Quick to ease his mother's worries, Chris raised his hands to stop her and shook his head. "No, no, everything’s fine! Better than fine, actually. Leo is nice and solid again. I waited for hours but you didn't show back up so I thought I'd catch up and see if you needed any help around here. Uh, where is here, anyway?"
"But we just stopped the threat minutes ago..." said Paige in confusion.
Chris shrugged. "Time travel is funny like that. That's part of what makes it so dangerous – that relativity of reality."
Penny, tired of waiting to be introduced, interrupted in a huffy tone. "Is anyone going to tell me just who this young man is?"
"I'm uh..." Chris paused, unsure of what Penny had been told about the future. And, truth be told, she had always intimidated him in any time, dead or not. She was probably the only person, aside from his parents, who could intimidate him – not that he ever let her know that.
Penny threw her arms into the air, exasperated. "Oh, just tell me! I'm getting a memory wipe anyway!"
The Piper from 2007 put a hand on Grams' shoulder. "This is Chris – your great-grandson."
"From the future, obviously," offered the older Phoebe at the look of confusion in Penny's eyes.
"But not our time. Our future's future," finished Paige.
Chris shook his head. "From 2029, actually," he clarified.
Penny opened her mouth, but, unsure of what to say, all that came out was a slow "Uh-huh," as she tried to wrap her mind around meeting her future grandchild, grandson, who was twice the age of her little Piper, his mother, in this time. And was a boy. Finally, she came back with "Well, it's nice to meet you. I see that Halliwell men are just as handsome as the Halliwell women are beautiful," she remarked as she appraised him.
"Uh, thanks." Chris stifled a laugh as he noticed what Paige, and especially Leo, were wearing. "What's with the duds?" He smirked at Leo's patchwork of plaid and striped clothing. "Nice threads, Jerry Lewis!" he remarked sarcastically.
Paige just rolled her eyes before dropping her glamoured clothing in favor of her normal appearance. Leo quickly followed suit, but still wore an expression of both confusion and curiosity. "Uh... is this my son?"
At this inquiry Chris erupted into an exasperated huff. "You told him? That's just great. What bonehead thought that was a good idea?" he cried, flinging his hands into the air, accidentally sending a jar of powdered mandrake root flying in his frustration. “You know you can erase my existence just by telling people it’s already happened. They just assume things will go a certain way, and then poof – they’re off-track and some other kid gets to exist instead of me!”
The older Piper froze the jar mid-air and tilted her head at her son, obviously daring him to repeat himself. "This bonehead did," she said flatly. Chris' face belied his embarrassment at what he'd inadvertently called his mother, but Piper continued. "It's not like I thought it was a good idea – it just kind of came out. But it's okay, we'll have the Elders take care of it." She plucked the jar from the air and pushed it into his empty hands. "Now put this back. Just think of the future consequences if your Grams ran out of mandrake root when she isn’t supposed to. I might end up naming you Ernest." She said this last bit with gentle sarcasm, obviously trying to point out that anything could change history in serious ways, and he needed to relax.
Chris paused, not sure of his own conflicted reaction, and looked at the floor. “Alright, alright. I get it, Mom.” He hadn't told any of the past versions of his family that he'd received the memories of his previous lifetime – the timeline in which Wyatt had been evil. He didn't want them to worry about little Chris, and he knew they'd ask about the other Chris' memories. They didn't need to know how serious and careful that Chris had been – to the point of near constant unhappiness. They already knew how obsessive he’d been. On the other hand, he also remembered the awesome childhood he'd had in the new timeline where Wyatt was good.
When the past timeline had caught up with him a few years ago, it had been a gradual process. It had started on the anniversary of the day that his other self had arrived in the past and pretended to save Paige from eternity as a statue. It wasn't the ideal 22nd Birthday present – anything but, actually – but it wasn't devastating or crippling either. It emerged more like a remembering a dream – foggy and vague with occasional moments that remained in great clarity.
