Chapter 9

AN: Okay, in this chapter (probably another short one) we'll see a few familiar faces (well … one familiar face, at least) and towards the end things in the next chapter we will skip ahead to the end of Season 3 – again, I am asking you to presume that, for the most part, things went as per canon during that skip (any changes that come to mind will be denoted then).

(9 weeks later – Fort Benning, Georgia)

In all, of the one hundred and twenty men who had started Ranger School, only fifty-six had finished, a number that, while seemingly depressing, was actually a little above par for the course – the surprising thing, though, was that of the five women who had started, four of them had finished, and that's only because the fifth one had blown out her knee in week seven, taking a nasty spill down a muddy hill. Of anything else that could be said, Adam had to admit that the girls … no, the women, he corrected himself, that had been chosen were not only tough, but they were double-tough. The only odd thing that could be said about all four of them, though, was that they all seemed to either privately or openly dote on his son, whom had also finished the course – this made Adam want to puff his chest out and say 'that's my boy', but it also brought up some contention between the other Senior Officers of the base. Some said that Alex had been allowed to finish because he was his son, others said that the kid had no respect for Rangers, given that he wore every other shirt in the military (Navy, Air Force, Recon and such) than either Army or Rangers – Adam, however, knew better.

Even as the ceremony to give the men their Ranger flash and appropriate items finished, Adam finished his own private ceremony with the women, his son watching, "Ladies, I have to say that I am truly impressed … and many of my fellow Senior Officers are also VERY impressed with your performance. Now, while none of this is official, there is some talk of allowing women into the Ranger program – if at such time that is allowed, your achievements will become official and you will all take your places in history." All four women, in dress greens, saluted him as one and he nodded before turning to Alex, "Son … I'm impressed."

Alex, for his part, only raised a single eyebrow, as if to say 'Indeed'.

Marcia smiled slightly at this even as she heard Sergeant Sonja Gomez, a short, surprisingly muscular and hardened woman from Arizona, snicker at the look – Xander had butted heads with Sonja almost from day one, generally about him being a 'young pup', and things had finally come to a head before week three when, in the sand pits, both Sonja and Xander faced off. The fight had been long, arduous and completely one-sided as Xander toyed with Sonja the entire time – the sergeant finally made the mistake of letting her anger get the best of her and Xander made her pay the price for it by choking her out. Later, hen Sonja woke up, the animosity seemed to be gone and the pair got along splendidly.

"You completed a course that more than half of the other men did not, and you did so without any kind of formal training – that said, if you join the Marines, I'll disown you." Adam's comment had the desired effect of getting the women behind him to giggle and laugh slightly even as his son gave him a look that clearly said 'don't go there'. When the giggles and glare died down, Adam went on, "Officially, none of this has happened, son, and as of tomorrow you are going back to Sunnydale where you will not speak about anything that has happened here. Are we clear?"

Marcia raised an eyebrow at Xander's perfectly cool, "Crystal, Colonel." She had noticed that the tension between father and son had diminished greatly over the past two months, but there was still some tension there even as the male ceremonies broke up.

Adam nodded, "Good – all of you, dismissed. Orders will be given out at 1800 tonight." With that, they all left for the barracks they had been assigned to – the women had a small, almost tiny, hut-like building to themselves, but Alex had been bunked in with the other male recruits, which had caused some tension at first, but later that tension had been removed after a short, yet brutal fight between Alex and another recruit. Both had been reprimanded over their actions, but while the young Second Lieutenant, one Riley Finn, had been adamant that he had done nothing more than teach a 'snot-nosed punk' a lesson, the fact remained that Finn was still in the program only because four other recruits had kept Alex from breaking both of his legs – Finn was to be watched from now on, carefully.

(Later – Barracks 2)

"Lieutenant, what are the chances of us actually getting accreditation for completing the school?" The woman asking was Corporal Theresa Maloney, a 'fine lass of Irish blood', as she had told them early on, born and raised in Boston that stood five feet seven inches tall, her red hair cropped closely (even though women did not have to do so due to mil-spec rules), was built like a swimmer and had an abundance of freckles on her face and arms, which had earned her the name 'Spots' among the women.

Marcia just shrugged at the question as she continued to pack her gear away, "Honestly, Spots, I don't know – the Colonel has treated us right so far, and I think he's going to do everything in his power to get us that credit. Can't ask for more than that, though – he's only male, you realize."

A sharp snort came from the next bunk over from Sergeant Lilly Wood, a tall woman from Brooklyn – her hair was also cut short, though at an inch all around, and her chocolate skin contrasted nicely with the white of her eyes and teeth as she spoke up, "Normally I'd agree, LT, but with his kid in the mix, I think the Colonel is going to make sure we get the credit we deserve." It was common knowledge among the group that Lilly and Xander had a mutual and healthy respect for one another, namely because she was the one woman in the group that had taken Xander to the mat, hard and repeatedly, in the course of their training. Ever since her oldest sister had been murdered on the subway, Lilly had pushed herself harder than anyone, and they all respected that.

