I'm sorry about the long silence, but my personal life has been—still is—a mess. So, updating my stories will take some time. I'm sorry about that.

A short chapter, but, at least, the story continues...

Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado, Nov 1999

For a long time, Xander and Teal'c had been silently sitting opposing each other, and Xander felt calm and sedated. All the day's nervousness had burned out of him. He wasn't asleep, but he wasn't far from falling asleep, and yet, he wasn't going to fall asleep. It was a strange feeling, and he loved every second of it even if he, sort of, felt the echoes of the emotions of the evil worm in his belly.

"Xander Harris," Teal'c said, opening his eyes, "I believe that was enough for today. I'm glad and slightly surprised that you learned so fast how to properly perform Kelno' reem."

Xander shrugged. "My best friend kinda tried to teach me meditation, and it really didn't work. But I learned to empty my mind, that kinda is easy for me," he grinned at his mentor. "Probably because there's not much in my mind."

"The Tau'ri did several tests on you, some of which were testing your mental capacity. I have been told that you are a quite intelligent young man," Teal'c said while blowing out the candles. "Self-doubt is an enemy of a warrior."

"Yeah, I know, and I… well, I doubt my intelligence and all that, but not as much as I let out. I joke about it because it's a way to cheer people up when…" he paused. "I, uh, well, I'm kinda used to do that."

Teal'c looked at him for so long a moment that Xander started to squirm under his stare. The man's stoic face was almost impossible to interpret. "Chal 'til, you will stop belittling your abilities," Teal'c said, "now, we are going to the canteen. It is time for lunch."

"Yeah, I'm starving," Xander said, noticing that Teal'c had said that he will stop belittling his abilities. It was a command, not a suggestion. "Chal'til means more than just that I'm your student, doesn't it?"

"Indeed," Teal'c said, "in the past, students have been slaves to their masters, but I will not enslave you. We are free, Jaffa. But you are my student, and I expect you to obey my direct orders when I give one."

"And telling me not to make jokes about my intelligence was an order, wasn't it?"

"Yes, yes it was," Teal'c said. "When you are belittling yourself, you are not only making yourself believe what you are saying; you also make people think that what you say is true and you will lose their respect. That is why I want you to stop belittling yourself."

"Damn, I've never heard the big man talk that much," Jack said as he suddenly appeared beside Xander.

"Xander Harris is my Chal 'til," Teal'c said.

"Yeah, but Bra'tac doesn't talk as much as you do to Xander," Jack said.

"Master Bra'tac and I are two very different persons," Teal'c said. "The old way to train Jaffa warrior was to enslave Chal 'til and expect him to learn while obeying commands. However, Xander Harris is as far from me as I am from Master Bra'tac. Xander Harris does not blindly respect traditions. He needs to know why things are done the way they are done. When I explained how the Kelno' reem works, he managed to fall into the meditative state faster than I did when I started my training. Xander Harris is an intelligent young warrior, and to learn things, he needs to understand them first."

Xander blushed. "Thanks, Teal'c."

"You are welcomed," Teal'c said.

"Well, it'll be damn hard to adjust having a rambling Teal'c around," Jack said as they got to the canteen.

Teal'c said something to that, but Xander didn't pay any attention to them. He was too busy filling his tray with food. He'd always had a healthy appetite, but the three months he'd been a Jaffa, Xander had learned that now he ate, at least, twice as much as he used to. Jack joked that it was because he was eating for two. Which, as embarrassing as it was, probably was not that far from the truth. He had a baby alien inside his belly, and it needed the energy to grow to an adult evil alien-snake with delusions of grandeur.

While they ate, Daniel and Sam came to their table. Xander liked the SG-1 members, and, even though Teal'c was his teacher and he liked the big man, Jack still was his favorite. Xander had started to idolize Colonel O'Neill, and he wanted to grow up to be like him. Not that he'd ever tell that to O'Neill, Jack's ego was large enough as it was.

"We have a briefing at twelve-hundred," Jack said when they were finishing the meal.

Xander knew what that meant; the SG-1 would go for a mission, and sometimes their missions lasted days. Days that he was stuck underground with only Janet as his friend, and she often was too busy to spend time with him. Xander had tried to befriend with the other people in the base, but they didn't want anything to do with him. Most of the SGC personnel seemed to think that his sudden transformation to Jaffa was a contagious disease.

Xander hated that he had not been permitted to leave the SGC's HQ. He understood the reasons behind his imprisonment, but it didn't make it any easier to stay underground. He had not seen the sun in three months, and sunshine had always been so significant part of his life that without it, he didn't feel safe, and he slowly was falling into depression.

After they got out of the canteen, Xander turned left to go to his room.

"Xander, where the hell are you going?" Jack asked.

Xander turned to him. "To my room," he said.

"What part of 'We have a briefing' didn't you understand?" Jack asked with a cocked eyebrow.

"We? You mean that I'm part of the WE?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, you are part of the we, kiddo," Jack said.

"But, but, but, I–I'm not a member of SG-1," baffled Xander stammered.

"No, but you'll be joining us for this mission," Jack said.

"Why?" Xander asked. "Not that I'm not happy that I'll get out of the base."

"Janet and MacKenzie have told General that you are falling into depression and that it is no wonder since you've been underground for three months. MacKenzie gave it as his professional opinion that you need to get outside to see the sky and breathe fresh air. General cannot yet let you out here on Earth, but he can let you come with us to a peaceful trading mission," smiling Sam said.

