Cassie Frasier pulled her car into the only motel in the small town of Oxnard. She was exhausted after a long day of driving, and knew she had to check in with her mother, Janet. It had taken Cassie months of nagging to get her mother to allow her to leave Colorado Springs to see America. In the end it had taken Colonel O'Neil's intervention to convince Janet and Major Samantha Carter to allow her to explore the roads of America alone.
The argument that it could not be more dangerous that the town where the most Goa'uld attacks were aimed had not hurt either. She had now spent over two months on the road, meandering across the country, and had now reached sunny California. After checking in with Janet, and discovering another failed Goa'uld plot to destroy the SGC, Cassie decided to get a few hours rest and then explore the night life of sleepy Oxnard.
Xander stepped out of Hell. Well, what Hell would be like if it was called The Fabulous Ladies Nightclub. He looked down at his hands and shuddered, he would only have to wash dishes for the next fifty years to pay for the repairs to his rust bucket on wheels that used to be called a car.
As he walked down the sparsely illuminated street that lead to the only motel in town, Xander kept his eyes open and a hand nervously hovering around his pocket, three years of Hellmouth patrols had made him nervous about the undead.
"I don't like Vampires. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say they're bad." He remembered saying when he had first learnt of Vampires.
As he neared the motel, Xander heard a scream and immediately ran to help out, acting on instinct. Xander ran into the alleyway and saw a young woman being attacked by a vampire, she was desperately trying to push it away as it tried to feed, keeping its fangs from her neck.
'Fledglings.' Xander thought with disgust as he quickly stepped up behind the Vampire and staked it in the heart.
As the vampire turned to dust, the young woman lost her balance and fell, being caught by Xander on her way down. Xander looked at the young woman in concern, pushing aside her brownish blond hair to look for bite marks and quickly checked her for other injuries. After a few seconds her eyes open, revealing dark green orbs that have seen much pain and suffering, reminiscent of Xander's own dark hazel eyes. Xander immediately helped the young woman to her feet.
"Hey. My name's Xander." He said with a grin.
"Cassie. What was that thing and why did it turn to dust?" She asked.
"Um. That's a long story. Where you staying?" Xander responded.
"Oxnard Motel." Cassie replied.
Xander just nodded and walked them both, Cassie still in slight shock and leaning on him, to the motel. As it turned out, they had adjacent rooms, so Xander lead Cassie into her room and they sat on the bed as Xander explained about Vampires, which Cassie took surprisingly well.
'Wow. I never heard of Vampires before but they can't be worse than the Goa'uld.' Was her first thought, her second being, 'Sounds like Sunnydale has been attacked more times than the SGC.' Followed closely by, 'Theses people are amazing. I want to help them.'
"I want to help. Teach me." Cassie said, taking Xander by surprise.
Xander looked over at the resting form of Cassie and let out a contented sigh. Over the last six weeks, they had trained together, and had brought out the best in each other. Xander taught Cassie all he had learnt from a lifetime on the Hellmouth and three years battle experience against Sunnydale's nocturnal inhabitants, plus all the things he had picked up in years of watching Buffy training.
Cassie helped Xander access the soldier memories by training with the array of guns and such she had managed to con out of Colonel O'Neil for the trip and the training she had received from the members of the SGC, which ranged from medical from her mother and lingual/historical from Dr. Jackson to firearms from Major Carter and Colonel O'Neil and unarmed training from Colonel O'Neil and Teal'c. Teal'c had also taught her how to use Zatguns, as Colonel O'Neil called them, and how to use staff weapons, both to fire and like a quarterstaff.
Cassie had managed to convince SG1 to teach her to fight in case she was around when the SGC was under attack, although they made her promise to keep to the back of the fighting. When she had gone on this road trip, she had never thought that she would actually need to use the weaponry.
About a week after they had met, one of the male strippers at The Fabulous Ladies Nightclub had called in sick and Xander had to fill in. Under Xander's trademark baggy clothing, he actually had a lean physique, a by-product of so much physical punishment over the years from bullies and vampires, much to the lady customer's delight. After two shifts, they had enough money to travel with ample for supplies and weapons. They had sold the rust bucket that Xander had called a car and taken off around southern California, taking out any threats they came across and avoiding any big cities.
They would usually roll into town late in the afternoon and check into a cheep motel. The first night would be spent planing the scouting trip to learn the town's layout that would occur the next day. The first day would be spent scouting the town under the guise of tourists or normal visitors, or even as a young married couple. That night they would perform a preliminary sweep of the town for any indications or possible nests of undead.
