Part 3 Cultural exchange

Jack found himself pinned against the wall as he looked down in the
eyes of one very pissed off short young woman with a blond ponytail.
No matter how much he tried he couldn't move an inch. Maybe this
hadn't been such a good idea.

"Buffy."

It was the calm and understanding voice of the other short woman,
with the red hair. Willow, she was the witch he remembered. And maybe
now she was his liberator. "Not now, Will, I am busy."

"Don't kill him." Buffy gave her a questioning look. Her eyes
shimmered black for a moment. "Xander's my best friend. It's my
right to kill him."

Jack now seriously swallowed. She was the most powerful witch in the
world who would not hesitate to use or abuse it for those who she
loves. And Jack knew damn well how much she loved Xander. He saw
Buffy gazing at him, doubting and pouting, before she returned to
Willow again. "Can I play with him?" she asked begging.

Jack looked at Teal'c, who was standing as a statue behind the two
women. With nothing more than a groan he tried to communicate with
the Jaffa warrior. Teal'c responded with a single raise of his left
eye-brow. Was this the Jaffa way to teach him a lesson? He realized
he was at their mercy. Which of course they hadn't. He noticed that
chilling playful smirk on Willow's face as she granted Buffy her
wish. He wasn't entirely sure, but she seemed to chant something. Or
was it his own fear?

Now it was a good time to close your eyes and think of something
pleasant. Now it was time to think of the man you can always count on
when needed.

"Buffy," a male voice said. He blinked twice. The voice wasn't
Homer's. But it was close. It was coming from the young man in
question.

"No!" she yelled. "You are not going! You're not leaving us for some
secret military mission."

"I have no choice."

"I don't care." Jack felt her grip loosening as she turned her head
to the kid. "I need to know you're safe. That means you have to be
with us and not in some flying horse galaxy fighting blue, life
sucking foes all alone."

"Blue or white sucking foes, what's the difference?" Xander muttered.
Jack noticed how tired he was of this.

"Huh?"

"It's the Pegasus galaxy, Buffy. And I'm not alone. Could you please
let him go?"

"No."

"If you're not letting him go, I won't let you-" Jack saw him
thinking. "I, uhm, I-"

"You're not letting me what?" she asked while her eyes remained
deadly on his, despite Jack's hope.

"I gave Dawn driving lessons."

Within a blink of an eye Buffy was on Xander and Jack enjoyed the
freedom. "You did not."

"I did."

"Oh no. It's way too dangerous for her."

"Well, I had no choice. Better for her driving than me when she puts
a tazer on me."

Tazer? Jack wondered. Dawn tazered him? He couldn't remember that
from his visions. Oh well, apparently his words worked as Buffy
calmed down. "Thanks for your non-help," he said to Teal'c as he
rubbed his neck. "They almost killed me."

"They are mighty warriors, though I hardly doubt their true intent
was to kill you, O'Neill."

Buffy and Willow turned to Teal'c, their hands on their hips. "Then
you don't know us," Willow said, as she pointed at herself. "I flayed
a guy alive who had accidentally murdered my lover."

Jack saw that rare and dangerous look in the Jaffa's eyes as he
looked at them with the pride of a true warrior. "Her anger almost
destroyed the world," Buffy confirmed.

Oh, sweet god. Teal'c's pride increased. "That is a small price to
pay for the opportunity to see the fear and pain in the eyes of your
victim as he dies." He saw Buffy jerking her head towards him, her
eyes wide. Jack just shrugged.

Willow smiled as she looked at Buffy. "See?"

"Riiight," Xander quickly intervened as he wrapped his arms around
the two women. "Let us wait to get on the memory lane leading to a
black and veiny past." He turned them around, "After I have
convinced you that my life is not in danger in the future." Jack saw
the three walk away and he felt the pain of guilt in his guts when
the two women wrapped their own arms around him and leaned their
heads on his shoulder. He felt Daniel gazing at him from a distance.
Not only was he ripping Xander away from his best friends, he was
also ripping him away from the two most dangerous women in the world -
galaxy. He turned to Teal'c whose eyes were still shimmering with
pride as the Jaffa also watched them go. Dangerous but okay, he
thought to ease his mind. Buffy and Willow could deal with it.

"It's not fair. I threw that ball with twenty-five miles an hour
straight into the middle and still one pin was left standing,"
Buffy pouted as she threw her arms in the air. "Why can't I throw
harder?"

"The others believe that it would be unfair," Teal'c
explained. "You're not the only one who has to endure discomfort by
it."

She saw how the Jaffa settled himself in a ritual kind of way and the
man closed his eyes as he obviously concentrated. "What are you
doing?"

"I'll enter a superficial state of Kelnorim. It will prepare me
better for my next shot."

"Is that some form of meditation?"

"Indeed."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "And what about these shoes. They are gaudy.
Who on earth makes shoes like these?" she asked annoyed. "No!" she
cried as Faith cheered out loud after having made another strike.

