Born into Darkness

by fmfan1980

In chapter 129 of AEJ, Faith was looking at a reality where she was beaten by Buffy during their fight before the ascension. Faith saw Buffy feed her alternate self to Angel to save him from a poison before she left. This is the story of the alternate Faith who survived; along with a revelation that one member of SG-1 will have to face.

6. Chapter 6

The Oval Office, White House, 1145 hours.

President John Ryan was in the Oval Office talking to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs when his secretary knocked on one of the doors. The man looked back over his shoulder from the couch he was sitting on and asked whoever it was to come in. The door soon opened and a woman in her mid-fifties wearing walked in and told the man that he had received a call from the British Prime Minister.

"Thank you, Olivia" said the President as the woman nodded her head and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. The President then looked at the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs' and sighed before getting up and walking behind his desk.

"David", said the President as the man in uniform stood up straight. Give me a few minutes will you? Let me see what the Prime Minister wants and then we can finish up briefing me on the plan that you and General Hammond cooked up to get these traitors."

"Yes, sir" said the Chairman as he saluted the President and walked out of the room. Once the man had left, the President sat down on his seat and picked up the phone. He then pressed a butting on the cradle before he placed the phone to his ear.

"Mr. Prime Minister" said the President in a formal tone of voice as he looked at his wristwatch, "bit early in London, isn't it?"

"Never too early" said a very groggy voice on the other line as the President heard a definite yawn before the Prime Minister apologized, "Good Morning, Mr. President."

"How can I help you, Pete?" asked the President as he leaned back on his chair.

"John" said the Prime Minister, "I'm going to be blunt because I just heard something disturbing from the head of the Watchers Council in London."

It was then that the look on the President's face became serious as he leaned forward on his chair. After his inauguration, he had read the letter that was left for him by his predecessor about the existence of supernatural threats on Earth, and how the Watchers Council has been battling these threats for thousands of years. The letter said that there was a present agreement between the governments of the world that the Council would provide aid, without government interference, to their agents known as Watchers who train Slayers; women mystically chosen to be supernaturally endowed with gifts to battle the threats of the dark. The Prime Minister had been elected a year before the relatively new President Ryan two years ago, so once he had found out about the Council and the vampires, and monsters… he immediately called the Prime Minister to confirm everything.

The President could just imagine the shock on his face when the Prime Minister said that everything was true. It was a few days after the President's inauguration that he had met with Travers on the basics of the agreement that existed between the government and the Council. First and foremost was that the Council knows about every single vampire and demon that existed, and that it had considerable resources to combat them. Travers had told the President that having the military involved would only get in the way, and that it was kept that way since the time the American government was formed. The President didn't know everything as Travers refused to share information, except for the most basic that the Prime Minister had already divulged; that the Slayers will be the warriors of the Council against the darkness, that if a Slayer had been accused of a crime during the carrying out of her duties then it would be the Council who would deal with them. Not the local law enforcement agencies since they aren't equipped to handle crimes involving Slayers, and finally no nation's military will ever control a Slayer.

Back in the present, the President shook his head and asked his counterpart in London what he was talking about; that the American government had stayed away from the Council while they worked with the Slayers, as was agreed.

"John" said the Prime Minister, "Travers just left my office fuming, he said that a source revealed that the United States Air Force has a Slayer in their employ."

"Wait, what?" asked the President confused, "Pete, that's not possible. He's already told us about Slayers and Watchers. And while I, like you, find it disturbing that these Slayers are under the orders of a foreign entity but… I… I think that their Watchers would have prevented such a thing from happening. And anyway, where's his source from?"

"He never said" replied the Prime Minister, "all he told me was that the Slayer's name is Faith Lehane, and she was last seen by his source in Colorado Springs. Another source claimed that she was in the hands of the Air Force."

"Colorado Springs?" asked the President as he closed his eyes, "listen Pete, I'll try to get to the bottom of this."

"Sorry to bother you with this, John" said the Prime Minister as the President nodded his head.

"I'll get back to you."

