AN Chapter 11: You lucky, lucky people, two chapters in one night. Same warning as chapter 10 THIS CHAPTER HAS NOT BEEN BETAED. Alex if you are out there send us an email. I'm starting to worry.

Ok this is a very long chapter, and Yes I've used some more song lyrics, the song 'Cries for you' is by The Whitlams (a brilliant Australian Band btw)

Chapter 11 Recovery and Lash back

Torch the moon, burn the schools

She wrote in red on her bedroom wall -

"Nothing's pure", the paint runs to the floor

She laughs too easily and cries too hard

Shouldn't drink alone, the colours run

How can she forgive

When we know well what we do?

Summers House

Sunnydale, California

Teal'c laid Buffy gently down on her bed; the diminutive blond had not yet regained consciousness after being struck by Caleb. Janet immediately pushed him out of the way and started to check Buffy over.

Pupils even and reactive

Reflexes good

Pulse normal

BP 130 over 70

Janet sat down on the bed beside the young woman and sighed. They were only a few years older than Cassie… In her years as a doctor at the SGC she had seen many things, great and terrifying, but the condition of the girls she had seen today and the condition of the young woman in the bed, well that scared her more than anything else.

Here, in Sunnydale California, a war was going on. A war that had apparently being going on for thousands of years, these young people had been fighting it with some of the most arcane weaponry she had ever seen. Daniel would have a field day with it.

Funny she should think of the ascended archaeologist at a time like this.

When Sam had first told her of the encounter she had had with vampires and a young girl who apparently slew them Janet had been ready to send her for an evaluation with Dr Mackenzie but then… something had changed. Sam was unwavering in her certainty of the existence of vampires and demons and the fact that she was a scientist to the core… but to suddenly believe so strongly in the supernatural. It had baffled Janet for a long time. She had thought it was just another reaction to, or memory from Jolinar, but here she was, in the same house as a vampire.

Sam wasn't insane after all.

Gently wiping the blood of Buffy's face Janet saw that the wound was already healing over. The only other time she had seen healing like this was on Teal'c and even that wasn't as fast. A light gleam of sweat broke out on the young woman's forehead, reaching out Janet placed a hand there; her temperature was rising. Janet's brow furrowed in concern, if an infection was going to set in it wouldn't have set in yet… This she knew, after years of treating battle wounds Janet knew that infection took 24 to 48 hours to set in…

It was just another thing to add to the mystery that was these girls and this town.

Sighing she left the room trusting Teal'c to keep and eye on her and alert her if anything went wrong.

As she entered the kitchen Janet found Colonel O'Neil and Sam in there quietly, attempting to concoct some kind of meal. She watched them silently as they seamlessly worked together with Spike sitting by drinking something she didn't want to think about, telling them where to find certain things.

It had always amazed her to see the two of them working together.

"Anything decent to eat?" She finally broke in.

Sam looked up and gave her a relived smile; if Janet was here then Buffy was fine.

"Nope" Colonel O'Neil spoke up before Sam and Spike had a chance to "If we want something decent we're going to have to wait for Jonas and Faith to get back from town. They're going to see what they can scrounge up. Although I'm guessing the pizza place is closed."

"Mac?"

"Taking a shower. Do you know what happened? Something's upset her, I mean really upset her" Sam was concerned for her long time friend.

"No idea" Janet sighed "She was fine when I…" Janet trailed off not really wanting to tell them how close she had come to being stabbed.

"When you what?" Jack looked at the Doctor pointedly with raised eyebrows.

"A Bringer crept up behind me, I guess I'm lucky I don't have an extra hole in my body right now. Mac saw him and warned me. She was fine then…" Janet trailed off as Mac entered the kitchen, hair still wet from the shower.

They all looked at her concerned, she had been oddly quiet since she and Faith had returned from the vineyard.

