Fic: Undertow 14/?
May. 28th, 2006 06:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
polgara_5Title: Undertow
By: Polgara
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own none of the recognizable characters. They belong to their respective creators and distributors.
Distribution: My site – Worlds of Possibilities, ff.net, Wormhole Crossing, and TtH.
Spoilers: Everything for Buffy is fair game. Everything up to and including season seven of Stargate SG-1. There will be very specific spoilers for season seven. You have been warned.
Setting: Takes place right after Homecoming of Stargate and three years after Chosen.
Summary: When someone close to Buffy dies, she finds herself on Jack’s doorstep. Before long, events and emotions pull them into something greater than they ever imagined.
A/N: My author notes are here for a reason, please read. If you still ask questions that are answered here, I will not answer them again. Do not beg for updates, this fic will be updated every other Sunday like clockwork, nothing will change that. I repeat nothing.
A/N2: I’ve only altered canon slightly. Ignore the whole Jack/Sam thing, it doesn’t exist here. And I’ve created a previous relationship between Buffy and Jack. It will get explained eventually, just be patient.
A/N3: Special and huge thanks to my betas – Meri and Copper. You gals are fabulous!
Warning: As you guys know, work is going crazy for me now. I had hoped to have had some free time to write, but sudden home repair stuff came up as well so I'm nowhere ahead on chapters as I should be. Therefore, I may not be able to keep the updating schedule. This is the last of the prewritten chapters. If I don't update in two weeks, just check every Sunday for it. I'll only update this fic on Sundays.
Chapter Fourteen
Buffy and Jack quickly separated and got to their feet. She hastily pulled down the hem of her shirt while her face went a dark crimson. This was not how she had expected their date to end. There had been a lot more kissage and a significantly less amount of people involved in her version.
Jack began buttoning his shirt as he said, “Thor, buddy! Don’t you think you could have given us a little warning? I mean we could have…” He trailed off as he felt the back of his neck start to turn red. He was very thankful that he had opted for the couch and not the bed. Not that things couldn’t happen on the couch, but for their first time Buffy deserved better than that. Hell, she deserved better than this.
“I am sorry, O’Neill, but this is an urgent matter. I require the help of the Slayer and SG-1,” the small alien said.
“Slayer?” Daniel asked, his curiousity perking up. It was enough to distract him from his happiness that Buffy and Jack had obviously acted on their attraction.
“Damn it, Thor! Not everyone knows!” Jack said irritably. First the interruption and now he was about to blow the lid off of Buffy’s secret. Could this get any worse?
“I had assumed that you would have informed your team by now.”
“We hadn’t.”
“My apologies, but there is a planet that is being overrun by vampires.”
Jack groaned. It was definitely getting worse.
“Vampires?” Sam asked incredulously.
“So just do your beaming thing and take care of it,” Jack said with a shrug. He studiously ignored the stares from his team.
“Our sensors cannot detect them, nor do we have the physical abilities to defeat them,” Thor said calmly, his large black eyes blinking up at Jack.
“Vampires?” Sam asked again.
“How many?” Buffy asked with a sigh. She sadly noted that she was somehow not surprised by the turn of events.
“From the accounts of the villagers we believe there to be nearly one hundred spread over the area,” he replied, turning to look at her.
“Jack, what’s going on?” Daniel asked.
“Just a second,” Jack snapped. He looked at Buffy, determined to follow her lead on this.
“Fine, but I’ll need my weapons and my team instead of SG-1,” Buffy said finally. “Although Jack can stay as long as he promises not to get all protective on me.”
“Hey!” Jack protested.
“Why SG-13 and not us?” Sam asked, a little offended of being left out of the loop.
“Because it’s the team I work with, I’m more comfortable with them. Not that I don’t like you guys, but I’ve never been in the field with you. Plus, they deserve to hear the truth before you do,” she finished.
“Sound reasoning,” Teal’c said with a small bow of his head.
“How about we take both teams,” Jack suggested softly.
