You guys, I swear to the Sky Dude, I am working on the synopsis and will post it as soon as possible. Seriously. The problem is... Well... I thought that nothing happened in my stories. My characters tend to do lots and lots of talking and, well, I just thought it'd be a heck of a lot easier to write a synopsis without leaving out anything essential. Boy was I wrong. But I swear I'm working on it.

Meanwhile, Pt 1: Someone His Mirror Recognized (director's cut)

A few words from Chris:

There's not a parent alive that doesn't wish they would've done a couple things differently when raising their kids. Mom once told me that she could easily think of three different major events she'd handle differently with all nine of her kids. This is a woman who got nine boys through puberty without them killing each other. Actually, not only do we get along, we're pretty inseparable. She and Dad had a harder time getting us to make friends outside the family than they did trying to get us all to get along. The point is, they don't come any better than Mom and Dad.

I'd only been a dad for just under six years by the time this night came around. I'm just warning you in advance: If I ever got three chances to do things differently as a parent, I think I'd pick this night to use all three. I'm not a bad parent. Actually, I'm a damn good dad most of the time (The day Rider got his driver's permit doesn't count). Just... please don't make your opinion about me as a parent based on this particular night. Just warning you. It gets ugly.

"Ah, Dad, you know that salmon doesn't agree with your stomach."

Chris pulled his head out of the toilet bowl and groaned, "Don't change the subject."

"I didn't. Your stomach did when you emptied its contents into the toilet."

Was it Riley's deep, deep voice that kept that from sounding snotty or nerdy?

"Who is he, Riley?" Chris grunted, hauling himself up onto his feet.

Riley had known for years that this talk was coming; he just never imagined he'd be having it alone, and recent events had rendered useless the speech he'd prepared for this very moment. "Look, I'm not sure." The lie was out of his mouth before he'd realized it was there to be told.

"Nice try, Denzel. No Oscar this year."

"Who 's Denz-?"

"You're lying, Riley. You're lying right to my face." And so Chris got up in his. "My kid – one of two people it's my job to protect – was just kidnapped right under my nose by some cocky, crossbow-toating punk who has Halliwell written he's clearly no fan of mine, but he seemed pretty damn chummy with you and your brother."

Chris: I'll tell you something about Riley: If you've gotta raise a thirteen year old boy from the future starting a few months before your twenty first birthday? You want Riley. You know what they say about your kids are always kids in your eyes, but Riley's been more of adult than I'll ever be since the day I met him. He took a long time to get to know, but then who doesn't when they can't tell you anything about their life and barely anything about themselves. He's also always been a little on the quiet side, but then again when Rider's your twin brother you get limited airtime.

Don't get me wrong. I love Rider like crazy and I wouldn't change a thing about him (though, to be completely honest, I might tone a couple of things down). I've never had as much fun or laughed so hard as I have with Rider. Let's just say he comes with his own set of... challenges.

"You think threatening to slit Rider's throat with an athame was chummy?"

With no effective answer in sight, Chris ignored it. "So who is he?"

Chris: I'm pretty sure I knew that River was mine. Those blue-green eyes of his are third charmed generation Halliwell standard issue. But that look in his eyes. That angry, vengeful look. I'd seen that look before. Usually in the mirror.

For someone who loved books, Riley was momentarily mighty short on words, but Chris could still see the answer on the tip of his son's tongue, making him all the more determined to drag it out.

"Not to mention, that fighting style looked pretty damn familiar."

"Dad, half of Zimbabwe knows that fighting style."

(Great! And Riley is the "helpful" twin).

"So where are you meeting him?" Not a question; an accusation.

Riley's eyes fell soft and sad, not hiding that Chris's bullet had hit the bull's-eye. "What are you talking about?"

"He told you to hurry, right? Well, I'm guessing he wouldn't have told you to hurry unless you had somewhere to hurry off to. So where are you meeting him? Or maybe he's gonna text you the location later, is that it?"

"Dad, I swear, there's no plan in action here. I have no idea what he meant by that."

Whatever had been holding Chris together was now melting faster than the glue on Icarus' wings. "Riley. Just..." He counted to ten; he should've counted further. "Just tell me who the little punk is and don't tell me you don't know."

"Dad, I..." Most days, Riley didn't mind that his Dad's confrontational nature hadn't been passed down to him. This was not one of those days. "I can't."

"Why."

"Because..." (Because you told me not to).

Chris waited 'til his patience reached its red zone. Then - "Dammit!" – he slammed his fist into the wall - it seemed a good alternative to hitting his own kid - and drew back a hand full of knuckles that'd be needing a bandage in the very near future.

But Chris wasn't the only one with limits. "Jesus, Chris, would you get a grip please!"

Chris: I didn't let them call me 'Dad' for the first year. I just couldn't be called 'Dad' until I was legally old enough to drink. And I don't even drink (Whitelighters don't handle alcohol very well). I kinda chickened out when I let them know it was okay to start calling me that. It was in a birthday card. I just told them what Mom told me. I wrote, 'Dear Rider and Riley. Thank you for coming here. I love you.' and I signed it 'Dad'.

They've called me that ever since. It's become my favorite word. Don't tell them that though. There'll be no living with those two if they ever found out.

And in case you're wondering, the words 'I love you' are a lot easier for me this time around.

"Tried. Can't."

"Dad, seriously. This isn't you."

"Yeah? How the hell do you know? Apparently we're learning all kinds off new stuff about each other tonight." In a surly huff, he took off down the hallway.

