Thanks for the reviews, am very much appreciative. Correl especially, you have put a few good ideas into my head.

Chapter 2

"Hello?" Dawn called into the darkened house, a voice responded from somewhere in the direction of the kitchen. She ditched her bag and coat in a heap on the floor and followed the voice into a kitchen filled with candles. Tara was sitting at the counter with the cordless phone resting next to her hand.

"Hi Dawn." She greeted with a tense smile, "The electricity's out s..so we have to use candles."

Dawn opened the fridge and took out the only thing in there - a lukewarm can of coke. Tara looked nervously at the phone, wringing her hands desperately. "H...ho...how was sc...school?"

"What's wrong?" Dawn glossed over the question, more concerned at the violent stutter in Tara's voice - something that only happened when she was nervous or upset. "Where's Willow?" She picked up on the object of Tara's discomfort almost immediately.

"I...I...don't know. Sh..sh...she never came back from d...dr...dropping you off." The worry she felt for her lover expressed itself through her stuttering. "She...had a j...job interview, b...but she never called me after....afterwards."

"Maybe she went to look round a bit...find out some half decent places to eat." Dawn comforted with a rueful glance at the empty fridge. Her stomach grumbled and Tara gave a little giggle.

"Yeah, how was your day?"

"OK I guess, I think it'll take some getting used to." she sighed thinking about her friends and family back home.

"Did you make any friends?" Dawn had taken the young witch's mind off her missing partner.

"One, I think? I'm not sure. Her name's Cassandra. She helped me to find Principal Daynor's office this morning and then we ate lunch together." The door opened and Willow entered, effectively gaining Tara's attention. The blonde fussed over Willow who gave a tight smile and kissed her, efficiently cutting off her efforts. Dawn giggled.

"Sorry I was so long. The interview lasted longer than I thought and there wasn't a break for me to phone you. Then I got lost." She grinned a little sheepishly. In truth she had spent nearly all day down in the SGC gaining knowledge of the Stargate in the deep, artificially lit base where time had no meaning. She had been with the team known as SG1 when Jonas had asked what the time was. She'd been so absorbed in what would become her work and was shocked to find out how long she had been there.

"How did it go?" Asked Dawn.

"Fine, they gave me the job. I start tomorrow."

"Th...that's great...what will you be doing?" Willow blanched a little, she really did hate lying to her girlfriend and she hated herself for allowing it to happen.

"I'm going to work in NORAD at the Cheyenne Mountain."

"Isn't that a military facility?" A concerned Tara clasped Willow's hand, sensing something wasn't right but trusting her. The red head felt like crying when she saw the faith that her soulmate was putting in her.

"Yeah, they study deep space radar telemetry. They needed an IT consultant." She rattled off what Sam had said she should tell other people if they inquired, Dawn and Tara beamed back, genuinely happy which just made the situation even worse for Willow.

"Hey, we should go out and celebrate." suggested Tara.

"Do we have much choice?" Dawn opened the fridge and showed off its non-contents, the cupboards were in a similar position.

******************

Willow dropped Dawn off at school, it made her feel a little better that there was somebody waiting for her at the entrance. She guessed that it was Cassandra, whom Dawn had told her a bit about at dinner in a fantastic steak restaurant in town. She drove off with a smile, the thought of her best friend's sister feeling accepted quelled the nervousness brought on by the fact that she had a physical that morning. It didn't help that SG1 had one scheduled at the same time...the looks on their faces had not been ones of joy. Jack had looked positively terrified. Dwelling on this thought brought uneasiness into her mind. On went the radio.

She flashed her pass at the airman on duty and parked up, she showed her pass as she had done the day before.

"Can you wait here ma'am." She felt a little bubble of panic in her stomach. She hoped that yesterday had not been a dream or that they had denied her access or that...she stopped herself from continuing along these thought lines. Instead she took a calm breath "Can I ask why?" she inquired in a steady but slightly squeaky voice.

"General Hammond is sending an officer to show you to the infirmary." Her insides suddenly unwrapped themselves and she dropped into a more relaxed stance.

"Willow." Sam's voice was a welcome intrusion on her thoughts. She gladly followed her through the maze of tunnels to the clinical facility occupied by Dr. Janet Frasier. The knot returned as a blood curdling yell let out from the infirmary entrance.

"Colonel, anybody would think I was trying to kill you." Came a scolding, motherly voice.

"Size of that needle I'd say they were...ow!" he yelled again "right" he finished with a groan.

"Right, Dr. Davidson will finish you off." A short, round man in a white coat entered the curtained bed and out stepped a woman. She was not the nightmare that Willow had been imagining. She was short in stature, slender with auburn hair pulled back in a french plait, large hazel eyes and a pleasant face.

"Hey Janet," Sam greeted her friend.

"Hey, have you seen Jonas anywhere? If I didn't know any better I'd say he was avoiding me." She said with a smile.

"No, he's probably in his office. This is Willow Rosenburg."

"Ah yes," said the Dr. knowingly, "Next on my list of victims." Willow couldn't help but let out a whimper, she really didn't like Doctors. Janet chuckled "Don't worry, it's not as bad as the Colonel makes out." As soon as her friend had ushered SG1's new member to a cubicle, Sam pulled a face.

******************

Dawn was sitting at a picnic bench outside of school with the lunch she had purchased from the canteen. She was preoccupied, actively searching for Cassandra as she ate. She sighed and looked at the book open in front of her, Cassandra chose that moment to materialise and dump her lunch tray in front of Dawn making her jump.

"Hey, how was your morning?" She asked.

"Hmmmm," Dawn replied with a frown.

"Not good huh?" They lapsed into a silence, Dawn reading over her notes and Cassie looking over a book. The question came without warning and nearly knocked Dawn sideways, "How did you mom and sister die?" She sat in shocked silence, "I'm sorry, that's...I shouldn't have..."

"No, it's OK." She felt obliged to answer the question, after all, she was proud her sister had been so brave. A tiny niggle of guilt tugged at her. "My mom died of a brain tumour and my sister...I was...um....kidnapped. This woman, not all there, she took me up to the top of this building and there was a struggle...Buffy fell." more silence. Dawn inwardly groaned, it was the best she had been able to come up with.

"Oh. My parents, they died of a...virus...I didn't catch it." Cassandra quickly looked down at her plate and blushed, after all it was the best she had been able to think of as well. After a minute or two's silence Cassie had to say something if only to break the morbid air that had gathered around them, "Hey, you wanna come over to mine tonight?"

Please review, that's all I ask.

CoffeeBean

xXx