DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything to do with Buffy the Vampire Slayer – it all belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox, etc. . .Neither do I own anything to do with Charmed, which belongs to Spelling Entertainment and Constance M. Burge. I think.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This chapter was a lot of hard work, because I tried to cover everything I could about both worlds, and tried to explain their co- existence as best I could. I know there are some problems that can't be addressed though, so I will ask you to overlook those. . .anyway, hope you enjoy! Please review!

Chapter 4 – Confusion in the middle of a Crisis

'Hey, hey – calm down!' Piper rushed down the steps towards Willow. 'It's all under control – watch!' She stuck out her hands as the scene began moving again.

The other five stopped dead in their tracks. 'Where'd Nerd 1 and 2 come from?' Cordelia pointed at Prue and Phoebe, staring at them intently.

Willow's voice had a panicky edge about it as she waved her hands around Piper. 'Sh-sh-she just froze you all! You just – stopped moving!'

'OK, yes, I did, but. . .' Piper looked around, all of a sudden very intimidated. 'I'm good, OK? I'm a good guy – so are they.' She gestured to her sisters. 'There's nothing to worry about.'

'But – how the heck did you do that thing with your hands? And why did it affect everyone but me?'

Piper took a deep breath. 'To answer your first question, it's a power I have. As for your second, my power doesn't work on good witches and certain demons. . .so I assume and hope you're the former.'

'Power?' Giles removed his glasses, staring fascinated at the three new figures. 'What sort of power?'

They hesitated, as Prue said openly. 'I think they should know.' She went down the steps to the large crowd. 'I'm Prue Halliwell. These are my sisters Piper and Phoebe. . .and we're the Charmed Ones.'

Buffy cleared her throat. 'Alright, in my line of work, you tend to get a lot of this, so please forgive me when I say. . .huh?'

'The Charmed Ones,' Phoebe went on, 'are us three witches that have inherited powers through our ancestors – in particular the first witch in our line, Melinda Warren, who possessed all the powers we possess together – and we work by the Power of Three.' She paused for a breath. 'We each have our own individual power, as well as being able to perform magick spells. I have premonitions of the future. . .'

'I can move things with my mind,' Prue filled in.

'. . .and I can freeze moments for a short period of time,' Piper completed.

'With these powers, that will grow as time passes,' Phoebe said, 'we're destined to fight evil and destroy demons, which I'm sure you get plenty of here on the Hellmouth.'

Buffy put her hand son her hips. 'OK, isn't that my job? Destined to fight evil and destroy demons?' She directed the question to Giles.

He awkwardly nodded his head. 'Yes. . .I suppose it is. . .'

Prue perked up. 'Your job? What are you?'

Buffy rolled her head. 'No point in hiding it now. . .I'm the Slayer.'

Piper clicked her fingers. 'Why does that sound familiar. . .?'

Phoebe clapped her hands. 'The Book of Shadows! Remember? It said the Hellmouth would barely be inhabited by humans unless it had a strong defense for it – like a Slayer.'

'Book of Shadows?' Willow queried.

'This book of spells and demons and stuff that we work from,' Phoebe quickly made clear. 'It's in Prue's bag.'

Prue shot Phoebe a look. 'Phoebe!' she scolded.

'What? It's not like they're gonna steal it or something!'

Prue approached Buffy, arms crossed. 'So what does a Slayer do exactly?'

Buffy began to explain. 'Well. . .let's see. . . "In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons, and the forces of darkness. She is the Slayer." Is that about right Giles?'

Giles seemed distracted. 'Yes, something like that. . .did you mention the Power of Three?'

'Yeah, it's what we work by,' Prue clarified.

Giles put his glasses back on. 'Hang on. . .the Charmed Ones, you said? You're. . .you're meant to be a myth. There's mention of you in some more modern occult books, but. . .the Watcher's Council never really believed you would exist.'

Piper threw her hands up. 'Well – here we are in the flesh.'

Giles smiled vaguely. 'It's actually quite an honor. . .'

Xander shifted. 'So you're these super-powerful good witches who save the world from demons, kind of like Buffy. . .how come we've never seen you before?'

'We're from San Francisco,' Prue replied. 'We live there.'

