Charmed Fic: Made Weak by Time and Fate: Chapter Eleven

[jesterladyfic]

Chapter Eleven

They’d been talking every day. It certainly hadn’t been his idea, but he’d been guilted into it. He didn’t want to admit it was nice being the center of attention, but it was. He could see how hard everyone was trying. That almost made it worse. But he still held back, he had to. His little outburst two months ago had helped release all the anger, but it hadn’t released the fear. He’d been grudgingly working together with the source of his fear, forced into it by circumstances mostly. When everyone else was on trial, they’d had to come together and saved the day. It had opened his eyes to the sincerity in the actions of those around them. Especially when they went out of their way to save him, even when he screwed up again. That stupid hope kept springing up inside him.

Piper urged herself out of bed and actually smiled to see the empty spot beside her. For once she knew it wasn’t because Leo was out being an Elder; he was out being a father instead. Every morning for the last two months Leo had gotten up early and spent time with Wyatt and Chris. At first Chris had resisted it very strongly but Piper had begged him to make the effort and he’d capitulated. They would take Wyatt for walks and then Leo would help Chris with his Whitelighter training, helping him to heal more consistently and to listen for his charges and other Whitelighter things that Piper never paid attention to no matter how often Leo told her about them.

Leo had often come back after those meetings stressed and tense, but more lately he had been coming back with a small smile on his face. That made Piper ridiculously happy. Chris had admitted to her about a month back that he was slowly beginning to see how much Leo wanted to make it up to him and that he wanted to let him - it was just hard to let go of the habit of a lifetime.

Of course there were two events that had helped solidify Leo’s more stable position with Chris, Piper knew. The first was when Barbas, the demon of fear, had arranged for the Charmed Ones to be put on trial for misuse of magic and their proclivity for exposing magic to the world. The end result was that Leo and Chris had had to work together to expose Barbas. A grudging respect had been given to Leo by Chris at that point. Despite the fact that Phoebe had lost her active powers and Darryl had almost been executed, Piper was okay at how everything had turned out. There were far reaching consequences, like Darryl not wanting to help them anymore, Barbas being free again, and Phoebe forced to try and find her destined husband the ordinary, old-fashioned way.

Still, Leo had been so happy and that made Piper happy.

The second event that had happened was when Paige had been having a fight with Richard and the two of them had started a spell war with each other that ended up with Chris in the crossfire and in jail for grand theft auto. Darryl wasn’t looking the other way anymore since the almost execution and so Leo had orbed Chris out and Chris had been grateful. When Leo told her about it, he’d almost cried when he spoke about the thanks Chris had given him.

They had situations on their hands, however. With Darryl treating them like the town pariahs, they had no one to help them with the legal side of things and Chris was forced to stay almost exclusively at Magic School because he had a warrant out for his arrest. As if that weren’t enough, they were still no closer to finding the demon after Wyatt and now there was someone roaming around killing witches.

Meetings were now held at Magic School for Chris and Piper’s benefit. This morning they were going to go over how to find the witch killers and Piper was already late as she’d had to spend way more time than usual getting dressed. She was just about ready to force baby Chris out by any means necessary, but hadn’t had an opportunity to try.

She was on her way to the meeting when her phone rang. The best thing about Magic School was it didn't keep her mortal phone calls from reaching her.

"Hello," she said.

"Piper, it's Sheila," came the panicked sounding voice on the other line.

"Sheila, are you okay?" asked Piper.

"Nothing's wrong, I- I just was talking to Darryl, asking why we don't see if you and Leo wanted to have dinner before the baby came, and he told me not to speak to you anymore and I don't know why."

"Oh," Piper said, trying to think of what to say. "Well, he got a little scared helping us out about a month ago and, well, he sort of hates us now."

"No, he doesn't," Sheila said. "That's not possible. You girls are like family to us."

"And you are to us," Piper said, mind racing. "He just needs some time. It got really bad this last time and he's afraid of the next one, afraid it will be the last, or that his family might get hurt. I can understand that."

"I don't care what happened," Sheila said, her voice firming from tears to resolution, "you don't turn your back on family. And I'm going to make him realize that."

"Don’t jeopardize anything for us," Piper said. "We love you both, but not at the expense of your marriage."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Sheila said. "Darryl said something about Chris having a warrant out for his arrest."

"Little magical mishap there too," Piper said. "But he's safe and the plan is for him to return to the future soon anyway."

"What if that makes trouble for you girls and Leo?" asked Sheila.

"We can handle it," said Piper. "It's not like we haven't had issues with the police before."

"I'm going to speak to him and make him tell me what happened," said Sheila.

