Try, Try Again Chapter 22 of 29
Chapter 22
Consequences
Chris rolled over in bed and checked the clock; it was 6:15 in the morning. ‘Good’ he thought as he pulled some clothes on; Mom and Leo will still be asleep, I can go and do some checking in the underworld before they even get up. He threw on some clothes, slipped on and tied his shoes then stood to orb out. Nothing happened, “What the hell?” he asked out loud. No way did they put an antiorbing spell around the house; what if Paige wanted to come over or if Leo needed to go up there? ‘Maybe they just put it around my room’ he thought as he quietly walked out of his bedroom. When he was standing in the hall he tried again to orb, no luck. “Damn it!” he said aloud.
He heard his mother call out, “Christopher, get down here right now.” Oh crap, this couldn’t be good. He slowly walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to see both parents staring at him.
His eyes went to his mother then to his father before saying, “You two are up early. I was just gonna…”
Piper cut him off by saying “You aren’t going anywhere, mister! I don’t know how you were raised but things are going to change around here.”
Chris was starting to panic despite himself. He knew he was in trouble for going out last night but really, rules? Didn’t they see he was a grown up now? I mean, sure he was only fourteen but they didn’t know that! “Come on Piper, you know that last night…”
Leo stood up and got closer to Chris and said, “I have had enough of that. She,” he said as he pointed to Piper, “Is Mom. I,” Pointing to himself, “Am Dad. And you,” he said as he pointed towards Chris, “are grounded.”
This wasn’t going well at all but Chris knew his best defense would be an offense so he puffed himself up and said, “Listen, LEO, I don’t know what you think you are trying to pull but you need to get over yourself.” With those final words he shoved Leo out of his way and strode out of the kitchen. He was thinking that might not have been the best of plans considering he couldn’t orb but he continued to walk towards the door.
Leo had been so taken aback that Chris had shoved him he didn’t react right away. That only lasted a moment or two and when he came back into himself he walked up quickly behind Chris and grabbed him by the arm. Leo was in his face saying, “I can’t believe you just did that. Right now I want you to go up to your room and take a look at yourself in the mirror and then wait for me there.” And with that he shoved him towards the stairs. Chris was so shocked that he stumbled his way up the stairs and entered his room.
Chris stood at the door to his room and stared. What was it that Leo said, ‘look in a mirror’? What the hell did that mean? He walked over to the dresser mirror and looked himself in the eye, “Oh shit!” he said out loud. There staring back at him was his fourteen year old face. He shot a look around the room and then back to the mirror. Oh he was so in for it! He needed to get outta here fast! He tried to orb, out of habit and swore out loud again, he had forgotten he couldn’t orb. He crept quietly out of his room, leaving the door open so that he didn’t make any noise. He softly padded down the first couple of stairs. He could see his parents in the living room and he could only pray that they didn’t see him try to sneak out. He was sure that once he got out of the house he would be able to orb again.
Leo and Piper were standing in the living room discussing what to do with their now teenage son.
Out of the corner of his eye Leo saw Chris quietly trying to make his way down the stairs. He didn’t turn to look at him he only raised his voice slightly and said, “When I get up there if you aren’t standing with your nose in a corner you are going to be one very sorry little boy.”
Chris tripped over his own feet trying to hurry back to his room. He sullenly marched to a corner of the room and tipped his head into the wall, ‘Isn’t that just great! Apparently punishment is genetic because this is exactly what Wyatt would have done,’ he thought. With no way to get out of the house he had to just stand here, thinking about what a bad idea glamouring himself to look older was. He knocked his head into the wall again, ‘how did they figure it out?’ he wondered.
Piper nodded at Leo and said, “I will handle Wyatt; you can take care of Chris.”
Leo tried to force a grin that came out more as a grimace as Piper passed him and walked up the stairs to check on Wyatt. This was not something Leo was looking forward to but Chris had really crossed a line. He hadn’t just gone out to the underworld alone after being told not to; he also had been lying to them since the first met him. He had said he was twenty and he frequently spoke of the ‘fact’ that he was an adult.
