Disclaimer: "Angel", along with all related characters and concepts, was created by Joss Whedon and Co., so they don't belong to me, while "Charmed" characters and concepts belong to Constance M Burge. Anyway, enjoy

Feedback: As always, I'd appreciate it

AN: To clarify in advance, the structure of the upcoming chapters will alternate between various episodes of "Charmed" and "Angel" depending on which I think would be most interesting to witness with this new casting; first up from the 'Charmed' side, we have "Happily Ever After"

The Love of a Vampire

As Angel sat in his apartment going over the forms Darryl had provided for him to fill in, he briefly wondered if the agency even needed all this paperwork; surely they could get by without it…

But, as Paige had pointed out more than once, lack of paperwork would have defeated the main point of this whole operation in the first place; giving them a legitimate reason to get involved in demon-related cases without attracting attention from the wrong sort of people.

He was starting to wish Angelus was one of those vampires who made more of an effort to blend in to human society on a more long-term basis (He'd generally just shown up, thrown sufficient money around to avoid attracting attention, and then killed whoever he was after; any houses he possessed were generally claimed from his victims); it might have increased his body count- vampires operating like that tended to do a more effective job of finding victims as people more automatically dismissed known officials as suspected murderers than they dismissed the strange guys who hung around and never precisely told anyone what they did for a living-, but it would have helped him deal with the legal issues before him at the moment…

"How's things?" a voice said from the door, prompting Angel to glance up as he saw Paige walk into the apartment, a slight smile on her face as she looked at him.

"About what you'd expect," Angel replied, putting down the pen as he looked back at her. "It's been a while since I had to fill out anything this complicated, but I'm getting there; it's more the repetition that's frustrating…"

"Yeah, after so long just beating up your problems it would be tough to try and do things with a pen…" Paige commented, smiling teasingly at him as she sat down on the other side of the desk. "Where's Doyle?"

"Out," Angel said, shrugging slightly apologetically back at her. "He said he had… something to attend to…"

Paige didn't bother asking for further information on that particular topic; as much as she knew that Angel was trying to connect more with people, she also knew that years of just being by himself- his time as Angelus didn't count; you couldn't exactly call spending time with someone while planning to kill them 'interacting' with people- didn't make it easy for him to connect with people like others might. He was doing what he could to get along with Doyle as more than just a new colleague, but he was still trying to overcome very long-term habits; Paige had known going into this situation that she had no right to expect him to change that quickly.

"So… what are you doing here?" he asked, looking curiously at her. It wasn't that he minded Paige's presence, but when Paige came over to his apartment in the middle of the day on impulse like this he generally knew that she was here for some reason other than just the pleasure of his company; with neither of them entirely comfortable with starting their relationship over exactly where it had… left off…, it was easier to avoid temptation by spending this kind of time together for no reason.

"Had to get out of the house," Paige replied, sighing slightly as she leant back in the chair. "Piper's reading fairy tales to the baby- and I'm not even sure it has ears yet-, I can't get this protection potion to work, and Phoebe's freaking out about the divorce while also trying to pressure me to whip up a vanquishing potion to try and take out Cole; as far as Piper goes, I really don't know how fairy tales are meant to make any kind of positive impression on a kid of ours given the whole 'helpless-woman, evil-witches' routine they always seem to have going on, and even if I get where Phoebe's coming from with the Cole thing it doesn't change how annoying it can get at times…"

"Get where she's coming from?" Angel asked, glancing up critically at Paige.

"Look," Paige said, shaking her head slightly apologetically as she looked back at Angel, "I get that Cole wasn't exactly completely in control when he did all that stuff as the Source, but you have to give Phoebe a chance to establish her own boundaries as well; after what she went through with Cole-"

"I get that Phoebe needs to set her own pace; I'm just concerned about what this kind of attitude is going to do for Cole," Angel countered, looking pointedly at Paige.

Paige blinked.

"Uh… what?" she asked, looking uncertainly at Angel.

"Have you ever thought about what it's going to do to Cole if you keep on thinking of him as the automatic villain?" Angel asked, putting down his pen as he looked at Paige. "I spent the first few years after getting my soul back trying to be a normal vampire because I didn't know what else to be, and I didn't even have a reason for doing that other than habit; what do you think it's going to do to Cole if you start assuming he's going to be nothing but a villain simply because of what he is?"

Paige could only sit in silence after that last statement, staring reflectively at Angel, before she nodded resolutely.

"Point…" she said, sighing slightly as she looked at the vampire. "You really have a habit of making me face the ugly side of things, don't you?"

"I don't mean to-" Angel began.

"I get that," Paige said, smiling reassuringly at the vampire before her expression became more solemn once again. "It's just… well, it's kinda hard, you know. I get your points about Cole- he's not really that different from you, he's just got a bit more potential oomph and… OK, less reason to not start killing people than you do at the moment… but I always knew that Angelus wasn't you; Cole…"

She sighed once again, shaking her head as she lowered it to look at the floor. "It's not that clear-cut where he ends and all these freaky demon powers of his begin; I still remember how I felt when that power-broker used me as a dumping ground, and he's got a lot more power and a serious history of killing people behind him…"

"I know," Angel said, nodding in understanding at Paige. "I get that it's not easy for you to see things from Cole's perspective after everything he did to you; all I ask is that you keep that in mind."

