I was reading "Dawning Familiarity" by NotJana and was inspired to write my own story where Jack was Buffy's family. I didn't want to make him her father, however, because then he'd have too many rights to take her away from the hellmouth. I love SG/BTVS stories, but I struggled a lot writing my "Rebirth" story because I just know BTVS better. I started thinking, what would happen if Joyce died and Uncle Jack was called to come to Sunnydale? Yes, I love Joyce, but for this story, she will have been killed by Angelus instead of Jenny Calendar.
The setting of this story for SG-1 is between episode 3 and 4 of season 3 where Thor had had Colonel Jack O'Neill help him with a negotiation. Samantha was just promoted to Major. BTVS is in the end of season 2.
I have been writing this story for a while and have posted it in other places as I've got a lot of stories going on this site, and I didn't want my readers to think I wasn't focused on my other active stories. However, this story is coming along quite nicely, and I felt it was time to share it with those who hadn't had a chance to read it.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the SG-1 characters or BTVS.
Chapter 1: She's Dead
*****SGC*****
Jack was glad to be done with negotiations on behalf of Thor and was just about to leave his office when his phone rang. He debated answering it. Who would be calling him at work at this hour? Then he shrugged. It couldn't be official since it was late, so it probably wouldn't involve more paperwork.
He walked over to his desk and picked up the phone. "Hello?"
"She's dead, Uncle Jack! She's really dead! It's all my fault!" the female voiced wailed.
"What? Who's dead?" Jack asked, gripping the phone tightly. "Buffy?" He only had one niece since he had just the one baby sister Joyce.
"I'm sorry!" she said, her voice breaking again.
"Buffy, are you okay? Did something happen to your mom?" he asked, bracing himself.
"She's dead. Mom is dead!" Buffy exclaimed. "I can't get Dad to answer. I don't know what to do! I know I need to kill Angelus for killing Mom, but I-I don't know if I can."
Alarmed, Jack yelled, "No! Do not try to revenge your mother's death! I will be there as soon as I can. By morning. Don't go anywhere. Are you at home?"
"I am. He killed her and left her body in my bed!" Buffy said.
Jack felt sick. "Did you see it happen?" he asked, hoping she didn't.
"No, but he left me a note," she said. "I know it was him."
"I'll be there soon. Do you have a friend or someone there?" he asked, not wanting her to be alone.
"I have Giles," she said. "He's the librarian at the school."
"Good. Stay put. Have Giles stay with you until I get there. I'll see you in the morning, okay?" he said.
"Okay. Thanks," Buffy said. "I love you, Uncle Jack."
"I love you, sweetheart," Jack said. Then he hung up, trying to process.
His artistic baby sister had married a very ambitious man, and she'd sacrificed her own budding art career to be a trophy wife. When their marriage had fallen apart a few years ago, Jack had been happy as he'd never been overly impressed by Hank Summers. The man loved and spoiled Buffy just a bit too much for Jack's taste. It was lazy parenting, so he didn't have to impart much to her—Jack had always thought.
Joyce had come away from the divorce with enough money to buy a nice house in a very cheap town a few hours from Los Angeles and start her own art gallery. He'd been very proud of her.
Now she was dead. He had to get a flight and get to Sunnydale as soon as possible because Buffy needed him.
After he reserved a spot on a flight leaving from Denver in four hours, he went to his CO's office, hoping to catch him still at work.
He was not surprised to see Hammond still there, so he quickly told him the situation.
"I'm so sorry," General Hammond said. "What do you need?"
"I'm going to have to take leave," Jack said. "Buffy said her father couldn't be reached, and she claimed it was her boyfriend who murdered Joyce."
"That's a bad situation that you're walking into. Do the police have him in custody?" he inquired.
"I'm not sure," Jack said. "From Buffy's comment, I'm thinking no. I've got to get there before she decides to confront the killer."
"Is that the kind of thing she would do?" he asked.
