Shadow Play Chapter 16

All Good Things...

Back at the SGC, the Stargate suddenly activated. General Hammond turned expectantly to Sgt. Miller, who was receiving multiple signals.

"Receiving IDC signals sir, for SG-1, 12, 13, Tok'ra, Bre'tac, Jaffa, Selmak, Horsemen...all of them!"

"Open the iris!"

Buffy and Dawn watched with everyone else as troops started filing through the gate. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity Faith and the Scoobies came through. Buffy breathed a sigh of relief as she saw Willow being carried by Xander. Her heart sank at the next sight- Teal'c carrying a bloody and unconscious Kennedy down the ramp. Dawn couldn't suppress a giggle as Kirk came through the gate- and promptly fell down face first.

"Kirk, for crying out loud!" Both Jason and Jack yelled in annoyance. Kirk only laughed as he turned over onto his back and kipped up. His laugh died as he saw Buffy and Dawn run in to check on their friends.

It was going to be a long debriefing.

It was, in fact, a very long debriefing.

Hammond told SG-1, the Scoobies, and the Horsemen of the visit by the Ancients, followed by a brief visit from the Asgard, who retrofitted the Prometheus' engines to fix Earth's only working hyper drive engine. He then told them that they would return in about two months to see if they could help anymore. And apparently they could: according to Dr. Frasier, Kennedy was suffering from paralysis caused by a broken back- something that the Asgard technology could hopefully heal.

Ann's injuries were far more subtle, as well as insidious- along with being tortured, she had been pregnant- and Huangdi had removed the unborn child from her womb. Ann hadn't said much, and neither had Andrew- though he had destroyed anything he could get his hands on in a blind rage.

In fact, the healthiest people out of the assault were Xander, whose body had been healed by the sarcophagus, and Kirk, who had finally tapped into the latent magic in his body and used it to heal his wounds.

As for Willow, her physical wounds were minor compared to the psychological wounds left by Kalinda. Almost two months of torture, murder, and worse, all committed by the Goa'uld through Willow. Add to that the fact that the symbiote had tapped into the darker magic's and what you got was one withdrawn red head. After a few days of wondering how she was going to help her friend, Buffy was approached by Selmak.

"We can help her cope with what has happened, Ms. Summers," Selmak told the Slayer. "There have been many times where the Tok'ra have extracted a Goa'uld symbiote from a host, and helped the host recover from the trauma."

"Maybe," Buffy conceded. She knew she was way out of her league with dealing with this, but she still didn't like sending Willow off with what she considered to be the Goa'uld's little brothers. But as it turned out, the decision was taken out of hers, or anyone else's hands.

"I'll go." Willow said from the doorway. Buffy walked over to her friend and put her hands on Willow's shoulders.

"Are you sure about this?" Buffy asked. Willow nodded, her eyes not quite meeting the Slayers. "What about Kennedy?"

"I...I just can't." Willow sobbed quietly. "I can't face her, not now..."

Buffy sighed, but nodded in agreement. And so two days later, after everybody had been debriefed and all the injured had been patched up, Buffy and Xander were hugging their friend, tears streaming down their face.

"Don't you stay away for two long, Wills." Xander said, placing a kiss on Willow's forehead.

"Don't forget to write or whatever..." Buffy said, giving Willow one last hug. Willow looked at her friends through tear-clouded eyes.

"Tell...tell Kennedy..." she started, but Buffy put a hand up to her mouth.

"I'll tell her she'll see you soon, when she wakes up." Buffy promised.

"It's time." Jacob said, and Willow nodded at the Tok'ra.

"Well, this is my flight!" she joked weakly, then gave them all one last small smile. "Goodbye." And with that, Willow and Jacob walked through the gate...

And she was gone.

"I hope they can help her." Xander said. Buffy nodded.

"I hope so, too." She replied as they walked out of the gate room.

Up in the control room, Kirk and General Hammond watched Willow say her goodbyes and go through the gate.

"I hope the kid is alright." He remarked. Hammond just nodded. Kirk took a deep breath and prepared for the coming storm.

"Look, General...about my earlier behavior..."

"I could court-marshal you." Hammond pointed out.

"Yes! You could!" Kirk agreed. "But you have to understand that there were mitigating circumstances..."

"Like the fact that you thought you only had weeks to live, so you tried to get a rise out of as many people as you could?"

"Well, I would have said I was just 'fighting the man', but you pretty much summed it up..."

"Don't worry, Major. I'm not going to court-marshal you."

