Chapter 27.
I do not own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Stargate SG1.
/ Xander's thoughts /
% Jolinar's thoughts %
#"Tok'ra or Goa'uld voice"#
Xander would have liked to do a debriefing much earlier. In fact it felt weird to be doing one the next day. But the excitement of the battle and his own broken arm had chased the thought from his mind. And once his arm was healed, everyone was already home and getting ready for bed. So he had called everyone to meet in the library early the next morning for a Scooby meeting.
The briefing went fairly smoothly at first. Xander complimented Ford and Kendra's abilities to work as part of a team on such short notice. Buffy was already sulking when he got to her, having guessed why she had been left out the compliments. Xander maintained a calm and even tone when he reprimanded her for attacking a vamp before Ford was done shooting and for going to Angel before the threats were eliminated. He was backed up by Giles and, surprisingly, Kendra on those marks.
"You could have been shot." Kendra reasoned. "Bullets work better on a Slayer dan on a Vampire."
"Then why were we even using them then?" Buffy argued. "Giles! Didn't you say something about using guns on vamps being stupid?"
Giles shrugged and scratched his temple. "Yes- Yes. I suppose I did. However, the guns Xander used or perhaps the way he used them... seemed to be... quite effective." Giles admitted as he polished his glasses.
"I did not like dee noise they made. But I cannot deny dat it was very easy slaying last night. Ford tells me dat William dee Bloo-dy had killed two Slayers." Kendra shook her head. " I am glad I was not one of dem. Me watcher will be very proud dat I killed such a monster." She had decided to leave the guns out of the report to her watcher.
Another argument about whether or not Xander should have shot Angel finished off the briefing. Overall, nothing was really solved or decided. But he and Buffy had at least aired their grievances. Hopefully they could both move on now. He hoped.
He had liked working with the new Slayer, but was glad that she'd be leaving the next day. Trying to keep secrets from someone you worked with like that was hard. He was pretty sure Kendra had picked up more than she let on. But she wasn't saying anything. At least one person in this group was good at keeping secrets.
After the excitement of the week it had been almost a relief to get the call from the SGC saying they needed Xander's ship. Willow had wanted to come and Xander had wanted to bring her, but Jolinar had pointed out that this was an SGC mission and probably dangerous. Plus it would be best not to take Willow on his first mission with SG-1. Make sure he got along with everyone first before springing someone else on them.
It was also an excuse to tell her to train. Willow was a geek and proud of that fact, but it meant that her physical conditioning left a lot to be desired. Xander put his foot down and said that she would have to meet certain physical tests before she could go on an off world mission. But he couldn't take the look she gave him and set the bar much lower than he really should have, no matter the disservice he was doing to her by doing that. He consoled himself with the thought that she wouldn't be leaving the ship under normal circumstances.
But for now he was the one at the controls. Or the auto pilot was at the controls as they were still in hyperspace. He and SG-1 were in the cargo hold going over their equipment in preparation of the upcoming mission. He was cleaning P90s. He had cleaned his own after the training and the church, but no one else had cleaned theirs. He made a mental note to not allow that again.
"P90s?" Jack looked at the disassembled guns.
Xander nodded and handed the one he'd already cleaned over. "Fifty rounds of armor piercing 5.7×28mm ammo. Should tear through Jaffa armor like a hot knife through butter. Higher velocity round means they have a better range than the MP5 too. These are going to be good for demon hunting, but we're going to have to go with something else for vampires. They shrugged off body shots like they were mosquito bites. Headshots were good at slowing them and possibly confusing them; and leg or knee shots dropped them so we could stake them easier. But they were too loud and you can't go for fancy shots like that at any distance. Plus Buffy had to wear inner and outer ear protection." Xander very carefully didn't mention the other Slayer(s). "Staff weapons seemed to work well against them. So I'm thinking about modifying some of them into a more compact form for slaying. Might be just the thing for vamps."
"Are you sure it's a good idea to use staff weapons, whatever their size, in a civilian area?" Daniel asked.
"In a civilian area infested with Vampires? Yes." Xander answered, putting a second P90 together, handing it to Carter, and starting on the third. "If you guys want to use them on the mission, be my guest."
