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Ch. 33:

"It's a simple plan." Meredith muttered as she ducked behind a large boulder. "Go in, get the intel, get out. What could go wrong? Two days of slinking around the underworld, cut off from everyone, only to walk right into a nest of demons. Sure, what could go wrong?"

She stood up and threw a wave of fire at the horde of demons following her.

"THIS IS WHAT COULD BLOODY WELL GO WRONG!" she yelled, running down the next tunnel.

"Talking to yourself isn't a good sign, you know that, right?" Chris told her as he joined her.

Meredith just glared at him as they ran through the underworld. Meredith ducked as an energy ball flew over her head and Chris used his power to send the demon flying.

"We need to leave." Meredith told him. "Now."

"We need that information." Chris shot back. "If we don't get it, you're explaining it to Piper."

"Will you be really upset if I kill her for sending us on this wild goose chase?"She asked.

"If you could wait a few months, that would be better." He told her with a grin.

She glared at him as they turned another corner, the demons still on their tails.

"Okay, time to end this fun fest." She muttered.

Meredith disappeared into the shadows and Chris sighed. He continued to run and as he turned another corner, he stopped short. In front of him was Meredith, holding a barely conscious demon by the collar.

"Can we go now?"

Chris ran his hand through his hair. He and Meredith were in a cave in a deserted portion of the underworld. He was standing in front of the demon they had captured and Meredith was sitting on a boulder nearby. The demon, meanwhile, was trapped in a crystal cage.

"Just tell us what we want to know." Chris told the demon. "We'll let you go and you won't see us anymore. Now, who is after the Charmed Ones child?"

The demon glared at him.

"Meredith." Chris sighed.

Meredith sighed and threw a bolt of electricity at the demon. The demon screamed as she kept the current up, and collapsed, panting, as she let it dissipate.

"You know, this wouldn't be working even this well if I hadn't remembered the crystals." Meredith pointed out. "What would you do without me? Never mind, I don't like to think about it. Five bucks says you would have no fun at all and get yourself killed in the first month.

"You do realize I survived here for months before you arrived, right?" Chris told her.

"But even with my superhuman abilities to keep you from getting yourself killed, this is never going to work." She continued, ignoring him. "Let's just vanquish him and go home. I'll by you an ice cream."

"Maybe you're right." Chris sighed. "And ice cream sounds really good right now."

He took a potion out of his pocket and held it up.

"No, wait!" the demon yelled. "I swear I don't know. Nobody's said nothing about going after The Charmed Ones or their kid."

Meredith and Chris exchanged a look. Meredith flipped her hand at the demon and he went up in fire. A second later, Chris and Meredith were alone.

"Well that was a complete waste of time." She said, getting up and brushing her pants off.

"Oh, I don't know." Chris said, walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her. "Watching you take on a horde of demons was fun. It was like the good old days."

She laughed slightly and shook her head.

"Oh yeah." She said. "Demon blood and guts, running through the underworld while demons throw energy balls at our heads. You must be remembering different good old days than me, because good would not be the word I use to describe them."

"Hmm." Chris said, backing her up towards a wall. "But we always found fun ways to work off the excess adrenaline, didn't we?"

He smiled and pushed her up against the wall before kissing her deeply. When he pulled away, Meredith smiled dreamily.

"Oh, those good old days." She murmured.

Chris laughed and let her go.

"Come on, supergirl." He said, taking her hand and pulling her along. "We have three more demons to track down."

"Can we do that again, instead?" Meredith asked, letting him pull her along.

He turned and walked backwards as he smiled at her.

"Maybe if you're very good." He told her.

Meredith grinned.

"And if I'm not?" she asked.

He pulled her to him and kissed her again.

"Than for sure." He whispered.

Meredith giggled as he turned and continued to lead her down the tunnel.

"Goody." She said.

Chris just laughed.

Two days later, they were no closer to any new information, and Meredith's good mood was totally gone.

"I'm going home, Chris." She told him in no uncertain terms. "It's been four days, I'm tired, I hurt, and I'm in desperate need of a shower." He opened his mouth and she held up her hand. "And if you think this is the moment for a joke, you are seriously misjudging my mood at the moment."

His mouth closed with a snap.

"Good choice." She told him. "I'm going back to the manor. You can either come, or you can get your ass handed to you by the next group of demons you piss off."

