Author's Note: Anthony - You caught on to that Sam might know that Prue was reincarnated as Dawn. Yeah it was a rather subtle thing. It was kind of time to add in a second person who might know after all Buffy, Piper, Paige and Phoebe have been kind of clueless. On Eva I don't know if I will have her around much. After all I already have three additional characters to deal with in Buffy, Dawn and Faith. The sister thing was just primarily a throwaway line in case I want to use her again.

IrisTurner - I keep forgetting to answer your review. While Willow will still go to L.A. to re-ensoul Angel, it will happen behind the scenes and with Buffy in San Francisco most of the time. She's not likely to find out unless Faith tells her.

Chapter 36: Centennial Charmed Part 1

Three weeks after Sam and Paige's reunion a lovelorn demon mummified Phoebe in his quest to find the perfect body to hold the spirit of his dead lover.

Then two weeks later after kidnapping Phoebe, Cole's scheming spells create mayhem for the entire family as he tried to gain access to the Nexus.

January 19, 2003 – Sunday

EARTH 16

Halliwell Manor

"Paige?" Leo called out when he orbed into the attic. "Come on, Paige, I know you're here, you summoned me." He looked around as he heard a noise somewhere in the room. "Paige? Paige?"

Paige, who was invisible, crept up behind Leo and jumped into his body. He squirmed in pain and then suddenly exploded into millions of white lights.

"Ha!" Paige said excitedly as she became visible. "That is a vanquish!"

"Damn it, Paige," Leo said as he orbed in, clearly not impressed. "I would appreciate it if you didn't practice on me. I may be dead but it still hurts!"

"I am sorry, Leo," she said apologetically, "but I think I came up with a perfect way to vanquish Cole. I kept thinking... what is it that makes him so indestructible? And then I thought, it's his protection shield. So I came up with a potion that makes me invisible long enough so I can get past it, say a spell and blow him up from the inside."

"Firstly, congratulations, cool potion," Leo praised her.

Paige smiled. "Thank you."

"Secondly, it will never work," Leo told her as she gave him a look. "Okay, even if it does, it's not something you should be going at alone. Whatever the ultimate solution is it lies within the Power of Three."

Paige nodded. "Yeah, well, we have tried that," she reminded him. "Besides, I'm a witch too and I don't see why I can't try to operate on my own every once in a while."

"You can and you have but Cole is different and you know it," Leo explained. .

Paige sighed. "No, I don't know that, Leo. Now, I have worked really hard on this by myself for days, I know I can do this. And I want to do it. For Phoebe." She turned and stormed out of the attic.

Cole's Apartment

The elevator door opened as Cole stepped out. He put his wallet and keys on a side table. He then picked up a photo of him and Phoebe and looked at it with a sigh of regret.

"Happy Birthday," Cole said as he looked into the mirror. He walked into the living room, still carrying the photo. Paige, invisible, crept in from the balcony. He put the photo down and Paige jumped into his body. He squirmed painfully before exploding.

"I did it," Paige said excitedly as she heard a noise. "Oops."

Cole's blown up particles start to form together and knocked Paige over the balcony. She flew out of the city and fell into a river. She poked her head out of the water and sneezed.

January 20, 2003 – Monday

Butcher Shop, Sunnydale

Andrew Wells was number 87 in line, and he had a list for the grouchy butcher man waiting to take his order. He said anxiously, "I'd like twelve pork chops, two pounds of sausage, eight quarts of pigs blood, three steaks, a halibut . . . some toothpaste . . ."

The butcher looked at Andrew as if he were an idiot. "This is a butcher shop, Neo," he said, referring, no doubt, to Andrew's outfit. "We don't sell toothpaste."

"Oh, okay," Andrew said, loaded to the gills with anxiety. While the butcher went into action to fulfill the order, Andrew kind of snuck to the back of the store to admire the steak sauce away from the eyes of common men.

The bag was enormous; he picked it up and lumbered out of the store, colliding with someone as he crossed the threshold.

Chops and sausages and several clear packages of blood went flying all over the place.

But that wasn't the bad part.

The bad part was Willow Rosenberg had been on her way into the store. She was staring at him, wide-eyed and obviously very, very clear on who he was.

He ran down the street and into an alley.

So did she.

He begged her, "Don't kill me! Don't torture me and send me to an eternal pain dimension!"

Willow glared at him.

"I'm protected by powerful forces," he went on, trying a different tack. "Forces you can't even begin to imagine, little girl. If you harm me, you shall know the wrath of he that is darkness and terror. Stand down, she-witch. Your defeat is at hand."

