Last: Thanks go to my new beta reader Finn for finding and fixing all those nasty typos and stuff.  Cheers!

Sorry it's a day late but oh well. One quick question about S8 spoilers. Eventually Bridges will be in a position to delve into S8 and as I'm trying to keep this as close to canon as possible I would prefer to go that route. However, for those internationally, I know it will mean major spoilers. So if you feel strongly about spoilers please let me know so I can get an idea of how to incorporate S8.

Thirteen of Friday

Friday, January 7th Xander reveled in the absolute quiet around him. For the first time in months he had the house entirely to himself. This included everything in said house, notably the TV and the remote control, access to the kitchen and all the goodies he had unearthed in the pantry that was usually under Andrew's strict watch. Almost gleefully, he settled in the best spot on the couch with his cheddar popcorn, NuttyButty's, and Cherry Coke ready for a night of channel surfing and brain rotting.

The last week had been long. After New Years, everyone had gone into a state of panic as they suddenly realized they were leaving for other continents. Willow and Kennedy were now somewhere in Brazil while Giles and Buffy were on their way to Europe. Courtney had gone to her new home in Missouri with her aunt and uncle, phone numbers and email addresses in hand along with a promise to pick her up for summer training. Vi and Diana had finally gotten back from their vacation to England and were presently out with Dawn and Andrew seeing a movie and no doubt getting the lowdown on the Great Christmas Caper of the US Government. Xander didn't care, just as long as they were gone and stayed that way for several hours. He needed time to himself to chill out, relax, and generally miss his best friends who were now a world away. But he wasn't going to think about that now. No, he was going to vegge out and watch whatever he wanted and eat all the junk food he could.

So it was when he had finally gotten into an episode of That 70's Show that the phone chose to ring. Given that it was either an international call or another attempt on hellmouth, Xander sighed to the empty house and went to answer it.

"Hello?"

It was neither. "Xander?" Jack's voice queried over the phone. Xander suppressed another sigh. He really didn't want to deal with this now. This was the first and probably last time he'd have the house all to himself, dammit. And they'd found out last week that despite an unspoken promise to start afresh, they really had very little to say to each other.

"Hi, Jack," he replied anyway. He couldn't just hang up like he was a telemarketer. And as long as it wasn't Xander footing the bill he could afford not to make things worse between them. He did after all like the guy, he just didn't know what to say to him anymore.

"Hi, how are you doing?"

"Good, you?"

"Good."

In the uncomfortable pause that followed, Xander wondered if he should mention that everyone had left for unintelligible places. But Jack thankfully found something to say first.

"How's demon fighting going?"

"Quiet so far," said Xander. "Normal newbies on patrol but nothing major."

"Any word from your flamey friend?" he asked.

It took a moment for Xander to figure out whom he meant. "D'Hoffryn? Not him, but we did meet Norman. He came the day before yesterday. Had a few good ideas on how to keep the wish low profile." Xander had mostly stayed out of the conversation while Willow and Buffy worked out the details. "He's been cursed so that the President will see him as a self-serving idiot who he'd be better off without. The President that is."

"No humiliating public growth of horns or something?" asked Jack and Xander could have sworn he sounded disappointed.

"People don't like to notice stuff like that, and we certainly don't want people in certain five sided buildings tracing anything back to us."

"Yeah," Jack agreed. Xander heard him take a breath to say something, but in the end he didn't and more silence followed. "I hope I'm there to see Kinsey's face when the President fires him."

Xander shrugged to himself since he couldn't care less as long as the dude wasn't poking his nose where it didn't belong. Noses got broken that way after all. "Yeah, well, I don't know when it's going to happen."

"I'm sure I'll be the first to know when it does."

Xander turned toward the den during the next silence, but though he couldn't see the screen he could hear the ads going on. "So how's work?" he asked.

"Busy," was Jack's short reply. He didn't elaborate, not that Xander had really been expecting him to. He was still marginally curious about what exactly Jack did, but it was mostly because Jack had found out so much about him. On the other hand, part of him really didn't want to know. He had enough nightmares to deal with already.

Nevertheless, Xander just couldn't resist. "Meet any new aliens?"

"Xander," said Jack warningly.

"Just asking."

"Well, I can't tell you that we did."

Xander grinned at the exasperation and obvious smile in Jack's voice. "If they were little green women I'm gonna be jealous," he said.

"Nothing to worry about. They weren't green," Jack easily shot back making Xander laugh. "Next time I see them I'll be sure to give them your regards."

"And my phone number?"

"At a charge of ten bucks a number."

"If they try to kill me I'll expect a full refund," said Xander.

This time Jack laughed, an easy sound that reminded Xander of his September visit to Colorado when their secrets had been nothing more than forgotten whispers of something not quite right. This time though, the shadows were out in broad daylight. The silence that followed was not quite as strained as the preceding one, and Xander didn't mind so much his interrupted evening.

So exactly a week later when Jack called again in the middle of their playing Jedi Knights, Xander easily passed off his losing Apprentice to Diana who had much better chance against Andrew's Sith Lord.

"Hi, Jack," he said accepting the phone form Dawn who had answered.

"Hi," said Jack letting the word out in sigh. "How's Cleveland?"

"Cleveland's good," said Xander. "The rest of us are doing fine too. How was your week?"

There was a noticeable pause on the other end before Jack sighed again and said, "Crap, to be honest."

"What happened?" Xander leaned against the counter in the kitchen.

Another pause as Jack tried to figure out what he could say. "A good friend died a few days ago," he finally said.

Xander's heart stopped. "It wasn't - "

"No, my team's fine," Jack hastily told him. "They're off working right now."

"Do you remember Janet Frasier?"

Xander did. The short doctor at the General's Christmas party ages ago. They hadn't really chatted, but Xander had liked her. She'd had a daughter his age too. "Yeah," he said.

"I'm sorry." He knew the words were inadequate but they were all he had to give.

"Yeah," Jack murmured.

Xander wanted to ask if he was okay but he knew that he wouldn't be. You were never okay when a friend had just died. But he wanted to know how it had happened. Wanted to know whether it was a disease or a demon attack - or alien whatever - as impossible as that sounded. How did one die under a mountain in Colorado?

"How is her daughter doing?" he asked instead.

"Okay," Jack said, then huffed and added. "God, I don't know."

"Make sure she eats," Xander offered, recalling how Buffy's and Dawn's appetites had disappeared, even his to a degree, when Joyce had died. Eating felt so pointless for some reason when the person who should have been there wasn't. "She'll probably not be hungry for a year."

"I know." The gentle words reminding Xander that this was not the first person that Jack had lost in his life.

"Was it because of work?" he asked suddenly.

"Yes," Jack answered but he said no more than that. Couldn't say more than that. The knowledge was enough to make Xander glad he was leaning against the counter for support because Janet had been the doctor. Jack on the other hand was Special Ops. Images of the Initiative the night they had defeated Adam came to his mind, all the soldiers they couldn't save in their fight to get out themselves.

He'd never thought of Jack's job as really dangerous before even though he knew that it had to be. The difference between knowing and knowing, like the difference between patrol and an apocalypse. Both were dangerous, both could get you killed, but the odds between them were drastically different.

"Things still calm out there?" Jack finally broke the silence that had fallen between them. But Xander heard the question underneath, a little taken aback still by the concern the older man held for him.

"Yeah. I don't go out since it's been quiet. Vi and Diana both have enough experience to handle whatever's out there," he said.

"Just -" Jack cut himself off, the rest of his sentence lost. Xander waited for him to go on, unsure if he would or not. Finally, Jack did. "Be careful."

And for some reason, Xander felt the need to make a joke lest Jack know what those two words meant at that moment. Instead he said, "I will."

Jack left it at that and they turned to other lighter topics. But beneath it all was an all too familiar tension, a worry that was not easily dispelled.

If you are avoiding Season 7 spoilers as I know some of you are let me know and I'll send you a spoiler free summary of chapter 14. I plan on keeping Chs 15 and 16 spoiler free.

They'd come to a sort of agreement about what they talked about. If Jack wanted to know what was going on, he asked point blank and Xander would usually answer with watered down answers. "Just a snake thing that took longer to track down than we thought," or "Some kids at the high school getting in over their heads with the magic." Jack tried not to be too pushy about it, but when Xander sounded exhausted or down he always asked.

For his part, Xander asked even fewer questions but that seemed more because he was tired of the endless lack of details that Jack could provide. But somehow he always knew when Jack got hurt or when he was worried about a wounded teammate. Jack had asked after the third time how he knew, wondering if it was more magic, but Xander instead told him simply that he called later. Jack remembered feeling slightly uncomfortable when he'd heard that and thinking that his son was too perceptive for his own good. Or rather Jack's.

That was why he was staring at the phone right now instead of picking it up and dialing. Xander would know that this wasn't a normal call. Jack's mind flickered over the last few days. The mission to extract the Ancient's library device, Anubis's attack, and now, way too much knowledge in his head that could kill him in a matter of days.

Last night when his team had been over, Daniel had asked him what he was going to tell Xander. Jack had replied, "That I was saving the world." The truth was he didn't know what he was going to say. The problem was he also couldn't not call. Taking a deep breath, he reached for the phone. Maybe he'd get lucky and Xander would be at work.

The phone rang once, twice, three times. When it got to five, Jack was ready to let out a sigh of relief - that was quickly dashed when a breathless "Hello?" answered.

"Hey, Vi, it's Jack," he said pleasantly, recognizing the teenager's voice. With an ease that comes from years of practice, he staunchly ignored the feeling of dread that clung in his stomach.

"Hey, Jack!" she cheerfully replied. "How you doing? Xander's upstairs, just a sec. XANDER!"

Jack smiled at the quick transfer figuring he had interrupted something or other. Usually he would at least have a chance to answer questions and ask how things were going before Xander was shouted for.

"Hey, Jack," his son's light tone greeted him all too quickly. "You're calling early for once."

Jack nodded and said, "Yeah, thought I'd change things up." It was two in the afternoon on a Sunday. So much for the at-work plan.

"Uh-huh," said Xander. Crap, thought Jack. "So what's up?" Double crap, Jack amended. He should have asked that first.

"Oh, you know, same old, same old," said Jack evasively. "How are you?"

"In need of a new job."

"What's wrong?" Jack asked suddenly concerned.

"The one I have is boring me to tears," said Xander. "I've had some crappy jobs before but I usually managed to get fired before I got too bored with them. Here, my boss actually likes me and says I do good work and doesn't mind my switching shifts at the last minute."

"And that's bad?"

"For my other job, no. But I feel like I'm going to go insane if I have to keep this up. I hate retail."

"Ah, the joys of knowing that the customer is always right," said Jack sagely.

"'Right' is a relative term," said Xander with a sigh.

"Yeah," Jack agreed. In more than just the retail sense, he thought. If he . . . he would miss this, the idle chatter about life, knowing how he was doing, what was good, what was bad. Jack closed his eyes. "Have I told you how proud I am of you?" he half whispered. He heard Xander's breath catch on the other end of the line.

"Jack?" Xander's voice was breathy and uncertain. "What's wrong?"

Jack felt like an idiot now for even saying it. He was a man of action, not words, and his only relief was that Xander wasn't there to see him shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "Nothing really - "

"Jack," Xander cut him off harshly. "You don't start a 'goodbye' speech when nothing's wrong."

"Xander - "

"No, you started a 'goodbye' speech! 'I'm proud of you, I love you.' If every thing is just puppies and rainbows you don't say that!" Xander snapped. "Now what's wrong?!" A little taken aback by the vehemence in his son's voice, Jack was shocked into silence for minute. "Jack!" Xander prompted.

"I, uh," Jack struggled for a way to explain that wouldn't be breaking a zillion laws. "I kinda did something stupid," he finally said. "But given the situation, there wasn't really a choice." He paused and Xander remained silent, waiting. "I can't go into detail, and it's not hopeless, just . . ."

"Dire?" Xander finished for him. Jack winced.

"Well, I might die," he quipped quietly. Dead silence. Jack wondered for a moment if Xander was still there.

"That bad?" Xander finally said, his voice tight even as he tried to keep it light. "Is this a scheduled death or are you just ad libbing?"

"If it happens, and I stress the 'if,'" Jack hesitated, remembering the last time he'd spouted alien words and felt himself lose his mind, "sometime next week."

"Got it all planned out, huh? Decided life was too boring under your mountain, and hey, let's give death a try. Next Thursday good for you?"

Jack winced at the raw sarcasm. "It's not like that," he said a little exasperatedly. "If you must know it's probably going to save the world." Maybe Xander would understand in terms he seemed to be familiar with.

"Great," said Xander bitingly. "I'll have to let the others know that Apocalypse Season has opened early this year. Good to know I rate at least a phone call."

"Xander," said Jack.

"What?"

But Jack didn't have anything to say. He felt empty, like a tin can that someone was still trying to hammer the last of the beans out of. "I'm sorry," he said. Sorry for . . . everything. God, he hadn't felt this bad about anything in years.

"Don't be sorry," said Xander, his voice softer than it was before but no less hurt. "Just make sure you don't die. Or I swear to whatever gods there are that I will have Willow resurrect you so I can kill you myself."

