Fic: Undertow Rated R 28/30
Oct. 19th, 2008 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
polgara_5Title: Undertow
By: Polgara
Rating: NC-17
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.
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/N: So do you remember when I started posting again that I said if I finished the story I'd change the update schedule? I've completed the fic, it's been beta'd. Updates will now be every Sunday until the story is finished. Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jack sat staring out across the vast plains before him with a bored expression on his face. Behind him a huge temple loomed, rising from the featureless landscape. He could hear Daniel and Carter moving about as they inspected the ruins for signs of the Ancient device. As usual, he couldn’t hear Teal’c. For a big guy, he didn’t make a lot of noise.
He could only hope that they’d find it quickly so they would have time to figure out how to bring it back with them. The fact that the last SG team visiting this planet had found one of those roving Goa’uld probes did not bode well for them.
Realizing that he hadn’t bugged Daniel for nearly ten minutes, he spoke up. “You know, we’ve searched this place up and down.”
“I know,” Daniel answered distractedly, his eyes never leaving the inscription on the wall.
The colonel looked at his watched. “We could have Goa’uld on our collective asses any minute now.”
“I know,” Daniel repeated.
Jack could practically hear the eye roll.
“According to the text on this column, it’s inside.”
“Inside, you say,” Jack said slowly, coming to his feet. As far as he could tell there were no doors or even windows to the temple. He headed over to Daniel. “Well, let me tell you, my friend. There is no inside, just a whole lotta outside.”
“I know,” Daniel said, beginning to sound like a broken record.
Sam held out one of her gadgets and pointed it at the wall opposite of Daniel. “I’m getting some strange readings from here.” The wall itself was smooth and had no markings on it.
“If I’m right,” Daniel murmured to himself. He looked at something in his notebook and then pressed several spots on the column.
The wall Sam was inspecting suddenly warped and the Repository seemed to grow out of it. They all jumped back, well out of its reach.
“Look out,” Jack said with a grimace. He clicked on his radio. “Reynolds, come in.”
It crackled for a moment before the Major’s voice came through. “Go ahead.”
“Yeah, we’ve got something here. Stand by.”
“All clear for the moment,” Reynolds said before signing off.
Sam stood off to the side and held her gadget out again. “We just have to figure out how to get this thing out of the wall,” she mused out loud while trying to make sense of the readings.
Daniel took a couple of steps towards it and it opened up, a blue light emanating from within. Sam’s hand shot out to grab his arm and she pulled him out of its path to stand next to her. “Careful,” she cautioned.
“Alright, one more time. Why are we doing this?” Jack asked everyone, earning him looks that ranged from exasperation to mild amusement. He knew this whole idea was bad from the start but also necessary. It was just that these things made him a little nervous.
Their radios crackled to life and Reynolds' voice came through loud and clear. “SG-1, we have incoming.”
The team stepped between the wide stone columns to see a glider zooming towards them, laying down fire causing the ground to shake. They ducked back under the relative safety of the temple’s overhang. Sam ran to the other end in time to see the glider circle around for another round.
“Alright, let’s go!” Jack ordered.
“Jack, we can’t just leave,” Daniel said, not moving from his position next to a column.
“Daniel.”
“We must not allow this device to fall into the hands of Anubis,” Teal’c reminded him.
“Fine,” Jack said, agreeing with Teal’c. He pulled out a small package of C-4 that he always carried and attached it to the wall next to the device.
“Jack!” Daniel cried out in protest.
“Sir, he’s right,” Sam spoke up, turning to look at him. “If we destroy it, we lose our only chance to find the location of the Lost City.”
“O’Neill,” Teal’c said calmly.
Jack looked out and saw the glider coming in again. “Ah crap. Then what?” He asked, turning back to look at his team.
The blood in his veins ran cold as Daniel made a dash for the device and he quickly ran over to stop him. “No, no, no,” he said pushing his friend hard against the column Daniel had been studying earlier.
“Someone has to do it. The answers are in there,” Daniel said, pointing at the device. “If we don’t find the Lost City we’re as good as dead. Let me do it.”
“And who does the translating when you go all Ancient?” Jack pointed out.
An Alkesh followed behind the glider releasing a stronger volley of fire. The team dropped as one to cover their heads as the sound assaulted their ears and the acrid smoke made their eyes water.
