Chapter 1

Cheyenne Mountain Complex

Stargate Command

Sam Carter was exhausted, it had been an extraordinarily long day… week, ok it had been a long couple of years, and the last real holiday had been what four years before.  The General had forced her to go on a months leave after Jolinar.

Laying her head down on her desk and closing her eyes Sam reflected on the last few missions, between DNA changing Goul'ds, the NID, CO's getting stranded, the NID, Harry Maybourne, and the NID.  She didn't think they had ever been so busy.

She was on the verge of falling asleep when her mobile phone rang loudly in her ear.  Looking at the caller ID she recognised the area code, it was California, there were only two people in California who knew this number and that definatly wasn't her brothers' number.

Why now?  Four years on and never once had she called, written yes but not called… she wouldn't unless it was a dire emergency.

But then again it might not be her after all,

"Major Carter"

Squaring her shoulders Sam knocked on the Generals office door preparing to ask for downtime with no good reason whatsoever.

"Enter" The commanding voice of General George Hammond echoed through the outer office.

Sam came to attention in front of his desk and waited for him to acknowledge her.

"At Ease Major, take a seat"

"What can I do for you?" General Hammond asked as she did so.

"Sir, I'd like to request some leave.  I know its short notice but I would like to commence it straight away"

The General looked at Sam hard.  It was an unusual request, Carter to his memory had never asked for leave before and even if she had it she very rarely took it preferring to work in her lab.  Still he wasn't about to reject her request.

"How long would you like Major?"

"Two weeks"

Three hours later Sam rode out of Colorado Springs, she had 21 hours before Buffy was going to call her back, Sam was going to have to put as much distance between herself and The Springs before The Colonel found out she had taken leave and tried to find out exactly why after all these years she was suddenly willing to take a vacation. 

Two weeks, would that be enough.  From what Buffy said over the phone something big was going down.  Yes she knew all about Vampires, well not all but she had learnt enough from her first meeting with Buffy on a beach in LA…

August 1998

"What the hell is going on?"

"Nothing"

"Ok, I may be blond but I know what just happened was not right.  Not natural, tell me what it was"

"They we're vampires, you were dinner and I just put a serious dent in their social life"

"Thankyou"

Present Day

Sam would never forget the pain filled eyes of Buffy Summers.  She had looked so lost, like Sam was feeling, she would never know what had compelled her to follow this young woman for hours through the streets of LA, but when she finally got Buffy to talk to her she found a kindred spirit someone else who had been forced to grow up before her time although the circumstances were different she felt oddly drawn to this girl.  She found herself talking about things she had never spoken to a soul before.

A week after returning to Colorado Springs and work she got a letter from Buffy, she had gone home.

And now four years on Sam was fulfilling the promise she had made in LA

"Anywhere, anytime, if you need me call; I'll get there as soon as I can"

Within three hours Sam had crossed the border from Colorado into Utah, she knew she should stop and take a break soon but something was telling her that she had to get there as soon as possible, there had been an urgency in Buffy's voice, she'd heard fear there, she didn't want to guess but it had to be bad.

Against her back, Sam felt her mobile vibrate; only two people would be calling her this soon.  Pulling her bike over to the side of the road and yanking her helmet off her head she hit the answer button.

"Carter"

"What the hell are you doing" The voice of her CO echoed over the line

"I'm taking a holiday Sir"

"Carter you don't take holidays, you work and save the world and on a rare occasion sleep and eat but you do not take holidays."

"Sir, I'm no longer even in the state, I'm going to visit a friend in California.  I'll be back in two weeks.  I'm sorry its short notice but it's an emergency.  Now I promised I would be there in 24 hours so I need to go.  If anything comes up call me, if I don't answer leave a message and I'll get back to you as soon as possible."

Knowing she was possibly letting herself in for a lot of trouble she hung up the phone, before getting back on her bike she dialled the phone again.

Georgetown

Washington DC

"Mackenzie"

"Mac, its Sam Carter.   You remember that California situation I told you about a few years back?"

"You think I'd forget something like that?"  Major Sarah Mackenzie was surprised she rarely heard from Sam these days and it was usually in the form of email, they both had little time for anything else.

"I'm on my way there right now, you want to come with?"

"Sure why not I've got nothing better to do at the moment.  Apparently I have to much leave accrued, the Admiral forced me to take a couple of weeks off."

Sam grinned, hopefully Buffy wouldn't mind "Fly to LA, call me when you get there, I'm on the bike so bring your helmet"

"Done, talk to you later"

 Less than a minute later Sam back on the bike and Mac was booking herself on a flight to LA.

