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Ch. 41:
Phoebe stood in the center of the bottle looking up at the opening.
"Will you come out of there, please?" Piper demanded.
"I can't!" Phoebe exclaimed. "I don't know how. Try commanding me."
"Uh, okay." Piper replied. "Get the hell out of there!"
"No, not you!" Phoebe said, waving piper aside. "My…master."
Piper looked up and nodded to Chris. She walked around the table to stand with Meredith and Chris switched places with her.
"You mean me?" he asked.
"Well, yeah, you did pick up the bottle, didn't you?" Phoebe replied.
"'Cause he's an idiot." Meredith muttered.
"Not helpful." Chris told her before turning back to the bottle. "All right. Get out of the bottle. I command you."
Phoebe crossed her arms and immediately turned into blue smoke and zoomed out of the bottle. It settled on the floor and she materialized. Piper looked at her and smiled while Meredith snorted. Hearing Meredith, Piper started to giggle, which caused Meredith to lose it.
"You look ridiculous!" Piper told her as Meredith collapsed on the ground.
"I feel ridiculous." Phoebe replied.
"Well, how am I supposed to get back to Greg now with this?" Piper asked.
"Better question: how am I supposed to function when you look like that?" Meredith asked through her laughter.
"Is that all you care about?" Phoebe demanded. "Would you look at me? I am trapped in pantaloons right now. Where's the mirr – look."
She turned and looked in the mirror.
"And why do I always get stuck with the wig?" she demanded.
"Trust me, you don't." Piper replied. "Leo!"
"Have you ever noticed that Leo is the first person you call in your time of need?" Chris asked.
Meredith shook her head at him as Leo orbed in.
"Uh-oh." He said, seeing Phoebe.
"Yeah, right?" Phoebe said. "'Uh-oh'."
"I still can't believe you made a wish with a genie." Piper said. "You know better than that."
"I thought she was an innocent." Phoebe told her. "How was I to know that I was gonna unleash a demon?"
"It says so right here." Leo told her, picking up the bottle.
"Oh, right." Phoebe agreed. "Right there, in Arabic."
"There's a warning label on the genie bottle?" Piper asked, surprised.
"Yeah." Leo replied.
"What, like 'don't use hair dryer in shower' or 'don't operate chain saw near genitals'?" Meredith asked.
"An ancient sorcerer condemned a demon into the bottle for not marrying him." Leo said. "It says whoever tried to free her, they'd have to switch places with her." He looked at Chris. "Missed a big one here, bud."
"You wanna pin this on me?" Chris scoffed.
"Between the two of us, Chris and I speak six languages." Meredith told Leo angrily. "Arabic is not one of them. You know, you are really trashing all the progress I've made. And I was so close to making my peace with you. Hania going to be pissed."
Meredith glared at Leo and Chris snatched the bottle away from him, putting it on the table.
"Leo, it's not his fault." Phoebe said, trying to defuse the situation. "It's my fault."
"How come your empathy thing didn't give her away?" Piper asked.
"She tricked me." Phoebe said, sighing. "And obviously the Book, too."
"Let's just figure out a way to fix this, okay?" Chris said.
"Preferably without making any more wishes." Meredith added.
"Well, the only way to fix it is to get the demon to reverse the magic." Leo said.
"That's what we need to do then." Phoebe said.
"I'll call Paige." Piper said, getting to her feet and heading out of the attic.
"Yes!" Phoebe called after her. "I do believe the element of surprise is very important here."
"Are you sure?" Chris asked. "Because we could always take our time with this plan, you know, keep Piper around just a little bit longer?"
"Yes, master." Phoebe agreed.
"Good." Chris said. "I'm glad you agree."
"A-actually, I don't agree, but I can't – I can't – " Phoebe sputtered.
She turned to Leo in frustration.
"How am I supposed to take charge and take commands all at the same time?" she demanded.
"Well, you won't have to." Leo replied. "Chris and Meredith are coming back up there with me. The Elders have agreed to send them back to their time."
"What?" Chris exclaimed.
"You can't!" Meredith shouted.
"You don't know what you're doing here, Leo." Phoebe warned.
"You don't belong here, and as your whitelighter, he's doing more harm than good." Leo said.
"You are so full of it!" Chris yelled angrily.
Meredith grabbed his arm and held him back, glaring at Leo.
"This isn't about me being a bad whitelighter." Chris continued. "It's about you feeling like I've let you down somehow! And you're not just punishing me, you're going to get Meredith killed!"
