Unpopular Opinions: Charmed Style

[jdpm1991]

What unpopular opinions do you have of "Charmed"?

For me:

I love "Oh My Goddess" despite the negative reception it recieved from Charmed Cafe. I loved seeing Paige: Goddess Of War tbh

[Esmeralda]

Not sure if mine are unpopular here, but they have been very unpopular elsewhere.

1. Although they were my favorite couple the first time I watch the show with Leo as my favorite male character, I now can't stand Piper and Leo together, except in Season One - think that Piper could never love the angel, just the magical taxicab/doctor. Think she'd be much better with Mark the Ghost or Henry, and Leo would be much better with either Phoebe or Paige.

2. Can't stand Phoebe and Cole together - think that Phoebe could never love the demon (and even without powers, Cole was more Belthazor than the human since he had been Belthazor for almost 100 years), just the lawyer. Think he'd be a lot better with Prue or Paige (if he was never obsessed with Phoebe - I don't think either of them truly loved the other, but was just infatuated and then obsessed), and she'd be a lot better with Drake or Leo or Kyra.

3. Despite the comics, think that Chris is the reincarnation of Prue - all of the parts of him that I can't stand I love in her.

3. Think the series should've ended when Shax said "The end" and that Season 4-8 is the alternate universe spin-off, "The Perils of Poor, Poor Pitiful Piper" - where the only thing similar between that and "Charmed" (S1-3) are the names of some of the characters.

4. Think the series would've been much, much, MUCH better if Phoebe had died rather than Prue and even BETTER if Piper had stayed dead during "Awakened" and that's when we met Paige who would have no whiteligher powers! ESPECIALLY if she was played by Jennifer Love Hewitt rather than Rose McGowan so she wouldn't be such a ditz.

5. Think that there should've never been such a thing as witchlighters/half-whitelighters - hate the idea of dead men being able to sire children. Also hate the idea of demons and humans being able to mate. Would've preferred both Cole and Drake as warlocks.

6. Think that warlocks should've remained the bad guys of the series and the Source never should've been introduced - the idea of being able to vanquish the Source of All Evil makes absolutely no sense, just like the Demonic Wasteland.

7. Think the idea that a half-demon who was raised by his demonic mother and had been a mercenary demon for more than 70 years could fall in love rather than just being obsessed just because half of him is human is the stupidest idea the show came up with. Had he been raised by his non-magical father and was truly in his '30's, I'd feel totally differently.

8. Liked Billie a lot more once Christy showed up and wished that they had won the final battle rather than the Charmed Ones - although *really* think that Zankou should've won the battle in "Something Wicca This Way Goes" and would've if the writers hadn't cheated by letting the Charmed Ones learn how to perform magic after astral projecting - anyone can astral project, but being able to be seen and do something was part of Prue's power to move things with her mind and shouldn't have been able to been taught any more than Piper and Phoebe could be taught to orb.

9. Think that Leo should've stayed away after "Love Hurts" and Prue and Andy should've been the couple who was together (but never got married and never had kids) during all 4 seasons (Had it been those two, I don't think Charmed would've lasted more than 4 years, which would've been just fine with me.)

10. Think that the worst episode was "Sleuthing with the Enemy" - the death of my favorite character, Phoebs, and the birth of my least-favorite character, PhoeME/Freebie - and think that when Phoebe lied to Prue and Piper about vanquishing Cole, the Power of Three should've vanished right then and never come back, hence no need to find Paige.

11. Despite the comics, think that "Forever Crap", I mean "Forever Piper", I mean "Forever Charmed" is Piper's delusion as she dies after the explosion in 'Kill Billie, Vol 2' and Paige is the one who survived by panic-orbing and then getting out of Dodge, finally ridding herself of her selfish, self-centered half-sisters who only gave her lip service as a sister but let her stick around in order to complete the Power of Three.

But these are all just my own opinions - hence why I kept saying "Think". Other fans are more than welcomed to have their own.

[Elle Em]

I enjoy watching The Wedding From Hell and She's a Man, Baby, a Man! Both episodes are extremely cringeworthy but have a lot of funny dialogue. And they both look so outdated that there's something comforting about them.

[Chrisaholic]

I love Chris, no matter what was said of him. I still think he brought in a good mystery and I loved mystery at that time. His story could have been handled better and also gone on in S7. Hello, this guy had demons as friends/allies and so one of them could have come after his baby self for once. Plus, more background as well. Two episodes are not enough in that case and in the rest of S6 only partly hints. There could have done more.

[Courtney]

Apr 22, 2017 5:13:34 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

10. Think that the worst episode was "Sleuthing with the Enemy" - the death of my favorite character, Phoebs, and the birth of my least-favorite character, PhoeME/Freebie - and think that when Phoebe lied to Prue and Piper about vanquishing Cole, the Power of Three should've vanished right then and never come back, hence no need to find Paige.

Agreed. This was the ultimate betrayal, and Phoebe should have put her sister's safety first. You could argue had Cole been vanquished, Phoebe never would have ended up in the underworld during 3x22. I'd have a hard time trusting someone again after that.

[Ruth Marie]

1. Piper and Leo were fun in the beginning, but needed to end sooner, and never liked them the longer we got to see them. Paige and Henry were my favorite overall couple, that we actually saw. Since half the ones I like didn't happen.

2. Don't like All Hell Breaks Loose, has too many problems with the script.

3. The series was better off never introducing The Source, and actually wouldn't have minded if he always stayed unseen.

4. Some fans loathe Billie, but I didn't hate her so much in season 8. Especially when the sisters were unlikable.

5. I like episode The Wedding From Hell. It might be corny, but it is much better than a majority of episodes from the later seasons. I do have to laugh at some of the bad acting from the guest cast.

6. Hated Sleuthing With the Enemy's episode ending in regards to Phoebe. Though I don't think this is so unpopular.

7. Elders just should of not been seen. So only mentioned.


I have to think more on anything else to add. Watch this space.

[yinsoul]

Mostly that-

-I think Billie was mostly alright, especially as she shed her silly demonfighter persona and saw how serious things could get. I dont know, maybe it was just contrasted with the sisters that season but I liked her enthusiasm for trying to do the right thing. Even if it did lead her to trouble.

-I disliked Piper/Leo in the later seasons. Part of this is tied to Wyatt; I hate babies in shows because I know ruination is coming and sure enough... I would have been ok with the kid if he had been a fairly normal witch child, but nope, every power ever.
But I like the Chris scenario (and the consequences of P/L somewhat permissive parenting) so I can't even be as mad at it as I want to be.

[Esmeralda]

I like the idea of Chris but wish the whole scenario had been better thought out and not constantly changed, which made him seem like such a liar to the point that I could never believe a word he said and hated the Halliwells for trusting him so much just because he was family.

[Esmeralda]

Apr 23, 2017 5:22:52 GMT -5 yinsoul said:

But I like the Chris scenario (and the consequences of P/L somewhat permissive parenting) so I can't even be as mad at it as I want to be.

If you think that what Chris told about the future is correct (I still don't..) and that the flash-forward in 'Forever Crap', I mean 'Forever Piper', I mean 'Forever Charmed' is real, it obviously wasn't Leo's permissive parenting, it was Piper's. If Chris was correct, Leo was an Elder and not with the family so Evil Wyatt was raised by a permissive Piper. (Personally I don't think Leo was ever an Elder in Chris' original future, since he wouldn't have become one if Chris himself hadn't talked Leo into turning himself into one - and that is *definitely* an unpopular opinion!), while in the flash-forward with Leo there, Good Wyatt was raised by both.

