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Fic: Undertow 3/?
Title: Undertow
By: Polgara
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own none of the recognizable characters. They belong to their respective creators and distributors.
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!
A/N4: Just because I'm using Fragile Balance in this fic doesn't mean I'm rewriting every scene - just the ones Buffy factors into.
Chapter Three
Buffy growled in frustration at the computer screen. When she went home to Cleveland later, she owed Willow lots of mochaccinos. She had never truly appreciated Willow’s computer talents until now. Even doing a simple search through their database was eluding her.
She never knew there were so many ways to magically reverse someone’s age and she wondered why nobody had employed them before now. Although, all of the nasty side effects were probably huge deterrents. The problem with all of her findings was that the spells were to be performed on the caster. Which meant if there was a spell to be cast on someone else, it was not in their database.
Deciding to take a break, she got up and stretched. She wondered how Jack was faring at work. The fact that he was sure that his people wouldn’t freak had her a little curious. She was beginning to think that she should have investigated him back when he had come out of retirement to do whatever it was that he did. But she respected his privacy and his loyalty to his job too much to actually go through with it. Of course, it would have meant revealing her friendship with him to Willow, the only person she knew capable of hacking into top secret programs.
And speaking of research, she had probably better get back to Jack’s current problem.
XXXXXXXX
The still young Jack O’Neill sat slumped in the back of Daniel’s Jeep. It had been exhausting to continually try and convince everyone that he was who he said he was. They had finally believed him after running a DNA test.
Now he was about to endure another torturous task. They wanted to run tests and investigate his home. Which meant he had to introduce his team to Buffy, and then somehow stave off her curiosity about their presence and what sort of things they were going to be looking for. He could always tell her the truth about the last part, which was he didn’t know himself.
Daniel parked his Jeep and they all got out. Jack stopped them before they reached the door. “Umm, guys, maybe you should let me go in and warn Buffy.” His team looked at him in confusion and he rolled his eyes. “She can get jumpy if you surprise her. I don’t want any of you to get hurt.”
“Buffy Summers did not appear to be a threat,” Teal’c said, his head tilted slightly. “Why would you fear for our safety?”
“Trust me on this. There’s more to her than what meets the eye. Just let me prepare her for you.”
“Go ahead, sir,” Sam said, just as perplexed about whom Buffy really was as the others.
“Be right back,” he said with a grin. He opened the door and went towards his office. “Hey, Buffy!”
“Jack! You’re home,” she said in surprise, meeting him in the hallway. “Still little you, huh?”
“For the moment,” he said with a grimace. “Uh, my team is here to look over the house. I just wanted to warn you so you didn’t attack.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” she said dryly.
He ignored her and said, “I told them to wait in the Jeep until I had warned you.”
“What did you say to convince them?”
“That you were jumpy and I didn’t want them to get hurt,” he said simply.
“Oh that’s good, Jack. Now they think I’m some sort of psycho who attacks people without reason. Not to mention I don’t look like I could hurt most people, let alone trained military officers. Way to make them suspicious. Does secret identity girl mean nothing to you?” She asked sourly.
His eyes lost their humor. “That was uncalled for. I had only meant that you had been through a lot in the past few weeks.”
“Sorry, it’s just been a long day,” she said, rubbing her bleary eyes.
“Found nothing?”
“A big fat zip.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out,” he said wearily. “Let me go get the others.”
Buffy tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and made her way to the front door. She carefully studied the three people following Jack into his house. Based on Jack’s previous descriptions of them she could easily guess who everyone was. The tall blonde woman was Major Samantha Carter, the large black man was probably Teal’c, and the last guy had to be Jonas, the newest addition to his team. She frowned slightly and looked back at Teal’c. Something felt… off about him.
“Buffy, this is Carter, Teal’c…”
“Jack.”
“What?”
She squinted her eyes slightly and then flicked them briefly at Teal’c. He frowned and gave her an almost imperceptible shake of his head. She repeated the gesture and this time he smirked at her. An elegantly shaped eyebrow arched at him and he merely shrugged.
“Sir,” Sam said hesitantly.
“It’s okay, Carter. Just a friendly little chat,” he said in a tone that clearly suggested for her to drop the matter. He braced himself for the final introduction. “And this is Daniel Jackson.”