Realizing that she could use his weirdness against him, she decided to run with the scary Willow iteration. Getting herself in character, she pushed him soundly against a brick wall. "Shut your mouth. I am a she-witch, a very powerful she-witch, or witch, as is more accurate. I'm not to be trifled with. I am Willow." And I sound like the Wizard of Oz. But he's buying it. "I am death. If you dare defy me, I will call down my fury, exact fresh vengeance, and make your worst dreams come true." She raised her brows. "Okay?"

He believed her, and she forced him to go to Buffy's house with her.

Summers Home, Sunnydale

Willow marched Andrew into the house, where Xander, Anya and Tara all regarded him with...scorn.

Anya stepped on his coat!

Then they tied him up police-interrogation style and threatened to hurt him if he didn't tell them why he wasn't in jail.

"I haven't done anything wrong," he pleaded.

"Then you won't mind if we ask you a few questions," Xander said.

"Yeah, okay," Andrew murmured.

"What were you doing buying blood at the butcher shop?" Xander demanded, as Anya listened, too.

He gave them his pre-thought-up story: "I-fell-in-love-with-a-beautiful-vampire-and-now-we're-trying-to-make-a-go-of-it-on-the-straight-and-narrow-and-put-our-lives-back-together-here-in-Sunnydale."

Xander privately suspected he was getting his material from Tarantino's From Dusk to Dawn.

"You think this is a game, junior?!" Anya yelled at him, grabbing him, shaking him. "People are dying! Our friends are in danger!"

Andrew whimpered in fear; Xander looked genuinely surprised at Anya's behavior.

"And you want to waste our time with deceptions? Not on my watch!"

And she backhanded him a wicked one across the face. He screamed in pain.

Xander stopped her, asked to speak to her privately. They went into the bathroom, giddy over their performance.

"Did you see that?" Anya asked. "I actually made him cry!"

"You were perfect," Xander told her. "I was worried I overdid it with the whole easy way/hard way thing."

"No, that was great," Anya congratulated him. She shook her hand like it was stinging. "I wasn't sure if I should slap him, but then he made me want to slap him so I thought, 'Slap him.'"

"He'll be singing in no time," Xander said happily.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"Now we let him stew in his own juices for a bit, then we give him the hard brace," Xander told her.

Anya nodded. "Right."

Faith walked into the room. Anya didn't miss a beat, nodded to her, all tough and NYPD Blue.

"What's the status with your guy?" she asked Faith, who had come to check on Spike.

"He hasn't talked," Faith admitted

Anya reported happily, "The weasel wants to sing. He just needs a tune."

"He's primed," Xander agreed. "I'll be pumping him in no time." Amending that, he tried again. "He'll give us information soon."

Faith nodded and returned to Spike.

"It's all flashes here and there," the white-haired vampire admitted. "It's like I'm watching someone else...do it, kill people. I've been losing time for a while now, waking up in strange places. Things have been wonky since..."

He hesitated, and Faith filled in. "Since you got your soul." He lowered his head in assent. "How did you do it?"

He sighed at the memory. "I went to seek a legend out. Traveled to the other side of the world, made a deal with a demon."

"Just like that?" Faith asked sharply.

"There was a price," he said, face stony. "There were trials, torture, pain, and suffering...of sorts." He looked at her. "I have come to redefine the words 'pain' and 'suffering' since well since what I did to you."

Halliwell Manor

Dawn and Piper both sat balanced on large rubber balls as part of their Lamaze training, taking deep breaths in and out.

"And breathe, two, three, four. And relax, two, three, four. And breathe, two, three..." Phoebe instructed her older sister and aunt. It was at that moment that Piper lost her balance and fell off the ball.

"Are you alright, sweetie?" Buffy wondered as she moved to help Piper up..

"No, I am not alright, Mom," Piper replied as she accepted Buffy's help.

"Okay, come on, back on the ball," Phoebe ordered as she tried to get Piper to return to her Lamaze training..

Piper turned and looked at her sister. As she glared at Phoebe she said, "You get back on the ball, I quit."

"It's hard at first, I know, Piper," Eva said. In the time since becoming Buffy and Dawn's adopted sister, she did what she could to help Piper and Dawn to prepare for the arrival of their babies. "But the birthing ball really can make the delivery much easier, especially for home births."

"Hospital, people," Piper reminded them. She had never liked the idea of a home birth. "How many times do I have to tell you crazy people? Hospital, I'm going to the hospital." Piper said.

