Disclaimer: Charmed isn't mine - including the original version of 'It's A Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World Part 2'. Any characters, plot points, dialogue, etc, used from that episode were not my creation.

Acknowledgements: Janelle Hackbarth's transcript of the episode at Charmed Scripts dot tv has been an invaluable resource - I would have taken ten-thousand years to write this story without it!

Author's Note: This is an adaptation of the last third of the episode, with numerous changes, both major and minor, including additions, removals and alterations of scenes, dialogue, etc, etc.

It's Not Such A Bad, Bad, Bad, Bad World

By Starzangel

.I.

It hurt. Oh God, it hurt. There was a boiling pit of agony in his gut that felt like it was tearing his insides apart. Sweat pooled on his forehead and he struggled to breathe. He curled over on his side, a hand reaching out and clawing at the rug, while the other pressed tight over the athame wound.

He was horribly alone in the attic of the Halliwell Manor; the playpen beside him was ominously empty. Gideon had taken Wyatt.

Chris closed his eyes, throwing his head back in suffering. He'd failed them. He'd failed his brother. His breath hissed in and out of his clenched teeth, as he tried to fight the pain. Wrapping both arms around his stomach, he twisted and rolled in a futile, instinctive attempt to escape it. But he couldn't win against Gideon's magic. It was killing him…

There was only one person who could help his brother now.

Chris sucked in a deep breath and found the strength to cry out for his father again.

"Dad…!"

His body was beginning to fail him and his movements gradually ceased, until he lay still. He could feel blood soaking through his shirt and over his hands. The blood was hot, but he felt cold, so very cold…and it becoming hard to keep awake…

Distantly, he heard orbing chimes… Someone touched his back, but it all seemed so strangely far away…

Then he felt himself moving, a fresh flame of pain bursting from his wound as it burnt with renewed vigour, and he felt nauseous. Chris groaned, coming back up out of the haze, and his eyes slid open. He found himself lying on his back, looking up into the alarmed face of his father.

Chris swallowed thickly, then forced the warning out between his lips, "Wyatt…"

Leo turned towards the playpen, fear seizing him upon seeing it was empty. He looked back at Chris.

"Gideon…" the young man gasped. His face twisted in agony and Leo grasped hold of his shoulder. "Gideon…took Wyatt…"

"It's ok, it's ok," Leo rushed, trying to soothe him. He gently pulled his son's hands away from his stomach and held his own above the spreading bloodstain. Golden light shone down. But the wound didn't heal.

Chris groaned, the pain not ceasing.

Leo met his son's eyes, fear and anguish evident, as he whispered, "It's not working."

"Athame...was blessed…can feel it…" Chris explained. His eyelids drifted closed, and his face went still, his breathing slowing.

"Chris? Chris?" Leo gently shook his shoulder in panic.

Chris groaned, but weakly and didn't open his eyes.

Leo slipped his hands under his son and carefully lifted him up into his arms, rising to his feet as he did so. They both disappeared in blue orbs, leaving behind the empty attic and a dark-red stain on the floor.

In his Underworld lair, Barbas picked up Gideon's athame from where the Elder had put it down on a cabinet. He fingered the blade, noting the blood drying on the shining metal, and he looked across at its owner thoughtfully.

Gideon still had his eyes keenly on the young, fair-haired child, as he had since bringing him to the cavern.

"The great big Elder's afraid of the teeny-weeny, itsy-bitsy baby," Barbas mocked, tilting his head in amusement. "How cute."

Gideon didn't even grace him with a scowl, let alone a glance, his attention devoted to the twice-blessed child.

"Oh, he's much more than that," Gideon said, knowingly, and began to circle the little boy. "Cocky, too. Notice how he hasn't even raised his shield."

"His shield isn't up because you've pierced it already," Barbas told him, impatiently. "Every time you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself..." With that, the demon pounced forward with the athame aimed at Wyatt.

The boy was gone in an instant. Disappearing in a shower of orbs, leaving Barbas stumbling to regain his balance and Gideon to cry out in dismay.

"Now look what you've done!" the Elder yelled, furiously grabbing hold of the demon's jacket.

"Slippery little devil, isn't he?" Barbas grinned into Gideon's face. "You didn't tell me that he could orb."

