Stargate Command, 1345 hours.
Willow had just parked her car at the base parking lot on the surface before she hurriedly exited the vehicle and locked the doors. Still in her bridesmaid dress, she walked past the NORAD personnel who did a double take at her as they passed the redhead.
"Hi Sarge" said Willow as she signed in at the lobby on the surface.
"Captain" said the Sergeant as he raised his face after drinking his coffee and almost dropped the cup in surprise once he saw Willow in the bright blue dress.
"Wow" said the Sergeant.
"Everything alright?" smiled Willow as she walked towards the elevator and took out her passkey from the purse she was carrying.
"Ye…. Yes…" said the frantic sergeant as he tried to quickly compose himself, "umm… sorry… I didn't mean to…. I mean…. Please don't report me."
"Don't worry about it" smiled Willow as she entered the elevator and waved at the man as the door's closed, "I'm flattered."
Once the elevator reached the tenth floor, Willow got off and signed in at the next desk before taking the elevator to the SGC.
"Captain" said the Sergeant who was manning that particular desk, "I take it Colonel Carter's wedding was…"
"Yep" said Willow, "just came back to check something out before I have to go back to the reception."
"Whatever it is must be pretty important" said the Sergeant, "I mean for you to come back… not that it's not good to see you."
"I understand" smiled Willow as the elevator doors opened, "but yeah, it's pretty important."
"Very well" said the Sergeant as he held the doors open for Willow.
"Thank you kind sir" smiled Willow as she entered the elevator and inserted her passkey into the slot, "see ya."
"Bye Captain" said the Sergeant as the elevator doors closed.
Willow pressed the button for the floor where her quarters was located and took out her passkey from the slot. She needed to change into her on-base BDU's as she didn't want to ruin the beautiful dress she was wearing.
"Need to wear this to the reception" said Willow as she raised the hem of the dress and she hurriedly existed the elevator and walked towards her quarters.
Stargate Control Room, SGC. 15 minutes later.
"Walter" said Willow as she manned the computer next to the technician.
"Captain" replied the balding man, "we received the highly compressed data burst some time ago. Once we confirmed that the cryptographic signature was from Dr. Weir and Dr. McKay, I immediately notified General O'Neill."
"Thanks Walter" said Willow as she decompressed the file onto the adjacent computer and looked at the data that was populating the computer screen.
"Whoa" said Willow in surprise, "they sent us everything… Logs, Mission Reports, schematics on Atlantis, personal letters, and… this looks like…."
"Captain?" asked Walter as he came up beside Willow and looked at the computer screen,
"It's a message from Dr. Weir" said Willow as she opened the file. The both of them looked on as a video message from a tired Dr. Weir played on the screen. They sat transfixed as the message played on about how an enemy of the Ancients, the Wraith, were on the way to Atlantis. She said that four massive ships, Hive Ships she called them… complete with cruisers and smaller ships called Darts were on the way to attacking them.
"A week" said Walter in shock as he looked at Willow, "we don't…."
"We need to do something" said Willow as she opened another file labelled 'Wraith'.
"Oh my" said Walter as he and Willow watched as Dr. Beckett was talking about the Wraith and their ability to suck the life-forces of living beings and how they fed on the humans of the Pegasus galaxy, how they treated the people more like cattle than anything. It was then that Dr. Weir joined Dr. Beckett on the video to tell them that the Wraith was coming after the Atlantis database, that they were coming for the location of Earth and that if they found it. Earth, and by extension, the entire Milky Way Galaxy would be in trouble.
"That's what I….." said Willow softly as she remembered the nightmare she had as she rubbed her face, "my God."
"Space Vampires" said Walter, "I guess Miss Lehane won the pool."
"Yea" replied Willow as she leaned back on her chair and rubbed her face again, "but at least vampires can turn someone into a vampire. From the data they sent us, these Wraith steal the life force from any living human."
"That's even scarier" said Walter.
'Yeah' thought Willow to herself as the video kept on playing, 'but in my dream, that Wraith returned Athena's life force, I felt it…. So does that mean that…. Damn, I don't know if they know that yet.'
"Walter" said Willow as she pressed some keys on the computer, "I know you're eager to go to the reception after Captain Conners gets back in an hour, but I need you to take out the parts with the personal messages for the expedition members' families and, with some of the other technicians, burn them onto disks. Those should be sent to General O'Neill to look over in case they mention anything that's security related. In the meantime, I'll go through the data and then write a preliminary report for the General."