They would usually stay in town a few days, more if there were a lot of nocturnal inhabitants. They would either go out to be seen or train during from about 10 am to 3pm then they would rest before spending most of the night patrolling, returning at about 1am to sleep until it was 10am again. If there was absolutely no evidence of Vampiric or Demonic activity, then they would mostly relax with some training to keep their skills up.
They were currently in another flyspeck town, having arrived only a few hours ago. Xander's eyes left Cassie and glanced out the window into the growing darkness, then back to the task at hand. Xander checked the edge again and ran the whetstone over the sword blade once more. Satisfied that the sword was sharp, Xander began to polish it. Xander quietly thanked the alternative version of himself who had provided the soldier memories.
The alternate version of Xander had grown up in New York, and as a child had loved the old Samurai movies, so when he had turned ten, he had pestered his farther for sword lessons. He practiced for years under the careful tutelage of a Japanese Sword master who was delighted to see his vigilance and dedication. When he joined the Army and was posted to the quiet town of Sunnydale, he kept up his sword practice, it became a novelty of the base.
Xander found this out when, in the third town they stopped at, he found a dojo. They entered and were welcomed by the owner who said they could look around. When Xander picked up a katana off the walls, it somehow felt right in his hands. When he let go to his instincts in that first demonstration, making sure no one was in danger, Xander showed a fair amount of skill, but he could not consciously tap into it.
By the end of the five day stay in that town, Xander had become proficient at consciously using the blade and was given it by the Dojo owner, who had said it would do more good in his hands than hanging on the walls in the Dojo.
Xander finished polishing the Katana and put it back in its sheath. Rising from the chair by the window, he moved to the bed and lay down beside Cassie, wrapping an arm protectively around her and taking comfort in her presence.
'I don't think we'll be here longer than two days. It just doesn't feel evil enough.' Xander thought to himself before sleep claimed him.
Xander and Cassie had stopped at a small diner at an intersection. Cassie had gone inside to get them some lunch and drinks while Xander laid out the map on the hood. Cassie came out of the diner and put a Coke down next to Xander, who kissed her lightly, just behind the ear. They had been hunting together for almost five months and they had ended up in northern Arizona, they had also gotten very close and had stoped pretending to date while scouting towns and they had become actual dates, if slightly odd ones. Xander took a swig of the Coke and looked back at the map.
"Ok, if we head that way," Xander said pointing West, "We'll end up back in California and probably Sunnydale. If we head that way, (now pointing East) we are going to end up in Colorado and probably Colorado Springs."
"Interesting choice, the Hellmouth or the SGC. Can't we just drive till we reach, oh say, Maine? Get as far away as possible." Cassie said, only half joking.
Cassie had ended up telling Xander about the SGC after she had accidentally let slip about the Goa'uld while talking on the phone to her mother while Xander was in the room, this fact unknown to Janet. Now they had no secrets from each other, Cassie even telling Xander how she had come to be on Earth and while they may wish to just drive until they reached somewhere no one knew them and they could live in piece, they both knew that they would feel guilty, the had a need to help and they could not just ignore what they knew to be out there. After a discussion, they made their decision, pulling the car out from the curb and heading down one of the two roads, one of them was headed home.
They pulled into the smallish town early in the afternoon. The town looked peaceful, almost as if nothing had ever happened there, but they both knew that looks could be deceiving, and deadly. Cassie was driving as she knew the area better than Xander, as she should have seeing she had been living here for several years. The streets were almost empty with only the usual Saturday traffic as Cassie steered through Colorado Springs. Cassie turned into a fairly large house on a quiet street and they both got out of the car and walked to the door, Cassie ringing the doorbell. Xander, dressed in his now typical dark colours stood slightly behind and to Cassie's left as they waited. A muffled voice was heard from inside the house and then the door was flung open to reveal Janet Frasier.
"Hey, mom. I'm home." Cassie said, before she was swept up into a huge hug.
"Cassie!" Janet exclaimed.
"Mom, air." Cassie gasped.
Xander smirked slightly as he watched this scene.
"Come in, both of you." Janet said excitedly, before turning back into the house and yelling. "Sam. Cassie's back!"
Xander and Cassie were escorted into the kitchen area where they were met by Samantha Carter, dressed in civilian clothing.
"Hey, Sam." Cassie said casually.
"Cassie, great to see you again. Who's your friend?" Sam replied.
"Oh, this is Xander. We've been travelling together for, what five months?" Cassie said.
