Title: Daddy Dearest 1
Rating: R (For Language later)
Relationships: F/X
Story: Action\Adventure\Angst
Feedback: In lieu of a Faithbot yeah.
E-Mail: KeithWrestle@Yahoo.Co.uk
Disclaimer:
Anyone who thinks they're mine, well send Faith
and Cordelia round to my house. They've strayed again. Have to get them some
collars.
A:N: As regards cannon and time lines, this story takes place about a year and a half after S7 in Buffy and sticks pretty closely to that show’s Canon, while SG-1’s diverges from just before the end of S7.
FIC: Daddy Dearest
O’Neill threw the prophecy translation down on the conference room table in disgust. “This is crap!”
“Colonel.”
He ignored his commanding officer’s warning mutter as he stared around the briefing room to the members of his team. “I’m sorry Daniel but you must have translated wrong.”
“You want a go?”
He glared at the archaeologist. “Me muscle. You brains.”
“The Ancients didn’t download a bunch of stuff into my brain,” his friend countered.
Jack smirked. “That was only because you and Carter’s are already filled with so much stuff.” He turned serious. “Look. My only son, Charlie,” just mentioning his son’s name was like a dagger to the heart, “is dead. That’s it, the end. I’m the last O’Neill.”
“That is not strictly correct O’Neill.”
He shrieked girlishly when Thor orbed in beside him. “Damn it Thor! I’m getting too old for you doing that crap!”
“I apologise O’Neill, but the continuance of your race is of utmost importance to the Asgard,” the three foot alien explained. “When the prophecy came to light we did a scan of Earth’s population using some of Lok-,” he growled warningly at the name of the rogue Asgard. “Using some DNA reading equipment we’d acquired,” the bug-eyed alien smoothly changed what he’d been about to say, saving him from the ass kicking to end all ass kickings. “And found you do in fact have an off-spring, a mighty and legendary warrior.”
O’Neill blinked and smiled slowly. A mighty and legendary warrior? That sounded pretty good. “Where is he?”
“She,” the Asgard corrected. “I shall bring her to you.” The alien disappeared in a beam of light.
“Sh-,” his voice trailed off. “I hate it when he does that.”
“Indeed,” Teal’C commented from the corner.
* * *
A Paris Hotel Room.
Faith grinned down at the perspiring one-eyed man lying beneath her. “Need a break X?” she purred.
“I like this position just fine,” Xander grinned up at her.
Faith chuckled throatily. “Good answer.” As she lowered her head to kiss her boyfriend, she thought how much her life had changed in the eighteen months since she’d escaped from prison.
The first few weeks after fleeing Sunnydale had passed in an idyllic daze, caught up in the twin buzzes of being out of prison and pardoned thanks to the Council, and having found this guy who actually wanted to be with her not just ‘get some & get one’. But then she’d started noticing things, the way Wood would treat her like she was some sort of mother substitute, and talk to the others like they weren’t shit.
That rankled. She didn’t like B, thought she was pretty much a stuck-up bitch but you had to respect her Slaying exploits – Lothos, the Master, her, ADAM, Glory, and the First, a pretty impressive record even if her personal skills sucked ass.
Still, she’d held her tongue, uncertain if anyone else would want to be a couple with her, a former jailbird with a reputation for spreading ‘em at just a cute smile. But she’d seen a lot of bad shit, Wood talking down to G, G the smartest fucking person in history as far as she was concerned, and giving orders to X, telling them they couldn’t afford to carry passengers.
X, a passenger? Just the thought was almost enough to make her laugh. If it hadn’t been for the lifeless look in Xan’s remaining eye, the way he shuffled rather than walked, and how his shoulders slumped. Anya’s death had torn the poor guy apart, and she’d wanted to comfort the guy, offer her condolences somehow. ‘Cept she still hadn’t gotten the balls to apologise for trying to kill him.
And then it happened.
A bunch of the girls had been training in the gym when one of the practice dummies had broken, nothing major just one of those things that had happened when a bunch of super-girls got together and pounded the snot out of the stuff. Trouble was when the thing had broken splinters had flown off, one cutting Wood just under the eye.
Furious, Wood had stormed out looking for the guy who’d made the thing – Xander. She’d chased after the teacher, trying to cool Wood off but to no avail. Once he’d found him, the principal had started to insult X, but the carpenter had just taken it.
Until Wood had mentioned Anya’s death was no reason for Xander to take his eye off the ball.
At that, X had erupted and attacked her boyfriend. At first she’d just dragged the carpenter off Wood, figuring her boyfriend would just back off. Instead the SOB had hit Xander while she had him restrained.
She’d just snapped, her mind flashing back to the night she’d almost strangled X to death. She’d failed in her duty to him that night, but now…. The next thing she knew, three junior Slayers were dragging her off Wood, having just beaten the former principal unconscious.
At first she thought she was fucked, having managed to punch and kick her way back into the big house. Instead Giles had just smirked, damn the old guy couldn’t half look scary when he wanted to, and said given the facts Wood had got exactly what he’d been asking for for some considerable time. Then he’d got all librarian serious, she remembered that from back in the day, and told her that she had a new very important assignment. She’d been ready for anything – master vampire to slay, apocalypse to avert, or evil mage to track down. But what the Council Head had said instead had rocked her.
He wanted her to help Xander.
She’d been scared shitless by the assignment. She’d seen how he reacted to B, G, and the others, they were lucky if they just got ignored, but G had told her Xan had real potential to be a good Watcher once he got over the Anya stuff. The hell of it was Faith knew G was right, Xan wasn’t the brightest on the book stuff but he was always the man with a plan, he was brave, loyal, trust-worthy, and pretty handy in a fight for a normal. In the end, they’d struck a deal, Faith got the Council resources to do what the hell she wanted, X wasn’t approved for duty until she said so, and when he was, she could have him for her Watcher if he agreed. If she had to have a Watcher, she was having one of her choice.
The next four months had been difficult. Using Council money, she’d hired a ranch in Arizona miles from the nearest town, bought in a bunch of exercise equipment – weights, sparring gear, and the like, made sure the house was free of booze and started training Xan.
They’d rise at six, not a time in the day she liked, and start the day with a four mile run, adding a mile every third week, ignoring Xander’s wheezing protests. Then they’d have breakfast, usually something with red meat, she’d never been one for the rabbit food shit. Then she’d drag his ass into their air-conditioned basement gym and work on the weights. Faith grinned at the memory, she’d never had a guy so reluctant to get sweaty with her.
After lunch, she’d drag him back down into the basement to work on his fighting skills. Well sometimes she dragged him, other times she just flung his complaining ass over her shoulder and carried him down. It really depended on her patience levels.
