DISCLAIMER: The characters you recognize obviously don't belong to me. They belong to the gods named Joss Whedon and Aaron Spelling. I can dream though. Right?

SPOILERS: Everything that has previously happened on both Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

A/N: This story is just how I see the new season of Charmed and Buffy (mixed with Angel) starting out. Fair warning to everyone who wants to see those two crazy kids Buffy and Spike get things worked out and be together, NOT IN MY STORY!!!!!!!!!! I am now and always have been a big Buffy/Angel shipper.


Fred and Gunn were walking the streets of L.A. again, hoping still that Angel was somewhere in the city and that they would find him. They had seen Connor from a distance the other night but couldn't get close enough to him to ask him about his father or Cordelia.

Both had been missing for about three months. Fred was worried that something had happened to Angel to make him disappear for this long. She was worried that maybe he had left town. The only place they could think of to call was Sunnydale. No one there had seen him in a couple of years.


Every night when they returned to the Hyperion, Fred would sit in the office and cry because they hadn't found either Cordy or Angel. Every night when they got back, Gunn would go down to the workout room and knock around the punching bag for a couple of hours before going upstairs and laying down next to Fred. He would wrap his arms around her and they would fall asleep together, the last two members of Angel Investigations.


They just didn't know what else to do. They were continuing the business in the best way they knew how. They didn't want Angel to come back from whereever he was to find that they had given up. They did believe that he would come back someday and they were determined to show him that they kept things going in his absence.

"Fred. Gunn." They heard the whisper and sat straight up in bed.

"Cordy!" Fred squealed when she saw the Seer at the door to their room. But Cordy was glowing. "Where have you been and why are you glowing?"

"Fred, Gunn, listen closely. I don't have a lot of time. I know where Angel is and you have to rescue him. He's in a box at the bottom of the ocean. Connor left him there. Don't talk now," she warned when she saw Fred taking a deep breath as if to start her questions. She smiled sadly. Fred's inquistive nature was one of the things she would miss about this plane of existence. "Just follow me. And follow my instructions. I'll explain everything later."

Gunn and Fred both nodded and slipped out of bed, fully clothed to follow their friend to save Angel.


Sitting on a boat the next night right after sunset, Gunn was dressed in scuba gear and was ready to dive for Angel. This is where Cordy said they would find the box that imprisoned Angel. He nodded at Fred and jumped into the water.


'Oh God! It IS Angel!' Gunn thought when he looked into the box and saw Angel's familiar face.

'Did you think I was kidding?' came Cordy's voice inside his head. 'Quickly! Attach the cable to the box and get back to the surface. He's been down here almost too long as it stands.'

Gunn followed her instructions and, soon, Angel was back on dry land. They opened the box and stood back as Cordy's glowing form bent over Angel comatose body and begged him to wake up.

His eyes opened but the reaction was not what they expected. He jumped out of the box and ran off quickly disappearing into the night.

"What happened?" Gunn asked.

"He's been in a type of hibernation for three months. He's hungry and confused right now. I have a feeling that I know where he's headed." When they both turned to look at her, she continued. "I just don't know if Buffy's ready to face him right now."


Back in Sunnydale, Buffy wasn't dealing well with anything, let alone anyone. Shortly after Xander, Willow, and Dawn had left, Oz had come back to town wanting another chance with Willow and Buffy had to tell him what had happened. He decided to stick around. He moved into the extra room in Buffy's house.


"Hey, Anya. I hear you could use some help fixing this place back up."

"Oz!" Anya ran out from behind the register and hugged Oz tightly. "Does Willow know that you're here?"

"No. I haven't had a chance to call her." Oz looked down at his shoes. "I don't know what she'll think of it. I come back right after the woman she loved died. She's probably going to have some problems with that."

Oz didn't realize that right now Willow had a lot of problems. None of which had to do with him.


They arrived in San Francisco and found the Halliwell house fairly quickly. Willow followed Xander and Dawn up to the door and didn't even look at the door until she heard a familiar voice.

"Xander? Willow? It's been forever!"

"Paige? Paige Matthews?"

"It's Halliwell now. When my parents died, I came back here and finished school and went to college. I became a social worker." She stepped back. "Come on in. We can catch up."

The three friends from Sunnydale followed Paige into the living room. Piper sat on the couch with her feet up. She looked huge. She was almost eight months pregnant with Leo's child.

"Piper, these are some of my friends from Sunnydale." Piper looked at Willow curiously.

"She's powerful. She holds more power than we do as the Charmed Ones." Then, she looked at Dawn. "So is she. I think we better get Leo here for this one."

She had no sooner spoke her husband's name then he was right there beside her, helping her to her feet. "The Elders sent me when they realized who was knocking at your door. Then, when you called me, they knew they were right in sending me back." He held out his hand to Xander. "We know who you are and were prophesied to be. You are the one they call the Loyal. Loyal to anyone you call friend and recent savior of the world."