Having grown up in the better future, the better lifetime formed his personality far more than the darker memories did. And, truth be told, he had never been too unlike his other self that went back in time to save Wyatt – except that he had a much easier time lightening up than that Chris.
Chris crossed his arms, trying to project that no nonsense attitude his other self did so well to show his mom he meant business. "Yeah, ok, I guess there's nothing we can do about that now, but can we please try and not spill any more to your past selves? Memory erasing isn't an exact science, and you never know how those suppressed memories can unconsciously affect people." It was clear that he spoke from experience, though the sisters couldn't quite pin down why.
He didn't even like to admit it to himself – it was stupid after all – but a part of Chris felt like he had to prove that he was just as capable and, frankly, as much of a bad ass as his former self was; if not to his family, then certainly to himself. Even after he'd recovered the memories of that other reality his family had only mentioned in passing their memories of him. Chris had long figured that it was that they didn't want him to feel like he had to live up the hero Chris that had given his life for the family. Couple that with having kept that secret for so long, and his Mom, Dad, and Aunts remained pretty closed mouthed on the subject. But nonetheless, he felt the weight of that past sacrifice that he had, and hadn't, made.
If he was honest with himself, Chris had to admit that as dangerous as this trip through time was, a part of him was enjoying the chance to prove himself – this self - up to the challenge of saving the powerful, though now humble, Wyatt himself.
Chris glanced around the ever ageless attic. "So – when are we now?" he asked, eying Penny and Leo.
Leo spoke up first. "This is 1982." He cleared his throat and extended his hand awkwardly. "Nice to meet you Chris, uh, son."
Chris smiled, shaking his head in a knowing fashion, and took his father's hand – but then pulled him from there into a warm, but manly, embrace. "You know it’s always a hug for the Halliwells, Pop!" As long as Leo knew who he was, Chris figured he may as well treat him like his dad. Although he had the memories of the other Chris, that resentment toward his father was distant – like he had watched it all in a movie or something.
Leo wore a look of mild embarrassment and patted Chris on the back stiffly. "Um, no. Actually, I didn't. I just met the little Halliwell sisters today."
Chris pulled back quickly back out of the hug and looked at the Charmed Ones, realization dawning on his face.
"What is it?" asked the younger Piper.
"I'm not totally sure, yet. I think I need to know why you guys had to go back to the 1940's," replied Chris.
Grams nodded and turned to Paige. "Yes, what happened? Is the bastard vanquished?" she asked, trying to get them focused back on the matter at hand.
Paige nodded. "Yup. We've got one vanquished darklighter and one cursed pendant in hand!"
Paige and Leo took turns explaining what had happened during their trip to the 40's, with Paige teasing Leo about his 'bachelor pad' and Leo teasing Paige that his past self had thought she had a screw loose. When Paige finally explained what she had learned from Wilkins, the Darklighter, Chris spoke up."That's what I was afraid of – we need to get moving!"
The older Piper cocked her head to one side in concern. "Why? What is it?"
"Don't you see? First an attack when you and Dad are about to get together, now when he first became your whitelighter..." The women continued to look at his with blank expressions, the realization clearly not registering with them. Chris continued, directing his attention to Leo now. "He's attacking all the most significant points in your life, right? This sounds familiar, somehow." he asked.
Grams raised her eyebrows. "Now, he's a quick one!" remarked Prue.
"For a man," added Penny. "I see he took after the Halliwell side of the family! Uh – no offense!" she offered off-handedly to Leo.
Leo brushed it off, too transfixed by the reality of his future son to be much concerned by Penny's jibes. "No problem." He turned to his adult son, still a little awkward. "Anyway, I'd better go check in with the Elders, and see if they have any ideas on what to do next. It was, uh, nice meeting you. Strange… but nice."
Chris returned the gesture with a smile and a nod. "Sure thing, Leo."
Leo paused a moment, not sure what to make of his 'son' calling him by his first name, before his orbs quickly dissipated from the room.