[linamorgana]

Christy deserved to die - she was manipulated beyond reason and couldn't see sense despite actually having lived with the Charmed ones. I also don't believe Christy really believed what she tried to manipulate Billie into thinking - that the Charmed ones were selfish - I don't believe she'd even have much of a reason to care to the point she'd try to kill them. Also the sister's defence for going after Billie and Christy was PURELY self-defence and it clearly couldn't be called murder - even when Christy was outnumbered in the end - it was BILLIE who killed her, so the charmed ones shouldn't be held accountable for her fate in my eyes.

I like Piper's evolution, I appreciate all facets of her character throughout the series run. I like that she was shy and timid and anxious in the earlier seasons and sarcastic and bitchy and a little mean later on - she seemed like the most relatable.

Phoebe looked better blonde.

In spite of all its plot holes, I think AHBL is my favorite episode for the acting and the dire situations alone, even though I understand the criticisms.

Leo was actually awful - it seemed clear that the only sister he actually cared about was the one he was married to - when Piper was revealed to have been killed, like the Source said in AHBL - Phoebe knew because Leo came back crying - as if he wouldn't if Prue was the one whose corpse was on the hospital bed (for whom I'd believe he'd just orb down looking a little sullen) - and on top of that Phoebe had to hug and comfort HIM.

I don't know if this is unpopular, but Paige and Phoebe died too many times together and in episodes like Sword and the City and I Dream of Phoebe, it'd just been established as a running gag.

Prue was a hypocrite. As much as I loved her, her attitude towards Phoebe wanting to expose magic to put a killer behind bars (correctly thinking that the cost would mean they couldn't get to save countless future innocents) in The Honeymoon's Over, compared to AHBL when she snaps at Piper for saying they shouldn't have chased Shax into the street, with the justification that they would've otherwise would've lost Griffiths was totally contradictory.

The premise of the secrecy of magic is weak. Good witches and beings would want to avoid exposure, as to blend in and live as part of society so would keep magic a secret. Evil beings have no reason to fear exposure, as a lot of them would enjoy the havoc wreaked on humanity, compared to living miserably in the shadows of the underworld, being a little more lowkey about spreading evil above the surface. Also, the lack of conscience means that they would be able to kill any mortal law enforcement who'd try and imprison and dissect them.

Payback's A Witch isn't that great an episode to me - yeah I liked Paige saving Henry and Phoebe with Wyatt, but I don't see why so many people love it or how Billie was somehow able to make a potion out of crap in a purse.

Season 8's closing arc (8x15-8x21) was actually great - S8 contained a lot of filler but the last few episodes (except the very last) were really strong as it put the sisters in very complicated positions and there was a lot of betrayal despair that came into play.

Something Wicca This Way Goes is great - only it makes no sense. The sisters had no reason to think that banishing the Hollow while inside Zankou would result in a huge explosion that would kill them - that assumption (even though it turned out to be correct) forced them to fear for their lives to the point they had everything prepared.

S8>S7 and S6=S5 for me

Phoebe just became ridiculous in season 5, I get that a lot of people didn't like her for hating Cole too fast with no warning - but the second half after Cole was still pretty bad. She became ridiculously animated and hyper - like how she was in Sense and Sensibility - when she hugged Paige and said "oh, honey!!" and yelled out "this is all part of a MASSIVE evil plan!!" - she seemed like a 5 year old or a drunk or both in that episode and she was out of character like that until season 7.

6x22/23 are some of my favorite episodes.

Prue didn't look as good in S1 or 2 as she did in S3 when she had brown hair and bangs.

I don't see someone as altruistic as Andy lasting longer than he did in lives as dangerous as the Charmed ones'.

[Sadrick]

My biggest gripe is with the self-righteous attitude of the sisters. Any form of contention from someone who was short of signing up to march for the Power of Three parade was a potential adversary that needed to be dealt with. The sisters rarely, if ever, chose to muse upon the validity of their actions or what they believed. It was always "I'm right, you're wrong, so die". Leo's two dimensional subservience to them for most of the show didn't help matters. I wish he could have taken a stronger stance in opposition for the idea of maintaining a more self-reflective attitude where they recognise that they're not perfect and that the things they are at odds with aren't unilaterally after them to suck the marrow from their bones or wear their entrails as an accessory.

Despite everything they did, the Jenkins sisters and Gideon all had a point. The Halliwell family, in one form or another, posed a daunting threat to the world that couldn't be ignored. More than one occasion has been seen where the world was at the brink of destruction or abject annihilation thanks to actions or lack thereof from the sisters. They refuse to take responsibility for their own actions. That's why moments exist in the later points of the series where I yearn to see their skulls and spines torn away from their bodies. Some of their actions, their temperaments when confronted with people and questions more valid than their petty stances, make me feel contempt for them.

On the matter of Christy being redeemable or not -- it wasn't as though every waking moment of her life after being discovered by Billie was filled with conspiratorial desires to kill the sisters. They were fleeting moments, but you could denote some glimpses of human normalcy, decency even, from her.

From "Generation Hex"

Christy: What are you doing here?

Candor (Triad): Your purpose is to lure your sister away from The Charmed Ones -- not become enmeshed yourself.

Christy: I don't need you to tell me how to do my job.

~~~
Christy: It's like death by dinner. Do you know how hard it is to smile when you're nauseous?

Candor (Triad): Then leave. And take your sister with you.

Christy: It's not that simple. I have to draw Billie out without her knowing it.

Candor (Triad): Or letting yourself be drawn in and the longer you take, the greater the chance you'll be distracted from our ultimate goal.

~~~
Candor (Triad): *telepathically* What are you doing?

Christy: *out loud* Leave me alone.

Carl Jenkins: Christie, are you all right?

Candor (Triad): *telepathically* Do not go down this path.

Christy: Show yourself. *Suddenly everyone in the park stops.* *Everyone, except Christy.* *Everything appears considerably darker.* *Christy gets up off the park bench just as Candor rises up from the ground.*

Christy: How dare you interrupt me?

Candor (Triad): You gave me no choice. Every step you take toward your mortal family is a step away from our ultimate goal.

Christy: I had to come see them. Otherwise Billie would've gotten suspicious.

