Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed. No infringement is intended and no profit is made from this story. This is a work of my own imagination, but I was inspired to write this after reading so many amazing Chris revelation stories over the years. So a huge thank you to Emma15 for writing When Family Calls, DisneyRBD for writing In His Soul, and NextGeneration for writing Dead Promises!

Author's Note: This is set after Prince Charmed. In this story, Bianca and Chris were never engaged and they never had a romantic relationship – they were just good friends. Also, Phoebe ends up with Cole instead of Coop in this story (Paige still ends up with Henry though). Caleb is the half-manticore baby from the episode "Little Monsters" and Emily is the "sweet little psychic" that stole Wyatt's play-doh in the episode "Witch Wars." The rest are original characters!

Chapter One:

You Have A Visitor

"Family is not an important thing, it's everything."

– Michael J. Fox

So this was 2004.

Huh. Interesting.

It seemed an awful lot like 2003 if you asked him.

Then again, the Manor's attic never changed much over the decades. No additions, no major renovations beyond the installation of a beautiful stone fireplace with a mirror above that conceals a TV and lit candles on the mantle.

Being here…in the Manor's attic…the place he would once again call home someday…the place that in his time had been shattered and put together as a museum…probably wasn't one of his better ideas.

If one of the girls happened to wander in, he would be lucky if he wasn't killed right there on the spot. When it came to him the policy always seemed to be hex first, ask questions later.

It would be in everybody's best interests, his especially though, if he kept that in mind and tried to behave. Try being the operative word.

God damn it.

God damn it to hell and back.

This was going to be infinitely harder than he originally imagined.

The reality of it all began to make him nauseous, but he had no choice. Duty called, family loyalty was on the line, and he had a nephew to track down. The sooner the better.

If only it wasn't 2004…

He could really use the help of the sisters. This whole tracking-a-nephew-down thing would be a hell of a lot easier if he actually had them on his side. Working with him. Like old times. Like they would start to do again in the not-so-distant future.

But this was 2004 and the sisters still hated him with a fiery passion, so that was definitely a no-go.

With a heavy sigh, Cole Turner shimmered out of the attic all the while thinking: one neurotic, sarcastic, self-destructive, intent-on-giving-me-gray-hairs nephew coming right up.

Leo and Piper stood on one side of the living room while Phoebe and Paige stood on the opposite side, facing them. They were at an impasse and it was becoming increasingly clear that there would be no easy resolution to the present issue at hand. All morning long, Phoebe and Paige had been trying desperately to get through to Leo and Piper before they made a huge mistake. Unfortunately, nothing they said seemed to be sinking in. Apparently, Chris had inspired so much distrust that the separated duo was able to set their differences aside and team up again.

"Would you two just hear us out?" Phoebe yelled at her big sister and her ex-brother-in-law, but still good friend. "Chris is here on a mission to save Wyatt, your son. I think a mission of that seriousness is enough to warrant his…uhm…well his unusual means and methods."

"He accused Wyatt of being evil!" Piper cried out.

"He sent me to Valhalla!" Leo complained at the same time.

The outbursts from the two parents caused Phoebe to let out a frustrated sigh, a million different emotions with a million different names welling up inside her. She was at her breaking point. She was not a confrontational person by nature, and there was only so much she could take of this. As far as she was concerned, Chris was a resource they could not let go to waste. He was here to help them. He was here to save Wyatt. Why couldn't Piper and Leo see that? How could they allow their stubbornness blind them to the potential consequences of their proposed actions?

Sensing Phoebe was about to explode, Paige decided that it was her sisterly duty to step in and add her two cents in.

"Chris has never done anything to harm Wyatt or this family," Paige pointed out. "Sure, he hasn't exactly been forthcoming about the future, but that's hardly definitive proof that he's evil."

"I can't believe we're arguing over Chris," Leo spat his name as if it were poison on his tongue, "when we could be uncovering his many secrets! I thought you would be on my–our–side!"

Paige rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm on your side, Leo. How could you even think otherwise? I just think it would be best that we know the truth before we start throwing accusations. You know, innocent until proven guilty and all that jazz."