The older Piper turned to her remaining family. "Okay, so we've already figured that the demon is trying to undo Leo's destiny."
"Doesn't look like he's doing a great job at it if I'm still here – hell, I nearly erased myself without even meaning to!" replied Chris wryly.
"Well, you can thank your Aunt Paige and your Father for that," answered Piper.
Chris' eyes widened as he realized something. "Wait – I think I remember seeing something about this in the Book of Shadows... some kind mystical ceremony..."
"I don't," replied both Phoebes simultaneously.
"I guess we know when the entry was added then – after we get back. If we get back," stated Paige.
"So, this Wilkins character – he's a high level demon?" asked Chris.
"No. Just a darklighter," replied Grams.
"How could a darklighter have managed all this by himself?" asked Chris, incredulously.
"Uh, no. He would be working for a powerful demon named Kaalaya. He's looking to form the next Triad," said Prue.
"But how does killing Leo help him?" asked Chris.
"By eliminating the whitelighter, the protector, of the Charmed Ones and husband to one of them from all existence," explained Penny.
"Ok, maybe he's not so quick!" whispered Prue to the younger Phoebe.
Ignoring the jibe, Chris seemed to suddenly spring into action. "Look, this is serious and we can't just wait for him to make the next move. The second this Kaalaya figures out his Darklighter buddy failed he's going to go after this time's Leo directly. We need to go after him now!"
Penny shook her head. "If he's waited this long to make a move for power he's not going to go off half-cocked now."
The older Phoebe nodded. "Yeah. Something tells me he's seriously patient."
The older Piper put her hands on her hips in an unconscious gesture of leadership she'd inherited from her Grams. "True. But I also have a feeling that he's smart enough to have a backup plan in case something went wrong. We need to be prepared and we probably don't have a lot of time."
"Piper is right," added Penny.
Piper continued as a plan quickly rolled off her tongue. "Chris and I can brew some potions up while everyone else can look through any books that might have some info on this demon. Maybe see if there's a way to find him or summon him or something." Abruptly realizing that she's just usurped control of the group in the presence of two family matriarchs, Piper found herself suddenly self-conscience. "That is, uh, if that sounds good to you, Prue? Grams?" she added deferentially.
"Yeah, sounds good to me," replied Prue.
"And I'll go get the little ones," said Penny. "Demons or no, if Kaalaya targets them they're safer here with a house full of powerful witches than just a Wiccan with no active powers. If you girls open up that cabinet under the stack of winter coats in the corner there, you'll find my stash of reference books. They cover a whole range of magical topics that even the Book of Shadows doesn't. They've been collected passed down through centuries of Warren women."
"Isn't there Pledge in this decade?" she complained.
"I don't have time to dust, my dear, I have girls to protect!" called out Penny, lightly dismissing the jibe at her housekeeping as she made her way downstairs.
"Suure," replied the younger Phoebe.
"Yeah, I seem to recall us being her little housekeepers back in the day, don't you sis?" said Prue wryly.
"Well, I certainly recall me doing a lot of housework," said the older Piper as she gave her Phoebe a wry look. The other Piper nodded in agreement.
Paige pulled herself to her feet, and dusted herself off, as she smirked and narrowed her eyes. "Oh, like how Pheebs has somehow always done the dishes last night?"
"Some things never change," answered Prue, as she playfully slapped her Phoebe's arm. She smiled, but Paige’s remark struck home that she truly was one of her sisters, and it pained her to realize that she'd lose out on getting to know her with Piper and Phoebe, just as Paige had missed out growing up with them.
The sisters snickered to themselves before setting about their tasks.
