Chapter 3 of 9
At the end of his rope
Wyatt Mathew Halliwell was not a happy camper. It had been two weeks since they were busted by their family, it was at most two days before their parents were due to conceive Chris and if that wasn’t enough to worry about his parents had been nothing but doting on him and nothing but cruel with Chris. They didn’t miss one chance to make snide remarks, call Chris evil, shed doubts on his motives. They didn’t miss one chance to make him feel unwelcome from small looks to big things like asking Wyatt to stay for a meal and either not inviting Chris at all or stating that he wasn’t invited.
As a result Wyatt was getting furious with the people he loved and Chris was getting depressed, broken. He would go demon hunting non-stop, he slept even less than he was sleeping before, which had already been dangerously little, and eating, well, Wyatt forgot the last time Chris actually stopped to eat instead of just grabbing a cracker or some other non nutritive nonsense on his way out.
His birthday had been a total bust. Chris had not been in the mood to celebrate but had done his best to humor Wyatt. Chris’s mood had lifted a little when the next day he had been presented with a new coat, because the underworld can get drafty, by his Aunts and a real cake that Phoebe had bought on her way to work. Unfortunately their aunt’s good intentions had been shot down as soon as Piper had come home with baby Wyatt and made Chris feel unwelcome.
Wyatt smiled at the thought of his aunts, unlike his parents they seemed to have finally accepted that Chris was not evil and was fighting to save everyone, them included. Why his parents couldn’t see the same he didn’t know. Phoebe said that it wasn’t Chris’s fault. That they were using him as a target for their marital problems and they hadn’t even stopped to actually get to know Chris. Well, Wyatt huffed, as if Chris was responsible for Leo not being able to prioritize his family. His mother never had taken her issues with Leo out on her sons. As a matter of fact she had been a champion when defending Chris from Leo’s neglect. Wyatt remembered what Phoebe said.
“He’s not family so she feels that taking her frustrations out on him is okay.”
“But he was family,” Wyatt thought sighing. His most inner thoughts were interrupted by the objects of his anger. Leo and Piper had just come in to the living room looking as if they had bad news.
“Wyatt, honey, can we talk?” Piper asked softly.
Wyatt was very tempted to say no but one look at his Aunts, who had been doing research with some books his father brought from Magic School, after telling them about Magic School and getting yelled for not disclosing that information earlier, made him back down. They had been asking him to be more lenient with his parents. Saying his obvious anger at them wasn’t helping Chris any. So he nodded and let them sit on the coffee table in front of the couch he was seated on.
“We’ve been thinking honey, and we think that you and Chris shouldn’t be so close,” Piper said gently.
“Excuse me?” he asked slowly. His temper already starting to rise.
“I think that he isn’t good company for you Wyatt and that it would be best if you two went your separate ways,” Piper said and when they heard a gasp they all turned.
Chris was there and the deep hurt look he had was unbearable for Wyatt. His parents on the other hand were not moved as they got up and looked at Chris. Leo asking annoyed.
“Do you want something Chris?”
“I was going to ask your help with a lead I got but now I think I better stop imposing my presence. I’ll do what you want just now,” he finished tightly orbing out.
“What the hell is the matter with you people?” Wyatt roared getting up.
“Exactly that!” Piper snapped back. “Look what he does to you! You’re always angry-“
“Chris isn’t the one making me angry. You are mom,” Wyatt said looking straight into her eyes. “No, scratch that, you are disappointing me. Very much,” he finished, his voice just as tight as Chris had been and he stormed out banging the door close and almost running down the street, hoping he would find his brother back at the apartment.
Back at the manor Leo and Piper were not getting a better reaction from Phoebe and Paige.
“I can’t believe you two,” Phoebe hissed.
“We are trying to protect our son,” Piper defended herself firmly.
“And hurting Chris achieves that how?” Paige asked angrily.
“He is a bad influence on Wyatt,” Leo affirmed.
“How would you two know?” Paige countered. “You never bothered getting to know him.” And with a last huff she imitated her nephew followed by her sister.
They looked around and at no sign of Wyatt Phoebe asked, “What now?”
“They must have gone back to the apartment,” Paige said.
“Should we follow?”
Paige sighed and looked at her, “I don’t know. Wyatt can’t orb so he’ll take a while to get there. I think he should talk to Chris first.”
“Yes,” Phoebe nodded. “Let’s get the car then. At least this way we will calm down before facing them.”
Wyatt found Chris in their shared room sitting on the mattress on the floor. His arms encircling his knees, his back to the wall and his face hidden in his arms. He quietly sat down next to Chris. They sat there for a while and Chris was so out of it and Wyatt so focused on his brother that neither heard the lock click, the door open and the soft click click of high heels.
“Chris,” he finally said.
“They hate me,” Chris’s voice was muffled. “They always did. They just pretended before because they had to. Or at least mum did. Leo never did.”
