Oops. Just thought of something that I really should've mentioned before. Sorry.
Contains spoilers for season 6!
I know, I know… seems obvious, but you'd be surprised.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters, but I love them. Well, most of them. Coincidentally, the ones I love the most also happen to be the ones I love to torture the most… Is that strange?
"No, look!" he points towards them, rolling his eyes in exasperation, and the man slowly turns. His face immediately drops.
"Oh, crap," he murmurs, eyes wide and panicked, staring at them in shock before gazing around the attic with visible confusion, regret and something akin to wonder.
"Oh my God!" Phoebe exclaims, finally finding her voice. Squinting at the grown-up white-lighter, she says in total disbelief, "Chris?"
"Okay," Chris holds his hands up in a gesture of surrender as the Charmed Ones instinctively assume a defensive stance, "Okay! I can explain!" he says quickly, then his face twists and he mutters indistinctly, "Kind of."
"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my attic?" Piper demands. Chris moves forward with the intention of reassuring the sisters that he really isn't a threat. However, he halts immediately as Piper adds threateningly, "I swear to God, if you take one more step I will blow up your ass without a second thought."
Chris rolls his eyes and says laughingly, "Piper, there's no need to threaten violence. I know this must come as some sort of shock, but I really am Chris. From another time."
"Huh?" Phoebe blinks. "Do you mean you've travelled back in time again? From even further into the future?"
He grimaces. "Not exactly…" Chris takes a deep breath and releases it slowly, seeming to consider how best to explain such a bizarre situation. "See, I'm Chris, but I'm not the same Chris you know. Though I do possess his memories. And to tell you the truth-"
Paige scoffs and Chris shoots her an irritated glare, gritting his teeth at their distrust, and continues with much more impatience than before, "I'm not exactly sure why we're here." At that, he scowls angrily at his companion and suddenly, it's painfully clear who's to blame for their unexpected appearance in this timeline.
"What does that mean?" Phoebe asks, irritated by her mounting confusion. Although, on the one hand, that is all she needs to convince her that this is in fact Chris Perry. No-one else could possibly be so maddeningly vague and create so much uncertainty in such a short span of time.
"It means," Chrisbegins in that oh-so-patronising way of his, "that by my coming to the past, another substitute future has been allowed to open up. A better one where my mission has been successful. An alternate universe of possibilities, if you will. But one that is in no way solid and exists only on an indefinite basis. So, really there are two realities for the future at the minute. That I'm aware of, at any rate. And now, our being here has put our reality in jeopardy."
The sisters swallow this chunk of information, but struggle to digest it.
The other man visibly deflates, casting his eyes downwards. Chris, seeing this, takes pity on him and seems to murmur some words of comfort, much too lowly for the sisters to overhear, patting him on the back and offering an apologetic half-smile.
The taller man nods tightly and his expression suddenly hardens with determination, his hands clenching into fists by his sides.
Piper chooses that moment to interrupt as something Chris mentioned earlier occurs to her, each word sharp and punctuated as she says slowly, dangerously, "And what do you mean you don't know why you're here?" Sounding every bit the menacing parent.
He gulps.
Fortunately, Chris' companion steps in, "That would be my fault. I cast a spell to see why-"
Chris silences him with a look.
"Don't," he orders firmly in that voice that just dares you to disagree.
"But Chris, they need to know-"
"No," he states as if it's nonnegotiable, "They don't. Our priority is to return to our time as soon as possible before we screw anything up. They don't need to know anything."
"Know what?" Paige asks impatiently. "Just tell us. Maybe we can help."
"No way-"
"It all started yesterday," the man begins defiantly as though Chris hadn't protested and ignoring the enraged glower he directs his way, "During the middle of the night I got this call from-" he cuts off, seeming to think better off it. "From someone," he carries on cagily, prompting both Paige and Phoebe to groan, "to say that Chris had woken up screaming from a nightmare and was acting kind of…er…" His face contorts and he appears to search his mind for an appropriate description.
Judging from Chris' panicked expression, he doesn't want to risk the man saying anything too revealing.
"… strangely," the man eventually settles on. And Chris relaxes in obvious relief. "It didn't take long to determine that something was very wrong. He wasn't acting like himself at all. But it was late. I figured maybe things would be better in the morning…" He grimaces.
"But they weren't?" Piper guesses, raising a brow.
"Uh… no. They definitely weren't. So I cast a spell to help me understand what had happened. After all, how else could I possibly fix it?" he says, almost defensively. "I had no idea what was going on. And then a portal materialized out of nowhere and… it brought us here."
It's silent for a few minutes as this sinks in.
"That's it?" Paige finally asks incredulously. "That's all you're going to say?"
Chris nods, hardly. Decisively.
Phoebe makes a sound of disgust in the back of her throat. "Well, that was useless. I still don't understand anything!"
"Good," Chris says flatly with a satisfied smirk.
"Can you at least tell us who that guy is?" Paige asks, pointing at the stranger. "I mean, c'mon-"
"No, you already know too much."
"Too much?"
"Yeah, and we can't risk letting anything else slip. I can't believe you still have yet to grasp how delicate time travel is! And I happen to like my current future. I'm not going to do anything to endanger it. You're forgetting I still retain all the memories of my previous lifetime. Unlike you, I know how horrifying the alternative is."
"But-but-" Phoebe stutters, racking her brain for some sort way to refute his irksomely convincing argument. "But we can help…" she says weakly.
"Doubtful."
"No, debatable-"
"I said no!" Chris says sharply, his chest heaving. Anger flickers in his green eyes which have suddenly turned distant and irredeemably cold.
For someone who claims to be Chris but not their Chris - a supposedly happier Chris- … the similarities are astonishing. Then again, they are technically the same person. But still… You'd think there'd be some discernible difference.
Meanwhile, Piper is staring at the mysterious man in front of her, raking her eyes over the length of his body as he writhes under the scrutiny, jaw twitching. There's something about him… Something in the way he holds himself so rigidly… almost fearfully, most definitely hiding something…
Something about his short, blonde curls and baby blue eyes… Staring at her…
No - correction - staring into hers…
Something achingly familiar…
And it's right there. She just can't quite put her finger on it…
Had everyone not been so absorbed in their own thoughts, consumed by their own individual frustrations, they would have heard the stairs creaking. Or the pattering of clumsy footsteps on the landing. Or perhaps even the soft yawn as the door is pushed open.
Something.
Anything.
Yet, they remain oblivious.
Or at least they do until a familiar voice, breathless with excitement, calls out, "Wy wy!"
And they turn just in time to see little Chris run towards the unknown man with the brightest smile they've ever seen. The stranger who bends down just in time to catch him as he barrels into his arms, almost falling over with the sheer force of his enthusiasm.
Little Chris wraps his arms around his neck and holds on almost desperately, burrowing his face in the man's chest. And inside Piper's mind that something clicks.
Wy wy…
But don't tell Wy wy…
You know I can't tell you…
He says he's my bestest fwiend…
"Wyatt," Piper suddenly exclaims, nearly choking on the word. "I can't believe it." She brings a hand up to her face, shaking her head in disbelief. And even though her next words are muffled, everyone in the room hears them eerily clearly.
"You're my son, aren't you? You're Wyatt."
Please, please, please review…
See what you've reduced me to?
Though, in fairness, I've given you three chapters in two days. And there's more on the way…
And thanks, of course, for reading.