A/N: Because this seemed to be on many of the reviewers mind, I thought I'd post this rather than repeatedly respond to the same review. This is in regards to what Buffy, Faith, and Dawn are about to reveal in this chapter and the speed in which they decided to do this.

First, Buffy has revealed the truth about her nature many times. Hell, she told Willow and Xander by their fifth conversation. She's told many people, granted those were all under unusual circumstances. I think finding oneself in an alternate dimension without being able to contact any of your usual help classifies as an unusual circumstance.

Second, no, they won't reveal everything because that's also not their style. They will reveal just what is needed.

Third, you need to trust me as the author to do the right thing. If this is beyond your capability then maybe you should stop reading this fic. It's not going to hurt my feelings, I work in a highly subjective field so criticism is part of my daily life. I'm far ahead on writing this fic than you are in reading it. I'm currently halfway through writing chapter seven and they still have no clue that Dawn is the Key. So relax.

Pol

Chapter Two

"Recruiting them a little young aren't we, General," a tall man with grey hair said, sauntering into the briefing room.

"Ladies, this is Colonel Jack O'Neill," Hammond said, ignoring the other man's remark. "Colonel, this is Buffy and Dawn Summers, and Faith."

"No last name like Cher?" Jack asked.

"Stopped using it years ago," Faith replied easily.

"So what's goin' on?" Jack asked, turning back to the general.

"I'll explain when the others arrive."

Jack looked at him in slight confusion, but didn't say anything. He took a seat next to Sam, and across from the newcomers. The youngest, Dawn, sat between Buffy and Faith. He got the brief impression that they were almost like bodyguards, but quickly dismissed it.

Everyone sat in uncomfortable silence until Dr. Fraiser entered. "You called for me, sir?"

"Our guests asked for you to be here while they explain a few things," he said. "How are their tests going?"

"So far they seem to be in perfect health. I just started an analysis of their blood work," she said with a small smile. "I haven't found any anomalies."

The fact that the three young women looked relieved at that comment did not escape Jack's attention. He was about to make a remark about it when Buffy and Faith jumped up so quickly that it caused their chairs to fall back. They fell into a fighting stance.

"Whoa! Easy there," Jack said, standing as well. "Nobody's gonna hurt ya."

"Oh yeah? Then who's that?" Buffy asked, indicating a large bald, black man that had just walked in. A gold tattoo gleamed from his forehead.

"Him? That's Teal'c. He's a good guy."

"Doesn't feel like one," Faith said.
"Excuse me?"

"Definitely not human," Buffy agreed, her body filled with tension.

"Of course he's not, he's Jaffa," Sam said in confusion.

"He's coffee?"

"Not java, Jaffa," Daniel clarified. He too seemed confused.

Buffy glanced over at Faith and Dawn. "That mean anything to either of you?"

"Not ringing any bells here," Faith said, her eyes never leaving Teal'c. He had not moved since they had jumped up.

"I've got nothing," Dawn agreed. At some point in time, she had stood up and taken position behind the two slayers.

"You've never heard of the Jaffa?" Daniel asked.

"Nope."

"How is that possible? I mean you've obviously used the stargate in order to retrieve the mirror."

"Stargate?"

"The Chaapa'ai then," Daniel suggested.

"We're still not following you."

Jack looked at the general. "Sir… What is going on?"

"Approximately two hours ago, these three ladies stepped through the quantum mirror and into our reality."

"Oh for cryin' out loud! Another alternate, alternate reality?" Jack asked in exasperation. "I thought you ordered the destruction of that thing."

"Major Carter convinced me otherwise," Hammond said. "She was concerned about the fact that the mirror is made up of naquadah. She feared a rather catastrophic effect due to the explosive nature of the element."

"Hello, people!" Buffy said, her body still tense. "We were talking about this guy who feels evil."

"Wait a minute! How can you feel that?" Jack asked.

"That was going to be part of the explanation thingy," Buffy said. "But not until you explain him."

Dawn placed a hand on Buffy's arm. "Why don't you and Faith sit down first? They obviously know he's different, and maybe we should trust them."

