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Archive: If anyone wishes to go ahead, but it would be polite to at least drop me a line.
Rating: Ranging from U/G to 18/NC-17 this part is U/G
Pairings: Willow/Tara Buffy/Faith Amanda/Andrew Janet/Sam
Crossover: BtVS/Angel and Stargate
Disclaimer: I own none of the characters in any of the shows. If I did, boy would I have some fun?
Spoilers: None for Buffy unless you have not seen the end of season 7. Maybe some for Angel season 5 but as I haven't seen any at the time of starting this, and AI did not take control of Wolfram and Hart in this story I doubt it will! Stargate spoilers for season 7 may come up not sure yet.
Notes: This is a little AU, besides the crossover with the two shows. 'Cause I love Tara' she never died, (she was just wounded, but Willow still did a number on Warren and tried ending the world.)(The same goes for Amanda she didn't die in the Hellmouth.) and Cordelia came out of her coma after Jasmine died. I'm making Dawn and Cassandra (Dr Janet Frasier's stepdaughter,) the same age. I'm not sure if this would work out as Stargate seasons stand at the moment, but assume it corresponds with the present season after Daniel has returned set in 2005 so everything that has happened on SGC has to have 1 years added.
ALSO very importantly, Willow's 'slayer' spell only activated those potentials that were present in the school, but if and when any of those die another will be activated. Oh almost forgot Colonel Maybourne didn't go 'rogue'??? Ok so it's more than a little AU.
Summery: Set a couple of years after 'Chosen'. The whole gang moved to Cleveland after closing the Sunnydale Hellmouth. Giles and Robin Woods, with the help of the Coven and those few surviving watchers (6), rebuilt the council, which is now based in Cleveland, and the two spend their time travelling the world to find any potential slayers, which they send to Buffy and the gang to train.
After graduating from High school Dawn was accepted to PennState, where she meets her new roommate Cassandra.
Thanks to the following people who helped me with this story: irishwavefan, Electronis Zappa. I have been trying to contact my beta Hilary for six months now (I hope she is okay!) so I am posting this story un-betad. Please note I am English, so is my spelling. Live with it.
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Sunday morning PennState campus
"I don't see why Daniel and I have to carry all the bags!" groaned Jack O'Neill as he struggled down the hall with two large heavy suitcases.
"'Cause you both love me and I'm just a weak young woman," Cassandra smiled sweetly at the Colonel as she walked with her mother just ahead of the two men.
"Yeah right a weak pain in the ass..." Jack began before he saw the disapproving look aimed at him by Janet Frasier. "I meant that in a good way," he explained to her. "So do you know who you'll be sharing with?" he asked changing the subject.
"Ah yeah, her name is Dawn, Dawn Summers, I haven't met her yet, just e- mailed each other," Cassandra said as she stopped at a door, "Here it is," she said unlocking it and entering.
Cassandra had been lucky with the room, it turned out that Major Samantha Carter knew several of the faculty and had got them to pull a few strings, that was why she was now looking at a quiet spacious room, it had two single beds along with two desks, a couple of easy chairs and two large closets as well as its own bathroom. 'Oh I must do something nice for Sam,' she thought looking around.
"Just put the cases by the desk," Cassandra pointed to the desk on the left, "I'll unpack the books later."
"Books! I was carrying books!" growled Jack.
"Oh come on Jack you're not seriously telling me you thought my clothes were that heavy?" laughed Cassandra.
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"Dawn is it much further?" groaned Xander following the young woman down the corridor, carrying two large suitcases.
"Quit moaning Xander at least you're not carrying her books," pointed out Buffy looking over the top of a large box filled almost to over flowing with some of Giles spare books he had been willing to loan her for her studies on ancient languages and myths.
Dawn smiled at Xander, "No just a little further," she said before turning to her sister, "So did Willow finish her checks into any unexplained deaths in the area?"
"What checks?" edged Buffy.
Dawn stopped suddenly almost causing Xander to collide with her, "Oh please Buffy, I'm not stupid! I know you've had Willow and Tara checking the University and the town out for almost a month now. I'm only surprised you haven't assigned a slayer here just in case..." Buffy blushed, "You have haven't you?" Dawn said in outrage.
