A/N: This last chapter is dedicated to my beta Alcandre, as well as my faithful reviewers who reviewed nearly every chapter: CelticHeiressFiona, AshleyMarieHalliwell, sailor cyanide, moonfoot13, charlie-becks, FirePony16, and Star Mage1. Thanks again!

Chapter 15- Homecoming

The week that followed was one of the best in Chris's life. He couldn't remember ever feeling as relaxed, safe, or as happy as he had been in the last week.

There were happy memories from his childhood, of course, but they had been later shadowed by the darkness that had come after the event that had changed their lives. Since then, Chris had been barely coping with the world falling apart around him, always striving to do what's good no matter the sacrifice.

But now… now he was free. Free from the pain, anger, and fear. Free from his brother's tyranny and his family's lost legacy. Free from his horrific past, that seemed to have stayed with him no matter how much he had tried to forget. Free to do whatever he wanted, within reason of course. He had his mother to deal with now.

Piper… Mom.

His relationship with his mother was something he was still trying to get used to. When he had first come to the past he had forced himself to keep the two separate in his mind, though his heart knew they were essentially the same person. Since she had discovered his true identity they had slowly melded into one.

Chris had thought that it would be too hard to accept her as his mother. There was no way of knowing if she would be in the future when he returned, and he thought it would hurt too much to lose her all over again. For all he knew, it could have just been her time to die. What if defeating Zorac hadn't saved her after all? It was something he was still struggling to deal with. But he finally decided that the old adage was probably correct, "It is better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all." It was certainly true when he thought about Bianca, and he felt it was probably true of his mother.

Chris and LEO had spent the last week with the family, getting to know them… well getting to know these younger versions of them. There were many family meals, trips to the zoo and the carnival, walks to the park, and time spent hanging out at P3. Chris knew his mother was trying to pack a life time of memories into a single week, but honestly what he enjoyed most was the quiet moments he spent with them. He took great pleasure in baking with his mom, listening to Phoebe typing away on her laptop while he read a magazine nearby, hearing about Paige's misadventures at her temp jobs, reminiscing about "old times" with LEO, and playing blocks with Wyatt.

Most surprisingly of all was how much he enjoyed talking to Leo about his past life and how he became a doctor and later a whitelighter. Over the course of the last few days, Leo had begun to hang around the Manor more and more, until he finally moved back in completely. It was understood by all that it meant Piper and Leo were back together, which made Chris surprisingly happy.

His relationship with his father in the future had always been tense. Chris had long held a grudge against him, truly feeling as though LEO had never really been there for him. Now he was seeing how wrong he had been all along. His father had only done what he thought was best for his son, and Chris had unknowingly came out better because of it. He didn't know if he would be as strong as he was today had his father not intervened and sent Chris to Langley to get the help that he had needed. He felt rather guilty for judging him so harshly for so long. But a lot had changed. Free of his past and the burdens he had carried for so long, Chris was actually enjoying spending time with both Leo's.

The week passed quickly and before too long it was time for Chris and LEO to return home… to the future.

The Charmed Ones, Leo, and Wyatt all gathered to send the pair off. A large triquetra was drawn in white chalk on one of the attic walls, and the spell was ready. Now all they had to do was say goodbye.

"I can't believe you're leaving," Paige said sadly. "I wish we had known who you were sooner."

"I know," said Chris quietly.

"Do you really have to go so soon?" Phoebe whined.

LEO smiled sadly and looked to his son. "It's time…" he said.

"Speaking of time… what about Chris… when do we-" Piper began, feeling awkward about having to have this conversation. She shifted Wyatt to her other hip.

"Don't worry," he said, cutting her off. "You'll know when the time is right."

"But he needs to be conceived!" she argued. "Can't you at least give me a time frame?"

"You wanna know when you should have sex?" Paige asked. "Just go at it when the mood strikes you."

"Ew… gross! We're so not having this conversation!" Chris shouted in disgust.

"It'll be okay, Piper," said Leo, taking her hand into his own and giving her a reassuring smile.

She smiled back, feeling more at ease and knowing that were getting back on track. She had never felt quite right about how their marriage had dissolved when Leo became an elder and she hoped that they could continue to make things work.

"Well, we should probably get going," LEO reminded them. "We've delayed this long enough."

Chris nodded in agreement. He was eager to see how the future turned out. He needed to know that Wyatt was good and that the sisters, Henry Jr, and himself had been saved from that fateful day. He couldn't imagine what all of them would like nine years older than when he last some them. Then there was the rest of the family. They had died one by one because of Wyatt's regime and he was eager to see them as well.

