Chapter 153: Used Karma

Buffy stood at the door to Dawn's room looking in and watching her sister's chest heave up and down as Dawn slept. She knew she should not be here, watching her sister like this. Dawn had not only grown up, but matured in so many ways in the five years that Dawn had been separated from her.

She didn't know when she had started to feel these things for her own sister. As she watched Dawn shre realized the effect her sister had on her now. Dawn was beautiful during the day, but during the night the effect that Dawn had on Buffy, the reason she now watched her sister sleep, was ten times more profound. The sheer look of tranquility and contentment that Dawn held was enough to render Buffy helpless. Enough so that she wanted to rush into the room, wake Dawn and tell her screw dating that she wanted to make made passionate love to her sister.

But she resisted the impulse, she had after all promised Dawn that they would they would date and see what may come first. And tomorrow night would be their first of these dates. She had already wrangled Piper into helping her cook, or rather pre-cook, since Piper was helping Phoebe and Paige with their double-date tomorrow as well.

Of course Piper didn't know that she was cooking for a date, at least not for Buffy and Dawn. She of course thought it was simply a welcome home celebration, since Dawn had been trapped for five years back in the 1960's.

As Buffy watched Dawn she saw her sister stir and despite how horny she felt in that instance she backed out into the hallway, pulling the door closed before Dawn could see her. She glanced toward Willow's room and wondered what her friend would think of her having feelings for Dawn.

Buffy slowly and reluctantly returned to bed. She laid there and tried counting sheep to get her mind off her sister and help her to sleep. She had no luck. She fumbled onto her stomach, reciting nursery rhymes. No dice. She flipped over and thought about heating up some milk. But quickly dismissed the idea as she had always hated the taste of warm milk. She sighed and returned to counting sheep. Sleep did eventually take her that night.

That next evening Buffy sat across from Dawn at the dining room table and smiled at her sister. Buffy had made sure Willow would have an excuse not to be home so that she and Dawn could have their date.

"This has been really fun," Dawn said.

"I know," Buffy said.

"Tell me the truth, you got Piper to do the cooking."

Buffy laughed and nodded. "I did at that. Well she pre-cooked everything. Put it in the fridge with instructions on how long to reheat it. So it was part her, but also part me. Are you disappointed?"

"No," Dawn said. "Not at all. Even back in the 60's I never had anyone do this for me. I enjoyed it. Though its going to be hard to top the whole intimate candlelit dinner for two next time."

Buffy smiled. "I'm going to try though."

"I know," Dawn replied just as Leo orbed in.

"Leo!" Buffy and Dawn shouted, they were surprised to see him there.

"What's going on?" Leo asked noting the candles.

"The powers out," Dawn lied.

Leo moved to a lightswitch and turned it on. "Nice try."

Buffy let out a sigh. "Leo can you see aura's? Is that part of a Whitelighter's powers?"

"Somewhat, why?" Leo asked.

"What do you see when you look at me and Dawn?"

Leo looked at Buffy and then Dawn with what was called aura sight. He blinked and looked again. "It's impossible."

"It's possible," Dawn said. "We're soulmates, apparently."

Unable to grasp what the aura sight was showing him. He changed the topic. "We can discuss this later. Piper's under attack. She needs your help fast."

"Okay," Buffy said as she and Dawn got up. She walked around the table and flamed out.

Somewhere in some catacombs a swarm demon exploded as another appeared.

"Crap," Piper said as the swarm demon powered up a fireball and hurled it at her. She dove out of the way and it hit the wall behind her. "Unh!" Just then Phoebe and Paige rushed toward her. "About time!"

As the swarm demon headed for them Piper used her exploding power and demon exploded.

"It wasn't easy to find you in these catacombs," Phoebe said as Buffy and Dawn flamed in beside them.

"You were supposed to wait till after dinner so I could help," Paige said.

"What did we miss?" Buffy asked.

"Oh not much, just Phoebe and Paige taking their time," Piper said. "How did your concratulatory dinner go?"

"Fine, thanks for asking," Dawn said.

"And about waiting," Piper said as she looked at Paige. "Well, I thought I could handle it. Except I must have missed something in the book."

"I guess so," Phoebe said flatly.

"Look, every time I hit one, two more show up," Piper said as they heard more coming. She peered around around the wall and saw two more swarm demons appear. She tried to blast them but missed as the demons ducked out of the way. They powered up fireballs and threw them at Piper as she moved out of the way.

"Ok. Back up," Buffy said as she motioned Piper out of the way. "Hey, boys!"

The two swarm demons hurl their fireballs at Buffy who fired off two of her own and the four fireballs exploded up on collision. She fired off two more before the demons could do the same and the demons exploded.

Buffy smiled as she turned around and looked Dawn, Phoebe, Piper and Paige. Behind her four new swarm demons appeared. The one standing in the center threw a fire ball almost instanteously at Buffy.