Candor (Triad): Perhaps, but they're swaying you and you know it.

~~~
Candor (Triad): I did what was necessary.

Christy: They were my parents!

*He turns around and looks at her.* 

Candor (Triad): They were distracting you from taking the final step.

Not just her parents, even Piper's maternally overbearing nature was enough to divert Christy's attention away from the Triad's propagandised murder scheme for the Charmed Ones towards domestic accommodation and feelings of discomfort with being overfed. This demonstrates that she wasn't too far gone to have her mindset deprogrammed. What Christy needed wasn't a fireball or potions being flung at her. She needed to be surrounded by her family who could personally help her to adjust to normal society while helping her to better appreciate human life. If the Triad wasn't so intrusive and if Christy's parents had survived, maybe she could have taken a different path eventually.     

[charmedforlife28]

Apr 23, 2017 8:43:42 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

Apr 23, 2017 5:22:52 GMT -5 yinsoul said:

But I like the Chris scenario (and the consequences of P/L somewhat permissive parenting) so I can't even be as mad at it as I want to be.

If you think that what Chris told about the future is correct (I still don't..) and that the flash-forward in 'Forever Crap', I mean 'Forever Piper', I mean 'Forever Charmed' is real, it obviously wasn't Leo's permissive parenting, it was Piper's. If Chris was correct, Leo was an Elder and not with the family so Evil Wyatt was raised by a permissive Piper. (Personally I don't think Leo was ever an Elder in the Chris' future, since he wouldn't have become one if Chris himself hadn't talked Leo into turning himself into one - and that is *definitely* an unpopular opinion!), while in the flash-forward with Leo there, Good Wyatt was raised by both.

Wait so you think Chris was lying about Leo being an elder? Do you have any hypothesizes why he would do that? Also what did you not like about Piper and Leo?

[Esmeralda]

I count everything Chris said about the future as a lie, starting with him telling Piper there was no such thing as family in the future - the only thing about his future that I think is true is what the tour guide told us in 'ChrisCrossed', which shows us that he was lying when he said that the Titans killed Paige. And why did he lie about Leo becoming an Elder? Because it was his way of getting Leo out of the way so he could become the sisters' whitelighter. Why he wanted to do that - I think had Holly not become pregnant and if Brian hadn't signed his second contract, it would be to make him the Big Bad while the Twice-Blessed Child remained that good one. That switched in Season Six, after Holly became pregnant, which is what ended up making him seem like such a little liar.

Had he ever apologized for his lies, I'd believe what he said afterwards. But he never did, so I still don't trust a word he said.

What don't I like about Piper and Leo? Mainly the way Piper treated him - so very obviously just using him and not loving him. A lot of it has to do with how very much I don't like Piper in S3-S4 and S6-8, after loving both of them so much in S1, Part of why I don't hate S5 as much as a lot of fans do - I liked Piper that season.

Had something like this fic happened (and I don't believe anything like this ever did off-screen, , but if it had...), I'd feel totally differently.

NOTES FROM ES: During Season 7, I came up with an idea. I'd do a novelization of Season 6, but besides novelizing the scripts, I’d also novelize fanfics that include scenes that should’ve been part of that season and weren’t, stories I could use to turn Chris from the lying, whining, murdering brat he was in S6 to the heroic one he is in so many of my favorite Charmed fanfics. Well, I wrote and got the permission from a number of authors to use their ideas, however, for various reasons, that novel died. But I still love portions that I wrote, and of those, this is my favorite. It starts near the end of 'The Courtship of Wyatt's Father'.


As one of the authors put it:

Originally Posted by Valkyrie Doll:

I wanted to show how Piper and Chris came to having that relationship they have in later episodes. I found the series just skipped over that much too hastily and it disappointed me.

I agree totally and I think you might, too, after you read this.

DISCLAIMER

I don’t own any characters from Charmed - they were all owned by Spelling Productions and the WB, now the CW, and are now owned by CBS Entertainment. This story was not written for sale, but is meant only for the visitors to websites for fans of the show Charmed. This story features characters, plotpoints and/or conversations based on ones from the following stories:

"Understanding" by Valkyrie Doll

"Do I Know You?" by Charmed LitWitch

and is used with their authors' permissions. This fanfic is lovingly, gratefully dedicated to them!!

NO GREATER LOVE...

PART SIX: EPILOGUE TO "THE COURTSHIP OF WYATT'S FATHER"

by Esmeralda

Based on

"The Courtship of Wyatt's Father", written by Brad Kern,
"Do I Know You?" written by Charmed LitWitch and
"Understanding" written by Valkyrie Doll

Now that Paige and I knew that Piper was pregnant with Chris, we were sitting on Piper's bed, waiting for her to come in, eager to share our news with her. When she walked in, she was very surprised to see us, saying, "Oh, hi," before warily asking, "What's going on?"

I patted the bed between Paige and me. "Here," I urged. "Maybe you'd better sit down..."

I didn't mean to worry her, but I did. "Uh-oh," she remarked even more warily. "That doesn't sound good."

I led her over to edge of the bed, telling her, "No, it is, I think..." and I turned to Paige, asking her, "Don't you?"

She nodded tentatively. "I think," before adding, "It depends."

Now Piper was now more worried, and starting to get a bit impatient with us. "Okay, now that sounds worse."

"No, no," soothed Paige, before adding. "It's just - complicated, that's all."

Now Piper was becoming very impatient and demanded that we just come out and tell her.

I looked at Paige, who nodded for me to continue, so I tried. "Okay, well, uh, we sorta know what happened in the Ghostly Plane, I mean between you and Leo."

She stared at me in shock. "Excuse me?"

"Not because anybody told us or anything!" Paige quickly explained, "It's just because of, well, uh, Chris."

That confused her worse. "Chris? How would he know what happened?"

"Because he wouldn't still be here if it didn't happen," I told her matter-of-factly. She gave me a look of utter confusion, so I tried to explain it more clearly. "We've known for a while, but we weren't sure how to tell you, how to tell Leo."

"Tell us what?" she demanded.

So Paige just came right out and told her. "That Chris is Wyatt's little brother. And that if you and Leo hadn't, uh, gotten together in time, he'd never be born."

Piper was absolutely stunned, staring at us in disbelief, obviously unable to accept any of this. "Wait a minute, what?" she cried. "What are you saying?"

"I know this is huge..." I started.

"Huge?!" she yelled, now in total denial. "Are you kidding; it's crazy! In fact, it's, it's not even possible for a very simple reason - I'm not pregnant!"

And both Paige and I very firmly, very emphatically nodded, letting our actions tell her in no certain terms that, yes, she was.

"But, how can that be..." she asked, still shocked. We watched as it slowly sank in, then she asked in a small, scared voice, "What am I going to do?"

"Maybe you ought to talk to Leo about it," I suggested, since I was determined to tell him if she didn't.

She shook her head firmly, still scared. "No, I can't."

"Why not?" asked Paige, and I was about to tell her that if she didn't, I would, because he deserved to know.

But Piper answered Paige. "Because, well, because it's hard enough for him to move on, to let go. I don't want to make it any harder."

Paige and I exchanged looks, not understanding, but before we could ask, Chris stepped into the doorway. Seeing the way Paige and I stared at him, he asked self-consciously, "Is this a bad time?"

Hearing his voice, Piper turned, and because I was sitting next to her and happened to look back at her, not Chris, I watched as she saw him for the first time as her son.

He must've noticed the difference in her glance, because he looked scared, unsure.

I looked at Paige and she looked at me. We both knew that this was a private moment between mother and son, neither of us certain how they would handle it, but knowing that it was up to them to figure it out. So we stood up and walked out, me patting Piper reassuringly on the shoulder, Paige patting Chris. She headed for her room.

Not snoopy Phoebe! I started to head towards mine, just to throw Paige off, but then after Piper led Chris into her room and closed the door, I had to quickly go stand on the other side, so I could hear what was going on.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I heard Piper ask.

Believe it or not, he actually apologized! I guess there‘s a first time for everything! “I'm sorry,. I should have,” he admitted, “but, uh, it's complicated. I didn't do much planning before coming back here. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision," and I could hear the typical self-depreciative shrug in his voice. "We thought it was going to be a quick and easy thing to jump back and change little things to alter the course of history."