"That could take a few hours, Captain" said Walter as he nodded his head, "don't you need to be at the reception? I mean you are one of the Colonel's bridesmaids."
"I'm one of them" said Willow as she hit a few more buttons, "but our people in Atlantis will be attacked in a week, I need to bring all relevant information to the General right now. It can't wait till tomorrow."
"You want me to call the General?" asked Walter.
"No" said Willow, "let him enjoy the reception for a couple of hours. He'll be getting a headache once we return to the reception with some of this information. Oh, and prepare a secure tablet for me, full encryption protocols."
"Alright" said Walter as he went over to his computer and started to download the personal messages.
"If you finish everything, and once Captain Conners is here" said Willow, "you should go ahead to the reception. And If I'm done before you, I'll wait up and we'll go together. How does that sound?"
"I'm alright with that" said Walter.
"Cool" said Willow as she grabbed some printouts and a disk, "I'll be in my quarters."
"Alright Captain" said Walter, "I'll let you know once everything is done."
"Thanks, Walter" said Willow as she ran up the stairs.
"Huh" said Walter to himself, "Space Vampires, who'd have known."
Garden of the Gods Club and Resort, Colorado Springs, 1445 hours.
"Faith.. Cassie" smiled the Colonel as she hugged the brunette and the redhead as she and Pete welcomed guests into the room they were holding the reception in.
"I'm happy for you, Sam" said Cassie as she kissed the Colonel's cheek.
"Peter" said Cassie.
"Cassandra" replied Pete.
"Peter" grinned Faith as she reached out her hand.
"Faith" said Pete as he took her hand and shook it before Faith leaned forward and gave him a hug.
"If you harm her in any way" whispered Faith into his ear as she tightly squeezed his hand, "well, I don't need to tell you….."
"Yeah" said Pete as Faith stepped back, "you have a tight grip."
"I work out a lot" said Faith as she put her hand on Cassie's shoulder and led her into the room.
"Where's Uncle Jack?" asked Cassie as she and Faith turned around.
"There he is" said Faith as she nodded at the General who was coming up the stairs behind Teal'c, Daniel, Anya, Jon, Dawn and Dominic.
"Anya" said the Colonel, "Thanks for coming."
"Beautiful wedding" said Anya as she wrapped her arm around Daniel's.
"Yeah, Sam" said Daniel, "I'm so happy for you."
"Thanks, Daniel" said the Colonel as she hugged the archaeologist.
"Peter" said Daniel as he shook Pete's hand and smiled as he noticed the anger in Pete's eyes.
The Couple, at least the Colonel, happily welcomed Teal'c, Dominic, Jon and Dawn who went into the room and met up with Faith and Cassie.
"I guess that's our table" said Daniel as he spotted their table number.
"That's right next to the rest rooms" said Cassie as she looked back and glared at Pete, "must be that moron's idea."
"Hide me, quick" said Faith as the group tried to hide her from the view of the Colonel and Pete. Cassie saw that Faith ran to their table and switched the number with another empty table before she came back to the group.
"Hey look" grinned Jon once Faith returned, "there's our table, next to the happy couple's it seems."
"Yeah" grinned Faith as she led the group to their new table and sat down, "what do you know, lucky us."
"Where's Willow?" said the Colonel as she looked around and noticed the redhead was missing.
"Huh" snickered Pete, "maybe she decided to bail."
"Pete" said the Colonel, "she wouldn't."
"Come on" said Pete as he noticed both General's O'Neill and Carter walking towards them, "she's never supported you marrying me, so this is her way of… you know… rebelling…. Speaking out against our marriage."
"Then why was she there in the chapel as my bridesmaid?" asked the Colonel.
"Maybe she wanted to show you up?" said Pete, "come on Sam, I told you something like this could happen but you insisted on having her come to the wedding. You insisted on having her be one of your bridesmaids."
"She wouldn't do that" said the Colonel as she shook the hands of more of their guests.
"You said it yourself, Sam" said Pete as he looked around, "where is she? She left without telling you anything."
