Buffy POV

The moment Giles and I pulled out of the last checkpoint in our Prius (Giles insisted), he had me dial up headquarters in Cleveland to check in while he called Dawn (who we referred to as Dusk when dealing with anyone we weren't sure we could trust) back at the room to start coordinating research assignments. Yup, there's a twenty-eight-year-old woman who looks twenty-one in charge of research for the IGO and the many schools it sponsors around the world.

It would probably piss her off and make her act like a little kid or Andrew on Christmas at the same time if she found out that Faith and I pretty much had all the knowledge we needed nowadays.

I could practically see Faith rolling her eyes as she picked up on that thought while I spoke with the Watcher on duty, and I asked him to brief her on the situation as payback… and because Giles thought she was waiting anxiously to find out what happened.

I smothered a laugh as the Watcher agreed and the other Chosen growled at me. No one knows about our link- it made its first appearance when we were actively hunting each other. We had an almost instinctive idea of where the other was. It also kept me from killing her. She was my sister-Slayer, the only other person on this plane of existence that could understand what I went through. The shared dreams and mental conversations actually helped us a lot over the years, not the least when we talked things out while she was in prison, so we already worked well together when the battle with the First went down. Not that anyone else knew that.

There's actually a lot about the Slayer that the Council never knew, and we have to keep it that way with the International Guardians Organization, too. The true power of the Chosen must be hidden until the true end of the world, lest someone try to pervert our purpose. We may lose a few of our sisters in spirit by keeping our secrets, but it is necessary. That part really sucks.

Few of the baby-slayers even have any idea that we haven't everything. That's why we both thought Nyx would be called after Faith dies, and Vi after her. The rest of the Scooby Gang thought the Line was ended with the activation of the minis, but we knew otherwise. This was not the first time that all the Potentials were Awoken, that there were two Chosen, even, but all the knowledge was lost.

We made sure of it.

I hung up with the Watcher after convincing him that we weren't dead, kidnapped, or headed that way and tuned in on what my own Watcher was saying to my little sister.

As they debated what could have made the fail safes around the Chappa'ai, well, fail, I frowned and looked out the window trying desperately to avoid dropping into memories that were not my own. In my haste, I latched onto another thing I didn't want to think about- Sam.

Sam and I were born five years apart, and Mark and Jack five years before her. Still, being the only girls in the family, we were close. Even Dawn and Lexi couldn't break us apart when they were born. Sam taught me everything she learned about as soon as she thought I could understand it; she really annoyed my teachers that way. She also did her best to shield me from how unhappy our family was- Dad had withdrawn when Mom died in labor, barely even speaking enough to name the younger set of twins, and the boys were mad at Dad for staying away from us girls and for not going to pick Mom up when she called the night she died. For me, everything was fine, even with moving so much, because I had my big sister.

I got my first hint when the older set of twins went off to college and Lexi went along with Jack. Then Sam went off to the USAFA and I was sent to our Aunt Joyce and Uncle Hank with Dawn. After the incident at Hemery, three years since I had seen her, she came to visit me in the institution I'd been committed to. I begged her to listen as I explained my Calling, but her logic-based mind wouldn't let her. I pleaded as she walked away and she didn't even turn. My family had deserted me.

So, when I moved with Dawn to Sunnydale, I changed my name legally, and so did she. Elizabeth and Dawn Carter were gone- we were Summers women now. It seems, though, that the Carter and Summers women may need to work together, but that didn't mean I had to forgive her or even like her.

Cheerful much, B? My other sister made herself known.

Faith! Are any of my thoughts private?

Not when you're projecting, sis. I swear Vi looked like she might be picking up on something. Cool it, kay? I sighed mentally, keeping my face carefully blank.

Sorry, Fai. Was that all?

Unless you count Kennedy trying to take over again, things are five by five. Or as close as they ever are.

You'd think she'd have realized by now that she's no challenge to a Chosen… Especially with our tempers. Our mental selves exchanged slightly feral smiles, the primal essence of the Slayer shining in our eyes, as we watched each other fade from sight. I was grateful she knew when to pry. Not that that always stopped her.

I returned to the physical realm just in time to get out of the car at our hotel before Giles go suspicious. Good thing, too, because that would be way of the badness. It's not that I don't trust Giles and the other Scoobies, even with the rough patches we'd been through, they were still my family. But it would be chronicled if they knew, and we can't allow that. The Council wouldn't always be the way it was then. It would eventually become corrupt again, and the Slayer would again fight alone. We hated it, but it was the truth. It was kind of sad that the frequency of that happening wasn't wiggy anymore.

As we walked up the stairs Giles filled me in on what they had guessed so far while I pretended to listen, a skill I'd gotten quite good at over the years. I was trying to figure out what, to me, was the more urgent matter: Why we hadn't been told about the 'Gate before and why President Hayes was telling us then. If we had to pull the military's collective ass out of the fire one more time, heads were going to roll… with no guarantee that the Joint Chiefs' wouldn't be among them. I was grateful we had the spare manpower we needed for this.