"What…" Jack started

"My husband" Mac interrupted him before he could complete the sentence "We'd been separated for 10 years, he came back. Things got a bit out of hand, he threatened me, I pissed him off some more, and then he threatened a friend. He wanted money… Then it got really ugly, John tried to pay him off but…"

She blinked back tears, the image of Chris burned into her bringing back all the pain from the previous year.

"How did he die?" Janet asked gently

"I shot him…" Mac whispered, "He pulled a gun on John and I… I tried to get it off him but…" She looked down at her hands as though she could still see the blood there "It went off and he died"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" A voice from the back door echoed through the house "I died, or you killed me. Either way I told you I'd always find you didn't I Sarah." The First/Chris Ragel smirked from his position. His form started to shrink and morph

"I always loved to play cowboys didn't I Daddy? I guess gun's are more dangerous than I thought" The form of a young boy with sandy blond hair and a mischievous smile turned his attention on Jack O'Neil.

Closing his eyes against the assault of memories and guilt the vision induced "Your not Charlie" he muttered trying to stop the tears that welled up.

A gasp from his right told him that The First had changed form again.

Standing there was a woman, tall, light blond hair, piercing blue eyes and an eerie resemblance to Sam Carter. A chocked sob erupted from Carter as she took in the image of her Mother for the first time in nearly 20 years, she brought her hands up to her face and rubbed her eyes and looked again, just to make sure the vision in front of her was real.

"Mom…" She whispered.

"Hey Sam-girl." The malicious grin out of place on the kind face of Carter's mother. The image changed again, to show the young woman currently unconscious upstairs.

"Man you guys have such fun memories. Who shall we hear from next, hmm?"

She turned to face Janet, growing in height the hair got shorter and darker till the image of a young man about 20 years old was facing the Doctor.

"Well, well, well if it isn't little Janet Fraiser. Never could remember your place could you? Always butting in where you weren't needed or wanted…"

Janet went pale at the sight and sound of the man in front of her. Her hands started to shake uncontrollably, shaking her head tears sprang to her eyes and she started muttering under her breath "no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no…"

"But I put you in your place good didn't I. I was doin you a favour, and how did you thank me for it" The man in front of them pretended to think

"Oh that's right you stabbed me in the back" He smirked again "Being the good little med student you were, you knew exactly how to kill me. Oh I know they ruled it self defence, but you and I know better don't we li'l Janet Fraiser."

"We'll got to go." The First morphed back into Buffy.

"See you soon… or would that be, be you soon" She giggled and disappeared.

Buffy's Bedroom

Most people considered Teal'c to be enigmatic, he very rarely let his feelings show and one could never tell exactly what it was he was thinking - unless of course you could read eyebrows. If you were there in the room with him it would be quite clear that he was worried about something.

He had seen many things in his years as the First Prime of Apophis but nothing disturbed him as much as these two girls… these Slayers. They had seen and experienced battle since a young age, they had seen much darkness in both the world outside and inside themselves, and yet… yet they continued to fight.

They knew at a young age what it had taken Master Brata'c years to instil into him.

Never give up

No matter how dark it gets there is always something worth fighting for.

Downstairs a door slammed. Rising from his seat he went over to the window and looked out of it to see Doctor Fraiser standing there, shoulders hunched over as she hugged herself as though trying to get warm.

A few moments later the light changed slightly as the back door opened again, Teal'c continued to watch as Mac joined the Doctor silently. The Marine Major simply reached out and laid a hand on the diminutive Airforce Major's shoulder to get her attention.

He could not hear the conversation below but watched over them anyway. Just as he was watching of Buffy.

A low moan from the bed brought his attention away from the goings on outside. Looking over he saw Buffy's eyes flutter open. She brought a hand up to her forehead and cringed slightly as she hit one of the many scapes on her face.

"Are you well Buffy Summers?"

