Author's Note: I forgot to mention even though it was likely obvious. There will be no Angel in this story. Who knows for sure exactly what happened to him in this AU. Maybe Whistler somehow got him on the path to redemption and got him to open his "detective agency" three years early? Who knows. But Paige takes the place of Angel in case it wasn't obvious.

Next only one reviewer suggested a new title and its better than what I had - The Witch Slayer (the reason the title was Tentative was because the title makes it sound like Buffy slays witches instead of vampires). He suggested Charming the Slayer based on the fact this a Paige/Buffy pairing. And so that is what I decided to go with. I've not come up with anything myself and as I said its better than what I had.


Chapter 2: The Harvest Part 1

"Think of Whitelighters as guardian angels for witches," Paige said. "And you Buffy are not only the Slayer, but a witch. I'm here to guide you and Dawn both towards your destinies and help you both in learning to control your powers."

Buffy shook her head as she began to laugh. "A witch, me? That's beyond funny."

"It's true," Paige said. "We should find the three you saved and make sure their alright and then get you home so your mom can give me the spell to unbind your powers."

Buffy looked toward the door and then nodded. How could she have forgotten Willow, Xander and their friend Jesse. She and Paige ran out the door. They listened for any indication of where the three and the vampire had gone.

And then they heard Willow scream. "No! Nooo! Get—off—"

Paige grabbed Buffy's hand and orbed out and back in to a small clearing in the woods. They saw Willow on the ground, wrestling with a vampire. The creature held Willow mercilessly in his grasp. He was just going in for her neck when Buffy kicked, sending him sprawling backward. He gave a grunt of pain, then staggered to his feet, holding his nose and trying to get away from her.

Buffy stood there a second, catching her breath. All her senses were at their most alert now, and she furiously scanned her surroundings. She heard a cracking sound followed by unmistakable scuffling, and she took off, leaving Willow with Paige.

Paige helped Willow to her feet and then she orbed them out. They orbed in at the edge of another clearing and they caught sight of Xander, his unconscious body being dragged away by two more vampires. As the vampires sensed an unwelcome presence behind them, they slowly turned around and saw her and Willow.

Paige watched, while the vampires were distracted by hers and Willow's presence, Buffy come up in front of the vampires. They turned around and Buffy knocked them both off their feet.

The vampires scrambled to get up and get away. They didn't scramble fast enough.

Grabbing a branch from a nearby tree, Buffy snapped it off and held it in her hand like a stake. She charged one vampire, nailing him neatly through the chest, while the other fled for his life.

Willow ran up to Xander and knelt beside him, cradling his head in her arms. To her relief he seemed to be coming to, and after blinking a few times, he frowned up at her, trying to get his bearings.

"Xander . . . are you okay?" Willow asked softly.

"Man . . ." Xander still seemed a little disoriented. "Something hit me . . ."

Buffy walked a few paces, peering hard through the trees, her expression solemn and worried. "Where's Jesse?"

For the first time Willow seemed to realize that Jesse was missing. "I don't know," she shook her head. "They surrounded us—he was really weak . . ."

"That girl grabbed him," Xander mumbled. "Took off."

"Which way?" Buffy demanded, but Xander looked blank.

"I don't know."

Buffy stared into the night and then she looked straight at Paige who walked up to them.

Paige shook her head as she understood what her charge wanted. She couldn't track Jesse because he wasn't her charge.

"Jesse . . ." Buffy whispered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

After Paige and Buffy made sure Willow and Xander got home. Paige orbed Buffy back to her own home where Joyce and Dawn waited for them.

Buffy's eyes went wide when they materialized in front of Joyce. She looked at Paige. "I thought you said I wasn't supposed to …"

"Buffy," Joyce interrupted. "I know of the supernatural because like you I'm a witch, a natural born witch." She handed Paige a piece of paper. "This is the spell I used on Buffy, Dawn and myself."

"You mean what she said was true?" Buffy asked shocked.

Dawn let out a sigh. "It's true, Buffy. You, mom and I are witches and mom bound our powers when we were babies."

"I'm sorry, Buffy," Joyce said sincerely. "I did it to give you and Dawn both a normal life. After what had happened to a friend, I was afraid for the two of you. I did not want you two to go through what I had. I bound my and your powers after you were born, Buffy. And then when Dawn was born I had a friend unbind mine so I could bind Dawn's and then I rebound my own. And now you've been called as a Slayer, it seems destiny wants you … wants you both in that world, whether I would like you to have a normal childhood or not."

Buffy sighed. "Just cast this spell then I want to go to bed."

