Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters, situations or dialogue found in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel the Series, or Stargate SG-1. This is purely a work of fiction and no intent to defame or gain profit from this enterprise is intended.
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A/N: Hoo. This chapter kicked my butt. I had five pages written, got stuck for a week and a half, decided I hated everything I'd written, deleted it all and started over. The chapter title's from a Bowling for Soup song called "Ohio (Come Back to Texas)"
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There's Nothing Wrong with Ohio, Except the Snow and the Rain...
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"Are we there yet?" Daniel grinned. It had been a long drive from Wright Patterson, but he'd just spotted the sign welcoming them to Cleveland and figured it was a safe time to ask.
Jack apparently disagreed. "Daniel, if you ask that question again, I'm pulling over and strapping you to the roof."
"How much longer will it be, O'Neill?"
"Teal'c..."
"My butt's numb."
"Don't make me turn the car around, Summers. You don't get any slack just 'cause you're new." Buffy stuck her tongue out at O'Neill, making sure he saw her in the rearview mirror.
Sam winked at Daniel, who was seated to her left and smiled back. Riley was on Sam's right and Teal'c was sitting in the front passenger seat. Buffy and Dawn were seated ahead of them, with Buffy in position next to the door. Thank goodness for Suburbans–otherwise they'd all have gotten much friendlier during the three and a half hour trip to Cleveland.
Buffy peered out the window, frowning when she noticed that the sun had set. She elbowed Dawn, then pointed when her sister elbowed her back. Dawn frowned.
Daniel noticed. "What's going on?"
"It's getting dark. I hadn't counted on it taking so long to get here."
"Welcome to I-71. Home of the pothole. And the construction. Let us not forget the construction."
Daniel spoke before Jack could go off on another rant about the state of the interstate system. The last one had taken seventeen minutes. "Who cares if it's dark? It might make navigating more of a challenge, but I think Jack and Teal'c can handle it."
Damn. Buffy knew she'd forgotten to tell them something. She twisted in her seat to face Sam, Daniel and Riley. "Um, yeah, about that..." Riley groaned.
"Cleveland's the new Sunnydale," Dawn blurted, turning. "Okay, not in the sunshine most days of the year sense or the walking around without a coat in April sense..."
Buffy sat up straighter as Sam and Daniel sent her disbelieving looks. "More in the Hellmouth-y sense, actually. And it's not really Cleveland...I mean, everybody trains and lives in Cleveland, because that's where there the cheap, abandoned, easily converted warehouse space lives, but the hellmouth itself is in some small suburb that no one's ever heard of before..."
"Like Sunnydale."
Buffy nodded at Riley. "Exactly. Except I think they call it Erie. Because of the lake."
Riley groaned again and immediately began checking his pockets for wooden items that could be sharpened into stakes. He wasn't sure if zats and P-90s would work on vampires, but he knew that stakes did and wasn't about to take any chances.
"You've brought us to the freaking hellmouth?" O'Neill's face was red with anger.
"Yeah."
"Remind me to kick your ass later, Summers." Jack wasn't kidding. He hated going into a situation unprepared and this was a huge fucking hole in the lines of communication with the potential to put his friends at risk. He liked Buffy, but it was his job to make sure that something like this never happened again.
Buffy hid her smirk at the idea that O'Neill could take her down, since it was a serious situation and she knew she'd messed up. "I'm sorry, General O'Neill. Honestly, I forgot..."
"How the heck do you forget about a hellmouth?"
She shrugged. "Everyone I know knows about it and where it is, so when I said 'we should go to Cleveland,' I'm not used to having to add the explanation that it's the new demon Mecca, since everyone knows that already, and I just...forgot."
"Uh huh." Jack wasn't sure he bought her explanation.
"Actually, that's not outside the realm of possibility, sir. When I get together with other astrophysicists, we use shorthand and everyone knows what we're talking about, even if we haven't clearly defined all the terms beforehand..."
He tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. As soon as Carter entered the conversation, he'd known he wasn't going to win this argument, but that didn't mean he was happy about it. "Fine, Carter, but a gaggle of physicists don't just drop you off in vamp-land without any warning."
She smiled. "Well, generally, no, since we didn't know about vampires until a week ago, but we could blow you up accidentally."
"You don't need to sound quite so cheerful about that possibility, Carter."
"I'm just saying that it could happen, sir."
Teal'c turned in his seat abruptly as he saw motion in his peripheral vision. "Stop the vehicle, O'Neill."