"Five and a half." Xander interjected.
"He's also my boyfriend." Cassie said, half nervously, half proud.
"Oh really?" Sam asked with a wicked grin on her face. "Did this happen before or after you started travelling together."
"After. Actually we only started dating six weeks ago." Xander said calmly.
"I see." Janet said dubiously. "How did you meet?"
"Xander saved my life from a... mugger, over in California. His car had broken down in this little town so after," Cassie began but when Xander coughed and shook his head she changed what she was going to say. "We got some travelling money, he sold his rust bucket car and we travelled together."
"Small towns, the heart of Americana." Xander said with his infamous lop sided grin.
The grin worked, causing Cassie to laugh, Sam to smile and Janet to lose some of her icy demeanour. Just then the phone rang.
"I'll get it." Sam said.
Xander laughed at one of Jacks jokes; they had surprisingly similar senses of humour, much to Sam's dismay. The group sat in the only bar in Colorado Springs that would serve them, an as yet unnamed bar that had just opened about three weeks prior and was actually doing good business. Xander was sitting facing the front door with Major Carter sitting on his left. Opposite Xander sat Cassie with Janet and Dr. Jackson sitting on her right, as she was watching the rear door. Colonel O'Neil and Teal'c, who had been introduced to Xander as Murray, sat on the ends of the rectangular table.
Officially Xander had bought the cover story they had provided and did not ask any unusual questions and SG1, who were almost Cassie's family, had been grilling him for the past hour, disguising it as normal conversations, and Xander was having a joke contest with Jack, they were currently tied. When the front doors opened into the night air and a man entered, no one took any notice except Xander, as SG1 and Dr. Frasier were unaware of a possible threat and Cassie knew better than to look behind her. Xander's eyes tracked the new man and when he was seated, Xander spoke.
"Cass, we got a leach. At the bar, third stool from the door." Xander said, visually addressing his words more towards Janet and Daniel Jackson that Cassie.
Cassie's eyes flicked to the bar and back to the table so fast that it generally went unnoticed.
"Got him. What's the go?" Cassie asked.
Everyone else at the table knew something was up, but they did not know what was going on.
"Bait and hook. You up for it?" Xander said.
"Sure. Go plus three?" Cassie responded, to which Xander nodded.
It took both Cassie and Xander's careful persuasion to get Janet and SG1 out of the bar and leaving Cassie behind. They quickly made their way to Cassie's car, that Janet and Sam had ridden in to get to the bar, while Jack, Teal'c and Daniel took another car. Xander opened the boot and pulled aside two blankets, one covering the floor of the boot and the other covering the door. The boot was as well organised as the weapons locker in the SGC. Xander pulled out a combat harness that had a scabbard attached to the back and began loading stakes and vials of Holy water into the loops, even pulling a stake out from the back of his trousers and putting it in the harness. Then he pulled out a belt holster which contained a Zatgun on the left hip and a Desert Eagle on the right hip, which he belted on. Pulling on one of the trench coats, Xander grabbed the Katana that was hanging on the boot door and sheathed it through a slit in the trench coat. Xander pulled out three Zatguns and tossed them to Jack, Sam and Teal'c before pulling down the other weapon attached to the boot door, a finely carved Quarterstaff which had its ends sharpened into stakes.
"Where the hell did you get these?" Jack asked, looking at the Zatgun in his hands.
"Not now, Colonel. Here's the plan. Danny, Janet. You stay with the vehicles. Colonel, I want you to cover the far end of the ally, Teal'c you're covering our retreat. Major, you're with me. Anything attacks you, give them three shots of the Zat, no exceptions. Now we got under one and a half minutes, let's move." Xander ordered, before loping towards the alleyway behind the bar.
After a second's pause, Teal'c followed Xander, forcing Sam and Jack to follow as well. They quietly and quickly got into position, Jack slightly farther down the alleyway in the shadows, Teal'c similarly positioned closer to the mouth of the alleyway while Xander and Sam were crouched behind some industrial waste bins by the bar's back door. Cassie and the vampire exited the bar as if they were having a good time, which shocked Sam, and Xander put a hand on her arm to stop her interfering. The vampire, arrogantly pushed Cassie against the alley wall and leaned in to bite her, not expecting the sharp contact between her knee and his groin. Cassie pushed the vamp backwards and deftly caught the quarterstaff out of the air, Xander having thrown it when the incapacitating impact had occurred. Charging in a blind rage, the vampire had both its arms broken as it threw punches by Cassie's quarterstaff, and then it was knocked unconscious by a blow to the side of the head. Xander drew his Katana and stood over the vampire, holding the blade to its neck.