Jack knew that Daniel was right. The only way to retrieve the knowledge now and still make it back safely was for one of them to do it. The machine wouldn’t recognize Teal’c, while Carter and Daniel would be needed later on. He was the only viable choice left.
His thoughts flickered to Buffy and their failed relationship. He really thought of her as his last chance for happiness and since she had left him he was alone again.
There was no way of knowing if they would contact the Asgard in time to remove the data, but it didn’t matter. Earth needed saving again and he was more than willing to make the sacrifice. He would have Daniel tell Buffy that he did this freely and with no regrets.
He yanked the cap off his head and shoved it into Daniel’s hands. “In fact, you’re the one person who can do it.” Then he jumped in front of the device before anyone could stop him.
It reached for him and he forced himself to remain still as it grabbed his head. In the background he could vaguely hear Daniel and Carter calling out to him, but the now white light blinded him and seared into his brain. Then he sank into the blissful darkness of unconsciousness.
As the world around him slowly returned, he had the vague sensation of being half-carried, half-drug somewhere. Then he was falling to the ground as thunder erupted around him. He felt someone roll him over onto his back and he opened his eyes to see Daniel looking worriedly down at him.
“Jack! Jack, are you okay?”
“What’s going on?” He asked, a little disoriented.
Daniel looked over at Reynolds. “Come on. Let’s get him up.”
Jack’s brain tried to interpret all of the input that was being thrown at him. Teal’c and Reynolds were half carrying him as blasts erupted around them. It didn’t take long for him to be able to shrug them off and run on his own. He remembered allowing the Ancient device to download all of the Ancient knowledge into his head as he stepped through the gate.
“What happened?” Hammond asked them as they walked down the ramp.
“Didn’t quite go according to plan, sir,” he replied.
“We have to get him to the infirmary,” Daniel said from behind him.
“I did it again,” Jack said solemnly.
XXXXXXXXX
Jack didn’t know how long he had blankly stared out the window to his backyard after his team and Hammond had left. As if his life couldn’t get better, but merely go from bad to worse. Buffy leaving. His first mission back after his injury and he gets his head sucked. No hope for help from the Asgard. Now a change in leadership at the SGC and no off world missions while the program was put under a three-month review. His life currently sucked beyond all belief.
Wearily he got to his feet and began picking up the beer bottles scattered around his living room. He was on his way back from the kitchen to pick up another load when there was a knock at the door. Thinking someone had forgotten something; he opened the door without checking first.
His jaw dropped slightly as he recognized the battered figure before him. The shock stemming as much from their distressed appearance as the fact that they were there. “Buffy?” He choked out.
“Hey, you,” she said hesitantly. “Umm, I’m sorry I’m here unexpectedly.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” he said, shaking himself out of his shock. He was suddenly worried that maybe he’d had too many beers and she was just a hallucination. Perhaps even a strange, but enjoyable, side effect from the downloaded knowledge.
His sharp gaze took in the bruising on her face and the way she held herself. From the looks of it, he was guessing that she had a couple of cracked ribs. “What the hell happened to you?” He asked, stepping aside.
“Demon on patrol last night. I almost didn’t make it. John showed up,” she said, wincing as she entered the house. Her bag slid off of her shoulder and landed on the floor with a small thud.
“Have a seat and I’ll get you a water, or a Diet Coke?”
“Water’s fine, thanks.”
Brown eyes watched her hesitantly enter the living room and look around before gingerly taking a seat on the sofa. He wasn’t quite sure what brought Buffy back to his door, but it did make his day a little brighter.
Once he grabbed the bottle of water, he went back in to sit next to her, handing it off. “So you did go to Cleveland?” He asked as a way to start the conversation.
“Yeah. Faith said she answered the phone one day when you had called and that she told you to just give me some space. I’m sorry.”
“Buffy, you don’t –“
“No, Jack, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I ran. I’m sorry that I hurt you for not telling you. I’m sorry for… for a lot of things.”
“Hey, things went a little crazy. It’s alright,” he assured her. One hand reached out for her leg only to hesitate. She gave him a small smile and he completed the gesture. His thumb moved back and forth over the denim-clad thigh. “So are you back? Or are you just here to get the rest of your things?”
“I’m back, if you’ll have me,” she said in a small voice, not daring to look at him.
