Piper sat in a rocking chair in the nursery, holding her week old baby Chris in her arms. She had been told that the older version of her son had died in her bed, and ever sense then she hadn't felt good about sleeping in it. She would always get up and move down to the couch in the middle of the night. They had been looking for a new bed and found one, but it would be until tomorrow that they got it.
The baby was sleeping soundly, content in his mother's arms. Piper looked at his small, chubby face and smiled. The baby may not have looked like his older self, not yet, but he was still quiet. Wyatt's cry was loud and demanding, while Chris's was more laid back and quiet. Older Chris was always quiet. He said what needed to be said, but he was quiet.
Wyatt whimpered silently in his own crib. The two-year-old was dreaming. Wyatt didn't seem to like his younger brother, but that was to be expected. He had been an only child for so long, and suddenly this other kid comes into his family, stealing most of the attention and making noise all of the time. No one would be happy about that.
Wyatt liked to orb his brother away when he was crying, or when his mother was to busy with Chris to show him the attention that he wanted. Of course he got scolded after that, but at least it was attention.
Piper got up and placed Chris in his own crib, covered him up with a blanket and walked over to the door. She looked back. The room was crowded with two cribs and baby toys laying everywhere. There was very little room for the new baby, but the family was determined to make it work.
Leo would always have to simply look at Chris, just to make sure that he was there and he hadn't vanished again. Leo was being super dad to Chris. When the baby cried, he would always run to him. He would orb if he could, but the Elders had been very angry about the murder of Gideon. He was bumped down to being a simple whitelighter again, and he now had his wings clipped for three years. No one seemed to mind. It was good to have Leo back in their lives.
Piper closed the door and headed to her room. As soon as they knew she was gone, purple orbs came, followed by many demons who shimmered in. The Elder was Darwin, Gideon's ace in the hole. He had told his good friend about the dangers of Wyatt, and told him that if he should ever fail, then he would have to finish what he started. Darwin had agreed and he was now for filling his promise. The only problem was, he didn't know which child was Wyatt!
He had trusted Gideon to take care of the kid, so he had never worried about it. After all, Gideon was smart and powerful. How hard could it be to kill one baby? He had lost touch with the Charmed Ones lives altogether when a charge that was half demon came to be and she needed to be watched constantly for any signs of the demon taking over the witch. And he had only been expecting one child, and here there were two.
"Well?" one of the demons asked, causing Darwin to jump a little. God he was nervous! He had never killed before. He punished those who did kill, and here he was breaking every rule he ever thought to be right.
"Shut up, you fool! We can't wake anyone!" the Elder scolded. The demon gave a small growl. He didn't like being treated like some lackey. The only reason he was here was because this Elder made a good point. This kid was to powerful and if he grows up, then no demon could stand in his way and he would be vanquished in no time.
Darwin was thinking over which child he should take when footsteps could be heard coming to the room.
"Hurry!" his brain commanded. Darwin panicked. He didn't even think. He reached into the crib nearest to him and orbed out. He could hear the door open and a voice scream; "Demons in the nursery!" Then the sounds of a battle starting faded away.
Darwin orbed into a church. Churches had no people at night, the perfect place for the murder of this poor...innocent...little baby. Darwin's mind began to wander to the good this child could do with this power. No! This was too much power for one person, the power would turn him. But Wyatt hadn't done anything yet. Maybe the Charmed Ones watching him would keep him good. But Gideon had said that the child was bad. But it was just a baby!
Darwin continued to think as the baby slept soundly. He didn't seem to realize that he had been moved or that he was being held. He was so innocent... His mind was made up. He wouldn't kill the child, he couldn't. He set Wyatt down on one of the pews and orbed out. Who could kill a baby?
-Nine Years Later-
"Chris! Get down from there!" a child called up a tree. It was a cloudy day, windy but warm. Mark had dared his friend to climb to the top of this tree, he was just joking. The tree was almost insanely big, and no nine-year-old should be going up that high. But Chris was a daredevil, and here he was showing that.
