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: This chapter is a little longer than the other ones as there are three memories included in it. While there's a little bit of everything in this chapter, it mostly focuses on the different family dynamics.

Chapter Four:

Oh How the Years Go By

"Oh how the years go by

Oh how the love brings tears to my eyes

All through the changes, the soul never dies

We fight, we laugh, we cry

As the years go by."

– Vanessa Williams, "Oh How the Years Go By"

"Again, again!" A child–it sounded like a girl–demanded earnestly, clapping her hands together.

That was the first thing the six time travelers heard as they appeared in a new memory.

It only took Cole a momentary glimpse to recognize where they were, and even less time to recognize that angelic voice.

They were in the family room of what he and Phoebe, his Phoebe, had once upon a time considered to be their forever home.

And the child was his youngest daughter, his baby girl.

Lyla.

In the middle of the room there was a couch and on it lay four kids–a slightly older Chris and three young girls, each with hair of varying shades of brown.

The oldest looking girl was sitting to the far left of the couch. Her hair was long, sleek, and the color of rich espresso. Her warm brown eyes were framed by long lashes and perfectly arched eyebrows. She had pretty lips, full and pink. A stubborn chin. And peachy gold skin.

In the middle of the couch sat a girl who looked slightly younger than the first. She had long, straight, reddish-brown hair that was tied up in a high ponytail. A loose strand of hair outlined her face, accenting her youthful innocence.

On the right side of the couch sat Chris. Sitting on his lap was a little girl, barely older than a toddler, with shoulder-length wavy caramel brown hair. She had an aura about her that bristled with energy and enthusiasm.

They were each beautiful in their own right.

"Again?" The oldest looking girl shrieked at the little girl sitting in Chris' lap. "Are you freaking kidding me? You want to watch Frozen again?"

Chris laughed at his cousin's reaction, but he couldn't say he blamed her. Lyla had been absolutely obsessed with the Disney blockbuster and she had forced almost every single member of their family to watch the movie many, many times.

Phoebe, on the other hand, frowned disapprovingly. The girl shouldn't be allowed to use the word "freaking." She looked too young for that kind of language. She also felt a sudden, strong urge to lecture her for getting so mad at the little girl. She had no idea why she felt that way though. It wasn't like she was the girl's mother or anything.

"Lauren," the girl sitting in the middle said gently, obviously trying to calm the older girl down before she burst a blood vessel, "let's just watch the movie one more time for Lyla's sake."

Cole's eyes were glued on the girl sitting in the middle. Lacey, his sweet Lacey, the middle child, always the peacemaker in the family. He had no idea what memories this spell would show them, but if this was going to be the last time he saw her alive again then he was determined to commit every detail to memory.

Phoebe stole a sideway glance at Cole. She could feel emotions coming off him in waves, emotions that were at odds with his face: love, sadness, protectiveness, and perhaps guilt. For whatever reason, this particular memory was painful for him. Watching him in this unguarded moment had a profound effect on her. She felt the need to comfort him, but quickly reminded herself that he was her ex-husband…the man who had been at one point or another a demon, a member of the Brotherhood of the Thorn, and the Source of All Evil.

"My answer is still no Lacey. If I never watch Frozen again, it would still be too soon." Lauren said. It was clear to everybody by her tone that she was dead serious.

"What's Frozen?" Paige asked, her curious nature shining through.

"It's basically this generation's The Lion King." Cole explained.

"Ah." Paige simply said, still not understanding why the girl was so against watching it again. It couldn't be that bad. It was Disney, for Mickey's sake!

Lacey sighed, sensing she'd make no further headway. "Lyla, is there another movie you want to watch?"

Lyla shook her head. The youngest of three girls and the youngest of the Halliwell line, she was strong-willed and somewhat accustomed to getting her way.

"Chris, you're the oldest," Lacey pointed out, "a little help here please?"

Cole smiled sadly, his eyes glassing over. Phoebe had been the light of his life, his guiding compass. Lacey had been so much like her mother. Losing them both had caused him insurmountable grief.

"Yeah, Chris!" Lauren piped up excitedly.

Growing up, Chris was closest to her out of all his cousins. And that was still true to this day. Maybe even more so since Wyatt had gone off the deep end. Everyone had always said that they were like two peas in a pod. She was one of his best friends. His confidant. No matter what happened, he knew he could always count on her, which is why he had ultimately decided to leave her in charge of the Resistance.

Lyla turned in Memory Chris' lap so that she was facing him and gave him her best puppy dog eyes. "Frozen again. Pleeeaaassee Chrissie!"

"Aw, that's so cute," Phoebe cooed.

Piper, Paige, and even Leo nodded in agreement.

"Oh, she's good." Lauren admitted.

There was no way he could say no to those puppy dog eyes.

