Title: Rebuilding

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy or Stargate. I wish I did. All characters will be returned the their proper owners when I finish playing with them.

Spoilers: All of Buffy through Chosen; Stargate through end of season 7; I've reassigned Gen. Hammond back at SGC

Rating: PG-13 thanks to someone's potty mouth

"JT, why don't you get cleaned up first. "

"You sure you'll be alright?"

"I need to talk to Xander and until I do, I don't think I should leave you alone with him."

Xander waited until JT went to shower before exploding. "Damn it Buffy. You just had to take the lonesome detour through hell didn't you? Backup equals fewer casualties or don't you remember? Haven't we lost enough people for this decade?"

"Haven't we had this discussion before?" she groaned. She sat down one of the beds. "There was no telling how many people had been abducted though that portal. An hour here was years there, I just couldn't wait. I had to do something and waiting for backup wasn't an option and you know it."

"Okay, how long were you there? No offense but you look like..."

"Don't say it. I was there for nearly two years."

------

She had been attacked as soon as she entered the shelter. Apparently she had made quite an impression the last time. After taking out Ken and his friend, she began looking for the portal. She didn't see Ken's other friend until it was to late and she was falling through the portal.

She woke up tied to a pillar in a courtyard. She looked around. Yep, it looked like the same place as last time. This time it looked as if she had an audience. Yet another "Ken" exhorted the crowd of slaves, "you are no one. This" he pointed to her "is no one. You will work, you will not speak."

"Hey, can't you guys spring for new masks? I mean, really, do you all want to look alike?"

Oops, wrong thing to say she thought as she felt a blow to the side of her head. It was followed by several others to various parts of her body. Ken continued, "Disobedience will be punished. You work and you will live." The blows kept coming and she lost consciousness. This time she woke up in her own private cage.

The next day, she was dragged out of the cage and retied to the pillar.

It was a pattern that would be repeated daily. She did not understand why. The slaves did not even look at her so it was doubtful that the public beatings were serving any purpose. The slaves were already broken and mindless, they had become nothing.

It was during the third month that something changed. There was one tall, bearded slave who actually looked at her. Not directly, but she was sure that he did look at her. After that, she tried to pick him out each day. Most of the time she couldn't find him.

Two weeks later she was woken up by a hand placed over her mouth. It was the bearded man. He motioned her to be quiet. She nodded her understanding. He removed his hand and moved over to the lock on the cage door. She watched as he picked the lock and opened the door. She followed him out of the courtyard.

------

"So instead being the rescuer you had to be rescued? By JT?"

"Yeah."

"So if that only took a couple of months, why were you there for two years?"

"The portal was heavily guarded and I wasn't in any shape to fight my way out. I was half-starved and several broken ribs and a broken arm. Even with JT's help there is no way we could have gotten out at that point."

"Back to JT, how come he wasn't a mindless slave like the rest?"

Buffy finally smiled. "He escaped the factory shortly after arriving. He saw me during a supply raid."

"Okay, then why was he raiding for supplies? Why didn't he just use the portal as soon as he escaped?"

"Because I didn't know about the portal until later. I was unconscious when I went through it. The demons didn't bother with tricking folks. They just knocked them out and threw them though the portal." JT walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist. "Xander, do have any clothes that I can borrow?"

"Um, yeah. Hold on a sec." Xander went to his suitcase and pulled out a shirt and a pair of jeans. He handed them to JT along with a pair of undershorts.

JT went back into the bathroom.

Buffy stood up. "Xander, can we finish this later? I really need to get cleaned up and JT and I are both starving. Could you get us something to eat?"

"You don't want to let me talk to him alone do you?" Xander deduced. He checked his wallet. "Just tell me one thing before I head out. You aren't avoiding any unpleasant little details are you? He's not a demon or something is he?"

"Nope. 100% human clone. Now go," she said as she maneuvered him out the door before he could say anything else.

"What do you mean clone?" Xander stared at the outside of the hotel door. "Why couldn't he just be a demon?" he muttered as he went in search of food. Chinese would be good.

JT, his newly washed hair drying to a light brown, came back out of the bathroom. "So how did it go?"

"Pretty good so far. He really hasn't taken a good look at me yet."

"Its gonna to be hard to miss even he does have only one eye."

"I know." She moved to her suitcase and picked out a loose sundress.

"Need any help in there?"

"No, besides Xander will really freak if he catches us in the shower together."

"So it's over then?" he quipped.

"No silly. Xander is just overprotective. We need to break this gently." She kissed him and went into the bathroom.

"Hey, do ya think he'll bring any beer back?"