Chapter 15

Piper's point of view

The moment Chris came in to the room, I felt myself ready to get up and run to him, hug and never let go, but when he called us by our names that it wouldn't be that easy. I could see we were here on his terms only. I wasn't sure if he was ready for us, but he didn't want to reject the help he needed. He watched me with eyes void of any emotions, as if I was some strange, I understood I deserved it but it didn't mean it didn't hurt.

"Chris, long time no see." Paul was the first of us to say something. His voice was tight as if afraid Chris would be cold with him too. But when he looked at my youngest son his gaze became warm and soft.

"Hey, little brother" seeing the smile on the lips of my second born made my stomach to fill with butterflies. "How have you been?"

"Good, but when you are near it obviously better." I observed the reaction of my son for his brother's words. Chris just smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Well, I'm sorry, but I took time to settle some things for myself. Don't think you are at fault." For the strangers it would look like an innocent exchange between two brothers who didn't see each other for some time, but for the people in the room it meant much more than that. I heard in my middle son's voice the notes of regret and I dared to assume that it was for living Paul to pay for Leo and my mistakes. I couldn't agree more.

"Chris, we almost ready to go with the ritual. If you're ready we could start." I growled, when I heard Helena's words. She always said she didn't intend on sabotage the relations between Chris and us, but now she was doing it exactly, I could see Leo went stiff too. At the same time she added. " When it's over we all could have a cup of tea and talk, if you'd like."

"Yes, let's get started then. Have you already secured the room? And what about the potion? Is it ready?" Chris questioned.

"Not yet, but the ingredients are ready and we wanted to protect the room right before you came down." Tom replied.

"Ok then. I can help with the potion in the kitchen and you better to make sure the world wouldn't go crazy." Chris smiled at the Weinburgs, at that my heart hurt, but I managed to cover it. It was their territory and I had no other choice but play by their rules.

"I can help you, Chris." I suggested.

Chris watched me for a moment as if considering the bad and good thing in it and then nodded his head, signaling his agreement. From the corner of my eyes I saw how everyone in the room including my sons and husband tensed, but the moment he agreed a small smile formed in Helena and Simon's lips, and a frown crossed the faces of their children. Inside I felt glad that Helena wasn't trying to push me from Chris. He looked at me with the same cold look and motioned to the door leading to the kitchen, and went there. I followed him.

By the look of thing Chris knew what he needed for the potion and I decided just watch him moving around the place getting ready.

"Can you please prepare the water, it should be strictly 64 degrees Celsius, if it's not it can have an unpredictable consequences, that I would prefer to avoid." I hurried to do what he wanted for the next thirty minutes he talked to me only about the business. When the potion was almost ready, the uncomfortable silence fell.

"You're good at that" I complemented him. He didn't raise his head, but nodded.

"It took me awhile to learn it all, but I had good teachers."

"Chris, you know, these past months I came to the realization that even when you left I didn't try to find closer to you. Actually I got that just about a couple of hours ago."

"Piper, I'm sorry but I don't think it's a good idea to discuss our problems. More than that, I'm not sure I'm ready to discuss it. So I ask you to let me finish this and then, maybe we can talk." At that he turned back to the boiling water in front of him. I felt how my inside fell with disappointment. After about a minute, he left the kitchen to call the other, the moment he did, Simon came in.

"Give him some time, Piper. I know he loves you and Leo, but he's hurt and has a baggage of the bottled up emotions, don't ask too much from him." I considered the man. He wasn't afraid to lose Chris.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you help us? Why don't you afraid that he'll leave you? I don't understand you!"

"Because, Piper, we know that we are good parents for him, we love him as our own, but he still is the part of you and your husband and I'd rather be friends with you, than enemies. He loves you, as a matter of fact for the first five years I knew him he tried to do everything to please you, and hurt it him greatly when you didn't notice his attempts to make you happy. Piper it's high time you start remembering thing he was willing to give you, as a child, because maybe it your way to get to him, to break the ice." I never knew that Chris had wished to make me happy. I thought that all he did was to make me furious, but now thinking back I was aware of the fact that the last years behavior was just the responding attitude to our own attitude to him. Before I said anything to that the door open and all the members of both families came in.

"We are ready to perform the ritual, all we need to do is to add our blood samples to the potion and we can begin."

I was the first who took the knife and sliced my palm a little, then brought it over the potion and let couple of drops to fall, the next was Leo and the last were Helena and Simon. They did it together. When we finished the potion changed its colour from dirty-green to pure purple. I never in my life saw the change of the colour in potions, but then assumed that they were Neutrals and their potions should have been more powerful ours. I watched how Chris took a cup and filled it with the liquid, turned and went to the room where the procedure would be perform.

Following him in the room, I was surprised how drastically it changed. The sofas were moved to the walls and in the center there was a full amount of sofa's cushions, the light was dimmed and there were white candles that had slightly blue flame. Also in the room the walls had different symbols, I guessed they were runes, but I never saw that many using in magic before, like all the other things.

Chris sat down on the cushions while we stood around him, Serena handed me a piece of paper with the text. I knew immediately it was in Latin.

"We need to read the spell the moment he drinks the potion and then we can't break the circle until he's awake." Kate informed us.

"Will he be sleeping?" Wyatt questioned.

"Yes, it will help him sort everything and when he's ready he just wakes up. For Chris it could seem several hours, for us it will be just a few minutes, but at that condition Chris has no control over his powers, so be ready it won't be as easy as you think for you to keep the circle." Kate explained.

"What if we break the circle?" Leo asked concern filled his eyes. I saw the Neutrals exchange glances and a soft nod from Chris.

"Chris will fall in coma, until he sorts it all out. It can take years, even decades. We are in some way his link to the reality, that will help him to sort everything faster and with less consequences. So I'm asking you be careful." Wyatt frowned but stayed silent he was scared for his brother judging by the look on his face, so was I. I couldn't lose him for so long, I couldn't take away his life from him, because of my mistake once again.

I watched how Chris brought the cup to his mouth and drank the potion with one big gulp. That very moment we started chanted. I noticed the flames of candles changed to the bright red and then back to light blue, I felt how the room began filling with the energy I never felt before. And this energy tried to knock me from my feet, but not like the wind. It did it from the inside me, as if asking, begging to break the circle. Then I saw my middle son fell with closed eyes.

The Neutral were right it would be difficult the next several minutes.

A/N Next chapter will be about Chris memories. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!