Summary: Buffy Summers was adopted when she was a baby. 24 years later she finds out she is the long lost sister to Prue, Piper, and Phoebe. And the twin sister of Paige.

Pairings: Piper, Phoebe and Paige canon pairings. Buffy/Kyle Brody (season 7 and 8).

A/U: Set during and after Charmed Season 4 and Buffy season 5.

Disclaimer: I do not own either Charmed or Buffy. Joss Whedon owns Buffy. CBS Television Distribution I believe owns Charmed. (I may be wrong on that but they have been trying to get a Charmed reboot of the ground so they must own something in relation to Charmed, right?)

Notes: Dawn is not Buffy's sister in this story she is Buffy's daughter. Buffy gave birth to Dawn when she was fifteen around the time when Buffy was called as the Slayer. Since in canon BTVS Buffy is 20-21 during season 5. Her age was increased to match Paige's of 24. That means between the end of season 4 BTVS and the start of this story 3 years have passed. Riley is already out of the picture btw.

Special thanks to BuffyL for providing several scripts (seasons 6, 7 and 8 of Charmed) that I was missing to do this story.

Prologue

The case had been complicated but also simple, kind of like what had happened to fifteen year old Buffy Summers just nine months before. And the trial was now over as Hank Summers sat next to his lawyer waiting for the judgment that tell him how long he would pay for what he had done to his daughter. "Hank Summers," said the Judge. "You are hereby sentenced to nine years in the Los Angeles County State Prison for statutory rape."

Hank nodded as he listened. He had known he needed help when he had done that to Buffy. He hoped in prison her would get that help.

"Mrs. Summers filed for divorce and it was granted," said the Judge. "She has asked this court that your parental rights be revoked. She also asked that that upon release you will have a restraining order baring you from seeing your ex-wife, Joyce Summers, your daughter, Buffy Summers or her daughter, Dawn Summers. This court grants the restraining order baring you from seeing your ex-wife. Since your expected release date will be nine years from today and Buffy Summers will be an adult by that time. This court has consulted with Ms. Summers on her opinion of the matter. She agreed with her mother's recommendation. Therefor upon release you will have a restraining order baring you from seeing Buffy Summers or her daughter Dawn Summers."

Hank nodded and looked at Buffy and her daughter. "I understand your honor," he said.

The judge nodded as looked toward the Bailiff, "Take Mr. Summers into custody," he said moments before Hank was led out of the courtroom.

Nine Years Later

Buffy helped a man hobble away from the factory she had rescued him from as he staggered alongside her. She looked back as she heard the roof collapse and then proceeded towards the entrance of the factory's parking lot.

"Stop. Please ..." said the man.

Buffy sighed as she relented and let him rest for a moment. "We gotta keep moving," she said.

"My journey's done, I think," the man said with a shake of his head.

"Don't get metaphory on me," said Buffy as she tried to pull him up to his feet. "We're going."

"You have to ..." he said. "The Key. You must protect The Key."

"Protect the Key. Right," Buffy said as she tried again to move him. She could tell it was a futile gesture when he didn't move. "I know, we'll do it together! Far, far from here."

"Many have ..." he said, "… died ... many more, if you don't ... keep it safe ..."

"How?" Buffy asked. "What is it?"

"The Key is energy," he said. "It's a portal. It opens the door ..."

"That round glowy thing?" Buffy asked as the man shook his head.

"For centuries it had no form at all. My brethren ... it's only keepers. Then ..." he said as he tried to point back to the factory. "The abomination ... found us. We had to hide The Key ... We sent it to you, binding it into your child."

Buffy frowned. "You put that thing in Dawn?" she asked.

The man nodded. "She is the vessel for The Key."

"You bound that thing to my daughter," said Buffy as she absorbed that information.

The man nodded, "We knew the Charmed Slayer would ... protect..."

Buffy shook her head. "Charmed Slayer?" she asked as she wondered what a Charmed Slayer was. "Why Dawn. Why not bind it to me. Why my daughter?"

"We knew you would protect with your life," he said as he began coughing. Buffy could clearly see he was fading away, dying. She knew he was right as she nodded in agreement. She would protect Dawn with her very life.

At the Halliwell Manor in San Francisco the following morning. Piper poured two cups of coffee as Phoebe came in and sat down on a stool as she handed Phoebe one of the cups.

"Did you sleep?" Phoebe asked.

Piper nodded. "Yeah, actually, better than I have in a while."

"Mm. It's quiet, isn't it?" asked Phoebe. "Early and late. It's just really, really quiet."

"Prue was always the first one up, and the last one down," said Piper. "It's strange, the things that you miss. So, how scary was I?"

"Heck, I've seen worse. I've been worse. But, uh, but Paige ..." Phoebe said as Piper sat next to her.

"She completely freaked," said Piper.

Phoebe shook her head, "No, uh, she handled it... better than most people would, I think. She saved your life. She definitely is a Halliwell, last name or no."

"I know I haven't been the most welcoming. I just ... I miss Prue so much," said Piper. "It's hard to imagine opening up to someone else. With everything that happens in our lives, love just feels like an invitation for more pain."

"So maybe, um ... maybe you don't start with love," said Phoebe as Leo orbed into the kitchen. "Maybe you just start with thanks."

"I know this isn't the time for this news," said Leo as he looked at the sisters. "But I was talking to Grams just now."

"What did she say?" Piper asked as she looked at her husband.