Jack couldn't help but smile at the threat. "Guess I better not die then."

"No." Xander sighed. "Look, call me when you're not going to die any more."

He was going to hang up. "Xander," said Jack quickly, not wanting his last chance to slip away.

"No," his son interrupted. "Call me when you're not going to die." And he was gone. Jack held the phone a moment longer, staring at it blankly before replacing it in the cradle. Unsaid. Too much had been left unsaid. His head fell into weary palms. Xander sure wasn't letting him off easy. There had been no 'ifs' in his demand. Jack was just going to have to make sure he was alive to tell him.

Xander stared at the phone he had slammed down. Bastard. That stupid, damn . . . bastard. Unconsciously he clenched his jaw, so angry that he couldn't do more than glare holes in the phone and hope they burned Jack. He was going to kill him. And he wasn't going to die, oh no, Jack was going to stay nice and healthy until Xander could get his hands on him, then he would show him what dying was all about. If - but Xander squelched the thought before it had even formed. Jack was going to call him in a week, and Xander was going to scream at him for being an idiot. Three rules of slaying: if it's bad, run; always make plans for the day after; and don't die! And then of course there was always the addendum rule that was true beyond slaying that girls were always right. At least one of them. But not the point here.

No, the point here was simple. Jack was an idiot. And a bastard. And Xander would never forgive him if he died.

Suddenly feeling the urge to hit something, he slammed down to the basement, made a beeline for the punching bag, and started beating the hell out of it. His thoughts gave way to mindlessness and the burning anger that he refused to let go of. He didn't know how long he was down there but he was sweaty and pleasantly tired when he finally stopped, leaning forward to rest his head against the bag.

Dawn was sitting on the bottom stairs when he finally turned around. Large eyes watching out of a considering face, but she didn't say anything, just followed his progress as he came and sat beside her. They sat in silence for a minute before Dawn broke it.

"Jack?" she asked. Xander nodded. "What happened?"

He didn't look at her. "Said he did something that could kill him to save the world."

"Oh."

Neither one of them said anymore. They didn't move until Andrew came and asked what they wanted for dinner. And that evening, they all went on patrol.

The next three days were tense. After Jack's phone call, Xander was paranoid about everything going to hell - literally. He was also snappish and bad tempered with everyone, which didn't help, matters much, even if they knew why. Sort of. As Xander kept ranting, Jack hadn't given them any useful information about what was potentially going down so they didn't know what they were looking for in the first place.

Xander had alerted Giles and the others, and the scattered research department had gone to work combing for any kind of a clue, but nothing came up. Jack still hadn't called.

It was on Tuesday when they finally figured it out. Xander was at work checking stock in the back with the radio on for company when the commercial break suddenly turned into a news report. "We have a special weather report from the National Weather Station. An unexpected meteor shower is in progress across much of the Western Hemisphere. People are advised to stay indoors as there have already been reports of meteors striking the surface in Texas and Bolivia. Scientists say that it should pass within the hour."

The report brought Xander up short and he stared at the radio for a second before bolting for the door. Unexpected meteor shower, his ass. Those things were tracked, predicted. He should know since Dawn and Andrew dragged them all outside to watch the shooting stars when they came. And if they were already hitting the Earth? No way was it natural.

Xander made it to the staff room at the other end of the building in under two minutes. It took him another thirty seconds to find his cell phone and call Andrew.

"Hello?"

"Andrew, turn on the news. I think we have our world ending event," he said quickly. "Call Giles and let him know."

"Meteors?" said Andrew and Xander could hear the TV on in the background. "Xander, I don't think there's much we can do against meteors."

"We can stop whatever's causing them," Xander said, though he had no idea how they would do that. "Look, call Giles, see what he says and call me back." He glanced quickly at his watch. It was a little after two. His shift didn't end till four and the girls wouldn't get home from school until around three thirty. Xander wondered if they had that long. "How are the wards on the hellmouth?" he asked waiting a minute as Andrew went and checked the crystal.

"No change," he reported. "I'll call if it does."

"All right, thanks. See you later." He hit 'end' and sighed. There really wasn't much he could do now until he heard back from Giles and Andrew. He might as well get paid for the next two hours.

But even as he went back to the stock room and started counting nuts and bolts again, Xander couldn't help but worry about what was going on and feel a frustrating sense of helplessness about it. And wonder what Jack was doing at that very moment. It sucked. He couldn't concentrate and ended up recounting the packs of nails four times. He'd been at it an hour or so, his mind wandering from nails to nasty creatures crawling out of meteors when the question of what was going on suddenly became a lot less academic.

Xander felt it. Suddenly, in every fiber of his being he felt a tug that grew ever more insistent, building and building through his bones and muscles like liquid fire until suddenly a part of him was ripped away like duct tape being ripped off of skin. It was so hard and fast that the force of it knocked him to his knees, his whole body burning for an instant before slowly melting away in a throbbing pulse. Xander gasped for breath, wondering what the hell had just happened and at the same time, afraid of the answer. Nothing in his life had ever felt like that, nothing, and Xander had undergone some wacky spells in his time.

It took him a few minutes to stand, a wash of dizziness forcing him to pause with his head between his knees to prevent his lunch from ending up on the floor. When he finally did manage to get to his feet and stay on them his head had cleared considerably and the burning sensation was all but gone, leaving him with a killer headache and something else that niggled in the back of his head. It wasn't until he stepped out of the stock room and saw the rest of the store acting as if nothing had happened that Xander, now more confused than ever, realized that everything felt just a bit off. 'Everything' as in the artificial light, the sounds of people talking, the way his feet felt against the ground - and at the same time everything was just as it always had been. Exactly alike except for that feeling.

He quickly fished his cell out of his pocket and hit the speed dial for home. It took three rings for Andrew to answer and when he did, Xander knew that he had felt whatever it was too.

In fact, one frantic phone call from the high school, one from Giles, one from Buffy, and a panicked call from Kennedy confirmed that anyone that had anything to do with the supernatural had felt it. And in varying degrees. In Brazil, Willow was still unconscious. Of the Cleveland crowd, Dawn had been hit the hardest, but even she had woken up after a few hours. Vi and Diana and the other slayers had taken it hard as well but with a much faster recovery time, though it had been longer than Xander's and Andrew's. And everyone felt the same shift in perception that couldn't be described as more than a feeling of something off, almost like when ears wouldn't pop when they needed to, only not quite as concrete a feeling.

And that wasn't even the bad news. No, what currently had the five continent conference call's attention was the fact that the slayers' powers were greatly diminished. Buffy had noticed it first since she had been on the prowl in Europe at the time. One minute she'd been fighting a vamp, the next she'd been fighting for her life.

"I haven't been able to contact the Bath coven," Giles was saying. "I believe, given Willow's reaction, that they were hit hard as well." Xander glanced around the dining room table. Andrew was clearly scared and nervous and trying to hide it. Dawn, pale and still in pain sat huddled in a blanket beside him. Diana refused to look up from the tabletop while Vi met Xander's gaze with a frightened yet determined one of her own. "The force seems to be proportional to the amount of magic used by the individual. What ever it was, it ripped away innate power."

"So how do we stop it?" demanded Kennedy anxiously.

"It's already over," said Giles. "Until we know what caused it, I don't think there's much we can do except wait and see."

"Any ideas?" asked Buffy.

"The meteor shower," said Xander.

"Yes, quite," Giles sighed. "Hardly coincidental that it stopped after the event."

"We need to contact all our slayers and let them know what's going on," said Faith.

"Giles?" said Dawn suddenly, "if something ripped all the magical energy from everyone around the world, where did it all go?"

There was a brief silence. "I don't suppose there's energy heaven," suggested Buffy quietly.

"No," said Giles.

"So we need to find out what that meteor shower was, why it stopped, and where all our magical energy went," Buffy gathered their agenda together.

"And who's behind it," added Vi who quickly paused after realizing that she had actually spoken the thought aloud. "I was just thinking," she went on a little more hesitantly, "you know how everything feels off? What if it's not just the witches and magic users, but all magic? Someone trying to disable the wards and natural protections around the hellmouth."

"Everything's connected," murmured Kennedy, reciting Willow's catchphrase into the ensuing silence.

Xander shared a look with Vi. If she was right, they had a serious problem on their hands. Natural magic was everywhere. According to Willow, it connected everything, made some places more sacred than others, prevented vampires from entering occupied homes, allowed essence to pass from a person to a treasured object, provided natural resistance to opening the hellmouth . . . the list went on.

"Giles test that theory," said Buffy urgently, as aware as Xander of the formula for disaster. "Xander, Vi, you guys take care of the meteor research. Kennedy, get in touch with Riley, let him know what's going on. Faith, Robin, get in touch with the rest of the watchers. And everyone start calling your slayers."

The call ended as they all hastened away to follow orders, the democracy of the Board falling away in crisis. Xander refused to let himself think of what could go down - or come up - if the wrong demons figured out that the Earth's magical forces had suddenly been drained. Crap. He got to his feet abruptly and went to the kitchen to make sure they had enough coffee.

Over the next day and a half, no one got any sleep. The girls stayed home from school to 'recover' from their fainting spells and everyone camped out in the dining room. Andrew took the books looking for any and all references to apocalyptic meteor showers while Dawn took the Internet, printing and processing whatever she could get her hands on. Diana and Xander called the slayers. Vi hit the streets to check out the usual demon bars and hangout for anything useful, though so far she'd only come up with confused and scared demons. Their contacts had no idea what was going on either and quite a few were packing up to leave town in self-preservation.

Vi and Diana's slayer strength was returning although slowly and only due to their proximity to the hellmouth. Elsewhere around the country, and globe for that matter, slayer powers were returning at about half that rate, which left none of them in any condition to fight. Going by Vi's estimation it would be another few days for her and Diana, and at least a week before the rest of them were up to full power.

Wednesday night, Giles confirmed that all magic, not just that of casters, had been ripped away by the force. The Bath coven had been knocked unconscious as Willow had though when they had awakened twenty-eight hours later, Willow had still been unconscious. Simple spells were impossible and normal magical objects were no longer expressing their otherworldly qualities. Dawn even tested the truth potion which failed to force Xander to say he had one eye.

But it was Dawn's report that was perhaps the most telling. "All the places that were hit by meteors yesterday were communications arrays. And there's been reports of satellites down for a couple of companies." The phone was on speaker setting in the middle of the dining room table. The Board was all there with the exception of Willow.

"So you're saying that the meteors weren't meteors?" asked Buffy through the speakerphone.

"We think it's aliens," said Andrew with a quick look at Xander. They had talked about it earlier when Dawn had found the first news reports. Coupled with Jack's 'end of the world' timing, it made sense. Of course, they still had no proof.

"Aliens," said Robin with a little skepticism.

Xander ignored him. "Kennedy, did you reach Riley?"

"No, he still hasn't gotten back to me."

"That still doesn't explain the drain of magical energy," said Giles getting back to Dawn's point. "Only the meteor shower."

"Which stopped after the drain," said Buffy.

"But we haven't been invaded yet," Andrew pointed out. "That means the aliens were stopped by the magic. We think." He grinned as he told them what he had figured out from watching way too many sci-fi movies.

There was a pause as the others took this in.

"Are you saying the Earth is frickin allergic to alien attacks?" asked Faith.

"Whatever happened, if this is what Jack was talking about, the military knows," said Xander.

"Or at least has a place to start," said Buffy quietly. "Xander, it looks like it's up to you guys to go chat them up."

"Not till we hear from Riley," Xander said. He did not want to get locked up before he could even talk to someone.

"Make it soon. We gotta figure out how to get the magic back in balance or we are so screwed." Talk turned then to status reports. In the US, the lack of mojo was still not common knowledge as far as they could tell. In Africa and South America communications were so bad there was no way to really tell. In Italy, however, word of the slayer's weakness had already spread leaving Buffy at a loss of what to do. She couldn't wait a week for her powers to come back - she needed them now. If word from Europe got across the ocean . . . well, Cleveland would probably become the next great demon vacation spot.

Riley finally called around five am Thursday morning, waking Xander from a fitful sleep. To make matters worse, he stubbed his toe on the doorframe as he stumbled across the hall to the office. "'Lo?" he said, sitting heavily at the desk, rubbing his poor foot.

"Xander? Riley. I hope you have a suit."

"What? Riley? Hi," Xander mumbled still mostly asleep. "What did you say?"

"I got Kennedy's messages yesterday about the magic. Happened to us too. One of our mages is still in a coma," Riley explained sounding far more awake than necessary. "If you're right about the barriers we are in deep shit."

"Tell me about it," said Xander dryly as the sleep started to clear from his brain. He was sitting on the damn hellmouth.

"We called out people in Washington," Riley went on. "They talked to the Joint Chiefs who didn't give them the time of day till they mentioned your aliens."

"What'd they say?"

"I think they were a little upset about us knowing."

"Ouch," Xander sighed. Perfect, now the government was going to be after them on top of all this.

"General Taylor backed us up though," said Riley.

"General Who?" asked Xander, more than a little surprised.

"Army Chief of Staff. I've met him a few times. He's a good man. He's the one who keeps tabs on our operation and unofficially on yours."

