The Gift of a Family chapter 23. Breaking the Rules.
I want to thank whoever nominated my story for the Best Unfinished Stargate Crossover at the Crossing Over awards from Twisting the Hellmouth. I am greatly honored. I dedicate this chapter to you, whoever you are.
I also want to thank clarityfades for betaing this. It was the fastest turn around I have ever had!
Thank you to everyone who is recommending this, and you for reading it.
I still don't own Stargate or Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The burning was intense and the sharp stab of pain ripped through her body. Buffy shifted with a sigh so she was lying on her side instead of her bandaged back. It was a relief to the pain from the scratches on her back. The chains binding her held fast, she couldn't move any further; she could only lie on her back or her side. Faith was right, they were very strong chains; still, Buffy could only pray that they would hold if the worst were to really happen.
The stabbing burn mellowed to a throbbing one burn as she continued to lie on her side. Buffy embraced the pain, she could use it as something that would help her to stay awake. She smirked as she realized that the thing she had focused so hard on ignoring while she was fighting was now something that she concentrated on feeling.
It was better than the alternatives. Pain had been her enemy while she was fighting, limiting her movement, holding her back, and trying to distract her from the things that would kill her. Now, it was like a friend. It kept her mind from thinking about things she didn't want to contemplate; it kept her from sleep.
"You really should try to get some sleep." Daniel's soothing voice whispered from beside her. Shifting as much as she could, Buffy looked up into his bright blue eyes. They were lit from within with sympathy and affection.
He had refused to leave her side while she waited to find out if one of her worst fears had really come to pass. He sat beside her, returning the favor she had done for him only the night before.
"You have been through Hell today, Buffy, you need your sleep to heal." Gently he brushed a stray hair out of her face, then blushed as he pulled his hand away from her.
"I don't want to sleep." Buffy whispered, as if ashamed of a weakness.
Daniel's eyes grew wide. "Because of the nightmares," he guessed.
Buffy blinked but shook her head. "Because I might not wake up. I might..." Her voice cracked. "I might wake up and not be me anymore. I don't want to be a vampire," she stated, desperately holding her tears inside.
"Wesley seemed confident that you aren't going to become a vampire. You weren't drained to the point of death, the ritual wasn't complete." He reminded her.
"I know it doesn't make sense, but Daniel, I could feel him. I could feel my sire before Jack blasted him back to hell. I was glad to see him dead but something inside of me is mourning his death. I can feel it, the same way I can feel the slayer inside of me. What if he is wrong? This is the Hellmouth, things that shouldn't happen are the normal order around here. Spike would probably say something like. 'Rules are made to be broken' and that 'the sodden Mouth breaks all the rules' or something like that."
Daniel briefly wondered who Spike was, but let the thought go with the torrent of memories and emotions he was suddenly consumed with. He was finally moving on from his beloved Sha're, but now it seemed as if history just might be repeating itself once again. His hands balled into fistsat the thought of looking into the eyes of the woman he loved and seeing someone else starring back at him. He couldn't go through it again, he wouldn't!
"That isn't going to happen Buffy." Daniel's voice was like steel as his eyes came back from someplace far away. "I'm not going to let that happen." He growled defiantly.
Buffy was about to ask him what he thought he could do about it, but something in his eyes told her he was very serious. A part of her knew that there was nothing Daniel would be able to do to stop something like that from happening, and yet, he was so determined. He was so strong and sure that she couldn't help but be comforted. Daniel meant every word he said.
"Thank you," she whispered, filled with awe by his passion and determination. She didn't understand it, but a part of her believed and trusted his words. She still didn't want to go to sleep just yet. She wanted to meet the sunrise. She wanted to make sure her father made it back ok.
Faith, the soldiers, and Jack had gone back out once Buffy had been seen to. They wanted to hunt down those few vampires who had escaped the blast. Meanwhile,Wesley was busy researching what she had done and felt tonight. She felt bad lying around while the others went out to risk their lives. Despite Wes's assurances that she was not going to turn, Buffy just couldn't risk it.
There was a long moment of comfortable silence as Daniel settled down beside her once again.
