AN: I have learned my lesson. Trying to write (and keep updating) more than one thing at a time is a mistake for me lol. That's a mistake that hopefully I will not make again. But anyways, we're almost at the end! There's probably only going to be another chapter or two, and then this is going to be over. I have plenty more Aladdin fics planned for the future, but I also have no idea when I'm going to get around to them lol. So many ideas, so little time. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and please leave a review!

For the moment, Genie was grateful that he was now alone with Aladdin - aside from Rajah, of course. But really, he knew that there wasn't a difference. Genie thought that being alone he would be able to allow himself to become a bit more emotional than he was when Jasmine and Dalia were there, but in reality, he hadn't even held anything back then. Being alone was no different, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself that he appeared stronger with his wife and sultan around.

"Come on, kid," he muttered, looking down at Aladdin's pale face, twisted with pain even in unconsciousness. "You gotta pull through this, okay? We all need you." He sighed, gently rubbing his thumb over Aladdin's hand once again. "I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, then you need to know that Jasmine is gonna be back with the antidote real soon, okay? We're gonna fix this." Genie lowered his voice, this time speaking only to himself. "We have to fix this."

There was a distant pain in his back and in his wrist, but it was fuzzy enough that Aladdin didn't pay much attention to it. He had a vague feeling that there was something important going on, but he couldn't put his finger on what it was. Besides, what could be more important than spending time with his mother?

"Things will be different when Baba comes home," she said, that gentle smile she always wore gracing her face once again. "We'll have money, and we'll be able to move to a better part of the city."

In the back of his mind, Aladdin knew that this was wrong, that this had already happened, but it didn't seem pressing to ignore this long forgotten memory. Aside from that song she always sang him, Aladdin could barely remember anything about his mother, so why would he want to leave?

His mama coughed, a rattling sound that Aladdin himself could feel. His back and wrist flared in pain with it, causing him to curl in on himself a little bit.

"Mama? Are you okay?" he asked. He knew she wasn't. As it progressed, Aladdin came to realize that he knew this part. He had seen this same thing happen again and again in his nightmares for years on end, a memory that only surfaced in the dark of night, pressed back and held at bay during all waking hours for what must have been fifteen years. But he knew this part. Mama wasn't okay. She wasn't ever going to be okay again, and there was nothing he could do about it. "Mama?" he called out again, watching her cough and hack and fall to her knees from the force of it. Aladdin tried to stand, to go to her, but he couldn't move, he couldn't move at all. "Mama, what's going on?" he asked, but as he did so, she was fading away. Her face blurred first, and the coughing faded into the background until all Aladdin could hear was his own racing heartbeat. "Mama!" he yelled, hoping to gain her attention one last time, but she was fading away, everything was fading away, until finally, Aladdin was alone.

The dirty streets of Agrabah were filled with people, but Aladdin had never been more alone. Mama was gone, she was never coming back, but Baba, what about Baba? Where was he? Was he gone, too, like Mama, or had he chosen to leave Aladdin? But why would he leave his son? He wouldn't, no father would do that, so where was he?

"Baba?" he hesitantly called out as he turned in circles. Baba had to be there somewhere, he wouldn't just leave Aladdin alone, especially not with Mama gone. "Baba, where are you? Please, come back," he almost pleaded.

Aladdin fell to his knees as the pain overtook him. It started in his back and wrist, then grew to his head, a pounding sensation that made him feel sick. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. What was going on? Jasmine, Jasmine, where was Jasmine? And Genie? Baba was gone but what about Genie? The pain grew and grew until it was the only thing that Aladdin could possibly think about. The intensity of the pain brought nausea, and it was all Aladdin could to squeeze his eyes shut and try to breathe. He didn't know what was going on, and in the back of his mind he could hear someone calling his name, but all he could focus on was breathing. One breath, then another, and another, and another. The voice was getting louder, but he just had to breathe. Just breathe. Breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe, breathe.