Buffy did a quick check to make sure no one was close enough to overhear, "Kennedy is renting a small apartment nearby... Dawn we all talked about it, Giles is worried that if anyone found out that you're the Key it could cause problems for everyone... Dawn don't ever think any of us will stop worrying about you. Kennedy is only there just in case, she'll just do standard slayer things, you will not even know she's there, but if anything happens you can call her for help and she'll come right over."
Dawn didn't say anything for several moments staring at her sister assessing her statement; she nodded, "Okay as long as she doesn't start popping up in the places where I'll be hanging out," she said as she started moving towards her new dorm room again.
Dawn had been lucky; a former collage friend of Robin Woods worked in the administration department and arranged for her to be assigned a room with its own bathroom. After her experience in Sunnydale sharing one bathroom with over two dozen other girls she had swore she would avoid similar situations in the future. She would still have to share with her roommate but at least she would not have to get up at six in the morning to stand a chance of a hot shower.
Dawn could see the door was open and hear voices coming from inside, "Here it is," she announced as she entered the room occupied by a young brunette about her age, an older woman of about forty, a man with glasses about the same age, 'Must be Cassandra's parents!' thought Dawn, and an older looking man with greying hair.
Cassandra walked over to Dawn holding out her hand, "Hi you must be Dawn? I'm Cassandra but my friends call me Cassie," she said shaking Dawn's hand.
"Hi nice to meet you," smiled Dawn before pointing to Buffy and Xander as they entered, Xander put down the cases and Buffy looked around for somewhere to put the box of books. "This is my sister Buffy and our friend Xander Harris," she introduced them.
"Hi pleased to meet you," said Cassie returning the smile then turning and indicating the others in the room with her, "This is my mum Doctor Janet Frasier, Colonel Jack O'Neill he's in the Air Force and Daniel Jackson who works with them back home," she explained.
"Here let me help you with that," said Daniel moving towards Buffy and the obviously heavy box of books.
"Its fine, I got it," said Buffy placing it on the right hand desk.
Daniel glanced at the top book intrigued, he picked it up, 'Myths and their relationship to modern living by Nicholas Jackson,' he smiled as he held it with some reverence, opening the cover he let out a gasp, "Oh my god it's a first addition! I thought I had the only one left?" He turned to Dawn, "Where did you find it?"
Dawn walked over smiling at him, "It and most of the others belong to a friend of ours called Rupert Giles, he lent them to me for my studies," she explained before frowning when she noticed the author's name, "Jackson! Any relation?" she asked him.
"Yes he's my grandfather; he wrote it shortly after leaving university. When I was small, I use to fall asleep as he read from it at my bedtime..." Daniel stopped as he heard Jack and Dawn's friend Xander say under their breaths, "I can relate to that," before smirking at each other. Daniel gave Jack a slightly hurt look before finishing, "That more than anything got me into archaeology."
Buffy frowned as she looked intensely at Daniel, "What's an archaeologist doing working for the Air Force?"
Very worried looks appeared on the faces of the four people from Colorado. "I ah... advise on the hmm... impact on ah historical sites that are ah... earmarked for mmm... military bases etc, I also give my input on situations involving primitive cultures," Daniel explained quickly.
"Oh I see that explains it then I guess!" said Buffy with a forced smile on her face. She turned to her sister, "Do you need any help only I just remembered I need to get back to the office, something important has come up."
Dawn drew her sister into a hug, "No I'm good, just call me when you get home okay?"
"Love you," sighed Buffy as she pulled away, she handed Dawn a card, "Kennedy's numbers," she explained as she saw her sister frown at the card, "Just in case."
Dawn nodded, "Thanks Buffy."
Buffy turned to the others in the room, "It was nice to meet you, but I need to get back to work, maybe we'll meet again when I have more time," she said giving them an apologetic smile before turning for the door.
Dawn followed her sister and Xander to the door, where Xander grabbed her into a bear hug, "Bye quirt, I gotta be down this way next month to start on a new office block so I'll come and visit ok," he said as Dawn squeaked in surprise at the sudden hug.
