Marvelously Charming
Chapter 8
Some Issues Require Tissues
"How many is that?" Chris asked referring to the crunches he was doing
"350." Wyatt responded
"Jooohnnyyyy... I thought those videos we bought said we'd lose weight fast for 19.95" Chris said gesturing towards himself and Wyatt
"Oh god, was that a mood swing please don't tell me your pregnant again already..." Johnny joked
"Oh Yeah, Chris... you forgot to read the fine print, it says 19.95 for the video and twenty thousand for the plastic surgery to look like the coach." Wyatt joked
"I just want this weight gone." Chris whined
"Well you have at least one more kid you gotta pop out so don't get too comfy with that trim little waist you're so fond of." Wyatt quipped at his brother
"Hey, my baby didn't go full term, I don't have that much to go, as for you... at least I don't look like a beluga on a GOOD day." Chris threw back
"You little bitch." Wyatt said actually a little hurt by the remark, he approached Chris menacingly
"Hey!" Johnny said flaming up "remember if you mess with him you mess with me too." Johnny said to Wyatt "Now you know he didn't mean anything by it, you were both joking so chill!" Johnny said firmly to Wyatt who stormed off
"Thanks honey, I don't think I could have dealt with his inflated ass's issues." Chris remarked
"You need to be a bit more sensitive to you brother, I mean you've both been through a lot, and I think you should apologize." Johnny said
"No, he has always taken my fat jokes before." Chris said stubbornly
"Did you stop to think that maybe that was before he felt fat?" Johnny asked
"Oh..." Chris responded whipped
"Yeah.. so maybe you wanna go apologize now..." Johnny encouraged
Chris went upstairs and walked into Wyatt's room, to find him in there singing to Laura
"Hush little baby don't say a word.." Wyatt stopped seeing Chris in the doorway
"Look Wya---." Chris was cut off
"I don't wanna hear your apologies, you won't even mean it." Wyatt said bouncing Laura on his knee
"I AM very sorry Wyatt, I shouldn't have said that, I know how sensitive I am about my weight right now, I should have shown you the same respect." Chris said, meaning every word
"I forgive you, it's just s-so hard to b-be like I u-used to b-be b-b-before all this stuff happened." Wyatt said stuttering himself into tears.
"And none of us expect you to be normal right away, I'm not and Johnny is cool with it, and you aren't and Pete is there for you every step of the way." Chris said giving his brother a small hug
"Look I gotta get her changed you wanna go for a walk, we'll take the kids and Pete and Johnny can come too." Wyatt asked
"Yeah, lemme go change and we'll go." Chris responded heading back to his and Johnny's room.
"How did it go?" Johnny asked emerging from the shower still wet his short dark brown hair matted to his head and torso shimmering in the light, covered only by the smallest bath towel imaginable
"It went fine..." Chris said catching his breath "We worked it out, we're going to the park, you, Pete too." Chris said taking off his clothes, while ogling Johnny as he got dressed, he turned back around and resumed finding clothes
"Hey, look at you, I see some muscles you didn't have before." Johnny said coming up behind Chris running his hands down his back and kissing his neck
"Hey, hey, that's how I got this way, if you buy some condoms maybe we can continue that later."
"Condoms? Are you serious?" Johnny asked
"Yeah, if you want anything more from me OTHER than oral for my guess of oh, say about 5 years before we conceive another child, and I don't plan on an accidental child, so yes condoms." Chris said as he pulled on a polo
"I hate condoms, they make the sex feel fake, I could pull out."
"Yeah there's that, but I swear to you if I get pregnant again before I'm supposed to, I am gonna magically make you the one to carry the child." Chris said dangerously
Johnny began to laugh "I'm so not kidding" Chris said without a facial change and Johnny knew he was serious
"Ok, well let's go to the park." Johnny said as he got the stroller from the walk-in
They all set off for a nice afternoon in the park, they put the babies back to back in the baby swing and got some great pictures, some with Johnny and Baby Johnny on one side of the see-saw and Wyatt and Laura on the other
"This has been a great day" Chris said to Johnny, while Chris sat on Johnny's lap at the bottom of a tube slide
"Yeah it has, Chris?" Johnny said innocently as he secretly reached into his pocket
"Yeah baby?"
