Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or these worlds. I had an idea last year for a 'Draco as white lighter' story, and here we are.

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Paige

After the dramatic events of the night Paige was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to sleep, but she was proven wrong when Blaise had to half-shove her out of a very comfortable and enticing bed at eight.

"Get up. They are going to kill each other down there!"

Paige scrambled out of the entangled sheets at the sound of panic in the boy's voice. Grabbing her emergency kit, a vanquishing potion, two crystals, and travel sized packages of pain killers and hand sanitizer, just in case whatever it was blew up in a really messy way, she threw on a robe and she was ready to go.

Following the pregnant boy down the stairs, her heart half in her throat, Paige listened for sounds of a fight or threats and heard nothing.

Blaise threw open the kitchen door and Paige stormed through, keeping him behind her in case the demon attacked.

It turned out to be a futile effort as he elbowed his way past her on the way to the refrigerator, but as the only other inhabitants of the kitchen were Severus and Draco, Paige figured they were safe.

After a few seconds, as she felt the level of tension in the room rising, she began to revise her opinion. Both men looked at her, Draco cross and Severus scathing, but that was their default setting for the morning anyway so she didn't think too much of it. Tossing her emergency pouch lightly from hand to hand, she turned to Blaise, "Where's the emergency?"

Draco and Severus looked at each other, and then at Blaise, who colored and stuffed half a slice of heavily buttered toast in his mouth. From the corner of her eye Paige saw Severus shudder at the display, but all three of them waited in silence until the brunet was done eating.

When the last few crumbs were wiped away, and before Blaise could grab another piece of bread, Paige moved towards him. "'They're going to kill each other' Blaise?"

The boy sputtered a moment before sighing. "Look, Phoebe went to work and Piper had to take Wyatt on a play date. Chris is out researching again, and quite frankly I didn't want to be left alone with them when they get all snappy." The boy mustered up a few tears, and even thoughPaige was sure it was only for effect she turned to look at Draco and Severus who were now determinedly looking everywhere but at each other, Blaise, or Paige.

Not one to give up in the face of childish behavior, Paige stuck her tongue out at them and was rewarded by a small smile from Severus who, it appeared, had been paying better attention than he wanted it to seem.

Paige tucked her emergency kit in the pocket of her robe and moved towards the two men.

The last time she saw them they were both asleep on the living room couches, Severus looking worn to the bone and faintly green, and Draco still with traces of his own blood dried onto his face that a damp washcloth couldn't quite get rid of.

But in the bright light of the morning both looked better. Severus looked well-rested and the half empty cup of tea and completely empty plate in front of him meant his stomach had settled.

Draco looked alert and healthy and if she hadn't seen it for herself she would never believe that just twelve hours ago he was having seizures.

"Are you guys okay," she asked.

Draco nodded, now looking out the kitchen window into the garden beyond, his eyes hazy and distant.

"We are quite well, though not in agreement," Severus replied, prompting Draco to glare at him.

Paige pulled up a chair, and grabbed an orange out of the bowl on the table. Starting the peel with her thumb, she squinted as she felt a burst of sharp juice hit her cheek just under her eye.

She leaned he head towards her shoulder, thinking to wipe it off on her robe before it got into her eye, then stopped as Severus brushed his thumb across her skin, gathering the liquid and wiping it away. Heat blazed across her skin where Severus had touched, and she was sure she felt a blush rising.

Draco's voice broke into the moment. "If you two are done, I would like to continue the conversation I was having with my godfather."

Severus pulled his hand away and Paige was half tempted to follow it before shaking her head, taking a deep breath, and focusing on her orange again.

"The conversation is over, Draco. You can't go."

"Who are you to tell me what I can and cannot do, Severus?"

Paige heard the question, but underneath that was a more desperate request.

"For your safety and theirs, you have to stay here. Would you like to be responsible for Harry's death?"

Draco gasped and rise from his chair, the legs making a harsh noise against the floor. Paige heard him breathing harshly, but kept her eyes down. This was a family fight, and they weren't her family.

Draco stomped out of the room, the door swinging fiercely behind him.

"What got him into such a strop anyway," Blaise asked, but a glare from Severus sent the other boy scurrying out in Draco's wake.

The dark haired man groaned and slumped in his seat and Paige looked away from her growing pile of orange peel to see him rubbing fitfully at his eyes. Setting the orange down, she looked at him.

"What's going on?"

"He is a child; he wants what he wants and doesn't think about the consequences."