Jack pulled over to the shoulder and stopped. They were next to a cemetery. "What's up, T?"
"I believe I saw two individuals being chased by a large group of people." He was already unbuckling his seatbelt. Buffy and Dawn had opened the door and were climbing out quickly.
"Where?" Teal'c pointed towards a large copse of trees on their right and Buffy took off at a run in that direction, Dawn following at a slower pace.
"Okay, I think that answers the physical fitness question..." Jack couldn't believe what he was seeing–Buffy was already at the trees, which were looked like they were about a mile from the road. Her sister was still running through the cemetery, vaulting headstones as she went, but definitely moving at a good clip.
Teal'c and Riley took off after the women–Teal'c armed with a P-90 and Riley with two pencils he'd found in his jacket pocket, feeling vaguely ridiculous.
"I guess we should follow them, sir?" Carter wasn't sure what to make of the expression on O'Neill's face–both Teal'c and Riley had run off without orders, a battle plan or an explanation and he didn't look at all happy, but he also seemed to be somewhat in awe of Buffy Summers's physical abilities. She guessed that hearing about it from the Joint Chiefs wasn't the same as seeing it for himself.
"I guess we should." O'Neill pulled the handgun from its holster at his side and checked the ammunition as Sam did the same for her weapon. Daniel grabbed Riley's abandoned P-90 and they ran towards the location where they'd last seen Buffy. She and Dawn were out of view and Teal'c and Riley were almost gone.
Carter spotted movement from the trees on the left. "Sir, they're being followed."
"Shit." They were. Six incredibly spry people were about twenty yards behind Teal'c and Riley and closing fast. He fired a warning shot. One of the people, a redheaded girl, turned abruptly and scanned the area, concentrating specifically on where he, Daniel and Carter were standing. "Okay, that's not good."
The redhead pointed directly at O'Neill and the six people changed directions and charged towards them. "Okay, that's really not good."
"Jack, are you sure they're vampires?"
"For crying out loud, Daniel, you couldn't have thought of that a minute ago?"
The group was about half a mile away now. It had been only seconds. Carter planted her feet and aimed at them, figuring that if they were human, they'd stop as soon as they perceived the threat. They didn't. "I think I can safely say they're not completely human, sir." Whether they were vampires, demons or slayers remained to be seen.
Daniel glanced around. They were out in the open. The cemetery was surrounded by trees, but at the rate those people were moving, Sam, Jack and Daniel would never get there in time for the trees to be useful as cover. "There's nowhere to hide, Jack."
"Terrific." The two men took flanking positions on either side of Carter, Daniel on the right and O'Neill to the left, slightly behind both of the younger SG-1 members.
The group stopped about fifteen feet from them. The redhead's forehead was bumpy, her eyes were bright yellow and she was displaying her fangs as she growled at them. Daniel took an involuntary step backwards.
"I'm gonna go with vampire on this one, Jack."
O'Neill immediately aimed and fired four times directly into the redhead's chest. She staggered but didn't fall. "Really, really not good."
Carter had aimed and was ready to pull the trigger at the redhead when one of the others, a brown-haired man wearing a studded leather jacket, AC/DC t-shirt, jeans and a mullet, launched himself at her before she could fire. They fell down to the ground, with Carter struggling as the vamp tried to attach himself to her throat. He had one hand under her chin and was lifting her head to extend her neck, kneeling on her thighs to keep her steady.
Daniel aimed the P-90 at the vampire. Jack put up a hand to stop him. "Hold your fire, Daniel! The bullets'll go right through that guy into Carter." Daniel sprayed the area in front of him instead, hitting four of the vamps. Three fell to the ground, groaning, but the fourth kept advancing towards them in full game face, growling.
Jack winced as Carter punched mullet-guy in the face, kicked him in the balls, and took off running, but was unable to see where she went, since the redhead landed a hard side kick to his right knee while he wasn't paying attention. He fell down on his right side, almost passing out from the pain. "Fuck!"
The redhead grabbed Jack's wrists while he was incapacitated and went for his throat. Jack managed to get a foothold on the vamp's torso with his left foot and kicked out, throwing her back a few feet. Before he could stand, she kicked him in the ribs and he felt something crack. A quick look over his shoulder told him that no one else was doing any better–mullet-guy had Carter trapped spread-eagled against one of the trees and the wounded Asian vamp had Daniel's shoulders pinned to the ground and was starting to bend over him.