The major looked at her CO. She certainly wouldn't mind a little extra firepower as long as they had enough ammo. Colonel O'Neill disassembled the one he'd been given, reassembled it, and loaded it. He nodded to Carter. "It's not a bad idea, but we should take some MP5 clips in case SG-5 needs ammo."
Dr. Jackson ended up carrying a backpack of spare ammo, ration bars, water, and medical supplies.
Soon they were almost ready to exit hyperspace.
"Wow, that was quick." Sam commented. "The Tok'ra upgraded the hyperdrive?"
"If by Tok'ra, you mean me and Jolinar with the help of your memories, then yes." Xander answered. "It's not up to the speed that Apophis used when he attacked Earth, but I figure once Willow understands how this stuff works, she'll blow that record out of the water." At Sam's look he continued, "I may have your knowledge, but I'm well aware that I'm not as smart as either of you. Willow's at least as smart as you and coming at this from a fresh perspective. Jo and I expect great things from her."
"You're letting her work with alien technology?" Sam asked.
"Of course." Xander nodded. "She wasn't about to be left out."
"That's incredibly dangerous." Sam reprimanded.
"So's living on a hellmouth." Xander deadpanned. "If she blows us up, the explosion should at least take out the hellmouth too.
Jolinar interrupted, #"I'm going to take us out of hyperspace on the other side of the sun from the planet. It will mean another hour or so of sub-light travel, but it will mean that we can re-cloak safely with no risk of being spotted by any ships."# he informed them. #"If your MALP was correct and there are Jaffa guarding the gate, then it is best to assume that there is a ship in orbit until we can confirm there is not."#
"My question is how we're going to find them," Jack wondered. "It's a big planet."
#"But they don't have vehicles or other transports do they?"# Jolinar asked. Jack shook his head and Jolinar continued, #"then we radio them first. If they can respond, we should be able to pick up their signal and triangulate their position if they are in walking distance of the gate."#
"And if that doesn't work?" Jack wondered.
"We ring down to the gate, take out the Jaffa, and ask them what happened to SG-5." Xander smiled.
"Oh, I like him." Jack smiled at Sam.
It turned out that SG-5 were in range of the gate. They had been on their way back when 20 or so Jaffa came through the gate. Half had gone off in search of something and the other half were securing the gate. 20:4 odds weren't something they wanted to play so they decided to just sit tight until the Jaffa left or reinforcements came.
A quick scan of the area revealed that the other Jaffa had either traveled out of range already or they were in a place or ship cloaked from scanning.
"They can do that?" Carter asked.
"Of course, we're cloaked aren't we?" Xander responded. "There's probably something important they're cloaking. You guys get ready and I'll keep scanning until they reappear."
They dropped Daniel off with SG-5 with his spare ammo, food, and water. Then they dropped the rest of SG-1 off where they could offer enfilade fire on the Stargate and the path the missing Jaffa had taken without risking friendly fire.
The position wasn't perfect, it was too far away for one thing. The higher velocity of the P90 round meant it was technically in range, but Jack didn't like the distance when they were using weapons they hadn't previously sighted in or trained with much.
"Ok, they're on their way back." Xander radioed in. "About 12 klicks away. I'll radio again when they're close to visual range. Over."
"Roger that. O'Neill out."
About an hour later, Xander warned them that they were coming just a few minutes before Jack could see them. He counted them with his spotting scope. An even dozen coming combined with the eight guarding the gate made it 20. Four of these were carrying something heavy between them. It was braced on two poles and each Jaffa was carrying one end of one pole.
SG-5 opened fire on the caravan first. They were closer to the incoming Jaffa than to the gate. When the Jaffa by the gate tried to maneuver to support their comrades, Sam and Jack opened fire on their flanks. Taking out 4 of the 8 Jaffa and forcing the rest to take cover.
Teal'c had stated that the distance to the Stargate from the cover SG-1 had selected was outside a staff weapon's effective range and had already left the cover Jack and Sam were using and moved closer to the path. As the Jaffa on the path found cover and returned fire at SG-5, they found themselves flanked by staff fire.