"How's that working out for you?" she demanded, before quickly adding, "Don't answer that; it was uncalled for. Sorry," and I grinned, knowing that like Paige and me when we first found out, she was having a hard time dealing with the difficult transition between thinking of him as a nuisance and thinking of him as a son. "Who's ‘we‘?" she asked instead.

"Well, Bianca, for one, and, well, I probably shouldn't get into the specifics."

She sighed impatiently. "This is really hard for me, Chris."

"I know. I'm sorry," and now he truly sounded contrite, and I knew that of us all, the last one he wanted to hurt was his mother.

"You have made it incredibly difficult to get to know you and even trust you!" she accused. "Tell me the truth - you were the one who sent Leo to Valhalla, weren't you?" Before he had a chance to reply, she demanded, "And the inhibitions demon, you helped him, too, didn't you?" Again, before he could say a word, she started to yell, close to screaming, pain in every word. "Why? Were you trying to punish us? What happens in the future that warrants you coming back and treating us this way? And don't even try to hand me that crap about future consequences, buster, because I've had it with that nonsense!" and I could tell she was working up a full head of steam and almost felt sorry for him, even though I knew he deserved every word.

Chris' voice was small and soft, but I could still hear his answer. "I had to get Leo out of the way so I could be assigned as your Whitelighter. I thought that would be the perfect way to be close enough to all of you to see if I could figure out who turns Wyatt. As far as the inhibitions demon goes, I'm sorry. That was a really bad mistake. I was hoping he would teach you a lesson to stop focusing on the trivial things and to start focusing on the important things like saving Wyatt - and yourselves."

"Why do you hate Leo so much?" and I wanted to know, too. “He’s your father!”

There was a long pause this time. "Let's just say he wasn't around much in the future that I know," but somehow I didn't think he was telling the whole truth, and I wondered why not.

C'mon, Piper, I was thinking. Give him what-for for blaming our Leo for something he never did, and for something he might never do. If he'll listen to anyone, he'll listen to you!

But Piper didn't. Unlike me, maybe she realized that he was holding some stuff back in order to protect us from information we didn't need to hear and wouldn't want to hear, and now wasn't the time to push. She was simply quiet for a very long time, before asking, "You know I'm pregnant, don't you?"

"Yeah, it's kinda weird thinking that you're pregnant with - me."

"Well, it's kinda weird for me to be thinking about that, too," she retorted, and I had to bite my tongue to hold back my giggle.

"You need some time to get used to this; so do I," and I heard the bed rustle as he must've stood up. "Thanks for talking to me..."

The word "Mom" seemed to hang in the air. Then I heard him sigh as he simply finished, "Piper. Good night." Then I could hear him walking away, so I ran as quickly as I could for my own bedroom, so I wouldn't get caught snooping.

------------------

The next evening, Paige, Piper and I were all at P3. None of us had seen Chris since the previous evening, obviously keeping his promise to give Piper time to absorb. Both Paige and I expected her to ask us something about it, but she never brought up the topic, so much as we were going nuts wanting to ask, neither did we.

As usual on the weekend, P3 was crowded with people, dancing to the great band. Both Paige and I were dancing with guys we had just met, and Piper was back behind the bar. I kept looking for Leo, wondering if Piper could really keep such a secret from him - wondering if *I* could, now that he was the only one who didn't know - but he never showed and neither did Chris. Then, while looking around for Leo, I saw Piper flinch.

Following her glance, I saw Chris making his way through the crowd towards the bar, towards her. Although I kept dancing, I slowly but surely moved towards the bar, my partner following my lead. As I did, I also kept watching Chris as he avoided colliding with several other dancing couples, his eyes never leaving Piper. I could feel the apprehension radiating off him like waves, but I could also feel it radiating off Piper. Even though I was now certain that he had also taken an empath-blocking potion, I didn't need my power to get an idea of what they were both feeling, thinking.

Glancing back at Piper, I saw her lightly touch her belly. How strange must it be to think that the man who was walking towards her was also her son, the baby who was growing inside her. He must've seen her do it, too, because when he stopped at the bar, he was hesitant, nervous, afraid. Again I didn't need my empath-powers; his eyes reflected it all. I knew she'd have to make the first move and wondered if she knew it, too.

I shouldn't have. "Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," he returned, leaning on the counter.

"You want a drink?" she asked casually, obviously willing to pretend that everything was okay between them.

For now.

"Yeah, sure," and he seemed to perk up slightly at the gesture, glad that she seemed to be in a good mood tonight, not quite as ready to blow his head off.

She handed him the glass of amber liquid. He took a sip. There was a moment of awkwardness before she turned to serve another customer then came back to him again, first telling her bartender to handle the customers for a while. She placed her hands on the countertop, as if bracing herself for the worse.

As she did, I slowly but surely led my partner so we were as close to them as we could be without making it *too* obvious -not that I think they would notice - the only ones they were aware of were each other. It wasn't easy to both flirt with my partner and listen to my sister and her son, especially with the loud music in the background, but somehow I managed.

"Am I...horrible?" Piper asked hesitantly, and now I knew why she hadn't discussed it with me or Paige. "Is that why you didn't tell us, tell me?"

He inhaled sharply, obviously not quite expecting such a question from her. Neither had I. I was sure she would ask about his older brother, the future, anything but that, but knowing Piper the way I do, I shouldn't have.

Suddenly his eyes went blank, and I knew that although he had decided to answer her truthfully, he was very carefully keeping his emotions in check, and I wondered why.

"No, you're wonderful in the future," he replied with the smallest of smiles. "A great mom. The best."

Oh, you should’ve seen the look of relief on her face, and I almost laughed, thinking about all the times she wondered if she'd turn into a dreadful mother

Then she simply asked "Why?"

"I told you yesterday," he said softly, gently, trying to dissuade her from asking any more. "I can't let you know too much about the future. It might change the timeline, for better or worse; I can't tell."

"But you came back here, to save Wyatt, to save us all. Shouldn't that have changed something in your future?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." He smiled at her sadly. "I don't know how much I've changed the timeline."

She nodded, understanding, not wanting to press him any more than necessary. But she had to know something. A lot more gently than the previous night, she admitted, "I've been thinking about it all day, all night yesterday, all day today. I still don't understand. I want to. Truly I do, but I can’t. All those lies ..."

"I had to," he said in a pained tone. "Believe me when I say that I never meant for everything to go out of control. I never wanted to hurt any one of you, especially you. I'm so sorry, Mom," and now he sounded so pitiful, so near tears, that for the first time, my heart went out to him.

She didn‘t even flinch at his using that word. Like me, her heart must‘ve gone out to him in his pain. She reached out to touch his hand. "It must have been a pretty desperate mission for you to risk everything," she said softly, newfound pride in her voice. “And it must be painful for you, too."

He looked down at the countertop, closing his eyes, now unable to hide that pain, muttering, “If you but knew.”

A firm hand cupped his chin, bringing his head back up. She was now looking at him, a myriad of emotions crossing her face. She reached up with the hand, fingertips light against his skin, almost gentle as she traced his features. From forehead down to his jawline, the bridge of his nose down to his full lips, her thumb over his eyebrow. I could tell that she could see it now, what she had never notice before. Looking at the two of them, it totally amazed me then the way it still throws me now that none of us had realized it sooner. His expression mirrored hers. The same shade of hair, the wide eyes with their conflicted emotions held in check, the facial structure, the firm chin. Only his height and his Whitelighter powers came from his father. The rest were all Halliwell.

I've wondered since then if that's part of the reason why he was such a brat before we knew who he was - if by keeping us angry and irritated at him, we never tried to find the good in him and thus never saw the Halliwell that was truly such a strong a part of him.

We just never saw it.

But she saw it now.

She cupped his cheek with her palm in a gentle manner that shocked me and seemed to surprise even her. Very softly, very, very gently, she said his name, the name she had given him - the name she would give him. For the first time she said it as the name of the son she knew was a part of her, the name of the son she loved. And, oh, if the way she said his name didn’t bring tears to my eyes, the way he leaned into her palm with an almost sense of longing certainly did. I realized that he had been away from home far too long now, and been far too alone in a different time than his own.