And at night, she’d sit with X and listen to him talk about Anya and him together.
Those had been the hardest times, not Xan’s complaints or arguments. When he talked about Anya, she hadn’t had those sort of feelings for X, not then, but listening to the carpenter talk about his former fiancée had made her jealous and scared at the same time. She had been unable to stop herself from thinking would anyone be that sad when she died? Would the Scoobies miss her? Would anyone? She knew her mom or the many guys she’d been with wouldn’t.
Eventually she’d judged him ready for duty and they’d taken off for Africa. She’d been in the best shape she’d ever been in, like her time in prison, all she’d done was train and read, she’d picked up a thirst for reading while inside, surprised to find that unlike her mom had always said she wasn’t dumb, just ill-educated. But unlike her time inside, she’d also had the advantage of good food meaning she’d lost about five pounds of fat, replacing it with solid muscle. And got a wicked all-over tan, naked sun-bathing really kicked ass.
The changes in X had been even more dramatic, losing close to twenty-five pounds of fat and putting ten of muscle on. Throw in the eye-patch and newly-grown designer stubble, he’d started to look wicked cool, especially to a horny Faith who hadn’t got laid in all the time they’d been training together.
So, with both of them in the best shape they’d ever been in, they’d spent the next five months travelling Africa, finding Slayers, hunting demons, and generally kicking ass like only a super-hot Slayer and her ultra-cool demon hunting Watcher could. And then, had come the invite for the inaugural ‘Mass Calling’ ball. And Xan had asked her to go as his date.
At first she thought he’d meant as a Watcher accompanying Slayer deal, she’d never been too good at the whole relationship thing, until Xan had stutteringly told her he’d fallen for the ‘real’ her, whatever the hell that meant, the one who’d looked after him in the cabin for four months. She’d been scared as hell at the thought of actually dating Xan, her first relationship hadn’t gone so well – what with Wood ending up with his nose broken, jaw wired, and left leg in plaster, and she hadn’t wanted to risk her first real friendship with a guy who didn’t actually combust if you took him out into the sunlight. But in the end, she’d sucked it up and taken a chance.
And six months later she was crazy in love with X, happier than she’d ever been. And in a five star Paris hotel suite on a four-postered bed with satin sheets humping the balls off the guy she loved. A five star suite she’d hadn’t had a clue about until a few days ago when Xan had told her he had a six month anniversary surprise. Damn, he was so fucking romantic sometimes.
“X,” she whispered into her boyfriend’s ear. “You baby, are gonna,” she began to grind herself against him, “get so damn lucky.”
“I already did,” Xander grinned at her. “I got you.”
“Sweet-talking bastard,” Faith retorted. Her heart blossoming at the compliment, she kissed her baby on the forehead. “Now I’ve got -.”
* * *
“What the fuck!” Faith looked up, they sure as shit weren’t in their hotel room anymore. Instead, she glanced around, they appeared to be laid on a table in the middle of some sort of briefing room surrounded by military types. Which wasn’t the first time she’d performed for the armed forces.
“Jack O’Neill,” her skin crawled as she glanced over her shoulder to see a three foot, bug-eyed demon stood behind her. “Meet your daughter, Faith Doolan.”
FIC: Daddy Dearest (2/?)
Jack stared open-mouthed at the nubile beauty laid on top of the one-eyed man who was in turn on top of the desk. Determinedly keeping his eyes on her face and not her body, he opened his mouth to greet her, although quite what was going to say he had no idea, when Thor spoke. “Jack O’Neill, meet your daughter, Faith Doolan.”
His daughter’s head snapped round from looking at the Asgard to looking at him. His blood had barely time to begin to chill at the burning rage in her eyes when the girl, unmindful of her nudity, leapt off the desk and landed before him at an incredible speed. “You bastard!” a back-handed slap of awesome power collided into his jaw, lifting him off his seat and flinging him to the ground. “You lowlife piece of shit!” In a second, the brunette’s hands were around his neck, choking him. He reached up and tried to pull the hands loose but found it was akin to attempting to bend a steel bar.
To say this wasn’t a happy reunion was an understatement of monumental proportions. Seeing Teal’c approaching his daughter from behind, he tried to signal with his eyes for the alien to merely restrain the beautiful brunette. And instead watched in amazement when the lithe beauty shot out a flawless back heel kick that connected solidly with the Jaffa’s stomach, lifted him up, and sent him flying into the far wall. “Back off demon!” the brunette rasped. “Me and daddy are bonding!”
Now Jack was vaguely aware of the sound of the emergency klaxons blaring as he clung gamely to consciousness. “Faith,” he heard the voice and saw the face of the man who’d teleported in with his daughter hovering above the brunette’s shoulder. “Stop this, this is wrong.”
“You know what he cost me X.” The brunette didn’t ease up on her grip, although he hoped he noted a dimming in the insane gleam in her eyes. “What I had to go through!”
What did that mean, Jack wondered? “I know baby,” the man stroked at the girl’s black hair. “But you’re better than this, you know that.”
“Five by five.” The girl released her grip and straightened. And then slammed a thudding kick into his groin, causing his testicles to explode in pain and tears to stream down his face. “Oops,” he wasn’t fooled remotely by the sweetness of the brunette’s smile. “Sorry daddy dearest, that mean I won’t be getting my allowance this week? Like the last twenty-two years?” He was thankful when the sultry east coast native turned away from him to her companion. “X, some clothes.”
“Oh yeah,” the one-eyed man reddened. “Thanks,” grabbing his khaki jacket off the back of the chair he’d been flung out of, the young man started to put it on.
Faith raised an eyebrow. “For me, dumbass.”
“Ah, sure,” the young man snatched Teal’c’s jacket off his chair and threw it over to her.
The girl had barely managed to put the coat on when the door burst open and two assault rifle wielding marines rushed in. And immediately lowered their guns at the sight of his beguiling daughter. “Uh gentlemen,” Hammond commented. “Your presence is no longer needed. Dismissed.” The marines continued to stare, slack-jawed, at his daughter. “Soldiers, that is Colonel O’Neill’s daughter you are drooling at!” he waved weakly from his position on the floor. “Do you wish to incur his displeasure? Dismissed!” Instantly the suddenly pale grunts hurried out. At least someone still respected him.
There was a long silence before anyone spoke. “Well she didn’t get her looks from Jack,” Daniel commented.
“Indeed, Miss O’Neill is most fortunate.” Jack glared at the former Jaffa. Sometimes he wondered, he winced as he struggled to his feet – he was getting way too old to be getting thrown around like that, just how much of a sense of humour his friend had developed.
