Chapter 24: I Only Have Eyes for You Part 2
April 30, 1998 - Thursday
Sunnydale High
Late that evening Chloe sat at the computer while Giles sat in his office. Both of them going over everything they could find out about ghosts.
A woman's voice suddenly whispered to Chloe. "...I need you..."
Chloe looked up, startled. "Buffy?" she whispered and she disappeared in blue and white orbing lights.
"Chloe?" Giles said as he came out of his office. "Have you found anything?" he asked before noticing Chloe was missing.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Chloe appeared in the hallway where she heard a muffled argument. Through the windows in the doors at the end of the hallway, she could see the janitor yelling at one of the teachers she knew to be Miss Frank outside on the balcony.
The janitor held a gun which shook wildly in his hand.
"Let's both..." Miss Frank said calmly, "just calm down. Give me the gun."
"Don't! Don't do that, damn it!" the janitor said. "Don't talk to me like I'm some dumb—" He fired the gun.
Miss Frank looked down at the gunshot wound in her chest with disbelief. She then fell back over the edge of the balcony as Chloe disappeared in blue and white orbing lights. Miss Frank landed in a crumpled heap on the stairs as Chloe appeared next to her.
Chloe held out her hands over the woman's body, but nothing happened. The woman was already dead. She looked up toward the back up at the balcony as she disappeared in blue and white orbing lights to reappear on the balcony. She saw the janitor, panicking running back into the school. She gave chase and ran him down tackling him.
As Chloe and the janitor struggle, she knocked the gun out of his hands. Chloe happened to catch a glimpse as the gun came to a rest and then magically disappeared. She eventually managed to subdue the janitor.
"What—what's going on?" the janitor asked.
"What's going on?" Chloe replied. "You just shot Miss Frank…"
Summers, Payne & Harris Residence
"It was just like with this couple you encountered the other night, Buffy," Chloe said as Buffy held her. "The janitor remembered everything. He knew he'd killed her—but he had no idea why. They had no intimate relationship."
"What about the gun?" Dawn asked from where she and Faith sat across from Chloe and Buffy at the dining room table. "Did you find it?"
Chloe shook her head. "No. The police, everybody... We looked all over."
"It's okay, Chloe," Buffy whispered in her girlfriend's ear.
Chloe sighed as she looked at Buffy as she thought to herself, "If I had only been quicker. I might have been able to orb to her and save her."
"What are we going to do?" Faith asked.
"Find a way to put the ghost to rest," Dawn said.
May 1, 1998 - Friday
Heavens
Chloe appeared in blue and white orbing lights, she walked toward an Elder, who she quickly told what was going on in Sunnydale.
"There are several ways to get rid of a ghost," he said. "Some require the witch in question to vanquish the ghost on its plane, the astral plane. But if this spirit is truly troubled there maybe another way. If he can be helped to find forgiveness he would move on of his own accord."
Sunnydale High
"Let's start with a cross check, look for other shootings at the school," Willow suggested as she, Buffy, Dawn, Faith and Chloe entered the library.
"Agreed," Dawn said.
Willow moved over to the computer and tapped some keys. A moment later information came up on the screen. "Oh boy," Willow said in shock. "It says here that a student murdered a teacher on the night of the Sadie Hawkins dance. The rumor was that they were having an affair and she tried to break it off. After he killed her, he went into the music room and shot himself."
"Ladies and gentlemen - we have a poltergeist. It has to be one of those two, right?" Xander suggested.
"It all fits," Dawn said as she looked at her sister. "The gun. The Sadie Hawkins dance..."
"Which is tonight," Buffy said.
"How come we never heard about this murder/suicide thing before?" Xander asked. "When did it happen?"
"Well, it says—" Willow started.
"1955," Buffy said cutting Willow off as she looked at Dawn.
"How did you know?" Faith asked.
"She knows," Dawn said. She still didn't know how her sister had seen a past event during history class the day before.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Chloe came out of the stacks, having retrieved a 1955 yearbook. She placed it on the table and flipped it open to a page titled: In Memoriam – Grace Newman.
Buffy glanced at Dawn. "That's her."