"I've not seen Buffy in about two years," Jack said, feeling guilty about the fact. "She was a cheerleader, but then she got into some kind of trouble and kicked out of school. Fell in with a bad crowd or something, so I'm not sure. Joyce moved her from Los Angeles to a small town called Sunnydale that's about two hours from L.A."
"Well, go take care of her. Do you need a military transport?" he asked Jack.
Jack shook his head. "I've got a late flight in four hours. Luckily, flights from Denver to L.A. are frequent," he said. "I will rent a car from the airport and drive there."
"That can be risky," Hammond said in disapproval. "You need to get a few hours sleep before getting behind a wheel. You won't do your niece any good if you die in a car wreck."
"I will be fine," Jack said. He'd gone much longer without sleep and was trained to rest when he could. "I'll sleep on the flight."
"Do you want your team there in case there's trouble?" Hammond asked.
Jack considered it. Daniel would be the least threatening but not much good in a dangerous situation. "I could ask Major Carter," he said.
"Why don't you just take the team?" Hammond said. "You're not scheduled to go off world this week anyway. It'll keep Dr. Jackson from working every day.
"I will ask them," Jack said. "I don't have much time, though. I need to go home and then to the airport, and Daniel can't ever go anywhere in a hurry."
"Why don't you go ahead without them? I'll talk to them, and they can leave tomorrow morning," Hammond said. "Your sister's address is in your emergency contact, right?"
"Yes, sir," Jack replied.
"I will send them your way," Hammond said.
Jack thanked his CO and left to go home and pack, grateful for having such an understanding and empathetic boss.
*****Sunnydale*****
Buffy hung up the phone after talking to her uncle and turned to Giles. "My uncle is coming," she said.
Willow, Xander, and Oz were there. The police had just left.
"That's good," Giles said. "I'll stay here until he arrives."
Buffy's front door opened, and Cordelia stepped in with Jenny, carrying a small bag.
"Rupert, I brought you some things," she said. She went and hugged Buffy. "I'm so sorry, Buffy."
"Thanks," Buffy said. "Uncle Jack is coming. He will know what to do."
"Does your uncle know you're the slayer?" Cordelia asked.
Buffy shook her head. "No. He's not been around since I got called because he's got an important job with the Air Force. He's like a major or colonel," she said. "He's got a bunch of medals, though. Been to a real war and everything. We saw him more when my cousin Charlie was alive, but Charlie died playing with Uncle Jack's handgun that wasn't locked up or maybe it was and Charlie got the key to it. I don't remember exactly. It was a bad time for everyone. His marriage didn't survive it. Then he went back to active duty and got real busy."
"That's awful," Willow said.
"It was horrible. Charlie was my only male first cousin and a real sweetheart," Buffy said. "He's not been to see us since I've been a slayer."
"Although I'm glad he's coming to help you with things, Buffy," Giles began, "I'm not sure now is the time to bring him into this. It's a lot for a person to take."
"I know that, Giles!" Buffy said, angry. "It's my life, and it's too much to take. The man I loved—the man I gave myself to has turned into a real monster and murdered my mother just to hurt me. My kind and decent mother was brutally murdered because she didn't know not to invite Angel inside the house. My mother is dead because I couldn't bring myself to really kill Angelus because he's wearing Angel's face, and now it's too late!"
"That's not your fault, Buffy," Willow said.
"No, it's not," Xander agreed.
"You had no idea boning him would turn him evil again," Cordelia said in the blunt manner of hers.
Buffy looked at Jenny. "No, I didn't, but Jenny did," she said. "If you'd warned us about the little clause in the curse, I wouldn't have gotten so close to him."
Jenny's eyes filled with tears. Giles had just recently started talking to her again, but things weren't right—not yet. She was hoping to give Angel back his soul to make amends, but now it was too late. Bringing Angel back after he'd kill her mother wouldn't help Buffy. Angelus had to die.
