"What did you tell Aunt Phoebe? She's not over here looking for Ladybug?"

"I lied and said she was at the mall and movies with Mel."

Chris raised an eyebrow, "As I said, why isn't she here?"

Wyatt crossed his arms, "Hey I can lie."

"Right. Must be because she was talking to you on the phone. Face it, Wy, you can't lie."

"Not all of us can be compulsive secret keeping liars. You are probably the only known Halliwell that can keep a secret for any period of time."

"It doesn't take much to keep a secret, Wy. You just got the bad luck of taking after grandpa and Aunt Phoebe."

"Grandpa can keep a secret."

"He might not spill all the secrets but like you, when an issue that involves said secret comes up, he'll spill at least part of the secret."

"What, really when?"

Chris shrugged, "Not important."

"This has to do with your little trip to the past again, doesn't it. It's the only time you refuse to tell me anything."

The two had a very open and honest relationship. They rarely kept secrets from each other. When Chris started to get his memories of the past at 14 he had told Wyatt very little, and still doesn't. It's the only thing Chris refuses to share. He refuses to let Wyatt know how bad he was. It doesn't stop Wyatt from trying.

"It's no big deal, Wy. I told grandpa something about mom and he told mom a little."

"Come on Chris, give me more than that."

"Let's concentrate on getting Mel and Ladybug back. Does Mel's phone give a clue as to what happened?" Chris asks instead, ignoring Wyatt's want for more. He wasn't going to tell him their mother died in the other timeline. Even though he wasn't responsible for it, which Chris was thankful for, it had been going after that demon that started Wyatt on the power-hungry road from which there was no return.

They replayed Melinda's phone recording and were surprised.

"I guess I'm going to the past." Wyatt said.

"What? Why did you think she's in the past?"

"Well if she was here we'd be able to sense her and scrying lead us to her phone. She had to go somewhere. If she had ended up in the future mom and dad would have sent her back. Any farther in the future and we could only hope she didn't get in trouble and they would have been sent back by now. But something tells me she's in the past."

"Ok, then why do you think you're going alone?"

"Because one of us has to go and it can't be you. You've been in the past before. Who knows what would happen if we ended up in the same time when you were in the past. You might merge with your other self, or cause some other kind of problem having two of you in one place. Besides, even if she ended up earlier or later than when you were there, do you really want me to stay here covering for you, Mel and Ladybug?"

Chris sighed, he hated it when Wyatt made sense. If Melinda did end up in the past with his former self it could cause problems if he tried to go there. As Wyatt pointed out, he might end up merging with his other self or, if by some strange chance he didn't, two of them in the same timeline could cause a whole host of other problems. His other point was valid as well. Even without that, time travel was tricky. One minute might not go by here while there it's been days or vice versa. Not knowing how long Wyatt would be gone, and knowing Melinda and Ladybug had already been missing for hours, then they might need someone to cover in case their parents start asking questions or their Aunt Phoebe calls again.

"I don't like it, but I don't want to be merged with my past self. Especially knowing his fate. Even if we could find a way to change it, me joining with him would likely confuse him and distract him from his mission. Just be careful and try not to spill who you are in the first five minutes of being there."

"You worry too much Chris."

"The problem is you don't worry enough, Wy."

"I'm not worried that I'll save you."

"What?"

"I know you died trying to save me. When you first started having nightmares from that time you forgot to close off our connection. I saw it, Chris. I saw what happened. I even saw who did it."

"Wy, you're not going to do anything drastic are you?"

"You mean like killing the bastard first? No, as much as I'd love too, I won't, because that would only prove he was right and I am dangerous. I'm hoping your other self will learn to trust me and we'll find a way to stop him and save us both."

"I hope you know what you're doing, Wy."

X-x-x-x-x

Meanwhile P.J., whose cupid powers allow her to be invisible, was spying on Phoebe and Jason. They had just had a disastrous time at the restaurant and had gone to his apartment instead. 'I can't believe mom's serious about this guy. I can tell he'd never be able to accept magic. He's too much of a realist. Magic would only freak him out.'

That gave her an idea. She knew her mom might be mad if she found out but she felt it was best her mother realized this guy wasn't right before he hurt her. P.J. knew it'd be a couple of years till Phoebe met her father, but that didn't mean she was going to watch as her mother got her heart broken because she was too blind to see this guy would never accept her being a witch. She beamed out and found a low level demon. She beamed a rock at the demon's head. When he charged she beamed out and went to the hall outside of Jason's bedroom apartment to watch. Just as she thought the demon shimmered after her, appearing a few feet from her mother.

Jason looked up, "Who are you, how did you get in here?"

The demon looked around and despite not seeing P.J. saw Phoebe and fired a fireball. Phoebe used her power to send it back.

Jason looked at her, "What the hell just happened here? Who or what was that?"

Phoebe sighed, she knew she'd have to have this conversation sooner or later, but she had been hoping for later. "That was a demon."

"Demon?"

"Yes, that was a demon and I'm a witch."

"Witch? You mean like magic and powers and stuff?"

"Yes, I'm a witch with magical powers."

"You're saying magic is real and...What about that thing it threw at you? It looked like a fireball and it was going to hit you but instead it hit him? How?"

"I have the power of empathy. I used it to redirect the fireball back at him. It's also why at the restaurant I confessed I loved you too. I could read your emotions and reacted before I heard the words."

"I don't know what to think about this. I need time to sort through this." Jason said, visibly paling as he looked at the spot where the demon had been standing.

Phoebe sighed and left.

"Sorry mom. It's for the best. He wasn't right for you." P.J. whispered before leaving.