Phoebe was the first to reach out to them to say goodbye. She took LEO in her arms first and whispered, "Take care of him."

"I will," LEO responded, hugging his sister-in-law tightly.

She then turned towards Chris and wrapped her arms around. "Oooohh… I'm so going to miss you. I wish I had known you were my nephew sooner. Piper kept you so busy this week that I didn't get a chance to spoil you. I could have taken you shopping and we could have gone for ice cream and-"

"That's enough," said Paige. "You never seem to remember how old the poor boy is."

Paige removed Phoebe from her bearlike grasp of Chris and took her place. "I don't want to say goodbye," she pouted.

"You don't have to," said Chris. "I'll be seeing you soon."

"For you maybe, but I have to wait twenty three years!" she complained as she pulled back.

Paige then hugged LEO and did her best to put a smile on her face, though she was feeling awfully sad inside about their departure.

Piper and Leo stepped forward and each took Chris by a hand. He stared at them with watery eyes, not sure of what to say. Instead he turned his attention to his brother who was cradled in their mother's arms.

"Bye little big brother… be nice for mommy," he said, shaking baby Wyatt's hand. His brother cooed in response.

"I'm going to miss you…" Piper began, sniffling slightly.

"Mom," Chris whined, knowing that this was about to get mushy.

"Let me say my piece," she warned. "I don't know if I told you yet, but I love you. I truly do. I'm so proud of what you have done for this family and I hope your future is everything you want it to be. You deserve it after everything you've been through."

Chris felt himself get choked up and managed to mutter, "I love you too, Mom." He then turned to his father feeling a little nervous.

Leo smiled and said, "I love you as well son. And I know we were rather hard on you…I'm sorry about that."

"You already apologized," Chris reminded him.

"I know, but I hope you won't hold it against us in the future. I'd like to get to know my son better."

"I won't… and I love you too," he managed to say.

Leo then reached for his future self's hand and gave it a shake, not knowing what else to do. It's not like he could exactly say goodbye to himself. That would be too weird.

Piper in turn took LEO into an embrace and whispered in his ear. "I love you and I will be waiting for you in the future."

"I hope so," he whispered back, praying that it was true. He couldn't bear it if she wasn't. He then placed an affectionate kiss on Wyatt's forehead and caressed his chubby face, trying to memorize his son at this age. It was hard to believe that he would be reunited with twenty-five year old version in only a matter of minutes.

"I guess this is it then," said Chris, surveying his family once more.

They all nodded, not knowing what else to say. Chris pulled the spell out from his pocket and turned to where they had drawn the triquetra on the attic wall.

"Are you sure you don't want us to read the spell?" Paige asked once more.

"That's alright. I didn't need the Power of Three to get here, so I'm assuming that it's not necessary to get home," he explained.

She nodded, though she still looked reluctant about the whole thing.

"Hear these words, hear the rhyme," Chris began to chant, "Heed the hope within my mind. Send us back to where we'll find, What we wish in place and time."

The triquetra glowed bright blue and the time portal opened. Chris and LEO waved to the others and stepped through the portal. They were dizzily transported to the future and they stepped out of the portal to find themselves still in the attic, but many years later.

Standing in a semi-circle waiting for them was the entire family. Chris and Leo nearly cried in relief, and their heart swelled with the knowledge that they had truly changed the future. Paige and Henry were there with the twins and Henry Jr. Phoebe and Coop had their three girls with them, all looking as beautiful as their mother. Even Grandpa Victor was there, looking frail in his old age. He must have heeded the warning Chris had left with the sisters and stopped smoking. Most welcoming of all though were the smiles coming from Piper and Wyatt, who looked almost too "good" to be true with a stylish short hair cut and designer clothes.

But the most surprisingly thing was that Chris and Leo found themselves staring at… themselves. Their carbon copies were standing there watching them hesitantly. Confused by what was happening, Leo was about to ask about it when he suddenly felt himself "zoom" across the room. Chris apparently had done the same and they quickly morphed with the present Leo and Chris with a warm orange glow. Time had apparently caught up to them.

Perplexed by this unexpected turn of events, Leo felt his head begin to ache. Before he could understand what was happening, both he and Chris slid to the floor into unconsciousness.

* * *

Over an hour later Leo blearily opened his eyes to find a much older version of Piper smiling down at him.

"Welcome home," she said softly, placing a chaste kiss on his forehead.

