to join him for a bite even though it went against his better judgment. He had been expecting the scabber demons to follow him and try and attack, but they hadn't yet. Even if they did, he knew the sisters could handle it though.
This was essentially the start of "Hyde School Reunion." Hope you like the update though, let me know what you think. I will post more as soon as my relatives leave in a few days.