A/N
Wow! Um... apparently, if you bang your head against one scene for months, completely blocked and unable to think of a way around it, when you do finally manage to write round it, the chapter that you were dreading and had no clue how to write will tumble from your fingertips and you'll wind up putting the scene in there anyway. I honestly had no clue that this chapter would turn out this long or be finished so quickly when I started it last week.
There is a minor change to the previous chapter that you might notice here when Buffy's phone rings...
SG-13
Vala was happily walking down the bustling main road of the small hamlet she had found when the radio she had carefully concealed on her person squawked to life. Ducking down a nearby alley she answered Mitchell's urgent call with her usual flippancy.
"Where are you?" Mitchell's voice sounded heavily accented through the radio.
"Lunnick." Vala told him, remembering how the houses had caught her attention shortly after she had arrived on P-whatever. "Look left."
Mitchell sighed. "Any sign of Faith?" He asked.
Suddenly Vala noticed the men leaving the inn opposite her alley. "Not exactly." Pressing back, deeper into the crevice between two houses, she whispered her reply into the radio.
Quickly switching it off, she watched as the Prior surveyed the street and then strode off down the village road. The other man, an unshaven and untidy individual whose general demeanour brought the thought of Jacek to the front of Vala's mind and raised her hackles, walked slowly in the opposite direction. Towards the 'Gate.
Vala ran quickly down to the end of the alley and climbed over the fence into the field beyond. She didn't turn the radio back on until she was two fields closer to the Stargate. By then, Mitchell had clearly moved past frustration and anger to boredom.
"Thought the damn inn-keeper was gonna have a heart attack when we walked in. Instead we camped out in Merlin's Library and Sam and Jackson spent half the night poking around the place so we overslept and were late for the check-in. And guess who didn't pack coffee?" He rambled to himself.
"That doesn't sound like Daniel." Vala said into her radio.
"Dammit Vala! Where are you?" Mitchell asked.
Vala looked around the boggy field. "I'm heading back to the Stargate." She told him, pushing on.
"What happened?"
"There's a Prior staying in the village."
There was a pause as Vala left the field and entered a patch of scrubby woodland and she could almost see SG-1 standing in front of the Stargate discussing what to do next.
"Alright," Mitchell said with a sigh. "Meet us back at the 'Gate."
"Ta da!" Vala sung out, spotting the top of the Stargate on her right and pushing her way through the last of the undergrowth.
Her large grin faded as she spotted just Mitchell standing with his back to her some way off. Squinting against the low sun, she walked slowly through the large clearing until she stood just behind Mitchell.
"Just you?" She asked and watched with amusement as he jumped and span round, his hand reaching for his weapon.
He relaxed as he saw her and just then, the Stargate activated. They both turned and watched as SG-12 trooped through the wormhole.
"Nope." Mitchell told her with a grin, loping off to join Major Hadden in front of the Stargate. Vala trailed after him, curious. "The Ori have a Prior in the village." Mitchell told the hard-looking Major, pointing at the few houses that could be seen from the Stargate.
"Galloway, Michaels, I want a watch on the lane." Haddon ordered, his voice gruff but low. "Mackenzie, conceal the MALP." His men disposed of; he walked closer to the cover of the bushes, Mitchell and Vala following him. "Any sign of Faith?" He asked quietly.
Mitchell looked at Vala and she shook her head. The Major cursed and Vala made a note to remember the particular words he used. They sounded wonderfully satisfying.
"There's a man on his way here and a Prior staying in the inn." She told him.
"Coming here?" The Major asked, leading the way into the undergrowth at the edge of the clearing and reaffirming his order to Lieutenant Mackenzie by swearing at him through his radio. "You're sure the Prior's staying and not just visiting?"
Vala shook her head again. "He had egg on his robes." She explained. "Has to be staying at the inn." She tapped the side of her nose with her finger and winked at Haddon.
"They know she's here too." Mitchell said.
"What, you've got ESP now?" Hadden scoffed. The look Vala threw at him was so scathing that the poor marine actually backed up a step, the tips of his ears reddening slightly. "It could just be co-incidence." The good Major blustered.
Mitchell waved his arm at Haddon and drew further back into the woodland. Crouching in the leaf mould together, they all watched as the man Vala had seen in the village shuffled towards the Stargate. Closer... closer, he drew level with the entrance into the clearing... and passed it, continuing down the dirt track past the Stargate. The three fought their way back through the undergrowth as soon as the man was out of sight, standing once again in the early morning sunlight.
"Colonel!" The low hail came from Mackenzie across the other side of the clearing and they all turned to look. The young Lieutenant was holding the video cam from the MALP. "You're gonna want to see this." He said, holding out the camera.
l
They were laughing and joking as they waited for their baggage to arrive when the Wormhole X-treme theme once more sounded its strident tones. Glaring daggers at Willow, who she suspected had secretly sabotaged her phone, Buffy answered the call. As she 'yes' and 'uh-huh'ed her way through the conversation, occasionally throwing in an 'I see' or something similar for good measure, Xander and Willow loaded up their cart with their luggage, giggling about the ringtone Xander had programmed Buffy's phone to use whenever General Landry called. Gently, they steered their friend towards Customs and she quickly finished the call.
"What was that about?" Willow asked as they strolled casually through the channel marked 'Nothing to Declare' despite the obscene amount of weapons concealed on them and in their luggage.
"That lead they had on Faith," Buffy said, her voice tight with carefully controlled emotion. "They don't have it anymore." A cloud of depression settled over the group.
"As Faith would say," Xander carefully remarked. "Fuck."
l
"How much longer?" Cam asked, crouching down beside Dr Lee.
Bill stared at the laptop plugged into the DHD uncertainly. "Uh..." He said, raising his hands from the keypad in a helpless gesture. "Another hour?"
"Great." Cam said, patting Bill on the shoulder and using him to rise to his feet. Another hour stuck in full view of the road, tampering with the Stargate. "Just great." He sighed. Rejoining Vala, he glanced at the raven-haired woman's striking profile. "So... this Prior?"
"I didn't recognise him." Vala said.
"I might." Cam suggested as nonchalantly as possible.
Vala's eyes gleamed. "You might." She agreed, eyeing him up and down. "But you'll need a disguise."
l
Giles was lonely. Sat behind a huge oak desk on the top floor of the new Council building he was in charge of a large multi-national organisation with hundreds of employees and was keeping his eye on two potential apocalypses and seven different prophecies. Despite this, he found himself missing the old days when had been just him, his Slayer and her friends in the library of her school. Life had been so much simpler then. Now the Scoobies were scattered to the four corners of the world and he...he frowned and stood as his office door opened but his expression cleared as soon as he saw Buffy, Willow and Xander enter.
"Buffy!" He exclaimed, walking round his desk and wrapping his arms around the petite woman. "Xander, Willow." He opened his arms to them too, looking at the sombre faces around him. "What's happened?" He asked when they were all gathered in one group hug.
As one, all three of them drew back and looked at each other. He could see them deciding who would tell him what had happened with mere glances between themselves. He settled back and waited. Finally it was Buffy who spoke.
"Faith's gone." She said simply and Giles felt as though the floor suddenly gaped beneath him.
"Dear Lord." He said faintly, taking off his glasses and polishing them. He shouldn't be surprised by Faith's desertion, the girl was after all one of the most unstable members of the Scooby Gang, but he'd thought that she had finally found her place among them, even settling down to some extent with Robin. She had come so far from the scared and damaged girl he hadn't seen, hadn't supported, when she had accidentally killed the Deputy Mayor. "Are you sure?" He asked, giving his glasses a final wipe and placing them back on his face.