"This will help us get to the truth!" Piper said, waving the scrap of paper that she had used to scrawl the spell down on wildly in the air.

Piper didn't want to believe that Wyatt had turned out evil. Couldn't believe it. She had nothing personal against Chris, but there was simply no way that her baby boy would become wayward from the path of fighting evil and saving innocents…from the ways of their family. No. Just, no. It wasn't going to happen. Not on her watch. And since that wasn't a possibility she was willing to entertain, that could only mean one thing: Chris was lying.

Little did she know just how true that would end up being. Wyatt hadn't turned evil on her watch. Sure, the seeds of corruption had already been planted there. But technically he hadn't turned evil. Not while she was still breathing. No, that came when Wyatt was sixteen…a year after his mother's death.

"Something other than invading Chris' memories."

Piper visibly deflated at that.

Leo, on the other hand, remained unwavering in his vendetta against Chris. Before the manipulative half-whitelighter had come along, Leo had been a much happier man. Leo had been proud of his many labels–husband, father, brother-in-law, whitelighter to the Charmed Ones. Nowadays, he could barely recognize the man in the mirror staring back at him.

Chris was evil. He had to be.

Leo was certain that this spell would prove that. All he had to do was sway one more sister to his side. Then, instead of being split down the middle, it would be three against one. Majority ruled.

"I vaguely understand what you are saying. It's not the most ethical thing to do," Leo admitted.

"That's for sure," Phoebe said.

"But if it keeps Wyatt safe it's worth it. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Isn't that what Chris has been going on about since day one?" Leo asked, using Chris' own words against him.

"We all want Wyatt safe, Chris included," Paige said carefully, "but what you guys are suggesting is risky. We have no idea what this spell will show us and there are some things about the future that shouldn't be known in advance. Things that we need to let run its natural course."

"We need to know if Chris is a threat. He claims to be here to save the future, but he refuses to tell us anything. He's a lying liar who lies, lies, and then lies some more. We have no proof that he's even good. For all we know, he could be here to change the future in worse ways." Piper snapped, glaring at her two younger sisters. "Besides, the Elders gave Leo their blessing."

"Um Piper," Paige said slowly, "I hate to break it to you, but that's not exactly encouraging seeing as how we never agree with the Elders."

"Not the point."

Leo nodded in agreement, "despite past differences, the Elders are good. They, too, want to know what Chris is up to. We need to know his true intentions. This is the only way."

Phoebe opened her mouth to protest, but suddenly a demon shimmered in.

Everybody turned to look as the demon materialized before them.

As the initial shock wore off and recognition set in, everything went to hell in a handbasket.

So this was what it felt like to lose everything.

Chris sat on top of the Golden Gate Bridge doing what he did best. Brooding.

Even in his time, as screwed up as it was, he didn't feel this…

Alone.

Depressed.

Tired.

Hopeless.

Yes, in his time, evil had essentially won.

He had lost so much. Mom, Wyatt, Phoebe, Henry, Lacey, Cara, Emily, and Cat.

Cat. My Cat. Chris swallowed and took a deep breath at the thought of his dead fiancée. It hurt to think about her and it hurt not to think about her. She was his soul mate in every sense of the word. When she cried, he tasted the salt. She was with him through all his highs and lows. When he fell apart, she was his rock. And when she died, a huge piece of him died with her.

But he still had Mellie. He still had Lauren and Lyla. He still had Junior and Sophia. He still had Cole and Paige. He still had Jake.

Despite the hell his life had become, he still had family and friends. He still had a place to call home. Maybe not the home he had grown up in, but a home nonetheless.

Here, in 2004, he had nothing.

He could deal with Leo's arrogant, condescending crap. After all, he had dealt with it once before. The hate, anger, and mistrust from Mom – no, Piper – was unbearable though.

He didn't know what he had expected when he came to the past, but it certainly wasn't this.

The sisters were so…uncaring…cold...hostile…scary, even.

And it unnerved him. The Charmed Ones unnerved him.

He'd thought such a thing to be nigh impossible.