"Okay Xander," smiled Dawn, "Bye Buffy, bye Xand, love you," she said closing the door.
As the two friends walked along the corridor from Dawn's room the slayer flipped open her phone, she waited until the other end was answered, "Kennedy, it's me; you'll need to be careful, Dawn knows you're here, for my sake and yours don't let her catch you watching her."
"How did she find out? No don't tell me you let it slip out. Buffy I can see now how everyone found out you were the slayer!" Kennedy said teasing her fellow slayer.
"Yeah, yeah very funny," sighed Buffy, "Ah you got a spare bed in your apartment?"
"Hmmm about that Buffy, when my dad found out I was coming here he insisted that I use our town house at Teaberry Ridge, so yeah I got spare beds, why are you going to stay in town?"
"No Dawn would spot me in a minute, no I was thinking of sending the slayer Manda that Giles found in Mexico, the one that appeared when Chao-Ahn was killed in Hong Kong last month, Dawn won't know her."
"Okay, call me when you get back to the office with the details. Anything else?"
"Yes keep an eye on Dawn's roommate, she has family in the military and something that they said in passing didn't seem right, I'll get Willow to send any information she digs up," Buffy told the younger slayer.
"Okay see you soon, and don't worry I won't let anything happen to Dawn. Bye Buffy," said Kennedy before disconnecting.
The slayer looked over to Xander as they got in the rental car, "Let's get back to base as quickly as we can I want Will to check out Dawn's new roommate and her friends, and why an archaeologist is working with the military?"
"With you there Buff, I didn't buy their explanation either!" said Xander as he buckled up. As Buffy pulled away he dialled a number on his phone, "Its Xander, we're coming back now, we'll be there in about half an hour have the jet ready," he told their pilot.
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"Strange girl," commented Jack as Dawn closed the door.
"She's okay; she's had to give up a lot including college to look after me after mum died. She's CEO of a Security, come Bodyguard Company she and some of her friends started when we moved to Cleveland a couple of years ago," Dawn said trying to explain her sister's sudden exit.
"She's in security? But she's so small," Cassandra observed, who like Dawn stood at 5'9", to Buffy's 5'1½", the half inch was very important to her, before she could censor herself, she blushed as Dawn looked at her, "Sorry that came out wrong," she apologised.
Dawn gave a little laugh, "No its okay, her height or lack of, has always annoyed her but don't let that fool you she could take everyone in this room out without breaking a sweat," she said with more than a little pride.
"I don't think so," put in Jack.
Dawn smiled at him, "Whatever," she said shrugging her shoulders. "I think I'm gonna start unpacking," she looked at Daniel, "Wanna help."
"Sure I'd be happy too," nodded Daniel beginning to take the books from the box and place them on the shelves above the desk as Dawn unpacked her laptop.
With Janet and Jack helping Cassandra, the five finished the unpacking in no time. Jack looked around from the desk where he had finish putting Cassie's books away, "Okay campers what do you say I treat everyone to a burger?"
They all piled into Jack's rental car with Janet sharing the back with Cassandra and Dawn. Daniel turned to look into the back, Dawn had been very quiet since her sister had left, she sat staring out of the window, "Anything wrong Dawn?"
She looked over at him, smiling weakly, "Just missing Buffy and my friends back in Cleveland, it just struck me that this is the first time since mum died that I've been away from Buffy for more than a couple of days. Plus all the anxiety of classes et cetera, I want to make sure I don't let Giles down, he arranged for me to get a full scholarship."
Cassandra took Dawn's hand squeezing it slightly, "This will be my first time away from home as well we'll help each other," she said smiling at her new friend.
"So from your accent you are not from the Cleveland area but originally from southern California?" deduced Daniel trying to draw the young girl out.
"Ah yeah, I was born in LA, then when I was ten my mum and dad got divorced and I moved to a town called Sunnydale just up the coast with mum and Buffy. Buffy and I were with the last group to get out before the town fell into a big hole. We only move to Cleveland two years ago," Dawn explained her life in brief.
"Wow I remember seeing that on the news, said it was the big one. Were you scared?" asked Cassandra.