"I'm sorry, Buffy. I'd give anything to change it. I thought he was leaving town, so it wouldn't be an issue for a while," she said. There was no excuse trying to explain again that she hadn't quite understood how the curse worked.
"You were wrong," Buffy said flatly. Then she turned away and went toward the stairs, heading to her room.
Willow started crying, heartbroken for Buffy. Mrs. Summers was so nice, and she didn't deserve this evil thing that happened. Buffy shouldn't be going through this, and there wasn't anything Willow could do to make her feel better.
Oz hugged her and led her over to the couch.
"What's going to happen, Giles?" Xander asked.
"Well, her uncle will arrange for a funeral," Giles said.
"No, I mean Buffy's a minor, and her dad lives in Los Angeles. Won't he make her live with him?" Xander asked.
Everyone paused as the possibility of that hit them all.
"I will contact the Council. Kendra will need to be sent here indefinitely," he said. "Regardless, Buffy won't be in a state to keep a handle on things on her own."
Cordelia let out a relieved sigh. "A second slayer is always a good thing," she said. "Angelus is terrifying. I can't believe he did that to Mrs. Summers."
Angelus hadn't turned Mrs. Summers—much to everyone's relief. Instead, he'd strangled her, which in some ways was worse. The image of her struggling against an attacker would haunt them all, especially Buffy.
"Then he left that sick note," Xander said. He wished very badly he'd staked Angel when he first found out he was a vampire. Xander had wanted to then. However, he knew Buffy would never forgive him.
"This is just so horrible," Willow said. "I can't believe any part of Angel is in that monster!"
"It's not," Jenny and Giles said at the same time.
"Everything that was good in Angel was gone the moment he lost his soul, and the demon took over," Giles said. "If we could bring Angel back, most likely he would not know firsthand that it happened."
"I thought they kept the memories?" Cordelia asked.
"It's like a possession of sorts. The body is the shell. When a vampire takes over the shell, the demon has access to all the memories," Giles explained. "If the soul returned, the soul would have access to the demon's memories, too. But neither were firsthand witnesses to the other's activities."
"What about this uncle? Why haven't I heard about him?" Xander said.
"Buffy's mentioned him to me before," Willow said. She pointed to the mantle. "His picture is right there with Joyce's."
Everyone went to the photo to take a look and saw a very handsome man clearly older than Joyce in full military uniform next to Joyce, smiling at the camera.
"How did I not notice this picture?" Xander wondered.
"He looks like a nice guy," Cordelia said.
"Yea," Oz agreed.
"Let's hope he's a man who can handle the role Buffy plays," Giles said. He understood Buffy's desire to want to unburden herself to her beloved uncle, but he couldn't help but worry at how she might react if the uncle reacted poorly.
"If he loves Buffy, he has to," Xander pointed out. "Being the slayer is who she is."
"Well, if Kendra is here full-time, couldn't she give it up?" Cordelia asked.
Everyone was silent as her question and its implications hit them.
Finally, Giles answered, "I suppose she could for a time. But as a slayer, she will always attract the supernatural. It's not something she can just turn off."
Eventually, Willow and Xander went upstairs to say goodbye to Buffy, who insisted they didn't need to stay since Giles was going to.
"Jenny and I are going to work on making sure Angel's invitation was revoked since he got your mom to let him in again somehow," Willow told them when she and Xander came back downstairs. They'd done this once already, but he'd managed to get in anyway. It was assumed that Joyce and re-invited him, not knowing the threat he posed.
"You know if Buffy's mom had known the truth about Sunnydale and Buffy's life, she might still be alive," Cordelia pointed out. "By keeping her ignorant, Buffy didn't really protect her."
Willow glared at Cordelia. "Do you hear yourself when you talk?" she asked. "How can you say such a thing?"
"Don't get mad at me for speaking the truth," Cordelia said defensively.
"Hey, guys, let's not fight," Xander said.