"What?!" This was news to Xander. "Why didn't you ever tell us?" he asked, feeling slightly betrayed.

"Relax. It's strictly surveillance. He was in on the Initiative and knows better than to interfere. But he's got a vested interest in protecting his country too, you know."

"Right, sorry," Xander sighed. He really shouldn't have been surprised, and it was a credit to this General that he was staying out of their way.

"Anyway," Riley went on. "He's taking us seriously. When I got Kennedy's second message about the natural magic and the hellmouth and the Italian demons I called him and since I'm in the jungle, he got you clearance to learn about what happened and fix the problem.

"Me?" said Xander completely awake now from the jolt of adrenaline at the news. "Why me?"

"He's sending you to a military base. Who else is there? Dawn?" Right, no high school students allowed. "Now the people at the base haven't been cleared about the Council so don't tell them anything. Someone's picking you up at six. Codephrase: 'Lovely day to walk your dog to Mars'. Then you say 'Only if it's raining in Hell'. Got that?"

"'Only if it's raining in Hell,'" Xander repeated, the cloak and dagger stuff making him smile. Andrew was going to be so jealous. Then again, unless he wanted to be spouting codephrases for the rest of his life, he probably shouldn't tell him. But he would be so jealous. "Thanks, Riley."

"Just doing my job," said his friend. "Let me know what happens. I gotta get back."

"Good luck," said Xander before they hung up. He closed his eye, feeling a light draft waft through his uncovered eye socket. It was way too early to be up let alone thinking. With a final shake of his head, Xander went back to sleep for the remaining twenty minutes before he had to get up for real to meet whoever Taylor had sent to talk to him about Mars. After setting his alarm, Xander's last thought as he drifted back to sleep was that he didn't have a suit.

Xander didn't start to get nervous until they were driving up the mountain. He'd only been half-awake when Major Davis had showed up on the front step, then the car ride and subsequent flight to a still undisclosed location had put him soundly back to sleep. He'd tried to stay conscious, really, but his body had refused to cooperate.

Now that they were off the military transport and on their way to the mysterious base he couldn't ignore the worms crawling around in his stomach. Though that was partly hunger, which was a good thing because it gave him another thing to think about. Namely donuts.

His escort, Major Davis, hadn't been very chatty the whole trip aside from their initial meeting. Xander knew that he hadn't been expecting a kid with one eye hopelessly underdressed in khakis, dark blue button-down shirt, red snowman tie, and a winter jacket that had old gore stains on it. The covert looks the Major sent his way were still trying to puzzle him out. What a way to make an impression.

When they got to the base that went into the Cheyenne Mountain, Xander suddenly knew where they were. Jack's base. Major Davis led him through two checkpoints where Xander's driver's license and Council ID were checked and rechecked before they were allowed onto the elevator that went down ten floors before stopping. When they got off, they were at another checkpoint. Xander idly wondered if they had any confidence in the people upstairs at all as he once again showed them his ID. Paranoid didn't even begin to cover it. And then they got onto another elevator. And this one went down for a lot longer than ten stories.

"Welcome to the SGC, Mr. Harris," Major Davis said when the elevator door finally opened. Xander shot him a startled look at the familiar designation that he wasn't supposed to know. SCG, Bluebook, Area 52 - really, really top secret military base that had at least one alien on staff. He took a deep breath and followed the Major down the cold gray halls. He sure hoped he didn't have to get out of here in a hurry because there was no way he was going to be able to remember all these twists and turns.

While they walked, Xander took in the uniformed men and women around him. Most were in plain green or blue fatigues striding purposefully from one place to another. They all looked at Xander curiously, their expressions guarded and evaluating. He tried to ignore the sensation of too many eyes crawling all over him, but it was rather difficult, too much like a vampire's gaze as it sized up dinner for comfort. It was almost a relief when they reached the conference room.

The conference room was very spacious and very empty when they arrived. The walls held tasteful hotel pictures except for one wall whose windows were covered by a blast shield. It took Xander a moment to process what was wrong at first and then it hit him - there were windows underground.

The center of the room was dominated by a large table surrounded by comfy looking chairs. Two flags stood against the far wall where another door stood ajar. Major Davis walked confidently up to it while Xander followed with a little more trepidation. He really shouldn't have been nervous since this was Jack's base and Jack had told General George about them. It should make everything easier in the long run, but nevertheless Xander felt like a kid dragged off to the principal's office. Or maybe that was the human in the vamp nest talking.

"Dr. Weir," said Major Davis knocking on the doorframe. Xander stopped short. Uh, Weir? he had a second to wonder as a tall, brunette woman stood from behind what was obviously her desk and came to greet them.

"Ah, Major Davis," Dr. Weir smiled warmly, her eyes briefly meeting the Major's before settling on Xander. "And you must be Director Harris from the International Watcher's Council."

"Yes, it's good to meet you," Xander managed without stammering as he shook her hand. Meanwhile his mind was doing some hasty rearranging. Not General George but Dr. Weir. Not someone who knew but someone who most definitely was not in the know, and wasn't supposed to. On the plus side she wasn't military. Which begged the question of what she was doing in charge of a military base. And . . . doctor of what?

"Please," she gestured for the two men to join her at the conference table. Xander couldn't help but appreciate all the room it offered as he sat opposite Davis while Dr. Weir took the seat at the head.

"Dr. Weir, Mr. Harris has been authorized to be briefed on the Stargate Project, in particular, the events of the past few days to evaluate their impact," said Davis. Weir nodded, the introduction obviously a confirmation.

"I just got off the phone with the Joint Chiefs," she said with a small smile. "They aren't much for giving notice. I'm afraid they didn't explain what your organization does exactly." Her voice turned upward in an invitation to explain.

Yeah right. Xander was very tempted to say 'classified' and leave it at that but he decided to be nice. "Um, I can't really say other than that we are concerned with the fate of the world," he said as clearly as possible. Weir nodded and didn't look put out in the slightest. In fact, Xander had no idea what she was thinking. She was calm and collected and all the things Xander didn't feel at the moment.

"Of course," she said. "Well, as I was just briefed four days ago, I've asked Dr. Jackson to come join us as I'm sure he'll do a much better job of explaining."

"You're new here?" Xander asked. He did some quick math in his head. Four days ago was after Jack had called but before the drain. Crap, power struggles.

"Yes," said Weir calmly. "And yourself, how long have you worked for the Council?"

"Longer than four days," he replied which earned him another smile though he wasn't sure why. He didn't have time to ponder it however as the doors at the opposite end of the conference room burst open as a man barreled through.

"Sorry I'm late," the man said. His arms were laden with file folders, one hand gripping a cup of coffee. In green fatigues, it took Xander a moment to recognize him as Daniel. At the same moment, the haggard archeologist, who looked like Xander felt, stopped short as he caught sight of their guest.

Xander quickly shook his head at him and said hastily, "Dr. Jackson, I presume?" Please get it, please get it, he chanted mentally. If they knew each other, Weir would want to know why and then all these awkward questions would come up and Xander really wanted to avoid that. At all costs.

Daniel stared at him for a long second before snapping his mouth closed and saying, "Uh . . . yeah, Daniel Jackson." He came around the table next to Davis and carefully put down his coffee and papers.

"Dr. Jackson, Director Harris of the Watcher's Council," Weir introduced them as they shook hands. "He's here to be briefed on the project."

"Right." Daniel frowned briefly, then grabbed his folders, checking a few before sliding one over to Xander. "Right," he repeated. He looked at the folder in his hand for a moment then looked up and fixed Xander with his gaze. "The Stargate Project rose out of a discovery in 1928 on a dig in Egypt. An artifact was uncovered, a giant ring that had been purposefully buried."

"How big a ring?" Xander interrupted as he tried to get a picture of it in his head.

Daniel grinned slightly. "Big enough to walk through. Also covered in symbols. The US government ultimately took possession of the ring and a few years ago figured out what it was: a stargate."

"A gate to stars and aliens," said Xander in not quite a question. Across from him, Major Davis sat up straighter and frowned, obviously wondering how he'd jumped to that conclusion.

Xander spared him a glance. "A meteor shower that only takes out communications arrays? I'm sure that was a coincidence. There is a reason we wanted to talk to you." He resisted the urge to roll his eye. He caught another grin from Daniel who continued.

"Other planets actually. But essentially . . . aliens. In fact most of the people we encounter are humans descended from people here on Earth." Daniel paused to let that sink in, going on when Xander nodded. It did make sense and explained why Teal'c looked human and why the Air Force had archeologists. "Originally they were taken there by another alien race called the Goa'uld who are a parasitic species that take humans as hosts. There's a picture in there." Daniel motioned for him to open his folder. Xander found the picture of the freaky snake-like thing that looked like a tentacle from the demon they had killed last August. Except smaller. "The Goa'uld pretend to be gods and they take humans as slaves. Whole civilizations were uplifted and moved to other planets." Xander looked up at Daniel's tone, meeting eyes that mesmerized him with their intensity. "They are pure evil. There is no talking, no negotiating, and no mercy. We've been at war with them for about seven years now."

Xander felt his heart clench, his mind going back to Jack's phone call in a panicked rush. "And . . . they attacked," he said slowly.

"Yeah. One of them."

Xander looked back at the picture, only half listening as Daniel rambled on about them being feudal and having their own armies and ships and not playing nice together. It was so small. He wondered how it took control over someone. Demons did it so many different ways - there used to be a book on parasitic ones that would burrow through your back or only attach after sex or eating. He wondered if this should be harder to wrap his head around.

"Director Harris," Dr. Weir's gentle voice interrupted Daniel's flow. "Are you all right? I know this is difficult but I can assure you that it is very real."

"What?" Xander looked up out of his thoughts into her sympathetic eyes. "Yeah, real," he agreed absently. "How does it take a host?" he turned back to Daniel.

"Through the back of the neck or the mouth. They attach themselves to the brainstem. There's an MRI."

Xander flipped though his folder till he found it. It gave him the shivers just looking at it, a pale serpentine form wrapped around the brainstem. Ick. "Now there's something that would drive you mad. I don't suppose they pay rent?"

"Uh, no," said Daniel with another ghost of a smile, reaching for his coffee. Weir and Davis both shifted uncomfortably at the joke, which pleased Xander no end. Not so confident now, were they?

"So the guy who attacked. What happened?" he asked, putting aside the MRI for now.

"Anubis," said Daniel. "He wanted to take over Earth, kill us, enslave us."

"Doesn't like us much, does he," Xander commented.

"We tend to piss them off," Daniel replied. Beside him Davis smiled a bit. Daniel went on and explained the happenings of the last few days. How the older, more advanced alien race that had made the stargates had left a weapon behind in an outpost in Antarctica. How they had recovered the location from a library device on another planet. How his CO, Jack O'Neill, now had so much information in his head from the device that his brain would deteriorate.

Daniel's eyes held Xander's as he told him this last bit, soft and kind while Xander felt an emptiness rush through him. "He used his knowledge to activate the weapon which destroyed Anubis's fleet and afterwards he was frozen and placed in stasis. At least that's what we think."

"Is he . . . alive?" asked Xander.

"We think so."

But frozen in Antarctica with stuff in his head that could kill him. Would freezing him help?

"Director Harris," Dr. Weir said, pulling him out of his introspection. "What sort of analysis do you need of the last few days?"

Xander shook his head to clear it. Focus, he told himself. Twisting his thoughts away from Jack, he turned towards her. "I need to know everything you can tell me about the weapon that was used," he said. From the descriptions, that had to be it.

"The weapon?" said Dr. Weir. "May I ask why?"

"Aren't you supposed to cooperate?" he shot back.

"Director, you were given clearance for the Stargate Project and recent events. It was not my understanding that you were allowed access to knowledge about a very powerful weapon." Weir's voice was stern but still on the right side of polite.

"Right, cause I'm gonna run home and make one in my backyard," Xander said before he could stop himself. "Look," he said more seriously before Weir could say anything. "Something happened when that weapon did its thing. Something drastic." Xander searched for words that wouldn't give too much away. "I could care less about the weapon. If I wanted to blow something up I'd go steal a rocket launcher. So help me out here."

Dr. Weir regarded him for a minute with that same unreadable expression while Xander tried to look sincere.

"Dr. Weir, there's no way he could get access to the site and with as little as we know about the Ancients' technology, it can't hurt," said Daniel into the silence. Finally Weir nodded.

"I'm afraid there's not much we can tell you," she said, sitting back in her chair with a sigh. "Access to the weapon has been severely limited due to the political situation. We're having difficulty getting even Colonel O'Neill back."

"But you will get him back, right?" Xander asked suddenly sidetracked by this news. Jack couldn't stay in Antarctica forever, cause even in stasis he would waste away.

"Yes, eventually," Weir smiled. "Major Davis, the latest science report is on my desk, if you would." The Major nodded and went to fetch it, back a moment later. Weir smiled a thank you as she accepted it and slid it to Xander. "What we do know is that the weapon is controlled mentally by a person, in this case Colonel O'Neill." Between her and Daniel, they explained the very vague particulars on how the weapon worked. Basically, you plugged in the power source, sat in a chair, and thought real hard for globules of energy to come out of the floor. The energy packets could be consolidated or could work independently of each other. Except Xander reasoned the energy was magic and what they thought was a power source was probably a key or something. Dangerous whatever it was if it unleashed the full magical power of the Earth. And now that magical power was in space. Great. Xander rubbed his eye tiredly as they finished up. Why couldn't this be easy? Just once?