“What happened to Jonas?” She asked in surprise.
“He went back home.”
“Oh, okay… Wait a minute. Weren’t you dead?” She asked Daniel.
“Would you believe that it was an exaggerated rumor?” He asked hopefully.
“If I was back home, I’d say yes. But since I’m not, I’ll ask what the hell is going on?”
“Buffy, he just… well he…”
“Jack! You told me that you had watched him die in the infirmary. It’s not like he went missing and you just thought he was dead,” she argued.
“I can’t tell,” he said.
“Jack.”
“Buffy.”
“Jack!”
“I have two words for you, Summers – Secret Indentity.”
She glared at him and ground out between clenched teeth, “Fine. Where do you want to start?”
“How about with what you ate for dinner last night?” Sam suggested, heading towards the kitchen.
“Won’t show anything,” Buffy said, causing the Major to stop and turn around to face her.
“Why not?”
“We ate the same food,” Buffy replied. “I just fixed some spaghetti, salad, and toasted garlic bread. If it was the food I’d be younger, too.”
“You fixed the dinner?” Carter asked, her voice laced with slight suspicion.
“Carter, she was alone with me all weekend. Why would she wait until last night to try anything?” Jack asked in exasperation.
“Sorry, Buffy.”
“’S okay. Not knowing me, I would have suspected me, too,” she said with a smile. Her eyes kept flicking over to Teal’c.
Sam looked over at Jack. “Where was the last time you remember being… older?”
He shrugged. “When I went to bed.”
“Must have happened while you were asleep,” Daniel deduced.
Buffy lagged behind as the other filed into Jack’s bedroom. She leaned on the doorframe and watched as they moved about. It bothered her that Jack blew off her warning about Teal’c. He didn’t feel like a demon or even evil, just different. Jack suggested that he already knew and was cool with it. She trusted Jack and she knew he trusted Teal’c, but without knowing why Teal’c bothered her, she couldn’t get her inner slayer to relax.
She drifted out of her thoughts in time to hear Sam ask, “Are you sure, sir?”
“Positive.”
“Then we need to head back to the base,” Sam said. “There’s nothing more for us here.”
“Fine. Just let me talk to Buffy first,” he said.
Teal’c stopped next to Buffy and bowed his head. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Buffy Summers.”
“You, too,” she said, trying to smile.
Sam and Daniel both smiled at her and said goodbye as they walked passed.
“You can stop your research,” he told her. “We know what caused this, we just don’t know why yet.”
“I kind of zoned for a minute there, what happened?”
“It’s classified,” he said with a sigh.
“Damn it, Jack! How can I help you if you won’t tell me anything?”
“You’re not here to help me, you’re here for you,” he reminded her gently. “Don’t worry about me. Carter will fix this.”
“What are you mixed up in?”
“I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. Maybe one day I’ll be able to explain this to you, but until then…”
“And what’s up with Teal’c?”
“I can’t tell you that either.”
She began pacing in his bedroom. “This isn’t fair, Jack. You know my secret. It didn’t bother me not knowing yours before, but now that I’m here and it could affect me… It makes my spidey-sense go wacky.”
Jack stepped in her path and wrapped his arms around her. “I know.”
“I hate to say this, but this just feels weird,” she admitted. “I mean, you smell like you, and the arms are still good for the holding, but it’s…”
“Weird, I know. Just think how this feels for me,” he said, suddenly thankful that she was there for him.
“Ugh, I can only imagine,” she said.
XXXXXXXX
The next several days passed very slowly for Buffy. Jack was forced to remain on base until they figured out how to reverse his de-aging. That meant Buffy had been left all alone at his house and with no means of transportation.
She spent the days roaming his house and watching his Simpson collection. Her thoughts kept straying to her now dead sister and that no matter how hard she had tried to protect her, she died anyways. She supposed that she should have been grateful for what time she had had with her, but it was hard.
The monks had entrusted Dawn’s care and safety to her and she had failed. Well, not really. She had kept her safe from Glory, and that had been their original intent. But she had felt it deeper than that and her senseless death affected her accordingly.
On top of all of that, she was worried about Jack. During their nightly phone calls, he had confessed that there was another problem – he was dying. Something was wrong with the cells in his body and he wasn’t sure how much time he had left. He didn’t sound too concerned, but she knew differently. It wasn’t fair to him that his life should end this way. He deserved better.