At that point Memory Chris was going to cave. Lauren knew he was about to cave. Lyla knew he was about to cave. Everyone knew he was about to cave.

Before he could do so, however, somebody entered the room.

"Daddy!" Lyla squealed with delight, already having forgotten all about the movie. That was typical Lyla. She had the attention span of a butterfly sometimes, as was the case here, while other times she could obsess about something until you were praying for sweet relief in any shape or form.

The sisters and Leo were shocked to see that the man Lyla had called "daddy" was Cole.

Memory Cole looked more relaxed, more…at peace. There was a smile sitting easily on his face. There was a serenity about him that the sisters and Leo had never seen before. It was hard to reconcile this man with the terrifying demon he'd once been.

"Hi, sweetheart." Memory Cole greeted as he leaned down and picked her up. He hugged her tightly, her small face pressed against his cheek.

"When is mommy coming home?"

Phoebe tried to swallow this unexpected turn of events, but she found that she couldn't. Her dry throat would not allow her to swallow, as it was trying to keep her heart from pulsing out of her mouth. She felt sick to her stomach. The thought of him building a life with someone else elicited dark feelings of anger, pain, and–ultimately–jealousy.

Memory Cole set her down gently and kissed her forehead. "Mommy is working late tonight. Remember what we talked about at breakfast, sweetheart?"

Lyla smiled and nodded her little head. Her wavy caramel brown hair bouncing and her hazel eyes sparkling.

"Good," Memory Cole said, "girls could you take your sister upstairs to play for a bit? I need to talk to Chris. In private."

Cole had not one, but three beautiful daughters?

That also meant that these girls were Chris' cousins.

Lauren and Lacey nodded quickly, relieved that they wouldn't have to watch the movie-that-shall-not-be-named again.

Memory Cole waited until he was sure that his daughters were upstairs before he sat down in the upholstered chair across from the couch, facing his nephew.

"Uncle Cole, whatever it is, just tell me." Memory Chris said, knowing that something was up.

That was typical Chris, always straight to the point.

"The sleepover has come to an end, kiddo. " Memory Cole said.

"You guys are kicking me out." Memory Chris surmised dully. He deflated back into the couch as if someone had let all the air out of him.

Piper found herself frowning. This younger version of Chris sounded so…crestfallen. It almost seemed like, well, like he didn't want to go home. But that couldn't be it, could it?

"Of course we're not kicking you out. Your Aunt and I love you very much. You're always welcome here." Memory Cole spoke soothingly.

"Then why do I have to go home?" Memory Chris questioned, not understanding.

"Because your mom said so, for one thing, and for another, you never even got permission to come over here for a sleepover in the first place." Memory Cole said, giving the boy a pointed look.

Memory Chris squirmed under his uncle's intense, but amused scrutiny.

"My mom…she, uh, she called you, huh?" Memory Chris asked even though he already knew the answer to that. Of course his mom would call looking for him. How could he have even thought otherwise?

"She did." Memory Cole confirmed. Okay, well, technically Piper had called Phoebe, but it was basically the same thing. "What's gotten into you, Chris? It's not like you to hurt your mother's feelings or to leave home without permission."

Memory Chris stared at his uncle with an expression of pure shock. "I hurt mom's feelings?"

As Chris watched the scene unfold, he felt a pang of guilt at the pain his younger self had so clearly caused. He loved his mother and the last thing he had ever wanted to do was hurt her. Compounding his guilt was the fact that he couldn't apologize to her even if he wanted to. She was dead and it was all his fault.

"You told her you wished you were a Turner."

For some strange reason, Piper felt a soul-crushing sadness in her heart upon hearing those ten words. She quickly dismissed that feeling because she couldn't imagine why she would have that reaction to Chris. Maybe it was just because she could empathize with what Chris' mother must be feeling. She would be devastated if Wyatt told her that he wished he were apart of a different family.

Memory Chris looked sheepish. "I only said that because you're more of a dad to me than my own father is. I wouldn't trade mom for anything in the world."

"You always struck me as someone who had more mommy issues than daddy issues," Paige commented to Chris, "but this actually explains a lot."

"Paige! You can't just say something like that!" Phoebe scolded her sister.

"Well, it's true." Paige pointed out.

"Oh, will the two of you just shut up!" Piper snapped, not wanting to miss anything important. Everyone stared at her in shock.

"Chris," Memory Cole said, drawing their attention back to the current memory. "Your father loves you."

"Yeah, right," Memory Chris scoffed.

Memory Cole hesitated a moment before continuing, as if he were trying to be careful in choosing his words. "He does love you, even though he has a funny way of showing it, and you guys are more alike than you think. That's why you clash so much."

Memory Chris mulled over those words for a few heartbeats and then said sadly, "I doubt it."

