Post by StoryGirl83 on Aug 27, 2008 21:35:02 GMT -5
Chapter Two – Optimist, Not Delusional
A little while later Chris was in the apartment living room, sitting on the couch opposite the entrance to the kitchen. Victor was sitting next to him.
“So Wyatt didn’t tell you I was coming?” Victor asked now that they were settled down.
“No,” Chris shook his head, “and I’d be mad at him except I’m so glad to see you. How are you? You look great.”
“Better than in the other time line?” Victor queried, recalling a conversation many years before. When Chris looked at him surprised, Victor added, “Your mom told me.”
“Oh,” Chris said with a nod of his head. “Well, then, yeah. Not as stressed and you’re not coughing.”
Neither of them noticed Wyatt walk into the room from the hall.
“I took your advice,” Victor informed him, putting his arm on the back of the couch behind his grandson. “Must be that.”
“That would explain the lack of coughing,” Chris admitted. “The stress . . . well . . . I guess not having to raise me and the circumstances around that would have changed that.”
“Grandpa raised you?” Wyatt asked, alerting them to his presence.
Chris looked up surprised. “Done already?”
Wyatt shook his head, a wry smile on his face. “No, not yet. Just taking a break. Why’d Grandpa raise you?”
“I told you before that in the other time line, Mom died,” Chris reminded him.
“Right,” Wyatt agreed, remembering. “But there still was Dad.”
“No,” Chris informed him with a small shake of his head. “Not really. Dad was different; he ignored me. He was never there and he was never mortal, again. I was fourteen and most of the time Dad wasn’t around, so Grandpa offered to take me. You stayed with us too, but sometimes you didn’t . . . you were very different and every day away from Mom’s death made you even more different until you snapped.”
Wyatt looked at him a bit startled. While, he had heard a little bit about the other time line, this was new. “Oh.”
There was silence for a moment as Wyatt digested that. “So you were stressful, too, or just the circumstances?”
Chris gave him a look and telekinetically threw a cushion across the room at Wyatt.
Wyatt saw the cushion at the last second and ducked. The cushion hit Chris. “Serves you right. I take it you were stressful.”
Chris shrugged. “I don’t recall.”
Victor looked at his grandsons confused. “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t you remember?”
“Mom didn’t tell you?” Chris asked in surprise. He figured Piper would have explained things to Victor.
“Tell me what?” Victor asked, looking between his two grandsons.
Chris’s shoulders slumped and he sighed. “My memory is kind of gapped. I have memories of two lifetimes in my head and can remember neither with great detail.”
Victor frowned. “You seemed to remember a minute ago.”
Chris nodded. “Sometimes I do. Sometimes a memory comes to me. Usually they stick when they do, but not always.”
Victor nodded, confusion still in his eyes. “Do you remember the conversation we had . . . well, before you were born?”
“That’s the oddest part,” Chris told him with a smile on face. “My trip to the past is the only part of my memory that is complete.” It wasn’t exactly complete, but it was more complete than anything else and without knowledge of the missing events it seemed complete. “It’s almost as if my memory saw that I only had one set of memories during that time and didn’t have to worry about which one to let me keep so I kept all of them. On the other hand I have no memories of when I was the same age during this lifetime. It’s very strange.”
“So we’re still cool?” Victor asked cautiously.”
Chris burst out laughing. “We were always cool.”
“And you’re glad you took me advice?” Victor added.
Chris nodded. “Yes, Grandpa. You were right. I changed the future in more ways then I planned, good ways. And I’m glad I spent time with Mom even though I didn’t know that she would survive. I needed that.”
Wyatt looked between the two of them. As usually happened when someone was talking about the past, Wyatt was feeling unneeded. “I feel left out here.”
“Be glad,” Chris told him. “You don’t want me memories of the other time line.” He didn’t have to have all of those memories to know that.
Wyatt looked at him for a moment and then nodded. “On that happy note, I think I’ll get back to my room. Do you mind making dinner tonight since Grandpa’s here? I know it’s my turn, but I think he’d prefer your cooking to take out of my attempts.”
Chris shook his head, smiling. “You really are something, Wy. I bet you planned this.”
Wyatt wasn’t ashamed to admit it. “You’d better believe it. You think I want to eat my food either?”
Chris smiled at Wyatt and then turned to Victor. “So which do you want to do, Grandpa? Do you want to help me with dinner or help Wyatt clean his room?”
Victor looked at his two grandsons. After a few seconds he turned to Chris. “I’m sure you know that your mom and you didn’t get your ability to cook from me, but I think I’d rather that over trying help Wyatt wade through his room. He didn’t get that from me either.
Chris smiled as Wyatt looked at both of them annoyed.
“I’m not that bad,” Wyatt protested.
Chris just kept smiling as he said, “Wy, you are infamous for that room. Kali called yesterday and she wanted to know how I was coping with living in such a small area with all your stuff. Kali’s not even related to us.” Of course she had grown up across the street, but that wasn’t the point.
“Kali doesn’t count as a qualified critic,” Wyatt protested. “She’s a neat freak.”
“Not the point, Wy,” Chris replied, trying not to laugh. “She knows you better than most non relatives.”
“Fine,” Wyatt gave in, “I’m going to my room. Call me when dinner’s ready.”
“Should I wait until your room is clean?” Chris asked teasingly.
Wyatt gave him a look. “I’m an optimist, Chris, not delusional.” Wyatt walked out of the room as Chris laughed.