Paige sighed, and pulled Severus's hands away from his face before he could give himself a head ache. Meeting his eyes, he said, "Draco isn't a child anymore, Sev. He hasn't been a child for a very long time."

"You don't understand," he said, "He may look older, but he's actually—"

"You're the one who doesn't understand, Severus. None of that matters. Draco has been acting and making decisions as an adult for years. I don't know a lot about his childhood, but I've seen the way he acts and I honestly doubt he had much of one at all."

The other man nodded.

"So let him make this choice. Maybe it will make him happy."

Severus snorted. "Potter cannot make Draco happy. Potter can get Draco killed. You saw what happened yesterday, and they are over three hundred miles apart. In the same room they would tear each other apart."

Paige put her hand on Severus' shoulder, idly enjoying the heat that seeped through his shirt. She opened her mouth to offer whatever comfort she could, then closed it again as the kitchen door swung open, a panicked Blaise panting and clutching his belly. She sprang out of her chair and rushed to him, Severus at her side. "Blaise? Is it the baby?"

Blaise was breathing heavily, but he managed to gasp out a few words. "Draco… Went to Potter… Idiot."

Paige led Blaise to the table and settled him in a chair, orbing a small bottle of apple juice from the fridge and offering it to the boy.

When he was calm she looked at Severus, still standing frozen in the doorway. That didn't last long. A fiery red flush rose in the pale ascetic cheeks and when Severus turned to Paige she saw a fire in his eyes that frightened her in its intensity.

"Paige. Take me to them."

"Are you sure you want me along, Sev? I don't know—"

"You may be the only person who can prevent me from committing murder today and you want to quibble about introductions?"

Paige took in his expression and his rigid posture, and the fact that his hands were fisted at his sides, knuckles white as bone.

"Okay, let's go."

Paige heard Blaise mumble something behind her and the next thing she knew she was wearing a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, her robe and pajamas gone. She turned to Blaise who just smirked.

"I'll watch the house. Tell me how it went?"

Paige nodded, then walked into Severus's open arms. She prepared herself to orb them both to wherever Draco was when she heard a sharp crack and the world began spinning.

She squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her teeth as she felt her stomach rising in her throat.

"Paige? We're here, you can let go."

Severus's voice was low and soothing, but she tightened her hold on the dark man, pressing her face into his chest.

"No. We're still moving and I am not letting go."

"Oi. No breeders in the club. It puts me right off."

Slowly Paige opened her eyes and turned, leaning against Severus's sturdy form as her knees hadn't solidified yet. She met the laughing gaze of Spike and saw another man grinning behind him.

"I don't know, Blondie Bear. I think it's cute."

"Do you have to call me that? We've discussed this," Spike said, turning to face the man and Paige got a clearer look at him, tall and dark haired and tan. He had a green velvet eye patch on, half covered in tousled curls. From the way they interacted, and the fact that Spike called him 'Xan' with a very familiar tone of exasperation, she knew who he was instantly.

"Xander?"

Spike and Xander were squabbling over someone named 'Harmony' and she tried again.

"Xander!"

The dark haired man turned. "Yeah?"

Paige steeped forward, steadying herself against Severus quickly, "I'm Paige Halliwell. I've been dragging your blond over there to this club for the past few months but he never let us meet."

The man smiled, but there was something sharp to the grin now as he moved forward as well, his hand outstretched. As Paige took it he said, "I'm afraid Spike does tend to get a little possessive. He probably thought if we met you might carry me away."

Paige was feeling a little uncomfortable as the frank way Xander looked her over, and she was thankful Blaise had given her a high-necked shirt.

"That's enough now," Spike said, pulling Xander back and into his arms. "I think you're about done. So, what are you two doing here?"

"We're looking for my wayward nephew. You know the one, blond, sarcastic, your spitting image but with better dress sense and some semblance of table manners."

Spike grinned at Severus's description, but Xander broke out into high, piercing giggles.

"Oh Spike, can we keep him? Please?"

Paige turned to Severus and saw him looking rather disgruntled. Spike and Severus didn't get along at the best of times, each thinking the other too serious and too frivolous, and the addition of a giggling Xander seemed unlikely to make things any better.

"Look, Draco came her to find Harr—"

"—ing little ferret. You knew where I was. You knew, and you never said anything, just that you had to leave. Well if you had to leave then why don't you bloody well just go!"

Paige winced at the harsh shouts, and then again as something hard hit a wall.

A few seconds later Draco walked out of a door at the back of the room. He was pale and drawn and there was a long scratch down his face.

