Buffy was nearly in bed before she remembered with a groan that she'd promised to call Willow and Dawn that evening when she got home. She dialed the familiar number slowly, dreading the conversation. Her sister and best friend had been less than pleased when she'd announced that she was moving to Colorado indefinitely and not taking either of them with her. Of course, that displeasure had been tempered when she'd added that all of their debts and current bills had been paid off and that money wouldn't be a problem for the foreseeable future, but they'd still accused her of running away. It had taken some more help from the President to get Dawn's guardianship extended to Willow as well as Buffy, and before she'd left she'd made them promise to look after each other.
Xander had taken her departure the worst. He still wasn't talking to her. She was okay with that; after the things he'd said when she told him she was leaving, she didn't want to talk to him, either.
"Hello?"
"Dawn? It's me."
"Buffy! Willow, it's Buffy!"
She heard the click as Willow picked up as well.
"Buffy!" Willow said.
"Hi guys," she said tiredly.
"How was your first day? What's it like working at your secret base under the mountain? What exactly are you doing?" Dawn babbled.
"You know I can't tell you that. It's 'classified.' I can tell you that I only nearly died once, and managed to kick some major butt."
"Can't tell us, as in, I should try to hack in? Or can't tell us, as in, mind our own business?" Willow asked, wanting clarification.
"The second one," Buffy said dryly. "Really, it's okay. I think this is going to be a good thing. How are you two?"
"We're good," Dawn said. Then, anticipating Buffy's questions, "Yes, I've done my homework, no I haven't burned the house down, yes I've stayed in at night, and no I haven't invited in any vampires. Other than Spike." Then, in a smaller voice, "I miss you, Buffy."
"Miss you too," Buffy said, and hated that even as she spoke she didn't really mean what she said. She didn't miss Dawn, or Willow, or Xander and Anya. She sort of missed Tara, and she missed Giles when she wasn't too busy being hurt over the fact that he had abandoned her in her greatest hour of need, and just after finding out what she'd gone through. She didn't regret leaving Sunnydale, though, and she was beginning to think that she never would.
She felt free.
"Listen," she said, "I'm really tired, so I'm going to go to bed. Take care, you two."
"Night, Buffy!" Dawn said.
"Sleep well!" added Willow.
She hung up and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.
SG-1 didn't have a mission the next day. Buffy and Jack were debriefed by General Hammond, but fortunately with Carter's and Teal'c's reports he already knew what'd happened and didn't keep them long.
"How you holding up, Summers?" Jack asked once they'd been dismissed, staring at her and forcing himself to remember that she'd gone up against Teal'c the day before and not been outclassed. Size matters not, he thought.
She smiled tiredly. "Doing okay," she said. "I'm looking forward to our next mission. I get antsy when I sit around too much."
"What are you up to this fine day?"
"Actually," she said, "I'm meeting up with Jonas Quinn. He's going to work on teaching me the finer points of Goa'uld and the language of the Ancients."
Jack shuddered. "Lucky you," he said, in a tone that said the opposite.
Her eyes narrowed. "Why? What are you doing?"
He waved his hand dramatically. "Reports, reports, reports," he said. "I've got a backlog from about four months ago. That's about as long as I can push it before Hammond starts threatening to give me KP duty."
"Wanna trade?" Buffy suggested, a gleam in her eye.
He snorted. "I don't think so. I spent three months living the same day over and over again just trying to learn Latin. That's enough languages for me."
They parted ways at a corridor and Buffy headed to Jonas' office. She'd met the alien briefly the day before on her tour of the facility. He was too cheerful for her tastes, but she could sense his sincerity, his true desire to be her friend.
"I hear you saved the rest of SG-1 on your mission yesterday," Jonas said in greeting as Buffy stepped into his cluttered office.
Buffy blushed. "Well, it wasn't anything special," she demurred.
He shook his head, looking at her with wide, honest eyes. "Buffy, I wanted desperately to be on SG-1. I won't lie to you. But if it had been me in your position yesterday, I wouldn't have been able to do what you did. SG-1 would still be captives of Isis, maybe dead. You were the one they needed. You proved yourself."
She put her hand on his arm. "Jonas," she said, "If you'd have been there, you would have found a way. Don't underestimate yourself."
He looked away. "It's hard not to, when I'm stranded on an alien planet where everyone blames me for Dr. Jackson's death."