"I'll meet you there." He told her.

She nodded and melted into the shadows. Chris followed a second later as he disappeared in a flash of orbs. They appeared in the kitchen, where Piper was making tea.

"There you two are." She said. "I was starting to get worried."

"We'll tell you all about it, but first: shower." Meredith said.

She looked over and saw Chris grinning and glared at him.

"Separate." She told him, making his face fall and Piper laugh. "I am way too tired to deal with anything else."

She walked out and Chris looked so depressed that Piper reached over and patted his hand before also leaving, two cups of tea in her hand.

"You can use the downstairs bathroom." She told him as the door swung shut.

Chris pulled his shirt away and sniffed it before shrugging.

Piper knocked on Meredith's door and opened it. Inside, both Chris and Meredith were fast asleep. She watched them for a moment. Both were on top of the covers and Meredith, who was dressed in a sports bra and pajama bottoms, was curled up in Chris's side, who was only dressed in pajama bottoms. Her head was resting on Chris's chest and his arm was wrapped around her, holding her tightly.

This was the most peaceful Piper had ever seen them. She thought about not waking them up, but finally she decided she had to.

She walked over and gently shook Chris' shoulder.

"Chris, you guys need to get up." She said softly.

Chris's eyes snapped open and he quickly sat up, pushing Meredith behind him. She awoke just as quickly and had a ball of fire in her hand. Both of them were breathing hard.

"Whoa, whoa!" Piper said quickly, holding up her hands. "It's just me!"

Chris reached over and gently touched Meredith's hand. The fire dissipated and she sighed as she lowered her hand.

"Sorry." She said, running her hand through her hair.

Piper took a deep breath and lowered her hands.

"It's alright." She told her. "Dinner's ready. Come on, let's get you something to eat."

"Just give us a chance to get dressed." Chris said.

"Don't worry about it." Piper said, grinning. "It's just me and Phoebe. Come on."

Meredith and Chris exchanged a looked, but Meredith just shrugged. They both climbed out of bed and followed Piper. As they headed towards the door, Meredith grabbed a shirt and tossed it to Chris, who pulled it over his head as they went downstairs. In the kitchen, Phoebe was sitting in her pajamas, hunched over a cup of tea.

"I see she dragged you two down too." Phoebe said, smiling slightly, but the smile quickly dropped.

Meredith and Chris exchanged a look, and Meredith walked over and hugged Phoebe around the neck.

"Hi, Aunt Phoebe." She whispered.

"Hi, Mer." Phoebe replied, reaching up to squeeze Meredith's arm.

Meredith sat down next to her and took her hand in hers.

"What's wrong?" she asked quietly. "What's happened? Are you alright?"

Phoebe studied her for a moment.

"In the future, are we close?" she asked out of the blue.

Meredith looked shocked for a moment before her face fell back into its normal expression.

"Yes." She told her. "Piper was like my mom, but if I was in trouble, I went to you, and you always got me out of it. Don't get me wrong, I loved Aunt Paige growing up, but for an emotionally confused elemental, you couldn't ask for a better guardian than an empath. You were the one who taught me to control my emotions, to harness them. Basically, you were the reason the house was still standing by the time I was 15."

"She's telling the truth." Chris confirmed. "She once almost burned down the manor when she was five because Wyatt stole her toy. Phoebe was there and she was able to feel Mer's anger and divert it before the fire got too out of control."

"Just how close were you to us?" Piper asked suspiciously.

"I told you, Chris and I were best friends growing up." Meredith said, covering for him quickly. "He was around the house a lot when we were growing up. In fact, most of the times the house got destroyed, it was usually his fault."

"That is not true!" Chris exclaimed.

"Natalie, that's all I'm going to say." Meredith said.

Chris sat there, staring at her as he sputtered. Piper and Phoebe both grinned at his obvious discomfort.

"We were ten!" he said finally. "And she kissed me! You have got to let this go! You creating a tornado in the living room was a massive overreaction."

"We were twelve." Meredith told him, glaring as she ticked each point off on a finger. "You kissed her back, and the tornado was a small one. Also, it was not an overreaction."

Phoebe laughed and Piper saw Meredith and Chris exchange a look. This had obviously been their plan all along.

"So how did your fact finding mission go?" Piper asked.