"Well it would be nice to have Buffy delivery my daughter," Dawn countered. "That said though, if I have a choice, I have to agree with hospital. I want an epidural, okay!"

"What about water birth?" Phoebe asked as she looked toward Eva. "Can we do that at home?"

Eva nodded. "Sure, we can rent a tub."

"What are Aunt Dawn and I, dolphins?" Piper said, agitation in her voice. "We're not giving birth to fish."

"Well, actually, dolphins aren't fish, they're mammals," Leo informed his wife.

"Shut up!" Piper and Dawn almost growled out.

It was just then that Paige came down the stairs. "Hey, guys, sorry I'm late, I over slept. Hi, Eva."

"That's okay," Eva said, "we're just getting started."

"Late night, sweetie?" Buffy asked

Paige sighed, "As a matter of fact, yes."

"What the hell is that?" Piper asked as she watched Eva pull two white plastic tubes out of the woman's bag.

"Uh, nipple enhancer. For breast feeding," Eva said as she smiled at Piper. She turned back to her bag and continued to scrounge for other things as well. She just missed Paige sneezing and orbing out and back in.

"Gesundheit," Buffy said.

Paige sighed, "Thanks, I've been sneezing my head off all morning."

"Not to mention the rest of you." Leo said.

"A little ginger root and raspberry leaf tea will take care of that," Eva suggested. "Old gypsy remedy."

"I think we got some of that in the kitchen," Piper replied. "Why don't you go see if we got some of that in the kitchen?"

"Sure. Be right back," Eva said as she headed for the kitchen.

Paige knew instantly something was up. "What?" she asked as Dawn got off her ball

"Do you not realize that you just sneezed and orbed at the same time?" Piper replied.

"What?" Buffy asked as she looked at Dawn and Leo for confirmation. They simply nodded.

"Ooh, it's a good thing Eva didn't see that." Phoebe said.

"Well, we saved her and her heritage. I think she'd be fine with it." Dawn said.

"Yeah, well," Phoebe retorted, "it's one thing to know and it's another thing to actually see it."

"She has seen it," Buffy countered. "Since becoming mine and Dawn's adopted sister. She has seen us use our powers."

"I'm more interested in why it happened," Leo said looking pointedly at the youngest Halliwell sister. "What caused it? I think you should tell them."

Paige sighed. "Fine. I tried to vanquish Cole last night."

"Paige Elizabeth Matthews," Buffy admonished her youngest daughter as she nearly yelled at Paige, "you did, what?"

Paige sighed, she hated when her mother used her full name like that. "I know, don't do the whole treat me like a kid thing, Mom. I don't like it any more than Aunt Dawn does. Anyways I knew what I was doing and it almost worked until I got all wet."

"I tried to talk her out of it." Leo admitted.

Buffy spun and glared at Leo. "You knew?" she asked as Leo nodded.

"Paige, you could've been killed," Phoebe said, she was instantly worried about her baby sister.

"So what else is new?" Paige replied trying to ease Phoebe's worry. "I just wanted to give you a little peace."

"That's very sweet," Phoebe replied with a smile, "but I don't need Cole to be vanquished to find peace. I'm okay, really, I am free of him emotionally."

"And besides," Piper added, "I thought we agreed to take a vanquishing hiatus during mine and Aunt Dawn's last trimester."

"Well, that's why I didn't want to bother you or Aunt Dawn," Paige informed them.

"You really shouldn't have tried to go up against Cole by yourself, sweetie," Buffy said.

"Mom's right this is not something you can do by yourself," Piper agreed.

"Obviously I disagreed," Paige said as she stormed out of the room.

Summers Home, Sunnydale

Faith and Xander dragged an unconscious Spike into the basement and chained him to the wall. Then Faith met with the others in the living room, trying to understand why he had changed so much.

"Spike and I were having a conversation, and he was fine. I mean, you know, fine as Spike can be. And then I went to check on you guys, and when I got back it was like he was a completely different person."

"Different like 'William the Bloody' type different?" Xander asked.

"He was talking to someone," Faith remembered. "And then he started singing. He mentioned something about a song in the cellar. And he changed there, too. I mean, instantly became another person."

Xander got it. "Trigger," he announced. "It's a brainwashing term. It's how the military makes sleeper agents. They brainwash operatives and condition them with a specific trigger, like a song, that makes 'em drastically change at a moment's notice."

"Is this left over from your days in the army?" Willow asked him.