Chris was almost to the top, he had to only go a little way and he could see over San Francisco. Mark was calling after him, telling him to come down and stop being an idiot, but Chris was having too much fun. Soon, Mark's voice could be heard as a whisper and his words could not be understood.
He arrived at the top of the tree and found a suitable place to sit down and over look the city. He liked being up high; it made him feel more powerful then what a nine-year-old orphan was. As the wind blew, he blew as well on the flimsy branches. And people told him it was dangerous to get this high. He saw no danger, just fun and of course a good shot of adrenaline.
After a few minutes, he decided to return back down to earth. Chris started his slow way down, being careful to get his footing just right and to avoid any branches that were unable to hold his weight. But he didn't notice how thin one branch was and as soon as his weight rested on it, the branch gave way. Chris let out a small yelp of surprise but was quick enough to grab hold of another branch that could be trusted.
He breathed a sigh of relief and looked around to see that everything had stopped. Little ants held their position and the leaves stopped blowing in the wind. Great! He had done it again. His stupid hands had frozen where he was and now he had to sit and wait for it to wear off.
This happened a lot. He would freeze not only his surroundings, but the people around him as well. In about ten minutes everything would start to move again and no one would realize that they had just been frozen.
But other things happened. Things would move, or if he thought of something hard enough, it would come to him. The scariest thing was when something would blow up. He just couldn't control what happened. His hands seemed to be the trouble, but some of it was his mind.
Chris sighed. He wouldn't think about this, he would think about how the older kids would envy him when he told them that he had done something else that they had never dared to do. One time, they had been swimming in a pond. On the sides of the pond were rocks that you could jump off of, and there was one that no one dared to go off. It was much too high.
Little seven-year-old Chris climbed up and jumped off the rock, smacking the water hard and touching the bottom of the middle of the pond. By the time he had gotten back up to the surface of the water, he was completely out of breath, sore from hitting the water so hard, and the swim back to shore was about the hardest thing he ever had to do. But in the end he made it and everyone understood that he was no ordinary child.
The scene began to move once again and Mark's voice came back.
"Chris, come back down!"
"I'm comin', I'm comin'." Chris replied. He jumped down and landed on his feet, facing Mark with a smile that stretched from ear to ear.
"Are you happy?"
"Yes I am."
"Good, 'cause we know that that's the most important thing in the world. Chris must be happy or we all die."
"Damn right."
"You're to young to be cursing." Mark scolded playfully.
"No I'm not." Chris didn't understand what made a bad word a bad word. Who had such power to say that a few words were worse then all the rest? No one did as far as he was concerned. And he hung out with fifteen- year-olds that cursed all the time. He knew how to use the so-called 'bad words.'
"Chris! Mark! Come on! Terri wants us!" Came a voice. They both turned to see a boy a few feet away. Terri was their 'mother.' She owned the orphanage and took care of all of them.
The two quickly started running toward their home. Terri was a mother to be respected. No one rebelled in the orphanage. They all listened to what Terri told them to do, and when she wanted someone, they came to her, she didn't come to them. The kids were just thankful that she took care of them. They could be on the streets with no one to love them or at one of the big time orphanages where you were just there to make the owners money, not to be loved.
Kids ran wildly threw the busy San Francisco streets. Mark and Chris met up with many of their friends as they ran along, pushing threw people with no respect. Any one of these bastards could be the one that threw them away in some orphanage, so why be nice? They ran to meet up with Kerri, to make her happy that they got to her so quickly. See, they could be good kids. Their parents had no right to throw them away.
Kids began pouring into the doors and sitting in the tiny living room. Thirty-seven children of all ages. The youngest was three and she was carried around by the oldest who was seventeen, his birthday was next week. He had been talking with Kerri to adopt the little girl that he had been with for almost a year now. They had grown to love each other and he didn't know how to give her up.
