Title: Watching the Whitelighter
Canon: Charmed
Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed. Duh!
Genre: Drama/Angst.
Main Characters: Chris, Leo, Phoebe, Piper, Wyatt../
Pairing: Chris/Bianca tones, with plenty of Piper/Leo tones.
Timeline: Post Chris-Crossed, a while after Chris has been thrown out.
Summary: Leo Wyatt often takes the initiative to follow the whitelighter that he doesn't trust around. Often times it just leaves him with more to think about.
Leo could never pinpoint Christopher Perry. All he could do was locate his usual haunts, P3, and strangely enough the Golden Gate Bridge. As an Elder he could turn himself invisible and mute his self in these jaunts. Maybe he was being forced to leave his family, but he would protect them as best he could. And as far as Leo was concerned, Chris was being a threat.
It's night and the moon is bright over the sky. It's raining though and if it wasn't for his robes he was sure he would freeze. That's why he was surprised to fine Perry Sitting up against a wall in one of the wet niches and just soaking up the rain. He seemed oblivious to the cold though it was almost like he was part of the rain.
There was a guitar in his hands and it took him a few minutes to remember that he had seen it in the back office Piper had allowed him to use. The young man was simply strumming some random notes. Leo seemed to get the idea that he really knew how to play. Why else would it have been one of the few things Chris Perry had brought back from the past?
He hadn't expected him to start strumming a more noticeable rhythm, though there was no way for him to recognize it. He was doubtful it was something he had ever heard before.
The strands in your eyes
That color them wonderful
Stop me and steal my breath
Leo Wyatt gave a start. The lyrics were beautiful sure but the voice struck a chord somewhere in him. He couldn't know it was because it was so familiar to someone he loved. What he did recognize was the muted pain underneath them.
He watched and listened. If he was an emotional woman he might have cried. He just let his eyes wonder past the rain falling so silently up here and tried to imagine what it was he saw. The time traveler had never been a big sharer on what the future was like, and for a second Leo believed that if it caused someone this much pain, that maybe he didn't want to know.
He waited a while longer for Chris to go on, but there was no more music. There was some gentle sideways strumming, but otherwise nothing. They were up there a long time after that, Chris simply staring off into space and sighing. There was a moment when Leo happened to be watching when the young man had looked up at the sky and for one bare second had let everything appear on his face, (pain and hurt and betrayel and Bianca and death and have-to-save-Wyatt) before closing his eyes and shutting the pain back, deep in his soul.
Hidden and still, Leo felt horrible as if he was the cause of the pain. He tried to smash the instinct to go over and do his best to heal the pain, but still there was something in him that wanted to whimper for the young boy. He orbed away when the young man's lips started to go blue, not wanting to see the pain Chris Perry was hiding from the world.
Phoebe was sitting at the counter when he orbed in. She was wearing work clothes and he had to wonder how long she'd been there. Looking at the clock, he realised it was after three in the morning.
"Phoebe?" he called from beside her. She didn't budge. He tried again. "Phoebe?" he was on the other side of the counter now. She jerked up now, nearly falling off of the stool.
"Leo?" she asked, realizing her mouth was chalky and her voice a little stale. She blinked and looked around. Was it a little darker now than a moment ago?
"What are you still doing up?" he asked.
"What are you doing here?" she replied before wincing at his flinch. She loved Leo, didn't mean to be so mean. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that."
"It's okay," he said, feeling so guilty and hurt and tired all of the sudden. "I pretty much deserved it. I'm an Elder now, and" he raised his arms a little off of the counter to show his annoyingly gold robes, "I know I can't be here like I need to be."
"That's okay though." She paused, not knowing how to really bring it up but needing to at the same time. Leo could block most of his emotions compared to her sisters, and she needed to say something. The whole mess of the past few months were so tiring to her. "You know, Piper didn't really want a divorce."
He put his head in the hands to steady himself. "I know, I know."
"Then why did you give it?"