Jack’s heart lurched. This was more than what he thought was ever possible. His hand moved from her leg to her chin, with a gentle prodding he tilted her head up so she would look at him. “Of course, I do.”
“I’m ready to go back to work at the SGC once the doctor clears me,” she hastily added, unshed tears shining in her eyes.
Jack let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, about that.”
“Oh, don’t tell me Hammond put me down as AWOL or something.”
“No, your team is still down until Dave replaces Wells, so he was waiting before doing anything official about your… leaving.”
Her face lost all its color. “Did he – “
“He’s alive,” Jack said quickly, seeing where she was going with the question. “But he needs to relearn how to walk. He’s off rotation until then or maybe even out of the program.”
She gave him a watery smile before taking a sip of her water.
“But they’ve sort of shut down the SGC and Hammond is no longer in charge.”
“What?” She asked in surprise.
“The new president stepped in and placed us under a three-month review. Put a civilian in charge – Dr. Elizabeth Weir. Daniel’s impressed with her work.”
“But why would he take it out of military hands?” Buffy asked, surprising herself with the question. She still had some reservations about the military, but everything she had seen and experienced at the SGC had been positive.
“Who knows? Guy’s got Kinsey as his vice-president. God only knows what kind of bullshit that jackass has been feeding him.”
Buffy tried to put a good spin on it. “So we don’t go off-world for a few months. It’ll give everyone some breathing space, chance to heal, Sam and Daniel can work on some of their backlogs, we can – “
“There’s more,” Jack interrupted.
“More? As in I’m not allowed back, or not on Dave’s team? What?”
Jack stood and crossed the room to stand in front of one of the large windows. “While you were gone, something happened on my last mission. I let my head get sucked by one of those Ancient Repositories.”
“What?” Buffy cried out, quickly rising to her feet, only to gasp out in pain.
He turned around and hurried over to her side. With gently and practiced hands, he eased he back onto the sofa. “I didn’t have much of a choice, Buffy. We need to find the location of the Lost City, Anubis’ fleet was already there raining down fire trying to get to the same knowledge, and out of my team I was the only acceptable loss.”
“You are not an acceptable loss!”
“Out of the four, make that three cause the devices don’t recognize Teal’c, I’m not the one who’s needed later on to translate words and deeds when someone goes Ancient.” He watched as reluctant understanding dawned on her feature before pressing on. “It gets worse.”
“Worse? How could this get worse?”
“We can’t reach Thor or any of the Asgard to remove this stuff from my head.”
Tears welled up in Buffy’s eyes again. “That means you’re dying and we can’t stop it.”
“No, we can’t,” he said softly. One hand reached out to brush the tears off her cheeks. “I’m so glad you’re here before things got worse and I wouldn’t be able to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“I want you to know that I had planned on doing this earlier and not just because of what’s happening now. I was going to tell you after your last mission but things went to hell and you disappeared. Thought my time had passed.”
Buffy’s stomach knotted as he spoke. She had never seen this look on his face before and it scared her. “Jack, just tell me,” she pleaded, setting her bottle of water on the coffee table.
“I love you.”
It seemed this afternoon was filled with one shock after another for her. Eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly. “You what?” She asked in a low tone.
“I love you,” he repeated, softly but firmly. “I have for a long time.”
With both hands she shoved him hard on the chest causing him to fall backwards onto the floor. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m just – “
“I know what you think you’re doing! This is completely unfair for you to be burdening me with this now,” she said, rising to her feet despite the protest of her body.
“Burden? This shouldn’t be a burden.”
“Jack! You’re dying! There’s nothing we can do to stop it. What makes you think that now is a good time for this?”
“Because I didn’t want to die without you knowing the truth,” he said, surging to his feet.
“Yeah? Well I could have lived with that,” she snarled, turning and storming out the door.
“Damn it,” Jack yelled. He picked up a beer bottle and threw it at the stone fireplace. Looking down at the broken shards he said, “This sucks.”
XXXXXXXX
Dave laughed as he picked up his youngest son on his way to answer the door. Matthew was trying to insert his belief that he could answer the door on his own now. “Not quite big enough,” Dave teased, throwing the boy over his shoulder so he hung upside down over his back.
His smile faded when he opened the door. “Summers,” he said levelly.
“Daddy! Let me see!” Matthew cried, squirming in his father’s arm as he tried to get a better look. When he finally up righted himself, he squealed in delight. “Buffy! Daddy, lemme down! Lemme down!”
