TITLE: Changing Faces

AUTHOR: Kelly Rowe

RATING: PG

DISCLAIMER: Buffy, Angel and all other characters (except those I make up) are the absolute property of Joss Whedon, Fox, Mutant Enemy and Warner Bros (If I owned them, the events of Buffy season 4 or most of season 3 wouldn't have occurred).

SUMMARY: Buffy's been dead for 20 years, but a dream Angel has tells him something different. Has Buffy been reborn?

SPOILERS: All B/A up to and including IWRY. Some BTVS season 4 and ATS season 1 and 2.

TIMELINE: Approx. 20 years after Buffy's death (season 4 BTVS).

DISTRIBUTION: You want you can have it; just tell me where you put it.

PAIRING: Buffy/Angel (later Emma/Angel)

CATEGORY: Buffy/Angel/Charmed crossover.

NOTE: Emma is Buffy's name in her new life.

NOTE 2: The songs used are:

1. I can still feel you - Collin Raye

2. The Dance - Garth Brooks

3. I would've loved you anyway - Trisha Yearwood

NOTE 3: Events:

1. Dawn was really Buffy's sister.

2. Joyce didn't die.

3. Parker never happened.

4. Cole is a full on good guy.

5. Buffy and Riley were only friends.

NOTE 4: This fic is loosely based on a challenge I sent out earlier in the year. I altered a lot, so that my version would be totally different from all the others.

PART 1

2000:

Buffy Summers looked around the graveyard and checked her watch for the thousandth time. Spike was late again, she was still actually having trouble believing that Giles was making her patrol with the big loser, especially after Willow's little foray into magic and it's results. She really didn't care that Spike was supposedly on the side of good (at least temporarily) every time she looked at him, she thought about Dru - the nut-ball, which naturally led to thoughts of Angel. And these days when she thought about Angel (which since thanksgiving had been more and more often) the hurt, pain and love was more intense and this time the feelings just wouldn't go away, almost as though she was missing part of her.

Buffy was so obsessed with her own thoughts about Angel, that she never heard the demon approach. Since she was surprised and distracted, she just couldn't seem to get her equilibrium back and the demon quickly dispatched her. By the time her body hit the ground she was already dead, her neck snapped into like it had been some sort of twig and that's how Spike found her when he showed up ten minutes later. He knelt down next to Buffy's lifeless body and felt an irrational surge of anger and helplessness. He carefully picked up Buffy's broken body and headed to Giles' place, hoping that he'd know what to do.

When Giles opened the door and saw Spike standing there carrying the dead body of his slayer, he felt his heartbreak in two at his worst nightmare come true. He let Spike inside and called the others, as he watched Spike carefully laid Buffy's body out on the couch. {She looks just like she's sleeping} Giles thought and wished with all his might that, that was true... that she'd just wake up and tell them that it was her idea of a horrible joke. It wasn't more than ten minutes later when the others arrived, all in shock, unable to believe that Buffy was dead. They collectively moved over to her broken body and stared at her lifeless form.

Willow was the first one to snap out of it and she asked Giles, "Did anyone call Joyce and Dawn?"

Giles just shook his head, "I didn't even think of it."

"It's okay G-man, you're not supposed to think of everything at a time like this" Xander told him as he stared at Buffy.

The phone suddenly rang and Willow answered it. "Hello?" she said sadly.

"She's dead isn't she?"

"Cordy?" Willow asked. "How did you know?"

"Angel... he's crying and he keeps muttering 'not her' and 'they promised this wouldn't happen'" Cordy told her. When there wasn't an answer, Cordy continued, "Call us and let us know about the funeral."

"Sure" Willow said hanging up the phone.

"What did the queen of bitca's want?" Xander asked finally turning his head away from his fallen hero.

Willow told him, "She wanted to know if it was true... about Buffy."

"How..." Giles began.

"Angel" Willow simply said with no emotion in her voice. Xander walked over to his best friend and hugged her. "It's not fair," Willow cried into Xander's shirt. "How is the world gonna survive without her? How are we?"

They all stood around and thought about what Willow had just said, because if Buffy... the strongest slayer ever couldn't survive, then what hope did anyone have?

Three Days Later...

Buffy's funeral was arranged by Joyce, she deliberately held it during the day, so that even in death she had separated Buffy and Angel, not even Dawn's pleadings of how Buffy wouldn't have wanted that went unheard. Cordelia and Wesley did attend however and got to say their good-byes to the girl who had not only saved their lives countless times, but also inadvertently influenced their paths in life.