"Cass, go get Danny and you're mom, they're by the car." Xander said.
Xander indicated to Jack and Teal'c that they should come in and Cassie arrived back quickly with Janet and Danny. Xander gave SG1 a quick and simple demonstration on Vampires.
Xander shook the vampire till it came round, showing its Game Face.
"Vampire." Xander said, before chopping off its head. "Dead vampire. Any questions?"
There was a shocked silence for a long second before Xander burst out laughing, quickly joined by Cassie.
"I always wanted to say that." Xander chuckled but then became suddenly serious. "What you think, Cass? Fledgling?"
"Yah, can't be more than a week old, more likely two nights old." Cassie responded.
"Looks like we got a Sire, maybe a nest. Damn, and I thought all we had to worry about were Goa'uld trying to take over the world. At least it's not another Apocalypse." Xander responded.
"Apocalypse? Pull the other one." Jack said.
"Hey. I've been involved in stopping no less than four actual Apocalypses and at least one potential Apocalypse in the last three years. I think I know what I'm talking about." Xander said, so seriously that SG1 and Janet actually began to take what he was saying seriously.
The group drove back to Janet's place where Xander and Cassie laid down the entire vampire, Sunnydale and Hellmouth situation. They also told the entire story of their road trip and what they had been doing for the last five and a half months.
"Jack. I got a request." Xander said, talking to the Colonel privately.
"What is it?" Jack said, really liking the young man who had captured Cassie's heart.
"I was wondering if I can help you guys down at the SGC. I can teach you guy's demon and vampire hunting methods." Xander said.
"I'm sorry, where?" Jack said, trying to maintain the cover.
"Cut the crap, Jack, I know. I lived on the Hellmouth all my life, I know how to keep secrets. Talk to the General, it's not as if I'm asking to go through the gate or anything. I teach you guys what I know, you teach me what you know. I get a steady paycheck and you get a guy who knows what goes bump in the night and can handle himself." Xander told Jack.
"I don't know." Jack said.
"Look, think it over. I'll sign a non-disclosure form if you want, not that I would tell anyone anyway. The pay doesn't have to be great and I'd rather not be base bound, something more like a consultant who you call when you need stuff. Just talk to the General, ok?" Xander said.
Jack nodded and Xander went off to find Cassie, hoping to enjoy the rest of the evening. Jack sighed and grabbed his car keys. He needed to talk to General Hammond, but he needed to think first, so he was going to drive back to base.
"That kid can be more annoying than Danny and his bloody rocks." Jack muttered as he got into his car.
Janet woke early, as usual, and walked to check on Cassie's room, as she had done every morning since Cassie had gone on her road trip. Opening the bedroom door silently she saw Cassie lying on the bed, her head resting on the chest of the young man that Janet had met yesterday. Xander, yes that was his name. Xander had one arm wrapped around Cassie's shoulders and Cassie had thrown one leg over Xander's. Janet smiled.
'I'm so glad that she's happy. If he ever hurts her, I'll rip his spine out.' Janet thought cheerfully.
Then she remembered everything else that she had learnt last night and her smile slipped.
"I tried to protect her, but my baby's a warrior." She said quietly.
"Better that then being blown up by a Naquda bomb or being food for Vamps." Xander said from the bed, opening his eyes to look at his Girlfriends' mother.
"Yes, I suppose." Janet responded.
"She can handle herself, and I would never let anything happen to her. Not while I lived." Xander said.
"Thank you."
"No problem. We both know the risks. If one of us is turned, the other will not hesitate to kill them." Xander promised.
"How can you say that?" Janet asked.
"Better that then the alternative." Cassie said, with her eyes still closed.
"I've seen to many people die, Ms Frasier. A vamp is not a person, it is what killed the person and we would rather be dead than face that. Like anyone in the SGC would rather be dead than a host to a Goa'uld. It's the same thing." Xander finished.
Janet nodded solemnly and turned to leave the young couple alone.
"I tired." Janet said tiredly.
"I know." Cassie replied. "But this is our fight, just like they are yours."
"Uncle George." Cassie said excitedly.
"Cassie." General Hammond replied; equally glad to see the girl.
"General." Xander said standing at attention and saluting.
"At ease, soldier." Hammond replied, returning the salute.
Xander slipped into parade rest and Cassie stood next to him with a smile on her face.