Then, suddenly, O'Neill could breathe and was free. A bit covered in dust and having some difficulty breathing because of what he presumed were a couple of broken ribs, but fine otherwise. Teal'c was standing over him, holding a tree branch and looking extremely pleased with himself. "O'Neill."
"T." Jack had never been so happy to see someone in his life, except for Daniel that time when Ba'al was torturing him. Panting, he accepted Teal'c's hand up, then leaned on his friend to keep from putting weight on his knee. "Carter? Daniel?"
"They will be fine, O'Neill." The Jaffa seemed even more confident that usual, especially considering the state his friends had been in when Jack last spotted them.
"Vampires suck..." Before Jack could get another word out, something went flying through the air towards Carter and mullet-guy. It hit the guy in the chest and he disintegrated. Carter was bleeding from a cut on her forehead and was breathing heavily as color returned to her face, but she seemed otherwise unharmed.
"Gotcha!"
"Nice shot, slayer!" That accolade came from the peroxide blond man standing off to the side with Dawn Summers and Riley Finn.
A leather-clad, long haired brunette dropped the crossbow she'd been holding and the blond tossed her a double-bladed axe, which she began blithely using to chop off the heads of the vampires Daniel had downed. She grinned cheekily at the blond as the vamps exploded into dust and she wiped her hair out of her face. "It's all in the wrist."
Meanwhile, Daniel was sitting up gingerly as Buffy and the Asian vamp were fighting about three feet from him. He shook his head to clear it and attempted to stand. Suddenly dizzy, he dropped back down to the ground with a groan.
Riley was immediately at his side, placing one hand under his left armpit and the other on his elbow. "It's okay, Daniel. Take it easy," he said, guiding the dazed archeologist away from the fighting.
"Shouldn't someone help Buffy?"
Buffy was alternating punches and kicks, ducking the occasional blow from the vamp. Riley watched for a minute, then shook his head. "She's okay. If we try to help, we'll just get in the way." Besides, he knew that Daniel needed his support and that Dawn, Faith or even Spike would help Buffy out if she got into trouble.
"Oof." Buffy landed on her back after the vamp tossed her over his shoulder.
"You're getting sloppy, slayer. Droppin' that shoulder again. I'm tellin' the Watcher."
Buffy glared at the blond as she performed a spinning kick and sent the vamp flying. "What are you, my brother?"
Spike chuckled. "Never that, luv."
After another left jab to his nose and a kick that launched the vamp into a headstone hard enough to shatter it, leaving Daniel's mouth hanging open in admiration, the vamp abruptly decided that Buffy wasn't the easy prey he'd been looking for. He turned and ran off in towards the trees on the left. Buffy followed.
"Need help there, B?" Faith gave the axe a few bored swings, working out some stiffness in her shoulder.
Buffy caught up to the vampire quickly and pulled Mr. Pointy from the inside of her jacket, using an overhand movement to stab him in the chest. The vampire poofed instantly. "Naah. I'm good," she said, wiping the vamp dust off on her pants as she walked over to where her friends stood. She smacked Spike. "I can't believe you were gonna tell Giles on me."
Spike lounged against one of the headstones, lighting a cigarette. "Still might. You're broadcasting your punches again, slayer. You don't want to make it any easier for 'em. Not having anyone to spar with isn't doing you any favors and the Watcher needs to know that. Unlike my girl Faith, here, who's perfect in form." He slung an arm over Faith's shoulders.
Blushing slightly at the praise, the brunette stole Spike's cigarette, inhaled, handed it back to him and smirked at Buffy and Dawn as she exhaled. "And only a little homicidal, so that's an improvement."
Daniel cleared his throat. He had regained his equilibrium and was standing on both feet without Riley's help, but O'Neill was still leaning heavily on Teal'c.
Carter limped over and studied Riley, rubbing her forehead gingerly. He didn't seem at all surprised or thrown by what had occurred. "That...that was incredible! Teal'c, how did you know what to do? I was sure we were toast when the bullets didn't have any effect on the vampires. God, they're strong, and so fast!"
As Carter explained to Teal'c that no, she hadn't really believed that the vampires would turn them into dry bread, and before anyone could answer her question, Spike saw the blood on her fingers and took a few steps backward from her, resisting the urge to lick her fingers clean. He eyed her closely, appreciating what he saw–blonde, big blue eyes, long legs. Rich-smelling blood. He licked his lips. Maybe when he got to know her a little better...
"Down, boy," Faith murmured, recognizing the look on the vamp's face.