"She left Robin a message." Buffy said, sprawling on one of the several comfortable chairs Giles had grouped around his office. He friends gathered in seats around her. "She said she had a Slayer dream and had to go and then she left." The Slayer said simply, closing her eyes and letting the fatigue she had let build up over the last three days wash over her.
Xander took over the tale. "She went to that SGC place we told you about after LA," the one-eyed man said with a sigh. "And then she went through the Stargate to another planet."
"Another planet?" Giles questioned, "Stargate?" He asked, wondering where he had heard the term before.
"Ooh, it's also called the Chappa'ai or Astria Porta." Willow said. "They use it to explore other planets and civilisations. Remember those explosions in the Antarctic that you thought might be Metee-kolen-ol? It was them, they..." Willow trailed off as Giles shot to his feet and swore viciously in Fyarl.
Crossing the room to one of the many bookcases that lined the walls, the Head Watcher plucked a book from the shelves, seemingly at random, and opened it. Quickly rifling through the slender tome's pages he soon found what he was searching for. Stifling the groan that rose in his throat for the others sakes, he closed the volume and snatched the glasses from his face. Make that eight prophecies and three apocalypses, he thought, furiously rubbing the lenses of his glasses, bloody fucking hell! How had he missed this one?
"Giles?" Willow said tentatively when the father figure they all adored had stood silently polishing his glasses for several long minutes.
He jumped slightly and hesitated before replacing his glasses. Taking another book, he came and sat back down with them, finding his place in the original book again and holding it out to them. Willow took it from him, studying the text carefully as he flipped through the second.
"Is this Latin?" She asked, frowning.
"An obscure dialect, yes." Giles told her, stopping on a page. "We haven't had much luck translating it so far."
"I don't understand." Xander said.
Giles took off his glasses and wiped them carefully. "When we took over the Council, I read all of the prophecy texts contained in the vaults." He told them, popping his glasses back on. "Among them I found one pertaining to the Mayor's ascension and Faith's seduction to his side." He confessed. "I didn't tell any of you at the time because I believed that some things are best left in the past." He passed Willow the second book.
Willow examined the book. "This is a later volume in the same series!" She said. "And it's in Latin... for unless no doors are kept closed to her, he shall devour her with honeyed kindnesses and she will become the Dark One." She said quietly, closing the book and laying on the low table between them.
"Okay, I don't understand either." Buffy said, frowning. "What has the Mayor got to do with Faith leaving now?"
"Is-is this, 'Dark One?" Willow asked falteringly, pointing at a phrase in the original book. Xander and Buffy peered over her shoulders to look.
Giles sighed. "I believe so. Also," he took the book from her and showed them a different section, "I believe that this refers to the Astria Porta."
Buffy grabbed the book from him, pouring over it as though sheer will-power alone could teach her not only Latin but the dialect used in the book. Finally she looked up at them.
"Maybe Dawn could figure it out?" She said hopefully.
"Take it." Giles told her and she smiled at him.
"I'd like to email a copy to Dr Jackson." Willow suggested, prying Buffy's fingers from the slim book with difficulty. "If it's to do with the Stargate, he might already know the dialect." She stood and left the room.
"Now," Giles said, looking at the other two. "Start again, from the beginning."
Glancing at Buffy, who still hadn't slept, snuggling in her armchair, Xander shrugged. "Faith called Robin and left a message on his answering machine." He explained.
"Dumping him." Buffy interjected, her eyes closed.
Xander nodded as Giles' eyebrows rose. "She said that she'd had a Slayer dream and she had to go away. She didn't know how long she was going to be gone."
"And dumped him." Buffy reminded them.
"And dumped him." Xander agreed. "He called us. The last we'd heard of her she was dropping that crystal volcano we found in the vaults off at the SGC and then she dropped out of contact so we went straight there." He continued awkwardly as Willow re-entered the room, handing the book back to Buffy.
"How did you get there?" Giles asked. "Never mind." He said, taking off his glasses to polish them. "Need I remind you of the dangers inherent in tapping-"
"You don't." Buffy said flatly from her almost prone position in the leather armchair. The small blonde opened her eyes and sat up, looking seriously at Giles. "You really don't. But Giles, it's Faith."
The words seemed to hang in the air after she'd said them and the four concentrated very hard on not looking at one another. Hindsight has twenty twenty vision after all and silently, in the depths of their souls, they all harboured a kernel of guilt about the events of the spring before Graduation.
Giles sighed finally, placing his glasses back on his nose. "What happened when you got there?" He asked heavily.
"She wasn't there." Buffy told him.
"She'd gone to another planet?" Giles asked.
"No." As Giles frowned, Buffy explained. "She'd left them that morning, heading for Cleveland on her bike."
"We got the last two seats on a flight to Cleveland." Willow said, gesturing to Xander and herself.
"While I was waiting for the next flight, I got a call from General Landry saying that Faith had been back and had gone through the Stargate." Buffy told him. "So I checked into a hotel..."
Buffy broke off as the door opened and Andrew entered, wheeling a small hostess trolley. Fussily the thin man placed a plate of confectionary on the table and passed Giles a porcelain cup of tea. Setting out doilies, he served Buffy and Xander with coffee, leaving the coffeepot on the table, next to a teapot that matched Giles' cup. Willow was handed a mocha topped with whipped cream and Andrew sat in an empty chair and folded his hands, an attentive look on his face.
"Get out." Giles told him.
Andrew pouted and Giles glared. "Fine." The younger man said, getting up. "I'll go. But you can't keep it from me forever." He stalked out, pulling the trolley behind him.
"When are we going to tell him?" Xander asked, reaching for a Twinkie.
"Mumph!" Giles said emphatically around a mouthful of jam doughnut. "Never!" He swallowed. "I owe him fifty pounds."
Xander choked on the Twinkie. "You too?" He coughed.
Buffy smiled ruefully. "A hundred bucks." She said, eyeing Willow's mocha enviously.
The redhead spread the fingers of one hand wide, drinking deeply from her mug.
"Five hundred?" Xander guessed.
Willow shook her head, putting the mug down on a doily. A cream moustache decorated her upper lip. "Five dollars." She told them, licking her lips with a contented sigh.
Buffy blinked. "Where were we?" She asked.
"You were in a hotel." Giles prompted.
"Oh yeah! So when I got out of the shower that evening I had a missed call from General Landry and a text from Xander in Cleveland to say that he'd called and Faith had gone off to a space battle."
Giles frowned. "Space battle?" He queried. He was liking the sound of all this less and less.
Xander nodded. "With SG-1." He confirmed.
"Against SG-1?" Now Giles was thoroughly confused.
Buffy frowned. "No," she said. "With SG-1, against some Aura people who were invading the Galaxy or something. One of our ships was destroyed and Faith and Dr Jackson somehow got onboard one of the Aura ships but they got separated and the ship left after the battle." Giles leaned forward, fascinated by the third hand tale his Slayer was telling. "The rest of SG-1 repaired their other ship and managed to rescue Dr Jackson, but not Faith." Buffy picked up an éclair and bit deeply into it, savouring the taste.
"So Buffy lost her temper, told them that we'd send someone to find her and flew to Cleveland." Xander told him.
Giles spat out a mouthful of his tead. "Dear Lord!" He exclaimed, wiping his mouth with a handkerchief he pulled from his pocket. "Why?"
"SGC teams are usually just four people." Xander said calmly as Buffy busied herself with the éclair. "Surely we can spare four people?"
Giles leant back in his chair, sipping his tea thoughtfully. "Who were you thinking of sending?" He asked.
"We thought, someone who's good with the technology," Xander informed him and Giles' eyes flickered to Willow. "So Wills emailed Oz." Giles' eyebrows rose in surprise and Xander grinned.