"Chris." Meredith said warningly.
"So whatever issues you might have with us, with me," Chris continued over her, "I wish you would just get over it already!"
Phoebe put her hands together, nodded her head and blinked. A wave of magic passed through Leo and Phoebe looked down at herself, confused.
"Leo?" Chris asked warily.
Leo looked at them, Meredith still holding Chris' arm, and laughed.
"Or course I forgive you, man." He told them. "You don't have to yell! All you had to do was ask."
"I did?" Chris asked.
"Yeah." Leo replied. "And listen, with that whole going back to the future thing, you know, don't even worry about it, because I'll talk to the other Elders, and we're gonna work it all out, okay? I definitely wouldn't want to risk Meredith's life! Don't worry about it. It's no big deal, okay?"
He laughed and opened his arms.
"Come on, give me a hug!" He said, wrapping a surprised Chris and Meredith in a warm hug.
When he let go, Meredith laughed awkwardly.
"Well, why don't you go deal with the Elders, Leo, and Chris, Phoebe, and I will go help Piper." She said.
"That sounds like a great plan." Leo told her.
He orbed out and they all stood there for a moment. Then Meredith punched Chris in the arm.
"What was that for?" he demanded, rubbing his arm.
"I" –punch – "said" –punch –"no" –punch –"more" –punch –"wishes!" –punch.
Meredith glared at him.
"Hey, he's not sending us back to the future, is he?" Chris replied.
Meredith threw her hands up in the air and strode out of the attic. Chris looked at Phoebe in confusion and she just sighed.
"What do you mean 'she didn't read the warning label'?" Paige demanded.
She was on her cell phone at Richard's, talking to Piper.
"I'll explain later." Her sister told her. "The bottom line is we need you home now."
"Well, I can't." Paige replied. "I'm kind of in the middle of saving Richard right now."
She turned and faced a group of living and dead members of Richard's family.
"I'll be right with you." She whispered to them before addressing her sister again. "I took Phoebe's advice. I got his family here."
"I thought most of his relatives are dead." Piper said.
"Uh-huh." Paige replied, nodding. "They are."
"You're holding a magical intervention with ghosts?" Piper asked.
"Well, I thought about it, and I realized that one of Richard's problems is that he's got not family here." Paige explained. "He's got no support system. So the burden of helping him has kind of fallen on me."
"Okay, fine." Piper sighed. "Hey, maybe since you have all those ghosts there, you could get one to help us out when you're done."
"Help us do what?" Paige asked.
The front door opened and Richard walked in, closing the door behind him as his family got to their family.
"Oh, no." Paige muttered.
"What's going on here?" Richard asked, spotting his family.
"Uh, I'll call you back." Paige told Piper.
She hung up and walked over to Richard.
"What are they doing here?" he demanded.
"Your family is here because they care about you." Paige replied. "They've seen what happens to you when you use magic, and they don't want it to happen again."
"You summoned them?" he exclaimed.
"We are here because we want to be here." Steve Montana said. "We need you to listen to us."
"This is crazy." Richard said. "This is an intervention, right? Look, I'm out of here."
"Richard, wait!" Paige called as he turned and headed for the door.
"After everything I've done, this is how you thank me?" he demanded, turning back to face her. "By embarrassing me in front of my family?"
"Look, if you keep doing this, something bad is gonna happen, something terrible." Paige told him desperately. "I can feel it."
The ghost began to disappear and Steve walked over to join him and Paige.
"She's right, Richard." He told him. "Our family, they died because of the magic. You can't let yourself end up like that."
"I can make a power-stripping potion." Paige told him. "It'll turn you back into yourself. Just let me help you."
Richard blurred out of sight without a word and Paige sighed.
"What do we do now?" Steve asked her.
A fireball engulfed one of the thieves and vanquished him as the others stared. In front of them, Jinny stood with her hands on her hips.
"Anyone else have a problem taking orders from an ex-genie?" she asked.
The Head Thief made his way through the group and moved to stand in front of her.
"We are at your service…my queen." He told her.
"Mmm, 'Queen'." Jinny murmured. "I like the sound of that. Every Queen deserves an Empire. Have you found the location of the lost city yet?"
"We believe we've discovered the site." The Head Thief replied.
"Very good." She said. "Now all I need is that bottle. Gather your best fighters. We're going on a witch hunt."
The Head Thief smiled.
Leo was sitting at a table in the attic with a pen in his hand and yellow legal pad in front of him. He ripped off a page and crumpled it into a ball, throwing it on the table, starting again on a clean sheet.
