The Apartment, One Month later, 1000 hours.
"Hey sleepyhead" said Willow as she wrapped her arms around Faith's waist and kissed her shoulders, "it's time to wake up."
"Ummm?" said Faith as she slowly stirred awake, "what time is it?"
"Its ten in the morning" replied Willow as she ran her hand under Faith's shorts, "your graduation is in a few hours."
"Ummmm" smiled Faith as she felt Willow's hand underneath her shorts before she slowly opened her eyes, "looks like someone's a bit frisky this morning."
"I don't know what you mean" grinned Willow, "I'm always frisky every morning."
Faith could only laugh as she pulled Willow to her and kissed her deeply as the both of them slowly took off each other's clothes.
It was about an hour later that the both of them walked out from their room laughing when they saw Dawn sitting at the counter having her breakfast.
"Hey Dawnie" said Willow, "excited about today?"
"Yep" smiled Dawn at the two young women, "Buffy said that she and the others will be meeting us at the stadium entrance."
"Yeah" said Faith as she walked into the kitchen and took out some milk, "Big-G and the others said that they'll be there too."
"Yea" said Willow just as her phone rang, "I'll be right back, It's the SGC."
"Alright" said Faith and Dawn as Willow walked out to the balcony and activated her phone.
"So Faith" said Dawn, "what are you gonna do now?"
"Well" said Faith, "we're going off to Big-G's cabin in Minnesota next week. He's excited that Red suggested it, I guess the others haven't been too eager to go there for a while."
"Are the others going too?" asked Dawn.
"Daniel and Teal'c are going" said Faith as she suddenly looked at Willow after she felt a pain in her chest, "but… but Sam said that the Potato's relatives are coming by to meet her."
"Right" said Dawn, "her wedding is a month from now right?"
"Yep" said Faith as she turned back to look at Dawn, "Jacob's been trying to give her hints on not marrying that guy, but Sam's pretty insistent that she loves him. Red told me Jacob's not happy but he'll still be happy for Sam, as long as she's happy."
"I kinda thought that the President would give the both of them some kinda special dispensation you know" said Dawn as she sipped her coffee, "I mean between Colonel Carter and the General, you know.. like some kind of special permission that says that they could be together."
"Well, you gotta ask Red about that" said Faith, "but I don't think that they way it works. If he did do that, it would probably create some controversy somewhere and it would hit both Big-G and Sam in the ass."
"Well" said Dawn with a frown on her face, "it still sucks."
"Yeah" said Faith, "tell me about it."
"Are the both of you going to get married?" asked Dawn as she grinned at Faith.
"One day" smiled Faith as she looked back at Willow, "one day we will."
"So" said Faith as she turned back to Dawn, "you bringing a date to graduation that we should know about?"
"Huh?" said Dawn as she suddenly blushed.
"Oh!" smiled Faith as she pointed her finger at Dawn, "you have a date, who is it?"
"No I don't" smiled Dawn, "I mean not a date… I met him two weeks ago."
"Ohh! You naughty girl" said Faith as she sat next to Dawn, "you met someone and didn't tell us? How'd you hide it from Red?"
"I didn't think about him" smiled Dawn.
"Who is he?" whispered Faith.
"No one" smiled Dawn, "I'm not saying anything cause we're not dating, I only just met him."
"Did you guys go for drinks? Movie? Lunch or Dinner?" asked Faith excitedly.
"Lunch" said Dawn sheepishly.
"Oh… a date" grinned Faith, "tell me… who is he?"
"No" laughed Dawn, "I'm not telling you guys until I'm sure."
"So he's not coming for graduation?" asked Faith.
"Maybe" said Dawn, "I mean I told him I'm graduating but I don't know if he'll come and see me walk."
"If he does" said Faith, "I wanna meet him."
"Maybe" grinned Dawn.
"Ohh… he's gotta meet B" said Faith.
"No!" said Dawn, "I don't wanna scare him."
"Then he has to meet Red" sad Faith.
"NO!" said Dawn, "definitely not, no way.. no.. no… no.. no.. no…."
