So finally the Chris whumping has come to an end. I wanna thank everybody that has supported me this last year. I loved all your reviews, and they helped me a lot to actually get this finished. Without them I probably would have stopped a long time ago.

THANKS GUYS!!!!!

So here comes the love fest at the end of my story. Oh yes! Almost forgot: Sorry for all the typos that i tortured you with. Didnt have a beta I always miss some. Thanks for putting upwith me!

Disclaimer: One last time:I don't own anything. No charmed, no characters, no nothing.

Whatever the future may hold

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"Mum, come on! Please!"

"Chris, how many more times will I have to say it until you finally understand? I said no ... not later, not maybe, I said no. And you should know better then anyone that with me No really means No!"

Chris had been nagging his mother all morning about getting out of bed and going downstairs and Piper had been strictly against it just as long. Almost loosing him had freaked her out beyond reason and the fact that he'd only been awake for a full twenty four hours after an additional three days of a nightmarish half-coma hadn't helped her slightly overprotective streak any... AT ALL!!!

Piper really just wanted to keep him in bed for a month to feed him and mother him and fulfill his every wish to make sure he was absolutely fine before she lets him out of her sight again. But Chris would have non of it and she couldn't understand why.

Well, at least her heart couldn't. There was some part of her that was perfectly aware of this being wishful thinking. She couldn't hole him up and protect him forever, but she was afraid that as soon as she lets Chris out he was gonna run off to go demon hunting again or sit on that bridge for hours, do all possible kinds of things that wouldn't be good for his health considering how weak he was right now. Why couldn't he understand that she just wanted him to take it easy for a few days?

"Mum, you're right. I know very well what this is, why you're doing this." At that Piper looked at him a bit disbelieving, and took a seat next to him on the bed.

Chris smiled at her, his eyes lost in memory. "You know that when I was little...every time Wyatt or I got sick you were like this... And loved it. Having my mom around taking care of me, trying to make me laugh or simply holding me when I wasn't feeling well. And you just always knew what I needed." But this smile changed into a more serious expression when he looked into Pipers eyes again.

"But then... from one day to the other... my whole life fell apart. Like pieces of a puzzle and I just couldn't find a way to put them back together. Nothing made sense anymore. And every time I lost someone else..." Chris had to swallow hard before he could continue and Piper, who fought with tears herself, put a hand on his thigh.

"I just... I had to learn how to do everything on my own. I had to stop relying on anyone but myself. In fact it was pretty much the other way around. All of the sudden there were people depending on me... trusting me to make it all better just because of who I was born as and where I come from and let me tell you that was a whole lot of baggage to carry...It wasn't easy... But I made it, I had to, there was no other choice and now I simply can't go back to just letting myself go. Letting it all go."

Chris saw the tears pool in his mothers eyes, but he just had to make his point clear. He took her hand that was resting on his thigh before he continued.

"Do you understand what I mean? I came here for a purpose. I gotta save Wyatt and stop whatever happened to him. And I don't have much time left. I wish it could all go back to the way it used to be, I wish I wouldn't have to fight my own brother who I love more than anything in this world. I wish it would all stop already and I could just sleep and relax for a while, but I just can't. It's not my decision anymore. This choice has been taken out of my hands a long time ago and now I will have to deal with the consequences. "

Chris knew he was hurting Piper with what he was saying and he hated it. But if he didn't get it out now, he never would so continued before she could find the breath to interrupt him.

"And no matter what happens we gotta be clear on one thing. Wyatt and that baby inside you always, do you hear me, always have to come first. If it's between me and them it will have to be them, because at the end of the day I'm just one possible version of Christopher Halliwell. And I will do whatever it takes that it will never become reality again, even if it is the last thing I do."

When Chris saw a tear run down his mothers cheek he almost wished he could take those last words back, but only almost. It was important that she understood why he did the things he did and how he did them. The whole future could depend on them letting him do the right thing when it came to it.