"He's meeting me in Trafalgar Square the day after tomorrow." Willow said, blushing faintly.
"Since when?" Buffy exclaimed, sitting bolt upright.
Willow took a sip of her drink. "He'd replied when I emailed the prophecy to Dr Jackson." She explained.
"Who else?" Giles asked.
"We need a Slayer over eighteen." Buffy said challengingly. "All of Robin's are too young."
Polishing his glasses, Giles considered. "Julie Wilson." He said finally. "She was a trainee doctor when Willow cast the spell. She went on to qualify afterwards. Lovely woman, if a trifle, ah," He huffed on his glasses and wiped them. "Shall we say, obsessed, with demonic anatomy." As Buffy cringed, Giles stood and walked to his desk. Pressing the intercom button, he spoke. "Andrew, call Julie Wilson and ask her to meet me here as soon as possible." Switching the intercom off, he sat back down.
"That's two." He reminded them.
"Right!" Willow exclaimed. "So Xander called General O'Neill and asked him if there was anyone young and good he could recommend."
"We're not a military organisation and they are." Xander explained as Giles' eyebrows flew skyward once more. "Besides I didn't think he'd really be able to..."
"What?" Giles asked
"He said he'd call me back." Xander told him, reaching for another Twinkie.
Giles closed his eyes. "Dear Lord." He breathed. "Who else?"
Buffy winced. "We were kinda hoping that your Slayer was a magic-user." She confessed. "'cause we need to send a Watcher."
Giles frowned. "As Willow knows, the Watcher with the most aptitude in that area so far is... oh no!" He said firmly. "Not Andrew."
A silence fell over the group as they finished their beverages, racking their minds for an alternative. Buffy poured herself another coffee and Willow pouted as the Slayer deliberately moved the coffeepot out of her reach.
"So Faith is on an enemy space ship..." Giles mused as they all took a bite of cake.
Frantically shaking her head, Buffy swallowed. "They tracked her to a different planet, but she'd already left." She explained.
"Why can't she just, come back?" Giles asked.
Willow shook her head. "It's not that easy." She explained. "You have to know Earth's 'Gate address."
"Yeah, and they've got this shield thing which they keep over the Stargate if you don't enter a code before you go through the wormhole." Xander added.
"Wormhole?" Giles asked faintly.
Willow nodded. "The Stargate actually creates a stable wormhole between the original 'Gate and the one on the planet dialled. Or dialling. The science behind it all is really quite interesting and seems to focus mainly on-"
"Wills," Xander gently stopped his friend as Giles' eyes glazed over. "We get the idea."
Buffy yawned and the slim redhead apologised contritely.
"God Willow, it's not you!" Buffy rushed to reassure her friend. "It's just," She yawned again, "I'm so... tired!"
Looking at his watch, Giles saw that it was almost ten o'clock at night. "Bed." He said firmly to the jet-lagged trio. "All of you. We'll finish this tomorrow."
It was a measure of how tired they all were that they raised no objections, merely saying their goodnights and leaving after more hugs had been bestowed. Sitting alone in his office after they had gone, Giles picked up the book containing the untranslated prophecy. He might not be lonely any more but he was suddenly terribly afraid.
l
His apartment door was ajar. The lock showed no sign of being forced and cautiously, Jon pushed it open, peeking round the doorjamb and into the room. No intruder lingered in his living room and he edged into the room, silently opening his closet and stowing his laptop and rucksack. Cautiously he crept further into the room as Major General Jack O'Neill strolled out of his kitchen, beer in hand.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Jon relaxed and grabbed the beer from Jack. Taking a long drain from the bottle, he froze. "Nobody died, right? Teal'c, Daniel, Carter, they're all okay?"
Jack looked into Jon's pleading familiar eyes and nodded, heading back into the kitchen for another beer. Jon followed him.
"So what do you want?" Jon persisted as Jack popped the cap of his bottle.
"How'd ya like to come back?" Jack asked, taking a swig from the bottle.
Jon's eyes lit up and then his face shuttered in a look Jack had often seen mirrored in reflections of his own face. "What's the catch?" The boy asked warily.
Jack drank from the bottle again. "Got any whisky?" He asked.
"Cupboard on your right." Jon told him, passing him a glass.
Jack poured a generous measure, knocking it back in one. Hissing as the licquor warning his throat, he looked Jon in the eyes for the first time since the younger man had arrived home. "Vampires and Demons and Witches..." He said solemnly, poured another finger, knocked it back again.
"Oh, for cryin' out loud!" Jon exclaimed.
Jack nodded understandingly. "Remember Woodstock?" he asked, handing Jon a business card. "Call me... Captain O'Neil."
He took Jon's last beer with him as he left, shutting the front door quietly behind him. Jon fingered the IOA business card thoughtfully. Woodstock...
Jack stumbled away from the longhaired hippie with a cockney accent now giggling on the floor as he watched his hand move. Suddenly sober, he lurched, clutching his neck as blood trickled past his fingers. That was it, he decided, no more drugs. He was catching the first bus to a recruitment centre he could find.
Jon polished off his beer. "Vampires and Demons and Witches..." He said, reaching for the whisky. "Oh my."
l
"Knock, knock."
Cam's voice raised Sam's head from behind the Ancient Control Device. Grinning, she stood up and dusted herself down, accepting a hot Starbucks cup from the dark-haired Colonel.
"I'm impressed." She said, picking up her work tablet as she took a sip and putting it on the Ancient Control Device. "Has Daniel forgiven you?"
"It was his turn!" Cam cried, exasperated.
Sam tapped on the tablet, sipping her mochaccino. "Uh-huh." She said absently. Suddenly she stared disconcertingly at Cam. "Are you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah, sure." Cam cleared his throat. "Five by five."
Sam looked at him sympathetically and Cam stared stoically back. Suddenly, he thought he understood why Faith used the phrase. Blandly returning Sam's gaze, he sipped from his cup.
"How's it going with Merlin's Scales?" He asked, patting the Ancient Device and she was off, talking about energy outputs, feedback loop differentials, and a whole other bunch of stuff he barely half understood. Cam just stood and sipped his coffee, wondering what he was doing there.
l
Giles was sitting alone in the dining room when Buffy stumbled in, still her pyjamas, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. She grunted in reply to his pleasant greeting, curled into a chair and devoured a tray of bacon before Willow and Xander had joined them. He waited until they all looked reasonably awake before reopening the subject of last evening's conversation.
"Julie's excited about the opportunity," he said neutrally as Andrew bustled in with more bacon and fresh coffee. "As for the fourth position, I thought perhaps, Major Gatsby?"
The breakfasting trio's faces were full of dismay, while if Andrew's ears were pricked any further, they'd be higher than his head. Buffy swallowed a mouthful of bacon.
"He's so old." She objected.
Xander frowned as he cut up a sausage. "Besides, his only specialty is kinda cancelled out by the third person." His eye flickered to Andrew's avid figure.
"Out Andrew." Giles said.
"Oh, but-"
"Now!" He ordered and Andrew sulkily left the room.
"What about Dawnie?" Xander suggested. "She's good with the languages and almost a Watcher..." His voice trailed out as he noticed Buffy's death glare. "Maybe I didn't think that all the way through..." He admitted.
"Well unless either of you has a better idea?" Giles suggested, looking at the two women.
"Send Andrew." Willow mumbled grumpily around a mouthful of toast as Buffy shrugged.
Giles set his teacup down with a firm clink. "We are not," He said clearly. "Sending Andrew."
Buffy pushed her chair back from the table and rubbed her full belly. "God, I need a shower." She said, rising from the table. "We'll talk about it later Giles."