Xander favored her with one of his patented self-deprecating looks. "No, this is left over from every Army movie I've ever seen. But it makes sense. We've had ghosts or something haunting us, right? Well, what if Spike's ghosts have figured out a way to control him?"

"Spike said he's been seeing things since I found him in the basement," Tara put in.

"So he gets his soul back, he starts seeing spooky things, and he goes extra, extra crazy," Xander said.

It was making sense to the Faith. "This trigger. How do we make it stop?"

Xander was not as much help there. "Well, usually the operative completes his task and either blows his head off or steals a submarine."

"All right," Faith said to the group. "If Spike's a bomb, then I need to know how to diffuse him." To Tara and Willow, she added, "I want to know what did this to him. Spirits, ghosts, demons—check the lot of them. Look for anything that could haunt or possibly control like this. I need to know exactly what we're dealing with. I'm going to orb to San Francisco and have B, Dawn, Piper, Phoebe and Paige look into it from their end as well. Which reminds me, I'm almost late for Darryl's party. I'll be back in a few hours." She then orbed out.

Dawn's P3

Dawn, Piper, Buffy, Phoebe sat with Darryl and his wife, Sheila, as they watched Michelle Branch perform on stage. It was at that moment that Leo came up carrying glasses, a bottle of champagne and three glasses of soda. He handed the soda to Dawn, Piper and Buffy. He knew that his mother-in-law didn't like to drink alcohol, that Dawn was underage and that with Piper being pregnant she was abstaining from drinking alcohol so as not to potentially harm her baby. He then proceeded to hand the glasses out. Once he poured the champagne Piper held up her glass. "There you are. Now a toast to Lieutenant Morris. Congratulations," she said.

"Wait, shouldn't we wait for Paige?" Darryl asked as they were about to clink their glasses together.

"Um, I don't think she's going to make it because she has a really bad cold. Cheers!" Phoebe said as they clinked their glasses.

"Long overdue," Piper said. "And another toast," she looked at Darryl's wife and remembered that Sheila didn't know about magic, "to Buffy, Happy Birthday."

"Happy Birthday!" everyone cheered as they clinked glasses a second time.

Phoebe sighed as she noticed Paige coming through the front door of the club, "Uh, we'll be right back."

"We will?" Piper said confused. Her sister nudged her motioning toward Paige. When Piper saw her baby sister she nudged Buffy who followed her gaze before nudging Dawn. "We will."

"Uh, Leo, keep pouring." Buffy said as she and Dawn followed her daughters as they joined Paige at the bottom of the stairs.

"Don't mind them," Darryl told his wife, "they do that a lot."

Paige smiled, "Hi mom, Aunt Dawn. Hi guys." She looked around seeing that Faith was not there. "Is Aunt Faith not here?"

"She's running a little late," Dawn answered. "Dealing with Spike. Hopefully she should be here soon."

"Are you out of your mind?" Phoebe asked with a glare at her baby sister. "What are you doing here?"

"Um, going to Darryl's party?" Paige answered.

"Sweetie," Buffy said worriedly, "the sneezing."

"Mom, Eva's little miracle cure worked great," Paige told them. "I haven't sneezed all day. Is that Darryl's wife? She's cute." She started toward the party.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. First we chat." Piper said as they steered Paige to a nearby table instead.

Paige sighed, "I told you, everything's fine."

Buffy shook her head, "No, it's not about that."

"It's about this morning when you left. You seemed really upset." Phoebe said.

Paige sighed, "Oh, that? No, I was just having a girlie mood, you know."

"No, I think we all know it's a little bit more than that. Something's been bugging you so why don't you just talk to us." Piper said.

Dawn nodded, "Piper is right. Even I've noticed it, Paige."

"Okay. You really want to know? I've just been feeling a little suppressed lately. It's not your problem, it's my problem. And I know you guys are the best thing that's ever happened to me, I do." Paige said.

"But? There's a but." Piper said.

Paige sighed, "I just feel like, you know, having been an only child for twenty-five years, I'm used to doing everything on my own. And it seems like lately I've had to do everything by committee and it just..."

"You feel like you've lost yourself along the way?" Buffy asked.

Paige nodded, "Yeah."

"Okay, so what can we do?" Piper asked.

Paige shook her head, "It's not you, it's me. I just think maybe I need to start looking for my own place to live."

"Oh, no, you don't. No sneezing." Buffy said as she noticed Paige was trying not to sneeze.