She turned to protest but saw the calm acceptance of whatever her decision was going to be shining in his eyes. Thinking over the odds, she had to agree. “Sure, eight against a hundred, much better.” She looked at Thor. “So, I need my team, weapons, and a change of clothes. Oh, and pobably some other supplies if we’re going to be there a while.”
“I will beam them up now,” Thor said, moving to a console.
“Wait!” Jack cried. He knew his team had still been at the base as evidenced by their BDU’s, that came as no real shocker to him. However, Buffy’s team wasn’t quite as bad at the long hours. “Beam us back down to gather them. SG-13 would be at home and I don’t want you to beam them out of their beds. Dave and Wells are married. We need to protect national security.”
“Very well,” Thor said. He shifted a crystal and Buffy and Jack disappeared in a flash of white light.
Sam looked at Daniel and Teal’c. “What just happened?”
Daniel shrugged and turned to Thor. “Could we go down and gather…” He was cut off as the three of them disappeared in a flash of white light.
XXXXXXXXX
Buffy blinked several times to regain her senses. She and Jack were back in his living room. “He really doesn’t like to give warnings, does he?” She asked with a small pout.
“No, he doesn’t,” Jack said with a sigh. He pulled her close and hugged her. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“This kind of puts a damper on the whole date. Not to mention having to reveal your secret.”
“It’s okay. It was bound to happen sooner or later,” she said, taking comfort from the embrace. She tilted her head up to look at him. “You wanna call Dave? Might be more official-like coming from you.”
“Sure. Are you going to gather weapons?”
“Yeah. Good thing everything from Willow arrived yesterday,” she said, not moving. “I’m just going to need some help from Thor to get the scythe. It might come in handy.”
“Sweet. I’ll finally get to see this thing of beauty you’ve raved about over the past few years,” he said with a smile. With extreme reluctance he eased his hold on her. “We should get moving.”
Buffy nodded and headed back to her room while Jack went to the phone. He called General Hammond first so he wouldn’t be surprised by two of his teams going missing.
Half-hour later, Dave pulled into the drive with Simon and Jeff. He was only mildly surprised when the door swung open before he had a chance to knock.
“Come on in,” Buffy said as she pulled her hair up in a messy ponytail.
He took in her black leather pants and white tee. “What’s going on? Jack was vague on the phone,” he said as the rest of the team walked in. They had shown up in their civies, but they each carried a duffle bag.
Jack shut the door and locked it. “I’ll explain when we get…” There was a flash of light and then they were on Thor’s ship. “There,” Jack finished lamely.
“Slayer, are you ready?” Thor asked.
“Nope, one more thing and I’m not sure if you can do this. But I need a large object that’s located at this address.” She handed him a slip of paper. “But Willow put up a lot of wards to protect it.”
Thor went to a different console and shifted several stones. “I should be able to compensate for the magical shield surrounding it.”
“Cool. Can you leave this in its place?” She asked, handing him another piece of paper. “I don’t want them to freak when they find it missing.”
“I can,” Thor said. A minute later, a large stone with the scythe in it appeared in a flash of light.
“We’re good to go,” she said with a bright smile.
“Where are we going?” Dave asked. He had just fallen asleep when Jack had called and he didn’t appreciate being kept in the dark about a situation that pulled him out of his warm bed and away from his family.
“I’m not sure,” Jack said with a small frown. “Thor?”
“It is a small planet on the outskirts of your galaxy. It has no stargate and it is one of the planets in the Protected Planets Treaty. It should take us little more than a day to reach it.”
“Isn’t it against the rules to do something like this?” Jack asked. “You wouldn’t help us with the asteroid.”
“I will not be doing anything, you will,” Thor said calmly as his ship entered hyperspace.
“Oh.”
“And why are we needed?” Dave asked.
“The Slayer requested your presence,” Thor replied. “If will excuse me, I have to attend to another matter elsewhere on the ship.”
“Who’s the slayer?” Dave asked no one in particular as Thor left.
“That would be me,” Buffy said, raising her right hand slightly. “If everyone would get comfortable, I’ll explain.”
