Chapter Four

The One Called Buffy

Dr. Elizabeth Weir stood in the embarkation room, staring at the shimmering blue wormhole expectantly. When she watched Ford, McKay and Teyla enter unharmed she breathed a small sigh of relief. Next came Sheppard, and he too looked to be alright. What she hadn't been expecting was for a fifth person to step through the gate. She raised a questioning eyebrow at the Major as the small figured girl looked around curiously at her surroundings.

"Well, you see," Sheppard started, "there was a little bit of a problem."

Elizabeth sighed in exasperation. "Why am I not surprised?"

Sheppard just gave her an innocent look, and she looked once more at the girl. She had long hair that reached half way down her back, and bright green eyes that were focused on nothing in particular as she tried to take everything in. Elizabeth couldn't help but wondering what the hell was going on, but she thought it best they move somewhere they could all talk before she started her barrage of questions.

"Why don't we head over to the debriefing room, you can explain everything to me there." She said to the team.

Once in the room she closed the door and gestured for them to sit down. She turned to the girl who had remained quiet this entire time. "I'm, Elizabeth Weir." She introduced herself. The girl looked at her blankly.

"Can she talk?" Elizabeth mouthed to Sheppard when the girl looked away.

"I think she's in shock right now." He replied.

"What happened!?" Elizabeth demanded.

"Well, everything was going fine, up until this morning." He began. "And then things got ugly. I myself am not completely sure what happened, exactly. But when I woke up this morning I noticed a group of people starting to gather around Shonna's home. When I asked one of them what was going on they told me that she was 'evil'."

Elizabeth looked at the girl, who had seemed to come to life a little bit more at the telling of the story and she could see anger burning in the girl's eyes. She noted that, aside from the fierce look on her face, she seemed pretty harmless. But, she knew that looks could be deceiving. So, why would they bring her back here? Instead of asking more questions, Elizabeth allowed John to continue with his explanation.

"The thing is," he continued, "they claimed to know this because of some dream! And them they took our weapons and led us, along with her, to the gate. They said they were going to send her to some uninhabitable planet, so I suggested that she come with us."

"And they let her?" Elizabeth asked.

"Yeah, I guess they didn't really care where she went, as long as it wasn't there." He explained.

Elizabeth turned to the girl. "Are your people especially superstitious?" She asked, wondering why an entire village would turn on what was, essentially, their leader on account of one dream.

"No." She said, her voice icy. "I guess they used to be, a long time ago. But they abandoned those beliefs a long time ago."

"So, why would they do this?" Elizabeth asked.

"I don't know!" She snapped. Elizabeth could hear the frustration in her voice. "For the past couple of years these people were all that I had. I liked most of them, some not so much. But I never thought that any of them would do this, they hadn't shown any signs of distrust towards me until this morning."

"Alright, well, I don't see why you couldn't stay here." Elizabeth said, deciding that she obviously couldn't send her back to her own planet, and she wasn't about to maroon the girl on some other one. "I'll have Lt. Ford show you around and help you get settled in. The rest of you are dismissed as well." When they got up to leave, she spoke again.

"Except for you, Major." She said.

He paused and then walked back to the table where she was standing. Elizabeth waited for everyone to clear the room before she spoke again.

"Are you sure she can be trusted?" She asked him.

"From what I've seen, she seems harmless, and I wasn't about to let them kill her just because of some dream they had."

"I know." She said. "But I'm keeping an eye on her none the less."

"Understandable." He said.

---

Lt. Aiden Ford sat down beside Shonna on her bed in her newly picked out quarters. She hadn't said much to him, he could tell that she was still trying to comprehend what was going on. Her world had shifted in such a short amount of time. This was a girl who didn't know anything else besides what she had lived with for the past couple of years. But now, she was alone, on a strange planet, the only people she knew were four explorers that she had only just met days before.

He felt bad for her, but didn't know what to say. He watched as she started to stare off into space, he supposed she was assessing her situation and trying to figure out what she should do next. It couldn't be an easy thing to go through.

"Shonna?" He asked finally, after moments of completely stillness.

"That's not my name." She said quietly, clenching her jaw.

"I'm sorry?"

"That's not my name." She repeated, a little louder and more clearly. "It's the name that they gave me." She said in a hurt tone.

"Okay," He said, a little unsure, "Then what do you want us to call you?"

She closed her eyes, as if in an attempt to retrieve her real name out of nowhere. "I-I don't know." She said finally.

As she said that Rodney walked through the door. "There you are." He said, looking at them both.

"Did you need something?" Ford asked him.

"No, I was just wondering where you guys went." He said.

"That bored, are you?"

"Unfortunately," He said with a serious look on his face, "yes."

"Then pull up a bed," Ford instructed, "Shonna has just decided she doesn't want to be called that anymore."

Shonna looked at him and saw he had a slightly puzzled look on his face.

"Then what do you want to be called?" He asked her.

She opened her mouth to answer but no words came out as suddenly she was flooded with a string of images flashing through her mind like lightning bolts. They went by so quickly she could hardly comprehend what she was seeing. Some were easier to decipher than others however as she saw birth certificate, but the image was gone before she could read the name. Then she saw a frosted cake with five colorful candles and a name written in bright frosting displayed on it. She could make out B before the fuzzy image left her. Then there was a book, a thin, hardbound book with the words 'Hemery High School' displayed on the front. The image changed, the book was opened. Numerous short messages filled its pages, many of them beginning with the word 'Buffy,' a name, she thought. The image was gone. A door flashed in from of her. Another flash and it was opened. She saw a bed, she saw a window, but then she saw another book. It was smaller this time. Another flash and it too was opened. The word 'Diary' was written a curly golden font on the front page. Below it was a line, and written on it was the same name that she had seen before. Another flash and she was in a cemetery. It was so familiar, and yet not. And then she was standing, still in the same cemetery, before a tombstone. She felt her self shiver as she read the words that were written on it.

And then she returned to reality. And the first thing that came out of her mouth was "Buffy."

"Excuse me?" McKay asked, a confused look on his face.

"That's my name." She explained.

"That's what you want to be called?" McKay asked in surprise. "Oh come on, I'm sure you could think of something better."

"No." She said, her voice firm, "That's my name."

And for the first time that day they saw a small smile appear on her face. She looked a little surprised herself, but there was a little bit of relief as well.

"I remember." She said, as much to herself as the both of them. "I don't know how. It just came to me."

She thought for a minute about what she had just seen. So many fractured moments, so many things she couldn't understand, so many things about it that she was unsure of, but there was one thing that she knew for certain, her own name. And for the first time in a very long time, she had hope that she would be able to find out the rest.

Author's Note: Sorry for the short chapter and for how long it's taking me to update, but I'm working on the next chapter right now and I'm hoping to have it up in a couple of weeks, of course, reviews will help to hurry me up ;)