Buffy frowned. "I don't think they blame you," she said slowly. "It wasn't your fault. From what I hear, he chose to sacrifice himself to save a planet. They shouldn't discount what he did by blaming you."
Jonas swallowed. "Maybe so, but I think everyone here knows that there's someone missing. And they know that I'm the one who showed up in his place."
"Then I guess we've both got something to prove," Buffy told him. "Because I'm a poor excuse for Dr. Jackson myself. And on that note…Goa'uld me!"
Learning Goa'uld was slightly less painful than organizing parent/teacher night at Sunnydale High with a juvenile delinquent for a partner and Principal Snyder wheezing down her neck, and slightly more painful than studying for the SAT while patrolling. Buffy didn't really have a knack for languages, but she was pretty observant from years of honing her body—including, although she was sure Giles didn't know it, her mind—and, when she really concentrated, she could learn things with impressive speed. Certainly Jonas didn't seem to think there was anything lacking in her learning, and the morning lesson went by quickly, until Major Carter came to grab Buffy for lunch.
"We like to eat together as a team whenever we're on Earth," Carter explained as they wound through the corridors to the mess hall. "We spend so much time in tense, high-energy circumstances that it's always nice to take a breather and just enjoy each other's company."
"Sounds good," Buffy said. "So what's your story, Sam?"
"What do you mean?"
"What's your background? Family? Husband? You know, what's the what?"
Carter shifted, uncomfortable with the attention. "Um, no husband, or boyfriend for that matter. I'm a theoretical astrophysicist. I've got one brother, Mark, and my dad is a Tok'ra."
At Buffy's blank expression, she explained, "A group of beings physiologically identical to the Goa'uld, but who oppose them. They take only willing hosts, and share the hosts' bodies with them."
"Um, no offense to your dad or anything, but ewwwww," Buffy said. "I can't imagine willingly sharing my body like that."
Carter smiled faintly. "It's certainly an unsettling feeling," she said. "I've experienced it myself, although for me it was an unusual situation, and didn't last long. My dad volunteered to become a Tok'ra because he was dying of cancer, and blending with the symbiote would save his life."
"I'm pretty sure I'd rather die," Buffy said. After a pause she added, "Not that that's such a big deal."
"Dying?" Carter said. "Not such a big deal," she repeated disbelievingly.
Buffy shrugged. "I've done it twice. It doesn't seem to stick." Something about her tone told Carter she wasn't as blasé as she tried to appear.
"Your file claimed that you've been dead and buried," Carter blurted.
"You don't believe it?" Buffy raised an eyebrow.
Carter stared at her. "You mean it's true? I thought it was a glitch. I mean, we're talking about resurrection, right?"
Buffy looked away. "Yeah. It was pretty powerful magic. Tore me straight out of Heaven."
Carter shook her head. "I'm a scientist. I'm afraid I'm having a hard time believing magic and vampires exist. Or Heaven."
"Heaven exists," Buffy said adamantly, stopping and forcing Carter to stop with her. The younger woman's eyes bored into Carter's, conveying her certainty. "Believe me. It's not clouds and harps, though. It's just…peace. A feeling of eternal happiness. The knowledge that the people you love are going to be okay."
Carter was still doubtful. "Maybe what you went through is what we call 'ascension'—going to a higher plane of existence. That's what happened to Daniel." Carter choked on his name, her grief still strong.
Buffy shook her head slowly and started walking again. "No. I've heard about what happened to Dr. Jackson. He became a glowing ball of light and his body disappeared, right? I, on the other hand, fell a couple hundred feet from the top of a tower through a mystical portal that destroyed most of my internal organs, with the fall breaking most of the bones in my body, then was buried and spent a few months decomposing. Not ascension."
"Oh."
Buffy put her hand on the older woman's arm. "I'm sorry for your loss, Sam," she said, watching as Carter dashed away unwanted tears, looking almost angry with herself.
Their conversation was curtailed as they reached the mess hall. Jack and Teal'c were already there, Teal'c with a massive tray of sandwiches and jello. Buffy and Carter got their own food and headed to the table; Teal'c stood as they approached.
"I am pleased to see that you are well, Buffy Summers," he said, sitting only when the two women did.
"Five by five," Buffy said. "And looking forward to sparring with you again soon."