Buffy looked at him, she hadn't noticed anyone else in the room, but then again the room was spinning slightly so…

"I'll be ok, but I wouldn't mind if someone got the licence plate on the preacher that hit me. I'd really like to kick his butt sometime soon" She grimaced again

Teal'c tilted his head slightly to the left and raised his right eyebrow "I do not believe that this Preacher had a licence plate. However it will be impossible for you to 'kick his butt' as Faith slayed him after you lost consciousness"

She sat up quickly "What?" All the blood rushed to her head "Ooh bad idea" Buffy muttered to herself as the room spun slightly.

"Caleb's dead" She wanted to make sure she heard him right.

"If what Faith was telling us then he is indeed dead."

"Everyone Ok?"

"You were the only one injured in the assault against Caleb and The First however I do believe that Major Mackenzie suffered some kind of emotional trauma due to the fact that she did not return with the rest of us and when she finally did return she appeared to be quite upset. I believe that The First has made its presence noticeable to her."

"Damn" Buffy had hoped that that would not happen to any on them.

"Damn is right." Jack said from his position leaning against the doorframe, hands stuffed deep into his pockets. "I know Spike told us that this thing could appear as dead people but… My son died when he was 9 years old and I just saw and spoke with him except it wasn't him… Ya know"

Buffy chuckled humourlessly "Yeah I know, did any one else make and appearance?"

"Mac's husband, Carter's Mom, You" Buffy rolled her eye's at the last one "and some guy that the Doc knew in med school. Big story behind that one, I'm guessing… she'll tell when she's ready"

Buffy closed her eyes and shook her head "I knew this was a bad idea. I shouldn't have called Sam, then none of you would even know…"

"Buffy Summers are you regretting seeking aid from an outside source" Teal'c interrupted her before she could go into full guilt mode

"Hell yes, you guys have no idea what goes on here in Sunnydale. Tonight was an easy fight. No – one died…"

"Listen kid" Jack started "We're here and we're gonna help no matter what you say to us. Just because you don't like it, it doesn't mean you can tell us to stop helping you. You can boss your friends around as much as you want, but there's no way your getting rid of us. I think I know Carter pretty well, and she's not gonna leave you girls here to fight this alone, and I'm not leaving Carter here in hostile territory without us to watch her six."

"You don't understand…" Buffy was going to talk them into leaving even if it killed her… again.

"Like hell we don't" Jack left his spot by the door and stalked over to the bed "Carter probably didn't tell you but we're a combat unit. We've walked through wars, we've seen and done things that would give any normal person nightmares for years to come. I've been in the Air Force for over 20 years and that entire time has been as a combatant. Whatever happens here will be no worse than what I've already seen"

Jack could see he was getting through to her, but he could also see that if he pushed any harder she would close him off completely.

"A week ago I found a 15 year old girl in the bathroom across the hall." Buffy sighed and rubbed her eyes in an attempt to wipe away the tears that threatened and the weariness that seemed to have over taken her suddenly. "She'd killed herself cause she couldn't handle this. Three nights ago, several girls were killed and people severely injured, including one of my best friends. I don't want any more deaths on my conscience." He could see the tears threatening to fall despite her attempts to stop them.

"No, no, no, no please don't cry. I didn't mean to make you cry. Look I'm just saying, we're here, and we're willing to help. Let us help you"

"Buffy Summers" Teal'c decided it was time for him to interject "It may not be your choice to have us involved here, but you can no more stop us from helping than you could control untamed equines"

Buffy looked at him confused

"Wild horses T, wild horses" Jack rolled his eyes at the Jaffa.

Buffy still looked confused

"Oh, for cryin out loud. Shut up and accept our help"

Buffy nodded… still slightly confused.

Feather scratches on her wrist

Dry run with a bread knife for a final twist

It wouldn't be for show if it should come to this

She was born to feel it all, to see it all

When I feel so lightly it's still burning brightly

And she won't look away

Torch the moon, burn the schools

Why it's a man making all the rules

Frida Khalo poster on her door