I found myself desperately wanting to give him a hug.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered again, almost a whimper.

"Don't," she ordered, sounding rough. "Don't be. You don't have to be sorry for anything. Your actions justified what you believed was right, I suppose."

"Does it?" He let out a hollow laugh, pulling his cheek away from the comfort of her hand, staring down at the countertop. "You always taught me that wrong things done for the right reasons are still wrong. And look what I’ve done. I barge right into all of your lives, turn them upside down. I've lied. You’re right. I've lied to all of you every single step of the way. You’ll never be able to trust me. Never know if I’m lying or telling the truth. Just look what I’ve done! I split you and Leo apart much sooner than you should‘ve been, almost negating my own existence! I caused the death of my own fiancée! All for one lousy mission that I'm no longer sure will even succeed! I should have never come back."

"Look at me, sweetie," she said firmly, and when he did, surprise in his eyes at the endearment, she spoke even more firmly. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, and it sounds like you were desperate. You did the right thing, sweetie, you did. And you will succeed because you came here not to just save Wyatt but all of us, to save your future, our future. You’re a Halliwell.” Her face softened, a smile on her lips just for him. "And you know how we always beat the odds."

"Yeah, I do," he whispered as for just a second or two, absolute heartbreak crossed his face as memories of his future past must've come unbidden at her words.

I realized that at some time or another, he hadn't beaten the odds. I wondered what had happened, and if that - being a member of a family who would try anything to beat the odds, especially to beat the odds that had beaten him - was part of his reason for coming back.

Piper must've seen that look, too. "Something happened, didn't it?" she asked, sympathy and a question in her voice.

Chris shook his head quickly as if trying to banish the thought from his mind, turning his full attention to his mother, forcing a smile on his face. And I knew that none of us would ever hear from him about that time when the Charmed Ones hadn't beaten the odds.  I couldn't help wondering if that was part of why he came back - to prevent that from happening.

"Of course not," he answered glibly. "Like you said, we've always beaten the odds.."

She appeared doubtful but then nodded, as the song came to an end.

Even as we clapped, my partner must've realized that he had lost my attention, because he quickly melted away. Too bad. He was awful cute and I never did see him again. Paige's partner must've done the same thing, because she walked up to me, nodded towards the bar, and we both walked towards it, towards our sister and her son. Paige’s eyes warned me, and she began chattering about the band, so I responded in kind - after all, the drummer was really hot and had been making eyes at me all night.

Piper noticed us, and her face lit up - she must've desperately wanted, needed, someone to break up the tension, and I was glad Paige and I could. Even without Paige's warning glance, I knew that we couldn't let Piper know that we had overheard her conversation with her son, and I made sure that both Paige and I were laughing as we walked up.

"Hey, you two," Paige casually greeted with a grin. "Getting acquainted, are we?" and she nudged me with a knowing wink, while I grinned back.

"So, are you two going to get along now or what?" I asked, showing I could fib as well as my nephew.

My older sister - the most powerful of the Charmed Ones since Prue's death - smiled at us sweetly, and when she and Chris exchanged looks and small smiles, I knew Paige was right that we should let them think that what had been said between her and her future son would remain between them.

"Perhaps," Piper shrugged, acting indifferent. Then she smiled her biggest, brightest smile - one usually reserved for Leo or Wyatt - at Chris. "Let's say that we've come to an understanding," and for the first time ever around us, Chris smiled full-wattage, his smile identical to Piper's.

Even while both Paige and I inwardly marveled at the sight of those beautiful twin smiles, we put on looks that said we were vaguely disappointed at not having any more details but knew better than to press either of them for more, and again I was so glad my sister had figured out the right thing to do. Had to be the Whitelighter in her.

"Well, that settles it," my younger sister announced. "Why don't we have a toast?"

"Toast what?" my older sister wanted to know.

"Our newfound relationship with our nephew!" Paige beamed, as she snagged a couple glasses of champagne from a passing waiter, handing one to me.

I nodded. "What do you say?" I asked them.

"Sounds fair enough," Chris shrugged as he lifted his own glass. He turned to Piper, questioningly. She gave a "Why not?" shrug and lifted her own glass of ginger ale, and we all clinked our glasses together before sipping.

Then Chris looked at each of us and softly said, "Thank you."

I wanted to ask, "For what?" but then I noticed that that look of bearing the world on his shoulders that was always haunting his eyes was no longer there. I thought I knew why. He knew he was no longer alone. And because he could now trust us to help him save our family, our future, he knew that what he had done in the past would stay in the past - we would be able to trust him from then on.

I wanted to say, "Welcome home!" but somehow it wasn't necessary.

He knew.

THE END

Had something like that happened and if Drew Fuller could've portrayed it as well as the Chris in my imagination does (which I don't think he could've), I'd like both Piper and Chris a whole lot more. But I can't see either S6 Chris or S6 Piper doing anything like this.

[craig]

I didn't hate the idea of Billie and Christy or did I hate the idea of the final villains or threat NOT being a demon. It was refreshing, maybe the story just needed to be handled better. Sigh, if only they didn't do the many trinity's of warlocks or counterparts to the Charmed Ones. They could have it being three sisters vs. three warlocks etc.

All Hell Breaks Loose isn't that great of an episode with the exception of being Prue's last and having great acting. Same goes to Hell Hath, No Fury, apart from Holly's acting. Not my favorite.

Would of liked Warlocks being a major influence on the show than Demons. They should of had the Rowe Coven being a big bad for a season. So much story they could of done. But I didn't think this set should of been used, unless you took out the eldest and made him into Cole or Rex? They could of made Billie and Christy warlocks and added a third sister. The Evil Charmed Ones didn't have to be male right?

Less focus/seeing the Elders and The Source, or never seeing them. They just are unable to leave their post in the Heavens and Underworld. Then we wouldn't be left with a terrible mythology once both came out in the open to appear.

Leo was great in the beginning. But having him around for 8 seasons, he got old fast and unlikable. Andy and Henry being used for 8 seasons could of been better. Because in a magical world, I like being able to follow the show with a character like Andy or Henry who is non magical, because it would be like we the viewers have someone we can relate too. We did have Darryl, but he wasn't used as much as I hoped, and being in a relationship with one of the sisters like Andy and Henry would of helped give a bigger role.

I liked the idea of Chris, but if it were me he would be Paige's son or Phoebe's and not Piper's second child. But of course neither Paige or Phoebe would give birth to Chris in the series.

[linamorgana]

Apr 24, 2017 6:35:37 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

I count everything Chris said about the future as a lie, starting with him telling Piper there was no such thing as family in the future - the only thing about his future that I think is true is what the tour guide told us in 'ChrisCrossed', which shows us that he was lying when he said that the Titans killed Paige. 

What did the tour guide say that disproved it?

[charmedforlife28]

Apr 25, 2017 12:27:07 GMT -5 linamorgana said:

Apr 24, 2017 6:35:37 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

I count everything Chris said about the future as a lie, starting with him telling Piper there was no such thing as family in the future - the only thing about his future that I think is true is what the tour guide told us in 'ChrisCrossed', which shows us that he was lying when he said that the Titans killed Paige. 

What did the tour guide say that disproved it?

I think she said how the Charmed Ones all died together and they had vanquished 1000 demons but Chris said only Paige died the day of the titan attack. 

[adzpower]

Do we really believe a random tour guide over one of The Charmed Ones' children? I find it difficult to figure it out.

[charmedforlife28]

Apr 24, 2017 6:35:37 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

