Destiny Up For Grabs

by Sheilynn

BtVS Stargate xover. Sunnydale’s gone, so where do we go from here? Buffy and Co. thought they’d have time to decide, now that the Hellmouth was permanently closed, but the PTB have other plans for them. (Full Summary Inside)

5. Past Skeletons, Present Bodies, Future G...

Destiny Up For Grabs

Summary: BtVS/Stargate xover. Sunnydale's gone, so where do we go from here? Buffy and Co. thought they'd have time to decide, now that the Hellmouth was permanently closed, but the PTB have other plans for them. A Slayer's destiny never takes a vacation, but it can change, especially when their original line of destiny was broken by death. Buffy's destiny is up for grabs now, and even the PTB doesn't know who will get to control it.

A/N: I can't believe I finally finished this chapter (faints). It's the longest one I've done at over 19,000 words (59 pages) – remind me that 10,000 words can still be good…and it won't take as long to write! I hope you enjoy all my hard work!

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Past Skeletons, Present Bodies, Future Ghosts

I

'Boring, boring, boring…so bored.'

Thunk!

Buffy dropped her head on the handlebars in front of her, but continued to keep her legs pumping the pedals of the stationary bike.

Lifting her head once more, she removed the thick file from the reading rack, snapped it shut, and tossed it haphazardly on the 'finished reading' pile…well, at this point, 'finished skimming through' pile.

"Stupid Colonel…he's gotta be evil," Buffy muttered as she grabbed another file from the box, balanced precariously on a chair, to her right.

Her legs continued to pump as she careful positioned the new file in front of her. Grumbling under her breath about finding an excuse to slay a certain grey-haired snarky Colonel, she sighed and began the next boring tale of SG-1 going to some alphabet-number soup planet, meeting with 'the natives', looking at rocks, etc. etc. – the only excitement being when they were shot at…and it's a sad day when a Slayer gets vicarious violence by way of mission reports.

Just as her eyes began to, once more, glaze over in boredom, Buffy heard the door to the officers' exercise room being opened. Her eyes shot towards the door as she slowed her pumping legs to a more 'respectable' speed, just in case it was someone who didn't know about her 'special skills'. A familiar face popped around the door, the fluorescent lights shining off his glasses.

Buffy grinned as she threw her arms wide and exclaimed, "Daniel! Have you come to rescue me from the agonizing tortures of Colonel Jack-Be-Evil? Please, say you have!"

Daniel gave her a lopsided grin in return as he fully entered the room, and shut the door behind him. He continued to hold one arm behind him as he held the other up in a gesture of 'hello'.

"Hey Buffy…what's Jack got you doing now?"

"Reading all of SG-1's mission reports," the small blonde groaned as she thunked her head on the handlebars again. "He's evil…can I slay him?"

Daniel chuckled.

"Unfortunately, no you can't. I'm afraid we still need him."

"To what? Piss off more natives? And is that Chinese I smell?" Buffy replied as she popped her head up, perking up at the smell of teriyaki chicken and fried noodles. Her mouth watered.

"Guilty as charged," Daniel said with a small smile as he revealed a few medium-sized bags that he'd been clutching behind his back. "I knew you were stuck here pretty much by yourself, what with you not really knowing anyone, so I thought I'd swing by and keep you company for a bit."

"And you brought me food?" the small blonde said, wide-eyed. "Can I keep you?"

Daniel's cheeks flushed slightly as he gave her a somewhat shy lopsided smile.

"To do what with?"

"Oh…fanning me and feeding me grapes comes to mind," she replied cheerfully, letting her feet stop their repetitive pedaling.

He chuckled as he moved closer to where she still sat on the stationary bike. He took a quick look at the console.

"You don't strike me as the 'laze around on pillows' type, especially when you entertain yourself by riding a stationary bike for 20 miles."

"Pffft…20 miles? That's nothing. I've already rolled it over twice," Buffy said with a dismissive wave as she hopped off the exercise equipment.

Daniel gaped at her as she walked over to a cabinet that housed clean towels, and watched as she removed a small stack.

As she turned back towards him, she saw the archeologist gave a small shake of his head as he smiled.

"I don't know why that surprises me, especially after hearing about your test results."

Buffy grinned at him as she began to spread the towels into a piecemeal makeshift picnic blanket onto the floor-mats of the small gym.

"I don't think Jack was impressed."

"That's because the only things that impress Jack are the Simpsons and hockey," Daniel said with a snort of amusement.

"Ahhh…simple tastes – I get that."

Kicking off her shoes, Buffy sat on the mats at the edge of the spread out towels. She waved at Daniel to take a seat across from her on the floor. After removing his own shoes, he complied, setting the bags in between them.

Daniel watched as Buffy immediately began to rummage through them, removing the small boxes and setting them on the towels.

"So why the stationary bike? I figured you to be more of a treadmill type of person," he asked with a sly grin.

Looking up at him, Buffy caught his expression and laughed. "Heard about that, did you?"

"Several times…Sam still can't believe it all – you're driving her nuts."

"Yep…I tend to confound the logic-driven," she gave him a cheeky grin as she handed him a plastic-wrapped spork and laughably skimpy napkin. "As for why the stationary bike…after almost taking a face-plant for the second time, I figured it would be better to be on something that doesn't move on its own if I became catatonic with boredom again."

Daniel chuckled as he waved away the weirdest utensil created by man, and grabbed a set of chopsticks. Buffy grabbed another set, and the two began opening the boxes, letting the mix of aromas waft around them.

"Are all your missions really that boring? Or are you leaving out all the really interesting dirt from the formal mission reports?" the blonde woman asked, maneuvering some fried noodles into her mouth. She lifted an eyebrow at the man as he choked on his mouthful when he tried to laugh.

"No and yes, respectively," he responded with a mischievous smile.

"Do tell."

"Oh where to begin," Daniel said as he grinned.

Buffy set her carton down, which was immediately snatched up by Daniel, who gave her an innocent little-boy look at her glare. With an amused smile, she shook her head and reached over to snag the hand-hole of a nearby box, dragging it closer.

Flipping the lid off, she rummaged near the end closest to her. Pulling a file, she flicked it open.

"P3X-593, where you met the…Shavadai?" Buffy ended with a question about the pronunciation.

"Yes…the Shavadai…what about them?"

"Colonel O'Neill made several mentions of it, and actually capitalized 'The Blue Dress' in his report…what was that all about?"

Daniel started laughing.

When he finally caught his breath, he began to tell the tale of one of the first missions SG-1 took almost four years ago – bringing the cut and dry mission report to life with his words.

Buffy listened, enraptured, smiling and laughing at the 'that's not going into the mission report' anecdotes of the newly formed SG-1 team.

And the young archeologist had a lot of those…anecdotes, that is…which he was happy to impart to someone who appreciated them as much as he did, if her laughter was anything to go by.

This is what Teal'c came upon, an hour later, when he arrived at the gym to meet with Buffy for their first training session.

Standing in the doorway, which was barely wide and tall enough for his large frame, he looked into the room to see the young blonde woman lying on her back, laughing loudly and clutching her stomach, while DanielJackson lay on his side, chuckling as he looked over at the amused woman.

"I can't believe he did that!" Buffy giggled, her laughter finally tapering off enough to let her speak. She sat up at feeling the Jaffa nearby. "Hey Teal'c!"

"Good afternoon, BuffySummers. Am I interrupting you and DanielJackson?" Teal'c politely questioned in a monotone.

"No, no, Teal'c…I'm just telling Buffy here some of the things that didn't make it into the…uh…official mission reports," Daniel responded with a grin as he waved his friend into the room.

"May I assume they are certain situations of which O'Neill has often stated General Hammond should not know?" Teal'c asked as he moved to where the two were lounging.

"Definitely! And I can see why," Buffy laughed. "Not exactly the things that would inspire the General to allow Jack to go on anymore missions. Care to tell me a few yourself?"

The small blonde waved to the place next to her, indicating the large Jaffa to join them.

Teal'c paused a moment, then lowered himself to the floor, settling into the familiar position he usually took for his sessions of Kelno'reem.

"There is very little I could tell you that DanielJackson does not already know."

"Aww…come on, Teal'c, I'm sure you have one or two stories to tell. After all, there were several times that Sam and Daniel were busy with something else," Buffy pouted.

The dark-skinned man cocked his head, raising an eyebrow as he intoned, "There is one."

"Spill!" Buffy said, squirming in anticipation.

Teal'c took a moment to gather his thoughts, then spoke, "It was on PX3-795, the planet where we met the people of Garnoshe."

"They're similar to some of our South African tribes where the people live off the land, and are rather…uh…scantily clad," Daniel interjected before waving Teal'c to continue.

"We were there for two days, to allow for DanielJackson and MajorCarter to examine an abandoned temple. Since the language was not one I was familiar with, O'Neill and I were left to ourselves, and we did much exploring in the surrounding area. The land, while abundant in vegetation, was extremely humid."

"It was very tropical, which was surprising, considering it was located at the base of a mountain taller than Mt. Everest, that still had lots of snow…sorry Teal'c," Daniel stopped self-consciously as he realized that he was interrupting the larger man from his story.

"It is good that you explained the location of the area, DanielJackson, for it is that which will make this tale more amusing," the Jaffa bowed his head before continuing. "As I mentioned, it was extremely humid…enough so, that O'Neill was strongly driven to…'cool off'…is how I believe he described it. Since my symbiote controls my body temperature, I felt no discomfort, but still accompanied O'Neill to the lake that was near the Garnoshe village, and kept watch for danger while he bathed."

Both Daniel and Buffy perked up.

"Jack naked? Oh, this is going to be good," Daniel smirked.

Buffy snickered.

"The lake was fed by mountain water, and was quite cold, so O'Neill did not take long. But as O'Neill emerged from the water, the women of the village made an appearance from a path nearby – they had come to do their wash."

"Oh God," Daniel choked out through his barely held in laughter.

Buffy's face was flushed as she tried to keep from bursting out in laughter…it was apparent that Teal'c's story was far from over.

"There was much finger pointing and laughing at his manhood. One of the older women offered to help warm him up so it would return to a normal size, and larger if he so wished…"

Daniel and Buffy held their breath, waiting for the punch-line.

"…she was 92 years old."

The two fell over, howling with laughter.

Teal'c looked on, pleased that his tale brought forth such mirth.

"Oh God, Teal'c, why didn't you tell me this before?! This is classic blackmail material!" Daniel wheezed out through his breathlessness.

"I was asked not to say a word, DanielJackson."

"But, Teal'c, you just told us – doesn't that break some kind of warrior code or something?" Buffy asked, her face flushed with mirth.

"O'Neill said not to say a word," Teal'c began stoically, then raised an eyebrow. "I believe I said many."

The two cracked up again.

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"I thought you said The Judge couldn't be destroyed by any weapon forged by man," Daniel asked, a confused look on his face.

Taking a moment to swallow her mouthful of blue jell-o, Buffy nodded her head, "He couldn't – but the rocket launcher wasn't forged by man…it was forged by a machine."

"Semantics wins again," he responded with an amused look. "That must have been really messy."

Buffy shrugged. "Not as bad as you think. I don't know what he was made of, but he didn't have any icky insides. If he had, I don't think I could have shopped at that mall again – the pieces were bad enough."

"Pieces?"

The small blonde wiggled her spoonful of blue jell-o at him, causing the archeologist to blanch.

"Ugh…I don't think I'm going to be able to look at blue jell-o the same anymore."

Teal'c just raised an eyebrow as he continued to eat his meal quietly.

"Gooooood mornin' kiddies! What's new? And why does Daniel look like he's going to revisit his meal?" Colonel O'Neill said in a cheerful voice as he placed his tray of food on the table and fell into the seat next to Buffy. "Hey! How'd you get blue jell-o for breakfast?!"

Buffy just gave a closed-mouth smiled at him, her cheeks pooched out with gelatin.

"BuffySummers was regaling us with the tale of how she defeated an adversary, and likened his remains to blue gelatin," Teal'c responded placidly.

"Eww," O'Neill scrunched his face in disgust. "Please stop."