"There's something I want to say to you and I don't want you to take it the wrong way, so I need you just to listen." Johnny said mysteriously
"Ok..." Chris said, using his mother's worst habit and assuming the worst
"I've been with a lot of girls, but when I finally decided to stop living in the shadows, I met you, and I felt, well I felt something I've never felt before, and I have to admit, before I knew you and I was intrigued by you, I thought you would just end up another notch on my belt, but I was able to get past the old me, and see something in you I've never seen in anyone, a partner, an equal, someone to love me and someone to love, and now that I have become whole with you by my side and our son, I feel like I can finally tell you, Christopher Halliwell, I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my god given life and thereafter with you and only you, Will you marry me?" Johnny finished with a tear and opened the small box to reveal a thick platinum band encrusted with more diamonds and sapphires and the main stone must have been at least 10 karats of princess cut diamond, bigger than Chris had ever seen
"Oh Johnny." Chris started to sob uncontrollably "Of course I'll marry you, there's no one else for me." He pushed back his tears and kissed Johnny.
"What's going on, why you cryin?" Wyatt asked his brother
Chris held up his left hand and showed Wyatt the ring "Good God! I think my eye just burned out of it's socket, that motherfucker's huge." Wyatt exclaimed
"Science must pay better than I thought." Piotr said out loud
"HA! Pete that's exactly my thought when I first saw the kind of car he drives" Chris said happily
"What do you say to mom's cooking for a celebration?" Wyatt asked
"I say I who's orbing?" Chris said as Wyatt phoned Piper to tell her celebration was in order but didn't say why, but to gather the entire family for dinner at the manor.
That night they got the kids ready and all dressed nicely, they orbed to the manor.
"Hey guys what's up? Wow you guys have lost so much weight already" C.J said sweetly
"Thanks bud, um where's mom?" Chris asked intentionally hiding his left hand in his pocket
"All the mom's are in the kitchen." C.J replied while making faces at Baby Johnny and Laura
"Did you wanna take them into the living room and you kids can keep an eye on em for us, cool?" Johnny asked
"Dude, I'm 3 years older than your boyfriend, so I don't think I qualify as a kid." C.J said curtly
"Well, Ceej when you pop out a kid and are raising it let me know, then I will give you the respect you seem to command." Chris said sarcastically
"So having a kid makes you older now?" C.J asked
"No, just more wise, and I'll tell you this much, all he asked you to do is watch my son, and if that's too difficult for someone who is so much older and more mature than me then maybe you could hand it off to Christier or Caitlyn they could do it." Chris said meanly
"Ok, dude, I think popping out a kid made you more bitter." C.J said as he walked into the living room
"He was just kidding Toph, it's not like he meant to strike a nerve." Johnny said thoughtfully
"He did, but I'll apologize later cause right now I don't feel like I did anything wrong." Chris said quickly.
They walked into the kitchen
"Wow honey you look great, much thinner than I was after I had you." Piper joked
"Thanks ma." Chris said still not taking his hand out of his pocket afraid of his mother's reaction.
"So Chris, How's Johnathon?" Paige asked
"He's great, we brought pictures for you guys." He said and Johnny handed them the yellow envelope
"Oh my god, they are so precious." Phoebe said as she saw Laura and John in the baby swing
"This one is my personal favorite." Chris said flipping through the pictures and finding the one of John asleep on Johnny's chest.
"Oh, Piper, look." Paige said
"Oh my god, Son did you take this?" Piper asked obviously impressed by the picture
"Yeah, I did."