"So what's the prognosis?" asked Daniel cautiously.

Xander smiled humorlessly, his gaze flickering from him to Weir and back. "Do you want the bad news or the bad news?" he asked.

"That bad?"

"With the nice energy shake in space? We've got . . . issues," he said not sure if Daniel understood what he meant or not.

"Issues?" asked Weir sharply.

"Yeah," Xander nodded, unsure of how much more he could say. The scary part was, he had no idea what to do about it. The person best suited to solving this problem was Willow and she was either still unconscious or still sick from the backlash. And what were they going to do until the Earth naturally restored itself? Crap. Crap, crap, crap. With a cherry on top.

Xander leafed through the science report again, ignoring the words that were far too technical for him and focusing on the pictures of the underground room and the equipment covered in strange symbols. And then suddenly he was staring at Jack through a block of ice like some warped piece of art. He was staring at nothing, his face blank and lifeless, and Xander felt something akin to panic flutter in his chest. Jack in Antarctica, frozen with something in his head that would kill him if he woke up. It hit him then that he might not ever see him again, alive. This picture might be his last. Killed from knowing too much.

Abstractly, Xander knew he should be focusing on the weapon at hand, but Scooby instincts to protect people first and deal with the consequences later kicked in and he couldn't look away. "What's been done about getting Jack back?" he asked.

"We're working on it," said Dr. Weir. "Several countries have just been briefed on the Stargate Project given the recent attack and are reluctant to let us take anything from the site, but it is a priority. That's not really relevant to this discussion, however."

Xander looked up at her. "So he's just being left there?"

"Director Harris - "

"He's got all that stuff in his head that's killing him and you're just leaving them there?" He couldn't believe it. Wasn't he the guy that had just saved all their asses by knowing what to do? Even if he inadvertently caused the drain to make the weapon work . . . And if he was left there he was as good as dead. Wasn't there some way they could fix him?

"So this problem you're addressing," said Daniel slowly yet abruptly shifting topics. "It has to do with the . . . energy . . . and how it works?"

"I think so, yeah," said Xander watching the archeologist carefully as he obviously thought through something.

"Then Jack should know," he said finally. Daniel sat up straighter but seemed hesitant to continue. "He's got the knowledge of the Ancients who built the weapon. In theory if we revive him, he should be able to tell us what you need to know before . . ."

"His brain leaks out of his ears?" Xander suggested. It was obvious, of course, more so now that it had been thought out loud. And it was terrifying because that would only speed up the deterioration of Jack's brain once he was thawed, if it had even been stopped at all. He couldn't risk that, even if what he could tell them would help. "Waking him up will kill him." And that was the bottom line.

"We're working on that," Daniel shifted slightly in his seat with a quick glance at Davis. He tried to smile reassuringly though the worry never left his face. "We're not going to let him die. We have some allies that can help and when they get here we can do it. We won't rush into anything." He turned to Weir. "But there's got to be a way we can use that to get him back here."

Peripherally, he heard Daniel, Weir, and Davis start talking diplomacy but he ignored them and instead looked back at the picture of Jack encased in ice, cold and dead-like. Xander wouldn't lose him this way. He couldn't. In his head he heard Jack's words come back to haunt him, words he'd shoved down with anger so they wouldn't become goodbye. Words he needed to hear again suddenly because sometimes being able to say goodbye was worth it.

There it was, the traitorous thought he'd managed to keep away for the last six days. Jack could die. Was probably going to, in fact. And Xander didn't want to lose him.

"How much can you tell us about why you need to know about the weapon?" Weir interrupted his morbid thoughts.

"Nothing anyone would believe."

"Then there's not much we can bargain with. Barring an act of God, this is going to be very difficult."

"Then just go kidnap him in the middle of the night," Xander suggested the simplest answer he could think of. He probably should have kept his mouth closed given the raised eyebrows he was getting, though Daniel did seem more amused than shocked. "Or something," Xander added hastily.

"Not a bad idea," Daniel muttered and from the expectant look he gave Weir, Xander figured he must have been harping on getting his best friend back since it had happened.

"Dr. Jackson."

"I'm just saying . . ." Daniel lifted his hands in his defense.

Dr. Weir gave him a final warning look before she turned to Xander. "We'll see what we can do. You're welcome to stay on base. Dr. Jackson, perhaps you could show Director Harris to the commissary?"

"Sure," Daniel nodded, rising and gathering his things while Xander followed suit and shook hands with both Weir and Davis before following him out the door.

"You want to see the stargate?" Daniel asked as the exited through the door through which Daniel had entered. Xander didn't even have a chance to say yes as suddenly he was looking at it through the window of the control room they were in. It was large. Slate blue-gray in color with symbols and funny triangle things around its edge and a metal pinwheel across its face.

Xander stared at it for a second before saying the first thing that came to mind. "That's cool!"

Daniel grinned. "Wait till you see it in action. Come on." With a last look at the portal to other planets - planets! Xander thought excitedly - he followed his guide down the steps into the corridor below. He almost wanted to try it. Andrew was going to be so jealous.

"I was surprised to see you here," said Daniel giving Xander a quick look as they started down the hallway. "You look like you've had a rough couple of days."

"Yeah, well, getting all the magic sucked out of your body while your dad uses it to save the world on top of finding out that he might die afterwards will do that to you," Xander replied. That got Daniel's attention, his step faltering a second before reestablishing itself.

"Jack called you?" he asked. Xander nodded. "And the . . . magic . . .?"

Xander sighed and returned the curious gaze, clear and hiding nothing. Xander was relieved that there was someone else who knew about his world that he could talk to in this cold place. Another person who, even if he didn't get it all, wouldn't disbelieve him or the magnitude of what they were facing. It probably broke all the rules, but he didn't care. Rules were made to be ignored. "I'll tell you over breakfast."

Daniel and Xander's interesting breakfast took place in a forgotten corner of the dining hall and was joined midway through by Jack's other friends Sam and Teal'c. Xander eyed them carefully at first - he hadn't seen them since Christmas - but nevertheless recapped what he'd already told Daniel and finished with the guesses the Scoobies had made. Daniel and Sam both asked questions focusing on the details of the drain, which they accepted as magic with little protest, and on the nature of magic in the world and what its loss meant. Surprisingly, they knew more than Xander had first thought they did.

"We had a long talk with Mr. Giles," Sam told him with an amused smile when he asked.

"And did a little reading on our own," Daniel added with a shrug. "You'd be surprised at how many Internet sources there are on the supernatural the way you described it."

"Trust me. They're all bookmarked on our computer," Xander replied with a grin of his own that the others shared. Except for Teal'c who was starting to make Xander uncomfortable as always. Xander didn't think he would ever figure the guy out.

He took another bite of soggy French toast as silence fell over them briefly, the other three not bothering to fill it with chatter as they turned back to their own neglected cups of coffee. It was kinda funny how they had just pulled them into their circle. Sam and Teal'c's arrival had effectively shielded Xander from the rest of the room. At Christmas, he hadn't talked much with them beyond the little stuff so it was a little awkward not knowing what to say. But on the other hand, there was no pressure. Sam smiled when his eye met hers, and Daniel seemed to be distracted by his thoughts again. He was probably thinking about Jack, wondering like Xander was about what would happen to him.

"How was he when he . . . you know . . . fired the weapon?" Xander asked suddenly. Jack's friends all looked at him then each other before Daniel answered.

"He'd already lost the ability to speak English," he said quietly. "The migraines hadn't set in yet though."

"So when they wake him up . . . You can fix him, right?"

"We've been trying to get in touch with the Asguard," said Sam. "They took the library out of his head last time."

"Asguard?" Xander didn't recognize the name that must have belonged to the allies Daniel had mentioned earlier. And more importantly, "Last time?"

"Another alien race with advanced technology," Daniel explained. "We met them the last time it happened."

"O'Neill is friends with a commander in their fleet," added Teal'c. "If they can help, they will."

The relief that surged through him that Jack had lived through this before was short-lived. "When did you call them?" The question sparked another round of worried looks and Xander knew that it had been far too long ago for comfort.

"Last week when he downloaded the library," Sam told him.

"I'm sensing a need for plan B," said Xander, abruptly putting down his fork. He wasn't so hungry anymore. Of course, what did he know about getting in touch with aliens, anyway? Even if the three people sitting with him thought it was taking too long and were worried and -

"Xander," said Daniel gently. "We'll get him back."

"You sure about that?"

"Yes," said Teal'c, surprising Xander enough to look up at him. "We will find a solution. If the Asguard do not come, then we will find a way to replenish the Earth's magical forces and your friend will restore him in your manner." The calm confidence in his voice was reassuring and the belief that Willow would be able to cure Jack comforting. "O'Neill will never stop fighting. Do not give up on him."

"I know. I'm not. It's just . . ." Xander picked his fork back up and started resolutely picking at his sodden toast, unsure how to put his feelings into words.

"He's your father," said Daniel for him, and Xander heard in his voice understanding of what he was going through because the three of them were struggling with the same thing for their friend, their brother.

"Yeah," Xander quietly agreed looking around at knowing eyes. And it didn't seem so weird that he was a part of this group, in this place, at this time. Not so weird at all.

When they met back in the conference room a few hours later, Dr. Weir greeted them with a smile. "Good news, gentlemen," she said. "The ambassadors have managed to come to an agreement. Dropping the name of your organization did wonders for the negotiation," she looked at Xander with unvoiced questions undoubtedly running amok behind her eyes. "Once the British ambassador heard you were looking into the situation he apparently disappeared to make a few phone calls and came back supporting Colonel O'Neill's return to us."

"What can I say? We're connected," Xander said modestly, giving grudging points to the old Council.

"Yes, you are," Weir agreed with the unreadable look. "We're expecting his return once the scientists have figured out how to get him here."

"Thank you," said Xander in relief. One obstacle down, fourteen gazillion to go.

"I've assigned you quarters in the VIP rooms while we wait. Until then I only ask that you stay with your escort." She nodded to the airman by the door. "Dr. Jackson, if I might have a word?"

The meeting obviously over, Xander went and followed his new friend to the ugly little room they'd given him a few floors up. Dark colors, boring walls, what was it with the military? And of course, absolutely nothing to do. So Xander did the only thing he could: kicked off his shoes, threw his coat on a chair, and went to sleep.

A few hours later a knock on the door woke him with a start, his new surroundings confusing him for a minute before he put two and four together to get three in the missing spot. When he got up to answer it, he found Daniel at the door grinning like a loon.

"You're not gonna believe this," he said excitedly.

"Jack's here?"

"No, not that, but almost as good," Daniel shook his head coming in. "Kinsey has just been quarantined in the infirmary."

"Kinsey? The guy who wanted me kidnapped?" Xander stared at him. The Vice President of the United States Kinsey?

"The very same. Did you know the President fired him during the attack?"

"He did what?!" Xander found a chair and sat in it, Daniel joining him

"Fired him. Dr. Weir just told me when she told me he was back and in quarantine." Daniel was still grinning. "Apparently he tried to run to another planet to hide."

"And the President fired him?"

"Yeah." Daniel paused and looked thoughtful for a moment. "You know under normal circumstances I would feel bad for the guy, but considering how much I hate him . . . Anyway," he pulled himself back from his rambling thoughts. "He was on his way back to Washington when he suddenly developed a nasty case of boils on his ass." Daniel lifted innocent eyebrows at Xander who couldn't stop the glee from surfacing. "Now the firing is . . . understandable. Normal even. But the boils . . . well they figure they're some sort of alien virus that he picked up here. Funny thing is, no one else seems to have the same symptoms."

"You know, I have this friend," said Xander conversationally as he leaned back in his chair, very satisfied with life for the moment. "And you really shouldn't try to hurt people she cares about. She gets a little cranky."

Daniel smiled, his arms crossed comfortably across his chest as he too sat back very satisfied with poetic justice. A major pain in the ass for the major pain in the ass. "Does she like presents?"

By dinnertime, Xander was bored. Very bored. All this free time waiting and nothing to do. Not even a TV to rot his brain on. He'd hung out with Daniel for a while, but he hadn't been too interested in all the translating stuff and eventually he'd drifted back to his room with a book on mythology that wasn't nearly as interesting as Daniel had said it was. He couldn't get out of there fast enough when the Sam came by to ask him to dinner.

"Oh, thank you!" said Xander. "I was ready to tear out the pages and play wasteketball. Here, take this," he handed off the book before harm accidentally befell it.

Sam only grinned at his antics. "You're as bad as the Colonel," she said fondly, which made Xander shake his head in embarrassed pleasure. He was his own person, had been for a long time, but it was still nice to hear.

"Hey, you've had something to do all day," Xander defended himself. "I have done nothing but catch up in sleep and imagine how much pain Kinsey must be in."

"You guys really did it, didn't you?" said Sam with a bit of amazement thrown in her tone. "I honestly didn't think it would happen," she shook her head. "When I heard he'd been fired, I thought Hayes had just finally seen him for the jerk he was. Nothing magic about that. But the boils . . . how the hell did you manage that?"

