Gate room, Stargate Command.

The SG teams, minus SG1, 5 and 13, were waiting at the bottom of the ramp leading up to the Stargate. The entire base heard about what happened to Dr. Frasier and they were waiting for her body to be returned through the Stargate. Everyone but the television crew knew that something terrible had happened. The first sign of a losing battle was when Colonel O'Neill was brought back injured, then they heard about Dr. Frasier which was a huge shock to the entire SGC. It would be a few minutes later that everyone in the control room and the Gateroom stood at attention when the event horizon of the Stargate rippled before Dr. Frasier's body was carried on a stretcher by Teal'c and Major Carter. The two of them were soon followed by the rest of SG1, 5 and 13. Once Teal'c and the Major reached the bottom step, the two of them lay the doctors body onto a waiting gurney.

Willow and the others hurriedly made their way towards the exit on the left as the gurney carrying the body was wheeled into the hallway. Willow could feel several eyes on her and she knew why... she just didn't want to look over her shoulder at the eyes she knew were staring at her. She could sense no anger or negative emotion behind those stares; instead it was more a feeling of the people around her being slightly uncomfortable at watching her literally take down three Goa'uld ships. On either side of her were Daniel and Major Carter while Teal'c strode down the hallway behind her. And she knew that Colonel Dixon was next to Teal'c. Upon reaching a cross-junction, the group slowed down as the nurses rolled the gurney forward before Willow and the other survivors took a left into an adjacent hallway. 'We need to get to the infirmary and then...' Willow couldn't even think. She feel tears going down her cheeks and used the back of her hands to wipe them away before hearing a sniffle from Carter. Willow glanced at the blonde wiping away her tears before looking away. Just as they took another turn into another hallway, the group was met by the film crew. It was a sudden meeting - Willow could tell from their expression they were surprised as well - and it was a few seconds later that the director barked orders at his crew. Willow knew they were nearing the infirmary at the end of the hallway for their check-up before any briefing. She wanted to avoid the crew... but it seemed luck was not on their side. Willow turned her head towards Major Carter who was now scowling at the cameraman who was tryin to keep up with her.

"Get away from me! and get that damned camera off my face!" Carter growled at them with tears falling down her cheeks. Willow saw the small crew stop what they were doing as Daniel opened the doors to the infirmary. The director, Emmet, was yelling at his crew... telling them he didn't say they should stop filming. Once the doors to the infirmary were closed shut with guards position on either side of the entrance to stop the crew from walking into the large room, the voices of the film crew in the hallway were muffled. It didn't matter to Willow... the crew and the documentary weren't important. she had seen a friend die. . The group She turned around to see Colonel Dixon standing next to her staring at her with a mixture of awe and fear. Willow tried not to look at him as he turned toward her.

"Good job lieutenant," he said reassuringly as he put his hands on her shoulders and squeezed lightly, "you saved all of us. I know Jack would be very proud of you."

Willow didn't know what to say to Colonel Dixon. All she could do was nod her head and softly say "thank you, sir". Soon, all of them took their places in the infirmary for their post-mission check-up after Major Carter, Teal'c, and then Daniel patted her on her shoulder. "You did good, Willow," Daniel said nodding his head. Willow thanked him before she was called by one of the nurses to take a seat on a bed.

Briefing Room, SGC

Following her post-mission check up, Willow was ordered to the briefing room alongside the rest of SG1.

"Welcome back SG1," said General Hammond. Turning to look at Willow he then nodded his head while saying, "Lieutenant, Major Carter briefed me on what you did to defend the teams against the Jaffa. You did a good job, you helped save more lives."

"But I couldn't save Dr. Frasier," mumbled Willow sadly.

"That's not your fault Willow. From what we were told, the blast instantly killed Dr. Frasier. She didn't suffer at all," said Major Carter, to which Willow just pressed her lips together.

"In the meantime, an official from the NID is here to conduct an investigation into the mission on '666," said General Hammond in disgust. "He will be interviewing everyone from SG1, including you Lieutenant," he said as he looked at the Redhead. "I leave it up to you if you want to reveal how you stopped those Jaffa."

