Disclaimer: I've run out of original sarcastic comments…bummer…
Sorry for the delay and thank you to everyone who's reviewed and anyone who continues to do so. But alas, this is the last chapter, so let me know your thoughts!
Chapter 10
Piper practically threw the book on to the straw footrest that surprisingly still stood despite the ruins around it. She turned him over, well aware of the blood now turning the ground red too. She shook his shoulder, calling to him, before looking over to Leo desperately.
She'd been more than surprised to see Chris get up, let alone find the book and help them, and she was more than grateful, almost proud at the sign of obvious strength, but no matter how hard she tried to like this man the lies kept coming back to her, and Leo's concern for their son.
The Elder slowly got up, and placed his own son carefully into the playpen, prying off the tiny fingers that held on to his plaid shirt, refusing to let go, but being forced to by the larger hands of his father. Phoebe and Paige watched with bated breath, following like lost puppies.
Leo heaved Chris into his arms, and realised how small he was. Granted he was no baby, but the way his legs were bent across Leo's left arm, his head leaning against the Elder's chest, Leo could see the youth, the innocence. He put the young man onto the sofa, glad to see he was still, before realizing that really wasn't a good thing, no matter what his own feelings for the young Whitelighter were, though even they seemed to be changing as of late.
He held his hands out, closing his eyes in concentration, feeling the pain vibrating beneath his fingers, the heat radiating off of the young Whitelighters body from fever, the blood flow consistent. He growled under his breath, still unable to heal Chris, but a feeling he couldn't understand insisting that he save the Whitelighter, that he ignore his own mentors council and save the boy, somehow.
"Oh, it's you." Chris said in a monotone voice as his not so favourite person came into view.
"Indeed."
"How did you know I was here?"
"The clouds. They speak to me." She said wistfully and Chris looked at her with a sarcastic quirked eyebrow.
"What do they say?"
"They tell me," She said, leaning in, whispering. "That the idiot is back."
She giggled and Chris growled, leaning back away from her.
"I'm not doing this on purpose you know."
"Aren't you?"
"As much as I love these little chats of ours I really do need to be going. So if you wanna point me in the right direction that'd be swe-."
"You know I can't." Her tone seemed almost regretful.
"Worth a try though, right?"
She didn't reply, she only tilted her head to the side, listening to something, smiling, she started to leave.
"Hey, wait! Where are you going?" He called after her, suddenly not wanting to be alone. She turned around, smiling, whispering softly. "Let it go."
He was silent for a moment as she walked away and just then Chris could hear something, someone. A faint voice, voices he knew.
"Mom? Dad?" He called out, forgetting momentarily for any secrecy. He had to get out; he couldn't exactly help the sisters from here, or protect Wyatt.
There were knocks at the door, four simultaneous ones that went ignored by the Halliwells, all of their attention focused on Chris.
"Mom? Dad?" Chris muttered in his painful delirium and that gave Leo a thought.
"Yes Chris, its dad." He said taking on another tactic, surprising Piper who recalled his insistent corrections earlier, and himself for feeling so comfortable saying those words. The smile from a now awake Phoebe was hidden behind her hand, while Paige was groggily pushing herself onto her feet using the rubble of a once comfortable chair.
There were knocks again and Phoebe growled edging towards the door. She opened it to see Mrs Noble standing there, a cross look on her face,
"My car is not in the way." Phoebe said simply, recalling many a fight they had had over this trivial matter, but the woman ignored her.
"What the hell is going on in there?" She asked in her southern accent trying to look past Phoebe.
"New T.V." The empath explained. "Haven't quite figured out the volume yet, very sorry if we disturbed you, bye, bye, bye now." And she closed the door in the ginger woman's face. She sighed, running a hand over her face, before racing back to the living room.
"It's ok, just relax and everything will be fine, ok?" Phoebe heard Leo tell Chris, as the glow from his fingertips intensified.
It seemed those simple words, spoken gently had calmed the man, enough to help him.
Chris no longer tossed, turned, or moaned. He lay for a moment; the silence was so strong that you could have heard a pin drop clear as day. Everyone looked on, Phoebe and Paige unconsciously clutching each others hands as they waited for him to open his eyes.
Leo's hands were still poised over the younger man's body and as the glow faded away, he clenched his fists, bringing them down to his side. Chris' chest jolted and his sudden coughs erupted around the room. Phoebe let out the breath she didn't know she'd held, and Paige turned around to the wall, leaning her head against it in relief.
