Soul Mates?


Title:: Soul Mates?
Written for:: storydivagirl
Challenge:: OC/Genderbender Ficathon
Pairing:: Chris/Heather
Word Count:: 2,139
Summary:: This piece was actually inspired by the story that storydivagirl wrote for me in the last round of charmedflashfic. She created this fantastic Alternate Universe and told us that we were allowed to play there too as long as we linked back to her story. My story picks up where hers left off and introduces Chris's current lady love who bears a striking resemblance to someone from his other past. So go read A New Future first!
Author's Note:: Thanks to tonic2w for the continuity beta read. This has not been thoroughly beta'd - only checked to ensure I stayed true to the AU that storydivagirl created.

A New Future - first story in the New Future AU – by TommyGirl
Dueling Personalities - takes place after Soulmates – by TommyGirl


The last 48 hours had passed in a whirlwind for Chris. He had woken up 2 days ago with two sets of memories. After a trip to magic school and a conversation with some unknown magical being, he had been able to assimilate both sets of memories and begin enjoying the future he had helped create.

It was back to the grind though. His happiest new memory was that he was a med student. Now he was back on campus and heading for class. He walked into the room and sat in what he knew was his regular chair. He dug through his back pack for the materials he would need for the class. As he waited for class to begin, he felt a small smile beginning to form as he recalled the last several days.

He had spent the last two days getting to know his family again. Now that he had two sets of memories of all of them, he felt he knew them better than ever before. It was nice to see his parents still in love after all these years. He was happy to see that Wyatt was not only a force of good in the magical world, but also in the regular world as a police officer. He was happy to see that Daryl had reconciled with his mother and aunts, and thanks to their assistance, had become police chief seven years ago. He was happy to see both of his aunts happy and in love and with families of their own and he was happy to spend time with his cousins and remember his happy childhood full of raucous family gatherings.

The unhappy memories were still there, but he was doing his best to keep him buried in the back of his mind. Losing his mother, growing up without his father, having an evil older brother, they were things he would never forget completely, but things he was glad to have changed. He shuddered slightly as the thought struck him that it all could have turned out so differently.

“Well at least you’re still alive,” a female voice interrupted his thoughts. “What’s wrong, are you cold? Still not feeling well?”

He looked up and almost fell out of his chair from shock.

“Bianca?” he whispered, barely able to choke out the word. A voice in the back of his mind suddenly piped up, telling him that this wasn’t Bianca. Her name was Heather. Heather Burke. And they were dating.

“Chris? Are you okay?” Heather was looking very concerned.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts. This was Heather in front of him. Not Bianca. Bianca was dead, had died in another time and place. Heather was alive. She was a fellow med student and they had bonded during their undergrad years over many all night, coffee fueled study sessions. They had been friends for almost four years now and just in the last few months had begun taking those tentative steps to being more than friends.

“I’m sorry, Heather,” he managed a smile. “The last few days have been kind of weird. The cold I had affected me in some strange ways. I am feeling much better today. I’m just a little worried about catching up on all the work I missed.”

She rolled her eyes. “Well, if you would have returned even one of my phone calls, you would have known that you didn’t need to worry. I took copious thorough notes for you and made copies. I would have dropped them off, but I wasn’t sure if you were staying at your apartment or at the manor.”

“I’m sorry, Heather. Like I said, things were a little weird. I didn’t even realize you had called.” Chris smiled a genuine smile. “Forgive me?”

Heather smiled back. “Of course.” She gently placed her hand on top of his, causing an electric shock to course through his body. “I’m glad you’re back, Chris.”

The professor rushed in just then, calling for them to open their books to page 92.

***

Chris was sitting at the dining room table under the pretense of studying when his brother came in, exhausted from a long night walking the streets as a proud member of the San Francisco PD.

Wyatt walked through without saying a word, going to straight to his bedroom. Chris knew his brother’s after work routine and was waiting with a beer when Wyatt walked out five minutes later.

“Hey, thanks little bro. You didn’t have to stop studying to get me a beer though.” Wyatt flopped on the couch. Chris followed, sitting in the overstuffed arm chair and throwing his legs over the side. Wyatt noticed that Chris also had a beer in his hand and he knew that his brother never drank while studying.

“What’s up, bro? Something wrong?”

Chris took a deep breath. He’d been dying to discuss the whole Heather situation with someone all day. It had totally thrown him for a loop when she walked in that classroom, looking exactly like Bianca. As the memories flooded him and he realized that he was dating her, he began to wonder if she was the same soul and the same body with a different name and upbringing.

“Wy, do you believe in soul mates?”

Wyatt raised an eyebrow, searching his brother’s face for any clues that he was setting him up for some joke. Finding none, he realized this was a serious discussion.

“I don’t know, Chris. Part of me does. Especially when I look at mom and dad and how they got together. But the other part of me thinks it’s all just a bunch of crap. Remember the stories we’ve heard about Aunt Phoebe and Cole? She was convinced that he was her soul mate even though he was half demon and look where it got her. He almost killed her and mom and Aunt Paige a couple times. And now she’s perfectly happy with Uncle Les.”

Chris sighed. “I understand exactly what you’re saying, Wy, but it doesn’t really help me.”