“Not as fortunate as her boyfriend,” replied the archaeologist before turning to Thor. “You just transported them in without waiting for them to dress?”
“Clothes are not a great issue amongst the Asgard,” the three foot alien blithely explained. “Is there something amiss Dr. Jackson?”
”Sometimes Thor,” the archaeologist shook his head. “I wonder just how well you know us.”
* * *
“Hello?” Faith’s nostrils flared at the conversation going on around her. She hated being ignored. “Still here. And,” she looked around. “Where the fuck is here anyhow?”
“Faith,” Xander muttered in her ear. “Try not to insult the nice men with guns.”
“I’ll take their guns and shove them right up their asses unless I get some fucking answers!” she roared. “Now where the fuck are we, and what is he,” she glanced towards the black beefcake who wasn’t human, despite all appearances to the contrary. “And what the fuck is that?” She directed her gaze to the three foot bulging eyed demon who’d brought her and X here. And before they’d managed to get much further than page seven of the Karma Sutra to boot. Lousy little bastard, just ‘cause he was so pig-ugly he couldn’t get any why did he have to stop every one else?
”Why me?” muttered a bald fat guy in a blue blazer. “I could be retired by now,
but no I had to get noble. And what do I get for all these extra years of
service? Another generation of O’Neills-.”
“I’m a Doolan,” she interrupted the man’s tirade.
Fatso looked at her, confused. “I beg your pardon?”
“That bastard,” she nodded towards the man who’d been briefly introduced as her father. “Hasn’t given me shit my entire life, I’m sure as hell not using his name.”
“Yes,” the soldier stared at her for second before shaking his head and offering her his hand. “I’m General Hammond of U.S. Air Force, this is a top-secret military base -.”
Figuring that it wouldn’t hurt to be friendly with the natives, she fixed boss native with one of her world-class smiles. “Good to meet ya Shiny.” Ignoring the offered hand and Xander’s strangled gasps, she patted the general on his head before glancing around and noticing her apparent father had managed to slump into a chair. Shame, she thought she’d done more damage than that. Next time she’d have to make sure X wasn’t around to do his noble drag her off act. “Now,” she dropped into one of the seats, started to put her feet up on the desk, when, realising that her jacket didn’t cover quite as much as it should, she instead placed her feet on the floor. “Ya gonna fill us in on what’s the sitch?” She smiled to herself as her boyfriend stepped behind her seat, taking up a typical Xanderlike protective position. Always the Watcher.
* * *
“Well,” rasped O’Neill, his throat was going to be hell for
the next few days. “There was -.”
“Yo dick-head,” the brunette interrupted, her tone and stare slightly less friendly than a pissed off Ra. “The less you talk, the less likely I am to reminded how much I want to kick your ass.”
“Got her father’s charm though,” Daniel muttered.
“Hey asshole,” now Faith’s glare turned on Daniel, “let’s
get some shit straight,” the man behind his newly-discovered daughter groaned.
“That dick,” Faith nodded towards him, “has fuck all to do with me. And the
only reason you’re not all six foot under by now is ‘cause X gets queasy when I
lose my temper.”
“Do I ever,” the one-eyed man groaned. “I come out in hives. Oh by the way,” the young man nodded at him, “Colonel, ice on the neck takes the swelling down a -.”
“Don’t play nice with him X,” his daughter reproved. “He’s number one on my shit list.”
“Just trying to make a good impression dear. I know what a fun place your shit-list is.”
“You lived didn’t you?”
“Just barely.”
“Excuse me!” Jack winced when General Hammond slammed his palm down on the desk. It was always a bad sign when the general lost his temper. “Who are these people Thor?”
“She is Faith O’Nei-.”
“Finish that and I’ll rip your throat out,” his daughter threatened. “The name’s Dool-,” the girl’s voice trailed off and her eyes widened. “Did he say Thor?” she looked up at her equally awe-struck boyfriend. “As in the Norse god of Thunder?”
Well at least his daughter wasn’t a complete idiot. “You see-.” He shut up at the girl’s warning growl, anyone who could back thrust kick Teal’C across the room wasn’t somebody he didn’t want to argue with without a really good reason. And an elephant tranquiliser gun.
The Asgard walked over to his daughter, his eyes filled with what Jack guessed was curiosity. “I am the Asgard Supreme Commander, daughter of O’Neill- ugh!” Jack winced as his estranged daughter lunged lightning fast at the alien, grabbed him around the throat, and lifted him into the air. Less than ten minutes in and she’s strangling the leader of their most powerful ally. She was his daughter alright, straight into the diplomatic corps, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred bucks.
“What did I just -.” The girl’s eyes widened when Thor orbed out of her clutches to his side. “I hate it when they pull shit like that!” the girl exploded.
Shaking his head, he turned to his friend. “Sorry about
that Thor,” he apologised. “My girl has anger management issues-.”
“I’m not your fucking -.”
Jack blinked as the young man stood behind his daughter clamped his hand over her mouth. The guy was either suicidal, insane, or just brave beyond belief. Or maybe a mix of all three. “Dear, this jacket isn’t nearly long enough, and I’m getting a draught right up my ass, so we could move the explanations on a little?”
Thor stopped rubbing his throat long enough to speak. “She is Faith O’, Doolan, the result of a liaison between Martha Doolan,” Jack’s heart sank at the name, oh yeah the girl was his alright, he remembered the woman now, her daughter was the very spit, “and the then Captain Jack O’ Neill. She is also the Slayer.” Jack squinted at his suddenly uncomfortably squirming daughter and her taut-faced companion. What was a Slayer? “And her companion is Alexander Lavelle Harris, the one named in prophecies as The White Knight.”
The brown-haired youth growled. “That is it, Deadboy is dust when I see him again! Oh no, he couldn’t rip a chunk out of my throat, no, he had to give me a goddamn nickname!”
“Now dear,” he noted his daughter had pulled loose of her boyfriend’s grip. “What did you just tell me? Stay calm.”
“Slayers,” Jack looked across to see Daniel looked like he’d been gut-punched in the stomach. “Slayers are legends.”
“X thinks I’m pretty legendary. Especially when I-.” Again the girl was silenced by a hand over her mouth from her blushing companion.
It was on the tip of Jack’s tongue to ask exactly what a Slayer was, but considering he liked his tongue just were it was and not ripped out of his mouth, he kept quiet. After a second, Teal’c spoke. “What is a Slayer?”
“Yo,” Faith glanced up at her boy-friend as she pulled loose of his restraining hand. “Looks like Junior-Giles is up!”