"It's not the time or place," Oz said quietly, looking at Willow with a frown, which from him was a harsh rebuke.
After the teens had left, Jenny looked at Giles with indecision. However, she knew that she couldn't keep secrets anymore from the man she loved.
"Rupert, I think I can bring Angel back," she said softly. Would there be a point now? She didn't know, but she knew that if she didn't tell Giles, their relationship could never heal.
Giles looked up in surprise. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I mean that I translated the original Gypsy curse, and I can re-curse him," Jenny said.
"Oh, dear," he muttered. "Let's discuss this after the funeral. This is not a decision you and I can make for Buffy."
Jenny nodded in understanding. "I agree," she said.
"Is there a way you can fix it to where the curse part of it doesn't have that escape clause?" Giles asked.
"That kind of magic is beyond me," she said. "It's beyond anyone in the tribe that's alive today. This is ancient magic, long forgotten."
"Let's not discuss it until I speak to Buffy after the funeral," Giles said.
Jenny understood. "Will you call me tomorrow?" she asked.
"I will," he said. He loved her and wasn't sure he had it in him to keep her at a distance.
Jenny smiled and kissed him on the cheek before leaving.
*****The Next Day*****
Buffy woke up the sun barely breaking through the horizon and falling into her room. For one long moment, she didn't remember that her mother was dead.
Then it hit her.
"Mommy," she said, her voice breaking. She cried an ocean of tears before she felt spent.
How had it come to this? How had she allowed Angelus to have access to her mother? The knowledge of her failure was a ball inside her stomach.
Suddenly, she jumped out of bed, running to the bathroom to throw up.
Her mother was dead, and it was her fault. She hadn't protected the one person that should've come first.
Buffy brushed her teeth and then went to her bedside, picking up the phone. She called her dad and left him another message on his home line.
Why wasn't he calling her? She'd left messages at his house, his work, and on his cell. He was too meticulous with messages and clients to not have gotten them.
She called his cell and said bluntly, "My mother is dead. It'd be great if my father cared enough to pick up the damn phone and call me back."
Disgusted, she slammed the phone down, accidentally breaking it.
"Great," she muttered in disgust. "I really can't do anything right."
She heard the doorbell ring and grabbed a brush to run it through her hair before heading downstairs, hoping it would be her uncle.
Giles had already opened the front door. "Hello," Giles said, looking at the clearly weary gray headed man about his height.
"Hi. Jack O'Neill," he said, holding out his hand to Giles.
Giles stepped back, so Jack could step inside as he took the man's hand. "Rupert Giles," he said.
"The librarian?" he asked.
Giles asked. "Yes, I am that. The children spend a lot of time in the library," he said.
Jack's face showed his surprise. "Really? My cheerleader niece willingly spends time around books?" he asked.
"Hey, I'm not that bad!" Buffy said, coming down the stairs in time to hear that remark.
Jack finally laid eyes on his niece and could see that she was all grown up. "There's my little Darcy," he said with a smile.
Buffy rushed to hug him tightly.
"Easy there, kid," he said, surprised by the force of her squeeze.
"Oh, sorry," Buffy said, looking up at him sheepishly.
"Would you like some coffee?" Giles asked.
"I would love some," Jack said. "I did get a few hours of sleep on the plane but just a few."
"That's surprising," Giles said.
"Military training," Jack admitted. "You sleep wherever and whenever you can when on a mission."
Giles nodded. This man was not like most, and he couldn't help but wonder how he'd handle the truth of Buffy's life. He left them alone while he went to start the coffee.
"Let's sit down," Jack suggested. "Did you get a hold of your father?"
Buffy shook her head. "I left messages everywhere for him to call me, so far he's just not wanting to call me back," she said. "This morning I called his cell and just flat told him Mom was dead. Maybe now I'll get a reaction."
"Are you up to telling me what happened?" Jack asked. "I can get it from the police if it helps."
