Here is another installment. A bit of crass language, but nothing too offensive. I wrote this instead of studying for my midterm, so wish me luck!
The sisters and Leo all turned to face Chris, none of them looking pleased. They all started speaking at the same time drowning their own questions out. In frustration they all stopped, then tried to start again. Piper finally gestured for them to quiet down and she spoke through grit teeth, "Why is there a demon in my son's bed?" Phoebe wheeled on her sister, "That's what you're worried about? How about, why is there a beaten girl hiding with him?" Paige nodded with her assessment but had her own worries, "um, guys, did anyone else notice Wyatt didn't hesitate to undress her?" As humans are prone to, the idea of sex caught their attention. Chris spoke up, "before you even insinuate that they are sleeping together, I mean not in a platonic manner, I want to reiterate that you are all disturbed."
Piper and Leo weren't keen on thinking about their toddler's sex life so quickly took the out Chris provided. "We won't ask again Chris, why is there a demon in Wyatt's bed?" questioned Leo. Chloe shifted against Wyatt and whimpered in her sleep; still asleep, Wyatt rolled her to face him and bury her face against his chest. They quieted down again. Chris waited a moment to ensure they were still asleep before responding, "Can you at least call her by her name? She is not just 'a demon'; she is Chloe." "Chris…" Paige's voice held a warning. "Fine, she came to him for comfort, happy?" Chris folded his arms and turned away, effectively ending that conversation.
I look in the mirror and see your face
If I look deep enough
So many things inside that are just like you are taking over me
Chloe rolled away from Wyatt and blindly searched for her phone on the floor, not even opening her eyes as she answered, " 'lo? ... Huh? Yeah … Sorry Mom, I came over to visit Wy and we must have fallen asleep…. No, I promise. I will be there." She hung up and dropped the phone on the floor, still never having opened her eyes. Wyatt held out an arm and pulled her back into him, "Who was that?" "Mom," came a muffled reply. "Wha' she want?" "She checked my bed, saw I wasn't there. Reminded me to take Prue to kindergarten tomorrow morning." "You need to go?" Chloe just buried her face into his neck, "guess not."
As light dawned outside, Chloe stirred and staggered out of Wyatt's grasp. She unsteadily made her way to his mirror and looked at herself, "Ugh, definitely not winning a beauty pageant today." She smiled sardonically at herself, "'cause you participate in those so often." There was a flicker of magic and then her wounds had disappeared, demonically glamoured away. Now looking back in the mirror was a refreshed young woman; she tried a smile but is still looked forced and painful. "Okay, guess that's as good as I can do today." She grabbed her clothes and put them in a duffel bag pulled from under Wyatt's bed.
Older Piper walked in without knocking and paused at seeing Chloe. "Chloe." "Piper," she responded. "I thought I told you I don't like you hanging around Wyatt." "I thought I told you that I don't give a flying fuck," she hissed trying not to wake Wyatt. "Does Phoebe know you are here?" "Yes. What are you gonna do Piper? Tell her you don't want me to hang out with Wyatt anymore? How do you plan on explaining that one to her?" Older Piper looked furious but ignored her rhetorical questions, "Why are you in Wyatt's boxers?" "Because my clothes were ruined from the multitudes of people I fucked last night. I'm worried the cum will never come out of my shirt." They glared at one another and Chloe shimmered out.
The voyeurs were startled by Chris's laughter. "What?!" younger Piper yelled at him. He tried to regain his composure, "Sorry," was his only response; he wasn't that sorry. They watched older Piper pull out her phone and mentally debate making a call. She nodded her head and pressed call, "Hey Pheebs, I just … oh, okay … um, oh, I just wanted to make sure you were coming over for dinner tonight. Great, love ya. Bye." She pulled her phone down and looked at it again. "Way to lose your nerve," she murmured to herself. Piper went over and gently jostled Wyatt to wake him; then jostled him harder to get him to actually wake up. He blearily started to get up as Piper left the room; a sudden, devious smile crossed her face. She scrolled to another name on her phone, as she exited the room. Just in ear shot they heard her say, "Good morning Coop…."
With those three words younger Piper found herself on the receiving end of a double glare from Chris and Phoebe. "Hey don't look at me, I wouldn't support child abuse." "Just neglect," muttered Chris garnering a look from Paige. "But I mean can you blame her… me… us, whatever. She walked in to see a demon in his room in his clothes." "Stop calling her a demon!" shouted Chris. "She is a demon!" "Look past that; look at her." Leo responded, "I see a warped teenager; a lesbian and a whore. Oh and a demon." Even Piper looked at her estranged husband surprised. "Piper what do you see?" "I see a young woman with some issues who is too close to my son. Who is also a demon."
"Paige, you're the social worker what do you see?" Paige's eyes went wide at being put on the spot, "uh, I see a teenage girl. One who is trying to hide her abuse, is internalizing the pain and is lashing out when someone threatens the support system she has managed to build. What do you see Pheebs?" "I see a beautiful young woman, who is a hell of a lot like me when I was younger." They were all quiet and finally noticed the room was empty and probably had been for some time.
"Can we get out of here guys?" asked Paige. "Yeah," seconded Phoebe. They orbed into the attic, wondering why Chris had brought them here. He was rifling through the book of shadows. "What are you doing Chris?" "Trying to find a way to get us back." "No," shouted all three of the girls. He didn't reply. Paige grabbed Phoebe's hand and they orbed out; Piper and Leo followed them. Chris looked up, mentally debating joining them and then returned to the book.
