Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed.
AN: I'm very, very sorry for the long wait for this chapter. This is my last semester at uni, so I have my hands full with the thesis and the pre-production (right now) of a 12-16 minute short film.
I have half a dozen or so chapters already written, but since I haven't been able to advance in my writing for several weeks, I don't want to update and then run out of written chapters. Hopefully, I'll be able to dedicate some time to my writing during the holidays. *Cross fingers*
Just for the record, I have planned 30 chapters for this story.
The last scene here is my version of Chris and Leo's conversation in Spin City. So if you recognize a line, it's not mine, it's the screenwriters.
The next couple of chapters will be my version of Sword in the City.
I hope you like this chapter, and thank you very much for the rr and support. You guys rock ;)
This chapter was beta'ed by the awesome and super cool sunsetdreamer. Thank you so much!
Chapter 8
*The next afternoon, december 18th, 2003. Paige's bedroom*
Chris slowly came to consciousness and felt confused for a few moments. He wasn't resting in his bed in the backroom of P3. This bed felt soft and comfortable unlike the one at the club.
Ever so slowly, his memories from the past few days started to come back. Reckless demon hunting, being a prisoner of Xanchek's and then being poisoned. His Aunt Paige finding him in P3. The rest was kind of blurry, but he remembered soft words and caresses from his aunts and parents. He grimaced at the last thought, it was one thing coming from his Aunts, but his parents were a completely different thing.
He moved slowly in the bed and let out a sigh of relief when he felt no pain. He was completely cured and rested. He stood up and stretched his muscles.
In that moment the door opened and Piper walked in. "You're awake!" she cried in surprise, a nervous smile playing at her lips.
Chris turned and stared at her. "Yeah." He said sheepishly.
Piper moved to the chair and grabbed a pair of clean clothes. Then she walked to him while hugging the clothes to her chest. "How are you feeling? Do you need anything?" she asked worriedly, her hands itching to touch him.
"I'm fine." He said softly, feeling uncomfortable in the woman's presence.
She nodded, feeling his tension. Her heart tightened at the thought that her son was uncomfortable in her presence. After a few moments in silence, she extended the clothes and he grabbed them. "These are yours; Paige orbed to P3 and grabbed a change of clothes. If you want to take a shower…" she didn't finish.
He smirked and touched his unshaved chin. "Thanks. I guess I really need to freshen up." He said dryly and wrinkled his nose. Piper thought he looked adorable.
She smiled adoringly at him and he cleared his throat, hoping to pull her out of her musings. As long as they didn't talk about it, he would be fine. Extremely uncomfortable, but fine.
"So, um," she started to say. "Take all the time you need." She looked at her watch; it was already 3:30 in the afternoon. "You must be hungry, I saved you some food." She looked at him with such a hopeful expression that he couldn't resist it.
"Okay, I will eat something later. Thanks." With those words he orbed to the bathroom.
Twenty minutes later, he walked down the stairs, his hair wet and his face shaved. He felt much better after the shower and he hoped that Piper wouldn't darken his mood with questions or recriminations.
He stopped midway though the stairs and paid attention to his surroundings, the house was too silent. So that meant he was alone with her.
He sighed and braced himself. A few moments later he entered the kitchen. His mouth watered when he saw the pasta with Alfredo sauce waiting for him.
"Thanks, Piper." He said and sat at the table. Piper stilled in her movements and her breath caught in her throat. Her name sounded completely horrible coming from him.
"Y-you're welcome," she managed to say without breaking down right there. She walked closer to him and put a glass of apple juice in front of him. "Here, drink some juice. You must be thirsty."
He nodded and drank a few sips. "Where is everyone?" he asked with a furrowed brow.
She sat in front of him and folded her hands in her lap. "Leo sat by your side until an hour ago, when he was called to an emergency Elder meeting." Chris maintained his imperturbable face and she sighed. "Phoebe went to a meeting with Elise and Paige went to pick up Wyatt at Darryl's. I think that right now Phoebe is accompanying Paige and they took Wyatt to an indoor park near Castro Avenue."
Chris nodded but said nothing. He took a few mouthfuls of the pasta and Piper just gazed at him. A few minutes later he finished his plate. "Do you want some more?" asked Piper.
"No, it's ok. Thanks." He stood up and walked to the sink.
"You don't have to do that, Chris. I will wash the plate." She said and stood up.
Chris raised a hand and stopped her. "It's ok, doing the dishes relaxes me." He said and Piper nodded, then she sat again.
