"Because he's my son" Prue yelled and the room fell silent.
Phoebe's keys hit the floor with a loud click; Paige's eyes bugged out of her skull; Piper looked like she wasn't breathing anymore and Leo was staring at Prue like she had just sprung another head. But Prue didn't care about any of them, she wasn't paying any attention to either of them, she only had eyes for Chris.
She couldn't really decipher the look on his face; was it shock? Relief? Only one thing she knew for certain, he was trying to build an emotional armor, but was failing. She saw the tears spring to his eyes at her words, she saw how he looked to the ground and refused to meet her eyes once more. She saw how he was shaking, she saw the way his whole body was stiff, how tight his fists were clenched that his knuckles had turned white, his eyes were screwed shut and his entire posture had gone rigid and defensive.
"Chris" she called softly, but he refused to look up.
"He's y...yo...your what now?" Phoebe stuttered.
"He's my son" she repeated.
"You're pregnant?" Paige asked, still in shock.
"Not yet" she replied, still not taking her eyes off of him.
"Then..."Leo started.
"Same way I know that whatever future he came from, I don't exist anymore, and I haven't for quite some time too" she declared, taking a step towards Chris, who instinctively took a step back. Prue halted, and didn't bother to hide the pain from her features.
"Chris" she tried calling him again gently, and this time she was rewarded with his head lifting. Her heart shattered when she saw the pain in his eyes. His face was a mess of emotions, and she knew that he was trying to decide if the fact that she knows about him is a good thing or a bad one. She saw the conflict, how he was torn between the pain that he feels, and the longing. She also realized for the first time, how young he was. At that moment, he wasn't the boy from the future who always seemed in control and had a snidy remark about everything, a trait he inherited courtesy of his Aunt Paige of course, he was a terrified little boy, who felt more lost and alone in the world that he had ever did. And since he came from basically hell, that was a lot to say.
Before she could get another word in, he teleported out and she sighed in frustration. A still speechless Piper was staring at the spot where her future nephew stood mere seconds ago, trying to process all that she had heard in the past few minutes. Something will mess up her baby's moral compass and eat at him for years, till he becomes a psychomaniac; she will die and leave him all alone and apparently start the domino's fall; the boy they had been mistreating was her their nephew, same one she just kicked out less than a week ago. She knew what Prue was talking about, she was a mother herself, and even if Chris isn't even born yet, her heart would recognize him as being a part of her. It was only a matter of time before her brain would follow suit. She saw it all in Chris's eyes the second Prue dropped the bomb. Everyone else was looking at Prue, but Piper's head had snapped in his direction the second Prue's words left her mouth and she saw the shock on his face. He obviously wasn't counting on his mother blowing his identity; hell he didn't even know that his mother would be returning around this time.
It made sense now why he didn't know about Prue's kidnap, and why he didn't tell them so they can get her out. He was right, they would never tell the kids, and they would definitely keep it out of the history books. And Prue sure as hell, wouldn't tell her kids about how she was held captive and tortured for two years. Maybe when they grow up, but according what Prue said, she probably never got the chance to tell them, and clearly this time she really was dead.
"How could we have been so blind?" she finally blurted out, and Prue chuckled.
"I'v been asking myself that same question for about a week now"
"You've known for a week?" Paige asked incredulously.
"I suspected it, but wasn't a 100% sure of it. But the closer I looked at him, the more obvious it became. His looks, his charm, his sarcasm, his temper, his strength, determination; everything about him screams Halliwell. But since you all decided that he was the enemy the second he fell through the portal, you treated him as such and therefore never gave him a second look and never stopped to think and ask questions that would most certainly would have led to the same conclusion that I have reached"
"What questions?" Phoebe wondered.
"Why was he the one sent back to stop something bad from happening to Wyatt? Why not one of us? Why was he always overreacting whenever one of us got injured?" she listed, "the look on his face when I got injured when I first got back" she recalled, slightly shaking her head in pain at the memory, "that's how I knew that I died in his future, he wasn't seeing me injured on the floor. He was seeing the me who died in his future, that's why he seemed like he wasn't even paying attention, he was trapped by his own memories"
"But because of the questionable things that he did..."Piper trailed.
"We decided that he was the bad guy, and treated him as such" Leo finished, "but how come I didn't sense him all this time? God knows I tried"
"He probably took something to block it to protect his identity, he wasn't counting on Prue blowing it, he probably wasn't counting on her presence at all" Phoebe guessed.
"Yeah, he said that we never really pinpointed when I returned, and never told them how. My return was a surprise to him, as much as it was to anyone else" Prue agreed.
"That explains why he looked so hurt when I accused him of not telling us about you, that's why he looked like he was in so much pain when you were telling us what happened" Piper declared.
"Just think of how hard it was on us to see Mom that first time, and how hard it was to face the water demon" Prue reminded gently, and a still dumb struck Piper nodded.
"We were so horrible to him" Phoebe said dejectedly.
"Yes I know, and I would love to kick your asses for it, but I think you are all feeling enough guilt as it is" Prue hissed, and they all nodded.
"We're so sorry Prue" Paige apologized.
"I'm not the one you should apologize to" Prue stated, and they all nodded.
"Any ideas on finding him?" Paige asked.
"Scrying. Now that we know he's a Halliwell, we can scry or eve summon him" Piper replied, before they all headed upstairs.
Here you go guys, another chapter. I know that it is short, but like I said before, this story is proving rather difficult to write and so I will post the chapters as they come to me.
Thank you all for your patience, and reviews. They are greatly appreciated.
Thank you to all who followed, read and reviewed.
Hope you guys like this, and let me know what you all think. Reviews make me a very very happy woman.