"I didn't know he could!" Gideon cried. "That's why I wanted to be careful. Although…" Gideon looked thoughtful, and let go of the demon. "I doubt he's able to orb out of the Underworld. Even he's not that powerful yet."

"I suppose all of this means that you've lost your interest in fixing the world at this moment," Barbas commented.

"The world stays exactly as it is until Wyatt is eliminated," Gideon declared, firmly. "The Charmed Ones can't be given the chance to rescue him. You and I will have to work together to find him, quickly!"

Leo gently lowered Chris down onto Piper's bed, and the young man groaned in pain, his eyelids fluttering. The father carefully peeled back his son's t-shirt to take a look at the bleeding stab wound in his abdomen.

"You have to find Wyatt."

Leo looked up at the sound of Chris's frail voice, surprised to find the young man's eyes open and staring at him.

"We'll find him together," Leo stated. He held his hands out over Chris's wound.

"Won't work...you already tried," Chris told him. "Gideon's magic...only he can stop it." He pushed his father's hands away. "Just…go. Save Wyatt...saves the future...you know that."

"Gideon doesn't know how to kill Wyatt. We've still got time."

"Only until...trauma turns him," Chris reminded, quietly.

"I am not going to choose between you and Wyatt, Chris," Leo said, his voice breaking. "I can't."

"Don't have to, Dad." Chris smiled faintly. "Find Gideon...you save us both."

"Alright," Leo finally agreed, the reasoning getting through to him. "But I'm not leaving you alone," he insisted. "I'll get one of your aunts to watch over you."

"I'll...wait here…" Chris tried to joke, but closed his eyes in pain.

"You're going to be fine. I promise." Leo leant over and kissed his son on the forehead. "I'll be right back."

Chris nodded, opening his eyes to see his father orb out.

Leo found Phoebe and Paige in the hospital waiting room, messing around with a camera and ludicrously happy. They frowned at his sudden orb-accompanied appearance.

"Don't you think you should be more careful? I mean, you don't want to bring back the witch trails," Phoebe hissed, giving him a peculiar cheerful grin.

"Gideon got to Chris," Leo told them, not wasting any time. "He's hurt bad."

"What? Now, why would Gideon want to hurt Chris?" Paige derided, grinning.

The two sisters were clearly still fully under the effects of Piper's spell that matched them to the current twisted state of the world. Leo balled his fists in frustration.

"To get to Wyatt," Leo pushed. "Which he's done."

Phoebe smiled at him. "Gideon is the paragon of all good." Her grin widened. "I told you that, remember?" She held up the camera. "Smile!"

Leo raised a hand to shield himself from the flash. "But he's not," he protested. "Gideon's trying to kill my sons, your nephews!"

Phoebe gave him a scolding frown, then cheerily raised her camera again. "Don't be ridiculous, I'm sure –"

"You don't understand," Leo cried, grabbing hold of the camera. "Chris is dying!"

The sisters' smiles fell. Suddenly they were listening.

"What?" Paige looked bewildered.

"You have to help me save him," Leo pleaded. "Come on, I know deep down inside family matters to you more than this…twisted sense of right and wrong. You love him. I know you do. And that's gotta trump everything, even this stupid spell you're under. Please…" His teary eyes bored into them. "You have to help me save them both!"

Paige and Phoebe glowed with magic, the spell lifting.

"What just happened?" Paige asked.

"I think we were under a spell and he took us out of it," Phoebe answered.

"I have to find Gideon. But somebody needs to be with Chris," Leo told them, urgently. "Come on, let's go."

Phoebe looked anxiously at Leo. "We can't all go. Uh…Piper's being prepped for surgery."

"Surgery?" Leo paled. "What's the matter?"

"They're not saying." Paige laid a hand on her brother-in-law's arm. "Don't worry. We're not going to lose either Chris." She turned to Phoebe. "I'll go home. You stay here." She looked back at Leo. "And you, you go find Gideon."

Chris was drifting in a haze...black tendrils of mist swirled over him and pulled him down...into the black...then the darkness faded and he surfaced, vaguely aware of his mother's bedroom for a moment...before slipping away again...

He thought he distantly heard Paige's voice raised in anger, and the sound of heavy treads on the stairs, but he couldn't keep hold of it...everything went dark for a while.