Dawn smirked, "No I was to frightened to be scared," she laughed.
"Was that how you lost your mother?" asked Janet, her maternal instinct coming to the fore.
Dawn shook her head, "No she had a brain tumour there were complications after the operation... B-Buffy fo-ound her body, s-she had to com-me to tell-tell me at schoool," she explained tears standing in her eyes; she wiped them on her sleeve. "Sorry," she said quietly.
"That's alright dear, I'm sorry that I've opened old wounds when we were just trying to cheer you up," apologised Janet.
"It just hurts and what makes it harder is that there isn't a grave we can visit and put flowers... ya know," Dawn tried to explain how she felt but unable to put it into word. On the couple of occasions she had a major fight with Buffy since they moved east, she had laid the blame and guilt she felt on her sister, it had been her idea to attack the First in the Hellmouth, which in turn had swallowed the town. She had apologised afterwards but could still see the hurt in Buffy's eyes and knew she blamed herself for the pain Dawn felt as well as her own.
Jack pulled over and parked the car, "Well I always say there is nothing that takes away your troubles like fast food," he said beginning to climb out of the car.
Dawn smiled at him as they all piled out of the car, "You sound like Xander, he thinks fast food is the cure for everything."
"He sounds like a very wise man, you should listen to him," replied Jack with a perfectly straight face.
"If I did that I'd be about 300 lbs of fat," giggled Dawn.
"Not to mention suffering from some serious health problems," pointed out Janet as she followed the others, she looked at Dawn, "Although on this occasion I would proscribe ice cream and a video."
"We should listen to her she is a doctor after all," put in Cassandra smiling, "We can pick up everything before we go back."
They grabbed a table while Jack went to order their food. Daniel looked over at Dawn, "So from the selection of books I helped you unpack I would guess you are studying Mythology and Ancient languages! What made you choose those subjects?"
"Giles. We met him when we moved to Sunnydale, he was the high school librarian, Buffy and her friends use to hang out there all the time and occasionally he would come to dinner, Buffy and I think he may have dated our mum a couple of times... Anyway when he moved to Sunnydale he brought all these old books with him, at first he wouldn't let me touch them thinking I'd damage them but as I got older that changed one time just after mum died Buffy had to go somewhere so she dropped me off at Giles. He doesn't have a TV so I started looking through his books, no one was more surprised than me to find that I seem to have a natural talent for ancient languages and I've always been interested in mythology," explained Dawn.
"This Giles, where did he get all those books he lent you, some are quite rare?" asked Daniel.
"He brought most of them from England I think! He was a curator at some museum there. Luckily, he took most of his books with him before Sunnydale got sucked into the ground."
"Really, what museum? I may know him," asked Daniel curiously.
"It never came up, I can ask him next time I talk to him, as I said his full name is Rupert Giles," explained Dawn.
"Hmmm that name sounds familiar," mused Daniel.
Dawn turned to Cassandra who sat next to her, "So what are you studying?" she asked.
"I'm interested in Astrophysics, PennState has some of the best Professors in the country," Cassandra said with more than a little enthusiasm.
"Eww too much like maths for me, you should meet my friend Willow she's great at maths and computers. I'll introduce you to her, she's promised to visit soon," said Dawn.
"That would be great. It would be nice to talk to someone other than Sam about my favourite subject."
"Sam?" frowned Dawn.
"Yeah Major Samantha Carter she's an astrophysicist back home, she helped me a lot," explained Cassandra, she smirked over at her mother, "Although I think mum would have preferred me to become a doctor!"
"Cassie dear, yes it would have been nice to see you become a doctor but as I've told you many times, it's your life and as long as you're happy I'll be happy," Janet told her daughter taking her hand as Jack place the tray of food on the table.
Cassandra looked around at the smiling faces, "Mum you're grossing me out," everyone laughed.
Dawn leaned over and stage whispered in Cassandra's ear, "That's part of mother training 101, 'How to gross out your daughter'." Cassandra giggled.
Janet gave the two young women her 'mum' look, "I can see you two are going to be a bad influence on each other!" she said shaking her head. Both girls just giggled as they picked up their burgers.