She sat on his sofa, mired in her dark thoughts and worry. She was heedless of the darkening sky outside as she waited for good news.
XXXXXXXX
Jack paced nervously inside his room on the base. The entire situation sucked. First, he woke up in a decidedly teenage body. While at times he wished he were younger so he could have a chance with Buffy, this was definitely not what he had in mind. Then to find out that their supposed friends, the Asgard, were the ones responsible for this. And if that wasn’t enough, he was dying on top of all of that.
Life sucked.
He knew that the Tok’ra meant well with putting him stasis until they figured out what was wrong and how to fix it, but his last experience with them didn’t leave him all trust-having. He trusted Jacob, and Selmak wasn’t bad for a snake. It was the others that he had problems with.
If he took the Tok’ra up on their offer it meant that Buffy would never know the true reason for his disappearance when she needed him the most. This situation wasn’t exactly fair to her either.
Running a hand through his hair, Jack made a decision. He was going to tell Buffy the truth about everything. He’d rather die that way than for her to lose him in ignorance. She had been through too much to not know the truth.
A plan formed quickly in his head. He hid behind the door and called in the SF that was waiting outside the door. When he entered, the young O’Neill knocked him out from behind. He left the room and shut the door behind him. He moved easily down the hall, trying not to draw attention to himself. As he reached the elevator, he heard Sam’s voice over the intercom announcing his escape. He swiped his security card and slipped onto the elevator. Running feet could be heard approaching as the doors slid shut.
The elevator stopped after going up several floors. Peering carefully out, he could see the coast was clear. He climbed into a vent shaft and began crawling. After what seemed like forever, he opened another grate as the hall grew silent again. He walked the few feet to the door that opened to the shaft to the surface. He knew that once out, he could easily hitch a ride into town.
XXXXXXXX
Jack ran into his house to see Buffy sitting in his living room. “Pack a couple of things and call for a cab,” he told her, heading back towards his bedroom.
Buffy jumped up and followed him. “Jack, what is…”
“No time to talk, I’ll explain later. Hurry!”
She sent him a strange look, but made the phone call and went to pack. Fifteen minutes later they climbed into a taxi with their bags and Jack’s fishing gear. He gave the driver the address and they were off.
“Jack?”
“Just a little longer, I promise.”
A short while later they were dropped off at the local car rental. Buffy went in, paid for the car, and then they were on the road again.
Since they were alone, Buffy looked over at Jack who was driving and asked, “What’s going on?”
“I sort of went AWOL.”
“What?!”
“Things were getting worse and I decided that if I was going to die, it was not going to be on that base. I needed to get out and I knew they would never let me. So I snuck out.”
“Jack, you’re going to be in huge trouble when they catch you. And me! I’m aiding and abetting here!”
“I’d have to be alive when they catch me.”
Tears welled up in her hazel eyes and she quickly looked away. “That’s not funny. I just lost Dawn, I don’t think I could handle losing you, too.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that this is so damn frustrating,” he said, risking a glance at her before turning his gaze back to the road. “There’s something that a friend might be able to do to help me, but it would mean I’d be gone for a long time.”
“So do it.”
“Not until I explained a few things to you.”
“Like what?” She asked, wiping the moisture from her eyes.
“Let’s get to my fishing hole first. This will take a while.”
“You mean you got permission?”
He grinned. “No, but I’m gonna tell you anyway.”
They rode in silence as they headed out of Colorado Springs to one of the smaller outlying towns. Jack stopped once to buy some bait and then they entered the surrounding forest. He pulled the car off the dirt road and they got out. He led her on a narrow path to a stream.
Once they were settled, Buffy took the opportunity to say, “I can’t believe you wanted me to buy you beer. You’re in a teenage body, that’s just wrong.”
“That’s the only problem I’ve ever had with you, Buffy. Your aversion to beer.”
“Yeah, well beer bad. You’d think so too if you had gone all cavewoman.”
He smiled over at her as he cast his line. “Been there, actually. Not the woman part, but I’ve gone Neanderthal.”
“You have not,” she said with a laugh.
“Have too,” he said, suddenly serious.
She sobered. “Jack… What’s going on?”