Leo had no idea what he was going to do. He may have been a father for two years now but that was to a baby. He had never been the father to a teenager. He didn’t even remember BEING a teenager. Corner time was just the first thing that popped into his head.
Leo walked up the stairs passing; Piper who was carrying Wyatt down to the kitchen, she gave him a supportive smile. He walked into Chris’s room and pulled out the chair to the desk by the door and sat there for a minute before asking his question to his son’s back, “So, you wanna explain?”
Chris didn’t turn around instead he mumbled something that sounded like, “Not really.”
There was a pregnant pause before Leo said, “So how about we start with the age.”
Chris hung his head; he was actually kinda hoping maybe; just maybe they hadn’t noticed that he now appeared YEARS younger than he claimed.
The silence was heavy before Leo asked, “How old are you?”
Chris sighed before he told the wall in front of him, “Fourteen.”
Leo nodded his head agreeing with the answer before he said, “So, is lying just a bad habit of yours then?”
With that Chris whipped around to face his father and he all but yelled, “You never would have listened to me if you knew how old I was!”
Leo wasn’t moved by the argument, “That justifies you lying to us? We’re your parents Chris; I think we deserved the truth! First you weren’t going to tell us who you were, that would have led to lies, then you tell us you are twenty when you are actually MUCH younger.” Chris hung his head as the lecture continued. “And last night you went into the underworld after your mother and I expressly told you not to. This is to say nothing of the little altercation in the kitchen.” Chris flushed darkly while he was thinking that it had been a really bad plan to shove his father.
Leo then said, “There are consequences from these actions, Christopher.”
Chris looked up wide eyed at his father. He knew what that meant in Wyatt speak, but what did it mean with Leo? “You can’t ground me!” Chris blurted out without thinking. And wow was that not what he meant to say. ‘Talk about giving the man ideas’ he thought as he blushed.
Leo sat back and thought, ‘That is an interesting statement’ but out loud he said, “And why not?” Obviously with that reaction it seems that it would be the punishment for such an offense.
Chris raised his head and started to say, “Because I’m…” but realized that the ‘I’m a grown up’ wasn’t going to fly anymore. Chris blushed and looked down before he gained his courage again. He looked Leo in the eye and said, “You aren’t my father!” Why he said that he had no idea, of course Leo was his father. It was just that statement said to Wyatt was not only accurate but usually caused him to pause. Chris’s eyes found the floor again thinking that it didn’t usually cause Wyatt to pause for very long though.
Leo sat there with his mouth open for a second before saying, “I most certainly am your father.” Leo stood up and walked across the room closer to Chris. “I have had it with the lies Christopher! You are grounded and that means no leaving this room unless you are with your mother or me for anything including magic!” Leo told him in no uncertain terms
Chris cried out, “You don’t know me.” And again, while it was the truth it was probably not the thing to say to the man that had the power to ground you for the rest of your life.
Leo continued with, “Well I guess that’s about to change, isn’t it.” Leo didn’t say anymore but in his head he was reliving the horror at finding out that his ‘adult’ son was actually only fourteen years old and that he had been going off on tangents in the underworld by himself. He remembered the defensive position that Chris had been in, with his arms covering his head as if something was attacking him. He shook his head. He couldn’t believe they had been fooled for so long.
Tears sprung to Chris’s eyes. How was he going to save Wyatt if he was grounded! He sighed internally, he missed his big brother.
Suddenly both father and son were shocked to see the blue and white lights of an orb coalescing in the room. Little Wyatt appeared in front of them.
A few stunned moments later Piper came rushing into the room saying to Wyatt, “There you are!” Then she looked from Wyatt to Leo and Chris she said, “We were in the kitchen and he just started crying. Nothing I could do would console him then all of a sudden he orbed here.”
Chris backed up blushing. Not only did little Wyatt orb in during his being yelled at but he hadn’t yet explained the whole bond thing to them yet.
Piper saw the guilty look on Chris’s face and the backing up didn’t escape her notice either, “Chris? Is there something else you need to tell us?”
Leo turned abruptly to face Chris also.