Leo blinked a few more times, before sitting up slowly. His head felt heavy, for lack of a better word. Looking at his surroundings he saw that he was in their master bedroom. Chris was lying beside him, still out cold.

"How are you feeling?" she asked quietly.

"Alright, I guess."

"What do you remember?"

Leo sighed tiredly and rubbed his aching temples. "Everything," he said quietly.

"Um… you have to be a bit more specific than that," said Piper looking unsure of what else to say.

"I remember both timelines."

"Oh."

"I don't understand why," he said, feeling frustrated. "I'm no expert at time travel, but I didn't think the elders would allow us to remember both timelines. I thought my previous memories would fade somehow."

"Maybe they still will," Piper said hopefully, knowing the horrors her poor husband had faced the first time around.

"Somehow I don't think they will."

Beside him Chris groaned and rolled over. He peeked an eye open and saw his mother and father staring at him expectantly. He sat up slowly and rubbed his head.

"I would ask how you were feeling, but it appears you look how I feel," Leo said hoarsely.

"My head hurts… it's the strangest sensation. I almost feel as though I'm hung over," he moaned. "What happened?"

"You passed out," said his mother, coming around to his side of the bed and putting a hand to his forehead.

"Yeah, I got that. Why do I have two sets of memories?" Chris said in frustration.

Leo replied, "We don't know."

"You don't look so good. Maybe I should make you something to eat," said Piper.

Chris nodded and said, "Food sounds good."

"I need to finish making the food for the party anyway." She turned to walk away when Chris suddenly reached out and grabbed her by the wrist. "What is it?" she asked, seeing the serious look on his face.

"You're really here…" he whispered. "You're alive…"

She smiled and leaned down to caress his face lovingly. "Of course I am. You saved me."

Chris returned the smile and then stood up. He wrapped his arms around his mother and squeezed her tightly, lifting her off the ground. "Chris!" she complained. "Stop. Put me down!"

"Sorry, but I've missed you," he replied, setting his mother down.

"But you just saw me an hour ago… in both timelines," she said.

"I know… but I remember a time when you weren't here. And now you are… I'm just," he paused, trying to think of the right word, "happy."

"I'm glad," she said her smile brightening even more. "You deserve every bit of happiness in the world."

Chris watched her walk away and noticed her appearance for the first time. Although he had memories of his mother from this timeline, he never paid much attention to how she looked until now. Chris drunk her image in, burning the way she looked at this age into his memory.

Piper's hair was much shorter than in 2004, cut in a neat bob that framed her face nicely. It was just starting to gray, giving her a distinguished look that suited her somehow. There were faint lines around the edges of her eyes and at the corners of her mouth, signaling that she was now middle aged. She was slightly heavier than before, but not overly so. She wore a neat plaid wool skirt that brushed her knees and a beige sweater that complimented it well. She seemed more stylish now as well, wearing a pair of knee high brown boots and a pair of hoop earrings. Overall, she was rather lovely.

"You okay, son," Leo asked, watching his son closely.

"I'm great," he said, a smile spreading across his face.

"Are you disappointed that your memories from before weren't erased?" he asked.

Chris thought about this for a while and finally shook his head. "It wouldn't be right somehow to have forgotten it all. I almost feel like I need to remember to ensure that something like that won't ever happen again. Do you know what I mean?"

"I do, son. I do."

The pair went downstairs and were quickly greeted by the rest of the family once more. It was rather strange. They had all grown up and lived with Chris and Leo all their lives, but they were treating them as if they had come back from a long voyage. In some ways they had, even if it were a distant memory now.

The party that was planned was soon underway. The house was decorated with streamers and balloons, the dining room table was filled with food, and the music was loud and upbeat. The Morrises had been invited over, as well as some magical families they had gotten close to over the years. They were celebrating more than the "return" of Chris and Leo. They were celebrating the fact that they had all been saved from a terrible fate.

Wyatt was a little more than subdued, understandably. Chris found him outside staring at the stars.

"Hey Wy," said Chris.

"Hey Chris," said Wyatt, turning to his little brother and forcing a smile on his face.

"You okay?" he asked.

"It's just hard to believe some times…" Wyatt confessed. "I have no memories of ever being evil and having done any of those awful things, but I know it must have happened."

The boys had been told about what occurred in the original timeline when they were older and their parents felt they could handle it. Both Chris and Wyatt had been utterly shocked. They had grown up having only ever known peace, besides the occasional demon attack, of course. It was difficult trying to understand how different their lives could have been. The cousins were eventually told as well and they had all waited for this day when the original Leo and Chris would return from the past.