After their meal, they stopped at the nearest Uni Mart store to pick up items to fill their mini fridge as well as a couple of videos for their ice cream and video night.
After putting the food away, Cassandra rose to look at the only mother she could remember. She had found that as the years passed that she could no longer picture her birth mother's face, at first she had cried herself to sleep but as the years had gone by the pain had eased, she was still sad but no longer cried. She had tears in her eyes, this was the part she had feared most, her mother leaving, she flew into her mum's arms hugging her tight.
Janet held her daughter gently stroking her hair, "Don't cry dear, Sam and I are only a phone call away and you have Dawn here with you."
Cassandra gently pulled out of her mother's arms, smiling wanly, "I know... I'll miss you and Sam you have both done so much for me," she wiped her eyes then turned to Jack and Daniel hugging them both, "I'll miss both of you as well, give my love to Teal'c."
Jack looked a little embarrassed at the idea of passing on Cassandra's message to the large Jaffa, "Ah I'll hmm do that," he told her.
Janet smiled at Jack before turning to Cassandra, "Don't worry I'll tell him. I'll phone you from DC tomorrow night, see how you got on with your first day of classes."
"Okay, you three should go before I start crying," Cassandra said moving to open the door.
As Jack and Daniel passed her the Colonel reach out and ruffled Cassandra's hair, "See you Cassie," he smiled, "Bye Dawn."
"Bye Jack, Daniel. Don't worry I'll look after her Janet, it was nice meeting you," Dawn said.
Cassandra quickly hugged her mum again, "Bye mum, talk to you tomorrow," she told her.
"Everything will be alright, you'll see," Janet reassured Cassandra as she left the room.
Cassandra closed the door and turned to Dawn who stood by her desk unsure what to do, "So ice cream?"
Dawn smiled, "Ice cream," she nodded, "Which video do you wanna watch first?"
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Watchful Security (Watcher Headquarters) Cleveland
Buffy pushed the door open and entered the lobby waving to the receptionist before walking down the corridor to her office she stopped at Amanda's desk, who doubled as her secretary as well as a slayer; "Everything okay?" she asked.
"Ah yeah we got a call from Jim MacLean, he got back to Bombay with Chandi and Carma safely, they are going to stay in Bombay for a few weeks while Jim finishes setting up his network then he said he'd leave Chandi with a friend he said would make a good watcher while he and Carma travel around as sort of a roving slayer. Oh and Manda just got in, I assigned Vi to start her training and there are three messages on your desk," Amanda reported.
"Okay, give the details on India to Willow and Tara to checkout. Can you have Vi send Manda to my office I have something for her to do, she'll be going out to join Kennedy," Buffy told her.
"Don't tell me... Dawn found out about Kennedy and you want Manda there because Dawn won't know her!" giggled Amanda.
"Yeah, yeah so I can't fool Dawn," Buffy waved her arms in the air as she pushed her door open.
Faith got up from the desk she routinely shared with Buffy, and walked around to greet her girlfriend giving her a deep passionate kiss and caressing the blonde's breast lightly, taking the other senior slayer's breath away. She released Buffy and grabbed her leather jacket by the door, "Bye B, see you in about a week."
Buffy's arm snapped out grabbing Faith's upper arm, "Wait, what do you mean, 'see you in a week'?"
Faith smirked at the blonde, "Aleksandra called again, that master vampire in St. Petersburg is proving a bigger problem than she first thought, so I thought I'd take Toku to give her some field time," she explained with a smirk knowing what the kiss had done to the other slayer.
Buffy's eyes narrowed dangerously, "You bitch you did that on purpose," she accused touching her lips.
"Of course B, so you'd have something to remember me by and want to return the favour when I get back," Faith told her opening the door.
"Oh I'll remember and I'll most definitely pay you back," Buffy said between clenched teeth. "Amanda see if Willow and Tara can come to my office," she shouted as she slammed the reinforced door, courtesy of Xander after Buffy had destroyed the previous two, in frustration.