Xander and Willow weren't far behind her in leaving and Giles was left to finish his newspaper in peace, wondering who else they could send.
l
Bored and frustrated, Cam sighed. Frowning, Daniel raised his head from a dusty tome and glared at him as he stood staring gloomily out of the window.
"Why don't you go back to the SGC?" The archaeologist suggested.
Mitchell turned his head to look at him. "What?" He asked.
"Sam and I can manage on our own here," Daniel shrugged. "And I'm sure the SGC is short-handed at the moment. Landry could probably use you."
"You're sure?" Mitchell asked, one hand already on his pack.
Daniel nodded. "Go." He said. "I'll tell Sam."
Closing the door behind him, Cam lifted his face to the weak sunlight, closing his eyes briefly before he strode down the alley and turned right.
Back to the SGC. He could find out what advances the Ori had made, see how SG-12 were doing with 'Gate addresses Dr Lee had pulled from Terluna, catch up on his paperwork...
"Colonel Mitchell!"
Meurik's deep voice pulled him from his inner musings as he reached the gate out of the village. Hurrying, the Governor was slightly out of breath when he reached him, his eyes lingering on Cam's pack.
"Leaving already?" He asked anxiously.
"Just me." Cam told him with a smile. "Colonel Carter and Dr Jackson are staying on a bit longer. Hey, how's Valencia?" He asked, remembering. "Sam said they hadn't seen her?"
Meurik grinned, something Cam hadn't thought the man was capable of. "She is indeed an excellent warrior." He said, as proud as if he'd fathered the girl himself. "More than the equal of any of our men. At present, she is away with a hunting party."
"That's great." Cam said, reassured. He began to back towards the gate. "Well, I gotta get going."
"How's Faith?" Muerik blurted and Cam felt a shaft of pain lance through his soul.
"Good." He blurted, and kicked himself. "Gone, actually."
"Gone?" Meurik frowned as Cam kept backing up.
"Yeah," Cam nodded, glancing at the fields through the gap in the wall. "I've really gotta go." He said apologetically, walking through the gate. "We'll talk next time!"
"We will?" Muerik asked the air, frowning after the Colonel. Faith had gone? Gone where? Concerned, the Governor hurried to Merlin's Library, determined to find out.
l
As she stepped up out of the gloom of the Charing Cross tube station, he was the first person she saw, staring up at Nelson's Column, his hair bright in the midday sun. He turned around before she reached him, sniffing the breeze, and she waved to him. He smiled, one corner of his mouth lifting lopsidedly.
"Hi." She said with a self-conscious smile.
"Hey." He nodded to her.
Willow started walking and Oz fell into step alongside her. "How are you?" She asked.
"Good." Oz nodded. "You?"
"Good!" Willow nodded vigorously and an awkward silence fell.
"So... still batting for the home team?" Oz asked casually as they completed their second lap of Trafalgar Square.
"Oh yes!" Willow latched onto the conversational ploy like a lifesaver. "Ask anyone, they'll tell you; That Willow, they'd say, she's all about the lesbian love action!"
She blushed scarlet as soon as she realised what she'd said and Oz chuckled, coming to a halt near the National Gallery. Willow stopped with him, barely able to look him in the eyes.
The pink-haired man sighed, looking at the red-faced woman in front of him. "What's up?" He asked, his lips curled into a curious smile.
"It's Faith." Willow told him, and one of Oz's eyebrows rose.
l
"Receiving Colonel Mitchell's IDC." Walter announced, retracting the iris.
General Landry nodded, striding out of the Control Room and into the Gateroom in time to greet his second-in-command with a frown. "What the hell are you doing here?" He asked roughly.
The Colonel grinned. "Couldn't stay away sir." He said, stepping off the ramp. "Seriously though sir, I think I was driving Carter and Jackson up the wall." He looked around. "How are things?"
The General let out a short bark of laughter. "Quieter than the grave." He said wryly. "All our teams are off-world and Miss Summers' group still hasn't arrived. SG-12's due to check in from P3X-492 at fourteen hundred hours." He informed the Colonel, walking him to the elevators and waiting.
"Any luck so far?" He asked and Hank could see the eagerness in his eyes.
Sighing, he shook his head. "We're circulating a still from the recording to all of our allies," he told him. "But there's been no word so far."
His face gray and tired, Mitchell nodded as the elevator arrived and he stepped inside. Hank stood, deep in thought, after the elevator doors had closed. Shaking himself out of his wordless reverie, he blinked several times before making his way back to the Control Room.
l
The dining room at dinnertime, teeming with Slayers 'carbing up' before patrol and Watchers arguing loudly about which groups would go where between mouthfuls of lasagne, was perhaps not the best place to have a conversation but the four huddled around the head of the table were certainly trying.
"Lady Puddlemere?" Giles suggested desperately.
Buffy shook her head. "She wouldn't pass their fitness tests." She shouted back. "Her Ladyship is a beach ball Giles!"
"I hate to say it, G-man." Xander yelled into Giles' ear.
Wincing at his volume, Giles followed Xander's gaze to the foot of the table where Andrew was trying to break up an impromptu catfight over the last piece of cake.
"No!" The Head Watcher bellowed as the Slayers present in the room all cocked their heads and lulled the conversation.
Startled by his sudden outburst, the majority of the room turned to look at him and the two squabbling slayers backed slowly away from each other as a low whining noise presaged a showy display of lights between them. The light slowly coalesced into the thin figure of a young man in faded blue jeans and a gray shirt, a black rucksack slung over one shoulder. Next to him, Andrew squeaked and dived for cover under the table as a room suddenly full of very serious people pointed a lot of sharp weapons in his general direction.
"Crap." Jon said, looking around him. He put his hands up. "I come in peace." He told them. "I've got a delivery for Buffy Summers?" He looked around at the unsmiling people. "I take it General O'Neill didn't call to tell you I was coming?" He asked, frowning.
"General?" A voice squeaked from below the table and Jon stepped back to see a kid with dirty blonde hair curled underneath it.
A petite blonde at the other end of the table stood, a deadly-looking silver and red scythe in her hands. "Follow me." She said.
Jon did as he was told, watching the two men and other woman that rose with her carefully as they left the room. The boy from under the table followed, squeezing into an elevator Jon didn't even notice until it arrived with them, an eager expression on his face. Standing in silence with them, Jon stared at the elevator doors until they opened and Miss Summers stepped out. The oldest man, the one Jon couldn't place from Jack's briefing, turned to the boy as they reached a wooden door five storeys up.
"Go away." He said rudely.
Surprised, John watched the crestfallen boy shuffle out of sight, dragging his feet every step of the way.
"Sorry about that." The man apologised urbanely. "We're trying to keep the news from Andrew."
Jon eyed the man uncertainly, not sure if he trusted him or not. The last thing he needed on the mission that would get him back into the Stargate program was another Harry Maybourne.
Looking around the four, Jon picked the blonde as the de facto leader and sketched a smart salute at her. "Captain O'Neil, reporting for duty." He told her. "Miss Summers I presume?" As she nodded, bemused, he handed over the small DVD case he had carried from Jack's office to the Odyssey, to the dining room below.
"O'Neill?" The Englishman mused as Miss Summers handed the case to the slight red-haired woman Jon thought might be Willow Rosenburg at her side.
"Just one 'l'" Jon told him. "And you are?"
"Terribly sorry." The other man apologised again, his English accent crisp as he held out a hand for Jon to shake. "Lord Rupert Giles." He introduced himself.
"We're just awfully thrilled with the Lordship her Majesty so kindly bestowed upon old Rupes." The younger man mocked with an atrocious English accent and an infectious grin. "I'm Xander." He said, dropping the accent.