Oz's face remained expressionless. 'So. . .why are you here? Not that the Hellmouth isn't a great holiday spot away from demons, but. . .'

'I had a premonition,' Phoebe explained. 'It showed your school being attacked on Graduation – it was horrible, I saw all these students dying – so we decided to come down here and stop it.'

'What was attacking the school?' Buffy instantly let out.

The sisters hesitated, looking at their shoes uncomfortably.

'A giant snake,' Phoebe eventually said.

Oz leaned back on the desk. 'Huh.'

'Well, that won't happen,' Buffy said determined. 'We'll get the Box of Gavrok tonight, the Mayor won't ascend and there will be no snake.'

'Yeah, that sounds great and all,' Phoebe objected. 'Whatever the Box of Thingy may be. . .but my premonitions come to me for a reason, and unless my sisters and I make some effort to stop it, it will happen.'

'You have made the effort.' Buffy tried to be intimidating. 'You've told us, we know it's happening, and now *we'll* stop it. Thanks for your help.'

'We're not leaving!' Prue pressed. 'We're not trying to overshadow your fighting evil; we just want to help as much as we can. It's our job.'

'And with our powers,' Piper added, 'we think we can be of assistance.'

'No offence to you girls,' Xander approached Willow, putting his arm around her shoulders. 'But we have a witch here with major magick mojo.'

'Aw, thanks Xand!' Willow looked appreciatively at her best friend. 'Plus, I didn't freeze when you did your. . .thing,' she stuck out her hands, trying to imitate Piper, 'and you said yourself, good witches don't freeze, so. . .I'd be grateful for your tips and all, but I can handle the magick part on my own.'

The Charmed sisters looked over at one another, bemused expressions in place.

'Uh, when I said "good witch",' Piper corrected, 'I meant "good" as in positive, not "good quality".'

'Oh.' Willow hung her head, a little ashamed. 'Well, at least I count at all on your freezing radar,' she quietly consoled herself.

'And it's not just about pure magick,' Phoebe said. 'Our powers really help in a demon fighting situation; we're used to using them.'

'Yeah, not to mention,' Prue went on. 'Phoebe's one heck of a kick-boxer.'

Buffy looked doubtfully at her friends, then back at the strangers in front of her. 'How do we now we can trust you?' she asked cautiously.

'Because we've just revealed to you the biggest secret of our life,' Piper said. 'And believe us when we say we don't do that to just anyone.'

Finally, Buffy gave in. 'Alright, fine.' She offered each sister a seat at the table. 'I guess we do need all the help we can get on this.' The three smiled weakly at her.

'Before we start. . .' Buffy decided to get some background information first. 'What kind of evil are you normally used to facing?'

'Demons mostly,' Prue informed. 'Warlocks also. Then there's a bunch of things that fall into neither category.'

'Warlocks?' Buffy looked quizzically at Giles. 'How come we never get those here?'

Giles recalled: 'I read somewhere that warlocks can't approach the Hellmouth, something about their powers being weakened here.'

'Hmm. That's ironic,' commented Buffy. 'Considering it's the most evil place in the world.'

'I notice you didn't mention vampires,' Xander observed. 'There's a scarily huge population of those here.'

'The only reason, Xander, is demonic energy emanating from the Hellmouth,' Giles explained. 'I'm sure the sisters have encountered one or two in their lifetime, but never as many as us.'

'That's us covered,' Phoebe said, entwining her fingers together. 'What about you guys? You're the Slayer,' she pointed at Buffy, 'what about the rest of you?'

'I'm a self-training Wicca,' Willow said helplessly. 'But that probably means nothing to powerful witches like yourselves.'

'Oh, we respect serious Wiccans who know how to use their powers,' Prue assured. 'You'll be like that one day, as long as you're determined.'

'What we don't appreciate so much though,' Piper added with a bitter tone, 'is goddess worshippers who think a bunch of herbs and lucky charms is magick, and sometimes even criticize us for not doing that bit properly. But considering you live on the Hellmouth and know what demons are and how to face them, I think your magick's slightly more advanced than that.' Willow gave a little satisfied smile.

'I was Buffy's Watcher,' Giles said. 'I trained her to fight and did all the demon research although. . .I was fired and now I'm just a librarian.'