"As you wish."

"So how did you get blue jell-o for breakfast?" O'Neill asked as he poured milk over his cereal.

"I asked."

Daniel gave a snort of amusement.

"You…asked," Jack gave her a look of disbelief.

"Mmmhmm."

"Daniel?"

"Yes, Jack?"

"She asked for blue jell-o and got it?"

"Yes...though it was accompanied by a wide-eyed pleading look and a pout," Daniel looked thoughtful for a moment. "And I think I may have seen a tear."

"And she got the blue jell-o? I thought these mess hall guys were tough?!"

Buffy spoke up from his side, "Jack?"

"What?"

"Can I have your apple?"

Jack turned to tell her to get her own, but was stopped by the expression on her face. As soon as he saw her lip quiver, he found himself picking up the fruit and reaching over to hand it to her.

Daniel's howling laughter broke him from his spell.

The Colonel slammed the fruit back onto his tray with a scowl, then pointed his spoon at her.

"I order you to never use that expression on me again!"

Buffy just grinned impishly at him and spooned another glob of jell-o into her mouth.

Daniel continued to laugh, and even Teal'c looked amused.

"Shut up Daniel!" O'Neill growled at him before attacking his cereal with unnecessary vigor.

The younger man picked up his cup of coffee hid his grin behind it.

In the resulting silence, Buffy began to hum.

Having just taken a sip from the contents of his cup, Daniel choked.

Jack gave the small blond a strange look as he asked, "Why are you humming 'It's a Small World'?"

Teal'c paused the fork of eggs he was bringing towards his mouth and raised an eyebrow at her. He gave her a look of amusement, his eyes twinkling.

Daniel started laughing between fits of coughing.

"What?" Jack asked with a look of bewilderment on his face.

But his question was not to be answered.

"Where did you get the blue jell-o, Ms. Summers?! I specifically left orders with the mess hall crew that you were only allowed to eat specific foods!"

The doctor was on the warpath, and she had one overly-thin Slayer in her sights.

"I-I had a muffin…see," Buffy said, flustered, as she lifted the plate with the remains of a blueberry muffin.

"You mutilated a muffin, you mean. If I were to put that back together, I bet it would only be missing one or two bites," Dr. Frasier said with a fierce frown. "You, young lady, have been ordered to increase your meals, and are only allowed certain foods, until your weight is at a more acceptable level."

The doctor grabbed Buffy's tray, snagging the large glass still half full with jell-o from her hand, and firmly placed both on another table. She frowned over at one of the mess hall attendants, who quickly put together a tray of food and brought it to the small doctor.

Taking the tray from the nervous man, she thanked him gruffly before sliding it in front of the frowning Slayer.

"Now eat!" the diminutive woman barked out.

Buffy scowled up at the dark-haired woman, "I'll puke if I eat all this!"

"If you don't increase your weight to where I want it to be, I can keep you from going through the gate until you do," Frasier said with a stubborn glint in her eye.

The two women locked gazes, neither one wanting to back down.

Knowing that she was fighting a losing battle, Buffy finally dropped her gaze with a frustrated sigh.

"Fine," she said grumpily before continuing in a mock sweet voice. "Can I at least get some milk to help choke it down, Mein Fûhrer?"

The doctor nodded her head and stepped back, allowing Buffy to stand.

The small blonde moved towards the open buffet, muttering something about also getting a bucket so she didn't hurl on her leather pants.

"Pretty harsh there, doc…I'm surprised that you didn't threaten her with a needle the size of your fist," O'Neill said lightly.

"If her pain threshold wasn't so high, I would have," Frasier grumbled, then waved at the tray of food. "I expect you guys to get her to eat most, if not all of this."

"Aww, come on, doc…don't put us in the middle of this."

"I do believe I heard the words 'she's trying to gain your approval' at our last briefing, Colonel. She's a lot more dangerously thin than you think…see what you can do."

O'Neill sighed, but nodded his head.

Buffy returned at that point, flopping back down into her chair as she set a small cardboard carton of milk onto her tray.

"What? No bucket?" O'Neill smirked, trying to coax a smile from the young woman.

"They're using them all for ice," Buffy pouted as she picked up a fork and poked at the pancakes spread out on the plate in front of her.

Dr. Frasier chuckled as she turned to pick up the tray she had taken from the small blonde. She stopped as she noticed one item missing.

Turning back towards Buffy, she gave a fierce frown. "Where is the blue jell-o?"

"On the table next to the tray with the mutilated muffin," Buffy responded petulantly as she struggled to open the carton of milk.

O'Neill grabbed it from her before she could accidentally rip it apart and spill the contents all over the table. Expertly opening it, he set it back on her tray, receiving a mumbled 'thanks' as Buffy then moved on to lightly covering her pancakes with syrup.

The doctor glared at her for a brief moment, before finally shaking her head in defeat…at least she'd won the argument over the pancakes. Picking up the tray, Dr. Frasier took it away to be disposed of before finally grabbing her own breakfast.

"You snuck up behind her using the shadow thingy, didn't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Jack…I only use my powers for good," Buffy said as she gave him an innocent look.

"And jell-o is good, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah!"

"Where's the blue jell-o, Summers?"

Buffy took a sip of milk, carefully watching Dr. Frasier as she finished gathering her food. As soon as the small doctor left the mess hall, Buffy lifted a leg out to the side of the table. There, balance precariously on the toe of her boot, was the glass half full of the notorious blue jell-o.

Kicking it lightly into the air, Buffy snagged it with one hand, drawing it towards her. She grinned at the astonished Colonel.

"No one gets between a woman and her jell-o, Jack…same goes for chocolate and ice cream," the small blonde said with a smirk as she set the glassware onto her tray.

As soon as Buffy let go, O'Neill grabbed it and placed it on the opposite end of the table.

"And a certain woman doesn't get her jell-o until she eats some real food," the Colonel said with a small glare.

Buffy pouted, but obediently turned back to the plate of food in front of her. At the sight of the heavy-looking meal, her shoulders drooped, and a serious look came across her face.

"I don't know if I can, Jack. I-I haven't exactly had much of an appetite for the last couple of years."

"What happened?" Daniel asked, ever curious.

He quickly shut-up at the glare Jack sent his way, and noticed a haunted look flash across Buffy's face. She suddenly seemed more fragile-looking than ever, and the archeologist regretted asking his question.

"Just eat what you can, Summers, and I promise to give the evil doctor a good report," O'Neill said calmly as he picked up his spoon and began eating again.

"You promise, huh?" Buffy turned her head and gave him a half-smile.

The Colonel winked at her as he chewed.

Turning back to her tray, Buffy's breath caught in her throat. There, in the corner of her tray next to the milk carton, was the Colonel's apple. Her eyes softened, and she ducked her head as she quickly took a bite of her pancake.

O'Neill bumped her shoulder with his. And, with a small smile directed at her plate, she bumped him back.

Daniel and Teal'c shared an amused glance.

"Hey! How'd you get blue jell-o for breakfast?!" Sam asked in surprise as she joined the small group with her own tray.

She couldn't understand why they burst out laughing.

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"General Markson, sir? I have a General Hammond on Line 1 for you," a male voice spoke through the intercom.

"Thank you Lieutenant," Markson said gruffly. Picking up his headset, the General pressed the flashing line. "George, you old son-of-a-gun…it's been what…4 years since we last spoke? What have you been up to?"

"Hello Ben…it's been a long time, that's for sure. I honestly don't know what I did to them, but the Pentagon refused my request for early resignation and stuck me in the mountain," Hammond replied with a sardonic drawl.

"The classified project? I heard about that, but didn't know you were the poor sod that got stuck with running it…not to mention having Colonel O'Neill as your second. Has he made you lose the rest of your hair yet?"

"Getting close." Hammond's chuckle echoed through the phone line.

Markson laughed.

"So what can I do for you George? I'm assuming you called for a reason, and not just to chat."

"I'm afraid so, Ben. I'm hoping you can help me track down some people…having to do with a classified project in Southern California a few years back."

Markson stiffened. "Where exactly in Southern California? There's a lot of bases out there, George."

He prayed to God Hammond wasn't referring to the enormous 'pooch-screw' that had been hastily covered up.

Unfortunately, the Devil answered.

"A little place called Sunnydale…it's about 2 hours north of Los Angeles. I've got someone here who needs to get the proper clearance to speak about the project, but they don't know who to ask. I'm trying to get a hold of one of the soldiers connected to the project or, preferably, the Commanding Officer. Since you were heading SOCOM at the time, I thought you may know something about it."

Markson mentally cursed, but quickly controlled himself enough to answer without giving anything away.

"It sounds vaguely familiar, George. How about you give me a couple days to put out some feelers and see what I can come up with?"

"I'd appreciate it Ben."

The two Generals chatted for a while afterwards, catching up on their personal lives, since both were involved with highly classified projects, neither of which were authorized to speak of with the other.

Keeping an eye on the clock, Markson soon begged off with the excuse of a meeting he had to attend, but really needing to catch someone before they were off the clock.

With promises to keep in touch, the two men hung up.

Markson immediately picked up his handset again and dialed a familiar number.

"Department of Defense, Arthur Simms office, how may I help you?" a cultured female voice asked.

"This is General Markson, connect me to Mr. Simms…it's an emergency."

"Please hold."

A short time later, the line was picked up again, and a familiar voice spoke.

"Ben! What's this about an emergency? I thought your recent transfer was so you didn't have any emergencies?" the laughing voice of the Secretary of Defense came across the line.

"So I thought, Arthur, but I didn't expect my past to come around nipping at my posterior. Remember that little experimental project in SoCal?"

"Yes," Simms said curtly, losing all humor.

"We have a leak. I just got off the phone with General George Hammond, who was discretely asking about how to find someone in connection with the project – says he has someone looking for clearance to spill. I couldn't ask who, without risking knowledge of my involvement. I know George, Arthur, he wouldn't ask without good reason. But the leak…sounds to me like they're an unknown, and I'm not happy with that. Things could get ugly if the wrong people get wind of it," Markson said grimly.

"How much time have we got?"

"Two, three days tops."

"I'll take care of it Ben."

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"And this is level holds the majority of the labs used by mostly civilian personnel, and focuses on the items we bring back from off-world after they pass through the scientific labs on the floor below."

"Is Sam on this level?"

Buffy peeked into one of the rooms where she saw several people working on odd-looking items. The tour Daniel was giving her of the working portions of the base was turning out to be a lot more interesting than she thought it would be.

"No, she's not. Sam does a lot of the initial testing on Level 19, making sure the items pose no danger to the base. She also does a lot of reverse engineering, to see if certain weapons or power sources can be duplicated using the materials available to us."

"Oh. She's really smart, isn't she?"

"Very. Come on, let me show you one of the more interesting rooms…besides my own, that is." Daniel gave her a mischievous smile.

Leading her down the corridor a ways, he knocked on the open door of an office on the right. At a light feminine voice bidding him enter, he stepped through the doorway.

"Hey Chloe…do you have a minute?"

"Sure Daniel. What can I do for you?"

"I'm giving Buffy here a tour, and I thought I'd swing by to show her your office. Buffy, this is Chloe…she works on most of the items whose functions can't be determined – a waste of her brilliance, I can tell you…she should be designing things."

Chloe blushed as she held out a hand to Buffy.

"Don't listen to him, Buffy…he's just flattering me because I let him have some of my coffee last week when he ran out."

Buffy laughed at Daniel's flushed face.

"That's not true…need I remind you of who the forerunner is in getting that assistant position with Dr. Felger? Don't sell yourself short, Chloe."

Chloe blushed again, and looked quite uncomfortable with all the praise.

Buffy jumped in with a question she hoped would put the younger woman at ease.

"So what are some of the interesting items you've figured out? Any chance that ray-guns really exist?"

Chloe laughed at that, and began to talk about some of the objects, and how it seemed that more and more of them were coming to her in pieces.