"Everybody here?" Kerri asked as she stepped into the doorway. She was forty-two, but looked about ten years older. The voices of all the kids came into a 'yes.' "Good. Now, all of you have to be cleaned up tomorrow. We have a nice couple coming in wanting to adopt early in the morning, so be on your best behavior." Everyone moaned. They hated when a family came in. Either one of their family members was taken away, or they would all be rejected and feel like they weren't worth adopting.
"Oh, don't give me that." Kerri said and everyone fell silent.
"Kerri, your not gonna let them take Emily are you?" Ryan asked with the three-year-old on his knee. She didn't quite understand what it meant to have a family come yet, and Ryan wanted to make sure she never remembered that she was put up for adoption.
"Nope, Emily is all yours." She smiled at Ryan, happy to know that the baby was going with someone she knew and trusted. Ryan was a good boy, and his eyes lit up when he knew that Emily was all his. "Now, off to bed with all of you. You're getting up early tomorrow." Everyone moaned once again to show their displeasure then headed to their rooms.
Chris shared a room with eleven other kids, all older then him.
"Why does she even make us show ourselves off?" John asked. "I'm sixteen, two more years until I'm off to collage, no one wants that. They always go for the babies." He complained.
"Even Chris is to old for anyone, and he still has nine years left on him." Mark said.
"But people want the whole experience." John countered.
"I can't see why." Hunter said. "Who wants to get up ten times at night just to change a diaper full of shit?"
"God knows."
The boys settled into their beds. One girl was in their room, but she was only twelve, so Kerri didn't think that anything bad would happen to her in a room full of guys.
Chris didn't fall right asleep. He thought it over. He would never be chosen to be with a family. He would be like John or Ryan, here all their lives, living with so many others and wearing rags for cloths. Sure it could be nice but everyone wanted a family. But he was nine, no one wanted him. He didn't know what he would do away from everyone anyway. He loved them all, even if not all of them loved him back. He wouldn't know how to act in a family.
Soon, the sounds of everyone else's steady breathing took him over and rocked Chris to sleep the way it always did. He liked it here, it was nice and he didn't want to leave. But a family was the greatest thing in the world, and he wanted one.
A/N: Okay, first chapter. Read and review!!
The baby was sleeping soundly, content in his mother's arms. Piper looked at his small, chubby face and smiled. The baby may not have looked like his older self, not yet, but he was still quiet. Wyatt's cry was loud and demanding, while Chris's was more laid back and quiet. Older Chris was always quiet. He said what needed to be said, but he was quiet.
Wyatt whimpered silently in his own crib. The two-year-old was dreaming. Wyatt didn't seem to like his younger brother, but that was to be expected. He had been an only child for so long, and suddenly this other kid comes into his family, stealing most of the attention and making noise all of the time. No one would be happy about that.
Wyatt liked to orb his brother away when he was crying, or when his mother was to busy with Chris to show him the attention that he wanted. Of course he got scolded after that, but at least it was attention.
Piper got up and placed Chris in his own crib, covered him up with a blanket and walked over to the door. She looked back. The room was crowded with two cribs and baby toys laying everywhere. There was very little room for the new baby, but the family was determined to make it work.
Leo would always have to simply look at Chris, just to make sure that he was there and he hadn't vanished again. Leo was being super dad to Chris. When the baby cried, he would always run to him. He would orb if he could, but the Elders had been very angry about the murder of Gideon. He was bumped down to being a simple whitelighter again, and he now had his wings clipped for three years. No one seemed to mind. It was good to have Leo back in their lives.
Piper closed the door and headed to her room. As soon as they knew she was gone, purple orbs came, followed by many demons who shimmered in. The Elder was Darwin, Gideon's ace in the hole. He had told his good friend about the dangers of Wyatt, and told him that if he should ever fail, then he would have to finish what he started. Darwin had agreed and he was now for filling his promise. The only problem was, he didn't know which child was Wyatt!