"It's perfect, the lighting the situation, you can see the love between Johnny and the baby." Piper said giving Johnny a kiss on the cheek "I'm so glad you and my son are together." Chris saw that as his opening
"Well, speaking of which, mom, I thought you should be among the first to know." Chris said quickly
"Among the first to know what?" Piper asked cautiously
Chris couldn't say it and pulled his hand out of his pocket and showed it to his mom and aunts
"Holy shit!" Paige said loudly as Phoebe said "Jesus Christ!" at the exact same time, Piper was just quiet
She started to cry and just hugged her son "I'm so happy for you Chris, I was hoping this day would come, I wasn't expecting it so soon, but I'm so happy, and Johnny, I am so glad you're finally gonna be a true member of this family." Piper said and moved on to hug Johnny
"That ring is HUGE!" Paige exclaimed now that Piper had given her blessing
"How much did that thing cost you?" Phoebe asked truly curious
"NO I DON'T WANNA KNOW.. LALALALALALALAL!!" Chris said loudly while Johnny told them quietly "About 670 grand"
"You spent more than a half a million dollars on an engagement ring!" Piper yelled loud enough to be heard in the other room
"Yeah." Johnny said as though he'd done something wrong
"Well great my son has a more expensive engagement ring than me, and my sisters put together multiplied by 10 at least mine's got sentimental value." Piper laughed and was joined by the rest of present company
"It was your mother's right?" Johnny asked, taking Piper's hand and admiring the ring
"Yeah, how'd you know?" Piper asked, politely removing her hand from Johnny's
"Oh it's just, whenever Chris talks to the baby he tells him about his family everyone included even Melinda Warren." Johnny said recalling the talking to the baby to put him to sleep
"And you remember it all. That's pretty impressive Johnny, I mean it's not even your family history." Piper said
"I do love your son, and with that comes his family, and I will love you all as though you were my own."
"Where is Chris?" Piper asked, and as if on cue Chris orbed in with Sue, Reed, and Ben
"Oh my god guys, I'm so glad you're here." Johnny said hugging each of them
"OK" Ben said loudly "Who are you and what have you done with the REAL Johnny?" Ben said laughing
"Oh, you're sense of humor has increased, along with your looks ever since our deep space adventure." Johnny joked
"There he is!" and Ben clapped him on the back
"That still hurts!" Johnny said
"Good..." Ben said
"Thank you for bringing us here Chris, we wouldn't miss Johnny being engaged for anything." Reed said
"Hey stretch, cool it, I realize this is the last thing any of you expected but be happy for me, I finally am." He said kissing Chris on the lips
"We are Johnny, we really are very happy for you." Sue said hugging her brother
"When are we gonna tell your father....?" Johnny asked
"Oh shit!"
"Language Chris!" Piper said
Chris took off the ring. "Johnny you have to go and ask my father's permission before you ask me to marry you..."
"But I already did that..." Johnny said confused
"Honey, your father will understand, he knew it was eventual, but how about Johnny goes and talks to him, to request a blessing as opposed to permission.. That should bode well with Leo's old fashioned nature." Piper said
"Ok do that." Chris said as he put the ring back on
Johnny walked out of the kitchen as they swarmed Chris to see the ring up close
"Have you guys seen Leo?" Johnny asked Caitlyn and Christie
"Yeah, um he went downstairs to get the extra chairs." Christie said staring at Johnny a little
"Ok thanks." Johnny said as both girls watched his tight ass as he walked away back towards the kitchen
When he got the What are you doing look' he motioned to the basement, and mouthed father of the bride' with a smile
"Leo?" Johnny called from the top of the stairs
"Yeah, hey could you gimme a hand down here." Leo called up not knowing who exactly was talking
"Sure" Johnny said as he walked down the stairs to help
"There's so many, and we've got to magically reinforce a chair so Ben can sit" Leo said
"Gotcha, hey Leo there's something I wanted to talk to you about." Johnny said
"Can it wait?" Leo asked
"Not really..." Johnny answered
"Ok shoot." Leo said calmingly
"I love Chris."
"Yeah we've established this." Leo said sarcastically
"And I've asked him to marry me, and we can't, we won't go through with it without his father's blessing." Johnny said quickly and firmly
Leo bit his bottom lip "Well, this is kind of sudden, but I've seen what your love for my son is capable of, and that is something most people can only dream of, so you have my blessing." Leo said hugging Johnny who was surprised at how easy it was
"BUT... If you break my son's heart I will break your neck, don't think your superpowers frighten me in the least." Leo said seriously
"Understood now let's get this stuff upstairs." Johnny said
They brought up the chairs and Piper magically enlarged and reinforced a chair for Ben to sit in at the head of the table so he'd have plenty of elbow room, and she did the same for his silverware and food...