"Why not?" said Faith as she suddenly came to a realization, "no…. don't tell me, he's in the Air Force, isn't he?"
"Ummmmm….." said Dawn nervously.
"And he's a rank below Willow" said a grinning Faith, "isn't he?"
"Ummm…." said Dawn as she smiled at Faith, "well….."
"Fine" huffed Faith, "don't tell me then….. I'll find out soon enough."
"Yeah" laughed Dawn, "I'm sure you will."
"I will" said Faith with a grin plastered on her face, "just so you know, I'm an excellent tracker and I can find this boy. And when do I find him…."
"Oh don't you dare" said Dawn laughing.
"What?" said Faith as she made a fist and rubbed it with her other hand, "all I'll do is just have a talk with him, nothing bad or anything."
"Oh no" laughed Dawn, "you are definitely not meeting him."
"I'll find him" said Faith when she heard the glass doors opened and Willow walk in.
"Red?" said Faith as she saw the look on Willow's face, "what happened?"
"Willow?" asked Dawn.
"Ummm…." said Willow, "we got news on our newest 304 class battle cruiser, the Daedalus. It's ready to test the new Asgard hyperdrive and they want me and Colonel Carter to go to Area 51 in two weeks to oversee the test."
"That's great" said Faith as she approached Willow, "that's great right?"
"Yeah" said Willow, "means we could actually go to Atlantis this time."
"Wait" said Dawn, "I thought you said that Atlantis was in another galaxy?"
"The new hyper drive is an intergalactic drive" said Willow, "the same one as on the Prometheus but not as efficient as the new model. The Prometheus will be getting a refit with this one and some of the newer technologies."
"That's cool" said Dawn, "but that's good news right? So why so you also look down?"
"Umm…" said Willow, "Daniel was the one who called me, he also told me that he couldn't make it for the graduation today."
"Why?" asked Dawn.
"Catherine Langford died" said Willow.
"Who's that?" asked Dawn as she looked at the surprise evident on Faith's face.
"She's the former head of the program" said Faith as she squeezed Willow's hand, "she was the one who brought in Daniel into the program, which was when he found out what the Stargate did and how it worked."
"Oh" said Dawn.
"I met her a few times after I officially joined the program" said Willow, "she heard about me from Daniel and she wanted to meet. She was a nice lady."
"Yea" said Faith as she looked at Dawn, "after I joined, I went with Red and Daniel. She heard about me being a Slayer and she got all excited and wanted to meet too. She asked so many questions about vampires and was surprised that some of the legends were actually true. Her husband's a sweet man too."
"Yeah" said Willow.
"He's alone now?" asked Dawn.
"Yea" said Willow.
"I'll show you the mission report" said Faith as she walked towards Dawn, "he was the first one to ever step through the Gate in 1945, I think it was."
"Wait" said Dawn, "I thought you told me it wasn't activated until Dr. Jackson joined the program."
"At that time the military didn't know what it was for" said Willow, "they thought it was some sort of a weapon system. When the event horizon appeared, her fiancée or at least he was going to be her fiancée walked through the gate and was lost. No one knew where he was until he was rescued by SG1 fifty two years later."
"Are you serious?" said Dawn.
"Yep" replied Willow, "he was alone with his thoughts in that planet but they rescued him and brought him back to Earth."
"Wow" said Dawn, "but all that time alone…"
"He found a lot of stuff" said Willow, "you should ask Daniel sometime, he said that it was amazing."
"I will" smiled Dawn as she looked ta the clock n the wall, "oh, its time."
"Right" smiled Willow as she looked at Faith, "you should get ready."
"You wanna join me in the shower?" asked Faith as she grabbed Willow's hips.
"I wanna call Ernest" said Willow, "give him my condolences."
"Alright" said Faith as she kissed Willow, "give him mine too."
"I will" said Willow as she watched Faith head into the shower.
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs. 1300 hours.
"Faith" said Colonel Carter as she and Cassie walked up to the brunette who was already in the graduation gown.
"Sam" smiled Faith as the Colonel gave a hug, followed by Cassie.