After the funeral was over, all of the mourners headed to Joyce's house for the wake. Willow and Xander were the last to leave Buffy's grave, it was as though they felt that if they left it then she'd never be coming back, that this whole nightmare would in fact be true. Finally Giles had to come back from Joyce's and physically lead them away from the tangible reminder of their loss.

As soon as darkness fell Angel headed for his beloved's grave. He stood there staring at the marker, still unable to believe that she was gone, even though he knew that it was true because a giant piece of his heart was gone too. He decided that it was time to tell her everything... no she deserved to hear it... he wished she was alive to hear it all.

"Buffy... my love. I am so sorry for so many things. For leaving you, for everything Angelus did to you and most of all... for taking our day back." He paused for a moment trying not to completely breakdown in this last year he'd lost the two most important people in the world to him, Buffy and Doyle. "I miss you so much... Good-bye my love."

Spike watched Angel from his hiding place and realised that compared to all the others, even Joyce and the Niblet, Angel was the one who was truly suffering. The 250+ vampire with a soul just lost his soul mate, his reason for being. He could somewhat sympathise with Angel because of his feelings for the ever absent Dru, but at least she was still out there somewhere and not buried six-feet under, never to return. Spike walked away, deciding that he was gonna go to Buffy's wake and for once celebrate the life of a slayer.

Eight Weeks Later...

Piper Halliwell and Leo Wyatt arrived back at the manor after Piper's doctor's appointment with smiles on both of their faces.

Phoebe spotted them and said, "Well, well... I guess you’re not dying after all."

"No… Where's Prue?" Piper asked.

"Right here" Prue answered coming out of the kitchen. "So, what's wrong?" she asked as she sat down next to Phoebe.

Piper smiled again, "Nothing is wrong, I'm perfectly healthy."

"Then why have you been sick?" Phoebe questioned.

"Well... Leo and I are... well, we're pregnant" Piper announced.

Prue and Phoebe practically flew out of their seats and engulfed their sister and Leo in a hug.

"This is fantastic," Prue said happily.

"That's not all the good news," Leo added.

Prue and Phoebe stood there expectantly.

"Leo asked me to marry him... and I said yes!" Piper told them.

"Wow" was all Phoebe could say.

"I agree that's definitely good news. Congratulations" Prue told them.

Then she and Phoebe dragged poor Piper and Leo into the living room and started to pump them for information.

Seven Months After That...

Prue and Phoebe were pacing the waiting room, desperate to know what was going on. It had been about an hour since Piper and Leo had gone into the delivery room.

"What's taking them so long?" Phoebe grumbled ten minutes later.

Prue looked at her and said, "How am I supposed to know?"

They were just about to kidnap the next doctor or nurse that passed when Leo appeared. They ran up to him and Prue demanded, "Well?"

"It's a girl. 6 pounds, 5 ounces" Leo told them happily. He was ecstatic over becoming a father and now he had another little charmed one to watch over, this one even more precious than the others... his little girl.

"Cool" Phoebe said bouncing up and down in excitement.

At the same moment Prue asked, "When can we see them?"

"You can see Piper in a little while, but we can go to the nursery and see my daughter now" Leo told them.

"Lead us to our niece" Phoebe ordered as they followed Leo down the corridor.

About an hour later they went in to see Piper. She was still resting, but opened her eyes when she heard them all come in. "Hi" she said sleepily, "Did you see her? What do you think?"

"She's beautiful Piper" Phoebe told her sister.

"Agreed. Have you decided on a name?" Prue said.

"Yeah" Piper told them, "Emma Victoria."

"Emma was my mother's name" Leo explained when he saw the confusion on Prue and Phoebe's faces. They'd apparently expected them to name her Patricia or Melinda.

"It's a nice name," Prue said.

"It's pretty" Phoebe added, "Plus it's harder to find a rude word that rhymes with Emma to tease her with."

They talked for a while, until Piper fell asleep. Prue and Phoebe headed back to the manor, but Leo headed back to the nursery to take another look at his daughter. As he did this he wondered if he should tell Piper about their daughter's past life and her destiny. Finally he decided against it and headed back to the manor.

2020:

Angel flopped down on his bed, exhausted from all the work he'd put into this last case and all he could think about was going to sleep. But in sleep he didn't find peace, he had a dream:

//Angel found himself standing in a field full of wildflowers in the middle of the day and he took a moment to smell them and to wonder at the feeling of the sun on his skin. He was suddenly interrupted by a familiar voice calling his name, a voice he hadn't heard in an extremely long time. "Buffy?" he whispered as he looked and was rewarded with her standing nearby.