Chris gently tapped his fork against his wine glass. "We have an announcement we'd like to make." He said loudly
All eyes were on him, and Johnny stood up to demonstrate the "we" for the announcement,
"Johnny and I are engaged." Chris said excitedly
Now all eyes were larger, but still on the two of them
"Wow." Henry Sr. was the first to speak "That's great, congratulations guys, I'm happy for ya." Paige put her arm around her husband
Then came Henry Jr. "If you're engaged, where's your ring?" he asked snootily
"Oh I didn't even realize I still had my hand in my pocket.." Chris said as he pulled out his hand, and showed the ring proudly
"Holy shit!" C.J yelped and he yelped for real because Phoebe smacked the back of his head
"Watch your mouth." She said threateningly
"Sorry, but don't you think it was appropriate...?" He replied
"How much did it cost?" Cooper asked Chris covered his ears and started tuning everything out
"Almost 700 thousand dollars" Johnny said loud enough for everyone to hear
Leo Coop and Henry Sr. all looked insecure, but everybody else was stunned into silence
"That's more than our house!" Christie squealed
"That's more than all of our parents make in a year, combined" Cooper said stunned still
The pride of Leo Coop and Henry Sr. had officially been wounded
"Can I see it?" Cooper said walking over to her cousin soon followed by everyone besides the six parents
Then a baby started to cry, "Oh, that's mine, I'll take care of it." Chris said and walked into the nursery; where he saw a demon reaching for the baby, but before he could defend his child, a force field of fire showed up and knocked the demon back off his feet and he exploded, the baby began to scream. Chris ran forward and as soon as Little Johnny saw Chris he let the force field down
"It's ok, daddy's here." Chris said sweetly as he picked up his baby
"Is everything ok?" Johnny asked worriedly "his screams were so loud, I had to come see.." He said ruffling his child's dark hair
"A demon..." Chris said kissing Baby Johnny's forehead "tried to take him."
"What?!" Johnny said angrily
"It's ok, he protected himself, with a fire shield..." Chris said, a little confused
"I see, but you never had a force field." Johnny said
"Yeah, but Wyatt did, and perhaps if he had it, I'm a carrier for it, but it skipped me because he had it, and with that logic it would make sense that it would show up in my first born." Chris reasoned
"I suppose so, but how.... OH, and with my fire ability and the whitelighter powers they formed a new spin on an old power." Johnny said smartly
"Hey, I think you're finally getting the hang of this, I'm just glad he only has the force field, I don't think we're ready for his other powers just yet..." Chris said as Baby Johnny gripped his top button
"What're you doin? Chris said playfully to his son. And Baby Johnny laughed
"Hey, he's laughing, god you're so good with him, I can't imagine a better mother for our child." Johnny said
"Well, that's good, cause now I know I'm not a complete failure." Chris said and put the baby down, and kissed Johnny on the mouth and heard a jingle "How do they always know?!" Chris thought as he orbed out and Johnny stumbled forward amidst Baby Johnny's giggles
"He's your father..." Johnny said to his son as he got eye level with the giggling baby
"What's up Sandra, you interrupted a family moment." Chris said as he walked up to the only elder that ever seemed to call him
"Oh, I am sorry for that, but we need you to look after another charge, you've done so well with Corey, and you've even allowed him into your home." Sandra said proudly
"Ok, well what's the case?" Chris asked
"Well, this particular case might not be so simple, see, this girl is off the beaten path, she is denying her abilities and refuses to do magic, and since you did so well on Corey, we thought we could entrust you with another." Sandra explained
"Ok, I'll see what I can do." Chris said and orbed to the location Sandra gave him.
When he arrived it was a pretty run down area and there didn't seem to be anyone around.
He saw a girl and could sense a lot of unexpressed rage and bottled emotions
"Hey, Tamara?" he asked
"Yeah what's it to you?" the girl responded disrespectfully
"I'm here to help you." Chris responded
"Are you a whitelighter?" She asked curiously
"yes." He responded
"Then we have nothing to talk about."
"Well, I'm also a witch does that change your opinion of me at all?" Chris added in hopes of breaking the icy barrier between him and her soul as they walked along the run down road
"A little, what do you want from me?" She asked
"The truth, why did you stop using magic?" Chris asked her
"Because, all I do is hurt the people I love." She said to him bluntly as she topped in her tracks
"That's not true, why do you say that?" Chris tried comforting her
"Because, I caused my parents' deaths." She continued and began walking again "and I vowed to never do magic after that..."
