The Truth Behind the Lie

She paced around in her room. This was too much. How could he be her nephew? It didn't make sense. But then again…it made perfect sense. She took a deep breath and opened her mouth.

"Chris…can you please come here. I need to talk to you," Phoebe hissed. She didn't want to alert Piper or Paige. Orbs swirled into view and Chris materialized. He looked disoriented and was in his boxers and t-shirt.

"What's going on?" he asked, running a hand over his hair.

"What were you just doing?" she asked, momentarily distracted by the real reason she'd called for him.

"I was about to go to sleep. Is there something you need?" he muttered, sitting down on her bed.

"Yeah…I've been thinking. Remember a while back…you told m e how you became a whitelighter," Phoebe began. Chris gave a grunt as his head slumped onto the pillow.

"Hey…don't fall asleep on me here," she said, snapping her fingers in his face. He jumped a little.

"Sorry," he yawned.

"So what were you saying?" he mumbled.

"You told me how you became a whitelighter. It's not true is it," Phoebe stated. That seemed to get his attention because he sat up.

"What are you talking about?" he asked nervously.

"You told me you died trying to protect innocents. You're only half whitelighter, Chris…and that's all from Leo," she countered.

"So I lied…what was I supposed to say?" Chris shot back at her.

"You could have told me the truth," Phoebe answered.

"You wouldn't have believed me," Chris muttered.

"What really happened? Why were you so upset?" she pressed.

"I can't do this right now," he said, standing up.

"Chris, sit down. You're going to tell me what happened," she said sternly.

"You know what, Phoebe. No I'm not. Because it's none of your business," he spat.

"You're my nephew, Chris. It's my business," she retorted. Before he could so much as orb his little finger, she'd grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him back to the bed.

"I did lose two people that day…and they were mother and daughter," Chris said, trying to keep his voice even and calm.

"Ok…" Phoebe murmured, letting him continued.

"But it wasn't a demon that killed them…it was Wyatt," Chris continued, feeling a tear starting to snake down his cheek.

"Chris…who were the innocents?" she pressed. She had a sneaking suspicion as to who they might be but she wasn't sure if it was just intuition or a vibe from Chris.

"My mom and sister," he answered. He couldn't fight the tears. He just let them come. He didn't register Phoebe's arms around him until she squeezed his shoulders in comfort. She didn't say anything for a long time, just letting him get the emotion out.

"I'm sorry," he sniffed.

"Shh," she whispered.

"You must be going nuts right now….all my emotions," he added, trying to lighten the situation.

"I can handle it," she said reassuringly.

"I should have died that day," he spat.

"No Chris…you shouldn't. Because then you couldn't come back and save your brother," Phoebe said.

"I haven't saved him yet," he blubbered.

"We're going to save him," she breathed.

"Together," she added.