"Hello, General. We come bearing gifts." Faith said as Selene and Wonder Woman helped her put down the boxes. "And this is Dealer."
"It'll have to wait. Although, I'm curious not only about Dealer but about what else you felt was necessary to bring back from an Alternate Reality." The General said, glancing at the munitions boxes. "The reason I'm here is that we have a problem."
Wonder Woman looked around and stopped Hammond from going further. "General, perhaps we should take this elsewhere."
After ordering a few of the SFs to take the munitions boxes to the armory and leave them alone until otherwise instructed, the group moved to the Briefing Room. Once there, he told them what happened on the last mission to Captain Carter. She was giving mouth-to-mouth to a man on a planet under Goa'uld attack when she became infected with the parasite he had inside him.
"I was at the Quantum Mirror trying to figure out how to contact you." Hammond finished with a hopeless look.
"Why would you need Mockingjay? Even she can't remove a Goa'uld." Tara inquired, worried he might want Faith to kill Sam.
"I want her to talk to the Goa'uld." He replied.
"Why?" Wonder Woman asks, "Why would you want to keep such a dangerous foe so close to you? Why not kill her instead of endangering everybody here?"
"Captain Carter is an invaluable member of this command. I don't want to issue an order for her death if I can help it." What the General wasn't telling them was that his Superiors want to keep it alive for information about their technology.
"Why her, though? Surely, you have your people who can interrogate her?" Wonder Woman asked.
"Once the parasite joined with Captain Carter, it gained all of the Captain's knowledge. She knows us and is using what she knows about them against them. Since no one but Dr. Fraiser and I know anything about you. I hoped that you could talk to her. Maybe not having anything over the person interrogating her will give us an advantage." Hammond said, before continuing, "She has implied that there are ways to remove the parasites from their hosts. As well as there is an assassin after her, we need more information about both."
"I could gi-" Faith started to say only to be interrupted by Selene.
"I don't think that you should," Selene said, speaking for the first time. "If the parasite knows everything that the Captain does, then even if she doesn't know anything about you; if she ever even noticed even the slightest thing about you, she'll use it against you."
"She's right," Tara said. "Sam's more observant than most people. She's probably noticed the little things you did that most wouldn't even see."
"We can decide this later. Right now, I've ordered the Nassyans evacuated to a safe world. The last of Nassayans are about to go through in a few minutes." Hammond said, rising from his chair and gesturing for the women to follow him into his office. After shutting the doors, he asked the questions he was the most curious over. "What is in those munitions boxes, and why have you brought someone from an Alternate Reality back with you?"
"This is Selene. And we brought her back with us because she's a key component of what precipitated the events of my Dream. By removing her, we removed a big part of what the creatures needed to come to this Reality." Faith explained, looking at Selene and giving her a small smile to let her know it's not her fault as Tara gave the General the write-up of Selene's life.
"I see. And the name? I assume her last name isn't Prince." The General said as he read the information, feeling this situation was about to give him a headache.
"No. We decided that to make it easier for you to create an identity for Selene; she needs to be married, and since I'm already married to Faith, we made her Diana's wife." Tara said, with a soft teasing smile at Diana, who scowled.
"Well, I'll need her full name, date of birth, and other relative information," Hammond said, reaching for a pad of paper and a pen.
And that's how Selene, the Death Dealer Vampire, became Selene Cecilia Prince, nee Corvin codename: Dealer. When asked how she came up with these names, Selene said, "They're after my sister and Grandfather." The other women knew she meant Alexander Corvinus, her ancestor.
It was as they were finishing up that Daniel asked if Faith could help him oversee the last of the Nassyans safely off since there was a killer on the loose. Since the meeting was over and having decided to wait until after the refugees' relocation to finish talking about Sam, Faith agreed.
Entering the 'Gate Room with the Nassyans Faith had a feeling something was wrong. She couldn't figure out what until the last Nassyan woman walked through the 'Gate. As she did, an SF came into the 'Gate Room, and Faith knew what her feeling was. It was the thought in the back of her mind telling her that now would be a good time for the Ash'rak to make his escape.
When Faith's Slayer senses alerted her to the Goa'uld, Daniel was almost near it. Before anyone could react, Faith pulled Daniel back and placed herself in between the Ash'rak and Daniel. Keeping an eye on the Ash'rak, Faith said, "Everyone leaves now." When no one left, she threw Daniel through the door, saying again, "Leave NOW!"