“Well, it all started in Egypt…”
By: Polgara
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I own none of the recognizable characters. They belong to their respective creators and distributors.
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!
A/N4: Just because I'm using Fragile Balance in this fic doesn't mean I'm rewriting every scene - just the ones Buffy factors into.
Chapter Three
Buffy growled in frustration at the computer screen. When she went home to Cleveland later, she owed Willow lots of mochaccinos. She had never truly appreciated Willow’s computer talents until now. Even doing a simple search through their database was eluding her.
She never knew there were so many ways to magically reverse someone’s age and she wondered why nobody had employed them before now. Although, all of the nasty side effects were probably huge deterrents. The problem with all of her findings was that the spells were to be performed on the caster. Which meant if there was a spell to be cast on someone else, it was not in their database.
Deciding to take a break, she got up and stretched. She wondered how Jack was faring at work. The fact that he was sure that his people wouldn’t freak had her a little curious. She was beginning to think that she should have investigated him back when he had come out of retirement to do whatever it was that he did. But she respected his privacy and his loyalty to his job too much to actually go through with it. Of course, it would have meant revealing her friendship with him to Willow, the only person she knew capable of hacking into top secret programs.
And speaking of research, she had probably better get back to Jack’s current problem.
XXXXXXXX
The still young Jack O’Neill sat slumped in the back of Daniel’s Jeep. It had been exhausting to continually try and convince everyone that he was who he said he was. They had finally believed him after running a DNA test.
Now he was about to endure another torturous task. They wanted to run tests and investigate his home. Which meant he had to introduce his team to Buffy, and then somehow stave off her curiosity about their presence and what sort of things they were going to be looking for. He could always tell her the truth about the last part, which was he didn’t know himself.
Daniel parked his Jeep and they all got out. Jack stopped them before they reached the door. “Umm, guys, maybe you should let me go in and warn Buffy.” His team looked at him in confusion and he rolled his eyes. “She can get jumpy if you surprise her. I don’t want any of you to get hurt.”
“Buffy Summers did not appear to be a threat,” Teal’c said, his head tilted slightly. “Why would you fear for our safety?”
“Trust me on this. There’s more to her than what meets the eye. Just let me prepare her for you.”
“Go ahead, sir,” Sam said, just as perplexed about whom Buffy really was as the others.
“Be right back,” he said with a grin. He opened the door and went towards his office. “Hey, Buffy!”
“Jack! You’re home,” she said in surprise, meeting him in the hallway. “Still little you, huh?”
“For the moment,” he said with a grimace. “Uh, my team is here to look over the house. I just wanted to warn you so you didn’t attack.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” she said dryly.
He ignored her and said, “I told them to wait in the Jeep until I had warned you.”
“What did you say to convince them?”
“That you were jumpy and I didn’t want them to get hurt,” he said simply.
“Oh that’s good, Jack. Now they think I’m some sort of psycho who attacks people without reason. Not to mention I don’t look like I could hurt most people, let alone trained military officers. Way to make them suspicious. Does secret identity girl mean nothing to you?” She asked sourly.
His eyes lost their humor. “That was uncalled for. I had only meant that you had been through a lot in the past few weeks.”
“Sorry, it’s just been a long day,” she said, rubbing her bleary eyes.
“Found nothing?”
“A big fat zip.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll figure this out,” he said wearily. “Let me go get the others.”
Buffy tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear and made her way to the front door. She carefully studied the three people following Jack into his house. Based on Jack’s previous descriptions of them she could easily guess who everyone was. The tall blonde woman was Major Samantha Carter, the large black man was probably Teal’c, and the last guy had to be Jonas, the newest addition to his team. She frowned slightly and looked back at Teal’c. Something felt… off about him.
“Buffy, this is Carter, Teal’c…”
“Jack.”
“What?”
She squinted her eyes slightly and then flicked them briefly at Teal’c. He frowned and gave her an almost imperceptible shake of his head. She repeated the gesture and this time he smirked at her. An elegantly shaped eyebrow arched at him and he merely shrugged.
“Sir,” Sam said hesitantly.
“It’s okay, Carter. Just a friendly little chat,” he said in a tone that clearly suggested for her to drop the matter. He braced himself for the final introduction. “And this is Daniel Jackson.”
“What happened to Jonas?” She asked in surprise.
“He went back home.”