He wasn't suicidal or dead set on sacrificing himself for the "greater good", his mother herself had made sure to plant a slight antipathy against that one in both her children, but if A came to B than he would take C, no matter what it meant for him.

The life he had lived thought him that sometimes the life of one individual was worth the future of the rest of the world. (Well, as long as it was him of course.) No matter how much it hurt everybody else.

Piper looked down at their entwined hands and took a calming breath before she answered.

"Chris ... I know, even with all the things we've learned over the last couple of days, ... I know I don't have the slightest idea what your life was like, what you've been through, how much it must have hurt. And I know, that in the end... I cannot tell you what to do."

And the pause that followed showed Chris that she really meant it.

"But I do know something: No matter what time line, dimension or reality we're in, no matter how old you and I are, no matter if you are born or not... you. are still. my baby, any version of you.

And I am still you're mother and I can never stop worrying about you, because that is what mothers do. They worry about their children because they love them. So please don't ask me to stop, because I simply can't. I don't know how to."

Right then Chris saw all the love in his mothers eyes that he had missed all those years. Never had he felt more cared for and protected than in this very moment. And this forced him to make a decision he never thought himself capable of. He allowed himself to be mothered.

"Can we compromise?"

And the look that came with that question would have swept Piper of her feet had she not been sitting down already. The way he looked up at her, lower lip trapped between his teeth and puppy dog eyes down to perfection...

She almost groaned when she thought about what a deadly weapon that could be in a five year old, GOD at any age really. That kid would get away with murder, especially with his aunts.

But she'd be damned if she let him know that he already had her wound around his little finger. She kept her face as neutral as possible.

"Got anything in mind?"

And if you asked Piper the smile that followed was even more lethal then the pout.

"Well, we have at least two other whitelighters in the house, right? I'm sure one of them wouldn't mind orbing me downstairs, into the garden..." and he hurried to continue as he saw Piper ready to interrupt "... where you can wrap me up into as many blankets as you want, before we all have some coffee and some of those cookies I smelled you baking this morning and just generally spent some time with each other. Please mom, it's such a nice day and I've been holed up in here forever!"

And right back on was the "look" he knew this version of his mother had not learned to resist yet, and who would have thought, it worked like a charm.

That's how Chris found himself in a sun lounger in the garden behind his family's house around an hour later, wrapped up in a myriad of blankets (he had at some point stopped counting), propped up on pillows and happily munching on some cookies.

It was late September but it was warm enough to spend the afternoon outside without jackets. Phoebe and Wyatt sat on a blanket placed in the grass and were playing with some of his toys while the rest of the family was scattered around the garden table.

The atmosphere was for once relaxed and Piper couldn't deny that this was good for Chris when she saw him laughing about some funny thing Wyatt did or crack over some joke one of his aunts made. He had such a beautiful smile and didn't show it often enough.

But Leo next to her wasn't as relaxed as everybody else. Sure he was smiling and laughing with the girls and his sons, but Piper could see how tense he was and she also knew why. He still hadn't talked to Chris about his apparent failure as a father and was itching to do so, but at the same time he was scared about how Chris would react.

Piper had told him that this afternoon would be the perfect opportunity to approach their son, but Leo was still unsure. However, when he saw Chris laugh and felt his heart melt at the beauty of that, he once again had to ask himself how he ever could become that person that Cris grew up with. After another encouraging smile from Piper he took his chair and made his way over to Chris unable to wait any longer.

Chris saw that and was immediately aware of what was going to happen next. He had been waiting for it. So when Leo found his place next to him Chris interrupted his father before he could start, eyes still directed at Wyatt.

"I know you have questions. And I know you need answers." With these next words his gaze shifted to his fathers eyes that looked so much like his own.

"But the only thing I can give you is I honestly don't know ." Leo had not expected his son to read him so well and was moved by all the emotion hidden in Chris's eyes and voice, so he just waited for him to continue.