That got a reaction from the Ash'rak pulling out a weird hand weapon; he said, "You will not stop me from leaving, Tau'ri."
"Yeah, they might not be able to, but I can." Faith said, still watching him. She senses that the others haven't left yet, so she said the one thing she knows would make them go. "GET OUT NOW! Or I'll shot you in the ass."
After that, they all left, leaving Faith and the Ash'rak alone. By this time, an alarm had been sounded, and Hammond, Diana, Tara, and Selene rushed to the Control Room. When Selene and Diana both wanted to help Faith, Tara stopped them saying, "She has to do this alone. They need to see her as a Warrior and not as a child. As someone who could protect them in battle as they protect each other."
They stopped Teal'c before he could enter the 'Gate Room. After making sure that the cameras where off, they let the fight play itself out.
As all that was going on, Faith and the Ash'rak started to square off with one other. "You may have a weapon, but I AM a weapon." She said as she flexed the muscles in her forearm, and a sword dropped down into her hand. "And I also have a weapon."
When the Ash'rak started to point his weapon at Faith, she sliced it off his hand, leaving him with nothing to fight.
"Since you have no weapon now, I'll put mine away." Faith said, as she once again flexed her forearm. This time the sword retracted.
"You have no chance of winning Tau'ri. I am a hunter. A hunter who always gets his prey. You cannot win, stand aside." The Ash'rak demanded.
"You may be a hunter, but I'm a predator. The Ultimate Predator. And you just became my prey." Responded Faith.
Although the cameras were off, those in the Control Room could see and hear everything that was going on in the 'Gate Room. They were curious when Faith called herself a predator.
"What did she mean by that?" Daniel asked, confused as to how Faith could be a predator. "That she's "The Ultimate Predator"?"
"Just watch. You will see." Is all Wonder Woman or any of them gave as an answer.
Back in the 'Gate Room, Faith and the Ash'rak were slowly closing in on each other. When she got within striking distance, Faith lashed out, delivering a vicious kick to the side of driving the Ash'rak back. That's when he suddenly remembered he still had his gun and pulled it.
Faith then removed her jacket, revealing bracelets just like Wonder Woman's. By now Jolinar, had died, and Sam had stabilized, so Janet and O'Neill came up to the Control Room in time to see Faith remove her jacket and hear her say, "You don't want to do that. Not only will you die quicker, but you'll also piss me off even more."
"The Tau'ri always arrogant to the last. You will not kill me." The Ash'rak said while gesturing with the gun. "I have a gun."
"No. What you have are bullets and the hope that when you're gun is empty, I'm no longer standing because if I am, you will be dead before you've reloaded." Faith said with an eery calm.
With that, the Ash'rak starts firing at Faith. When Faith removed her jacket, she lifted her arms in front of her chest, so she was ready for when the Ash'rak began shooting. She blocks all the bullets coming her way with her bracelets.
Once he's out of bullets, Faith looks at him with a smirk as she says, "My turn."
Flexing her forearm again she drops her sword down into her hand, before charging the Ash'rak, he is desperately trying to reload as she rushes him. When she gets to him, Faith stabs the Ash'rak in the abdomen thrusting upward, killing him.
Back in the Control Room, everyone except Wonder Woman and Tara are shocked and amazed at what they just saw. They can't believe it.
"How the Hell did she just do that?" O'Neill demanded. While everyone else just gave Tara and Wonder Woman silent demanding stares.
"Would you believe magic?" Tara asked, causing Selene to raise an eyebrow.
"Hell, no!" O'Neill said.
"Good, that wasn't the answer anyway," Tara replied, giggling.
O'Neill growled, but before he could say anything else, Hammond step in as Faith appeared, "What about Captain Carter?"
"I assume that she is now free of the parasite. If she is what we talked about does not matter now." Wonder Woman said.
"Sam is free of it, but she has gone into a kind of depression because it has given its life for hers," Janet replied, worried. "I don't know what else to do for her. She's stopped responding to anything I say."
"Cassandra." Wonder Woman said, then went on to explain when everyone looked at her like she just grew a second head. "She loves Cassandra as if she were her child, so why not have Cassandra try to get through to Samantha? She will probably respond better to the child than anyone else."