“This wouldn’t happen to do with stories about a mythical warrior would it?” Daniel asked.
“Damn it, Daniel! I told you no research,” Jack said.
“I stopped. I had found those before you told me to stop,” Daniel said defensively.
“Oh,” Jack said as he looked for a place to sit that wasn’t on the floor. He was really going to have to talk to Thor about the accommodations. If he was going to keep ‘abducting’ them like this, the least he could do was provide decent seating. Giving up, he eased his lanky form to the ground.
Buffy sat next to him and took a deep breath before starting. “Obviously you know the world is much older than what most people think. Once upon a time, demons freely roamed the planet until they were mysteriously displaced. At first, we thought it was humans, but now I’m thinking it was the Ancients. Only problem was that they didn’t all leave. Some went into hiding, others infected humans with their blood and created hybrids.”
She scrunched her nose in thought. “I’m guessing here because I’ve learned about the Ancients from you guys and I’m readjusting what I know to what I’ve learned to make things fit together.” She looked over a Jack and he gave her a reassuring smile. “The Ancients either left or did their ascending thing and humans took over. But I’m guessing the demons decided they didn’t have to hide anymore and tried to retake the planet. A group of men took steps to prevent this and created the slayer. They… they took…”
Jack slipped his hand into hers and she squeezed back. It felt good to have him there supporting her. “They took part of a demon essence and put it into a young woman. She became stronger, faster, and her healing abilities and senses grew.”
“What do you mean put it in her?” Simon asked.
“They chained her to the ground and forced this spirit into her body. She was so confused and scared…” Buffy trailed off as she remembered her own feelings when she had been sent back by the device in Nikki Wood’s slayer bag.
“How awful,” Sam said softly.
Buffy nodded. “She became the first slayer. Created to protect mankind from the demons. When she died, the powers were passed to another girl, and so on and so on. There was always one slayer with her watcher – an adult who was part of a group that was aware of the slayer. They trained and guided the slayer. The watcher, demons, and death were all that a slayer knew.”
“Sounds lonely,” Sam said. As proud as she was that it was a woman granted the powers to defend, it was not the life anyone should know.
“It all changed when Buffy was called,” Jack said with a big grin.
“Jack,” Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. She released his hand to give him a slight shove.
“What happened?” Dave asked.
“I wasn’t alone. My friends found out, then mom and Dawn. They helped me and I wasn’t alone anymore. I dated, went to school, and led a semi-normal life. Things were good – right up until I died.”
“Died?!” Jeff cried.
“She’s trying to catch up with Daniel’s record,” Jack said with a smirk.
Buffy gave him a smirk of her own and said, “I drowned and was legally dead until Xander, a friend, performed CPR. But it was enough to call another slayer.”
“And then there were two,” Simon said. “Things had to be easier.”
“Sort of. She died a year later and Faith was called. She went evil and… Well, to make a really long story short, over the years I graduated from high school, went to college, dated some more…”
“Wait a second there,” Dave interrupted. “When the hell were you called?”
“I was fifteen,” she said with a sigh. She had a feeling she knew what their response was going to be and she wasn’t disappointed.
“Fifteen!” Nearly everyone cried to some degree.
“That’s normal. All slayers are called between fifteen and eighteen,” she said with a shrug, not realy wanting to focus on it. “Anyway, met Dracula, Faith got better, fought a hell god, died again for five months, Willow brought me back, had a really bad year, my best friend went evil, had another bad year, destroyed a city, created a new Watcher-Slayer Council, got a desk job, and now I fight aliens.”
“And where does Jack fit in to all of this?” Daniel asked curiously.
“She saved my sorry ass from a demon in L.A. the summer before her senior year,” he said proudly. “We’ve been friends ever since.”
The group sat in silence as they processed everything. It wasn’t everyday that you were told that horror stories were true and that the small woman before them was the main line of defense against them.
Jack seemed to sense that everyone needed time and space so he suggested, “Well, let’s see about getting some shut eye. We can discuss strategy in the morning.”