"I mean, it's like the SG teams bowl with them before dumping them in a plastic bin marked 'unidentifiable, could be a toaster' and ship it off to me," the young scientist said in exasperation, waving at the large number of open bins scattered around her office. "At least Daniel tries to keep his stuff away from the Colonel so they arrive in one piece, more or less."

The three of them laughed.

Just as Chloe was about to continue, her phone rang. The two 'tourists' watched as several expressions played out over her face, from irritation, to amusement, before she finally said, "Well if it keeps pulling more of it in, then stop pressing the button, Jay! Or are you really planning on walking around the base naked? I'll be down in a minute…stop pressing the button Jay…yes you did, I heard it buzzing again! Just…stop, OK? OK…bye."

Daniel and Buffy exchanged amused looks.

"That man…I swear! Dr. Felger may be able to build a nuclear weapon out of tinker-toys, but he's a walking disaster when it comes to office equipment. He got his lab coat caught in the paper shredder again, Daniel…can you believe it?! Tell me again…why did I apply to be his assistant?"

His lips twitching, Daniel responded, "Because you want to design and building things."

"I'll have to work that in to a mantra some how. I'm sorry to cut this short, but I should probably go rescue him before he shreds himself into a position of head soprano in a boy's choir. Feel free to look around…nothing here is dangerous as far as I've been able to ascertain. It was nice meeting you, Buffy."

Laughing, Daniel and Buffy watched her rush out of the room.

"Where's Dr. Felger's office, so I can avoid it?" Buffy giggled.

"I'll give you a map of all the 'red zones and dangerous people', Buffy, but the most important thing to know right now is to stay away from Sergeant Siler whenever he's working on a piece of equipment or is on a ladder…you'll see him a lot in the infirmary after having been electrocuted, or with something broken, or both."

Buffy giggled again.

Someone strode by the open door, then backtracked, popping their head into the room. It was a somewhat frazzled looking Major Carter.

"There you are, Daniel! Hammond wants us in the briefing room for a quick meeting about SG-13's latest mission. They need you to confirm a translation," Carter said as she gave a brief nod of hello to Buffy.

Daniel hesitated a moment before turning to the small blonde standing next to him. "Do you mind, Buffy? I'm sure it won't take too long, and we can continue the tour when I get back."

"No prob, Daniel. I'll just…um…look around at the non-dangerous stuff here, and hang out with Cloe when she gets back from separating Jay from the shredder."

"Dr. Felger got caught in the shredder again?!" Sam looked both amused and irritated. "Nevermind – I don't think I want to know. We won't be long Buffy."

The two members of SG-1 exited the room, leaving Buffy with no one to talk with, and basically nothing to do. She began to look around the room at the various items sitting on shelves, being sure not to knock any of them off their precarious perches.

20 minutes later

Buffy was bored again…she was really going to have to talk to someone about that.

Having had her fill of looking at the strange objects littering the shelves, she decided to poke around in the plastic bins full of unidentifiable pieces and parts – there really wasn't anything else to do, and Chloe had yet to return.

The pieces were just as strange as the intact items, but at least they were something new to examine, and Buffy carefully poked around a couple of bins.

She moved on to a third container, and caught sight of an object that made her frown.

Picking it up, Buffy examined it more closely then, nodding her head absently, she stepped back to the first bin she had looked at, and picked up another piece. She brought the two closer together, and after maneuvering them around, fitted them together with a soft 'snick'.

A pleased expression crossed her face, and she eagerly began to rummage further into the bins, picking up other pieces, and either discarding them, or fitting them onto the piece she held in her hand.

After another 20 minutes, the object in Buffy's hand had grown to a considerable size, and she recognized it for what it was…a weapon. She didn't know what kind, but the form definitely spelled some kind of alien firearm, and was somewhat larger than a rocket-launcher.

Caught up in her continued rummaging for parts, and piecing them together, she didn't notice the return of the blonde-haired Chloe.

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'That man…I swear! He's going to be the death of me one of these days…maybe I should reconsider my application.'

Chloe was mentally grumbling about the man she'd had to rescue from the shredder he swore was possessed. It took a lot longer than she had thought it would, but that may have been due to Dr. Felger's incapability of standing still while she tried to cut his lab coat away from where it was still caught in the jaws of the shredding machine – arguing with his the entire time that no, the machine was not possessed or broken…it was just common sense to keep dangling clothes away from it, and that he should be lucky it wasn't his tie…again.

Approaching the door to her lab, she was happy that he had at least sent her back to her office with a fresh cup of coffee.

Stepping into the room designated as hers, she was brought up short at the sight of the blonde woman she had met earlier, Buffy, rummaging carefully through the plastic bins that had taken over her counter-space some time ago.

But it wasn't the sight of the young woman that startled her, or her rummaging…it was the object sitting on Buffy's lap. Seeing the other blonde pick up a piece and snap it into place, then another, Chloe's hand trembled, sloshing lukewarm liquid over her fingers.

She backed out of the room quickly, turned on her heels, and ran towards the elevators, leaving a trail of liquid in her wake. She quickly got on the lift and pressed the button for Level 27.

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"I couldn't interpret it entirely…my Ancient Summerian is a little rusty," Cameron Balinsky sighed.

"But, you think this artifact has information about another Goa'uld we have yet to encounter?" Daniel asked eagerly.

O'Neill grimaced. "Don't sound so happy about that, Daniel…unless they're dead."

The two archeologists rolled their eyes. Daniel was about to say something scathing in return, but their meeting was interrupted by a panting Chloe.

"Daniel! Buffy… weapon… pieces…"

The members of SG-1 stood abruptly at hearing the words 'Buffy' and 'weapon' in the same sentence, not to mention that 'pieces' didn't sound very comforting.

"Is Summers injured?" O'Neill growled.

Chloe shook her head frantically as she tried to catch her breath from her mad dash.

"Take a deep breath, Chloe," Daniel said soothingly as he removed the empty styrofoam cup from her hand and gripped her shoulders. "And another…that's it…now, what were you saying about Buffy and a weapon?"

"I went back to my lab after…well, you know…and-and saw Buffy with this really big object in her lap. I-I don't know where it came from, but she was going through those plastic bins of parts I told you about, and-and…I don't know how, but I think she actually built the thing from the p-pieces," Chloe stuttered. "It…it looked like a weapon of some kind."

The Colonel perked up. "A weapon?"

"I-I think so."

"General, permission…"

"Granted, and I think I'll join you. SG-13, we'll continue this at 1400, dismissed."

After the quick break-up of the meeting, Daniel and Chloe led the small group back to Chloe's office.

With a group that size, it was inevitable that they made enough sound to disturb Buffy from her concentration. She briefly looked up to see a gaping Daniel.

"Hey Daniel," she said absentmindedly as she examined the object in her hands with a frown.

"Um…hi Buffy. What…"

"Summers! What the hell is that?!" O'Neill interrupted with a bark.

Buffy's head shot up, and she finally noticed the small crowd. Mistaking the interested gleam in the Colonel's eye for that of anger, she became flustered.

"I-I got bored and started looking at the stuff in the plastic containers. I-I noticed that some of them looked like they would fit together, so I connected them…and when Daniel and Chloe didn't come back, I didn't think to stop because no one said not to touch anything," Buffy babbled, embarrassed. "I'm-I'm sorry… I'll put everything back where I found it. I promise!"

She moved to take the weapon apart.

Several voices shouted. "No!"

Startled, Buffy almost dropped the weapon, but O'Neill strode forward and caught one end.

"May I?" the Colonel lifted a questioning eyebrow at her.

Buffy flushed and handed it to him. O'Neill almost staggered under its weight.

Turning, he set it on top of the table in the middle of the room and began to examine it. Carter quickly joined him, followed by the rest of the group.

"How does it work?" Carter asked eagerly.

"Um…well…it doesn't – at least not right now…it's not finished," Buffy replied awkwardly.

"What's missing?"

"The ammo stuff…there's this big hole that looks like it's supposed to hold something, but I couldn't find anything in the containers."

Buffy moved between Carter and O'Neill and, with a quick press of buttons, a panel popped open, showing them an odd-shaped compartment.

Chloe gasped. "Isn't that the shape of…"

"…the crystals that were giving off those strange readings! Yes!" Carter said excitedly. "Sir, with your permission, I'd like to remove one of the crystals from quarantine."

"Will there be any danger, Major?" Hammond asked with a serious look.

"No sir…we put them into quarantine to avoid any possible damage until we could figure out what they were for, not because they were dangerous."

"Permission granted then."

Carter dashed out of the room, leaving the others to continue their examination.

"Um…that's not the only thing missing," Buffy said hesitantly. "I think it's supposed to go on some kind of stand."

"Why do you say that?" O'Neill asked.

"The trigger is at the end, and the piece that sticks out in the middle looks like it should fit into something. Besides, I think it's too heavy to carry around, unless it was made for a species that's larger than humans."

The Colonel gave a distracted sound as he continued to poke at the object.

Buffy looked around the room, trying to see if there was anything that looked like it would hold the weapon. She saw a thick, five-foot tall pole leaning in the corner, and walked over to pick it up.

Turning it over in her hands, she saw that there was a hole in one end. Nodding her head, she examined it further to see if there was a way it was supposed to balance itself, but there was no marks or indications as to how it worked, except for some niches near the end where the hole was, and vague lines at the opposite end. She leaned the pole against the table, and began to open the cabinets positioned over the plastic bins.

Daniel gave O'Neill a nudge and pointed in Buffy's direction.

"What are you looking for Summers?"

"The cap thingy."

"Cap?"

"Mmmhmm," she murmured distractedly as she continued to look in the cabinets, now moving to the ones underneath. She knelt on the floor to look into the back. "I think it activates the pole, making it into some kind of tripod."

"How do you know that?"

"The pole has some dents in it, near the hole, not to mention the seams at the other end," came her muffled voice as she stuck almost half her body into the cupboard.

O'Neill picked up the pole. He saw the indentations she mentioned, but couldn't see the seams.

"Are you sure there's seams? It looks pretty solid to me."

"You forget…I have much better eyesight than you do, Gramps." The mocking tone was apparent in her voice.

"Hey!"

Daniel and the General chuckled.

They heard Buffy's muffled 'Ah ha!' come from deep within the cupboard, and watched as she began to wriggle back out, the movement of her leather-clad derriere making Daniel flush. He muttered a quiet 'dangerous', causing O'Neill to snort in amusement.

Buffy emerged with a grin, dirt streaked one of her cheeks. She held up a circular metal piece in triumph.

Quickly getting to her feet, she moved back to the table just as Major Carter returned.

Carefully setting the container carrying the crystal down onto the table, she opened it up to reveal the glowing object to the others.

"That's it!" Buffy crowed. She reached out a hand to take the crystal, but was stopped by the tall blonde.

"We're not sure what would happen if someone touched it bare-handed, Buffy. Let me use the forceps."

Buffy nodded her head, but couldn't help commenting. "If it fits, I can pretty much guarantee that nothing would happen if you touch it."

"Why is that, BuffySummers?" Teal'c asked, finally speaking up.

"If they use this baby in the middle of a battlefield, do you really think they're going to use ammo that requires forceps?" She gave him a cheeky grin.

Everyone chuckled.

Carter still insisted on using the forceps, though, and they all watched as she carefully slipped it into the compartment and closed the panel.

"Well? Is it on? I thought it would at least flash some kind of glowing doohickies to let someone know if it's on." O'Neill frowned.

Buffy rolled her eyes. Grabbing the pole and metal piece, she moved towards the end of the table nearest the door where there was more space. Holding the pole upright, she placed the cap on top and pushed it down. It settled with a metallic snick.

She then pressed a small button that protruded once she had connected the two pieces. Everyone jumped back as three legs separated from the bottom of the pole, shooting out a couple of feet before the ends plunged into the floor, gouging the concrete, and leaving a firm tripod that stood about three-and-a-half feet high.

"Um…oops. I didn't know it was going to do that." Buffy looked embarrassed.

"Don't worry, Summers, it's not the first alien doodad to damage the base." O'Neill rubbed his shoulder in memory.