"Hey Cass" said Faith as Cassie released the Slayer and stepped back.
"Where's Willow?" asked Colonel Carter.
"She's talking to B and the others" said Faith, "they came for the graduation as well."
"All of them?" asked Colonel Carter.
"Yep" said Faith as she turned around after someone tapped her shoulder.
"B" said Faith as she hugged her sister Slayer, "thanks for coming."
"You kidding?" said Buffy as she put her arm around both Faith and Dawn, "you have no idea how proud I am of the both of you."
"Oh, B" said Faith, "this is Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter, Red's immediate boss…. Well my boss too…. And that's Cassie Frasier."
"We've met" said the Colonel as she shook Buffy's hand, "during the….. you know."
"Right" said Buffy, "not a real proud moment for me….
"Yeah" said the Colonel.
"Hey Buff" said Xander who had walked up with Willow, Giles, Tara and Kennedy in tow.
"Xan" said Buffy as she hugged her fiancée.
"Ma'am" said Willow before she turned and hugged Cassie, "hey Cass."
"Willow" whispered Cassie, "you doing alright?"
"Yea" whispered Willow.
"Faith" said General O'Neill as he walked up to the small group along with Teal'c, "congrats."
"Thanks, Big-G" said Faith as she gave the older man a hug.
"Faith Lehane" said Teal'c as he gave the brunette a small bow, "you have done well today. You should be extremely proud of yourself."
"Oh I am, Big Guy" said Faith as she gave Teal'c a hug.
Just then a voice came over the public address system asking that all the participants meet at the designated area.
"Alright" said Colonel Carter as she looked at both Dawn and Faith, "that call is for the both of you."
"Right" said Faith as she grabbed Dawn's hand, "let's go kiddo, it's time."
"See you later?" asked Dawn as she looked at Buffy.
"Of course" said Buffy as she gave a sister a hug and whispered into her ear, "mom would have been so proud of you."
"She'd be proud of you too" said Dawn as she again remembered the Joyce she had met in the other reality.
"Well" said the General as he rubbed his hands and looked at both the Scoobies and SG1, "I've got a fine space for all of us, so if you'd follow me."
"You found a good space, Sir?" said the Colonel.
"Of course" said the General as he led the small group up to the front of the guest area.
It took a few hours but soon it was time for Faith to walk up the stage. When her name was called the loudest cheers were coming from both Willow and SG1 and the Scoobies. The same thing happened with Dawn when she got up not once, but twice for her Psychology degree and her Linguistics degree. Willow laughed and clapped as she saw both her girlfriend and Dawn walk up the stairs before they wildly waved and then sat back down.
Willow: "Congrats, Faith."
Faith: "Thanks, Red. Who'd ever believe that I did this?"
Willow: "Everyone will believe it."
Daniel's Lab, SGC, one week later. 1100 hours.
"Hey Daniel, Sir" said Willow as she and Faith walked up to both Daniel and the General.
"Hey" said Daniel as he waved at the two ladies before he watched people with trolley's going into his lab and then coming out empty.
"What's going on?" asked Faith.
"Daniel bought some stuff online" said the General.
"No I didn't" said Daniel as he looked inside his lab with eyes wide open, "holy buckets."
"Woah" said Faith and Willow.
"This must be the things from Catherine's estate" said Daniel as he looked at the pile of crates and documents that covered his entire office.
"You know" said the General as he patted Daniel's shoulder, "I prefer collecting stamps."
"Right" said Daniel as he entered his office before he started to look around the boxes.
"Need help going through this Daniel?" asked Willow as she looked around the boxes while Faith looked at a pile of books.
"Sure" said Daniel, "umm… where's Dawn?"
"Oh" said Willow, "she's in Sunnydale. She'll be spending some time there before she goes on her trip to Hawaii. Buffy gave her an all expenses paid trip as a graduation present."
"Neat" said Faith with a smile, which grew to a wide grin when she set her eye on a large red covered book.
"Daniel" said Faith as she picked up the book, "you need to check this out."
"Daniel!" shouted Willow as she got to a box, "do you want me to open some of these boxes for you?"