Dawn grabbed her sister and pulled her out of the way back behind the wall.

"Ok, new plan. Blast and then bail," Piper said.

Buffy, Paige, Dawn and Phoebe all nodded in agreement as they all ran out from behind their hiding place. Buffy and Dawn let fly fireballs and energyballs as Paige and Phoebe sent the demons own fireballs back toward the demons and Piper used her exploding power. The demons exploded under then onslaught of the combined powers. Everyone held onto each other as Paige orbed out with them.

At the manor Jason Dean, Phoebe's boyfriend, walked into the kitchen. "Hey, Phoebe, what's taking you so long?" he asked as Leo and Richard followed him. He looked around and found the kitchen empty. "What—where'd they go?"

"Uh, must be an emergency or something," Richard said as he and Leo looked at each other.

"It's always some emergency or some phone call or some marathon pee break. What's going on?" Jason asked.

Leo shrugged and shook his head. This was one too many things he had to worry about. Between Buffy and Dawn and Phoebe and Jason he just didn't know what to do.

Just then the girls orbed in, right in front of Jason, who's eyes rolled to the back of his head as he passed out.

"Oops," Piper said.

Moments later Piper and Leo sat across from Paige, Buffy and Dawn as Leo healed Piper's wound.

"I think I better go check on Wyatt," Leo said as Phoebe walked into the room.

Phoebe sat down next to Piper in Leo's vacated spot. "I've never seen him like that. He looked at me like he had no idea who I was."

Buffy and Dawn looked at each other. Leo had said nothing to them since he had orbed in during their candlelit dinner. They were sure it wasn't just Phoebe and Jason that Leo was avoiding.

"He doesn't know you. Not the witch you, anyway," Paige said.

Piper nodded. "He's just gonna need some time."

"Why didn't I just tell him?" Phoebe asked as she pointed to Paige. "And no I told you so's."

"We all make little mistakes, honey," Paige said.

"This was a very big mistake," Phoebe said. "I can't imagine how he's feeling right now, what he's going through."

"The good news is it's out in the open now, and, uh, you know, you guys have no more secrets."

Was it good that there were no secrets? Dawn and Buffy wondered. Their newfound relationship was being kept secret till they could figure what it all meant and how to them and their friends.

"Food's away, table's cleared," Richard said as he walked into the room. "Is there anything else I can do?"

Paige shook her head. "No. Thank you."

Richard looked to Phoebe. "Hey, I feel awful. I'm sorry about what happened."

"It's not your fault," Phoebe said.

"Well, actually, it is," Richard replied.

"How so," Dawn said. "Did you shove Jason into the kitchen?"

"No, but my karma did," Richard said as Piper's brow furrow at her confusion. "I'm serious. I'm convinced I'm carrying around the burden of my family's karma. We did so much bad with magic, now magic's doing bad to me and those I care about."

"Now, that is completely ridiculous," Paige said.

"The Feud has lasted for decades in my family, and so many people were hurt in the crossfire. I mean, somebody's gotta inherit that bad karma, right?" Richard asked.

Piper shook her head. "That's not really how karma works."

"You live a double life with your boyfriend, and you pay the price," Phoebe said. "If anyone's karma made this happen, it's mine."

"That's true," Paige agreed. "You had the chance to clean this up tonight, and you didn't."

Buffy and Dawn looked at each other. The more the others talked about what was happening to Phoebe and Jason. The more they thought about what was happening with them. They were becoming sure that it would be better to say it now than to keep the secret a month, two months, a year, however long it took them to figure things out.

"See?" Phoebe said. "There's that I told you so, huh?"

"Only to make a point," Paige said.

Phoebe shook her head. "No, you're—you're right. I've been avoiding conflict my whole life."

"What, and it just happened the night I was here?" Richard asked. "I mean, that's all I'm saying."

"Hey, you guys," Piper said. "This mea culpa game is real fun and all, but we're not gonna solve anything. Those multiplying swarm demons, on the other hand –"

Buffy looked at Dawn and her eyes flickered upwards. Dawn nodded in understanding, Buffy was going to go talk to Leo. Buffy got up and left the room.

"That's right, we riled 'em up, didn't we?" Paige asked. "Where is Buffy going?"

"Bathroom," Dawn lied.

"Oh," Paige said.

"Yeah, and if they attack right now, we won't know how to deal with them, so why don't you three hit the Book, and I'll catch up after I check on Wyatt," Piper said.

"Uh …" Dawn said trying to stall Piper who was already heading toward the stairs. She ran over to Piper. "I know that you cooked dinner today for me and not Buffy. We both know despite you having tried to teach Buffy, she's a lousy cook. Thanks."

Piper smiled and hugged Dawn. "You're welcome, Dawn," she said as she headed up the stairs.