The next time Chris came to, it was to loud muffled sounds. He blearily opened his eyes and then started, finding himself surrounded by a SWAT team pointing guns at him. Groaning, confused and in pain, he searched for a familiar face in the room.

Daryl was the foremost figure, his weapon raised and his expression cold.

Then Paige pushed her way through, coming to kneel beside the bed. She took Chris's hand in hers.

"Chris?" She looked frightened.

"Hey…" His throat was dry, his voice feebly trembling though it.

"Hold on, ok?" She squeezed his hand tightly, her eyes strangely bright in the dim light.

"What's wrong with him?" Daryl had moved forward and was leaning over Paige's shoulder, his eyes looking at Chris's ashen face and then fixing on the large bloodstain on his t-shirt.

"He's…" Paige couldn't manage to say it, a tear spilling over and running down her cheek.

However, Daryl could see clearly enough for himself. His expression softened and he lowered his gun, gesturing for the SWAT team to do the same.

"We're done here," he said.

Leo pulled back the thick curtain, revealing the large mirror behind it and showing his Evil counterpart doing the exact same thing, in place of his own reflection. His two selves stared at each other in surprise for a moment.

The Evil Leo was the first to shrug it off, cutting to the chase, "He's got to be hiding in the Underworld."

"I agree. It's the only place he can go to avoid being sensed." Leo sighed. "But it's too vast – we have to narrow it down."

"Well, somebody's got to helping him, right?"

"Yeah, but who?"

"Whoever helped him get to Piper in the hospital," the Evil Leo reasoned.

"I went to the hospital and tried to pick up a trail…"

"But I was overwhelmed with…hope."

"Fear."

"Barbas!" they said in unison.

"So, if we find Barbas…" Leo began.

"We'll find Gideon," his Evil counterpart completed.

"For both our sons."

Faces fixed with determination, they both vanished into blue orbs.

Leo reappeared in the second floor hallway of the Halliwell Manor, and was shocked to see Daryl and Sheridan exiting Piper's bedroom, a SWAT team following them out.

"What's going on? What the hell are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Nothing," Sheridan replied, blandly. "We didn't have to."

"I'm sorry, Leo." Daryl's sympathetic tone and expression triggered a flare of panic in the father.

Leo roughly pushed passed them, rushing into the bedroom. He found Paige knelt at Chris's bedside and she turned upon hearing him enter. There was no need for her to speak, even if she could; her grief-stricken expression said it all.

Leo shakily moved closer, biting his lower lip to stop it trembling. He looked down at his son, who lay ghostly pale and limp, his breathing loud and strained. His eyes welled up with tears.

Chris's glazed stare latched onto his father. "Dad…"

Leo reached out to gently cup son's head, his throat too choked to respond.

Paige stood up to give him some room, quietly moving to stand near the doorway.

Swallowing thickly, Leo finally found his voice. "I'm here, Chris. You hold on, ok? Hold on…hold on. I'm here."

"Ok…" Chris's eyes drifted closed.

Wrapped in the dark mist, Chris heard his father talking to him, urgently pleading, but could only make out some of the words. He felt him nearby though, his strong hand clasping his. It comforted him, easing his fears as his senses slowly left him bit by bit. He knew it wouldn't be long now.

Leo wiped at his eyes with his free hand, trying to find it in himself to be strong for his dying son.

"Have you had any luck finding Gideon?" Paige asked, softly, from behind him.

Leo hung his head. "Not much." He glanced over at her. "He's somewhere in the Underworld and he's working with Barbas."

"Barbas?" Paige came back over to the bed. "Gideon's teamed up with a demon?"

"An act of Great Evil in our world restores the balance," Leo explained. "I think that's what he's using Barbas for. And I think it's how he got to Piper, and to me."

"If they're working together, that means they must be in contact with each other, right?" Paige said, her mind racing.

"So?" Leo stared down at Chris, his expression forlorn.

"So, next time they try to contact each other, you intercept it."

Leo's eyes flew to her, suddenly alight with hope. She smiled faintly in encouragement. Then he turned back to his son.

"Chris?" Leo gently lifted him up into his arms, and the young man groaned.

Chris's bleary eyes opened and he listlessly took in his new position with confusion. "Where…we going?"

"To find Gideon."

To Be Continued...