The four original carriers had fallen and two of the eight other guards were either wounded or dead. At a signal, two of the remaining guards charged SG-5's position, while the other four grabbed the object and ran.
Jack and Sam were playing peek-a-boo with the Jaffa at the gate. The Jaffa had taken cover and were breaking it only to shoot quickly and duck back down. One had left a foot out and O'Neill had been happy to show him the error of his ways and finished him off when that caused him to break cover. It may be hard to hit them from this distance with P90s, but no staff blasts were even coming close to their position. On the other hand, the light bullet of the P90 was doing absolutely nothing to the cover the Jaffas had hidden behind.
He checked on SG-5's progress. As soon as they were done with their group, he expected them to flank the gate and wipe up the rest of these Jaffa. He saw four Jaffa sprinting down the path. With what must have been a very heavy object to bounce on those poles like that. "Carter. Front pair. I'll take the left, you take the right. Five. Four. Three." A silent 'two' and 'one' passed as they each lined up their shots on the advancing pair.
Nearly simultaneous bursts from their guns preceded the simultaneous falls of two Jaffa warriors. The poles they were carrying fell with them, however, the Jaffa behind them couldn't stop quickly enough. Nor could they arrest the momentum of the heavy object they carried. The result was a spectacular, if unplanned, double pole vault. The Jaffa flew through the air like... well like Jaffa. Kicking and screaming all the way. Jack and Sam were too far away to hear the landing, but the sudden silence and unnatural positioning of their bodies told them that they were probably dead.
SG-5 had apparently taken care of their Jaffa as gunfire erupted from the tree line on that side of the clearing. The last three Jaffa were quickly put down.
Xander watched the battle from above and appreciated the excellent tactics the SG teams used. They killed 20 Jaffa in only a few minutes and only suffered minor injuries. After the bodies were secured and O'Neill cleared him to land, he uncloaked and landed near the now smashed box the Jaffa had come for. He walked over to see what all the fuss was about. Healing devices. About 30 of them, now scattered about the grass of the clearing.
SG-5 came into the clearing. Dr. Jackson was helping a soldier, whose face was bandaged, along. O'Neill greeted the team and motioned to the injured man.
"Tree shrapnel. Staff blast hit the tree he was taking cover behind and blew it into his face." the SG-5 CO explained.
O'Neill picked up a healing device by his feet and threw it to Xander. "Think you can heal him?" he asked.
Jolinar took control and tried out the device, just in case it might work. It did not. "Sorry. No naquadah in my blood." he answered and threw the device to Sam. "Sam is the only one here who might be able to do it."
"Wait, who are you?" the SG-5 CO interrupted before Sam could say anything.
"Sorry." O'Neill jumped in. "Allow me to introduce Xander Harris and the Tok'ra Jolinar. They're the new Tok'ra ambassadors to Earth. And it's their ship that allowed us to rescue you. Xander, Jolinar; this is Colonel Eric Cuddy of SG-5."
"Hey." Xander waved.
#"Pleased to meet you."# Jolinar offered. He saw Colonel Cuddy's fingers tighten on his MP5. "Or, 'hey', if you prefer." Jolinar smiled.
Cuddy cocked his head a little at that.
"They're an interesting team." Jack offered. "Probably the only Tok'ra who can quote 'The Three Stooges'."
"Oh, my father might be able to quote a few lines too." Carter disagreed. "And he'll do that block the eye-poke thing you and Xander were doing on the way over here."
"Anyway, we should help this guy." Xander brought them back on track. "Did you want to give the healing device a try or did you want to send him back to the SGC?"
Sam looked at the device in her hand. "I can't. I don't know what I'm doing. I could do more harm than good."
"I doubt that." Jolinar offered. "But we can do some training later if you like. Teach you how to use it."
Carter nodded and tucked the device away. "I'd like that. But let's get the lieutenant back through the gate first." She and Daniel helped the man to the gate while one of SG-5 dialed home.
One of SG-5 took his injured comrade from the other two and walked through the gate once the IDC had been transmitted.
"General Hammond, this is SG-1. We were able to find and rescue SG-5 with only one injury. Sending him through now sir." Jack said as the pair walked through. "There were some Jaffa carrying a box of healing devices. We're going to track them back and see where they came from."