XXXXXXXXX
Dave walked over to where Jack was watching everyone slowly wake up. “Morning.”
“Morning, Dave.”
Leaning in, Dave whispered, “You do know that you have a hickey, right?”
Jack’s eyes widened. “Umm, no,” he squeaked.
“From Buffy?” Dave casually asked, acting as if they were discussing the weather.
“Yeah… Is this going to be a problem?” Jack asked. He knew about the rumors and didn’t want to make things complicated for Buffy.
“For me and the team? Nah. We know she’s good, that’s why she’s here. I didn’t believe the rumors for one second. I had already made my mind up about her the moment we met.”
“It’s her eyes,” Jack said softly, watching Buffy talk to Jeff next to one of the viewports.
“She’s been through a lot, I knew that before her story last night. That just filled in the blanks and explained a few things.” Dave turned his eyes on Jack. “Are you serious about her?”
“What?” Jack asked in surprise, tearing his eyes off of Buffy to look at Dave.
“Are you serious about her?” Dave calmly repeated.
Jack eyed him for a moment and then nodded. “Very serious.”
“Good. ‘Cause I’d hate to tarnish my record by attacking a fellow officer for hurting a member of my team,” Dave said dryly, patting Jack’s shoulder as he walked towards Buffy. He stopped short when he heard Buffy ask, “And you don’t hate me for not telling you sooner?” He wanted to give Jeff time to answer on his own.
“Hate you?” Jeff asked in surprise. “I couldn’t hate you. I like you too much to hate you. At least you chose to tell us. You could have just left us in the dark.”
“Huh?”
“I overheard Major Carter telling Dave that you wanted us to go with you instead of SG-1. She was a little put out.”
“Well, too bad for her,” Buffy said with an indelicate snort. “You guys deserved to know before them.”
“See what I mean,” Jeff said with a beaming smile.
“Okay, so you don’t hate me, but I’m sure Dave and Simon do,” she said sullenly.
Dave decided to put a halt to her worries by joining in. “I can’t speak for Wells since the knucklehead is still sleeping, but I certainly don’t hate you, Summers.”
“Really?” She asked, looking up at him.
“Really. I can see why you’ve got that loner attitude drilled into ya, but we can work on that,” he said, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Just remember, if you ever need anything, we’re here for you.”
“That means everything except dealing with girly stuff,” Simon said with a grin as he joined them.
Tears welled up in Buffy’s eyes. “Thanks, guys.” She was surprised by their support, and even more surprised by the group hug she suddenly found herself in. They had always gotten along and they treated her like their kid sister, but she didn’t think they had reached the group hug stage.
“Alright, enough of this mushy stuff. Summers needs to teach us how to fight vampires.” Dave said with a shake of his head. “I never imagined saying that to anyone before.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Buffy assured him.
As the others walked away, Dave stopped Buffy for a second. “If he doesn’t treat you right, just let me know. Even though I don’t think it’ll matter.”
“You know?”
He rolled his eyes at her. “Once again, you’re assuming I’m an idiot. For nearly a week you both had matching bad moods, then they’re gone, and now you each have a hickey. It wasn’t that hard of a conclusion to make.”
“Oh my god! Why didn’t someone say something?” she said, pulling her hair out of the ponytail to hide her neck.
“Relax, Summers. I was only joking about your hickey,” he said with a grin. “His is quite real, though.”
She glared up at him. “Not funny. Everyone’s gonna find out and think I…”
“No one’s gonna find out. Plus, you’ve got your team to watch your six. We know you belong here.”
Buffy looked at him. He had surprised her yet again. “You’re not gonna…”
“Nobody’s business but your own. If he makes you happy then that’s who you’ll get. But I’m serious, if he hurts you, I’m gonna kill him,” he said soberly.
“You are so full of surprises,” she said, hugging him suddenly.
“I guess,” he said, a little embarrassed. “Now show me this weapon you had Thor beam up before Jack gets jealous.”