A couple of minutes later he was drying his hands when Piper cleared her throat. He turned toward her questionably.
"You know," she started to say softly. She had debated with herself for a while and decided to grab the bull by its horn. She needed to talk to him. "A year or so after Phoebe, P-Prue and I started our witchcraft, Phoebe had a premonition that she was burning at the stake."
Chris furrowed his brow, he had heard that story, or at least part of it when he was a kid. His Aunt Prue had told him about that alternate future.
Piper continued with a far away look on her face. "We travelled to that future and were trapped in our future selves' bodies. Leo and I were divorced and we had a seven or so year old girl, Melinda."
"I remember that story." Chris said softly, confused with the conversation.
"Yeah, we probably told you while you were growing up." She smiled softly and he shifted his feet, unsure of what to do. "My maternal instincts kicked in when I was 14, and since that moment I wanted to have kids, preferably boys. Then I embraced the witchcraft and saw the every Halliwell in history had been a woman. So I thought I was going to have girls. I was ok by it, as long as I had children. Then I saw Melinda in that future and couldn't help but love her. She was mine. A couple of years later, after Prue's d-death and Paige's arrival, I desperately wanted to become a mother. Leo and I tried and tried and it didn't work. I went to the doctor and he told me that I had received many blows in the abdomen area so I wouldn't be able to conceive a child." She swallowed and turned her pained eyes to him. "I was devastated. I was never going to have a child; Melinda or anyone else."
Chris swallowed, his mother had talked to him about this when he had been a teenager. He closed his eyes and repeated the familiar mantra that this was Piper, not his mother. But when he opened his eyes again and saw her brown orbs full of tears and longing, he relented and sat at her side, offering her some silent comfort.
She smiled softly at him and couldn't help but caress his cheek. She felt that her heart might burst when he didn't move away inmediately. "Then, a few months later, the Angel of Destiny informed me that I was pregnant. The happiness and joy I felt was… tremendous. I don't even have words to express it. I was scared out of my mind too. I feared that all the demon hunting would harm my baby, or that I would follow Halliwell tradition and leave my child motherless." She felt him stiffen beside her at those words and immediately wanted to kick herself. "I'm sorry about that, by the way. I'd never have wanted to leave my children alone." She said while she caressed softly his cheek. This time he shied away from her. She swallowed and folded her hands again, looking at the floor.
He closed his eyes for a few seconds and then opened them again, staring at the window. "Go on." He said softly, not wanting to dwell on his mother's death.
She nodded and raised her eyes again, staring at his face. "We all thought that it was going to be a girl, Melinda." She smiled softly. "Then the baby was born and it was a huge surprise when it turned out to be a boy. I immediately felt a love so huge and beautiful that words can't express it. Wyatt was a miracle, a gift from God." She took a pause. "After what the doctor told me all those months ago, I felt that Wyatt was the best and most beautiful thing in my life. Maybe I wouldn't have more children like I originally wanted, but I had Wyatt." Their eyes locked and Chris gulped at the love radiating from her eyes. "And now I know that I have you, too. I don't know what I did to deserve such a wonderful and precious miracle, but I'm eternally grateful for that." She finished and a couple of tears fell down her cheeks.
Chris looked away, her words impacting him full force. During the conversation he had seen his mother several times. He shook his head, her words were beautiful and all that, but he wasn't ready to accept her as his mother. Besides, he had trouble accepting or understanding the sudden love. "You don't even know me." He managed to say softly.
Piper sighed. "You will understand this overpowering feeling when you have kids of your own. You don't have to know them to love them, you'll adore them just because they're yours. Then, as the time passes and the children grow, you'll love them even more, because you get to know them."
They stayed in silence for a few minutes, both too overwhelmed by the conversation. Chris stood up and moved away from her. She sighed, incapable of hiding her disappointment. He felt uncomfortable, feeling that Piper was trying to merge with the mother he loved and sorely missed. He couldn't have that. "Don't do this." He murmured.
"Don't do what?" She asked confused.
"Don't try to become my mother. I don't want it." He said bitterly without looking at her.
After hearing those words Piper felt that her heart would shatter. "But I am your mother." She said softly while she made a huge effort to not break down in front of him.