Kirk blinked. "You're not?"

"No, I'm not. As a matter of fact, I'm promoting you to the rank of Colonel. It will make your new assignment easier." Hammond stated.

"Promoted... thank you, si...er, what new assignment?"

"Why, you're going to be the new liaison between the SGC and the Watcher's Council, and the Slayers."

"Liaison? Council? Sir, what the hell..."

"I talked with Mr. Giles. He seems to think that perhaps having relations with the US government in general, and us in particular, would help them in their mission of saving the world from demonic threats. Likewise, some of the things we've encountered out there are far beyond our understanding, and quite frankly we'd love to have Mr. Giles and Mr. Whyndam-Pryce on call for translations and things of that nature. So we agreed to exchange Liaison's to help facilitate our new alliance- Ms. Summers shall remain here, and you get to go to Cleveland, to the Watchers Council, to live with and interact with hundreds of young, teenage girls..."

Kirk's eyes widened, than narrowed at the General.

"This is revenge, isn't it?" he asked. Hammond chuckled.

"Paybacks a bitch, eh?"

Personal Log

Andrew J. Kirk, Colonel, USAF

August 2004

It has been two weeks since the Goa'uld Kalinda had been defeated, and Lord Shi Huangdi escaped from his palace on P4X-972. The host of Kalinda, Willow Rosenberg, has departed with the Tok'ra for counseling, in an effort to recover from the psychological damage caused by the Kalinda symbiote. Kennedy Baxter, a Slayer and the person who got the symbiote out of Willow, awoke from her coma two days after Willow departed. Upon learning of what happened after she lost consciences on the alien planet, including her fiancé's departure, Ms. Baxter has been sullen and withdrawn. General Hammond informed her that the Asgard would be returning in a few weeks time to heal her back, which has not gotten any better despite her advanced rate of healing. Dr. Frasier thinks it might have something to do with the amount of magic she channeled, though at this point, we're just guessing.

Miriam left with Willow and Selmak to the Tok'ra home base. While I understand why she left, considering she's one of them (at least for now), I still wish she could have stayed for a while to help Ann deal with the trauma of loosing our child...

I haven't truly dealt with that yet. Maybe Faith can give me a workout when I get to Cleveland. Ann will be joining me there, negotiating an agreement between the government and the Council which should make their operations smoother over time. I know that Giles was excited by the prospect- no worries about interference from law enforcement in matters of the supernatural, access to advanced technologies, and other such things. But on the other hand, he is extremely apprehensive- he's dealt with the government before, and he doesn't want 'The Man' to come in and take over his operations. But I have faith in my wife's negotiation skills, and hopefully immersing herself into her work will help her recover from her trauma as well.

Buffy Summers will be acting as the Council's liaison with the SGC; this way she can keep running her gym, Dawn can finish up school here with Cassandra, and she can look after Kennedy until Willow gets back.

On a personal note, Dawn seems to have hit it off with Miriam. At least, I think she has, if that little kiss my daughter gave Dawn on the way to the gate was any indication. Probably why she went with the Tok'ra- so Buffy wouldn't kill her.

Well, I'll be starting my new assignment soon. Not used to being a politician- I'm more of a stealthy action type guy. Guess I got to get used to not playing in the shadows anymore.

This is Andrew Kirk, signing off.

A/N: FINISHED! THANK GOD! Almost a year after I started it, Shadow Play finally comes to a close. I know I left it in a cliffhanger, I have every intention of continuing the series after a nice break from Stargate. And when I do start it, I'll be sure to do what I've done here, and write several chapters and post them as I edit them.

I want to thank everyone who has read, and especially those who reviewed. I also want to apologize for letting you all hang like I have- I started writing this story when I was going to school, which meant that I could write this in between (or sometimes in) classes. But then school let out and real life kicked my ass, and the story trickled to a stop. I also ended up cutting a LOT out of it, which means that I'm not quite satisfied with it. Especially this chapter. But I promise you all that as I work on Part two, I'll go back and re-work Shadow Play and release a directors cut of sorts, which will include several dropped subplots including-

-Miriam and Laylana forming a friendship as Miriam deals with the memories of her past,

-Dr. Frasier dealing with the aftermath of her near death, and her struggle to get back to work,

-Dawn and Miriam strike up a friendship, or something more...

It will be a few months before I get to it... I got my Potterverse story going on right now... but stay tuned.

Thanks for the support, the patience, and the reviews!

-Drew Niehaus

The Nature Boy

Stylin' and Profylin' since 1980