Hesitating a moment, Buffy then went back to the table and picked up the weapon. Taking it back to the tripod, she slipped the piece that was sticking out into the hole. It fit perfectly, and with a sharp twist, Buffy locked it into place.

She looked up and caught the Colonel's gaze and, with a small smile, pressed a panel. The weapon immediately started emitting a hum, and several pieces lit up.

"Enough glowing doohickies, Jack?"

O'Neill's expression looked like Christmas had come early for him. He rushed up and started examining the weapon again, Carter right on his heels. The two volleyed for position at the trigger end, the Colonel only winning out by a well-placed elbow.

Buffy stood at the entrance of the door, watching the two in amusement. Daniel moved to join her, handing her a clean handkerchief and pointing at her right cheek. Buffy carefully rubbed at the offending dirt until the archeologist indicated that she had gotten it all.

"How did you know how to do that? Is it one of the new skills Whistler mentioned?"

"Um…I don't think so. I just used to be really good at puzzles when I was a kid."

"Used to? I think you still are." Daniel grinned at her.

Buffy shuffled uncomfortably.

"Did you stop because it was too easy?"

"Yeah…something like that."

Daniel looked over to see that her face had become devoid of any expression. Sensing it was a bad memory, he dropped the subject.

They stood there in awkward silence until the Colonel began to beg the General to try out the weapon at the shooting range. With a panicked look on her face, Buffy rushed up to try and dissuade them of that idea.

The Colonel and the Slayer argued back and forth until Buffy finally ground out, "Remember what I said about my instincts with weapons, Jack. This one has kablooey written all over it with a capital 'Ka' and billboard-sized 'blooey'."

"But…"

"That's enough," the General interrupted firmly. "Given the unknowns about the weapon, it will be tested at the Alpha Site."

"But…"

"That's my final word, Colonel."

O'Neill turned back towards Buffy with a frown. "Thanks for spoiling my fun, Summers. You're such a…a…fun-spoiler."

"I like you too, Jack."

Buffy quickly dismantled the weapon before the Colonel got any ideas – Carter packing the crystal away for added safety measures.

The General looked at Buffy with a speculative eye.

"Do you think you can do that in reverse? Take apart an unknown piece of alien technology? Safely?"

"I don't know," Buffy replied, squirming as all eyes turned towards her.

"We have a few items that we can try that with, sir…some which have to be dismantled in a specific way to avoid damage or collapsing its circuitry – it would be a good test of her instincts," Carter offered eagerly. "I'd be willing to stand as an observer to prevent any permanent damage."

"Tired of sending things off to Area 51, are we Carter?" O'Neill smirked.

The Major flashed him a brief smile.

"I'll give you her schedule, Major, and we'll see where we can fit it in," Hammond said, making a mental note that Buffy looked a little uncertain. "As it is, we should let Dr. Jackson finish giving Ms. Summers her tour of the base."

With a nod of his head, he dismissed the group after ordering the weapon to be taken to the primary armory on Level 28.

Except for Daniel and Chloe, the rest of the group left, the Colonel still grumbling about wanting to test the weapon out himself.

An awkward silence permeated the room for a moment before Chloe finally spoke up.

"I should probably thank you, Buffy…you cleared up a good portion of my counters. Now I actually have more space to work on."

"I guess it wasn't a toaster after all."

The two women grinned at each other.

After saying their goodbyes, Daniel and Buffy made their way to the elevator, taking it down to the next floor. The two chatted with the various scientists about the equipment and processes required for the alien technology to pass safety measures – Daniel was a little surprised at some of the more intelligent questions Buffy asked, and began to ask her a few questions of his own.

The picture painted by her answers, or should he say non-answers and changes of subject, was both disturbing and grim. He made a mental note to talk with the General.

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"Woah."

"Oh…my…God."

Everyone looked at Carter and O'Neill in curiosity.

Sensing their stares, the Colonel looked up.

"She was suspected of burning down the gym of her first high school, blowing up her second, and the LAPD want to question her about the destruction of the entire city Sunnydale."

"That's nothing…she was suspected for murder…twice," Sam swallowed.

Daniel gave them a look of irritation. "Did you notice the dates, guys?"

"What about 'em Danny-boy."

"They start when she was fifteen." At their blank stares, Daniel sighed. "She was called…ring a bell."

Looks of comprehension crossed their faces.

"You guys must not have listened closely when she told her story, or you wouldn't be surprised over her police record," the archeologist rolled his eyes. "The gym was burned because it was full of vampires, Sunnydale High was blown up because of the, and I quote, 'butt-ugly 60-foot demon-snake mayor'…I think one of the suspicions of murder was the second slayer, um…Kendra?...and wasn't her fault, the second I'm sure has a Slayer-related reason. But that's not why I had Sam get Buffy's information."

Daniel held up several sheets of paper.

"These are Buffy's school transcripts…take a close look at them."

"Perfect, perfect, perfect, not as perfect, but still really good, yadda, yadda…woah." O'Neill sat up straight.

"Yeah. Straight 'A' student until mid-way through 8th grade, but still good grades…until half-way through her freshman year of high school, then her grades suddenly became barely passing."

"Her calling?"

"It was well over a year before that, Jack. What's surprising, though, is that her college transcripts show a complete reversal back to good grades – at least for the year and a half that she attended. It looked like she was doing really well…what I can't understand is why she quit."

O'Neill looked through the copies in front of him, and something caught his eye. He turned the paper around and pushed it forward, his finger pointing at a specific line.

Daniel leaned forward to look at it. "Joyce Summers, deceased, February twenty-seventh, two-thousand and o…Oh."

"Why all the interest in Buffy's education, Daniel?" Sam asked.

"I was asking her some questions during the tour I gave her, and she either avoided the answers, changed the subject, or gave really vague information – all the questions I asked had to do with her educational background, and where she learned certain things. The only time she gave me any real answers was when it had to do with her Watcher, Giles."

"I have to ask again…why all the interest?"

"I don't know, but…I think the answers are important. I think…I think I'll know why when I hear them."

"I don't think you're going to get Summers to answer them…at least not this one," the Colonel said with a smirk.

"What are you saying, Jack?"

"She has a sister, Daniel…and I'm sure her Watcher has a few answers of his own. Why don't you ask them."

"General?"

The General gestured for Daniel to retrieve the speaker-phone from the side-table. Once it was set up in the center of the table, Hammond called his secretary and had him connect them with the number Buffy had listed as her emergency contact.

"Hello?" a male voice answered at the other end of the line.

"Could I please speak with a Mr. Giles?" Daniel asked cordially.

"Speaking."

"Mr. Giles, this is Dr. Daniel Jackson – I don't know if you remember me..."

"Of course, Dr. Jackson. From…uh…that night. I believe Buffy is working for your organization now?"

"That's correct, Mr. Giles. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about Buffy."

"I believe any personal questions about Buffy should be answered by Buffy herself, Dr. Jackson," Giles answered coolly.

"Um…that's just it…she won't answer them."

"Then I believe it's not something she feels you need to know."

Daniel gaped at the subtle hostility that could be clearly heard through the phone line.

Hammond stepped in. "Mr. Giles, this is General Hammond, Commanding Officer of this base. I understand why you feel it isn't your place to answer anything of a personal nature in regards to Ms. Summers, but Dr. Jackson feels that this information may be of some importance. The questions he wishes to ask are in regards to her education, nothing more."

"Oh, well, in that case…um…what can I do for you?"

"We're looking at Buffy's transcripts, Mr. Giles, and there seems to be a drastic change in her grades half-way through her freshman year of high-school, well over a year before her calling. Her grades never improved until she entered college. Would you be able to tell us the reason? Dr. Jackson feels this information may important.

A muffled sound was heard through the speaker, then a young female voice asking who Giles was talking to.

"Excuse me for a moment, General."

Giles' muffled voice could be heard replying to 'Dawn' that he was speaking to Buffy's employer.

SG-1 and Hammond winced as they heard the phone crash to the floor before being picked up and fumbled with. A frantic voice came over the line.

"Is Buffy alright? She's not hurt, is she? Hello? Hello?"

"Um…is this Dawn?" Daniel tentatively asked.

"Yes…stop it Giles."

A loud smack was heard, and a yelp.

Giles' exasperated voice could be heard in the background as he said, "Buffy's fine, Dawn…they're just calling to ask why Buffy's grades were so poor in high school."

"Oh…well I can tell you that," Dawn said, addressing the group on the other end of the phone. "It's 'cuz the principal was a tiny, impotent Nazi with a bug up his butt the size of an emu, at least that's how Cordelia put it – he hated Buffy, and made her life miserable the whole time she was there…kinda cool that he got eaten by the Mayor when he turned into the demon-snake. She told you about that, right? And the teachers were buttheads and treated her like crap because, before he was eaten by the hyena people, the first principle told all of them about Buffy burning down the gym in L.A. The only one Buffy thought was cool was her science teacher, but he was eaten by the praying mantis lady, so that was a wash. Giles? Why does everyone get eaten? Not that I'm complaining, 'cuz they all sucked…but, it's just weird that none of them died normally, like get attacked by a rabid St. Bernard, or run over by a bright red 1958 Plymouth Fury? And what's with all the bugs? The preying mantis lady, the maggoty assassin…"

SG-1 and Hammond gaped at the speaker-phone.

There was a sound of tussling and Giles' voice saying 'Give me the phone, Dawn', and Dawn's voice replying 'Get your own'. With Giles' answer of 'That is my phone', the British man came back on the line.

"I do apologize, General Hammond. Dawn is…"

"A handful?" O'Neill quipped.

"I suppose that is one way of putting it."

"You forget, Mr. Giles…we have the older model here. And it sounds like she has quite a few more stories to tell us."

Giles chuckled before finally sighing. "Dawn is correct, though. Both the principles and teachers never gave Buffy much of a chance."

"Duh Giles!" Dawn snorted into the receiver, having picked up the cordless phone from her room, and joined Giles in the family room.

"Quiet Dawn. Is this Colonel O'Neill?"

"That's correct, Mr. Giles…we also have Major Samantha Carter and Teal'c here. They were also there at our first meeting."

Giles greeted them politely before continuing on their line of conversation. "While they didn't know exactly how, the teachers at Sunnydale High knew Buffy was different, and treated her…well, differently than the other students."

"They hated her, Giles…all of them. I heard Buffy talking to Willow in her Sophmore year – she was crying 'cuz several of the teachers really lit into her that day and put her down…one of them even told her she was an idiot and should just forget about school, and get a job where…"

Dawn abruptly stopped.

"Dawn? Dawnie?" Giles' gentle voice could barely be heard. "What did they say, luv?"

The young teen sniffled, "He said…he said she should just become a whore, Giles…that she should get a job where all she had to do was lie back and spread her legs."

Dawn started crying.

The group back at the SGC listened on in horror.

"Dear God…why did she never tell me?" Giles whispered, forgetting for a moment that they had an audience.

"Because it-it was the day of the p-prom."

"Bloody Hell…the Master."

"A-and after that, I guess it didn't seem so important anymore."

There were sounds of Giles soothing the distraught teen.

"Mr. Giles?" Daniel said quietly.

"Oh…Dear Lord…I'm dreadfully sorry, Dr. Jackson," Giles said with a tight voice. "I quite forgot you were there. I'm afraid…I'm afraid you may have heard more than necessary…"

"It will be kept in the strictest confidence, Mr. Giles…you have my word," the gruff voice of the General replied.

"Thank you, General. If-if that is all?"

"Actually, Mr. Giles…um…well…I don't mean to press the issue, but would you know why this all started before she was called?" Daniel asked tentatively.

"I'm afraid not, Dr. Jackson. I met Buffy just before her 16th birthday, several months after she was called."

"I know why." Dawn's soft voice came back on the line. She sniffled again. "It was because of The Asshole, and yes, that's with a capital 'T' and 'A' – otherwise known as Hank Summers, 'cuz we refuse to call that butthead our dad anymore."

"Dawn Summers! Watch your language!"