"No, you're not!" he snapped and made the mistake of looking at her. At her devastated face he softened his voice a little. "Look, I'm not even conceived yet, so you're not my mother." She opened her mouth to protest his statement but he quieted her with a look. "Piper, I feel confused and angry. In the last few years I haven't been the most sane person to be around. One minute I like something and the next I hate it. My thoughts and feelings are very confusing most of the time. These emotions have been stronger since I came back from the future."
He stayed in silence for a while and Piper waited patiently, hoping that he would keep talking to her so she would understand his sudden change of topic. Her wish was granted a few moments later. "I know that I have lied and manipulated since I arrived in your home. I lied about Paige's death at the Titans' hands. I tricked Leo into becoming an Elder. I came into your lives and kept pestering you about demon hunting and protecting Wyatt. I have a ruthless and obsessive streak in me." He took a pause and cleared his throat. "A part of me thinks that I deserved your treatment for all the things I did, here and in my time."
He was cut off by Piper. "No, Chris! Never think that. My sisters, husband and I were at fault, you never, never deserved our treatment." She shook her head vehemently while a new batch of tears fell down her face.
He shrugged and Piper felt desperate. "Other times, I feel… betrayed and pained. I've wanted to scream abuse at the lot of you many times since I arrived." He cleared his throat and had a far away look in his face. "All my life," he started to say slowly and lowly and Piper had to make an effort to hear him. "I have been the baby of the house. I had a mother who completely loved me and nurtured me, and a set of Aunts who adored me and spoiled me and helped you to raise me." He swallowed and blinked several times trying to get rid of the moisture in his eyes. "Those days of my childhood are long gone, but I still remembered and missed all of you. So, maybe that was why it has been so hard for me to bear your treatment." He stared at her. "When I was a kid you never looked at me in the wrong way… and now…" he shrugged but didn't finish.
Piper understood perfectly. "And now I don't have words to express my guilt and shame over my actions and words in the past months. I wish I could erase my past deeds and make it better for you, baby. But I can't and I will have to live with this pain, guilt and horror for the rest of my life." Her voice broke. "I almost k-k-killed you when I blew you up."
Chris shrugged again, fully uncomfortable with the emotionally painful conversation. "Yeah, that hurt." He said softly and his eyes diverted again.
Piper stood up, grabbed him by the shoulders and making him look at her. "Please, please, Chris. I know I don't deserve your forgiveness or love, but I need it. You're my son and I can't stand the thought that you hate me. You and your brother are the most precious things in my life. Last night has been one of the most horrible moments in my life when I was afraid that I would lose you before having the chance to know you and earn a place in your life." She took a pause and sniffled a little. "Please give me a chance to earn your forgiveness, to love you and care for you."
Chris swallowed the lump in his throat and carefully disentangled himself. Then he took a deep breath and tried to organize his thoughts and feelings. "I could never hate you, Piper. I feel mad and frustrated and disappointed, but I could not hate you. You look too much like the mother I had to feel that way about you." He finished lowly and choked a bit. "You probably think I'm crazy or something. You may look like her, but I can't really see you as her. Not now, maybe ever. I don't know." He shrugged and then kept talking while Piper tried to control her crying. "Maybe I deserved your treatment. Maybe not. I'm probably being immature or petty, but right now I can't get over your words and actions. With your sisters it's easier because they weren't so…" he didn't say the word 'horrible', but Piper caught it in his silence and felt even more pain. "Besides," he continued slowly. "I lost my mother a long time ago and I got used to being in a life where she doesn't exist. I don't know if I can change my mindset. You see, I'm used to taking care of myself." He shrugged. "Sure, I have had help, and not every member of the family is gone, but I have lost too many people. That's why I didn't want any of you to know my identity. Not only did I not know if I could forget the horrors and the loss from my past, but I didn't want any of you to know of it. To know about your deaths or the monster that Wyatt is in my life. I guess I wanted to protect all of you from that."
He was stopped by a loud sob and turned to gaze at her. He sighed at her pain filled eyes and moved to kneel in front of her. He hesitated for a few moments, but decided to grab her hand and give it a squeeze. "I'm sorry about Leo, by the way. I did send him to Valhalla and turn him into an Elder." He looked out of the window for a couple of minutes. "That happened in my timeline, too. Sure, it happened a few months later. The Elders were practically decimated from the Titans attack and they were in dire need of some order, so Leo accepted the position. I just changed the scenario a bit. What I wasn't expecting was that you would break up, you see. That didn't happen in my time, so it took me by complete surprise." He took another pause and squeezed her hand. "I may be vindictive, but not that much. At least not to you or my Aunts. No child wishes their parents would break up. I'm no exception there. So, what I'm saying is that… please believe me when I say that I didn't want to hurt you that way. I wanted Leo out of the way for a while, so I could be your Whitelighter and be closer to Wyatt. I didn't want to separate you." He chuckled a bit. "That would be really stupid of me, you know. I need you together if I'm planning on being born." He finished softly.