"It would be good for you to know," said Piper. "But don't push him. He'll come around. I hope."

"How are you doing?" asked Sheila. "With the baby?"

"Ugh, he can't come soon enough," said Piper. "But we'll let you know when I go into labor. Darryl or no Darryl."

"Good," said Sheila. "Piper, be careful and be safe and I'm sorry for the trouble we've caused."

"Don't be ridiculous," said Piper. "You stay safe too."

"I'll talk to you soon," said Sheila.

"Bye," said Piper and hung up the phone. “Sorry I'm late,” she said, waddling into the room and deciding not to mention anything about the call to anyone for a while. “I'm not moving real fast these days.” She turned to Chris. “Are you sure you don't want to be born anytime soon already?”

“Don't be in such a hurry,” Chris said, his forehead furrowed.

Piper had lately come to realize that meant he knew something she didn’t. If only she’d known that back when they’d met him, so much of this mess wouldn’t have happened.

“Where's Leo?” asked Paige, hand clasped in Richard’s.

The two of them had made up again and were acting like they’d just met. It made Piper feel vaguely queasy, though that could have been the unborn child gestating inside of her.

“He's on the witch killer path, which you all should be focusing on as well,” admonished Gideon.

Piper glared quietly to herself. Ever since Leo had put his foot down, Gideon had been acting like he thought he was in charge of them whenever Leo was gone. It was infuriating and though she still trusted him as much as she trusted any Elder she was annoyed at his holier-than-thou attitude and even thought he appeared to be jealous of Leo.

Thankfully, Phoebe was able to concentrate on the bigger picture. Her head had been a lot clearer since she’d lost her powers and she’d had to rely on her own inner strength and smarts to do things.

“We actually have bigger things to deal with, Gideon,” Phoebe said. “Like trying to figure out who's after Wyatt. And I think I might have an angle on that.”

“You found the demon?” asked Paige.

“It may not be a demon,” answered Phoebe and Chris looked up, an intrigued look on his face. “Look, we've relied on magic all this time and it's gotten us nowhere. And since I can't rely on my premonitions to help, I've had to resort to statistics.”

“Statistics?” asked Piper.

“Yes. Did you know that fifty percent of violent crimes are perpetrated by someone the victim knew? So, don't you see? Whoever turns Wyatt evil might actually be someone we know or even care about.”

“A mortal? Impossible,” Gideon said, leaning back in his chair.

“Really?” said Phoebe. “Mortals are plenty capable of doing bad things. I’m not just coming up with this, the crime reporter at the newspaper said that it's usually someone you least expect.”

“All right, now you're making me nervous,” said Piper, clutching at her belly in response.

Oddly enough it was Richard who reassured her at the moment by a slow, steady smile. He didn’t tend to say much, preferring not to take too much of an active role in the family’s issues, but he was always listening and usually had good advice at the end. He was listening now, and intently, to Phoebe’s suggestions - until Gideon interrupted, that is.

“Phoebe,” he said, slamming a book shut, “this theory might make some sense in the lives of normal people, but you aren't normal people. There's an entire underworld of demons out there who want you dead and today is no exception, which brings me back to the witch killer.”

“Hold on,” said Chris, raising his hand. “Phoebe's onto something here. I mean, we've practically over turned every demonic stone, right? I mean, at least this is something new. Believe me; I’ve done enough research to know.”

“I don't believe this. Someone is killing witches, possibly as we speak. How is that not your only priority?” asked Gideon.

Which was a point. Piper knew they had a job to do and she didn’t want any innocents to die because of her.

“Because we're running out of time, that's why,” admitted Chris.

“Chris…” said Piper in her Mom voice, “what do you mean? Why?”

He hung his head.

“I should've told you sooner.”

“Told us what?” asked Paige.

“What happens to Wyatt happens before I'm born,” said Chris in a rush.

“What?” asked Phoebe and Paige together.

“And you're just telling us this now?” asked Piper.

“I thought I'd given myself enough time. Then I got preoccupied with continuing to exist and then I was- I'm so sorry.”

“We will talk about this later, young man,” said Piper, ignoring Paige’s smirk from across the table.

Gideon leaned forward with renewed enthusiasm for his original topic.

“Then how do we know that this witch killer isn't the one that's after Wyatt? Given this new information it seems to time out properly.”

But Phoebe would not be so easily sidestepped. She’d really set her heart on her new theory and Piper knew how hard it would be to dissuade her from it. And Piper didn’t want to. She wanted every angle about Wyatt covered.

