Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. No infringement is intended and no profit is made from this story. This is a work of my own imagination, but I was inspired to write this after reading so many amazing Chris revelation stories over the years. So a huge thank you to Emma15 for writing When Family Calls, DisneyRBD for writing In His Soul, and NextGeneration for writing Dead Promises!
Author's Note: THANK YOU so much to everyone who left reviews for chapter one, I really appreciate all the encouragement!
Chapter Two:
So Begins The Trip Down Memory Lane
"Your memory is a monster; you forget–it doesn't. It simply files things away. It keeps things for you, or hides things from you–and summons them to your recall with a will of its own. You think you have a memory; but it has you!"
– John Irving, A Prayer for Owen Meany, 1989
"Ugh! I can already tell that I'm going to hate traveling from memory to memory." Paige moaned as she lifted her hand to her temple and rubbed it.
"Headache?" Cole asked knowingly, a smirk on his mouth and one eyebrow cocked.
Paige scowled at her ex-brother-in-law, but didn't deny the accuracy of his assessment. She hated herself for the weakness almost as much as she hated Cole for witnessing it. For being alive.
"That's what you get," Chris snapped angrily, "You can't just cast a spell to see someone's memories! My memories are personal and private. I shouldn't have to share them with anyone if I don't want to and trust me when I say this…I DON'T WANT TO!"
Paige had known that this was a bad idea and she had certainly voiced that opinion earlier, but even she was slightly shocked by Chris' anger.
Phoebe had the grace to look ashamed of herself. This was, in part, her doing.
She'd been over Cole, or so she'd told herself everyday since vanquishing him, but seeing him again just brought all the emotions out of hiding.
The shock of it had been too much for her and it had caused her to say those four words: Piper, Paige…the spell.
"The problem is that we don't trust you," Leo answered him.
"Especially not where Wyatt is concerned." Piper added.
Chris knew it shouldn't hurt so badly anymore, but it did. It felt like somebody had hit him in the chest with a sixteen-pound sledgehammer and then left it over his heart to crush him. And they had no idea.
The same couldn't be said about Cole though.
Cole had watched this child – and that's what he was, a child, more importantly he was Piper's child – grow up right before his eyes. Chris had been a baby when he'd come back into the Charmed Ones' lives. He'd seen Chris hero-worship his big brother, practice being a big brother with his and Phoebe's first-born, spend hours in the kitchen with his mother, and cling onto the hope that one day Leo would give him the time of day even though deep down inside he knew it wouldn't happen.
He was already broken in so many ways, but this…
This must be killing him.
"You haven't told them." Cole said, the smooth tone of his voice belying the storm that was raging within him.
"What hasn't he told us?" Leo questioned immediately.
Ignoring him, Chris thought carefully about how he could respond. After all, Uncle Cole had an uncanny ability to see through any lies or half-truths.
"No, I haven't." The admission was spoken softly. "And I don't plan to tell them either."
"Great, more lies!" Piper chirped.
The child's mask of indifference faltered for a split second, but it quickly locked back in.
"Oh Chris…" he whispered, feeling horrible for his nephew. "I never would have agreed to this if I'd known you weren't going to tell them. This is slowly killing you. Your mother wouldn't have wanted this for you. Ally…"
"Don't," Chris begged. "Don't talk about her. Don't–Jesus."
"I won't have you sacrifice yourself for him."
A bitter chuckle escaped his nephew. "I wish it was that easy."
"Not funny Chris," Cole hissed. "I'm pissed off at you as it is."
Chris frowned, clearly not having expected that. "Why?"
"BECAUSE YOU SHOULD HAVE TOLD THEM!" Cole yelled at him.
"Told us what?" Leo enquired again.
Seeing Chris tense up, he smiled smugly. He had been right. Chris was evil. His relation to Cole was just icing on the cake as far as Leo Wyatt was concerned.
"You don't really need me to answer that anymore." Chris said as he waved a hand towards the memory that they had been transported to.
"Um, yeah, about that," Paige said as she glanced around, "where exactly are we?"
"Magic School." Cole informed her.
"What's Magic School?" Phoebe asked curiously.
Phoebe's voice brought a small smile to his face.
She still hated him, of course, but he could deal with it.
Her being alive and hating him was far better than her being dead and loving him.
He knew that all too well.
"It's a school that exists in the magic world." Cole explained. "It teaches young witches how to control their powers."
"It also teaches witches about the magical world and the human world." Leo added.
"You know about Magic School?" Piper asked, glaring accusingly at Leo.
Wincing, Leo shrugged helplessly.
Chris would have laughed at Piper getting mad at Leo had he not been so preoccupied. He had no idea what memory they were about to see, but he prayed to every deity that existed that it wouldn't reveal his true identity.
The door to the room that they were in suddenly opened, startling the six onlookers.
"I'm sorry to have to call you in like this." The head master said as he ushered a woman and four little boys into the office. The woman's face looked a little strained. A few more lines here and there. A little older looking. But it was unmistakably Piper.
