Title: A New Life

Disclaimer: Do I really need to state the obvious? I don't own Buffy or Stargate. Never have, never will. Waah!

Cleveland

Vi stood in the middle of Willow's work room as the witch finished grinding some rather pungent herbs.

"Sorry this is taking so long but..."

"Yeah, I know. It took you two hours to cast this in the first place so it's not as easy as twitching your nose to fix it."

"Watching TVLand again?"

"At least Bewitched was in English," Buffy's stand-in retorted as Willow set down the pestle.

Willow took a large pinch of whatever was she had been grinding and sprinkled it on Vi as she chanted.

"There, you're you again," Willow said as she handed Vi a small mirror.

Vi took a long look at herself in the mirror to confirm that she was once again herself. It wasn't that she didn't trust Willow but she still want to reassure herself. Three months posing as Buffy was more than enough.

"So, how bad was it in LA," she asked the witch.

"Real bad. By the time Faith, Xander, and the Finns arrived it was almost over," Willow said softly. "Gunn was already dead. Wesley didn't even make it back to the Hyperion. Spike, Angel, and Illyria managed to take out most of the baddies but there were just too many."

"Illyria, that's the Old One that took over Fred?"

Willow nodded. "She kept on fighting even after Spike and Angel were dusted. Faith is staying in LA for now with Illyria to make sure that they got all of them. I brought Lorne back here. If you see him, be careful, he's kinda broken."

"And I'll know its him because..."

"Green skin, horns."

"Go it."

Dawn emerged from her long awaited hot shower to find that she had company. Lots of company. Seven mini-slayers perched on her bed and two more sprawled on the floor.

"So, what do you know about Buffy's boyfriend," Kianna asked.

Dawn pulled off the towel she had wrapped around her wet hair off and threw it at the fifteen-year old slayer. Kianna didn't even bother to dodge it.

"An apocalypse was just averted in LA and you want to know about my sister's boyfriend?"

A chorus of yes was the only response.

Dawn pushed two slayers off the bed and sat down.

"Okay, I'm only going through this once so maybe someone should take notes and post on the bulletin board downstairs," Dawn began and the several of the girls started to giggle. "JT has longish brown hair and brown eyes. He got trapped in a hell dimension a couple of days ago and Buffy got trapped later the same day. Now, time doesn't move at the same speed there as it does here. The morning he got caught he was about your age Kianna. By the time Buffy was trapped, he had spent years there so no jokes about Buffy being a cradle robber. JT is now in his early thirties."

"So, how long was Buffy there," Marti, one of the brighter slayers asked.

"Two years, give or take," Dawn said. "JT rescued her and they eventually found their way back to the portal back to Colorado Springs."

"So, he's like a hero, right," another one of the girls asked.

"Yeah, I guess," Dawn shrugged, "at least according to Buffy. From what she's told me, he definitely qualifies as a hard ass demon hunter, even if it's only a couple of kinds of demons."

"Kennedy said Buffy got herself knocked up and has to get married," Kianna said.

"Kennedy is a jealous bitch who should keep her mouth shut," Dawn growled. "Yes, Buffy's pregnant but she and JT want to get married. As soon as Willow fixes JT up with a new identity, I'll be heading out to Vegas for the wedding."

"Why a new identity," one the younger girls asked.

"Because she can't marry a fifteen-year, dork," Marti answered on Dawn's behalf. "Besides, he's old now so he couldn't use ID that said he was a teenager."

"Okay, I think we've covered the basics now so shoo. I would like to get dressed without an audience."

Colorado Springs

"They did what," JT asked Daniel in disbelief.

"They put Dr. Weir in charge again. Hammond was transferred to Washington," the archaeologist answered. "They want to put a civilian face on the program to try to smooth things over with other interested parties."

"I hate politics," JT said as he sipped his beer. He wished that he had agreed to meet Daniel in a less public area, like say Daniel's apartment, but returning to O'Malleys had sounded like a good idea at the time.

"Agreed." Daniel finished his beer and motioned to the bartender for another. "Politicians have too much in common with snakes."

"Someday ask Buffy about Sunnydale's favorite mayor," JT said. "So, this Dr. Weir give you time off or should I sic Buffy on her?"

"She wasn't happy about it but with just about everything shut down for now, she really didn't have an excuse to keep me around."

"Pretty sure I could get you a job with the Travers Foundation if things don't work out. I've got connections," JT smirked.

"I may need them," Daniel said glumly.

Stargate Command was eerily quiet. Most of the SG teams were on stand down and more than a few were taking some of their accrued leave. The scientists were still there in force but with the gate shut down, silence had descended on the base.

The control room was manned by a skeleton crew consisting of one major and one master sergeant. At the end of the sergeant's shift, they finally got a response to their calls for assistance.

"Major Carter, we have an incoming message from the Tok'ra," Walter Harriman reported. "It's from your father. He's acquired a cargo vessel and will pick up you and Teal'c tomorrow."

The major placed a call to Dr. Weir's office. After a brief conversation, she hung up and gave Walter a smile.

"She's approved the mission."