“Okay, it's time to divide and conquer. Paige and Richard, you help Leo with the witch killer, I'm gonna go chase my theory. Chris, you can help anywhere you want, but you need to stay out of the mortal world except the house since Inspector Sheridan’s on the warpath and Darryl’s not stopping her. And, Piper, you don't worry. We're gonna find this guy, I promise.”

Piper smiled at her sister and accepted Phoebe’s hug.

Gideon left, ostensibly for a meeting with the Elders, but Piper privately thought it was just to sulk.

Paige and Richard left as well, but Chris hung back.

“I wasn’t trying to keep more secrets,” he said slowly.

“I know,” said Piper, taking his hand. “But you do. It’s a habit, I guess. I just wish you would trust us.”

“I do,” Chris said. “Even Leo.”

“Hey, what did we talk about?” she said.

He half-smiled.

“I’m working on it. I just got very used to calling him that. I used to call him Dad all the time, you know.”

“When you were little?” she asked cautiously, afraid he would clam up.

“Yeah, but when I got older I’d call him Leo, I’d only call him Dad when I was really mad. Which seems a little stupid now that I think about it.”

Piper smiled.

“No, just…the truth.”

“What do you want me to do?” he asked.

“Well, go and see what you can find in the Book of Shadows,” said Piper. “I noticed Phoebe left that little bit out. But be careful and come straight back.”

“Yes, Mom, geez,” said Chris, rolling his eyes.

She loved it.

He kissed the top of her head and orbed away and Piper settled in for a long wait. She hated feeling useless, but she knew there was no way anyone was letting her out of Magic School with witch killers on the loose.

***

He felt like a liability. He’d been caged by stupid circumstances that weren’t his fault and now he was running out of time even more than before. The only upside was that he wasn’t feeling as afraid as he had been. The hatchet wasn’t buried, but it was definitely in the ground. He’d always felt inferior, not just to HIM, but to morality, to the black and white rules of Up There. But an exception had been made, for him. That said more than any of the conversations that had been had over the last two months. Still, things were moving too fast and there was suddenly so much more to cover than he’d thought. Still, he had theories and he intended to see them through, no matter what.

Even though Leo wasn’t really juggling two full time jobs anymore, he was still exhausted. He hadn’t really been Up There for two months but he had been spending as much time as possible with Piper and Wyatt and Chris. He’d been helping at the club when Paige wasn’t available and he’d been brewing potions and doing the housework and researching to find whoever was after Wyatt and now he was trying to find witch killers.

Still, he wouldn’t trade this for all the serenity of his six months Up There. Coming back and seeing how Wyatt had grown in his absence and the relationship Piper had built with Chris, and how Chris had reacted to him, really helped open his eyes to how hard being an Elder was on his entire family. Even Phoebe and Paige had really been affected. It was humbling to realize how important you were to people. It was also gratifying, but mostly humbling. Leo was determined that as soon as this latest crisis was over, he was going to have to make some big changes in his life.

But that time was not yet and he needed to use all his Elder powers to hunt down whoever was killing these witches. Unfortunately, he wasn’t in time to save the latest victim.

He orbed back to the attic to find Paige and Richard just vanquishing a demon held by crystals and Chris idly leaning on the Book of Shadows podium, reading.

“Another witch was killed last night,” Leo reported.

“I told you,” Richard said softly to Paige.

“Okay, that's just a coincidence,” Paige said. “There's no way he could've been there to see that.”

“Who?” Leo asked.

Chris turned to Leo.

“Did she have power to shoot fire out of her hands?”

“Yeah. How did you know?” Leo asked, thoroughly confused now.

They quickly explained to them that the lower level demon they’d caught had known all the particulars of the murder, as well as the details of their morning meeting and how imminent the danger to Wyatt was.

Leo’s heart sank at the secret Chris had been keeping, again, as well as for fear for Wyatt.

“Maybe he was working for an upper level demon,” Chris said, referencing the demon they’d just vanquished.

“All right, we just happen to trap the apprentice to the exact demon that we're trying to catch and know nothing about?” Paige said sarcastically.

“Most importantly, what do we know for sure?” Richard asked.

“Well, we know that one demon can't possibly be doing all of these killings, so I'm thinking that someone is getting demons to join forces,” said Paige.

“So, you think somebody is trying to organize the Underworld?” asked Leo.

“Seems like it,” Paige answered. She turned to Richard and elbowed him. “And, unfortunately, I seem to be the only person that is concerned about the fact that Phoebe is out there roaming around the world without any powers.”

“Without her active powers,” Chris pointed out. “She can still cast spells.”

“Great, so when the demon attacks her, let's hope that Phoebe can come up with a little rhyme just in time.”