Sunnydale California

Random abandoned house

"So this Sam can help us" Faith was slightly dubious about bringing another outsider in, especially one who worked for the government.

"I hope so" Buffy hadn't wanted to bring another person but Sam had access to resources they didn't "The Bringers aren't demons, so that means that normal human weapons can work against them, including guns.  You don't have any and I don't have any but Sam does and she's a Major in the Air Force and in some kind of field unit, she has to be a pretty good shot.  If we can draw them out into the open Sam can pick them off one by one."

"Ok" Faith leaned back thoughtfully.  "We head back to the vineyard, make lots of noise to bring out the bringers; Sam picks them off, while we get inside.  How we gonna get round Caleb?  He kicked our collective arses last time"

"Did you ever play the game Keep away?" Buffy asked

Faith thought for a moment trying to work out why Buffy would bring up a childhood game at a time like this when a grin spread across her face as she got Buffy's meaning. 

"If he can't touch us then maybe we'll get lucky and find this thing of ours he has.  Good idea and with no one else in there it'll be easier to get round him"

"Exactly" They grinned at each other; finally after six hours of throwing ideas around some yelling and even a punch or two thrown they had a workable plan.

Los Angeles International Airport

10 Hours later.

Sarah Mackenzie made her way through the line of people flocking out of LAX bypassing the luggage claim, something had told her to pack light, well that and her ride was the back of a motor bike, through the crowds of people she could see blond hair glinting in the sun light.  Heading towards the person she hoped was Sam.

Sam could see Mac heading towards her, glancing at her watch she realised they only had an hour before Buffy would be calling.  Walking quickly towards Mac the two women hugged as they met.

"Come on, we have to go, Buffy will be calling in two hours, and we have to pick some stuff up before we head for Sunnydale"

"What kind of stuff" Mac was curious Sam had told her everything she knew about Vampires but Mac had never faced one herself, but then again, the work Sam did made classified look like the kind of stuff anyone and everyone knew about.

"You don't want to know just yet.  If anything happens you can honestly say that you didn't know I was going to bring you here and will hopefully be able to represent me at the court marshal if we get caught".

Mac looked at her friend dubiously "Sam, why would we be doing something that could get us into trouble if we get caught if it means we can't help Buffy?"

"Because" Sam grinned as she pulled on her helmet "We can help Buffy better if we have more supplies that work against our enemies"

"Oh" Mac shrugged obviously still slightly confused, and joined Sam on the bike.

Hermosa Beach

Los Angeles, California

For May the stretch of beach known, as Hermosa was strangely quiet as the motorbike carrying two women roared up the road.

The house they were heading for was a small townhouse dwarfed by the larger beachfront properties.  If you didn't know it was there you could easily go right past it.  However the driver of the motorbike knew it was there and knew exactly what happened in there.

As she dismounted Sam turned to Mac with a serious look in her eye's "Mac, stay with the bike, I'll be less than five minutes"

Walking up the path confidently Sam didn't even bother to knock at the door but simply let herself in.

True to her word 3 minutes and 38 seconds later (if you watch JAG you will understand) Sam exited the house carrying a large case which she silently strapped to the back of the bike.  Taking her cue from Sam, Mac stayed silent and followed her lead; they got back on the bike and roared away heading North through the City and towards Sunnydale.

Sunnydale, California

Random abandoned house.

Buffy looked at the clock closing her eyes, she wondered if she had been wrong to call Sam.  She knew Sam could handle herself and she really needed someone who she could trust right now, but Sam had never been in an apocalyptic-fight-tooth-and-nail-for- your-life fight before, or had she.  Buffy knew that being in the Military and a field unit at that had put Sam in some hairy situations before, but would she be ready for this.

Buffy's eye's raised to the clock again.  It was time, 24 hours since she had called Sam.  How close was she, had she been able to get the time off, reaching over to the phone she had had checked when she had first entered the house Buffy pulled it off the hook and dialled Sam's number.

60 Miles South of Sunnydale.

Both Sam and Mac felt the mobile phone ring at Sam's left hip, quickly breaking Sam pulled off the road and grabbed the phone without even dismounting.

"Buffy?"

"No, who's Buffy and why aren't you back yet?  I didn't think that you could be out of your lab this long without going into withdrawal." The voice of Sam's CO floated through the phone

"Sir, I'm not back because I'm taking a holiday.  I'm expecting a phone call any minute now so I'm going to hang up and hope that the next call I get from you is because Uncle Nubie decided that we decorated in the wrong colour and painted the main room red, or Siler's been in my lab playing, and if it's not, then not even Murray will be able to help you.  Good bye Sir"

Cheyenne Mountain Complex

Colorado Springs.