As the guests kept on coming, Colonel Carter couldn't help but feel deep in her heart that maybe Pete was right. She knew that Willow didn't like Pete, she really didn't support her marriage although she said that she would support the Colonel if she decided to go through with it.
'But leave just like that?' thought the Colonel to herself, 'she wouldn't do that…. She's not that type of a person.'
"Carter?" said the General as he stood in front of the Colonel.
"Sir" said Colonel Carter, "Sam, please. Just for today."
"Sorry" said the General as she grinned at the Colonel, "I'm just so used to Carter."
"It's alright, Jack" said the Colonel.
"Lovely wedding" said the General looking at Colonel Carter, "and a lovely spot for the reception."
"Thank you, Jack" said Pete as he put his arm around the Colonel's waist, "this place was my idea, and thank you again."
"Right" said the General as he patted Pete's shoulder and squeezed it hard on his last pat before he walked past the couple and waved at Daniel, "good for you."
"Sam" said General Carter.
"Dad" replied the Colonel with a smile as she hugged him tightly.
"Hi dad" said Pete as the General died a little inside, "is it alright if I say hello to Sel'mak?"
"He's actually occupied right now" said General Carter as he glanced at Colonel Carter, "maybe another time."
"Sure" smiled Pete as he shook the General's hand.
"I'm sure Willow's coming" said the Colonel once her father walked towards General O'Neill, "I mean.. she has to be."
"Sam" said Pete quietly, "I'm sorry, but she's not the girl you thought she was."
"Maybe I'll go and ask the General" said Colonel Carter as she turned to head towards the General who had already sat down at the table when Pete grabbed her arm.
"Sam" said Pete, "we still have other guests coming, it would be rude if you weren't here to greet them."
"Right" sighed the Colonel as she looked at the General sitting among the other members of SG1 and Anya, Dominic, Cassie, Dawn and Jon, "maybe I'll ask him after we're done with the greetings."
"We then have speeches and meeting everyone" said Pete as he held on to her waist, "it'll take time but you'll be able to talk to him soon."
"Yeah" said the Colonel as she glanced back at Faith who was laughing at something the General had said before she turned around to welcome more guests.
Garden of the Gods Club and Resort, Colorado Springs, 1745 hours.
"Hi" said Willow as she and Walter approached the usher who was standing outside the closed double doors that led into the event room, "we're here for Colonel Carter's reception."
"I'm sorry" said the usher, "the groom gave me explicit instructions not to let anyone in."
"Yea" replied Willow as she looked at Walter and wrapped her arms around his, and then at the usher, "I'm one of the bridesmaids and this her colleague. Now you wouldn't want to get the bride pissed off would you?"
"I'm sorry" said the usher, "but the groom gave explicit instructions."
"Of course he did" said Willow as she reached into her purse, "hold on."
The usher looked on as Willow dialled a number on a cell phone she just took out as she handed a black cover that seemed to contain something to Walter.
"Hi General" said Willow, "yeah…. I'm outside… seems like there's a situation… was hoping that you could… oh… thanks."
"Miss" said the Usher, "I'm sorry, General or not.. I can't…"
It was then that the double doors opened and General Carter walked out and looked at Willow and Walter, before looking at the Usher.
"Willow?" asked the General, "what's going on out here?"
"Apparently we're not allowed inside, Sir" said Willow.
"And why not?" asked the General as he looked at the Usher, "well, young man?"
"I… I'm sorry" said the Usher, "the groom…."
"Do you know who I am?" asked the General as he walked towards the Usher.
"A… a General?" said the Usher.
"I am" said General Carter, "but I'm much… much… more worse, I'm the father of the bride."
"Yes, sir" said the Usher.
"And these two" said the General as he looked at Willow and Walter, "are my daughter's guests. Is that clear?"
"Yes" said the Usher.
"Good" said the General as he glared at the usher, before turning to look at Willow and Walter, "come on, let's go in."
"Yes Sir" said Walter as he walked into the room which overlooked the mountains outside the large glass windows leading to a large deck.
"Wow" said Willow, "not a bad place."
"Captain" said Walter as he pointed to where Siler and Dr. Felger were waving at him, "I'll… ummm…."
"Sure" smiled Willow, "thanks for waiting for me, I know you finished way earlier than me."
"Of course, Captain" said Walter as he headed to the table while General Carter placed his hand on her shoulder and led her to the table that SG1 and the others had 'requisitioned' earlier.