“In every generation, there is born a Slayer, the one girl with the power to fight the demons, vampires, warlocks, witches, and other assorted nasties. She’s super-strong, fast, improved senses and healing, a natural instinctive fighter-.”
“You forgot wicked hot.”
“I was getting to that. Mouthy, head-strong-.”
“This is ridiculous,” the words were out before he could stop them.
In an instant, all trace of hilarity left the Slayer’s face. “You wanna another demonstration pops?” He gulped and shook his head, his off-spring was more than a little unnerving. “Good answer,” she fixed the Asgard with a glare. “Now half-pint, now we’re past the introductions stage, on our side at least, what is happening?”
He couldn’t help but notice how the Asgard Supreme Commander scooted behind him at the Slayer’s glare. Which was a really bad tactical decision, hiding behind Teal’c would give him maybe five extra seconds of life if his answer pissed the Slayer off. “There is a prophecy-.”
“NO!” the brunette began to repeatedly headbutt the desk. “I hate them, they always suck!” Finally the girl stopped and sighed. “Five by five, what’s the skinny?”
“I beg your pardon?” Thor sounded confused.
“The 411? The sitch?” The girl sighed. “What’s happening?”
“Put simply the White Knight & the offspring of the great O’Neill,” Faith snorted at that. “Will lead a force against the first vampire, the Blood-God.”
“Lead?” Faith grinned. “I kinda like that idea, I hate taking orders. Well ‘cept when X gets all masterful then I get tingly.” The youth stood behind his daughter groaned. “You know it’s true Xan. Now,” the girl’s face hardened. “No-one’s still told us where we are?”
General Hammond spoke next. “I’m afraid we’ll have to discuss some things in private.”
“You bring us here without asking and then decide-,” Faith’s tirade trailed off when a quartet of gun-toting marines entered. “Ah crap.” The Slayer glared at Hammond. “Hey Shiny,” the soldiers winced at the nickname. “You ain’t splitting us up, where I go, X goes.”
“And we want some food and clothes,” added his girl’s boyfriend.
”Agreed,” Hammond nodded. He had the look of someone who’d smelt something
really bad. Sort of the look the general got after one of SG-1’s escapades.
“Now if you don’t mind.”
FIC: Daddy Dearest (3/?)
“Ah hell!” Faith punched the steel door of the quarters they’d been escorted to, putting a fist-shaped dent into it. “What the fuck we gonna do Xan?” Faith paced the floor of their small cell.
“Well unless you’ve got an idea to get us out of this base that doesn’t involve us trying to John Wayne it out of here,” Xander picked up a pair of pants and began to dress. “We sit tight and see what’s going on. After all, that guy is apparently your dad-,” she growled warningly, but the only mortal who wasn’t intimidated by her just stared. “Faith, how do you feel about all this?”
Faith stopped her pacing and looked at her Watcher\best friend\lover, resisting the urge to shout at him. There were some things that only X and Fang could get away with talking about, and this was definitely one of them. Desperate to avoid talking about it, she went for classic Faith evasion strategy. Shrugging the khaki jacket to the ground, she swayed over to her suddenly deer-in-the-headlights looking boyfriend. “I feel wicked pissed that we were interrupted right in the middle of some kick-ass sex when we got pulled here, but,” she shrugged, “we got a bed, might as well finish what we started.”
“Uh Faith,” Xander pointed over her shoulder. “Video camera.”
Faith glanced over her shoulder at the CCTV camera in the corner. “So?” she winked at her boyfriend. It wasn’t like it would be the first blue she’d ever made. “We’ll have to ask for a copy when we leave.” Seeing her boyfriend’s mouth open in protest, she pressed her lips to his and pushed him onto the bed. Time for facing the past afterwards.
* * *
Jack paced the floor of the office. “Got anything yet Sam?”
“Uh,” her 2IC’s eyes fluttered nervously. “I’m having terrible trouble trying to crack into Mr. Harris’ files-.”
“Damn it Sam!” he barked. “I don’t care about him,” well not directly, just his relationship to his girl. “I want to know about Faith!” The fact that he could smell that Sam was hiding something didn’t help matters either.
”Stand down Colonel,” General Hammond warned.
After a second he nodded and stepped back. “Sorry Major,” he said, his tone clipped.
”I have this.”
His heart dropped as he read through the print-out the scientist passed him. Her mother, an apparent drug addict and convicted prostitute, Faith had been in and out of foster care from the age of ten, arrested for assault on her foster-father at the age of 13. Apparently she’d alleged sexual abuse, and, bile rose in his throat as he turned the page over, tests had confirmed it. Then she’d run away, and the next few pages were a litany of arrests for burglary, street theft, and assault. In Feb ’98, a few months before Faith’s sixteenth birthday, she was adopted by a Lady Wendy Haversham. Jack squinted, just what was an English noblewoman doing adopting a Boston street urchin?
Guessing it was something to do with this Slayer thing Daniel was discussing with Thor, he read on. In July ’98, Lady Wendy Haversham was discovered dead, her body dismembered, mutilated, and showing signs of torture, it was thought by the police at the time that her and the missing Faith had perhaps been the victims of some underground torture ring. However, his daughter turned up again in LA in 2000, where had she been those two missing years he wondered? She’d given herself up to the police and had pleaded guilty to two counts of murder resulting in a 20 – 25 year sentence. Ignoring the increasing urge to vomit, just what was his daughter, he read on. She’d also confessed to two counts of attempted murder of one Elizabeth Anne Summers and, his eyes widened, Alexander Lavelle Harris, but both charges had been dropped when both Harris and Summers had refused to co-operate with authorities. The boy was completely nuts, his daughter was a beauty but dating her after she’d tried to kill him?
Shaking his head, he continued. She at least been a model prisoner, completing her GED, doing first aid courses, and helping other girls who were bullied by tougher inmates. But in March 2003 she had escaped from prison after the visit of a Wesley Whyndham-Pryce, the first person to visit her bar her brother, a Liam Doolan, since her imprisonment. Had apparently been at the fall of Sunnydale, an occurrence so classified General Hammond didn’t have access to the facts of what had happened there, had somehow been presidentally pardoned, and since then her passport had been seen in almost ten countries always in the company of Alexander Harris. And what was most amazing, the countries were still standing.
“May I have a look Colonel?”
It was on the tip of his tongue to refuse his superior officer’s request, not wanting the man he respected most in the world to find out what a lousy bastard he was, but knowing it would be a futile gesture, he nodded before passing the print-out over. “Knock yourself out General,” he turned to his subordinate officer and uber-hot geek. “Carter, the report on Alexander?”