"And if not the Colonel, then Al will," chipped in the final member of the quartet, Grace Ryu, an Asian woman born and raised in San Francisco. She and her twin had both been selected for the Ranger training trial, but Dani, short for Danielle, had blown her knee out a few weeks previous and was currently in rehab after surgery. Grace stood at a petite five feet tall barefoot and had the grace and body of a dancer, but also held two fifth-degree black belts in Judo and Okinawan-style Karate, not to mention had a healthy repertoire of other styles under her belt. The one thing that Grace refused to do was to call Xander 'Xander', she always called him 'Al' and Dani had always called him 'Lex'. "He is an honorable person." Grace was also a women of few words, while Dani had been almost impossible, outside of an op, to keep quiet.

Marcia nodded as the others chuckled, "That he is. I wonder what he's doing right now?"

"Defending our honor?" "Kicking ass." "Packing his clothes." All came at once and then the laughter began again.

(Two hours later - Barracks 1)

"Full House, boys – gimme my money." Groans surrounded him as the impromptu game of poker came to a close – Xander had made more money off of the guys in the barracks in the past few hours than he'd made off of the girls in the previous weeks. Sure, he'd done alright against the girls, but one night Lilly had called for a game of strip poker and he'd left with only his boxers on, namely due to Marcia having an ounce of pity for him (though from what Grace said, next time they played, Marcia's voice wouldn't hold much weight). Other than that, life was good.

They'd turned in their linens and cleaned the barracks top to bottom in a little under an hour after graduating the school and were marking time until orders were given out, which was in another hour – so far things had been relatively quiet, but as Xander's luck would have it, that quiet was broken by a voice over his left shoulder, "Don't look so smug, Harris. Just because you're the Colonel's son doesn't mean you're such hot shit."

"Do you WANT to get busted in the chops and down to a no-rank, piss-ant Private again, Finn?" The snickers around the barracks told Finn that not only did the other Rangers not take him seriously, but that they also had a serious respect for Harris, even beyond the fact that the kid was his their CO's son – he'd humped it through the course with them with no special treatment, him or the women with him, and they'd all passed outside of that one who blew out her knee. "And you're right, Cornbread – the Colonel doesn't have a damned thing to do with me being as good as I am." Smug bastard.

Xander went on to ignore Finn even as he counted up his winnings – Finn had made several VERY inappropriate remarks about the women, his girls as he called them (though both Lilly and Sonja both were adamant that there was nothing 'girlish' about them), and Xander had done what, at the time, seemed appropriate by beating the unholy hell out of Finn. Sure, it had caused a few grips among the men, and had gotten them both into more than a little trouble, but the Sergeants basically looked the other way after what Finn had said and insinuated had gotten around to their ears – if the rumors were true, Riley was going to have to take sensitivity training soon.

Two hours later they were all lined up and were awaiting their orders while he was leaning against the side of the SUV his father had been using – his 'older' girls, as he now took to thinking of them as a way to distinguish them from Willow et al, had all been assigned to the west coast, over by Monterey, a few hours north of Sunnydale, and this worried him greatly. The thought of his older girls being in Sunnydale, let alone that close, worried him because if they spoke with Buffy and Willow, all sorts of things about him could and would come out – this would not be good for him, especially if he came up in conversation.

"Alex, are you ready?" He looked over at his father, who was out of his dress greens at this point and nodded, "Good – we have a lot to discuss, especially about your cover story for when you get back to Sunnydale."

"Let me guess – never did anything here other than watch and talk and inform, never trained, this that and the other?"

Adam gave him a look, "Are you sure that guy who possessed you wasn't a spook?"

Xander just snorted, "No, Fly hated spooks more than he hated no-brain, nutless wonder officers. Speaking of which, how do we deal with Finn?"

(Hours later – Elsewhere)

Her head snot up from the bed it had been on, her lungs heaving as she gasped for breath – that had been one wicked dream, seeing that black girl getting her throat ripped out like that from those guys with the teeth.

"Dana? Are you alright, honey?" She looked over and saw her father standing in the doorway, looking concerned – ever since that terrorist had gotten her and the nuke in the same building, he'd been very overprotective.

"Sure, daddy, just a bad dream." With that, Dana Tasker forced herself back to sleep – she had the feeling, though, that sleep would be little and far between for the next long while.

AN: Okay, people, that's it for this chapter – one more to go, and it's probably going to be the longest of the bunch. What do you think? Reviews, please.