"Wishful thinking," Xander deadpanned. Sam cut her eyes at him with a look that told him she knew there was a little devil somewhere behind that innocent expression.

As they rounded the next corner, it took a few seconds for Xander to notice it. And when he did he though it was just the hall and the strange place. His steps slowed and Sam stopped as he did, staring at him curiously.

"Xander, are you all right?" she asked, worry at his abrupt change in behavior now marring her brow.

Xander held very still, one hand coming up in the universal 'wait' gesture. Senses suddenly turned on to their max, he listened, his eye darting back and forth trying to pinpoint whatever it was, though he had a fairly good idea. Things were shifting. Subtly and more slowly than before, but nonetheless sliding back into place, feeling inexplicably right.

"Something's happened," he said quietly, his eye finding Sam.

"Xander?" She stepped towards him and laid her hand lightly on his arm.

"In Antarctica. Everything's right again. Or getting there faster than it was."

"Everything . . ." Sam trailed off getting it. "We need to tell Dr. Weir."

"No!" said Xander. At Sam's startled expression he explained. "If we tell her, I have to leave, and if I leave I won't see Jack."

"We still need to figure out what caused the correction," said Sam. "You don't have to leave till after we figure that out."

She was right, he supposed. They had to know what had changed so they would know what not to do to prevent the drain from ever happening again. At the moment though, Xander needed to make a phone call.

In the end, Sam did convince Xander that they needed to tell Weir, but only after he called Giles so it looked like the confirmation was the original report. Weir listened and agreed that Xander could stay until the situation was resolved and after two days and a lot of confusing reports that Xander was only too happy to let Sam translate, they had an answer. Sort of.

The simple explanation was that it had to do with unplugging the thing Jack had plugged in. The complicated part had to do with connections and energy and Laws of Thermodynamics that made Xander's head hurt. The plan was still to pick Jack's brain before it up and walked out on him, but for that they were still waiting on the Asguard. Xander was waiting on Willow.

But Xander didn't really care about any of the 'whys'. As far as he was concerned, the crisis had been averted and he didn't really care about the details. All they had to do was not use the key thing again and they wouldn't have any more problems.

No, what Xander cared about was the other significant event that took place that day: the return of Jack's partially frozen body. He'd arrived that afternoon, the surprising de-stasitizing process already begun by the key's unplugging in Antarctica, but it was thankfully slow going. The doctors were all scratching their heads, trying to figure out how he wasn't dead as he slowly recovered his normal body temperature like a thawing turkey left to sit on the counter. At a loss, they had finally stopped hovering for the night. A little nurse distraction by Daniel and guard distraction by Teal'c and Xander found himself in a chair in the isolated room where Jack lay as still as death.

But not dead yet. Xander had been sitting there just watching him since Sam had left some twenty minutes ago. Silver hair framed a peaceful if pale face with lips that were a little too purple for comfort. Jack looked older, tired. Frail. It was at once frightening and heartening to see him there so vulnerable but still alive. The monitoring equipment hummed in the background.

"I know I told you to call me," Xander finally broke the silence softly. "But then you had to go popsicle on me and now I'm the one calling on you. I hate hospitals but I guess you know about that with Dawn and all." He stopped. They always said talking helped. Sometimes Xander wondered. "Sure made a mess of things, huh? But it got you back anyway. Can you believe those guys, fighting over who gets what with you just stuck there? I'll never get politicians. Oh, and you'll never guess what happened to Kinsey . . . though I think I'll tell you when you wake up. You'd appreciate it more." He paused again while Jack continued to breathe in and out, in and out. Xander hated watching him. Hated sitting by his bed waiting. He hated knowing that the last thing he'd said had been harsh and cruel and deep in denial.

"I'm sorry I was mad at you," he said. "I'm sorry I didn't let you finish saying what you needed to say. I just couldn't . . . couldn't think about losing you." Xander sat forward and rested his elbows on his knees letting his head sag down a moment before looking back up at the man who had just waltzed into his life last summer. Had it really been almost a year already? "It was kind of scary actually. When you said you were proud of me. Not a run-for-your-life scared, but you know . . . It's been a long time since anyone's said that to me. My dad, Tony, when we talked he would yell. Of course, he was drunk most of the time - you can imagine how pleasant that was." Xander let out a dry chuckle. "In less than a year and from another state you managed to be more my dad than he'd been since . . . a long time. I keep saying that - 'long time.'

"I guess what I'm saying is that you can't die on me, Jack. You can't die on me because I don't want it to be another long time before someone decides to hop a plane for me because of one crazy phone call in the middle of the night. Not that you have to do that every time, but it's the thought that counts, right? Right." He trailed off.

"Teal'c says we'll find a way to put your marbles back in your head. You've got some cool friends, though I almost killed one of Daniel's books. Sam said I was as bad as you about that. I can see that. You know I have an irrational fear of old books? Comes from reading too many trying to save the world. Giles just loves them. It's always about the books with him. Though I did find a TV at his apartment back in Sunnydale, so there is proof that he's moved into the twentieth century. Hasn't made it to the twenty-first yet, but we're working on him. Did I tell you about how he killed his cell phone? There was a demon involved but I think Giles just used that as an excuse."

Xander rambled on, talking about anything and everything that popped into his head. He didn't know how long he sat there, just that he couldn't stop talking. He talked until he no longer made sense to himself and the pauses between ramblings grew longer and longer. The whole while, Jack breathed in and out, in and out, steady and strong until he seemed to be more sleeping than just lying there half-dead. And when Teal'c came in and told him to go to bed, Xander left feeling at peace for the first time since Jack's phone call. His father might not have been out of the woods yet, but he was going to be fine.

AN: I went back and fixed several things in chapter 14. It's nothing major, just a few flow and reaction adjustments. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed that chapter, especially those who pointed out its weak points.

SPOILER WARNING: Very, very minor spoilers for the Lost City. You might not even notice them they're so tiny.

Fifteen Thousand Miles From Earth

When Xander innocently passed by the infirmary the next morning, he was surprised to meet Dr. Weir in the hallway about to go in. "Director Harris," she greeted him warmly with her customary professional politeness.

"Dr. Weir," Xander nodded back.

"I was just going to check on Colonel O'Neill. Would you care to join me?"

A bit startled by the offer, Xander nodded and followed her through the infirmary door. A nurse noticed their arrival and went to fetch the doctor on duty who was introduced as Dr. Brightman. She sighed when Weir asked about Jack.

"According to our estimates, he will be physically recovered by early tomorrow morning. His vital signs all show consistent improvement which is accelerating as he warms up. The levels still lay well below survivable hypothermic conditions, but he's alive." The doctor seemed at a loss to explain. "None of us have ever seen a thermal recovery like this before. We think it must be linked to the anomalous reading we saw in the MRI yesterday. We have another one scheduled for 1100. Hopefully we'll know more then."

"And the brain damage?"

"As far as we can tell, that process has been retarded as well," said Dr. Brightman. "For recovery, from what I understand it will be impossible without the Asguard. You can go on and see him, if you wish."

"Thank you," said Weir. Dr. Brightman led them to the private room and left them at the door. Xander was surprised to see Teal'c sitting by Jack's bed. He rose when they entered.

"Dr. Weir, Xander Harris," he greeted them. After a moment, he added, "Would you like privacy?"

"Yes, please. Thank you," Weir nodded. Bowing slightly and giving Xander a lingering look, Teal'c left.

Jack seemed much as he had the night before, like he was sleeping. The monitors were all still attached and providing background noise. Weir moved to the foot of the bed and was silent. Unsure, Xander hesitantly came and stood beside her, his own thoughts revolving around tomorrow and what would happen then.

"I understand you lost your escort last night." Taken by surprise, Xander turned to the woman beside him like a deer in headlights. "You came here?" She looked at him already knowing the answer.

"Yeah," said Xander.

"May I ask why?" But he remained silent, tearing his gaze away from her to the still body on the bed. "Director Harris, please understand I'm not accusing you of anything," Weir said. "You've been spending most of your stay here with SG-1, and last night they sneaked you in here where you sat till nearly four this morning. You haven't been very forthcoming in your reasons for being here and if you have an ulterior motive, I'd like to know."

Xander almost laughed. Sure he had an ulterior motive: making sure Jack lived, but there wasn't much he could do about that at the moment. First he had to finish thawing, then he had to call Giles to see what could be done, see if Willow was okay, or barring that another witch, hopefully closer. He might have to call LA. Angel was sure to have someone who could pull off the tricky magic, though it killed Xander to ask the vampire.

"Daniel and Teal'c let me in. Shouldn't that speak for it self?" he asked.

"It begs the question to why."

"It has nothing to do with why I'm here."

"All right, Director Harris," Weir's voice sharpened and when he looked, her gaze was as cool and commanding as any slayer's, one that said don't-mess-with-me. "I will accept that for now. But understand that this man is under my command and that any threats to him will be dealt with accordingly."

"I'm not a threat."

"Just so we're clear," said Weir. She turned and started heading for the door.

Xander watched her back for a full second before he impulsively called out, "He's my father." Weir turned, raised eyebrows the only show of surprise at his announcement. "You can ask Daniel or Teal'c or Sam," he added. If she wanted more proof he bet he could find the paternity confirmation at Jack's house, but he didn't think he needed it.

"I didn't know he had a son," she said.

"You've only been here a week." Weir nodded in acknowledgment, eyes darting from Jack to him as she absorbed this new information. "Thanks though," added Xander. At her inquiring look he smiled. "For threatening me. It means a lot."

Weir smiled in return. "Thank you for telling me." With a final nod she left him to his visit.

Xander sighed as he settled into the chair Teal'c had recently vacated, a mixed feeling of pride and dread clenching his stomach. His gut instinct about her better not be wrong, he thought, but he didn't think it was.

"Dr. Weir, please come to the briefing room," the PA system requested. Xander looked up curiously but knew that until his name was called he wouldn't be welcome. So he stayed and wondered how the girls were doing at home, prayed there wouldn't be anyone else in the hospital, and that Andrew was still in one piece. He didn't know how much time had passed as he let his thoughts wander to friends far and wide.

But when Jack's body disappeared in a flash of white light he was up and running out the door before his heart had started beating again.

Numb . . . cold . . . floating . . . There were noises around him . . . humming but not a song. There was light . . . then it was gone. Words, smells, all faded back into fog. There was no hurry. What would come would come. He was safe.

Time melted. Sounds came again more insistently. Familiar sounds that converged into words that Jack knew. Questions asked that he had answers to. Answers that faded and words that transformed into gibberish that he couldn't understand. Awareness slowly pushed back the fog. He tried to open his eyes, but they were heavy. He sighed in frustration and tried again. The voices stopped.

"Jack?"

He opened his eyes. "Daniel?" Slowly turning his head at the semi-familiar surroundings, he found his friend smiling at him, arms crossed across his chest. And beside him was another, much shorter friend. "Thor!"

"Greetings, O'Neill. It is good to see you well," the tiny gray alien inclined his head briefly before coming over and releasing him from the medical pod. Still stiff, sore, and cold and with a cruising headache, Jack slowly sat up and swung his legs over the side. The first thought that came to mind was to wonder what was he doing here, but through the haze in his head, he remembered, the planet with the library. That was about it.

"Jack?" asked Daniel concerned now.

"Anubis?" he asked. Daniel nodded.

"No longer a threat. How much do you remember?"

"Not much." It wasn't so much a haze anymore as a blank, with pieces snapping out too fast too see every once in a while. He tried to identify them as Daniel recounted the last couple days of the mission.

"And then you put yourself in stasis," Daniel finished.

"How long?"

"Five days. You actually started defrosting when they removed the power source from the chair two days ago. Thor got here this morning."

"Impeccable timing as ever," Jack smiled at Thor.

"I am only sorry I could not arrive sooner."

"Hey, you got here," Jack said lightly. He stood up to protesting muscles, experimentally stretching his arms. The burning stretch felt refreshingly good. "Don't happen to have anything for a headache, do you?" But Thor shook his head.

"We should probably be getting back," said Daniel.

"Oh? What's up?"

"I think I'll let Xander explain."

Jack stopped and did a double take at his friend who was most definitely sporting a grin and waiting for him to ask. Jack didn't disappoint him. "Xander is at the SGC?"

"Yep."

"My Xander."

"Showed up three days ago."

"Daniel," Jack growled at his friend for withholding information.

"Who is Xander?" interrupted Thor. "And why is he yours? Does not your race abhor slavery?"

"What? No," Jack started, turning to the short alien. "Xander's not a slave or anything."

"Then how is he yours?"

Jack stared at him for a long moment then said, "He's my son."

"Your offspring?" Thor actually seemed surprised. "I did not realize that you had any."

"Yeah, well," Jack shrugged. Neither had he. "And he's at the SGC?" he turned back to Daniel who nodded.

"I think I would like to meet your offspring," said Thor.

But Jack still had more questions for Daniel and only told the Asguard commander, "Sure," before asking his teammate in a carefully deliberate voice. "Why is Xander at the SCG?"

"Well -" was as far as Daniel got when the sound of an Asguard transporter interrupted.