"I came home from a Valentine's dance at the Bronze—that's a club for teens in town," she explained. "He'd set the scene. Rose petals from the doorway up the stairs to my room. I followed them, thinking Mom had a surprise 'cause she knew how bummed I'd been over my break up with Angel."
Jack felt sick as he pictured the scene, and he reached for her hand, holding it as she kept telling her horrific tale.
"When I opened my bedroom, Mom was lying on my bed, rose petals all around her," Buffy said, her voice breaking. "There was a hand drawing of me on the pillow next to Mom's head. He wrote, 'I dream of you dead in my arms like your mother. Soon, lover.' He signed it with an A."
"You know it's him?" Jack asked, trying to contain his rage. It wouldn't help Buffy.
Buffy nodded. "When we first—broke up, he'd left drawings before at my place. I know his work and his handwriting," she said. "It's my fault. I got Mom killed!" She broke down in tears, and Jack pulled her into his arms.
"You are not to blame for what some maniac chooses to do!" Jack assured her.
While Giles had been making the coffee, he had gone into the garage and gotten a tire iron—just in case Buffy decided to tell her uncle the truth. He put it on the kitchen counter.
"Mr. O'Neill, how do you like your coffee?" he called from the kitchen doorway.
"Please, call me Jack or Colonel," Jack said. "I take it black."
Buffy grimaced. "That's so gross!" she said, wiping her eyes.
"How would you know what it tastes like?" he asked. "Don't you know it stunts your growth? Is that why you're so short?"
"Hey! I'm not that short!" Buffy exclaimed. "My best friend Willow is my height and so is her boyfriend Oz."
"I didn't realize that Sunnydale was a town of little people," he teased.
Buffy stuck out her lip in a pout. "That's not funny!" she insisted.
"It totally is," he countered, glad to see the tears gone for a moment.
Giles came in holding two cups of coffee. He handed one to Jack. "Thanks, Mr. Giles."
"Oh, we just call him Giles," Buffy said.
"Americans," Giles muttered. "Call me Rupert, please, Colonel."
"Only if you call me Jack," Jack said, liking the British man. He did find it a bit odd, however, that such a formal guy was so close to his niece. "Care to explain how a British librarian is so close to an American teenage girl?"
Buffy looked at Giles and nodded. "I want him to know the truth, Giles. If I had told Mom, she might still be alive," she said.
"I understand," Giles said. He went and brought back the tire arm.
Jack instantly perceived the metal rod as a threat and stood to his feet, instantly on alert. "What's going on?" he asked.
Giles handed it to Buffy, who said, "Relax, Uncle Jack. We need to tell you a story."
They all sat down, and Giles took a drink of his coffee before beginning his tale. "The world is older than you might think. . ."
Jack listened to Giles; his face devoid of expression as he tried to make sense of what the British man was saying. At first, he was angry that a teacher would spin such wild tales to an impressionable young woman. Then as the tale went on, and he looked at his niece's face, he re-evaluated. They were very serious.
"Buffy is the vampire slayer, called to fight the forces of darkness when she was fifteen. This town is on a hellmouth, and she has kept the world from ending on more than one occasion," Giles said.
"You guys really believe this?" Jack asked.
Buffy picked up the tire iron. "I am faster and much stronger than normal humans," she said.
Jack was unable to hide his incredulity as he watched his tiny and frail looking niece effortlessly bend a tire iron. Then he watched her bend it back. His first thought was there was a foothold situation in Sunnydale.
Very carefully, he asked, "Have you ever seen any snake like creatures in this town?"
"Snakes?" Buffy asked, puzzled. "I've never seen a snake. Lots of demons and vampires but not snakes. Giles, are there snake demons?"
"The fraternity had a large snake-like demon, remember?" he reminded her.
"Oh, yea. The one those stooges tried to sacrifice me and Cordy to," Buffy said with a snort. "It was so lame that I'd forgotten."