After Cassandra had met with Sam and she had responded a little to the little girl Tara, and Selene decided to go to see her.
"Sam, this needs to stop. And it needs to stop now." Tara says as she takes Sam's hand. "You've done nothing wrong."
"YES! I have. I threatened to kill my daughter." Sam growled as she turned away from Tara.
As Sam turned away from Tara, she turned towards Selene, who took the opportunity to speak to her. "I know what it's like to have someone you see as a parent betray you. I know the feelings and looks involved. That little girl is NOT displaying any of those things. She's only a little worried and sad that her mother and hero is hurt."
"She's right, Sam," Janet said, as she joined the others at Sam's bed. Selene moved out of the way. "Cassie is just worried about her other mother and hero, not about whatever you think you did to her. She wants you to get better. Once she found out the Goa'uld was dead and heard that you were depressed, her concerns were about you, making you well again. Cassie loves you, Sam."
"She shouldn't. I almost killed her. I grabbed her and threatened her." Sam said, despondent.
"NO! You didn't." Cassie said, interrupting Sam.
Everyone turned to the doorway to see Cassie standing there with Faith. "She wanted to see Sam again, so I thought it was best if I bring her in." Faith says, with a meaningful look passing between her, Tara, and Selene.
"Cassie, I hurt-" Sam started to say only to have Cassie interrupt her.
"No, you didn't. It was Jolinar. Sam, if you had a choice, I know you would rather die than hurt me. Wouldn't you?"
"Of course." Replied Sam.
"Than how can you blame yourself for something you know you would never do?" Asks Cassie.
With that, Sam broke down. Janet took her in her arms as Tara signaled Faith to take Cassie out of the room. Selene silently slipped out with Tara leaving Janet to tend to Sam alone.
Seeing that they were alone, Janet takes a chance and tells Sam how she feels. Not wanting to let any more time pass by after such a close call, Janet takes a deep breath and says, "I love you, Sam." Then Janet holds her breath and hopes she didn't just ruin her friendship with her best friend.
When Sam hears this, she gasps. Sam can feel Janet tense up, expecting an adverse reaction from her. But, Janet's not going to get it. Sam has felt the same for a while now, and it has grown since the arrival of Cassie. Now, free to share her feelings out loud, Sam is about to say them when O'Neill comes into the room. Not wanting Janet to think she's alone in what she is feeling, and since her head is on Janet's shoulder, Sam whispers, "I love you, too." Hoping it's loud enough for Janet to hear. When they separate, the wink Janet gives her tells her that Janet heard her.
Once Sam was alright, Hammond was once again demanding a demonstration of what was in the munitions boxes. So after they retrieved the boxes, they once again went to the testing range so they can show what's in the boxes.
Once everyone arrived at the testing site Faith, and Selene got two of the munitions boxes out of Jeep while Wonder Woman and Tara got everyone a safe distance from them. Setting the cases down on the table leftover from the last demonstration, Faith began to open them while quietly explaining to Selene how to use the blade grenades since Alexander told them both how to use them disc grenades.
"Alright, please hold all questions and comments until after the demonstration." Faith said, then added as she saw Daniel began to open his mouth. "And Daniel after MEANS after. Okay? No, asking a question when I stop talking like you did last or like you were about to."
Daniel turns a bright shade of red at this as the others laugh, while Selene decides to go with the disc grenade first. She takes a couple of steps forward, activates it, throws it, and quickly steps back as it begins its detonation process. Once it exploded, the members of the SGC where shocked they had never seen a grenade-like that. Next is the blade grenade; once again, Selene activates it before throwing it and quickly stepping back. And once again, it explodes shocking the members of the SGC. They only knew of grenades that were oblong-shaped, not disc-shaped, that was thrown like a Frisbee.
Naturally, Sam was the first to react, "How is that even possible?" She couldn't even begin to work out the mechanics involved in making something like this happen. Of course, she was still reeling from the Jolinar incident, and telling Janet she loved her and finding out Janet loved her back, so she wasn't exactly at the top of her game right now.
"There are 40 blade grenades in each box and 30 disc grenades in each box." Faith said as she lifted a box of each grenade from the larger boxes on to the table. Once she did, she found the schematics for the grenades, taking them and the last sample grenade of each kind to Sam. Faith continues, "I knew you'd want to know everything about these grenades. So I had Dealer just demonstrate one of each, and I had the maker not only make two samples but draw the schematics for them. Kinda." She then hands the schematics to Hammond, saying, "The General has the plans if you want them. If not, have playing with your new toys." Making Sam smile, and Janet and Daniel chuckle.