"I'll… do what I can in that area," Paige confirmed, nodding back at him with a slight smile. "Thanks."

After a momentary pause, the two of them simply smiling softly at each other for a moment, Paige stood up and glanced over at Angel.

"Well, if the paperwork's all you've got going for you at the moment, any chance you could come back to the mansion for a bit?" she asked, smiling at him. "I mean, with Piper still freaking out about the baby and Leo focused on helping her calm down while Phoebe's at work, I'd like someone there who isn't concerned with babies or exes…"

Angel smiled back at her.

"Add in helping me sort out some of this paperwork and you're on," he said, pulling out a pad of paper and scribbling a quick note for Doyle to explain his absence before standing up to take Paige's hand. "Let's go."

With that, Paige focused, they were briefly surrounded by the familiar feel of orbing…

Then the two of them reappeared in the middle of the mansion entrance hall, just in time to see an older woman in a long red dress with short, curled hair walking out of the solarium.

"Oh, hi," Paige said, her voice slightly raised as she turned to address the new arrival, a brief glance at Angel reaffirming his assessment of the situation; until they knew who the woman was, their priority was to act normal to escape awkward questions in case she didn't know about the magic side of things. "Uh… sorry, I'm-"

"Paige," the woman said, smiling broadly at the younger woman. "You're even more beautiful than I imagined."

"And… you are?" Angel asked, looking uncertainly at the woman before them.

"Why, I'm her Grams, of course," the woman replied, briefly shooting a sharp glare at Angel for interrupting before giving Paige a sudden hug. "Oh, come here…"

As Piper and Leo emerged from the solarium, Angel looked pointedly over at Leo, prompting the Whitelighter to shrug helplessly- evidently he hadn't been responsible for this latest turn of events, although that still left the issue of who actually was responsible- before a whispered comment from Piper sent him hurrying up the stairs.

"No offence," Paige said, pulling back slightly from 'Grams' as she looked at the older woman, "but… uh… aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Oh, I'm over that," the older woman said dismissively, waving a hand as though she was just talking about having recovered from the flu before smiling broadly at Paige once again. "Look at you! I mean, you're absolutely gorgeous. You have my mother's eyes; oh, she was a real looker, too. I bet you have plenty of boyfriends, right?"

"Uh… just this one, actually," Paige replied, placing a hand on Angel's shoulder. "This is Angel; he's…"

Paige's voice trailed off at that point, clearly uncertain how to introduce Angel- he still wasn't officially a detective until the forms had been filled in, but introducing him as a vampire didn't exactly give the best impression-, but further conversation was cut off by the sound of smashing glass from the solarium, revealing a large figure dressed in what looked like black leather and holding a large axe. Taking advantage of their momentary stunned immobilisation, the figure lashed out with his axe at Piper, cutting her arm and sending her and her grandmother to the ground before he turned to Paige.

Angel didn't hesitate; shifting into his vampire visage, he grabbed the axe just as the new arrival raised it, following it up by ramming his knee into the other man's stomach and sending him staggering backwards, simultaneously losing his grip on the axe. Before their foe could regain his balance, Angel had swung the newly-acquired axe, severing the man's neck in one stroke, the body automatically vanishing in a burst of light.

"O-kaaay…" Paige said, looking uncertainly at Angel as he resumed his human appearance and turned back to look at her. "Not that I'm not grateful for you saving me like that- nice not having to worry about that kind of thing no matter how independent you are-, but… what was that?"

"More to the point," 'Grams'- Paige still couldn't quite get used to thinking of the new arrival by that name, but nothing else seemed like something she'd accept at the moment- said, prompting Paige and Angel to turn and see her glaring at Angel, "what are you?"

"OK," Piper said, raising a hand as she got back to her feet- Paige briefly noted that the wound to her arm was already healed-, "to deal with the obvious question first, Angel's a vampire, but there's no need to stake him; he was cursed with his soul about a century ago and he's been trying to cope with the guilt over what he did without it ever since- to say nothing of staking his own sire to save Paige-, and all in all we're pretty sure he's on our side…"

"A vampire?" 'Grams' repeated- Paige wasn't sure if she was just ignoring the rest of what Piper had said or had been so focused on that part that she hadn't heard it-, looking pointedly at Angel. "What class of vampire are we talking about?"

"Look, he's one of the 'Soulless'- I think that's what the Book called them anyway- who was cursed with his soul over a century ago and hasn't killed anyone for the sake of it ever since; as Piper said, he's on our side now, OK?" Paige asked, returning 'Grams's' stare with one of her own; she was uncomfortable enough about this woman's sudden appearance in her life, the last thing she wanted was for her to start criticising her boyfriend. "Can we focus on the more immediate matter of what that guy was?"

"Yeah, gotcha; to the Book, huh?" Piper said, indicating the stairs up to the attic.

"Fine with me," 'Grams' said, shooting a pointed glare over at Angel- clearly uncertain about what she'd heard about him so far- before she followed her eldest surviving granddaughter up towards the Book, leaving Angel and Paige to exchange uncertain glances before following the others.