UNWANTED – PART 6
Chris had been avoiding Leo for days - again. At first, he'd lost control of the pent-up anger and hurt he'd carried for years and had taken it out on the man who would become the primary cause of most of it. Then sorrow had hit him. Chris had spent a long time on top of the Golden Gate bridge, thinking about the life he could have had if his mom hadn't died, Wyatt hadn't turned into an evil tyrant, and his dad had actually cared enough to be there for him.
The talk Chris had had with Leo on the bridge had been both upsetting but also surprisingly therapeutic - although it had left him feeling more confused about his relationship with his dad than he'd ever been. This new caring-father-routine Leo had going on was seriously messing with Chris' head. It had been easier to ignore the man when Leo had simply disliked him. It had been easier when Chris hadn't had a taste of what it felt like to actually be seen by his dad. It made it ten times worse knowing that this was the kind of relationship he could have had with the man, if only Leo had cared enough about his youngest son when Chris grew up. It made Chris upset every time he thought about it. Still, he couldn't ignore the tiny spark of hope growing inside of him that Leo would become a better father to him this time around – now that Leo actually had the power to change things.
The more impending issue was that Leo wanted Piper to know that Chris was their son, which Chris thought was a terrible idea. Leo seemed to think Chris felt this way because he feared Piper wouldn't accept him as her son. But that was only part of the reason. Yes, it would break Chris' heart if his mom was disappointed when she found out about him. But if Piper started loving him instead, it would somehow make things harder. Chris couldn't allow himself to get close to his mom - not with the knowledge that he would lose her all over again when he returned to a future where she wasn't. That's why Chris was reluctant to tell her. He wanted to protect himself.
Chris had told Leo on the bridge that if Piper needed to know his real identity though, it would be on Chris' terms or not at all. To Chris' big surprise, Leo had accepted the conditions, albeit a little reluctantly, which was a huge step up from the father, Chris had known, who only seemed to care about his own opinions.
Chris couldn't decide whether to laugh or cry when Leo had mentioned the Golden Gate bridge as his sanctuary and had asked if Chris used to come there with him in the future. Chris did use to go there a lot - not with Leo but in hopes of finding him there. Even though his younger self called for his dad every time he came there, Leo would only show up every once in a blue moon, and he never had time to stay for long. Still, Chris had cherished those few moments he'd had alone with his dad - as sad as he knew it was.
Chris remembered one time where he'd had a big fight with Wyatt over something stupid. He couldn't have been much more than ten at the time, and he and Wyatt had been alone in the manor since their mom had been at work. His brother had lost his temper and accidentally broken Chris' wrist by telekinetically flinging him into a doorframe. Even though Wyatt had been absolutely horrified by what he'd done, Chris had been too scared to stay in the manor with his brother. He'd orbed to the top of the bridge and had cried for Leo for at least half an hour in pouring rain before his dad had shown up. Chris would never forget the look on his father's face when he'd seen his youngest son; soaked to the skin, shivering, crying, and cradling his injured hand to his chest. Leo had immediately wrapped him up in his arms and healed his wrist. Then he'd hugged Chris to his chest, consoled him and hadn't let go until both Chris' shivers and his tears had stopped. Chris had been in bed with pneumonia for a week after that – with Wyatt by his side the entire time. His big brother had kept apologizing and kept asking Chris for forgiveness, although Chris had forgiven him the very moment he'd orbed back into the manor and a sobbing Wyatt had pulled him into a bone-crushing hug. Chris never did tell Leo – or his mom - how he'd really broken his wrist. He hadn't wanted Wyatt to get in trouble. Besides, the time he'd spent with Leo on the bridge that day, was still one of Chris' fondest memories of his dad.
Chris had time traveled to the past for a reason – to find a way to save Wyatt from turning evil. That's why he couldn't continue to let the whole situation with Leo affect him anymore. He needed to focus on saving his big brother. So, Chris decided to get back in the game and sent the Charmed Ones on a mission to vanquish one of the demons Chris had had on his radar for a while.