“You just did and she’s better at it than you,” said Chris.

Paige glared at her nephew.

“No, no, no. I'm gonna go bring her some potions.”

Paige vanished in a swirl of orb lights leaving Richard chuckling to himself.

“What’s so funny?” asked Chris.

“I just always forget how passionate she can get,” Richard explained.

Leo hid his own smile at that and turned to Chris.

“Shouldn’t you be at Magic School?”

“No more lectures,” said Chris, but his tone wasn’t resentful.

“No lectures, I just want you to be careful. It would be a waste for you to travel all the way from the future to save your brother and get stopped by a little criminal record.”

“Hey, already got one,” Chris said, smiling.

Leo smiled back.

“But, seriously, we need to figure out what demon we’re dealing with.” Leo turned to Richard, whose magical opinion he had come to greatly respect. “Any ideas?”

Richard shrugged.

“I’ve already checked our family records, but there are some people I could talk to. Let me see.”

“You need a lift?” Leo asked.

“No, I’ll drive,” Richard said and left.

“Let’s research,” Leo said, turning to Chris. “So, what is it we're looking for?”

“Uh, any demon that can be powerful enough to be organizing the underworld or any demon who might be running some sort of training camp for younger demons or any demon who could be...” Chris trailed off.

“So basically any demon,” Leo put in.

Chris sighed and put his head in his hands.

“Yeah. This sucks, you know that? We're running out of time here and we've got nothing, repeat nothing, to go on.”

Leo dared to reach over and put his hand on the slumped shoulder in front of him.

“We've faced worse.”

Chris gave a strangled laugh at that.

“What's worse than not knowing? For over a year now I've been looking and you didn't know this deadline was looming but I did. I knew every single day. That's why I was never able to relax.”

Leo couldn’t help feeling glad Chris was confiding in him, even though what Chris said made Leo feel terrible that his son had been suffering alone for so long.

“Why didn't you tell us?”

“Because I didn't want to get you involved. I was trying to protect you.”

“Chris, we're your parents, we're supposed to protect you, not the other way around,” Leo said.

Paige orbed back just then.

“I’ve got an amethyst scrying crystal,” she said. “I want the power boost to find witches under attack. No more witches should be killed, including my sister who’s still determined to stay at the office ever since your son dropped his little bomb this morning,” she finished, glaring at them.

“I already said I was sorry,” Chris said defensively.

“And he shouldn't have to say it again,” Leo said firmly.

Paige held up her hands in supplication.

“All right, Dad.” But she was smiling and Leo could feel her pride in him from across the room. “Where’s Richard?” Paige asked, looking around.

They explained to her Richard’s appointed task and she started scrying and at that moment Gideon orbed in. Leo was immediately worried.

“Gideon, what are you doing here? Is Piper okay?”

“Hardly,” Gideon replied with the air of a martyr. “Thanks to Phoebe's ludicrous new theory, everybody's now a suspect in her mind. She's terrorizing the entire school.”

“So, you want me to talk to her?” Leo asked, feeling better right away.

That was his Piper.

“I'd be eternally grateful,” Gideon said.

Paige’s crystal suddenly went haywire.

“I got a hit!” she said.

“You two go and save this witch,” said Gideon, gesturing to Paige and Chris.

“Chris shouldn’t be outside,” protested Leo.

“He might be needed,” Gideon said. “He can orb out of any mortal difficulty. Discretely, of course,” he admonished.

Chris grinned and held up a hand at Leo’s new protest.

“I will go, and if Paige doesn’t need my help, I’ll come right back.”

Leo didn’t like it, but he didn’t want to push his luck.

“Please be careful, Chris.”

“I will, Dad,” Chris said and disappeared before the ridiculous grin on Leo’s face was fully grown.

Paige went as well and then Leo orbed to Magic School to find his wife, only slightly confused when Gideon didn’t follow him, but he didn’t have time to worry about it.

***

He’ll admit it, he was taking a risk, but he felt so confined. It was nice not to feel lonely anymore, but now he was so constricted. Admittedly, some of that was his own fault, but, really, he didn’t have that much to fear. He was who he was, after all. They were being way too overprotective. And, like it or not, this was his task, and he had to accomplish it, whether they liked how he did it or not. He just cared now what they all thought, which made it more difficult.

Piper had been ruminating all morning about Phoebe’s theory and she had come to one conclusion: Phoebe was right. After all, Wyatt could take care of demons and they were always on guard for any kind of demonic attack. Perhaps then the demons would try and trick them as they had done with Darryl earlier that year? Possibly, but that was risky for them, because it would be very easy for such a plan to fall through as evidenced by the same example.