“It’s coming sir,” Sam replied, her eyes fixed on the computer screen as her fingers flew over the accompanying keyboard at a blistering rate. “But it’s far from complete.”
“Neither was Faith’s,” Jack replied. Although at the same time it said far too much.
“I know sir,” Sam nodded even as the printer began to shoot out sheets of paper. “But this one’s even stranger.” Jack raised an eyebrow. Stranger than his daughter’s? He didn’t know if he dared to read it. “But,” the blonde passed it over. “Here it is.”
Alexander Harris, born in Sunnydale California, September ’81. His childhood appeared relatively normal, apart from an unusual amount of visits to the local hospital that suggested either a chronically clumsy child or physical abuse, until he reached fifthteen and then…. He shook his head in amazement. The youth was suspected of breaking into the local army base just past his seventeenth birthday, had helped blow up his school at eighteen, and the best friend of a girl who had apparently been arrested twice for murder. The next major entry was him losing an eye just days before the fall of Sunnydale in a supposed industrial accident, given the rest of the file he didn’t believe that for a second. He looked over the files and frowned. “There’s an almost two year period unaccounted for,” he commented. “From Septmeber ’99 to Jun ’01.”
“Yes sir,” Sam nodded. “It’s classified.”
“Unclassify it,” General Hammond. “If you need my clearance tell me and I’ll ty-.”
“It’s Omega-Clearance sir,” Sam interrupted.
General Hammond stared at first Sam and then him. “Colonel Carter, find us a contact number, anything. Colonel O’Neill, how did this happen? And if you’re thinking of making a joke about the birds and the bees, I would really suggest you didn’t!”
“No sir,” Jack nodded. The warning was unnecessary, having read his apparent daughter’s file there was nothing he wanted to joke about less. “It would be,” he cast his mind back through the mists of time. “September ’81, I was on furlong in Boston. She was an nineteen year old cocktail waitress and I was a twenty-nine Captain. It was an one-night stand,” he glanced to the floor, suddenly he felt all his years and more. “I didn’t know. If I’d have known, I’d have…”
“You are a man of honour Jack O’Neill.”
Jack nodded at Teal’c’s words but refused to be comforted by them. Right now he didn’t feel too honourable. “Daniel, what is a Slayer exactly?”
It was Thor who answered. “When this world was first formed, it was ruled over by beasts you now know as demons, legends that have become distorted such as that of my people.”
“Or the Goa’uld,” commented Teal’c.
Thor nodded. “Originally your people were aided by my race in their battle, but once we withdrew, your mages created a warrior, a single girl with the powers of a demon to fight them, your daughter was the last of this line until last year when a witch did a spell,” Thor’s eyes filled with wonder, “a spell that made hundreds of Slayers.”
“This is very interesting,” General Hammond interrupted. “But if we need this girl for something it’s perhaps time for Colonel O’Neill to approach her.”
Jack groaned. Steeling himself, he turned to Daniel who happened to be nearest the CCTV monitor. “Jackson, what are they up to?”
Daniel glanced towards the monitor, his jaw dropping open and his friend colouring. “My guess would be Faith’s planning a move into the home movie market.”
Jack and General Hammond exchanged confused looks. “What are you talking about Dr. Jackson?” the General demanded.
”I believe the youths of modern America call it getting jiggy with it,” Teal ‘C
commented slowly.
Jack’s eyes bulged as he glanced at the screen to see his daughter doing something that no father should ever see. “Turn the damn thing off!” he screamed as he headed to the door. “I want all tapes destroyed!”
The last thing he heard as he dashed out of Sam’s office was the blonde’s awed whisper. “Is that even possible?”
And General Hammond’s reply. “It is, you’re stiff the next day though.”
FIC: Daddy Dearest (4/?)
Jack stopped outside the holding cell door and reached for the door handle. Deciding he most definitely didn’t need to walk in on Faith and Alexander in the middle of getting their thing on; he chose instead to knock firmly on the door. “Faith,” he swallowed, one advantage of never actually knowing his daughter he’d never had to have ‘the sex talk’ with her. Just watch her perform sexual acrobatics usually only seen in quadruple X films. “We need to talk.”
“We,” there was a gasp, “really, oh boy,” a long groan, “don’t!”
“Faith,” by now he could feel his cheeks blazing. “I’m coming in in ten seconds.”
“Fine!” the girl snapped. “I’d have been coming in another minute.”
A second later the door swung open to reveal his daughter in all her naked glory. “Damn it Faith!” he stood in the doorway his head turned away, hoping that his frame was enough to block the door so nobody would see in. “Put some clothes on.”
“Hey pops, you don’t get to give me orders.” Faith smiled at him, but there was no warmth in it only a knife-twisting bitterness. “I’m sure they won’t complain about the sight and it won’t be the first uniform to see me butt-ass naked,” the girl twisted around him and wolf-whistled the two soldiers standing guard at the far end of the corridor. “Hey guys! Always love a man in uniform, makes me all patriotic!”
“Faith!” It was the Alexander kid, his tone pissed and sounding not unlike his first drill instructor. “If you don’t want to do it for him, do it for me.”
To his surprise, the Slayer nodded grudgingly before
disappearing into the room. “Sure X.” In an instant the girl was hurriedly
pulling on a pair of pants although still with her hate-filled eyes directed
towards him. “Hey pops, you’re not the first guy I’ve called daddy ya know.
‘Course after I’ve sat on their knee for a while they usually they want me to
-.”
“Faith!” Again it was Alexander as he pulled on a shirt. “That’s enough, just cool it down a bit.”
“Why the fuck should I?” Faith continued to glare at him. “This prick wanna knows about me, I’m just giving a guided tour through the juicier bits.”
“Because,” the glare in the one-eyed youth’s eye as he stared at him told Jack that the boy didn’t feel any friendlier towards him than his daughter. That he could cope with, but his daughter’s disdain, that was like a knife in the guts. “Because it hurts you when you talk about the past, get screwed up like this,” the young man kissed his daughter’s neck, “you’re better than Faith, don’t let the past drag you back down.”
“Five by five,” the girl nodded before looking up at the one-eyed man, her eyes softening as she gazed at the young man.
After a second Jack coughed. “Five by five? Where did you learn that?”
Faith’s eyes hardened as she looked at him. “Like I said, I was a real helpful girl, always doing my bit for keeping up forces morale,” she spat. Jack sighed, this was going to be long and painful.
* * *
“I’ve got a name and contact number sir,” Sam robotically called out, her distracted mind with her friend and team leader. Given Faith’s anger, she somehow doubted he’d be having an easy time of it.
