The Return

by burmafrd

AU. BUffy is the catalyst for a return.

A few years post Chosen; about a year after Heroes. A bored Buffy is asked by the president to help out SGC. AU in that General Hammond has already been promoted to Homeworld Security chief; SG-1 is operating at the moment with only 3 people; Buffy is put in to make it four under Colonel Samantha Carter who also got promoted to full colonel when Jack gets bumped up to General and commander of SGC. Oh and since I always considered the NID and Kinsey to be a joke they do not exist here. All great kudos to Whedon and the creators of the Stargate Universe, Emmerich and Devlin; needless to say this is just for fun.

Buffy was waiting her turn at the MRI for the usual after mission check. It had been fairly boring; no action and no real fun. Which actually was not a bad thing now and then. She knew it would be a while and decided to meditate; going into a corner of the treatment section to an empty bed she assumed the lotus position. Centering herself she relaxed.

Something was there. But what was it? Gradually Buffy surfaced with that question foremost in her mind. She kept her eyes closed and extended her senses. It was faint; but it was definitely something; or more to the point someone. But it was too faint to be a person; more like part of a person. A Goa'uld? No, it was fainter than that and had no evil to it. She sensed sadness, resignation, maybe loneliness. A Ghost? Maybe someone who used to work here and died? She needed to check this out; right now there seemed to be no threat but whoever it had been they deserved to be released to move on. And this person appeared to be one that would move on to a much nicer place; one Buffy knew all too well. And she would make certain that that person would not be cheated out of that peace.

After her MRI she was debating who to talk to; decided on Daniel when she saw him walk into the Infirmary with a young woman; not much if any older than Dawn. He saw her and motioned her over.

"Buffy this is Cassie Frazier; Cassie this is Buffy. I guess you have heard about her?"

Cassie smiled at Buffy but there was sadness there. "A few stories."

Seeing the sadness and Buffy noticing it Daniel took a deep breath. It had not been that long and it still hurt so much.

"Cassie's mother used to be the CMO here. Dr Janet Frasier."

Buffy slowly nodded. Sam especially had had nice things to say about Dr Frasier. Thinking about that her eyes widened. "Cassie did you just get here?"

Blinking, a little surprised she nodded. "About 15 minutes ago."

Seeing Buffy frown and concentrate Daniel asked. "What is it Buffy?"

Wanting to be as gentle as possible Buffy looked at Cassie. "Did your Mother die in here?"

Wincing, but nodding Cassie started to tear up. Daniel gave her a hug.

Taking a deep breath Buffy decided honesty was the best place to go.

"I was meditating and felt a presence. I sensed sadness, resignation or regret, and loneliness. And it started about the same time as Cassie got here. Cassie this is hard but have you felt your mother's presence at all since she died?"

Eyes wide she shook her head, still holding on to Daniel, who looked at Buffy with eyes just as wide.

"So ghosts are real as well?"

Buffy nodded. "Most of the time they are around because they left something undone, or need closure. Usually they fade away after a few months. But its been almost a year since she died right?"

"Just under."

"That usually means a stronger than normal person; or very great need to find closure."

"Janet was both."

Shivering, Cassie asked "Mom is haunting this place?"

"I think so; I know others have died but since she was in charge here and here most of the time her presence would be anchored to this place. Especially if she died here. I take it it was sudden and she had no time to say goodbye?"

Mutely Daniel nodded. Cassie had tears in her eyes.

"Then it is most likely her. I need to get a hold of Willow. She has the most experience in this area."

Daniel looked at her closely. "Are you talking about a séance or something like that?"

Buffy snorted. "Not like the TV and Movies show; it's a lot less theatrical. We have not had to do this much; not in our line of business anyway. So I will have to ask her what we will need to do to let her free so she can move on."

Cassie took a deep breath and moved away from Daniel to confront Buffy.

"Is there any way we could speak to her? None of us got a chance to say goodbye?"

"That is basically what we will do; arrange it so she can say goodbye to give her closure; so she can move on."

Daniel slowly nodded. "We all want to do that; SG 1, General Hammond, Cassie."

"I will call her right now and see how soon she can come. It should not take long."

Willow was able to come two days later. Daniel had talked to the rest of the team and called General Hammond. He was posted in Washington as head of Homeworld Security; but he immediately agreed to come. Needless to say Jack O'Neill was skeptical; even with all that he had seen since Buffy had joined the Stargate program anything even remotely religious still bothered him; even though the Holy water and Cross aspect hurting Vampires; and Buffy's account of her time in Heaven and Hell had made him think more about it. Sam was hopeful she could say goodbye to her friend; and she also was looking forward to talking to Willow since Buffy admitted that Willow was a science type of person who looked at magic from that point of view as well. Sam had lots of questions.