"Sorry, I'm late Sir" said Willow as she looked at General Carter.
"It's alright" said the General, "but Sam was a bit worried about you, I haven't told her anything yet. I don't want to take away from her reception and honeymoon."
"I understand, Sir" said Willow, "but this was something that couldn't wait, I'll go over the contents of this tablet with General O'Neill, and then apologize to Colonel Carter."
"Alright" smiled General Carter.
"Red" said General O'Neill as he stood up.
"Sir" smiled Willow, "I.. umm…. Maybe if we could go outside? There are some urgent things we need to talk about."
"Sure" said General O'Neill, "Jacob? You coming?"
"I'm retired, Jack" said General Carter.
"Come on" said General O'Neill as he motioned for General Carter to join them outside, "there's an offer I have for you."
"OK" said General Carter confused.
As Willow followed the two General's to the empty deck, Willow turned around to close the glass doors to give them some privacy while the three of them talked about what was on the tablet she was carrying. While she was closing the doors, she saw that Daniel was dancing away with Anya, as were the other couples that she knew, including the Colonel and Pete. Looking around she saw that Faith was dancing with someone she didn't recognize.
'Must be one of the Potato's people' she thought to herself.
Willow then smirked when the guy moved one of his hands down past her lower back.
Willow: "Looks like you're dancing with Mr. Grabby McGrabbypants."
She smiled when Faith suddenly turned around and looked straight at her with a huge smile on her face.
Willow: "Feel up to joining us out here? You won't believe what came through."
Faith: "Hell yeah, this drunk moron has been trying to feel me up for the past ten minutes. I'm this close to going all Slayer on him."
Willow: "Glad you didn't"
Faith: "I'll be right out."
Faith watched as Willow nodded before turning to her dance partner.
"Alright guy" said Faith, "I gotta go. I'm required somewhere else."
"Come on babe" said the man as he tightened his hold on Faith's waist, "you can come with me. Get it? Come with me?"
"Right" said Faith as she rolled her eyes, "you're hilarious."
"I've got a room here" whispered the man as he leaned into Faith's ear, "we can get some privacy and…."
"If you finish that sentence" said Faith, "I swear to you that I'll knee you in the nuts so hard that your great-great grandchildren will feel the pain."
"Whoa… whoa" said the man, "you do realize I'm a cop right? I can arrest you for threatening me? I mean I have handcuffs and all…."
"I'll say that you sexually harassed me" whispered Faith, "which you just did in front of many, many witnesses. Especially since you're still squeezing my ass. Now step back.. before I make you step back."
"Fine.. fine" said the man as he stepped back, "I was just kidding, you don't have be such a bitch about it."
"Right" said Faith as she walked away, "drunken jackass."
As Faith walked through the crowd, she accidently bumped into Colonel Carter who was dancing and drinking with Pete.
"Sorry, Sam" said Faith as she walked towards the glass door and opened it.
"Hey" said Colonel Carter as she noticed Willow outside, "it's Willow, why didn't she say hello?"
"I'm sorry, Sam" said Pete while at the same time he thought to himself, 'that stupid Usher, I paid him good money not to let anyone in.'
"Let me go say hello" said the Colonel as she turned towards the glass when Pete stopped her.
"Come on, Sam" said Pete as she handed the Colonel another drink, "the fact that she didn't bother to say hi to you when she came in says everything, I'm sorry. To me that's just rude."
"She probably had to do something important" said Colonel Carter as she saw Willow taking out one of the SGC's secure tablets and showing the General something away from the crowd inside the room. All the Colonel could see was the back of the tablet and the look of surprise on the eyes of her father and General O'Neill.
"Even so" said Pete as he smiled when he saw the General's surprised face, "don't you think she would have asked you to come with her right now? I mean look, at O'Neill….. whatever she's showing him might be important."
"What are you saying?" asked the Colonel as she took another drink and looked at Pete.
"Nothing" said Pete, "I mean… if it was important, you should be involved. At least that's my opinion anyway."
"Are you saying that I'm being frozen out?" asked Colonel Carter.
"I didn't say anything" said Pete as he handed her another glass of champagne from one of the servers.
"Daniel" said the Colonel as the archaeologist and Anya passed her, "is there anything I should know? Anything important?"