'I'm a werewolf 3 nights of the month,' Oz contributed. 'I'm tame though. I spend my wolfed-out nights in that cage.' He pointed to the cage at the side of the library.

'I'm the one with the fashion sense in this crowd,' Cordelia told them proudly. 'That's what I consider my power.'

Finally, the sisters stared at Xander, awaiting his answer. He shuffled in his seat, unsure what to say.

'Well, I don't have any supernatural powers per se; I'm just the – y'know – handyman of the group. I help. . .and stuff.'

The library doors burst open and the group at the table rhythmically swung their heads around to see who had come in. Wesley strolled in, pompous expression pasted on his face as usual.

'Hello Ms. Summers. . .and friends,' he said the last part resentfully.

Phoebe smiled goofily. 'Hi!' she gave a friendly wave before turning to her sisters and saying: 'Oh my God, it's James Bond!'

Piper raised an eyebrow. 'Yeah, sure. . .I think I'll stick with Dan.'

Wesley shot his hand at the sisters, aghast, finally noticing their presence. 'Who are they?!' he said shrilly.

'Witches, apparently helping us stop the Mayor,' Buffy said flatly.

'Oh, so now they know your Slayer identity as well? You know, that's normally only meant to be known by the Slayer and her Watcher, but since you're so fine with it, I have an idea – why don't we publicly broadcast it to the high school?' He spoke sarcastically.

Phoebe sprung up from her chair, outstretching her hand to Wesley. 'I'm Phoebe Halliwell, nice to meet you.' He took it, eying her suspiciously.

'My sisters and I are the Charmed Ones!' she let out excitedly. Wesley's eyes widened.

'*The* Charmed Ones? The legend of the three most powerful witches in this dimension?!'

Phoebe rolled her eyes, giggling lightly. 'Well. . .yeah. . .'

Now it was Piper and Prue's turn to roll their eyes. They shared a look that was the universal look for: "Great. Our sister's fallen for a loser".

Wesley continued to look impressed, and Phoebe gave him a playful smile. He finally realized she was subtly flirting, and returned her gesture.

'Likewise,' he smiled mysteriously, trying to give off a "tall, dark and handsome" look. Phoebe chuckled.

Piper shook her head, quietly saying to Prue: 'We've lost her.'

Cordelia watched Wesley being drawn to Phoebe, and instantly objected.

'Wesley!' she called to him. He looked up at Cordelia as she waved, saying "hi" in a sing-song voice.

He stared at her for a moment, but then Phoebe tugged his arm, making his attention go back to her. His glance kept going back and forth between the two women, much to amusement of the rest of them. Eventually, he shut his eyes, took a deep breath and walked over to Buffy.

'How is the progress with the Box of Gavrok?' Buffy opened her mouth to reply, but Wesley answered his own question. 'Let me guess. . .you couldn't find any information and you need my help and the Council's. Well, fear not. . .'

'Actually,' Giles looked as if he was getting a lot of pleasure from what he was about to say. 'We know in more detail what's in the box, what the Mayor will use it for, and when and where he will get it. We intend to get a hold of it first and were just about to hatch a well-constructed plan – weren't we Buffy?'

A smile tugged at her lips. 'Exactly. So Wes, why don't you go home and make some nice earl grey, while we take care of the evil?'

By now, Phoebe had walked back over to her sisters. She contorted her face.

'I don't get it. James Bond isn't cool?'

The bell rang outside in the corridors.

'I'm guessing we're not going to class. . .' Cordy leaned back in her chair, arms folded.

'I think we have more pressing matters to deal with,' Oz stated.

'OK, so we know the Mayor is getting the box tonight at the airport,' Buffy summarized. 'For us it's just a question of taking it from him under his nose. . .' she broke off, looking over at the sisters. 'How much do your powers work exactly?'

Prue swiveled around in her chair, looking for something she could demonstrate with. Her eye caught a pile of books on the other side of the room. She gestured with her hands as the books flew over neatly onto the desk.

'She can also throw people across rooms,' Phoebe mentioned.

'Uh, I can't really show you mine,' Piper wrung her hands. 'But I can tell you that I can freeze everyone in a room and unfreeze them individually.'

Buffy nodded her head, acknowledging. 'I think we could definitely use you guys.'