__________________________________________________
After the oldest Piper and Chris had made their way downstairs to the kitchen, they began to set up ingredients and equipment, easily working in tandem as if they'd done this together a thousand times. This certainly wasn't like the first time Chris had come back to save Wyatt. At that time Chris either ended up being completely left out of the process or domineered it from the sisters because he just couldn't seem to get into sync with them – not even his mother. Piper reflected on this change in her adult son's demeanor - how he seemed more familiar with how her timing and flow as she brewed potions – before finally realizing something. She decided she may as well broach the subject since the worst he could do was shoot her down for the umpteenth time. "So, Chris... in this new, good future I probably got to show you all this, huh?" She knew she’d live to see her own grandchildren, she’d been there already, but whether or not she was around to teach him was another question entirely.
Chris nodded absently, as his attention was divided between her question and his task. "Yeah. Not like the first timeline. You were too busy dealing with demons and later Wyatt's issues and then... well, you know. It happened and you were, y'know – gone. So that time around I pretty much learned everything from books and what little Phoebe and Paige had time to show me before things got really bad." He looked up from the jars of ingredients, a faint smile now playing on his face. "But in the new good future... you showed me all your methods and shortcuts. Kind of our own little witch home-tutoring deal when I studied at magic school."
Piper paused mid-stir, her eyes wide at what she was hearing. "Wait – what? But – how? Leo said you just disappeared. You weren't 'up there' or anywhere else. We were never sure what to think about that Chris' fate... You remember all that?"
"Not exactly," replied Chris, unsure of what he should say.
Piper frowned. "Is that why you were a little stand-offish in the attic with this Leo? You barely said much to him directly. Do you still resent him... for letting you die?" she asked in a worried tone.
"What? No!" exclaimed Chris in dismay. "I just want to make sure I give him his space. I mean, this has gotta be overwhelming enough for the guy; meeting his future wife before she's even grown-up, let alone his adult son. But no, me and Dad have an awesome relationship; both me and Wyatt. He really took to heart what the other me told him about not being there for me the first time. Plus, it helps that he's mortal this time around." Seeing that Piper was reassured by this information he chose to withhold the complications of the situation and the dual memories he held. This was mainly because it was something his mom didn't need to worry about as she already worried too much about it in his time and he wanted to save her - and truth be told, his little self - from that for as long as possible.
Piper smiled warmly at this news. "I'm glad." She sighed. "Sometimes it seems like no matter what I do, Leo is destined to always be pulled away for one reason or another. So just when do you get those memories back..." began Piper but she was interrupted by the familiar sound of the front door swinging open with a slam, instantly telling her that 8 year old Phoebe must be home.
Chris returned her smile, though it was more of a surprised grin, "I'm Chris." The little girl flung her arms around his stomach in greeting. "Hi Chris! How old are you? I'm eight years old! You don't look like those fakey uncles that visit Grams sometimes!"
Chris bent down to her eye level. "I'm twenty-three."
"That's pretty old. But you have really pretty color eyes, so I guess that's okay!" replied little Phoebe, considering his face in childish concentration. Something about this strange man was familiar and comforting, just like it had been with the strange new ladies. Are you our cousin too?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah, sure am," replied Chris, as he guessed that's what the sisters had told the little versions of themselves.
By now, Phoebe had decided he was alright. "I like you, so you can stay!" she informed him brightly of her decision.
Chris smiled "Uh, thanks!" he said, a little taken aback by her exuberance and how much she reminded him of her future daughters. 'If only it had been this easy with the sisters when I had come back to 2003,' he thought.
"Another cousin?" asked a preteen Prue suspiciously as she joined her little sister in the kitchen.
'That's more like it,' Chris thought wryly.
Prue leaned on the wall in doorway and crossed her arms, "So, what, is he like your brother or something? He looks like you, kinda."
Piper and Chris exchanged glances. Piper shrugged. "Sure. I mean, yes, he does. My brother Chris, here."
"Why didn't you mention him before?" pried Prue.
"You should leave 'em alone, Prue. I mean, they're family so you should be nice. They're nice to us..." interrupted 10 year old Piper as she stepped into the kitchen. "And they showed me cool tricks with that stuff they're making," finished little Piper as if to say 'so there!'. She rarely stood up to to challenge Prue so boldly, but something about the lady stirring things in the pot gave her confidence in herself. It was weird, but a good kind of weird.