"I don't know why you changed. I don't know why you acted the way you did. I don´t know what the hell happened that turned all our lives into this huge ... freaking ... mess!"

It was easy for Leo to see that talking about the future still was everything but easy for Chris.

"And I don't want you to apologize for anything your future self might have done or not done, because it doesn't matter." Chris saw that Leo wanted to argue but he knew both his parents well enough to know what tone to use with them.

"Not anymore. Not that long ago I wanted to hate you for all the things he did. I hated when you tried to interfere with my life and my job because I felt like you didn't have the right now when he never cared about it.

Every time he left or forgot me it hurt so bad. But it also made me angry. And the next time I got angrier. It was like a chain reaction that I couldn't stop and we grew more and more apart.

When mom died..."

Leo could hardly hold the tears back. He had never seen Chris this open and this raw and it meant so much to him that Chris made a distinction between him and his future self. But now Chris was stuck and Leo was afraid he knew why. " I wasn't there, was I?"

Chris shook his head no. "And god...I needed him so badly. I don't hate him for trying to find Wyatt, I don't hate him for caring more about his elder duties than about me. He was needed, the Charmed Ones were dead, the twice blessed was spinning out of control with no way to stop him and the underworld was mobilizing. What I really...really hated him for ... was not taking 5 minutes to come and see me, hold me and tell me that everything was going to be alright. That was all I needed, all I wanted and he couldn't even do that for me."

The tears were clearly visible in both their eyes, but the girls left them alone. All of them knowing how important reconciling with your parents, especially fathers, was. But they could all hear what was being said even though they didn't let on to it.

Leo felt that this had been brewing inside Chris for a long time, so he just let him speak and tell the story in his own time.

"By the time he actually took the time and came to see me, really see me, I had already snapped out of my funk and that anger from all those years had built this huge wall between us. I didn't need him anymore. At least I thought so.

But after I came here... I just couldn't keep you apart. And at the same time you were different somehow. You hated my guts for taking your job and your family and on the other hand you got the sisters to trust me again and came through for me with the other elders. But then... remember the telekinetic blast? What I said it was made of?"

Leo frowned at first because he didn't quite know what Chris was getting at, but then... "Pure, seething anger?"

Chris nodded. "Yup. Exactly that. All that had blocked me and kept me from seeing the real thing... I just got it all out of my system. Without that I would not have allowed you to touch me the way you did ever since, not even that sick. And in these last couple of days I had the time to take it all apart and get it in order. All that I loved about him and hated about him, and all that I love about you and respect you for and what went wrong between us.

Whenever I tried to say that I was sorry for the way I acted you guys said that there was no need because you understand why I did it." Leo nodded.

"Well, and now I´m asking you not to apologize for the way you acted either. After all, I'm kinda depending on the patented Halliwell-over-protectiveness concerning members of the family ,if you know what I mean." he laughed and the others couldn't help but do the same.

"And about the future... You dont send someone to jail just because he might or might not become a criminal at some point in the future, now do you?"

And Leo knew exactly what Chris was trying to tell him, and couldn't help but smile, he was that happy. "No, you don't."

"So, we done with all the broody stuff now?"

"Yeah, I think we are" And then he worked up all the courage he had and added taking Chris hand, "I love you, buddy. And I'm so proud to be your father."

"I love you too, dad." And wasn't it just the sweetest thing Leo had ever heard???

And had Chris not heard a distinctively female snivel hear and there, he would have been alerted to the girls listening to their conversation by the three teary pairs of eyes that turned to him when he asked...

"So...Any cookies left???"

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The End

Yes, that was it. I'm done. Was a bit mushy, wasn't it? And what's with all the monologuing??? Sorry, my muse seems to love them these days...

But I'd still love some feedback from you guys. Whether it be about this chapter or the whole story, now that you know it all... be my guest. I will love each and every one of them.

This might have been my one and only story, don't know yet. But look how long this one took me.

R+R, Over and Out.