Note: Now that everyone knows that this is a Charmed/Buffy crossover, it's time we talk about timelines. As I said before, I disregarded BtVS's timeline in order to suit my own story (it rocks to be the author...). This story takes place between episodes 6.14 ("Older and Far Away") and 6.15 ("As You Were") of BtVS, which means that Anya and Xander are engaged, Tara and Willow aren't together and Buffy and Spike are having that love and hate thing of theirs.

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When the grandfather clock chimed 7 p.m., Paige raised her eyes from the magazine she was reading; Anya and Xander should arrive any minute now. Anya had called earlier to tell Cole that they were in San Francisco, and he had invited the couple over for dinner. Paige sighed: Monday and Tuesday had been two rather tense days, with everyone's agendas being rearranged so that Cole wouldn't be alone, and she -- like the rest of the family -- could hardly wait for the moment when they would switch from defensive to offensive mode.

She looked at Ben, who was sitting in his playpen, happily tearing to pieces an old magazine that Piper had given to him.

"I hope your mommy and daddy don't get too 'busy' upstairs and forget that we have people coming over tonight," she muttered lightly, winking at him.

"Ma-ma!" Ben said, taking his eyes off the magazine and grinning at Paige.

"Ma ma ma ma ma ma ma ma..." he started to lilt, turning his attention back to the magazine.

Just then, the doorbell rang; Paige stood up, yelling towards the kitchen, where Piper was finishing dinner:

"I'll get it!"

Paige cast a quick glance at Ben and walked to the front door. When she opened it, she saw a girl in her twenties, with shoulder length blonde hair. The brown eyes that met Paige's were clear and curious; the girl looked much more confident than the dark haired guy who was standing by her side, giving Paige a somewhat nervous smile.

"Hi!" she said, smiling at Paige. "I'm looking for..." -- she looked at the piece of paper in her hand -- "Cole Turner."

"Hi. You must be Anya," Paige said, smiling and stepping out of the way. "Come on in. I'm..."

"This is Xander," Anya cut her off, pointing at the guy that followed her through the door. "We're engaged; he gave me this ring."

She almost touched Paige's nose with the back of her hand so that Paige could take a good look at the stone.

"It's, hum, lovely," Paige said, backing away slightly. She closed the door and walked the couple to the living room. "Cole's upstairs; I'm gonna..."

"Hi!" Ben said, waving cheerfully at the newcomers as they entered the living room.

"Uh, hi," Anya said, giving him a surprised look. "Is he...?" -- she turned to Paige again, pointing at Ben -- "Are you...?"

"Yes, he is," Paige said, "and, no, I'm not. Cole's wife is upstairs, too; she's my sister."

"Oh," Anya said. "Okay."

She cocked her hair to the side and gave Ben a curious look that made him giggle.

"Hi!" he said again, grinning.

"You've already said that," Anya said, frowning slightly as she approached the playpen, with the wary look of one who isn't used to being around babies.

Xander followed her, and Paige stood at the bottom of the stairs, not so sure whether to leave Ben alone with them. As Anya leaned down to give Ben a better look, he took Mr. Floppy in his hands and proudly showed the stuffed bunny to her.

Ben's eyes grew round with surprise when Anya let out a blood freezing scream and quickly backed away from the playpen, throwing herself into Xander's arms. Her piercing scream was still echoing through the manor when Piper came from the kitchen like a bolt and Phoebe came running from the second floor, skipping every other step and almost knocking Paige to the floor as she ran past her, with Cole on her heels.

"What happened?" Piper asked Paige, while Phoebe darted past Anya and Xander and took a very dumbfounded Ben out of the playpen. "Who are they?"

"I, I don't know," Paige said, baffled.

"You don't know who they are?" Phoebe asked, holding Ben tighter.

"No. I mean, yes, but..."

Cole had carefully approached the couple and now, looking at Anya, whose face was still buried in Xander's chest, he said tentatively:

"Anya?"

Anya turned her head to look at Cole and said, glaring at him:

"You people shouldn't give those scary things to small children!"

"What?" Cole said, puzzled.

"I'm sorry," Xander said, embarrassed, while gently stroking Anya's hair. "She has this thing with, hum, bunnies."

"She... Oh, shit!" -- Cole slapped his hand on his forehead.

"Is Mr. Floppy in the playpen?" he asked, turning to Phoebe.

"Uh, yes," Phoebe said, glancing at the playpen. "Why?"

"I'm sorry, Anya," Cole said, turning to Anya again. "I completely forgot about the bunny thing."

"Bunny thing?" Piper said, giving him an inquisitive look.

"She's afraid of bunnies," he explained.

"She's afraid of bunnies?" Paige repeated, incredulously.

"Would everybody stop saying that word?" Anya said, shuddering.

Cole sighed: he knew about Anya's phobic fear of bunnies and, as amusing as it might be to other people, to her it was deadly serious.

"I'm so sorry, Anya," he said again. "I should have known."