Dave gently set the boy down. His feet no sooner hit the ground then he was making a beeline for Buffy. He wrapped his little arms around her legs.
“Hey, munchkin. I’d squat down to give you a hug, but I’m a little sore at the moment.”
“It’s okay,” he said looking up at her. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” she said, a genuine smile creeping across her tearstained face.
“Matthew, why don’t you go inside? Summers and I need to talk.”
“’Kay, daddy. I’ll go tell mommy she’s here,” he said, giving Buffy another squeeze before leaving.
Dave stepped out onto the porch and shut the door behind him. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up like this.”
“I know, Dave. I wanted to apolo-“
“Apologies aren’t going to cut it this time. We were your team. Hell! We were more than that – friends. Damn near family. You walked out on us. I don’t know what in the hell your problem was, only that you couldn’t trust us with it. Which means you don’t trust us.”
Tears began streaming down Buffy’s face anew. “I do trust you. There were things going on in my head – “
“That you could’ve talked to us about!” Dave pointed out. “Wells and Balinsky think they screwed up, but we both know who’s at fault.”
Buffy blanched. “You mean you know?” She choked out.
“That you ran because you were scared? That you didn’t want to confront something? Hell yeah I noticed.”
She sank to her knees. “I thought… thought you meant it was my fault Simon was hurt and that Janet was killed.”
“Summers, what in the hell are you goin’ on about?” Dave asked in total confusion.
“I messed up back there and that’s why – “
“No such thing happened you crazy woman. Where did you come up with that idea?”
“Because it was,” she cried. “I nearly got Jack killed.”
Sharon opened the door and the two of them turned to look at her. “David James Dixon, get your sorry behind in this house now! How dare you yell at her?”
“This is work related.”
“I get that, but the girl is in tears and she’s hurting. I think she’s had enough for now. You can talk to her later.”
“Sharon – “
“David!” she said, her eyes hard and chin stubbornly thrust out.
For a moment it looked like he was going to push the issue, but he finally growled, “Yes, ma’am.” He turned to Buffy. “We’ll finish this later.”
“Looking forward to it,” she said meekly. Once he went into the house she turned to Sharon. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. I’ll just go.”
“You’ll do no such thing, sugah. You’re gonna march yourself into my kitchen and have a seat. I told you I’d always be there to help, now come on.”
The small woman bustled Buffy into the house and into the cheery kitchen. “Now you just sit down at the island while I fix you a cup of tea,” Sharon said with a sympathetic smile before moving about her kitchen.
Buffy felt her nerves calm as she watched the simple domesticity of Sharon’s actions. Though the woman was made of pure steel she had softened edges that reminded Buffy of her own mother. Before long, Sharon sat a cup of hot chamomile tea in front of her.
“Drink up. It’ll help.”
As Buffy took a sip, Sharon turned back to cleaning up the room. Once she had given Buffy some time to compose herself, she sat down on the other stool. “Don’t let my David worry you with all that yellin’. Just means he likes you. Your runnin’ off had him scared. Wanna tell me what happened?”
“I was scared,” she said with a small shrug, staring into her mug. “I screwed up and people got hurt – like Simon and Jack, or killed. I lost my sister less than a year ago and I couldn’t face losing someone else that I… I couldn’t lose Jack, too, and I didn’t want to be there when it happened.
“Of course you didn’t,” Sharon said, patting Buffy’s knee. “Nobody wants to watch their loved one die. But did you think it would hurt any less from afar? Not knowin’?”
”It wasn’t any better,” Buffy admitted.
“Is that why you came back?”
“Partially.”
“And what about these new injuries?” Sharon tisked, carefully holding Buffy’s chin to examine her face. “You weren’t out lookin’ for a fight were you?”
“Kind of, but still in the line of duty. Just a bit rougher than usual and made me rethink some things.”
“Like you wanted to be back here with your man?” Sharon asked with a knowing smile.
“Yeah, but I think I’ve screwed that up, too.”
Sharon sighed. “Oh sugah. You’ve got problems left and right, don’t ya? Tell you what, you can stay here for as long as you need to straighten things out with Jack.”
“No, I couldn’t.”
“Nonsense, won’t be a problem. I’ll just tell David where he can stick it,” she whispered causing Buffy to let out a small laugh.
