Title: Essential

Pairing(s): Willow/Tara, Sam/Janet, Buffy/Angel (a bit)

Summary: This takes place around November during Season Seven of Buffy, but only loosely. I've taken the basic Potential Slayers etc. storyline and gone from there. And, since I really didn't watch too

much of Season Seven before I wrote this ditty, it's gonna be zanily wrong as far as cannon goes... As well, since this is a CROSSOVER, the Stargate portion of our story takes place after the two part episode "Heroes".

Disclaimers: I don't own any of these characters, or any of the songs within.

Willow looked around with a frown for a moment, but then just shook her head. "Have we vamped enough tonight Buffy?"

The Slayer smirked, "They do seem scarce. Sure, let's get out of here, we've met our quota." Buffy bumped Willow's hip, "Somebody special waiting back at Casa Summers?"

Willow rolled her eyes, "Just Miss Mattress... if I'm lucky."

Buffy put an arm around her best friend, "You deserve to be happy, let yourself be happy."

Willow regarded Buffy skeptically, "Blonde pot calling the redhead pot black much?"

Buffy just chuckled at Willow's Willowism.

Tara stood behind a crypt wall and watched the red hair of her former lover, girlfriend, and soulmate move among the other crypts, statues, and headstones. "Oh, hello i-it's me... no, I'm not a ghost, in this town... Oh l-look h-how sharp that kn-knife is. I'm not the First Evil...n-nope. I'm not. Oh, you want nothing to do with me. You're shagging a potential slayer, I'm just... human..." Tara watched as Willow and Buffy came into full view and shook her head, "Who are you kidding Maclay..." She shook her head as she made her way out the other end of the cemetery.

Willow sat up with a gasp. She stretched, getting the kinks out of her back, only half wondering how she had wound up on the floor. It's not that she hadn't ended up in plenty stranger places in the past few weeks with all the potentials using the Summer's house as their temporary residence, but she thought that she'd been on the bed when she collapsed after slaying.

Willow got up, and made her way through the mass of bodies strewn throughout the room. She tiptoed down the stairs and snagged the long leather jacket from the mass of jackets near the back door.

She went out the back door and paused for a moment. She shook her head and went over to the bench and sat down. She stared up at the window that was in what had been her room. She heard the squeak of the back screen door and looked up. Dawn was standing in front of her after a moment. "This seat taken?"

"I wish it were Dawn..."

Dawn sat back and draped an arm off the back of the bench. "I haven't gotten used to it yet..."

Willow looked over at Dawn, "What?"

"The death... I think Buffy is starting to get used to it."

Willow pursed her lips and thought about this, "I wouldn't worry about your sister too much. Buffy's a superhero, she always comes through in the end... she's good with endings, it's the middle worky stuff that doesn't agree with her... that's why she got us Scoobs involved oh so long ago..." Willow shrugged.

Dawn shook her head and stared back up at the dark sky, it was almost starless, which made it a bit spooky. "I'm not one of the potentials... I've been here for one almost apocalypse... more if you count the ones I wasn't physically present for. I know what's riding on all this..."

Willow took a deep breath, "This might be the one we don't win Dawnie."

Dawn pushed at Willow's shoulder, "Hey, why do you get to be Ms. Gloom and Doom?"

"2 years ago we were dancing on air..." Willow trailed off and shook her head. "Sorry..." A sniffle came from Willow unbidden.

Dawn closed her eyes as she realized the date. "Oh Willow, I'm so sorry, none of us remembered it either..."

Willow shrugged and sniffled a little more, "Bigger fish to fry I guess... and to be fair, she never really was their friend that much. With Anya, she's a demon, and... this extended family seems to take in demons... but Tara... she was just another witch..."

Dawn frowned and moved so that she sat face to side of face with Willow, "No, she wasn't. She was the closest thing to a mother I had since Mom died. Hell, she made me eat my vegetables Will..."

Willow smiled, "Me too... uck... even the green beans... always make me fart."

Dawn opened and closed her mouth, not knowing what to say, and settled on issuing a slight smile, "Uh, green beans aren't supposed to make you... expel gas Will."