"Oh, okay, that's, that's, great," Xander said, following them.

"Indeed," Teal'c said.

"Sir, thank you for this opportunity to get out of… uh, underground," Xander said when they got to the briefing room where General Hammond was waiting for them. "I won't disappoint you."

"You should thank Dr. MacKenzie, he was quite adamant that I should let you out," General said.

"Oh, yeah, I'll thank him," Xander said as he sat down at the table.

All through the briefing, he felt awkward. The past months Teal'c had trained him to be a good Jaffa and a good warrior, but he had a lot to learn, and Teal'c had not trained Xander to be a part of an SG team. Xander didn't know how to work as a member of a team. No one had taught that to him. Joining SGC's elite team, SG-1, in a mission, worried Xander.

What if he'd screw everything up for all of them?

What if he'd get them all killed?

"You will do fine, Xander Harris," Teal'c said as if reading his mind. "as long as you obey my orders."

"Yeah, I'll obey everyone's orders," Xander said. "But I worry, you know?"

"Yes, I can see that, which was why I said that you will do fine," Teal'c said. "My orders first, Jack O'Neill's orders second, Samantha Carter's orders third. That is your line of command."

Xander tilted his head and glanced at Daniel. "You didn't mention Daniel."

"No, I did not mention Daniel Jackson, if only you and he are left, protect Daniel Jackson," Teal'c said and turned to Jack. "What kind of weaponry will you provide to Xander Harris?"

Sunnydale, California, Nov 1999

Willow groaned, even with the magic helping her, she had not had luck deciphering the encrypted files. Whatever encryption they used, it was nothing she'd seen before. It wasn't available for the public. Then again, that should not be a surprise; she'd gotten those files from the National Intelligence Department's servers. Willow tweaked her program a bit, gave it a magical boost, and then put it on the work again, but she had no high hopes.

Then she opened a secure connection to a Korean server and then logged on a server in Russia. Twenty minutes later, when she was sure that her digital tracks had been covered, she opened a mail program. Then she typed the message she'd been writing and rewriting for a week. She needed to catch Major Samantha Carter's attention. After she was sure that the message would catch Major's eye, she pressed CTRL+X to send the message and then left the server.

Willow then swallowed the lump that formed in her throat, feeling the full weight of the pain that had been her companion since the news about Xander's death har reached her. Willow got into her bed, curled into a fetal position and hugging the pillow the tears started to flow as she mourned the loss of her best friend.

To her utter annoyance, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," she said without thinking, and when Spike walked in, she cursed inwardly that she'd invited him into her dorm room. "Spike! Wha-what do you want? Uh, a spell? I can do that," she then tried to get out of her dorm room, but Spike grabbed her and threw her to the dresser.

"I'll give you a choice," Spike said as he walked to her. "Now I'm gonna kill you—no choice in that. But... I can let you stay dead, or I can bring you back, to be like me."

Willow swallowed. "I, uh, I'll scream!"

Spike smirked. "That'll be a bonus," Willow screamed, and Spike threw her on the bed and then turns the radio up to cover her screams as he went for her jugular. Willow whimpered; she was sure that this was it; she'd die. Suddenly Spike let her go and dropped on his knees, crying in pain and holding his head. Then he let out a soft groan and lifted his head and faster than Willow could react, Spike had pinned her under him, and just when his fangs were going to pierce her skin Spike screamed in pain, and he dropped down, hitting his head hard on the laminate floor.

He cried in pain for a moment, and then he looked pleadingly at Willow. "I don't understand. This sort of thing's never happened to me before," he said as he sat down on the bed.

"Maybe you were nervous," Willow said.

"I felt all right when I started. Let's try again," Spike said and leaped on her and drew back immediately. "Ow! Oh! Ow! Damn it!" he said and kicked the dresser, starting to pace around the room.

"Maybe you're trying too hard. Doesn't this happen to every vampire?" Willow asked.

"Not to me, it doesn't!"

"It's me, isn't it?" Willow asked.

Spike looked curiously at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you came looking for Buffy, then settled. I-I... You didn't want to bite me. I just happened to be around," Willow sadly said. "I know I'm not the kind of girl vamps like to sink their teeth into. It's always like, ooh; you're like a sister to me, or, oh, you're such a good friend."

"Don't be ridiculous. I'd bite you in a heartbeat," baffled Spike said.

"Really?" Willow asked as her computer beeped for the sign that it had managed to crack the encryption. Ignoring Spike Willow jumped up and went to her laptop and started to open the documents in the file.

"Oi! Don't forget me! The big bad here!" Spike said, and Willow felt his hand on her shoulder, and then the vampire screamed in pain again.

Willow glanced at the vampire, holding his head on the floor. "What's wrong with you?" she asked.

"I'd want to know that too!" Spike groaned, "every time I try to hurt you, it feels like my head's exploding."

"So, you can't hurt me?"

"Yes, yes, I can," Spike growled and attacked her.

And dropped on the floor, screaming in pain.

After Spike had done it thrice without hurting her, Willow knew that Spike wasn't a danger to her. Ignoring the infamous master vampire, she turned back to her computer and squealed in excitement when she saw that she now had access to all 2300 files she'd downloaded from the NID's server.

"Now, let's see what they're hiding under Cheyenne mountain!" she said, rubbing her hands together.

"Oi!" Spike said. "Remember me? I could eat you! I'm the big bad!"

"Oh, shut up, Spike. If you can't be quiet, leave. I have work to do," Willow grunted.

TBC

:wq!