"Hey, Piper says to hurry up with those crystals." Chris told him as he came into the attic. "Genie Phoebe's getting on our last nerves down there, not to mention a Meredith that breaks into hysterical laughter every time she looks at Phoebe." He spotted the paper. "What are you doing?"
"I'm writing you an apology." Leo replied. "I just – I can't seem to get it right."
"Leo, come on, man." Chris laughed. "You don't need to do that."
"Oh, I know that I don't need to, but I want to." Leo replied. "It feels good to forgive."
"Yeah, why don't you just hold on to that feeling, okay?" Chris told him. "We gotta go help the sisters."
"Alright, well, in a minute." Leo said, turning back to the paper. "This is just as important. 'Dear Chris…'."
"Alright, alright." Chris said, laughing slightly and taking the pad away. "Enough already. You said you were sorry. Let's just not go overboard."
"Okay, but after everything I've put you through, I feel like I owe it to you." Leo replied.
"Honestly, a letter's not gonna mean a hell of a lot to me." Chris said dryly. "I got plenty of them growing up."
"Sorry?" Leo asked, confused.
"Uh…from my father." Chris covered. "He wasn't around much."
"That's awful." Leo said with compassion. "You wanna talk about it?"
He pulled out the other chair and Chris stared at him.
"No!" he exclaimed. "What I want from you is to grab the crystals and go downstairs to where Piper is. Do you remember her?"
"Sure." Leo said. "But right now I'm a little more concerned about you. You seem a little stressed."
"Yeah, you're damn right I'm stressed." Chris shot back. "I'm concerned about you two. You two need to get back together already. Any chance that's gonna happen?"
"I don't think so, but thanks for caring, man." Leo said, standing up. "It means a lot."
"Wait." Chris said.
He walked over to Leo.
"You still love her." He told him. "I know you do. How could you just throw that away?"
"That's a little personal, don't you think?" Leo asked, seeming annoyed for the first time since Chris had made his inadvertent wish.
"Yeah, more than you know." Chris muttered. "Look, are you telling me that there is no chance that you and Piper are gonna hook up in, let's say – I don't know, the next couple of weeks?"
"Actually, yeah." Leo replied. "That's what I'm saying. We've both moved on, and nothing short of a miracle could make that happen."
He turned and walked away to get the crystals as Chris sighed. The younger man watched him for a moment before looking down at the genie's bottle in his hand.
Piper was sitting at the table in the conservatory, trying to write a spell to vanquish Jinny, while Phoebe hovered over her shoulder.
"Ah, ah, ah." Phoebe said. "The wording's not quite right there. Jinny is an upper level demon."
"Hey, I don't need a bossy genie on my back." Piper told her. "I'm giving up a lot to be here. I'll write the vanquishing spell the way I want."
"You should invoke the name of – " Phoebe started.
"Do I need to call Chris to shut you up?" Piper demanded.
"You wouldn't!" Phoebe gasped.
"Keep pushin' me." Piper replied.
"Can I come back yet?" Meredith called from the other room.
"Can you hold it together?" Piper called back.
"I promise." Meredith replied.
"Fine." Piper sighed.
Meredith walked back into the room and snorted when she saw Phoebe.
"Meredith!" Phoebe exclaimed.
"It's okay, I've got it." Meredith said weakly, waving her hand. "I promise."
There was a flash of orbs and Paige appeared, looking depressed.
"Back so soon?" Piper asked.
"Yeah, the intervention was complete train wreck." Paige replied. "Richard wouldn't listen to anyone."
"Oh, Paige, I'm so sorry." Phoebe said, taking a step forward.
Paige caught her first glimpse of her genie sisters and a laugh burst out of her.
"You're laughing at me?" Phoebe demanded angrily. "I'm trying to be sympathetic, and you're laughing at me?"
"How come Aunt Paige gets to laugh and I get sent to the next room?" Meredith demanded.
"I'm sorry." Paige told Phoebe. "Maybe I need a laugh after what I just went through."
"Because, she didn't laugh for an hour straight!" Piper told Meredith. "And didn't follow it up by falling on the ground because she could stop!"
"Yeah." Phoebe said, glaring at Meredith before turning back to Paige. "It's okay. Is there anything I can do?"
"Yeah…" Paige replied. "But don't you, um, need to go help…Major Nelson?"
She and Piper both burst out laughing.
"What?" Piper demanded when Phoebe glared at them. "It's funny. This is kind of funny."