The Infirmary had been cleaned out and guards posted to make sure no one came in. Buffy told them that Willow would pop in magically; that way no one had to be told. She would leave the same way. O'Neil was happy about that; security would be maintained. They were all clumped together near the door; Buffy was in the center of the room; the area around her clear for at least 10 feet in every direction; Buffy had explained that Willow was connected to her and could always find her; and would appear right next to her.

With a barely audible pop Willow appeared; dressed casually in jeans and a sweater. Carrying a medium sized bag. Buffy promptly hugged her.

"Buffy…. Air"

"Sorry, Willow but it's been months since I last saw you."

Sam blinked but could not believe it; just appearing like that; it was amazing.

Buffy introduced Willow to the group. Willow nodded at all of them then moved close to Cassie; who was a little unsure about all of this.

"Cassie, it's all right to be scared and uncertain; this is pretty weird even to us and we put the capital 'W' in weird."

"I just want to see her and talk to her one last time."

"Well you should be able to do that pretty quick as soon as I set up."

That consisted of assuming the lotus position on the floor; lighting four candles for each of the four directions; and beginning a chant that lasted for over ten minutes. The rest of them were sitting on the floor surrounding her.

Then they could all begin to sense her; right next to Cassie a form began to appear; murky and cloudy. Then a very faint sound came; then it began to get a little louder.

"Cassie…Sam…Jack… Daniel… Teal'c… General…"

They all tensed up and waited.

Willow chanted some more; but that was all that happened. Willow then began a different chant and it seemed the air crackled and flowed; energy seemed to build. Then they all heard it:

"Please… help me…" Then all was silent and still.

Willow slowly opened her eyes and took a deep breath. "Oh, wow."

Immediately Buffy was beside her friend. "Willow what is wrong?"

Willow took another deep breath. "She is trapped here; I sense that she was transported or something like that even as she died. Is that what happened?"

Jack took a deep breath. "Just as we came through our…transportation device… her monitor flat lined. They brought her here but could not revive her."

Willow looked at Buffy. "This transportation device… would it be anything like a portal?"

Buffy nodded.

"Then that is what happened. Her soul was disrupted by that since it was leaving her body at the same time; it reformed here but cannot move on because of that."

Buffy groaned. "What can we do?"

Willow frowned and thought for a few moments. "We have to recreate the moment-and transport her soul from here to an Orb of Thesula; luckily we had some in reserve in case Angel needed resouling. Then we can let it go on."

Jack shook his head; what was important here was to let Janet go on and be free of here; that was all that mattered not how it was done.

"What do we need to do?"

Willow frowned. "I need to do some checking to be sure. I will be back in a bit." She then disappeared.

Sam shook her head. "That is just not possible!"

Buffy smirked. "Maaaagggiccc."

Cassie looked at Buffy. "Will we still be able to say goodbye?"

Buffy shook her head. "I do not know; will ask Willow when she gets back. That might not be possible; we might have to let her go right away. But she knew you were all here-she might have been trying even then."

Cassie sighed and nodded. Daniel moved over and gave her another hug as did Sam.

They talked a little more; mainly about Janet and what they all wanted to say if they got a chance. After about half an hour Willow was back. She was carrying another sack. She put it down and went to Cassie.

"I do not know what will happen; we might be able to speak to her or we might not. We might have to immediately free her soul so that it can move on."

She looked at the others. "I am going to try and contact her again to see if she can give me some more details on how she is feeling and what happened; but you cannot be there; I have to concentrate on her and her on me to be able to get that much information. Sorry, Cassie."

Cassie teared up but nodded. Daniel and Sam each took a hand and led her out of the room followed by the others except for Buffy. Willow motioned for her to wait.

Very softly "Buffy I might need to pull energy from you; I do not want to try other magic but the ensouling part and I might need more to get it done and I need it right at hand."

Buffy nodded. "Whatever you need, Wills. You know I trust you."

Willow nodded then made a shooing motion. Buffy smiled at her and went out the door and closed it behind her.

About half an hour later willow came out; Buffy took one look and immediately ran to her and hugged her and led her to a chair. The others gathered around; Willow was very pale and slightly shaking.

"Wills its me; its ok; just let me know when you can; I am not going anywhere and not letting you go" Buffy kept this up for several minutes as Willow slowly recovered. The others looked on in deep concern.