Recalling what they had all agreed on earlier in regards to not tell Colonel Carter anything that would work her up, especially during her wedding day, Daniel had to come up with a quick lie.
"Nothing… umm… nothing important, Sam" said Daniel.
"Daniel" said the Colonel.
"Sam?"
"What's going on?" asked the Colonel.
"Nothing" smiled Daniel, "you should enjoy your wedding Sam."
"Right" said Colonel Carter as Daniel danced away with Anya.
She then saw Teal'c walking out to the balcony. The Colonel looked on as he approached the small group outside who then showed him the tablet. She saw him flick his fingers on the screen as she registered surprise on his face.
"I… I… need to go out there" said the Colonel as she turned around and almost tripped on her own foot. Regaining her balance, she turned to face Pete as he held her up and laughed.
"I think you're drunk, Sam" said Pete, "you've had a lot of drinks already."
"Nah" smiled the Colonel, "I can hold my liquor, plus it's my wedding day. I'm allowed."
"Ok" smiled Pete as he watched the Colonel walking slowly towards the glass doors and then he followed her. "Heh" said Pete to himself, "I win."
"So" said General Carter as he rubbed his bald head nervously, "space vampires. And they'll be in Atlantis in a week."
"Indeed" said Teal'c, "O'Neill, will the SGC launch a rescue mission?"
"Of course, T" said the General, "we just need to get…. Carter?"
"Sam?" said both General Carter and Faith together as Colonel Carter, along with Pete, walked onto the deck.
"I'm sorry" said Pete as he held his hands up, "she just had to come here, I couldn't stop her."
"Am I being frozen out?" said the Colonel once the doors were closed.
"Carter?" said General O'Neill, "what makes you think…"
"Am I being frozen out?!" shouted the Colonel to the surprise of the group there, except for Pete who had a tiny hint of a smile.
"Carter" said General O'Neill as he stood straight and walked toward the blonde, "I can smell the champagne from you… you know how alcohol did you drink? Your tolerance is the same as Daniel's…. none….. meaning you're drunk."
"I'm not drunk" said the Colonel as she eyed the tablet in Willow's hands, "Willow, let me see that."
"I'm sorry, ma'am" said Willow as she held on to the tablet tightly.
"Let me see" said Colonel Carter as she walked towards Willow and grabbed the tablet, but Willow refused to let it go.
"Ma'am' said Willow as she tried to pull the tablet back, "it's your wedding day, we don't want to worry you with things right now. We want you to enjoy yourself."
"No" said the Colonel as she stopped pulling and let go and pointed her finger at Willow, "that's not it…. You want to take my place don't you?"
"Ma'am?" said Willow confused as she looked at Faith, Teal'c and the two General's who were equally confused at what was going on.
"You just want to take my place on SG1, don't you" said the Colonel.
"Carter" said the General, "stop…. Stop it right there."
"Come on, Jack" said Pete, "just let her have her say."
"You" said Willow as she stared at Pete as she glimpsed at his loud thoughts of his giving glasses of champagne, one after another, despite knowing what would happened to the Colonel, "you knew this would happen, didn't you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about" said Pete smirking.
"Give me the fucking tablet" said the Colonel as she reached for the tablet, "that's an order."
"Ma'am" said Willow as she tried to keep the tablet, "please."
"Carter" said the General as he tried to keep the Colonel away as Pete simply looked on.
"Jack" said the Colonel, "I'm smarter than her, right? Come on…."
"You are, ma'am" said Willow, "you are smarter than me… so please think about what you're doing right now."
"Shut up!" shouted Colonel Carter as she stared at Willow, "you left without saying a thing, you came late, you never apologized to me or to Pete… all you did was come here and then go outside… so you should shut the fuck up!"
"Hey!" said Faith, "calm down."
Everyone looked on stunned as the Colonel then started laughing.
"Colonel Carter" said Teal'c, "there are individuals observing us."
At this moment, there was already a small group of people standing by the glass doors watching what was going on.
"Sir?" said Willow as she nodded at the spectators.
"Carter" said the General as he got closer to her, "I ordered Red to go back to base because something important just came up and…"
"So I'm not useful to you anymore?!" shouted the Colonel as she stopped laughing and pointed her fingers at Willow, "this dyke is more important than me?! Is she?! Cause I'm telling you….."