Sitting at her desk, she looked over her messages, nothing that could not wait. She turned to the chart on the wall, listing all the slayers and watchers and their locations around the world, she noticed that Faith had wrote St. Petersburg next to hers and Toku's names, that left only Amanda, Vi and Manda as back up on the Hellmouth. She let out a sigh as she studied all the names, only 15 of the slayers that had been with her in Sunnydale were still around. 'We have to find a way of keeping everyone alive,' she thought.
Buffy was brought out of her musing when an almost timid knock came on her door, "Come in Manda," she called out guessing who was at the door when she sensed a second slayer on the other side.
Manda stepped in and closed the door, she was quite small only an inch or so taller than Buffy herself, the senior slayer could sense the young girl's nervousness, she crossed the room a warm smile on her face, "Hi I'm Buffy... ah duh," she laughed, "Of course you know that. I'm pleased to meet you Manda."
"Pleased to meet you ma'am," Manda said quietly blushing slightly.
"Please call me Buffy, ma'am makes me sound old! I maybe the oldest slayer but I'm only 24. So how are you settling in?"
Buffy indicated for Manda to sit in one of the easy chairs when she took one herself.
"Yes ma...Buffy, I have never had so much. At home I was always hungry, poppa did his best but there was never enough to go around... I-I think I will like it here!" Manda said smiling slightly.
"Good but you know as a slayer you will have to get use to moving to wherever you are most needed, of course if you do not wish to go no one will force you," Buffy explained.
"I am happy to go wherever you wish, god has made me a slayer, I will fight and slay whoever or whatever he needs."
"I'm glad to hear that, Amanda tells me that she assigned Vi as your teacher, but if you don't mind I'd like to change that!"
"Whatever you wish Buffy," nodded Manda a little less shyly.
"Well I'd like you to go to stay with Kennedy, as you may know my sister is attending PennState. What I am about to tell you must not be repeated to anyone, it is very important."
"I will keep anything you tell me secret."
"Good. My sister is not like other women she is the Key... Her blood has the ability to destroy the barriers that stop all the dimensions from merging together. Giles, mine and Faith's watcher, feels that if anything happened to her that things could get unpleasant. So we sent Kennedy to keep her safe, but because Dawn knows her I would like you to go and help," Buffy told the youngest slayer.
"Yes when do you wish me to go?"
"Amanda will arrange a ride to the bus station where you can get a bus to the college; Kennedy will meet you at the other end okay?"
Manda rose from her chair, "I will pack my things," she smiled.
Buffy led her to the door, opening it just as Willow was about to knock, "Hi Will," she smiled at her friend. "Amanda can you sort out a ride for Manda to the bus station!"
"Sure Buffy," Amanda said picking up the phone.
"I'll see you again soon Manda, good luck. Will, Tara come in," Buffy said opening the door wide.
Willow and Tara both smiled at their friend as they took easy chairs, "So what's up Buff," asked the redhead.
Buffy closed the door and retook her seat, "Well we met Dawn's new roommate, she seems nice enough but her mother is in the air force. There were two men with her and her daughter both also work for the air force only one is an archaeologist, I want you to check them out, send a copy of everything you find to Kennedy. It may be perfectly legit but let's not take any chances." Buffy handed Willow a piece of paper, "Xand and I wrote down everything we got on them," she explained.
Willow nodded, "You got it," she said taking the paper. "So where are you sending Manda? Don't you want to give her some time to get use to being a slayer?"
"I'm sending her to help Kennedy; she is the only slayer Dawn hasn't met..." Buffy saw Willow frown, "Okay, so she found out about Kennedy, it was a long shot anyway; we all know how she has a way of finding out things. After all that's why Giles suggested training her as a watcher."
"Okay we'll get straight on it," said Tara getting up.
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After finishing a rather large tub of ice cream and watching the videos Dawn and Cassandra got changed for bed and lay talking for awhile.
"So what does your dad do?" asked Cassandra.
"The last I heard he was a vice-president for some retail company," Dawn answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
"I take it you don't get along with your dad?"
"No, the first couple of years after Buffy and I moved to Sunnydale we saw him quite a lot but then he moved to Spain with his 23 year old secretary," Dawn explained, Cassandra could hear the contempt in her voice. "I got the occasional letter from him but he didn't even call when mum went into hospital so I stopped writing..." she sighed, "I don't want to talk about him. So what about your dad what does he do?"