By: Polgara
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own none of the recognizable characters. They belong to their respective creators and distributors.
Distribution: My site – Worlds of Possibilities, ff.net, Wormhole Crossing, and TtH.
Spoilers: Everything for Buffy is fair game. Everything up to and including season seven of Stargate SG-1. There will be very specific spoilers for season seven. You have been warned.
Setting: Takes place right after Homecoming of Stargate and three years after Chosen.
Summary: When someone close to Buffy dies, she finds herself on Jack’s doorstep. Before long, events and emotions pull them into something greater than they ever imagined.
A/N: My author notes are here for a reason, please read. If you still ask questions that are answered here, I will not answer them again. Do not beg for updates, this fic will be updated every other Sunday like clockwork, nothing will change that. I repeat nothing.
A/N2: I’ve only altered canon slightly. Ignore the whole Jack/Sam thing, it doesn’t exist here. And I’ve created a previous relationship between Buffy and Jack. It will get explained eventually, just be patient.
A/N3: Special and huge thanks to my betas – Meri and Copper. You gals are fabulous!
Warning: As you guys know, work is going crazy for me now. I had hoped to have had some free time to write, but sudden home repair stuff came up as well so I'm nowhere ahead on chapters as I should be. Therefore, I may not be able to keep the updating schedule. This is the last of the prewritten chapters. If I don't update in two weeks, just check every Sunday for it. I'll only update this fic on Sundays.
Chapter Fourteen
Buffy and Jack quickly separated and got to their feet. She hastily pulled down the hem of her shirt while her face went a dark crimson. This was not how she had expected their date to end. There had been a lot more kissage and a significantly less amount of people involved in her version.
Jack began buttoning his shirt as he said, “Thor, buddy! Don’t you think you could have given us a little warning? I mean we could have…” He trailed off as he felt the back of his neck start to turn red. He was very thankful that he had opted for the couch and not the bed. Not that things couldn’t happen on the couch, but for their first time Buffy deserved better than that. Hell, she deserved better than this.
“I am sorry, O’Neill, but this is an urgent matter. I require the help of the Slayer and SG-1,” the small alien said.
“Slayer?” Daniel asked, his curiousity perking up. It was enough to distract him from his happiness that Buffy and Jack had obviously acted on their attraction.
“Damn it, Thor! Not everyone knows!” Jack said irritably. First the interruption and now he was about to blow the lid off of Buffy’s secret. Could this get any worse?
“I had assumed that you would have informed your team by now.”
“We hadn’t.”
“My apologies, but there is a planet that is being overrun by vampires.”
Jack groaned. It was definitely getting worse.
“Vampires?” Sam asked incredulously.
“So just do your beaming thing and take care of it,” Jack said with a shrug. He studiously ignored the stares from his team.
“Our sensors cannot detect them, nor do we have the physical abilities to defeat them,” Thor said calmly, his large black eyes blinking up at Jack.
“Vampires?” Sam asked again.
“How many?” Buffy asked with a sigh. She sadly noted that she was somehow not surprised by the turn of events.
“From the accounts of the villagers we believe there to be nearly one hundred spread over the area,” he replied, turning to look at her.
“Jack, what’s going on?” Daniel asked.
“Just a second,” Jack snapped. He looked at Buffy, determined to follow her lead on this.
“Fine, but I’ll need my weapons and my team instead of SG-1,” Buffy said finally. “Although Jack can stay as long as he promises not to get all protective on me.”
“Hey!” Jack protested.
“Why SG-13 and not us?” Sam asked, a little offended of being left out of the loop.
“Because it’s the team I work with, I’m more comfortable with them. Not that I don’t like you guys, but I’ve never been in the field with you. Plus, they deserve to hear the truth before you do,” she finished.
“Sound reasoning,” Teal’c said with a small bow of his head.
“How about we take both teams,” Jack suggested softly.