"Indeed," he agreed. "I hope someday soon to be able to introduce you to Bra'tac, my old training master. I believe you and he have much in common."
Jack broke in, "And that's high praise coming from Teal'c, let me tell you! So, how're you liking your new house, Summers?"
She smiled. "It's nice," she said. "Kind of big for just me, but I do like having space."
"Well, how's this," Jack said amiably. "The next time we have a team barbecue, you can host it. How's that sound?"
"Do I have to cook? Or, uh, own a grill?"
"Nah. I'll take care of that."
"In that case—sounds good," Buffy said.
"Great—your place at five on Saturday, then."
"Saturday!" That was only two days away. She scowled. "You could have warned me that it'd be so soon."
He smirked unrepentantly. "You could have asked." Before she could retort, he changed the subject. "So, Summers, when are you going patrolling again? I'm not saying that we don't believe you about the whole 'vampires are real' thing, it's just…we don't really believe you about the whole 'vampires are real' thing."
"Let's go tonight," Buffy said. "I haven't checked out the cemeteries here yet, but I'm sure I can find something to persuade you." Her eyes glinted in a way that made Jack abruptly nervous.
"How are your studies of the Goa'uld language proceeding?" Teal'c inquired.
"Ugh," Buffy sighed. "Don't ask."
"I would be happy to assist you," he said courteously.
"Thanks, Teal'c."
"Colonel O'Neill, how are your reports progressing?" Teal'c asked Jack.
Jack blinked in an innocent "who, me?" kind of way. "At this rate, they'll be done in, oh, a couple of years."
Buffy swallowed the last bite of her sandwich, then stood. "So, Sam, what time does sunset happen around here?"
"I haven't checked lately, but it should be around 6:30 tonight," Carter replied.
Buffy nodded. "Let's meet up at 6:15 then," she said. "Bring padding." She sighed dramatically and looked in the general direction of Jonas' office. "Once more into the breach."
The rest of SG-1 watched her trudge away.
"What do you think, campers?"
"Of Buffy, sir?"
"No, Carter," he said sarcastically. "Of Hammond."
"Er, right. I like her, sir."
"As do I."
"Well, she's no Daniel…but I think I like her too."
"I think she'll settle in fine."
"And she's way cuter in BDUs than Daniel ever was," Jack concluded.
SG-1 assembled topside at 6:15 sharp. They hadn't taken Buffy's warning about padding very seriously, although Jack and Carter had brought handguns and Teal'c was carrying a zat.
Buffy, on the other hand, appeared to be armed with a halter top, low riding jeans, Jimmy Choo shoes, and the same sharpened stick she had brought on their last mission.
Jack took one look at her and said, "You're joking, right?"
"Please," Buffy said, rolling her eyes. "Look at you. Look at me. If you were a blood sucking fiend, who would you rather eat?"
Jack looked at Carter and Teal'c, hoping for backup, but Carter just grinned and shrugged. "She's got you there, sir."
"Now, I've done some quick research," Buffy said as they made their way to Jack's truck. "It looks like Clearview Cemetery is the most well-populated, as well as in the area where the most unexplained deaths occur. Do you know where it is?"
Jack's back stiffened. "Yes," he said, all joking suddenly gone from his voice. "Yes, I know the place."
Buffy sat in the back with Carter as Teal'c took the passenger seat. By the time they got to the cemetery, it was dark.
"Now what?" Jack said.
"Now? We stroll." And with that, Buffy sauntered off into the cemetery, whistling.
"Right. Stroll. Why didn't I think of that?"
They followed after her. Jack caught up to Buffy a moment later. "What are we looking for, Summers?" he demanded.
"Just wait," she said. "Try to look unintimidating, will ya?" She stopped abruptly, cocking her head as if listening. "Actually, step back, and observe."
Jack backed off, joining Carter and Teal'c, and stuck his hands in his pockets as he observed. Buffy remained where she stood, rubbing her arms and shivering. Jack was just about to step forward and ask what exactly he was supposed to be observing when two figures materialized out of the darkness. Jack wasn't sure, since it was dark, but he thought there was something wrong with their faces.
"Well, well, well," one said. "What have we here?"
"Looks like a lost little girl," the other replied, in a sing-song voice. "Do you think we should give her a hand?"