He turned to Willow. "The Slayer's Witch friend. Your grief was very powerful but could never be more powerful than the love of a true friend. I also mourned your loss. Tara was a great power for our side. As are you."

Looking at Dawn, he smiled. "And the Key. What an honor it is to finally meet you. I assume the Elders were correct and that your powers have started to truly manifest themselves."

"If you mean that I can heal people, then yeah, I guess you're right." Dawn wasn't real sure about trusting these people. She was understandably a little nervous about all of this. She wasn't so sure anymore that she wanted to know who she was. She just wanted to go home to be with Buffy.

"You and I will talk more later. First, to address the problems that brought all of you here."

At that, Willow started to get nervous. How much did he know? Who were these "Elders" he was talking about? Were they on the same side?

"Yes. We are on the same side." At Willow's look of surprise that he understood her thoughts, Leo explained. "Your face is very expressive, Willow. That's how I understood. That and the Elders told me."

He took a deep breath. "I am a Whitelighter. I help innocents. At one point, my job was just to watch out for the Charmed Ones without them knowing who I was. But, something happened." He wrapped an arm around Piper's shoulders. "I fell in love. After Pru died, we were lucky to find Paige. She wasn't even aware that she was a Halliwell. We didn't even know that there was a fourth Halliwell sister. She is half-Whitelighter. She has the same abilities I do to a slightly lesser extent."

"What am I?" Dawn interrupted.

Leo walked over to Dawn and touched her forehead. "Not what. Who. You are very powerful, Dawn. This world is a much better place to have you in it. If your powers had manifested sooner, you could have restrained Willow at her strongest. With the right training. The Elders and the Powers That Be have sent you here to learn about yourself and what role you will play in the End Days. You will be a major force when the Final Battles come. This is what I know from the Elders. We will have to do some research to learn more."

At this, Willow's head popped up and there was a smile there for the first time in a long time. "Research? I like to research."

Xander just giggled. "Not a word in three months and then with the research thing." He shook his head. "My bookwormy Willow." He hugged her almost in tears. He pulled back and looked at Leo. "Less than an hour with you and she speaks again. Thank you for that."

"Your loyalty to Willow has been tested to limits that no friendship should ever be tested to. Yet you have stood by her. You have defended her when few others, even no others would."

"She's my friend and she has been just as loyal to me when I needed it." Xander looked into Willow's eyes. "When I was completely cruel to her under the influence of a spell that placed a hyena's spirit into my body, when I had a witch cast a spell which made her and all the women of Sunnydale love me, when I obsessed over Buffy. She never once stopped caring. So many times when she could have turned her back on me but never did."

"The Powers know that. That's why they weren't surprised that you stood beside her when she did what she did."

Everyone sat down and started talking.


Sunnydale was quiet. Had been ever since Willow went all dark magicky. Buffy was really hoping for an apocalypse right now. She was bored. She spent her days helping Anya rebuild the Magic Box and the nights patrolling with Oz. The two of them had gotten really close.

Of course, Oz and Anya were even closer. They had a common bond of having betrayed the people they loved the most. In fact, they had even started going out together. They went to the movies and dinner and the Bronze. Buffy just watched enviously.

She found her thoughts drifting to Angel and LA. What was he doing? Who was he with? What was Cordy up to?

"Would you believe that I have ascended to a higher plane of existence?" Cordy's voice seemed to be coming from behind her. Buffy turned around to see the former May Queen standing in her living room. Cordy was glowing though. The only time she had done that in high school was when she had succeeded in putting someone down in a new way.

"What --- What are you doing here? Is Angel with you?"

For a moment, Buffy swore that she saw a look of sadness pass across Cordy's face. "No. But he's on his way. He was sealed in a box at the bottom of the ocean for the past three months. He was in a state of hibernation but now he's awake and he's hungry. The last I saw of him, he was heading this way. I'm assuming he'll want you to feed him. After all, with your blood he doesn't need as much because it's so much more potent than normal mortal blood." She looked up for a moment as if listening to something. "Just two more things. Take care of him, Buffy. The two of you have to be together. It's foretold. Second, there is some real weirdness coming. Don't freak out on us. Lean on Angel and he will lean on you when you learn what you will learn. Take care, Buffy. Don't give up."

"I won't, Cordy. Thank you. Can you stay a while and talk? I've been so lonely the past couple of months."

"I wish I could. I have to go. I will check in on you from time to time." She sighed. "Tell Angel I'm sorry and I love him."

"I will." With that, the Seer vanished.

Just then, Buffy's front door slammed open and she heard her lover's voice for the first time in almost two years. "Buffy!!!!!"