Dawn sighed as Chloe, Xander and Willow looked at her and Buffy. "Buffy dreamt of a past event during history class yesterday."
"Except it felt like I was really there," Buffy admitted as Chloe looked at her, recognizing the signs of a premonition. "But the dream was about her and this young guy."
Chloe flipped through the yearbook and found the photo of James Stanley. "James Stanley?" she asked as Buffy nodded.
"He's the one," Willow said. "He did it."
Buffy looked at the photo and sighed. "He couldn't make her love him, so he killed her. What a sicko."
"Baby," Chloe whispered as Buffy looked at her. "I can see us in his and Grace's place."
Buffy sighed. "I see where you're going, Chloe. We could easily have been them," she said. "But we're not and he is a murderer. He should pay for it."
"With his life?" Chloe asked as Buffy sighed.
"Whose ghost do you think we're dealing with?" Faith asked. "His or hers?"
"Considering how violent it is, I'd say it's his," Buffy admitted.
"I will look in my Book of Shadows," Dawn said as they looked at her. "I know I never mentioned it before. I've been compiling spells and such from stuff I learned from watching you, Will as well as stuff I've learned in research over the course of the last half year. I may have a way to communicate with him. Find out what he wants."
"Who cares what he wants, Dawn?" Buffy said. "We got to shut him down before some other innocent guy shoots some nice girl and blows his brains all over the music room wall."
"Buffy," Chloe said. "What Dawn is suggesting will tell us what we need to do, to do that."
"Okay, who's hungry?" Xander asked.
Chloe watched the teens leave and then disappeared in blue and white orbing lights.
Halliwell Manor, San Francisco
Chloe appeared in the foyer of the Charmed Ones home. "Leo?" she called out.
"In here, Chloe," Leo called back from the living room.
Chloe followed the sounds of his voice to find him sitting next to Piper. She smiled at the woman. "You must be Piper. Leo has told me some about you."
"I wish I could say the same," Piper said. "But he did tell me about your dilemma. How does it go with your charge's sister?"
"That's what I am here to talk about," Chloe said as she sat in a chair opposite the couple. "I think I may have already screwed up. I called out the last two days to work to try and figure things out."
Piper looked at Chloe quizzically at the mention of work.
"Chloe's cover since her charge doesn't know she is a Whitelighter was to become her Watcher."
"Watcher?" Piper asked in confusion.
"Dawn's not only a witch but a Slayer," Chloe explained. "Slayers are girls who have been chosen and given magically increased strength, healing, reflexes, agility to do what you do without powers. They tend to take on low level demons and vampires. My cover was to become Dawn's Watcher. The Watcher is much like a Whitelighter. They work for an organization known as the Watcher's Council. They train and guide a Slayer."
"Dawn is very unique amongst witches," Leo said taking over the explanation. "Not only is she a Slayer as well but she is from the future. She came back to change her future."
"That's personal gain," Piper said in surprise.
"Except in this case," Chloe said. "A supernatural entity, older than even the Source, known as the First Evil had come forth with its army of Turok Han, an older race of vampire, and it's cult of followers, the Bringers. In Dawn's future humanity was going extinct, literally. She came back to change that. The Elders agreed that while Dawn had selfish reasons for coming back, to save her family. The end result to stop the First was worth overlooking the personal gain aspects."
"Anyways as my cover of a Watcher, I had to get a job to pay bills," Chloe explained. "Now because I called out the last two days. Buffy is not acting like herself. She seems almost angry."
"Have you told her, yet?" They turned and saw Prue standing in the doorway. "Chloe came by yesterday and we talked."
"No," Chloe said.
"You need to," Prue said.
"I think is Prue is right," Leo agreed. "You need to tell Buffy and Dawn both the truth."
Sunnydale High
The cafeteria was crowded with students as Xander sat with Dawn, Faith, Willow and Buffy at a table. None of them were really enthused about their food.
Cordelia came up and sat next to Xander with a plate of spaghetti. "I hope you guys weren't planning on going to this Sadie Hawkins dance tonight—because I'm totally organizing a boycott," she said indignant. "Do you realize that the girls are suppose to ask the guys—and pay and everything? I mean, who's genius idea was that?"
"Not my problem," Faith said as she winked at Dawn.