"Carter!" shouted the General as he looked at the shock registered on Willow's face.
"Sam" said General Carter, "what's with you? Apologize to her right now."
"General O'Neill, Sir" said Willow as she tried to place the tablet back into the cover with trembling hands unsuccessfully and her voice breaking, "I'll… ummm… I'll go get that individual we were discussing tonight, I…. I'll take the first flight out… I'll um…"
"Hey" said Faith as she took the tablet from Willow and placed it into the cover.
"Red" said General O'Neill as he looked at Willow wipe her eyes.
"Sir" said Willow, "I'll try to convince him to come with us, I'll most likely be back early tomorrow morning or tomorrow night."
"Willow" said the Colonel as she suddenly realized what she said, "I… I didn't mean…."
"Sir's" said Willow as she looked at the Generals, "may I please be excused?"
"Faith….. Teal'c" said General O'Neill, "please accompany Red to the BPRI in Sunnydale."
"Of course" said Faith as she took the tablet in her hands with Teal'c guiding a still shocked Willow away.
"General O'Neill, sir" said Willow as she looked back, "Teal'c is supposed to be leaving for home tomorrow, I don't what to stop that. And Faith needs to meet with whoever you're sending for the rescue mission. I can go on my own."
"Red" said the General.
"Sir" said Willow, "please, I need to go on my own."
"Alright" said the General as he rubbed his face with his hands.
"Willow, please" said the Colonel as Faith grabbed her hand.
"Sam" said Faith calmly, "just leave her be."
"Carter, with me" said the General as he grabbed the Colonel's arm and pulled her through a side door that led to one of the hallways.
"Jack" said Colonel Carter.
"No" said the General, "no more Jack, no more Sam. Damn it Carter, you crossed a line just now. How could you do that in front of strangers?"
"I need to apologize to her, I need to…." said the Colonel.
"You want to know why she came late?" said the General, "you want to know why…."
"Please, Sir" said the Colonel, "I…. Willow…. I need to…"
"No" said the General, "you wanted to know… so I'll tell you why. She came to me first before even saying anything to you because we…. Yes…. All of us at the SGC didn't want you to come in tomorrow worried about what we just found, instead of enjoying yourself on your honeymoon. God only knows you need to relax a little."
"I…" said the Colonel.
"Remember our people who went missing almost a year ago?" said the General, "the ones we haven't heard from in a long time?"
"Atlantis?" mouthed the Colonel surprised.
"Yes" said General O'Neill, "are you happy now?"
"You could have told me" said the Colonel.
"What did I just tell you?" asked the General, "I.. we.. we didn't tell you because want you to enjoy your honeymoon… we want you to enjoy your big day…. Instead, you get drunk and… well, you know what you just did to Red."
"Sir" said the General.
"Go for your Honeymoon, Carter" said the General as he turned and walked away, leaving the Colonel alone in the hallway, "If I see you on base tomorrow or any day of the entire week you're supposed to be gone, I'll have security escort you out."
As the General turned the corner, he never saw the Colonel break down and lean on the wall as she slid down onto the carpeted floor.
"Where is she?" said Pete once he entered the door. As soon as he was through, the General grabbed him by his collar. The General then pushed Pete to the wall as he walked towards him and placed his arm on his neck.
"I know what you did" said the General angrily, "you think I wouldn't find out? Huh?"
"What…?" said Pete as he struggled to breathe.
"I have all the evidence of what you did to make you lose you job for conducting that background check under false pretences" said the General, "if you ever, and I mean ever, use the FBI or any other agency to conduct background checks on my people again, I'll make sure you get put somewhere with no way of getting back… is that clear?"
Pete opened his eyes wide as he looked at the coldness in the eyes that were looking back at him and nodded his head.
"I can't hear you" said the General.
"Ye…. Yes" said Pete.
"Yes, what?" said the General.
"Yes, sir" said Pete.
"Good" said the General as he stepped back and walked away.
BPRI, Sunnydale, CA, 2100 hours.
"Hey" said Anya as Willow stopped her rental car in front of the main building, "you alright?"
"Yea" said Willow.
"No you're not" said Anya, "I'm also an empath remember? More experienced than you?"
"Right" said Willow as she gave a small smile to the vengeance demon.
