San Francisco

Halliwell house

"Paige, Phoebs, Leo, come help me, please," Piper said, heading for the kitchen, after asking her guests if they had any preferences for dinner.

"Willow, how's Buffy doing, and what is this First? Is Spike still hanging around creating hell?"

Willow swallowed, suddenly nervous, as she started to explain the situation, "Buffy's… well, she's Buffy. Giles is the only watcher left that we know about, so the potential slayers are staying with us. She won't show how afraid she is in front of them, and every once in awhile, there's the start of a mutiny, but she straightens everything out. The First Evil, it's trying to kill slayers, the whole line. It's succeeded in the Watchers, for the most part. And it's gotten some of the slayers-to-be. I find it sad, these girls have been trained by their watcher, knowing that slayers don't live very long, and that they could be called at any minute. But now their dying, without even being able to protect themselves. We can't fight the First, it's technically a ghost. And it wants Spike on its side. See, when Riley and Buffy were dating…" Willow was about to go on, but Angel interrupted.

"Soldier boy."

Willow almost laughed, that was exactly what Spike called Riley, but she didn't think Angel would be happy to find that out. "Yes, the Initiative, where he worked, implanted a chip in Spike's head, rendering him helpless towards humans."

"Ohh, that must have been a blow and a half."

"Yeah. Well, after Riley left…"

"What?" Angel asked, more interested, "Please, tell me."

"This is going to be a blow, Angel, I know it is, please don't hurt me."

"Will, I'd never hurt you, never even think about it, unless of course your going to tell me Spike and Buffy dated, or something."

"Never!" Willow said, frantically, shaking her head.

"What! Are you saying they slept together! Willow, tell me!" Willow cowed at his tone of voice.

"Yes, but Buffy broke it off with him. She realized she was using him. She didn't want to."

"So she didn't love him?" Angel, grasping at straws, asked franticly. Sleeping with Riley, well he hated him, but he was human, who Buffy should be with, a human, but Spike! That just was wrong!

Yeah, about as wrong as you and her.

"I don't know that. But, he loves her, and he got mad when she stopped seeing him. He went to South Africa, and somehow got his soul. We don't know if it's like yours or not, they haven't done anything since she dumped him, well, he tried to rape her," Willow said, not seeming to be able to keep a hold of her mouth, which was spitting things out at random.

"OH! I'm going to kill that SOB! How dare try to he hurt her!"

"Angel, calm down. He's good now. As much as I hate to admit it, he's changed, how much, I'm not sure, but he has. The First has a way of turning his chip and his soul off, so that he can hurt people, when the First wants him to."

"Damn!" Angel stalked out of the house.

In the kitchen

"What a strange turn of events." Piper expressed everyone's thoughts. She was speaking low, she didn't want the others to overhear.

"Yeah, I know," Paige agreed.

"Phoebs, are you ok? I know that some of what they told us sounded some what familiar."

"I'm fine." She saw the looks her sisters were sending her way. They know me all too well. "I'm fine, stop worrying!" Yet, she knew they wouldn't listen.

"Hun, we're running out of milk for this little guy," Leo said, tickling the baby in his arms.

"Ok, I'll deal with it later. Thank you for letting me use it. I know that it's supposed to be in case I'm hurt, or if…if I'm not here, but that was just too good to miss," she said, momentarily leaning against him.

"Hey, maybe they know why all the demons are here," Paige thought out loud, "But what if we're next? Willow said that First Evil thing was trying to get rid of the Slayers, what if the Charmed Ones are next on its list?"

"That's an awful thought, Paige!" Piper cried, shocked that her sister would say such a thing.

"But she could be right, it would be worth looking into," Leo said.

"I feel bad for Buffy. It's only her, well, and her watcher, from what I got from that, against the whole evil world! The only ones to protect that hellmouth thing. And talk about her love choices!" Paige said

"Yeah, It reminded me a lot of something, and someone, but I can't remember now," Phoebe said with a smile, and she and Paige both looked at Leo and Piper, especially Piper, who had made many bad love choices in the past.

"Yeah, luckily, our story came out better," Piper said, kissing Leo, careful not to squish Wyatt.