"In that case, I want to see the sunrise before I go to sleep. Make sure Jack and the others get back ok," she stated. To Daniel's surprise, she no longer sounded frightened. Could she possibly trust him that much? "Will you help me?" Buffy asked.
"Jack isn't going to be happy about it. He wanted you to go to the hospital where they would have made you sleep. Why do you hate hospitals so much anyway?"
"That is a long story, that I will tell you some other time." Buffy stated as her eyes narrowed at him like a hawk that has found it's prey. "Now that things have settled down a little I've been thinking. Since you have gotten here you have learned all kinds of things about me. I, on the other hand, hardly know anything about you." Buffy wanted to know more about this man. She knew he was a good kisser, that he was faithful and courageous, and for some reason reminded her of heaven. "Aside from the fact that you have a passion for old books in dead languages and that you really, really like Chinese food." She teased him as she remembered him showing up on her porch hoping to get his hands on said books with a bribe of Chinese food. "Oh, and you have an Indiana Jonesish way about you."
Daniel blinked and blushed at the compliment. At least he hoped it was a compliment, after all, women like Harrison Ford. He personally loved the movies even through real archaeology was hardly anything like that, but then when he considered his adventures through the Stargate he had to admit maybe it wasn't that far off. "You think I am like Indiana Jones?"
"With your curiosity, I'll bet you get into all kinds of mischief." Buffy pointed out.
Now Daniel really blushed. It was true that his curiosity did get their group into all kinds of problems. He wasn't about to admit that though.
"Ooh, so I'm right!" Buffy crowed in pleasure. "Please tell me more about yourself. I wanna know more about you."
She was tempted to ask about Jack too. She knew even less of her own father than she did of the man before her who she'd just met less than 36 hours ago. She refrained however, no, she would learn about Jack from Jack. If he sticks around long enough for her to do so. She was still afraid to get her hopes up, but was starting to have hope nevertheless.
Daniel took a deep breath. It was only fair to tell her more about himself; but most of his life was classified. He wanted to talk to her about "heaven," but wondered if the issue was a little too much, too soon for her. She was nursing some serious wounds.
He decided it was too soon and she had been through too much to have that particular conversation at the moment. No, it was about time for the getting to know you talk. Time to talk about the general things that made him who he was, things she had to know about if they were going to consider making a go of whatever there was between them. He wanted to find out what could come between him and Buffy, for the first time since his wife he wanted to really try.
"I got my love of archaeology from my parents before they died. I spent my early years traveling with them to dig sites and various museums. I was always better with books than with people."
"I don't believe that." Buffy smiled at him. "You seem to be great with people."
"Well, recently I have made a lot of changes. I used to be a lot worse, I was what Jack would call a book geek. My little adventure when I first met Jack had some major life changing effects on me. I was hired as a consultant to the air force. While abroad, I met my wife Sha're, she was...Egyptian and she opened my eyes away from the past and made me learn to appreciate the moment. I left behind everything to be with her. She was my life."
Buffy was silent for a long moment. She didn't want to pry into something that would be painful and she could tell that this was a painful subject for him.
"Nothing hurts as much as losing someone you love like that." Buffy stated with real sympathy and Daniel realized that she too had lost someone who was her world. He wondered who it was and how she had lost them. "What happened?" She asked at length.
"She was taken from me a year later, by something that, well, it possessed her. I searched for her for years, but when I finally found her she was killed right in front of me. One of my teammates killed her to save my life, because she was killing me." Daniel realized he was being far more open about what happened than he intended on being. He only hoped that she didn't ask him questions that he couldn't answer yet. But he wanted her to know about Sha're, she had changed his life, she had changed him. Much of who he is, he owes to her influence, and he would always love her. He only hoped that Buffy could understand that.
"God, Daniel. I am so sorry." Buffy stated with genuine tears in her eyes and Daniel realized that she understood more than he realized.
It was silent between them once again as neither quite knew where to go in the conversation from here. At length Daniel couldn't help asking.
"I know that this is my share time but, can I ask who it was that you lost? You seem to understand more than anybody else." Daniel asked.
