Chapter Six

Piper walked down the stairs to see the Manor foyer plastered with baby shower decorations.

"What do ya think?" asked Phoebe.

"Everything looks perfect," said Piper. She sighed. "I just wish the baby wasn't constantly disappearing to the Underworld.

"He'll be fine," Phoebe reassured Piper. "He's got plenty of future knowledge to help him know where any real danger is."

"I suppose, but I still can't help worrying." Piper looked around at all the decorations. "Paige really went overboard again, didn't she?"

"Nothing's too good for that neurotic little nephew of mine," said Paige and she walked in through the kitchen. The doorbell rang. "I'll get it." Paige opened the door. Darryl and Sheila stood there holding several trays of food. "Thanks for picking this up. You guys are life savers."

"Any time," said Darryl. "I'll see you all later. Gotta get back to work." He kissed Sheila goodbye and left.

"This is so amazing," said Sheila as she and Paige began organizing the Deli trays. "I can't believe Chris is your son. Although in retrospect, it makes perfect sense."

"I certainly does," said Piper wistfully.

"He looks a lot like you," Sheila commented.

"Yeah, and he acts a lot like Prue," said Piper.

"Does he?" asked Paige. She had never met her oldest sister, but never stopped wondering what it would be like to meet her.

"Yep," said Piper. "Prue was all about Duty and Obligation. That and she felt it was her job to protect everyone else."

"Piper, are you alright?" asked Sheila.

"Yeah," Piper answered. "I'm fine. It's just…well it's not exactly normal for an expecting mother to have her baby constantly going under cover in the underworld trying to save his older brother.

"Scabbar Demons," Chris muttered as he flipped through the Book of Shadows. "Shit." Chris wasn't happy about going under cover with demons who spit green acid that turned living beings to dust and he certainly had no intention of telling his mother and aunts what he was doing, but he had to do it. Time was running short and Chris felt as though he was no closer to finding whoever was after Wyatt. Well the entire Underworld had been after Wyatt since before he was born, it was just a matter of figuring who succeeded.

Chris decided to check on Wyatt before going underground. The reminder of what Chris was fighting for gave him the extra bit of courage he needed to do what he had to do. Chris tiptoed down to the second floor. He could hear laughter coming from the main foyer. Spending several weeks trying to get his parents to conceive was certainly a strange experience. While having Phoebe ask him what he thought of the party streamers wasn't quite in the same ballpark, it was definitely awkward. Chris sighed as he stepped into Wyatt's room. The toddler version of his older brother looked up and grinned at Chris.

"Ba ba," said Wyatt.

"Hungry?" asked Chris. He really didn't want to run into any of the party guests, but couldn't let Wyatt go hungry. He closed his eyes and tried to sense for anyone in the kitchen. It was empty. "C'mon, moonbeam, let's get you something to eat."

Chris couldn't help but smirk as he lifted Wyatt out of the crib and orbed to the kitchen. He now knew what their father had started calling Wyatt Moonbeam. Wyatt liked to tease Chris about their mother calling him Peanut, Chris got equal mileage with their father calling Wyatt Moonbeam. He wondering if Wyatt would remember Leo calling him moonbeam or remember him at all this time around.

"Aren't you sweet?" Chris jumped at the woman's voice and looked around to see a woman in her late thirties to early forties with bleach blonde hair, bright pink lipstick, and heavy eyeliner that all contrasted horribly with her fake tan. Her too tight tank top and spandex pants made Chris wonder what she was doing at the party. She certainly wasn't the type of woman his mother had as a friend. Phoebe and Paige must've gone overboard of the guest list.

"I'm just lending Piper a hand," said Chris.

"I'm Brandi," said the bleach blonde.

"I'm a distant, down on his luck relative who's not from around here," said Chris as he handed Wyatt some crackers.

"Oh you poor dear," said Brandi as she began to rub Chris's shoulders. "If you need money, I could give you some work to do at my house," she whispered a little too close to his ear for his comfort. Chris shuddered.

"Not interested," said Chris shortly. He pulled out of Brandi's grasp and turned toward her. "Please leave me alone."

"And they say women play hard to get," said Brandi, clearly not getting the fact that Chris wasn't interested in her. She put her arms around his neck and tried to kiss him.

"Knock it off!" Chris shouted angrily.

"Hey, get your slutty hands off him!" said Piper who had just entered the kitchen.

"Oh lighten up, Piper," said Brandi. "He's an adult, he can make up his own mind."

"I just did, get your hands off me," said Chris. He had a strong urge to orb out of there.

"Oh you're so adorably coy," said Brandi. Piper lost her temper and froze the over aged Britney Spears. She grabbed Chris's sleeve and pulled him away from Brandi. He had to duck out from under her arm.

"Tacky, slutty woman thinks she can put the moves on my son, I'll show her bleached ass," Piper muttered. She grabbed a fist full of some beetle ears from the cupboard and dumped them on Brandi's head.

"Piper, what are you doing?" asked Phoebe and she entered the kitchen followed by Paige and Sheila. "You can't dump beetle ears over and innocent.

"Oh relax, will ya? They're expired," said Piper.

"Okay," said Phoebe. "Why did you freeze her?"

"She wouldn't take her slutty hands off Chris. Why did you invite her anyway?"