Paige nodded. "It has been a long day. I figure tomorrow will be even longer," she said as she looked over Joyce's spell. The spell looked familiar. "We'll do this tomorrow. I need to check something." She orbed out and back to the manor she had called home for over three years. "Piper!"

Piper walked out of the kitchen to find Paige standing at the base of the stairs. "Hey, Paige. How is your new charge? You were gone for all day."

"I wanted to get to know her," Paige said. "I wanted to show you this though." She handed Piper the piece of paper. "Doesn't that look familiar?"

Piper looked over the paper and then headed upstairs to the attic as Paige followed and to the Book of Shadows. She flipped through the book till she found what she was looking for. She laid the paper next to the spell in the book. "It's a match, word for word. How would your charge get a spell out of our book?"

"She didn't," Paige said. "Her mother cast that spell to bind hers and her daughter's powers."

"I'm going to call Grams and find out …" Piper said.

"No need."

Piper and Paige turned to see Leo standing in the attic door.

"There is only one witch that I know of that used the binding spell from the book," he said. "Your mom had a friend by the name of Joyce Williams. After your mom was killed it started a downward spiral which led to Joyce binding her powers shortly after the birth of her first daughter. She had your Grams unbind them for her second daughter so she could bind that daughter's powers before rebinding her own."

"How do you know this?" Paige asked.

"Joyce was my charge when I was still a Whitelighter," Leo said with a sigh. "She was the only one I failed. I nearly followed Sam's path when she bound her powers."

"Why would you have done that?" Piper asked. "Sam clipped his wings because he was in love with mom. And wanted to make sure no one else died from the demon."

"And I was in love with Joyce at the time," Leo said. "Paige you and Wyatt are not the only ones born from a Whitelighter."

"Buffy and Dawn," Paige said, "are your daughters?"

"Only Buffy," Leo said. "Dawn was born a year later, her father is Joyce's husband. Neither Joyce nor Buffy know that. In fear of the Elders finding out. I cast a spell, I made Joyce forget about me, that I was her Whitelighter and the father of her child. She thinks her husband is the father. She had been dating him, since she knew she and I were forbidden. The night we slept together, she and Hank had an argument and he had left. She needed consoling and one thing led to another."

"How did she get ahold of the spell?" Piper asked.

"Your Grams let her borrow the Book to bind Buffy's powers. She must have copied the spell because she used it to bind Dawn's a year later. According to Grams, Joyce was going to bind her daughter's powers because a warlock was after her. And she rather love her daughter as a mortal than a dead witch."

"She must have heard the story of how Grams and mom bound our powers because of Nicholas," Piper said. "And Grams knowing that it was possible decided to help her out."

"Exactly," Leo said.

"I'm going to unbind their powers," Paige said. "Joyce can help train Buffy and Dawn in the use of their witch powers. And Buffy's witch powers could help her as the Slayer. I will help train Buffy in the use of her Whitelighter powers. Leo, we need to reverse the spell you cast. They should know that you are Buffy's father."

"Its better they don't know," Leo said. "It will just complicate things."

"That maybe so," Piper said. "But just like Paige had the right to know that Sam was her father. Buffy has the right to know who hers is. Besides if I was in her place I would like to meet both my father and my half-brothers."

Leo sighed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next morning in the peaceful calm of the school library Giles stood at the railing on the upper level of bookshelves and tried to give Xander and Willow an explanation for what was happening.

"This world is older than any of you know," he told them solemnly. "And contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons, demons walked the earth. Made it their home ... their hell."

Willow and Xander both listened intently, their expressions every bit as grave as Giles's own.

"In time they lost their purchase on this reality," he continued, carrying an armload of books down the stairs, "and the way was made for the mortal animals. For man. What remains of the Old Ones are vestiges. Certain magics, certain creatures . . ."

"And vampires," Buffy added. After Paige had left her with her mother, she had quickly gone to bed. Her dreams that night were of Paige. For some reason she could not get the Whitelighter out of her mind.

Xander stood up, clearly agitated.

"Okay, this is where I have a problem, see, because we're now talking about vampires." He frowned. "We're having a talk with vampires in it."

"Isn't that what we saw last night?" Willow asked.

"No, those weren't vampires," Dawn quipped. "Those were just some guys in thundering need of a facial. Or maybe they had rabies—coulda been rabies. And that guy turning to dust ... just a trick of the light." She ignored the look Xander gave her and regarded him with total understanding. "That's exactly what I said the first time I saw a vampire. I mean, when I was done with the screaming part."

