Title: A Sarcophagus in Sunnydale
Author: thecrystalkey
Summary: A newspaper article has sent Jack and Daniel to Sunnydale. What will they find? Primarily from the POV of Jack O'Neill but focuses on the Buffy characters.
Spoilers: Season 2 Buffy up to 'What's my line?', no real spoilers for SG-1 (early seasons).

Disclaimer: All characters copyright MGM or Joss Whedon/Twentieth Century Fox/Mutant Enemy. Only the plot is mine. This is a non-profit fan story not intended to infringe the rights of MGM, Showtime, Gekko or Double Secret productions. Nor those of Joss Whedon, Twentieth Century Fox, or Mutant Enemy. Besides I have no money, sueing me would be a waste of time. :)

Author's note: First thing I've written in the Buffyverse. First thing I've finished that's more than two pages. This is what happens when the only shows I have time to watch are first season Stargate and second season Buffy. I changed the chapters from how it's posted at TTH but it's otherwise the same.

"Welcome to Sunnydale," Colonel Jack O'Neill said, reading the sign out the window.

There was no sound from the seat beside him. Dr. Daniel Jackson had his head buried deep in a book and hadn't once looked up.

"Pretty place," Jack remarked, resisting the urge to knock the book from Daniel's hands. "For the middle of nowhere."

Daniel's lips twitched and he lifted his eyes to look over at Jack. "It's not the middle of nowhere, Jack. It's the middle of California."

"Same thing," Jack grumbled. "The only good thing about California is Disneyland and that's hours from here."

"Jack," Daniel said warningly.

"Daniel," the other man mocked him. "Why are we here again?"

Daniel dug a newspaper out of an outside pocket on his bag and tossed into Jack's lap. "We're here because of this," Daniel said.

The newspaper was carefully folded to show a single article with a picture of an Egyptian-looking sarcophagus next to it. The headline read "New Egyptian Exhibit Features Long-Lost Sarcophagus".

"Right, I remember now," Jack said. He started to re-read the article. He had only skimmed through it initially.

It detailed the finding of an Egyptian sarcophagus buried in the concrete foundations of a house that used to belong to an eccentric collector. The guy had been dead awhile and his descendants had eventually sold the house to move out of town. The new owners had had it torn down and, during the destruction, had found the sarcophagus and, in turn, sold it to the Sunnydale Museum.

What had gotten Daniel all excited was the close-up picture of the side of the sarcophagus. Daniel was convinced he could make out Goa'uld symbols in the grainy photo. So here they were in Sunnydale, California.

Jack sighed, looking back out the window. Oh well, he thought, at least the weather's nice.

--

Jack and Daniel settled in their hotel room, had breakfast and then took their rental car to the Museum. It was open on Sundays from about 10am and they figured there probably wouldn't be too many people around.

"Great. Just our luck," Jack muttered as he and Daniel stopped in the doorway of the room holding the sarcophagus in question.

There were three teenagers and an older man around the sarcophagus. The teenagers were two girls and a boy. One girl was blond and was leaning carelessly against the railing around the exhibit, sucking a lollipop and dressed in the height of fashion.

The other girl was a redhead, not nearly as fashionably dressed, diligently taking photos of the sarcophagus' exterior. The boy, looking just as bored as the blond, was leaning next to the redhead watching her take the pictures. The older man was apparently directing the picture taking.

"So, why are we here again?" the blond asked.

"Because this is important," the older man said in a British accent. It sounded like this was a repeated conversation.

"But its Sunday morning, Giles," she whined.

"Oh?" Giles asked. "And what were you going to do with it, Buffy?"

"Uh, sleep," the boy said, as if it was obvious.

"What he said," Buffy agreed. "We couldn't have done this in the afternoon?"

"Firstly, it's not like you need that much sleep and secondly, you have homework to do this afternoon. Both of you," he said severely.

"Well…But…I…"

"Yes?"

She sighed. "I hate it when he's right," she muttered to the other two teens and turned around.

She looked startled to see Jack and Daniel standing in the doorway. She tilted her head, assessing them.

"Hey Giles," she said, her eyes still on them. "I thought you said nobody ever came into the Museum on Sunday mornings."

"Or at all," the boy added, turning to face the door. Jack noticed him scanning the rest of the room as he turned.

"What?" the older man said, turning; he straightened as he saw them.

"Oh," Giles said, looking confused. "How very odd. Hello."

With a look at each other, Jack and Daniel started forward. Both the blond and the boy had shifted their weight, Jack noticed, as though getting ready for combat. The redhead looked like she was getting ready to run.

Daniel smiled. "Good morning," he said. "We're just, um, here to see Sunnydale and we thought since this was the only thing open, we'd some take a look around before the crowds got here."

Very smooth, Daniel, Jack thought approvingly. Now shut up before you give something away.

"Oh," the Brit stuttered, "we're just here to, uh, take advantage of this unique opportunity to study an unopened sarcophagus up close."

"You're here to see Sunnydale?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"On purpose?" the boy asked.

Jack tried unsuccessfully to stop a snicker. They had a point.

"Buffy. Xander," Giles reproved the teens.

"Actually, this is really just a stopover," Daniel said. "But I'm an Egyptologist and when I saw this exhibit advertised and knew we were going to be stopping in Sunnydale anyway…Well, I couldn't resist."

"And I got shanghaied," Jack volunteered.

"Ah, well," Giles said. As though that explained everything. There was an awkward moment of silence as the redhead put her head back down and kept taking photos.

"So, what are you guys doing here?" Jack asked.

The little blond girl rolled her eyes and turned back to watching her friend work.

"Well…we…um…I'm the librarian at Sunnydale High School and these three are members of a study group that I, um, run."

"The archaeology club," Buffy, the blond, volunteered brightly. Both the older guy and the teenaged boy glared at her.

"This is Xander," the man continued. "and this is Willow and Buffy. One of the subjects we're currently studying is Ancient Egypt. Um. Mythology, religion, that sort of thing."

"On a Sunday?" Jack asked.

"Well, it seemed like the best time since no one was likely to be here. We wouldn't be interrupted. And then they can get on with their homework this afternoon."

That particular comment seemed directed at the blond girl, Buffy and the boy, Xander. They looked at each other and the blond snickered.

"He's so cute when he tries to be subtle," she said. "I wanna go look at the weapons," she announced suddenly.

"Hey," Xander said. "Now that's a plan."

"Giles," she said. "Can we?"

"Please can we?" the boy added his voice.

The man looked at the two for a moment and then sighed. The two teens high-fived each other. They knew the battle was won.

"Fine," he said. "But I want you to at least pretend to take a look at the occult displays before you come back here. You might as well try to learn something useful while you're here."

The girl nodded, the boy said "Yes, sir." They were obviously eager to be off, but waiting for him to finish.

"Go on then," he said flipping his hands at them. They were heading to the door by the time he finished the first word.

"And for goodness sake don't touch anything," he yelled after them. The teens waved their hands to show they'd heard him but never looked back.

The man and the redhead, Willow, exchanged glances and shook their heads, smiling.

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