At least we were joining their fight (which was originally ours) and not the other way around. No way was I teaching a bunch of gun-toting trigger-happy condescending military know-it-alls about the fuglies that had no real curfew. Why not, though? It might be good for them, knock them down a peg or two… Yeah, right. Because that worked so well last time. Gah. Stupid Initiative. They didn't even have cool clothes.

Dawn opened the door before we could pull out the keys, talking a mile a minute.

"So, Dawnie, what's the sitch?" I waited until she had taken a breath to speak, otherwise she'd have never heard me.

She gave me the Look. The one that said "I know that you know and I'll eventually make you tell me everything", before speaking in a no-fucking-duh voice I'm positive she learned from Faith. It was almost scary how close those two were.

I suppose it made sense she'd have an idea about our secrets- she is the Key, after all. Sometimes she has weird memories while doing her portal-travel thing and might have seen something. Oops, she's talking.

"The Slayer of the time didn't feel the wards go off for some reason or didn't know what they meant. Also, the military is highly unlikely to relinquish any control of the 'Gate willingly, especially when they don't know what we do. We may have to tell them abo-"

I cut her off "No. We'll prove our claim. Prove we can fight. Maybe tell them of old fights against the snakes. No further explanations necessary. Or don't you remember the Initiative?"

She then gave me the standard Summers glare, which I was actually rather proud of her for "Of course I do. But they might need to know that we buried the 'Gate in the first place as well. It could help cement our claim that we know what's out there already, rather than sit through all of the condescending bluster that everyone uses when dealing with 'children'." Hmm… She actually had a point. Damn it.

I made a show of groaning "Fine. Why'd you have to be so smart?"

"Because if I wasn't you'd have to show everyone how you got such high SAT scores." She grinned, while Giles looked confused at her quick rejoinder. My poor Watcher. So smart, yet so oblivious. And, wait for it… Yup. There were the glasses.

"Chill, Giles. There's nothing of the badness just yet. Save your glasses for when they start."

He gave me his own Look, saying "you're acting like an idiot American, now bloody stop it", but I just shrugged. What could I say? I got that look a lot.

"We should probably go grab some grub and talk about what we want to do with this. We do have a meeting tomorrow, after all."

"Quite right. Henry suggested a place called 'O'Malley's', a steakhouse I believe it was. Shall we?"

Dawn and I smiled happily and ran out to the car. As we passed, I barely picked up what Giles said next, sounding exasperated.

"Oh, dear Lord…"

Jack POV

I groaned, leaning back in my chair. Had I ever said how much I hated paperwork? Probably. I glanced at the clock and sighed, wishing I could go bother Daniel about his rocks or watch Carter in her lab. But no. I had to decide whether we should order more mac and cheese - also known as chicken - MREs. Joy.

I heard a knock on my door, my head shooting up when I heard the voice of my beautiful 2IC, the rest of Sg-1 standing behind her.

"Sir?"

"Yeah, Carter?"

"We were headed out to O'Malley's for dinner and thought you might like to join us."

I started to smile and then frowned as I looked at the piles of folders on my desk.

"Doctor's orders, sir. You're overworking yourself." She gave me that mischievous smirk that always seemed to make my day a little bit better. Or make me look for a good hiding spot. Still, I was shocked- Carter was on base more than me, and I had to run the damn place. She seemed to notice this, and rolled her eyes.

"Just go with it, sir. Please." She looked upset about something… and like she wanted to talk. I could never really turn down spending time with her anyway.

"Yeahsureyabetcha."

We pulled up at our favorite hangout, which we were allowed to return to a few years back when they finally got over our little "scuffle". I hurried around the car and opened the door for Carter. She giggled, looking a bit more cheerful. Success.

"No giggling, Colonel."

"Yes, sir!" she responded with one of her wide grins as we walked in.

We met up with Danny and T at our usual table, ignoring the glare we received from the manager. Each of us ordered some form of steak or ribs, relaxing into the family we had long since become. Teasing Spacemonkey about his latest kidnapping, asking T about Ry'ac, and easy banter between me and Carter. With Danny butting in to try and get us together, of course.

I was glad he at least knew how to be subtle- it made him easier to ignore. His comments really weren't helpful. I already knew I was in love with Sam. I'd seen her at her best and at her worst, and she had done the same with me. We'd saved each other's life more times than I could count, and she knew me better than anyone. I had her every expression memorized, and knew what I could say to prompt each. I'd been in love with her for years and if I ever stopped, it wouldn't be in the near future. But she was with the liar cop. What was his name? Ah, yes, Pete. She was engaged to Pete. And… she was staring at another table with a hint of pain in her eyes.

He found the table in the mirror back behind the bar just as a loud burst of laughter stretched through the room. I barely contained my shock at its occupants.

A beautiful young brunette was wearing a look of mock-outrage as she glared at the apparently easy-going man, none other than the Mystery Man himself, who had a small smirk of accomplishment with an affectionate gleam in his eyes as he looked at his companions. Plural, because sitting next to the annoyed young lady was Ace, an infectious grin on her face as she laughed, a hand on the table for balance. Where was the cold, lethal woman I met just a few hours ago?