**********

An hour later, after many strategies were discussed, a final decision was made. They would make their way to the airport – they being Buffy, the Halliwells, Angel, Willow, Xander, Oz, Giles and Wesley (because he insisted) – but only Buffy, Angel and the Halliwells would go directly to get the box. After that, they'd just have to make it up as they went along.

'So I hope you'll all be prepared for tonight,' Buffy checked. 'I'm not sending you into the main fight, but I want you to be armed just in case.'

'Sure Buff,' Xander stood up, putting his bag on his back. 'Now if you excuse me, I'll head off to my English class.'

Willow nodded. 'Oz and I better be off too. Don't worry about us, we'll be fine.'

Wesley began to rise, a bit overwhelmed by everything that was happening. 'I think I'll go and buy some scones.'

Phoebe and Cordy jumped up at the same time. 'I'll come with you!'

They glared at each other after they'd said this.

'Don't you have class now?' Phoebe pointed out, enunciating every syllable.

'Actually, *Pandora*, I have a free period,' Cordy fought back.

Phoebe scowled. 'My name's Phoebe. . .'

'Yeah, and shouldn't you be working with your sisters around a cauldron or whatever?'

'I'm sure they could manage without me, *Columbia*.'

'Cordelia. . .' she said sharply through gritted teeth.

'Guys!' Buffy called everyone's attention. 'We meet back here at 18:00. Are we clear?'

The group murmured as they selectively left, Cordy and Phoebe following Wesley.

'Phoebs!' Prue called out.

Phoebe distractedly spun around. 'Huh?'

'Perhaps we should, uh. . .concoct some potions or something?' Piper suggested.

'Right! Yeah. . .' she turned back, looking longingly at Wesley who now held a satisfied looking Cordy on his arm.

'Can I help?' Willow asked eagerly, standing in the doorway.

Giles entwined his hands together. 'I think it's best you head off to class Willow, you don't want the teachers to think you're playing truant.'

'Yeah, besides,' added Prue, 'we work better – just us three sisters. Too many cooks spoil the broth, right?'

Willow turned away disappointed. 'Right.' She and Oz walked out, heading to class.

Phoebe, meanwhile, went back to her problem. 'I've gotta work Wes. Being one of the Charmed Ones and all. . .' she batted her eyelashes. 'I'll catch you later. . .' she blew him a kiss, and as he left, took a quick peek at his behind.

Piper glanced over at Prue. 'Phoebe fighting over a guy with another girl is never good. . .' They cracked up laughing.

**********

Angel sat comfortably in his crypt, blazing sunlight of the afternoon unable to peep in, trying to read some modern classic he'd picked up somewhere but finding it difficult to concentrate. All he could think about was what Buffy had been saying and the inevitable decision he'd have to make.

She was only an 18 year old – whole life ahead of her – despite being the Slayer. She should've been allowed to spread her wings and not feel tied down because of him.

But it seemed like a lose-lose situation. If he told her he wanted her to stay, he knew it would be a selfish thing to do, no matter how much he loved her. Yet, if he told her to go, she would think he didn't care about her and their relationship, which was so far from the truth.

He had to face the music. Stop denying to himself that it could work for them, because the fact of the matter was it couldn't. It wasn't just the "no-sex" part – it went deeper than that. What could a 240 year old vampire offer a girl who hadn't even graduated from high school yet?

He had to come to terms with what he had to do. They would have to live apart.

But it wasn't all bad. After the 100 years of guilt his soul had corroded into his mind, he had accepted his sins and was ready to atone. Buffy had done something amazing which was show him that he was capable of "I would die for you" love, and she'd made him realize that even though he was a creature of the night, he had a soul which made him more of a man than any other demon. He had to pick out all the positive effects of this so that the pain of leaving Buffy wouldn't be so awful.

Perhaps now he could start over. Try to live his unlife to its full potential, protect the descendants of the thousands he had tortured and murdered ruthlessly as Angelus. Just try to live up to his name.

Be a guardian Angel.

**********

A/N: I know, corny ending, sorry. . .as you have probably gathered, even though I am changing a lot of the events that happened in the real thing, I'm also keeping some so as not to stray too much from the original story. Coming up. . .the gang (with the Halliwells) go to get the box, with a few surprises along the way. . .