“Well, what’s wrong? Why this sudden interest in soul mates? Did you have a date with Heather or something?”

“No, but… oh man, this is hard to explain.” Chris knew he couldn’t tell Wyatt about the future he had averted, but he somehow had to make him understand the weirdness of the Heather and Bianca situation. “Okay. Remember the other day when I had that cold and I was all confused about things?” Wyatt nodded. “Well, I was having these really bizarre dreams. And in one of them, I was engaged to a girl who looked exactly like Heather. But in the dream, that girl’s name was Bianca and she wasn’t a human, she was a witch.”

Wyatt pondered this for a few moments before speaking. “Maybe it was your subconscious reminding you that if you’re going to have a relationship with Heather, you’re going to have to tell her that you’re a witch. Since the girl in your dream was a witch, you wouldn’t have to deal with that whole issue.”

Chris knew that Wyatt’s explanation would have made sense if he hadn’t known Bianca in another life. It didn’t exactly answer his question, but it did help him realize that there must be a reason why Heather looked exactly like Bianca. In that other life, Bianca was taken from him because she was a witch. That wouldn’t happen with Heather since she was human.

“Thanks, Wy!” Chris jumped up and grabbed his jacket.

Wyatt just stared after him, confused. “Did I even answer your question?”

Chris smiled. “No, but that’s okay, because what you said made me figure out the answer on my own.”

***

Chris was pleased with himself as he stood outside the door of Heather’s apartment. There was no hesitation when he reached up and knocked on her door.

She opened the door with the safety chain still on and peered out through a small crack in the door to see who was out there at midnight.

“Chris!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“It couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

“No.”

“I’m not exactly decent,” she said as she pushed the door shut, slid the chain off and opened it all the way to allow Chris to enter.

He stepped through the doorway and handed her the bouquet of wildflowers he had been hiding behind his back.

“These are beautiful!”

“So are you,” he responded, leaning in for a kiss. He pressed his lips against hers firmly, but briefly.

“Chris, what has gotten into you tonight?”

“I wanted to see you.”

“Well at least let me go and put on something decent.”

Chris grabbed her arm to keep her from leaving the room. “You’re perfect just the way you are, Heather.”

He pulled her close for a more intimate kiss. She responded immediately and within minutes the passion between them had reached a boiling point. Heather broke the kiss and took a step back from Chris.

“I don’t get it, Chris. You show up at my apartment at midnight, with flowers, and kiss me like that. We’ve been friends for almost four years. It took you nearly that long to realize that I was interested in you. We’ve been dating for the last four months, but you’ve been saying the entire time that you wanted to take things slow, that you aren’t in a place in your life where you can commit to a real relationship.”

Chris closed his eyes for a moment to gather his thoughts.

“Heather, something happened this weekend that made me realize I’ve been a fool about you and our relationship. I want us to be a real couple. I want to introduce you to my family and I want to meet yours.”

“But why now? What happened to you this weekend?” Heather felt her resolve weakening, but still knew she needed a better answer from Chris.

“Let’s just say that I realized life is too short to waste it by waiting around for the ‘right time’ for something to happen. Now is the right time. There may not be a tomorrow.”

“I’ve never known you to be so philosophical.”

“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me, Heather,” Chris admitted, thinking of one thing in particular that she would eventually have to learn and that might scare her away, “but you know enough to decide if you want to take a leap of faith and be my girlfriend.”

Heather’s eyes locked on Chris’s. They stood in perfect silence, just looking into each other’s eyes. Chris felt as if their souls were communicating.

Heather took Chris’s hand and started walking back towards her bedroom. Chris followed, uncertain of where exactly this was heading. They entered the room. Heather let go of Chris’s hand and lit a few candles. Then she stood in front of him and took off her robe.

Chris felt the breath leave him. She was so stunningly beautiful. But he hadn’t come over here and unburdened his heart for sex. He started to tell her, but she held a finger to his lips and shook his head. She took his face in her hands and looked into his eyes for a long moment before leaning in for a kiss.

Heather reached up and began to unbutton Chris’s shirt without breaking the kiss. The heat between the two of them was building to an unbearable point.

Then, the unthinkable occurred. Chris’s cell phone rang. With an inward groan, he broke the kiss and reached into his pocket for the phone. Heather looked at him, stunned.

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly, “but that’s the ring for my family and my family would only call me this late in an emergency.”

She nodded in understanding as he flipped open the phone.

“Hello?… Oh hey, Wy… what?… aw man… yeah, I’ll meet you there… what?… um… yeah… don’t worry about it… I’ll see you in a few.”

He flipped the phone shut and shook his head. “Heather, I am so sorry, but I need to go and take care of some family business right now.”

She smiled. “It’s okay. I understand. You told me a long time ago that there was nothing in the world that was more important than your family.”

Chris grinned as he began buttoning his shirt back up. Heather reached for her robe and belted it securely around her waist so she could walk Chris out.

“Good night, Heather,” Chris said, giving her one last quick kiss before leaving.

“Hey, Chris,” she called as he started to walk away. He turned back and met her eyes. “I’m glad you stopped over tonight.”

A huge grin spread across his face.

“So am I, Heather. So am I.”