"I-I u-understand." She choked and squeezed his hand tightly, afraid that this touch would be the last one she would have. She opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by the sound of voices in the hallway. She wiped her eyes swiftly and stood up to receive her sisters.
"Piper! We're home!" Phoebe said while she walked in the kitchen with a sleeping Wyatt in her arms. Her eyes lit up when she saw Chris. "You're awake!" she exclaimed excitedly.
He smiled shyly and stood up too.
Paige entered behind her. "Shh, you're going to wake Wyatt up. Give him to me." She said and orbed out.
Now feeling free, Phoebe yelled happily and launched herself at Chris. She hugged him tightly and kissed him several times on his cheeks and temples.
"Jeez, Phoebe. You're small but you're choking me." He tried to joke, instantly feeling better with the presence of his Aunt. The conversation with Piper had been really emotional.
She broke the embrace and then smacked him softly. "Don't you ever, ever, ever scare me like that again, ok? Do you understand that, mister?" she mock scowled at him and he flashed her a smile.
Chris scrunched his nose. "I'll try. Promise. Believe me, being poisoned was not my idea of entertainment." He said dryly.
Piper smiled wistfully, seeing the easy going interaction he had with her sister. She dearly hoped that she would have a relationship like that with him. "How did it go, Pheebs?" she asked softly.
Phoebe turned to her sister and realized that she had been crying. Maybe she and Chris had been talking before they arrived. Darn, she and Paige had a rotten timing. She sighed and decided to talk to her sister later. "Well, thank God this was the last meeting of the year. I will work here the rest of the week and then I will have ten wonderful free days."
"That's good. Christmas is next week." Piper answered softly and eyed Chris, who was staring intently at his Aunt, ignoring her completely.
"Yeah, I will go tomorrow to the mall and buy my presents for Wyatt. And for you, of course." Phoebe winked to Chris. Then she turned to her sister again. "You should have seen him in the park today, Piper. He had a blast playing with the toy truck and then he played with some other kids."
"Wasn't it too cold?" The mother asked worriedly.
Phoebe waved her hand. "No. The place is completely indoors and has hot air. It's a nice place. We should take him more often."
Paige chose that moment to appear in a flurry of orbs. She went to Chris and kissed him on the cheek. "Glad you're fine, little angel." She murmured to him and he smiled at her.
"Thanks, Paige." He said softly.
She scowled at him. "It's Aunt Paige, mister. I will not have you calling me any other way."
Chris smirked at her but said nothing. He felt a pair of eyes on the back of his head and turned around to see Phoebe, who had an expectant expression on her face. "What?"
"Can I ask you something?" she asked and bit her thumb.
Chris shrugged. "Sure. But I reserve the right to not answer."
"You know, when you were sleeping in the morning we did the summoning spell to bring Xanchek here and vanquish him." She frowned. "He didn't appear. We tried to find his cave but couldn't." she took a cautionary step towards him. "I know this must be hard for you, sweetie, but we need to find that piece of filth and vanquish him. So, do you remember where his cave is?"
Chris scowled. Should he reveal to them that he and Wyatt had the Power of One, a power that rivalled the Power of Three? He stayed in silence a couple of minutes, trying to figure his new problem. "Hmm, I already took care of it. He won't be a problem anymore." He decided to say in the end.
Piper frowned. "But the Book said that the Power of Three is needed to vanquish him. How did you destroy him?" she asked him confusedly.
The boy scowled a bit. "I can't tell you that." The sisters glared at him, infuriated with his lack of forwardness. "Look, the important thing is that he's hopefully enjoying his trip to the demonic wasteland. How I got him there is irrelevant. I had to do it to get out of his cavern, which is protected against any type of sensing or scrying, by the way. That's why you couldn't find it."
"Okay mister," Phoebe started to say. "We won't ask you about it anymore, at least for now. Sooner or later you will have to tell us how you vanquished a Power of Three demon." She crossed her arms over her chest and he smirked, showing her that he didn't feel threatened at all by her words. "Can I ask you another thing?"