"She was drunk, Willow" said Anya, "just let her stew in her own juices for a while and then forgive her.. that's my advice."
"She outed me, Anya" said Willow as she leaned back, "in front of strangers no less. The SGC isn't much of a problem, I know there have been bets placed on me… including when would I marry Faith… but to do that in front of strangers."
"Maybe they didn't hear anything?" said Anya.
"They did" said Willow, "I could hear their thoughts while I passed them by, While Teal'c and Faith helped me out of there."
"I still don't understand this whole thing" said Anya, "humans are strange…. I've lived for a thousand odd years and I've also…. Experimented."
"Hah" said Willow as she turned towards Anya, "that's a story I've got hear sometime."
"Oh" said Anya as she perked up, "what happened was, one day…"
"Anya" smiled Willow, "I don't mean now."
"Right" replied Anya, "so, Atlantis huh? Dawn and Daniel seemed down that they couldn't go."
"They can fight" said Willow, "the General makes no mistake about that, but this is a siege…. There'll be massive fighting and the possibilities of casualties are high. Faith and I are going because of our special abilities, and person I want need to ask… well, he's special too."
"I hope he says yes" said Anya as she and Willow got out of the car.
"So you staying in the dorms?" asked Willow as she followed Anya up the stairs.
"Yep" replied Anya, "unless I'm staying with Daniel in Colorado Springs, then it's his place. You know, he's….."
"I don't need to know" smiled Willow.
"See" replied Anya as she opened the main door, "I was going for that smile."
"Thanks, Anya" said Willow.
"I better go see, Giles" said Anya, "let him know I'm back."
"Alright" said Willow as Anya gave her a hug.
"She was drunk, Willow" said Anya, "forgive her."
"Yea" replied Willow as Anya walked towards one of the elevators.
"Willow" said Clem as he waved from the reception desk.
"Hey Clem" said Willow, "are Angel and Cordy in?"
"Ummmm" said Clem as he opened a thick book, "yeah…. They're in."
"Could you let them know I'm coming up?" asked Willow, "it's urgent I see them."
"Alright" said Clem as he picked up the phone.
Angel and Cordelia's office, BPRI, 2115 hours.
"Buffy" said Willow as she hugged the blonde Slayer who just came out of Angel's office.
"Will" smiled Buffy as she hugged the redhead, "what are you doing here? You staying long? You've got to come to our place for dinner. Tara's making her famous pot roast tonight."
"I actually have a flight… you know what…. Sure, why not. I guess I could always change that" said Willow, "but I need to talk to Angel first."
"Need to know stuff?" asked Buffy.
"Yeah" said Willow, "sorry."
"Nah" said Buffy, "I'm dealing with the same stuff too remember, so if you ask anything I get to say 'need to know', and vice versa."
"Right" smiled Willow.
"Anyway" said Buffy, "call me once you're done, I have some mission reports to get done."
"Can't believe you write mission reports" said Willow laughing.
"Guess what?" said Buffy as she leaned in and whispered, "neither can I."
Willow laughed as Buffy waved and walked away.
"See ya tonight Will" said Buffy.
"I'll be there" said Willow as she walked up and knocked on Angel's door.
"Come in" said Cordelia as Willow opened the door.
"Willow?" said Cordelia as she and Angel got up, "this is a surprise. I mean we were surprised when Clem said you were here."
"Yeah" said Willow, "I'm actually here on a special assignment."
"What kind of a special assignment?" asked Angel as he motioned for Willow to sit down.
"Well" said Willow as she sat down on the couch in the office with Angel and Cordelia seated right across from her, "some time back, we heard about something called the Lost City of the Ancients."
"The Ancients" said Cordelia, "the creators of that Stargate you talked about right?"
"Yeah" said Willow.
"So Lost City?" said Angel.
"Yeah" replied Willow, "we sent an international expedition to the Lost City through the Gate. All this time, we were never able to dial that address again since we didn't have enough power for such a long distance call."
"What are you talking about?" asked Angel, "where could this lost city be?"
"It's in another galaxy" said Willow.
"Wait" said Cordelia, "you people sent people to another galaxy without knowing if they'd come back?"
"It was a risk that every member of the expedition were willing to take" said Willow, "all this while we were wondering if they were alive or dead. There was no way to know, until we received a highly compressed data burst from them earlier today."