"So you vanquished the demon?" Chris asked after orbing into the manor's conservatory, where Phoebe, Paige and Piper were gathered.
"Yes and no." Piper answered. When Chris lifted his eyebrows in confusion, Paige stepped in to explain.
"Well, the good news is the demon you sent us after is in fact gone." She said.
"And the bad news is whatever ate it, left us that." Phoebe added and pointed at something behind Chris.
Chris turned around and spotted Wyatt in his playpen, but the young version of his big brother wasn't alone in there. Another baby was next to Wyatt, and Chris' heart dropped when he saw the baby wiggle a lizard-like tongue at him.
Why the hell was that thing in the playpen with Wyatt?
"I think he likes you." Paige remarked.
"I don't care. Vanquish it." Chris said, way more calmly than he felt.
"Chris." Phoebe said his name as if Chris was being completely unreasonable.
"I mean it. Now!"
"No, we are not vanquishing a baby." Paige said. "What's wrong with you?"
"I'm just concerned that this could be the future evil that gets to Wyatt." Chris said in all honesty. What if this demon baby was exactly what started the corruption of his brother's morality?
"Don't be ridiculous." Paige rolled her eyes.
"What?" Chris breathed out. "I'm being ridiculous? There's a demon in the playpen!"
No one seemed to be listening to him though. Piper was uncharacteristically quiet throughout the entire conversation, which frustrated Chris. Piper usually became quite a mama bear when Wyatt was involved. When she and Phoebe instead began to talk about Phoebe's relationship with Jason, Chris could barely contain his irritation. Why weren't they taking this threat seriously?
"Yeah, I'll be lucky if he doesn't move to Hong Kong permanently now." Phoebe said. "I really thought I had my empath power under control."
"Forget that. What are you gonna do?" Chris asked impatiently.
"What am I supposed to do? I mean, you know, you tell a guy that you love them, and they bolt, you know, it's just what they do." Phoebe rambled while Chris shook his head in disbelief.
"About the baby, I meant the baby. We gotta do something." Chris clarified to his oblivious aunt.
The demon baby chose that moment to squeal delightfully in the playpen and then scooped up Wyatt's pacifier with its tongue.
"Fast." Chris added, feeling sick by the sight.
His frustration didn't decrease when Piper's solution to the issue was to try to divert Wyatt's attention by playing peek-a-boo with him.
"Okay, I don't think distracting him is the answer." Chris said.
"Wyatt? Bad demon." Piper said, pointing at the demon baby. "Very bad demon."
Chris shook his head at the ridiculous attempt. It only got worse when both Paige and Phoebe decided to go and left Piper alone to deal with the situation. If this was how his mom and aunts solved any danger to the kids, it was a miracle him and Wyatt had made it past their first birthdays. If none of the Charmed Ones took this threat to Wyatt seriously though, Chris decided he would find a solution himself.
"I need to figure out what kind of creature we're dealing with here." He said to Piper, before he walked upstairs to look through the Book of Shadows.
A Manticore baby.
That's what they were dealing with.
Chris tried to convince Piper to vanquish it but to no avail. Chris wasn't really surprised by it since his mom had always stood up for what she believed in – especially when it had something to do with kids or parenthood.
"Chris, I'm a mother." Piper said to him. "I can't go around vanquishing babies, no matter how evil they are."
"It's not how evil he is. It's how evil he's gonna be." Chris tried to reason with her. "You gotta stop looking at him like he's a little baby and start looking at him like he's an unstoppable killing machine, because that's what he is."
"I realize that, but still -"
"But still nothing." Chris interrupted. "You're supposed to protect the innocents, right? Well, think of all the future innocents you can save by vanquishing him right now."