"We have to nip this in the bud or things could get way scary—" Cordelia said as she was interrupted by someone yelling. They turned and saw a guy at the table across from them. The sandwich he had bit into has turned into writhing black snakes.
Xander looked down at his own food and saw it had transformed into snakes.
Dawn looked around and saw that everybody's food had transformed into wriggling serpents.
Buffy turned and yanked a snake off a girl nearly frozen with fear.
Cordelia screamed at her snake filled plate. She tried to toss it away from her, but one of the snakes coiled and struck, biting her on the face.
Summers Residence
With the school closed till the reptile problem could be sorted, the gang, sans Chloe, met at Buffy's. Joyce was at a meeting, and had taken Elizabeth and Marie, so they knew they could talk freely, not that Buffy and Dawn hid anything from their mother. Instead they were glad to talk freely because neither sister wanted Marie or Elizabeth to have nightmares as a result.
"Remember the plan to contact the spirit and talk to it?" Willow said. "Scrap that plan. Buffy, you were right. The time for touchy-feely communication is passed. I've done some homework and found the only solution is the final solution."
"Nuke the school?" Xander asked.
"I like that," Faith said as she winked at Dawn, who shook her head.
"Not quite," Willow explained. "Exorcism."
"Are you crazy? I saw that movie! Even the priest died." Cordelia was freaked
"What's the deal?" Buffy asked, she and Dawn were prepared to try anything. Dawn had turned a complete 180 after the snakes. She no longer wanted to try and save the spirit.
Willow laid out a map of the school and they all leaned over to take a look "Okay, see here, the balcony? That's where the original teacher died back in 1955 and that teacher last night. That's the hot spot where all the bad mojo is coming from. We need to create a Mangus-tripod."
"A what?" Cordelia wasn't the only confused one.
"One person chants here on the hot spot," Willow explained. "And the other three chants in other places around the school forming a triangle. It's supposed to bind the bad spirit and keep it from doing any more harm."
"Who takes the hotspot?" Dawn asked looking at her sister.
"I think you and I should take the hot spot," Buffy said. "If there's trouble that is where it will be."
"Agreed," Dawn said. She looked at her fiancée. "I want you with Willow. Being the only other witch…"
"I will make sure she is five by five," Faith said.
"This ghost, this James guy, is fixating on you, Buffy. The dreams, the yearbook... You sure you can handle it?" Xander was worried for her.
"With Dawn, I'll be fine," Buffy admitted. "That said I'm hoping he'll show. I truly am."
Everyone noted her tone of voice and they almost felt sorry for the ghost to be going up against Buffy and Dawn...almost. They went over the specifics again and again, Willow teaching them the incantation and at eleven they headed toward the school.
Sunnydale High
The gang walked into the halls of the school, ever wary of the snakes which by now were probably everywhere not to mention the ghost they were trying to get rid of. Buffy and Dawn took the lead.
"Okay, we all have our places," Buffy said.
"We do the chant and light the candle at midnight exactly. Any questions?" Dawn added.
"Yeah, what if this mangled triangle thingy doesn't work?" Cordelia voiced everyone's thoughts.
"Oh! I almost forgot. I made us all scapulas." Willow spoke suddenly, completely managing to avoid the question.
"Scapulas?" Dawn said. "To my knowledge scapulas don't work."
"It's a worth a try though, right?" Willow said looking at her teacher in witchcraft.
"I guess," Dawn said as Willow handed the scapulas out.
"You expect me to wear this? It smells like grandpa breath."
'It's not a fashion statement Cordy' Willow mentally rebuked "Sorry, I didn't have a lot of time. I had to use sulfur. Stinky, but hopefully effective."
"Okay, let's do this," Buffy said as they walked toward the lounge
"No problem. This will be a piece of cake. Right?" Cordelia tried to lighten the mood.
With a crash that had the jumping out of their skins, the doors that led them back to the outside world slammed shut.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy was following Dawn down the hall as they passed the music room. "Dawn," Buffy said as Dawn turned to see her sister stagger and then fall into Dawn's arms.
"BUFFY!" Dawn screamed.