“Well done Major Carter,” General Hammond glanced over to Daniel and Teal’c watching the CCTV screen. “What are you two doing?”
“Seeing how long it is before Faith hits Jack again.”
General Hammond sighed long-sufferingly. “Sometimes I think Major Carter is the only adult on SG-1. Major,” the SGC commanding officer turned back to her. “That number?”
* * *
“Riley, phone!”
“Sam,” Riley Finn didn’t look up from the report he was writing. “I’m sort of on a deadline here.”
“You’ll want to take this call.”
This time he heard the strained note in his wife’s voice. Looking up, he took the mobile from her. “Hello?”
“Hello, I’m General Hammond,” the officer gave him his service number, Riley quickly typed it into the Pentagon website and whistled at the service record that came up. There were large recent gaps suggesting involvement in something top-secret, but the record before it was impressive, very impressive. “I’d like to ask you some questions about an Alexander Harris?”
“I don’t know any Xander Harris, sir,” Riley bit back a curse at his use of Xander’s nickname, oops.
“That’s not what information I have been able to dig up says soldier,” General Hammond’s tone was flint-like, Riley was suddenly very glad they weren’t having this conversation eye to eye.
“Very well sir,” Riley bit back a groan, visions of his career turning to dust before his eyes. From dreams of a position on the Joint Chiefs of Staff to nightmares of a firing squad in a single second. “Then I’ll have to be blunter, you aren’t cleared and I’m afraid this conversation is over.” Groaning slightly, his career was over too but Xander and the others had saved his and Graham’s lives. He looked at the phone for a second before picking it up again and dialling an international number. “Hello,” he winced as he recognised the voice at the other side, great the Watcher Council’s answer to Pee Wee Herman, “Andrew could I speak to Mr. Giles please?”
* * *
Hammond stared at the phone in disbelief. The young man on the other end had hung up on him. “Anything sir?”
Hammond glanced down at Sam. “I want everything you can find on Finn and Harris!” This stunk of the NID.
* * *
O’Neill stared at the clearly hostile girl. He had the distinct feeling that if not for the young man’s hands resting on her shoulders, he’d already be splattered all over the wall. Pushing aside his disquiet, he ran his expert eye over Faith and her companion.
His daughter was a five foot six inch, curvy brunette with long bouncing hair, mocking liquid brown eyes, and rosebud lips. He imagined the normal man his age would notice her looks, and fail to register the pantherish way she moved, the purpose in her eyes. She was a warrior born.
And her boyfriend. Jack turned his eye to him, the young man was a good-humoured looking youth, but there was an indefinable something that identified him as a fellow combat veteran.
“Finished your inspection daddy?” Before he had time to reply, Faith continued on. “So tell me father,” the girl snorted. “Who the hell were you to mummy dearest? A paying client, a steady who ran like fuck when you found out she was carrying, or an one night stand?”
“A one-night stand,” he answered slowly. God, how was he supposed to deal with the fiery beauty’s justified anger and pain?
“So daddy, what do you wanna know about me?” the girl snapped. “See my report cards, ‘course there aren’t too many. Maybe you’d like to see my arrest record pops? And can we talk about allowance; I’m thinking twenty bucks a week for the last twenty-two years would be cool. Hey papa, what about my college fund?” The girl’s mouth opened again but shut when her boyfriend whispered something in her ear. But still she glared at him.
“I just want a,” he swallowed a forming lump in his throat, “a chance to explain.” And maybe a chance to get to know you, he added silently.
“Fine,” the girl’s full lips curled up in a sneer. “This should be good.”
* * *
“Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention Riley,” Giles hung up the phone before looking at Andrew. Whatever had possessed him to hire this prat as his personal assistant, he wondered? The boy was efficient enough, but his endless bloody prattle. He understood that Faith was running a book on who would last longer – he dying of a heart attack, or Andrew beaten to death by him. “I need you to find out all you can on a General Hammond,” he passed the pad over with what details Riley had been willing to furnish him with. “Also I need Faith and Xander’s recent travel schedule, and contact Willow, get her back here immediately.”
“But Miss Rosenberg is in the middle of the peace conference between the Azuwithoo Clans.”
“I said now Andrew.”
“But we must stick to our mission like -.”
“Andrew,” he sighed long-sufferingly. “If the next words out of your mouth are a reference to some science fiction nonsense or some bloody comic rubbish,” except Dan Dare of course, now there was a classic. “Or anything other than ‘Yes sir, right away’, you will find yourself volunteered to serve as the Slayers’ practice dummy for the next month, am I clear?”
His personal assistant paled. “Yes sir, right away.”
Andrew rushed out of the office. Giles looked out of the window. For once the idyllic view of England’s green and pleasant lands failed to soothe his fearful heart or settle the churning in his stomach. “Bloody hell son,” he muttered. “What have you got yourself into this time?”
* * *
Faith stared at her father, well biologically at least, to her eyes the bastard wasn’t any more of a father than any of the rat-bastards who’d insisted she call them daddy while they did her. “That’s it?” she demanded. “You didn’t know? That’s your excuse?”
“Faith if I’d -.”
In an instance she was in the soldier’s space, noting that although his face didn’t show it, he was scared. Good, she wanted him to feel some of the fear she’d been forced to go through. “Where were you? Where were you when Ma was using me as a punch-bag? Where were you when my foster-pa decided that it’d be fun to use me? Where were you when I was working the streets? Where you when my only true Ma was ripped to pieces by a fucking monster? Where you when I accidentally killed a man? Where were you when I went on trial for murder?” She began to slap the man, her blows lacking their usual force.
After a few seconds she felt Xander’s hands on her arms, pulling her back. “Come on honey,” her love whispered in her ear, pulling her into a hug. “I think you should leave now,” her boy-friend’s tone was stone cold, like it was when they faced demons. “Leave now.”
“Faith-.”
“Didn’t you hear me the first time?” her lover growled, his voice more dangerous than she’d ever heard it. “Get out.”
“Okay.”
She looked up from Xander’s protective embrace to see her dad stood at the holding cell entrance. “You know something pa?” the man stopped at the opening door. “The nearest thing to a father I ever had was an evil dark arts mage who I murdered people for. Are you proud of your little girl now?” she smirked at the added slump in the man’s shoulders. Then, when the door closed behind him, began to cry into Xander’s chest.
* * *
”How did it go O’Neill?”
Jack glanced to side in surprise as the Jaffa melted out of the corridor shadows. “She hates me,” he said, determined not to show how raw and painful a wound that hatred was.
Teal’c tilted his head to one side. “But surely she cannot blame you for what happened when you were not there?”