Willow looked at Buffy. "We are going to need an Urn of Osiris. We have to do the same thing as we did to bring you back."

Buffy reared back in shock. "Willow how is that possible; Janet did not die a mystical death!"

Willow shook her head. "That portal or whatever you call it made it just like a mystical death; only instead of releasing her soul like it did yours its trapped here. Its all or nothing because of that; we have to do this or she will be forever trapped here."

Jack was looking at Willow then at Buffy. "What do you mean bring her back like Buffy was?"

Buffy sighed and looked at him. "I jumped off the tower to close the breach in the dimensions that would have destroyed earth and everything else; that was a mystical death since I jumped right into the breach. I went to heaven and Willow and the others pulled me out; thinking I had been taken to the Hell dimension that Glory came from. Apparently Janet died just as she was in the Stargate; and since for all intents and purposes as far as the magical world is considered that is just like a portal; and the breach had most of the same properties as a portal. Only since it is man made it has no provisions for anything like a soul; right Willow?"

Willow nodded "Magical properties of any kind do not prevent a soul from moving on; but since your device was man made it does not distinguish the energy of a soul from anything else; to the portal it would classify the soul trying to leave as energy leakage and it would be stopped. Janet's soul is trapped in the immediate vicinity of the portal and cannot leave. The only way is to reverse the process and take it all back to the moment her body came through the portal."

Sam paled; and Cassie gasped. "We have to dig up mom's body?"

Buffy winched at the memory of digging herself out of her grave. "Willow are we talking all the way here?"

Willow sighed. "There is no other way; I did some more research while I was in England recovering; I needed to know more about what I had done to make sure there would be no future problems for you. In situations like this we have to do this."

Jack caught the real meaning. "Are you saying there is a chance we can bring Janet back?" The others gasped; Cassie grabbed Sam in a convulsive shivering hug.

Willow looked at them. "If we can get another Urn of Osiris then it looks like that can be done; and unlike Buffy Janet has never been to heaven so the shock will not be anywhere near as bad as it was for Buffy. But I am not sure we can get another Urn; I thought we got the only one there was. I will have to have the Coven check; this could take a few days."

Sam gulped. "What happens if you cannot get another?"

Willow closed her eyes then she looked at Cassie. "I do not think there is anything else we can do except one other thing; an exorcism; except in this case it would only Drive Janet's soul away from here and leave her wandering earth for all eternity; or until the End of Days."

Cassie moaned. The others shook their heads in anger.

Jack was blunt. "No way will we allow that to happen; at least here she will be among friends." They all agreed on that.

Buffy looked at Willow. "So the Orb of Thesula is useless?"

Willow nodded sadly. "We cannot move the soul with that spell; it takes a much stronger one; that is why the Rite of Osiris will be needed."

Several days went by and then Buffy got a call from Willow.

"I have good news and bad news?"

"What is the good news?"

"I found a Urn of Osiris."

"Let me guess the bad news is where its at?"

"Got it in one; Lorne knows of one in Pylea."

"Wasn't that where Cordelia and Fred…"

"Yep."

"Swell. Well I guess I have to mount up then."

"Lorne will give you the details; who do you want to go with you?"

"Now let me get this straight: You found an Urn of Osiris but its in the hands of a Demon overlord in a different dimension?"

"That's right. I will take a couple of people with me and go get it."

"We are coming along."

"Forget it; it's a demon world almost a hell dimension; I will be taking two slayers with me and maybe Willow if needs be; no one else because frankly you would slow me down. This Demon overlord has lots of lesser demons serving it and they are as nasty as anything you will find on earth; we have to get in fast and get out faster." Buffy gave him a hard look; then smiled. "See ya." And was gone.

"So we have to wait for Buffy to get back with that urn?" Daniel asked.

"Yeah. Willow must have used her mojo because she just popped away. All we can do is wait."

Two days went by as everyone tried to do their jobs but really could not; luckily things were slow recently as regards the Stargate and no teams were out. Sam had been looking over procedures to make sure nothing like this happened again; anyone from now on that looked like they were dying would either have to wait on the other side or they would have to make sure that person would not die in transit; no one wanted anyone else caught in this situation again.

Finally Jack got a call from Buffy; she had the Urn and would be back in the next day; when asked about the delay she only told him they needed some rest. He was suspicious of that and sure enough when she came in the next day she looked like she had been through a war; bruised and battered and limping.

Looking at her Jack sighed; she must have been right about how tough it was there.