Buffy looked at Carter, then at Spike. She rolled her eyes and handed Carter a crumpled tissue from her pocket. "Uh, Sam, why don't you use this to wipe the blood off..." Sam looked at Spike's hungry expression and hastily began wiping her hand, then held the tissue to her forehead.
O'Neill put two and two together and glared at four. He leveled his gun at Spike. "Back up. Now."
"Jack, do you really think that's necessary?"
"Yes, Daniel, I think it's entirely necessary."
Spike, being Spike, stuck his hand out to Sam. "I'm Spike, and you are?"
Carter took his hand and shook it, hearing what sounded like a growl from O'Neill. Her eyes widened. Teal'c raised an eyebrow. "Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter, U.S. Air Force."
Spike's ears hadn't missed the sound from the gray-haired guy either. He grinned. How nice of the slayer and the 'bit to bring him new playmates to torment. He kissed Sam's hand, causing Dawn, Buffy, Faith to roll their eyes while Riley grunted in disgust. "Really? Air Force...well, that's certainly something different..."
The sound of the safety flipping off O'Neill's gun brought the group's attention around to where he and Teal'c were standing. Faith picked up the crossbow from the ground, loaded a bolt, and leveled it at O'Neill. "I wouldn't."
Without consulting each other, Daniel and Dawn immediately stepped into the empty space between the two combatants. Dawn put her hands on her hips and frowned at Faith while Daniel crossed his arms over his chest and looked steadily at O'Neill.
O'Neill flipped the safety back on, but didn't lower the gun. "Dammit, Daniel!"
Daniel didn't move. "You know they're not a threat, Jack."
Jack kept his eyes locked on the brunette. "I don't know anything of the kind, Daniel," he said, gesturing towards Spike, "Blondie over there's looking at Carter like she's a midnight snack and that girl's pointing a loaded crossbow at me."
Buffy looked at the situation and wished that Xander had been part of the patrol that night. Now was definitely the time for a stupid tension-breaking wisecrack. "Okay, guys...let's just back up the testosterone bus for a second, okay?" Knowing where the real danger lay, she looked at the other slayer. "Faith, you first."
Faith dropped her finger from the crossbow release and lowered it so it was pointing at the ground.
"Now you, General O'Neill." He lowered the gun, but didn't re-holster it.
Spike raised an eyebrow. "General, eh? Lessee, then. We got a Lieutenant Colonel, a General and Captain Cardboard..." Riley glared at him as Faith chuckled. Spike gestured with his head towards Teal'c. "And there's no way he's human. What all did you bring down on us this time, slayer?"
"I had nothing to do with it!" Buffy glared at her sister. Daniel was instantly sympathetic with Dawn's situation, if a bit relieved–things like this usually got blamed on him. Not that the blame wasn't justified, of course.
"It was actually my fault, Spike."
He winked at Dawn. "You were my second guess, niblet."
She frowned. "Don't call me that. You make me sound like a can of corn."
Faith heard a noise behind her and whirled, raising the crossbow. "Looks like we're going to have to finish that patrol after all, Spike. We got newbies." The vampire swore and tossed his cigarette to the ground, stepping on it with his boot and pulling a stake from inside his duster.
Carter and Daniel squinted and could just see a hand rising from the dirt on one of the graves. "That can't be good."
Buffy noted the sorry condition of the Air Force personnel and quickly took charge of the situation. "Teal'c, Dawnie, Faith, Spike and I will do a quick patrol of the cemetery. Riley–Grab a few branches for stakes and take Sam, Daniel and the General back to the car and keep watch for any vamps we miss."
"How come Teal'c gets to go?"
Buffy walked over and poked Jack in the knee–hard. He whimpered. "Because he can walk under his own power and knows what he's doing. Stay here. We'll be back in a few."
Spike shouldered the axe as Buffy palmed her stake more securely and the group walked off towards the headstones, Faith and her crossbow in the lead. As Carter watched, Teal'c reached down and picked up a few branches, handing one to Dawn. She adjusted her grip on it and walked at his side, looking eerily like her older sister.
The others slowly made their way to the Suburban with O'Neill balancing his weight between Carter and Daniel as Finn went looking for sticks...er...weapons.
After a minute, Jack spoke, "Didn't Dawn and Buffy tell us that Buffy couldn't handle authority?"
"Actually, I think Dawn said that Buffy had problems with authority, sir." Trying not to look too concerned about O'Neill's condition, Sam ducked from under his arm as she opened the door and then stepped out of the way as Daniel loaded Jack into the front passenger seat–since the injury was to O'Neill's right knee, he wouldn't be able to resume driving when the time came to get away from the cemetery.