"The secretary didn't say over the phone why I was needed in the office. Is everything okay?" Future Piper asked as she took a seat in one of the chairs opposite of the head master's large oak desk. There were four chairs squished together to the right of her seat instead of the usual two – just enough chairs so that all four boys could have a seat.
"We wouldn't have called you unless it was absolutely necessary, Ms. Halliwell," the head master said, "we had a bit of a problem today."
Future Piper immediately turned to look at the boy sitting in the chair directly beside her and so did the six onlookers. He looked to be about seven or eight with golden blond hair and hazel eyes.
Piper felt her throat go dry. She knew it was Wyatt. She was a mother. She would recognize her child anywhere and there was no doubt about it in her mind. This was her baby boy.
"Oh my God," Piper mumbled.
"It's Wyatt," Leo said at almost the same time.
Hearing those words, Chris turned slightly to look at Piper and Leo. "You guys actually recognize him?"
"Of course we recognize our son!" Piper snapped. What kind of parents did Chris think they were?
"Shut up, Piper." Cole growled.
Cole really wished she hadn't said that. He watched those words fly, he watched them hit, and he watched Chris flinch back.
It took less time than a heartbeat, but in that brief moment something broke.
It was his nephew's heart.
Chris could only nod and swallow thickly. At least they recognized one of their sons.
"Wyatt kissed Emily in class today–" the head master started to say.
"Whoa! Wyatt did what?" Piper questioned immediately. She was so unprepared for this. Wyatt looked way too young to be kissing girls.
"Wyatt Matthew Halliwell!" Future Piper reprimanded.
"Shortly there afterwards Chris kissed Ally, Caleb kissed Gia, and Jake kissed Cruz. The reason they'd done it is because Wyatt claimed that his parents told him that you kiss someone that way when you want them to be family and you want to show them how you feel. And he'd passed that information onto Chris, Caleb, and Jake." The head master explained.
"Oh shit!" Chris exclaimed, covering his mouth with one hand for a second before he dropped it to continue speaking. "I remember this! Wyatt had caught Mo–Piper and Leo making out and that's how they tried to explain it to him."
"We're about to see Piper ground Wyatt, aren't we?" Paige asked.
"Why do you sound excited about that?" Piper asked as she turned her glared at her youngest sister.
Meanwhile, Future Piper's cheeks flushed pink and she averted her eyes. "Wyatt, he um, caught his father and I…we'll have a talk with him. I assure you it won't happen again."
"You be sure to do that Ms. Halliwell," the head master said, "Cruz's parents were in here for an hour ranting about how Jake 'defiled their baby' and 'tainted his innocence.' It was not a pleasant conversation as I'm sure you can image."
"I'm so sorry." Future Piper apologized. "Boys?"
"Sorry for kissing Emily." Wyatt said, his gaze downcast.
"Sorry for kissing Gia. And I'm sorry you got called in Ms. H." The boy, Caleb, said.
"Sorry for kissing Cruz and making his parents mad." Jake said, confused as to what he did that was apparently so bad.
At this point, all but one of the boys had apologized. The only one left was…
A boy, who looked to be a little younger than the other three, with light brown hair and bright green eyes.
"That's Chris," Paige said, stating the obvious.
"I'm not sorry. I want Ally to be family." Memory Chris said stubbornly.
Cole chuckled upon hearing his nephew's response. If he remembered correctly, Piper had grounded Chris longer than Wyatt for refusing to apologize right away.
"Aww!" Phoebe cooed as she ignored the eye roll Chris was sending her way.
"Oh my God, Chris!" Future Piper exclaimed. She was beyond shocked by her youngest son. He was usually so good and so well behaved. The exact opposite of the way he was acting right now!
"I kissed Ally," Memory Chris said, "so what?"
"Christopher…" Future Piper began, a warning note – the kind that could only mean trouble – to her voice.
Finally, "I'm sorry." The words were spoken reluctantly.
Suddenly there was a flash of bright light and the people from the past – or in Chris' and Cole's case, the people from the future – felt themselves being hurled to the next memory.
The sisters groaned as they pulled themselves together, but Leo simply stared at Chris. His anger was bubbling to the surface. "That memory…that couldn't have happened unless…but…that means…Piper and I are still together?" He couldn't stop the look of disbelief from appearing on his face.
"Explain, mister." Piper demanded of the half-whitelighter.
Chris hesitated. "You two were never supposed to break up. Originally, Leo became an Elder…later."
"You messed with my family, again!" Piper growled, her eyes glittering with anger.
"How dare you!" Leo seethed.
"I don't know what's going on," interrupted Cole, "but you two need to calm down. Whatever else you might think, Chris would never purposefully mess with someone's family. Trust me when I say he has more of an interest in your family's wellbeing than most."
"We'll see about that." Leo muttered, convinced now more than ever that Chris was evil and needed to be stopped.
He had no idea just how wrong he was.
Author's Note: So, that's Chapter Two! I thought that this would be a fun memory to start off with. What do you guys think so far? What do you think Charmed Ones and Leo will be seeing in the next memory? Please review!