"I don't think she should," Daniel explained, "If the NID know about her abilities, they could force her to do things against her will by... well..." Daniel didn't have to even mention what happened when the NID threatened General Hammond, in turn causing him to resign from the SGC. The NID having knowledge of Willow's abilities could put her family in danger; everyone in the Briefing Room knew as much.

"Agreed," said the General, "but this I leave it up to the Lieutenant."

Willow nodded her head before saying, "thank you, sir."

Isolation Room One, SGC.

After making the decision to not reveal her abilities to the NID, it was finally Willow's turn to be questioned. She found herself sitting on a chair across from an empty metal chair with a table in between. She stared at the recording device on the table top before turning her head to the door opening with a creek. She raised her chin at the bald man walking towards the empty chair and looked on as he sat down after placing a note pad on the table-top. As he sat down, the man introduced himself, "Lieutenant Rosenberg, my name is Richard Woolsey. I take it you know why I'm here?"

"Let me guess, you're here to place blame on someone for what happened today?" Willow sarcastically said; all the while her heart was racing in her chest. She understood the need for this inquiry, but she could sense the man in front of her wanted to assign blame to someone... anyone... for what happened off-world.

Woolsey pressed his lips together before saying, "What happened today was a tragedy. I think General Hammond made the wrong choice in sending backup into an obvious ambush."

"Look Sir, you don't know what you are talking about. General Hammond sent us as backup to save SG13, which we did. If we were deployed to '666, the team would have been captured... Or worse," said Willow leaning forward on her chair as her nostrils flared before leaning back and placing her arms on the table-top. She was angry, and she was doing everything she could to pull back her anger.

"Lieutenant," said Woolsey as he leaned back on his chair, "the death of Doctor Frasier was the direct result of going back to that planet. For that General Hammond will have to take full responsibility."

"Like I said, if the General didn't deploy our teams off-world, SG-13 could have died or captured," Willow reiterated while trying to keep her anger in check, "and Dr. Frasier died a hero... she saved Airman Wells... she saved so many of us. You have no right to use her good name to sully General Hammond's name."

Woolsey just stared at her for a few seconds before jotting some notes on the writing pad. After he put his pen down, Woolsey looked back up at Willow before saying, "tell me about what happened to the Jaffa on P3X-666. From the reports I've read, the Jaffa just doubled over in pain and died. The three ships also simply crashed under mysterious circumstances. Any explanations?"

"Things happen, Sir," Willow replied with a shrug, "we can't have an explanation for everything."

Woolsey narrowed his eyes at that answer before he jot down some notes. He then looked up once again and said, "You know what happened don't you? What would the others I have to interview today say? If you have anything to say, now would be the time."

"I can't add anything that I don't know about, Mr. Woolsey. Everything I know is in the report I gave you," said Willow, "I don't really know what else to say."

Woolsey then nodded his head after giving off a sigh before leaning forward and ending the interview. After the digital recorder was turned off, Willow got up from the chair and walked out of the door. As she walked out of the room and into the hallway, Willow could sense how the loss of Dr. Frasier hit the entire SGC hard. And with everything that was going on on top of that loss, including the inquisition from the NID and the presence of the television crew, the whole situation felt this whole situation was like a powderkeg waiting to explode. She wanted to talk to someone about what happened but everyone was in mourning. She checked on Teal'c and saw that he was meditating and did not want to bother him, and Major Carter had already gone with General Hammond to notify Cassie about her stepmother's death.

"Oh God, Cassie," Willow whispered to herself as she started to tear up, "I hope you'll be alright."

Infirmary, SGC.

Willow was walking in a daze through corridors and may have even unknowingly taken the elevator until she found herself in the infirmary. She walked through the double doors and saw Dr. Brightman sitting at Janet Frasier's desk. For a moment, she could see Dr. Frasier sitting there, but Willow shook her head and saw Dr. Brightman once again.

"Lieutenant," said Dr. Brightman looking up, "are you alright."

"Ah, yes I am," said Willow, "has Colonel O'Neill awoken yet?"

"Not yet, he's stable and should be up and about by tomorrow. The ceramic insert of his vest took the brunt of the blast but there were still some slight burns."

