And so we have-- Part 2! I hope you all enjoyed the first one. Please review.

Disclaimer: See Chapter One.

Chapter Twenty-Five: It's a Bad, Bad World Part 2

Cole was walking down the stairs, followed by Leo, Jaxon, Julian and Wyatt when they heard a gunshot. At a rush, Cole yelled at Leo to keep the boys safe inside while he went out to investigate. And he what he found sent the blood rushing out of his face. Phoebe was lying on the ground, a hole in her abdomen. He picked her up and carried her inside, Paige following quickly, and then laid her down on the lounge.

"Leo, we need you quick," Cole said hurriedly.

"Put the boys in the playpen," Leo called out to Paige as he held his hands over Phoebe's wound. Bright lights shimmered over for moments.

"What's taking so long?" Cole questioned desperately, bordering on aggressively.

"I don't know," Leo replied, but he kept trying.

"Why didn't you heal her outside?" Cole shouted. "You wasted precious time."

"I didn't want to risk you, me or Paige getting shot as well," Leo retorted, but not out of anger; out of fear. He was concerned that it was too late to heal her, but, unexpectedly, she awoke with a start, completely healed.

"I just sent our evil twins through the portal," Chris began, although he stopped talking when he saw Phoebe. "What happened?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Cole put in. He sat down on the lounge beside Phoebe and grasped her hand.

"Stay with Wyatt," Leo ordered.

"I got him," said Chris.

"You okay?" Cole asked softly in Phoebe's ear.

"Yeah, just remind me not to park in Mrs. Noble's driveway again."

"Will someone please tell me what the hell is going on here?" Chris exploded out of frustration and exhaustion.

"The neighbourhood patrol shot her a point blank range and nobody so much as blinked an eye," Paige explained with a smug look.

"What?" cried Chris. "Why?"

"Because by getting us all to the evil world, Gideon caused a shift in the balance," Cole told him.

"And screwed with the grand design," Leo added.

"Well, if you ask me, the grand design was pretty screwed up in the first place," Paige commented.

"Wait," Phoebe began, "so are you saying that because of he did, our world is bad now too?"

"No, on the contrary it's good," Cole answered. "Too good."

"Where every little infraction is a capital offense," Leo put in, "and everyone just accepts it."

"Oh, so we're starring in a little film called 'Pleasantville'?" Paige joked.

"Okay, how come we weren't affected?" Chris asked.

"Because we must have been crossing over when the shift occurred," Leo explained, with a nod from Cole.

"That must mean Gideon's not affected either," Paige said.

"No, he wouldn't be. He's an Elder," Cole answered her. "But it also means that now we can't rely on our friends here for help. Not until the balance is shifted back."

"Do you know how?" Leo asked him.

"No, but I think I know somebody who does. I'm going to find out. The longer our world is out of balance, the more danger we'll be in. Look what happened just now and all we did was step outside."

"I agree with Cole," Chris said. "We need to shift the balance back. I think Gideon will use this to his advantage and try and take Wyatt again."

"I'm going to find him first," Leo promised.

Cole shook his head. "Not until we know how to shift the balance back. He must know how to do it, Leo, and I am not spending a lifetime in this world."

Paige then stepped in to interrupt their conversation. "Oh my God, we totally forgot about Piper. We have to get to the hospital."

"Who's gonna watch Wyatt?" Leo questioned.

"I will," Chris volunteered. "Look, I didn't come all the way from the future just to lose him now, alright?"

Cole watched the wordless exchange between father and son before Leo orbed out. "I'm going to find out how to fix our world. Things cannot last like this for much longer. Chris, be watchful for Gideon. The three boys are in your care."

"I'll look after them," Chris promised. Cole nodded to him with a small smile and then shimmered out.

oOo

Cole's mission to find Sirius Black in the expansive French city of Toulouse was not a complete waste of time—his friend did tell him how to shift the balance back and even gave him ideas on how to do it. But there was only one that Cole liked. Gideon had to be destroyed, and to create a Great Evil, either Leo or the collective powers of the Charmed Ones would need to do it.

He met up with Paige and Phoebe as they headed to Magic School to try and speak with their counterparts. After searching his office, Phoebe had an idea. She pulled back the curtain to reveal her evil self, surrounded by the counterparts of Paige and Cole. They spoke, at length, about the nuances of their changed worlds, how much they hated it, and what they could do to change it back. That was where the Cole's came in.

"We need a great evil," both said, "and we need it to be carried out by the good on this side. It is the only way to shift the balance enough that everything will go back to normal."

"Did you two figure out why you look so similar when the rest of us look so different from our equivalents?" the Phoebes asked.

Again, both Coles answered. "I think we're as close to neutral as you can get. I don't know how or why."

"But first, we need to cast the Power of Three," the good Phoebe proclaimed. "If we cast a spell on our respective Pipers..."

'We're back to full power again," her evil twin finished.

"I like it," both Paiges announced.

And so, Paige orbed the three of them back into the attic of The Manor and the girls marched over to the Book, as if on a mission for their lives. As Phoebe flicked through the Book, Paige explained the plan to Leo and Chris. Just as Cole suspected they'd found the spell they needed, something else took hold of them. They became euphoric.

