FOUR

"And Leo couldn't heal Chris?" Phoebe asked Piper the next day. "That doesn't make any sense. Leo's healing power has never failed."

"Well, it has once or twice," said Paige. "Remember just before Wyatt was born? He couldn't heal Piper."

"Yes," said Piper, "but that was because what I had wasn't purely a physical ailment. It was stress that was partially mental. But this isn't like that. There's some kind of toxin in Chris' system. There shouldn't be any reason Leo can't heal him."

"Well there obviously is," said Paige. "Where is Leo now?"

"He's with the other Elders," said Piper. "He's going to get them to see if they can figure out what's going on."

"Good luck with that," said Phoebe sarcastically. "They're notorious about not giving a damn unless it involves them directly."

"They aren't that bad," said Paige. "Maybe they can help. They do have access to more information than we have."

"We need to find out what's going on," said Piper. "Unless we figure out what this toxin is Chris is going to die."

"But that's not going to happen," said Phoebe. "Chris came back from the future. That proves he doesn't die."

"Except that he changed the past," said Piper. "Or got us to change our future. Because of Leo, Wyatt was never changed to evil. Who knows how that's going to change things now? Maybe by changing what happened before Chris inadvertently caused his own death."

"I don't believe that," said Phoebe. "There has to be a reason this is happening. When Leo gets back I'm sure he'll be able to tell us exactly what's going on."

"I wish I was as confident as you seem to be," said Leo coming in the door. "I just got back from the other Elders. None of them have any idea what's going on. There's never been anything like this before. And they have no idea what to do about it."

"Then what the hell good are they?" screamed Piper. "After everything we've done for them and they can't save my son. They're the Elders. There must be something they can do."

"Piper, calm down," said Paige. "I'm sure they'll help as much as they can. But if they don't know what's going on they can't do any more than we're doing."

"I know," said Piper. "It's just that this is so frustrating. We don't know what's going on, we don't know what's causing it, and we have no idea how to stop it. And unless we figure it out and soon Chris is going to die."

"It's not all bad news," said Leo. "The other Elders think that whatever is happening is not magical. That means there has to be a normal reason for what's happening. Piper, they think you may have been infected with something that you passed on to Chris before he was born. Your immune system seems to have allowed you to excise it but Chris is too young for his immune system to be effective. That's why he's still suffering from it."

"But what could that be?" Piper asked. "We've all been exposed to the same things. And why wouldn't I have gotten sick from it? Assuming I was originally infected shouldn't it have affected me the same way it's affecting Chris?"

"Not necessarily," said Leo. "Remember when you were fighting the vortex demon? You didn't want me to heal Wyatt's cold because you said he needed to build up immunities. The only way to do that is to be exposed to the normal childhood diseases.

"We think this is something similar. Whatever you were exposed to didn't affect you because your immune system was able to affectively fight it off. Chris' immune system doesn't have the immunities you do. As long as you were carrying him, your immune system would have protected him. But once he was born his immune system took over. And it doesn't have the necessary immunities to effectively combat this whatever it is."

"That makes sense," said Phoebe. "It's kind of like your invulnerability while you were carrying Wyatt. Once he was born you lost that. But he still has his protective shield."

"Okay," said Piper, "I can see the sense in that. So all we have to do is figure out what I was exposed to. Once we figure out what that is we should be able to find a cure for it."

"That may be easier said than done," said Leo. "Finding out what you were exposed to could be next to impossible. Do you have any idea how many different things you could have been exposed to fighting demons? Some of them haven't even been identified by the scientific community."

"Oh my God," said Paige. "That's it."

"What's it?" Phoebe asked.

"That's why the doctors can't identify the toxin in Chris' system," said Paige. "It's something demon related."

"That would make sense," said Leo. "Otherwise the doctors would have been able to at least identify what kind of poison it is."

"Poison?" questioned Paige. "They said it was a poison?"

"Well, Dr. Lyman said it seemed like a type of poison," said Piper. "He really wasn't sure."

"Poison," said Paige to herself. "A poison not identified by medical science."

"What are you thinking?" Phoebe asked. "You look like the cat that just ate the canary."

"Well, it's only a theory," said Paige. "But it makes sense. And it would explain why the doctors can't identify the toxin."

"What are you talking about?" Piper asked. "You think you know what I might have been exposed to?"

"No," said Paige. "Not you, Leo."

"Me?" questioned Leo.

"Yes," said Paige. "Remember when you and Piper were in the ghostly realm? The night that Chris was conceived?"

"Of course," said Leo. "We were being chased by a Dark Lighter who was trying to kill us."

"That's right," said Paige. "And Leo was shot by the Dark Lighter's crossbow. Before Chris was conceived."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" questioned Phoebe.

"Yes," said Paige. "When Chris was conceived, Leo was infected with the poison from the Dark Lighter's crossbow. He passed that poison onto Chris. Only Piper, being a witch and not a Whitelighter, protected Chris from the poison while she was carrying him. Since he was born he doesn't have her protection any longer. And the poison in his system is slowly killing him."