Season 6

Secrets: Part I

Melinda was at her antique shop in Grandview. They hadn't opened yet and she was in the middle of talking to a ghost. Andrea had gone to get coffee.

"Do you see the light"? Melinda asked the ghost named Kevin.

"No. I can't go anywhere until Lisa knows that I love her and she has the locket I wanted to give to her." Kevin said.

"Fine. Tell me where I can find Lisa."

"Who's Lisa and who are you talking to?" Andrea said as she walked in to the shop and then ghost disappeared.

"Um... I was just trying to figure out the next line to this song. I have no idea what comes after, ''Tell me where I can find Lisa.'" Melinda hated lying.

-v-

Chris was hunting for demons. He was quite good at it. He went to use one of his powers but a power he didn't even expect came from him, he shot a lightning bolt at the demon and vanquished him. Afterward, he looked down at his hand in shock.

"That's not one of my powers. That's the power of an... elder... Ohhh." Chris suddenly came to a realization. "Duh. I've really changed the future in more ways than one... I like this new power!"

-v-

That night, after closing Melinda had a date with Jim. It was going lovely. He had just cooked an amazing dinner. She was always impressed by the fact that he was such a great cook. They were about to watch a horror movie that just came out on DVD. Jim rented it just for her because he knew she loved horror movies but he could never understand why because she scared soooo easily. They were nice and cozy together and Jim had just pressed play when she heard Phoebe calling for her. Melinda was so disappointed.

"I'll be right back OK?" Melinda ran into the bathroom. She hated doing that. She was always running off somewhere, sometimes she came back, sometimes she didn't. She's had to stop in the middle of sex twice and it so was not because of Jim. She had a feeling that both Jim and Andrea were becoming more and more suspicious of her and she didn't like it. Secrets and lies absolutely sucked!

Melinda orbed home to fight a typical demon then orbed back to Jim's bathroom but she seemed to be in it for about ten minutes. Not good.

Melinda went back to the manor the next morning and met her sisters in the kitchen for coffee.

"How was your date?" Phoebe asked.

"It was good except having to run out on him once again. I hate lying and keeping secrets from Jim and Andrea." Melinda replied.

"Here's an idea. Tell them your secret." Piper suggested.

"I can't believe you of all people just said that." Phoebe said.

"Well Mel's really close to them. You trust them, don't you, like we trust Darryl?" Piper asked.

"Yeah but I don't know... I told a best friend and a boyfriend before. I told my best friend in high school and freshmen year of college, she told everyone. I was the freak of the school. Needless to say, our friendship was over after that. I told the first guy I ever thought I was in love with and he looked at me like I was crazy then dropped me like a dime. That's why it's been so great having sisters like me to talk to about this stuff."

"We get it but not everyone will hurt you like those two did. We were only around Jim and Andrea briefly but we could see how much they love you." Phoebe said.

"I'll think about it."

"Either of you seen our whitelighter lately?" Piper asked.

"Chris? I see him all the time." Phoebe replied.

"Me too." Melinda said.

"I feel like he avoids me... I think he feels guilty about Leo becoming an elder." Piper said.

"You think so? I don't. He seemed as shocked as we were. You really think this was apart of his master plan?" Phoebe asked.

"I don't know." Piper replied. "I'm just glad it finally doesn't hurt as much. Little by little it gets easier."

"Do you sense anything from him?" Melinda asked.

"No, I never can." Phoebe replied.

-v-

Unbeknownst to the Charmed Ones in the kitchen, Chris had cut the baby monitor off and was in the nursery with the babies. He held DeDe in his arms.

"Hey Denny. I miss you. I hope you're handling everything alright in the future. I hope some good things have happened as a result of me being here." Chris laughed a little. "You know, it's weird talking to you as a baby and I'm not even born yet."

"You're not born yet?" Phoebe asked, walking into the nursery. Chris put DeDe back into the crib.

"... No. I told you I was from about twenty years in the future." Chris replied.

"You also said you were a whitelighter. Whitelighters tend to be old. They don't age and stay in the same body that they died in, like Leo is like eighty something but he looks like he's in his late twenties."

"Right. You see I died about two years ago." Chris stopped to try to figure out his tenses but decided to just forget it. It was too confusing sometimes. "I'm a fairly new whitelighter."

"Really?" Phoebe was suspicious. "How'd you die?"

"War. There's an awful war in the future. I enlisted in the army when I was eighteen and I died in the war." He really just stole Leo's story. He didn't come close to the military. Demons were one thing, guns were another. There was some truth in the story. There was a war going on in the future, many wars actually.

"You know, that's how Leo died too." Phoebe said, still suspicious.

"I know! We have a lot in common, don't we?" Chris orbed out. He went demon hunting again to handle any demons he could fight without the Charmed Ones. He was using the fights to try and control the new and cool powers he had. A demon sent an energy ball right to his shoulder... So when all else fails, stick to what you know.

Chris used one of his familiar powers and exploded the demon he was fighting at the time in white lights. He really did damage to his shoulder. Chris was in extreme pain and since he was in the past he didn't know where to turn. He couldn't go to the sisters because whitelighters are immortal and can't be hurt by anything except a darklighter. He tried to come up with ideas about what he could do and while he was doing that, he was getting weaker from the wound. Finally, he thought of something. If he could talk to Melinda the task would be simpler but he couldn't so he had to do it on his own.

