A/N ~ This is my first fanfiction, please let me know what you think!
Oh! Disclaimer: I do not own charmed or any of its characters. The only thing of my own creation is Cassidy Matthews and the interactions/situations she causes.
I was worried.
One way or another, I always seemed to be these days. She was usually so good at letting me know when she would be late, even if it would just be a few minutes, so why hadn't she yet?
"Where are you Paige?" I murmered to myself.
We had plans to have lunch during my break, which ended 10 minutes ago. I was hoping to get her mind off the crazy dreams she had been so fixated on these past few days - but she hadn't shown up. I tried her phone, but it was disconnected, straight to voice mail.
We had an unspoken agreement to always answer one another; she knew how much I worried. I tried her sisters to be safe but they both rang out. Clearly something was wrong.
So, I locked up the club early, greateful the only thing I had to do was stock take. It could wait, we weren't opening tonight and I'm sure the big boss would understand. I drove over to their house as fast as I could while still being respectful of the speed limit, of course. There's no need to cause another accident...
Don't think like that. It wasn't your fault. She's fine, you'll see her soon, and she'll gasp at how the time got away from her while she was obsessing over that book. Then she'll apologise with a smile and beg for my forgiveness...
My thoughts are so consuming that I could barely recollect pulling up on the curb or getting out of my car. I didn't bother to knock before I bound up the stairs to my sister's favourite hangout - the attic.
When I reached the top of the second flight of stairs, I was forced to a stop as I suddenly collided with a stranger.
Such sharp green eyes. The strange man I had ran into had his hands gripping my forearms to keep me upright. He was gentle but firm, after the initial squeeze from shock. I realised he must have moved to block the door on reflex when he heard my approach, without realising just how quickly I was moving.
His face was blank, and jaw slack, mouth partly opened with surprise as he gazed at me. Those eyes, even behind his odd safety glasses, drew me in. I could see recognition in them, and it was like there's something he wanted to say, but his tongue can't form the words.
We stayed like this for what felt like an eterntity but must have only been moments; before I cleared my throat in an attempt to collect myself.
His eyes jolted at the noise, and I saw them flicker over every part of my face all at once; like he's searching for something he knows he could not find. I returned the favour and noticed his hair was dark, chesnut brown; dishevelled, and sticking up in ways that could have only been caused by sleeping rough - I would know. His high cheekbones and a square jawline made me greatful that he's still holding me up otherwise I would be a puddle on the floor. Whatever he finds in my face seems to satisfy him, and a tender glow seeps onto his expression.
I manage to squeeze out "H-Hello" cringing at how my voice cracks.
Warmth fills his features as he smiles at me, and I am immediately enamoured with him. This strange man who caused and broke my fall in the same instance, I need to know his name.
"Hi," he breathes with a charming smile, "Good thinking, coming on foot..."
He raises a hand to my face, trailing his finger along my exposed arm on the way leaving my mind scattered and goosebumps visible in his wake. It's as though he means to cup my cheek, and I can't think of any good reason to stop him.
Until something grey catches my eye over his shoulder, and I pull away as my heart stops beating in my cht. "Paige?" My voice sounds so small. I pray I'm wrong, but it's unmistakably her. she stands in the center of the room, fozen in stone with a mixed expression of shock, fear, and confusion.
I pay the handsome stranger no more attention as I push past him so I can approach my sister. I reach out in the hopes this might evaporate as an illusion of my overactive imagination, but as my gloved fingers collided with stone, I can not deny this is real.
"What happened?" It comes out as a whisper before I turn to the stranger accusingly, "What did you do to her?!"
He's taken aback by the ferocity in my tone and retorts, "Me? If it weren't for me, she'd be in a much worse state right now."
"He's right, Cassidy." Pheobe says, and her input makes me jump - has she been here this whole time? "We were attacked, it was Paige's idea to lure them to her and then.." she slowly stands next to Paige and I. its clear how upset she is about this but it does nothing to sooth my distress.
"Don't worry, she's alright," Chris attempts to reassure us while wriging his hands together. I shoot him an incredulous look, realising he had taken his glasses off at some point. On seeing my face, he hurried to add, "Well, she's not completely alright, obviously, but she's not dead."
A breath I didn't realise I was holding comes out all at once as Pbeobe asks tentatively, "Are you sure she's not?""Frankly you see this a lot. Museums, universities, town centers," he explains easily as he circles to the opposite side of Paige, "most of those statues, aren't really statues. They're people like your sister where who's been," he let's out a puff of air like a chuckle to lighten the blow, "turned into stone."
"Wow. Fascinating, really, but how does that help us?" I interject with seething rage. How could he be wasting time like this? "How do we get her out of there?"
His eyes flicker to meet mine, and I see something flash in them, but before he can respond Phoebe asks in a flat voice, "Who are you?"
"Chris. Chris Perry, I'm.." he gulps and looks back into my eyes as he claims "from the future."
I notice Pheobe narrow her gaze before her eyebrow raises in scrutiny. The logical part of me want to deny his claim, but the honesty in his eyes makes me hold my tongue.
"OH. My, God. Tell me that is just - a really good likeness of Paige," Piper exclaims as she enters the attic.
I jump away from Chris, not noticing how close we had gotten, and swivle to face her.
"Noo, it's really Paige," Pheobe's high pitch conveys her stress from behind me.
Chris interjects, "a Titan turned her to stone," slight awe in the undertones of his blank voice.
"Who- who are you?" She demands with apprehension.
He opens his mouth to answer, but Phoebe interups, "that's Chris, he's from the future."
"Yeah, but just like 20 years or so," his brow furrows minutely as he tries to brush off how incredible that statement is.
Piper giggles in deisbelief while I exclaim, "Just?!"
She suddenly gestures to Pheobe as she asks, "friend or foe?"
Chris, clearly disgruntled with Pheobe's tense responce of uncertainty says, "What do you mean, I saved Paige didn't I?"
I scoff and cross my arms, "Yeah, you did a great job there."
"Hey," he snaps, taking a step towards me, "I'm the one who put my life on the line here. I didn't have to drop everything I was doing just to orb in here and save your butts from-"
"You- you orb?" Piper interjected with disbelief, "you're a whitelighter?"
Chris appears fed up with our scrutiny as he finally explains, "Look, where I come from history shows Paige didn't get turned to stone on this day. She died."