"Damn right you should," she muttered, scowling.

"Still, it's just a toy," Cole reasoned. "It's not like..."

Anya huffed, and it occurred to Cole that a girl who had once dated a two headed ogre yet freaked out at the mere sight of a bunny was pretty much beyond reasoning.

"You're right," he sighed, contritely. "That's no excuse."

Getting no response -- unless that little impatient noise she had made counted as a response -- Cole sighed and scratched his head. Then, with the wisdom acquired in two years living with the Halliwell women, he tried a different approach:

"But, Anya, I only forgot that the bunny was there. I didn't forget that you're afraid of bunnies."

When she gave him a suspicious look, Cole knew that he was on the right path.

"Just like I didn't forget how much you like wild boar," he added with a little smile. "I even asked Piper to make an extra amount of currant sauce especially for you."

"Did you tell her to cook it medium rare?" Anya asked, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Cause that's the only right way to cook wild boar, you know."

"I told her to cook it medium rare," he said, nodding mindfully.

Anya pondered this for a while, chewing her lower lip. Finally, she sighed heavily and said, giving Cole a stern look:

"You're so lucky I'm not in the vengeance business any more."

"It's good to see you too, Anya," Cole said, smiling, and she rolled her eyes before raising herself on tiptoes to kiss his cheek.

Introductions were made and hands were shaken then, and everybody went to the living room for an appetizer before dinner. Piper sat in an armchair, subtly glancing up as she hoped Leo wouldn't be late for dinner, and Paige put a chair for herself next to the couch, where Anya and Xander were sitting side by side. Phoebe sat on the other armchair and Cole sat on its arm, with a hand resting on her shoulder; and, after some deliberation, Ben decided that he wanted to stay with them instead of going back to the playpen.

Ben watched Anya intently from the safety of mommy's arms, trying to decide how he felt about her. Usually, he befriended any living creature that crossed his path, but this new lady had yelled at him, and he wasn't doing anything wrong!

"Dis?" -- Ben tugged on Cole's shirt and pointed at Anya.

"This is Anya," Cole explained, smiling. "She's daddy's friend."

"Dis?" -- Ben pointed at Xander.

"This is Xander. He's a friend, too."

Ben gave the couple an appraising look, furrowing his brow in concentration. He understood the word "friend"; "friend" was good. And daddy never lied. He studied Anya's face for a while: she didn't look like she was going to yell now. Finally, his good nature prevailed, and Ben waved at them:

"Hi!"

"Hi," Anya said, while Xander smiled and waved back at Ben.

Then, turning to Cole, she said:

"He doesn't know many words, does he?"

"He's thirteen months old, Anya," Cole explained patiently. "His vocabulary will grow."

Anya gave Ben a skeptical look, watching as he snuggled in Phoebe's arms and started to gnaw on his teething ring. For once she decided to keep her thoughts to herself, though, and turning to Cole again, she asked:

"So, what kind of trouble have you gotten yourself into?"

"Well," Cole sighed, rolling his glass between his hands, "it turns out there's a vengeance demon after me."

"You've been cursed??" Anya asked, her eyebrows shooting up. "By whom?"

"I don't know her name," he said, "but maybe you do. Red hair, blue eyes, sent by my father in law. Sound familiar?"

"Sure," Anya promptly said. "Liusaidh. We worked together many times: a scorned woman usually has a very angry father."

She turned to Phoebe, giving her a curious look:

"You don't look like a woman who's been wronged."

"What?" Phoebe said, surprised. "Oh, no, no! The reason my father is angry at Cole... well, it's a long story, but it wasn't really his fault." -- she reached out and held Cole's hand -- "We've made some really bad mistakes in the past, but whatever they were, we made them together. And," she added, smiling softly at him, "it's all in the past now: we've put them behind us long ago. My father just needs to hear the whole story to understand that."

"But first we have to deal with Liusaidh," Piper said.

"If you're asking me to talk to her," Anya said, "forget it. Even if Liusaidh and I were friends -- which we're not -- she's quite the career demon: she would never do anything to jeopardize her chances to rise in rank. And D'Hoffryn would throw a fit if one of his demons left a job unfinished."

"Well," Phoebe said, "if she's not your friend, then I suppose you won't mind if we destroy her power center?"

"Nah," Anya said, lightly. "To be honest, I was never very fond of her."

Just then, Leo orbed in, startling Xander, who almost dropped his glass.

"I'm sorry, honey," he said, leaning down to kiss Piper. Noticing Xander's surprised look, he turned to Cole, worried:

"I thought you had told them."

"I told them that the girls are witches," Cole said, giving him an apologizing smile, "but I didn't tell that one of them is married to a Whitelighter."

"What's a whitelighter?" Xander asked Anya.

"Sort of like a witch's Watcher," she said.

"What's a watcher?" Phoebe asked Cole.

"Sort of like the Slayer's Whitelighter," he explained.

"I didn't know Whitelighters could get married," Anya said, giving Leo a curious look as he put a chair for himself by Piper's side and took one of his wife's hands in his.