By: Polgara
Rating: NC-17
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.
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/N: So do you remember when I started posting again that I said if I finished the story I'd change the update schedule? I've completed the fic, it's been beta'd. Updates will now be every Sunday until the story is finished. Enjoy!
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jack sat staring out across the vast plains before him with a bored expression on his face. Behind him a huge temple loomed, rising from the featureless landscape. He could hear Daniel and Carter moving about as they inspected the ruins for signs of the Ancient device. As usual, he couldn’t hear Teal’c. For a big guy, he didn’t make a lot of noise.
He could only hope that they’d find it quickly so they would have time to figure out how to bring it back with them. The fact that the last SG team visiting this planet had found one of those roving Goa’uld probes did not bode well for them.
Realizing that he hadn’t bugged Daniel for nearly ten minutes, he spoke up. “You know, we’ve searched this place up and down.”
“I know,” Daniel answered distractedly, his eyes never leaving the inscription on the wall.
The colonel looked at his watched. “We could have Goa’uld on our collective asses any minute now.”
“I know,” Daniel repeated.
Jack could practically hear the eye roll.
“According to the text on this column, it’s inside.”
“Inside, you say,” Jack said slowly, coming to his feet. As far as he could tell there were no doors or even windows to the temple. He headed over to Daniel. “Well, let me tell you, my friend. There is no inside, just a whole lotta outside.”
“I know,” Daniel said, beginning to sound like a broken record.
Sam held out one of her gadgets and pointed it at the wall opposite of Daniel. “I’m getting some strange readings from here.” The wall itself was smooth and had no markings on it.
“If I’m right,” Daniel murmured to himself. He looked at something in his notebook and then pressed several spots on the column.
The wall Sam was inspecting suddenly warped and the Repository seemed to grow out of it. They all jumped back, well out of its reach.
“Look out,” Jack said with a grimace. He clicked on his radio. “Reynolds, come in.”
It crackled for a moment before the Major’s voice came through. “Go ahead.”
“Yeah, we’ve got something here. Stand by.”
“All clear for the moment,” Reynolds said before signing off.
Sam stood off to the side and held her gadget out again. “We just have to figure out how to get this thing out of the wall,” she mused out loud while trying to make sense of the readings.
Daniel took a couple of steps towards it and it opened up, a blue light emanating from within. Sam’s hand shot out to grab his arm and she pulled him out of its path to stand next to her. “Careful,” she cautioned.
“Alright, one more time. Why are we doing this?” Jack asked everyone, earning him looks that ranged from exasperation to mild amusement. He knew this whole idea was bad from the start but also necessary. It was just that these things made him a little nervous.
Their radios crackled to life and Reynolds' voice came through loud and clear. “SG-1, we have incoming.”
The team stepped between the wide stone columns to see a glider zooming towards them, laying down fire causing the ground to shake. They ducked back under the relative safety of the temple’s overhang. Sam ran to the other end in time to see the glider circle around for another round.
“Alright, let’s go!” Jack ordered.
“Jack, we can’t just leave,” Daniel said, not moving from his position next to a column.
“Daniel.”
“We must not allow this device to fall into the hands of Anubis,” Teal’c reminded him.
“Fine,” Jack said, agreeing with Teal’c. He pulled out a small package of C-4 that he always carried and attached it to the wall next to the device.
“Jack!” Daniel cried out in protest.
“Sir, he’s right,” Sam spoke up, turning to look at him. “If we destroy it, we lose our only chance to find the location of the Lost City.”
“O’Neill,” Teal’c said calmly.
Jack looked out and saw the glider coming in again. “Ah crap. Then what?” He asked, turning back to look at his team.
The blood in his veins ran cold as Daniel made a dash for the device and he quickly ran over to stop him. “No, no, no,” he said pushing his friend hard against the column Daniel had been studying earlier.
“Someone has to do it. The answers are in there,” Daniel said, pointing at the device. “If we don’t find the Lost City we’re as good as dead. Let me do it.”
“And who does the translating when you go all Ancient?” Jack pointed out.
An Alkesh followed behind the glider releasing a stronger volley of fire. The team dropped as one to cover their heads as the sound assaulted their ears and the acrid smoke made their eyes water.
Jack knew that Daniel was right. The only way to retrieve the knowledge now and still make it back safely was for one of them to do it. The machine wouldn’t recognize Teal’c, while Carter and Daniel would be needed later on. He was the only viable choice left.