Jon grinned back at him as the redhead pulled a section of the bookcases out and slid it along hidden tracks to reveal a flat screen TV so large that Jon could feel himself start to drool. "Jon O'Neil." He said absently, staring as she turned on the large computer below the television and inserted the disc. She smiled at him, tucking her long hair behind one ear.
"Willow Rosenburg." She introduced herself, blushing slightly as she collected a wireless keyboard and mouse and stood.
Jon noticed that there was no computer on the large desk at one end of the room and she smiled as she followed his gaze.
"Giles is a complete technophobe." Miss Rosenburg explained, handing the case back to Miss Summers. "We use this and Andrew sets it up if he needs to use it while we're not here."
"Yes, well, shall we?" Lord Giles said, gesturing to the chairs scattered in front of the wall.
They seated themselves while the computer loaded and Miss Rosenburg pulled up the disc folder. Sat in a comfortable recliner, Jon just had time to silently mourn the lack of popcorn or beer and then the file began to play.
l
The camera showed brightly lit rippling water which it struggled to focus on before it plunged in and the picture dissolved into static. Seconds later, it reformed to glide slowly forward before coming to a rocking halt, focussing on a brilliant purple sunrise. Dark fields stretched into the distance and a pair of boots could be heard clicking on stone before a slender leather-clad thigh came into shot.
"Aha!" The thigh said. "First stop, the village." And a dark haired woman skipped out of the clearing, turning left.
Minutes passed and the clouds turned a vivid blood red as the sun began to peer over the horizon, gilding their edges. Two heads, one dark, one light, bobbed over the top of the right-hand hedge that separated the clearing from the path. A low murmuring of voices was too far away for the camera's microphone to pick up clearly as two women with large bundles turned into the clearing. The young blonde girl in the lead seemed to be carrying a large black animal, behind her, watching her feet, trudged Faith with a large pack.
She looked up and saw the camera. Dropping the pack near the DHD, she ran to the camera, her body obscuring the lens, her exploring arms rocking the camera.
"Faith."
The disembodied voice came as Faith crouched, her face filling the camera frame as she ran her eyes over its casing. "I think this is from Earth." She said, grinning.
"Faith." The voice called again, quiet and sombre and she stepped back to reveal the blonde crouched over the body of a large dog.
"What's up?" She asked lightly, going to the girl.
She sobbed, dropping her face into her hands as she knelt beside the dark shape of the dog. "He's dead!"
Faith dropped to a crouch beside her, stroking the girl's fair hair as she wept. She rested one hand on the dog's ribcage as she comforted her. "He was a good dog." She said awkwardly, looking up as a dishevelled figure appeared in the clearing gate.
"Shit, Mallie!" Faith exclaimed, dragging the girl to her feet. "We haven't got time for this, it's your dad!"
The other girl moaned, and Faith shook her, shoving her at the DHD. "I don't know how to work it, so just dial." She told the girl roughly, snatching up their pack and pocketing something as the man in the gateway gave a bellow of rage and began to lumber towards them.
The girl's hands moved rapidly over the console and a blue light once more flickered eerily in the clearing. Shoving the pack into the girl's arms she pushed her towards the camera and the girl ran past as Faith grabbed the zat from her pocket and fired a bolt of white light over the man's head. He flung himself to the ground, clutching his head as she retreated towards the camera. It bobbed slightly and worked hard to focus on half of her knee.
"Goodbye Kado." Her husky voice floated down from above the camera and it focussed sharply on three bolts of light that flew from above and briefly illuminated the dog's corpse before it vanished and so had the knee.
The shimmering blue light that played over the clearing died abruptly and the man popped his head up, hauling himself to his feet with a curse as soon as he realised the coast was clear. Muttering inaudibly to himself and with an evil glare at the camera, he left the clearing, turning left down the lane.
l
Cam hit rewind and watched the whole encounter happen in reverse. Punching play as Faith backed rapidly out of the clearing, he watched the top of her head move along the hedge, counting the seconds until she appeared in the frame again. A throat clearing in his doorway sent him spinning round and he paused the tape.
"What are you doing?" The General asked gruffly, entering Cam's office.
"I was, uh, just checking the recording for any more clues." Cam told him, gesturing to where Faith's face filled the screen.
"Ah." Hank said as the Colonel switched the television off rapidly, standing at ease. "Good idea." He told him.
"What can I do for you Sir?" Cam asked the General.
"Nothing! Nothing!" Hank told him. "I was just on my way home, fancied going out for a beer and wondered if you'd care to join me?"
The Colonel smiled at him. "No thanks Sir," he gestured to his pristine desk. "I've got a backlog of paperwork..."
"You're sure I can't tempt you?" Hank pressed. "I know a place that does great buffalo wings."
Mitchell shook his head. "I'm good." He said, sitting back down at his desk.
"You know," Hank said, trying a different attack. "General Saxton once said-"
"Sir!" Mitchell interrupted him firmly. "Enjoy your buffalo wings." He insisted, pulling some papers towards him. "I'm fine. Really."
Thwarted in his goal, Hank left the stubborn son of a bitch to it.
Wrapped in his own thoughts, staring blindly into space after the General had gone, it took a while before Cam realised that he was gazing at a copy of Faith's one and only report. Dropping his head into his hands, he groaned as he faced the facts. He wasn't fine at all.
l
As Xander showed Captain O'Neil out for a tour around the building, Buffy turned to Willow and Giles.
"Well?" She asked them once the door was safely shut. "What do you think?"
Giles wiped his glasses slowly, frowning. "There's a darkness behind his eyes." He said finally. "He hides it well but..." He trailed off, replacing his glasses and shrugging.
"I like him." Willow said decisively, picking up the DVD case and opening it. "I think we can trust him." She took a sealed white envelope from the case, passing it to Buffy with a mysterious smile as her friend stared at her in surprise.
Frowning as she ripped the envelope open, barely recognising the hieroglyphs on the front as her own name, Buffy pulled a single sheet out and unfolded it to stare incomprehensibly at the illegible handwriting. Peering over her shoulder, Willow and Giles stared at the small piece of white paper.
"Does that say Buffy?" That woman asked, pointing at the first word, distinguished from the rest by virtue of being slightly higher and ending in a squiggle that could feasibly be a comma.
More experienced at translating difficult texts, Giles frowned at the page. "Jon knows more about the SGC than anyone not in the program," he translated slowly, groping for the structure of the sentence as he deciphered its meaning. "I trust him with my life!" He paused as he digested this, his eyebrows raised. "His... Is that sackrat?"
Willow squinted at the word. "I think it's secret..." She said carefully.
"His secret is his to tell, but as a group with more than its fair share of secrets I'm sure you will... imberfram?" Giles continued.
"Understand!" Buffy exclaimed excitedly as they gradually uncovered the letter's meaning.
Getting into the scrawl of the handwriting, Willow took over the translation. "General Landry is expecting SG-13 to report to the SGC in eight days time at oh nine hundred so I... haps?"
"Hope." Giles told her.
"Hope you've got your other people picked out." Willow finished. "And it's signed by General O'Neill." She added.
"Is that our time or theirs?" Buffy asked after a pause, still frowning at the letter.
"Theirs I imagine." Giles told her, polishing his glasses
Surprised by this latest twist, the trio stood in silence for long moments before a close to tears Andrew burst into the room.
"Food fight!" He wailed and they all rushed off to impose order on chaos.
l
"You wanted to see me sir?" Cam asked, poking his head around the General's door after his command to enter.
"Ah, Mitchell!" General Landry waved him in and Cam closed the door behind himself, standing at ease in front of the General.
"I've just had a call from General O'Neill informing me that SG-13 will be arriving in eight days time." The General informed him.
Cam frowned. "We don't have a SG-13." He said slowly, confused. "There hasn't been a SG-13 since P3X-666."