Willow smiled, "Okay, so maybe I just did it to get Tara to make her funny smile face. You know, the half smile?"

Dawn chortled softly, "Oh, you are indeed evil Willow..." Dawn laid her head down on Willow's shoulder. "She was a diamond among all us lumps of coal..."

"Who you callin' a lump of coal..."

Both Willow and Dawn looked up to see Buffy standing in front of them. "You do know that it is November right? It's frickin' freezing cold outside?" Both nodded. "So this is an entirely informed decision?" Both nodded again. "Well scooch down already. So... whatch'a two doin'?"

Dawn pulled a book from behind her and laid it in Willow's lap. "I thought maybe you could continue the Latin lessons..."

Buffy leaned her head against Willow's other shoulder, "Mmm... that'll put me right back to sleep cold or no cold. Plus the added plus that there'll be no potentials snoring. Wake me for breakfast."

Willow rolled her eyes, "Of course, Miss Dawn who learns Sumerian first and then suddenly decides Latin might be a good thing... watch out... you may become a nerd..."

Dawn raised an eyebrow, "Uh uh, no way... contacts all the way for me..."

Willow shook her head, "From the mouths of babes...believe me, nerdiness has little to do with oversized glasses and pocket protectors young lady."

Buffy mumbled with her eyes still closed, "Take it from Will, she's the Queen of the Nerds..."

Tara sat down at the bar in Willy's place, "Give me a shot of something strong."

"Anything in particular Astra?"

Tara raised her eyebrows, "Anything but b-bodily fluids thank you."

The bartender went about pouring a drink for Tara, "No one can figure you out. Some say you're a Vampire, others say you're some other kind of Demon, and some think you're something worse than both those combined." The bartender raised an eyebrow, "I think you've just been in a bad mood for months now..."

Tara shrugged and downed the shot in one swallow, "Well, I've been called a Demon before... but if they want to know all they have to do is ask, I'm an open book Lou."

Lou laughed shortly, "I don't think that's going to happen. You bring a new meaning to the word brooding."

"And you won't ask?"

Lou shook his head, "I'm the bartender, I just listen to the demon's bitch about the Slayer and her Slayerettes. You know, they have a whole gaggle over there now. Slayers in Training. Bunch of brats with aspirations of greatness. All think they're gonna get picked when the big evil massacres the Slayer."

"...First Evil..."

Lou tilted his head to one side, "Huh?"

Tara shrugged, "It's bigger than a big evil, Warren was a medium-ish evil with delusions of grandeur, Adam was a big evil, Glory was a bigger evil." She shook her head, "And a bitch, but this is the First Evil. G-give me another shot..."

As Lou poured Tara another shot he commented, "Usually you don't go for the hard stuff."

Tara downed the shot and winced as it went down, "You know, for a bartender at a monster's bar, you're quite chatty."

Lou held his hands up and turned his head towards the door as he saw a flash of green out of the corner of his eye. He frowned, "Air Force..."

Tara looked towards the doorway also. "Don't see that everyday. Too pink for them to be newly risen..."

Lou raised his eyebrows, "Unless you're their sire..."

Tara turned her gaze back on Lou, who simply held his hands up in a shrug. When Tara looked away, a smirk came to Lou's lips. He pinned the two male military officers approaching the bar with a look. "You two lost?"

The male with gray hair around his ears raised an eyebrow, "Usually bartenders are nicer to potential customers."

Lou shrugged, "You're... on duty in those suits, we don't get a lot of on duty Air Force officers around here. 'Specially at this hour."

The male with glasses stepped forward and reached for his pocket, everyone in the room tensed and he rolled his eyes, "We're looking for this woman, she's gone AWOL."

Tara spoke up, "And Air Force officers generally g-go looking for lost women around four am?"

The older man tried to stare Tara down, "She's a Major in the U.S. Air Force, and one of my team. Have you seen her?"

Tara took the photo and stared at it, "Nope, then again, I doubt a clean cut woman would patronize this k-kinda joint."

The spectacled man gestured towards the door, "That your Motorcycle out there?"

