Leo’s blood froze, the whole room had frozen. No Piper was wrong, because if what she said was right then he was the father that would let his son beg for his mother’s life. She had to be wrong. But the desperate look Chris had, the horrified look Chris had told him everything. He looked as someone who had been caught, someone who was trapped, and Prue had just gotten up and cried.

“Finally!”

“You’re my son?” Piper repeated. “You’re Wyatt’s brother. The one he tortured. He did this to you.” She came closer and touched one of his scars and Chris backed away as if scorched.

“He had to. I defied him,” he said desperately.

“Don’t defend his actions Chris!” Prue said angrily and everything suddenly made sense. Chris was the only one who still believed in Wyatt, not because he was his friend but because he was his brother. He was desperately trying to save his brother.

And himself from having to kill Wyatt.

Chris had just blown up the demon, just like his mother would have. In the middle of the fight he must have forgotten himself and used a power he wasn’t supposed to and still Leo hadn’t realized. All the clues had been there. His favoritism to Piper. His aversion to the idea of a crush on her. His bossiness, just like his mother. His stubbornness, well that came from both.

But he couldn’t, he couldn’t be a father that ignored one son but he was, wasn’t he? Hadn’t he thought Wyatt was more important? That Wyatt needed him more even before he knew of Chris? When Piper told him she was pregnant again?

He had. He might not have gone away as Chris alluded he did the first time, but he still ignored one son.

No wonder Chris always treated him so coldly.

He lifted his head and saw that Chris was desperately trying to look for an escape route. He had his arms folded over his chest trying fruitlessly to cover the view. Sticking one of his hands out he orbed his drenched shirt to him and hastily put it on.

“Chris, that’s soaked!” Phoebe cried.

“It’s fine, I have to go. The Dark-“ and Leo could see the desperate attempt to pretend nothing happened.

“Oh, you’re most definitely not going! Especially not now!” Piper cried.

“Five seconds ago you agreed with the plan!” he cried and the frustration in voice was palpable.

“Five seconds ago you weren’t my son!”

“Actually, I always was!” he yelled back.

“Well then why didn’t you say so?”

“Because when I go back you’ll still be dead!” he yelled and then looked as if all he wanted was to take that back. His eyes widened as Piper took a sharp intake of breath.

Before anyone could react Chris orbed out and Prue muttered, “Told you, like mother like son!”

“You have some explaining to do,” Phoebe pointed a finger at Prue and Prue sighed deeply.

---

“Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shitshitshitshitshitshit!”

Chris muttered as he paced the length of the bridge. He knew he shouldn’t be here, or at least put on a dry shirt before coming here, the wind was cold and biting. But he was desperate. They were not supposed to know, they were not supposed to know! He had freedom, he came and went and no one asked. Ten seconds being his mother and she was already bossing him around.

Yes, that was his reason, very solid, very rational, logic, he had a job to do. He couldn’t be mothered no matter how much he missed her.

What he yelled. Well, that, that was not the reason. At all, no,no,no. Oh, who was he kidding? That was the reason, just like he told Aunt Paige. He couldn’t lose her twice. He couldn’t. He gripped his hair desperately.

---

“So he’s Chris Perry Halliwell?” Paige asked from the couch.

“Er, no, he’s Christopher Victor Halliwell, you know one for each grandfather,” Prue said.

“My dad’s name was Christopher,” Leo said quietly.

“Yeah, Perry’s a joke.”

“A joke?” Phoebe asked.

“Perry White? From Superman? Wyatt used to say Perry Wyatt when he was little and because Wyatt thinks he is indestructible.”

“Superman wasn’t. He had kryptonite,” Piper said quietly, “Maybe Chris is his Kryptonite,” she smiled sadly.

“Maybe, Chris thinks that because Wyatt never killed him and had orders for his demons not to hurt him but I’m not so sure he just didn’t want Chris for his powers,” Prue said eyeing her sister with pity in her eyes.

“Chris doesn’t seem all that powerful?” Paige offered.

Prue smirked, “A Whitelighter isn’t supposed to have any power other than healing.”

“He held back,” Leo stated and Prue nodded.

“What most people forget is that Chris is Wyatt’s brother. He came from the same parents, and you were already an Elder when you conceived him. Wyatt is twice blessed and all but you being an elder pretty much balanced that out. But most people don’t realize that and unfortunately what people keep telling you is a very strong weapon,” Prue said bitterly.

“What do you mean?” Phoebe asked.

“Imagine growing up where everybody except your mother tells you you are weak and that you’re so lucky your brother is so strong to protect you. You end up believing them. Chris held back here yes. But he has always held back. The few times he’s let loose were accidents that were brought up by extreme circumstances. He usually never reaches his full potential,” Prue said.

“So how do you know he has this potential?” Phoebe asked.

“She’s his whitelighter; she can sense his powers even if he himself doesn’t believe in them,” Leo explained and his eyes widened as he realized something, “That’s also why I had to be suspicious,” he smiled self depreciatively. “So I wouldn’t sense him and realize he is my son.”

“Yes.”

“Uh, explanation please?” Piper asked.

“To sense someone, really sense them and put them on our radar I kind of have to bring a piece of him into me, so I’ll always be able to follow that piece. But I didn’t know if he was good or evil and I didn’t want to risk tainting myself. So I never did. If I had I would have recognized him because his magic is a mix of mine and Piper’s,” Leo explained.