I count everything Chris said about the future as a lie, starting with him telling Piper there was no such thing as family in the future - the only thing about his future that I think is true is what the tour guide told us in 'ChrisCrossed', which shows us that he was lying when he said that the Titans killed Paige. And why did he lie about Leo becoming an Elder? Because it was his way of getting Leo out of the way so he could become the sisters' whitelighter. Why he wanted to do that - I think had Holly not become pregnant and if Brian hadn't signed his second contract, it would be to make him the Big Bad while the Twice-Blessed Child remained that good one. That switched in Season Six, after Holly became pregnant, which is what ended up making him seem like such a little liar.

Had he ever apologized for his lies, I'd believe what he said afterwards. But he never did, so I still don't trust a word he said.

What don't I like about Piper and Leo? Mainly the way Piper treated him - so very obviously just using him and not loving him. A lot of it has to do with how very much I don't like Piper in S3-S4 and S6-8, after loving both of them so much in S1, Part of why I don't hate S5 as much as a lot of fans do - I liked Piper that season.

Had something like this fic happened (and I don't believe anything like this ever did off-screen, , but if it had...), I'd feel totally differently.

NOTES FROM ES: During Season 7, I came up with an idea. I'd do a novelization of Season 6, but besides novelizing the scripts, I’d also novelize fanfics that include scenes that should’ve been part of that season and weren’t, stories I could use to turn Chris from the lying, whining, murdering brat he was in S6 to the heroic one he is in so many of my favorite Charmed fanfics. Well, I wrote and got the permission from a number of authors to use their ideas, however, for various reasons, that novel died. But I still love portions that I wrote, and of those, this is my favorite. It starts near the end of 'The Courtship of Wyatt's Father'.


As one of the authors put it:


I agree totally and I think you might, too, after you read this.

DISCLAIMER

I don’t own any characters from Charmed - they were all owned by Spelling Productions and the WB, now the CW, and are now owned by CBS Entertainment. This story was not written for sale, but is meant only for the visitors to websites for fans of the show Charmed. This story features characters, plotpoints and/or conversations based on ones from the following stories:

"Understanding" by Valkyrie Doll

"Do I Know You?" by Charmed LitWitch

and is used with their authors' permissions. This fanfic is lovingly, gratefully dedicated to them!!

NO GREATER LOVE...

PART SIX: EPILOGUE TO "THE COURTSHIP OF WYATT'S FATHER"

by Esmeralda

Based on

"The Courtship of Wyatt's Father", written by Brad Kern,
"Do I Know You?" written by Charmed LitWitch and
"Understanding" written by Valkyrie Doll

Now that Paige and I knew that Piper was pregnant with Chris, we were sitting on Piper's bed, waiting for her to come in, eager to share our news with her. When she walked in, she was very surprised to see us, saying, "Oh, hi," before warily asking, "What's going on?"

I patted the bed between Paige and me. "Here," I urged. "Maybe you'd better sit down..."

I didn't mean to worry her, but I did. "Uh-oh," she remarked even more warily. "That doesn't sound good."

I led her over to edge of the bed, telling her, "No, it is, I think..." and I turned to Paige, asking her, "Don't you?"

She nodded tentatively. "I think," before adding, "It depends."

Now Piper was now more worried, and starting to get a bit impatient with us. "Okay, now that sounds worse."

"No, no," soothed Paige, before adding. "It's just - complicated, that's all."

Now Piper was becoming very impatient and demanded that we just come out and tell her.

I looked at Paige, who nodded for me to continue, so I tried. "Okay, well, uh, we sorta know what happened in the Ghostly Plane, I mean between you and Leo."

She stared at me in shock. "Excuse me?"

"Not because anybody told us or anything!" Paige quickly explained, "It's just because of, well, uh, Chris."

That confused her worse. "Chris? How would he know what happened?"

"Because he wouldn't still be here if it didn't happen," I told her matter-of-factly. She gave me a look of utter confusion, so I tried to explain it more clearly. "We've known for a while, but we weren't sure how to tell you, how to tell Leo."

"Tell us what?" she demanded.

So Paige just came right out and told her. "That Chris is Wyatt's little brother. And that if you and Leo hadn't, uh, gotten together in time, he'd never be born."

Piper was absolutely stunned, staring at us in disbelief, obviously unable to accept any of this. "Wait a minute, what?" she cried. "What are you saying?"

"I know this is huge..." I started.

"Huge?!" she yelled, now in total denial. "Are you kidding; it's crazy! In fact, it's, it's not even possible for a very simple reason - I'm not pregnant!"

And both Paige and I very firmly, very emphatically nodded, letting our actions tell her in no certain terms that, yes, she was.

"But, how can that be..." she asked, still shocked. We watched as it slowly sank in, then she asked in a small, scared voice, "What am I going to do?"

"Maybe you ought to talk to Leo about it," I suggested, since I was determined to tell him if she didn't.

She shook her head firmly, still scared. "No, I can't."

"Why not?" asked Paige, and I was about to tell her that if she didn't, I would, because he deserved to know.

But Piper answered Paige. "Because, well, because it's hard enough for him to move on, to let go. I don't want to make it any harder."

Paige and I exchanged looks, not understanding, but before we could ask, Chris stepped into the doorway. Seeing the way Paige and I stared at him, he asked self-consciously, "Is this a bad time?"

Hearing his voice, Piper turned, and because I was sitting next to her and happened to look back at her, not Chris, I watched as she saw him for the first time as her son.

He must've noticed the difference in her glance, because he looked scared, unsure.

I looked at Paige and she looked at me. We both knew that this was a private moment between mother and son, neither of us certain how they would handle it, but knowing that it was up to them to figure it out. So we stood up and walked out, me patting Piper reassuringly on the shoulder, Paige patting Chris. She headed for her room.

Not snoopy Phoebe! I started to head towards mine, just to throw Paige off, but then after Piper led Chris into her room and closed the door, I had to quickly go stand on the other side, so I could hear what was going on.

"Why didn't you tell us?" I heard Piper ask.

Believe it or not, he actually apologized! I guess there‘s a first time for everything! “I'm sorry,. I should have,” he admitted, “but, uh, it's complicated. I didn't do much planning before coming back here. It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment decision," and I could hear the typical self-depreciative shrug in his voice. "We thought it was going to be a quick and easy thing to jump back and change little things to alter the course of history."

"How's that working out for you?" she demanded, before quickly adding, "Don't answer that; it was uncalled for. Sorry," and I grinned, knowing that like Paige and me when we first found out, she was having a hard time dealing with the difficult transition between thinking of him as a nuisance and thinking of him as a son. "Who's ‘we‘?" she asked instead.

"Well, Bianca, for one, and, well, I probably shouldn't get into the specifics."

She sighed impatiently. "This is really hard for me, Chris."

"I know. I'm sorry," and now he truly sounded contrite, and I knew that of us all, the last one he wanted to hurt was his mother.

"You have made it incredibly difficult to get to know you and even trust you!" she accused. "Tell me the truth - you were the one who sent Leo to Valhalla, weren't you?" Before he had a chance to reply, she demanded, "And the inhibitions demon, you helped him, too, didn't you?" Again, before he could say a word, she started to yell, close to screaming, pain in every word. "Why? Were you trying to punish us? What happens in the future that warrants you coming back and treating us this way? And don't even try to hand me that crap about future consequences, buster, because I've had it with that nonsense!" and I could tell she was working up a full head of steam and almost felt sorry for him, even though I knew he deserved every word.

Chris' voice was small and soft, but I could still hear his answer. "I had to get Leo out of the way so I could be assigned as your Whitelighter. I thought that would be the perfect way to be close enough to all of you to see if I could figure out who turns Wyatt. As far as the inhibitions demon goes, I'm sorry. That was a really bad mistake. I was hoping he would teach you a lesson to stop focusing on the trivial things and to start focusing on the important things like saving Wyatt - and yourselves."

"Why do you hate Leo so much?" and I wanted to know, too. “He’s your father!”

There was a long pause this time. "Let's just say he wasn't around much in the future that I know," but somehow I didn't think he was telling the whole truth, and I wondered why not.

C'mon, Piper, I was thinking. Give him what-for for blaming our Leo for something he never did, and for something he might never do. If he'll listen to anyone, he'll listen to you!

But Piper didn't. Unlike me, maybe she realized that he was holding some stuff back in order to protect us from information we didn't need to hear and wouldn't want to hear, and now wasn't the time to push. She was simply quiet for a very long time, before asking, "You know I'm pregnant, don't you?"

"Yeah, it's kinda weird thinking that you're pregnant with - me."