April 29, 1955 – Friday
Buffy heard music coming from the music room. She saw light coming from the same room. She slowly moved toward it. She spotted a flyer on the wall inviting one and all to the Sadie Hawkins dance. Buffy fingered it as she realized this was another dream. She looked through the window in the classroom door and saw James and Grace dancing.
They turned toward Buffy and James looked straight at her and she saw that his face was that of a desiccated corpse.
May 1, 1998 – Friday
Willow set up her candle and then looked at her watch. "Almost showtime," she told Faith.
Suddenly the same decaying blue corpse hand that had reached out of Dawn's locker emerged from the floor and grabbed Willow. It started to yank her into the floor as if it were quicksand.
"Faith!" Willow cried out.
Faith grabbed Willow by the arm, pulled with all her might. "I wish I was a Slayer," she sighed. "Hold on!" She eventually managed to extract Willow and they tumble back, hitting the ground hard. "You okay?" she asked when she noticed that Willow was shaking with terror.
"Not in the slightest," Willow answered.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"Are you okay?" Dawn said as she cradled her sister's head in her lap.
"What happened?" Buffy asked obviously freaked by the new dream.
"You called out my name and then she passed out," Dawn said. "You stay here. I will do the ritual."
"No," Buffy objected. "Better we're at the hotspot together."
They made their way to the balcony. Buffy set the candle on the ledge of the balcony - but as soon as she touched it she stumbled into Dawn's arms again as she passed out again and they slid to the ground.
Buffy saw a flash of James with Grace fighting in the hallway. She saw a flash of the gun going off. She saw Grace falling off the balcony. She saw James walking into the music room and putting a record onto the turntable. She saw James lifting the gun to his head.
Dawn's eyes go wide as she for the first time saw the desiccated corpse of James, who yanked her away from Buffy. He leaned into her, furious. Through his blue, cracked lips he hissed, "Get out!"
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
As the school clock started to strike midnight. Willow, taken by surprise, scrambled to light her candle as Faith watched. Her hands trembled so much she can't do it. Faith took the lighter and lit the candle for her.
"I shall confront and expel all evil," Willow chanted, her voice shaky.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
In the bathroom Cordelia heard the clock chime. She grabbed her candle and managed to light it. "I shall totally confront and expel all evil."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
In the cafeteria, Xander perched with his candle lit chanted, "Out of marrow and bone."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Dawn held up a finger that was ablaze with fire as Buffy stared at her. "Small spell," she shrugged and lit Buffy's candle. She saw the terror in her sister's eyes. So she took to the chant instead. "Out of house and home - never to come here again."
The clock stopped chiming.
Suddenly a gale force wind kicked up blowing out the candle. Then they heard an eerie buzzing sound.
Summers House
After their failed exorcism attempt, everyone went back to Buffy's to try and figure the next course of action. With the tea and coffee made, Dawn reflected on the night's events, "The good news is none of us were shot. And we've established, based on all the parallels and my sister's visions, that it's James' spirit."
"So, what do we do, Dawn? About James." Willow was at a loss.
"Well, he's obviously reliving the night of the Sadie Hawkins Dance when he killed Ms. Newman," Dawn said. "I would guess his spirit is so traumatized by this that he's forcing himself to recreate it."
"Hey. If Sunnydale High School shuts down forever, do we automatically graduate?" Cordelia spoke randomly.
"But why? What does he want? Actually, that's an interesting point," Xander noted, looking at his girlfriend.
"He wants forgiveness." Buffy said quietly.
"That's my thinking as well," Dawn agreed. "But the problem is, he can't get it. When James possesses people, they act out exactly what happened that night. So, he's experiencing a form of purgatory instead. Forgiveness is impossible."
"Good. He doesn't deserve it." Buffy's eyes narrowed. "James destroyed the one person he loved the most in a moment of blind passion. And that's not something you forgive. No matter why he did what he did. And no matter if he knows now that it was wrong and selfish and stupid, it is just something he's going to have to live with."
"He can't live with it, Buff. He's dead." Xander stated in response to her comment.
Buffy looked at them all before stalking from the room.
"That was not cool, Xander," Dawn said shaking her head.
"I have to agreed with my girl," Faith said.