She turned to protest but saw the calm acceptance of whatever her decision was going to be shining in his eyes. Thinking over the odds, she had to agree. “Sure, eight against a hundred, much better.” She looked at Thor. “So, I need my team, weapons, and a change of clothes. Oh, and pobably some other supplies if we’re going to be there a while.”
“I will beam them up now,” Thor said, moving to a console.
“Wait!” Jack cried. He knew his team had still been at the base as evidenced by their BDU’s, that came as no real shocker to him. However, Buffy’s team wasn’t quite as bad at the long hours. “Beam us back down to gather them. SG-13 would be at home and I don’t want you to beam them out of their beds. Dave and Wells are married. We need to protect national security.”
“Very well,” Thor said. He shifted a crystal and Buffy and Jack disappeared in a flash of white light.
Sam looked at Daniel and Teal’c. “What just happened?”
Daniel shrugged and turned to Thor. “Could we go down and gather…” He was cut off as the three of them disappeared in a flash of white light.
XXXXXXXXX
Buffy blinked several times to regain her senses. She and Jack were back in his living room. “He really doesn’t like to give warnings, does he?” She asked with a small pout.
“No, he doesn’t,” Jack said with a sigh. He pulled her close and hugged her. “Sorry.”
“For what?”
“This kind of puts a damper on the whole date. Not to mention having to reveal your secret.”
“It’s okay. It was bound to happen sooner or later,” she said, taking comfort from the embrace. She tilted her head up to look at him. “You wanna call Dave? Might be more official-like coming from you.”
“Sure. Are you going to gather weapons?”
“Yeah. Good thing everything from Willow arrived yesterday,” she said, not moving. “I’m just going to need some help from Thor to get the scythe. It might come in handy.”
“Sweet. I’ll finally get to see this thing of beauty you’ve raved about over the past few years,” he said with a smile. With extreme reluctance he eased his hold on her. “We should get moving.”
Buffy nodded and headed back to her room while Jack went to the phone. He called General Hammond first so he wouldn’t be surprised by two of his teams going missing.
Half-hour later, Dave pulled into the drive with Simon and Jeff. He was only mildly surprised when the door swung open before he had a chance to knock.
“Come on in,” Buffy said as she pulled her hair up in a messy ponytail.
He took in her black leather pants and white tee. “What’s going on? Jack was vague on the phone,” he said as the rest of the team walked in. They had shown up in their civies, but they each carried a duffle bag.
Jack shut the door and locked it. “I’ll explain when we get…” There was a flash of light and then they were on Thor’s ship. “There,” Jack finished lamely.
“Slayer, are you ready?” Thor asked.
“Nope, one more thing and I’m not sure if you can do this. But I need a large object that’s located at this address.” She handed him a slip of paper. “But Willow put up a lot of wards to protect it.”
Thor went to a different console and shifted several stones. “I should be able to compensate for the magical shield surrounding it.”
“Cool. Can you leave this in its place?” She asked, handing him another piece of paper. “I don’t want them to freak when they find it missing.”
“I can,” Thor said. A minute later, a large stone with the scythe in it appeared in a flash of light.
“We’re good to go,” she said with a bright smile.
“Where are we going?” Dave asked. He had just fallen asleep when Jack had called and he didn’t appreciate being kept in the dark about a situation that pulled him out of his warm bed and away from his family.
“I’m not sure,” Jack said with a small frown. “Thor?”
“It is a small planet on the outskirts of your galaxy. It has no stargate and it is one of the planets in the Protected Planets Treaty. It should take us little more than a day to reach it.”
“Isn’t it against the rules to do something like this?” Jack asked. “You wouldn’t help us with the asteroid.”
“I will not be doing anything, you will,” Thor said calmly as his ship entered hyperspace.
“Oh.”
“And why are we needed?” Dave asked.
“The Slayer requested your presence,” Thor replied. “If will excuse me, I have to attend to another matter elsewhere on the ship.”
“Who’s the slayer?” Dave asked no one in particular as Thor left.
“That would be me,” Buffy said, raising her right hand slightly. “If everyone would get comfortable, I’ll explain.”