He sat there looking as if he desperately needed some comforting.

Memory Cole rose from the chair and crouched down slightly. "Come here, kiddo."

Memory Chris moved quickly into his outstretched arms. Memory Cole hugged him for a long time, probably too tightly, but he couldn't find the strength to let him go. He loved his nephew and hated to see the boy distressed. He hated Leo for this, for being an absentee father to his two children that weren't Wyatt.

As much as the sisters hated Cole, they were thankful for his presence in Chris' life. They all knew what it was like to have a father that wasn't there for them growing up. Even though Paige had her adoptive father, the man she considered to be her real father, and Victor had become more involved in his daughters' lives, the hurt was still there. It was less, but still there.

"How old were you in this memory?" Phoebe asked Chris.

"Huh?"

"I was just wondering," Phoebe explained, "since it hasn't been mentioned in any of your memories so far."

"I must have been ten, maybe eleven."

"You were ten." Cole said in a definitive tone.

The memory of that heartbreaking conversation had been seared into his mind's eyes. Even if they hadn't just seen that particular memory, he would have remembered it as if it had happened yesterday–detail for detail, word for word.

"So I'm guessing we still have a long ways to go." Phoebe commented.

Chris shrugged, acting like it didn't matter one way or another. "Probably." He admitted, not in the least happy about that. It was still too early to discern any definitive trend, but so far the spell seemed to be choosing memories from a mixed bag of his twenty-two years of life. God only knew what they were going to see next.

While Chris was silently worrying, Leo was frowning at the memory they had just seen. What kind of a home was Chris brought up in? A decent father would never make his son feel unloved and a decent mother would never allow such a thing to happen in the first place.

"Why did you doubt that your father loved you?" Leo asked, hoping to gain more insight from Chris.

Cole snorted. If Leo really thought that Chris was going to answer that, then the man was even more clueless than he'd originally thought.

Chris never got to answer, not that he would have, because they were all transported into another memory.

Once they appeared in the new memory, the onlookers looked around. They were in what was obviously a hospital room. Intensive care. Video game systems, game controllers, cards, and trays of home-cooked meals surrounded the room. It was clear that the items were meant to distract from all of the tubes, wires, and machines making constant beeping noises. Memory Chris was propped up in the hospital bed and a pre-teen Wyatt was sitting at the foot of the bed despite the fact that there was an empty lime-green vinyl armchair right next to the bed.

Piper felt her heart lurch as she saw how thin and pale Memory Chris looked under the light hospital blankets.

"This," Memory Chris said, "is not how I pictured starting my summer vacation."

"I said I was sorry, remember? Said it a thousand times." Wyatt reminded him. He studied the injured boy carefully and then worriedly asked, "You don't have amnesia, do you? Should I call the nurse?"

Memory Chris rolled his eyes. If he had amnesia, then how would he have remembered being on summer vacation? Wyatt took the overprotective big brother routine a little too seriously sometimes. "Relax. I don't have amnesia, Wy."

"Oh. Well…I'm still sorry. It does suck that you're starting summer vacation like this. I should have never dared you to jump off the roof and into that pool." Wyatt apologized for the thousandth and one time.

"What the hell was he thinking?" Piper asked incredulously, unknowingly echoing what her future self had said upon arriving at her youngest son's bedside.

"And you, mister," Piper rounded on Chris, "what were you thinking?"

Chris threw his hands up defensively, much to the amusement of his Aunts and Uncle Cole. "I did some fairly stupid things when I was eleven. This was clearly one of them."

It was true enough.

She didn't need to know that he had idolized his older brother would have done anything he said, anything for him. He would still do anything for him. It was why he had come to the past. It was why he was putting himself through this unique torture…being around mom…not being able to tell his family the truth…having his family hate him…allowing his family to think the worst of him. It was all for Wyatt.

Luckily, Piper seemed satisfied with the explanation and returned her attention to the memory.

"I didn't have to listen to you," Memory Chris pointed out, "and it was fun."

"Right," Wyatt said in a voice dripping with sarcasm. "I'm sure it's been real fun fracturing your elbow, having surgery to repair it, getting a pneumonia from the anesthesia they gave you for the surgery, and having to stay in the hospital for an entire week."

"Wy…" Memory Chris started.

"You scared me to death, Chris." Wyatt admitted, his eyes suddenly welling up with tears.

Future Wyatt seemed to really care for Chris.

That was still a bit of a shock and difficult for Piper to wrap her mind around. This boy that her son seemed to care for and love like a brother – he was the same Chris Perry that have traveled to the past. The same Chris Perry that Leo hated. The same Chris Perry that she had emotionally abused. The same Chris Perry that she had nearly physically abused.

There were more memories to see and the rest of the memories could still prove Chris to be an evil liar. Piper, however, was beginning to have serious doubts about that.