"Well, it's kinda weird for me to be thinking about that, too," she retorted, and I had to bite my tongue to hold back my giggle.

"You need some time to get used to this; so do I," and I heard the bed rustle as he must've stood up. "Thanks for talking to me..."

The word "Mom" seemed to hang in the air. Then I heard him sigh as he simply finished, "Piper. Good night." Then I could hear him walking away, so I ran as quickly as I could for my own bedroom, so I wouldn't get caught snooping.

------------------

The next evening, Paige, Piper and I were all at P3. None of us had seen Chris since the previous evening, obviously keeping his promise to give Piper time to absorb. Both Paige and I expected her to ask us something about it, but she never brought up the topic, so much as we were going nuts wanting to ask, neither did we.

As usual on the weekend, P3 was crowded with people, dancing to the great band. Both Paige and I were dancing with guys we had just met, and Piper was back behind the bar. I kept looking for Leo, wondering if Piper could really keep such a secret from him - wondering if *I* could, now that he was the only one who didn't know - but he never showed and neither did Chris. Then, while looking around for Leo, I saw Piper flinch.

Following her glance, I saw Chris making his way through the crowd towards the bar, towards her. Although I kept dancing, I slowly but surely moved towards the bar, my partner following my lead. As I did, I also kept watching Chris as he avoided colliding with several other dancing couples, his eyes never leaving Piper. I could feel the apprehension radiating off him like waves, but I could also feel it radiating off Piper. Even though I was now certain that he had also taken an empath-blocking potion, I didn't need my power to get an idea of what they were both feeling, thinking.

Glancing back at Piper, I saw her lightly touch her belly. How strange must it be to think that the man who was walking towards her was also her son, the baby who was growing inside her. He must've seen her do it, too, because when he stopped at the bar, he was hesitant, nervous, afraid. Again I didn't need my empath-powers; his eyes reflected it all. I knew she'd have to make the first move and wondered if she knew it, too.

I shouldn't have. "Hey," she said softly.

"Hey," he returned, leaning on the counter.

"You want a drink?" she asked casually, obviously willing to pretend that everything was okay between them.

For now.

"Yeah, sure," and he seemed to perk up slightly at the gesture, glad that she seemed to be in a good mood tonight, not quite as ready to blow his head off.

She handed him the glass of amber liquid. He took a sip. There was a moment of awkwardness before she turned to serve another customer then came back to him again, first telling her bartender to handle the customers for a while. She placed her hands on the countertop, as if bracing herself for the worse.

As she did, I slowly but surely led my partner so we were as close to them as we could be without making it *too* obvious -not that I think they would notice - the only ones they were aware of were each other. It wasn't easy to both flirt with my partner and listen to my sister and her son, especially with the loud music in the background, but somehow I managed.

"Am I...horrible?" Piper asked hesitantly, and now I knew why she hadn't discussed it with me or Paige. "Is that why you didn't tell us, tell me?"

He inhaled sharply, obviously not quite expecting such a question from her. Neither had I. I was sure she would ask about his older brother, the future, anything but that, but knowing Piper the way I do, I shouldn't have.

Suddenly his eyes went blank, and I knew that although he had decided to answer her truthfully, he was very carefully keeping his emotions in check, and I wondered why.

"No, you're wonderful in the future," he replied with the smallest of smiles. "A great mom. The best."

Oh, you should’ve seen the look of relief on her face, and I almost laughed, thinking about all the times she wondered if she'd turn into a dreadful mother

Then she simply asked "Why?"

"I told you yesterday," he said softly, gently, trying to dissuade her from asking any more. "I can't let you know too much about the future. It might change the timeline, for better or worse; I can't tell."

"But you came back here, to save Wyatt, to save us all. Shouldn't that have changed something in your future?"

"Maybe. Maybe not." He smiled at her sadly. "I don't know how much I've changed the timeline."

She nodded, understanding, not wanting to press him any more than necessary. But she had to know something. A lot more gently than the previous night, she admitted, "I've been thinking about it all day, all night yesterday, all day today. I still don't understand. I want to. Truly I do, but I can’t. All those lies ..."

"I had to," he said in a pained tone. "Believe me when I say that I never meant for everything to go out of control. I never wanted to hurt any one of you, especially you. I'm so sorry, Mom," and now he sounded so pitiful, so near tears, that for the first time, my heart went out to him.

She didn‘t even flinch at his using that word. Like me, her heart must‘ve gone out to him in his pain. She reached out to touch his hand. "It must have been a pretty desperate mission for you to risk everything," she said softly, newfound pride in her voice. “And it must be painful for you, too."

He looked down at the countertop, closing his eyes, now unable to hide that pain, muttering, “If you but knew.”

A firm hand cupped his chin, bringing his head back up. She was now looking at him, a myriad of emotions crossing her face. She reached up with the hand, fingertips light against his skin, almost gentle as she traced his features. From forehead down to his jawline, the bridge of his nose down to his full lips, her thumb over his eyebrow. I could tell that she could see it now, what she had never notice before. Looking at the two of them, it totally amazed me then the way it still throws me now that none of us had realized it sooner. His expression mirrored hers. The same shade of hair, the wide eyes with their conflicted emotions held in check, the facial structure, the firm chin. Only his height and his Whitelighter powers came from his father. The rest were all Halliwell.

I've wondered since then if that's part of the reason why he was such a brat before we knew who he was - if by keeping us angry and irritated at him, we never tried to find the good in him and thus never saw the Halliwell that was truly such a strong a part of him.

We just never saw it.

But she saw it now.

She cupped his cheek with her palm in a gentle manner that shocked me and seemed to surprise even her. Very softly, very, very gently, she said his name, the name she had given him - the name she would give him. For the first time she said it as the name of the son she knew was a part of her, the name of the son she loved. And, oh, if the way she said his name didn’t bring tears to my eyes, the way he leaned into her palm with an almost sense of longing certainly did. I realized that he had been away from home far too long now, and been far too alone in a different time than his own.

I found myself desperately wanting to give him a hug.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered again, almost a whimper.

"Don't," she ordered, sounding rough. "Don't be. You don't have to be sorry for anything. Your actions justified what you believed was right, I suppose."

"Does it?" He let out a hollow laugh, pulling his cheek away from the comfort of her hand, staring down at the countertop. "You always taught me that wrong things done for the right reasons are still wrong. And look what I’ve done. I barge right into all of your lives, turn them upside down. I've lied. You’re right. I've lied to all of you every single step of the way. You’ll never be able to trust me. Never know if I’m lying or telling the truth. Just look what I’ve done! I split you and Leo apart much sooner than you should‘ve been, almost negating my own existence! I caused the death of my own fiancée! All for one lousy mission that I'm no longer sure will even succeed! I should have never come back."

"Look at me, sweetie," she said firmly, and when he did, surprise in his eyes at the endearment, she spoke even more firmly. "Desperate times call for desperate measures, and it sounds like you were desperate. You did the right thing, sweetie, you did. And you will succeed because you came here not to just save Wyatt but all of us, to save your future, our future. You’re a Halliwell.” Her face softened, a smile on her lips just for him. "And you know how we always beat the odds."

"Yeah, I do," he whispered as for just a second or two, absolute heartbreak crossed his face as memories of his future past must've come unbidden at her words.

I realized that at some time or another, he hadn't beaten the odds. I wondered what had happened, and if that - being a member of a family who would try anything to beat the odds, especially to beat the odds that had beaten him - was part of his reason for coming back.

Piper must've seen that look, too. "Something happened, didn't it?" she asked, sympathy and a question in her voice.

Chris shook his head quickly as if trying to banish the thought from his mind, turning his full attention to his mother, forcing a smile on his face. And I knew that none of us would ever hear from him about that time when the Charmed Ones hadn't beaten the odds.  I couldn't help wondering if that was part of why he came back - to prevent that from happening.