“This wouldn’t happen to do with stories about a mythical warrior would it?” Daniel asked.
“Damn it, Daniel! I told you no research,” Jack said.
“I stopped. I had found those before you told me to stop,” Daniel said defensively.
“Oh,” Jack said as he looked for a place to sit that wasn’t on the floor. He was really going to have to talk to Thor about the accommodations. If he was going to keep ‘abducting’ them like this, the least he could do was provide decent seating. Giving up, he eased his lanky form to the ground.
Buffy sat next to him and took a deep breath before starting. “Obviously you know the world is much older than what most people think. Once upon a time, demons freely roamed the planet until they were mysteriously displaced. At first, we thought it was humans, but now I’m thinking it was the Ancients. Only problem was that they didn’t all leave. Some went into hiding, others infected humans with their blood and created hybrids.”
She scrunched her nose in thought. “I’m guessing here because I’ve learned about the Ancients from you guys and I’m readjusting what I know to what I’ve learned to make things fit together.” She looked over a Jack and he gave her a reassuring smile. “The Ancients either left or did their ascending thing and humans took over. But I’m guessing the demons decided they didn’t have to hide anymore and tried to retake the planet. A group of men took steps to prevent this and created the slayer. They… they took…”
Jack slipped his hand into hers and she squeezed back. It felt good to have him there supporting her. “They took part of a demon essence and put it into a young woman. She became stronger, faster, and her healing abilities and senses grew.”
“What do you mean put it in her?” Simon asked.
“They chained her to the ground and forced this spirit into her body. She was so confused and scared…” Buffy trailed off as she remembered her own feelings when she had been sent back by the device in Nikki Wood’s slayer bag.
“How awful,” Sam said softly.
Buffy nodded. “She became the first slayer. Created to protect mankind from the demons. When she died, the powers were passed to another girl, and so on and so on. There was always one slayer with her watcher – an adult who was part of a group that was aware of the slayer. They trained and guided the slayer. The watcher, demons, and death were all that a slayer knew.”
“Sounds lonely,” Sam said. As proud as she was that it was a woman granted the powers to defend, it was not the life anyone should know.
“It all changed when Buffy was called,” Jack said with a big grin.
“Jack,” Buffy said with a roll of her eyes. She released his hand to give him a slight shove.
“What happened?” Dave asked.
“I wasn’t alone. My friends found out, then mom and Dawn. They helped me and I wasn’t alone anymore. I dated, went to school, and led a semi-normal life. Things were good – right up until I died.”
“Died?!” Jeff cried.
“She’s trying to catch up with Daniel’s record,” Jack said with a smirk.
Buffy gave him a smirk of her own and said, “I drowned and was legally dead until Xander, a friend, performed CPR. But it was enough to call another slayer.”
“And then there were two,” Simon said. “Things had to be easier.”
“Sort of. She died a year later and Faith was called. She went evil and… Well, to make a really long story short, over the years I graduated from high school, went to college, dated some more…”
“Wait a second there,” Dave interrupted. “When the hell were you called?”
“I was fifteen,” she said with a sigh. She had a feeling she knew what their response was going to be and she wasn’t disappointed.
“Fifteen!” Nearly everyone cried to some degree.
“That’s normal. All slayers are called between fifteen and eighteen,” she said with a shrug, not realy wanting to focus on it. “Anyway, met Dracula, Faith got better, fought a hell god, died again for five months, Willow brought me back, had a really bad year, my best friend went evil, had another bad year, destroyed a city, created a new Watcher-Slayer Council, got a desk job, and now I fight aliens.”
“And where does Jack fit in to all of this?” Daniel asked curiously.
“She saved my sorry ass from a demon in L.A. the summer before her senior year,” he said proudly. “We’ve been friends ever since.”
The group sat in silence as they processed everything. It wasn’t everyday that you were told that horror stories were true and that the small woman before them was the main line of defense against them.
Jack seemed to sense that everyone needed time and space so he suggested, “Well, let’s see about getting some shut eye. We can discuss strategy in the morning.”