The hypocrisy wasn't lost on Chris. The future, and a whole lot of innocent people in it, would be saved if Chris stopped Wyatt now instead of continuing to try to save him. But Chris couldn't do that. He hadn't got it in him to hurt his big brother in any way – let alone the toddler version of him.
So, Chris understood where his mother was coming from, yet this Manticore baby was still a threat to Wyatt, so Chris had to do something to solve this problem. Saving Wyatt would save the future. It was the only thing that mattered. Although it pained him, Chris figured he needed Leo's help to convince the sisters to vanquish the Manticore baby. Maybe they would listen to their ex-Whitelighter when they clearly wouldn't listen to him.
To makes things worse, Chris found Leo on top of that damn bridge again. After having avoided the man for days, it was kind of awkward to approach him now, but Chris really needed his help.
Chris had been afraid that Leo would bring up the conversation they'd had the last time they'd been on the bridge together, but luckily Leo stayed focused on the issue Chris had presented him with – especially once Chris had mentioned it was about Wyatt.
"Well of course he ignores everything else when Wyatt's involved", a little voice inside Chris' head told him. "He's the son Leo always cared about."
Chris pushed the invading thoughts away. Now was not the time for his issues with Leo to make a reappearance – especially not when Chris was the one who'd approached Leo with this problem in the first place.
The situation had already turned worse when Leo and Chris orbed into the attic to talk some sense into the sisters. Piper had been taken by some creature and Phoebe and Paige apparently needed the Manticore baby to get her back. After some arguing back on forth, Leo decided it was safest to take Wyatt 'Upstairs' where the creatures couldn't get to him. That was the best decision Chris had heard all day, and he decided to follow Leo up there, hoping Phoebe and Paige could manage to get his mom back on their own.
Things didn't exactly go smooth from there. First the baby disappeared, then Piper returned with the beast who'd kidnapped her - who turned out to be a man and not a beast at all. While Leo healed the injured man, Chris learned that he was also the father of the Manticore baby. And now the sisters had decided they wanted to save that baby. Chris could feel a headache brewing.
"I can't believe I'm human again." The man said.
"Aren't you glad you didn't kill me now?" Piper asked him.
"Not funny, I don't think that's funny." Leo said.
"Agreed." Chris chimed in. There was nothing funny about his mother dying. He'd already been there, and the images still haunted him every single day.
"Oh, what, are you two on like the same team now?" Phoebe teased. She wasn't far from the truth, but Chris didn't tell her that. Phoebe turned to the now healed man. "We're gonna get your baby back, I promise."
"Do we not have a say in this?" Chris asked Leo.
"No, we don't. One thing you gotta learn about being their Whitelighter is once they make up their mind, that's it." Leo answered. "Besides, I'm a father first."
Chris couldn't stop a wry smile from appearing on his face, but he quickly changed his expression back to a neutral one. Chris sure hoped Leo would remember those words for the future.
When things had settled down and Derek (which turned out to be the beast/man's real name) had left with his son, Chris was debating whether to orb straight to P3 or stay for a bit in the manor. He wanted to test the waters, find out if Piper really disliked him as much a he feared she did. Paige had left to reverse a spell she'd put on Darryl, and Phoebe had some things to do at the office, so at least they wouldn't be there to interrupt the conversation.
Chris walked to the kitchen but stopped just short of entering it. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the doorframe, as he observed the scene in front of him. Leo had gone back up to the other Elders to pick up Wyatt as soon as the sisters returned with the Manticore baby. He was now sitting at the kitchen table with Wyatt on his lap while Piper was sitting next to him – both smiling at their toddler. To anyone else, it probably looked like a cute family moment, but to Chris it felt like someone had punched him in the gut. It wasn't Wyatt's fault. His big brother deserved to have these loving moments with both their parents. Chris just wondered why he'd never deserved this kind of attention from his dad too.
Leo suddenly looked up, as if sensing Chris was thinking about him, and stared directly into Chris' eyes. It startled Chris out of his thoughts.