"They couldn't," Cole said, smiling as he put his arm around Phoebe's shoulders. "But that never stopped a Halliwell."

"Turners aren't famous for going by the book, either," Piper said, mock glaring at him. Then, turning to Anya: "We had permission to get married."

"Have you told them about your problem yet?" Leo asked Cole, trying to change the subject.

"Yes. Anya knows the demoness who's after me."

"Well, that's good news. What about her sigil?"

"That's what I was about to ask." Turning to Anya again, Cole explained: "We need to know Liusaidh's sigil. Do you think you can help?"

"Sure," Anya said. "I'll ask Halfrek: I'm sure she can find out. You know my friend Halfrek, don't you?"

"I think I remember her," he said. "Isn't she the one who avenges neglected children?"

"Is there a vengeance demon for every situation?" Phoebe asked.

"You could say so," Anya said.

Before Phoebe could comment on that, Ben decided that he had stayed quiet for too long. Without warning, he slid from Phoebe's knees to the floor and made a wild move towards the appetizers on the coffee table.

"Hey!" Phoebe exclaimed, grabbing the little hand that reached out for the appetizers.

"My," he explained to her, but she shook her head.

"No, sir," she said, taking a baby carrot and giving it to him. "You can have one if you want, but only one. No digging your hands into the bowl."

Ben then tried to dip the baby carrot in the sauce like he had seen the grown ups do, but again Phoebe stopped him.

"No sauce," she said firmly.

She gently turned him away from the coffee table and lightly patted his butt, pushing him toward the playpen.

"Go play a little more before it's dinner time."

"My," Ben proclaimed again, showing the baby carrot.

Before Phoebe could stop him, he shoved the carrot into the front pocket of his overall and ran towards the playpen. Reaching through the bars, he took a plastic key ring from inside; he shook the key ring vigorously, giggled when it made a rattling sound, shook it again, and then started to walk around the room, shaking the key ring like a little shaman, oblivious to the grown ups' amusement.

"That's one happy little boy you have here," Xander said, smiling as Ben bounced around the room, shaking the key ring and humming to himself.

"You bet," Phoebe said, smiling softly at Ben. "He has some issues with S-H-O-E-S," -- she spelled the taboo word, afraid that, by hearing it, Ben would remember that he was wearing shoes right now -- "and a few 'no bath' days but, other than that..."

"I never had trouble getting Cole into the bathtub," Anya said, distractedly. "We always had fun when..."

"Anya!..." Xander cut her off, placing his hand on her arm, as Anya didn't seem to notice the shocked silence that had fallen over the room.

"What?" she said, giving him a puzzled look.

"I don't think he has told them," Xander said, arching his eyebrows towards the others.

"Tell them what?" Anya said, clueless.

"That you met my mother when I was three," Cole sighed. Turning to the others, he explained, with an embarrassed smirk: "Anya used to, hum..." -- God, Paige is gonna love this! -- "babysit me when my mother was out on an assignment."

After a few stunned seconds, Paige was the one who finally broke the silence:

"You had a demon nanny??" Before Cole could answer, she turned to Anya, a wide grin spreading across her face: "Do you have childhood stories of Cole?"

"Sure," Anya said, smiling. "I..."

"Don't even think of that!" Cole quickly said.

"But I..." Anya started to say.

"Don't."

"I just..."

"Don't."

"Fine..." she sighed, rolling her eyes.

"A demon nanny?" Piper repeated, not so sure whether to be shocked or amused.

"I told you, vengeance demons are different," Cole said, shrugging. "They will resort to lies and betrayal and all kind of dirty tricks to lure someone into making a wish to them, and will show no mercy to their victims, but you can count on them to live up to a deal."

"Still... a nanny?" -- Piper looked at him in disbelief -- "Is that usual?"

"Raising a half human child in the Underworld isn't usual," Cole reasoned. "And no, there aren't any nanny agencies in the Underworld, if that's what you're wondering. Anya just..." -- Cole frowned slightly, realizing for the first time that he didn't know exactly how Anya had entered his and his mother's lives -- "She just showed up." -- he gave her a curious look -- "Why, Anya? You never told me that."

Before Anya could answer, they heard the kitchen timer go off, and Piper stood up, saying:

"Dinner is ready. Why don't you all go to the dining room while I'll go get the food." Turning to Cole, she asked: "You don't mind finishing this conversation over dinner, do you?"

"Not at all," Cole said, smiling. "I'm hungry."

"But you," Phoebe said, standing up, too, and pointing at Piper, "will go with the others to the dining room, while Paige and I go get the food." -- Piper opened her mouth to object, but Phoebe held up her hand -- "You were on your feet for hours cooking dinner and I didn't say anything because I know how much you love to cook. But carrying the food to the table is a whole different matter."

With that, she and Paige left the room, while Piper sighed and said to Anya and Xander, with a smile:

"Well, let me walk you to the dining room, then."