XXXXXXXXX
Dave walked over to where Jack was watching everyone slowly wake up. “Morning.”
“Morning, Dave.”
Leaning in, Dave whispered, “You do know that you have a hickey, right?”
Jack’s eyes widened. “Umm, no,” he squeaked.
“From Buffy?” Dave casually asked, acting as if they were discussing the weather.
“Yeah… Is this going to be a problem?” Jack asked. He knew about the rumors and didn’t want to make things complicated for Buffy.
“For me and the team? Nah. We know she’s good, that’s why she’s here. I didn’t believe the rumors for one second. I had already made my mind up about her the moment we met.”
“It’s her eyes,” Jack said softly, watching Buffy talk to Jeff next to one of the viewports.
“She’s been through a lot, I knew that before her story last night. That just filled in the blanks and explained a few things.” Dave turned his eyes on Jack. “Are you serious about her?”
“What?” Jack asked in surprise, tearing his eyes off of Buffy to look at Dave.
“Are you serious about her?” Dave calmly repeated.
Jack eyed him for a moment and then nodded. “Very serious.”
“Good. ‘Cause I’d hate to tarnish my record by attacking a fellow officer for hurting a member of my team,” Dave said dryly, patting Jack’s shoulder as he walked towards Buffy. He stopped short when he heard Buffy ask, “And you don’t hate me for not telling you sooner?” He wanted to give Jeff time to answer on his own.
“Hate you?” Jeff asked in surprise. “I couldn’t hate you. I like you too much to hate you. At least you chose to tell us. You could have just left us in the dark.”
“Huh?”
“I overheard Major Carter telling Dave that you wanted us to go with you instead of SG-1. She was a little put out.”
“Well, too bad for her,” Buffy said with an indelicate snort. “You guys deserved to know before them.”
“See what I mean,” Jeff said with a beaming smile.
“Okay, so you don’t hate me, but I’m sure Dave and Simon do,” she said sullenly.
Dave decided to put a halt to her worries by joining in. “I can’t speak for Wells since the knucklehead is still sleeping, but I certainly don’t hate you, Summers.”
“Really?” She asked, looking up at him.
“Really. I can see why you’ve got that loner attitude drilled into ya, but we can work on that,” he said, resting a hand on her shoulder. “Just remember, if you ever need anything, we’re here for you.”
“That means everything except dealing with girly stuff,” Simon said with a grin as he joined them.
Tears welled up in Buffy’s eyes. “Thanks, guys.” She was surprised by their support, and even more surprised by the group hug she suddenly found herself in. They had always gotten along and they treated her like their kid sister, but she didn’t think they had reached the group hug stage.
“Alright, enough of this mushy stuff. Summers needs to teach us how to fight vampires.” Dave said with a shake of his head. “I never imagined saying that to anyone before.”
“You’ll get used to it,” Buffy assured him.
As the others walked away, Dave stopped Buffy for a second. “If he doesn’t treat you right, just let me know. Even though I don’t think it’ll matter.”
“You know?”
He rolled his eyes at her. “Once again, you’re assuming I’m an idiot. For nearly a week you both had matching bad moods, then they’re gone, and now you each have a hickey. It wasn’t that hard of a conclusion to make.”
“Oh my god! Why didn’t someone say something?” she said, pulling her hair out of the ponytail to hide her neck.
“Relax, Summers. I was only joking about your hickey,” he said with a grin. “His is quite real, though.”
She glared up at him. “Not funny. Everyone’s gonna find out and think I…”
“No one’s gonna find out. Plus, you’ve got your team to watch your six. We know you belong here.”
Buffy looked at him. He had surprised her yet again. “You’re not gonna…”
“Nobody’s business but your own. If he makes you happy then that’s who you’ll get. But I’m serious, if he hurts you, I’m gonna kill him,” he said soberly.
“You are so full of surprises,” she said, hugging him suddenly.
“I guess,” he said, a little embarrassed. “Now show me this weapon you had Thor beam up before Jack gets jealous.”