The President then put his phone down and leaned back on his seat. When the Prime Minister mentioned Colorado Springs, and the Air Force, the only place he could think of was Stargate Command; the second shock he received after his inauguration ceremony, and the most exciting. Ever since the first mission to Chulak, the President had been eagerly awaiting to read the mission reports of every SG team that walked through the Stargate. He had already met the lead team, SG-1, during a classified medal ceremony a few days after they had saved the planet from attack by Apophis' ships.

General Hammond's Office, SGC, a few minutes later.

The General was talking with Colonel Reynolds and Major Ferretti on the next mission for SG-2 and SG-3 respectively, at the same time he kept on mentally counting the minutes until Colonel O'Neill and the others would come through the Stargate so that they could get the ruse of the SGC stealing technology from the Tollan, the Asgard and the Tok'ra on the road. He hoped that the reactions of both Daniel and Teal'c would be genuine, as that was exactly what was needed for the rogue NID to get to Colonel O'Neill so that he could infiltrate the organization, and shut down the thieves so that the SGC's alliances with the alien races would hold.

He also had to deal with the fact that they had a seventeen year old girl in one of their Isolation Rooms who just happened to be Major Carter's daughter; a daughter that had been buried when the blonde officer was only sixteen years old. He had ordered SG-1 to stay away from the girl while they prepared for the mission, however the father and the grandfather in him led the old General to visit the girl that had been named Faith and check up on her. They hadn't talked much, but when they did.. the General could see a mixture of anger, and pain in her eyes. He had to convince her that she was being well taken care of, that they were just trying to find the truth.

Then while answering Colonel Reynolds' question about the ruins that he and his team were being sent to conduct a recon mission, the red phone on the General's desk started to ring.

"Hammond" said the General as he picked up the phone before asking the Colonel and the Major to hang on. The General then looked up in surprise at the two officers in front of him, "yes, Mr. President."

"Sir" whispered the Colonel as he and Major Ferretti stood up, "we'll come back in ten, sir."

The General nodded as he listened to the President before the Colonel and the Major walked out of his office and closed the door behind them.

"Yes, sir" said the General when the President asked if SG-1 had already left for Tollana, "they should be having that meeting in another thirty minutes."

"George" sighed the President as he leaned on his table back at the Oval office, "that's good news, but… but that's not the reason I called. Listen, recently has the SGC come across a young woman known as Faith Lehane?"

"Sir?" asked the General, surprised how the President had known about Faith since he hadn't yet submitted a report to the President.

"I just received a call from the British Prime minister on behalf of an organization, George" said the President, "it's a very delicate balance I'm talking about and this girl is very much a part of it. The head of this organization relayed information through the Prime Minister, and then to me that she was last seen in Colorado Springs in the hands of the Air Force. So you can understand my reason for calling, George?"

"Mr. President" said the General as he sat up straight, "permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Granted."

"What does this organization have to do with Miss. Lehane?" asked the General.

"All I can say is that she is part of their organization" said the President, "George, the U.S government has an agreement with this organization that she would not belong to the military; any military. She's…"

"Sir" said the General as he interrupted the President and used a serious tone of voice while in disbelief at what he was hearing, "Mr. President, I can tell you that Miss. Lehane is in the SGC. We have reason to believe that her life is in danger from an unknown element; in fact, she was badly injured outside a restaurant where she was working under an alias. It was just dumb luck that SG-1 happened to be there as well and rescued the young woman."

"Who attacked her?" asked the President as he tried to push away a thought that had just come into his mind, "George?"

"We don't know, Sir" said the General, "she hasn't talked to us about them. But Colonel O'Neill took down one of the assailants and he is in Peterson's under twenty four hour guard. He's still unconscious but we hope to talk to him once he's awakened. As she was using an alias, I ordered a full background check done on her based on the reasoning that she had broken into NORAD… we needed to know who she really was."

"George" said the President as he closed his eyes and shook his head, "you need to hand her over to this organization."

"With all due respect, sir" said the General, "I cannot comply with that order; first of, she's an American citizen and…."

"George" said the President as he rubbed his forehead, "I don't like this either, but…."