"Well he is! And you said so too, after he didn't show up at mom's funeral 'cuz he was too busy screwing his secretary in Spain! But what you didn't know was that he hit her once…gave her a good solid backhand…just because she dared to touch a gift he had received from one of his precious clients. Oh, he apologized right afterwards, but he had still hit her. What's really stupid about it all, is that he never would have touched it himself, 'cuz it was just a stupid puzzle."

Daniel sat up, a look of intense concentration on his face. "A puzzle?"

"Yeah, one of those photomosaic ones…it only took her 30 minutes to do, but did Hank care? No…he just said, I'm sorry for hitting you princess, why don't you put on something pretty and let daddy take you out for ice cream. Then, 'ta da', the next day ditzy blonde Buffy was born," Dawn's voice broke. "I-I think she thought that if she didn't act so smart, he would love her more."

The more SG-1 and Hammond heard, the more they were appalled.

"Pillock."

"Giles!"

"My apologies, Dawn, but if your father ever shows his face around here, I'm afraid I may cause him permanent harm."

"I'll hand you the axe, Giles."

"Well…yes…uh…ditzy, you say? I've never known Buffy to be…ditzy – occasionally flighty, but never to a point where I questioned her intelligence."

There was a moment of silence before Dawn responded in a more serious voice. "I think Merrick's death really hit her hard. I remember her being really serious for a while…until we moved to Sunnydale."

"Merrick?" Daniel's voice questioned over the phone, bringing both Giles and Dawn's attention back to them.

"Merrick was Buffy's first Watcher. I'm actually her second…Merrick was killed during a confrontation with a master vampire."

"Right in front of her," Dawn added quietly. "It still bothers her sometimes…that she couldn't save him."

Daniel didn't know how to reply to that, so he just kept silent.

"Did we answer all your questions, Dr. Jackson?" Giles' subdued voice asked.

"Well…all except the one about how Buffy did so well on the SATs."

"I'm afraid I can't help you there…I was quite surprised myself, though very pleased."

"Duh, Giles! It was because you taught her, helped her or whatever. Out of everyone she knew, your opinion was the only one that was important to her, of course she did well!"

"I-it was?"

"In case you guys are wondering, I'm rolling my eyes at him now. For a brainiac, Giles can be a little oblivious sometimes."

"Dawn!"

Dawn gave a soggy giggled.

Through their grim expressions, the SGC group smiled a little.

"General Hammond, I do hope that what you've heard will not color your actions towards Buffy – she's a proud woman, and won't accept pity or concessions from anyone…"

"Concessions!" Daniel exclaimed.

"Pardon?"

"That's it!" Daniel looked excited, and the others could literally see the thoughts rushing around through his head.

"Daniel…care to share with the rest of the class?" O'Neill interjected smoothly.

"Remember that Whistler guy? He said something about The Powers having to make several concessions if they wanted to have some control over Buffy's destiny. If they'd had full control, wouldn't they have just had her covering the Hellmouth full-time again, like she used to?"

"That would be most likely, Dr. Jackson," Giles' said, his voice tinged with confusion.

"Instead, a different…uh…group…redirected her destiny to coincide with ours – basically, she was sent here to help us. But…what if she was also sent here for us to help her, too?"

"Daniel?" O'Neill drew out the sound of his name, indicating that he wasn't speaking clearly enough for those of lesser intelligence.

"Think of everyone here Jack…what do we have? We have, in the barest sense of educational terms, people who are experts in Math, Science, History, Languages, Engineering, and so on…we have teachers who could make up for all those…those…bastards who stymied her educational future. Oh, it wouldn't be teaching in the normal sense of 'sit down and lecture' – more like self-taught, with an accessible support system – but still, I think Buffy's intelligent enough to do it…it's not like she would have deadlines in the normal sense of a quarter or semester system."

"You would be willing to do that for her?" Giles asked, surprised.

"I think I speak for everyone here when I emphatically say, 'Yes', Mr. Giles," Daniel responded, looking around to see everyone nodding their head.

"And we also have strong ties to the Air Force Academy…I'm sure we could work something out with them to design a special degree program to work around her duties here, and without having her formally sign up as a cadet," Carter added. "It would be unusual, but I know several of the board members and the academy Commanding Officer, and could probably pull a few strings of my own."

"They drool when they hear from you, Carter – they'll bend over backwards for you," O'Neill smirked.

"And if we have any difficulties convincing them, I'm sure the President would be happy to step in," Hammond added.

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

"He's smacking his gums, guys…I think you overloaded his brain with happy juice," Dawn giggled.

"Very funny, Dawn," Giles responded in an annoyed tone, before addressing the group, "I must say that your generosity overwhelms me. The past few years have been extremely difficult for Buffy…apparently more so than I was originally aware of. If-if you are able to do this for her, I would be eternally grateful."

"Me too. Buffy had to give up a lot to take care of me, and I didn't exactly make it easy for her either…it would be nice if something good finally happened for her," Dawn added in a more subdued voice.

"I-I must warn you, though…be very careful how you approach her with your offer – as I mentioned before, she's a very proud woman."

"Understood, Mr. Giles. I believe we will be able to come up with something feasible," General Hammond assured him.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, both parties bid each other farewell and disconnected.

There was a long silence in the conference room.

"Can I be the first to say that the California Education System really, really sucks!" the Colonel bit out.

There were murmurs of agreement all around.

"It is also my opinion that, should I happen to come upon HankSummers, he will not leave my presence without several broken limbs," Teal'c added.

"Oh yeah! Forget the dark alley…I'll take him out in broad daylight," O'Neill growled.

The General brought the conversation back to their original topic.

"While I may be in complete agreement with both of you, let's get back on track. I assume I don't need to order any of you not to discuss this subject outside this room?" Seeing their nods, he continued. "While all of us may be eager to jump on board with immediately implementing Ms. Summers' continuing education, Mr. Giles is correct in that it needs to be handled properly.

"To that end, we will wait to see what other skills or interests Ms. Summers may show during her temporary posts, before taking any action. In the mean time, Major Carter, get in touch with your contacts at the Academy, and see if they would be willing to accept an unusual student – if they have no objection, provide them with a copy of Ms. Summers' college transcript and SAT scores. Anything else?"

When no one had anything to add, Hammond dismissed them with a last warning to be sure not to treat Buffy any differently.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

"George."

"Arthur! What brings you to our neck of the woods?"

General Hammond stood, hand outstretched to greet Arthur Simms, the Secretary of Defense, who had become a good friend over the course of the Stargate Program.

"Officially, I'm here on vacation, and stopped in to see a few friends."

"And unofficially?"

Simms closed the door firmly behind him, and gestured Hammond to sit back down as he took a seat on the other side of the desk.

"Unofficially, I'm here to talk with you about certain…inquiries…you've been making recently."

"And what inquiries might those be?

Simms pierced him with his gaze.

"Please don't dance around the subject, George, not with me…I'm sure you are well aware of the inquiries I'm talking about."

"The classified project that was in Sunnydale, California," Hammond responded, fully aware that that was the only inquiry he had been making which would have ruffled any feathers.

"Why are you asking around about it? Or should I say, whom do you have here that needs permission to speak about it? All the soldiers involved were debriefed and given a point of contact, should the need ever arise, so they're not military."

"How much do you know about the project, Arthur? I need to know that, before I can name names."

"Unfortunately, all of it, George – it's the only major blight that would be on my record, if it was known beyond the handful of people who were involved. And I can assure you, they won't be saying a word either."

"It was that bad?"

"Worse," Simms said grimly. "I was involved from the beginning, but had no idea that the local project head went far beyond what I had approved the project to encompass – that's a mistake I never intend to make again. Now tell me, George…who is here?"

"If you are fully aware of the project, then you must know about the civilian contingent that was involved in it…at least in the end. The leader of that group is here." Hammond was careful not to mention Buffy's name, on the off-chance that Simms wasn't aware of her.

"Ms. Summers is here?!" The Secretary of Defense looked astonished. "Why has she become involved in the Stargate Program?"

"It's difficult to understand without knowing her story, but Buffy's…benefactors, for lack of a better term, have conspired to make her skills and services available to us."

"But she's here willingly, correct?"

"I wouldn't have allowed it if it was otherwise, Arthur…you know that." Hammond gave Simms a look of reproach.

"I apologize, George…but it was my understanding that Ms. Summers was involved in a different type of…war. And, given the nature of her former relationship with the heads of the project, I'm surprised that she agreed to become involved with the military again."

The General sighed. "Arthur, if we are ever going to get to the point, I think we need to drop all the fancy juggling of words. Barring Ms. Summers' personal information, I'm willing to lay what I know on the table…can you do the same?"

Simms hesitated a moment, then nodded sharply.

"SG-1, Dr. Frasier, and I were recently made aware of the mystical world that, apparently, is right here on our very own planet. During our introduction to one of these creatures – by Ms. Summers, I might add – we became concerned with the safety of the residents of Colorado Springs and the surrounding areas. Ms. Summers is very adamant that the military does not get involved in the fight with these creatures, but would not explain why, except to say that the military had already tried it, and got burned in a deadly way. Since she had no idea of who to contact in order to gain permission to speak of it, I offered to call around to my contacts. That's the only information I know for sure, though we've made a few conjectures on what the project actually entailed."

There was a moment of silence as Simms absorbed the information Hammond had provided.

"We gave her the benefit of the doubt but, to be honest, I'm surprised that Ms. Summers has kept quiet, George."

"She felt that she owed it to the soldiers involved. They've never said anything about her, or she would have been picked up a long time ago…she felt they deserved the same courtesy."

"And that tells me a lot about her character, George." Simms said with a surprised, but pleased smile. "Now, I suppose you would like me to tell you what I know – and before you ask, call in SG-1 and Dr. Frasier…knowing Colonel O'Neill, I would guess that he's the one that is pushing the issue of military involvement?"

"You would guess correctly, then," Hammond chuckled as he lifted the handset of his phone, and instructed his secretary to have one of the base soldiers round up SG-1 and the doctor.

Simms stood and went back to the door of Hammond's office. Opening it, he spoke with his security detail standing just outside the door, then held out a hand to accept a sturdy briefcase from one of them. Closing the door, he turned to the second door leading to the private conference room, which Hammond was holding open for him.

Once everyone had arrived, and pleasantries were exchanged, Simms got right to the point.

"The classified project in Sunnydale, California, code name The Initiative, was created for the purpose of examining the various species of demons, to determine the source of their individual powers or attributes, with the hopes of harnessing the power for military use. Because of the violent nature of most of them, the examinations were not limited to benign non-intrusive assessments – there were experiments done, both to assess their powers and, in the event of a large number of them, ascertain how to destroy them if we couldn't control their power. These experiments were sanctioned by the program directors, including myself and a handful of high-rank military officers, but that was to be the limit of the project. Several months into the project, the local project head, a Dr. Maggie Walsh, and several of the other scientists began to secretly experiment further than the prescribed restrictions. It was only after The Initiative was terminated that the extent of Dr. Walsh's experimentation came out.

"In addition to drugging their food, there were cases of experimental surgery done to a few of the base soldiers – without their knowledge or permission – all in an attempt to see if they could increase their physical strength. And that's just the small potatoes…"

While the group was digesting that information, Simms snapped open his briefcase and removed several glossy, 10x12 black-and-white pictures. Tossing them to the center of the table, he continued.

"To put it bluntly, Dr. Walsh and her crew created an abomination that was part demon, part computer, and part…human."

"Human?!" Dr. Frasier stopped her reaching hand, staring at Simms with an appalled expression.

"Yes, human. Thankfully, Dr. Walsh and the others drew the line at using live subjects."

"Cadavers?" O'Neill asked grimly.

Simms gave a sharp nod of his head.

There were several minutes of silence as the pictures were passed around. Grim looks abounded, at the sight of the cyborg-like atrocity. Daniel looked a little green around the gills.

"In the debriefing of the soldiers, we found that the prototype, named 'Adam' by his creator, was a 'kinematically redundant, biomechanical demonoid'…and was the one who staged the destruction of The Initiative compound, in an attempt to provide a large number of cadavers, both demon and human, in order to create more like himself."

"How was he taken down?" Hammond's brisk voice asked.