"Back hall, back hall, back hall." Phoebe said as they got up and lead Paige toward the back of the club which held the office, storeroom and restrooms.

"Look out, people." Piper said trying to clear the way. "Pregnant lady coming through."

They barely made it into the office when Paige sneezed and orbed out.

Earth 94

P3

The office that Paige orbed back into was dark and empty. Buffy, Piper and Phoebe were suddenly nowhere to be seen.

Paige sighed, "Oh, major sneeze. Hey, who turned out the lights? And the heat?" She put on her coat. "Piper..." She turned to find Faith standing exactly where Piper, Phoebe, Buffy and Dawn had been. "Aunt Faith?"

"Why is it so cold in here?" Faith asked. "And why is the lights turned off?"

"I don't know," Paige admitted looking around. "Another thing that's weird is that I was just in here with mom, Piper, Phoebe and Aunt Dawn. And now…"

"Their missing," Faith nodded. "Let's see if we can find them." They turned and over to the door and as she opened it, it fell off its hinges and crashed to the floor. "Something isn't right."

They walked out into the main room of the club where moments before Darryl's promotion slash Buffy's birthday party had been taking place. No one was there. They looked all around them and saw tables were overturned and rubbish lined the floors.

"Your right," Paige agreed. "Something isn't right."

"And I think I may know what," Faith said having spotted the Dawn's P3 sign except it wasn't the sign she recognized as it simply said P3.

"What?" Paige said as she followed her aunt's gaze. "Why does the sign say P3?"

"Because I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Faith admitted. "Let's see if we can get some answers. "Leo!"

"Leo!" Paige echoed just as a pile of rubbish rustled and a bum climbed out from under it. She jumped back startled. "Oh, god, you scared me."

Faith spun and looked at the bum with a frown on her face.

"Who are you two?" the bum asked. "Wh—what are you two doing here?"

"We could ask you the same thing." Paige said as the bum pulled out a knife and pointed it at them. "Hey, it's o-okay."

"This is my crib!" he shouted.

Faith's frown deepened. "Your crib? This is my niece's club. Knife!" she called out attempting to orb the knife to her, but nothing happened. "Uh, Paige, you try, my powers aren't working."

"Knife!" Paige called out trying to orb the knife to her, but again nothing happened. "What the hell is wrong with our powers?" she asked her aunt.

The bum attacked them and Faith flipped him onto the ground. "Well I still have the Slayer stuff that's good," she said as the bum, frightened, ran out the of the club. "Leo!" she called out trying to call for Leo again. Thankfully this time Leo orbed in. "Damn it, where the hell have you been?"

Leo frowned. "Who are you two?" he asked not recognizing Paige or Faith.

"Are you kidding?" Paige asked, but she and Faith could tell he wasn't kidding in the slightest he really didn't recognize them. "You're not kidding. It's me, Paige, your sister in-law. And this is Aunt Faith."

Leo shook his head, "Look, I don't know who you two are, and I don't have time for games. All hell is breaking loose out there, so if you don't mind..."

"Leo," Faith said. "You seriously don't recognize us?" Leo shook his head. "We're your charges. How else could you have heard our call. Before we get to the main topic of discussion. Can you tell us what happened to Piper's club? To Dawn's P3"

"And why does the name only say P3?" Paige added.

"You know Piper?" Leo asked in confusion. "And who is Dawn?"

"Who's Dawn?" Paige said as she looked at Faith who had mirrored look of confusion.

"My wife," Faith answered. "You know Buffy's sister. Your mother-in-law's sister. Half witch, half Key. Piper changed the name of the club about a year ago and named it after her."

"And of course we know, Piper," Paige added. "She's my sister and Aunt Faith's niece. Leo, the club."

"What about the club? It's been like this for over a year. Ever since Piper walked away from it, right after Prue died." Leo answered. "And Patty never had a sister."

Paige and Faith glanced at each other. Something was definitely wrong. Why would Leo not remember them or Buffy and Dawn? "None of that is true," Paige explained. "Mom was reincarnated, remember? Aunt Dawn is her sister in this life time. You were there for Aunt Dawn and Aunt Faith's wedding. And the club is kicking ass. Michelle Branch was just playing here and I sneezed and then I or... orbed out. Maybe if I sneeze again," Paige said as she sneezed, for the first time since she started sneezing she didn't orb out. "Did I orb?"

"No," Faith answered. She then tried to orb out but nothing happened. "Did I orb, Paige?"

"No," Paige answered. "What in the heck is wrong with our powers?"