“Oh, okay… Wait a minute. Weren’t you dead?” She asked Daniel.
“Would you believe that it was an exaggerated rumor?” He asked hopefully.
“If I was back home, I’d say yes. But since I’m not, I’ll ask what the hell is going on?”
“Buffy, he just… well he…”
“Jack! You told me that you had watched him die in the infirmary. It’s not like he went missing and you just thought he was dead,” she argued.
“I can’t tell,” he said.
“Jack.”
“Buffy.”
“Jack!”
“I have two words for you, Summers – Secret Indentity.”
She glared at him and ground out between clenched teeth, “Fine. Where do you want to start?”
“How about with what you ate for dinner last night?” Sam suggested, heading towards the kitchen.
“Won’t show anything,” Buffy said, causing the Major to stop and turn around to face her.
“Why not?”
“We ate the same food,” Buffy replied. “I just fixed some spaghetti, salad, and toasted garlic bread. If it was the food I’d be younger, too.”
“You fixed the dinner?” Carter asked, her voice laced with slight suspicion.
“Carter, she was alone with me all weekend. Why would she wait until last night to try anything?” Jack asked in exasperation.
“Sorry, Buffy.”
“’S okay. Not knowing me, I would have suspected me, too,” she said with a smile. Her eyes kept flicking over to Teal’c.
Sam looked over at Jack. “Where was the last time you remember being… older?”
He shrugged. “When I went to bed.”
“Must have happened while you were asleep,” Daniel deduced.
Buffy lagged behind as the other filed into Jack’s bedroom. She leaned on the doorframe and watched as they moved about. It bothered her that Jack blew off her warning about Teal’c. He didn’t feel like a demon or even evil, just different. Jack suggested that he already knew and was cool with it. She trusted Jack and she knew he trusted Teal’c, but without knowing why Teal’c bothered her, she couldn’t get her inner slayer to relax.
She drifted out of her thoughts in time to hear Sam ask, “Are you sure, sir?”
“Positive.”
“Then we need to head back to the base,” Sam said. “There’s nothing more for us here.”
“Fine. Just let me talk to Buffy first,” he said.
Teal’c stopped next to Buffy and bowed his head. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Buffy Summers.”
“You, too,” she said, trying to smile.
Sam and Daniel both smiled at her and said goodbye as they walked passed.
“You can stop your research,” he told her. “We know what caused this, we just don’t know why yet.”
“I kind of zoned for a minute there, what happened?”
“It’s classified,” he said with a sigh.
“Damn it, Jack! How can I help you if you won’t tell me anything?”
“You’re not here to help me, you’re here for you,” he reminded her gently. “Don’t worry about me. Carter will fix this.”
“What are you mixed up in?”
“I wish I could tell you, but I can’t. Maybe one day I’ll be able to explain this to you, but until then…”
“And what’s up with Teal’c?”
“I can’t tell you that either.”
She began pacing in his bedroom. “This isn’t fair, Jack. You know my secret. It didn’t bother me not knowing yours before, but now that I’m here and it could affect me… It makes my spidey-sense go wacky.”
Jack stepped in her path and wrapped his arms around her. “I know.”
“I hate to say this, but this just feels weird,” she admitted. “I mean, you smell like you, and the arms are still good for the holding, but it’s…”
“Weird, I know. Just think how this feels for me,” he said, suddenly thankful that she was there for him.
“Ugh, I can only imagine,” she said.
XXXXXXXX
The next several days passed very slowly for Buffy. Jack was forced to remain on base until they figured out how to reverse his de-aging. That meant Buffy had been left all alone at his house and with no means of transportation.
She spent the days roaming his house and watching his Simpson collection. Her thoughts kept straying to her now dead sister and that no matter how hard she had tried to protect her, she died anyways. She supposed that she should have been grateful for what time she had had with her, but it was hard.
The monks had entrusted Dawn’s care and safety to her and she had failed. Well, not really. She had kept her safe from Glory, and that had been their original intent. But she had felt it deeper than that and her senseless death affected her accordingly.
On top of all of that, she was worried about Jack. During their nightly phone calls, he had confessed that there was another problem – he was dying. Something was wrong with the cells in his body and he wasn’t sure how much time he had left. He didn’t sound too concerned, but she knew differently. It wasn’t fair to him that his life should end this way. He deserved better.