Genie was content to sit in silence throughout his vigil. Rajah had claimed a spot at the foot of the bed, focused towards Aladdin, but his posture anything but relaxed. The two sat there, focused on their charge, unable to do anything but wait, and waiting was always the hardest part. Having lived in a lamp for almost his entire existence, unable to get out of the lamp unless summoned, Genie thought he knew a thing or two about waiting. But sitting there, unable to do a single thing as his kid lay dying, put every single year of solitude in that lamp into perspective. He would gladly experience ten thousand years alone in the lamp, waiting for someone to rub it once again, if only he didn't have to wait this time. If only Aladdin would wake up, and be okay.

His attention was brought out of his silent musings and back to the kid in the bed when he let out a soft groan. Genie immediately snapped his head back up to look at Aladdin, whose face was once again scrunched up in pain.

"Mama," Aladdin muttered, followed by something that Genie couldn't quite make out. Genie's heart fell but his pulse soared. He knew the kid's mom was dead, so why was he seeing her? Was he close enough to death himself that he could see her?

"Come on, kid, come back to me," Genie said, trying to calm his racing heart. Rajah could clearly sense that something was wrong, his tail flicking back and forth in distress.

"Mama, what's going on," he muttered again as he began to thrash his head back and forth. Genie took his hand in both of his, hoping to help ground him, but it wasn't working. He just kept calling out for his mother, and just when Genie thought his heart couldn't break any more, Aladdin muttered something else. "Baba? Baba, where are you, please, come back."

"Aladdin, come on, wake up," Genie pleaded with him. He began to lightly shake his shoulder, not wanting to hurt him at all, but desperately needing him to wake up. Aladdin's breathing was coming in quick gasps now, and Genie was helpless to do anything to help. "Come on, kid, wake up," he repeated, shaking his shoulder a little harder. "Aladdin," he called out, a little louder. He tried again, and again, and again, until finally, Aladdin shot up, and began retching over the side of the bed, but there wasn't anything in his stomach to bring up. Still, at least he was awake. "There ya go, kid," he said, gently rubbing Aladdin's back as the kid tried to take in a good breath. "Just keep breathing, you're gonna be okay."

"Baba?"

Once again, Genie felt Aladdin's words like a punch to his gut. "It's me, kid, Genie, remember?" he hesitantly asked.

Rajah stood and moved closer to Aladdin, letting out soft purrs as he laid down again, this time directly behind Aladdin, his head resting on the kid's shoulder. Once he finally got his breath back, Aladdin groaned and curled in on himself, one hand around his stomach, the other cradling his head.

"What's goin' on, kid?" Genie asked. Aladdin moaned in pain once more, his eyes squeezed shut. "Do you remember what's going on?" This time, Aladdin nodded, but he didn't open his eyes.

"Make it stop," he whispered, so quietly that Genie could barely hear it. Genie took Aladdin's hand in his once again, holding on tightly enough that Aladdin forced his eyes open to look.

"Jasmine and Dalia will be back soon," he said, his voice low and thick with emotion. "And they'll have the antidote, and it's going to be okay. You're going to be just fine, alright? You just need to hold on. You can do that, kid, you can hold on."

"But I just want it to be over," Aladdin said, squeezing his shut against the oncoming tears that he wasn't able to hide from Genie.

"I know and it will be, and I wouldn't be asking you to hang on if I didn't know it was going to be okay," Genie said, not bothering to try to hide his own tears. "Don't you give up. I know it hurts and you wanna see your parents again but you have to stay with me, okay? Your wife is on her way back, she loves you so much, and she's gonna make everything okay. You just have to stay with me. Don't give up, kid, don't you dare give up." He knew he was practically pleading with Aladdin at that point, but he couldn't bring himself to care. In that moment, he didn't care about anything but the kid in front of him, in such a pain that Genie couldn't even begin to imagine, and that he was powerless to stop.

Genie moved from his position, kneeling on the floor beside the bed, to climbing onto it. He gently pulled the kid into his arms, mindful of the kid's torn up back and wrist. At least the bandages were still clear, meaning that they hadn't begun bleeding again. Genie held onto Aladdin as tightly as he could, hoping beyond hope that everything would be okay. He could say all he wanted that everything was going to turn out fine, but he didn't really know that. How could he know that? He wasn't some all powerful or all knowing genie anymore, he was just a guy who used to be a genie. If Genie had known that this would happen, then he never would've told Aladdin about his wish to become human, or at the very least he wouldn't have said 'human', he would've left it more broad, so that maybe he could've kept all of his powers but not have been bound to the genie rules anymore. At least then, he could be with Dalia and live a normal life, but still be able to do something to help. Nothing was worse than not being able to help.