“She doesn’t Chris. They don’t. Mum always loved you. You were her peanut, her baby, Chris. You know that.”
“Yeah, she loved me. Because she had to. She’s my mother. But she doesn’t like me. If I wasn’t her son she’d hate me. That’s why they hate me. They don’t know I’m their son so they’re actually being honest. They can’t stand me,” Chris said tightly, furiously wiping away tears. He laughed bitterly, “She accuses me of being a liar but she was the ultimate liar. I believed her, I believed she loved me.”
“Chris, she does. They don’t hate you.”
“They do Wy, they do. But they won’t have to stand me anymore. I’ll stay away here and when we go back I’ll move away. Far away,” Chris nodded reaching a decision. “Too bad mom will have to stand me all those years,” he said bitterly. “Maybe she won’t need to. You can tell her to give me away to someone who can stand me. Grandpa seems to like me even here,” he finished softly remembering Victor’s surprise visit last week. To Piper’s annoyance Victor had not only loved meeting Wyatt but had very much liked Chris.
“That’s not true Chris,” a soft voice came from the door and both boys turned to see Phoebe and Paige standing there tears running down their cheeks. “They don’t know you,” Phoebe continued. “If they knew who you are they would feel so guilty-“
“I don’t want them to know!” Chris cried getting up abruptly. “I don’t want their obligation love. Their fake love. Besides, maybe I’ll get lucky and they won’t even conceive me this time, after all I was an accident. Leo always said so.”
Wyatt got up angrily and snapped, “Don’t you ever say something stupid like that again!”
“Maybe it’s better Wy,” Chris whispered sadly and orbed away.
“I hate when he does that!” Wyatt growled. He looked at his aunts and sighed. “What are you two doing here?”
“We wanted make sure Chris was alright,” Paige said.
“Yeah, but once again you found out something you shouldn’t,” he huffed.
“To be perfectly honest,” Phoebe traded looks with Paige. “We already suspected.”
“Uh?” Wyatt asked bewildered.
“You two weren’t that discreet when you told us your story,” Paige sighed. “And once we stopped suspecting Chris was evil and actually got to know him we noticed little stuff. Like his looks, Piper, his eyes, Leo, his temper, Piper.”
“His mouth, Paige,” Phoebe said and received a glare from her sister and a chuckle from Wyatt.
“Serves mom right for letting her children near Paige. Why didn’t you say something?”
“We figured you two had your reasons for not saying anything,” Paige said simply. “And we weren’t a hundred percent sure, just 99.99,” she smirked.
“Who else knows?”
“No one,” Phoebe said, “We didn’t share our suspicions with anyone else. Not even your parents. We figured that either you told them or they should figure out by themselves. I love my sister but I’m not very happy with her right now.”
Wyatt nodded and sighed, “What now? I don’t know what to do. I can’t follow him. I bet his cloaking himself. And I don’t want him to be alone.”
“There’s nothing we can do there,” Phoebe said. “And maybe he needs some time to himself. We’ll be here waiting for him.”
“Do you think they’re right?” Piper asked worriedly.
“No,” Leo said sitting next to her on the couch. “We are protecting Wyatt and Chris is trying to pull him away from our family. Look at how distant Wyatt always is from us. Always angry.”
Piper smiled at Leo as he took her hand trying to comfort her, “We’ll bring our son back to us Piper. Don’t worry.”
“He hates us.”
“No he doesn’t. That’s Chris’s doing. But we’ll save him.”
She nodded. A little voice in her mind said that that was their doing, not Chris’s. That Wyatt was right to be angry and that Chris was not to blame for everything that went wrong in her family but she squashed that voice. Because that voice was the same one that said she should be angry at Leo for becoming an Elder not at Chris. And she didn’t want to be angry at Leo. She loved Leo. She missed Leo. How could she be angry at Leo? Leo was family. Chris wasn’t. It was as simple as that.
She scooted a little closer to him. She missed that warmth and unconsciously he draped an arm over her shoulder. They really couldn’t explain how their lips locked together or what happened next.
“In the next two days? Are you sure?” Phoebe asked.
“I can’t pin point exactly when but the next forty-eight hours is the limit. Either mum and dad conceive him or we lose him.”
“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” Paige huffed.
“Well, they had been separated the first time around, so I wasn’t worried. But now I’m getting. I can’t see those two having sex any time soon.”
“We’ll think of something,” Paige said.
“I can’t think on an empty stomach,” Wyatt declared getting up.
Chris had been feeling lighter and lighter as the day went by. He had meant to tell his brother. That was partly why he went to the manor, that and the lead he found. When he orbed back to the apartment he had written the lead down on a letter to Wyatt that he stuffed in the fridge, his brother’s favorite place, he was sure to find it. If Chris disappeared he would read the letter and know how to continue.