"What the -"

"Are you Xander?" asked Thor. And sure enough, Jack's son was standing on Thor's ship.

"Ahhhgg!" Xander jumped back when he caught sight of diminutive Supreme Commander, his hands reaching for his belt, no doubt for a weapon that wasn't there. Shell shocked by his sudden . . . appropriation, Xander could only stare. Jack didn't know whether to laugh or jump up and hug him. Or yell at Thor, though he really wasn't angry at the little guy.

"Thor!" said Daniel at the exact same time that Jack said, "Xander!"

"Jack!" the young man was clearly surprised to see him alive and well.

"Hey, kid. How's it going?" Jack sauntered over, grinning at the utter confusion on his son's face as he darted looks from Thor to Jack and Daniel to the sleek grey room they stood in. Numbly he took Jack's offered hand.

"Okay. Stop." Xander closed his eye and shook his head, disbelief in every line of his face when he opened it again. "Explanations would be good now. The whole disappearing, shiny room, and you not half dead and crazy, and please tell me I'm hallucinating," he glanced at Thor.

Jack grinned at the confused string of words. "You're not hallucinating."

"Okay. Right. You sure? 'Cause I'd be happy to be."

"Xander, I'd like you to meet Thor, Supreme Commander of the Asguard Fleet. Buddy of mine, well known for coming and saving our butts every once in a while." He got another long incredulous stare before Xander blinked and let go of his hand. He eyed Thor up and down warily before glancing back at Jack to see if it was a joke. Jack grinned and nodded back towards Thor was waiting patiently. Xander took a deep breath and offered his hand.

"Nice to meet you," he said. "Sorry about all that, just not used to the transporter thing." And when their hands shook, Xander broke out into a grin. "My friend Andrew is going to be so jealous."

By the time Jack and Daniel had finished explaining the healing thing, Xander's heart was back in his chest. He'd spent half the discussion staring at Thor who had been just as curious about him it seemed. Xander found that once he'd wrapped his head around the fact that he was on a spaceship, everything else was easier to accept. Just another factor of weirdness to add to his already weird life.

Thor was nice too. He showed Xander around the control room and answered his half joking questions about ray guns and shields (which he had after a fashion) and photon torpedoes (which he didn't) with utmost seriousness. Jack and Daniel were amused, both adding comments here and there. "You should see the Goa'uld run in fear of these babies," Jack said of the ship.

All and all Xander was rather impressed. And a little disappointed. Thor and his ship were pretty cool in and of themselves, but the barrenness of the interior felt cold and hard. Alien. He shook his head ruefully as they reconvened back by the tube bed. That was the point wasn't it? That this ship and the little person with big black eyes were from another planet. They were not a part of the Earth.

"So why did you bring me up here?" Xander asked once the tour was over.

"I wanted to meet the offspring of my friend O'Neill," said Thor in his soft and formal tones. Xander looked over at Jack who shrugged back.

"Oh," Xander didn't know what else to say.

"So what do you think?" Jack saved him from adding anything else. "Good kid, huh?"

Xander glared. "I'm hardly a kid," he groused, but both Thor and Jack ignored him, while Daniel gave him a sympathetic smile.

"He possesses your same instinct for humor," Thor nodded. "And he carries himself well in the face of new experiences."

"Yeah well," Xander shrugged embarrassed, "this is hardly the weirdest thing I've ever seen." One of the weirdest, but face it, he'd dated weirder.

"So what were you doing at the SGC anyway?" asked Jack. He was sitting back on the pod like he had when Xander had first arrived, reminding him that not four hours ago, Jack had been hooked up to a bunch of machines to make sure he was still alive. It almost bothered him that he'd gone through all the trouble of worrying about him to just find him here on this ship, healthy as a clam. The technology around him a kind of magic in its own way.

"Oh you know, looking for the Earth's magical energy," Xander said lightly though he felt anything but. He was rewarded with two incredulous eyebrows rising. "That weapon you used ripped the magic from the Earth."

"The power source looks like it's really a conduit for channeling magical power," said Daniel. "It acts like a magnet - or it enables one - that draws power from the Earth. We tried to ask you about it while you were recovering and you kept repeating 'One world, one life, one source,' over and over no matter how I asked the questions. So we went ahead and woke you up."

"He did?" asked Xander

"I did?" said Jack.

"Those were the only words," Thor confirmed. "They do not make sense to me, nor does this magical force that Dr. Jackson told me of."

"It's like doing stuff with technology without the technology," Xander tried to explain. "You say some words, sometimes you need a ritual, and you make stuff happen."

"Interesting," said Thor, tilting his head slightly. "I would like to see some of this magic."

"I can't really do any on my own," said Xander. "Some people can, the rest of us need the rituals and stuff to help." He tried to avoid it these days anyway.

"What do you need?"

"I, uh, I'd need a spell book first, so I'd know what to do. Then probably lizard guts or something," said Xander, not quite sure how to answer. He also had sneaking suspicion that he needed to be on Earth unless he was someone like Willow who had a heapful of innate power.

"Next time you're on Earth, Thor, we'll see about getting you a demo," Jack came to his rescue. "If you have time now . . .?"

"No. I am afraid I do not have much time to spare. I have already stayed too long."

"We owe you," said Jack solemnly as he stood.

"I have lost track," said Thor. He turned to Xander. "It was an honor to meet the child of the great O'Neill."

'The great O'Neill?' Xander glanced questioningly at his father who just grinned and shrugged again then nodded to Thor. "Thanks for having me and showing me around." Andrew was never going to believe this . . . unless . . . "Do you have a pen?" he asked Daniel who blinked in surprise before patting his pockets and coming up with a Sharpie. Xander accepted it while hitting his own pockets for something to write on, but he didn't have anything. "Could you, uh . . . sign my sleeve?" he offered the pen and his covered arm to the small alien, vaguely embarrassed for asking but knowing that he'd regret it if he didn't. He refused to look at Jack who he heard mutter "For crying out loud!" and Daniel who he was pretty sure was snickering.

Thor, while his expression didn't really change, was obviously confused, but he got the idea when Xander told him to write, 'To Xander, friend of the Asguard, Supreme Commander Thor,' in alien symbols on his shirt.

"A peculiar custom," said Thor as he handed back the pen.

"It's a reminder that we met," said Xander. "You know, in case anyone doesn't believe me."

"Ah." Thor nodded. "Then will you write for me?"

Xander looked up from admiring his sleeve. "What?"

"Will you not write for me?"

"Uh, sure," Xander grinned.

"Hey! How come he never asked me for an autograph?" Jack complained quietly in the background while Thor went and retrieved one of the half-egg things from the control panel.

"Jack, he named a ship after you," said Daniel patiently.

A whole ship? Xander looked up and wanted to ask but since Thor was handing him the stone, he decided to get it out of him later. 'To Thor, friend of the Watcher's Council of Earth, Xander Harris, Watcher, N.A.'

"Thank you," Thor seemed to smile as he accepted back the stone, though Xander wasn't quite sure. "I will now return you to your base."

Another short round of goodbyes and Thor sent them back so quickly that Xander didn't have time to feel it. Instead, he found himself between Jack and Daniel in the middle of the conference room at the SGC where Dr. Weir, Major Davis, and Sam were all waiting for them.

Jack let his mind wander over appropriate gifts for a twenty-something witch during the briefing that was taking much longer than necessary. For once his post-mission - or he should say post-revival - physical had come with a very nice treat. He'd thought it was a conspiracy at first with his teammates and Xander grinning like that, so he'd followed them warily to the observation room, which, Daniel explained, just happened to look over the quarantine infirmary room, where a certain Vice President was being monitored for a sudden case of boils.

Jack would never forget the look on Kinsey's face when he'd seen Jack grinning down at him. The obscenities and empty threats just bounced of the glass as far as he was concerned, turning the good Vice President purple with rage. There wasn't a thing he could do to Jack from his little room. Ever again. It was deeply satisfying.

"How long will the boils last?" he'd asked Xander over his shoulder.

"Oh, there's no going back," Xander had said cheerfully. "Vengeance is forever. He'll probably have an unnaturally long life, too."

Jack couldn't think of anyone who deserved it more, which was why he was thinking about Daniel's suggestion of getting Willow a present. Unfortunately he had no idea what would be a good gift. He needed to ask Xander, but his son was sitting too far away to slip a note, so he would just have to wait for the briefing to finish.

They were still going on about the nonsense he'd spouted while still in Ancient mode. Dr. Weir was interested in implications for future defense and of course, Daniel was no help in wrapping things up, and neither was Carter for that matter. Davis, the lucky bastard, had gotten out while the going was good.

Jack wondered if he could get away with sending Xander a paper airplane note. He could tell his son had no more interest in the briefing than he did. Xander had declared straight out that he had no idea what the phrase meant. But he had put on his guileless face, the one that suggested he wasn't anymore than a simple man that left all the heavy thinking to others. Jack had a feeling that Xander had a very good idea what 'one world, one life, one source,' meant, and he wasn't sharing. He wondered if he should call him on it, but since Weir wasn't cleared for the supernatural, he decided to get it out of him later.

Xander only spoke when asked a question and the rest of the time ignored the conversation while he inspected his sleeve where Thor had written his autograph. Jack had no doubt that the first thing Xander would do when he got home was frame it. Jack shook his head just imagining Andrew's speechlessness.

"Dr. Weir?" Jack interrupted, finally having enough. "Can't all this be summed up in a report?"

Weir regarded him a moment as a small smile eeked across her face. "Impatient to go home?" she asked.

"When you put it like that . . ." Jack noticed Xander's head come up at the new direction in conversation.

"Very well, Director Harris, if you have nothing to add?" Xander shook his head quickly, "Then the formal briefing is dismissed. Dr. Jackson, Major Carter, you're welcome to stay."

"Thank you." Jack rose to his feet, Xander and Teal'c doing the same. Happy to escape they made for the doors and as they did, Weir called out,

"Enjoy your visit!"

Surprisingly, it was Xander who turned and nodded. Once they were out the door, Jack asked, "What was that all about?"

Xander looked at him then quickly away, taking two more steps before he answered. "I told her you were my dad."

Teal'c almost ran into Jack, he stopped so fast. He didn't know if it was the fact that Xander had told her or that he'd actually used 'my' and 'dad' in the same sentence. "You did?" he said stupidly.

"You told Thor," Xander defended himself. "Besides it's not like it's a dirty secret or anything."

"No. No, it's not." Jack grinned. He couldn't believe it. He just . . . it topped seeing Kinsey miserable. 'My dad.' He hadn't heard those words said like that since Charlie. He'd wondered if he ever would again, even once Xander had come into his life. And now he had.

Xander noticed that Jack's smile didn't fade on the way to the VIP quarters to grab his stuff or on the elevator ride to the surface. Jack had tried to keep it cool with light questions about Chinese takeout and whatnot, but his underlying happiness was hard for even him to keep in.

Xander just played along. The briefing had given him a lot of time to think, and after the initial reminders to himself to call Giles and see what could be done about getting control of the thing that had caused the magic drain, his thoughts had turned back to Jack.

His dad. He still didn't know why he had told Dr. Weir. He still didn't know why he felt weird about telling her. As he'd told Jack later, it wasn't a secret, but at the same time it felt like it was, something only to share with close friends. Family.

Family. It had made him smile. For Xander, family were the people you went to to get away from your relatives.

Most of his relatives were gone now. None of them had tried to find him after Sunnydale, or if they had, he'd never known about it. And he didn't really mind. He hadn't been their grandson or nephew or cousin for a long time. Or son.

But he was Jack's, and more than that, he wanted to be. And despite the universe conspiring against them, he was going to be for a long time.

"So is that a normal week for you?" he asked Jack after they had passed the last checkpoint.

"More or less," said Jack. "We actually don't get attacked by Goa'uld in ships that often. And Thor doesn't stop by that often either."

"But the whole nearly dying because of alien crap in your head?"

Jack shrugged. "It's part of the job. Would the danger make you stop what you do?"

"No, I get it," said Xander. "Don't think I really did before." He really hadn't. Aliens had been abstract and Jack dying . . . he hadn't let himself think about that until he'd actually seen him. "Thor's cool though," he said to get off that train of thought.

"I can't believe you asked for his autograph," Jack shook his head. "And I can't believe he asked for yours."

"Well, I am the child of the great O'Neill," Xander glanced at him sideways.

"Thor likes me," said Jack smugly.

"Did he really name a ship after you?"

"Yep."

"Cool."

"Carter blew it up though."

"'Blew up' as in 'kablewie'?"

"Long story."

"That sucks." Xander grinned at a sudden thought. "Don't tell Andrew that part."

They stopped for Chinese takeout on the way home which had led to an ardent discussion of what was good and what was not. Cashew Chicken turned out to be the only thing they could agree on so they each ended up with a couple cartons of their own, which suited Jack just fine since that meant more of the good stuff for him.

Once they were back at the house, Jack headed immediately to the kitchen for two bottles of beer and a couple of forks. In the den, Xander had thrown his jacket in the armchair and settled down on the couch, pushing magazines around on the coffee table looking for the remote control.