"And yet I'm the only one who gets sent to the other room." Meredith huffed, sitting down. "Life is so unfair."
"Oh, I can see teenage you is going to be a joy." Piper told her.
Meredith just stuck out her tongue at Piper.
"Let's just finish the spell, okay?" Phoebe told them.
"All right." Piper agreed. "Hey, I want this done just as badly as you do. Did you find us a ghost?"
"Yeah, I got us Richard's dad." Paige replied. "He's hanging out in limbo waiting for my call. Why do we need a ghost?"
"Well, once we capture Jinny, he can possess her and force her to wish Phoebe free." Piper explained.
From the other room, the sound of laughter reached the girls and Chris and Leo entered the room.
"Here's the crystals you wanted." Leo told them.
He put the box on the table in front of Piper and opened it.
"Well, you guys sure are chummy." Paige said suspiciously.
"Yeah, I had a change of heart, decided to let bygones be bygones." Leo replied.
"Really?" Piper asked, surprised.
Phoebe looked between them.
"Guys, there's something I have to tell you." She started.
"Uh, after we talk in the kitchen." Chris interrupted.
"But-" Phoebe said.
Chris just held up the bottle.
"Phoebe?" he said.
She crossed her arms and changed into a funnel of smoke, zooming back into the bottle.
"Now, that was cool." Chris said, grinning. "If you'll excuse me, I'm gonna have a little one-on-one with the help."
He walked out of the room and Meredith stood up.
"I'm just gonna-" she said, pointing after him. "Yeah."
She quickly walked out of the room, leaving the others staring after her.
"What are they hiding now?" Piper asked.
The doorbell rang and Paige stood up.
"I'll get it." She said, walking out of the room as Leo smiled at Piper.
"You know, Chris is a hell of guy." Leo told her. "And Meredith really is an amazing young woman. You two should really give them a chance once in a while."
Piper just stared at him.
Paige opened the front door to find Richard standing on the porch.
"Hey." He said softly.
"Richard." Paige replied. "What are you doing here?"
"I, uh, came to apologize." He told her.
He held out his hands and a large bouquet of roses appeared in his arms.
Meredith followed Chris into the kitchen.
"Hey." She said, putting her hand on his arm.
"I know." He told her.
"No, I don't think you do." Meredith told him. "I know I should be angry about the whole wishing your father was okay with you thing, but…It's nice to see you getting along with Leo. I didn't get to see it much."
She smiled and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"You know he loved you, right?" she said softly.
Chris stiffened in her arms, but she continued to hold him.
"He loved you." She repeated. "He just never knew how to show you. Maybe you'll have a chance to fix that."
"I don't think so." He told her.
"Just…think about it." She told him. "And meanwhile, please take Aunt Phoebe out of the bottle. We really shouldn't piss off our only ally."
Chris sighed and stepped away from her.
"Come on out, Phoebe." He said.
The middle Halliwell sister zoomed out of the bottle, obviously pissed.
"Hiya, Aunt Phoebe." Meredith said, waving slightly.
"Don't you 'Hiya, Aunt Phoebe' me, young lady." Phoebe told her. "They deserve to know what's going on."
"It was an accident." Chris protested. "What good would it do to tell them?"
"Fine." Phoebe relented. "But only because it would cause more problems than help. Now can we go back in?"
"No." Chris replied as he set the bottle down. "I wanna make mom and dad sleep together."
Meredith and Phoebe stared at him before Meredith leaned over and began hitting her head against the counter.
"You wanna make them do what?" Phoebe sputtered.
"We finally got dad in a good mood, and mom, she's all sexed up for the fireman." Chris said, picking the bottle back up. "This is the perfect time to hit 'em with the whammy."
"I'm in love with a crazy person." Meredith complained. "I should have you sectioned. 'Hit 'em with the whammy.' There is something seriously wrong with you."
"No!" Phoebe said. "We are not gonna make Piper and Leo sleep together. Okay? We're gonna do this my way, mister!"
"'Master'." Chris corrected.
"Oh, you know what, listen to me-" Phoebe started.
"I'm sorry, Phoebe, but I'm running out of time here." Chris said. "A guy's gotta survive."
He looked at Meredith, pleading. She closed her eyes.
"There must be something wrong with me." She muttered. "We're so going to regret this. Do what you need to."
"Now, just hold on a damn-" Phoebe exclaimed.
"I wish for Piper and Leo to sleep together tonight." Chris interrupted.
Unwillingly, Phoebe's hands came together, she nodded her head, and she blinked. From the other room came one thud followed by another.