”That’s the point Teal’c,” he explained heavily. “I should have been.”
FIC: Daddy Dearest (5/?)
Jack threw down the prophecy, unable to focus on the lyrical phrasing before him, his mind consumed with thoughts of the raw hate in his newly-discovered daughter’s eyes. God, what sort of man was he? He’d wanted to hold her in his arms, comfort her somehow. Fear of her boyfriend hadn’t stopped him, the boy looked tough but over thirty years of Special Forces’ experience gave him the confidence that he could handle the younger man. But fear of his daughter had, not of her powers, but of her final, crushing, rejection. “So what does all this mean?” he asked hoarsely. “The cliff notes, not the long-winded, god, I wish I was being tortured by Anubis version.”
Daniel blinked at his tone before beginning. “According to Thor, the blood-god, Enkil, took himself and his favoured childe, Akasha, through the Stargate to P2X-400 at the start of the war between the humans and the demons. However they tried to use it to travel to P3X-774-.”
“The Nox homeland?” Jack queried.
“Yes,” Daniel nodded. “However the Nox destroyed the Stargate. Now, thousands of years later, the entire planet is over-run by vampires. According to Thor, the planet is largely nocturnal, with night lasting 16 out of their twenty hour days, and as a result, the planet is mostly vampires, what humans there are, are simply cattle for entertainment and feeding.”
Jack blinked. “The people stranded there, it’s bad for them, but it’s confined right?”
“No,” Daniel shook his head. “Eight decades ago another Stargate was found on the planet. Enkil and Akasha were both killed years ago, so they were left with trial and error to find out how it works.”
“And now they have,” Jack’s fingers drummed on the desk. “How many vampires are we talking about?”
“It’s only a small planet,” Daniel swallowed. “Maybe a hundred thousand.”
Jack couldn’t manage the energy for a shout. “A hundred thousand?” he groaned. “Look who does this prophecy need, how do we kill a vampire?” He got a sinking feeling when Sam and Daniel exchanged worried looks. “What is it?”
“Well,” it was Sam who broke the uneasy silence. “Our
experts are sort of in one of our cells.”
“Great, just great,” Jack began to stand. “Clear me a bay in the medical ward. I’ll be in there in just a few minutes.”
“Stand down Colonel,” he glanced at General Hammond’s sympathetic but stern face. “It appears that your meetings with Faith Doolan haven’t gone as well as one might hope,” Jack blinked, that was one way of putting. “So I decided to give Daniel a chance.” Jack looked towards the archaeologist. That explained Daniel’s slightly wide-eyed look, he’d be freaking terrified too. “To see if he could have better luck.”
Jack snorted. “Yeah, good luck, you’ll need it.”
“I will accompany Daniel Jackson,” Teal’c informed them. “It will be a great honour to talk to your daughter.”
Jack stared at his alien friend. “Here’s some advice Teal’c, mentioning my name will not get a friendly response.”
“Before they go,” Carter put in, “what exactly do we want to know?”
* * *
“Anything Giles?”
“No,” Giles hung up the phone before shaking his head. He’d spent the last hour on the phone to France, talking to the concierge at the hotel Xander and Faith had been staying at. The hotel employee hadn’t been able to tell him a lot, aside from the fact that the first five nights there’d been a number of complaints about the noise coming from the room, Giles coloured that was rather more information than he’d needed, and then for the next three nights there’d been nothing. Finally hotel staff had ignored the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign to investigate, concerned there’d been some sort of accident. They’d found the lovers gone but their belongings remaining, including a number of toys that Giles could only hope were Faith’s rather than Xander’s, and, more worryingly, their weapons. “And you?”
Willow smiled, but there was no warmth in the expression. “Contrary to popular belief, I’m not infallible. If I knew the area they were in, or even the country I’d be able to track them..”
“Does not knowing where they were last not help?” he queried.
“If they’d moved by mundane means it might but,” Willow grimaced. “I can’t help but suspect magic, there’s no trace.”
Giles nodded. He left unspoken the thought that someone with Willow’s power would probably be able to sense the strand. He suspected the Wicca already knew that, she was smart enough. “What about contacting Buffy?”
“I doubt she’d be interested, especially after the chewing out Faith gave her for turning her back on us.”
“True.” Giles winced at the reminder. It had been the first anniversary ball of ‘The Calling’, as the fall of Sunnydale had been known. Xander and Faith had flown in specially, as had Buffy, Dawn, and the Immortal. As soon as Faith had seen the Immortal, sparks had flown. Within seconds, the sultry Bostonian had got in Buffy’s face about bringing something like him to the meal. When Buffy had defended herself by claiming the Immortal as her boyfriend, his muttered but audible comment of ‘oh no not again’ probably hadn’t helped matters, Faith had gone off the deep end about Buffy deserting them.
The situation had only escalated when the Immortal had attempted to defend Buffy’s honour receiving a broken nose from Xander for his troubles. Seconds later a pull-apart involving Faith, Buffy, and ten Slayers in formal wear that had erupted, only ending when Willow had teleported Faith and Buffy into the outside fountain, something Faith had taken in considerable better humour than Buffy. In the five months since there’d have been no contact from Buffy although Dawn now worked as a trainee Watcher. Giles sighed at the loss. He had hoped that with the burden of Slayerdom now shared, some of the distance between them and Buffy would have closed. Instead the gap had grown, Buffy becoming more and more imperious, resulting in the new Slayers demanding two months after the mass Calling that he be installed as the Council Head and not her. After that….
Forcing his mind back to the present and the children he still had, he stared at Willow. “In that case any suggestions?”
“I’ll keep researching this Hammond, there’s got to be a connection, there just had to be!”
He placed a calming hand on the red-head’s shoulder. “We’ll find them. They’ll be fine Willow,” he soothed. And if they weren’t, whoever hurt them would pay most horribly.
* * *
“Hello, can we come in?”
Faith looked at Xander. “I don’t wanna see him,” she declared.
“You don’t have to,” Xander soothed, although how he was supposed to stop them he had no idea. He turned his attention back to the door. “Who exactly is we?”
“Dr. Jackson and Murray.”
Xander glanced at his girl-friend. After a second she nodded. He leaned into his Slayer and kissed her on the neck. “Remember I’m here,” he whispered before turning back to the door and shouting. “Come in!” A few seconds later and the bespectacled man and the black muscle man walked in. “What do you want?”
“Your father is a mighty war-.”
“That’s a real deep voice you’ve got there Shaft,” Faith interrupted the black man, her eyes hard. “You wanna keep it that way shut your hole about that bastard right now, otherwise you’ll get my foot right in your balls.” Her warning given, the brunette glared at Daniel. “What do you two assholes want?”
