A/N: Just a short interlude to get us to the next part of the story… but don't worry, the next chapter will be up very soon, probably in the next day or two.

Interlude: Realizations

In the days that followed, Piper tried not to think about Chris. It hurt in ways she didn't fully understand, and though she knew that he had sacrificed himself with full knowledge of the consequences, some part of her wanted to help him. There was no way, of course, because helping him meant losing Wyatt and Wyatt came first. But she still wished it could somehow be different.

The sudden absence of his presence in her life was jarring at first. He wasn't there to force her to go on demon vanquishes or lecture her about putting her wiccan duties ahead of her social life. He wasn't their to spout that hated phrase – future consequences – and it wasn't that she missed any of that, it was merely that she had gotten used to it. His absence was a hole in her life.

But the hole started to close, and life went on.

The Elders kept an eye on Leo, baring him from Up There, following his movements, questioning his actions, and in general treating him like a possible enemy. Leo didn't complain, but Piper felt more than a little annoyed at their unfair treatment of her ex-husband because his intentions had been pure and his actions justified.

And yet, she also felt a little uncomfortable, because it reminded her very clearly of her own treatment of Chris, and hadn't his intentions been pure, too?

It wasn't until three weeks after Lucifer's final appearance in their lives that anyone broached the subject of Chris aloud.

"Do you ever wonder about him?" Phoebe asked one morning, sitting at the kitchen table and attempting to work on her advice column while sipping coffee from a chipped ceramic mug.

Piper looked up from her own mug of coffee and frowned. "Who?"

"Chris," Phoebe replied. "Do you ever… do you ever wonder just how bad the future was? Not in general and not for us, but for him. I mean…" she trailed off for a moment with a thoughtful expression, then continued, "he knew what he was doing. He sacrificed his soul without the slightest bit of hesitation."

"He was trying to save the entire world," Piper said. "He knew that it was more important than a single life. Even his."

Phoebe nodded slowly, chewing her lip. She stared at the computer screen for a moment, then said softly, "It's just, in my experience, people might know that on an intellectual level, but when they finally go through with their plan… they're doing it for someone. People don't sacrifice their lives for the world. They sacrifice themselves for those few individuals who matter so much more to them than the entire world ever could."

Piper hesitated, then shrugged. "Maybe he had a family he was trying to protect. If the entire future was destroyed, his family must have been as well. We know Bianca was." She would lay her own life down for Wyatt in a heartbeat. She'd do it for Phoebe and Paige, too, and even Leo, though she tried not to think about those lingering feelings.

Phoebe said nothing else.

The Elders were still watching Leo cautiously, Paige's relationship with Richard rapidly spiraled out of control, Phoebe was possessed by the spirit of Mata Hari, and Jason learned about magic. It was an eventful week, and Piper was far too focused on helping her sisters with their respective problems to think about much else.

Then it happened.

She was standing in the nursery, putting Wyatt to bed, when she caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye and followed the phantom into the hallway.

It was a young boy. He looked to be about eight or nine, and had a mop of long brown hair and large green eyes. He was chasing another boy – a couple years older, with shorter blonde hair and bright blue eyes – through the hallway and down the stairs.

Then they were both gone, and Piper rubbed her eyes, wondering if she had imagined the entire thing.

Later that night, lying alone in her bed and staring up at the ceiling, she thought about Chris. He passed through her thoughts without much fanfare, just a faint regret she couldn't get rid of, a loss that still hurt even though she should have been rejoicing at the knowledge that Wyatt was now safe.

She wished vaguely that she had known more about him, about his family. He was annoying and secretive and neurotic, but he was brave and determined, too.

She would have liked to tell his parents that they had raised him well.

Sigmund had taken over Magic School, and it was turning out to be a bit more than he could handle. Then one of the boys conjured the Headless Horseman, and the Elder came to the Charmed Ones for help. Piper was reluctant to even set foot in the school, but Paige convinced her that they had to do whatever they could to protect the teachers. Without Magic School, evil would find it far easier to seep into the lives of all those young and impressionable witches.

Leo, too, had insisted that they help, not because he had any desire to actually do any good for Sigmund, but because he seemed to think that this was a test. Sigmund had been outspoken against him, and refusing to help fight evil now would only give the Elder more of a cause to come after Leo in the future.

So they had done their best to help. Piper had her head cut off, Phoebe went on a vision quest that made no sense to her, and Paige managed to convince the student who had conjured the Horseman that there were other ways of dealing with his insecurities.

After the incident, Phoebe had informed Paige that she would make a great teacher some day, and Paige had replied that Phoebe was crazy. But the rest of the vision quest had been far too confusing for the empath, who told Piper that she had seen two boys – blonde and brunette – playing in the Manor.

Piper felt uneasy, and didn't know why.

Or perhaps she did know why, and didn't want to face it.

Then Phoebe turned into a genie, Leo stopped Piper from dying, and somehow things became even more complicated between the eldest sister and her Elder ex-husband. When the crisis was over – the real demon back in her bottle and the magical city of Zanbar firmly underground once more – Leo took Piper's hand and she felt a shiver run down her spine.

She caught sight of Leo watching her after that.

And then she knew. It seeped into her conscious, implanting itself firmly in the back of her mind. It waited there, waited patiently until she could no longer ignore it, until all the pieces came together in a stark reality she didn't want to accept. It took her breath away, and still she would not – could not – admit to it.

It was wrong, all wrong.

Even though everything suddenly made sense, even though she felt as though a veil had been lifted from her eyes and for the first time everything was crystal clear, she still could not acknowledge it. But the truth that was there, in the back of her mind, in her heart, in her bones, would not let go of its firm grip on her.

Lucifer's words echoed in her mind.

You lost.

It wasn't true. Lucifer was lying. He had to be… right?

But Lucifer never lied. And hadn't Chris warned her that it was Lucifer's poisonous truths – sickeningly sweet and so very, very dangerous – that caused the incalculable damage he was capable of?

Leo's father's name was Christopher.

It was wrong. It had to be wrong.

But Leo looked at her, and she knew she was still in love with him, and he was still in love with her, and maybe, just maybe…

They would have another child in the future.

Another son.