"Understood. Hammond out."
Jack turned to his archeologist. "So, Daniel. Any idea who these Jaffa belong to?"
"No one we know." Daniel replied. "Though the markings look like antlers. Perhaps a god of the hunt?"
"From upside down they look like a step-pyramid." Sam remarked.
"A step pyramid?" Daniel walked around the head of the Jaffa he was looking at. "Hmm... could be Imhotep. He was an Egyptian god said to build the first step pyramids. He was also the god of medicine, which would explain the healing devices."
"Well, lets collect those devices and go check out his secret base." O'Neill clapped his hands together.
The ride was short. They took the two remaining members of SG-5 along since they didn't need someone to guard the gate as long as they had a ship. After an hour of searching, they finally found the hidden base. SG-5 was left to guard the ship while Xander and SG-1 searched the base.
It turned out that base was the wrong word. Factory would have been more appropriate. Very small and slow factory, producing healing devices, even better. Jolinar could trace where the raw materials went in and how they flowed through the machine and produced a healing device. He showed Major Carter the workings. The naked eye couldn't actually follow the slow speed of production.
"Couldn't a Goa'uld just make one himself?" Sam asked.
"Sure." Xander answered. "But you need the right materials and it would take weeks. This automates it nicely. Even if it takes a long time to make each one, it doesn't take any of the Goa'uld's time. He just sends his Jaffa to refill the raw materials and pick up the finished product."
#"Too bad healing devices don't have any naquadah in them. There's really nothing useful here."# Jolinar commented.
"So this Goa'uld just builds healing devices and sells them to the other Goa'uld?" Jack wondered.
"Looks like." Daniel answered. "There's nothing offensive here and no weapons. Not to mention Imhotep was quite the benevolent god by Egyptian standards. So I would say that we leave the factory alone."
"Leave it?" Jack raised an eyebrow.
"It's only healing devices. Healing devices heal people, Jack. They don't kill anything." Daniel defended.
"But the Goa'uld use them as proof of their god-hood." Teal'c interjected. "Surely anything that weakens their claim to god-hood is good."
"I'm going to go with Daniel on this." Xander said. "If he's friendly towards humans, that could piss him off. If he's not, they'd just rebuild the factory elsewhere anyway. Not worth the C4. Besides, you already got 15 healing devices out of this deal."
"I was sure it was closer to 30." Jack gave a surprised look.
"How many do you really need, Jack? The Tok'ra can actually use them. And they can't set up a factory like this. It takes too much time." Xander told him.
"So, it would do some damage?" Jack latched onto the idea.
#"It would inconvenience them at best."# Jolinar replied. #"Like we said, not worth the C4"#
"Alright. Fine. Everyone back to the ship." Jack ordered. "We can always blow it up later."
SG-1 dropped off their P90s and re-slung their MP5s. "Carter, remind me to ask Hammond for some of those for our team." Jack ordered.
"Yes sir." Sam responded automatically.
Then they separated the healing devices they captured into two piles. It turned out that there were 32 so they each got 16. The Tok'ra would be happy about that. They were always short of those.
He dropped the SG teams off at the gate and waited until they had gone through before dialing another planet. He took the healing devices through. He handed off the healing devices, making the excuse that he had left his ship undefended on a planet that had recently had hostile Jaffa, to avoid a debriefing with the Tok'ra. He would have to do that by communicator once he reached Earth, but they wouldn't expect that for weeks. He thought about the improvements to the hyperdrive he had made using Carter's memories. Once he explained the concepts to Willow, he fully expected further improvements. He may have Carter's memories, but she was still Willow.
With that thought, he stepped back through the gate and walked over to his ship. He lifted off and set the autopilot for Earth. It was a rather boring ride back without SG-1 present. He made a mental note to download his Napster playlist to the ship's mainframe. A couple thousand songs should help break the monotony. Besides, who designed ships without a radio or some form of music to keep people entertained.