"I have lost a lot of people in my life. I guess the ones that most closely compare, the ones who were my world when they went were, my Mother Joyce, My Sister Dawn and my ex-Angel."
"The one who sent the sword?" He asked.
"Our story has more angst and trauma than you can shake a stick at. I guess we were doomed from the very beginning."
Daniel was just wondering if he really wanted to hear about this man who she apparently had loved very deeply, but the last comment got his curiosity up and running. "Why is that?" He asked.
Buffy froze and looked at him with a look that reminded him of the time he nearly ran over a deer while driving at night. It stood there with impossibly wide eyes when he came barreling toward it.
Buffy's heart raced. Would he be totally grossed out? Would he judge her the way others had? She wasn't sure she could take that. But then, it would be better to find out now that he couldn't take it then to find out later. If there was even going to be a later.
"He's a vampire." Buffy admitted and watched as Daniels eyes bulged and his mouth started flapping with no sound coming out. Taking a deep breath she tried to explain. "He had been cursed with his soul. Of course, when I first met him I didn't realize this."
Together they talked the night away. Buffy told him about Angel, and Dawn , Glory, dying and being brought back. He gave her a break down of his life while trying to avoid any mention of aliens or the Stargate. The sky was starting to lighten to pre-dawn light when he got to Kelowna and his becoming an enlightened one.
"Buffy, I...I think when you died, you didn't actually die. I think you were enlightened. I think we knew each other. There is a darkness in this town that I can feel in my bones, but when I am with you the darkness recedes. I feel a little bit of that heavenly state of being when I am with you."
Hesitantly, Daniel looked at Buffy to see how she was taking this. "That actually explains a lot. Like how I feel around you." Buffy's brows drew together. "Daniel, do you think that this...whatever it is between us is because of that?"
"I'm sure it doesn't hurt, but honestly, no, Buffy. I would still be fascinated with you without it." He could see the honest worry in her eyes.
"But, how can you be so sure?" She asked gently nibbling on her lower lip with her teeth, a move that was most distracting for him.
"Because Buffy you are a beautiful and fascinating woman." A bright smile filled his face as he looked down on Buffy. The sun had risen and she was laying in it's golden glow. "I told you that you wouldn't become a vampire." He stated pointing it out to her as he unlocked the chains holding her down.
Buffy was instantly standing in the warm rays of golden light. Her arms were spread out as if embracing it. Turning to Daniel she smiled, and his heart lurched. She was as radiant as the sun, he wished he were a poet to be able to describe her beauty. Tears were spilling freely down her face and she was laughing in pure joy.
"I'm not a vampire, Daniel!" she cried out. Unable to contain his joy in the face of hers, he stepped forward and pulled her into his arms, being careful of her wounds, for a strong hug. He gently pulled her from her feet and twirled her around the room as they laughed together. Finally stopping his lips met her own in their third kiss. It was gentle sweet and loving with only a hint of passion. He held her in his arms, their foreheads touching for a long moment after the kiss.
Their eyes flashed open and they jumped apart as if burned when Jack cleared his voice loudly from the doorway.
"Jack, uh..." Daniel floundered not knowing what to say to your best friend when he catches you kissing his daughter.
"I'm not a vampire!" Buffy cried out happily, and threw herself into his arms. Jack closed his eyes and took a deep breath of his daughter's scent. It felt like a part of his body that had been missing for years was finally restored to him. It felt right, good.
"Of course you aren't, kiddo." He stated smiling at his daughter. "But you should be asleep."
Buffy nodded and walked over to her bed. Now that her father was back and she knew she wasn't a vampire, she felt like she could sleep like the dead.
"I'm going now. Good night, er or good morning. It is always a little odd seeing a sunrise from the other side." She grumbled with a large yawn.
She was exhausted. She barely heard Jack telling Daniel that they were going to have a long talk. "Be nice," she commanded just as she drifted to sleep.
A.N. We are nearing the end. However there will be a sequel or two I can promise that. I have parts of it plotted out, not as much as this one, but then this was originally going to just be the first chapters of my story. It got a little bigger than originally planned.