"How do you know about orbing? And Piper?" Leo asked confused. "Or Patty?"

"Just take us to Piper," Paige suggested. "She'll figure all this out, she always does. Please. What have you got to lose?" She and Faith took his hands and he orbed out with them.

Earth 16

Dawn's P3

"Paige!" Buffy, Dawn, Piper and Phoebe all called out. Paige for whatever reason wasn't orbing back.

It was then Buffy's cell phone rang. She dug it out of her purse and held it to her ear after accepting the call. "Buffy Summers-Halliwell."

"Buffy, is Faith there?" came Willow's voice from the phone.

"Not yet, why?" Buffy answered.

"I just tried calling for Faith, kind of needed her back."

Buffy frowned as she looked at her daughters and sister. "Give me a few, I will have Leo orb me to Sunnydale. And I'll have Piper, Phoebe and Dawn add Faith to the list of missing."

"There are others missing?" Willow asked in clear concern.

"Paige has gone missing," Buffy answered. "Every time Paige sneezes here of late she orbs. The last time she didn't come back."

Earth 94

Deep Space Nine

Colonel Buffy Summers, the commanding officer of the space station Deep Space Nine, stood in her office. She was looking out the window at the stars when the communicator affixed to her uniform shirt chimed. She reached up and tapped it. "Summers here."

"Buffy," came the voice of Xander Harris, her chief of operations, "we detected a quantum rift briefly open and close in San Francisco."

"I'm on my way," Buffy replied as she walked toward the door leading out of her office and out into the operations center of the space station.

Junkyard

Leo, orbed in with Faith and Paige into what appeared to be a salvage yard. They were surrounded by overturned cars and tires.

"What are we doing here?" Paige asked looking around.

"Shh, Piper's hunting." Leo answered as he motioned around the pile of dirt they were hiding behind.

It was then that a Lazarus demon smoked in beside a body. As he knelt down and smelt the body he didn't notice that Piper was hiding behind a large crate.

"Hey," Piper yelled as she froze the demon before coming out from behind her hiding spot. "Feeding time, huh?" She proceeded to unfreeze only his head so she could question him. "Knew you'd take the bait."

"What'd you do to me?" the demon asked realizing he could only move his head. "Unfreeze me, witch."

"Sure, no problem," Piper scoffed. "Just as soon as you tell me where I can find Shax."

Faith and Paige looked at each other in confusion. They both knew that Shax had been vanquished over a year ago. "Shax?" Paige said looking at her brother-in-law. "What's she talking about? We vanquished him already."

"Nobody's vanquished Shax," Leo answered. "Ever since he killed Prue, Piper's been obsessed with getting revenge on him."

"Go to hell," the demon told Piper.

"I'm already there," Piper said with a sigh. She brought up her hands and blew the demon up. She turned to leave just as Faith, Paige and Leo came out from behind their own hiding place.

"Wait!" Paige called out as Piper turned around preparing to use her power on Paige.

"Piper, don't!" Leo warned.

"Oh my god, you're not pregnant anymore." Paige said, shocked by that little fact.

"I double that," Faith said in clear surprise. "Which means…"

"Aunt Dawn isn't either," Paige concluded looking at her aunt.

"Who are you two?" Piper asked. "Leo, what are you doing here?"

"It's me, your sister, Paige." Paige answered. "And this is our aunt, Faith."

"Look, if this is some lame attempt from the Elders to try and lure me back, you can forget," Piper told her husband. "Tell them to shove it because I have no loyalties to them anymore, and I don't have any to you."

Faith and Paige glanced at each other. Paige was beginning to agree with Faith's quip of not being in Kansas anymore.

Paige looked back at her sister. "Hey! That's no way to speak to your husband."

"We're divorced," Leo told the youngest Halliwell sister. "Have been for a while."

"Since when?" Faith asked. "You two are very definitely married. In fact Piper you were one of mine and Dawn's bridesmaids at our wedding. In fact both you and my wife are pregnant."

"And expecting magical children," Paige added. "And you, Piper, you're not La Femme Nikita. You're a Charmed One. You don't mind kicking ass when you have to, but otherwise, you'd rather be hanging out with your sisters, our aunts and our mother, baking cookies or knitting booties."

Faith chuckled. "That's an exaggeration. Piper never was into knitting."

"She's right," Piper agreed. "I don't. And for your information my mother died when I was five."

"Yes she did," Faith explained. "But she was reincarnated into my fellow Slayer, Buffy Summers."