"Could I sit next to him?" asked Willow.

"Yes, of course. But please keep it under 30 minutes. The both of you need to rest."

"Yes ma'am," said Willow.

Willow walked over to where Colonel O'Neill was lying on the bed. He was fast asleep thanks to some pain medications the doctor gave him for the burns. As for the burns, they were heavily wrapped with sterile white gauze that Willow could see. She took one of the chairs that were lying around, pulled it up to his bed and sat down.

"Hi Colonel," she said softly, "I don't know if you can hear me since you are asleep and all." She then continued with a small smile on her face, "I'm sorry, I failed to protect Dr. Frasier. You asked me to look after her but I failed to sense the Jaffa who shot her. If I did, maybe she would be alive right now. I tried to use magic to heal her wounds but it was too late" she said as tears started to fall, she quickly rubbed them away. "Sir... I can feel your concern for everyone, even now as you lie there injured. I can feel the devastation of the entire base and... I need to get out of here for a while," said Willow sadly as she got up and walked out of the doors. As she left, she failed to notice that the Colonel had mumbled three words, "not your fault, Red."

Willow had been planning to stay in her quarters on the base due to the memorial for Dr. Frasier being tomorrow morning, and she just didn't want to go home despite the heightened emotions she could feel throughout the base. But she had to get out of the base first to clear her head, so she took the elevator to the surface and instead of going to her motorcycle, she walked out of the gate and looked for the hidden trail that led to the observation platform on the top of the mountain. After walking for some time, she reached the end of the trail and reached a small platform where she just lay down and looked at the stars that were hanging in the night sky.

"Ummmm... I wonder how many of those stars we've been to?" thought Willow to herself, "it's so quiet up here, I like it." Willow found it so comfortable and quiet that she closed her eyes to sleep. When she next opened her eyes, she found that it was already six o'clock in the morning.

Memorial Service, SGC Gate room

Willow stood at attention alongside the rest of SG1 during Dr. Frasier's memorial service. Teal'c helped Major Carter write a moving tribute to the impact Dr. Frasier made in the lives of the SGC personnel.

During Major Carter's tribute, Willow remembered that Dr. Frasier was the one who helped her when she first came to the SGC. She had also welcomed Willow to her home during the first few weeks before she joined the Academy and lived in the dorms. Willow felt that she was more of a mother than even her own mother was, especially since she was already a stepmother to Cassie. She glanced over at Cassandra Frasier who was standing in the front row. She had been crying her eyes out the whole night, luckily Major Carter and General Hammond had stayed with her. In the locker room, as they were changing into their blue dress uniforms, Major Carter had told Willow that Cassie would be staying with her from now on. Willow reminded herself that she should talk to Cassie today if possible.

Willow took a quick glance around the gate room, she noticed that the television cameras were present as well. She heard from Major Carter that General Hammond had agreed to let the crew finish their project and was actually looking forward to viewing the tape before it got put into the classified shelf.

A few minutes later, the service had ended and everyone was mingling around talking in hushed tones with each other. A majority of them were meeting with Cassie to give the girl their condolences. Willow knew that the memorial today was for the SGC personnel, there would be a private ceremony the next day for the doctor's friends and family. Willow walked towards her team who were waiting for everyone to finish meeting with Cassie.

"Major, Teal'c, that was a beautiful service," said Willow as both of them nodded their heads. "Colonel, I'm glad that you're doing well now, we were worried for a second there," said Willow as she turned towards Colonel O'Neill.

"Thanks, Red, I'm feeling peachy. Of course, my knees still hurt" he said slightly smiling.

"Daniel," said Willow nodding her head.

"Willow," Daniel replied patting her shoulder

"Uncle Jack, Sam, Daniel, Teal'c, Willow, thank you for such a beautiful service. I know she would have loved it" said Cassie after a line of officers and enlisted personnel gave her their condolences.

"Cassie," said Willow as she reached to give the young girl a hug, "sorry I haven't been around much to hang out with you, but from now on I'll do my best to meet up as much as possible with you" whispered Willow.

Cassie then replied, "Thanks, Willow."

TBC