DISCLAIMER: I do not own Charmed or any of the characters in the story.

Well, this is actually my first fanfic that I decided to publish, so please go easy on me :D I plan to make it a few more chapters longer - depending on if you like it or not.

…

The brown-haired man shrugged inside the crystal cage as he faced his charges and the Elder standing in the center of the attic. The atmosphere was tense to say the least, especially since he did not actually remember asking them to trap him, and well, nor did they ask for his permission to do so.

Earlier that evening, Chris planned to stop by the manor as he was out of ingredients for making potions. So when hearing Piper's call, he orbed to her without hesitation, only to be greeted by a pair of very frustrated parents plus two aunts wearing a deeply apologetic look on their faces. The half-breed wasn't even remotely certain about what they were trying to do, but he could feel in the pit of his stomach that whatever it was, he sure as hell wasn't going to like it.

Piper looked pissed, way too pissed for his liking. Not that Leo fell under a different category, but he appeared to be somewhat more furious. Even though seeing the man in such a state was something he was at least used to, the fact that the almighty Elder was furious with him still didn't quite help him to calm down. If only he could use his powers… if only he told them he was a witch right at the start he wouldn't have to worry about revealing another lie. But nooo, he just had to play the mere Whitelighter with all the good intentions for these seven months. He hated to lie to them, but then again, maybe he wouldn't have to face them now if he kept his secret about Wyatt...

As the seconds passed by in utter silence Chris decided it was about time to play dirty in order to get things back under control and pull the guilt card. It was not a fair act and he never used it unless absolutely necessary, but for God's sake, they trapped him in a fucking crystalcage! The word "emergency" did not sound urgent enough compared to his need of getting out of that situation.

"Do you need something from me?" he asked them faking as much naivety and innocence as he possibly could, and could already tell Paige was going to break and help him. She had alw… has – he had to remind himself - always been the closest to him after all.

Chris knew he was just about to get into something bad. Something, of which he would not want to see the outcome, therefore was determined to escape before it could happen – with her help. He looked at the redhead with the most pleading eyes a young man could ever make, but instead of giving in she simply broke their eye contact before he had a chance to see the shame and remorse in her gaze.

Nobody seemed to be keen on giving the Whitelighter his desired answer and so he suddenly started to have second-thoughts about his acting skills. Hell, his acting never failed him! After all, he was Chris Perry! He could manipulate a stupid reply out of them anytime he wanted. Yeah, that he could do, and would do he decided.

"Well?" he began his counterattack - apparently with no avail, as he was still not spoken to. He just needed a bit more time to work on them, but before he could continue Leo finally broke the silence and gave a death-glare to the young man.

"You know what we need, Christopher."

Christopher. Oh how much he hated to be called by his full name. He hated every single moment of the "conversations" he had to share with the Elder, as he had always been the only one referring to him as Christopher. Seems like it was one of those many things he did not change in the past… yet.

But there was no time to analyze his issues with Leo, as the three woman wanted something from him. Of course they wanted, and he just knew what would save his ass for the day… answers. Giving them answers he just could not give them, it was that simple. He realized that his strategy needed some rethinking if going into a fight against the Charmed sisters, since he was walking on a damn thin line when it came to them. Chris knew their temper well enough to keep in control, his only remaining problem however, as always, was left with no solution. His own temper that is.

"No, I don't. I don't know what you might need," He started in a quiet, rhetorical voice, trying his best to keep his usual unemotional mask together, "but I just might be able to help if you actually tell me."

"Stop playing around Christopher!" 'There he goes again,' thought Chris.

Leo's eyes flashed in pure hatred as he buried his gaze deep into the Whitelighter's emerald eyes. He would have sworn he saw a hint of sadness in the jade orbs and suddenly felt some kind of strange familiarity in them, but as he could not quite place it he quickly brushed the feeling away. He took a few steps in the direction of the cage Chris was standing in, paying attention not to get shocked by the invisible wall. The Elder looked like as if he was hesitating whether he should keep his calm or give into his instincts and beat the hell out of the brunette. It wasn't like he hadn't done that before.

'Done that more than you could ever imagine,' Chris thought bitterly when picking the lines up from Leo's mind with his telepathy, and made an effort to shut the outside off properly. He could not help but feel a slight surge of pain making its way to his chest at the memories suddenly flashing through his mind, but overcame it quickly and strengthened himself to carry on with the façade he was living in all his life. There was no space to let old scars come up, especially not in front of the man who was the cause of just so many of them.

Leo cleared his throat before he could speak up his ex-wife lost her temper and burst out.

"You are the one who wants to turn him, aren't you?" she screamed at her Whitelighter, yet it sounded more like a statement than a question. "You came here to hurt my baby!"

It took a while until realization sunk in and even when it finally did Chris could not believe what he'd just heard. He was being accused by turning Wyatt evil.

Wyatt, the prophesied Twice-blessed child, Piper's sunshine, Leo's golden son… his only son.

Well, at least now it made sense why he was being captured by the witches. He felt foolish for thinking they would take such drastic measures only for getting their oh-so-wanted answers. Just like that another realization hit him: he was being captured by powerful witches, who, on top of that, were standing on the side of good, and considered him to be an evil being. And evil beings they… oh shit.

"We won't let you touch him." Leo stated in a warningly low tone.

That was it. They were about to kill him, weren't they?

Chris subconsciously took a few steps backwards but he felt the power of rising electricity behind his back, what made him freeze in his tracks. He realized he was being afraid.