"Here," Jack handed him a beer and a fork which Xander accepted absently as he clicked on the TV. Jack sat next to him, fishing his Beef with Broccoli out of the bag along with his share of the egg rolls.

"Any channel requests?" asked Xander, one-handedly grabbing the rice and his Spicy Mongolian Beef.

"Twenty-five," said Jack sitting back. Xander switched it to ESPN.

"I should have guessed," he said, sitting back himself and plopping his feet on the coffee table.

"Shoes!" Jack elbowed him. Xander kicked his shoes over the opposite edge where they fell to the floor in two thunks.

"So what're we looking at? Death toll?" he asked.

"Scores," Jack ignored the sarcasm with the ease that came from putting up with Daniel. The past week had been the last of the NHL regular season. As he read the ticker tape summary of the day's games he noted that there had been no major upsets.

"I can't believe you watch this every week," said Xander. "It's so boring."

"You watch sci-fi," Jack replied. "That's just plain bad."

"You just don't like it 'cause you shoot aliens for a living. Face it, you might've liked it otherwise."

Jack tore his eyes away from the screen long enough to say, "I didn't watch Star Wars till Teal'c rented it."

Xander shrugged. "I didn't watch Interview With a Vampire until after I met Buffy. And let me tell you, that movie was crap. Vampires are nothing like that."

"What about artistic license?"

"Did you like Star Wars?" Xander asked pointedly.

"Yeah, it was all right," Jack admitted. "It's just a movie. Have you seen the show Wormhole X-treme?"

"The one that came out a couple years ago? Once or twice. Andrew doesn't even like it much."

"Where do you think they got the idea for it?" Jack asked. That got Xander's attention and stopped his fork halfway from his mouth.

"It's based on you? The Stargate thing? No way!"

"I can't say anything, but loosely," Jack nodded.

"Wormhole X-treme?"

"I said loosely," Jack reiterated. He'd been on set and seen part of an episode himself so he knew it was bad. But Xander was laughing now. "And don't tell Andrew," he ordered because he knew that his next visit would be hell if the ultimate nerd ever found out.

"No telling Andrew, got it," Xander said between snickers. "Until I want something . . . Colonel Ace Danning!"

"Oh, for crying out loud!" Hearing hte name of the character based on him, Jack knew he shouldn't have told him. But his outburst only made Xander laugh harder. Jack tried to ignore him and focus on what the anchor was saying about playoffs while he ate his dinner, relieved when Xander finally started to calm down.

"Does Thor come over for guest appearances?" Xander lost it again.

"Just you wait until there's a TV character based on you," Jack grumbled. In need of something more distracting he reached for the remote by Xander's knee. "And if you kick over the food, you're cleaning it up," he told him.

"I won't kick anything over," Xander protested, nevertheless stilling his twitching limbs. "Hey, flip to the Cartoon Network."

Jack obliged, but only after going through ESPN2, CNN, and the local channels first. There was nothing on except the PowerPuff Girls and Jack let the episode wash over him, content to sit and eat, drink, and relax. Beside him, Xander chuckled at the cartoon, at home on the couch. He finally seemed to have let the Wormhole X-treme thing go, but then he would glance at Jack and snicker. Jack pretended to glare at him which only made Xander laugh harder until Jack felt a contagious grin pull at his own lips. Shaking his head, Jack settled into the show, content to sit a watch and laugh with the young man by his side. It felt good and right in a way that Jack had almost forgotten.

By the end of two episodes, they had finished eating for the most part. Jack gathered together the empty cartons and bottles as the credits rolled, trying to get them together so he only had to make one trip to the trash. Xander helped put things in his hands, his earlier jovial expression giving way to something more serious. He seemed to want to say something, and Jack didn't think it was the "thanks" he got. Not worrying about it, Jack took his load to the kitchen.

He was just reaching to get to the recycle bin for the bottles when Xander called out, "Hey, Dad, can you grab some napkins?"

Jack stopped. Turned. Looked through to the living room. "What?" It came out shaky. But Xander had just called him . . .

"Napkins," Xander repeated, staring him back straight in the eye. And Jack knew that Xander knew exactly what he had just said. And that he knew what Jack was really asking. When Jack didn't move right away, he added, "Like the nickname? 'Cause it's either that or 'Ace' . . ." his son grinned sheepishly, looking down and away then back, uncertain and almost afraid but at the same time defiant.

"No, 'Dad' is fine," said Jack a smile breaking out across his own face even as he felt like the sun was rising in his chest and he wasn't big enough to hold in all the love and pride he felt for Xander at that moment.

"Good," said Xander, breaking out into a relived smile. "Napkins."

"Right, napkins," Jack shook away his shock and grabbed some napkins before rejoining his son in the den.

AN: in regard to Ace Danning, I made up the first name as none was given.

AN: I know I said I would have this up by Sept 4 but I didn't get to it and then of course I was without computer for three weeks and then school started so I've been just a tad busy (and yes that was sarcasm. I'm jealous of all you people who seem to have time to write.)

I am also pleased to announce that Bridges won Best Unfinished in the Stargate category at The Crossover Awards and was runner up in both Best TV Crossover and Best Post-Series categories at the SunnyD awards. It still amazes me that it won anything at all. I have also been nominated at the White Knight Awards and the Shades of Grey Awards along with some other excellent people from TTH. I'd like to thank all my readers for their endless support during the writing of this story (8 months!); it really means a lot.

Now onward.

"Dawn! You're gonna be late!" Buffy shouted up the stairs at the off beat thumping that thundered down the upstairs hallway and down the stairs.

"There's goo on my shoes!" Dawn's strong voice echoed through the house.

"So not my fault," said Buffy. "Ask Vi. Did you eat breakfast?"

Dawn's reply was lost to Jack in Andrew's shouted, "XANDER? Can we afford twenty pounds of flour?" from the pantry.

"Make it ten!" Xander called, coming into the kitchen from the dining room with a handful of papers, a pencil tucked behind an ear. "Buffy!" he said as the two sisters joined them still arguing over the rules of borrowing shoes. "How long are you gonna be here? And I need to know when you're coming back for the schedules."

"Xander, Dawn's gonna be late for rehearsal. No rehearsal, no graduation." The Slayer grabbed a package of poptarts and shoved them at her sister. "Eat," she commanded. Dawn wrinkled her nose but accepted them anyway. Buffy rounded on Xander. "And aren't you taking her?"

The young man craned his head to look at the clock on the stove. "Shit, you're gonna be late!" he said. Buffy rolled her eyes to Jack at the fact that she had just said that. Xander darted back into the dining room to deposit whatever Slayer Camp stuff he'd been working on, then rushed with Dawn and Buffy to the front hall. He was back a moment later. "Dad, have you seen my keys?"

"By the phone," Jack told him with a nod in the right direction. A smile played about his lips.

"Wait!" cried Andrew as Xander disappeared again.

"What?"

"Shopping list!" the resident Iron Chef said as he ran by Jack into the hall.

"DIANA!" Buffy shouted. "CAR'S LEAVING!"

"COMING!" the slayer's voice replied accompanied by a banging door and running feet. "I couldn't find my shoes!"

The door opened and slammed shut. Quiet. For all of a second.

"VI!" yelled Buffy as Andrew went back to the pantry. Another indistinguishable yell, more running and chasing down of shoes before the two slayers trooped through the kitchen and into the backyard for their training training. Vi was going to help out teaching this summer since Buffy would be absent setting up her own school in Rome.

As the door clattered shut, the coffee maker announced that it was done, and Jack gratefully poured himself a cup. Quiet again settled over the house that in three short days would be invaded by teenagers. He was very glad that he was going to miss that. The place was crazy enough under normal circumstances, worse now with Buffy home, Giles coming, Dawn graduating, and a whole army to prepare for, but for all that, Jack just couldn't imagine adding sixty girls to the mix. He was here for a nice - well, he wouldn't exactly call it quiet - vacation before heading back into the shakeup going on at the Mountain. And he had to say, Cleveland was just as good a vacation spot as the cabin in Minnesota.

True, there weren't any fish, and it was noisy at odd hours of the day, but Xander and the girls he had come to know and the absolute absurdity of youth more than made up for it. Secretly though, Jack was looking forward to Giles's arrival for another aged adult to commiserate with.

Turning to the window, he watched Buffy and Vi practicing martial arts forms in the back yard. It wasn't one he recognized, looked like a mixture of a few different styles blended with a grace that Jack envied. He was tempted to join them, but the thought of embarrassing himself kept him where he was. He didn't want to cramp their style or anything. Stepping away from the window, he shook his head at himself. And he thought Daniel made him feel old sometimes. So Jack did the next best thing and went out to sit on the back porch, settling his coffee on the arm of his chair. Both Buffy and Vi's eyes flickered to him, the latter flashing him a smile, never once interrupting the smooth flow of their bodies.

He'd never imagined that he'd be gaining more than a just a son when he'd flown out her almost a year before. Like with Cassie, he was now almost an uncle to the other four permanent residents of the house, especially since Xander had come to the mountain. The girls had chatted a little more on the phone over the last two months, and Andrew had positively grilled him on Thor. Xander and his big mouth. And framed shirt. It hung in their room on the wall opposite the door by the window so it was the first thing you saw when you walked in, the autographed sleeve artfully folded over the chest like a left handed ghost pledging allegiance. It was anything but subtle. But then, he thought as he watched the two young women who exuded lethal power like a second skin, little around here was.

Buffy and Vi's warm up wound to a close and after a few quiet words that Jack couldn't hear they launched into another pattern faster than the first that added in kicks and spins. They were twin blurs of motion, two fighters in a synchronized dance. It was like a scene from a movie against the backdrop of the summer green of the backyard with the morning sunlight streaming through the clouds. The same sunlight that felt warm and drowsy on Jack's skin, despite the half drunk coffee. Content, he drifted into sleep.

"I mean, why can't they help when they get here?" she was saying as they walked up to the house. "It's not like we didn't just finish school either. And we've been active all year, too."

"Using the barracks as a giant storage closet," Xander replied over his shoulder. He opened the door and kicked it wide open.

"But we've already cleared most of it out!"

"Andrew and I've already cleared most of it out. Besides you get today off to train," he led the way into the kitchen, dropping his bags by the pantry door. "Honey, we're home!" he announced as Andrew emerged. "I've marked the things we couldn't find," he said handing him the crumpled shopping list.

"Joy. With Buffy," Diana muttered as she set her bags down, turning to the window as she did. But Xander didn't miss the slight bounce on her heels that belied anything that came out of her mouth.

"Diana, go get beat up," he told her, a fond smile emerging as she started to protest. "Training day, remember? Just send Jack in to help me with the rest of this."

"Fine," Diana said with a put upon sigh, a grin nonetheless quirking as she reached the door. Xander just shook his head at her and started to put the more immediate things away while he waited for his dad.

"Whoa, successful trip." Jack came in and set his mug on the counter. "You have enough here to feed an army - oh, wait, you are." He grabbed one of the nearby bags and started unloading it. "Jesus, how much chocolate did you get?"

"Um, army of girls?" Xander said, looking up. "C'mon. This is just the small stuff. We gotta get the bulkness out of the car."

"I guess this is about as manly a job as we'll get around here," said Jack making Xander smile as they went back out front.

"We're only stronger when they don't want to do it," said Xander philosophically.

Jack snorted. "Next time I need some Marines straightened out, I'm sending them here," he said.

"Only if they pay tuition," Xander replied, flashing back to the Initiative and the damage one slayer had done to their ranks.

"We'll write it off as additional Special Forces training," said Jack. "Uncle Sam will foot the bill."

"Good, cause we already can't afford to let the girls come for free," said Xander. He still had no idea how they were going to make it through the summer. Giles's rumblings had been a little hopeful lately but as of the last time they'd discussed it, it was all still smoke and mirrors. Xander was still working at Home Depot, but he didn't know how long he could keep that up once the junior slayers rolled in on Monday.

Monday. It was still too soon for him. Xander felt like he'd been planning for the last month and still there were a million things left to do. Thoughts of schedules and patrol groups flitted through his mind as he opened the trunk and started loading a couple cases of snack food onto Jack.

"Hey, you want to do a guest lecture for me?"

"Lecture? On what?" asked Jack.

"Dunno," said Xander, hefting two cases of Ramen for himself. "Whatever you want. Leadership or modern weapons or men or something."

"Xander," Jack paused to look at him over the top of the Ritz crackers. "I'm not giving the sex talk."

Xander laughed at the thought of the grizzled old Colonel giving a bunch of girls The Talk. "Don't worry. Those that haven't heard it learn all about it after a couple of weeks at the giant slumber party."

"I really didn't need to know that," said Jack, resuming their walk to the house.

"Trust me, it's scary. They all start looking at you funny, and I mean 'love spell' funny. So not a good time."

"I'm to even going to ask."

"So you'll do a lecture?" Xander changed the subject.

"Sure." They reached the kitchen and dropped the cases to the floor. "As long as I'm not, you know, saving the world or anything," said Jack.

Xander grinned at him as they headed back out. "I'm sure you can get Thor to cover for you," he said.

"You know, the whole lecture thing is really more Carter of Daniel's thing than mine."