"You don't understand, sir" said the General as he interrupted the President, "as you know, it is Standard Operating Procedure to conduct a maternity and paternity test on anyone who comes into the base who is injured, just in case."

"Yes" said the President as he nodded his head.

"Sir" said the General, "we ran the same test twice; so I can tell you that Faith Lehane is the daughter of Major Samantha Carter."

"What?!" asked the President as he stood up in surprise, "George? Is this a joke?"

"No, sir" said the General, "the kicker is that the Major suffered a tragedy that none of us were aware of until now. The child she gave birth to died at birth, but all DNA tests showed Faith Lehane is that baby. Sir, before you ask… the Major has evidence that her baby had died.. she has the Certificate of Still-Birth. We are still trying to figure out what is going on, but this child in my Isolation Room is the Major's daughter; she isn't going anywhere until this command figures out what happened to her. Particularly how she was pronounced still-borne by the doctor in charge, and how both the Major and her relative also noticed that the baby was still-borne."

"You… you're right" said a still stunned President, "is.. is the Major… I mean how's she taking all of this?"

"She's shocked, sir" said the General, "just as we are. She's in Sunnydale, California to investigate Miss Lehane. From Miss Lehane's background we know that she grew up in Boston, and then we rescued her in Colorado Springs. But we have evidence that she's been to Sunnydale and I've sent Major Carter there to investigate what Miss Lehane was doing there."

"I see" said the President.

"Mr. President" said the General, "it would be useful for us, and for Major Carter if you could tell us what organization we are dealing with."

"It's pretty unbelievable" said the President.

"Sir, you are aware that the SGC deals with aliens, exploring other planets and alien technology?" asked the General while the President could just smile on the other line.

"That is true" said the President, "this organization calls itself the Watchers Council of Great Britain, from what I have been told they have existed for thousands of years with their primary duty being the elimination of creatures that we'd call vampires, and demons. That's all I can tell you."

"Sir?" said the General, "did I hear you right? Did you say vampires? As it drinking blood? Afraid of the cross? That vampire?"

"Yes" said the President, "we even have teams run by the army that hunt demons all over the United States. I'm sorry, but I can't tell you much more than that, since… well…."

"Need to know" said the General, understanding that he didn't have the 'need to know' classification on those demon hunting operations, just as those teams didn't have the classification to know about the Stargate Program, "so this organization kills vampires and demons, sir… and what does Major Carter's daughter have anything to do with this?"

"She's what's known as a Slayer" said the President, "from what the head of the Council told me a few days after my inauguration, a Slayer is chosen at random through some mystical force. They have special abilities to fight these creatures such as…"

"Strength above a normal humans?" asked the General before he went on to tell the President about a report that he hadn't yet submitted until they had found out the truth about Faith. He told the President that Colonel O'Neill and the others had witnessed Faith using superhuman strength to throw one of her assailants against a wall, "we thought she could have been a Goa'uld or a Tok'ra, sir. But both Teal'c and Major Carter couldn't sense a symbiote in her."

"It's mystical" said the President, "I know how unbelievable this sounds."

"Sir" said the General, "as you've said, the SGC deals with unbelievable threats everyday… ours come from outer space. But the young woman is only a child, sir. Has this Watchers Council been given full access to…"

"No" said the President, knowing exactly what the General wanted to say, "they are not allowed to operate directly on American soil. The agreement with them is that they can only provide aid to the Slayer, and her handler… also called a Watcher."

"I understand that, Mr. President" said the General, "is it possible that these assailants are from this Watchers Council? It is entirely possible that Faith was hiding from them, given her having an alias."

"General" said the President as he thought back to his greatest fear, that the Council could have tried to capture a Slayer for not wanting to do her duty, "I want the young woman to be interviewed. Tell her that she's under the Protection of the Air Force. I want you to send over the actual report of what happened to her, including copies of her DNA test results. I also want to ensure that a copy of her Certificate of Still-Birth, complete with Major Carter's written testimony, provided with the file. I'll be creating a Presidential Eyes Only file for the young lady, for her protection."

"Understood, sir" said the General.

"Does Faith know about the relationship between her and Major Carter?"