As soon as Chris had begun coughing, Leo had carefully pulled him up, easing him into a more comfortable position. When Chris finally had his breathing under control, he looked around confused. Piper was staring at him with an air of respect, while Leo's face was filled with a concern he was trying to mask with a nonchalant smile. Phoebe and Paige were close by, staying close to each other.
"W-what happened?" He asked with a croaky voice, his throat hoarse.
"You saved us." Leo said with pride and Chris looked up at him.
"Your saviour, huh?" He said with a slight smile. "You could say that, yeah." Leo said smiling, suddenly seeing nothing wrong with liking the young man next to him.
"Well we better put this back, don't you think, Phoebe?" Paige said, tilting her head to the side as she grabbed the book.
"What? You don't need me to hold your hand."
"Phoebe! I really think you should follow." She said, indicating Chris who was still lying down, uncomfortable while Leo made sure the wounds were completely healed, doubting his ability somewhat seeing as how hard it had been to heal the young man earlier.
"Uh..ok?"
Paige practically stormed up the stairs, best as her shoes would allow, with Phoebe hot on her tail.
As they reached the attice, Paige was standing behind the door, ready to close it as soon as her older sister walked in after her.
"What are we going to do about this whole…thing?" She said, her hands moving in tandem with her frustration.
"What do you mean?" Phoebe asked innocently.
"What do I mean? What do you THINK I mean! Chris!" Paige cried.
"Keep your voice down." Phoebe hissed in return turning to the door as if waiting for Piper to walk in. A few moments passed before the empath turned back on her sister. "We do nothing, it's Chris' decision, if he wanted to tell us he would have; simple as."
"Are you kidding? This is huge!"
"Which is exactly why we keep it to ourselves Paige, I had no right to see what I saw-"
"What did you see?"
Phoebe shot her sister a glare before continuing. "That memory was Chris' not mine, I invaded his privacy and it was wrong. We are keeping this a secret until we can talk to Chris properly!" Seeing her sister's mouth about to protest she lifted a hand to silence her before she had the chance. "Paige." She said in a warning tone, and seemed content when her youngest sibling huffed under her breath, crossed her arms and muttered obscenities in a sigh.
Leo looked at the bare skin where the ugly wound had been but there was only a few bruises remaining. He pushed down on them tenderly, but Chris only winced slightly and it was enough to let Leo knew they would heal quickly by themselves.
"Can you turn over?" He asked Chris, ready to help if needs be. Chris adjusted his position, biting his tongue to stop any remarks. He did have Leo to thank for his life after all. He was leaning on his side well aware of some kind of stain on the sofa where his elbow was resting.
He felt Leo's warm fingers press carefully around his back, gritting his teeth when the Elder touched a tender area of skin. When Leo was content, he put his hand on Chris' shoulder and the younger man sat up slowly. He looked at his shirt, where his elbow had pressed it into the couch, and cringed at the red stain. He moved over, and looked at the spot where he had laid. The dark red mass.
He felt bile rise up in his throat at the site of it. He had seen blood before, he was used to its metallic taste in his mouth, to the crude smell, to its dripping crimson tears, but he was on the couch, in the manor, his childhood home, and his blood adorned a place where children had sat, where guilty fingers had traced the lines of the patterns as parents gave lectures for whatever wrong had been done that week.
Chris closed his eyes, and took a breath, annoyed at his weak state.
"Hey, bud, take it easy."
"Sorry about that." Chris said looking up at Piper who had remained silent the entire time, holding Wyatt in her arms.
"What? That? Oh that'll…wash I'm sure." She said with a smile. Wyatt gurgled in her arms, and she looked down at him realising it was probably time for his feed. "I'll be right back." Leo smiled at Chris, squeezing his shoulder before following his wife.
"I can't find his bear," She muttered distractedly as she lifted articles around the highchair. "And he's getting fussy."
"Piper, calm down."
"No Leo-."
"What's wrong?" He asked, able to read his wife so well.
"He-he got so hurt trying to save us." She said dejectedly and she took a calming breath. Leo smiled. "Why don't you go out there, and talk with him? I'll take Wyatt to magic school." He ventured, wondering if it would help and upon seeing Piper's half a smile, he orbed out, and Piper made her way out to the living room.
"Chris?" She called out.
But there was no one there.
Gideon watched through his crystal ball as Leo walked through Magic School, Wyatt in his arms. He waved his hand, the crystal de-activating and striding out of his office. His teacher's cloak billowing as he walked, determined to intercept the father with his child.
"Leo, how is Chris?" Gideon asked, attempting to seem casual, but the guilty expression he had expected to see was nowhere to be found.