"By Ms. Summers, though how it was done is unknown. There was a hidden lab within the underground facilities, but no surveillance equipment was active in the area – the only footage we have of the actual battle came from the main area of the underground base."

Simms removed a tape from inside his briefcase, and looked to the General in question.

Hammond gestured for Daniel to set up the viewing equipment. Once it was ready, Daniel handed the remote to Simms.

"Just so you know, I'll be turning the sound off…it makes it a little easier to stomach."

Simms started the video.

It was the worst horror any of them had ever seen – soldiers were being torn apart left and right, some were being eaten right in view of the camera, and a valiant few were attempting to protect those who weren't armed. It was a bloodbath, and they could only thank god that it wasn't in color, or noneof them would have been able to keep the contents of their stomach down. And all of them realized why Simms chose to leave the sound off…so they wouldn't have to listen to the screams.

A familiar blonde suddenly appeared in view of the camera, closely trailed by five other people, one woman and four men, and the tide of the battle gradually began to turn in favor of the humans. Three of the men and one woman broke off and headed towards the main group of people who were valiantly trying to stay the wave of demons attacking them. The other woman, Buffy, and a light-haired man plowed through a large group of demons, quickly disappearing behind the sheer number of creatures, only to emerge moments later as broken demon bodies were flung away.

Simms paused the picture just as the camera angle had changed to show a fierce-looking Buffy in a mid-flying-kick, as she used the force she gained from breaking the neck of one demon to take down another.

"There's about another 30 minutes of that…though, with the arrival of Ms. Summers and her friends, the further loss of soldiers was almost completely curtailed."

The Secretary of Defense waited to see if there would be any questions, but wasn't surprised that no one spoke up – he could see that they were having difficulty wrapping their minds around the destruction they had just seen.

"Out of two hundred people, the result of this battle was that of a forty percent loss of life, thirty percent gave up their commissions due to mental stress, and another 10 percent took a long temporary leave of absence."

"And the last 20?" O'Neill asked gruffly.

"They are continuing one purpose of The Initiative, and one purpose only – to hunt these creatures down in remote areas where Ms. Summers and her group are unable to reach. While we continued to loosely monitor the happenings in Sunnydale, we left the safety of the city in their hands.

"I fully support Ms. Summers' request that the military do not become involved. I think we all understand that military involvement wouldn't stop at just protecting the city from these creatures – there will always be a faction, or several factions, who would want to try harnessing their powers again…if that happened, we may not be so lucky as to have a Slayer in the vicinity the next time."

O'Neill sat up straight and pinned Simms with a fierce look. "You know what she is?"

"I do, as does General Markson, but that's as far as it goes. In a private debriefing, the Agent in charge and his second in command refused to reveal any information about Ms. Summers unless it was guaranteed that the information would stay in the room, and that no actions, whatsoever, would be taken against her and her group. They were quite protective of them, and promised that, should anything happen to them…well, let's just say their threats were quite…colorful."

"And you didn't reprimand them?" Carter asked in surprise.

"Given the fact that Ms. Summers and her group were the only thing holding the monsters at bay, not to mention protecting an active, and highly volatile, Hellmouth…General Markson and I would deserve any retaliation, should something happen to them based on our indiscretions. I did make a few discreet inquiries into Ms. Summers, in the hopes of her possible recruitment into one of many different classified programs, including this one, but found that she is well protected – at least from the military – by some very powerful people."

"How powerful?" Hammond asked.

"From those I was made aware of, both the Royal Family and current Prime Minister of Britain, and a few members of the Romanov family who have close ties to the Russian government – I got the impression that that was just the tip of the iceberg. I was told point blank by the British Prime Minister, to cease all inquiries into Ms. Summers, or many of our close international relations would suddenly become…distant."

O'Neill gave out a low whistle. "I take it you dropped it faster than a radioactive potato."

"While my interest still remained, I wasn't willing to isolate the United States over one girl," Simms grimaced. "Be that as it may, I hope you now understand why the military should not become involve."

"I think you've made Ms. Summers' point, Arthur. We won't pursue any action against these creatures, unless Ms. Summers requests our help," Hammond said firmly, giving Colonel O'Neill a hard look.

The Colonel sighed and nodded his head.

Simms looked relieved, then turned towards the General.

"I don't suppose I could…" he trailed off, looking a little embarrassed.

"You want to meet her, don't you, Arthur?" Hammond looked amused.

"I can't help it, George…after seeing this video and speaking with several of the soldiers who survived…"

"You can't help having a little bit of 'hero worship'?" O'Neill quipped.

"I don't know if I would go that far, but I have to admit that I admire her greatly. If anything, I would like to thank her personally for saving the lives that she did."

Hammond smiled. Calling his assistant, he had Buffy brought to the conference room.

The small blonde entered with her usual energy, a smile on her face.

"Hey, General! You wanted to see…?

Buffy caught sight of the paused video, and a blank expression quickly dropped over her face.

"Am I in trouble?"

"Quite the contrary, Ms. Summers," Simms answered smoothly. "I want to thank you for a fine job you did in stopping that disaster."

"And you are?" Buffy arched an eyebrow at him.

"Ms. Summers, I'd like you to meet Arthur Simms, the Secretary of Defense," Hammond said with an amused smile as he watched the young woman blush in embarrassment.

"Oh…um…hi," she gave an awkward wave. "Sorry about the…uh…snotty hey-hi…you kinda threw me off with the video proof of Buffy: Warrior Princess. I'd have greeted you differently if I hadn't seen it…I can be respectful…yup, just call me respectful-girl…except Giles would probably say I'd greet the Crown Prince of England like he was just some teenage kid, and ask him to hang out at the Bronze…if the Bronze still existed, not to mention Sunnydale as a whole. And can I stop babbling before my face gets red enough to fry eggs on?"

SG-1, Hammond, and Dr. Frasier watched on, highly amused, as Buffy pretty much babbled herself into oblivion.

Simms chuckled as he held out a hand. "Apology accepted, Ms. Summers, if you'll accept mine for not having given you any warning of my presence here."

Buffy shook his hand, being careful not to accidentally crush it in her humiliation.

"I assume you're here to give me permission to talk about The Initiative?"

"Yes, though I took the liberty of providing them with information about the program itself, and its…demise," Simms waved a hand at the paused screen. "But I was unable to tell them how the prototype, Adam, was defeated."

Buffy looked uncomfortable, but at Simms' reassurance that it would go no further than the currently gathered group, and General Hammond's nod of confirmation, she answered him as she took a seat a few places down from the head of the table.

"Me and my friends did it by merging ourselves into one person – not physically…more like our essences. Giles knew of a spell that allowed us to combine his mind, Willow's spirit, and Xander's heart, all into The Hand…me. It was the only way we could defeat him – I couldn't do it myself…I'd already tried it before, and failed spectacularly. We did it in order to perform a paralyzing spell that gave me enough time to pull out his power source…a uranium core that was embedded in his chest."

Carter swore under her breath. "Dr. Walsh must have been insane!"

"Carter?" O'Neill raised an eyebrow in surprise at her language.

"Uranium is used as fuel in the nuclear field, sir. Dr. Walsh not only created a monster, but one that was a walking nuclear bomb!"

"Would you be able to tell us what happened to the uranium core, Ms. Summers? I'm sure it would set everyone's mind at ease to know that it isn't still out there somewhere," Simms interjected.

"Um…I said something in Summerian and it went…'poof'," Buffy's raised fist opened, splaying her fingers out. At their expressions of alarm, she rushed to clarify, "Oh, no! No…uh…'poof' as in disappeared, not 'poof' as in blown up. It's gone…sent into some void thingy."

They all relaxed.

It was Buffy's turn to be worried. "How many people know, Mr. Simms? About me, I mean? You've got hard proof that I'm not exactly normal-girl…" She waved at the video image of herself, "…and I'm sure you're not the only one who's seen it. Am I gonna have to start looking over my shoulder every time I go out now?"

"Besides myself, only General Markson, Agent Finn, and the two remaining members of Agent Finn's team know of your calling – and the project was discussed outside all our normal venues, the military venues, to keep the project as unknown as possible. As for the 'hard proof'…" Simms popped the video tape out of the VCR, and placed it into the briefcase. He gestured for the pictures to be returned. Once they were gathered and handed over, he also placed them inside the case. "…what's inside this case are the only copies in existence, which I've kept in a personal lock-box at the most secure facility I could find.

"While I would do almost anything to stop this from happening again, I can't say that I feel at ease keeping this evidence, given the dangers it could cause you and your group, so…"

Simms snapped the case shut and gave it a hard shove across the table in Buffy's direction. She stopped it with one hand, her eyes wide in surprise.

"You're giving it to me?"

"The video may show why it's not a good idea to experiment on demons, but that's not the only thing it shows…it would be more dangerous if someone decides you are more interesting to experiment on than the demons, Ms. Summers. I'd hate to see what the world would be like if the Slayer wasn't around to keep the demons at bay. It's yours to do with what you will."

Buffy nodded and gave him a smile of gratitude.

"If there are no other questions?" When no one had any, Simms continued, "George, if I could speak with you in private?"

After dismissing the others, George gestured for Simms to his office.

Once the two men got settled, Simms smirked at Hammond. "Is she driving the Colonel crazy yet?"

Hammond chuckled, then showed him the copies of Buffy's strategic plans. Both had a good laugh over them before Simms became serious again.

"What do you have planned for her, George?"

"At the moment, we're seeing where Ms. Summers' other skills might be of help before we decide anything. She will be accompanying SG-1 on a few missions, to get gate-travel experience, but I've been toying with the idea of creating a team that would revolve around her skills, possibly a combination covert operations and rescue group."

"Have you thought about utilizing her as an assassin?"

Hammond looked appalled. "I would never ask someone so young to do anything of the sort!"

"I don't think Ms. Summers has been young in a very long time, George," Simms responded gravely. He held up a hand when he saw that Hammond looked like he was going to protest further. "Hear me out, George. The war you are fighting with the Goa'uld will never be a fair one, and with the sheer number of them coming out of the woodworks, including their armies of Jaffa, there will be a time when confronting them head-on, or even using subterfuge will be useless – we are military men, and understand that sometimes we need to get our hands bloody in order to eliminate a threat. I watched that damn video from beginning to end, with the sound on, George…several times – don't let her young face and cheerful manner fool you…Ms. Summers is a formidable fighter…one who understands that sometimes you need to fight dirty in order to win."

There was nothing Hammond could say to refute that, and he stared at his own hands…hands that he knew were stained with the blood of his own past deeds.

Hammond sighed and gave him a resigned nod. "I'll take that into consideration, Arthur."

Simms nodded and stood.

"Before I go, you should know that two former Initiative soldiers are stationed at the Army base here in Colorado Springs, and they've put in their applications to be considered for the Stargate Program. I'm not sure how Ms. Summers would respond to them being part of the program – but if it's favorable, they could be one very deadly team…the kind that would be perfect for a combination covert ops and rescue team."

He scribbled two names on a pad of paper, and pushed it towards Hammond before bidding him good-bye.

Hammond looked at the names before sitting back with a thoughtful expression on his face.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

SLAM!

Daniel jumped in his seat, then spun around. He saw a flushed Buffy leaning against the doorframe she had crashed into in her haste.

"You didn't see me…I'm not here!"

The archeologist watched as Buffy took a brief look around, then moved quickly to squish herself between the end of a bookshelf and a corner of the room. She suddenly disappeared, apparently using her gift of manipulating shadows to hide herself.

Not five seconds later, a panting Colonel O'Neill appeared in his doorway.

"Where is she Daniel?!"

"Who, Jack?"

"You know who I'm talking about! Buffy! I know she came down this corridor, and I'm guessing she's hiding from me in here, since Chloe's door is locked and she doesn't know anyone else on this floor."

"Take a look around, Jack…do you see her here?"

O'Neill began to move around the room, waving his arms in front of him, occasionally stopping to poke into a dark area.

"She has that shadow-thingy, Daniel, and I'm guessing that she's using it."