"Seems like she did okay to me." Jack resented being made to wait in the car like a recalcitrant three-year-old, but he couldn't deny that the plan was sound. Finn was experienced when it came to fighting vampires and should be able to keep his injured and vulnerable comrades-in-arms safe until everyone else got back.
Daniel grunted as he ducked his head and climbed into the backseat. "Me, too, but I doubt Buffy would tell us something like that if it wasn't true."
Riley overheard the tail-end of Daniel's statement as he approached the truck. He closed the door after Sam and motioned for her to roll the window down so he could talk, leaning against the side panel and scanning the area for vampires. "Buffy's great when it comes to risking her own life–too great sometimes, if you ask me–but she gets, well, tunnel vision. Like..." he said, straining for an example, "Okay, when we were at the Initiative, she ignored everything Dr. Walsh said..."
Daniel stared at him, incredulous, and ready as always to defend the underdog. "Riley, didn't you tell me that Maggie Walsh created some kind of Frankenstein's monster in her lab using spare demon parts? And I can't believe that sentence just came out of my mouth..." He frowned and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to get rid of his sudden headache.
O'Neill smirked. "Now you know how Hammond felt, all those years."
"Yes, I did, Dr. Jackson. I see your point–I do." Riley said, still conflicted about his relationship with Maggie Walsh, even after eight years. In some ways, he'd been closer to her than he'd been to his parents. "But, Buffy had just joined the Initiative. She didn't know anything about how we worked or what we stood for, but she automatically believed that every word out of Dr. Walsh's mouth was wrong, just because she was used to doing things differently. And she had no problems expressing her opinion in front of everyone."
Sam smiled. Buffy hadn't struck her as the type to bite her tongue in sensitive situations. "I bet."
O'Neill frowned, though. "Huh. That could really undermine morale in a program."
Riley nodded. "Exactly. Of course, Adam going out on a rampage and killing children didn't help either..."
"I could see that," Jack drawled, deciding to change the subject. "So, Finn, what happened in the woods before you rode in with the rest of the cavalry?"
Before Riley could answer, a blond vampire ran towards him from the cemetery. "Shit. Just a minute, sir." He ran towards the vampire and was a few feet away when it suddenly disintegrated and he felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his left pectoral muscle. Looking down, he saw a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest. He attempted to pull it out with his right hand but was unable to do so because of the awkward angle.
Strong hands batted his hand away and he looked up into the shocked and worried eyes of the brunette slayer. "Wait! Don't! Crap, I'm sorry about this. I fired the shot before I saw you, and then you were so close, it went right through his chest and into yours!"
Faith ripped the shoulder of his shirt open and looked at the wound. It wasn't spurting blood, so she knew from experience that he wasn't in immediate danger. She decided to leave the bolt where it was until they could get him to the emergency room.
Her guilt, worry and adrenaline transformed into anger and she started shouting at Riley. "What kind of idiot are you, you shithead? It's not like this is your first day in the big city–you took out two vamps with school supplies half an hour ago! What'd, your brain take a holiday? Didja think we were just gonna let the vamp get away? Just say 'too bad, so sad, I guess we'll stake ya' next time, take a free pass and don't eat too many people'? You must have, since you stood right in front of the dead guy's heart, knowing it's the prime target! You fucktard!" She smacked his good arm and tried not to let her horror and bad memories of killing an innocent person while slaying overwhelm her.
Spike sneered at Riley. Still an incompetent git. "Yeah. What she said. Wanker."
"I agree with Faith and Spike. Okay, not about the fucktard wanker part, but you should know better, Riley." Buffy frowned, still concerned about Riley's injury and deciding not to say anything else. Besides, Faith had already said everything she was thinking. "Are you okay?"
"Spectacular." He grimaced.
Teal'c studied his teammate. "Do you require assistance, RileyFinn?"
Riley shook his head. "No. Nothing that hasn't happened to me before, unfortunately." He looked at the group, noticing signs of their exhilaration returning now that they weren't quite as worried about him. "Are you guys done for the night?"
"Yeah. Vamps never knew what hit 'em. Two slayers, a souled vampire, Teal'c and me. Suckers didn't have a chance," Dawn said proudly, shaking vampire dust out of her hair. "I guess we should get you and the General to a hospital."
Riley smiled weakly as they made their way back to the Suburban and he got ready to explain his injury to General O'Neill. "That would be nice."