"Paige had a twin sister," said Leo. "Your mother split them up when she and Sam took them to the church. You have another sister out there somewhere and your Grams said you guys need to find her."

"Where do we start looking?" Piper asked as Phoebe looked at her.

"With Paige?" offered Phoebe.

Several hours later Piper walked into South Bay Social Service holding a basket of muffins and made her way over to Paige's desk where she set down the basket.

Paige looked up at Piper, surprised to see her there. She then peeked into the basket and smiled. "Muffins. Thanks."

Piper nodded. "Busywork," she said as Paige's co-worker Donnie walked past. "I'm best in the kitchen. Prue was the one that liked to, uh, chase demons."

"Man, he's like a whole new Donnie," said Paige motioning towards Donnie. "What did Leo say to him?"

Piper looked over at Donnie who smiled at her and Paige. "Um, I don't know," she said. "He's a miracle worker, that husband of mine."

"So, how are you?" asked Paige.

"I've had, uh ... bad hours," Piper said as she sat down. "And hours that aren't quite so bad. I guess you know how it is."

Paige nodded. "Yeah," she said. "When my parents died, there were some days I didn't think I'd survive the sadness. It'll never be okay that she's gone, Piper. But I promise, it will get better."

"You know, Leo could fix that for you," Piper said seeing the scratches she had given Paige the day before when she had briefly turned into a Fury.

Paige smiled. "It's my first war wound. I think I'll wear it with pride."

"Unfortunately in this family, it will not be the last," said Piper.

"Well, every family has its pros and its cons," said Paige. "A couple of demon battles in exchange for the power to clear up my friend's skin? I'd say it's worth it."

Piper frowned. "The power to what?" She followed Paige's gaze to two more of Paige's co-workers Billy and Lila who are chatting and flirting with each other.

Paige smiled. "He's cute, isn't he? Well, you should have seen him yesterday," she said as she laughed.

"Okay, uh, you saved my life, so I guess we're even on the Book of Shadows swipe, but, um, Paige, there are rules to being a witch, rules that you will have to learn and follow," said Paige.

"Well, not to be difficult, but ... you're married to our Whitelighter and Phoebe's shacking up with a demon," said Paige. "So, on balance, maybe my friend could stay cute?"

"Okay," said Piper as Paige's boss, Mr. Cowan, walked up to them.

"My, my, my," Mr. Cowan said. "That pile looks about the same size as it did about an hour ago."

"Oh that was my fault," said Piper. "I distracted her with muffins."

"And you are?" he asked.

Piper looked at Paige then back at Mr. Cowan and smiled. "I'm her sister, and a client," she said as Mr. Cowan nodded and left the sisters alone.

"Client?" Paige asked, she wondered why Piper had said she was a client.

"This morning Leo came home after speaking with Grams. He told me and Phoebe something that we need your help with," said Piper.

"What?" Paige asked.

"You had … have a twin sister," said Piper.

"He said he talked to your Grams?" asked Paige. She knew it was possible having watched as her their mother had been summoned the week before.

Piper nodded. "Yeah, he talked to Grams. When mom took you to that church she took your twin sister someplace else, splitting the two of you up. Leo said Grams was adamant we find her. Do you think you can try and find her in the system?"

"Do we have a name?" asked Paige.

Piper shook her head. "No. Though I would say start looking for girl's whose first or maybe even middle initial is P that were adopted around the time you were."

Paige nodded as she pulled up adoption records on her computer making a search to the time she has been adopted, "Only finding about ten with the first initial of P in their name from that time period. Finding four with the middle initial of P," she said as she scrolled through the list. "Hmm this one is promising, Elizabeth Patience. She has the same date of birth I do. She was adopted to a couple in Los Angeles. Weird for some reason the name of the couple who adopted her is not mentioned. Could have just been a clerical error when transcribing the files."

"Thanks Paige. At least that's a start," said Piper as she got up and left.

Paige smiled a little to herself. It had been years since her parents had died in that car accident. She was happy to have family again. She looked at the computer, in particular the one listed as Elizabeth Patience and nodded as she thought that there could be more out there.

In the Summers house in Sunnydale Joyce Summers walked into the living room and saw that her nine year old granddaughter was watching cartoons as Buffy watched Dawn. "Buffy can I have a word?" she asked.

Buffy nodded as she stood up, quickly ruffling her daughters hair. She followed Joyce into the kitchen. She watched as her mother picked up an envelope off the counter and turned to hand it to her. "I should have told you this sooner, Buffy," Joyce said. "I just wasn't sure how to tell you… You see Hank and I are not your birth parents, we adopted you."

Buffy opened the envelope and pulled out the contents which included adoption papers and a birth certificate. She looked at the birth certificate and her jaw dropped as she read: 'Elizabeth Patience Halliwell.'

"I wanted to tell you before, Buffy," said Joyce. "Back before Dawn was born, then after what Hank did I felt the time wasn't right. The reason I am telling you now is cause, as you know Hank is being released from prison. Despite the restraining order he might try and find you and Dawn. I think it might be a good idea if you left for a while till we know that he's not going to come looking for either of you. And I think going to find your birth family would give you an excuse to be gone for a while."

Buffy looked between her mother and the birth certificate letting it all sink in for a long moment before finally speaking up. "You know regardless of who they are or anything. Your still my mother, and Dawn's grandmother. That will never change anything."

Joyce smiled. "I know, Buffy."