"Someone tried to sacrifice you to a giant snake, and I didn't even get a phone call?" Jack asked, his voice rising.
"Well, Mom didn't know," Buffy said, a flash of guilt on her face. "When I was first called back in Los Angeles, I sort of burned down the gym when a school dance was crashed by a bunch of vampires."
"That's when Buffy killed her first Master vampire—they are extremely powerful and hard to kill," Giles added.
Buffy gave him a fond smile. "Anyway, I got blamed for knowing the crazy gang and expelled like I hadn't done anything more than save everyone's life," she said with a touch of disgust. "When I told Mom and Dad about my new calling, they didn't take it well." She paused and looked at Giles—she'd never told him this part. "They actually had me committed to a mental institution for a few weeks."
"What?" both Giles and Jack said.
"Yea," Buffy said, looking sad. "It's why I just couldn't bring myself to tell Mom when Angel went evil. What if she tried to commit me again and Angel hurt my friends? I didn't really think he'd go so far as to kill my mother." Her eyes filled with tears again.
Jack felt sick. He was still struggling to accept her entire story, but he was withholding judgement. It was clear she was freakishly strong, and Sam's head would explode if there wasn't any scientific reason not to.
Sam! "Oh, I forgot to mention that my team will be here at some point today or tomorrow," he said. "I hope it's okay. When I told my CO that Joyce's killer was at large, he kind of insisted."
"Do you trust them?" Buffy asked.
"With my life," Jack said without hesitation. He looked at his watch. "I'd really like to go to the police station and find out what they're doing about this ex of yours."
"Don't bother," Buffy said. "Angel is my problem, not theirs. They're pretty useless anyway."
"What do you mean by your problem?" Jack asked.
Now Buffy looked very uncomfortable and glanced at Giles for help.
Giles took off his glasses and began to clean them. "Unfortunately, Buffy's not wrong," he said. "Angel is a vampire, and thus, he falls into Buffy's prevue."
"You dated a vampire?" Jack asked in horror.
"He had a soul!" Buffy said quickly. "He was cursed by Gypsies like a hundred years ago."
"He's over a hundred years old?" Jack asked. He gave Giles a dark look. "You allowed her to date a man older than both of us put together? A vampire?"
"One doesn't allow Buffy to do anything," Giles said. "If you spent any time with her the past two years, you'd know that she has an iron will and does what she sees fit."
"Well, sorry if I was busy fighting for my country," Jack said coldly. He had saved the world a time or two, but he wasn't allowed to add that bit.
"Hey, I'm standing right here, you know," Buffy said, glaring at both of them. Then the phone rang, and she went to answer it.
"I know this is a lot to take in," Giles. "You might be wondering if some of it is a lie. I assure you it is not. The Watcher's Council in Great Britain has been around training girls for centuries."
"I can't believe they take children and train them to kill," Jack said angrily. "That you are encouraging her."
"We have nothing to do with who is called or that it's always a young girl," Giles said. "We just do what we can to train and support her, so she has a chance to survive. Buffy actually died last year when the Master drowned her and left her for dead. Angel and Xander saved her life—Xander gave her CPR as Angel had no breath to do it."
"She's died once already?" Jack asked, wanting to punch the man.
"Buffy's friends all help her where they can—it's against the rules set down by the Watcher's Council," Giles said. "But Buffy doesn't care. Of course, they all found out her secret the first week. Willow and Xander were both nearly killed by vampires. Their other best friend, Jesse, was not only killed but turned. Xander had to stake him."
"Oh, God," Jack said. The life his niece was living broke his heart. He wanted to immediately take her away from all of it, but if he did, who would keep her friends alive?
How was he supposed to explain all this to his team?
*****To Be Continued*****
I hope you enjoyed this first chapter. I saw no reason to drag out Jack knowing as Buffy's suffering, and I see her as cutting through the BS. Review if you want to read more. Thanks!