After Doctor Frasier's death during SG-13's inaugural mission, General Hammond had elected not to reform the team. Instead, he had parcelled off its members to other teams as vacancies became available and the designation SG-13 had been retired from use. The somewhat superstitious base tended to ignore the fact that there was a gap between SG-12 and SG-14, perhaps considering the designation cursed.
"There is now." Landry said grimly and Cam suddenly understood.
So they were definitely coming. He wondered who she was sending.
"What time are they expected to arrive?" He asked.
"Nine hundred hours." The General told him, a steely glint in his eyes. "I'd like to keep this quiet for the time being." He said.
"Understood." Mitchell told him and frowned. Did he?
Landry dismissed him with a nod, pulling some paperwork towards him, and Cam let himself out. Eight days... He'd find her. He had to.
l
Used to a completely different time-zone, Jon stared at his bedroom ceiling for most of the night. A few times he approached something near sleep but he was always jerked awake by a slamming door or a loud quarrel. His curtains began to lighten as the sun rose behind them and Jon slipped from his bed. The silence had been undisturbed for a couple of hours but Jon knew if he went to sleep now he wouldn't wake up until the afternoon. Making his way to the large kitchen Xander had shown him last night, he opened a cavernous refrigerator and stared into it.
"Excuse me."
The small voice came from his waist and he glanced down at a young girl in pink pyjamas who couldn't have been older than twelve. Apologising he stepped back and she stretched for a carton of orange juice just out of her reach. Jon handed it to her and she smiled at him.
"Thanks." She said. "I'm Tiffany."
"Jon." He introduced himself.
She giggled, grabbing a glass. "Captain O'Neil." She said, dimples showing at the corners of her mouth and Jon suddenly recognised as the girl holding the extremely large mace when he had first arrived.
Horrified, he stared at her as she closed the refrigerator door. She was just a kid! He caught sight of his reflection in the refrigerator door and winced, running a hand down his face.
"So, Tiffany!" He said, grabbing another glass and sitting at a table with her. "What's it like being a slayer?"
"Brilliant!" She grinned, her eyes bright. "Except, I get used as bait a lot."
Jon choked on his OJ.
l
Sam checked Cam's office on her way to the infirmary but he wasn't there. As soon as Doctor Lam was finished with her, she tried again. This time he was there, hunched over his desk. Walking up behind him, she gasped as she caught sight of what he was drawing over his shoulder. He quickly covered the cloven monster glaring malevolently at her with a requisition report and stood.
"Sam!" He said with a grin. "When did you get back?"
"Just now." She told him, still disturbed by the figure he had sketched. "Cam?"
"I was just doodling." He said in answer to her unspoken question. "The commissary's got some blue jello left." He divulged. "Wanna get go some?"
Sam nodded. "Sure." She agreed uneasily, following him out of his office.
They walked to the commissary in silence. Collecting her jello, Sam peered up at Cam. He was unusually sombre and more reserved than she'd ever seen him, even when he'd been in hospital. Considering the best way to approach him, she waited until they had sat down at an empty table before speaking.
"Any news of Faith?" Sam asked and Cam wrestled with the temptation to tell her about SG-13.
He shrugged, toying with the pie he didn't really want. "We've checked twelve of the addresses and we're keeping a camera running on P4X-32Z." He told her instead. "So far nothing." He grimaced.
"We'll find her." She said reassuringly and Cam forced himself to smile.
"So what are your plans now you're back?" He changed the subject, leaning back in his chair and listening as she told him about the experiments she had planned for the data she'd gleaned from Merlin's Scales.
l
Hungry, Buffy wandered into the kitchen, wondering what the hold up with breakfast was. The volume of noise that greeted her as she pushed open the door gave her some clue as to what the problem might be. Tapping her foot as she stood in the doorway, Buffy surveyed the cavernous kitchen. People thronged the room, laughing, talking arguing and even, Buffy's eyes narrowed as she caught sight of Willow and Kennedy, making out. In the centre of it all sat Captain O'Neil, laughing and joking with a large group of Slayers as behind him, Andrew pulled a batch of doughnuts from the fat fryer. Shrugging, Buffy grabbed a coffee and set off through the crowd.
"You're wrong," Miss Summers' voice came from behind him as Tiffany and Patricia argued about the best way to get Volsh'nik blood out of your favourite outfit and Jon shot to his feet.
"You soak it in vinegar, rub essence of lavender into the stain, rinse and repeat." The Slayer continued. "Voila, goo-free blouse!" She sat down as the girls hailed her, eyeing him with amusement. "At ease, Captain." She told him with a smile.
Jon relaxed back into his chair as the kid from last night, Andrew, placed a plate piled with doughnuts and a fresh pot of coffee on the table.
"They're hot!" He warned, bustling away.
Seeing the way the mound of doughnuts quickly diminished as the Slayers helped themselves, Jon quickly grabbed one.
"So," he said to Miss Summers, pouring himself another coffee while he was at it. "What's on the agenda today?"
She swallowed a bite of doughnut and grinned. "I was gonna work-out after breakfast," she told him. "Maybe spar a little..." Her grin widened and the slayers around the table quietened. "Wanna join me?"
His eyebrows raised in surprise, Jon considered the offer carefully as the slayers stared at him, waiting for his reply. What the hell, he decided, it couldn't be worse than sparring with Teal'c.
"Sure." He agreed and bit into his doughnut.
Hot!
l
Slayers flocked into the gym by the dozen, filling the edges of the room. Jon caught sight of Andrew taking bets as he set up a video camera. He ran his tongue around his jam-burnt mouth and winced, hoping he wasn't about to get his ass kicked. Shaking his head at Xander, he rejected the padding that the other man was holding out and the one-eyed man frowned.
"Sure?" He asked and shrugged when Jon said he was.
Miss Summers was smiling as she came to meet him in the centre of the room. Jon couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not. They circled each other warily and Jon threw a few sloppy punches she easily avoided, hoping to make her underestimate him. Whether or not it worked was debatable as she lunged at him. Neatly side-stepping, Jon flawlessly executed a move that Teal'c had once shown him and the slayers crowding the room gasped as the Slayer landed flat on her back, skidding a few feet on the matting.
She quickly flipped to her feet, grinning widely and things pretty much went downhill from there. As he limped off the mat afterwards, knowing he'd regret the damage he'd just inflicted on his knees one day, Xander silently handed him an icepack, his eye sympathetic. Jon really appreciated him not saying 'I told you so'.
l
Wondering where he had put his glasses, Daniel squinted at the spine of the book he held.
"Whoa!" Mitchell exclaimed from his doorway. "Did you bring enough books back?"
Standing in the middle of an office filled with crates, Daniel frowned. "I think so." He said. "Muerik said I could bring anything I needed back with me." He shrugged.
"So you bought the whole damn library!" Mitchell asked, picking his way into Daniel's office.
"Any luck finding Faith yet?" Daniel snapped irritably and regretted the words as soon as they were out of his mouth. "Sorry," he apologised with a sigh as Mitchell's smile faded. "It's just there's something niggling in the back of my head." He explained. "Something I've read, or seen. Something important. What did you want?"
"I just stopped by to see if you wanted to check out P6C-281 with us." Mitchell invited him with a shrug. "The MALP showed some ruins in the distance. Figured it might be your thing?"
Tempted, Daniel hesitated before shaking his head. "I've really got to track this down." He said, gesturing at the books that littered his office.
Mitchell shrugged, retracing his route back out of Daniel's office. "It's all good to me." He said solemnly and Daniel felt a flicker of guilt.
