Giles did talk to Joyce about Buffy and her behavior. Joyce was deeply disturbed by how much Buffy had kept from her. And hearing that Buffy had tried to kill Faith and feed her to Angel, disturbed her even more. Buffy's reasoning on the matter upset Joyce as well. In the end, she agreed with Giles and put restrictions on Buffy. Restrictions which included Buffy living at home, instead of moving into the dorm come fall. Joyce felt she needed to grow up first. A statement that pissed Buffy off. But since Joyce was paying for Buffy to go to college and moving out would require getting a job and paying for things herself, something Buffy wasn't ready to do, meant she had no choice, but to acquiesce.
Xander got his job at the contracting store back. The manager was relieved to see him, since the guy they'd hired hadn't shown up. 'Probably vamp bait.' Xander thought. Cordelia got a job as a clerk at a store at the Mall. While she winched at the idea of being, in her words, a name tag person, she understood her father's stance and agreed with it. Faith, seeing her friends getting jobs, talked the manager of the Bronze into hiring her as a bartender. She was under age, but he didn't care.
And finally it was the day SG 1 was to arrive and see the place with the repository in ii.
"Has it really been just a week?" Xander asked, as they arrived at the airport to pick up Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter and Dr. Jackson. "Feels like so much longer."
"I know, the last couple of days alot happened. How are your arms doing?"
"Still sore. And it's too hot to wear this long sleeved t-shirt, but I don't want them to see the sores. They're nearly healed, but they'd ask questions I don't want to answer."
"We should have an idea of what to say, just in case they do notice."
"Good idea. Well, I work at a contracting store. Building supplies. I could say I got splashed with a chemical, but am healing."
"That sounds good. Oh! There they are." She said, pointing.
She pulled up to the curb and Xander got out.
"Colonel, Major, Doctor. Welcome to Sunnydale. We'll be a little crowded in Cordy's car, but since the engine fell out of mine and caused the accident in the first place, we'll just have to make do."
Grins all around.
"How did that happen, anyway?" The Colonel asked.
"I bought the car from my uncle. It was choice. A teal Bel Air. He rebuilt it, but must have missed something. It'll cost alot to get it fixed but like I said, it's choice. But I got my job back at the contracting store, so that will help. I wasn't planning to work this summer, since Cordy and I were going to do the road trip to celebrate the end of High School. Didn't work that way, though."
"No, really didn't, did it?" The Colonel said, as they climbed into the little convertible. They chatted as they drove out passed the city and to a wooded area. Cordelia pulled into an area with broken trees and parked.
"We can walk from here. It's not far." She said. They reached the cliff face and Major Carter reached out and touched it.
"Is this where it is? It feels just like rock." Dr. Jackson touched it as well.
"It does. Jack, why don't you try it?"
Colonel O'Neill's hand passed right thru. He pulled it back out.
"Okay, that's kinda freaky."
"And unless we can figure out a way around it, a problem. We only know of three people that can get thru it." Major Carter said, as it turned solid again at her touch.
"Let me try something?" Xander said. He held out his elbow to her and she tucked her hand into it. The two moved forward together and entered with no problems.
Cordelia tucked her hand into Dr. Jackson's elbow and said. "I'll escort you Dr. Jackson." And the two passed thru as well. Colonel O'Neill stepped in a moment later. Major Carter was poking at the computer, but not getting anything from it.
"There's the headsucker thing." The Colonel said.
"That's a good term for it." Xander said.
"I can't get the computer to respond to me. Xander, could you try?"
"Yes, ma'am." He answered.
"You're very polite." Dr. Jackson said.
"She's an officer and her rank affords her respect, Doctor." Xander said absently as he approached the computer. His wording startled both Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter. It was nearly textbook.
"You got any family that went military, kid?" The Colonel asked.
"No, sir. But I have a near perfect recall of the UCMJ, procedures and current ordinances. You could say, it's an interest."
"Really?" Colonel O'Neill said, speculatively. "For how long?"
"Since sophomore year, sir." As the computer came on and a light came out and scanned Xander.
"Well the Hell did I do now?!" Xander exclaimed. The computers were lighting up.
"Daniel, these screens are in Ancient." Major Carter said. Dr. Jackson moved towards them and began translating.
"These are daily logs. They were recording an experiment. An attempt to find a local source with which to power Potentias. At first, it seemed to be working. They tapped into something, but something went wrong. Their attempt caused a lot of deaths. The region they were accessing in their attempt to draw out power, something else came from it. Maybe something like radiation? It killed everyone. The logs says, the energy was polluted in some way and they couldn't filter it. They shut down the project. That's it. Everything else has been erased."