Chris looked from his mother to his father and back to his mother again before saying, “Well, we kinda have a bond.” And he looked down to Wyatt who was staring up at his brother and father with a look of curious wonder. Chris gave the boy a small smile.
Wyatt said, “Cwiss,” and he orbed into his brother’s arms. Chris caught him in time to stop him from falling. This was just so hard to get used to. His ‘big’ brother was still a baby. He looked back up to see both his parents staring at him and he said, “I guess I have a lot to explain, don’t I? Maybe we should go down to the kitchen. He’s getting hungry.” He finished by lifting Wyatt a little higher demonstrating who he was talking about.
Piper gave him a look and Chris said, “And I’m getting hungry?” Hoping that maybe they could leave the bedroom and the punishment behind them.
Leo looked at Piper then over to Chris and asked, “Do we need to continue our discussion here?”
Chris quickly said, “No Sir, I get it.” He nodded with his head towards Piper, “She’s Mom,” then looked at Leo, “You’re Dad. And I’m…” then looked down and mumbled, “I’m grounded.” He was really hoping being agreeable now would shorten his time being grounded.
Leo quirked a small smile at the repetition of what he had said early. He stood and said, “Good. I don’t want to have to repeat that discussion any time soon.” He heard Chris let out a breath of relief before he finished the statement with, “But mean it, you are either here in this room or with one of us. Understood?”
Chris looked up into his father’s penetrating stare as he said, “Yes sir.” Chris slowly edged out of the room with Wyatt in his arms and headed down the stairs.
Leo looked over at Piper questioningly and mouthed the word ‘sir’? Piper shrugged her shoulders trying but failing to hold back her smile. Neither of them had seen themselves teaching their children to call them sir or ma’am but it seemed that Chris had learned it somewhere. The two parents followed their children down to the kitchen.
CHARMED - CHARMED - CHARMED
Chris looked over at his parents nervously. He didn’t know why he hadn’t explained their bond in the first place. Maybe he just wanted to keep some things to himself. Maybe he didn’t actually want them to know about it. Maybe he didn’t want them to know how little he knew about. He blew out a breath and said, “Well, we have a bond, kinda like the power of three but stronger.”
Piper gave him a dubious look. She didn’t think anything could be stronger than her and her sister’s bond. She was willing to hear the boy out though so she didn’t say anything.
Chris saw the look but didn’t pause, “See in my time, we can feel each other’s feelings and find each other. Some time when we were little though, Wyatt learned to dampen the bond. I didn’t understand how much until I came back and undid the spell…”
Leo interrupted, “Undid what spell?”
Chris took in another deep breath and said, “Uh, when I was trying to hide from Wyatt, I, uh, learned how to hide from him completely. I was afraid he would sense me so I made up a spell to block the bond. You remember, one of the two I showed you before we blocked the Elders.”
Piper thought back and remembered the two spells that were virtually the same thing to hide Chris from Wyatt when he went to find his mother. “So,” Piper began, “Let me get this straight. You and your brother have a bond that enables you to sense each other’s moods and locations.”
Chris nodded.
Piper continued, “Some time when you were growing up Wyatt was able to dampen the bond?”
“Yes,” Chris said, “I didn’t realize how much until I came back here and felt the bond with little Wyatt.”
Undeterred, Piper continued along her line of thinking, “When you needed to meet the future me, you cast a spell to block the bond completely. And then you undid the spell when you arrived back in time?”
“Well, actually I undid it right before I saw little Wyatt for the first time. That is probably why he orbed to me; he can sense the bond too,” Chris explained. Then he paused; his mind going back over the times his little ‘big’ brother orbed to him. “Actually, every time I wished to have Wy here or thought about him, little Wyatt has orbed to me. I wonder how strong the bond would be if Wy hadn’t intervened all those years ago.”
The family thought about the bond and the implications of it. How it could help them now and how strong it would be in the future. Before anyone could say something on the subject they heard Phoebe coming down the stairs.