"No, sir" said the General, "the Major will be telling Miss Lehane once she gets back."

"Did the Major have a name picked out for her?" asked the President as he closed his eyes and remembered his own son and daughter.

"Yes, sir" said the General as he nodded his head, "I'll leave it to her to reveal that, sir."

"Very well" said the President, "I'll give the Prime Minister a call and tell him about the situation as best I can without revealing the existence about the Stargate. For now, I will say that she is in a coma after having been injured while breaking into NORAD. I'll have to tell him about Major Carter, her baby, and the DNA test."

"I understand, sir" said the General, "and I'll give the Major the information you gave me, sir."

"Very well" said the President.

"Sir" said the General, "Major Carter's a hero, I have every intention of finding out what happened to her daughter. As well as keeping her protected."

"As do I, General."

Giles' Apartment, Sunnydale, 1215 hours.

"Higher, Buffy."

Giles was holding up targets in his hands as his Slayer, Buffy, jumped and kicked a target before she came down and launched a punch at another target that Giles was holding. The blonde Slayer had been having a busy time slaying vampires and demons for the past few nights ever since the school was blown up, with Giles stating that the effects of the ascension must have been amplified by the energies coming out of the Hellmouth.

"So you can expect more unsavoury creatures to come at you for the next few months" said Giles as he sat down on a bench outside his apartment while Buffy did some solo exercises.

"Sometime I miss unsavoury creatures being horny, and leering, high school boys" said Buffy as she started on some shadow boxing, "you know, the typical stuff for a high school graduate. I'd rather have that than the undead trying to kill me."

"Well" said Giles as he took off his glasses, "I am afraid those days are gone, at least until you start university. Have you picked your classes?"

"I can do that later" said Buffy as she shrugged her shoulders, "I'll get down with Willow and discuss… you know… courses and all that good stuff."

"I see" said Giles, "have you thought about a major?"

"Not yet" said Buffy, "I was thinking psychology, but I think willow wants to do physics. OH, have you heard anything on Faith?"

"Changing the topic?" asked Giles as Buffy shrugged her shoulders again.

"No" said the blonde Slayer, "I just like to know where the nutty rogue Slayer is holed up, you know.. in case she tried to kill us again. Or gets with the next big bad."

"I called a source at the Council" said Giles, "Quentin knows who all my friends are and well, I'm frozen out. But I know that Faith should be safe given that the Council has another Slayer."

"How do you know?" asked Buffy as she stopped, panting.

"The line ran though her" said Giles, "just like the line ran through you, and then when you died… it ran through Kendra. When she died it went on to Faith, and so on. Since she died back at Angel's mansion, it only makes sense that another Slayer was called."

"Right" said Buffy as she picked up a bottle of water, and drank from it before sitting next to Giles before she looked up and saw Tara walking around the corner with a blonde woman next to her. Buffy nudged Giles, before nodding at Tara's direction. Giles then stood up and smiled at Tara and then at the blonde.

"Mr. Giles" said Tara as she motioned towards the blonde next to her, "this… this is Major Samantha Carter of the U.S. Air Force."

"Major" said Giles as he wiped his hands on his sweat pants, before shaking her hand, "Rupert Giles, is there anything that I could help you with?"

"Yes" said the Major as she walked up to the older man before she looked at Tara, and then at Giles again, "I just got in from Colorado Springs last night to return a card that was stolen by a young woman who broke into a secure military compound. She had Tara's I.D with her, as well as some evidence that she was living in Sunnydale for some time."

The Major saw Giles and the younger blonde look at each other, and then look at her again. She noticed that the younger blonde was rubbing her forehead and shaking her head in disbelief while Giles put his hands on his waist and took in a few deep breathes.

"She was living under an alias, so we ran a check on her and found that her real name is Faith Lehane" said the Major as the younger blonde stood up but Giles turned and looked at her before she sat back down on the bench, "we know that she was born in Boston, and we know what her life was like there."