He had been thinking for a while that maybe his parents would be better off if he was never born. And today when he heard his mother he knew they would. He was here, just waiting to disappear. His hand had already become see through when suddenly he started feeling better and his hand solidified. He groaned.
Great! His horny parents couldn’t do anything right!
He better get back to the apartment before Wyatt found the letter. He orbed back just to find out it was too late as he was faced with a livid Wyatt and two teary aunts, one of which was clutching the letter.
“What the hell were you thinking?” Wyatt hissed.
“Doesn’t matter anymore. They did it,” Chris said quietly looking at the floor.
Wyatt wasn’t dissuaded though. He abruptly moved towards Chris. Grabbed him by the arms and cried shaking him.
“What were you thinking?”
“That everyone would be happier!” Chris cried, his eyes watering. “That mom wouldn’t have to pretend!”
“I wouldn’t” Wyatt said angrily.
“You wouldn’t remember me,” Chris whispered.
“I’d never forget you,” Wyatt said through tears. “A piece of me would be always missing.”
Chris shook his head,” I just wanted to stop hurting.”
Wyatt pulled him into a hug and whispered into Chris's hair. “Then let us help. Don’t ever let this get this far. Please Chris. I can’t live without you.”
Chris nodded into Wyatt’s chest and let himself be comforted by his brothers and Aunts who had joined the hug.
The door opened and Piper’s head went up. Leo had been called Up There after they had sex. She still couldn’t believe it. What were they thinking? They were separated for crying out loud! She was seeing Greg!
She quickly moved towards the parlor hoping Wyatt had changed his mind and come home. Her hopes deflated as she saw Paige come in.
“Oh,” she said. “It’s you.”
“Yeah,” Paige said not looking at Piper. She couldn’t. Not after seeing how much her sister had hurt her own son. That letter had been heart wrenching. “Phoebe went to work. She had an idea for a column,” more like she needed to unload what she was feeling somewhere and if she came home she would have given Piper a piece of her mind. Which Paige wasn’t too far from doing either. But she had promised her nephew, and she knew that if she told Piper all would be lost. Chris would never believe Piper’s love was genuine if she found out before she made amends.
Paige knew it would be. She knew her sister. She knew Piper had never seen Chris but always a punching bag for her frustrations, once she stopped and saw him she would love him. And maybe her knowing who he was and how much he was hurting would help her see him. But Chris wouldn’t understand that, and right now, this was about Chris. About Chris who had seen his beloved mother get killed just to start being abused by that same mother less than a month later.
Wyatt had been right. Chris hadn’t had time to mourn their family before being thrust here. Wyatt had been away from them, so even if he had heard news about them he had not had to deal with them and had had time to process everything that had happened to them almost a year ago. He had moved on. Chris hadn’t, he hadn’t been allowed to.
“I failed to protect him. I’m his big brother and for the last year he’s been protecting me. He protected me at the attack; he put up his shield up. I don’t know why, but Chris’s shield is different from mine. He can project the shield and protect whoever he wants, but he can never be inside the shield. H shielded mom’s body and me and managed to get the book before he orbed us all out. I could have fought. I had Excalibur. But he just shielded me. And when we were finally safe I couldn’t even heal his injuries, and they were extensive. But they didn’t stop him. Not until we found shelter with the Valkeries. That’s why we took so long coming back. He had to heal. And then when we got here I couldn’t protect him from our family or from the demons. And the most I can do is wait with the first aid kit for him to come home.”
Wyatt had been truly disappointed when he confessed that to them after Chris had fallen asleep on the couch with his head on Phoebe’s lap. Spent from the emotional day and from feeling light all day long.
“I’m going to bed,” Paige said.
“This early?”
“Piper,” Paige sighed. “That’s code for I don’t want to fight with you so I’ll just avoid you. Please let me.”
Piper nodded sadly as Paige just went towards the bedrooms.
Victor Bennet opened the door to his apartment to meet his youngest child’s hesitant smile. He was worried. It was late. Almost midnight, why was Phoebe showing up by surprise so late?
“Hi daddy,” Phoebe said. ‘Can I come in?”
“Sure honey,” he said receiving a hug. “Is everything okay?” he said motioning her to a couch.
Phoebe grimaced, “No. That’s why I’m here. I went to work, and wrote a column, and got my thoughts in order and that’s when it occurred to me that he needs someone he can talk too. And Wyatt told me you were so close in the future, that maybe I thought-“
“This is about Wyatt?” he asked curiously.
“No,” she bit her lip. “Chris.”
“Ah,” Victor said leaning backwards. “My other grandson.”
“How do you know?” Phoebe asked gobsmacked.
“Give me some credit Phoebe,” Victor snorted. “He is Piper all over.”
“He is, isn’t he?” she asked fondly. “I don’t see how she doesn’t see it.”
“So, what’s the problem with Chris?” Victor asked and Phoebe took a deep breath and launched into the whole sad story.