"Oooh . . ." Willow murmured. "I need to sit down."

"You are sitting down," Buffy reminded her.

"Oh." Willow gave a vacant nod. "Good for me."

"So vampires are demons?" Xander went on, while Giles again tried to clarify.

"The books tell that the last demon to leave this reality fed off a human, mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed—infected—by the demon's soul." Giles handed Xander one of the heavy volumes. "He bit another, and another ... and so they walk the earth feeding. Killing some, mixing their blood with others to make more of their kind. Waiting for the animals to die out and the Old Ones to return."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige orbed in the Summers home with Leo and found Joyce waiting for her. "Morning, Joyce."

"Morning, Paige," Joyce returned. "Who is this, another one of your charges?"

"No," Paige replied as she shook her head. "This is Leo Wyatt, my brother-in-law. He used to be your Whitelighter."

Joyce's brow knitted in confusion. "Paige, you must be mistaken. I never had a Whitelighter."

Leo let out a sigh. "That's because I cast a memory spell, Joyce. Made you forget about me."

Joyce frowned as she shook her head. "Why would you do that? You are a Whitelighter, you are supposed to guide witches not the other way around."

"Because Joyce you and I were in love," Leo said. "Our relationship was forbidden as you well know. You were dating Hank to try and keep your mind off your feelings for me. Then one night you and Hank had an argument and you called for me. I came over and tried to comfort you. One thing led to another."

"This doesn't make sense," Joyce said. She couldn't believe a word of what she was hearing. A Whitelighter had cast a memory spell to make forget about him. Add on top of that she and he had fallen in love.

"I can prove it," Paige said. "I have here the spell Leo cast. I can reverse it."

"Why can't he?" Joyce wondered.

"It's a long story," Leo said. "I recently fell from grace so that I could be with my wife and my two sons."

"That means he clipped his wings, he's no longer a Whitelighter," Paige said.

Joyce sighed. "I don't know about this. How do I know you two are telling the truth?"

"Do you remember last night when I said I had to check on something," Paige said as Joyce nodded. "The spell you handed me was one I had seen before. In my family's Book of Shadows. You had borrowed the spell from my Grams, Penny Halliwell."

Joyce's eyes went wide. "Mrs. Halliwell is your grandmother?" she asked as Paige nodded. "That makes you Patty's daughter."

"That's right," Paige said, "her youngest. The one she gave up because she and my father were afraid that I would be taken away from them if the Elders knew."

"That's why I cast the spell on you Joyce," Leo said. "I knew you had planned on binding your own and Buffy's powers after she was born. And so I cast the memory spell so that the Elders would never find out about Buffy being my child. Because then they would have taken her away from you."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"A Slayer," Giles continued to explain.

"And that would be a what?" Xander asked him.

"As long as there have been vampires, there has been the Slayer," Giles recited. "One girl in all the world—"

"He loves doing this part," Buffy interrupted.

"All right," Giles conceded, speeding up a little. "They hunt vampires, one Slayer dies, the next is called, Buffy is the Slayer, don't tell anyone." He stopped and drew a breath. "I think that's all the vampire information you need."

"Except for one thing," Xander spoke up. "How do you kill them?"

"You don't," Buffy corrected him. "I do."

"Well, Jesse—"

"Jesse's my responsibility. I let him get taken."

Xander frowned. "That's not true."

"If you hadn't shown up," Willow added loyally, "they would have . . . taken us, too. . . . Does anybody mind if I pass out?"

"Breathe . . ." Dawn ordered her.

Willow nodded. "Breathe."

"Breathe," Buffy said again, and then to Giles, "This big guy, Luke, he talked about an offering to the Master. I don't know who or what that was, but if they weren't just feeding, Jesse may still be alive. I'm gonna find him."

Calmer now, Willow offered a suggestion. "This is probably a dumb question, but shouldn't we call the police?"

"And they'd believe us, of course," Giles replied.

"We don't have to say vampires," Willow stammered. "We could say there was . . . a bad man."

Dawn shook her head consolingly. "They couldn't handle it if they did come. They'd only show up with guns."

"You've no idea where they took Jesse?" Giles asked her.

"I looked around, but . . . soon as they got clear of the woods they could have just—" Buffy made a quick motion with her hand. "—whoom."

"Can they fly?" Xander looked surprised.

"They can drive."

"Oh."

Willow tried to think back. "I don't remember hearing a car."

"Well, let's take an enormous intuitive leap and say they went underground," Giles said.

"Vampires really jam on sewer systems," Buffy agreed. "You can get anywhere in town without catching any rays. I didn't see any access around there, though."