The other suspects would be ordinary humans, but, somehow, that seemed just as unlikely to Piper. Wyatt would be less on guard against a human, but a human would have no way to counter Wyatt’s protections.

So the only remaining possibility was a magical being supposedly on the side of good. Someone powerful enough to fight against Wyatt’s powers, but disarming enough to get close to him, to be trusted by his family, and someone Wyatt himself wouldn’t suspect.

The first place for such a suspect: Magic School. Piper had always disliked the place for its very magicalness, but now it seemed like a den of ruffians, everyone a suspect. It was very possible she was reacting solely out of fear, but even if that was the case, who was to say her fear knew something she didn’t?

It was hard to chase people down while pregnant, but they also tended to wait for you.

“Mrs. Winterbourne? Hold it right there,” Piper said, as she walked as briskly as she could, holding onto Wyatt’s stroller.

The teacher turned and smiled brightly at her.

“Oh, hi, Wyatt. Hi, Piper.”

“Never mind that,” Piper said. “I just wanted you to know that Wyatt will not be in your class tomorrow or ever again, for that matter.”

“Why? Is there a problem?” Mrs. Winterbourne asked in concern.

“A problem? You mean like when Wyatt was playing with that little girl at the play-doh table this morning?”

“You mean Emily? She's such a sweet little psychic.”

Piper laughed.

“She stole his dough, right out of his hands, and you did absolutely nothing.”

“Well, stole's a little harsh, don't you think? She's only two years old.”

“No, that's not the point,” Piper said. “What message is this sending to him? That people can just take from him? That people can hurt him? That grown adults will not be there to protect him?”

Piper saw Leo over Mrs. Winterbourne’s shoulder and he made a face at her.

“Piper,” he said in his best placating-the-crazy-wife voice.

“What?” she snapped.

“We need to talk.” Leo turned to Mrs. Winterbourne. “Would you mind taking Wyatt for a stroll just for a minute, please?”

Piper tried to protest, what the hell was he doing? Didn’t he realize Wyatt shouldn’t be alone with anyone at the moment?

Mrs. Winterbourne had apparently decided Leo was the sane parent and grasped Wyatt’s stroller.

“I'll be right over there.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Piper hissed at Leo.

“Piper, do you realize you're driving everybody nuts around here?” he asked.

“Well, I don't really care, see, I'm trying to protect our son.”

“From who?” Leo asked. “His nursery teacher? The protectors of good in the universe?”

“Hey, how do you know that she's not the one who's after him? If Phoebe's right...”

“She's not,” Leo said reassuringly.

“How do you know?”

“Because why would anybody we know want to turn Wyatt evil? It just doesn't make any sense, just like Gideon said.”

Piper held in a rant, then breathed out through her nose.

“Leo, one thing is for sure, we don’t know anything. It could be anyone, Gideon, or us for that matter.”

“Piper-” Leo began.

“No, I'm serious. What if he saw what this life did to us, and-and how hard it was and just decided to take the easy way out?”

“That's not what happened,” Leo said firmly.

“How do you know?” she asked.

“Because Wyatt is surrounded by love. We love him. He's got a brother that risked everything just to save his life. Plus, he's got two aunts who would rather gouge out their own eyes than see anything bad happen to him.”

Piper sighed, feeling like a deflated balloon.

Okay, most likely she could rule out their immediate family. But that didn’t mean she was going to stop keeping her eyes open.

She was just so afraid and she hated that feeling. She did not like feeling out of control and those feelings were only amplified by her hormones and her mother’s intuition.

But she hugged her husband and let him comfort her because that’s what he was best at. No one in the world could hug like Leo and she’d so missed being able to touch him whenever she felt like it.

“Just promise me we'll keep him safe,” she whispered into his chest.

He hesitated and she knew it was because he didn’t want to have to break that promise, but he said it anyway, for her and because he would do anything for his family.

“I promise.”

He held her for a few more moments.

“I’ll be okay,” she said.

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, nodding. “You need to go help the others. I’m gonna do more research here. We can’t give up any angle, no matter what.”

“That’s why I love you,” he said, dropping a kiss on her nose. “Honey, you’re the most tenacious woman I ever met.” She raised her eyebrows, but couldn’t hold in a smile. “I’ll keep you posted,” he said and orbed away.

Piper went and got Wyatt from Mrs. Winterbourne, trying to keep from snatching the stroller away. She really didn’t think it was Mrs. Winterbourne, but she couldn’t help feeling suspicious of everyone.

***

It felt so good to get out. It felt like he was free. It felt good to be helping. Now he just needed to keep his eyes open.