"Right, and when I want a lecture about something useless I'll let them know," said Xander. He already had Giles and Dawn for those things as applicable to killing things anyway. "Besides," he went on coming to a stop by the car and facing Jack, "I'm not going to be able to get out to Colorado for a while."

"Ahh!" Jack lifted a warning finger. "No guilt carding. That's not fair."

"Well, if you're going to come visit anyway . . ."

"Didn't I already say I would do it?" He slid the next case toward them and picked it up.

"And then you did a one-eighty retracty dealio with all the not-me-thing talk about your friends," said Xander as he grabbed a case of his own. When he stood up, Jack was looking at him exasperatedly.

"Did not," he said.

"Did too!"

"Did not. I said I'd do it."

"And then you tried to weasel out of it."

"I did not!"

"Did too!" Xander pushed the ajar door open again. He couldn't believe Jack. "You were trying to foist it off on Daniel."

"'Foist?'" Jack gave him a look. "There was nothing foisty about it. All I said was that I'm not a lecture person. I never said I wouldn't do it. In fact, I think I already said yes. Twice."

"Oh no. That was total foistiness. Doesn't matter what you said."

"Xander, would you knock it off already? I said I'd do it, I'll do it."

"Fine."

"Fine."

Xander set his case down next to the others in the kitchen and watched as Jack did the same. "What?" asked his dad as he straightened. His dad. Xander couldn't help but grin.

"You got something on your nose." He half gestured at the guilty fleck of cardboard. Jack went cross-eyed as he took several swipes to get it off, wriggling his nose like a chipmunk.

"Thanks."

"No problem. Wouldn't want you walking in public looking like a loser who can't see the end of his nose."

"Ah, but I can see past it," Jack pointed out.

"Just make sure you keep it clean."

"Me? Always."

Xander looked over his shoulder as they went back out. "Yeah, I think your nose just grew three feet."

Jack sputtered in protest and the banter back and forth continued on for the next two loads out of the car and on the trip to pick up Dawn from rehearsal where it had progressed to a criticism of driving styles. But hey, Xander couldn't help it if he had one eye, and besides, his dad drove worse with two. By the time they headed out to the airport to pick up Giles, Dawn had threatened to rustle up some herbs for a silencing spell. Xander and Jack had of course then teamed up against her.

In the busy bustle of the baggage claim, Dawn was the first to spot the returning Watcher. "Giles!" she practically squealed like a little kid as she ran and wrapped him in a bear hug. "They're picking on me!"

"What? Hello." Giles blinked from Xander to Jack wondering what was going on which only made Xander laugh before he claimed his own hug.

"Giles." Jack and Giles shook hands.

"Colonel O'Neill. Wonderful to see you alive and well." And the G-man smiled warmly in a way that Xander still found both surprising and heartening. It was like the two parts of his life were coming together at last. "Now what was this about picking?" Giles turned to Xander who held up his hands in their defense.

"Hey, me and Dad weren't picking and did you know that Dawn went and grew up and learned some naughty words?"

"Xander! You're just mad 'cause you didn't know what some of them meant." Dawn crossed her arms and arched a triumphant eyebrow. Xander scowled - of course he didn't know what they meant; they were in some ancient language but he bet at least one meant 'farthead'.

"Ah, yes," Giles's face cleared at their bickering. "That would have been when we were fighting the forces of evil. I take it everything is under control for tonight?" The luggage carrousel turned on with a groan so they moseyed over and edged their way to its side.

"Yeah, Buffy, Vi, and Di went on a rampage last night," said Dawn. "And I made Buffy promise not to destroy the school, but we haven't had any inklings since Jack went fudgesicle."

"Hey, who you calling a 'fudgesicle'?" Jack turned from watching the carrousel.

Dawn went wide-eyed and blushed. "Maybe I should have kept that thought in my head."

"Oh God, not you too!" Xander groaned. Because, from his long association with Willow and Buffy, he knew exactly where that thought had come from. "Therapy. Need therapy."

"Uh, yes, quite," stuttered Giles, his glasses off and his eyes closed. Jack meanwhile was very carefully not looking at Dawn who was still bright red but beginning to be defiant about it.

"I'll, uh, take that as a compliment," Jack managed to say.

"Oh, look my bag!" Giles said a little too loudly. He shuffled forward and snagged a suitcase that was big and brown but apparently one of a kind. Once he had it, they began the journey back to the car. Conversation again turned to the little visit the slayers had paid a few of the seedier demon haunts to ensure that nothing would be going down tonight. Buffy's visit as the Slayer-that-had-destroyed-the Sunnydale-hellmouth was enough to keep the underworld gossiping for months.

As they entered the parking garage, Giles and Dawn branched off into researchy things while Xander and Jack started arguing over who got to drive. Xander told his dad that he drove like a werewolf on crack. Jack told Xander that he had a fender bender with every car in front of them.

Annoyed when they came to a halt by the car, still arguing, Giles said, "Xander, do shut up and give Dawn the keys. You're making a nuisance of yourself."

"Me?" Xander immediately took offence.

"Yes, well, I imagine threatening to take away Jack's next paycheck would do me little good. Yours, on the other hand -"

But Xander needed to back up a sec. "Paycheck?" he asked, just to be sure. And that was a smile on the G-man's face. Xander almost couldn't believe it. Money, money, money! There would be food and he could quit his sucky job and buy equipment and first aid and - his mind rambled on over the possibilities.

"You got the money?" said Dawn equally surprised.

"I did," said Giles smugly.

"Woo and hoo!" And Xander, suddenly flooded with joy and relief, threw the keys to Dawn.

Buffy was adamant that there would be no 'maggot yelling' as she called it while Xander wanted to make sure that girls who were together last summer got split up this year, and Giles wanted solo patrols at least once a week for the older girls. It was rather interesting to see how their definition of training clashed with that of the Air Force.

Around six-thirty, Vi and Diana returned, breaking up the discussion so everyone had time to get ready. The ceremony was at eight, but Jack refrained from commenting when Xander and Giles took it in stride. In fact, Xander rushed off himself to snag a shower before all the hot water ran out.

"If you don't go now, you'll have to wait till the last minute to get cleaned up," Giles warned him when it was just the two of them in the dining room.

"Nah, I'm good," Jack waved a hand. All he needed to do was change his shirt and throw on his leather jacket, a tactic that he noticed Giles seemed to be using as well. Feeling eyes on him, Giles looked up from the notes he was gathering together, and Jack smiled.

"I'm glad you came," Giles broke the silence before it became awkward. "It means a lot to Xander."

Now Jack did feel awkward and he grabbed a loose pen. "It seemed like a good time to visit, before teenage hell broke loose anyway," he said.

"Colonel. Jack," said Giles, the use of his first name grabbing the other man's attention. "Don't pass it off for what it isn't. Xander deserves better and so do you." Giles's eyes gentled and he added, "He talks about you a lot, did you know?"

"No," said Jack, startled by this from the man that had threatened to kill him once already. He hadn't realized that Giles didn't mind him anymore. Or liked him, for that matter, beyond what politeness required.

"He does. Indirectly for the most part, but you're always there," said Giles. "I don't know how much he's told you about his childhood - I don't know much about it myself except for the little things that came out over the years - but it was difficult, vampires and demons not withstanding."

"He seemed to come out of it pretty well," said Jack softly.

Giles smiled again. "Yes, he has. I've often thought his discovering the supernatural was one of the best things that happened to him as bad as it can be. But honestly, I think your discovery of him was the best." The other man's eyes held Jack's a moment longer then let them go. Gathering his notes, Giles rose and went into the kitchen leaving Jack still surprised at the dining room table.

Who'd have thought that Xander talked about him to Giles of all people? And that Giles was happy about it? And that Giles would tell him? And that he was happy Jack was in his son's life?

When Jack moved to the den to watch TV until it was time to go, he was still grinning.

"Xander, get your lazy ass out of bed!" His dad yelled through the door.

"Go 'way. 'M still 'sleep!" he replied. Jack just opened the door, came in, and yanked off his blankets.

"Up, up, up! Come on," he said when Xander half scrambled to get them back. Sighing in defeat, Xander sat up.

"All right, all right, I'm up. What do you want that couldn't wait till, say, sanity rise?"

"Cute," Jack told him. "But come on, we're going out."

"We are?"

"Yes, so get some clothes on - unless you want to go out like that," his dad waved a hand at the boxer and t-shirt ensemble. "We're leaving in five minutes. Coffee's in the kitchen."

Xander made it down the stairs ten minutes later. Jack pointedly looked at his watch and sighed but otherwise didn't say anything about it. "I get to drive," he said instead.

"Where are we going?" asked Xander. He grabbed the Snoopy mug and poured himself a dose of wake-up juice.

"Surprise."

"You know, I don't do so well with surprises," Xander felt obliged to point out. Living on hellmouths tended to do that to a person.

"Tough," Jack threw him a smile. "Let's go, kiddo." Grumbling, Xander followed him to the car, but Jack only ignored him and started whistling cheerfully. Xander tried to bore holes in the back of his head, but it wasn't working, and by the time they got to the car, Jack's song actually had him resenting the whole situation less. He contented himself with asking 'are we there yet' at every intersection until Jack told him to shut up or expect to walk home. His dad maintained his serious expression for all of two seconds before they both started laughing. Getting up was definitely worth it.

Finally, they pulled into a parking lot at the strip mall at the opposite end from Home Depot, and Xander cast a glance at the sign before them. "Uh, Dad, you know this is a pet store right?" Xander glanced at the older man as he shut off the engine.

"Yep," Jack grinned. "Come on, you wanted a dog."

"I did?" News to Xander.

"Yeah, remember when we first met?"

Stepping out of the car and onto the sidewalk, Xander tried to cast his mind back. "I wanted a car," he recalled with a quick look at his dad.

"Well, you're getting a dog," said Jack. He looked very pleased with himself about the idea, and Xander almost felt bad when he kept arguing.

"But they pee on the floor and chew up shoes and eat lamp shades."

"Sure they do, they're puppies," Jack opened the door and a little electronic ding-dong sounded through the shop. The smell of seed and straw permeated the room along with the chatter of birds and kittens and puppies. A quick glance at the fish reassured him that they at least weren't talking in anything more than bubbles. From behind the counter, the shopkeeper smiled, and Jack waved back before leading the way to the dogs.

"So why would I want one if they're so high maintenance? I mean, I've got sixty girls coming on Monday. I don't need another thing to take care of."

"Xander, dogs are easy compared to girls. Besides, every kid needs a dog." Jack pronounced the words like a proverb - one that Xander wasn't sure he got.

"Uh, not much of a kid anymore," he pointed out.

Jack turned and looked at him. "You're still my kid," he said. "Now take a look."

Grinning, Xander turned his attention to the wriggling puppies in the big playpen box, wondering how he'd gotten here to this point. It still felt strange when his dad said things like that, but it also sent a thrill through him that felt good and right. Belonging.

And he had to admit, the puppies were cute. There were about ten of them - they kept moving when he counted - and all sorts of colors. Two black, one black and brown, one kinda dishwater, a couple gray, but the one that caught Xander's eye was the mottled black and gray with one black patch of fur over its right eye.

"Hey look, me and this guy make a full set," he pointed the puppy out to Jack.

"He's cute. That the one you want?"

Xander looked up. "You're still serious about this?"

"You betcha. Is that a 'yes'?"

Still not quite believing that his dad was getting him a dog, Xander nodded.

Half an hour, several forms, and a check to see if it was a boy or girl, and Xander was the new owner of the little, male, black and gray dog. They'd have to come back the next day to pick him up after the vet had neutered him, but Xander still felt kind of giddy about the idea. He'd never had a pet before. Willow and Jesse hadn't either beyond Will's fish, so this was new and exciting territory. Even if he couldn't remember ever asking for one. It had been a year after all.

And that thought brought him up short as the two of them got back in the car. "It's been a year," he said, half to himself.

"What's that?" asked Jack.

"A year. Since you showed up."

"Yeah," Jack agreed. He pulled out and onto the road, thinking. "Been a long year. For a while there I didn't think we'd make it," he added softly.

"The universe did try to munchmeat us," said Xander, thinking back over the demons and chaos and mini apocalypses and even Jack's alien attack that nearly ended the world. Their family problems and trust issues had seemed so much bigger in some ways and so much smaller and ridiculous in others.

"She always does. But she also works in mysterious ways," said his dad with a pointed look and a smile.

"'She'?" asked Xander. "Sounds like you're dangerously close to believing in something."

"I don't believe in gods, you don't believe in religion," Jack shrugged. "We both believe in magic."

"But not fairy tale endings."

"Just happier ones."

"So does this count?" asked Xander.

"Well, it would," his dad looked over, a grin playing around his lips, "except it's not an ending."

"Good," Xander smiled too, feeling warm and right and happy. "'Cause when I have puppy problems, you're the first person I'm calling."

"Fine, but you only get one middle-of-the-night call," said Jack.

"One? And what do you mean 'middle-of-the-night'? You never said anything about middle-of-the-night."

"Don't worry about it, you'll be up anyway. And it's only at the beginning."

"Just how long is this 'beginning'?"

And they spoke of puppies and middle-of-the-night phone calls and beginnings all the way home.

Thank you for reading and hopefully enjoying my story. It's for you I write.

Tassos