She sat on his sofa, mired in her dark thoughts and worry. She was heedless of the darkening sky outside as she waited for good news.
XXXXXXXX
Jack paced nervously inside his room on the base. The entire situation sucked. First, he woke up in a decidedly teenage body. While at times he wished he were younger so he could have a chance with Buffy, this was definitely not what he had in mind. Then to find out that their supposed friends, the Asgard, were the ones responsible for this. And if that wasn’t enough, he was dying on top of all of that.
Life sucked.
He knew that the Tok’ra meant well with putting him stasis until they figured out what was wrong and how to fix it, but his last experience with them didn’t leave him all trust-having. He trusted Jacob, and Selmak wasn’t bad for a snake. It was the others that he had problems with.
If he took the Tok’ra up on their offer it meant that Buffy would never know the true reason for his disappearance when she needed him the most. This situation wasn’t exactly fair to her either.
Running a hand through his hair, Jack made a decision. He was going to tell Buffy the truth about everything. He’d rather die that way than for her to lose him in ignorance. She had been through too much to not know the truth.
A plan formed quickly in his head. He hid behind the door and called in the SF that was waiting outside the door. When he entered, the young O’Neill knocked him out from behind. He left the room and shut the door behind him. He moved easily down the hall, trying not to draw attention to himself. As he reached the elevator, he heard Sam’s voice over the intercom announcing his escape. He swiped his security card and slipped onto the elevator. Running feet could be heard approaching as the doors slid shut.
The elevator stopped after going up several floors. Peering carefully out, he could see the coast was clear. He climbed into a vent shaft and began crawling. After what seemed like forever, he opened another grate as the hall grew silent again. He walked the few feet to the door that opened to the shaft to the surface. He knew that once out, he could easily hitch a ride into town.
XXXXXXXX
Jack ran into his house to see Buffy sitting in his living room. “Pack a couple of things and call for a cab,” he told her, heading back towards his bedroom.
Buffy jumped up and followed him. “Jack, what is…”
“No time to talk, I’ll explain later. Hurry!”
She sent him a strange look, but made the phone call and went to pack. Fifteen minutes later they climbed into a taxi with their bags and Jack’s fishing gear. He gave the driver the address and they were off.
“Jack?”
“Just a little longer, I promise.”
A short while later they were dropped off at the local car rental. Buffy went in, paid for the car, and then they were on the road again.
Since they were alone, Buffy looked over at Jack who was driving and asked, “What’s going on?”
“I sort of went AWOL.”
“What?!”
“Things were getting worse and I decided that if I was going to die, it was not going to be on that base. I needed to get out and I knew they would never let me. So I snuck out.”
“Jack, you’re going to be in huge trouble when they catch you. And me! I’m aiding and abetting here!”
“I’d have to be alive when they catch me.”
Tears welled up in her hazel eyes and she quickly looked away. “That’s not funny. I just lost Dawn, I don’t think I could handle losing you, too.”
“I’m sorry. It’s just that this is so damn frustrating,” he said, risking a glance at her before turning his gaze back to the road. “There’s something that a friend might be able to do to help me, but it would mean I’d be gone for a long time.”
“So do it.”
“Not until I explained a few things to you.”
“Like what?” She asked, wiping the moisture from her eyes.
“Let’s get to my fishing hole first. This will take a while.”
“You mean you got permission?”
He grinned. “No, but I’m gonna tell you anyway.”
They rode in silence as they headed out of Colorado Springs to one of the smaller outlying towns. Jack stopped once to buy some bait and then they entered the surrounding forest. He pulled the car off the dirt road and they got out. He led her on a narrow path to a stream.
Once they were settled, Buffy took the opportunity to say, “I can’t believe you wanted me to buy you beer. You’re in a teenage body, that’s just wrong.”
“That’s the only problem I’ve ever had with you, Buffy. Your aversion to beer.”
“Yeah, well beer bad. You’d think so too if you had gone all cavewoman.”
He smiled over at her as he cast his line. “Been there, actually. Not the woman part, but I’ve gone Neanderthal.”
“You have not,” she said with a laugh.
“Have too,” he said, suddenly serious.
She sobered. “Jack… What’s going on?”
“Well, it all started in Egypt…”