10Paige's Problems
"You didn't know him half as well as we did!" Phoebe shouted at Paige. "Well, that's not exactly my fault, now is it?" Paige retorted with equal anger. "You just don't understand! He was more than a Whitelighter and we can't just replace him like that!" Phoebe snapped her fingers to emphasize her point. "We're not replacing him, no one could replace him, I'm just saying we do have to get back to work eventually and Chris is our Whitelighter now. We should at least know where he is, we are his only wards since he came from the future and I think he probably feels like we're driving him away," Paige tried to explain calmly, knowing it was futile. Yes, it was true that Phoebe and Piper had known Leo for longer than she had, but that didn't mean that she loved him less. But lately things were starting to get out of hand and she was curious about Chris, he had saved her brought her attention back to Phoebe and just gave up suddenly. "I'm leaving," she said, orbing out.
In fact, Chris didn't really mind the Charmed Ones staying away from the demonic world, it just made his job much, much easier. He did like to be around Paige, but her orbing abilities sort of threw him off guard and it was hard to get her away from Piper and Phoebe. Oh, well, his interest in Paige didn't really amount to anything, she definitely wasn't a part of his plan. On the other hand, he could gain something with her on his side, he'd have to give it some thought. Time to make an appearance, Chris thought as he orbed into the Halliwell living room. He was mildly surprised to see Phoebe sitting on the couch looking peculiarly angry. Usually she was moping around with Piper and Paige. Hesitantly, he decided to ask about the source of her unusual anger. "What happened?" Chris asked, knowing it was expected and might be useful. "Oh, nothing very important," Phoebe said sarcastically, "My sister just orbed to who knows where and I have no clue when she'll be back." "I can go look for her," Chris suggested. "That would probably be a good idea, but I don't think you'll find her." "You might be surprised." Chris orbed to P3 first, thinking she might be there. No such luck, it was a fairly busy night for the club though. Strange, considering Piper hadn't left the house in over a week. Shrugging, he orbed to the park he had visited once with Paige, her sisters, and Wyatt about 2 weeks ago when they had finally persuaded Piper that some fresh air would be good for everybody. It was near a lake and he saw someone sitting on the grass, facing the lake. Curious, he walked forward. "I see Phoebe sent you off to hunt me down," Paige remarked sullenly, looking up at Chris. "Not exactly," Chris disagreed, sitting down next to her. He broke the silence a few minutes later, reluctantly. "Want to talk about it?" "It was just a sisterly disagreement. I don't think you'd find it very informative," Paige explained, an amused note in her voice. She really didn't think he needed to know that he had been the source of that particular argument.
The next morning Paige and Chris orbed into the Halliwell kitchen together, causing Phoebe and Piper to exchange glances and raised eyebrows that spoke a world of meaning. "I see you found our sister," Piper said. "Well, it wasn't too hard," Chris replied casually. "So, where have you been all night?" Piper further questioned Paige. "Around," Paige said with a vague wave of her hand. The truth of the matter was that she had ended up talking to Chris for a while and finally fell asleep on his couch after he orbed them to his apartment. However, Piper and Phoebe might see that platonic encounter a different way and Paige wasn't up to defending herself at the moment. Grimacing to herself, she admitted that she spent a lot of time defending herself, which was getting to be a little annoying. "Have you guys noticed this peculiar whether we've been having?" Phoebe asked as she gazed out the window. The weather was slightly overcast today. "Yea, it's been suiting my mood," Piper said, meaning it to be a joke. Paige and Phoebe exchanged a look and managed to get away from Chris and Piper by going upstairs to visit Wyatt. "What do you think?" Phoebe wanted to know, putting her differences with Paige aside for the moment. "I think it's highly suspicious. Maybe we should check the book?" she suggested.
After that day the four of them, the sisters and Chris, watched the weather suspiciously. And indeed it did match Piper's mood on a continuous basis. And other odd things began to happen as well. For instance, Phoebe always seemed to be with a different guy and Paige was acting peculiarly violent. Chris knew what was happening long before his wards did, but he kept that information to himself, knowing full well what this kind of power would mean.