Upstairs in the nursery Leo put Wyatt down in his crib and automatically reached for the red quilt hanging on the side to drape it over him. "Buffy," he said, "first of all what your aura's showed me should be impossible. Sisters do not become soulmates."

"Tara's theory said the monks needed more than just my blood for Dawn," Buffy said. "They needed the one thing they couldn't create by magic. A soul. They took part of mine and when they did the Key spilled over from Dawn into me. Dawn and I are literally now two halves of a whole."

Leo sighed. "Alright, I accept that. But what you are doing Buffy, society says is wrong. Falling in love with your sister, having a romantic relationship with Dawn. How would …"

"You're in a romantic relationship with Dawn?"

They turned to see Piper and Dawn standing in the doorway behind them.

"I tried to stop her, Buffy," Dawn said, "sorry."

"It's okay, Dawnie," Buffy said as she moved over next to Dawn as Piper moved over to Leo. "Yes, Piper, Dawn and I are in a romantic relationship. We had our first date tonight, that's what you cooked for. Not the celebatory feast you thought you were doing. We were going to tell you, Phoebe and Paige eventually. When we were sure the feelings we felt were genuine."

"How long has this been going on?" Piper wondered.

"Since my creation when she came back from Dracula's," Dawn said. "That was the first time I noticed Buffy, I remember feeling jealousy over what Dracula was doing to her, even though that was over the days before my actual creation. I was jealous of Riley because he was dating Buffy."

"I'm not really sure when my feelings for Dawn started," Buffy said. "I tried to place it down to a day but I couldn't. Last year was just so hectic. And then I became emotionally disconnected, remember my intervention, when you guys found out about the robot. Then when Willow brought me back, I was again emotionally disconnected. It's taken time, but it wasn't till Celia's spell that I realized I had not felt love in a long time and that when I looked at Dawn, I felt it for her."

"This is wrong," Piper said, "on so many levels. Sisters do not fall in love with each other."

"That may be what happened," Leo said. "Both Tara and I did an aura read apparently. Despite how impossible it is, Buffy and Dawn are soulmates. They share a portion of each other's souls. I'm not saying its right, shoot that likely comes up from my upbringing as I was born during the same time period your Grams was. But its not something we're going to easily accept either."

"We know," said Dawn. "Which had been why we wanted to wait. Figure things out, before we told you guys."

Piper sighed as she turned and exited the room. She didn't want to talk about this anymore. It was wrong, the whole situation of Buffy and Dawn in a romantic relationship seemed wrong to her.

Buffy and Dawn looked at each other and as they held onto one another Buffy flamed them out.

"Piper," Leo said as he follow Piper out of the room.

"Tell me what you saw," Piper said with a sigh.

Leo nodded and told her everything he had seen when he had been over at Buffy's house.

Ten minutes later Buffy and Dawn were cleaning up the remains of their dinner. "Do you think that Piper and Leo will eventually be okay with it?" Dawn asked.

"I don't know," Buffy said as she sat down on a chair heavily. "I hope so. I don't want to see this secret tear our family apart, but it might."

"Can I have a word?"

Buffy and Dawn looked around and spotted their mom. "Mom?" they said.

"You both are probably wondering how I keep coming back, when you haven't summoned me," Joyce said. "Let's just say I have some pull with the Elders and leave it at that. Do you two feel what you have is real?"

"We're …" Buffy started.

"Not sure," Joyce finished. "I think you are. Do not hide it, it's meant to be. The monks knew what they were doing, they intended for this connection. They had to ensure that you would protect Dawn, Buffy. The only way to do that was to ensure that you not only loved Dawn, but were in love with Dawn, Buffy. When the Elders saw what was happening they discussed not allowing your creation, Dawn. They had the same moral qualms that anyone would have that had at one time been human. And as you both know, Elders were at one time human, before they became an Elder."

"But, Piper, Phoebe, Paige, our friends," Dawn said. "They aren't going to accept it. Regardless of whether what we feel is real or not."

"Maybe not at first," Joyce said. "Give them time. As they come to see what you two have is real. They will come to accept it. But this secret if kept, will destroy the Charmed Ones. Well it will revert them to the Power of Three as the two of you will suddenly find yourselves Charmed but not part of the Charmed Ones any longer. You have too important a destiny, Buffy as you know, not to that let that happen."

"Mom," Buffy said. "We understand what you are saying. But we could destroy the Charmed Ones simply by telling it also. Let me pose the issue. If Aunt Patty had told Grams she was in love with you. What would Grams have done?"

"She would not have accepted it," Joyce said. "But Grams was born in a different era, where society said …"

"Those same rules, apply today, mom," Dawn said. "We have to make sure ourselves that what we feel is real. And then we have to find the best way to broach this, for the best reaction. Look at how Piper and Leo reacted. Either way we risk destroying the Charmed Ones, or at least the Power of Four and the Power of Five."