"Excuse me, but could I help out? I feel bad about dropping in on you guys, and everything," Willow said from the doorway. She had been standing there for awhile, but she didn't want to interrupt. She figured it would give her some info on how they were dealing with everything, if they didn't know she was there.

"Yeah, sure, I don't know what you could do, sorry, not at the moment," Piper said. She was cutting up chicken, Paige was peeling carrots, Phoebe was stirring something in a pot, and Leo had put Wyatt in his seat, and began chopping onions. Just then, Wyatt started to cry in his seat. "Oh!" Piper said, looking dismayed, her hands were all greasy.

"May I?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, sure," Piper said, a bit nervous.

"Hey baby! What's the matter? Do you need someone to play with?" Willow asked, picking him up. "You're soo tiny! Yes you are!" Piper was afraid that he might start crying because of the stranger, and put Willow out, but he stopped, and stared up at Willow. "How old is he?"

"He's just a couple weeks old. He was premature, about six weeks early," Piper said, going back to the chicken now that she knew Wyatt wouldn't cry, "I had high blood pressure, and well, demons wanted him," she said by way of conversation, not sure of what to talk about, "There were three signs, Jupiter and Mars glowed as one, the Aurora Borealis in the sky, and, magic went poof."

"Lucky for us, the Elders, they sent a baby gift, a unicorn. The horn's pure magic, and Phoebe and I vanquished the demons who wanted our precious nephew with some shavings from the horn," Paige said, rubbing her nose on Wyatt's stomach quickly, before going back to her carrots.

"Strange, I didn't notice the absence of magic, yet I don't use magic everyday, not anymore anyway, only to meditate. I used to, when I first started, to strengthen my skills. I used to float a pencil! I remember when that was a great accomplishment," she laughed at her younger self.

"We don't do anything like that. It's mostly just vanquishing things." Paige said, almost sounding like she wanted to use her magic in other ways.

"Yeah, and we get in trouble if we use our powers for personal gain," Piper said, as if reminding Paige, who made a 'yeah, yeah' face behind her sister's back.

"I've always wanted a baby, but I don't think I'll ever have one," Willow said sadly, changing the subject, bouncing Wyatt so he gurgled.

Piper saw Paige, and shook her head NO! She knew her sister all to well; she was going to ask an embarrassing question. Paige stuck her tongue out at her oldest sister, but she didn't say anything.

"It's every girl's dream to have a child, well, most girls. I feel bad for Buffy, she's never had a relationship, well, besides that jerk Parker, with a human, well, there was Riley, but he left after awhile. She'll never have kids, she'll never even get married! That's the slayer way, I think. She understood that from the get go. She can't be normal. No normal life, no normal relationships, she's lucky, most of the time, most slayers are loners," Willow went on absently, not really sure what she was saying, or what she was doing, "Because it puts people in major danger knowing. Lot's of previous slayers just traveled around, following demons and vampires. Most slayers find out they could be slayers before they were called. Buffy didn't know until she was. It's rather funny, she was a cheerleader, Prom Princess, and Fiesta Queen, and the most popular girl in school before she was called, and after she burned down the gym, and moved to Sunnydale, she was the outcast, the freak. It was a big change for her, but she managed somehow. She's strong not just physically, but mentally and spiritually. Only if she'd put her brain to school work." Willow decided that she'd said too much, and decided to change the subject. "So, what's new in the demonic department around here?"

"Excess demons galore!" Paige said, "And they're getting tougher and tougher to beat. That's why we decided to keep extra milk in the fridge for the baby, in case something happens to Piper. She's died twice. Well, three times, if you count before they turned back time. And our mother died when we were young. We don't want him to be motherless, but if it happens, we want to make sure he's taken care of. I'd die to protect him," Paige said, caressing her nephew's head.

"Let's hope it never comes to that," Piper said, throwing the chicken, carrots, onions and other vegetables into an oven pan, and sticking it in the oven.

"I understand completely," Willow said, "We've all had to make descisions we wouldn't have thought about otherwise," Willow trailed off, thinking about Dawn and Buffy.