In the kitchen, Buffy put her hands in her pockets and frowned as her hand came in contact with something. Pulling out the folded paper she saw it was the flyer from the 1955 Sadie Hawkins Dance. Staring at it she heard a voice surround her senses…
"I need you"
Without thinking, Buffy walked out the door to obey James' will.
Summers, Payne, Harris Residence
Chloe was restless as she continued to try and decide what to do. She got up to get a drink but as she did, she began to sense a presence in the room. standing very still she took a breath and felt out with her Whitelighter senses.
"What do you want?"
"You, Whitelighter!" came a quiet whisper that didn't seem to have a point of origin
"Why?"
"He has your girlfriend. I don't want anyone else to die "
"Why is he using her?" Chloe asked.
"Your lie, Whitelighter. Is hurting her, making her susceptible to him. To save her, he must be forgiven. For me to forgive him, I must possess you."
Sunnydale High
'Killing yourself is not a way out my love!'
"Fun fact," Chloe said. "Wasps can't do anything to someone who is already dead."
Buffy spun around and watched as Chloe disappeared in blue and white orbing lights and reappeared in the same place a second later.
"I'm what is known as a Whitelighter. Think of us as guardian angels for good witches and future Whitelighters," Chloe explained. "I'm Dawn's Whitelighter. The Watcher thing was a cover for who I really am. I should have told you who I was, long ago. But I was afraid, Buffy. Afraid not only of what my bosses would do, but afraid if you found out you would reject me."
Buffy listened and she smiled before she resumed her trance like state.
"Now, Grace," Chloe said as she felt her body taken over by Grace's spirit.
"You're the only one. The only person I can talk to," Buffy/James said. "You can't make me disappear just because you say it's over."
"I just want you to be able to have some kind of normal life. We can never have that, don't you see?" Chloe/Grace replied.
"I don't give a damn about a normal life! I'm going crazy not seeing you. I think about you every minute."
"I know. But it's over. It has to be!" Chloe/Grace said as she caressed Buffy/James cheek. She turned and started to walk away.
Buffy/James gave chase as the scene from forty-three years ago repeated itself. "Come back here. We're not finished!" she stated angrily. She grabbed Chloe/Grace by the arm and turned her to face her. "You don't care anymore, is that it?"
"It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter what I feel." Chloe/Grace cried.
"Then tell me you don't love me! SAY IT!"
"Is that what you need to hear? Will that help? I don't. I don't. Now let me go." Chloe/Grace said as she tried to break out of Buffy/James grasp.
Somewhere in the back of Chloe's mind, she knew that if things continued this way, Buffy would die. "Grace," she thought toward the possessing spirit. "You have to change this or the love of my life will die as James kills her."
"Do not worry, Whitelighter," Grace's spirit replied to Chloe. "I have a plan. It is why I chose you instead of your charge or someone else."
"No," Buffy/James said in disbelief. "A person doesn't just wake up and stop loving somebody!" She raised the gun. "Love is forever. I'm not afraid to use it, I swear! If I can't be with you..."
"Oh, my God!" Chloe/Grace said as she turned and started to run down the hall.
"DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME BITCH!" Buffy/James yelled after Chloe/Grace. they ran till Chloe/Grace stepped out onto the balcony. "Stop it! Stop it! Don't make me!"
"All right," Chloe/Grace turned toward her girlfriend. "Just...You know you don't want to do this. Let's both... just calm down. Now give me the gun."
"Don't. Don't do that, damn it!" Buffy said as she swung the gun wildly. "Don't talk to me like I'm some stupid..."
The gun went off in her hand and Buffy/James looked on in shocked fear as Chloe/Grace fell backward over the balcony.
Buffy/James went to the edge and looked over to see Chloe/Grace lying dead on the pavement. She stepped back slowly, the shock of seeing her girlfriend dead overcame the reveal that Chloe was already dead, that Chloe was a Whitelighter. She walked slowly toward the music room, the room where James had many happy memories of being with Grace
Outside, Chloe/Grace opened her eyes. Realizing what had happened and remembering what came next in the scene, she disappeared in blue and white orbing lights.