'Afraid of what? They can do nothing to hurt you!' The brunette scolded himself and for what seemed to be like the twentieth time in the last few hours he felt incredibly stupid. He let his old habit of backing away in fear take him over, as if Leo could truly hurt him.

Oh well, maybe there was a time he could…. past tense emphasized – he kept repeating for himself, even though it wasn't completely true, and of all, he knew better than anyone. Leo has always acted like an abusive asshole towards him, in the future, and here in the past as well. He was the person Chris tried so hard to hate with all his heart, yet he could not withstand seeing the hatred and disgust in the Elder's eyes. He might despise the older man all the way he wants, but he could never deny the emotional pain their screwed up relationship causes him.

Completely unaware of their Whitelighter's inner turmoil the sisters grabbed some vials from the coffee desk in the meantime, and held them hesitantly. Piper offered one to Paige, but she just shook her head in deviant refusal. The movement instantly pulled Chris back to reality, and seeing the potions he started to seek desperately for some hint of their containment. When found none he brought himself to force his telepathic lines open and search for the answer in their thoughts.

Telepathy has always been his least favorite power, yet there were times he was forced to use it in order to avoid certain… problems. Still, it felt unnatural and uncomfortable for him to have strange thoughts in his head, so he tried to avoid using it as much as possible. Unfortunately, this was not the situation where he could allow himself the luxury of doing so.

'Truth spell!' He began to panic when finding what he was searching for in Paige's mind. Not that he was surprised by their plan, but a Power of Three spell with additional potions could seriously pack a punch, what he just might not be able to deflect.

He was measuring his chances of successfully tk-ing the spell when he fetched a fragment of thought through his link which he forgot to close, and once more it was from Paige. Being curious he allowed himself to peek in slightly deeper into her brain and what he found was something he kind of did not expect.

The youngest sister did not hate him the slightest bit. She liked him actually. He's been around only for seven months, and without knowing about his true identity she already liked him! True enough, she was always the only one who cared for him, the only one who asked him about his own life between her sisters' interrogations about the future, the only one who stayed up late just to bring him coffee knowing he would search the Book for another demon. She was the first to speak to him after Bianca's death, the first to notice his weight-loss, the first to ask him if he needed any help, and the only one who believed he was there to save Wyatt. She was everything and so much more in his world. She seemed to be a lot nicer and considering towards him than the rest was, but he would never imagine her to feel this way without fully knowing the future. After all he's only been their "annoying, neurotic and bossy Whitelighter", as Piper once noted. Maybe Paige felt the connection they've shared ever since his birth. She must have felt it.

Yet the fact she managed to hide it so well even from him did not actually help his case, as she would not defy her sisters to save him at that point, but the whole capturing thing suddenly became a simple minor issue for Chris.

An unpleasantly smirking Piper threw the vial to his legs and it crashed with a loud puff. Phoebe, clearly not enjoying what she was doing thrown another one at him which had the same effect, while Paige remained still, fixing her gaze on the floor and not moving an inch on Piper's voice calling her.

Chris let a short-lived grin take over his features, but there still was enough time for the Elder to notice. He frowned at first, but then he thought the Whitelighter believed Paige would help him, so he decided just to let it go.

'Couldn't be any further from the truth.' Chris realized his link was still open and quickly sewed it off, not wanting to hear more of anyone's thoughts. He did not expect the youngest Charmed One to actually help him, he just simply did not care anymore. He did not even bother to try and deflect the spell the three of them were chanting together. At last, he realized, he wasn't completely alone… Whatever they managed to pull out of him did not change the fact that at least Paige already cared about him once.

As the Charmed ones finished their chanting Chris felt a strange warm feeling running through his body, starting at his legs and leaving him through the top of his head. A golden glow could also be seen above him, disappearing just as quickly as it came.

Leo decided not to waste a minute and test if the spell worked correctly. He looked at Piper who gave her a supporting nod so he turned to Chris once again and placed the question.

"Why did you send me to Valhalla?" Everybody could pick up the suppressed anger in his voice, yet Leo's strict features did not seem to change a bit ever since the half-breed entered the attic. Chris noticed he was unable to push the sentence "It wasn't me" out of himself, but before he could think about another lie the truth had already been voiced aloud.

"I needed you out of my way."

Now that was some seriously strong charm he's been put under. He most likely wouldn't be able to tk it even if he tried, as that wasn't something he practiced too often. But hey, a spell like that was just expected from the most powerful witches of that time, wasn't it?

Leo clenched his fists, apparently just barely able to hold himself back from sending bolts of electricity into the young man's direction. Piper gritted her teeth as well, yet neither of them was quite surprised at what he said. Everything stayed as it was at the start – they were angry and ready to kill him on the first suspicious move.

As Chris looked at the aunts he saw that Phoebe backed away quite a bit seeing Leo's condition, and that sadness lurked in Paige's gaze. She still refused to look at any of them, either signaling she was against Leo's plan, or she might just found the wooden floor suddenly very interesting.

"I wouldn't let you get hurt," he added whispering, in a childlike voice that contained so much purity Leo had trouble reminding himself whom he was facing. He had to ignore all the distractions and carry on with his private interrogation if he wanted to know what were the Whitelighter's secrets he would not talk about. And God knew how much he wanted to know them… no, he needed to know what the boy was up to. His son was concerned after all.

Phoebe, sensing Leo's anger decided to take over the role of the interrogator, fearing that his ex-brother-in-law would really pick a fight with the poor kid. She waited until she had Chris's attention, stepped forward and waved for the rest to stay back.

"Why did you come back, Chris?"

….

Many thanks to my beta charmedbaby11

The second chapter is almost done, please review if you liked it… Thanks for reading!