As she was speaking about Faith, Tara looked at the Major and noticed anger in her aura… anger that didn't reflect the words that were coming out of her mouth as she talked about Faith. She then glanced at Giles, and at Buffy before looking at the Major again. Tara could tell that there was something that the Major wasn't telling them as the Major told them about how she was found inside a military base, and she was immediately arrested by the M.P's after being shot.

'Sam' thought Tara to herself, 'what are you lying about? I can tell you're trying to protect Faith, but… there's something else. The anger coming off you is like…. I don't understand.'

"So" continued the Major as Tara continued to look at her, "that's why I'm in Sunnydale. To gather as much information on Faith as possible. I thought that since she had Tara's I.D. that maybe she was a friend of Faith's. I was surprised to find out how Faith got her I.D in the first place. Anyway, Tara told me that she doesn't know Faith that well… and…"

"Thank God" mumbled Buffy as she looked away while Tara saw the Major look right at the blonde before frowning and looking back at Giles.

"As I was saying" said the Major, "I asked her if she knew any of Faith's friends.. so… here we are."

"I wouldn't exactly call her our friend" said Buffy before Giles introduced her to the Major. HE then motioned for everyone to move into his apartment where he could get them some cold drinks.

"I see" said the Major as she followed Tara into the apartment, "and the both of you were…?"

It was then that the Major's phone started to ring. She opened her phone as she closed the door behind her and put the phone to her ears as she watched Giles headed into his kitchen while Tara and Buffy glanced at each other before sitting on the couch.

"Carter" said the Major as she answered her phone.

"Major" said the General on the other line, "have you talked to any of Miss Lehane's friends?"

"Miss Maclay introduced me to two of her friends" said the Major as she looked at Giles who gave her a smile while he poured a drink, while Buffy said that she was just an acquaintance, "I'm about to sit with them and talk about her, General."

"I see" said General Hammond as he sighed, "Major, I would like you to ask them about a few things as well."

As Giles was bringing over cups of cold drinks to the coffee table on from of the couch where Tara and Buffy were seated, he glanced up and saw the look of shock on the Major's face. He tapped Buffy's leg and nodded at the Major who was looking at them with her eyes wide open as she looked at Giles, and then at Buffy.

"Si… sir" said the Major as she turned around while Buffy, turned back and whispered at Giles while the Major continued to talk on the phone, "are you sure? About everything that you told me? I know… I mean… it's true? Sir, I know what we… I understand.. yes, sir."

With her back to Tara, Buffy and Giles, the Major finished talking to the General and put her phone back into her pocket. She then closed her eyes and took in a few deep breathes while she absorbed what the General had just told her; that vampires and demons exist in the world, that an organization known as the Watchers Council had beings known as Slayers to combat these threats while their handlers, known as Watchers, were their connection to the Council. It was the last part of what the General had to say that shocked the blonde woman to her core; that Faith was a Slayer, and the Council wanted her back.

The Major knew that as a scientist; she needed to have proof of the existence if these creatures… but she also knew that there was a time that she thought aliens didn't exist.

'Now I travel to other planets every week' thought the Major to herself, 'vampires, and demons… can they be equated with aliens? It's possible… and girls fighting them? These Slayers? Ellie…. Faith's a Slayer? The General said that he'll talk to Faith, that his was something I needed to know before talking to them.'

"Major?" asked Giles as her walked towards the Major while she turned around and gave him a smile, "is everything alright?"

"Yes" said the Major as she walked past Giles and stood in front of the three of them, "that was just my commanding officer calling. Anyway, Mr. Giles and Miss Summers, how long have you known Faith?"

"Maybe eight months?" asked Buffy as she looked at Giles, and then at the Major again, "a little over a year.. maybe."

"Yes" replied Giles while he nodded her head.

It was then that Tara leaned forward when she noticed a sudden change in the Major's behaviour. She looked at the Major, and then at Giles and Buffy while she tried to get a handle on what was going on.

"Faith was alright when she came to Sunnydale" said Buffy, "but after a while she…."

"She came here by herself?" asked the Major as she recalled the General saying that every Slayer had a handler, "she wasn't accompanied by anyone?"

"No" said Giles.

