A/N The Spell and The Book is meant to be a fun and funny story, not the angsting drama that the Shadows stories are. So because of that I'm going to use Dawn's attempts to learn how to control her powers to go a little nuts. Which is why Dawn's attempts will include reality and time portals and will probably end up making this one of my longer stories. If you have a particular reality you'd like to see Dawn ending up in and probably needing rescuing from, just let me know. 😅

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"See, Mom, I told you I could use this as a faster way to get to class." Dawn declared as the two of them stepped through the portal she'd just created. Only to stop when people in uniforms pointed guns at them. "Oh, poo. I messed up again! At this rate I'll be old before I ever get it right."

"Not if I ground you from ever making portals again." Joyce cautiously raised her hands and eyed the military people with guns. "Any idea how we ended up wherever we've ended up?"

"We'd like an answer to that question too." A silver haired man told them. "Considering you are not the people we were expecting to see step into our gateroom. Along with, where do you think they might be?"

"Gateroom?" Dawn asked, looking around. "Oh look, they've got their own giant portal maker." She pointed at the large metal ring behind them with a transparent rippling vertical pool in the center. "I bet my portal got hijacked by theirs. See, Mom, it's not my fault, the military people hijacked my portal."

"Dawn, accusing the military of hijacking your portal is not a good way to deal with this situation." Joyce admonished her daughter. "Apologize to them."

"But, Mom -."

"Dawn Arlene Summers unless you want me to actually ground you, you will apologize for your accusation."

A grumpy Dawn pouted. "Fine, I'm sorry I accused you of hijacking my portal. So where did we end up?"

"A Top Secret and Classified base." The silver haired man told them. "And we really need to know just how you got here so we can keep other people from doing the same thing. By the way, my name is Colonel O'Neill and your name, ma'am?"

"Joyce Summers." Joyce told him. "We really are sorry, Colonel, this was an honest mistake and I'm not certain how we're going to get out of it, given your portal maker might cause interference if we attempt to leave."

"Xander will figure it out and get us back." Dawn said confidently.

"Colonel, take them to the infirmary." A voice boomed over an intercom. "We've been fooled before."

"Fooled by who?" Dawn asked.

"You haven't been cleared for that information." The Colonel told them. "And I'm sorry, but they've used kids to attack us before, which is why we need to check you."

"Another group of so-called people using child soldiers." Joyce muttered, disgusted.

"Don't get her started, my big sister was involuntarily drafted as a child soldier." Dawn told them as they followed the Colonel. "Fortunately the main enemy she was fighting against is gone now."

"Gone entirely?" The Colonel inquired.

"As in no longer exist. Xander destroyed them all." She blithely admitted.

"Well he had to, their targets were children and teenagers and they basically ate them." Joyce told him. "And they refused to stop. It wasn't like there weren't other options, they just didn't care. So what exactly are you checking us for?"

"To see if you are or ever have been a Host to a parasite." The Colonel answered, assimilating their story and wondering how someone had managed to wipe out an entire race. "It'll tell us if you've been in contact with our enemy. Also they've used kids as bombs, so we need to check that too."

"Oh, gods." Joyce murmured. "If we're still in our own reality then you're our military and you're dealing with this enemy now. But if it's another reality, it's still possible your enemy exists in our reality too."

"You think you're in another reality?"

"The first time I made a portal I ended up in a reality with no me." Dawn replied. "And met other versions of my friends and family. Xander reopened my portal and brought me home. He'll do it again and find us, I'm sure."

"Where are you from?" The Colonel asked as they arrived at the infirmary.

"Sunnydale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles." Joyce told him. "I run an art gallery there."

"Carter." The Colonel murmured to a tall, beautiful woman who'd joined them.

"I'll check into it, Sir. And I'm not sensing any Naquada." She stated as she moved toward to the door.

"Naquada?" Joyce asked.

"Another method of detecting our enemy." The Colonel said vaguely.

"Oh. You can check me first." Joyce told the short woman who approached them. "I want to make sure you don't do anything that might hurt my daughter."

"I understand, I have a daughter myself, she's probably only a couple of years older then your daughter, and it's nice to meet you. I'm Dr. Fraser."

"I just turned eleven a few months ago." Dawn looked around curiously. "And I'm Dawn and this is my Mom, Joyce." She watched as the doctor ran a device over the back of her Mom's neck and watched a screen nearby.

"She's clean, Colonel. Joyce, I need to check your mouth for a false tooth."

Joyce raised her eyebrows. "Sounds like something out of a spy movie." She opened her mouth and let the doctor look around.

"Nothing. You're turn, Sweetie." Dawn hopped up on the bed and passively allowed herself to be checked.

"She's clean as well, Colonel."

"Now what?" Joyce asked.

"Now we try to figure out how you got here and if this is your reality. If it's not your reality, we try to figure out how to get you home." The Colonel answered. "In the meantime, we'll make you as comfortable as we can, but we'll have to keep you under guard."

"I'm going to be so bored."