“Good morning,” she yawned, “Wow you guys are up early. She hadn’t actually looked at the family that was gathered around the table. She was busy fixing herself a cup of coffee. The early hour even prevented her from noticing the unnatural quiet that permeated the kitchen.
Phoebe sat down at the table while taking a sip of her coffee and nearly spewed it back out over the table as she looked over at her nephew. “Oh my God! What happened to you? Was it a demon… a spell… some kind of attack?” she asked rapid fire.
Piper raised a hand to stop the flow of questions. “I believe your nephew has something to tell you,” Piper said and glared at Chris.
Chris gave her his best puppy dog eyes, silently begging to be let off the hook.
Leo saw the look and sternly said, “We have rules around here, Christopher. No lying is one of them. Now explain to your aunt what happened.” He knew he was being tough on the boy but he was aware that what he did right now would be setting the tone to their relationship. He was no longer going to stand by and let his son walk all over him. Chris was still a child, HIS child and starting right now Leo was going to start behaving as his father.
When Leo began to speak Chris looked over at him. When the words ‘no lying’ came up his gaze shifted to the table in front of him. There was an extended pause. Chris couldn’t find the words to explain to his Aunt Phoebe why her twenty year old nephew was now looking so young. Never in his life had he wished that he could orb more than he did right at this moment.
Leo only allowed the pause to last a moment before he said, “Would you rather go back upstairs with me and finish our discussion of the rules?” Leo held his breath hoping that the boy would do what he was asked. He had no desire to send the boy back to the corner again, but he knew he would if he had to.
When Leo said the word ‘upstairs’, Chris’s looked up, wide eyed. As the question was finished he minutely shook his head no as he whispered, “No sir.”
Phoebe watched the exchange with fascination. The last time she saw her nephew he was a young adult and her brother-in-law was falling over himself trying to get the boy to like him. Now Chris was sitting looking like a young teen and Leo was acting like a very stern disciplinarian.
Leo raised his eyebrows at Chris and gave a slight tilt of his head towards Phoebe.
Chris sighed and looked at his aunt, and then to the table as he said, “I’m only fourteen.”
Phoebe’s mouth dropped as she tried to wrap her head around this information. The behavior in front of her supported the new evidence.
Leo then prompted, “And?”
Chris shot him a dirty look. Leo cleared his throat and raised both eyebrows to the boy.
Chris quickly looked back down at the table in defeat as he whispered, “And I’m grounded.” Chris thought that this really sucked! He knew showing up as a fourteen year old would be a bad idea and now Leo was going all parental on him - uh, he means ‘Dad’ was going all parental. He didn’t want to ‘discuss’ the name thing again!
“Morning,” They heard Paige as she came into the room. She walked straight to the counter and helped herself to a cup of coffee.
Chris groaned he knew he was going to have to explain his age again.
As Paige sat down she glanced up and nearly fell off her chair.
Before she could even ask Chris said, “I’m only fourteen and I’m grounded. He looked up to Leo and asked, “May I be excused now?” This was embarrassing enough, he would really rather be grounded in his room.
Leo thought about the request for a moment before acquiescing. He knew Piper would want to talk with her sisters about this and probably didn’t want Chris around to hear it.
Chris walked quickly out of the room before Leo could change his mind. He went to his bedroom and threw himself on the bed. He worried that he wouldn’t be able to complete his mission now that the family was going to treat him like he was a child. He bit his lip as he thought that this is exactly what Wy would have done too. Punishing him and making him fess up to it! How could he be so much like Le- Dad if he wasn’t raised by him? Just thinking about his big brother made him miss home. He really missed his brother.
Suddenly blue and white lights lit up the room and coalesced into the form of his little ‘big’ brother.
Downstairs Piper was explaining the letter that had appeared during the night. She had just started to explain the boys’ unique bond when Wyatt orbed out of the room. Piper jumped up, panicked but then she heard the voice of her youngest child.
“I’ve got him,” Chris called out to his mother as he heard a chair scrape across the ground, tipping over and crashing. He figured his mom would worry where the little tyke had orbed off to. Chris shook his head, again wondering how strong their bond would have been if Wyatt had never messed with it.