"Your Faith Lehane?" Leo asked in realization. "The other Slayer."

"Well actually it's Faith Summers-Halliwell," Faith answered. "But otherwise you would be right."

"You know," Paige said looking at Piper. "I can prove who we say we are. Aunt Faith and I know you didn't really vanquish the Lazarus demon."

Piper frowned, "What are you two talking about?"

"Patty Halliwell was reincarnated," Faith told her niece. "As Buffy Summers. You came to love B, as if she was your mother. She has Patty's memories and powers."

"As a breed, the Lazarus demon resurrects," Paige explained about the demon. "The only way to keep their remains down is to bury them in a cemetery." Piper had enough and started to walk away from Paige, Faith and Leo. "Please, stay."

It was then that the Lazarus demon resurrected. "Piper!" Leo called out as the Lazarus demon picked up a long pipe and threw it at Piper. Piper ducked out of the way and using her power she blew up the Lazarus demon again. "How did you know that was going to happen?"

"Because," Faith said. "You, me, Dawn, Paige, Phoebe and Buffy fought him in our world. Your sisters, your aunts and your mother."

Paige glanced at Faith. "This is getting us nowhere."

"Agreed," Faith said. She looked at Leo. "Take us to Sunnydale. If Buffy and Dawn aren't here they got to still be there."

Leo shook his head, "I can't go to Sunnydale."

"What?" Paige asked. "Why?"

"It's forbidden," Leo said. "I don't know why though. It's something that's not talked about outside the Council of Elders."

"What about Buffy?" Faith asked.

"I don't know what happened to her or to you," Leo answered. "Last I heard you had left Boston for Sunnydale. And then nothing."

"Don't look at me, Leo, I have no idea what your talking about," Faith admitted. "I have a feeling with everything else that was different, so would that be."

"Okay, can you orb us to the Phoebe then," Paige wondered.

Leo sighed, "I can't orb to the Manor either. It's forbidden as well."

"Fine, we'll do it ourselves. But when Aunt Faith and I fix this you owe us," Paige said as she and Faith stormed off.

Deep Space Nine

General George Hammond, the commanding officer of Stargate Command, which was located on Deep Space Nine, sat across from Buffy in her office, as she explained what had been discovered on Earth. "A quantum rift," he said.

"Yes," Buffy answered. "We believe someone crossed the threshold from their universe to ours either on purpose or by accident."

"Could this be a result of the destruction of the quantum mirror," Hammond wondered as he thought back to the device that had been destroyed a couple years earlier. A device that had allowed two people from another universe to cross over to theirs.

Buffy looked toward the window that looked out onto space as she thought about what Hammond was asking. She looked back at the general and slowly nodded. "It's possible. We don't know everything about the mirror. It's destruction could have opened our universe to the wider multiverse somehow."

"How do we close this breach?" Hammond asked. He remembered having the quantum mirror destroyed to prevent this very thing from happening again.

"We find out how the rift opened in the first place. That means locating the person or persons who opened it. Sending them back may mean that the rift may close on its own. If not they may know how they managed to cross over and then we can use that process in reverse to hopefully close it," Buffy answered.

Earth 16

Summers Home, Sunnydale

Spike lay inert on the basement floor, his hands and feet chained to the wall. The shadows shifted as Buffy walked across the floor with a bowl of water and a towel in her hands, giving Spike the illusion of movement.

She knelt and tenderly dabbed the blood off his face, and he opened his eyes. Weakly, fearfully, he asked, "Did I hurt anybody?"

"You took a good bite out of Andrew." Buffy been told what had happened just before Faith had disappeared. "Tucker's brother. He'll be okay."

"I don't remember," Spike said. He sounded weary and defeated.

"It's okay." Buffy rose and walked to the sink.

"Buffy, I don't know why."

"We think we do. Something's playing you. Some ghost or demon has figured out how to control you. Faith the gang researching it before she left. Xander has this theory that you're being triggered."

Spike pulled himself to a sitting position and said, "Kill me."

"Faith has been adamant about giving you a second chance," Buffy told the vampire. "So I'm not going to do it without her okay."

He ignored her. "Do you have any idea what I'm capable of?"

"Of course I do," Buffy answered. "Or have you forgotten I've known you for years now, before you ever got the chip. Believe me, I'm well aware of what you're capable of."

"No. You got off easy, too." He rose, and his face hardened with purpose, with self-loathing. "Do you know how much blood you can drink from a girl before she'll die? I do." He swallowed, determined to go on. "You see, the trick is to drink enough so that they'll still cry when you . . ." He began to lose his composure, but he held on. "'Cause it's not worth it if they don't cry."