"I see your point," Joyce said. "Be careful either way."

At the manor Richard paced the floor while Paige went through the Charmed Book. "Look, you and I both know in order to make this work, you can't repress yourself," he said.

"I'm not. Look," Paige said as she spread her hands over the Book. "Practicing magic."

"Yeah, but you don't want me to –"

Paige sighed. "Every relationship is gonna have its challenges, right? Look at Phoebe and Jason."

"I'm telling you, that was me," he said.

Paige shook her head. "No, that was them not being truthful with each other, and as long as we are, we're gonna be fine."

"Fine would be if I could start over with a clean slate," Richard replied.

"You just be the wonderful person that you are, and it's gonna make up for all the bad things that your family ever did."

"Not in this lifetime," Richard said. "I wanna start over."

Paige sighed. "It's not possible. If it were, everybody would do it."

"Look, everybody's not a powerful witch."

"Look, karma is the DNA of the universe," Paige explained. "It's what balances everything out. You start screwing with that, you can mess up the entire cosmic order of things."

Richard looked at the potions table as he walked toward it. "Maybe you can help me cast a spell."

"What part of no shortcuts are you not getting?" Paige wondered. "There's an Aura Cleanse, a Chakra Cleanse, but no Karma Cleanse. If it were possible to be cleansed, it would be in there. But there's no spell. It can't be done."

"Got anything?" Piper asked as she walked into the attic.

"Yeah. Let's see," Paige said as she looked down at the Book. "They are distant relatives of Kazis and vampires, which means they come from a hive." Piper moved over beside her to look at the page. "Did you even read this?"

Piper knew she was busted. "I 'skimmed' it," she said as Richard hung around the potions table. "So ... they were drones that we were killing. Well, no wonder they just kept coming back. It says you have to kill the king to kill the hive, which requires the Power of Five …"

"Since when is their a vanquish requiring the Power of Five," Paige said. "I don't remember there being any entry requiring a Power of Five."

"Demons are supposedly getting stronger, the stronger we get," Piper said. "It's obvious the Book would update itself to reflect the more powerful demons. I better call Phoebe, Buffy and Dawn." She started toward the door as Paige stopped her.

"Hey, just slow down there, ok? Take it easy," Paige said.

"Ok, you orb out and get Phoebe," Piper said, "and I'll start on the potion after I call Buffy and Dawn."

"Why don't we just track the leader down?" Paige suggested. "You and I. That way, Phoebe and Jason can have a little bit of time alone, yeah? And Buffy and Dawn, well something seems off about them too. Did you notice how quiet they were downstairs."

"Yeah," Piper said as she sighed. While she knew Paige had a right to know about Buffy and Dawn's relationship. She also knew this was something that not only did she herself have to come to grips with, but Buffy and Dawn had to tell Phoebe and Paige themselves. If she did it, it could be seen as being vindictive. "But, what if the swarm attacks before –" Paige gave her a look that said they could do this. "Ok, fine. We'll locate the ruler first."

Paige smiled. "Brilliant idea," she said as she looked at Richard. "Hey, can I orb you anywhere?"

Richard shook his head. "No, it's ok. I drove my car here."

"Ok. I'll see you soon," Paige said as she put her jacket on.

Richard started starts moving toward the attic door as Paige and Piper orbed out. The moment they're gone, he stopped and headed toward the Charmed Book.

At Buffy's house Buffy sighed as she looked at Dawn. "How are we going to tell them?"

"The same way we told Leo and Piper," Dawn said as she reached over and squeezed Buffy's hand. "I don't want to hide this anymore. Mom was right about that. We're both consenting adults now, what society expects of us, shouldn't matter. As long as we are in love with each other. I want to be not only your sister, but your girlfriend, your lover. I want to share everything I have with you, Buffy, my heart, my soul."

Buffy smiled as she leaned over and gave Dawn one of the most passionate, the loving kisses, she had given. And in that kiss Buffy realized Dawn was right. "And I want to be your's Dawn, your girlfriend, your love. You are my heart and my soul."

Dawn smiled as she stood up and took Buffy's hand and led her out of the dining room and up the stairs to Buffy's bedroom. There they removed each other's clothes till they were naked and laid down on the bed kissing.

In the catacombs Paige and Piper were lost.

"Hey, you're the one that wanted to look for the Swarm King in the first place, remember?" Piper said.

"Yeah. That's when I thought it was a hive, and not so much of a maze," Paige said as they turned a corner and groaned. "Oh, no. Is this starting to look familiar? Are we –"

"... going around in circles?" Piper said as they looked down and saw their own footprints.

Paige groaned. "Great. Let's just orb home."