TBC
Chapter 23
Consequences
Chris rolled over in bed and checked the clock; it was 6:15 in the morning. ‘Good’ he thought as he pulled some clothes on; Mom and Leo will still be asleep, I can go and do some checking in the underworld before they even get up. He threw on some clothes, slipped on and tied his shoes then stood to orb out. Nothing happened, “What the hell?” he asked out loud. No way did they put an antiorbing spell around the house; what if Paige wanted to come over or if Leo needed to go up there? ‘Maybe they just put it around my room’ he thought as he quietly walked out of his bedroom. When he was standing in the hall he tried again to orb, no luck. “Damn it!” he said aloud.
He heard his mother call out, “Christopher, get down here right now.” Oh crap, this couldn’t be good. He slowly walked down the stairs and into the kitchen to see both parents staring at him.
His eyes went to his mother then to his father before saying, “You two are up early. I was just gonna…”
Piper cut him off by saying “You aren’t going anywhere, mister! I don’t know how you were raised but things are going to change around here.”
Chris was starting to panic despite himself. He knew he was in trouble for going out last night but really, rules? Didn’t they see he was a grown up now? I mean, sure he was only fourteen but they didn’t know that! “Come on Piper, you know that last night…”
Leo stood up and got closer to Chris and said, “I have had enough of that. She,” he said as he pointed to Piper, “Is Mom. I,” Pointing to himself, “Am Dad. And you,” he said as he pointed towards Chris, “are grounded.”
This wasn’t going well at all but Chris knew his best defense would be an offense so he puffed himself up and said, “Listen, LEO, I don’t know what you think you are trying to pull but you need to get over yourself.” With those final words he shoved Leo out of his way and strode out of the kitchen. He was thinking that might not have been the best of plans considering he couldn’t orb but he continued to walk towards the door.
Leo had been so taken aback that Chris had shoved him he didn’t react right away. That only lasted a moment or two and when he came back into himself he walked up quickly behind Chris and grabbed him by the arm. Leo was in his face saying, “I can’t believe you just did that. Right now I want you to go up to your room and take a look at yourself in the mirror and then wait for me there.” And with that he shoved him towards the stairs. Chris was so shocked that he stumbled his way up the stairs and entered his room.
Chris stood at the door to his room and stared. What was it that Leo said, ‘look in a mirror’? What the hell did that mean? He walked over to the dresser mirror and looked himself in the eye, “Oh shit!” he said out loud. There staring back at him was his fourteen year old face. He shot a look around the room and then back to the mirror. Oh he was so in for it! He needed to get outta here fast! He tried to orb, out of habit and swore out loud again, he had forgotten he couldn’t orb. He crept quietly out of his room, leaving the door open so that he didn’t make any noise. He softly padded down the first couple of stairs. He could see his parents in the living room and he could only pray that they didn’t see him try to sneak out. He was sure that once he got out of the house he would be able to orb again.
Leo and Piper were standing in the living room discussing what to do with their now teenage son.
Out of the corner of his eye Leo saw Chris quietly trying to make his way down the stairs. He didn’t turn to look at him he only raised his voice slightly and said, “When I get up there if you aren’t standing with your nose in a corner you are going to be one very sorry little boy.”
Chris tripped over his own feet trying to hurry back to his room. He sullenly marched to a corner of the room and tipped his head into the wall, ‘Isn’t that just great! Apparently punishment is genetic because this is exactly what Wyatt would have done,’ he thought. With no way to get out of the house he had to just stand here, thinking about what a bad idea glamouring himself to look older was. He knocked his head into the wall again, ‘how did they figure it out?’ he wondered.
Piper nodded at Leo and said, “I will handle Wyatt; you can take care of Chris.”
Leo tried to force a grin that came out more as a grimace as Piper passed him and walked up the stairs to check on Wyatt. This was not something Leo was looking forward to but Chris had really crossed a line. He hadn’t just gone out to the underworld alone after being told not to; he also had been lying to them since the first met him. He had said he was twenty and he frequently spoke of the ‘fact’ that he was an adult.