"She was on the Mommy and Me list," said Phoebe.

"She was hitting on you, Chris?" asked Paige. Chris felt his face turn red. This wasn't the sort of thing he wanted to discuss with his mother and aunts.

"Can we just forget this ever happened?" said Chris.

"I think we need to teach Mrs. Robinson here a lesson," said Paige. "Beetle ears aren't enough."

"C'mon, you guys," said Phoebe. We're not supposed to use our magic to punish the guilty."

"That's rich, Phoebe," said Paige. "Turn any sexist competitors into pigs lately? If it makes you feel better, I'll use the Leftover Pudding!" Paige orbed the pudding to her self and dumped it on Brandi's head.

"A woman comes to a baby and hits on the baby. That's just wrong on every level," said Sheila. She looked at the punch in her hand, shrugged and dumped it on Brandi's head. Chris buried his face in his hands. If his mother hadn't caught a woman twice his age hitting on him and there wasn't the possibility of magic being exposed over the situation, he would've found it all very funny. Wyatt giggled and clapped next to him.

"Okay, this is all very amusing and all, but how are we going to keep magic from being exposed here?" asked Chris.

"No problem," said Paige. She grabbed Brandi and lowered her to the floor. "Okay, Piper un-freeze her."

Piper waived her hand to un-freeze Brandi. "What the hell happened?" asked Brandi.

"A bowl fell on your head, knocked you out, very messy," said Piper.

"Yeah," said Paige. "We'd offer you a towel, but we're fresh out."

Brandi huffed and left.

"Need help cleaning up?" asked Sheila.

"That'd be great," said Phoebe. Phoebe, Paige, and Sheila left the kitchen, leaving Piper alone with her two sons.

Piper watched Chris thoughtfully. He shifted uncomfortably under her gaze and grabbed a broom to clean up the mess his mother and aunts had made.

"You need a haircut," said Piper. She pointed to a stool near the sink.
"Sit!" she ordered.

"I have this new lead I need to work on," said Chris. "I really have to get going."

He started to orb out. Piper used her freezing power to stop his orbing ability. Chris looked at her incredulously. "Wow, it actually worked," said Piper.

"How did you do that?" asked Chris.

"My freezing power may not work on other witches, but it does on white lighters. I figured it might work on your white lighter powers. What do ya know, I was right. Now sit down."

"Piper, I really have to go, would you please unfreeze my powers?"

"Look Chris, I'm almost in my third trimester, very hormonal, and I just witnessed some slut bag hitting on the very child I'm carrying. I need to do something to bring a little order to this chaos. Cutting you hair will bring me a piece of mind, now sit down!"

Chris stared at his mother for a moment at a loss for words. He decided to surrender and took a seat on the stool by the sink. Piper grabbed a towel, a comb and a pair of scissors. She draped the towel over Chris's shoulders and gently pushed his so his head was over the sink. She soaked his hair with the cold water and ran a comb through it.

"You've let your hair get pretty long. When was the last time you cut it?" asked Piper. Chris shrugged.

"It hasn't been a priority," he replied.

Chris stared blankly at the corner of the counter. Piper decided to try a strategy of asked vague questions. "So what's your favorite color?" she asked as she began trimming his untidy locks.

"You'll find out in a couple years," he answered.

"Alright…What do you want to do with your life once you get back to the future?"

"I haven't ever really given it much thought," Chris answered stoically. It broke Piper's heart to hear Chris say that. She thought about all the times she'd longed for a "normal" life. For a while she'd gone to far as to date Dan instead of trying to make her relationship with Leo work. Compared to the life Chris must have had, Piper's life had been a walk in the park, even with losing Prue and fighting to stay with Leo. She pulled Chris into a hug. He didn't stiffen or pull away, but he didn't exactly return the hug. Instead he continued to state at the counter blankly.

"Chris, I have no idea what happened to you in your future, but I promise I'll do everything I can to give you a nice childhood."

Chris closed his eyes. He said nothing. Piper pulled out of the hug and looked at her grown son. He remained determinedly still. She ran her hand over the newly finished haircut. "Aw that's much better. You have a nice face, it's good to finally see it."

"So you're done? Can I go now?" asked Chris. He opened his eyes and continued staring at the counter.

"Chris, what's wrong? Why won't you talk to me?" Piper asked as she caressed his cheek.

"I really have to work on that lead," said Chris. He stood up, pulled the towel off his shoulders and dropped it on the floor in a single motion as he headed out of the kitchen.

"Chris, please talk to me," Piper begged. Chris stopped at the door, turned around and looked at his mother. He walked toward her stopped, picked the towel up off the floor and handed it to her.

"Sorry," he said and orbed out.

Piper looked thoughtfully at the towel. "It's a start," she said to Wyatt who looked at her curiously. She opened a drawer, pulled out a zip lock bag and shook the loose hairs into it to keep in case she needed to scry for Chris or use them in a potion to find him at some point. She then picked up the phone.

"Victor Bennet," her father answered.

"Dad, are you coming to town soon?" asked Piper.

"I'll be there in a couple weeks, why?"

"Think you could stop by the manor? I really need you help with something."

"Is anything wrong, Honey?"

"Not exactly. I explain everything when you get here. So, I'll see you in a couple weeks?"

"Absolutely. I love you, Piper."

"I love you too, Dad."