"How did you meet Faith, Buffy?" asked the Major as she looked at the blonde who told her that they had met at the Bronze, that she had help her fight off a gang that was trying to harm a couple of patrons. After that, she had introduced Faith to Giles.

"I see" said the Major as she looked at Buffy, "so you can fight?"

"She may not look like it, but she's well trained" said Giles, "I'm afraid Sunnydale has a gang problem at night. So I have taken it upon myself to train her… I'm experienced in basic combat, so I felt it would be best to help her; and then later Faith."

"You were a martial arts instructor?" asked the Major as she looked at Giles.

"No" said the older man, "I was the school librarian."

"I see" said the Major, 'a librarian that teaches martial arts? That's something you don't see every day.'

"So was she living with anyone?" continued the Major, "I mean, she was a minor so…"

"We didn't really have space" said Buffy as she shrugged her shoulders, "I mean, I've got mom, Dawn and myself; Willow's got no room, Faith sexually assaulted Xander… oh yeah… I guess you're kind of feeling sorry for Faith. I get that, but she assaulted a friend of mine… and.. and she held a friend of mine with a knife on her throat; and I mean she broke into a military compound. That says it all about her. Honestly, I'd just lock her up and throw away the key. Oh… she killed two people too… but I'm guessing you know that?"

"Buffy" said Giles as he looked at the Blonde slayer who then mumbled an apology.

"Yes" said the Major as she closed her eyes and tried her best not to scream, "I know about her background. The question is, do you?"

"Major" said Giles, "I have to be honest and say that I'm not aware of her background. And while everything that Buffy said was the truth… I've had her best interests at heart. I.. we tried to help her, even tried to convince her to turn herself in to the Sunnydale Police Department… but… I think that hse can be rehabilitated. I don't think she's a bad person, just that… she needs some help. I can only guess that you have her full background, I can only ask that the Air Force be lenient on her."

"I can promise you that Faith will be kept away from Sunnydale" said the Major as she looked at Giles, Buffy and Tara, "none of you will see her if I can help it."

"That's good" said Buffy as she sighed and leaned back on the couch as Giles looked at her, and then at the Major. He then noticed Tara sitting straight up as she looked at the Major with eyes wide open.

"Tara?" asked Giles as he looked at the blonde witch, and then looked back at the person she was looking at; Major Samantha Carter.

"Since you've known her for sometime" said the Major as she folded her hands over her chest and looked straight at Buffy, Tara and Giles, "has she ever mentioned something known as the Watcher's Council? OR Slayers?"

"The what?" asked Buffy as she started to laugh while Giles looked at the Major before he glanced over at Tara, "you mean the band? Look Faith was never part of any band. Called Slayer…. I mean… come on."

"Faith never broke into a military base" said Major Carter as the three looked at her with their mouths open, "the truth is that she really was using an alias to work at a restaurant that my colleagues and I happened to be dining. Long story short, she was attacked by a few people in an alley way and stabbed in her back a few times. We brought her into the base where she's getting medical attention. She's awake right now, and my Commanding Officer will question her about this Watchers Council, make no mistake about that. He's been authorized to provide her with protection, and believe me when I say that the full weight of my organization will be protecting her.. so now… do you want to tell me the truth? Or do you want me to wait until Faith answers my commanding officer's questions?"

"Major" said Giles as he stood up, "there are some things that….."

"So you do know about this Council" said the Major as she looked at Giles as he closed his eyes and nodded his head, "are you this Watcher? Her Watcher?"

"Like I was saying" said Giles as Buffy stood up and interrupted Giles. She then stood in front of Giles protectively while putting her hands on her waist.

"He's my Watcher" said Buffy as the Major looked at Buffy, "and I meant what I said before. Yeah, Faith and I used to hang… but she did some things that she has to pay for. There's no mistaking that… I don't know why you and the Air Force want to protect her. But you're making a big mistake."

"No" said Major Carter as she stepped towards Buffy and Giles while a nervous Tara walked towards them to try and keep the peace. However, she stopped in shock…. The same shock that she sensed going through Buffy and Giles after the Major had said the next few words, "I can guarantee you that I'll use everything at my disposal to protect my daughter."

TBC.