His thoughts flickered to Buffy and their failed relationship. He really thought of her as his last chance for happiness and since she had left him he was alone again.
There was no way of knowing if they would contact the Asgard in time to remove the data, but it didn’t matter. Earth needed saving again and he was more than willing to make the sacrifice. He would have Daniel tell Buffy that he did this freely and with no regrets.
He yanked the cap off his head and shoved it into Daniel’s hands. “In fact, you’re the one person who can do it.” Then he jumped in front of the device before anyone could stop him.
It reached for him and he forced himself to remain still as it grabbed his head. In the background he could vaguely hear Daniel and Carter calling out to him, but the now white light blinded him and seared into his brain. Then he sank into the blissful darkness of unconsciousness.
As the world around him slowly returned, he had the vague sensation of being half-carried, half-drug somewhere. Then he was falling to the ground as thunder erupted around him. He felt someone roll him over onto his back and he opened his eyes to see Daniel looking worriedly down at him.
“Jack! Jack, are you okay?”
“What’s going on?” He asked, a little disoriented.
Daniel looked over at Reynolds. “Come on. Let’s get him up.”
Jack’s brain tried to interpret all of the input that was being thrown at him. Teal’c and Reynolds were half carrying him as blasts erupted around them. It didn’t take long for him to be able to shrug them off and run on his own. He remembered allowing the Ancient device to download all of the Ancient knowledge into his head as he stepped through the gate.
“What happened?” Hammond asked them as they walked down the ramp.
“Didn’t quite go according to plan, sir,” he replied.
“We have to get him to the infirmary,” Daniel said from behind him.
“I did it again,” Jack said solemnly.
XXXXXXXXX
Jack didn’t know how long he had blankly stared out the window to his backyard after his team and Hammond had left. As if his life couldn’t get better, but merely go from bad to worse. Buffy leaving. His first mission back after his injury and he gets his head sucked. No hope for help from the Asgard. Now a change in leadership at the SGC and no off world missions while the program was put under a three-month review. His life currently sucked beyond all belief.
Wearily he got to his feet and began picking up the beer bottles scattered around his living room. He was on his way back from the kitchen to pick up another load when there was a knock at the door. Thinking someone had forgotten something; he opened the door without checking first.
His jaw dropped slightly as he recognized the battered figure before him. The shock stemming as much from their distressed appearance as the fact that they were there. “Buffy?” He choked out.
“Hey, you,” she said hesitantly. “Umm, I’m sorry I’m here unexpectedly.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” he said, shaking himself out of his shock. He was suddenly worried that maybe he’d had too many beers and she was just a hallucination. Perhaps even a strange, but enjoyable, side effect from the downloaded knowledge.
His sharp gaze took in the bruising on her face and the way she held herself. From the looks of it, he was guessing that she had a couple of cracked ribs. “What the hell happened to you?” He asked, stepping aside.
“Demon on patrol last night. I almost didn’t make it. John showed up,” she said, wincing as she entered the house. Her bag slid off of her shoulder and landed on the floor with a small thud.
“Have a seat and I’ll get you a water, or a Diet Coke?”
“Water’s fine, thanks.”
Brown eyes watched her hesitantly enter the living room and look around before gingerly taking a seat on the sofa. He wasn’t quite sure what brought Buffy back to his door, but it did make his day a little brighter.
Once he grabbed the bottle of water, he went back in to sit next to her, handing it off. “So you did go to Cleveland?” He asked as a way to start the conversation.
“Yeah. Faith said she answered the phone one day when you had called and that she told you to just give me some space. I’m sorry.”
“Buffy, you don’t –“
“No, Jack, I’m sorry. I’m sorry I ran. I’m sorry that I hurt you for not telling you. I’m sorry for… for a lot of things.”
“Hey, things went a little crazy. It’s alright,” he assured her. One hand reached out for her leg only to hesitate. She gave him a small smile and he completed the gesture. His thumb moved back and forth over the denim-clad thigh. “So are you back? Or are you just here to get the rest of your things?”
“I’m back, if you’ll have me,” she said in a small voice, not daring to look at him.
Jack’s heart lurched. This was more than what he thought was ever possible. His hand moved from her leg to her chin, with a gentle prodding he tilted her head up so she would look at him. “Of course, I do.”