Leo orbed back to the house and found Chris there alone. Leo didn’t want to admit it, but the palpable relief he felt at seeing Chris okay was overwhelming. Something must have shown in his face though because Chris rolled his eyes.

“Will you relax? I’m fine.”

“Of course you are,” Leo said hurriedly. “How’s it going here?”

“We’re good. Paige and I rescued a witch named Talia and they’ve gone to get something to scry for the necklace they took off of Talia when they grabbed her. Maybe it will mean we can find whoever’s killing the witches.”

“And Phoebe?”

“Still researching. How’s Mom doing?”

“She’s scared, but she’s holding up.”

Chris paused and then asked his next question. It made Leo feel warm all over.

“And how are you doing?”

“About the same.”

There was an awkward moment when they smiled at each other and then looked away and Leo was very happy with that. Only a week ago Chris would have avoided looking Leo in the eyes. But ever since Leo had refused to leave him in jail, Chris had been different, more open, more trusting. Leo guessed that his actions were ones Future!Leo would never have done. And after years Up There, Leo would probably be the same. That made him even more determined to not let that happen.

Thankfully Paige and Talia orbed in just then.

“We got the ring,” Paige said.

“Won’t this be a trap?” asked Talia, nervously.

She was a younger witch with red, curly hair and an anxious expression. Leo could sense she didn’t have much natural ability, but a willing heart, a good feel for the people around her, and a trusting disposition. Her future was bright if they could keep her alive to get there.

“Honey, it could always be some kind of a trap,” said Paige, and then started scrying.

“Which is why you’re not going alone,” said Leo firmly.

“He’s right,” said Chris.

“I got it,” said Paige, the crystal banging down on the map.

“Shouldn’t you both go with her?” asked Talia timidly. “I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt because of me. They just wanted my necklace; they’re not going to attack me, right?”

“No, I'm sorry,” Paige said. “Can't leave you unprotected.”

“I’ll stay,” said Chris. “I’m not supposed to be out and about anyway.”

“Thank you,” Leo said and nodded at Paige.

She turned to Chris.

“Richard called, he’s onto something, he’ll check in here when he has anything concrete.”

“Got it,” said Chris.

Leo and Paige orbed to a very dank and dark cellar with Talia’s necklace laid out neatly on the ground.

“Okay, that looks like a trap,” said Paige.

“Let's get outta here,” Leo said.

Just then a Brute Demon attacked, jumping down on them. Paige orbed quickly out of the way and looked for something with which to attack him.

The Demon roared and spun around, a wicked knife in his hand.

“Knife,” called Paige and it orbed into her hand, then she threw it at the demon.

It sank into his chest and he dissolved in flames, but not before a small crystal fell out of his pocket and hit the floor. That must have triggered something because a hologram instantly floated up from it and plastered itself on the wall. Leo was shocked to see a picture of him and Paige staring back curiously from it.

“What's that?” asked Leo, then cocked his head and listened.

“That’s us,” Paige said, but Leo barely heard her.

“Chris is calling, he needs us.”

They orbed quickly, but not quickly enough. When they got back to the house, they found Chris slumped over Talia’s body.

“I am so sorry,” Chris said, sounding despondent. “I didn't even see him coming and then he tricked me.”

“It's okay, it's not your fault,” Paige said. “We're being watched. They knew you’d be alone and how to get to you.”

“What?”

“What is going on?” asked Leo, looking at the crystal Paige had brought with her.

“They must have more cameras,” Paige said, looking around.

“What cameras?” said Chris.

“There's some kind of live feed going on in the crystals,” Leo explained.

“But it seems this one got cut off,” said Paige. “I don’t see anything anymore.”

“Who’s doing it?” Chris asked, still holding Talia’s body.

Leo knelt down and took her from him and gently orbed Talia Up There, where they could take care of her.

“I don’t know,” said Paige. “What is this, some kind of game?”

“You know-” Chris began, but Paige’s phone rang and interrupted him.

“Yeah,” she answered. “Hi, Richard. Really? That makes sense actually since I just saw myself on some kind of feed. You will? Thanks. Okay, love you too, bye.” Paige turned to them. “Richard says word in the Underworld is that-”

This time Chris interrupted her.

“It’s a game show, like Survivor, but for demons. I heard that rumor too, but I thought it was just a rumor.”

“And you didn't tell us this why?” asked Paige.

“Because I didn't think it was relevant,” said Chris.

“That’s your theme song of today, did you notice?” asked Paige sarcastically.

“Paige,” Leo said warningly.