"What just happened?" Chris asked, concerned.

"I don't know," Leo replied. "Are you guys alright?"

"Yeah," Paige answered him with a ditzy smile. "Yeah, I've never felt better."

Cole exchanged looks with Chris and Leo.

"Okay," Chris conceded. "So back to the plan. You were saying?"

It was Phoebe turn to be bubble-headed. "Yeah, the plan was just to go see Piper in the hospital."

"That's a really good plan," Paige told him. Cole knew right off that something happened to them. It looked as though they'd consumed copious amounts of alcohol, or that they'd been hit with a handful of fairy dust, as had happened to Phoebe and Prue when they met a little girl who was trying to rescue the fairies. Or it could have been... A spell! That's what happened to them! He voiced his thoughts to Leo and Chris.

"Who cast it?" Leo pondered.

"It would have to have been Piper," Cole answered. "She's the only one who could've cast a spell over them."

"Well, we can't very well ignore Chris' birth," Paige shouted euphorically. "We have to celebrate."

Chris was starting to lose his patience. "I'm the baby. I give you permission not to."

Phoebe turned to him. "Oh, you are going to be so cute! Yes, you are," her baby voice continued, "oh, yes you are. Doo-doo, doo doo-doo doo."

Cole had to shy away. The doorbell rang, finally interrupting the hellish attitude that had engulfed the household, and Darryl entered. To Cole's dismay, the inspector was not any better than the girls. And he had come to take Chris away. Unsure of what to do, Cole decided to maintain his wait-and-see policy, and stood back to watch the scene unfold before him. And he had to smile when Chris magically threw Darryl out the door.

He couldn't stay long, however. Cole made the decision to follow the girls and protect them from anymore of Gideon's tricks, not to mention he still had to work out a way to lift the spell. And in the bright, sunny world, he would have to pretend that his attitude to life was all rainbows as well, just like the soul-sucking beasts that surrounded him.

oOo

Cole knew that they had to move quickly. He had abandoned the girls at the hospital—they would have to take care of themselves for a while—and was hunting for Gideon in the Underworld with Leo. They had discovered, with a little help from their halves in the evil world, that the demon, Barbas, was assisting him and that they might be hiding in his lair. Gideon had killed Chris and kidnapped Wyatt, and Cole could sense the overwhelming rage of his companion. He understood it. Twice now, Gideon had put his own sons lives at risk, but he had not done the damage to Cole's family as he had to done to Leo's. And so, he vowed to do everything he could to help his Elder friend destroy Gideon. And just as Gideon had a guide, so too did Leo.

"This way," Cole advised and he led the Elder through the catacombs. It did not take long to find Gideon, which, of course, they did. Finally. They watched him lure Wyatt into a cage of crystals. Now it was Leo's turn to be the trickster. And Cole could only watch, no matter how much he wanted to help.

He pretended to be Barbas, tricking Gideon into giving him the blade. He stabbed the Elder, whose face went white with the shock. "Why?"

Leo reappeared. "Because you murdered my son." And he threw him across the lair. "I'll be right back," he told the little one.

Cole ran across the lair and released Wyatt from the cage, then picked the boy up and held him close to his chest.

Gideon, meanwhile, had started to beg. "Leo, please, you have to understand. I am only doing this for the greater good. I swear."

Leo knocked the dagger from his hand and picked him up. "How is killing a child ever for the greater good, huh? Who the hell are you to decide that, huh?" And he threw him again.

"I'm an Elder," Gideon shouted. "So are you. It's what we do."

"I'm not one of you anymore," Leo shot back. He rose up Gideon higher above his head.

"Leo, listen to me. You know what happens. You know what Chris came here to stop." Gideon was still pleading when Leo threw him a third time. "Let me finish what I started. Let me save the future... the only way it can be saved."

"You're the reason the future's threatened, Gideon... not Wyatt..."

"No..." Gideon shook his head, but he was losing energy quickly.

"... But because of what you do to him," Leo finished. "I'm about to make sure neither one of you get the chance again. Mirror."

Leo's evil counterpart appeared in the mirror that had dropped from the sky. Cole watched, shielding Wyatt's eyes, as Leo destroyed Gideon. He felt the world shift back to as it should have been. Leo destroyed the mirror, ending the cross-over connection between the worlds. He started walking over and Cole met him halfway and handed his son back to him.

"I got you," Leo told his son softly. "You're safe now. I have you. I have you."

"We should get to the hospital," Cole suggested.

Leo just nodded, in a void of disbelief and a struggle with his grief.

"Leo," Cole started to say comfortingly, "you know that if we succeeded today ad Wyatt does not turn evil, then Chris does not need to come back. He won't die here."

He got no response. The other man was still too consumed by grief. They rejoined Phoebe, Paige, Jaxon and Julian at the hospital, and the doctor came out soon after with good news. Baby Chris was brought out and placed into Leo's arms and Cole couldn't help but smile at the way their adventure has transpired. It had now come to an end—a happy ending—the kind that fairytales spoke of but that Cole had rarely seen in his life. He decided, there and then, that he was going to bask in the happiness of their family reunion, even if it only lasted a day, even just an hour, it was worth it to see his family smile. And it reminded him of what he fought for against Lord Voldemort.