Tara laughed shortly, "Right, no, they're called donor cycles for a reason and I haven't gone complete round the rotary. I drive a C-civic."

From behind the two officers came a low growly voice, "It's mine..." The male Vamp put a hand on the younger man's shoulder and slowly spun him around, "Oh, I could give you a ride you wouldn't soon forget."

A Female Vampire sidled up to the older man and dragged her fingernails along his cheek, "This one's cute too..."

Tara stood up, tired of the banter and threats and spoiling for a fight, or at least a confrontation, "Don't touch them."

The two vamps seemed to consider something for a moment and then held their hands up and backed away, "Never mind Astra..."

The female looked the gray haired man up and down, "Too skinny for my taste anyway..."

Tara sat back down without looking at the two officers, "You shouldn't stay here..."

After he shook off the female vampire's hand, the man who seemed in charge raised an eyebrow, "I think I can take care of myself in a bar brawl... Astra is it?"

"N-not in this bar Commander." She mumbled, "Not in this bar."

He spun Tara around, "It's Colonel, and you seem to know a lot about this town, are you... sure you haven't seen the woman..." The Colonel stuffed the picture in Tara's face.

Tara frowned, and pushed the photo to the side without looking at it again. She was tired of getting the third degree from these two, "She wouldn't have come to this town, it isn't on a-anyone's t-to do list."

The bespeckled man moved his face into Tara's personal space, which surprised her. He seemed more like a Willow type than a Buffy type. Of course, Willow wasn't quite the mild mannered nerd that she'd been when they met anymore. "Look, I've been flying second seat in a Tomcat for the past... who knows how long..." He took a step back and brushed his hand through his hair, composing himself, "are you, sure you have no idea where she could be?"

Tara's frown increased, "If she is here, she m-musta annoyed the wrong people..." Tara stepped out of the way of the two men and threw some money on the bar. "I'll s-see you around Lou."

With that she walked out the door, followed by the two officers. She paid no attention to them, heading for her apartment a few blocks over. After a block it was the man with glasses who spoke up, "We just want your help. Jack can be... he's Jack..."

Tara stopped and took a deep breath. She turned around, "Fine, start at the cemeteries. We have about six in Sunnydale..."

Jack spoke, and Tara could have sworn that she heard the start of a tremor in his voice, "You think she's dead?"

Tara pursed her lips, "Not the graves, d-did I say graves? There are lots of crypts... good shelter..." Tara paused for a moment, "...if you don't have a place to stay."

The well-mannered man held out his hand, which Tara shook. "Thank you Astra..."

No one had asked her last name yet, she pulled up the first one her mind came across. Willow had wanted to do a movie marathon, a bunch of end of the world movies, the red head had said that she liked them because 'it could always be worse, we could be plugged in or have a giant computer ruling our lives'. "...Connor..."

He nodded, "I'm Dr. Daniel Jackson and this is Colonel Jack O'Neill. Again, thank you for the information." He handed her a card, "If you see her, give us a call okay?"

Tara nodded as the three parted ways.

Daniel took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to stay awake, "Jack, we're not going to find Sam here."

Jack leaned against one of the crypt's walls and yawned. "Maybe you're right... what time is it anyway?"

Daniel caught Jack's yawn, "Uh... 5 A.M... why?"

A slight smirk came to Jack's face, "Lord, we've been up..." Daniel nodded. "Okay, we're going to turn in for the night."

"Well, look what we have here..."

Both the men whirled to face a dark haired man. Daniel held his hands up, "You don't want to do anything you'll regret."

The man laughed as his face morphed into that of a Vampire. "I doubt that, I haven't regretted anything I've done for the past four years."

"A young one, seems like it's my lucky night..."

Jack and Daniel rolled to the side as the vampire dove at the female that belonged to the voice. She dodged to the right, but went to the left and quickly stabbed at the vampire with her stake. The vamp poofed as the woman took a step back and shook her head, "And here I thought I might get some real vamps in Sunnydale, with the end of the world coming again and all that. All amateurs... all amateurs."

Daniel and Jack got up and Daniel stuck out a hand, the woman looked down at it, "Uh, thank you..."

"Faith..."