"Kinda?" O'Neill inquires.
"Look, you have two new grenades to help you in this War so just shut up and be grateful." Faith snapped. Faith knew that she messed up when she said kind of and that she couldn't bring Thor into this yet, even though the SGC has heard of him.
Tara went to Faith and put her hand on Faith's back, trying to calm her down. Even if General Hammond managed to have an account set up to reimburse Faith for the money she spends on bows and arrows, this was just too much for Faith. "I think that's enough for today. Why don't you just have Sam tell you the amount you need to reimburse Mockingjay and leave it at that?" Tara says, before looking at Wonder Woman.
As Tara was saying this, Faith got another folder from the Jeep, saying, "Dr. Janet Fraiser come-" Faith stopped when Hammond and Tara both gave her a look. Clearing her throat, Faith continued, "Janet, we have something for you as well." She said, handing the folder to her.
Of course, O'Neill had to comment, "How come they get something, and we don't?" He asked.
Diana, Tara, and Faith looked at each other and couldn't resist simultaneously saying, "They're prettier." Before dissolving into a fit of laughter.
By this time, Janet had figured out what she was reading. "What is this?" She asked disbelievingly.
"What do you think it is?" Faith asked in return, before saying, "Just follow the instructions, and the rest will take care of itself."
"Faith, what did you do?" Wonder Woman asked.
At the same time, Hammond asks. "What going on?"
Faith says, looking at Selene, Tara, and Wonder Woman, "you remember when I said I had to talk to someone about something?" After getting a nod from them, Faith continued, "I went to talk to someone who could give me the formula for clone blood. I figured Janet could say she came up with because of her CDC background and have the company mass-produce it."
That statement caused everyone to be shocked. After much discussion, it was decided that Janet would begin work on the cloned blood immediately.
"Since Samantha is having such a hard time with this last mission and there is a little time before school, why not let Samantha have a couple of weeks off? Janet and Cassandra can also take time off to be with her as well." Wonder Woman spoke in a tone that brooks no argument.
After everyone left, Wonder Woman called Hammond over away from the others with Samantha, Janet, and Cassandra to ask them all something important.
"With the Jolinar incident, I think it is apparent how much Samantha and Cassandra love each other. I know what needs doing it." Wonder Woman says.
"What do you propose?" Hammond asked. He had a feeling about what was going on. Hammond knew Sam all her life, and Hammond wasn't a fool; Hammond could see how she felt about Janet and Cassandra. He hoped that whatever Wonder Woman was about to suggest would let them get around the Don't Ask, Don't Tell rule.
"Well," She said, looking first at Janet, then at Cassandra, "Before you, three go, we need to look for a new house for you because you will need it when you all move in together."
"Why would we move in together?" Sam asked, hoping against hope that her dreams were about to come true.
"Because while we are doing that, General, you will be getting second-parent adoption papers ready for Samantha. Once she gets back, she can sign them and move in to help raise her daughter. Nothing against regulations about that is there General?" Wonder Woman said with a raised eyebrow.
"No, there's nothing against regulations about two single women adopting the same child, especially when one of them is a combat soldier and could be killed at any moment as was the case today. There are also no regulations against two women sharing the same house while raising a child together." Hammond said, relieved to be able to give Sam her dream.
"Then that is what we will do." Said Wonder Woman.
And so Tara, Sam, Janet, and Cassandra began looking for a house while Faith stored the UV bullets. Then took Diana and Selene to buy a Ducati Monster 900 City, although usually blue in color Faith had it painted black. They also got Selene a black BMW M3 as well.
It takes a week before Tara finds the perfect house for Sam, Janet, and Cassandra. They have to purchase it quickly, but as Sam was signing the adoption papers and Janet was finishing up with the cloned blood, their home is ready for them to move in.
A/N: I don't know anything about military laws. I just used that as an excellent way to allow Janet and Sam to live together without getting in trouble.
A/N2: The lines about guns and bullets is from V For Vendetta.
A/N3: The reason for the change in blood is I realized that having just come from a Reality where clone blood exists. It makes more sense that they would bring the formula for it with them rather than what I had initially.