"Why are you in such a rush to go home all of a sudden?" Piper wondered.

"It's Richard. Anytime he's alone for too long, bad things start to happen," Paige said as the shadows cast on the walls moved.

Piper started to motion with her hands to blast the demons, but Paige stopped her and pulled her off to the side.

"No! It only attracts them more, remember?" Paige said as they wait as a group of swarm demons cross the passageway in front of them. "Should we follow them?"

"Good idea," Piper agreed as she and Paige started to follow the demons. Instead they found them trapped between the swarm demons and a second group of them. "Now?"

Paige nodded. "Yeah."

Piper motioned and blasted the demons in the front, who exploded.

At Buffy's house Dawn and Buffy laid in bed watching the sun rise the next morning and they smiled.

"That's the second most beautiful sight in the morning," Dawn said.

"And the first?" Buffy asked.

"Seeing you next to me," Dawn replied. "I promise never to leave you, Buffy. Not like Angel, or Parker or Riley."

Buffy smiled as she leaned over and kissed Dawn.

Across town at the manor Paige and Piper orbed into the foyer looking exhausted.

"How many did we get, fifteen or sixteen?" Piper asked.

"I don't know," Paige yawned. "I stopped counting at dawn. I'm gonna go crash. Actually, I'm gonna go check on Richard, and then I'm gonna go crash."

"But wait," Piper objected. "We know where the King is now, so we gotta get Phoebe, Buffy and Dawn so we can go back and get him."

Paige shook her head. "No! I am taking a hot bath and crawl into a nice warm bed."

Piper sighed. "You know, living at Richard's mansion has made you soft."

"Oh, shush."

"I'm serious," Piper said. "What if this is the demon that gets to Wyatt?"

"Well, then it's all the more reason for us to be well-rested, right?" Paige asked.

Piper didn't answer as she saw a broken vase and flowers on the floor. "What happened here?" she asked.

Just then Phoebe grandly glided down the stairs, wearing lots and lots of scarves. "Bonjour. Bonjour."

"Bonjour?! What the heck are you wearing?" Paige asked.

"Oh, just a little something to help me win my boyfriend back. Showing a little skin never hurt," Phoebe said.

"Oh, I'll file that away," Paige said.

"I guess it didn't go so good with Jason last night?" Piper asked.

Phoebe shook her head. "No, unfortunately. Je ne sais pas pourquoi."

"Since when do you speak freedom fry?" Paige wondered.

Phoebe shrugged. "I don't know, actually. It's kinda weird, considering I hate the French."

"No, you don't," Piper said. "You love everything about France."

"I do?" Phoebe asked surprised. "Oh, then maybe I just hate being dumped. All the more reason to go get him."

"Uh, just there's one thing," Piper said. "See, we kinda need The Power of Five for a vanquish. You know, to save your nephew's future and all."

"Yeah. Sorry. I can't. Au revoir," Phoebe said as she flitted past Piper and Paige toward the door. As she opened it she turned to look back at them. "Au revoir." She stepped out the door and closed it behind her.

"Please tell me she didn't ..." Piper said.

"... Cast a spell on herself? I think she did," Paige said as they headed up the stairs to the Book.

"I'm confused. How does cleansing her aura get Jason back?" Piper asked.

Paige shook her head. "No, Phoebe didn't cast the spell. Richard did."

"Richard wants Jason back?" Piper asked confused.

"No. Richard wants to cleanse his karma," Paige said as she realized what happened. "Oh, my god. That's what he used the book for. Damn it. I shouldn't have left him alone."

"Wait a second. What does this have to do with Phoebe?" Piper wondered.

"Karma is not something you mess with," Paige said. "Especially not magically. Whatever Richard did could've gone wonky and affected her somehow. I mean, there's always someone's unfinished karma just floating around out there, waiting to complete its cycle."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Piper wondered.

"I'm talking about Richard screwing with the karmic wheel and Phoebe getting smacked down by it. She said it herself. She's been lying to Jason, living a double life. If that doesn't attract bad karma, I don't know what does."

Piper looked toward the window thinking about Buffy and Dawn. She hoped they had not come back when Richard cast his spell, or they could be affected also. After all they had been lying to them and their friends. She looked back at Paige. "Someone's unfinished bad karma?"

Paige nodded. "Exactly. Except whose?"

"Well, I'd guess a french hooker, by the way she's been acting," Piper suggested.

Paige sighed. "Or worse. Ok, you go get Phoebe, I'll go get Richard."

"But what if he's infected, too?" Piper asked as Paige turned and headed for the door.

"Well, I'll save him, and then I'll kill him," Paige replied.

Piper walked quickly downstairs and to a phone and dialed. "Pick up."

"Halliwell residence, Payson speaking."

"Buffy it's Piper," Piper said. "Did you and Dawn at any time come back to the manor last night after you left?"