"What kinda tricks?" asked Prue, now more intrigued and a little jealous, forgetting her suspicions.
"Yeah – what kind of tricks?" asked Chris suspiciously. He thought Piper knew better than to reveal magic to these kids by now and risk changing the past.
Adult Piper just rolled her eyes at Chris' paranoid, scolding tone. "Just this mister - " she replied in exasperation as she grabbed a couple of pinches of various colored powders and threw them into an empty bowl. A blue misty POOF exploded from the ceramic bowl, followed by a wisp of red smoke.
"Pyro... uh, pyrotechnics, right?" said little Piper, the new word still clumsy on her tongue.
The 35 year old Piper nodded. "Right. Pyrotechnics," she directed this last bit at Chris, adding, "Harmless."
"Oh," stated Chris flatly, now a bit embarrassed at nearly reprimanding his mother.
The little ones, being kids, didn't catch any meaning behind this little exchange. "Can I help, again?" asked Piper hopefully.
"Uh, hello? I'm in sixth grade, Piper. If anyone should help, it's me," threw back Prue, her defensive jealousy obvious only to the two adults in the room.
Little Piper crossed her arms in a huff, as all she knew was that Prue was butting into her fun. "You never wanna help Grams!"
"Do too!" shot back Prue.
"Nu-uh! You pretend you got homeworks to do when Grams says you gotta do chores!" interjected the 8 year old Phoebe.
"Why you little tattler! I only did that once!" cried Prue, now afraid that the grown-ups would tell her Grams about her tricks.
"But what about -" little Phoebe started in and the girls began to squabble, no longer listening to each other.
The adult Piper, and only experienced parent in the room, held up her hands as Chris began to laugh. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold UP!" demanded Piper, to no avail. She let loose an ear piercing whistle and the room hushed."I'm afraid no one is helping today!"
"Why not?" demanded Prue, defiantly.
"Because...uh... because you have..." fumbled Piper.
Chris quickly jumped to the rescue, finishing her sentence. "Homework. You've got homework don't you? And that's always more important than messing around in the kitchen brewing up... things," he finished, sounding as if he were channeling something he'd heard many times growing up.
Adult Piper nodded. "Right. So off you go! Shoo!" Little Phoebe spun on a dime and scampered up the stairs without more than a wave goodbye. Prue, for her part, pouted for a moment before turning on her heel and grabbing her school books from the living room.
Little Piper's mouth had turned down slightly as she wore a face of disappointment that she was clearly trying to hide. Chris knelt down, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, no worries," he said, offering the girl a smile, "maybe I can show you a few magic tricks later?"
Her eyes brightened at this prospect as her small fingers fiddled with the too long sleeves of her sweater. "Yeah, ok. I mean, if you wanna, that'd be neat."
Chris gave her shoulder a squeeze before standing up. "Sure. No problem."
Satisfied, the 10 year old got a juice box out of the fridge before following her sisters upstairs. After she was gone, Chris slowly turned around to face the 35 year old Piper. A sly grin also slowly formed on his face as he met her gaze.
Piper narrowed her eyes back at his mischievous expression. "What?"
"Nothing..." he replied, but his grin continued to broaden as he spoke. Piper gave him a look he'd seen many a time growing up, which plainly meant 'spill it, Christopher Perry Halliwell'. He threw up his hands in a gesture of peace. "Ok, ok! It's just... this?" he said, nodding his head back at the door the girls had left through. "Priceless! I mean, meeting you before I was born was one thing. This is just... you guys haven't changed a bit!" he exclaimed with a laugh.
Piper rolled her eyes yet again at him. "Oh, please! That's a thing to say! So, what – are you saying that we behave like a bunch of bickering children?"