Xander took it back. The ride back in his ship alone wasn't boring. The debriefing managed to make a very exciting and life threatening experience like they just had and make it seem dull. They rehashed everything that had happened on the mission. It was a horribly unexciting play by play. He didn't think his own debriefing in the library had been this boring. At least he hoped not.
Even worse, Hammond had asked about the assassins.
"We took care of them." Xander told him. "Only managed to shoot one of the three, but it did make that one easier to put down."
"Do you know who sent the assassins, or why they attacked you?" Hammond wondered.
"A vampire sent them. We got him too. And they didn't attack me." Xander said meaningfully to Daniel. Then looked at Jack and finally Teal'c.
Hammond noticed all the looks going around. "Does someone want to tell me what's going on?"
"It's my fault General. I asked them not to tell you." Xander started.
"No. I agreed and asked everyone to change their reports." Daniel countered.
"I gave the order, general." Jack retorted.
"I would not have divulged the information on Slayer Buffy even if I had not been given that order." Teal'c added.
"What's a Slayer Buffy?" the general asked. "And what is everyone talking about?"
"My friend. Buffy? Is what's called a Slayer." Xander started to explain.
"I can have a full report on your desk in 10 minutes." Daniel interjected.
"Basically, the Slayer is a girl who is mystically empowered to battle evil. Super strength, speed, and reflexes. She'd dance circles around the best Jaffa warrior." Xander continued.
"Why wasn't I informed of this earlier?" the general asked.
"I asked them not to tell you. To keep her off the NID's radar. Didn't help exactly." Xander replied.
"And now?" Hammond queried.
"Now, she had assassins after her, which you helped out with. I figured you deserved to know. Plus I'm in a much stronger position to deal with the NID if they try to take her now." Xander explained.
"I see. Dr. Jackson, I'd like to see that report on my desk soonest." Hammond ordered. And the uncomfortable part of the briefing was done.
The good part came next. The general asked him to stay behind when SG-1 left and called in Major Paul Davis.
Xander got his Diplomatic ID; and Diplomatic IDs for Willow, Buffy, and Giles. Along with a big, honking check.
"We assume you'll have to put down first, last, and a security deposit on housing." Major Davis explained. "So this check is a bit larger than next month's check will be. But this has to cover all your expenses. Housing, your own salary, plus the salaries of any employees you choose to hire. So make it last." he advised.
Xander figured he could make the check last a year, even paying his friends a salary. Maybe small salaries. He had one last request before he left. To add William Fordham to the list of his attachés. Major Davis promised to courier the ID to him by next Monday.
Next he went to the infirmary to teach Samantha how to use the healing device. She and Dr. Fraiser were waiting for him there.
"Janet! Nice to see you. Is it again? Or for the first time?" Xander wondered.
Janet gave her 'that's nice' smile she gave her patients. "Well, first time in the flesh. Let's just leave it at that." she said as they shook hands. "So, you're going to teach Sam how to use a Goa'uld healing device? Let's get to work then. Is there anything you need?"
"Some towels, a bowl of water, and a scalpel." Jolinar requested
"A scalpel?" both women replied together.
"Just for me. You can't learn healing by me talking to you. You have to learn by doing." Xander explained then held out his left arm. "See? It's how I learned. And you can really only see the scar of my first time." Xander traced the faint, white line that ran diagonally down his arm.
"I can't cut you just so I can learn how to do this." Sam complained.
"You're not. You're just going to heal me. I'm cutting me." Xander stated as he grabbed a scalpel of a nearby tray and cut. He had to grit his teeth for a moment, but Jolinar soon had the pain under control. Then he walked over to the women, sat on the bed, and held his bleeding arm out to them. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
The question seemed to spring Sam from her shock. She grabbed the healing device and asked, "What do I do?" as Dr. Fraiser ran for some supplies.
"Concentrate." Jolinar stated.
"What helps me is to imagine exactly what I'm trying to do. So, if you're trying to close a wound, picture it closing." Xander slowly pinched the fingers of his right hand together to illustrate what he meant.
Janet returned with the water and towels that Xander had requested. Xander put one towel on the bed under his arm to catch the blood dripping. He put one in the shallow bucket of water and set the rest aside.