Buffy refused to rise to his bait, refused to react. "It's not your fault. You're not the one doing this," she said.

"I already did it," he told her. "It's already done." He paced, an animal in misery, then stepped toward her. "You want to know what I've done to girls Dawn's age?" He saw her glance tick away, saw that he'd gotten to her. "This is me, Buffy. You've got to kill me before I get out."

Buffy knit her forehead at that, frightened for her pregnant sister. She was thankful that Dawn was in San Francisco out of Spike's reach. "We can keep you locked up. We'll figure out—"

"Have you ever really asked yourself why you can't do it?" he asked.

Buffy raised her chin. "You fought by my side. You've saved lives. You've helped—"

He rolled his eyes and cut her off. "Don't rationalize this into some noble act " He paced back and forth, light to shadow, and then the darkness swallowed him as he said, "Do you know what I did to Faith?"

"Yes," she answered with a sigh.

"You Slayers need the pain we cause you. You need the hate. You need it to do your job. To be the Slayer."

"No," Buffy said firmly, her voice rising. "You think you have insight now because your soul's drenched in blood? You don't know me or Faith. You don't even know you. Was that you who killed those people in the cellar? Was that you who waited for those girls?"

"There's no one else . . ." Spike began.

"That's not true," Buffy said firmly. She took a moment, and then she said, "Listen to me. You're not alive because of pain. Or hate. You're alive because Faith saw you change. She saw your penance."

He lunged violently at her, but the chains held him back. "Window dressing," he scoffed.

"It would be easier, wouldn't it? If it were an act? But it's not." Buffy came up to him, her face filled with emotion. "You faced the monster inside of you and you fought back. You risked everything to be a better man."

"Buffy," he moaned.

She got close, in her heart, in her spirit, as she said, "And you can be. You are. You may not see it, but I do. I believe in you, Spike."

His face radiated hope and amazement.

Then at that moment, the lights flickered and went out. The glass in the basement door exploded inward, and a black-hooded figure burst into the room.

He was carrying a staff and he smacked her across the face with it before she had a chance of using her powers, sending her flying across the room.

"Buffy!" Spike shouted, and over his voice, she heard the sounds of more attacks coming from upstairs.

Earth 94

Halliwell Manor

Paige slipped into the Manor and walked through a crowd of demons as she looked for Phoebe. Faith had remained outside to keep watch. Since she still had her Slayer powers they didn't want to risk the demons might sense her. Paige spotted her sister walking into the kitchen and followed. She passed what appeared to be a chef and waitress as she entered the kitchen and found Phoebe smoking a cigarette. "Phoebe," Paige said as Phoebe quickly put out the cigarette and coughed. "You don't recognize me. That's okay, Piper didn't either."

"Piper?" Phoebe said in surprise. She hadn't seen her sister in months. "You know Piper? How is she?"

"She's, uh, different," Paige answered. "Look, I don't have a lot of time so I'm just going to drop this on you. I am your long lost sister Paige. I know, it sounds crazy but it's true. We're all sisters in the real world."

Phoebe scoffed at the idea that Paige was her sister. "Guards!" she yelled.

"Look, I don't know how he did it, but Cole somehow switched realities in his twisted attempt to get you back," Paige explained trying to get her sister to believe her. "Aunt Faith and I somehow slipped through the cracks and we landed here, We don't know how either. But we need your help in order to turn things back to the way they're supposed to be."

"You called?" Darryl asked as he enter the kitchen.

"Darryl, hi," Paige said as she smiled at the police inspector.

"Get rid of her," Phoebe ordered as she motioned toward Paige.

"No," Paige objected as Darryl grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"

"What bodyguards do." Phoebe smirked as Paige grabbed a frying pan and hit Darryl over the head, knocking him out. She picked up a knife and pointed it at Paige.

"Phoebe, I know you better than you know yourself right now, in your heart of hearts, you know you are not meant to be with Cole. In this other life you are free of him and you're happy." Paige said as Darryl regained consciousness. She noticed he had grabbed his gun and ran out the back door. She could hear his footsteps behind her as she ran down the driveway. "Aunt Faith!"

Faith came running toward Paige as she called out," Leo!" She grabbed Paige just as Darryl pointed his gun at them. "Leo!"

Leo orbed in causing Darryl to hesitate. He then orbed out with Paige and Faith.