"No, why?" Buffy asked.

Piper could tell there was reason Buffy and Dawn had not come back. But right now was not the time to find out what. "Richard cast a spell and Phoebe has been hit as a consequence with someone's bad karma."

"The moment we get dressed we'll be right there."

Later outside a hotel Phoebe stood waiting for Jason.

Jason rolled down the window of the black limo he was riding in, surprised to see Phoebe there. "What are you doing here?" he asked as he got out. "And what are you wearing?"

Phoebe pulled him to her and puts her arms around his neck. "I'm looking for you, mon petit choux."

Jason pulled her arms away from him and stepped past her. "Look, I ... don't have time for this. This is crazy."

"You have every right to be very upset with me," Phoebe said as she chased after him, teasing him with one of her scarves. I know I've been a very, very bad girl. Please let me make it up to you."

Jason shook his head. "I don't think so," he said as he turned and walked away from her.

Phoebe grabbed him and pulled him back toward her. "What do you mean, you don't think so?"

"Hey, take it easy, Phoebe," Jason said. "We'll talk about it later, ok? Right now I'm running late."

"There's always time for l'amour," Phoebe said as she tried to kiss Jason.

"Whoa," Jason said as he pulled away from Phoebe. "Uh ... listen, this is—I—this merger is very important to me, ok? I need to keep a clear head, if that's at all possible."

Phoebe scoffed. "Are you saying you don't want me?"

Jason shook his head. "Not right now, ok?"

"Cochon!" Phoebe said angrily. "You pig! Quel est ton probleme? Fils de pute!"

"You're crazy," Jason said as he walked away from Phoebe and into the hotel.

"You think you could just walk away from me?" Phoebe yelled. "You think I'm crazy? You think this is crazy?! Just wait."

Moments later inside Jason is up on stage giving his speech. "In the climate of this world economy, diversity is essential. And that is why this merger is essential, if we want to grow as a company. Combining resources will allow us to tap into markets that would have otherwise remained beyond our reach," he said as the group of shareholders applauded. "And so, today we celebrate a new Franco-American business community, in which bilateral trade is not only encouraged –"

Just then the microphone whined with feed back. He stopped as he waited for it to clear. As he paused music began playing from the back of the room. The audience slowly turned around and cleared a path to the doorway to reveal Phoebe standing there, her arms outstretched in a pose.

Phoebe slowly made her way toward the stage, removing scarves as she did. "

"What the hell are you doing?" Jason said softly as Phoebe stepped onto the stage.

Phoebe doesn't respond at first, other than to drape a scarf on his shoulders as she began to circle around him and the podium. "You turned on me. You rejected me. And I'd say that you'd live to regret it, but you won't."

"This isn't a game," Jason said as Phoebe turned and faced the audience, holding up a scarf.

"Voila!" she said as members of the media snapped photos.

Jason removed his jacket and drapped it over Phoebe to cover her up. "Jeez. Phoebe, you can't do this."

"Oh, no?" Phoebe said. "Pourquoi pas? Watch me." She tore the jack off and stepped forward. With her first curse, she threw the scarf into the audience. "Curses on this merger."

The scarf floated down onto the audience as the male members scrambled to catch it. But none of them managed to do so as it landed on the floor. Suddenly the corks in the champagne bottles pop sending streams of champagne straight into the air. The audience then began to start screaming as the plates of food change into live snails and live frogs. Plates of cooked poultry turn into live pigeons. All around Phoebe, chaos ensues as the audience has to deal with the champagne and the moving food. She stood there enjoying everything.

"Phoebe, stop this," Jason said as he grabbed her arm.

Phoebe turned and pushed him away from her, knocking him to the floor. "You let go of me!"

"Are you trying to ruin me?" Jason asked.

Oh, that's just the hors d'oeuvre. Wait until you see the entrée. It's to die for," Phoebe said as she reached down to grab Jason and she, Jason and the entire room froze.

Standing near the doorway, her hands out in front of her, was Piper, Buffy and Dawn. They looked at the mess as they weaved their way through the people toward Phoebe.

"I still don't understand," Dawn said. "How Phoebe can be frozen."

"That's not Phoebe," Piper said. "We need to get her out of here."

"What about the exposure?" Buffy wondered.

"We'll deal with it later," Piper said as she took Dawn's hand and Buffy grabbed Phoebe and Dawn and they flamed out.

As soon as they were gone, the room unfroze and bedlam resumed. People screamed as the champagne continued to stream into the air.

Jason looked around and noticed Phoebe was gone. "Phoebe?" He got to his feet as he surveyed the mess. He turned and saw the ice sculpture of the Eiffel Tower topple to the floor and shatter.

At the manor as Buffy, Dawn, Phoebe and Piper flame in, Phoebe fell back into a chair as Piper grabbed some clothes that Paige had brought down and tossed them at Phoebe. "Sit down and put this on," Piper said.