It had taken three days for Jack to convince General Hammond to hear out Xander rather than throw him in prison or conscript him to the SGC and never let him leave the base, either out the front gate or through the Gate. Finally he had agreed to hear the young man out.
"What's your name son?" Hammond asked.
"Captain Alexander Harris, US Army. 498th tactical airborne out of Sunnydale, Sir." Xander responded.
"I've never heard of that unit." Jack put in. (AN: Apologies if such a unit actually exists.)
"That's because it does not exist in this universe, Sir." Xander replied.
That caused quite a stir among SG1, Dr. Frasier and General Hammond.
"Impossible, we have the Quantum Mirror in storage." Daniel said.
"There's no evidence of Quantum Cascading." Sam added.
"Quite." General Hammond said, cutting off the SGC personnel. "Care to explain how you came from another dimension, son?"
"Permission to speak freely, sir?"
"Granted."
"I'm not from another dimension, sir. Sir, you must understand that what I know is as secret as what you do here, but there is no government involvement, can be no government involvement." Xander said seriously. "What I say here, must never leave this room, not even to be reported to the president. Countless lives depend on it. If you can't promise me that, then I will not tell you."
"You know we could throw you in prison, son?" General Hammond said.
"Go ahead. You won't betray your secret, I won't betray mine. I'm only trusting you because Cassie does. If you don't want to hear it then I'll sign the non-disclosure and you can let me go or throw me in prison, or you can give me your word and we'll help each other. Your call." Xander said.
"Can you give us a minute?" Hammond said.
"Yes, sir." Xander said.
Xander and Cassie left to let the SGC personnel to think.
"Opinions people?" Hammond ordered.
"I think the kid's a pain in the ass, but we can trust him." Jack said.
"He's just like you, Jack. Of course you like him." Daniel interjected.
"Well, they did kill a vampire in front of us." Sam put in.
"Doctor? Is that possible?" Hammond asked.
"Sir, Xander decapitated it and it disintegrated, which medically is impossible without some other factor. Plus it did change from a normal face to pronounced brow ridges, fangs and yellow eyes. While they could be explained by genetic mutation, it would not be possible for a human to switch between faces; a human would have one or the other." Janet analysed. "Much as I hate to admit it, a vampire seems to be the only explanation."
"Almost every culture in history has made some reference to vampires or some form of vampiric entity. I had postulated that maybe it was a reference to the Goa'uld hand devices which can drain a person, although they usually mention blood." Daniel contributed.
"Teal'c? You know anything about Vampires?" Jack asked.
"There is an ancient legend about an entity that the Goa'uld fears. It is said to be strong, fast and only travels by night. It is said that a Goa'uld once took these creatures as a host. When the symbiont blended with the host, there was another presence in the host, an evil greater than the Goa'uld. The symbiont fled from the host and refused to take another of any kind." Teal'c related.
"Major?" Hammond asked after a brief pause.
"Sir, it is theoretically possible." Carter said. "We know that there are alternate dimensions, so it is possible that there are dimensions that we would call demonic. The vampirism could be a form a transmitted disease. No offence, sir, but we fight aliens who believe that they are Gods through a ring that lets us get to other planets thousands of light-years away in seconds, is vampires really that much of a stretch?"
"But can we really keep this from the President and the Pentagon?" Hammond asked.
"Sir, all he wants is us to call him if we encounter anything demonic, hell he said he'd train us, and he'll call us if he sees any Goa'uld. That's it, and a small paycheque. It the Pentagon and NID knew about this then they would do the same thing as Mayborne tried with the Tolans." Jack said.
"Indeed."
"Thanks Teal'c. Look this kid doesn't want anything major from us, and Cassie trusts him, which scores major points, as does the fact that he trusts Cassie. As he said the only reason he came to us is because Cassie trusts us. Plus did you see how he acted. He does not care about himself, but he has friends who he would go to jail, or die, to protect. We might be getting more out of this bargain that we though."
"So we agree to his conditions?" Hammond asked, receiving nods. "How are we going to explain his training?"
"A new species of Alien? Very rare but a possibly for encounter, and formed the basis for the Vampire mythology when they were previously on earth." Daniel suggested.
"Alright. Doctor, can you get Mr Harris and Cassie?" Hammond ordered.
Xander, Cassie and Janet entered a few minutes later, and Xander began his story, leaving out names to protect his friends. When he left the debriefing room several hours later he was the newest consultant of the Stargate Project and he left behind six members of the SGC who had just had their lives turned upside down.