“I’m sorry,” said Paige. “I know you’re just human like the rest of us. And I better be careful before Daddy cuts off my allowance.” Leo grinned. That was Paige’s way of reinforcing Leo’s dad status for Chris. “Well, at least it explains how the demon we trapped today knew that the witch died. He was watching it on tv. Pretty sick.”

“No sicker than any other reality tv show,” Leo said. They both gave him a look. He shrugged. “I'm just saying.”

“Except this one's about killing witches for entertainment,” said Chris.

“And we need to leave. They can hear us,” Paige said. She stood up and faced the air. “I’m gonna find you. And you’ll wish you’d never been born.”

They orbed out and went to Magic School.

“Phoebe could be in trouble,” Chris said.

“I’ll go get her,” said Paige and orbed out.

“Let’s find your Mom,” said Leo. They walked down the halls and Leo could sense sorrow and guilt. “I know you tried, Chris,” he said gently. “It’s not your fault.”

“I was cocky,” said Chris. “I was too busy thinking I could do it all, protect Wyatt, protect time, and protect witches. In reality, I was just glad to get out of the house.”

“Cabin fever’s a bitch,” said Leo.

Chris smiled at that and glanced down.

“But thanks.”

“Anytime,” said Leo.

***

He didn’t feel so good anymore. He felt stupid and horrible. What kind of a person was he and why did he fail so often? He was very good at what he did, but, somehow, he always failed. Still, it was nice to have someone believe in him, even when he sucked. Maybe that part wasn’t so bad.

Piper had been too nervous to do much researching, but she’d done enough that she felt more reasonably assured that Phoebe’s hypothesis was correct. That didn’t help narrow things down for her. Nor did it help when Leo and Chris arrived and filled her in on the situation. She had only just started to hyperventilate when Paige and Phoebe orbed in.

Phoebe had obviously been in a fight, but she had just as obviously won.

They were arguing, Phoebe lording it over Paige that she could take care of herself and Paige needed to stop treating her like a child.

Phoebe was holding an athame and they all gathered around it. It had the letters WW on it which was odd. Paige immediately started looking through books to see if she could find what it was while the rest of them discussed what it could mean and where the demons were.

“Do you know what it is?” asked Chris after awhile.

“Power sucking athame,” Paige said, still reading. “Nothing else.”

“No particular demon uses it?” asked Piper. “WW means what?”

“Doesn’t say anything about that,” said Paige, slamming the book shut.

“Could we scry for it?” asked Phoebe.

They tried but their magic didn’t work, it wouldn’t let them scry or return to sender or any of their usual tricks. Their magic was somehow blocked, which pissed Piper off to no end.

“So, we’ve got nothing,” she said.

“Yes, we have nothing but a houseful of cameras, and an Underworld full of voyeurs,” said Paige.

“Piper,” said Leo, “do you need to lie down? We can take it from here.”

“Uh, relax? Where? We’re being watched.”

“Not here at Magic School,” said Leo.

“We’ve got this, Piper,” said Phoebe. “Honey, you need to rest and not stress out.”

“Yeah, like that’s going to happen,” said Piper. “No, I’m staying put. I’ll rest while you go off and slay the dragon.”

At that moment Richard walked in.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” Paige said, kissing him lightly. “You got anything to help us out?”

“I went home and started channel surfing,” he said, pulling a crystal out of his pocket exactly like the one in Paige’s hand. “Old magical families use them like remotes for crystal balls. I just had to find the right channel. Looks like these demons have put a new spin on it though.”

“Remind me to ask you why you know so much about magical voyeurism later,” Paige said teasingly.

Richard just shook his head and gave her the crystal.

“I believe Richard is right,” said Gideon, stepping into the room with a big book and looking a little put out. Piper jumped a little. Sneaky bastard. “It’s called a ronyx crystal. You can override its settings, so to speak, with an incantation.”

Phoebe grabbed the book from him and read the incantation out loud.

“Mallock cormon alli-tas.”

The show spun into the air in front of them. Witch Wars was emblazoned in fire across the hologram. A demon appeared and gave a speech about the next round for the contestants.

Then his words penetrated Piper’s emotions and really made her angry.

“The Gamemasters themselves will step into the arena and go up against the Charmed Ones. And we will defeat them and then their progeny.”

Progeny. Not her progeny.

“So their show is about killing us?” said Phoebe.

“Then either me or Wyatt,” said Chris.

Gideon suddenly leaned back.

“Oh, it must be Wyatt, mustn’t it? This makes perfect sense.”

“What makes perfect sense?” asked Paige.

“Don't you see? These Gamesmasters are the demons that you've been looking for all along. The ones who are after Wyatt.”

“What?” asked Phoebe.