He had trusted Gideon to take care of the kid, so he had never worried about it. After all, Gideon was smart and powerful. How hard could it be to kill one baby? He had lost touch with the Charmed Ones lives altogether when a charge that was half demon came to be and she needed to be watched constantly for any signs of the demon taking over the witch. And he had only been expecting one child, and here there were two.
"Well?" one of the demons asked, causing Darwin to jump a little. God he was nervous! He had never killed before. He punished those who did kill, and here he was breaking every rule he ever thought to be right.
"Shut up, you fool! We can't wake anyone!" the Elder scolded. The demon gave a small growl. He didn't like being treated like some lackey. The only reason he was here was because this Elder made a good point. This kid was to powerful and if he grows up, then no demon could stand in his way and he would be vanquished in no time.
Darwin was thinking over which child he should take when footsteps could be heard coming to the room.
"Hurry!" his brain commanded. Darwin panicked. He didn't even think. He reached into the crib nearest to him and orbed out. He could hear the door open and a voice scream; "Demons in the nursery!" Then the sounds of a battle starting faded away.
Darwin orbed into a church. Churches had no people at night, the perfect place for the murder of this poor...innocent...little baby. Darwin's mind began to wander to the good this child could do with this power. No! This was too much power for one person, the power would turn him. But Wyatt hadn't done anything yet. Maybe the Charmed Ones watching him would keep him good. But Gideon had said that the child was bad. But it was just a baby!
Darwin continued to think as the baby slept soundly. He didn't seem to realize that he had been moved or that he was being held. He was so innocent... His mind was made up. He wouldn't kill the child, he couldn't. He set Wyatt down on one of the pews and orbed out. Who could kill a baby?
-Nine Years Later-
"Chris! Get down from there!" a child called up a tree. It was a cloudy day, windy but warm. Mark had dared his friend to climb to the top of this tree, he was just joking. The tree was almost insanely big, and no nine-year-old should be going up that high. But Chris was a daredevil, and here he was showing that.
Chris was almost to the top, he had to only go a little way and he could see over San Francisco. Mark was calling after him, telling him to come down and stop being an idiot, but Chris was having too much fun. Soon, Mark's voice could be heard as a whisper and his words could not be understood.
He arrived at the top of the tree and found a suitable place to sit down and over look the city. He liked being up high; it made him feel more powerful then what a nine-year-old orphan was. As the wind blew, he blew as well on the flimsy branches. And people told him it was dangerous to get this high. He saw no danger, just fun and of course a good shot of adrenaline.
After a few minutes, he decided to return back down to earth. Chris started his slow way down, being careful to get his footing just right and to avoid any branches that were unable to hold his weight. But he didn't notice how thin one branch was and as soon as his weight rested on it, the branch gave way. Chris let out a small yelp of surprise but was quick enough to grab hold of another branch that could be trusted.
He breathed a sigh of relief and looked around to see that everything had stopped. Little ants held their position and the leaves stopped blowing in the wind. Great! He had done it again. His stupid hands had frozen where he was and now he had to sit and wait for it to wear off.
This happened a lot. He would freeze not only his surroundings, but the people around him as well. In about ten minutes everything would start to move again and no one would realize that they had just been frozen.
But other things happened. Things would move, or if he thought of something hard enough, it would come to him. The scariest thing was when something would blow up. He just couldn't control what happened. His hands seemed to be the trouble, but some of it was his mind.
Chris sighed. He wouldn't think about this, he would think about how the older kids would envy him when he told them that he had done something else that they had never dared to do. One time, they had been swimming in a pond. On the sides of the pond were rocks that you could jump off of, and there was one that no one dared to go off. It was much too high.
Little seven-year-old Chris climbed up and jumped off the rock, smacking the water hard and touching the bottom of the middle of the pond. By the time he had gotten back up to the surface of the water, he was completely out of breath, sore from hitting the water so hard, and the swim back to shore was about the hardest thing he ever had to do. But in the end he made it and everyone understood that he was no ordinary child.
The scene began to move once again and Mark's voice came back.
"Chris, come back down!"