"What do you want her for anyway?"

The Colonel picked up some kind of ceremonial staff that was leaning in a niche, and began to poke into the darkened corners of the ceiling.

"I've got a lot of reports that need to get done."

"Uh-huh…And?"

"I found out she can type."

"So?"

"Two words, Daniel – Slayer…Speed."

Daniel snorted in amusement.

"You do know that by the time you find her, you could probably have a couple of them done, don't you Jack?"

"That's not the point, Daniel!"

"Then what is it?"

"She can do them faster."

Daniel rolled his eyes at the Colonel's logic, but if he didn't want Jack wandering around his room for the next hour, waving his arms and probably knocking things over, he had to give him what he wanted. He sighed, then gave a brief tilt of his chin towards the corner where Buffy was hiding.

O'Neill flashed him a grin, and stalked over to where Daniel had indicated Buffy to be.

"All right, Summers, don't make me have to grab you…I might accidentally touch you in the no-no place."

He was answered by a snort of amusement.

"Ha! Got you! Give up quietly, and I might let go after a couple of hours."

A frowning Buffy emerged.

"I'm not typing your reports, Jack…if you'd kept up on them, you wouldn't have so many to do now. It's not my fault you're a procrastinator…why should I be punished?"

Daniel muttered something under his breath, probably an agreement with Buffy.

"Shut up, Daniel! And yes, Summers, you are going to help…I'll get the General to order you to."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"After you!"

"Nuh-uh…you go first! You'll disappear again if I take my eyes off you."

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Would you two just leave!" Daniel bellowed out in frustration, having reached his limit with the two bickering adults.

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

With a glare and a muttered 'traitor' in Daniel's direction, Buffy whirled around and began to stalk out the door, the Colonel right on her heels.

"While it's true that Colonel O'Neill should be doing his own reports, you would be doing me a personal favor if you helped him catch up on the ones he has…I have been waiting a while for some of them." Hammond gave the Colonel a pointed look.

O'Neill had the decency to look a little guilty.

Buffy frowned. "No offense, but I don't think I was sent here to be his personal secretary, General."

"And I'm not asking you to be, Ms. Summers. Just a few hours."

"…a week. A few hours a week," O'Neill interjected, sensing that he was about to get his way, and trying to push for more.

The General frowned at him. Buffy cocked her head and pinned him with her gaze, a speculative look on her face.

"A few hours a week…on one condition…you give me a few hours a week – an even trade." Buffy had a gleam in her eyes that made the Colonel a little nervous.

"For what?" he asked cautiously.

"Training."

"Oh, no! No, no, no, no, no! I am not going to trade a few hours typing for you being able to pummel me to death. No."

"I said training, Jack, not sparring. There's a difference…one that I think you'll like. With training, you get to order me around and pick on me."

"I do? Sweet! I mean…what do you mean?"

"I need to keep in top shape, and all this sitting around isn't helping. You Mr. Special-Ops-with-expertise-in-several-martial-arts-disciplines will help me keep my fighting form top-notch."

"I thought fighting was instinctive for you."

"It is, but that doesn't mean I don't drop an elbow here and there. When dealing with multiple opponents, a Slayer can't be sloppy, or she's quickly dead."

"So…um…what am I supposed to help you with?"

"The basics, Jack. Giles always trained me with the basics at least four times a week – punches, kicks, combinations…over and over again to keep it both deeply engrained and fresh. Coming here removed me from having access to that type of training. And, hey, if it's any consolation, you even get to throw sharp objects at me."

"I do? Sweet!"

"So we have a deal?"

"Stop slouching."

"What?!"

"I'm practicing on picking on your form."

Buffy gave a snort of amusement as she stood.

"I'll take that as a yes."

The two walked out of the General's office without a word of goodbye, bickering over how to fit their agreement into their schedules.

Hammond shook his head and wondered how many arguments a week he was going to have to referee between the two.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

It became strangely normal for the base personnel to see the tall Colonel and the much shorter Buffy squabbling as they headed down the corridors to the officers mess hall, where Buffy would type up his reports that he rattled out with barely a pausing breath, and squabbling again as they made their way to Level 24, where the two had commandeered a large empty room for the use of Buffy's training (which she and Teal'c also began to use).

The Colonel was even able to convince the General to order more floor mats and martial arts equipment, since the room was beginning to see heavy use between himself, Buffy, Teal'c, and, surprisingly, Major Carter.

"Again."

Punch…Punch…Kick.

"You're dropping your shoulder, Summers. Again!

Punch…Punch…Kick.

"Good…good. Gimme twenty reps of that."

Buffy slowly breathed in and out as she punched and kicked to the Colonel's satisfaction.

The training had turned out to be good for the both of them. Buffy felt more relaxed, now that she was back into a familiar routine that had been missing for far too long. And while the Colonel had originally started out acting like a 'drill sergeant', he began to join her in the repetitive movements – even after only a week, he could feel a definite difference in his body…he felt stronger, less tired and tense, and there was starting to be a slightly noticeable change around the 'spare tire' area (to which he adamantly refused to admit had been going soft for the past couple of years).

"Next kata, Summers…controlled kicks," Jack said, demonstrating as he called out, "Front kick, side kick, back kick, and finish with a second side kick. Lightly, Summers…I want to see control, not strength. Begin."

The door to the training room opened, but Buffy ignored whoever was entering…Jack was a hard taskmaster, a lot harder than Giles, and wouldn't allow her to break her routine unless it was an emergency – she'd found that out the hard way when she had turned to greet someone, and ended up on her back with Jack's foot pressing into her neck.

Daniel entered the room, taking pains not to disturb the two. He occasionally dropped in to watch them train, more often than not nowadays, and could see that the two enjoyed the rigid instruction – any arguments were dropped, and the bickering disappeared…the training was all about the perfection of form. And though there were often outbursts of bantering, both Jack and Buffy took these training sessions very seriously – after all, it was about keeping Buffy alive.

"You're overcompensating on the side kick, Summers. Like this." Jack demonstrated the kick again, then gestured for Buffy to try again. When she overcompensated once more, he gave her a push, knocking her over.

Buffy quickly got to her feet again, waiting for Jack's next instruction.

"Come here."

At his gesture, Buffy walked up to him.

"OK…do it slowly, and hold the position."

Buffy raised her left leg and slowly performed the kick, then kept her leg held out in the extended position.

"The kick is good…perfect line, but your other knee is too rigid, and you're leaning too far - you're shifting your center of gravity to your upper body, which is why I was able to push you over so easily."

He knelt down in front of her and placed both his hands on her knee.

"Pop the knee out a little, Summers…that's it…right there."

Buffy wobbled a little, but kept her leg stretched out. Jack placed a hand on her bent hip to balance her.

"Can you see how your center's off?"

"Yeah."

"Tilt your upper body back up a couple of inches…that's it. Your center of gravity should always stay around the lower abs – right behind the navel. Do you feel it now?"

"Uh-huh."

"OK…try it again slowly – twenty reps."

The first couple of kicks were still off, but Buffy performed the rest perfectly.

"Other side."

And so it went for the next hour, some of the katas taking Daniel's breath away with their sheer beauty and raw power. He'd never realized how skilled Jack was in martial arts until the two had started the training sessions – well…he knew Jack was skilled, but he'd never actually been witness to it. And when the two moved together, performing more difficult combinations, it was stunning.

"That's it, Summers…good job. Work on those side-kicks, though."

"Yeah sure, you betcha, Sensei." Buffy grinned mischievously.

"Brat."

Buffy stuck her tongue out at him before turning towards where Daniel sat back against the wall.

"Hey Daniel. What's up?"

"Nothing…just thought I'd take a break and watch again." Daniel gave her a small smile as he levered himself up to his feet.

"You?! Take a break? Is the world ending?" Jack smirked.

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Contrary to popular opinion, I don't always work, Jack."

"Am I gonna have to put you guys in separate corners?" Buffy lifted an eyebrow at the two men.

"You can try." Jack glared at her.

Ignoring him, Buffy addressed the younger man. "Wanna go get some dinner in the mess?"

"Sure! I wanted to…um…ask you something anyway," Daniel said a little nervously.

"OK…just let me go wash up first. You wanna join us, Jack?"

The Colonel thought a moment, then grimaced. "Considering I have no food in my house, I better grab something here…I'll meet you there as soon as I do my own wash-up."

If Buffy hadn't already turned back towards Daniel, she might have missed the slight slump of his shoulders, as if he was disappointed.

"Daniel? You OK?"

"Yeah, sure."

"You betcha?"

He gave her a fleeting smile.

"So, what did you want to ask me?" Buffy watched him closely.

"Oh…uh…I wanted to ask you about some of the…uh…demons you've encountered."

It was very apparent to the Buffy that demons were not what Daniel wanted to ask her about, but she let it slide and made a mental note to talk to him alone at some point.

"Sure, Daniel…but I have to warn you that most of those encounters end in a really messy way – I'll try to keep the details of the entrails to a minimum, though, for the sake of keeping your dinner down."

Daniel blanched.

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"Hi…um…General Hammond."

Hammond looked up to see the face of Buffy Summers hesitantly peeking into his office. Giving her a welcoming smile, he gestured for her to enter.

"What can I do for you Ms. Summers?"

"I was looking for…uh…Daniel and Teal'c. Are they around?"

"I'm afraid SG-1 is currently on a mission."

Buffy's face fell.

Taking a quick look at the clock, Hammond realized why she was looking for the two members of SG-1.

"But if you don't mind being seen with someone old enough to be your grandfather, I'd be happy to have company for lunch."

The young woman perked up, giving the General a teasing smile.

"Old? You're not old, General…Jack is old, and only 'cuz it's so much fun to irritate him."

Hammond chuckled, then stood, gesturing the young woman to lead the way.

Though the General had already read the accounts of Buffy's progress, he asked her to tell him how she was doing, and listened as she energetically told him about some of the things that failed to make it into the reports…including important tidbits the officers instructing her weren't even aware of.

"When we stopped arguing over her shoving food down my throat, we got along pretty well. The doc was pretty surprised I knew what sutures were, much less knew how to sew someone up – and I was kinda surprised she didn't realize I probably knew enough to be a trained EMT…I mean, I did mention all the injuries we received over the years."

"You took care of your own injuries?"

Buffy nodded her head. "In the beginning, we went to the hospital for most of it, but after seeing how it was done 50-gazillion times, we started doing the patch-ups ourselves…unless it was really bad. We were starting to get some funny looks from the doctors, so Xander thought it would be a good idea to try and avoid going there more than necessary, unless we wanted to get our parents in trouble."

"I don't know whether to say that was a good idea, or scold you for taking your health into your own hands," Hammond gave her a stern look. "You could have risked getting infections."

"Nah…if it was bad, but not bad enough to go to the hospital, we just had Willow order some antibiotics from a pharmaceutical website…and you didn't just hear that," Buffy trailed off as she looked nervously at the older man. "We weren't frivolous with medications, sir…both Willow and Giles knew what they were doing."

Hammond sighed. "I'm not going to scold you, Ms. Summers…considering what you all were up against, I can understand your reasoning. But going forward, I would appreciate it if you would see Dr. Frasier for any future injuries that require more than antiseptic and small bandages, and that includes your sister and friends. I'll ask Dr. Frasier to keep medical supplies at home, and provide a way for you to contact her."

Buffy looked surprised. "Are-are you sure? I mean, we wouldn't want to impose…"

"I can guarantee you that Dr. Frasier will feel the same way, Ms. Summers – she understands the dangers of your other…duties."

"It would be nice to have someone who knows what we do to be available for house-calls…thank you," Buffy said a little awkwardly.

Seeing that the young woman was a little uncomfortable about his offer, he brought the subject back to her training.

"As you mentioned, Dr. Frasier was a little surprised at how much knowledge you had about treating injuries…she mentioned training you further, as a back-up to the field medics."

Buffy looked surprised, then grimaced.

"To be honest, I don't know if I could make it through the training…I was getting a headache with all the smells in the infirmary. I hope I don't get injured enough to spend time there, or I'm going to have to invest in a pair of nose-plugs."