Buffy sat down in a chair in his office with a groan. "That was a real bitch, Jack. That place is as nasty as it can get; I almost lost one of the slayers and as you can see I did not get out scot free either. But we did get the urn and as a bonus I got to knock off that Demon overlord; which will start a Demon civil war there; that is good since it will be demon killing demon."

"Hard to ever thing any civil war is a good thing but I will take you word on that since it's a demon thing. The Urn is good; no cracks or anything?"

"Yep. Willow has already checked it out and it is good to go. She is gathering all the rest of what she needs and should be here tomorrow. We can do it anytime after that."

Jack nodded. "I have the order to dig up Janet's body from Arlington where it was moved after it was originally buried here; we did not really want it but the president felt it was where she really belonged; and I guess he was right. I will send it today but it will take about three days for it to get here."

Buffy nodded. "That is actually a good thing; Willow mentioned she might have to borrow energy from me and right now I am pretty tired; but in three days I will be ready to go. I will let her know she does not have to come for a couple of days; which is good since she needs to rest and prepare herself anyway."

Jack sat for a moment and sighed. "I know this is a really sensitive thing for you but I need to know what preparations we need to make here; I am guessing you will need to do this right next to the Stargate?"

Buffy nodded. "Right there and have the body in its coffin next to the gate; that should make it easier to get the soul and other energies into it."

What Buffy had not told anyone else was what Willow had to say to her once she got back from Pylea.

"If you had not got the Urn we would have had to try time travel; and that is really risky. We cannot do that and use earth magic anywhere but on earth; so we would have to have timed everything so that we were there the moment they brought Janet's body through and then used the Orb of Thesula; but it would be a very close thing. We cannot change any thing except where her soul goes; nothing else would be allowed. It might take several tries and we have only 3 orbs; and it would take several years to make more; I have not tried since with Angel gone there really was no need for them. That is why I have not mentioned it; this is actually much easier and much less risky, as crazy as it sounds."

Finally four days after Buffy got back everything was ready. Janet's body was still in the coffin but in the Gate Room; everyone else was evacuated and the gate computer was locked down. The others would be in the observation room; only Buffy and Willow would be in the gate room.

Buffy looked at the Urn of Osiris; it was on a little pedestal right next to the coffin. Buffy had asked willow why here and not in the Infirmary where Janet's spirit had been. Willow sighed and looked at her.

"That was just a manifestation; her soul is actually trapped in the Stargate here."

"Doesn't it need to be working?"

"That would prevent the spell from working; her spirit is actually in the Naquadah that forms the gate. It somehow found a home in the energy there."

Buffy shook her head. "Well lets get it done."

Up in the observation room the others waited nervously; Cassie obviously the most affected. Daniel and Samantha were constantly at her side. Jack looked at Teal'c. "You have been pretty quite even for you."

Teal'c looked at him. "Of all the things I have seen and done this would be the most incredible. I am without words."

Jack slowly nodded. "Yeah."

Down below Willow positioned herself in front of the Stargate; forming a triangle with the Urn and the coffin. Buffy right next to her, not quite touching. Ready to be used for extra power if Willow needed it.

General Hammond waited as patiently as he could; inside he was worried; but he was also trying to figure out how this could all be officially explained if it was successful; how to have Dr Janet Frasier come back. It would not be easy; he was thinking that being a prisoner and her body a clone was maybe the best he could do. Explain that she had been unconscious most of the time; and details were kind of hazy.

Willow began to chant; at first there was nothing; then Buffy could feel power rising; in the observation room all could sense something happening. Then lightning started to flicker around the Stargate; then it grew and seemed to start to concentrate on the Urn; then it began to spread to the coffin; it grew until it was blinding.

Willow felt the drain; much more powerful now then when she had done this before it was still tiring; not using the darkness as she had the first time. Feeling herself beginning to drift she placed her left hand on Buffy's shoulder and began to draw power from her.

Lost in the blaze of power Buffy did not sense Willow pulling her energy at first; then it began to really draw; but Buffy just sat there and concentrated on trying to center herself; ignoring the power being drawn from her.

Up in the observation room the lightning had grown so bright that all had to shield their eyes; it was almost as if thunder was coming as well; so loud as to not be able to distinguish any single sound.

Then suddenly there was nothing; no sound and no light. Those in the observation room tried to see down there; but their eyes took a while to adjust.

Willow slumped over on Buffy who was pretty tired herself. But she managed to get up and while almost carrying Willow looked at the Urn; it was shattered. She then moved over to the coffin and began to open it up; she did not want Janet feeling trapped like she had.

Jack was the first one to see that Buffy was moving towards the coffin while half carrying a slumping Willow, and headed down there; the others soon following.