"And please, give us a straight answer, not an infuriating one." Paige piped in, smirking playfully at him.
"I will try my best, but I won't promise anything." He said.
"Who's Bianca?" The middle sister asked curiously and her sisters turned to him with expectant looks.
Chris stiffened. "How do you know about her?" he asked warily.
"Last night you had a high fever, so you were delirious and calling for her." Phoebe answered.
"Oh." Was Chris' response.
"So? Who is she?" Paige prompted after a few moments of silence.
Chris sighed and run a hand though his hair. "She's my fiancée." He winced when a plate exploded near the sink. He stared at Piper confused and Paige outright laughed at her oldest sister.
"You're so jealous, Piper!" she managed to say and grabbed Chris' arm to support herself.
Piper raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I am jealous. So?" She challenged her sisters and none of them challenged her back. Then she turned to Chris with worried eyes. "Aren't you too young to be engaged?" she asked and bit her lip.
Chris shrugged again. "In the future where I came from there are really few opportunities of happiness. A chance presented itself to me, I took it and ran away with it." He paused and the sisters saw his far away look. "Besides, you don't know if this day is going to be your last." He said absently.
"And that's Wyatt's fault." Phoebe said sadly.
"Yeah, partly it is. He exposed magic and demons roamed freely on the streets. People who oppose him end six feet under ground."
"Oh God!" Piper exclaimed and closed her eyes in pain. Phoebe embraced her tightly, hoping to bring her some support.
Chris sighed. "Look, this is why I didn't want you to know about Wyatt's evilness. It's hard and painful and I wanted to save you the pain." He stared at Piper's pained face. "I have to go." And he orbed swiftly.
"No! Don't go!" Piper said brokenly but it was too late, he had already orbed out. "I didn't even have the chance to ask him to stay here in the Manor." She said desperately.
Paige closed her eyes and sensed for him. He was at the Bridge. "I found him. I'll talk to him about it, ok?" Her sisters nodded and she orbed out.
OoOoOoOoOoOo
"Hey you!" she said when she reformed in one of the highest beams of the Golden Gate Bridge. She looked down warily. "Do you really have to always orb here? I'm not a huge fan of heights."
"I didn't know you were afraid of heights, Aunt." He smirked at her and sat cross legged in the centre of the beam.
She smiled at the word 'Aunt' and then scrunched her nose. "I'm not afraid of heights." She said haughtily. "I'm just not a fan of them."
He smiled softly and then turned to the darkened sky. It was only five thirty in the afternoon, but the winter was about to start.
"Are you okay?" Paige asked worriedly after a while.
"Yeah. It's just… I had a hard conversation with Piper. I feel emotionally drained." He said and Paige sat by his side.
"I made a truce with her, you know. We talked a lot when we were chopping the ingredients for your antidote." She stared at a star above her. "She loves you very much and desperately wants a chance to redeem herself."
"I know, she told me about it. I'm just… I'm not ready to forgive her, to have her as my mother. I prefer her as Piper. Is easier and less painful." He said softly.
Paige sighed and hugged herself in a vain attempt to protect herself from the wind and cold. "I understand you, little angel. We will do it at your pace, ok? No pressure. Just… no more Houdini acts on us. That's really distressing. I haven't been as scared as I was last night in a long time."
Chris smiled at her and raised his arm in surrender. "Okay, no more Houdini acts on you. But I still need my liberty; I still have demons to vanquish and a brother to save."
"Okay." She said and then braced herself. "Couldn't you do that from the Manor?" she asked hopefully, turning her big, brown doe eyes on him.
"What?" he asked confusedly.
"You see, my sisters and I have been talking. We would feel really happy if you moved to the Manor."
Chris frowned. "No." he said almost immediately.
"Chris…" she started to say.
"No, I'm sorry. The lot of you are asking a lot for me." He said firmly.
"But we arranged the guestroom. We did it before lunch. I even took the day off the temp job to do it. Well, and to vanquish Xanchek too. Besides, the manor is much more comfortable than that awful room in P3."
"I didn't come to the past to play house. You know that." He practically snapped.
She lowered her eyes sadly. "I know. But we're family and Christmas is next week."
He smirked. "I'm not a fan of Christmas. I prefer Halloween."
"Christmas is special to us, Chris. Especially this one, Wyatt's first Christmas. And you're here. We want you with us." She pleaded softly.
"I'm sorry. I'm not moving to the Manor."
"Never?" Paige asked, and her lower lip trembled a bit.