"How?" Chris asked
"When I touched the car that morning, I had a vision, I saw a semi hit the car with my parents inside of it, and I didn't tell them, I was so angry with them for how they acted that morning, I know that if they could talk to me they'd tell me it was my fault, and because of that I will never use my magic for anything." Tamara started to cry
"Look, Tamara, premonitions happen for a reason, and sometimes that reason, is to learn of an event that must happen, if death was after you parents he would have gotten them any way he could." Chris said
"You talk of death like it's a person, or you've met him." Tamara responded
"Well I haven't personally, but my mom was death for a while." Chris told her
"Ok.." She said, finally stopping to truly listen
"Look, I think I have a way for you to be able to use magic again without the fear of dishonoring the memory of your parents, but I'll need you to trust me." Chris said
"This is funny, I've never trusted anyone, but I trust you, and I've only known you for less than half an hour." Tamara said with a small smile.
"Come with me." Chris said holding out his hand which Tamara took
They orbed to the attic and Chris set up the candles, and lit them."What were their names, and I'll need the last name too."
"Amy and Rob Cannon."
"Hear these words, hear my cry spirits from the other side come to me I summon thee cross now the great divide, beloved spirits Rob and Amy Cannon, we ask that you commune with us and move among us." Chris recited until he felt the cold wind
"Who summons?" The ghost of Tamara's mother asks
"Mom?" She asked in a child like innocent voice
"Honey? Oh my god, it's Tamara." Amy said happily as she stepped out of the circle of candles and became solid
"We've missed you my darling." Her father said as he hugged his daughter
"You.. don't blame me for what I did?" She asked
"Of course not, you were just a child, you still are, and we were meant to die as the woman who took us to the portal said, Piper I believe she said her name was." Amy responded to her daughter
"Wait, my mom was your Angel of Death?" Chris said
"I suppose she was, she was so nice, we always thought the Angel of Death would be cold and all about business, never warm and helpful. Who are you anyhow?" Rob asked
"Oh, I'm Chris, I'm Tamara's whitelighter, the one trying to stop her from abandoning her destiny." Chris explained
"Honey, you can't blame yourself, we were meant to move on, and without you accepting what you saw, even in anger, we were able to die at the proper time, without trying to evade death, which in effect would have been a worse fate than the actual death." Amy said wisely
"You need to put your powers to good use, and be a good witch, I know Chris here will help you as best he can, I sense a strong family bond." Rob said
"We must go now, we aren't meant to stay very long..." Amy said hugging her daughter one more time
"Remember dear, it was never your fault" Rob said and kissed his daughter's forehead
"Blessed be." They both said and disappeared into the swirling white lights
"Thank you so much Chris, you saved me from depression." Tamara said and hugged him "If you were straight I'd definitely fall for you, she said and teleported out."
"Damn telepaths." Chris said and walked down to the nursery checking in on his son, he went down to the living room in time to over hear a conversation
"670 thousand dollars, I mean get real, why at all would it be necessary to spend that much on a ring?" he heard a voice ask, he recognized it as Henry's
"Well I have to admit I was shocked, but if I'd had that kind of money to spend on my wife's engagement ring I would have done it in a flat second." Coop said
"I agree with Coop, if we'd had the money, we all would have proposed with a ring like that there's no reason that Johnny should be shunned for having more money than us at a younger age." Chris heard the wisdom coming fro his father
"I guess you're right, it must just be because of everyone fussing over the thing, it really messed with my pride, to have it laid out that we don't make enough in two or three years combined to buy a ring like that and it doesn't even put some young hot shot in debt." Henry said
All Chris could do was look at his ring and just wonder why his partner would do something so extravagant for their engagement.
Johnny walked out from the kitchen to see his lover standing at the bottom of the stairs..
"Chris... What are you doing?" Johnny asked testing the milk from the bottle on his skin "DAMN that's hot."
"Just thinking... Oh you'll get the hang of it, lemme grab a couple ice cubes, come on."
They went back to the kitchen and iced the milk for a little and mixed it up, Chris tested it on his skin this time since Johnny was too afraid.. "You're practically made of fire and you're afraid to test a baby bottle..." Chris scoffed "It's good."
"Hey, it's different when I am fire, I don't feel it, but when scalding hot milk touches my bare skin, its different.. I don't like it." Johnny pouted
"Well, next time don't heat it as long, let's go feed our son." Chris said
They walked in on another demon being vaporized by the baby, and Chris ran to the crib, and lifted his child checking him and started to calm him, and fed him the bottle rocking him to sleep.