"Sure" said Daniel as he walked towards Faith while Willow reached for a crowbar and started to open the boxes that were on the floor.
"This is great" said Daniel after he looked through the book, "you're kidding me…."
"What?" said Faith.
"Faith" said Daniel as he excitedly looked at the brunette, "this is the original 1889 edition of the 'Eye of the Sun'. It's the only one in existence."
"Cool" said Faith as she stood next to Daniel as the archaeologist flipped through the pages when she suddenly grabbed his arm, "wait! Stop."
"Huh?" said Daniel.
"Look" said Faith as she pointed at a painting on one of the pages.
"Umm….. guys" said Willow after she had opened her sixth box, "GUYS!"
"Willow?" said Daniel as he looked up excitedly, "Faith…. Faith found a ZPM!"
"Oh" said Willow as she stood up in shock while still looking at the contents of the box she just opened, "you may want to call General O'Neill and the others."
"Why?" said Daniel as he and Faith walked over to the still shell shocked Willow, "what did you…. Oh boy."
"What?" said Faith as she ran over to where the box was just as Daniel went to his phone. She suddenly stopped and looked at the contents, that was partially covered in a grey coloured piece of cloth, in surprise and pointed, "Is that what I think it is?"
"It's a ZPM" said Willow as she stepped forward and picked up the glowing crystalline object, "but how?"
"Umm" said Daniel as he reached for the manifest, "the paperwork says that that box came from Egypt, last week."
"Forget how" said Faith, "the better question would have to be 'what the hell?'"
"What did you…." said Daniel as he and Willow walked towards faith and found her taking out a video camera that was inside the box.
"You're right" said Willow as Faith handed the video camera to her, "what the hell is this doing in that?"
"Daniel?" said Faith as he looked at the manifest.
"It can't be" said Daniel as he looked up at from the piece of paper, "they found it together with the ZPM. It was in an ancient Egyptian burial chamber."
"Guys?" said the General who had come down to Daniel's lab after he was called, with both Teal'c and Colonel Carter, "what's up?"
"Daniel has a gift for you, Sir" said Willow as she handed the covered ZPM to Daniel.
"Which is?" asked the General.
"Surprise" said Daniel as he pulled the cloth away from the ZPM and presented it to the General.
"What the?" said the Colonel as she looked at the glowing object, "how?"
"I have no idea" said Daniel, "but it was in one of the boxes from Catherine's estate."
"Neat" said the General.
"Maybe the answers are in the tape?" asked Faith.
"Wait" said the General, "what tape?"
"We found a video recorder in the box, Sir" said Willow.
"In the box?" asked the General.
"Which came from an ancient Egyptian burial chamber" said Daniel.
"What's on it?" asked the Colonel.
"Not sure" said Willow as she handed the camera to Colonel Carter.
"How about we go find out?" said the Colonel, "there's a video player in my lab."
"Lead the way, Carter" said the General as he and the other followed Colonel Carter to her lab to witness the answers to the mystery of the camera in the box.
Silver Creek, Minnesota, General O'Neill's Cabin. The next day, 1300 hours.
"Sir" said Willow as she leaned back on the chair with a fishing pole in her hand, "you're right, this is the life."
"Told ya" smiled the General as he cast another line.
"Hey Big-G" said Faith as she sat on the dock with her feet in the water, "this really is a beautiful place."
"I told you" said the General as he looked around the small lake, "it's my home away from home."
"I'm thinking we should be doing this every year" said Willow, "or maybe every month, at least."
"Its so calming" said Faith as she moved her feet in the water, "you know what?"
"What?" said the General as Faith got up and ran into the cabin while the General looked quizzically at Willow.
"She's gonna change into her swimsuit and go for a swim in the lake" said Willow after she had a telepathic conversation with the brunette.
"Oh" said the General just as a blue coloured blur passed him and jumped into the lake, resulting in a huge splash of water that hit both General O'Neill and Willow.
"Hey" said Willow as her shirt was splashed with water.
"Sorry" grinned Faith as she treaded the water, "it's so nice in here."