"He's gonna be ok."
Leo was smiling, grinning almost, as if he were happy the meddlesome Whitelighter had been taken care of, and that couldn't be right.
"He is?"
"Yeah, and I dunno," He edged closer to his mentor, feeling no problems confiding him. "If it weren't for him, we'd probably all be dead, but he saved us."
"He did?"
Leo nodded. "I think I'm beginning to like the guy." He said, almost wistfully, turning back to the hallway, and through the corridor to drop Wyatt off in the nursery for the time being.
As Leo walked away, smiling, Wyatt in arm, Gideon span around, the cloak once again floating behind him, black and menacing, as though held up by an invisible force.
"Why are Demons so impossible to work with!" He said under his breath, stepping into the office.
"Maybe because they're Demons." A voice said behind him and Gideon turned to see Sigmund looking up at him, the shorter man looking quite vulnerable.
"Oh don't start, Sigmund, the boy meddles, he's dangerous."
"You're just bitter because Leo found a way to save him."
"How true, Sigmund, dear friend. How true." Gideon remained thoughtful for a moment before a thought occurred to him. Sigmund recognized the eerie smile, and shining eyes, and half expected to see a light bulb above the Head of Magic School's head.
"Sigmund, who would you say were the most reliable hunters in the Underworld?"
"They're demons, sir, none of them are reliable."
"Ah but who prays on Whitelighters in particular?"
"Sir, please, I beg you to reconsider."
"No, Sigmund, the greater good, remember? It has to be done. If Chris and Leo are around then I'll never be able to destroy Wyatt."
"Destroy? Sir, he's a two year old."
"Stop thinking like that Sigmund. He should never have come to be, if you think of him as a child instead of a powerful entity then you'll never accept what has to be done."
"Sir, why kill them? Why not send the Whitelighter away? Capture him, or-or send him back, why must he be killed?"
"Send him back? That's ingenious! Leo trusts him now, but I'm sure that after a few sessions with the rest of us he'll soon see that the boy is dangerously reckless and that the best thing for him is to be sent home. Yes, Sigmund, I'll wait, I'll wait for him to lose Leo's trust, and when Leo himself wants Chris sent home, then I'll make sure everyone else agrees."
Sigmund cringed, his attempt to stop the pain of others, had only seemed to increase it, he saw no way how sending Chris back to an awful future would help anyone, but maybe it would be the better…it didn't matter. As far as he could see Leo was beginning to trust Chris, and he couldn't foresee Leo changing his mind any time soon. Unless the Charmed One's whitelighter gave him a real reason not to be trusted, and sadly, Sigmund had his doubts that the boy even knew how to not be suspicious.
He would stall Gideon as long as possible, already regretting his decision to stand by the man despite all of the blood shed.
The cars zoomed beneath him, blurs of colour through the haze that had risen with the night. Yellows and red, blues and blacks, all with somewhere to get to. All busy. All with a purpose. Like he.
He sighed, sitting back against the red pole on the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. Ever since he had found Leo up there when the demon children had been playing with Wyatt he had enjoyed the breeze on his skin. He may not be meditating but he did find it all the more calming up there.
He had to save Wyatt, that was his purpose. His reason for existence, to be a brother, to be the martyr, the saviour.
He stopped his thoughts. That's what she had called him wasn't it? A saviour. A true saviour. The word itself was simple enough to understand, but it was the hidden meaning that underlines her speech that made him wonder. She said it as though it were something special, but to Chris, it really wasn't. After all, how many saviours were out there in the world.
And how many lived to re-tell the tale? He almost died today, and then what? It would have all been for nothing. He couldn't allow himself to be that careless again. He would protect Wyatt, oh yes, there was no doubt about that, but he would keep his guard up at all times.
Hell, maybe his death might make the sisters really think about their duties and take them seriously, take the threat seriously. He never wanted to see his future again, not the way it had been when he left, not without Bianca by his side, giving him a reason to live. He stood up carefully, the cold wind making the loose fabric of his trousers dance. He swallowed the lump in his throat and orbed away to P3. After all, he had a lot of work to do.
The End
Please Review! Makes it all the more worthwhile!
And on that note I'll be off oh wait, here's a preview for my next Charmed story :)
During I Dream of Phoebe Chris doesn't make his wish. Now that Leo has sent him back to the future, will Phoebe and Paige be able to get him back in time before Wyatt finds him? Or is it already too late for the young Witch/Whitelighter?
By the way, it's not a sequel to this, it goes via tv-verse. So Phoebe found out because of the vision quest, and Leo still doesn't like Chris.