Xander shrugged. "Well, there's electrical tunnels. They run under the whole town."

For a moment Giles considered this. "If we had a diagnostic of the tunnel system, it might indicate a meeting place. I suppose we could go to the building commission—"

"We so don't have time," Buffy cut him off.

"Uh, guys?" Willow said tentatively. "There may be another way."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige looked at Leo and hoped the spell would work. After all it hadn't with Piper, but that was a result of an interaction with Leo's magic while he was an Elder. "Powers and emotions tied, a witch's heart is where it hides. Help her through her agony, bless her with her memory."

Joyce blinked and looked at Paige. "Uh who are you?" she asked and when Paige looked at her, her eyes wide, she smiled. "Just kidding. I remember you now, Leo. And I also remember the love we felt." She sighed and shook her head. "But you're married now. May I ask how did that happen?"

"At first the Elders tried to keep me and Piper separated," Leo said. "Then Piper managed to convince them and they allowed us to date and finally get married. And in time we had two sons, Buffy's half-brothers; Wyatt and Chris. Wyatt is two and Chris only one."

"I'm glad you were finally able to have a life with someone," Joyce said, "even if it wasn't with me."

"I will always love you, Joyce," Leo said. "It nearly broke me when I cast that spell and you bound yours and Buffy's powers. So much so I almost clipped my wings then."

"I'm glad you didn't," Joyce said. She looked to Paige and smiled. "If you are anything like Leo, you will make an excellent Whitelighter for Buffy. Who better to guide, than someone exactly like her."

"Thanks," Paige said. "Are you ready for your powers to be unbound?"

Joyce nodded.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"There it is," Buffy said eagerly.

Willow sat at the computer while everyone else gathered around her. Showing on the screen was a complete map of the city's electrical tunnels.

"This runs under the graveyard," Willow explained, pointing to one in particular, but Xander shook his head.

"I don't see any access," Dawn noted.

"So all the city plans are just open to the public?" Giles asked.

"Uh, well, in a way," Willow frowned a little sheepishly. "I sort of stumbled onto them when I accidentally ... decrypted the city council's security system."

Xander's focus remained on the screen. "Someone's been naughty . . ."

"There's nothing here," Buffy sounded disappointed. "This is useless!"

"I think you should ease up on yourself," Giles consoled her, but Buffy turned on him, obviously distressed.

"You're the one who told me I wasn't prepared enough. Understatement. I thought I was on top of it, and then that monster Luke came out of nowhere—"

She broke off abruptly and Dawn glanced up at her.

"Buffy?" Dawn asked.

But Buffy was remembering the scenes from the past night playing out perfectly in her mind including when Paige showed up. "He didn't come out of nowhere," she said excitedly. "He came from behind me. I was facing the entrance and he came from behind me." She looked at the others around her. "The access to the tunnels is in the mausoleum."

"Are you sure?" Giles straightened.

"The girl must have doubled back with Jesse after I got out," Buffy went on. "God, I'm so mentally challenged!"

"No you're not," Dawn said with a shake of her head.

Xander stepped back, ready for action. "So what's the plan? We saddle up, right?"

"There's no 'we,'" Buffy corrected him. "I'm the Slayer and you're not."

"I knew you were gonna throw that in my face," Xander grumbled.

"Xander, this is deeply dangerous," Dawn said. "Believe me I know. Even when Buffy first found out she was the Slayer, she and Merrick wouldn't let me patrol. I saw my first vampire the night of the dance when Buffy and I burned down the gym."

"I'm inadequate. That's fine. I'm less than a man."

Xander turned his back on her and walked off. With a sympathetic glance in Xander's direction, Willow appealed to Buffy.

"Buffy, I'm not anxious to go into a dark place full of monsters, but I do want to help. I need to."

"Then help me," Giles replied without hesitation. "I've been researching this Harvest affair. Seems to be some sort of preordained massacre. Rivers of blood, hell on earth . . . quite charmless. I am fuzzy on the details, however, and it may be that you can wrest some information from that dread machine."

He paused, glancing from one uncomprehending look to another.

"That was a bit British, wasn't it?" he admitted, embarrassed.

Buffy smiled. "Welcome to the new world."

"I want you to go on the Net," Giles translated.

"Oh!" Willow brightened. "Yeah. Sure. I can do that."

"Then I'm out of here," Buffy announced. "If Jesse's alive, I'll bring him back."

Giles stepped forward, his grave expression softening. "Do I have to tell you to be careful?"

Buffy met his eyes for a long moment.