"I don't have one... he died along with the rest of my family when I was 12... They were missionaries in central America, some sort of virus..." she repeated the semi-lie she had been telling ever since coming to Earth, I was the only survivor, mum told me somehow I was immune. As I had no living relatives and she knew my parents she adopted me," Cassandra said.
"Sorry Cassie didn't mean to upset you," Dawn said sadly.
Cassandra smiled, "That's okay, I don't have a dad but I do have two mums, sort of anyway."
"What do you mean?" frowned Dawn.
"Ah you hafta promise not to tell anyone else," said Cassandra.
"Of course, I know how to keep a secret," Dawn reassured her friend.
"Okay, Sam and mum are together... if you know what I mean?"
"Oh is that all, Buffy's gay as well, so is her best friend, Willow," smiled Dawn before frowning, "Why is it so secret?"
"Ah it's not that, it's just because they are both in the military. Mum explained it to me as 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell', apparently anyone in the armed forces who thinks someone else is gay is not supposed to ask about it or tell anyone else about their own sexuality or something like that!"
"Oh I see... what a stupid rule," said Dawn.
"Yeah total agreement," nodded Cassandra.
"I think we should get some sleep now, we both have a long day tomorrow," suggested Dawn yawning slightly.
"Yeah," said Cassandra seemly catching Dawn's yawn as she found herself yawning along with her friend. "Night Dawn," she said as she turned off the table lamp between them.
"Night Cassie."
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Cleveland Monday morning
Willow walked up to Amanda's desk, "Morning Amanda, Buffy available?" she asked.
Amanda looked up smiling, "Hi, yeah we got back from the gym about twenty minutes ago."
Willow nodded, "Is that where you got the bruise or did Andrew get a little ruff last night?" she said pointing at the light discolouring on the slayer's cheek.
Amanda laughed, "No Buffy hits a lot harder and if Andrew ever hit me like that I'd snap him like a twig... ah not that he would he's far to sensitive," she mused before shaking herself out of her thoughts when she saw Willow giving her an amused smile. "Ah no it was from patrol last night, Vi and I found a small clan of Fariss demons, one got in a lucky punch," she explained.
"Oh okay, see you later," the redhead smiled as she knocked on the door and entered Buffy's office.
Buffy looked up from a report she had received from Sam Zabuto, Rona and Shannon's watcher, who were investigating some disturbing vampire activity in Seattle and the good news that he had discovered another potential, who had escaped the First's attack only by being on the streets. He reported that he had persuaded the 15 year old, called Janet, to return with him and his slayers when the situation in Seattle had been resolved. He felt that was best as the girl was wary of strangers but for some reason the ancient watcher could not understand, had attached herself to Shannon. Buffy made a note to contact Sam and suggest he have Shannon start Janet's training, if the watcher had not already!
"Hi Will, what's up?" she asked smiling at her friend.
"I got that information on Cassandra Fraiser and her friends," said Willow taking a seat on the other side of the desk and sliding a folder to Buffy.
"So what did you find out?" she asked opening the folder.
"Well for a start Cassandra does not seem to have any real records before she was 12 years old when she was adopted by Doctor Janet Frasier. The record before that are quite good but false..."
"How do you figure?"
"Buffy, over the last few years I've done enough fake records to spot one when I see it," she laughed a little. "The records say she is Canadian and her family died of a mysterious virus only there is no reports anywhere in the newspapers or TV of any deaths around that time, plus her school records for some reason were security protected, it took me three hours to hack it. Her early records show that while her maths and science grades were quite high for her age, her English was that of a first grader! And she only had vague knowledge of things that a girl of her age would most likely have had an interest in."
"So she appears out of nowhere 6 years ago?" surmised Buffy looking up, "The main question now is, is it a coincidence that she is now Dawn's roommate or are the Initiative after her?"
"I don't think there is anything sinister and the people with Cassandra yesterday don't appear to be anything to do with the Initiative but a unit called Stargate Command, or SGC for short based in NORAD," explained Willow handing over a second file and opening one herself.