"Uh, guys?" Buffy said. "Hellooo. Standing right here." She drew her pointer finger along her pale neck, as if to emphasize its vulnerability. "Want a taste?"
The first…vampire…bared his teeth, revealing two inhumanly long canines. "Oh, yes," he breathed—do vampires breathe, Jack wondered. Impossibly fast, the vamp grabbed Buffy, jerking her much smaller body as he bowed his head to her neck. Jack took several steps forward, lifting his gun, only to stare as Buffy head-butted the vampire, sending him reeling. She hit him twice more in the face and once in the chest and when the vampire was off-guard she pulled out her stick. One quick plunge sent the stick deep into the vampire's heart, and when she pulled it out the vampire exploded in a cloud of dust.
There was a moment of silence.
"Woah," Jack said.
"Sir, that's—that's not possible," Carter said, astonished.
"Apparently it is very possible," Teal'c replied.
Buffy turned to the remaining vampire. "What are you?" he stammered.
"I know I'm new to town and all, but I still thought you'd recognize a slayer when you saw one," Buffy quipped.
The vampire actually took a step back. "Impossible," he said. "The Slayer is in prison."
Buffy sighed in annoyance. "Do I look like Faith to you? Am I tall? Brunette? A raging psychopath?"
"But then—who are you?"
Buffy smiled gently. "Guess."
He took in her short stature, her honey blonde hair, the way she twirled the stake in her hand. His eyes widened. "Buffy Summers is dead," he whimpered.
"What can I say? Rumors of my death have been…Actually, they were totally accurate," Buffy said. "But obviously your information is a bit out of date. I've been back for a while."
"Right." The vampire was slowly inching away. "You know, this was all a terrible mistake. Sorry for bothering you. I'm just going to—"
"Oh, no you don't," Buffy said, leaping forward and grabbing the vampire by the scruff of the neck, shaking it like a puppy rather than a man nearly twice her size. The vampire tried to struggle, but she shook him again and he froze. "Jack, Sam, Teal'c, care to join us?" she called.
The three members of SG-1 approached slowly, their weapons at the ready.
"Summers, what is that thing?" Jack demanded.
"It's a vampire. Sir," Carter said, her own voice disbelieving.
"I see that, Carter," Jack said.
"For what reason have you not killed this vampire, Buffy Summers?" Teal'c asked, clearly sizing up the vamp and finding it lacking.
"I figured I'd give you guys the chance to take a whack at it," Buffy said. "Plus, I'd like to see how zats work on vampires."
"I think I could take him," Jack said, examining the vampire. The thing didn't look so very scary, although, okay, the lumpy face and pointy teeth were pretty unsettling, and was a couple inches shorter than Jack was. "Let me at 'im, Summers."
"If you insist," she said, and let go. Instead of attacking, however, the vampire tried to edge away again. "You, stop!" Buffy ordered, her hands on her hips. "Did you hear about what I did to Glory?"
The vampire licked his lips nervously. "You, uh, beat her to death with a troll hammer."
"Yeah. So just imagine what I'll do to you if you piss me off. I tell you what—if you kill all three of my friends here, I'll let you go."
He appraised SG-1. "Really?"
"Yup. Scout's honor. Go for it."
The vamp nodded. Then he surged towards Jack, who shouted, "Woah!" even as he shot two rounds into the vampire's chest. To his astonishment the creature just kept coming.
"Bullets don't work on them," Buffy called out.
"Yeah, thanks," Jack muttered, pulling out his knife and circling the vampire warily. He tried rushing the vampire and was thrown back by a powerful blow to the chest, flying about five feet through the air to land painfully on his back. "Ooof!"
Before the vamp could leap on him, Carter came flying in from the side to tackle the vamp. She tried to use one of the holds she'd learnt in her study of jujitsu, but the vamp just shrugged her off, his strength far superior to her own.
"Hey, Sam, catch!" Buffy said, tossing her the stick. At Carter's disbelieving expression she said, "Mr. Pointy goes in the heart to kill him."
Nodding, Carter stabbed the vampire in the chest, the stick going in a good four inches. The vamp stared at his chest, then back at Carter, who realized with a sinking feeling that she'd missed the heart. The vampire grabbed her by the hair, jerking her head to the side and raking her neck with his fangs before Jack knocked the vampire away, pushing him to the side, where Teal'c calmly zatted him.