"Where are you going?"

Chris didn't look back. "To get your League of Extraordinary Uncles so we can save your brother – Remember him? The nice one? The one who didn't try to kill me...? Because apparently you're not interested in helping him, so I have to find someone who is."

Ouch. "Dad, why are you being like this?"

Chris threw up his hands. "Because I'm mad with power!"

Riley scoffed. "Well, you got the first part right."

That did it. Chris stopped, spun to face him. "Look, Riley, I know this goes against the whole open-door-policy thing we've got going, but if you haven't figured it out by now, Daddy is not very happy with you at the moment, so how about you back - off!"

Riley's eyes widened, but he soon recovered, and any noticeable trace of vulnerability hardened into an armor most unlike his core nature. "You know what? Fine. You wanna go off the deep end? Go ahead. But you're going on your own."

"Oh I'm not just going off the deep end, I'm runnin' for mayor."

"Yeah? Well good luck with that; you're the perfect man for the job." Looking less like a child and more like a man than Chris had ever seen him, Riley turned and marched the other direction.

Chris felt his heart thump like a stomping rhino in his ribcage. "What do you think you're doing?"

This time it was Riley who didn't look back. "I'm backing off."

"Like Hell!" Chris grabbed his taller son's shoulder and yanked him back in front of him. His palm to Riley's back, he pressed him onward. "You're not going anywhere. I don't want you outta my sight. In fact, I don't want you more than five feet away from me from now until we get Rider back. Got it?"

"Man, you really have lost it."

"Could you pick up the pace please?"

"If you'd drop your cease-and-desist order on the orbing, we'd be there by now."

"Yeah, but this way we get all this stomping time."

"But…"

"Riley, you saw what happened to me."

"Yeah. Because they blocked your orb trail, not put the entire neutral plane outta commission."

"Then apparently you know something I don't then." Chris could've cringed at the hard edge in his own voice, but the runaway train had already flown off the track. No choice now but to ride it 'til it stopped. "Oh, but wait..."

Chris: I don't know what made me angrier. The fact that he wouldn't tell me or the fact that he was doing exactly what I'd always told him to do. I mean, this whole trip was covered by a "future consequences" spell. The whole family said it. Even Grammy, Grams, Vincent, Uncle Henry. Everybody. As long as we avoided doing a couple of things on the list then there wouldn't be any negative future consequences. Or at least, none that we weren't willing to live with in order to change what we needed to change. I don't blame Riley for being scared that telling me he was afraid that his brother might have headed to the dark side and if he couldn't find a way to win him back over in the next couple of days then his magical destiny was screwed.

And even more than that, I was being more unfair than I realized at the time. I put him in a situation where no matter what he did, he'd end up feeling like he let me down. And if there's one thing Riley can't stand, it's letting people down. And I knew that. I did. Hey, like I said, tonight was one of my greatest hits of bad parenting.

"That's it, I'm going." Riley attempted to orb out.

"Dammit, Riley." Chris grabbed a fist full of his t-shirt, rooting the boy... the young man in place.

Riley just looked at him. "Really, Dad? Really?"

"And risk losing you too? I don't think so."

"But..."

"God knows where you'd end up. What if it's a trap? Think, Riley!"

Riley pushed Chris's hands away and once again started in the other direction. "Okay, that's it."

"Riley? Riley, stop!"

"No."

"I said 'stop'."

"And I said 'no'. Now try 'roll over' and 'play dead' and see how far you get with those."

Chris: Yep. Riley's definitely my kid.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm getting Grandma."

"The Hell you are."

"Well then, welcome to Hell."

Chris: Yep. My kid.

"Don't get cute Riley. What's Grandma supposed to do that your uncles can't?"

"I have no idea. That's why I'm going. She's Grandma. She'll figure it out."

"Riley? Stop. Seriously."

Nothin' doin'.

"Riley..."

Finally, Chris decided to pull out the big guns. "Please?"

Boy, was that a hard word for him to say in that moment, and though he sounded heavy with frustration, the sincerity was unmistakable. So much so that Riley actually slowed in mid-stride, but just as quickly picked his pace back up again.

Chris: I couldn't just not follow him. I don't think it'd be physically possible. I swear, the speed he was going would put an Olympic power walker to shame.

The whole time we walked, it was like I was watching this suck fest of epic parental failure playing on a loop on that broad back of his. After having my orbs shattered, it took everything I had to keep up with him. Anyone looking would've seen me walking ten feet behind him. But I didn't see ten feet; I saw thirteen years. Thirteen years that I don't think I was there for my kids. I keep wondering... if I'd known them for those first thirteen years, would it've made a difference? If I'd been there since they were born, would it've been enough to make Riley stay?

Looking back, I can't say I blame him. What kind of father doesn't let his sons call him what he is? I guess I realized too late that the name wasn't about me. It wasn't about what I was to them. It was about what they wanted to be to me. I know, I know, I wasn't even twenty-one yet. But no matter how much I try to think it away, and I'm not saying I know everything there is to know about parenting, but it hurts like hell to disappoint your kids.

"Riley?" By now Chris was pleading; one last ditch attempt to stop Riley in his tracks, only to be dealt a lesson in how it felt to be put on 'mute.'

He sighed as he said it: "Oh this so gonna suck."

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Thanks for readin' guys! I'm anxious to get back to the boys upstairs. Things have been a little intense these past few chapters and I'm much more a fan of the boys and girls getting along and laughin'. Hopefully people are still enjoying it. Take care!

~Alwyn