"I'm not finished with my revenge," Phoebe said.

"Sit, or I will freeze," Piper said. "We need to figure out whose karma you've got."

"I'll never tell. Je ne fait pas ca," Phoebe said.

"Fill us in," Buffy said. "What do we know so far about this spirit that is infecting Phoebe.

"Ok," Paige said. "She's French. She has bad karma. Napoleon?"

Piper shook her head. "Probably not."

"Phoebe's not our only problem," Dawn said. "That entire auditorium saw her use magic."

"Well, we fix Phoebe first, and then we take care of the Swarm King, and if we're still alive after that, we'll worry about it then," Piper said.

Phoebe sighed heavily.

Piper walked over to the Charmed Book and opened it. "I'll see if I can piece together a spell to de-karma Phoebe."

"Ok, what about, uh ... Marie Antoinette? Queen Isabella, the she-wolf of France?" Paige suggested.

"Oh! Now you insult me," Phoebe said. "I can't stand France."

"Vital clue there," Piper said.

Dawn thought for a moment. "I seem to remember something from my history class back in the 60's. Okay, sSpeaks French, hates the country, more than willing to strip in public … Mata Hari," she said as Phoebe's eyes narrowed.

"Wasn't she one of the Bond girls?" Piper asked.

Dawn shook her head. "No. She was a famous female spy during World War I. She was an exotic stripper in Paris, Dutch-born, double agent for Germany. She was convicted by French officials and executed by a firing squad."

"Well, no wonder she hates the French," Buffy said.

"Not half as much as I hate you for keeping me here. I need my freedom. I need my revenge," Phoebe said.

"What does her karma have to do with Phoebe?" Piper asked.

"Well, duplicitous, living a double life ... ring any bells?" Paige suggested.

Buffy and Dawn looked at each other, realizing why exactly Piper had called earlier. That fits them over the course of the last couple weeks, since Dawn had returned from the sixties. If they had been here one of them could have been hit instead.

"Enough!" Phoebe said as she tossed the clothes aside and got to her feet quite dramatically.

"Where are you going?" Piper asked as Phoebe headed for the front door.

"Au revoir," Phoebe said as Piper froze her.

Dawn shimmered out and back in, in front of Phoebe as she powered up an energy ball. "Okay," she said as Piper unfroze Phoebe.

"Aah!" Phoebe said.

"Pheebs," Dawn said. "It's four against one. And three of us have active powers that can physically hurt you. You are not going any –"

Just then two swarm demons appeared.

Dawn knocked Phoebe to the side as the swarm demons threw their fireballs. One hits Piper on the shoulder as Dawn threw her energy ball colliding with the fireball and the both exploded in midair.

Buffy threw two energy balls and threw them at the demons who exploded on contact.

Piper glanced at her arm. "Why am I always the one getting hit?"

Three more swarm demons appeared.

"Behind you!" Phoebe shouted as she got to her feet.

The swarm demons turn around as Piper blasted two of them who ducked out of the way as the third exploded.

The first demon threw a fireball at Piper, missing her as she ducked out of the way. Another swarm demon appeared throwing a fireball at Paige and it grazed her arm.

The first demon pointed to Phoebe. "Take her!"

The other two grab Phoebe and vanish.

"Oh!" Piper said as she and Paige looked at their injured shoulders.

"Am I crazy, or is she trying to save them from us?" Paige asked.

"Not crazy," Buffy sighed.

Moments later Buffy and Dawn tended to Piper and Paige's wounds.

"Ow!" Piper and Paige said.

"Well, if you would just hold still," Dawn said as she pressed lightly into the wound. "You're done," she told Piper.

"You know," Paige said, "we wouldn't even be in this mess if it weren't for Phoebe not being able to deal with conflict."

"Actually, we wouldn't be in this mess if your boyfriend could handle his magic," Piper said as Buffy pressed a bandaid to Paige's wound.

"Ow!" Paige said accusingly. "Buffy, you did that on purpose!"

"Yes, I did," Buffy said. "Because right now you two are acting like spoiled brats. "We should be focusing on saving Phoebe at the moment. We can return to this conversation and others after we've saved Phoebe."

"Well, we could storm the hive, but then again, she'd probably just help them stop us," Piper said.

"Oh, that's just Mata Hari coming through using whoever she can to exact her revenge," Paige said.

"But against who?" Piper asked. "The men who put her to death are long gone, and besides, doesn't her real karma eventually lead to her own self-destruction anyway?"

"I don't think it's about the men who put her to death," Dawn said.

"Explain," Piper said.

"I think Mata Hari and Phoebe have kind of merged," Dawn explained. "I think she's after Jason."

"That might just be it," Paige said. "She did spend her life pleasing men, only to be betrayed by them at the end."