The vampire spasmed as blue electricity ran up and down its body, briefly stunned. Then it got back up and came toward Teal'c, its contorted features savage and inhuman. Teal'c shot it again, and this time the vamp was stunned long enough for Carter to grab the stake, jerk it out of his chest, and jab it back in, at the heart this time.
The vampire exploded, showering Carter in a puff dust and making her sneeze.
Panting, and knowing that he would be severely bruised the next day, Jack turned to Buffy. "Kill my friends and I'll let you go?" he demanded incredulously.
"I didn't want him going easy on you," she said, smirking.
"So, just to clarify," Carter said, looking a bit disheveled herself. "You've been fighting those things since you were in high school?"
Buffy bobbed her head. "Yeah. And things way worse than those."
Teal'c made a fist and placed it over his heart. "Buffy Summers, you are a true warrior," he said. "It will be my honor to fight by your side." He paused, then added with some humor, "I look forward to introducing you to Master Bra'tac."
"Thanks, Teal'c," Buffy said. She turned expectantly to Jack, whose face was expressionless.
"What?" he said, struggling to keep his face bland. "I already said you're on the team."
The corner of her lips quirked. "Right. Well, shall we take off? Unless you're up for some more vampire dusting tonight."
"I think that's enough for now," Jack said. He hesitated. "Give me a minute, will you?" He turned on his heel and began walking slowly toward another part of the cemetery.
Buffy glanced inquisitively at Carter and Teal'c. Carter hesitated. "Colonel O'Neill lost his son seven years ago," she said softly. "Charlie is buried here."
Buffy bit her lip. "That's terrible," she whispered.
"C'mon," Carter said. "Let's head back to the truck and wait for him there." As they walked, she said, "So what other ways are there of killing a vampire?"
"Well, like you saw, staking—and can I have Mr. Pointy back, please?" She took the stake from Carter's grasp and tucked it back into her pants. "Beheading—I don't recommend that one, it's pretty gross—and sunlight. Garlic doesn't do squat, except make them call you stinky. They can't enter your house unless you invite them, so as a rule I don't invite anyone into my house—just open the door and let them enter if they can. Crosses burn them, but some of the old vamps are barely affected by them. Holy water's pretty effective. Oh! And they don't have reflections."
"That's incredible," Carter said, her striking blue eyes alight with excitement. "Magic. It goes against, well, everything I've learned as a scientist."
Buffy patted her on the arm. "Don't worry. You'll get used to it."
"Don't get me wrong, I've seen weirder things," Carter said. "But the vampires—and you. You're so strong, Buffy."
Buffy shrugged lightly. "Through no choice of my own," she said.
"What did the vampire mean, when it said that the Slayer was in jail? Who's Faith?"
"I'd like to know the answer to that, too," Jack said, rejoining them. He looked like he'd aged about ten years. He unlocked the doors. "Hop in. I'll take us back to base."
Once they'd started driving again, Buffy said, "Well, normally there's only ever one vampire slayer at a time. That's me. But I died for a few minutes when I was sixteen, so another Slayer got called, Kendra."
"That's the girl you were accused of murdering," Carter said.
Buffy smiled mirthlessly. "You really did your homework, didn't you? I didn't do it, obviously. After Kendra died, Faith was called. She was always a bit of a loose cannon. She didn't take her responsibility quite as seriously as I did. Eventually, she killed a man—a human—by accident. I was there. She should have turned herself in, but instead she went evil. Joined forces with the Mayor, who was totally evil, and tried to help him become a huge demon. I put her in a coma. She woke up a year later, managed to switch bodies with me, messed up my life, and slept with my boyfriend. I managed to switch us back, and she's been in jail ever since."
"Right." After a second, Jack said, "You do know your life sounds like some sort of whacked out TV show, right?"
"What, and the Stargate is perfectly normal?" Buffy shot back.
"She has a point, sir," Carter said. "Considering the things we see every day, is this really so much weirder?"
Jack glared at her in the rearview mirror. "Yes," he said.
Carter thought about it. "Okay, good point."
They showed back up at the base, and Jack let Teal'c out to go back to his quarters and Carter to get her own car. "Remember," he called, "get some rest! We've got…P4X-something something something tomorrow."
Carter smiled. "Yes sir."