"What was that?" Chris demanded.
He rushed out of the room, Phoebe slapping his arm as he passed.
"Why are you letting him do this?" Phoebe asked Meredith.
"Because I'm on his side on this." Meredith replied, pushing herself away from the island. "I will do whatever it takes to keep him. I've worked too hard to get him back just to lose him because Piper and Leo won't sleep together."
She walked past Phoebe, following Chris out. In the conservatory, she and Phoebe found Chris kneeling next to Piper and Leo, who were unconscious on the floor.
"They're sleeping." He said, looking up at Phoebe. "You tricked me."
He stood up, angry.
"No, you made me wish for them to sleep together." Phoebe said, motioning to the couple. "And they're sleeping together."
"This is a mess!" Chris exclaimed. "I've only got one more wish to sort this thing out, so if you don't mind…"
"Oh, no, actually, I do mind, because Jinny could be here at any moment." Phoebe protested.
"You know what?" Chris shot back. "I'll summon you when she does. I command you back into the bottle."
"When I get out this-" Phoebe warned as she zoomed back into the bottle.
Chris closed his eyes and sighed and Meredith walked over to him.
"Okay, since you seem to be learning impaired, I'm going to repeat this again." She told him. "Please, for the love of all that is holy, stop pissing off the only family members who are truly in our corner! That includes not sticking them in a bottle!"
Chris winced and Meredith sighed. They were suddenly distracted by the sound of a raise voice came from the other room.
"You're gonna break up with me over some flowers?" Richard yelled.
"Look, I'm sorry." Paige told him. "It's me or magic. You just have to choose one."
"You can't give me that kind of choice!" Richard shot back.
"I just did." Paige replied.
"You wanna talk about dependencies?" He sneered. "Why are you always running off to be with your sisters?"
There was a loud crash and they heard Meredith scream. Paige looked at Richard and sighed.
"Wait here." She told him, heading back into the house.
A thief tossed Chris into a cabinet and he fell to the ground, the genie bottle slipping from his hands and rolling under a side table. Meredith was picking herself up from the ground as she sent a bolt of electricity at one of the thieves.
A thief pulled out his sword as Paige ran through the doorway. Meredith helped Chris to his feet as he spotted Paige.
"Find the bottle." He told her. "Phoebe's inside."
The thief with the sword ran towards Chris and Meredith and Meredith grabbed a floor lamp, using it to block the attack. Meanwhile, Paige looked for the bottle, spotting it under the table. She rushed forward to get it while Meredith continued to fight. When the thief was distracted Chris used his powers to throw the him across the room, and Meredith sent a blast of fire at him, which he ducked. He came back at her and she quickly lifted the lamp to block his sword.
As Paige made her way to the bottle, a second thief stepped forward and swung his sword at her. She orbed out of the way and appeared behind him immediately. With his back towards her, Paige held out her hand.
"Sword!" she called.
The sword orbed out of the thief's hand and into Paige's, who quickly stabbed him. He exploded in a wall of fire and smoke and she took a step back. Behind her, Chris and Meredith were still fighting the other thief.
"Chris!" Meredith called, tossing the lamp to him.
He caught it and swung, hitting the thief and knocking him to the floor. Jinny shimmered in and looked for the bottle, spotting it under the table. As she stepped forward, Richard walked in the room. Jinny took another couple of steps forward and Richard leisurely waved his hand, sending her flying backwards into the far wall.
"Aunt Paige!" Meredith called.
Paige turned and threw the sword to the elemental, who used it to skewer the thief in front of her. He exploded in a wall of fire and Chris grabbed her hand, pulling her into him and kissing her forehead.
Jinny slowly got to her feet and Paige looked around for the box Leo had brought down.
"Crystals!"
The crystals in the box orbed off the table and moved towards her.
"Circle!" she ordered, waving her arm towards Jinny's feet.
They materialized, trapping the demon ex-genie. Jinny took a step forward and the crystals activated, trapping her inside.
"Got her." Paige said, smirking.
Jinny tried again and the cage activated again.
"Where's the bottle?" Chris asked, not relinquishing his hold on Meredith.
Paige turned and saw Richard holding the bottle in his hand.
"Richard?" she asked slowly.
He looked up at her and then wordlessly shimmered out of the Conservatory with the bottle. Meredith sighed and turned her face into Chris' chest.
A/N: Let me know what you guys think! Review!
Nobody got me up to 170! Shame! Come on, people! Please don't make me beg. Please.
Abbey