Colonel Jack O'Neil looked at the phone as it made that annoying beeping sound from when someone hangs up on you.  Craning his neck he glanced over a Jonas

"Did you get it?"

"She's about 120 miles north of LA.  There's no major town nearby, the closest one with an airport is another 60 or so miles north called Sunnydale" Jonas Quinn felt a little guilty about tracking Sam like this, but the Colonel could be very annoying when he tried hard.  Scanning the screen for the Stats on Sunnydale he frowned.

"That's weird."

"What's weird?" Jack was getting frustrated; he wanted to know what was going on inside his 2IC's head.

"I'm just looking at the statistics for Sunnydale, they have the highest mortality rate in California, and from the reports its been pretty much abandoned in the last three days, all but 5 local residence have relocated elsewhere."

"Who are they?"

"Willow Rosenberg, Alexander Harris, Anya Jenkins, Buffy and Dawn Summers.  Whoa, big whoa.  Buffy Summers has a bit of a rap sheet.  Two counts of Arson, she was suspected of homicide in her junior year of high school, expelled from Hemery High in LA freshman year, and then again at Sunnydale high in her Junior year, but it looks like the Librarian made a plea to the State School Board and because the charges were dropped the principal was forced to let her back in.  The local police also thought she may have had something to do with the school blowing up on her Graduation Day in 1999 but could never pin anything on her.  Went to college but dropped out second year to look after her younger sister Dawn due to the death of her Mother.  Nothing after her Mothers death in 2001 until later that year when she got a job at the Double meat palace, it's like she just disappeared.  Hmmm, also says she had some dealings with a government agency called The Initiative in 2000, but it's listed as classified and I don't have access"

While Jonas was describing this girl Buffy, Jack had gotten up and started pacing, the room obviously agitated.

"When Carter picked up the phone, that's what she said"

"What is what Major Carter said, O'Neil?" Teal'c questioned him.

"Buffy, she said that name.  What about the others anything in there?"

"Not really, Willow Rosenberg, good student, high school valedictorian, was approached by one of the top Software designers in the world but turned down their offer, she spent last summer in England, seems her girlfriend was murdered and she went over with a friend to recuperate.  Alexander Harris, worked odd jobs after high school, finally got a job as a carpenter and was hospitalised a week ago when one of his eye's were gouged out.  Wow, check out these kids medical histories, either they're a clumsy lot or they got into lots of fights, concussion seems to be highest on the list, but there are also a couple of knife wounds and broken bones.  This Sunnydale doesn't seem to be a very nice place to live"

60 miles South of Sunnydale

Sam and Mac were just about to get back on the bike when Sam's phone rang again.  This time she looked at the phone display before answering, just a number and a California one at that.

"Carter"

"Sam its Buffy" The younger woman's voice floated through from the other end "Where are you?"

"Barring any complications, I should be there in an hour or so, I'm the bike.  Don't worry it'll still be light"

"Good, just ride slowly and stick to the main streets we'll find you.  If you see someone that's not me just keep riding and ignore them," Before Sam could say anything else Buffy had hung up the phone.

"So?" Mac asked

"She'll find us when we get there.  Let's go"

Sunnydale 1 hour and 18 minutes later

Before they got into town Sam and Mac had taken their helmets off to make looking for Buffy easier.  Although by the looks of the abandoned town it wouldn't be too hard.

As they passed the silent High School, a flash of blond caught Mac's eye.  "Sam 10 o'clock"

Slowing the bike down even more Sam turned her head in the direction that Mac had indicated, frowning slightly Sam tried to get a good look but the girl was facing the other way.  In an attempt to get the blond to turn around she revved the bikes engine.

Buffy was wandering round Sunnydale waiting for Sam to arrive, her mind still filled with doubts as to whether she should have called her or not, when she heard the sound of an engine revving.  Turning towards the sound she saw a motor bike about 200 meters away, seated on top of it was Sam along with a brunette woman that Buffy didn't recognise.  Suddenly from behind them two black robed figures appeared and were running towards the pair on the bike.

"Behind you" Buffy screamed as she sprinted towards the two women.  Both of the older women turned and saw the bringers heading towards them, automatically they jumped off the bike letting it crash down in front of them and reached behind and released their hand guns from the holsters.  Bringing their weapons to bear Sam and Mac simultaneously fired, each hitting a bringer in both the head and chest.  The two bringers were dead on the ground before Buffy had even reached them.

Walking straight past Sam and Mac, Buffy went over to the bringer and crouched down next to them.  Turning her head to them she smiled "Guns work better on these guys than I had hoped.