Buffy got the latches undone and opened the lid.

Janet Frasier felt like she was waking up; she had only been occasionally able to visit the infirmary; usually only when Cassie stopped by; she remembered the conversation with the young woman Willow. That was the most time she had really been aware since she first realized that she had left her body; she was not sure about the passage of time but felt it had been awhile; all else was fuzzy.

Buffy looked down and saw Janet Frasier in her dress uniform; she seemed to be waking up; she looked OK. She nudged Willow.

"Willow, come on. You need to check on Janet here; see if there are any problems."

Willow groaned; her head really ached. She managed to hear Buffy; placing both hands on the coffin she stood fully upright and managed to chant the basic condition spell – she could feel no problems with Janet; all seemed to be as it should be.

Jack got there first; the others close behind. He slowly went to the open coffin and looked inside.

Janet Frasier opened her eyes; it was all fuzzy then she was able to focus a little on the two, no three figures above her. Jack of course; then Buffy- was that her? Willow-yes that was her.

Sam, Danel and Cassie slowly moved closer followed by General Hammond and Teal'c.

Cassie was almost hyperventilating; she had a death grip on Sam and Daniel's hands; she managed to make it to the coffin and looked inside.

Slowly Janet was able to see things more clearly; other faces appeared; then the one she wanted to see most of all.

"Cassie?" it was a low raspy sound; but it was the most beautiful sound she had ever heard.

"Mom?"

Suddenly everyone in the room was crying; Buffy reached down and took Janets hand and Jack took the other one and they pulled her up; Janet was then pulled into a hug by her almost hysterical daughter who kept sobbing "Mom."

For a moment or two everyone stood back; then Teal'c moved forward and reached into the coffin as Cassie stepped back but still held her mothers hands. He lifted Janet out and set her down on her feet where she was engulfed by her daughter again; then all of SG 1 and General Hammond became one giant hug.

Buffy stood back still holding a weak but happily crying Willow; Buffy was tearing up pretty well herself. She had not felt this good in so long she could not describe it; it had been many years for sure. She somehow knew that this moment was as rare as it could get; she just hoped she felt this good again sometime; hopefully soon.

Janet was still a little weak; when she tottered a little after they all withdrew except for Cassie Teal'c once again swept her up and Jack growled "Take her to the infirmary; she needs a full check up." No one thought to comment on that really strange sentence coming from him. They just all followed Teal'c.

Willow sighed and stood straighter. She looked at Buffy and smiled softly. "I am OK now. Just need a little more rest and I can go back; already my magic is coming back to full strength; how are you?"

"I am good Wills. Hardly notice it right now; I can tell I am tired and a little weak but its getting less and less; probably in an hour or two I will be all the way back. Lets follow the others; technically you really are not cleared to be here and certainly not alone; lets keep the security wonks happy and stay with the group."

Willow snorted. "First time I have ever heard you really care about security."

"Well there is a first time for everything."

A quick check at the infirmary by a dazed Dr Brightman (who had not been told about any of this to keep rumors down and just in case it had not worked) and Janet was given the green light. The rejuvenation had been complete; Janet did not have a single scar on her body. Outside of feeling a little tired and disoriented, she admitted she had not felt better ever that she could remember. Not a hint of her allergies or anything like that. Maybe that had been cured as well.

Once he had gotten control of himself General Hammond took the red phone and called the President; he had been informed of the attempt and had ordered that he be called right after no matter the result.

"Mr President, it looks like we got back our CMO; and our friend. I have been thinking about this and I think saying that a clone was made and she was the one that died and that we rescued Dr Frasier who had been unconscious the whole time is the best that we can come up with."

"Yes sir."

"Very well sir. We will start on the paperwork right away. Thank you sir."

Sam looked at her friend; this was so incredible. "I moved into your house after; I wanted Cassie to have as little disruption as possible. There really has been no changes there."

Cassie was burrowed into her side and Janet kept one arm securely around her daughter. "I guess it will take a while to straighten out the paperwork; I can stay at home with Cassie until it is done. We can start to get used to each other again."

Jack snorted. "It will take a while on the paperwork; even after the practice that they have gotten with Space Monkeys back and forth stuff. Probably a week at least."

Daniel saw that Teal'c was actually smiling; but then when would there ever be a better reason to smile than right now. "Teal'c; how do you feel right now."

"Daniel Jackson at this moment I am content with the universe."

Daniel smiled. "Totally agree."

Dr Brightman could not stand it any longer. "What the hell is going on?"

Jack looked at her and smiled. "It's the Return of the Big Needles."