"Oh it went great." Meredith said sarcastically. "Especially if you like running for your life, torturing demons, and ruining your favorite shoes. And seriously, who is their decorator? The bare rock look so went out centuries ago. They need to let it go."

"Did you find anything?" Piper asked.

Chris shook his head.

"No." he admitted. "All the demons we…interrogated-"

Meredith snorted and he glared at him. She motioned for him to go on and he turned back to Piper with a sigh.

"No one seemed to know anything." He finished.

"So is Wyatt okay?" Piper asked happily.

"We don't know for sure." Meredith warned her. "We're still looking for the turning point. We know there's a certain time frame for when this will happen, and we're still in it. But we're not going to stop until we're sure."

Piper nodded. They all went back to eating in relative silence. Periodically, Chris would reach over and take something off Meredith's plate, and she would retaliate by slapping his hand. Watching them, Piper finally was able to put words to what bothered her about their relationship.

Piper trusted Meredith.

She didn't trust Chris.

But looking at them, the way they acted around each other, only couples who have been together for many years acted like they did. Meredith said they had grown up together. So, at some point in the future, Piper knew she must trust him, but she couldn't seem to reconcile that with the man who constantly lied to them.

She watched as Meredith finished her mashed potatoes and reached over to eat Chris's without a second thought, and she shrugged to herself. She knew she'd figure it out sometime, but for now, she needed to worry about protecting little Meredith and Wyatt. They had to be her first priority.

Eventually, Phoebe went back upstairs and Piper followed her upstairs to check on Wyatt and little Meredith. When she came back down, older Meredith and Chris were waiting for her.

"Thanks for cleaning up." Piper said, looking around at the spotless kitchen.

"You're welcome." Meredith told her. "Wanna tell us what went on here while we were gone?"

Piper sighed and sat down.

"Jason found out Phoebe was a witch." She told them.

"And he broke up with her?" Meredith demanded angrily. "I'm going to kick his ass!"

"It's not that simple." Piper told her. "There was a spell, and the spirit of Mata Hari, and Richard, and Swarm Demons. It was a huge mess and in the end, he made the decision that he needed space, but he saved Phoebe's life and he still covered for us. It's not like this is the first time this has happened. Not all of us are lucky enough to fall for people already involved in magic."

Meredith looked away, her face still obviously angry. Chris reached over and took her hand and she turned back to look at him. They seemed to have a silent conversation and Meredith sighed.

"Are sure I can't just hex him?" she asked petulantly.

Chris just shook his head and she sighed again.

"Fine." She agreed reluctantly.

"Good girl." Chris said, pressing a kiss to her temple. "I'm going home. I'll see you in the morning."

Meredith nodded and he orbed away.

"Is there anything I can do?" she asked Piper. "I mean, baring shadow walking into his home and suffocating him with his pillow."

Piper chuckled.

"I was going to bring her some more tea." She told her. "Why don't you do that while I get little you and Wyatt ready for bed."

"Alright." Meredith agreed.

"Aunt Phoebe?" Meredith said softly, knocking on her door and opening it.

Phoebe was lying on the guest room bed with her back to the door.

"I have tea." Meredith coaxed.

Not getting a response, Meredith made her way over and around the bed. She saw that Phoebe was awake, and her face was tear streaked.

"Oh, auntie." Meredith said, surprised to hear the term of endearment that she hadn't used in years slip past her lips.

She set the tea down on the table and sat down next to Phoebe on the bed.

"It's gonna be alright." She told her softly, rubbing her shoulder. "I promise you."

Phoebe smiled weakly at her.

"Do you want your room back?" Meredith asked her. "I'll move my stuff out and you can move back in later today."

"Oh, no, sweetie." Phoebe told her. "It's your room. I'm fine here."

"Are you sure?" Meredith asked her hesitantly.

"Of course I'm sure." Phoebe assured her.

Meredith nodded and they sat their silently. Finally, Meredith got to her feet.

"I'm going to let you get some sleep." She told Phoebe. "I'll leave your tea here. If you don't drink it right now, just bring it to me later and I'll reheat it for you."

Phoebe nodded and Meredith moved away. She stood at the door for a moment, looking back at her adoptive aunt before sighing and closing the door.

A/N: So what did you guys think? Since Chris isn't in Used Karma at all and it's not one of my favorites, I decided to deal with it like this. That okay with you guys? Let me know.

Abbey