"They're alive?" asked Angel.
"Yea" said Willow, "they're occupying the Lost City of the Ancients."
"This city have a name?" asked Cordelia.
"I thought you'd never ask" grinned Willow, "the city is Atlantis."
"You're kidding right?" asked Angel, "as in the city that sunk into the ocean? That Atlantis?"
"Yeah" said Willow as she took out the tablet and handed it to Angel, "this has the logs and schematics of Atlantis, plus a message from the leader of the expedition Dr. Elizabeth Weir and the Chief Medical Officer. I need the both of you to go through that now. Just be reminded that everything in that is covered by the NDA."
"Of course" said Angel as he flipped through the data, "my God, it's true….. it was under an ocean."
"On another planet" said Cordelia as she looked at the data, "in another galaxy."
"Actually" said Willow as she hit an icon on the touch screen, "I came to the both of you because of this."
Both Angel and Cordelia watched the message by Dr. Weir and Dr. Beckett. Once they finished they looked back up at Willow in shock as Angel put down the tablet.
"Space Vampires?" said Angel.
"I know" replied Willow, "Faith won the SGC pool on that."
"Wow" said Cordy, "who would have thought?"
"Willow" said Angel, "what do you need? You know we can't give you both Buffy and Kennedy. And the potentials, they're… well.. they're not ready for this."
"I didn't come for Buffy or Kennedy" said Willow as she looked directly at Angel, "I'm here to ask you to join the team that will help defend Atlantis."
"Angel?" asked Cordelia.
"Yea" said Willow as she looked at Angel, "you're super strong, immortal, you can stand toe to toe with any of the Wraith. And best of all, since you're already dead, they can't take your life force. As I understand from the reports that Dr. Weir and Major Sheppard sent us, neither will their weapons work on you. What do you say Angel? Me and Faith are going, a team of Marines will be going as well with weapons to defend the city, and you."
"But…" said Cordelia as she grabbed Angel's hand, "the sun?"
"It shouldn't be a problem" said Willow, "but if it is, you'll be stationed inside the city to defend against any incursions. And you won't be going without any weapons or body defences, don't worry about that. As for food, well, I'll be able to secure some bags of pig's blood and put it inside a cooler."
"Angel?" asked Cordelia as she tightened her grip on Angel's hand and Willow felt her nervousness and fear.
"Cordy" said Willow as she held the brunettes other hand, "I'm sorry to ask this of the both of you. I know how much you care about Angel but we could use his help for this. I know it's far off…. Well a few million light years possibly, but I wouldn't be here unless General O'Neill thought this was a good idea."
"Can.. can I go as well?" asked Cordelia.
"Cordy" said Angel, "they need you here."
"But…" said Cordelia.
"I'll be alright" said Angel.
"Willow" said Cordelia, "can we talk about this? In private?"
"Of course" said Willow, "that's why I came so early. Look through the tablet, but I need a decision by tomorrow night at the latest. Please?"
"Alright" said Cordelia as she nodded her head.
"Do you have a place to stay?" asked Angel as he picked up the tablet.
"Ummm…" said Willow, "this was a last minute kinda thing so…."
"Stay in the dorms" said Cordelia, "I'll call up Clem and ask him to set up a room for you."
"Actually, I'm having dinner with Buffy, Xander and Tara" said Willow, "maybe if they have extra space, I'll bunk there. You don't have to go to so much trouble."
"Well" said Cordelia, "I'll set up a room, just in case."
"Thanks" said Willow.
"Thanks for the offer" said Angel, "I'll let you know after talking it over with Cordy."
"Thanks, Angel" said Willow as she walked out of the office.
"Atlantis" said Angel as he sat back down.
"I don't believe it" replied Cordelia as she replayed Dr. Weir's message.
"I should do this, Cordy" said Angel, "it's helping people… it's to prevent them from coming to Earth and this galaxy."
"I know" said Cordelia as she placed her head on Angel's shoulder, "I'm just afraid I'll lose you."
"You won't" replied Angel, "I'll be alright."
"I know" said Cordelia as she walked up and locked the office doors before walking back to Angel, "but let's still talk about this? Take our time a little."
"Sure" replied Angel as he kissed Cordelia, before making the biggest decision of his unlife.
TBC.