"That's good Sam." Xander encouraged while feeling the wound. "But there's still bleeding under there. Now go back over and imagine closing the wound deeper under the skin."
Once she was done with that he wiped the wound off with the wet towel and felt around. "Right there," he pointed to one end of the wound where she had missed healing deeper. "That's one reason for healing from deep to shallow. Once you heal the skin, it's hard to see where the wound used to be."
"Amazing." Janet breathed as she examined the wound.
"Better than my first try. Then again, Jolinar's only advice, again, was to 'concentrate'.
"Alright. Let's go again." Xander said. Though this time he let Jolinar slash their arm.
"Doesn't that hurt?" Janet asked.
"Yeah. For a second. Then Jo takes care of the pain and it's all good. He could pre-numb my whole arm, but then I might cut too deep without realizing it." Xander explained.
Sam begins healing Xander's arm again, from deep to shallow this time. After three passes it was completely healed.
Xander was impressed.
But Sam's mind suddenly clicked. "Wait a second. You said on P4X-371 that you couldn't use these. So how did you practice healing?"
Xander looked a little sheepish. He hadn't been planning on telling them that. "Oh. That. Yeah. Well, you see Willow and I were able to build a healing device using Earth technology."
"You were? Are you going to share it with us?" Sam was incredibly happy. Their first alien to human crossover technology. She could almost taste it.
"No."
Sam's face fell. "No? What do you mean no? Do you know how many people technology like that could help?"
"I do. I really do. And if you want to talk to the President, we could begin negotiations for that. But I'm not going to be making any deal that doesn't involve full disclosure of the Stargate program and aliens. If they want alien tech, they have to admit that aliens exist. And I think that's going to be a deal breaker for this administration." Xander finished a little sadly.
Sam was glaring at him. But Xander wasn't backing down on this. Janet stepped in. "Ok. I think we have all the data we need. I'm sure you have places to be Mr. Harris."
#"Actually, Sam and I have one thing left to discuss. In private, if you don't mind, Dr. Fraiser."# Jolinar said.
Sam lost a little of her hostility and nodded to Janet to leave them alone. "What is it?"
When Janet had left, Xander answered. "Well we wanted to congratulate you on your promotion again. And ask you why the heck you were still in the military?"
"I love what I do here. You should know that." Sam defended.
"And you couldn't do that as Dr. Samantha Carter? Where the Air Force fraternization rules no longer apply?"
Sam blushed. Looking at the kid who knew her deepest, darkest secrets and probably her dirtiest fantasies was extremely unnerving. "I can't." she shook her head.
"From what I recall from Daniel's alternate dimension, Dr. Samantha Carter was still involved in the Stargate program despite not having any military training. And engaged to General O'Neill. Just talk to Hammond, ok? I'm guessing he'd be willing to bend a few rules to keep you in the program." Xander hopped down from the bed and left Carter to think about his and Jolinar's idea.
Jolinar almost groaned out loud as he struggled to keep Xander from making a comment about how Sam should look at herself in the mirror naked more. Teenagers. Jolinar thought to himself. He knew there was a reason Tok'ra didn't normally take adolescents as hosts.
Joyce had nixed the idea of a ride along during the school week, but had supported her daughter's choice and scheduled one in a nearby town for that Friday. She was frankly both happy and worried about Buffy's interest in law enforcement. Happy that Buffy wanted to be on the right side of the law. Worried that her daughter wouldn't make the screening process. Her background was... sketchy, she had to admit to herself. She dropped Buffy off for her ride along and settled down in the police station to read.
"Can I help you ma'am?" an officer asked her.
"Oh, no. My daughter's doing a ride along. It's just too far to drive home and back again tonight. So I'm just waiting here." she explained.
"Your local station doesn't offer ride alongs?" he wondered.
"No, they do. It's just that Buffy's been hassled by someone from the Sunnydale station. She didn't say who, but she wanted to do it away from there." she stated.
"Oh, Sunnydale." he made a face at the name of the town. "Anyway. There's no reason for you to sit here all night. You could come on a ride along with me."
Joyce considered for a moment. She was technically seeing Ted right now. But it wasn't really a date, even if he was cute. She smiled and agreed to the trip.