“Think about it. They've been collecting powers, hoping to gain enough to be able to collect yours,” said Gideon.

His tone was soothing and convincing and Piper started to think about what he was saying.

“And then get Wyatt's,” said Chris thoughtfully, staring at Gideon and Piper wished she could read the expression on his face.

“Well, it kinda fits into Phoebe's theory then, right? We don't know who they are. But they know who we are,” Paige said.

“That’s not really how it works,” said Phoebe, but she didn’t sound like she was arguing.

“I'm gonna kill them,” Leo muttered.

Gideon frowned.

“No, Leo, you're an Elder now. Non-violent, remember?”

“Watch me,” said Leo and Piper had to fight not to smile.

“We have to find them,” said Phoebe.

“Do you think we’ll need the power of three?” asked Paige.

“No,” said Phoebe, picking up the athame. “We can trace them with the signal, right, Richard?”

He nodded.

“Then we’ll kill them on tv instead of the other way around,” said Phoebe.

They quickly made their plan of attack and Piper felt a little left out, but she supposed it was only natural and would be until Chris was born. And it’s not like she didn’t appreciate a break from magical things.

But then they all left and she watched the crystal feed anxiously. Would this be the end? The end of all their worries about Wyatt? She could only hope so.

***

Was this actually it? Could his long burden finally be over? He wasn’t so sure. He had his own suspicions of how this would work. However, this was also an opportunity. And if it did turn out to be this, well, then he was free, wasn’t he?

Leo felt very confident about their plan. It was good, even brilliant. Paige, Richard, and Chris were doing their part and Leo and Phoebe had orbed to the television studio, for lack of a better word, in the Underground.

Divide and conquer. Worked every time.

It didn’t take much to defeat the remaining Gamemaster. She was overconfident and Leo wanted to wipe the smug look off her face. He let Phoebe do the actual vanquishing bit though. He had to really reign in his desire to hurt the people who would dare touch his family. As an Elder, or even a Whitelighter, he couldn’t give in to those kinds of thoughts. If he did he would be no better than a Darklighter.

So Leo let Phoebe vanquish the demon and, in a way, it helped restore some of her own confidence. He knew how much she’d been missing her active powers, especially the premonitions. They’d been with her since the beginning.

“Give me the athame,” she said.

“Are you sure about this?” he asked.

“It's for Wyatt,” she said. He gave it to her and it glowed and sparked and she glowed along with it. “Feels good to have powers again,” she said.

“Give them hell,” said Leo and meant it.

Leo orbed back to Magic School after magically cleaning up the area and confiscating all the dangerous objects lying around.

Piper was sitting there, watching as Phoebe vanquished demon after demon with her new powers. Then she shimmered back to the attic.

The crystal feed went dark but then Chris, Paige, Richard, and Phoebe orbed back into Magic School. Phoebe was bleeding and sank to the floor.

“You stabbed her!” said Piper.

“I had to!” Paige defended herself. "It was the only way to get the powers out."

“Never mind that,” Chris said. “Heal her, L- Dad.”

“Chris, you should do it,” Leo said. “I’m right here if there’s an issue, but you can do this, buddy.”

Chris looked nervous, but he knelt down and held his hands over Phoebe. Golden light soon poured out of his hands and Phoebe gasped, sitting up.

“Thanks,” she said, then glared at Paige. “Stab hard much?”

“You would have done the same,” said Paige.

“She was pretty obnoxious,” said Chris, gulping and sitting back.

Leo touched his shoulder.

“That was amazing,” he said.

“Thanks,” Chris said.

“We did it,” Paige said. She held out her empty hand. “I think this calls for champagne.”

A bottle appeared in her hand.

“We saved Wyatt. We all did,” said Phoebe.

“So we're a hundred percent certain these were the demons we were looking for all along?” asked Piper.

Leo certainly hoped so.

They all broke out glasses and poured. Phoebe lifted her glass high.

“To our nephew, may he always be safe.”

They clinked their glasses in a toast, except for Piper who went to go and pick up Wyatt.

“Is it finally over?” Chris said, closing his eyes.

Leo hugged him spontaneously and Chris let him.

“Believe it. You saved the future.”

Chris nodded and glanced around the room.

“Sure, Dad.”

“Mom,” said Wyatt as Piper picked him up and carried him over.

“I know,” said Piper and snuggled into Leo’s side.

Leo smiled down at his wife and sons and couldn’t imagine a better feeling.

Now was the moment. After all, what better time to attack than when everyone was off their guard? He would watch, he would wait, he wouldn’t be fooled. He felt relief, he felt happy even, but he was still bound by his mission.