Ten Forward

[thesurlyone]

In the busy evening of Ten Forward, a new arrival seems to appear in a swirl of white lights, already irate at something or someone from her tone of voice.

Already, the brunette had a finger up in that classic position of a mother about to chastise her child and half of her sentence tumbled out of her lips.

"--you orb me, young ma--"

And immediately, Piper stopped in the middle of her sentence.

"Oh...kay...where did you orb me to now, Wyatt?" she quietly asked herself.

Piper took in her surroundings. Looked like a bar but it was definitely not P3. She hadn't thought about remodeling it lately and was pretty sure mock ups were not in the books for today. The furniture looked futuristic and, as she slowly made her way around, a small sense of panic rose in her chest. She couldn't call Leo right now. Oh no.

"Paige?" she called out cautiously. Piper reached up and tucked her hair behind her ears, hands at the ready.

Just in case.

Comments

[thesurlyone]

"Chris? Sweetie, what are you doing here?"

The last time she had seen him like this--well, things were a little dire at the time but she was pretty sure the Angel of Destiny was gonna keep to her word. No more big battles. Leo was home, had been home, for a few months now.

Immediately, she moved over and hugged her son.

"Is Wyatt here? Is this your future?"

[student_lighter]

Oh. We were going to hug. Guess that answers that questions.

"Um. No. Like you, I've been witch-napped. Wyatt's not here, Wyatt-Wyatt or little Wyatt. But Phoebe is. And....Cole. " Chris added, like he was trying out the word for the first time and wasn't sure he liked it.

"We're somewhere. Not entirely sure where, but I think we're out of reach of the Elders. Actually, I think we're in a completely different universe. Lucky us. "

Chris stepped back from the hug and looked at his mother. "You look...different." Cause he certainly wasn't tell his mother she looked older.

"You're not from 2004 are you?"

[thesurlyone]

When she let him go, she let what he said sink in.

"Great, different universe. So is Grams here? Grandpa? Dad? Anyone else?" She paused. "Wait, is the Book here?"

Because having witches thrown waywardly was one thing but stealing their heritage and throwing it all over the universe? Different thing.

"And no, I'm actually from 2006."

[student_lighter]

"No, so far it's just you, me, Phoebe and Cole. Phoebe thinks we just finished with the Valkyrie business so...she knows who I am. Kind of. " In a not really sort of way." And she has the book. I gave it to her. It came over with me. I tried to mark the pages she shouldn't look at with sticky notes, but knowing Phoebe she'll look eventually. It seemed like the best option. I couldn't exactly hide the book from her."

[thesurlyone]

She remembered that business.

"That was when you first got to us in the past. So does she know you're...?" she asked.

Telling Phoebe not to look at something always gave her sister incentive to do just the opposite. Piper rubbed at her forehead and tried to make sense of it. All right, there was Cole from the past, Phoebe from the past, Christ from the past but from his future.

"Gettin' a headache."

[student_lighter]

"Yeah, it's a lot I know. And no, Phoebe has no idea. But that's probably going to change as soon as she notices my name on the room lists. Or see's Dad's letter in the book. Or, you know, touches me and gets a premonition. There's only so long I can avoid it."

Chris shrugged. "But, now that you're here, I figure breaking it to her is easy. Right?"

[thesurlyone]

Her mouth twisted into a frown. Oh, so he wanted mom to step in and fix it for him. Piper put a hand to his arm and gave a not exactly gentle squeeze.

"Sure, breaking it to her is easy and I'll be right there when ya do."

[student_lighter]

"Oh come on!" Chris gave Piper a look, scowling. "......This payback for stringing you guys on for months, isn't it?" Or it could also be a 'clean up your own damn mess' thing. Thanks Mom. Really.

"She's going to freak out you know." Which was probably a better sooner rather than later scenario but knowing Chris, he was probably going to try and sweep it under the rug until it was big enough to bite him in the ass.

[thesurlyone]

"Well, you made this mess, Chris, you need to clean it up. Not like you can have me wiggle my nose everytime something goes unexpected for you," she offered. "Besides, think of it as the joys of growing up. Or something."

[student_lighter]

Chris just groaned. "You know, whats the use of being the son of one of the most powerful witches in the world if you're not going to use it?" Not surprisingly, Chris probably had a similar argument the first time he got a bad grade on a paper or test. Personal gain? Yeah that was something he seemed to have a problem understanding.

[thesurlyone]

She gave a mirthless laugh at that.

"How do you think I got there?"

Still, Piper patted her son on the back, just to let him know that she was still happy that he had his limbs and life.

[student_lighter]

"Let me guess, practice, hard work and not hiding things from your sisters?"

Chris pulled his mother into a hug, not wanting to let go but eventually releasing her from his grip.

"I love you so much, Mom. Even if you won't wiggle your nose for me." Telling the truth didn't come easily for Chris. He spent years hiding away from Wyatt, lying and cheating to try and prevent his brothers wrath. And then, he spent over a year lying and cheating his family. But, maybe, telling the truth would come easier. One 'I love you' at a time.

[thesurlyone]

She hugged him back as tightly as she would the little boy she had at home. She hadn't ever found out what happened to her in the future, just knew enough to know that he treasured his time with them so much when he was in the past. At least this version of him.

"I love you too, Chris." But she let go, giving him a warm smile. "Still need to clean up your own messes."