"But…"

"We don't know everything, Buffy. For all we know, Teal'c has switched sides from evil to good. It's not unheard of. Remember how many times we had to explain Angel, Spike, and Anya?"

Some of the tension left Buffy's body but she didn't move. "Dawn, these people could be the bad guys. We're in another reality. Who knows how mixed up things are here."

"We have to trust them, at least for now. If they are evil, then you can kill them."

The others flinched slightly at Dawn's calm statement. Then they paled slightly when Faith replied, "Always wanted to wear a ribcage for a hat."

Buffy frowned at her. "You know that's my special threat for Whistler."

"Sorry, B."

Dawn looked at the others and smiled sweetly, although it didn't reach her cold eyes. "We expect just as many answers from you in exchange for our information. And believe me when I tell you that should we find ourselves on opposite sides of the line, you will not be able to hold us here against our will."

Faith snickered. "Damn B, she keeps getting scarier."

Ordinarily, Jack would have scoffed at the idea of being scared of someone who barely looked to be out of high school, but that was before he had met Dawn Summers. Something swam in her serious blue eyes that told him to believe her. Something that spoke of a hardness that shouldn't be present in one so young. He looked up at her protectors and saw the same look, only darker, mirrored in their own.

"General," he said softly.

"Of course, Miss Summers. But be advised, if we deem you dangerous to the American populace…"

"It's not them who will be in danger," Buffy said, righting her chair. "Just you guys."

Hammond frowned at her comment, but was relieved to see that the hostilities had been averted. At least, it had been for the moment. He gestured for Teal'c to enter and he did one last round of introductions. Once everyone was seated, he said, "I believe you were going to explain why you think the mirror is broken beyond repair."

"It's broken?" Jack asked in surprise. At the General's disapproving look, he said, "Sorry, sir. Please, explain away."

"Go for it, Little D," Faith said with a smirk. "This is what we pay ya for."

Dawn sent her a withering look, before beginning. "Before I tell you about the mirror, you need some background info on us so you'll understand what I talk about later. And no matter how crazy this will sound, it's the honest truth.

"Since our organization doesn't exist here, I'm gonna guess that there are some major differences between your reality and ours."

"Such as?" Sam prompted.

"In our world, the things that go bump in the night are real. Everything from vampires to werewolves to demons…"

"Oh please," Jack interrupted. "Are you trying to tell us that Dracula is real?"

"Unfortunately, yeah," Buffy said with a grimace. "I think he still owes Spike money."

"You're joking, right?" Daniel asked. His eyes widened when Buffy showed him the scars on her neck. "You've been bitten?"

"Three times," she said, sliding her shirt back into place.

"Most people in our world don't know about them, though. They still think they are creatures of legend or myth, and it's safer that way," Dawn said, taking advantage everyone's stunned silence.

"But obviously you do," Daniel said, finding his voice again.

"Only because we were forced into it," she replied. "Into each generation a slayer is born. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One. One born with the strength and skill to fight the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers."

"Giles would be so proud," Buffy said dryly.

"And which one of you is the slayer?" Daniel asked, his mind quickly putting everything together.

"Buffy and Faith are both slayers."

"But I thought there was only one," Sam said. "You clearly said: Chosen One."

"I drowned and was legally dead for a few minutes," Buffy said nonchalantly.

"You drowned?" Dr. Fraiser asked.

"I got better," Buffy said with a roll of her eyes.

Jack snorted.

"At least someone has a sense of humor," she said, her eyes shining slightly.

"Now, there's a lot of not-so-boring details that we're not going to share 'cause you don't need to know," Dawn said, trying to steer them back on topic. "But Buffy and Faith are technically magic creatures because of the mystical part of their calling. I'm a witch so I also have mystical energy surrounding me." She stayed far away from her true nature. There was no reason for them to know it.
"And you think this mystical energy is what broke the mirror?" Sam asked slowly.

"I think so, yes. We've experienced other realities and dimensions before, but only through portals created by magic. I think the mixture of magic and science probably overloaded it."

"So use a portal to go home," Jack said.