"No, no... well, yes, actually!" he quickly flung his hands up to protect his face as a dish towel came hurtling at his head in response. "No! You know what I mean. Not the childishness, but the bickering is – aw, c'mon, you know – ok, just let me stop digging myself into this hole?" he pleaded, laughing.
Piper shook her head at him slowly, but a small smirk crept across her face despite herself. "Yes, OKAY... I see it. I can admit it! Especially after watching that other set of us."
"Anyway, it's all pretty adorable," said Chris returning his mother's smirk. It was strange to think of his Aunts as 'adorable' but there really was no other word for it. Even stranger than seeing Wyatt as a toddler. At least in that case he had memories of them growing up together.
This was strange on a whole other level as he could see the roots of his grown-up Aunt's personalities without the filters of adulthood. He wondered for a second if he could handle meeting a little Chris and decided that he'd rather avoid learning that much about himself; too weird.
Piper's voice interrupted his reverie. "Nice save, by the way."
Chris shrugged. "Eh. I just borrowed a line I must've heard from you a thousand times growing up. 'Magic isn’t a way to procrastinate and waste time when you don't wanna do your algebra homework!'" he finished in a sing-song lecturing tone.
Piper smirked at the remark, despite the mocking tone he took quoting her. "I'll remember that…"
Chris paused a moment before asking suspiciously, "Did I just give you the inspiration for my most hated of parental lectures?"
Piper raised an eyebrow, her smirk widening, "Maybe."
"Damn!" muttered Chris. "See why I don't like revealing future stuff? Now I've changed the future in even worse ways!"
__________________________________________________
"Ha! Now, can I get that that cardamom next to you?" asked Piper as she turned back to the bubbling pot before her, giving it a stir.
Kaalaya peered intently into an indigo portal which reflected the image of the intense shelling of a WWII battlefield in the south pacific and a fresh young medic huddled behind a sandbag barricade. The demon hadn't heard back from his Darklighter pawn for many hours and he had begun to worry. Not for that idiot Borzai – his kind were a dime a dozen. No, he was worried that the plan had failed.
"Perchance those cursed witches had somehow followed Borzai and stopped him!" he muttered to himself. Unfortunately, he'd had to close his portal to that period of 1983 to avoid the Charmed Ones from invading his realm, so contact with Borzai was nearly impossible. "We need to open it!" muttered the voice in the back of his mind that had become his only company a millenium ago. "No!" he shouted back from his rational side. "I don't have the time to wait for the three time frames to sync up to Leo's demise! What if things haven't gone as planned? What then?"
"Yes, we must act now, then!" answered his companion from the back of his mind.
"Yes – we must!" Kaalaya agreed with himself. "If things have gone wrong, it will be too late for us to fix it!" Yes, he needed to act now. "But before you do that we must eliminate the threat in totality – we must prevent Leo Wyatt from ever being born!"
"But the paradox that we could create... it would be a tremendous risk after the eons we've invested in this plan... there must be another way."
"No! The Charmed Ones have left us no choice!" the voice hissed from the back of his head.
Perhaps it was his desperation, but the voice finally made perfect sense to Kaalaya. He had no choice but the desperate one. "But we cannot kill the witches... we need them to eliminate the Triad to make way for our rise."
"Of course – yes! It is simple!"
"Yes.. simple. We need only kill the sisters of 2007 – and remove the sisters from 1999 and the little ones from the picture temporarily."
"Until our plan has come to fruition!"
"Then a simple mind wipe from whatever warlock I can dig up..."
"- and we will have more power than even the Source could've imagined!" Kaalaya turned away from the WWII scenes rippling in the portal and waved his hand across an empty space on the wall of his tiny pocket realm and began to recite an incantation under his breath.
This would be a very special portal, indeed – unlike any other he'd created for over two millennia.
A swirl of energy balls, darker than empty space itself, swirled into being before forming a watery image of the Halliwell Manor attic. A predatory grin slowly slithered across his face as the voice once again echoed in the demonic madman's head...
"Welcome to my parlor, said the spider to the fly...