The bespectacled man pushed his glasses up his nose, a curiously Giles-like gesture that under other circumstances would have him laughing. “Um, I, that is to say us, would like some information.”
He exchanged glances with Faith. After a second the east coast native nodded. “Quid pro quo,” he said. “You answer one of our questions we’ll answer one of yours.”
“Um, you’re not cleared -.”
“Get out,” Faith interrupted. In an instance his girl-friend was stood in front of the two men. “Unless,” she rolled her neck around, a sure sign that his Slayer was ready to open a can of whup-ass. “You can think you can force us to talk?”
“We’ll talk,” Daniel caved in.
Faith nodded before turning and swaying her way back to the bed and sliding back into his arms. “K, first question – where are we?”
“You’re in a NORAD site in Cheyenne Mountain.” Daniel replied. “How long have you been a Slayer?”
Xander blinked at the man’s answer. Before Faith could reply he spoke. “Don’t answer. They’re lying.”
Faith glanced at him. “Why you say that Xan?”
Xander continued to stare at the nervously fidgeting doctor and his impassive, stone had more expression than the black man, bodyguard. “Remember how we got here. And you sensed he wasn’t human.”
“Yeah,” Faith turned her eyes towards to the two intruders and cracked her knuckles. “’Fess up. Or leave.”
Daniel sighed. “Okay. I wasn’t lying, not really. Officially this is a NORAD site in Cheyenne Mountain. Unofficially,” the scientist groaned. “General Hammond is going to kill me. Unofficially, this is one of two sites in the world housing Stargates, a mode of alien transport that allows for wormhole travel between planets in a matter of seconds. We’ve been travelling to alien planets for over seven years.”
“SHIT!” Faith’s eyes widened. “Thor wasn’t a fucking higher demon was he? He was a fucking alien!”
“Indeed,” Teal’c inclined his head slightly. “A member of-.”
“Their turn to answer,” Daniel interrupted.
Faith nudged his shoulder. “What ya say X?” After a second he nodded, the story was fantastic, but then so were vampires, demons, mages and the like, and there was the way they’d got here. “K, I was called in May ’98 when the babe before me was killed by a vampire by the name of Drusilla. What is Thor? And him?” his girl-friend nodded towards Teal’c.
“That’s two questions,” Daniel pointed out.
“Then we’ll answer two,” Xander agreed.
“Okay. How are Slayers called? And what happened to Lady Haversham?”
Feeling his girl-friend tense beside him, he squeezed her shoulders and answered for her. “Truth is we don’t know how. Slayers are always young girls and usually for a Slayer to be called her predecessor has to die. We believe they’re ‘Chosen’ by some mystical power. Lady Haversham died when her and Faith were kidnapped by this 1,000 year old Master vampire called Kaktosis. Your turn.”
“I am a Jaffa, formerly First Prime of Apophis, but now aiding the Tau’ri in their fight for freedom in the hope they might one day free my people,” Teal’c stated.
“Oh you’re one of them,” Xander nodded sagely before turning to Daniel. “And in English?”
“What we remember as the Egyptian gods,” Xander groaned at Daniel’s lecturing tone. Junior-Giles much? “Were in fact the Goa’uld, a parasitical species, who take host bodies and seek galactic domination. The primary objective of this whole installation is to battle them. The Jaffa on the other hand were enslaved by the Goa'uld as warriors and incubators for their young. We first met when Teal’c helped us escape from Apophis’ prison and he’s worked with us ever since.”
“Uh, uh,” Xander raised an eyebrow, that was unusual. “And Thor?”
“Thor is the Supreme Commander of the Asgard fleet, once part of a great alliance of four ancient races. They appeared to humans as the Norse gods until SG-1 solved a riddle on the planet Cimmeria, proving that we worthy of seeing them in their true form-.”
“Bug eyed and ugly?” Faith guessed.
Daniel sighed long-sufferingly, he knew the feeling. “They’re effectively immortal, having learnt how to transfer their consciousness into younger versions of themselves as their bodies wear out. They’re our most powerful ally.”
“And you nearly strangled him,” Xander muttered in Faith’s ear, “good going even for you Miss. Dynamite.”
“Watch it smart ass,” Faith elbowed him in the ribs before turning to the two interlopers. “Next question?”
The two men exchanged worried looks, Xander’s heart sank. He just knew what was coming. His thoughts were confirmed by Daniel’s next words. “You were convicted of murder?”
Faith paled. “You wanna field this one X?”
“Sure,” he squeezed his girl-friend’s hand comfortingly before beginning. “Faith and the other Slayer-.”
“I thought you said there could be only one Slayer at one time?” Daniel broke in.
“No,” he corrected. “I said the Slayer died for another Slayer to be Called. B-,” deciding naming his friends might put them in danger, Xander changed what he’d been about to say, “the other Slayer was drowned by a Master Vampire just a few months after I met her, I gave her CPR that brought her back, but the act of her dying meant another Slayer was Called.”
“Most ingenious Alexander Harris,” Teal’c praised.
“Um, yeah thanks,” Xander reddened at the compliment. “Anyhow, Faith and the other Slayer were jumped by a bunch of a bunch of vampires. In the midst of the fight, this civilian blunders in, the other Slayer grabs him and throws him to Faith to stake. At the last second Faith’s fellow Slayer realised and shouted out a warning but it’s too late.”
”That’s not murder!” Daniel exploded. “At worst that’s friendly fire.”
“Try explaining I was staking a vamp to a judge,” Faith’s tone was dry, but her voice was hoarse with pain.
“Anyhow I went a little nuts, X and Fang tried to help, but I wasn’t much with the trust those days. And when the Watcher’s Council, the guys who train us, sent a hit-team after me I went whack for a while, killed a few people.” Faith smiled viciously. “You might wanna tell Pops that bit in case he’s thinking of getting cuddly.”
“Faith,” he whispered in his girl-friend’s ear. “Nothing’s these two guys’ fault. Cool it okay?” After a second Faith nodded.
* * *
By the time they left the meeting an hour later, Daniel’s head was swimming. “That was amazing, the things they’ve experienced and seen.”
“Will this require greater research Daniel Jackson?”
Daniel glanced at the massively-built alien. “Are you making fun of me Teal’c?” he shook his head.
“Sometimes I think Jack could be a bad influence on the pope!”
“Jack’s daughter is a mighty warrior.”
“I’d really stop calling her that if I was you Teal’c, unless you want to have your head removed.” Daniel sighed. “This report is not going to be fun.”