Leo had no idea what he was going to do. He may have been a father for two years now but that was to a baby. He had never been the father to a teenager. He didn’t even remember BEING a teenager. Corner time was just the first thing that popped into his head.
Leo walked up the stairs passing; Piper who was carrying Wyatt down to the kitchen, she gave him a supportive smile. He walked into Chris’s room and pulled out the chair to the desk by the door and sat there for a minute before asking his question to his son’s back, “So, you wanna explain?”
Chris didn’t turn around instead he mumbled something that sounded like, “Not really.”
There was a pregnant pause before Leo said, “So how about we start with the age.”
Chris hung his head; he was actually kinda hoping maybe; just maybe they hadn’t noticed that he now appeared YEARS younger than he claimed.
The silence was heavy before Leo asked, “How old are you?”
Chris sighed before he told the wall in front of him, “Fourteen.”
Leo nodded his head agreeing with the answer before he said, “So, is lying just a bad habit of yours then?”
With that Chris whipped around to face his father and he all but yelled, “You never would have listened to me if you knew how old I was!”
Leo wasn’t moved by the argument, “That justifies you lying to us? We’re your parents Chris; I think we deserved the truth! First you weren’t going to tell us who you were, that would have led to lies, then you tell us you are twenty when you are actually MUCH younger.” Chris hung his head as the lecture continued. “And last night you went into the underworld after your mother and I expressly told you not to. This is to say nothing of the little altercation in the kitchen.” Chris flushed darkly while he was thinking that it had been a really bad plan to shove his father.
Leo then said, “There are consequences from these actions, Christopher.”
Chris looked up wide eyed at his father. He knew what that meant in Wyatt speak, but what did it mean with Leo? “You can’t ground me!” Chris blurted out without thinking. And wow was that not what he meant to say. ‘Talk about giving the man ideas’ he thought as he blushed.
Leo sat back and thought, ‘That is an interesting statement’ but out loud he said, “And why not?” Obviously with that reaction it seems that it would be the punishment for such an offense.
Chris raised his head and started to say, “Because I’m…” but realized that the ‘I’m a grown up’ wasn’t going to fly anymore. Chris blushed and looked down before he gained his courage again. He looked Leo in the eye and said, “You aren’t my father!” Why he said that he had no idea, of course Leo was his father. It was just that statement said to Wyatt was not only accurate but usually caused him to pause. Chris’s eyes found the floor again thinking that it didn’t usually cause Wyatt to pause for very long though.
Leo sat there with his mouth open for a second before saying, “I most certainly am your father.” Leo stood up and walked across the room closer to Chris. “I have had it with the lies Christopher! You are grounded and that means no leaving this room unless you are with your mother or me for anything including magic!” Leo told him in no uncertain terms
Chris cried out, “You don’t know me.” And again, while it was the truth it was probably not the thing to say to the man that had the power to ground you for the rest of your life.
Leo continued with, “Well I guess that’s about to change, isn’t it.” Leo didn’t say anymore but in his head he was reliving the horror at finding out that his ‘adult’ son was actually only fourteen years old and that he had been going off on tangents in the underworld by himself. He remembered the defensive position that Chris had been in, with his arms covering his head as if something was attacking him. He shook his head. He couldn’t believe they had been fooled for so long.
Tears sprung to Chris’s eyes. How was he going to save Wyatt if he was grounded! He sighed internally, he missed his big brother.
Suddenly both father and son were shocked to see the blue and white lights of an orb coalescing in the room. Little Wyatt appeared in front of them.
A few stunned moments later Piper came rushing into the room saying to Wyatt, “There you are!” Then she looked from Wyatt to Leo and Chris she said, “We were in the kitchen and he just started crying. Nothing I could do would console him then all of a sudden he orbed here.”
Chris backed up blushing. Not only did little Wyatt orb in during his being yelled at but he hadn’t yet explained the whole bond thing to them yet.
Piper saw the guilty look on Chris’s face and the backing up didn’t escape her notice either, “Chris? Is there something else you need to tell us?”
Leo turned abruptly to face Chris also.