"Carter?" I was getting kind of worried by then.

"Wha- Sir?" She snapped out of it, but she couldn't fool me. I knew her too well.

"How do you know them?"

"I don't, sir. I couldn't even find anything about them in the databases, no matter how hard I tried, and-"

"Sam." My use of her first name seemed to make her realize just how serious this was- we needed to know as much about these people as possible, especially when they knew about eh Gate and had the President on their side. The realization that she hadn't been able to find anything on them was equally worrisome.

"I," She paused "I really don't know for sure-"

"Carter."

"-but she looks like my little sister. The brunette, too. Elizabeth and Dawn Carter."

Now that was surprising. I'd never heard of sisters from either her or Jacob. She looked kind of ashamed though. "What happened?"

She sighed, looking at the table. "You know Mom died because of a car crash. What you didn't know is that she was taking Dawn to the doctor and Eli was with them. She told the paramedics to save her daughters, not her, and Dad couldn't take it. I as good as raised them both. Mark and his twin Jack raised Lexi, Dawn's twin. Eli and I were especially close, even though I'm five years older. But I had to go eventually and I when I was accepted into the Academy, I couldn't put it off anymore. While Jack and Mark left, taking Lexi with them, Eli and Dawn went to live with our aunt and uncle in LA.

But something happened. Something changed her from my challenge-loving genius little sister who was looking forward to teaching 'Dawnie' everything I had taught her, into a fashion-obsessed cheerleader. Practically your stereotypical blonde Californian airhead. And three years later she was expelled for burning down the gym at her high school during a dance. She was committed to a mental facility. I took leave to visit her and find out why. I was planning on getting her out, but she just kept babbling about vampires, slayers and being 'called' or 'chosen'. She begged me to listen, said she had proof, but I just walked away.

She was released a few weeks later, changed her and Dawn's names to Summers like Aunt Joyce and never spoke to us again."

There was a wet gleam in her eyes as she told us her story and I wanted so badly to hold her to me and tell her it wasn't her fault, but I had to settle for putting my hand over hers and sending a comforting look her way. She turned her hand so she could hold mine, squeezing it a little in thanks. She held on a moment longer before we let go. We couldn't afford any more than that, especially with that cop.

As I began to analyze the consequences Carter's story could have if our mysterious guests really were her sisters (and how I had never known she had four other siblings), Daniel spoke up.

"You know, I think I've read something about slayers in some demonology writings I've come across. Actually, the man who sent me the book, a Dr. Giles, was one of the only academics to take my theories seriously. Do you remember what exactly she-"

"Daniel." Now was definitely not the time for this.

"Jack." Was that a whine I heard?

"Daniel." As my too-inquisitive friend rolled his eyes and shut up, I chanced another look at the table of potential-Carters; they were still talking, but the brunette Dawn? seemed to be watching us discreetly, while Mystery Man looked slightly worried and a lot pissed off. Ace was still lounging comfortably, but her eyes were again flickering about, seeming to see everything that happened- and if her expression was anything to judge off of, she might hear everything, too. That wasn't possible, though. No more impossible than pyramids as landing pads for aliens and falling for my 2IC. So maybe possible. Crap. Except she's human. Yeahsureyabetcha. Nothing to worry about.

Each of them sat facing an entrance, Ace having the prime position against the wall with a clear view of the main doors and the bar. She gave a neutral smile as someone entered the bar.

"O'Neill, Major Davis has just entered this establishment."

"Yeah, T, thanks." I followed his trail with my eyes as he sat down with the other three we had been watching. "For cryin' out loud." I muttered as the group continued to talk, seemingly about something more serious. Unfortunately, they were too far away and there was too much noise for even Teal'c to hear what they were saying.

Ace stiffened, staring at the door. I turned to look, but I didn't know what had set her off. It was a young couple, a little pale, and their clothes were kinda odd, but seemed normal overall. They looked kind of hungry as they glanced around, before something odd happened.

The girl looked at Ace and the other girl, who were now all out glaring at them. They actually looked pretty damn scary and apparently the newcomer agreed as she grabbed her companion's arm. He looked up hesitantly, seemed to swear quietly, and turned to leave. The girl threw a panicked glance over her shoulder one last time before letting the door slammed shut behind them.

I turned towards my family in surprise "I wasn't imagining that, right?"

"No, sir- they acted like they were scared of Eliz- Ace."

"Indeed it was so, O'Neill. They acted like predators that had accidently entered a place where they became the prey."

"That was… odd." Daniel put in his two cents "It felt like I knew them, or others like them, like from when I was… gone."

"Oh?"

"It felt like they were… different, like I should be afraid even though I'd never seen them before. It was disconcerting."

I looked up to see what our almost-stalkees thought of the quick retreat, but Major Davis was alone with his coffee.

They were gone.

A/N: Okay, made some more noticeable changes here, mainly in regards to the Carter family (background, siblings, etc.). Sorry about that, but I realized that some of what I have in later, currently untyped chapters didn't coincide with what I already had written. Again, I apologize- the storyline in my head keeps changing.