In the music room, Buffy/James turned on the record player and as the music started, she looked in the mirror. Buffy's reflection was that of James back in 1955'. She looked down at the gun in her hand and Buffy/James began to lift it toward her head.
It was at that moment that Chloe appeared in blue and white orbing lights.
"Call for the gun," Chloe told Grace from the back of her mind. "Whitelighters have the ability to telekinetically orb objects."
"Gun!" Chloe/Grace called out and the gun orbed out of Buffy's hand.
Buffy/James startled that the gun had orbed out of her hand. She spun around to find it and came face to face with Chloe/Grace, who was laying the gun down gently on a nearby table.
"Grace!" Buffy/James said, while Buffy thought, 'Chloe!' "But-but I killed you," she said.
"It was an accident. It wasn't your fault," Chloe/Grace said.
"Oh, it is my fault. How could I..."
"Shh. I'm the one who should be sorry, James. You thought I stopped loving you. But I never did. I loved you with my last breath."
Buffy/James let out a few sobs as Chloe/Grace reached up to cup her face with her hands. "Shh... No more tears." Chloe/Grace whispered as she leaned in for a kiss. With their arms wrapped around each other, James' and Graces' spirits finally left the world for the next. Buffy and Chloe broke off the kiss and looked at each other
"Chloe?" Buffy breathed softly before breaking down in tears.
"I'm sorry, I didn't tell you sooner," Chloe said as she held her girlfriend. "I was afraid. That's why I called out of work the last two days. I was trying to make up my mind what I was going to do. Reveal who I was or continue to lie and drive a permanent wedge between us."
It was at that moment that a portal snapped into existence and Dawn and Faith stepped out of it.
"Are you okay?" Dawn asked looking at her sister and Whitelighter.
Buffy motioned toward the door and the four of them filed out and headed to the library without either Buffy or Chloe actually speaking. Buffy helped Chloe move, the pain from the gun coming back in full force.
"Dawn," Chloe said quietly. "Call out for Leo, please." She saw Dawn's quizzical look. "Just do as I say. I will explain, I promise."
Dawn nodded. "Leo!" she called out. A second later Leo Wyatt appeared in blue and white orbing lights. Her eyes widen in shock. "Woah."
"You can say that again," Faith agreed.
Leo smiled as she walked over to Dawn. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Dawn," he said as he shook her hand. "Chloe has told me a lot about you." He then turned and looked at Chloe and saw the wound. Now he understood why Dawn had called for him instead of Chloe. He walked over to her and held out his hands over the wound and his hands began to glow with a golden light. They watched as Chloe's flesh knitted back together and her clothing repaired itself before the glow disappeared from his hands.
"Okay, someone want to start with the explanation," Faith said.
"Leo and I are what are called Whitelighters. Think of us as guardian angels for good witches and future Whitelighters," Chloe said. "I was never a Watcher. It was a cover story so I could befriend my charge."
"Your charge?" Dawn asked.
"You," Chloe said as she smiled at Dawn. "The Elders, our bosses, knew you were from the future and wanted to give you a guide to help you along your path to making sure the First Evil never brought about the end of the world. As I said I was never a Watcher, a spell was cast on the Council to make them believe I was so I would be sent and made your Watcher as my cover."
"Traditionally we are not supposed to reveal ourselves to our charges," Leo said. "Sometimes though we have to, just as I did with my charges. You might have heard of them, Dawn, either in this timeline or your original one. The Charmed Ones?"
Dawn shook her head. "No, I never have," she admitted.
"Anyways," Chloe said. "The problem is that I fell in love." She looked toward her girlfriend and smiled. "With you. You see the Elders forbid a Whitelighter to be in a relationship with their charge. I was afraid if I told you who I was that you not only might reject me. But the Elders might take me away and give Dawn a new Whitelighter."
"So that's why you called out the last two days," Buffy said as Chloe nodded.
"I needed time, Buffy," Chloe admitted. "To come to the right decision. And I have. But there is one thing I will have to do now to make sure I am never taken away from you or Dawn."
"I will stand by your side when you talk to them," Leo offered.
"Thank you," Chloe said as she looked at her girlfriend. "Are you okay?"