Chris looked from his mother to his father and back to his mother again before saying, “Well, we kinda have a bond.” And he looked down to Wyatt who was staring up at his brother and father with a look of curious wonder. Chris gave the boy a small smile.
Wyatt said, “Cwiss,” and he orbed into his brother’s arms. Chris caught him in time to stop him from falling. This was just so hard to get used to. His ‘big’ brother was still a baby. He looked back up to see both his parents staring at him and he said, “I guess I have a lot to explain, don’t I? Maybe we should go down to the kitchen. He’s getting hungry.” He finished by lifting Wyatt a little higher demonstrating who he was talking about.
Piper gave him a look and Chris said, “And I’m getting hungry?” Hoping that maybe they could leave the bedroom and the punishment behind them.
Leo looked at Piper then over to Chris and asked, “Do we need to continue our discussion here?”
Chris quickly said, “No Sir, I get it.” He nodded with his head towards Piper, “She’s Mom,” then looked at Leo, “You’re Dad. And I’m…” then looked down and mumbled, “I’m grounded.” He was really hoping being agreeable now would shorten his time being grounded.
Leo quirked a small smile at the repetition of what he had said early. He stood and said, “Good. I don’t want to have to repeat that discussion any time soon.” He heard Chris let out a breath of relief before he finished the statement with, “But mean it, you are either here in this room or with one of us. Understood?”
Chris looked up into his father’s penetrating stare as he said, “Yes sir.” Chris slowly edged out of the room with Wyatt in his arms and headed down the stairs.
Leo looked over at Piper questioningly and mouthed the word ‘sir’? Piper shrugged her shoulders trying but failing to hold back her smile. Neither of them had seen themselves teaching their children to call them sir or ma’am but it seemed that Chris had learned it somewhere. The two parents followed their children down to the kitchen.
CHARMED - CHARMED - CHARMED
Chris looked over at his parents nervously. He didn’t know why he hadn’t explained their bond in the first place. Maybe he just wanted to keep some things to himself. Maybe he didn’t actually want them to know about it. Maybe he didn’t want them to know how little he knew about. He blew out a breath and said, “Well, we have a bond, kinda like the power of three but stronger.”
Piper gave him a dubious look. She didn’t think anything could be stronger than her and her sister’s bond. She was willing to hear the boy out though so she didn’t say anything.
Chris saw the look but didn’t pause, “See in my time, we can feel each other’s feelings and find each other. Some time when we were little though, Wyatt learned to dampen the bond. I didn’t understand how much until I came back and undid the spell…”
Leo interrupted, “Undid what spell?”
Chris took in another deep breath and said, “Uh, when I was trying to hide from Wyatt, I, uh, learned how to hide from him completely. I was afraid he would sense me so I made up a spell to block the bond. You remember, one of the two I showed you before we blocked the Elders.”
Piper thought back and remembered the two spells that were virtually the same thing to hide Chris from Wyatt when he went to find his mother. “So,” Piper began, “Let me get this straight. You and your brother have a bond that enables you to sense each other’s moods and locations.”
Chris nodded.
Piper continued, “Some time when you were growing up Wyatt was able to dampen the bond?”
“Yes,” Chris said, “I didn’t realize how much until I came back here and felt the bond with little Wyatt.”
Undeterred, Piper continued along her line of thinking, “When you needed to meet the future me, you cast a spell to block the bond completely. And then you undid the spell when you arrived back in time?”
“Well, actually I undid it right before I saw little Wyatt for the first time. That is probably why he orbed to me; he can sense the bond too,” Chris explained. Then he paused; his mind going back over the times his little ‘big’ brother orbed to him. “Actually, every time I wished to have Wy here or thought about him, little Wyatt has orbed to me. I wonder how strong the bond would be if Wy hadn’t intervened all those years ago.”
The family thought about the bond and the implications of it. How it could help them now and how strong it would be in the future. Before anyone could say something on the subject they heard Phoebe coming down the stairs.
“Good morning,” she yawned, “Wow you guys are up early. She hadn’t actually looked at the family that was gathered around the table. She was busy fixing herself a cup of coffee. The early hour even prevented her from noticing the unnatural quiet that permeated the kitchen.