"Good luck!" He called after Mitchell as he vanished.
l
Whistling tunelessly to himself as he worked, Xander slowly planed the doorjamb into shape. Running a professional hand over the smooth join between old wood and new, Xander grinned, feeling a sense of satisfaction in a job well done. He rarely got the chance to work with his hands anymore, normally someone called a repair-guy before he had a chance to get to it. Since Sunnydale had fallen into the ground, his life seemed to have become a non-stop succession of meetings, global jet-setting and fights for his life. Not that he was complaining, it was just good to be given a simple repair job and to watch the wood once more take shape under his hands.
Carefully packing the tools that littered the threshold of the front door away into his toolbox, Xander sat on the top step when he was finished, the heavy door behind him ajar, content to just sit and watch people pass by. Catching sight of a glimpse of shocking pink in the distance, Xander stood and squinted, his right eye struggling hard to compensate for the loss of his left. It wasn't until the blur of pink was quite close that the face below swam into focus and Xander grinned.
"Oz!" He greeted as the short man drew even closer, grinning back at him.
Running lightly up the steps, the pink-haired werewolf hesitated before briefly embracing the other man in a fraternal hug. Stepping back, they grinned at each other.
"What happened?" Oz asked as Xander picked up his toolbox.
Xander's spare hand flew unconsciously to the patch covering his empty eye socket and he grimaced wryly. "Crazy preacher hopped up on the First Evil." He said, pushing the door further open and ushering the werewolf into the elegant foyer.
"I meant the door," Oz told him. "Willow told me about Caleb. Ouch." He commiserated, looking around at his surroundings with interest.
"Post-patrol argument." Xander said ruefully, putting his toolbox away below the wall mounted axes in the cupboard under the sweeping staircase. He turned back to the other man to catch him gazing up at the shimmering chandelier that hung from the rococo ceiling. "We found it in the Vaults." He told him. "Got it restored and rewired. Giles thinks it used to hang in the Paris Opera House." Xander shrugged noncommittally.
Oz nodded sagely. "Cool."
They stood in companionable silence in the cool of the spacious entrance room and Xander found himself once again marvelling at how quiet the building was when two thirds of its occupants were at school. Glancing at Oz, he found the small werewolf staring at him quizzically.
"So... Meeting?" Oz reminded him
Xander glanced at his watch and realised that he wouldn't even have time to change. Pressing a discrete knob in the wainscoting, he watched to see how Oz would react when the elevator arrived. His former classmate didn't disappoint, merely stepping into the small space with the barest suspicion of a smile and a brief twitch of one eyebrow. Grinning, Xander joined him.
l
At least they weren't the last to arrive Oz comforted himself, appreciating Xander's solidarity in walking with him to the two empty spaces on the other side of the wide conference table, leaving the space next to the one person Oz didn't know empty. Nodding at Buffy and Giles' greetings, he smiled back at Willow as he sat down opposite the young military officer. Looking at his youthful face, Oz suddenly felt old for the first time in his life. Glancing around the table, he wondered who else they were waiting for.
Glancing at his watch, Giles cleared his throat. "May I suggest we get started? It appears that Dr Wilson is running more than a little late."
"Before we do," Jon said, pulling the folder out from underneath the table. "I need you all to sign one of these." He told them, passing them each a stapled sheave of papers. "Captain Jon O'Neil." He introduced himself, keeping his hand held out for the pink-haired man to shake after he had taken his form.
"Daniel Osbourne." Oz told him, sniffing deeply. The Captain smelt of cold starry nights and yeasty beer with, Oz sneezed, a strangely chemical undertone.
"Gesundheit." Jon told him, sitting back down
Buffy frowned as she leafed through the document in front of her. "What is it?" She asked.
"Standard non-disclosure agreement." Jon told them. "Jack really should have made you sign them after LA."
"Why didn't he?" Giles asked as he turned the page and continued reading.
Clueless, Jon shrugged. "Lost the paperwork?" He suggested.
Wondering who Jack was, why the American military were here, and just what had happened in LA, Oz signed the agreement and pushed it across the table to the Captain. He collected the documents from the others as the door opened and a tall woman in her mid-twenties with corkscrew curls of bright red hair plumped into the empty seat with a minty sigh.
"Sorry I'm late everyone." She apologised, digging in her large bag. "There was a twelve car pile-up on the M25 and A&E was packed." She explained as she pulled a notebook and pen out, putting the bag on the floor.
Scenting the traces of blood that still clung to her, Oz fingered the mala bracelet on his wrist unconsciously, feeling the wolf stirring uneasily as she carefully aligned notebook and pen before picking up the agreement in front of her and asking what it was.
"Non-disclosure agreement." He told her as he lulled the beast within back to sleep.
She flashed him a wide grin of thanks. "I'm Jool." She said, raking her curls away from her face with her fingers.
"Oz."
Jon watched the kid's fingers slid from his bracelet and made a mental note to call him Daniel when he really wanted to bug him. The pang he felt as he remembered another Daniel made his voice harsher than he'd have liked when he introduced himself and he coughed.
"Well as long as we're being formal, I'm technically a Lady." Jool said with a slight smile as she turned the page. "Congratulations by the way Lord Giles."
Giles stuttered a thank you and introduced Xander, Willow and Buffy, polishing his glasses. Leaning over the table, Jool shook their hands enthusiastically.
"It's an honour to finally meet you." She told them, picking up the agreement once again. "I heard a lot about you until I stopped puberty."
"What happened then?" Willow asked, curious.
"My watcher kicked me out." Jool said absently, signing the agreement. Catching the Captain's look of horror as she passed it back to him, she laughed, her yellow eyes sparkling. "The trust fund he set up for me more than paid for a flat and my education." She reassured him.
"Giles, how come you never set me up a trust fund?" Buffy asked, looking imploringly at her watcher.
In the act of handing the Captain four glossy brochures, Giles didn't hesitate. "Because you would spend it on shoes." As Jon flicked through the first brochure, frowning quizzically at a one-bedroom apartment in down town Colorado Springs, the head of the Watchers Council explained. "We've managed to acquire four properties in Colorado Springs for you stay in until Faith is found."
Giving the apartment to Dr Wilson, Jon flipped open the next brochure and caught his breath at the familiar sight of his old house. Slapping it shut, he shunted the brochure to Osbourne and picked up the third more cautiously.
"Colorado Springs?" Jool asked, glancing disinterestedly over the flat details. "I thought we were going to be staying on a military base?" She slid the flat over to Oz and waited for the next brochure.
"Signed up to travel." Oz reminded them, raising an eyebrow at the mention of a basement in the brochure the Captain had passed him.
Passing on a two-storey townhouse, Jon flicked through the details of a two-bedroom house in the outskirts of the suburbs as he briefed them on the early history of the Stargate program.
"Aliens..." Jool breathed as he finished, her eyes gleaming at the thought.
Noticing that she was still waiting for him to pass the last brochure to her, Jon glanced down. "I'm keeping this one." He told her.
She shrugged, smiling ruefully. "I can't drive anyway." She said as Osbourne passed two brochures back to her. "Londoner."
Jon felt like banging his head on the table. "I'll let General O'Neill know that you'll need accommodation on the base until you get your licence." He dreaded making the call. "You'll be contracted to the United State Air Force as Civilian Specialists." He told them, passing out the contracts. Holding on to the third, he asked Lord Giles when the fourth member of his team would be arriving.
"We're, ah, having a little difficulty deciding who would be best to send." He said, smiling smoothly.
"Giles is being tight." Buffy told Jon.
"General O'Neill?" Oz questioned, signing his contract and passing it back.
Captain O'Neil frowned at him. "We're not related." He said.
"Aren't you a little young to be in command?" Dr Wilson asked and promptly looked horrified.
"Aren't you a little old to be a slayer?" Jon shot back, stung, and then felt guilty when she flushed.