"Because she asked," and that was enough to explain it to her when he looked into Phoebe's eyes. Leo would do anything Piper asked of him. No matter the consequence.
"I don't think you should have."
"It doesn't matter now though." He replied, trying to get off the subject.
"But it does, I mean-" she tried to settle it, but he moved on.
"It doesn't matter now, Phoebe. I gave her what she wanted and will continue to do so, but I can't be here all of the time. Chris is here for the whitelighter stuff now."
"But what about the husbandly fatherly stuff now?" she tried to ask but knew she shouldn't have when his jaw clenched and he looked down.
"I can break a few more rules when I need to be here. And I will be, I mean, for the family." Phoebe gave slight saddened smile. Yeah, he would always be family. These past few months had been impossible.
"So, what are you still doing up?" he asked. She looked up. "It's morning, Phoebe." He explained.
She jerked up, suddenly glancing around for a clock. "Oh." She breathed, realizing that it really was early in the morning. "I didn't realize…"
"What's he matter?"
"I was just thinking."
"About what?" he asked and for a moment she rolled her eyes. He had always been their sort of home psychologist when it came to personal problems.
"About Chris," she sighed out, turning back up to him. She didn't miss his eyes. It was like something entered, a thousand little things. Leo didn't really like him, she knew. At the moment neither did she.
"What about him?" he asked, sounding lighter than he felt.
"My stupid empathy powers go haywire when I'm around too many people. But around Chris I've been kind of safe. I can never get anything off of him and you and Paige had always said how you can never pinpoint him unless he's in your immediate vicinity. And I know from Piper," she didn't have to look up to see the pain and love and worry enter Leo's eyes when she mentioned the other Charmed Witch, "that he is so friggin neurotic. I mean, I want to save Wyatt too of course, but he doesn't tell us anything. He's worse than Alcatraz Island where they store things up and throw away the key."
She breathed out, her emotions having risen somewhat. She liked Chris, was worried about him, but she didn't know how to say anything without the others blowing up at her.
"And every time we're mean to him I feel sick like I kicked a favorite puppy or something." Leo listened to this and felt the same. "But the other day, when Chris came back from the future…" she paused, not sure how to say it and lost in the emotion, "It was like someone punched me in the gut. There was a minute there when he had no shields and I could feel so much pain and love and hurt." She had Leo's attention now, and had to close her eyes to keep the tears at bay. She sniffled though. "And I wanted to just die."
They were silent for a while, the rain beating down on the ground and around the manor leaving small thwacking noises beating the silence. It had helped lull Wyatt to sleep.
"I don't trust him. He's hiding something. I don't believe he's a threat like a demon would be, but…"
"Yeah, I know what you mean. And I know for a fact that Piper sees something in him. I don't know what it is but…" Phoebe sighed, trying to find the words. "I know she feels a bond to him like she does to Wyatt and all the little people we end up helping. And it confuses her and then it confuses me and there are times when we all just want to gather around him and pummel him but its not because we hate him. It's because we're afraid for him and we don't know why. And I can't even admit it to myself and I know Paige and Piper are totally confused about it and it makes them lash out."
Leo and Phoebe talked for a while longer, but by the time the long hand reached all the way up again, Phoebe had finally said goodnight, leaving Leo at the counter, her cold cup of tea having long cooled. It was simply loose on the counter as if someone had left it and never come back. He dumped it out and cleaned the cup.
Leo Wyatt made his way upstairs, making himself invisible again. He slipped into the room he had shared with Piper to find his wife- ex-wife asleep on her side of the bed still. Her back was to the middle of the bed while her pillow was bunched up in front of her nearly hanging off the left side of the bed. Slowly, as to not alert her of a presence, he settled on his side of the bed and though he knew he probably shouldn't, he couldn't help but gather her up in his arms and feel so over the world when she responded as he remembered and curled up to him with her back against his chest.