Faith flopped in the seat next to the general. He looked into her
energized face. "I like this game," she exclaimed.

Jack smiled. "Might beat fishing," he agreed.

The poor general swallowed a little as he saw her licking her lips
and rubbing his chest a little. "But not sex, huh?"

A General couldn't budge by such rather straight forward innuendos
and he stood his ground as well as he could. No matter how hot the
messenger was. "Definitely not."

Her hand caressed his chest further and he didn't know what to say as
her eyes ravished his body, following every curvature of his official
uniform, until they stopped with his own pair. "X described his first
time in detail?" she asked, her eyes twinkling. He swallowed. Oh,
yes, the kid did.

"So, this wormhole curved the gravitation-field of a black hole
around itself like a magnification glass?" Willow asked. Ever since
she had heard about the ability of creating wormholes, two weeks ago,
she had been interested in the subject. Like everything science
involving the Stargate had grabbed her attention.

"Amazing, isn't it?"

"It's unbelievable." She rolled her eyes. "I-I mean, Einstein
predicted the possibility of gravitation lenses already in 1912 of
course, but to actually observe it in this way? With a black hole? I
mean, wow." Sam shared in her excitement as she beamed. "And the time-
dilation was what kept the wormhole open for so long?"

"Actually, once the link was established it was the energy from the
gravitation field that fed it, like a feedback loop."

"I would love to get my hands on the data. Would be great thesis for
my theoretical astronomy class."

"I'll be happy to show it to you." Willow squealed. Sam
laughed. "But, remember, it's all theoretical. You can't publish the
data."

Willow continued to beam. "Yes, of course." She leaned a little
closer as she looked at Sam. Her smile became little more
seductive. "I'm looking forward working with the expert on wormhole
theory. I read your book. It's amazing you could find the time to
write it with your other obligations," she complimented Sam.

Rya'c, son of Teal'c, and his wife Kar'yn had just arrived from
his 'honeymoon', shim'owa, as Jack had invited them for this
important 'cultural exchange'. Bra'Tac had told Rya'c that the man
with the eye-patch was an honorable warrior. As a fellow young male
warrior he was interested to meet O'Neill's apprentice.

"And this is earth's finest delicacy. It's a delicious, spongy,
golden cake filled with the sweetest creamy white substance you can
imagine. It's called a Twinkie and you eat it like this."

Xander stuffed the whole thing into his mouth and he closed his eyes
in delight as his cheeks were stretched to its limits as he enjoyed
its content. "Mmm."

Then he offered them both one. "You try." Both Ry'ac and Bra'Tac
exchanged a look.

Giles polished his glasses at all the antics and looked slightly
embarrassed at Daniel. Together with Dawn they had been talking about
the various implications of Goa'ulds and demons on the languages of
the Ancient Egypt. Daniel had also shown remarkable interest in the
Slayer and her history. In particular he was interested in the
Scythe, the mystical weapon used for the empowering spell. "I believe
it's my turn."

Daniel and Dawn nodded. Giles sighed deeply before he aimed his shot
and rolled his first strike. He silently and proudly glanced at the
score as he enjoyed Buffy's cry, turned around and saw Daniel gone.
He frowned and looked at Dawn who'd arrived for her own shot. "Oh, he
needed to go to the restroom," she explained curtly.

"Oh, right. Of course."

He saw Dawn taking aim and making her own strike. She squeaked and
did the rather slow Dawn dance prompting Xander to squirm. Again
Giles felt the need to polish his glasses.

"Mr Giles," a rather big middle aged man called his name with a
charming smile as he offered him his hand. By the uniform and the
charismatic attitude Giles could deduce who the man was. "General
Hammond, I presume?"

The man nodded. "Can I have a word with you?"

The bowling fun continued and Buffy sat in her chair pouting when she
suddenly noticed how happy everybody else was. Bowling had been a
great idea she had to admit. Daniel, Dawn and Giles were chatting
about obscure languages. Xander and Faith and the big Jaffa guys had
quickly become friends like fellow warriors. Willow and Sam were
talking about the mysteries of the universe. It took her in the
moment, until she suddenly felt a hand squeezing her shoulder.
Without looking she knew it was Jack, who just like her, enjoyed the
same moment. She knew that he, just like she did, was grateful for
every second he could be with his family without needing to worry.
And for that reason she also knew that she could trust Xander in his
care.

After a while Jack spoke. "Leading them is a really big pain in the
ass, isn't it?"

Oh, yeah. "But also one of the most thankful ones."

Jack laughed. She looked at him, not understanding why the
humor. "You have learned that the hard way, huh?" he clarified.

She smiled and turned back to look at them without answering his
question. "So, how many times have you been brought back from the
dead?" she finally asked.

That was the moment that the base's alarm system began its ritual
with the sirens and the red lights as the room enveloped into
darkness.