"Hacking into the SGC was even harder than Cassandra's files; in the end I had to use magick, I managed to get the personnel files on Doctor Fraiser, Colonel O'Neill and Doctor Jackson. The group they belong to is, on the surfaces, a Deep Space tracking team. But the little I've found so far goes on about an ancient artefact that has the ability to transfer someone from here to anywhere in the galaxy that also has a similar artefact, they refer to it as a Stargate, which would at least account for the name."
"Well that would account for the archaeologist being attached to the air force!" mused Buffy.
"Ah yeah I guess. There is nothing particular unusual about Doctor Fraiser's record. She's been a doctor for about 16 years, just after qualifying she joined the air force where she met her husband Robert, they married a year later, divorcing 8 years ago because he couldn't handle his wife's career advancing quicker than his. Her speciality is exotic diseases."
"What about the others?" asked Buffy.
"Well Colonel Jonathan O'Neill, Jack to friends, is career military, he has special ops training in covert operations/infiltration, special weapons and tactics, demolition, chemical weapons, and is a field expedience specialist. He retired in 96 after his only child Charlie accidentally shot himself with his father's gun; he was divorced a few months later. He was brought out of retirement that year for a top secret operation, strangely after the mission was over he went back into retirement but at the end of 97 he come back again to head up a team codenamed SG-1. One thing that I noted in his file is: He possesses a sharp, sarcastic sense of humour, and is not above taunting an enemy in the heat of battle, or while in captivity." Willow smirked, "Remind you of anyone in this room!" she laughed at the look Buffy was sending her way.
"What about the archaeologist Daniel Jackson?"
"He has a very strange file. Born July 8 1967 to Clare and Melburn, who he saw killed in an accident at the Manhattan Museum of Art when a stone column fell on them. He has PhD's in Anthropology and Linguistics. Up until 96, he was regarded as a nut, publishing papers on the pyramids, theorising that they are landing sites for spaceships, after being laughed off stage that year he disappeared until he resurfaced at the end of 97, according to the file he spent that time somewhere called Abydos! The strangest thing is that according to the file he died of radiation poisoning last year and reappeared only a month ago..."
"Magick," interrupted Buffy.
"What?" frowned Willow.
"Was he brought back by magick like you did me?"
Willow scanned her copy of the file quickly to be sure, she shook her head, "It doesn't say but I somehow doubt it, aside from myself and Tara there is only half a dozen others that have that sort of power, and we've met them all, they would have mentioned something like that... Well except Ethan Rayne and somehow I can't see him doing something like that!"
"Well magicks are yours and Tara's area," mused Buffy staring into space, she shook herself, "Thanks Will, can you send copies of what you found to Giles, as well as Kennedy, he might have some clue about this Stargate," she asked.
"Of course Buffy," smiled Willow getting up, "Oh Tara wanted me to invite you to dinner tonight, what with Faith being in Russia and Dawn away at college."
"Thanks Will I'll do a quick patrol with Vi and be there about 8.30, ok."
"Right, see you later. I'll try and see if I can get anymore info on the Stargate," the redhead said opening the door.
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Stargate Command Cheyenne Mountain – Same time
General Hammond sat behind his desk reading one of the many reports that as CO required his authorisation when there was a knock on the door, "Come," he ordered looking up.
Major Carter entered, the anxious look telling him something was wrong, "Sir we've had a security breach of our computer system," she reported.
"What! How bad?"
"Well they managed to obtain general information on the SGC as well as some personnel files," explained the Major.
"Who's files?"
"Colonel O'Neill's, Daniel's and Janet's. They also obtained a copy of Cassie's doctored files but not the real one," Carter told him.
"Have they been located yet?"
"No sir and as it stands at the moment they are unlikely to, all we got is their general location, somewhere in the US, east of Chicago and north of Washington, whoever they are they are the best I have ever seen. They got past security systems in a few hours that the best programmers in the country assured us would be impossible as it incorporated alien technology."
General Hammond could detect more than a passing respect for this criminal, "Very well Major keep me informed and see if you can do anything to protect our more sensitive files."
"Yes sir," replied Carter before turning and leaving the office.
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