"It happened," said Chris. "Believe me."

"I know and I do believe you. Everything Mom and Dad said would happen came true. You and that other version of Dad came out of the portal just as they said you would," he said, turning to face the stars once more. "Do you really remember everything from that other timeline?"

Chris nodded, unsure of what else to say.

Wyatt sighed. "I'm sorry then."

"For what?"

"For all the pain I caused you… I don't know what really happened, but I do know that I was the cause. So for that I'm sorry," he replied, sounding truly despondent.

"Don't be," Chris said earnestly. "You didn't do anything wrong. You've been the best big brother a guy could have."

"Oh yeah?" Wyatt asked.

"Sure," Chris replied, smiling now. "Of course, you could make it up to me by letting me drive that fancy sports car of yours."

Wyatt shook his head laughing. "Not going to happen. I told you when I bought it that you weren't allowed to drive it."

"Why not?"

"You crashed your car the first week after you got it," Wyatt reminded him.

"Oh yeah."

"Besides you can orb any time you want to."

"So can you!"

"Yeah, but it's not as fun."

"I'll bet," said Chris. "So you wanna go back in there and enjoy yourself, or what?"

"I guess," said Wyatt agreeably, following his brother inside.

Chris scanned the house once more looking for someone in particular, but couldn't find her anywhere. He wasn't really surprised. This sort of thing just wasn't her style. Chris decided that he needed to see her right away and went in search of his mother.

"Where is she?" Chris asked.

"She didn't know if you wanted her to be here when you both arrived," Piper said, knowing who he meant. "She thought it might make you uncomfortable."

"I want to see her."

Piper smiled. "I thought you might."

"Where is she?"

"I think you already know," his mother replied.

Chris nodded and orbed away, first to his room upstairs and then to the gardens of Golden Gate Park. He walked along the pathway admiring the flower beds and ornate ponds until he found the circular courtyard that was their "place." It was surrounded by large columns topped with hanging plants. It hadn't existed in the alternate future, having been destroyed by Wyatt's demons, but here it was now in all of its beautiful splendor.

In the center of the courtyard sat Bianca on one of the stone benches. She was wearing a soft blue dress and her beautiful brown hair was curled into long waves that framed her lovely face. She was absolutely breathtaking. Chris quickly crossed the distance between them and Bianca stood up to greet him.

"I wasn't sure if you'd come," she whispered, placing a kiss on his lips.

"Of course I would. Why wouldn't I?" he asked, embracing her tightly.

"I wasn't sure you'd come back to me. You have all these new memories now and I wasn't sure what happened before between us," Bianca said quickly. "I didn't know if anything had changed."

"Nothing has changed between us," Chris reassured her. "I still love you, more than ever."

"Really?" she asked hopefully.

"Really."

She sighed in relief. "I love you too."

Chris smiled and picked her up, twirling her around in a circle. He was so overcome with happiness that she was alive in this timeline that he couldn't wait any longer. He set her down and then took a step back. He then went down on bended knee and pulled out the small box he had retrieved from his room before coming here.

In this time line he had already decided upon proposing to Bianca, but hadn't found the right time to do it yet. Armed with the memories of his previous life, Chris couldn't think of a better time than this.

"Will you marry me?" he asked, opening the box to show her the engagement ring inside.

Bianca looked completely shocked. "You're asking me now?"

"Mm-hm."

"Here?" she asked, looking very pleased.

"This is still our spot, Bianca. It always will be. Marry me," he pleaded, already knowing her answer.

"On one condition," she said coyly. "You never time travel again. I couldn't bear it if you left me."

"Have I ever let you down before?"

"Then yes… yes I'll marry you!" she said excitedly.

Chris stood up quickly and kissed his fiancé fiercely. He then embraced her tightly, twirling her around once more.

Nothing could be more right in this new world.

THE END

A/N: I've never been a big Bianca fan. In fact, I can barely stomach her, but I wanted to honor her place in Chris' life and stay somewhat true to canon in this very AU story. Some of the dialogue in the final scene was taken directly from the episode "Chris Crossed." This final chapter certainly wasn't my best but I like the way it turned out, sappy ending and all.

I hope you enjoyed reading this little story. If haven't reviewed yet, I'd love to hear from you. And if you already reviewed, I'd like to hear from you again. Many thanks to all of your wonderful reviews.