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Paige and Phoebe ended up in an unfamiliar room with older Paige sitting at a desk in front of a class of students. "I'm a teacher at magic school? How awesome is that." Phoebe smiled at her sister, honestly happy for her and hopeful her family didn't have some dark secret looming too. Phoenix walked up to the desk, "Professor Mitchell…" "Oh I'm married!" exclaimed Paige. "I completed my assignment." "What did you write about, birdie?" "I wrote about the Source." "Which iteration?" "The current, I interviewed Chloe for my paper." "I look forward to reading it. Did you fact check using any other source? No pun intended." "Yes, ma'am, I used the textbook you recommended and interviewed Mom too." "Well then, I guess you can go to the library until your next class." "Thanks Professor Mitchell… Oh and Aunt Paige, Mom wanted me to ask if you were still going to dinner at Aunt Piper's tonight." "I will be there but the others are busy." The girl left the room and Paige began grading the paper.
A girl started passing a note, but it suddenly orbed to Paige's desk. The students involved looked mortified; Paige just smiled. "Turn around," said Phoebe to Paige. "What?" "Show me those eyes in the back of your head. You aren't going to read it in front of class are you?" "No, I would never, I had a teacher do that to me once. I had written that I had a crush on Connor Helk. I was so embarrassed I couldn't look at him for a week." Phoebe snickered and Paige elbowed her in the ribs.
The bell rang and the students filed out and another group came in; this one included a young Chris. "Okay guys, presentations and papers are due today." A groan went through the class. "Who wants to go first?" No one raised their hand. "Okay if no one is willing to volunteer…" she reached her hand into a cup and pulled out a piece of paper with a name on it, " Martha, you go first." They sat through three presentations on spells and potions that were, actually, really informative and taught the girls a few things. Up next was Chris.
"Hi I am Chris Halliwell…. " "What!?" screamed young Paige, "who did he just say he was?" Phoebe laid a hand on her shoulder, "he is our nephew, Paige." "What? Wait what? How do you know? How long have you known? Why? When?" Once Paige ran out of breath Phoebe started, "I kind of found out during that whole genie fiasco. Chris made a wish that was really perverted, or, so I thought, until he explained that he was Piper and Leo's second son." "What was the wish?" "For Piper and Leo to sleep together." "Eew, ew,ew,ew, ew. Why would he wish for that?" "His coming back to the past messed up the timeline; he almost wasn't conceived." "Wait are you saying that Piper is pregnant?" "Yes." "With Chris, our neurotic white lighter." "With Chris, our brave witch lighter nephew, who just wants to save his brother."
"Oh my god, Phoebe, we have been awful to him." Her face had a look of horror, "We didn't believe him and we kicked him out of the house. Why didn't he just tell us?" "To affect the timeline less, I guess. I still am not really sure how that plan was supposed to work." "How did we not see it? He looks so much like Piper and he is so stubborn; definitely a family trait. That's why he was at your and Piper's houses here in the future." They fell silent as Paige absorbed the implications of this revelation.
Chris was just finishing up his speech, "So in reality the strongest possible wards to keep a place secure would occur if you had a demon and a witch cast the wards together. The complication comes in relations between witches and demons. If you take away nothing from this presentation but my final words: remember even the strongest wards can be broken but well-formed wards, even when broken, still hold some protection. Thanks." The class clapped and the bell rang, "Okay guys remember, read chapter 22 and we will finish the presentations next class."
Chris packed up his things and held back while the rest of the class filed out to lunch. "Hey sport, what's up? Mom forgot to give me lunch money and I didn't see Chloe before class like I usually do, so could I borrow a few dollars." "Of course Chris, and you don't need to borrow it, you can have it…. Does Piper forget to send you with lunch or money often?" "It's not a big deal Aunt Paige, she just doesn't think about it sometimes." "How often Chris?" "A couple of times a week." "But I see you eating lunch every day." "Usually Chloe makes sure I have money or brings me a sack lunch. Last week she even got me Subway with a cookie and chips."
They could see anger brewing behind Paige's eyes as she gave him some cash, "Chris anytime you need anything. You can always ask Phoebe or me okay. I know you usually go to Chloe or sometimes Wyatt, but you can always come to me if you need anything." "Thanks Aunt Paige, but I'm okay," he said with a smile and kissed her cheek before running off. "You don't deserve that boy," Paige muttered angrily to a phantom Piper.
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Piper and Leo ended up at P3, currently closed due to the hour. They looked at one another, "Chris said Wyatt is evil and we have seen proof. Maybe he's telling the truth, Leo." Her imploring gaze met his impassive one, "no, I won't accept that. After all the lies he has told, all the things he has done and his manipulations. I will never trust him. Besides if she didn't deserve whatever was happening to her Wyatt would have healed her." "Maybe we should go see what we can find out about her."
They orbed down to an abandoned (in their time) part of the underworld and started walking with no real destination in mind. It was just luck that they encountered Chloe swaggering down one of the cavern halls. Three others appeared out of a small alcove and surrounded her. "Hello Princess," said the blonde one. "Go fuck yourself, Karn." "Now, now that's hardly the language such a pretty girl as you should be using. "Move," she commanded. "I don't think so Princess." "Call me princess one more time and you will get a refresher on why he sent three of you instead of just one." Karn smiled, "oh we wouldn't want to keep him waiting dear." The two big goons behind her each put a hand on her shoulder; electricity suddenly arced across her body and they blew to demon bits.
She stepped towards the other demon and invaded his personal space. From where they stood they couldn't see what happened, but he stepped back quickly looking frightened. She turned away from him and stalked off, "You coming Karn? Daddy won't wait forever and you know how he hates to be kept waiting."
Demon Bits the new tasty treat, find it today at your local supermarket! Sorry, but re-reading that section all I could think of was how it sounded like a dog treat.
The ringtone is from Evanescence's Taking Over Me.