"General O'Neill, two 'l's', has put Captain O'Neil, one 'l', in command of SG-13." Buffy said firmly and Jon wondered when Jack had spoken to her. "The oldest slayer activated after Sunnydale is forty eight." She informed him. "Deirdre would kick you to Colorado and back if you dared to suggest she's old."
l
"What's that?" Vala's magpie-like tendencies rose to the fore as she spotted the unusual object.
"What?" Cam asked before he saw what she was holding. "Nothing, put it back."
Vala eyed the object in her hand, her head tilted to one side. "It's obviously something or you wouldn't have displayed it so prominently." She pointed out.
"I said, leave it alone." Cam ground out, grabbing the fragment of pottery from her and placing it carefully back on his shelf. "Go bug Jackson."
"Can't!" Vala told him, perching on the edge of his desk and looking over his shoulder at his half-finished report. "He's arguing on the phone about the...early evolution of the proto-celtic language. I think. Can't understand a word they're saying. Sort of reminds me of the time they hauled me in front of the village elders on that planet... what was called? Anyway, I was there on some business..."
l
Watching the door carefully as she bolted her dinner, Tiffany wondered what the others were doing with Captain O'Neil that was taking so long. As Xander appeared in the doorway she jumped to her feet, her heart beating quickly as she searched for his face.
"Jon! Do you want to go patrolling with me tonight?"
Tiffany's excited invitation made Jon smile despite his exhaustion. Sitting opposite the young girl, he heaped his plate with food, politely declining her offer. He was still aching from the bout with Buffy that morning and was now acutely conscious that he'd been awake for more than forty-eight hours.
"Sorry about that crack about your age." Dr Wilson apologised, pulling up a chair next to him. "I was just a little surprised to learn I'd be taking orders from someone younger than me." She explained, filling her plate.
"Osbourne doesn't seem to have a problem with it." Jon pointed out, glancing at the man calmly eating his dinner further down the table.
The red-head snorted, shoving her hair back as she swallowed a mouthful of mashed potatoes. "Are you even old enough to drink?" Jool asked and cursed herself for putting her foot in it again.
"I'm eighteen." Jon lied, shaking his head as he cut up his steak.
Dr Wilson turned her head, looking steadily at him. "That's legal in the UK." She pointed out and Jon grinned as he felt his exhaustion fall away.
l
Looking around the commissary, Cam spotted Sam and Jackson finishing their dinner at a table with Vala. Weaving his way through the tables, he joined them, aware that he'd been more than a little anti-social lately.
"...Designated SG-13!" Vala was saying as he sat down and he wondered when they had become common knowledge.
"And," She confided. "They're being funded by the IOA."
"Where do you get this crap?" Jackson asked harshly.
Cam smiled at the crest-fallen Vala. "I didn't know the IOA was bank-rolling the operation." He said.
"You mean it's true?" Sam asked as Vala preened, licking her spoon provocatively and Jackson gaped at him.
Tucking into his mac-n-cheese, Cam nodded. "They're arriving in under a week now." He said casually. Looking at their expectant faces he sighed, putting down his fork and telling them everything that he knew about the SGC's newest team, starting with the quarters that they'd been asked to prepare for one of the team.
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Anxiously certain that she could hear whispering, Tiffany knocked on the door again, shifting from foot to foot as she waited impatiently. The door jerked sharply half-open and Tiffany caught her breath at the sight of Captain O'Neil's chiselled bare chest.
"Tiffany." He greeted her. Tiffany blinked at the sheet he held clutched around his waist, spellbound. "What's up?" He asked huskily.
Tiffany swallowed carefully before she spoke. "Breakfast finishes in ten minutes." She told him breathlessly. "Do you want me to save you some toast?"
He shook his head, telling her not to bother. "I'll grab something from the kitchen."
"Okay." Tiffany said slowly. "I'll see you later, right?" She asked hopefully.
"Yeah, sure, you betcha, kid." Jon grinned, ruffling her hair before he closed the door.
Turning to lean against the closed door, the grin wiped from his face, Jon caught sight of a nipple as Jool pulled her bra straps up. Resting his head back against his door with a thud, Jon silently cursed his teenage hormones and the impulse that had sent him out drinking with Jool and the others last night. What had he done?
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Cam stood waiting at the base of the ramp, his hands clasped behind his back as he stared steadily at the rippling surface of an open wormhole. One of the blast door whined as it slid back and Vala and Sam slipped into the room to stand at his shoulder. The water rippled as Teal'c stepped through.
"Six more worlds have fallen to the Ori." He announced, striding down the ramp towards them. "Two of them were Jaffa strongholds. They attempted to resist but were overwhelmed in a matter of hours." Looking at Vala, Teal'c stepped closer to her. "According to those who led the battle, the enemy is led by a young woman of extraordinary powers." He informed her.
Concerned, Cam glanced at Vala to see how she was taking the news. She seemed shaken but resigned.
"Any more stories about Faith?" He asked Teal'c.
"No." Teal'c told him regretfully. "You have had no further word of her?"
Cam shook his head. "I told you we traced her to a merchant planet." He reminded the Jaffa. "Since then, nothing."
"It's like she just dropped off the planet." Vala said and then bit her lip uncertainly when she realised what she'd said, her eyes flashing to Cam's face.
There was an awkward pause when everyone tried to think of something to say and then Teal'c turned and strode towards the blast door.
"Six planets in eight days and they don't even have their full team in the field yet." Mitchell said grimly as they left the Gateroom.
"Why haven't they made a move against Earth?" Sam wondered.
"In all probability the Ancient device in Antarctica is giving them pause." Teal'c suggested as they swept around a corner, Vala trailing behind them awkwardly.
"At least until the rest of their battle fleet gets here." Cam said.
"I got it!"
Jackson's shout came from behind them and Cam caught Sam's puzzled gaze as they turned around to see him run around the corner, clutching a book with one hand.
"Got it!" He called breathlessly, stopping in front of them. "I-I made the connection!" He grinned, glancing at the book he held. "Sir Gawain to Gwalchmei. Culwhch and Olwen. Verus Gen Bree." He told them triumphantly.
"And you say I'm hard to understand." Sam complained to Cam.
"Oh? Oh!" Jackson exclaimed, realising that they didn't have a clue what he was talking about. "It's-it's Vagonbrei." He explained. "One of the planets that Arthur and his knights went to in their quest for the Holy Grail. I got the 'Gate address!"
Suddenly very interested, they all stepped forward.
"How soon can you get a briefing together?" Mitchell asked him, his arms folded.
"Uh..." Daniel juggled the book awkwardly as he glanced at his watch. He frowned, pushing up his glasses. "An hour?"
"Do you want a hand?" Vala asked and Daniel glanced at her in surprise.
"Do you mean it?" He asked warily.
She shrugged, pushing away from the wall. "I've got nothing better to do." She said, following him back the way he'd run. "Might as well make myself useful."
"One hour!" Cam shouted after them as they turned the corner. "So!" He said, turning to Sam and Teal'c. "Vagonbrei?"
"It would appear so."
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As the final days of the final years of this millennium,
Draw to a close on the new world's old mouth,
Shrouded by darkness, He shall rule for ten-score years and more.
Dividing, the slayer moves quickly, chased by darkness to her sister's bosom.
Like and not, faith struggles to overcome,
But as innocent blood is spilled, though innocent the error,
Her fate is cast. For unless no doors are kept closed to her He shall devour her,
With honeyed kindnesses and she will become the Dark One, reigning in his shadow.
Her star is shackled to his as she casts down the Angelic Demon,
If she shall prevail against the Slayer, then all is lost.
Then the Light will fail and the nameless be loosed to stalk the nightmares.