She was still asleep, still responsive to him. And he knew they still loved each other. He felt guilty for it but couldn't help but do so. Maybe he was an Elder but he was human too and he needed her more than he cared to admit. He ran his fingers through her hair slowly, the small strands occasionally falling to tickle her nose.
He got up eventually, making sure she was still comfortable and covered from the chill. He orbed to the hallway, not wanting the squeak of the door. He was still invisible though. Walking to the nursery where he expected his son to be asleep, he was momentarily startled by the sound of orbs. He snuck into the room himself just as the other orbs finished recollecting to find Chris.
What was he doing here now? Leo wondered with alarm.
The worried father that he was, he remained still and invisible but went to the side to protect his son. He watched the whitelighter his previous doubts and suspicions returning in full force.
The young man walked over and Leo readied himself to defend his son. But there was no attack. Chris walked right up to the young baby and looked over the edge of the cradle. "You okay, Wy?" he asked with a small line on his lips.
Wy? The Elder wonderedLeo was surprised to find that his son hadn't been asleep as he previously thought. Babies often woke and slept in little cycles. He was probably just awakened, he thought, as the small baby looked tired. But the father was further surprised that Wyatt hadn't shot up his shield he had always had around Chris.
Chris stood right over the cradle, just a few inches from Leo, and took the kicked off blankets in his hands, wrapping them around the small baby. I wonder where he learned this from, Leo thought without really paying attention to his own thoughts.
"Kis," came a small voice, and Leo looked down in surprise.
There was a small chuckle from above and Leo looked back to the young whitelighter. It sounded almost carefree or maybe relieved of his burdens for a moment. "Yeah Wy, it's Chris."
/// ..."Kis!" the baby speaks and, laughing, his mother and aunts gather around him and peck his cheeck with sloppy succking kisses. "Kis!" the baby speaks again and they comply. His mother wonders when he has heard that word but ignores it, content to kiss her son as he demands. She looks up and smiles as his Aunts go in for another round of Kisses... ///
Leo wonders if this should worry him more than it is but think sit explains so much. His son hadn't been asking for kisses, he had been asking for Chris. Maybe he can be trusted, he thinks. If Wyatt trusts him, then shouldn't we all? And then the reaction of Wyatt and Chris at his mentor Gideon reminds him that he is still a baby and that no one is perfect. So I'll still watch extra careful.
"Kis," the small child said again, bringing another chuckle from the young whitelighter.
"Da," the baby said then, looking at Leo.
Leo gives a start but is relieved- apparently the whitelighter doesn't realise that the man is there. "Nah, Wy. Da is probably in with Mommy right now."
Leo's breathe went out of him for a number of reasons. But mainly, how did he know I would be in with Piper?
He blinked but remained watching them. So he was aware when Chris looked behind himself to one of the small desks in the room. Leo had no idea what he was doing until the small object he had been looking at disappeared in a small tinkle of orbs. Wyatt's blue binky appeared in Wyatt's mouth, who immediately began suckling on it.
So, he has telekinesis like Prue's and orbing telekinesis like Paige's, Leo surmised. He wondered to himself what other powers the young half-breed had, and then wondered again how many other couple had families of witches and whitelighters in the future.
Chris laughed softly, and Leo wondered why it had sounded so familiar to him. "Keep safe WY," he said, before rechecking that the blankets were all around the little boy to keep him warm. "We have to make sure nothing gets to you, this time. Understand?" the baby gave no acknowledgement but closing his eyes to go to sleep.
Chris nodded to himself with a sigh and stood back. As he orbed away, he said, "Danger Wyatt" and the force field came on as if Piper had been the one to warn him.
The orb remains diminished leaving the Elder, Leo Wyatt, alone with his son. He was suddenly so much relieved to have Chris around. But he had a lot to think about now.
"Da," the baby spoke with an innocent and quiet giggle, the blue binky falling from his mouth. Leo smiled, walking through the force field. He picked up the binky and put it back in his smiling son's face. Get some sleep, buddy. Mommy will be up in a few hours."
End.