Faith rolled her eyes. "Don't you think we'd have done that already if we could and avoid this?"
"I don't know how to open a portal," Dawn confessed.

"But you said…"

"They were either accidents, caused by some evil bad guy, or our friend Willow opened them," Buffy explained.

"Could they, I mean, could Willow open one here and…"

"Not if she doesn't know where we are," Dawn said. "There are too many possibilities."

"An infinite number," Sam said apologetically.

"Was it your slayer abilities that allowed you to sense that I am not fully human?" Teal'c asked, speaking up for the first time.

"Yeah," Faith said, eyeing him warily. "What exactly is a Jaffa?"

"We were bred to incubate larva Goa'uld until they have matured enough to take a host. We are also the false god's personal army."

"And Goa'uld is?"

"Do the Goa'uld not exist in your reality?" Hammond asked.

"Don't know, I've never heard of them," Buffy said. "But that doesn't mean anything. I don't know the names of all the demons."

"But they aren't demons, they're aliens," Jack said.

"Aliens?" Buffy asked. She wearily rubbed her eyes. "And yet, I'm not shocked."

"Wait a minute," Daniel said. "Where did you find your mirror?"

Dawn sighed, another long story. "We found it in one of the company's warehouses. All of the records had been destroyed and we were cataloging everything in storage."

"There didn't happen to be a large ring with strange glyphs on it nearby?"
"Nope. Mirror was the biggest thing," Dawn said.

"Now you know our secret, what's yours?" Buffy asked with an expectant look.

"This is a highly classified facility," Hammond began.

"I've been cleared before. Besides, we don't exist here, so who are we going to tell?" Buffy asked impatiently. "The newspapers? We have no backgrounds so they won't believe us."

"General," Dawn said calmly. "We're probably going to be here for a while. Because of differences in our realities it's probably safer for us to stay here where you are aware of our unique 'situation'. But we can only stay if the trust goes both ways."

"Could you give us a few minutes to discuss the matter?" Hammond asked.

"Sure."

Hammond and the others got up and went into his office. They shut the door and the three women found themselves alone with their guards.

"Think they'll tell us?" Buffy asked.

"After Little D's logic guilt trip they'd be crazy not to."

"When did you get so good at negotiating?" Buffy asked, looking at her sister in faint surprise.

"Had to do something about all of the slayers' raging hormones. I wasn't strong enough to break up the fights physically so I had to come up with a new way."

"Let's hope it worked this time," Buffy said with a sigh.

XXXXXXXX

"What do you think?" Hammond asked his frontline team once they were alone.

"I personally think it's a load of crap, sir," Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, come on. Do they really expect us to believe that vampires are real and they were 'chosen' to fight them?"

"But they were aware of my symbiote," Teal'c pointed out.

"Doesn't mean a thing. They could be NID spies or something," Jack argued. "Which means they already knew."

"I don't think so, Jack," Daniel said. "They seemed to be genuinely confused about all of this."

George looked over at Dr. Fraiser. "Did any of your tests indicate that what they say is possible?"

"I noticed some unusual scars on all of them, but other than that, no. But if they are mystical then my tests may not detect anything."

"Are there any other tests you could run?"

"I can test for speed and strength, but other than that, no."

"But is what they are saying possible?"

"It could be, sir," Carter said. "All it would take was a slight change millions of years ago in their reality for this to happen. The possibilities are endless."

"I think we should tell them about the Stargate."

Five heads turned to look at Daniel in surprise.

"Dawn was right," he said. "Trust is a two way street. Besides, I have a feeling they'd be able to find out about it whether we told them or not."

"Daniel…"

"No, Jack. They issued a lot of faith in telling us about themselves. We've already let enough slip that they are very curious."

"Damage control," Jack said with a nod, seeing, for once, where Daniel was headed.

"Very well," Hammond said. "But we'll keep a guard detail with them and in the meantime run their fingerprints through the database to see if these names are aliases."

They filed back into the briefing room and retook their seats. The three young women looked at them expectantly.

"Dr. Jackson, if you will," Hammond said.

Daniel smiled and adjusted his glasses. "Our story begins in Giza in 1928…"