Disclaimer:

None of these characters are mine. All characters from Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Charmed are the property of Joss Whedon and Aaron Spelling, respectively.

Summary:

Crossover between the Charmed and Buffy universes. Leo returns from speaking to the Elders about Cole's reappearance. Leo has a new white lighter to train.

Author's Note:

Thanks to my supporters for bearing through the last chapter. I needed to deal with the criminals from the first chapter. Also, to all those expressing impatience for the first Willow-Phoebe meeting, please be patient. I will get there, but I have a plan and my own timeline to keep.

Chapter Nine – The Elders Said What?

When Paige returned to the Manor she was a raw bundle of nerves. What should she do? Confront Chris? Her training as a social worker told her that was clearly the wrong thing to do. She wanted to tell her sisters first thing, but her gut instinct told her to wait for Leo and Phoebe to be here. It really should be a family meeting. They were all involved, all of them. It wasn't just Chris' parents that were responsible for their situation. It was all of them. She buried her face in her hands and shook her head. She should have know better. She'd been a social worker. Phoebe had a degree in psychology and gave advice every day. Leo was a white lighter and Piper, well, Piper was his mother. Yet they all had missed the signs. And, now that she thought about it, there were signs everywhere. She straightened up and took a deep, cleansing breath. They were obviously so wrapped in their lives, Chris had gotten lost along the way. But, it wasn't too late, they could fix this, they would fix this.

She looked up as she heard Piper coming into the room. Her heart contracted. Her news would hurt Piper deeply, but she had to wait. So, she took the coward's way out. She brought up a completely different subject. "Hi, Piper! Leo back from the Elders, yet?"

"No, Paige, not yet. And, he's been gone since ten this morning." Piper looked at the clock, concerned. It was now a quarter to three. He'd been gone nearly five hours. Just what had Cole been up to in the last five years that would take five hours to explain? Looking back at Paige, she smiled what she hoped was a calming smile. "Where you did go?"

"Oh," Paige's mind raced to find something to tell her. "I had lunch with Darryl today."

"Darryl?" Piper asked confused. Their good friend, Darryl Morris, hadn't spoken them in some time. He'd asked for them to keep away for the good of his career. And, they'd reluctantly agreed. Darryl was a good man and deserved to go as far as he wanted in his career. But, Piper did miss him. He was so easy to talk to. He was a good listener and it was nice to have someone to talk to who didn't live with you."Is anything wrong?"

"No, he.. he wanted to ask about the family and he heard somehow that Chris wanted to be a policeman. He said he'd love to give him a tour of the police station, some day." Paige invented, silently praying that Darryl indeed would give him a tour.

Piper brightened at this. Chris would love that. "That's wonder..."

Piper didn't finish her sentence because at that moment blobs of blue light coalesced in the living room to form the figure of Leo. Piper rushed forward to give him a kiss.

"Well!" Paige demanded. "What did they say?"

"Ditto. You were gone long enough. Just what has Cole been up to?"

Leo shifted nervously from foot to foot. The girls were not going to like this. "We, uh, we should probably have Phoebe here for this. She's not going to like it."

"Will we?" Piper demanded.

"Probably not. But Phoebe will probably go ballistic."

Paige looked nervously at the both of them. The Elders are supporting Cole, maybe he has changed. Paige shook her head in denial. There was no way, no chance in Hell, that Cole could possibly be good. You just don't turn your back on a century of murder and evil. She was sure of that? But, was she? Her subconscious niggled at her mercilessly. Cole was genuinely worried about Chris. Cole wasn't using his knowledge to hurt the family. He just wanted to help. Would evil do that?

"We really can't wait for Pheebs." Paige began. "You know Elise is just waiting for an excuse to fire her. There's no way she'll let Phoebe take some time off, barring one of us being admitted to the hospital."

Leo chuckled, Paige was right. "Maybe we should wait."

"No." Piper interrupted. "Let us know what you found out. Then, we can make a game plan on how to break it to Phoebe."

"Well.." Leo began unsure. "Let's at least sit down."

"That bad?" Piper squeaked.

Leo motioned the girls towards the couch and took a deep breath. "Okay, the Elders have decided they want you girls to give Cole another chance."

"The Elders said what?" Paige blurted.

"Paige, Piper, let me get through this and then we can argue about it. Okay?" Leo looked at the two of them. He waited until they nodded in agreement before continuing. "Great. Now Cole apparently wasn't vanquished by you girls. After your last face-off, Cole found himself trapped in what is known as a hell dimension. These are very painful and damaging to an Earth-type demon. He escaped when some demons in our dimension tried to open a hellmouth, or portal, to this hell dimension. But, before they could do this, the Vampire Slayer showed up and killed them. However, the hellmouth was still slightly ajar and needed to be closed. The witch that was with them could not do this because Cole was trying to get out before the hellmouth closed all the way. From what I understand, the Slayer pulled him out..."

The girls took this moment to gasp in outrage. "She did what? I thought the Slayer was on our side?"

Leo sighed. Sometimes it was like working with small children working with these girls. Much as he loved them, and as much as they had matured, they were still remarkably impatient girls. "As I was saying, she pulled him out and then closed the hellmouth. And, to make a long story short, it seems that he fell in love and married the Slayer' best friend, the witch who was with her that day. In fact, the Slayer herself is godmother to their children."

There. He'd said it. And, boy, you could hear a pin drop in the room. Paige and Piper looked at each other. Cole married? Cole married with children? With a different witch? Paige swallowed heavily and looked at Leo and then at Piper. "What.. what are we going to tell Phoebe?"

"I don't know, I just don't know." Piper shook her head in confusion. It was just all too much, all too fast. "Leo... Leo did they say if he was telling the truth about not using his powers against mortals for the last five years?"

"Yes, Piper, I asked that. They said as far as they could determine that was true. They agreed that anything was possible, that he could have done some evil, but as far as they were aware, nothing like that had happened. They did also mention that if Cole had done evil, you can bet that the Slayer would take care of him herself."

"Yes, I guess that's true." Piper knew what a Slayer was from the Book. And, of course, she'd heard from Leo and other white lighters just what that Slayer Buffy Summers had done. She cringed to think what she was capable of without any magic. All brute strength and her wits. "I still find it hard to believe Slayers can do what they're rumored to do."

"Pretty incredible, I know. But..."

Leo didn't finish. As he was speaking, a young man orbed into the living room. The girls looked at him in surprise. He looked young, mid-twenties, Paige supposed. She didn't recognize him, and he looked like orbing was still new to him. He had dark hair and had a rather awkward look about him. Plus a goofy smile. She felt warm inside. It was a very nice, goofy smile.

"Hi!" He greeted cheerfully. "Is this a bad time?"

Just then, a demon shimmered into the house. The new white lighter ducked the energy ball and grabbed a letter opener from Piper's desk. Before, Paige and Piper could act, he'd sidestepped the demon and thrust the letter opener into his chest. The demon burst into a ball of flame.

The white lighter grinned goofily. "Sorry about the letter opener. Gee, these demons aren't nearly as bad as the guys we used to get in Sunny-D. And, they clean up after themselves, always nice. Oh, by the way, my name's Alexander Harris. But, please, call me Xander. Are you Leo Wyatt?"All Leo could do was nod. "The Elders said you'd be training me."

The girls looked at him in shock and then at Leo, whose mouth was hanging open in shock.

"Well," Paige began with a giggle. "At least he doesn't need to be taught how to kill a demon."