"You're gonna be okay, I promise," Genie said, even though he knew he couldn't promise that. There wasn't anything he could do to make Aladdin okay, but he would promise anything if it would help even the tiniest bit. "I'm gonna be here, no matter what. I'm not gonna leave you." Aladdin was now clinging onto Genie almost as much as Genie was clinging onto him. He had his head pressed against Genie's chest, his eyes still shut tight, taking in slow, deliberate breaths. "I'm here. I'm always gonna be here." Genie didn't know exactly what happened to Aladdin's father. All he knew for sure was that the man was gone, and had been for a very long time. Aladdin didn't like to talk about it, and Genie respected that. For all intents and purposes, the kid was an orphan, and had been since he was very young. His mother had died, and he hadn't seen his father since before then. There had been one time when the kid had let it slip that he still didn't know if his father was dead or had just abandoned him, but Genie wasn't about to let that happen again, no matter what the truth was. Genie wasn't going to leave him. Blood or not, they were family, and Genie was always going to be there for him. He'd already made sure that the kid understood that when he and Dalia left for a trip around the world, they were going to come back. Not coming back just wasn't an option. It took some doing, but Genie was pretty sure that Aladdin believed him, and he was going to make sure that that trust was always well founded. "I'm never going to leave you," Genie repeated once more.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, holding Aladdin against him, trying to comfort him as he rode out the waves of pain, praying that Jasmine and Dalia would be back with the antidote soon. Rajah stayed where he was, knowing how wrong all of this was and doing everything he could to protect Aladdin. Protection was, after all, what Rajah was born and bred for. By the time Genie saw the little glimmer on the horizon that he had come to recognize as Carpet, the sun had set, and it was quickly growing dark. But that little glimmer was getting closer and closer, and for the first time since all of this had started, Genie felt his heart soar. Jasmine and Dalia were back. Still, he didn't move from his place holding his kid. Aladdin had once again either fallen asleep or passed out, and at least this time, his face wasn't scrunched up with pain, and he was breathing steadily.

It was only a few moments later that Carpet soared back into the room, Jasmine expertly sliding off and rushing towards her husband. Genie decided that it wasn't the right time to ask her why on earth she was wearing the clothes of a commoner, instead of the clothes that she had left the palace in. The only thing that mattered was Aladdin.

"Did you get it?" Genie quickly asked.

"Yes, I just hope it's not too late," Jasmine immediately responded. She pulled a vial of dusty liquid out from some pocket and leaned over Aladdin, who was still cradled in Genie's lap.

"Should we wake him?" Dalia asked before anyone could do anything, wringing her hands together in nervousness.

"No, he should swallow it reflexively," Genie responded with a shake of his head. Aladdin didn't seem to be in any pain at that moment, and Genie didn't want to change that by waking him.

Jasmine uncapped the vial and gently held it to Aladdin's lips. Slowly, she poured it in, and just as Genie knew he would, he swallowed it.

After a moment, Genie asked, "when will we know if it worked?" He hadn't been expecting Aladdin to immediately spring up, claiming to be in perfect health, but he hadn't been expecting no change at all either.

"I don't know," Jasmine said, shaking her head. "He didn't say. I don't even know if this antidote is magic or some kind of science." She sighed and sat down on the edge of the bed, taking her husband's hand in hers. "We just have to wait," she said, her voice breaking. Jasmine took a deep breath and steadied herself. "Dalia, would you please alert the guards that Ahmad and his daughter should be welcomed here?"

"Of course, Your Majesty," Dalia replied with a small smile. It wasn't much, but that bit of normalcy did wonders to calm Genie's nerves. It was going to be okay. It was all going to be okay. They just had to wait.

But that was always the hardest part. The waiting.