"A lot to take in," Buffy admitted. "But you and me, yeah I'm good. But James… he picked me." She looked at her girlfriend. "Just as Grace picked you. I guess we were both the ones they could relate to. He was so sad."
"Well... they can both rest now," Leo said.
"I still...A part of me just doesn't understand why she would forgive him," Buffy admitted.
"Does it matter?" Chloe asked.
"No," Buffy said as she looked at her girlfriend. "I guess not."
Heavens
Chloe and Leo arrived in blue and white orbing lights. Chloe looked around for one of the Elders she knew by name, Roland. She smiled when she spotted him and she and Leo made their way over to him. "Can we have a word?" she said as he nodded and they walked away from the other Elders he had been talking to.
"What is it, Chloe?" Roland asked. "Leo?"
"I'm here in support for Chloe," Leo said.
"I'm in love," Chloe sighed. "Not with Dawn, but with her sister."
Roland nodded as he glanced at Leo before looking back at Chloe. "I am not surprised admittedly," he said. "And I and the other Elders would be hypocrites if we said you had to end the relationship when we are allowing Leo and Piper to move forward. Suffice to say given what you have learned of Dawn's future I would say this relationship needs to move forward. Maybe with your help and love, Buffy Summers will not die unleashing the First, changing the future for the better. That said I will give you the same condition we gave Leo."
"It can't be to the detriment of one single innocent," Chloe said in understanding as she glanced at her friend. "Leo told me the condition for him and Piper." She looked back at Roland. "But why the condition when Buffy isn't my charge?"
"Because she is," Roland answered. "As is Ms. Rosenberg."
"But Buffy's not a witch," Chloe said confused.
"Actually, she is," Roland said. "Her power manifested over the last couple days."
"The dreams," Chloe said in realization. Dawn and Buffy had told her, Leo and Faith about them before she and Leo had orbed up here.
"She has the power of premonition?" Leo asked.
"She does," Roland answered.
May 1, 1998 – Friday
Summers, Payne, Harris Residence
Chloe made Buffy a cup of coffee and sat down next to her girlfriend. "So, I learned something."
"What?" Buffy wondered.
"You take after your sister. You're a witch," Chloe told her. "Your dreams, were your power manifesting. You have the power of premonition. On top of the Elders letting us continue our relationship with the caveat that it would not be to a detriment of a single innocent. They also gave you to me as my third charge as Willow has been given to me as my charge as well."
"So there not going to separate us?" Buffy asked as Chloe shook her head.
"No," Chloe answered. "I love you, Buffy Anne Summers. And if Grace and James have taught us anything it is that there is nothing on this earth more powerful than love, even death can't defeat the love two people can share."
"So says the person who officially died six years ago," Buffy said as she smiled at her girlfriend as Chloe laughed. Chloe had told her everything from start to finish; her childhood, her teenage years, going to Berkeley and studying pre-med to finally volunteering for a rescue squad to help survivors and victims of a wildfire and dying. She leaned forward and kissed Chloe passionately. One thing led to another until a few hours later they lay in each other's arms, exhausted but content.
Author's Note: There won't likely be anymore crossover with Charmed. We'll see though, you never know. But don't expect it. I only added in the scenes with the Halliwells and Leo to create backstory for Chloe being a Whitelighter. I had to do something to make this chapter work. I had three options pretty much. Make Chloe immortal, Highlander type of immortal. Two make Dawn immortal, for Dawn it would have been immortality gained from her Key powers. Three make Chloe a Whitelighter. The ideas surrounding Chloe I came up with. Dawn being immortal was an idea from Camagassi72 (thank you for your help btw). With Camagassi's help bouncing the idea back and forth I decided to go with the Whitelighter angle and our two-chapter crossover.
Also in regards to Buffy being a witch with a power. It's a minor thing. There are two reasons why Buffy is a witch. My stories form a loose form of a multiverse. And in several Buffy has been a witch or another form of magic user (Progenitor or Romani (Gypsy)). The other is because of the visions. Buffy has gotten visions since season 1, that were never truly explained (and eventually the writers of the show stopped having her have them) and the name (Slayer Dreams) was given to that power was more by fans than anything. So, don't expect to see Buffy casting spells or doing magic with Willow or Dawn on a regular basis if at all.