"What was that?" Johnny asked scared
"I don't know... book of shadows.." Chris called for the book
"What are you doing?" Johnny asked
"I'm finding who's responsible for these attacks, cross reference kidnapping with ½ demon..." Chris said and held his hands over the book concentrating on his memorization time he'd spent with the book as a child
"Here it is... The Nanny Demon, an upper level demon that kidnaps children trading them with demonic spawn typically at birth, however under special circumstances, waiting is of the essence and this demon rarely does its own handy work, often sending lower level minions that appear to be human, however this is just a spell, and the demon will only stay this way for a limited time, ok.... There is a vanquishing potion, but without some blood or flesh from the actual demon itself we can't do that, so we need the power of three." Chris explained
"Wow, you got all that from a book?" Johnny asked
"Yeah, it's our family heritage, all written into the book, I spent hours memorizing as a child, and since all that knowledge is still in my subconscious, I can channel my power into basically being a table of contents." Chris said smiling at the one ability h has mastered that Wyatt cannot achieve
"So, Wyatt, is like prophesized, right, so why is it that you appear to be the more powerful of the two?" Johnny asked seriously
"Ok here's the deal, um, Wyatt has more powers than god, he is volatile and dangerous, able to vanquish demons that before required both a potion and a power of three spell, by himself, but in order to stay good, Wyatt has to constantly remain in control of his power and shouldn't use the most dangerous ones unless there's some great emergency, If he wanted to he could do everything I do, on a grander scale, but chooses instead to allow me to take the lead, and fill in the gaps, for the greater good." Chris told Johnny
"I see, so if Wyatt used his powers improperly, we'd all be in trouble?" Johnny asked
"Basically, it would be a magical holocaust." Chris said gravely, "I've gotta get the Aunts and mom, they've got a demon to vanquish, I'll write a spell..."
"Wait, you can just, write spells?" Johnny asked
"Duh, of course we can, we are witches aren't we...?" Chris asked jokingly
Chris spent about 10 minutes thinking up rhymes and a flow to his words
"Aunt Paige, Aunt Phoebe, mom!" Chris called
They all came in together, "Where were you, you just disappeared after dinner."
"Demons, attacked Little Johnny." Chris said
"Oh I'll kill em all!" Paige said
"Nice.. So did you find the demon?" Phoebe said
"Yeah, it's the Nanny demon, and there was a potion but we don't have flesh or blood, so I wrote you guys a power of three spell." Chris said handing the papers to each of them
"Chris, this is a great spell, it just screams parental instincts, the way you worded it, I'm so proud of you, your first power of three spell, and we don't have to change a word." Piper said beaming with pride
"Ok you guys should go, lemme know when it's dead.."
"JINGLE"
"Damn it, can I not spend one moment with my fiance?" Chris yelled and Johnny chuckled
"Hey, it's your loss, as for me, I remain pain free for a night, I'll be back later sweetie" Chris said and kissed Johnny on the cheek then orbed out
"Is there some kind of emergency?" Chris asked the back of an Elder
"No..." said a man's voice "We just have some news."
"Who are you, where's Sandra, I just assumed.." Chris was cut off
"And you should assume nothing when in magical situations, look, here's the thing, the Charmed line is supposed to be three, not two, and I realize the collective between you and Wyatt does constitute enough power to not have a third, but as it is a sort of tradition, you Chris have to make the decision, which of your cousins do you want to form the power of three with you." The unknown elder said
"Um... I .. well..." Chris stammered and the Elder smiled for the first time since they started talking and laughed a little too
"Not now dear boy, this is for the very near future you're mother and her sisters are still very capable witches, and will still have their powers after you and your brother and cousin of your choosing become the next charmed ones."
"Ok, I guess I'll go home and think about it." Chris orbed back to his bedroom, and saw it was daylight
"Johnny?" he asked as he shook his fiance
"Hmm... Oh... You're back, what's up?" Johnny groggily asked as he sat up
"The elders gave me another assignment.."
Johnny yawned "another charge?" he said and breathed deeply
"Sort of, I have to pick the third charmed one, I have to choose between C.J and Henry."
To Be Continued...