Then again, he'd once thought a lot of things…

Before he could dwell on that thought anymore, he heard a terrible ringing in his ears. "CHRISTOPHER PERRY," his mom – no, Piper, he needed to keep them separate in his head – roared in a way that only his mother could. No one dared to defy that tone. "ORB YOUR ASS TO THE MANOR IMMEDIATELY OR I WON'T HESITATE TO BLOW YOUR ASS BACK TO THE FUTURE!"

Chris froze at those words and the turmoil they managed to create within him. With that one sentence, Piper sounded so much like the mother he knew and loved.

Snapshots of his life pushed their way, one after the other, to the forefront of his mind…

Click…

Suppressed laughter as his mom rushed to his side and pulled him into a warm embrace, but glared disapprovingly at Wyatt who was standing at the end of his hospital bed.

"Wyatt Matthew Halliwell, what the hell were you thinking? I can't believe you dared your baby brother to jump off of a freaking roof and into the pool! He could have died!"

Click…

Pre-teen annoyance as the all too familiar ringing in his ear interrupted his conversation with his friends.

"Christopher Perry Halliwell, you have exactly two minutes to orb your ass home!"

Click…

Inner panic and wondrous joy at the same time – Ally, Cat to him, lying beneath him on his bed, her long platinum blonde hair fanned out over his pillow, staring up at him with those crystal blue eyes. Her cheeks were flushed pink. Both of their lips were red and bruised from kissing.

"Christopher? Ethan just called looking for Ally, have you seen or heard from her today? Why is your door closed?"

Chris sighed, his memories haunting him, as he dissolved into millions of blue and white particles to go see what Piper wanted.

So…

The tracking-a-nephew-down thing…

Not really working out.

Especially since said nephew was currently using a particularly powerful cloaking potion, courtesy of none other than his daughter. He was going to have to have a talk with Lauren when he got back.

If he got back.

With his options and time limited, it looked like he was going to have to turn to the sisters for help.

In 2004 of all years.

Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

"Yeah?" Chris asked, the expression on his face carefully blank, as soon as he materialized.

"You have a visitor." Piper said sarcastically as she waved a hand towards Cole.

"Uncle Cole…" the words were out before he could stop them and he internally cursed himself for the slip.

"Did he just call you Uncle Cole?" Phoebe hissed, staring at her ex-husband…who was supposed to be dead!

"So the lying liar who lies is part witch, part whitelighter, and part demon? You've got to be kidding me!" Piper cried.

"Chris is my nephew through marriage." Cole answered, too busy evaluating the state of his nephew to care that he had just dropped a bombshell.

Phoebe's eyes widened comically, "Marriage?"

Cole nodded, a hint of amusement in his gaze.

"Piper, Paige," Phoebe called out, "the spell."

Paige's mouth dropped open while she stared incredulously at her big sister.

"I'm sorry Chris," Phoebe said slowly as she looked sheepishly at the confused man, "but if you're related to him…we have to do this for Wyatt's sake."

Leo smiled triumphantly, "Wyatt's our family and family comes first."

Piper nodded, "three against one, Paige, which means that we're decided."

Paige shook her hear back and forth, but she still went over to her sisters.

The three women crowded together over the paper in Piper's hand, reading out loud in perfect sync.

"Hear these words, hear our cry

Heed the hope within our mind –"

"What are you doing?" Chris asked, having finally recovered from his shock.

"Show us what we wish to see

Reveal to us the life Chris Perry had to flee."

All of a sudden, a bright light surrounded everyone as they felt like the world was spinning around them. Then, they found themselves in what appeared to be a school office.

"What just happened?" Chris asked.

"We're in the future." Cole sighed. "This is Magic School."

Having never heard of Magic School, the sisters looked at him like he was crazy. "Huh?"

Chris gasped then whirled around to look at the sisters and Leo. "What the hell did you do?"

"We used a spell to see your memories." Piper answered him calmly.

"With the approval of the Elders." Leo added, as if that meant anything to Chris.

"This is going to end badly," Cole muttered to himself.

Author's Note: Hope you guys enjoyed the opening chapter for this story. I've always loved Chris revelation stories and I thought that I would finally write one of my own. Please review!