He sensed no one was in the attic so he went and put his hands over the Book of Shadows, letting the pages flip until he found the spell he needed. It was a spell to travel to different planes. He needed to go to the plane where unicorns existed. He couldn't heal himself and couldn't ask anyone to heal him so he needed to sprinkle unicorn horn shavings to heal himself. He closed the book then went to the plane he needed to go to then came back, all healed and ready to go. No one had to know. Then he went back to hunting demons but made a note to himself to be more careful.

-v-

Melinda went to work on Monday and decided to tell Andrea her secret. She hoped it would go well.

"I guess I've been acting strange to you lately." Melinda said.

"Stranger than usual. At first I thought, that's just Melinda but when you got worst about running off, being secretive... I guess I felt replaced like you had your real sisters so you didn't need me anymore." Andrea said.

"No, it's not like that at all. You were like a sister to me before I knew I had sisters but I've always had secrets, more since I've met them. Now I'm going to tell you what my secrets are because I love you and I hate lying to you... I am a good witch. I have powers, I save people all the time, I can see ghosts..."

"A witch? Wait, a good witch? How?"

"It's in my blood."

"Hmmm... Cool."

"Really?"

"Yeah! Power? Talk to ghosts? Save people? Cool in my book."

Melinda smiled. "I love you." That went over well. "Another thing, I don't live where I said I live."

"I didn't think so. Where do you live?"

"San Francisco with my sisters."

"San Francisco, California?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Like this." Melinda orbed behind Andrea.

"Whoa! Can you do that with another person?"

"Yeah."

"Then you've got to take me to San Francisco. I'd love to see where you live."

"Sure thing. I hope Jim is as accepting."

"Jim loves you. I'm sure he will be."

Later Melinda went to Jim's apartment to tell him. She said the same thing she said to Andrea.

"Wow. You've always been able to do those things?" Jim asked.

"Yes but at first I thought I could only talk to ghosts. It wasn't until I met my sisters that I found out I was a witch and what else I could do."

"Well I love you so I can accept all that." Melinda smiled and kissed him.

"I love you." Melinda said.

Piper and Phoebe were right. It went well with both of them. It was a huge weight lifted off of Melinda's shoulders. Now she didn't have to lie and could completely be herself.

-v-

After a few months of watching Chris and trying to figure him out, Phoebe had a question for him.

"Why do you avoid Piper?"

"I don't avoid Piper."

"Yes you do. We all see that. Do you feel guilty about Leo?

"No." Chris replied simply. "Despite what you all think, that was not apart of my 'master plan.' I didn't know that would happen."

"Fine but why all the secrets and having us chase demons?"

"You know I have reasons in which I can't reveal. You've all time traveled before, right?"

"Yes but-"

"When you time traveled, did you go spilling all the future info and risk changing the future in ways you didn't want?"

"No but you want to change the future. You said it had to be changed."

"Not everything though, only certain things that weren't supposed to happen in the first place. What I change has to change other things as a result but I can't pick and choose. It's not right. Besides, what if I told you in the future you had you're own talk show but just the mere fact that you knew that, changed your entire future, just because you know you go and mess it all up some how?"

"Do I have my own talk show in the future?"

"I wouldn't know. In the future I came from you were dead by now. I saved you, remember? Or have you been trying so hard to find out what my agenda is, you forgot?"

"Ok, you're right but why can't I sense your feelings?"

Chris was frustrated with the questions.

"Future boy thing, I guess. I have to go." Chris orbed out.

As time went on, Chris continued to send the sisters on countless demon hunts with no explanation except that it was for the future. He kept going on solo hunts as well. The sisters got tired of it all though, enough was enough.

"Chris, you're going to tell us why you are here and you are going to tell us now. No excuses. No lies. We want the truth." Piper said in a stern voice.

"The truth. The truth is... Wyatt is going to be kidnapped by demons. You won't find him and he'll be raised to be evil. He will become leader of the underworld, only the underworld won't be under anymore and he is going to be very dangerous. That's the truth and I guarantee you're all about to deny that even though I've been to the future and I know what happens."

"Because it's not true." Piper said.

"Oh yeah it is, believe me. There's no one more powerful than Wyatt and DeDe. They have some of the same powers, some different. They're most powerful together, as one. Separate them and the power is weakened. Together, they're more powerful than the Charmed Ones. Separately, they're as powerful as the Charmed Ones as a unit. I'm they're whitelighter in the future. Don't ask me why Mel or Leo aren't their whitelighter because I don't know. I took over as their whitelighter after their whitelight was killed. No one saw Wyatt being kidnapped coming, so he was lost until he showed up about eighteen years later."

"When does this happen?" Piper asked.

"I think the demon starts gaining Wyatt's trust this year so that he will let down his force field.. He doesn't actually take him for a few years so I have to figure out who this demon is before he starts working on his master plan. So do you all trust me now?"

"You should've told us sooner." Phoebe said.

"You know why I didn't but now that you all know, will you be be more cooperative. Believe me, I only have this family's best interest at heart."

"Maybe it's time to call Leo." Melinda said.

"No. You can't call Leo!" Chris responded quickly.

"Why not?" Phoebe asked.

"He has to do elder stuff right now. If we need him, I'll go up and talk to him."

"Nothing is more important to Leo than his family. He should know what's going on." Piper said.

"I know. I'll tell him but he should stay up there for now."

Piper had been separated from Leo for months and then she found out that her son was in danger of being kidnapped by demons. Things had gone from so good to falling apart so quickly. She decided that she was giving up on love and was going to focus all her energy into DeDe and Wyatt. After being single for all this time, she thought that maybe that's how she was always meant to be.