"Because of your enhanced senses?"

She made a face as she nodded her head.

"I'll make mention of that to Dr. Frasier, and see what we can do to work around it."

Buffy looked relieved, then turned a curious face towards him.

"Not to change the subject, or say that I'm not enjoying your company, but when is SG-1 due back?"

"They should be contacting us to give us a status report tomorrow, but I'm afraid they will be gone for a few days, helping the Tok'ra move to their new base."

"Guess I'll have to learn to be 'one with myself', eh General?"

Hammond chuckled.

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SG-1 missed their check-in.

It wasn't until a member of the evacuated Tok'ra contacted them 24 hours later to update Hammond on current events, that they knew what had happened to the team.

Another 48 hours passed before the bedraggled SG-1 team walked through the gate, Jack and Daniel dragging an unconscious Teal'c between them. For several minutes, there was a flurry of activity as Teal'c was whisked off to the infirmary, with orders to have restraints placed on him.

Though she hadn't actually been invited, and no objection was made to her presence, Buffy quietly joined SG-1 and Hammond in the briefing room to hear about the latest encounter with the Goa'uld Apophis, and his (hopefully) permanent end.

The small blonde shivered at hearing of Teal'c's brainwashing, likening it to her own experience with the…gurgle cashmere-neck?...(sigh)…the whatever demon, and its 'alternate reality' juice. Buffy knew the Jaffa was in for a painful recovery, followed by a massive guilt session – she made a mental note to keep an eye on him.

It was a new experience for Buffy – to watch, and not do. She was skeptical about Teal'c's sudden 'recovery' three weeks later, but kept silent – to be honest, she didn't know him all that well, nor was she familiar on how quickly a Jaffa could recover.

As she stood in her designated position, Buffy was glad that Hammond had taken precautions for when they decided whether or not to release Teal'c from his restraints.

Hearing approaching footsteps, she tensed, looking across the way to where Sam and Daniel were standing, preparing to zat one of their best-friends, if necessary. The guard standing next to her rushed from their hiding place, and Buffy cursed the stupidity of macho-men as he was tossed to the side.

Turning the corner, Teal'c came to an abrupt halt as he was faced with two of his team members.

"Teal'c," Sam said with a look on her face that begged him not to make her shoot him.

He spun around and went to run down the opposite corridor, but came up against Buffy.

With a grim look, the small blonde said, "You know I can kick your ass, Teal'c – don't make have to prove it to you again."

Blocked from further escape, Teal'c turned to go back the way he came, but by that time, Hammond and the others had caught up.

With an angry look at Bra'tac, Teal'c growled a word at him…'Shol'va'…then attempted to attack. Bra'tac raised his zat and calmly shot his former student, knocking the larger man unconscious.

Buffy became a little squeamish as she watched the older Jaffa reach into Teal'c's pouch. When she saw what Bra'tac drew out, she threw herself back, wild-eyed, against the corridor wall.

O'Neill and the others suddenly turned at the sound of screeching metal, and saw Buffy staring at the larval Goa'uld Bra'tac held in his hand. A violent gleam shone in her eyes as her fingers gouged into the metal framing of the corridor.

"Summers!" O'Neill barked.

"Get it out of here, NOW, Jack!" Buffy growled out before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.

Hammond hurriedly waved Bra'tac to take the larval Goa'uld back to the infirmary, and ordered two of the soldiers to grab the unconscious Teal'c and follow the older Jaffa.

When only Hammond and the rest of SG-1 remained, they turned to the heavily panting blonde woman.

"You OK, Buffy?" Daniel asked, concerned.

"Yeah…yeah…I'll be all right in a minute. I wish Bra'tac had given me a little warning before he did that, though."

"Why?"

"It was like meeting my first demon all over again – my first instinct is to destroy something that gives off evil vibes…and I can tell you, that thing is screaming evil of the most dangerous kind. It took me by surprise, and I almost ran over there and ripped it apart. Now that I know what it feels like when it's not muted by a human body, I'll be more prepared the next time."

"I wonder how you'll react when you meet your first Goa'uld? Oh…and feel free to rip them apart, Summers," O'Neill smirked.

Buffy laughed, the humor helping to calm her nerves even more, and she pushed herself away from the wall. "I'll be sure to keep my weapons sharp for when I do."

The small blonde waived them off towards the direction Teal'c had been taken, assuring them that she was OK.

Their concern over the condition of their friend finally caught up with them, and the group quickly began to make their way to the infirmary.

Buffy watched them walk away, her arms circling her waist as a flash of loneliness swept over her.

Daniel paused and looked back at Buffy, tilting his head in the direction of the infirmary and giving her a smile. "He's your friend now too, Buffy…and so are we."

A small smile blossomed across her face. Dropping her arms, Buffy jogged up to him – and, side-by-side, they followed the path to the infirmary.

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What followed would have been surreal for Buffy, if it wasn't for the fact that it was giving her flashbacks of actual memories.

She stood by the stairwell, a few feet away from one of the base soldiers, as she listened to Bra'tac's reasoning for removing Teal'c's symbiote, paling when the older Jaffa described what happened when a warrior was taken to the threshold of death.

If she hadn't been standing behind Bra'tac and slightly to the side, Colonel O'Neill would have missed the pain that flashed through her eyes as she wrapped her arms around her middle when Daniel added that there was something similar on Earth.

O'Neill locked gazes with her as he asked a question which, unknown to the others, was directed to both Bra'tac and Buffy.

"You've done this before?"

While Bra'tac's positive answer may have been a relief, an ill feeling swept through him as he watched Buffy close her eyes and give a slight nod.

He should have known, though, especially with what he had heard from the argument with her friends…but there are some things a person can hear that they're not ready to acknowledge at the time, including right now.

O'Neill shoved his questions and conclusions to the back of his mind to be dealt with at a later time, and returned his attention back to Bra'tac.

The group was dismissed in short order, to return to Teal'c's side, and Buffy followed them, quiet and subdued.

She tucked herself in a corner of the infirmary room where Teal'c lay, knowing she had very little to offer in the way of memories, but still wanting to be there – she sat quietly, watching as the others forced the Jaffa to relive his memories.

The hours passed slowly, Teal'c's visitors changing every so often, as each had something to contribute in forcing him to remember his true life with them.

Buffy could tell that it was nearing the end – Teal'c's heart was struggling to continue pumping blood through his veins, his lungs labored with each breath, and his fever had risen to its highest point.

A few short moments later, it was time – he was at the precipice, and the choice to fall over it or pull back was upon him.

Major Carter had fallen silent, and the others joined her to stand by their friend's side in this last crucial moment.

Buffy stood, and silently made her way over, sneaking in between Daniel and Jack to look down on the face of one of her new friends. She gave him a sad look before leaning over and whispering something in his ear.

As the young woman stood up straight again, O'Neill opened his mouth to ask her what she said to the unconscious Jaffa, but was distracted when Teal'c began to twitch.

Teal'c muttered the word 'No' over and over again.

Buffy gave a smile of satisfaction.

Teal'c stood before two paths – one led to the glorious figure of his God Apophis, the other…the other led to the life his captors told him was the truth.

Apophis shone with a bright gold light…he was magnificent – the perfect image of a benevolent deity. Teal'c knew him…was His for so long…he knew love for his God.

Teal'c turned his body towards this bright beacon that beckoned to him, and raised a foot to take the first step down His path.

His forward momentum was abruptly stopped by a voice…it was familiar…it was arresting – and it asked only one question.

Placing his foot back on the ground, he answered.

She asked it again.

Once again, he gave his answer.

He felt a pressure building up in his head.

She asked it again.

He gave the same answer, staggering at the sharp pain in his forehead.

She asked it again.

…and again.

…and again.

…and again.

And he answered again.

…and again.

…and again.

…and again.

A bright light exploded in his mind, and he fell to his knees. He heard something shattering, and raised his head to see the image of his God splinter as if glass, distorting the once bright image into a mockery of its previous perfection.

He felt the veil being lifted from his eyes, and in that moment, he could see with perfect clarity…and was ashamed.

"What have I done?" he whispered in anguish.

Teal'c's heart monitor began to beep erratically, the lines indicating his heart-rate going red.

"He's in de-fib…get the cart!" Dr. Fraiser called out commandingly.

"This is it," Carter said as she and the others moved back from the bed to allow Dr. Frasier and the nurses to do their job.

O'Neill grabbed a handset from the wall and barked out to whoever answered, "Get Bra'tac down here!"

There was a flurry of activity as Dr. Fraiser returned the symbiote to Teal'c's pouch after Bra'tac finally allowed it, but was no response, and the monitor kept screeching out it's flatline like a wailing banshee.

As Fraiser rushed to save him, Buffy watched the still form of the dark-skinned Jaffa from her dark corner.

'Come on, Teal'c…you can beat this…you can beat this…' the mantra repeated itself over and over in her mind as she watched the doctor administer the paddles again and again.

Teal'c's eyes suddenly popped open, surprising everyone.

His gritty voice spoke out, "I choose freedom."

And the sound of the monitor relaxed into the soothing tones of a healthy heartbeat.

When Bra'tac announced that the Rite of Malsuraan had succeeded, Teal'c's friends and teammates slowly approached his bed – he exchanged quiet words with them, proclaimed Apophis a false God, pledged his allegiance to the Tauri again, and requested permission to rejoin SG-1…which Hammond granted.

Buffy watched as the tight-knit group gained strength from each another, and felt a momentary pang of homesickness. Taking care not to disturb anyone, she slowly rose from her seat near the door, and began to maneuver herself between the base soldiers guarding the exit.

She had only taken a few steps before her trek down the corridor was halted by Colonel O'Neill calling her name as he stepped out of the infirmary room, followed closely by Daniel and Carter.

"What did you say to him, Summers?!"

"I just asked him a question."

"And you waited until the end to do that? Why couldn't you have asked it sooner and saved him all the pain?!" O'Neill barked out angrily.

"He wasn't ready to answer it," Buffy replied, calm in the face of the Colonel's anger, since she knew it was only brought on by the long hours of worry for his friend. At their confused looks, she explained further, "All of you brought him to the edge…the precipice Bra'tac spoke of…but until he got there, he wasn't ready to answer the question truthfully."

O'Neill's anger left him abruptly, and all he was left with was a feeling of exhaustion – but he still needed to know.

"What was the question, Buffy?"

"The same one I asked him when we first met." Buffy gave him a small smile as she turned and walked away.

O'Neill watched her retreating form with a half-smile on his face.

"Jack?"

The Colonel turned to see the confused expressions on both Daniel and Carter's face.

"What was the question, sir?"

Taking another look down the corridor, O'Neill answered just as Buffy turned the corner.

"Are you evil?"

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A fun ride on the teacups, eh? :)

Please read this paragraph: Now, before anyone gets a little hasty in pressing that 'Review' button with the intention of saying 'that didn't happen' or 'they didn't say that in the show', I'd like to take a moment to let you know that, yes, I will be some minor liberties with certain things that were never mentioned in the show, or may have only been hinted at. In regards to the 'comment' I wrote about what a teacher said to Buffy, I know that some people may not think something like that could happen, but I'm here to say that it can – I went to school at a time when the teacher's word was always taken over that of a student…that scene was something that happened to one of the popular girls (who was well-liked by most people) in my class…of course, no one else was present, but this girl wasn't the type to make up stories like that, and was deeply hurt by the comment. Unfortunately, the principal stood up for the teacher, so nothing was done. But I can say that the situation led to a stunning display of class solidarity, and the teacher was left to instruct a class he knew hated him. Enough said.

I swear to God Buffy's going thru the gate in the next chapter…even if I have to write myself into the story and push her through it! And don't worry, the Scoobies and Andrew are still around, I haven't forgotten them. I hope to get them into the next chapter, but we'll see what happens.

I hope you don't think I'm moving too slowly with this – I don't want Buffy to suddenly become 'best friends' with everyone…SG-1's a tight group, and they aren't just going to let someone in because they're there, no matter who it is.

Please review! I'd be forever in your debt!