“I’m ready to go back to work at the SGC once the doctor clears me,” she hastily added, unshed tears shining in her eyes.
Jack let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah, about that.”
“Oh, don’t tell me Hammond put me down as AWOL or something.”
“No, your team is still down until Dave replaces Wells, so he was waiting before doing anything official about your… leaving.”
Her face lost all its color. “Did he – “
“He’s alive,” Jack said quickly, seeing where she was going with the question. “But he needs to relearn how to walk. He’s off rotation until then or maybe even out of the program.”
She gave him a watery smile before taking a sip of her water.
“But they’ve sort of shut down the SGC and Hammond is no longer in charge.”
“What?” She asked in surprise.
“The new president stepped in and placed us under a three-month review. Put a civilian in charge – Dr. Elizabeth Weir. Daniel’s impressed with her work.”
“But why would he take it out of military hands?” Buffy asked, surprising herself with the question. She still had some reservations about the military, but everything she had seen and experienced at the SGC had been positive.
“Who knows? Guy’s got Kinsey as his vice-president. God only knows what kind of bullshit that jackass has been feeding him.”
Buffy tried to put a good spin on it. “So we don’t go off-world for a few months. It’ll give everyone some breathing space, chance to heal, Sam and Daniel can work on some of their backlogs, we can – “
“There’s more,” Jack interrupted.
“More? As in I’m not allowed back, or not on Dave’s team? What?”
Jack stood and crossed the room to stand in front of one of the large windows. “While you were gone, something happened on my last mission. I let my head get sucked by one of those Ancient Repositories.”
“What?” Buffy cried out, quickly rising to her feet, only to gasp out in pain.
He turned around and hurried over to her side. With gently and practiced hands, he eased he back onto the sofa. “I didn’t have much of a choice, Buffy. We need to find the location of the Lost City, Anubis’ fleet was already there raining down fire trying to get to the same knowledge, and out of my team I was the only acceptable loss.”
“You are not an acceptable loss!”
“Out of the four, make that three cause the devices don’t recognize Teal’c, I’m not the one who’s needed later on to translate words and deeds when someone goes Ancient.” He watched as reluctant understanding dawned on her feature before pressing on. “It gets worse.”
“Worse? How could this get worse?”
“We can’t reach Thor or any of the Asgard to remove this stuff from my head.”
Tears welled up in Buffy’s eyes again. “That means you’re dying and we can’t stop it.”
“No, we can’t,” he said softly. One hand reached out to brush the tears off her cheeks. “I’m so glad you’re here before things got worse and I wouldn’t be able to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“I want you to know that I had planned on doing this earlier and not just because of what’s happening now. I was going to tell you after your last mission but things went to hell and you disappeared. Thought my time had passed.”
Buffy’s stomach knotted as he spoke. She had never seen this look on his face before and it scared her. “Jack, just tell me,” she pleaded, setting her bottle of water on the coffee table.
“I love you.”
It seemed this afternoon was filled with one shock after another for her. Eyes widened and her jaw dropped slightly. “You what?” She asked in a low tone.
“I love you,” he repeated, softly but firmly. “I have for a long time.”
With both hands she shoved him hard on the chest causing him to fall backwards onto the floor. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m just – “
“I know what you think you’re doing! This is completely unfair for you to be burdening me with this now,” she said, rising to her feet despite the protest of her body.
“Burden? This shouldn’t be a burden.”
“Jack! You’re dying! There’s nothing we can do to stop it. What makes you think that now is a good time for this?”
“Because I didn’t want to die without you knowing the truth,” he said, surging to his feet.
“Yeah? Well I could have lived with that,” she snarled, turning and storming out the door.
“Damn it,” Jack yelled. He picked up a beer bottle and threw it at the stone fireplace. Looking down at the broken shards he said, “This sucks.”
XXXXXXXX
Dave laughed as he picked up his youngest son on his way to answer the door. Matthew was trying to insert his belief that he could answer the door on his own now. “Not quite big enough,” Dave teased, throwing the boy over his shoulder so he hung upside down over his back.
His smile faded when he opened the door. “Summers,” he said levelly.
“Daddy! Let me see!” Matthew cried, squirming in his father’s arm as he tried to get a better look. When he finally up righted himself, he squealed in delight. “Buffy! Daddy, lemme down! Lemme down!”