Buffy thought the ride along was... slow, but interesting. Dealing with a couple of drunks and a drug dealer. They were new experiences for someone whose nightlife knowledge tended toward the demonic variety. The next call reminded her too much of Sunnydale in a different way. A motorcycle rider had lost control going at least 90 mph without a helmet. The gore was certainly familiar enough. The fact that it wasn't caused by a demon was the thing that shocked her. The kid was just being stupid. Going too fast without a helmet and now he was toast. Or maybe jam, looking at the smear that had once been a boy. She overheard the paramedics saying they were hopeful that they could save his liver and kidneys for transplants. Everything else was shot. Buffy felt a familiar pang of not being able to save somebody. But could you really save someone from themselves? The night went from interesting to depressing.
A domestic disturbance call was the last of the night. Buffy was happy that she didn't have to mediate this. The husband was yelling at the wife and vice versa. The poor officer was trying to calm the situation. Buffy watched the argument from the doorway. Suddenly, the husband pulled a knife from behind the TV. What kind of person kept a knife behind a TV, she didn't know. She just yelled, "Knife!" and started moving, but she wasn't going to make it to the back of the house in time.
Luckily, the warning was enough. The officer caught the knife arm and soon had him pinned on the ground with his now empty hand twisted behind his back. The man was screaming bloody murder and the wife was now attempting to slap the officer. Buffy continued into the room and placed herself between the men and the much taller woman. She was more than fast enough to deflect all the woman's impotent strikes until the cop finished dealing with the man and could focus on the woman.
The woman stopped trying to hit anyone and broke down crying. She didn't want her husband to go to jail no matter what a skeeze he was. Buffy was actually a little touched at the compassion the officer showed as he explained exactly what was going to happen and that he didn't charge her with assault for hitting him.
Back in the car with the husband, Buffy could smell the alcohol rolling off him. It was impressive that he could drink so much and still remain standing.
"You really shouldn't have intervened like that." the officer admonished. "You could have been injured." Buffy started to object but was cut off. "But since you saved that lady from some jail time for assaulting an officer, I guess we'll let it go this time. But if you ever do a ride along again, you should know that it's our job to protect you. Not the other way around." He smiled at her.
Buffy even cracked a wry smile at that. Not her job to protect anyone. It was a nice thought. They made their way back to the station, where she met her mother also coming back from her ride along.
"Mom?" she queried.
"Buffy! I decided to do a ride along too while you did yours." Joyce explained. "It was very informative," she looked back at the officer who had given her the tour. "And if you would like to become a police officer, I fully support you." she drew her daughter into an embrace. And on the plus side she had gotten the officer's name and number. He'd said that if she ever had any trouble with the Sunnydale PD that she should call him. Joyce made a note of that and to call him if things didn't work out with Ted. He certainly was cute.
Willow, Ford and Buffy were reading in the Library on a Saturday even though there was no current Big Bad. Willow was reading one of several books Xander had assigned for her on wormholes, astrophysics, crystal geology, and electrical engineering. She had devoured the books on electrical engineering and geology, but the ones on wormhole physics and theoretical astrophysics were tough. One was even written by Samantha Carter herself. Ford was reading some books on military history and small unit tactics. And Buffy was reading an introductory book to criminal justice.
"I didn't think you actually had to study to become a cop." Buffy complained.
"Yes, most departments prefer their officers to have a college degree. Preferably in criminal science or a related field." Giles came out of his office. He was doing just as much, if not more, research on this than Buffy was. The idea that his Slayer could have a semi-normal life with a career was mind boggling. But with two, maybe three, Slayers now loose on the Earth, the possibility was there. Assuming of course, that the aliens didn't destroy it first. Xander had assured them they would be fine while he was gone, but it felt different without the boy here.
He had to admit that he was a little uncomfortable around Xander since the boy had told him off. But the size of the enemy facing them at the time had been enormous. Xander even admitted that without the memories of facing worse, he might have panicked as well. So, no hard feelings all around, but Giles was still uneasy. Sometimes Xander was the same boy he had been before Halloween and other times he was a different boy. No, man. Other times he was a different man altogether. It was often difficult to remember that fact.