"I'm comin', I'm comin'." Chris replied. He jumped down and landed on his feet, facing Mark with a smile that stretched from ear to ear.
"Are you happy?"
"Yes I am."
"Good, 'cause we know that that's the most important thing in the world. Chris must be happy or we all die."
"Damn right."
"You're to young to be cursing." Mark scolded playfully.
"No I'm not." Chris didn't understand what made a bad word a bad word. Who had such power to say that a few words were worse then all the rest? No one did as far as he was concerned. And he hung out with fifteen- year-olds that cursed all the time. He knew how to use the so-called 'bad words.'
"Chris! Mark! Come on! Terri wants us!" Came a voice. They both turned to see a boy a few feet away. Terri was their 'mother.' She owned the orphanage and took care of all of them.
The two quickly started running toward their home. Terri was a mother to be respected. No one rebelled in the orphanage. They all listened to what Terri told them to do, and when she wanted someone, they came to her, she didn't come to them. The kids were just thankful that she took care of them. They could be on the streets with no one to love them or at one of the big time orphanages where you were just there to make the owners money, not to be loved.
Kids ran wildly threw the busy San Francisco streets. Mark and Chris met up with many of their friends as they ran along, pushing threw people with no respect. Any one of these bastards could be the one that threw them away in some orphanage, so why be nice? They ran to meet up with Kerri, to make her happy that they got to her so quickly. See, they could be good kids. Their parents had no right to throw them away.
Kids began pouring into the doors and sitting in the tiny living room. Thirty-seven children of all ages. The youngest was three and she was carried around by the oldest who was seventeen, his birthday was next week. He had been talking with Kerri to adopt the little girl that he had been with for almost a year now. They had grown to love each other and he didn't know how to give her up.
"Everybody here?" Kerri asked as she stepped into the doorway. She was forty-two, but looked about ten years older. The voices of all the kids came into a 'yes.' "Good. Now, all of you have to be cleaned up tomorrow. We have a nice couple coming in wanting to adopt early in the morning, so be on your best behavior." Everyone moaned. They hated when a family came in. Either one of their family members was taken away, or they would all be rejected and feel like they weren't worth adopting.
"Oh, don't give me that." Kerri said and everyone fell silent.
"Kerri, your not gonna let them take Emily are you?" Ryan asked with the three-year-old on his knee. She didn't quite understand what it meant to have a family come yet, and Ryan wanted to make sure she never remembered that she was put up for adoption.
"Nope, Emily is all yours." She smiled at Ryan, happy to know that the baby was going with someone she knew and trusted. Ryan was a good boy, and his eyes lit up when he knew that Emily was all his. "Now, off to bed with all of you. You're getting up early tomorrow." Everyone moaned once again to show their displeasure then headed to their rooms.
Chris shared a room with eleven other kids, all older then him.
"Why does she even make us show ourselves off?" John asked. "I'm sixteen, two more years until I'm off to collage, no one wants that. They always go for the babies." He complained.
"Even Chris is to old for anyone, and he still has nine years left on him." Mark said.
"But people want the whole experience." John countered.
"I can't see why." Hunter said. "Who wants to get up ten times at night just to change a diaper full of shit?"
"God knows."
The boys settled into their beds. One girl was in their room, but she was only twelve, so Kerri didn't think that anything bad would happen to her in a room full of guys.
Chris didn't fall right asleep. He thought it over. He would never be chosen to be with a family. He would be like John or Ryan, here all their lives, living with so many others and wearing rags for cloths. Sure it could be nice but everyone wanted a family. But he was nine, no one wanted him. He didn't know what he would do away from everyone anyway. He loved them all, even if not all of them loved him back. He wouldn't know how to act in a family.
Soon, the sounds of everyone else's steady breathing took him over and rocked Chris to sleep the way it always did. He liked it here, it was nice and he didn't want to leave. But a family was the greatest thing in the world, and he wanted one.
A/N: Okay, first chapter. Read and review!!