Phoebe sat down at the table while taking a sip of her coffee and nearly spewed it back out over the table as she looked over at her nephew. “Oh my God! What happened to you? Was it a demon… a spell… some kind of attack?” she asked rapid fire.
Piper raised a hand to stop the flow of questions. “I believe your nephew has something to tell you,” Piper said and glared at Chris.
Chris gave her his best puppy dog eyes, silently begging to be let off the hook.
Leo saw the look and sternly said, “We have rules around here, Christopher. No lying is one of them. Now explain to your aunt what happened.” He knew he was being tough on the boy but he was aware that what he did right now would be setting the tone to their relationship. He was no longer going to stand by and let his son walk all over him. Chris was still a child, HIS child and starting right now Leo was going to start behaving as his father.
When Leo began to speak Chris looked over at him. When the words ‘no lying’ came up his gaze shifted to the table in front of him. There was an extended pause. Chris couldn’t find the words to explain to his Aunt Phoebe why her twenty year old nephew was now looking so young. Never in his life had he wished that he could orb more than he did right at this moment.
Leo only allowed the pause to last a moment before he said, “Would you rather go back upstairs with me and finish our discussion of the rules?” Leo held his breath hoping that the boy would do what he was asked. He had no desire to send the boy back to the corner again, but he knew he would if he had to.
When Leo said the word ‘upstairs’, Chris’s looked up, wide eyed. As the question was finished he minutely shook his head no as he whispered, “No sir.”
Phoebe watched the exchange with fascination. The last time she saw her nephew he was a young adult and her brother-in-law was falling over himself trying to get the boy to like him. Now Chris was sitting looking like a young teen and Leo was acting like a very stern disciplinarian.
Leo raised his eyebrows at Chris and gave a slight tilt of his head towards Phoebe.
Chris sighed and looked at his aunt, and then to the table as he said, “I’m only fourteen.”
Phoebe’s mouth dropped as she tried to wrap her head around this information. The behavior in front of her supported the new evidence.
Leo then prompted, “And?”
Chris shot him a dirty look. Leo cleared his throat and raised both eyebrows to the boy.
Chris quickly looked back down at the table in defeat as he whispered, “And I’m grounded.” Chris thought that this really sucked! He knew showing up as a fourteen year old would be a bad idea and now Leo was going all parental on him - uh, he means ‘Dad’ was going all parental. He didn’t want to ‘discuss’ the name thing again!
“Morning,” They heard Paige as she came into the room. She walked straight to the counter and helped herself to a cup of coffee.
Chris groaned he knew he was going to have to explain his age again.
As Paige sat down she glanced up and nearly fell off her chair.
Before she could even ask Chris said, “I’m only fourteen and I’m grounded. He looked up to Leo and asked, “May I be excused now?” This was embarrassing enough, he would really rather be grounded in his room.
Leo thought about the request for a moment before acquiescing. He knew Piper would want to talk with her sisters about this and probably didn’t want Chris around to hear it.
Chris walked quickly out of the room before Leo could change his mind. He went to his bedroom and threw himself on the bed. He worried that he wouldn’t be able to complete his mission now that the family was going to treat him like he was a child. He bit his lip as he thought that this is exactly what Wy would have done too. Punishing him and making him fess up to it! How could he be so much like Le- Dad if he wasn’t raised by him? Just thinking about his big brother made him miss home. He really missed his brother.
Suddenly blue and white lights lit up the room and coalesced into the form of his little ‘big’ brother.
Downstairs Piper was explaining the letter that had appeared during the night. She had just started to explain the boys’ unique bond when Wyatt orbed out of the room. Piper jumped up, panicked but then she heard the voice of her youngest child.
“I’ve got him,” Chris called out to his mother as he heard a chair scrape across the ground, tipping over and crashing. He figured his mom would worry where the little tyke had orbed off to. Chris shook his head, again wondering how strong their bond would have been if Wyatt had never messed with it.
TBC
Chapter 23