"Don't scare the fishes" said the General.
"Come on, Big-G" said Faith as she swam out to the middle of the lake, "we all saw that tape yesterday, you said there was no fish in your lake."
"She does have a point, Sir" said Willow, "but I'm still wondering how come me and Faith weren't in the tape."
"Well" said the General, "If I know me, and I do… I'd have suspected that something could have gone wrong in using the ship to go back to ancient Egypt. I probably would have felt that since you and Faith are the SGC's heavy hitters in terms of powers, it would not have been a good idea for the both of you to come along. You're more important for the SGC and Homeworld Security."
"Maybe" said Willow, "but I can't help but wonder…"
"Still" said the General, "there could… ummm… Faith?"
Willow turned and saw Faith with a worried look etched on her face.
"Faith?" asked Willow, "you alright?"
"Didn't the tape say that your lake has no fish?" asked Faith.
"Yea" said the General, "why?"
"I just left something brush my feet" said Faith as she quickly started to swim back towards the dock when suddenly the General and Willow saw two fish jump out of the water just as Faith climbed back of the dock.
"Oh my God" laughed Willow as she stood up and helped Faith get onto the dock, "the fishes terrified you."
"Hey" said Faith, "there wasn't supposed to be any fish, how would you feel if there's nothing supposed to be there but then something suddenly brushes against your leg?"
"Its still hilarious as hell" laughed Willow, "I mean you're a vampire slayer and you got scared by fish."
"Oh" said Faith with a devilish smirk on her face, "you know what I think is funny?"
"What?" laughed Willow as Faith walked towards her and then picked her up.
"Faith" said Willow as she continued to laugh, "stop… don't….. don't you dare…."
"Big-G?" said Faith as she looked at the General while carrying Willow.
"Oh" said the General with his hands up, "I'm not saying anything."
"Sir" said Willow, "Sir…."
"Sorry Red" smiled the General as he gave a small wave to the redhead as Faith dropped her into the water and laughed.
"Oh you" said Willow as she looked up at the laughing Faith and raised her hand.
"Red?" said Faith as she felt herself being pulled towards the edge of the dock.
"You're getting wet again, Faith" grinned Willow as she pulled her hand back and Faith was pulled into the water.
The General looked on and smiled as the two young women were splashing water at each other when they suddenly stopped and turned to look at the General, who suddenly became very worried.
"Ladies?" said the General as he slowly got up from his chair and stepped back, "don't even think about it."
"Sir?" smiled Willow as she telekinetically picked up some water and shaped it into a ball, "what ever do you mean?"
"Red" said the General as he stepped back just as Willow launched the ball of water directly at the General and hit him square in the chest, followed by another shot to his face.
Willow and faith were laughing so hard that they never saw the General run back into the cabin and then walk out carrying two items.
"Just so you know" said the General as he pointed two water guns at Willow and Faith, "this means war."
"Sir" said Willow as the General fired the water guns at the two women just as Willow telekinetically prepared four balls of water.
"Oh no you don't" said the General as he got onto the ground just at the balls of water shot towards him. The next thing he knew, the two girls were laughing even harder. Turning around, he saw that the balls of water had hit Daniel and Teal'c who were unable to protect themselves from the onslaught of water as they were carrying coolers full of beer.
"Oh boy" said the General as he looked at the face of the Jaffa warrior.
"Oops" said Willow as she looked at the look on Teal'c face and turned to look at Faith, "retreat… retreat!"
"O'Neill" said Teal'c as he walked up to the General, "it this some sort of a war game?"
"Indeed, my friend" grinned the General, "there are four more 'Super Soakers' in the cabin, grab them will ya, it's time you, me and Daniel fought back."
"Indeed" said Teal'c as he smiled at Willow and Faith who looked on worriedly.
For the next thirty minutes or so, there were screams and the sounds of splashing water coming from the vicinity of a cabin that belonged to an Air Force General who, for the moment, was acting like a little boy with a 'Super Soaker' with his friends, an archaeologist and a Jaffa warrior; against a redheaded psionic and a Slayer.
TBC.