"Chris!" He greeted with a big smile. "I thought you'd left."
Piper noticed him now too but, unlike Leo, her smile wavered a bit by the sight of him. That didn't make Chris' insecurities lessen.
"Chris." She sighed. "Don't tell me you've found a new demon that needs to be vanquished. I'm done for the day."
"No. No demons. I promise." Chris assured her and held up his hands defensively. He glanced at Leo for a second, then back at Piper and swallowed hard. "I… I just…"
"Is everything alright, Chris?" Piper looked a bit concerned now. Chris couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Either way, he suddenly didn't know how to explain what he was doing there.
"Chris has something he wants to tell you." Leo stepped in when Chris had been silent a few seconds too long.
Chris snapped his head in Leo's direction, feeling betrayed.
"No, I don't!" He huffed.
"Yes, you do." Leo shifted Wyatt on his lap and sent Chris a pointed look. "We talked about this. She deserves to know, Chris."
"We also agreed it had to be on my terms." Chris shot back.
"Hold on, what are you two talking about? What is it that I deserve to know?" Piper butted in. She got up from her chair, put her hands on her sides and looked between Leo and Chris with a suspicious expression on her face. "Chris?"
"I eh…" Chris struggled with the words. He looked into his mom's brown eyes, remembering the day he'd stared into them for the last time. They'd been so full of love for him. Chris couldn't detect any of that love right now. "I… I came here to keep Wyatt from turning evil."
Chris immediately regretted his honesty when Piper's lower jaw dropped, and she stared at Chris in disbelief. Leo visibly paled at the words.
"Turning evil?" Piper asked. "Don't you mean stopping evil from hurting him?"
"Wait. Chris, this is not what we discussed." Leo said, looking shocked. He obviously wanted to steer the conversation back to the original topic, but it was too late for it now that Chris had opened a different can of worms.
"I didn't think you'd help me if you knew the truth. I knew you wouldn't. The evil from the future I came back to stop isn't a demon. It's Wyatt." Chris revealed.
"You're lying." Piper spat out.
"No, I'm not." Chris defended, hurt by the accusation from his mom. "He's gonna grow up and terrorize people with his powers, take over. Kill even."
"I don't believe you." Piper said with a shake of her head.
"You have to." Chris told her. Emotion began to clog his throat.
"No Chris, I don't, actually!" She was angry now. Chris had never been on the receiving end of Piper's wrath before. Not like this. It actually scared him a little. "Get out of my house! I don't wanna see you anymore!"
Chris felt the color drain from his face. It was like the floor had been ripped out from under his feet, and he could only stare in shock at Piper's cold expression.
"Piper -" Leo began.
"Get. Out!" She shouted again and raised her hands as if she wanted to blow Chris up.
"I'm sorry." Chris said in a small voice – then spun on his heel and walked away.
He didn't even know where he was going. He just walked blindly, too shocked by his mom's words to even think about orbing. She'd thrown him out of the manor. She hated him. Chris' ears were ringing.
"-hris! Chris! Hold on! Chris!" It was Leo.
Chris turned around and stared emptily at his father. Leo's pale face stared back at him. Chris realized they were now in the attic - he hadn't even noticed that's where he'd been heading.
"It's true? Wyatt turns evil?" Leo asked. When Chris nodded in confirmation, Leo clamped a hand over his mouth as if he was going to be sick. "Oh god…"
Chris didn't know what to say. He was overwhelmed by this entire situation and felt like giving up. But that also meant he would fail his mission - fail his big brother.
"Chris, why didn't you tell Piper who you really are? That would have changed everything."
Chris shook his head at Leo's words.
"I wasn't ready." Chris answered. His eyes filled with tears. "And you promised me I could tell her on my terms! But I guess I should've known not to trust you to keep any promises you make."
Leo opened his mouth to reply, but Chris orbed away before he could hear a word of what his dad had to say. Now it was his turn not to listen.
To Be Continued...