"I didn't mean to. Honest." Memory Chris said. "Besides, I know you would never let anything really bad happen to me."

Wyatt cheered up and nodded. "Damn straight," he said, blissfully unaware that there was a past version of his mother watching this play out and frowning at his language. "That's what best friends are for…I have your back and you have mine."

"So," Memory Chris began innocently enough, "are you finally ready to admit that I'm your number one best friend? I mean you practically cried over me!"

"Way to ruin a sweet moment!" Phoebe exclaimed.

In turn, Chris rolled his eyes at his aunt.

"Only this one time and then we never speak of this again." Wyatt agreed reluctantly.

"I always knew you liked me more than Caleb, Jake, and Emily." Memory Chris joked.

Then, just as suddenly as they arrived, the onlookers were being hurled off their feet and they felt the same feeling of being transported to another memory.

Paige groaned when they appeared in the new memory. This time, much to her dismay, they were on the very top of the Golden Gate Bridge. This was not good for her head, which was pounding mercilessly. Or her stomach for that matter.

Memory Chris was sitting on the highest platform of the bridge, staring out at the San Francisco city skyline. Since they had last seen him, he had grown from an eleven-year-old boy into a thirteen-year-old teenager. He was lanky, but already broad-shouldered, with light brown hair and those intense green eyes.

"Why the hell are you up here?" Piper questioned. She could feel herself panic with every tiny movement and she tried her best not to look down.

"It's a good place to think," Chris answered truthfully. The bridge being a good place to think was actually the one thing that he and his father agreed on.

How sad was that?

"It must be nice not to have to worry about, oh, I don't know, falling to death like us mere witches." Piper commented.

It was really no wonder all three of her children were fluent in sarcasm. They had learned from the master.

Before any other complaints could be made, blue and white orbs appeared on the bridge. Chris took a deep breath, steeling himself for the emotional onslaught that he knew was coming. Wyatt was scared of heights, so it wasn't him. And it definitely wasn't Leo since he'd only been up here once with his father. That left one person…

…Cat.

The ones from the past were easily able to recognize her even though she, too, looked older than when they'd seen her last.

She looked pretty in a red flannel shirt, high-waisted jean shorts, and cute combat boots. She wore her long white-blonde hair down, cascading over her shoulders, and was wearing a hint of makeup. Tasteful diamond stud earrings sparkled in her earlobes.

"Thank God for orbing." Ally said as she sat down next to Memory Chris, not having a problem with how high up they were.

Obviously the girl was just as insane as their whitelighter.

"What are you doing here, Cat?" Memory Chris asked as he turned to look at his friend. It was more than that though; she was his best friend. The Cat to his Kit. The only person on the face of this Earth who could truly get through to him in every way.

"Saving you from yourself." Ally joked.

"Gee, thanks," Memory Chris said dryly.

"You've been avoiding me," Ally said seriously this time. She made herself look him in the eye, no matter how scared she was of his reply. And there was no denying her fear–her hands were clammy, a cold sweat broke out on her body, nausea rolled over her in waves, and it felt as though an entire swarm of butterflies had taken up residence in her stomach. "I think I know why, but I want to hear it from you first."

"I haven't," Memory Chris protested weakly. "I've been busy with schoolwork."

"I know when you're sad but pretending to be annoyed and I know when you're worried but pretending to be fine. I can feel it inside when you're upset the same way you can feel it inside when I'm hurting or confused of rebellious. Trust me, I know what you're feeling."

Phoebe felt her empathy powers kicking into high gear. Both of their hearts were beating fast. Ally was excited, nervous, and scared all rolled into one. Even without her empathy powers Phoebe could tell that she was sincere. Her words came from her heart. And as Memory Chris hung on to her every word, his hope grew stronger and brighter. The two teens were on the threshold of a life-changing moment and they both knew it.

"I don't want to ruin our friendship," Memory Chris began slowly. "This…it…can change things between people, whether they intend it to or not."

"I don't either, but…"

"Maybe…"

"Any relationship worth having…"

"Is worth taking a risk," The two teens said together.

They just stared at each other, wide-eyed and barely able to breathe. It was like everything around them had been put on pause.

"Cat." Memory Chris whispered in a barely audible voice, then he crashed his lips to hers. Her arms came up and wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer. He kept one hand buried in her hair, holding on to her as if he would never let her go, the other on her lower back.

When they came up for air, they were both smiling from ear to ear.

"So worth it." Memory Chris breathed.

"Good answer," Ally said before claiming his lips again.

Author's Note: There goes Chapter 4! I know these memories might seem random, but they are important because they shaped Chris into who he is. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Prepare yourselves for the next chapter because that's when we'll start getting into the more depressing memories. Please review!