"Of course not," he answered glibly. "Like you said, we've always beaten the odds.."

She appeared doubtful but then nodded, as the song came to an end.

Even as we clapped, my partner must've realized that he had lost my attention, because he quickly melted away. Too bad. He was awful cute and I never did see him again. Paige's partner must've done the same thing, because she walked up to me, nodded towards the bar, and we both walked towards it, towards our sister and her son. Paige’s eyes warned me, and she began chattering about the band, so I responded in kind - after all, the drummer was really hot and had been making eyes at me all night.

Piper noticed us, and her face lit up - she must've desperately wanted, needed, someone to break up the tension, and I was glad Paige and I could. Even without Paige's warning glance, I knew that we couldn't let Piper know that we had overheard her conversation with her son, and I made sure that both Paige and I were laughing as we walked up.

"Hey, you two," Paige casually greeted with a grin. "Getting acquainted, are we?" and she nudged me with a knowing wink, while I grinned back.

"So, are you two going to get along now or what?" I asked, showing I could fib as well as my nephew.

My older sister - the most powerful of the Charmed Ones since Prue's death - smiled at us sweetly, and when she and Chris exchanged looks and small smiles, I knew Paige was right that we should let them think that what had been said between her and her future son would remain between them.

"Perhaps," Piper shrugged, acting indifferent. Then she smiled her biggest, brightest smile - one usually reserved for Leo or Wyatt - at Chris. "Let's say that we've come to an understanding," and for the first time ever around us, Chris smiled full-wattage, his smile identical to Piper's.

Even while both Paige and I inwardly marveled at the sight of those beautiful twin smiles, we put on looks that said we were vaguely disappointed at not having any more details but knew better than to press either of them for more, and again I was so glad my sister had figured out the right thing to do. Had to be the Whitelighter in her.

"Well, that settles it," my younger sister announced. "Why don't we have a toast?"

"Toast what?" my older sister wanted to know.

"Our newfound relationship with our nephew!" Paige beamed, as she snagged a couple glasses of champagne from a passing waiter, handing one to me.

I nodded. "What do you say?" I asked them.

"Sounds fair enough," Chris shrugged as he lifted his own glass. He turned to Piper, questioningly. She gave a "Why not?" shrug and lifted her own glass of ginger ale, and we all clinked our glasses together before sipping.

Then Chris looked at each of us and softly said, "Thank you."

I wanted to ask, "For what?" but then I noticed that that look of bearing the world on his shoulders that was always haunting his eyes was no longer there. I thought I knew why. He knew he was no longer alone. And because he could now trust us to help him save our family, our future, he knew that what he had done in the past would stay in the past - we would be able to trust him from then on.

I wanted to say, "Welcome home!" but somehow it wasn't necessary.

He knew.

THE END

Had something like that happened and if Drew Fuller could've portrayed it as well as the Chris in my imagination does (which I don't think he could've), I'd like both Piper and Chris a whole lot more. But I can't see either S6 Chris or S6 Piper doing anything like this.

So they realize they die in the future? I think that Piper would have wanted to know much more information and still would have been pissed but I like this story 

[Esmeralda]

Apr 25, 2017 17:17:21 GMT -5 adzpower said:

Do we really believe a random tour guide over one of The Charmed Ones' children? I find it difficult to figure it out.

Yes, I do.

That's a tour guide's job, to know the truth and tell the truth. If they don't, they're fired.

We have no idea what Chris' true mission would've been had Brian Krause not signed his final contract (and I don't put any credence in either Kern's or Fuller's spin that Fuller knew who he became and knew what his mission was when he first started).

The fact that, like 'All Hell Breaks Loose', 'Oh, My Goddess!' was set up to go either way depending upon that contract (anyone or no one might have been gone in time for Season Four), we just don't know. And again, there's Chris saying there's no such thing as family in the future. There's your proof that he lied once they screwed up with his background once he became Piper's son - makes it seem like he was lying to Piper about what should've mattered most to her - family - in order to get her sympathy.

No, I definitely trust the tour guide much more than the son.

But then neither do most Chris-fans. I've yet to read a fanfic about Chris' original future that didn't include Paige. If they believed Chris and not the tour guide, Paige wouldn't be part of their stories and there would be no Power of Three.

[Esmeralda]

Apr 25, 2017 12:27:07 GMT -5 linamorgana said:

Apr 24, 2017 6:35:37 GMT -5 Esmeralda said:

I count everything Chris said about the future as a lie, starting with him telling Piper there was no such thing as family in the future - the only thing about his future that I think is true is what the tour guide told us in 'ChrisCrossed', which shows us that he was lying when he said that the Titans killed Paige. 

What did the tour guide say that disproved it?

Here's exactly what the tour guide said (bolding mine):

[Scene: Future. Manor. A tour guide is showing people around the house.]

Tour Guide: Welcome to the Halliwell memorial museum. A tribute to magic and of course, the Charmed Ones. Please remember there is no digi-capturing, no holographing and most certainly no magic allowed while inside the museum. That's a big one. Don't worry about those probes, folks, they're merely scanning for witches. Now, as we pass through the foyer, note the family portraits hanging on the walls.

(The people walk through the house. Chris and Bianca walk behind them. Chris waves his arm at the probes and they turn away from them.)

Bianca: Nicely done.

Tour Guide: Around here you'll notice just a few of the many mythological creatures the legendary sisters transformed into in their demon fighting heyday. (The sisters' superhero outfits are on mannequins and also Phoebe's mermaid outfit.) Actually, the Charmed Ones were responsible for well over a thousand demon vanquishes before they were finally vanquished themselves.

Source: transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4812

"finally vanquished themselves" says all three were vanquished together (so he also lied to Victor about Piper dying unless again Phoebe and Paige died at the same time, which again, is never shown in any fanfic. Again telling Victor what would hurt him most so he'd feel sympathy for Chris.)

And over 1000 vanquishes - no way they had that many before 'Oh, My Goddess!', the proof that he lied when he said this:

[Scene: Manor. Attic. Phoebe is looking at Paige.]

Guy: Don't worry, she's alright. (Phoebe gives him a look.) Well, I mean, she's not completely alright, obviously, but she's not dead.

Phoebe: Are you sure she's not?

Guy: Frankly, you see this a lot. Museums, universities, town centers... Most of those statues, not really statues. They're people like your sister here who have been, uh, turned into stone.

Phoebe: Who are you?

Guy: Chris. Chris Perry. I'm from the future.

(Piper walks in.)

Piper: Oh! My God, tell me that's just a really good likeness of Paige.

Phoebe: Oh, it's Paige.

Chris: Titan turned her to stone.

Piper: Who-who are you?

Phoebe: That's Chris. He's from the future.

Chris: Yeah, but just like twenty years or so. Piper: Uh-huh. Friend or foe? Phoebe: Not so sure yet.

Chris: What do you mean? I saved Paige, didn't I?

Phoebe: Oh, you call that saving, do you?

Chris: Hey, I'm the one that put my life on the line here. I didn't have to drop everything I was doing just to orb in and save her butt...

Piper: You-you orb? You're a Whitelighter?

Chris: Look, where I come from, history shows Paige didn't get turned into stone on this day... she died. And with her death the Power of Three died too, allowing Titans to rule and create a world you don't wanna see, trust me. I'm hear to alter history. To help you save the future.

Source: transcripts.foreverdreaming.org/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=4830[/quote]

Very obviously this is not true. As I've said before, even Chris-fans know this. Whenever they write about Chris' original future, they always include all three Charmed Ones as alive. And again, he did it to make himself seem like their savior when if we truly knew the show's plan for him had Krause not signed his contract, he might have truly wanted to do something else.

Of course, for me, a lot of this is because I think it would've been a much better show had Chris been the Big Bad of Season Six, the way I believe he would've been had Holly not become pregnant (check the episodes before 'The Sword and the City', which is when Holly says she found out she was pregnant and the ones after...) letting Wyatt remain the good Twice-Blessed Child.

But even with that bias, that still does not excuse his lies, or more, does not excuse Kern for not figuring a way to either make his lies seem like the truth or have him apologize for his lies. Valkyrie Doll's wonderful story (and the parts at P3 are all based on hers) shows how this could've/should've been done. So much better than what was.