"Angel" she said walking slowly towards him, so slowly he thought he might go mad from it. "I've got so much I need to say to you and so little time to make you understand them." "

Tell me what?" Angel asked confused.

Buffy took Angel's hand in hers and looked into his eyes, "You need to come find me."

"I can't... can't do... you're dead..."

"It's okay" Buffy comforted, "I'm still here. Call Giles ask about the prophecy of the return and he'll explain it."

Angel couldn't resist it anymore; he pulled her into his arms and kissed her. "I'll love you forever" he swore almost in tears.

Buffy looked at him and said, "I'll always love you too... in this life... and the next."

Suddenly Buffy morphed from a short, blonde with hazel eyes to a tall, brunette with deep brown eyes. //

Angel awoke with a small yelp, the dream had been so vivid and it had upset him... reminded him of all he'd lost. Angel shook off the feelings it had invoked and tried to fall back to sleep; telling himself that it wasn't real... it was only a dream.

Meanwhile in San Francisco, 19-year-old Emma Wyatt was having a disturbing dream of her own.

//She found herself suddenly no longer staring at a youthful, naked Brendan Fraser and instead was in a large room in front of two strange entities and she wondered what in the heck was going on. She didn't have to wait long for an answer...

"Greetings warrior" the female said, "We have heard much about you from your father."

"Are you daddy's bosses? The PTB?"

"Not quite... we also work for them" the female answered her question.

"It is time you learn of your past and your destiny," the male said. Before she could ask them what they meant, a bright light permeated the room and she was knocked to her knees. Suddenly her mind was filled with an influx of unfamiliar, yet familiar memories. "What?" she mumbled confused.

All she could hear was a distant voice say, "Good luck warrior."//

Emma awoke panicked, but soon calmed herself. When she was sure that the flashes had stopped, she climbed out of her bed and went off in search of her father... she had a strong feeling he could explain this mess to her.

Leo Wyatt was relaxing in the living room after spending a harrowing night dealing with one of his charges, when Emma barged in. "Morning cutie-pie" Leo said getting up and hugging her.

She pulled out of his hug and asked him, "Who am I?"

"You're my little girl..." he answered not sure about what was going on.

"And?" she pushed.

"A slayer and a witch..."

"And?" she pushed again.

Leo suddenly realised that she knew and wondered why no one warned him. "You're also her... Buffy Anne Summers."

"Yeah, well that's what these memories tell me."

"Emma... what memories?" Leo asked.

Emma looked at him and realised that this time her father was as much in the dark about this whole memory thing as she was. "I had a dream... big room, two gold people, blinding light and presto... instant memories of another life."

"The oracles... even death can't shut them up" Leo mumbled angrily. "How much of her memory did they give you?" he asked worried.

"All" Emma answered. "Her birth, her parents’ divorce, Angel, her seventeenth birthday and the not so happy events after and her death. And as an added bonus they gave me some memories of a day that never really happened... these ones are good memories though... really good ones."

"What are they thinking... memories? You're supposed to know your destiny, but Buffy's memories..." Leo was ranting. "I'm gonna go talk to them."

Emma watched her father orb away and wondered why she always got caught with the crappy destiny. Her thoughts then turned to how she was gonna tell her boyfriend they had to break up because she was destined to spend eternity with a ensouled vampire, better yet that she actually wanted to spend the rest of her life with the vampire.

In LA, Angel woke up and came downstairs to find the hotel empty. Since he needed to speak with Wes about his dream, he couldn't do anything about it, so he picked up his sketchpad and drew the girl from his dream. An hour later he was so caught up with it that he didn't hear his friends arrive.

"Hey" Cordy said scaring him.

"Jeez Cor" Angel said picking up the sketchpad he dropped. He stood up and grabbed Wes, "I need to talk to you."

"Certainly" Wes replied wondering why Angel was acting so skittish.

They went into Angel's office and he said, "I had a Buffy dream."

"So?" Wes asked confused.

"I haven't had one in over five years... and this one was different."

"How?" Wes questioned.

Angel looked at him, "I could *feel* her presence... she was there and then... she changed into a totally different girl... but it was still Buffy."

"Are you on something?" Wesley asked cautiously.

"No… And I'm not nuts" Angel replied insulted.

"Angel" Wes started, "Buffy died twenty years ago. It's inconceivable that she has been hanging around for that long so she could visit your dreams."

"I guess. It just felt so *real*... like those dreams we used to share."

"Angel... I'm your friend and I'm telling you, Buffy is gone and it's time to move on. Buffy is not back!" Wes told him.