"Which means," Buffy said. "She wants to return the favor. Dawn's right, it's Jason."

The got up and Buffy flamed them to the Bay Mirror where Jason was just leaving. Luckily the flamed in behind a van as front of it a group of reporters were hounding Jason.

"Mr. Dean! Mr. Dean!"

"Just one question."

"Mr. Dean! Mr. Dean!"

"We need a quote! What happened this morning?"

They peaked around the corner of the van and saw the reporters converging on Jason as he tried to get into his limo. As he opened the door, he turned to address them.

"Please tell us! Mr. Dean!"

"Listen up, folks," Jason said. "I'll answer everything at the press conference. Please. Do me a favor and hold your questions until then."

Buffy spotted Phoebe inside the limo and nudged Piper, Paige and Dawn and motioned towards Phoebe. They nodded seeing her also.

"Mr. Dean! Mr. Dean!"

"Please! Please!"

Jason slipped into the limo and closed the door.

As the reporters dispersed they hurried over to the limo and Paige opened the door. They found Phoebe and Jason gone.

Paige orbed them out and into the catacombs. "I swear this is where we found The King last time," Paige said a few moments later as they walked through the catacombs."

"Well, maybe your orbing was off," Piper said.

"My orbing was not off," Paige said. "They just moved."

"Well, we should be hearing the swarm," Piper said. "So why don't we?"

Paige shrugged. "I don't know. 'Cause there's like a jillion miles of this stupid maze? They could be anywhere."

Piper sighed. "We don't even know if Phoebe is here."

"There is a way, guys," Buffy said. "Paige, you are part Whitelighter, remember. Leo can sense his charges. Shoot you were able to sense Sam even when the Elders couldn't. Try and sense Phoebe."

Paige closed her eyes and tried to sense Phoebe. But it wasn't Paige who spoke next.

"No!"

"Wait," Dawn said. "That sounded like Phoebe." She grabbed Buffy and Piper, who grabbed Paige and she shimmered them out and in next to Phoebe and Jason.

Piper barely managed to duck as a fireball whizzed by her and exploded against the wall. "Oh!"

They quickly moved around the wall to where Phoebe and Jason were hidden.

"Oh, thank god," Phoebe said. "I'm so happy to see you guys."

Paige smiled. "You're you."

Phoebe returned the smile as she nodded. "Yeah."

Another fireball flew past them and hit the wall.

"But how?" Dawn wondered.

"Ok," Buffy said. "Reunion later. Slay now."

"Fire! Fire at her!" the Swarm King said as he pointed toward the wall where they were hidden. He let loose another salvo of fireballs.

Piper took out the spell and they gathered around her. "Demon swarm that serves as one, vanquish him from which they come," all five of them chanted.

The Swarm King caught on fire and exploded, taking all his minions with him.

Phoebe turned to Jason. "Jason," she said as she walked over to him. "I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"Me, too," Jason told her.

"I hate to break this up," Piper said. "I really do, but we gotta go."

"How did you get rid of Mata Hari's karma?" Dawn wondered.

"Who?" Jason asked.

"Don't ask," Piper said.

"Where did you get the potion from?" Phoebe wondered.

"I got it from Richard," Jason said. "He said it would be the only thing that might save you."

Phoebe, Piper, Buffy and Dawn all turned to look at Paige.

"Richard?" Paige said.

After they returned to the manor, Buffy and Dawn sat down with Piper and Leo. Phoebe and Paige had gone to talk to their respective boyfriends.

"Piper, Leo," Buffy said. "Dawn and I know what you learned came as a shock. To tell the truth here, neither of us is sure of anything. We have these feelings and we would like to explore them to find what they mean, if they mean anything. We're asking you to give us that time. Say one month. Let us find out if what we feel is real and how best to broach the subject with you two, Phoebe, Paige, Willow, all of our friends, everyone that matters."

Piper let out a sigh and slowly nodded. "It did come as a shock. I've had time to think about it, and talked to Leo after you two flamed out last night. He told me what he saw. It was enough to convince me that there was something there, maybe you two are in love. And if you two are then I am happy for you both, even if it is with each other. We don't choose who we fall in love with, I should have remembered. If we could I might not have fallen for Leo as I did. Remember Leo's and my relationship was forbidden."

"That said," Leo added, "as your former Whitelighter and as an Elder. You should talk to Paige and Phoebe. Secrets can hurt those around you when revealed. Look at what has happened so far with Phoebe and Jason."

"We know," Dawn said. "It's that reason we want the month. We need to find out for ourselves. How can we tell Phoebe and Paige or our friends when we are still working it out ourselves?"

"We'll give you the month," Piper said. "At the end of that month, we will have a family meeting, including your friends."

"We'll be ready," Buffy and Dawn said in appreciation.