Dave gently set the boy down. His feet no sooner hit the ground then he was making a beeline for Buffy. He wrapped his little arms around her legs.
“Hey, munchkin. I’d squat down to give you a hug, but I’m a little sore at the moment.”
“It’s okay,” he said looking up at her. “I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” she said, a genuine smile creeping across her tearstained face.
“Matthew, why don’t you go inside? Summers and I need to talk.”
“’Kay, daddy. I’ll go tell mommy she’s here,” he said, giving Buffy another squeeze before leaving.
Dave stepped out onto the porch and shut the door behind him. “You’ve got a lot of nerve showing up like this.”
“I know, Dave. I wanted to apolo-“
“Apologies aren’t going to cut it this time. We were your team. Hell! We were more than that – friends. Damn near family. You walked out on us. I don’t know what in the hell your problem was, only that you couldn’t trust us with it. Which means you don’t trust us.”
Tears began streaming down Buffy’s face anew. “I do trust you. There were things going on in my head – “
“That you could’ve talked to us about!” Dave pointed out. “Wells and Balinsky think they screwed up, but we both know who’s at fault.”
Buffy blanched. “You mean you know?” She choked out.
“That you ran because you were scared? That you didn’t want to confront something? Hell yeah I noticed.”
She sank to her knees. “I thought… thought you meant it was my fault Simon was hurt and that Janet was killed.”
“Summers, what in the hell are you goin’ on about?” Dave asked in total confusion.
“I messed up back there and that’s why – “
“No such thing happened you crazy woman. Where did you come up with that idea?”
“Because it was,” she cried. “I nearly got Jack killed.”
Sharon opened the door and the two of them turned to look at her. “David James Dixon, get your sorry behind in this house now! How dare you yell at her?”
“This is work related.”
“I get that, but the girl is in tears and she’s hurting. I think she’s had enough for now. You can talk to her later.”
“Sharon – “
“David!” she said, her eyes hard and chin stubbornly thrust out.
For a moment it looked like he was going to push the issue, but he finally growled, “Yes, ma’am.” He turned to Buffy. “We’ll finish this later.”
“Looking forward to it,” she said meekly. Once he went into the house she turned to Sharon. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. I’ll just go.”
“You’ll do no such thing, sugah. You’re gonna march yourself into my kitchen and have a seat. I told you I’d always be there to help, now come on.”
The small woman bustled Buffy into the house and into the cheery kitchen. “Now you just sit down at the island while I fix you a cup of tea,” Sharon said with a sympathetic smile before moving about her kitchen.
Buffy felt her nerves calm as she watched the simple domesticity of Sharon’s actions. Though the woman was made of pure steel she had softened edges that reminded Buffy of her own mother. Before long, Sharon sat a cup of hot chamomile tea in front of her.
“Drink up. It’ll help.”
As Buffy took a sip, Sharon turned back to cleaning up the room. Once she had given Buffy some time to compose herself, she sat down on the other stool. “Don’t let my David worry you with all that yellin’. Just means he likes you. Your runnin’ off had him scared. Wanna tell me what happened?”
“I was scared,” she said with a small shrug, staring into her mug. “I screwed up and people got hurt – like Simon and Jack, or killed. I lost my sister less than a year ago and I couldn’t face losing someone else that I… I couldn’t lose Jack, too, and I didn’t want to be there when it happened.
“Of course you didn’t,” Sharon said, patting Buffy’s knee. “Nobody wants to watch their loved one die. But did you think it would hurt any less from afar? Not knowin’?”
”It wasn’t any better,” Buffy admitted.
“Is that why you came back?”
“Partially.”
“And what about these new injuries?” Sharon tisked, carefully holding Buffy’s chin to examine her face. “You weren’t out lookin’ for a fight were you?”
“Kind of, but still in the line of duty. Just a bit rougher than usual and made me rethink some things.”
“Like you wanted to be back here with your man?” Sharon asked with a knowing smile.
“Yeah, but I think I’ve screwed that up, too.”
Sharon sighed. “Oh sugah. You’ve got problems left and right, don’t ya? Tell you what, you can stay here for as long as you need to straighten things out with Jack.”
“No, I couldn’t.”
“Nonsense, won’t be a problem. I’ll just tell David where he can stick it,” she whispered causing Buffy to let out a small laugh.