Paige could feel Severus moving beside her, but she reached Draco first. She tilted his face up and healed the cut quickly, then pressed a soft kiss against his cheek. Moving his face again, she met his eyes and gasped.

They were empty.

"Draco?"

"Nephew?"

Severus and Spike were at her sides, but Draco didn't respond to either. Paige opened her arms to the boy and he moved into her embrace, dropping his head against her shoulder.

They stood there for a moment, frozen, until Paige felt Draco take a shuddering breath. Looking up, but still holding on to her, Draco said, "I made him cry, Paige. I didn't mean to make him cry." Tears shone in the pale grey eyes and slowly spilled over his dark lashes. Paige guided his head back to her shoulder, and then looked at Severus, mouthing, 'Go see about Harry.'

Severus nodded and walked toward the other door. Paige felt a cool hand on her shoulder and turned to see Spike, a depth of sorrow in his eyes as he looked from Paige to Draco. Xander came up behind the blond vampire and wrapped his arms around Spike's waist.

"Ah, nephew. You can't take it so hard. My XanPet broke my heart a hundred times and look how happy we are."

Paige half-heard, half-felt Draco snort and when he looked up again he was smiling a watery smile.

Spike had the same smile and the resemblance was striking. Xander seemed to notice as well and he pulled Spike closer in his arms, his eyes softening as he looked at the still-crying whitelighter.

Releasing the vampire, Xander walked closer to Paige and Draco, a small grin at the corners of his mouth, but his eye shining with sincerity as he offered a hand to shake.

Paige unwrapped one of her arms from Draco and accepted the gesture.

"I'm sorry. I got a little thrown when you showed up earlier. I'm Alex--Xander, and you're Paige, right?"

Paige nodded.

"Spike told me about you, and about what's going on at your house," Xander said, looking from Paige to Draco and back again. "I have some connections so the British situation isn't completely news to me. If we'd known Draco was coming we could have called you guys, or kept Harry hidden away or someth—"

"Hidden away?" Draco's voice was steady and cold, his tears completely dried up. "You would have hidden him from me? He's my charge, my—"

"He's not your anything, nephew. Calm down." Spike's voice was steady.

Paige pulled her arms back as Draco stood up straight and moved closer to the blond vampire, a long thin stick in his hands. Paige wasn't sure what he meant to do with it, but there were very few options at the moment.

Spike looked at her, meeting her eyes with a speaking glance before tilting his head in Draco's direction. Paige hoped Spike had an idea as she felt the air around Draco begin to crackle with tension and rage and trusted him, hitting Draco in the back of the head with her emergency kit, which contained several heavy bottles, charmed to be unbreakable.

The blond whitelighter crumpled to the ground, Xander moving in to cushion his landing and move him to a booth.

As he walked away Paige turned to Spike. "Now why did I have to do that?"

Spike sighed. "He's an empath, love. He feels what we're feeling and the person he's closest to at the moment was crying, and then angry."

Paige was confused. "But he was standing next to me and I was fine."

"Not physical closeness."

Paige gasped. "Harry?"

The vampire nodded. "Not only is nephew upset, but Potter is making it worse unintentionally. If we keep them together with Harry as angry as he is we could be dealing with a lot of trouble."

Remembering the wrath in Draco's voice and what Severus said about the two of them tearing each other apart, Paige nodded. "I'll take him back to the Manor, but it's only going to be a temporary solution. Can you handle things on this end?"

Spike nodded, then his face softened. "Take good care of him, yeah? He's had a hard couple of days."

Paige snorted. "If half of what I've heard is true this is nothing." Passing Xander she dodged a solid pinch to the bottom and returned a solid slap of her own. Holding Draco's hand she orbed the two of them back to San Francisco , hearing Xander's merry giggle as they disappeared.

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Note: So there you have it, the meting between Harry and Draco. Kinda. You didn't think it was going to be that easy, did you? There's a whole lot of drama going on here. You'll find out more about the meeting in the next chapter, but in the mean time, how about Snape and Paige, huh? Getting a little handsy there, aren't we? I suppose that's my first bit of citrus in this story, if you will forgive the pun.

On a side note, I only found out last week that men with brown hair were 'brunets.' I've been using 'brunette' for male and female this whole time. Learn something new everyday, I do..

As always, I want reviews. Reviews make me happy, and when I'm happy I write more. Unless I get too happy, then I'm all distracted and I don't write at all. Still, better review anyway, just to be on the safe side.