Chris relented a bit at her saddened face. "At least not now. Maybe in the future. Who knows? I don't even know what I'm going to do tomorrow."
Paige sighed resignedly. At least there was hope for the future. They stood in comfortable silence for a while. Paige moved slowly and got closer to him, desperate to get some heat from him.
Chris saw her movement and chuckled. "You should go home. You're freezing your ass off."
"Am not!" she said petulantly.
"Yes, you are." He locked eyes with her. "Go home. I'm fine." At her worried look he rolled his eyes. "I will even pass by tomorrow afternoon, ok?"
"I will hold you to that, mister. Call me if you need anything, ok?" she said, and he nodded. She kissed him softly on the cheek and orbed out, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
He closed his eyes and relaxed at the feeling of the wind against his face and hair. It had been a long day and he desperately wanted it to end. He pulled out a chain from under his shirt and fingered the ring that was hanging over his heart. It was Bianca's engagement ring. She had given it back to him before he travelled to the past. It was the only reminder he had of her.
He opened his eyes and stared at the scattered stars in the dark sky. He missed her a lot and sometimes felt a paralyzing fear that he would not see her ever again. If he changed the future, the two of them would be too different and might not get together. They might not even know each other in the new future where Wyatt and he were what they were supposed to be from the beginning.
He swallowed hard at those thoughts and put the ring back over his heart. He was pulled out from his painful thoughts by the sound of orbing, and he scowled darkly when he felt Leo's presence.
"Hey Chris," the Elder started to say when he reformed in front of his son. "I'm happy to see that you're fine." He said nervously, afraid of Chris' reaction to his presence.
Chris glared at him and turned his gaze away. He didn't want to deal with Leo in that particular moment. Actually, he never wanted to deal with the man. "What do you want?" he asked harshly.
Leo swallowed and braced himself. "I just wanted to see you. I was really worried about you last night. I needed to see for myself that you were okay."
"Well, thanks for your concern, Leo. I feel touched." He said cynically.
Leo lowered his eyes and when he raised them again to look at his son he had moisture in them. "Look, Chris, I know that I have treated you horribly since you arrived to the present and I'm-"
He was cut off rudely. "Save it, Leo. I don't want to hear your phoney excuses. I'm not in the mood to hear why you felt the need to put a sword to my neck months ago or why you wanted to recycle my soul."
"Chris, I know I don't have excuses for that. It was terrible of me but I…" he started to beg but was cut off again.
"I said I don't want to hear you." He said dangerously low. "Jeez, you say you don't have excuses, and then you start to excuse your actions. You will never change, you know? It's pathetic." He finished harshly, his eyes glaring daggers at the older man in front of him.
Leo felt his heart tighten. The venom in his son's voice and eyes was too much for him. "Chris, I understand that I have been horrible to you since you arrived. But it's obvious to me that we had issues in your past. Why? What did I do to you in your childhood or teenage years?" His boy didn't respond. "Talk to me, please." He pleaded softly, his voice breaking at the pain he was feeling.
"There is nothing to talk about." Chris said curtly.
"I think there is. Quite a bit, actually." The elder pressed, desperate to know what he had done wrong in his son's life.
"It doesn't matter." The boy answered, starting to get mad.
"It does to me, Chris. You're my son. I think I deserve to know what I did that's so bad." He finished and paused, hopeful that Chris would tell him.
Silence.
"Did I miss a school play?" He pressed on. Silence. "Did I take away your favourite toy?" Silence. "Did I play favourites with Wyatt?"
Chris stood up and grabbed Leo by the hem of the jacket and shook him hard. "Stop it! I'm sick of you. You know nothing of me and you will never know. You never went to a school play because you were too busy playing Elder. You were always Up There so you never took away any of my toys. You didn't play favourites with Wyatt because you were never there for us. For either of us. I don't know why you had children if you were never going to be there for them." He shook him a bit more and felt some sick pleasure at the sight of Leo's crying. "You are a complete failure. Always will be. Now leave me the fuck alone!" with those words he orbed away, immediately blocking himself.
Leo's knees collapsed and he knelt on the beam. A huge, overpowering pain grabbed hold of his heart. His son really hated him. And he was never going to be there for his kids in the future. How could that be? He deeply loved his children, how he could let them down so horribly?
Slowly, the tears transformed into heart wrenching sobs that mixed with the wind. He stayed there for hours, too emotionally broken to move.
"To be continued"