“Exactly. Chris had to be conceived at the right time. To early or too late and the baby wouldn’t be him. This had to happen naturally. The first time around Leo became an Elder the same way as this time. All Chris did was tell you what to do from what you had already done. The first time you stuck around because the girls had no whitelighter but this time we had to make you stick around since Chris would be their whitelighter.”

“But if Leo would get tainted by Chris wouldn’t he have been tainted by Wyatt?” Paige asked never having tried her sensing powers.

“No,” Prue shook her head, “Leo sensed Wyatt for the first time when he was first born. That’s when he put a piece of Wyatt inside him. When Wyatt hadn’t been turned yet. So the piece of Wyatt in Leo isn’t tainted. That’s another argument Chris used to convince us. If Wyatt had been born evil Leo should have been turned slowly through time by the piece of Wyatt in him.”

“There’s a chance I could overcome that piece,” Leo said sadly.

“We told him that but he wouldn’t listen. And I’m glad he didn’t.”

Leo nodded. That all made sense.

“And what Paige said, about Chris killing Wyatt?” Piper asked almost in a whisper and a haunted look came over Prue.

“He will if he has no other choice. He won’t doom the world to what Wyatt has been doing to us. He’ll go back and he’ll win, because Wyatt is doing this for greed and Chris, Chris has nothing more to loose but-“ she bit her lip-“he’ll make sure he dies with Wyatt. He loves his brother, more than anyone else. More than himself. Even after everything Wyatt has done, even after Wyatt killed Bianca. He won’t survive having to kill him.”

Leo could see she was saying the truth and somehow he wasn’t shocked by the news, he already knew. He already knew Wyatt was all Chris was living for. He had to save them both or loose them both. He buried his head in his hands and grabbed his hair, just as Chris had done yesterday. And Prue noted that as much as Chris took after Piper he had a lot of Leo.

---

“Atchoo!” he sneezed as he orbed into the kitchen.

“Serves you right for going out on a soaked shirt,” Piper said calmly and Chris narrowed his eyes. This was not what he was expecting.

“Where’s my stuff? I stopped by P3 to change-“

“The guestroom.” She said simply and not stopping her cooking.

“Since when do we have a guestroom?”

“Oh fine,” she huffed. “The nursery. We moved Wyatt’s crib and put a bed in the nursery for you and Paige and Phoebe will share so Prue can stay in her old room.”

“Why? I was fine.”

“Because I am your mother and I say so.”

Chris gawked at her disbelievingly. “What?” he spluttered. “Until a few hours ago you didn’t even know!”

“Don’t care,” she said matter of factly. As if nothing was bothering her. She decided she would treat him this way. Prue had said: Like mother like son. She had been avoiding Prue because she was afraid of losing her again and in that one sentence she understood why her son was so intent in avoiding any relation with her.

Well she wouldn’t have that and she as sure as hell would not die. Especially not the way Phoebe confided in her she did. She still couldn’t picture her Leo ignoring his son’s pleas like that.

She, the adult here, decided to lead by example so when Prue ended her explanations she set the tasks. Paige went to P3 to gather Chris’s stuff and Leo and Phoebe went to get the rooms ready and she cornered Prue.

“If you dare die again; I’m going to resurrect you just so I can kill you, do I make myself clear?” she said angrily at Prue. Prue had the nerve to smile.

“Crystal.”

“What are you smirking at?”

“This was easier.”

“Well I have other priorities I have to take care of my sons.” Piper said angrily.

“Oh, you had the same priorities back then. And you used to keep Chris very close to you. He almost died at birth and for a long time he got sick easily. So even when he was already getting healthy you had a hard time letting him roam free. I had to try and guide him with you breathing down my neck and pretending I wasn’t there at the same time. That was quite amusing,.” Prue said fondly.

“But eventually you wore me off?” Piper asked.

“No eventually you burst. Except then the whole dying was a secondary worry. You didn’t like Chris having a whitelighter. You thought he was too young. That we couldn’t possibly want him to fight. I explained I was there to guide him to get him ready for when he was older and ready to fight, not then. In the end the fight came to him when he was still a child,” Prue finished sadly.

Piper smiled sadly, “He had to grow up faster didn’t he? I would have never thought he was just twenty, he acts so much older.”

“And in others ways he never did get to grow up,” Prue answered. “Emotionally he is still a child. He was sixteen when all this started. His first and only girlfriend ever was the Phoenix Wyatt hired to keep him in line. Wyatt didn’t see that coming,” she smirked.

Piper smirked, “I bet he didn’t.”

“He got comfortable in his certainty that Bianca was bringing Chris to his side and started giving Chris more liberties. More time he was allowed outside the House. Fewer demons trailing him. At one time he had only Bianca with him and Chris was free to give orders to the Resistance as needed. Some very good friends he had from Magic school and outside where forming a group and Chris brought in all the intel he could. They were the ones waiting for me and Paige when we escaped.”

“And the Elders?”

“The few that survived locked themselves away to weather the storm out,” she snorted. “Leo stayed down here and he lost contact with them. A few whitelighters, I included, stayed too.”

“One of them makes this mess and then they are the first to bail out,” Piper snorted.

“Did you figure out what those demons wanted?” Chris went all business like and Piper sighed.

“Prue and Phoebe are on that. They are lower level ones but we don’t know why they attacked. Quite stupid if you ask me.”

“Well, I’ll go get ready to scout some Darklighter,” he said.

“Tomorrow.”

“Excuse me?”

“Look, I am not going to mother you. I know you have to go. I thought about this. But today you are exhausted and can make a stupid mistake. Go tomorrow, please.”

He sighed but nodded nonetheless.

Piper took her victories as they came.