NOTE: This is a crossover story, which means headache for some people and headache for the writer, me. I've tried to make this a self-explanatory story, but knowing all three shows will help immensely understanding it. I hope you guys will enjoy it. Also, English isn't my native language (It's my standard defense disclaimer) so be gentle with me please. :)
***
Part 1
L.A.
"Angel! Come on, let's go."
//Doyle's being irritable again.// Angel sighed. "Tell me why we're going to the club *again*?"
"Because Cordelia told me to bring you in. That's why!"
//Of course.// "Doyle, I'm not in the mood for this. Just let me..."
"Brood in the dark and contemplate your existence... I know. I told her exactly the same thing but she gave me this *look* and told me to do everything humanly, actually demonly, possible to get you to the club. So there ya go."
Angel shook his head, resigned. //There has to be a better way to spend a Saturday night.//
The club was dark and noisy, filled with young people dancing and shouting... As always, Angel sensed the darkness within. He did not like coming here and came only when it was necessary.
//I guess Cordelia's order makes it necessary.//
Cordelia was supposedly his secretary, but it usually meant that she got to boss Angel around. Angel found himself thinking of a way out. //Let's just show my face and silently retreat.//
Doyle suddenly yelled out beside him, "Ah, there she is!"
Angel just watched Doyle as he excitedly waved at Cordelia. She was in the middle of the dance floor engaging a very active conversation with a person...well, a guy who would be categorized as a 'babe' according to Cordelia. Of course she ignored Doyle. Doyle looked disappointed.
Then, full ten seconds later Doyle yelled, "Oh-ho? Angel, look at that!"
//He's getting faster with his recoveries now. Good.// "What?" Angel turned to see the source of Doyle's new interest.
Doyle was staring at the red-haired girl standing listlessly beside Cordelia. She was wearing a short leather skirt and a white turtleneck. He couldn't see her face because of Cordelia's admirer, but her red-gold hair alone was enough to make her stand out from the crowd.
//One of Cordelia's actress friends, no doubt.//
"Girl, just turn around, so I can see your face... Man!"
Hearing Doyle grumbling, Angel couldn't help but smile. Even with his apparent affection toward Cordelia, this half-demon, half-human was uncontrollable around pretty women.
He suggested, "Let's sit down somewhere, since our lady seems to be very occupied at this moment."
Doyle was staring at all the women passing by, and Angel began to think about how 'The Powers That Be' had brought him into this life. A year ago, he was a near 250 year-old vampire with a soul, deeply in love with the vampire slayer of Sunnydale, fighting demons in the Hellmouth. Now he was a private detective with a former Prom Queen as a secretary and a half-demon as an 'assistant' in LA.
"Angel." Doyle's voice contained seriousness that instantly brought Angel out of his musings. "It seems that our lady has gotten herself into a trouble."
The 'babe' seemed to be enjoying the company of two beautiful women way too much. The guy was grabbing Cordelia's arm and she was trying to get him off from her. Seeing this, they were on their feet in a flash.
However, when they got to the dance floor, the situation was already defused. The red-haired girl simply knocked him out at once, causing every man on the dance floor to move away from them.
Stammered, Doyle commented, "Well! Nicely done!"
Angel got to Cordelia and tried to steady her, "Are you alright?"
"Well, duh!", came the very blunt reply. "That guy just went XX on me. My god, has everyone forgotten the word manners?"
//She's alright. Obviously.// "Well, I'm glad you're yourself, Cordelia. How about your friend?"
The red-haired girl turned to face him for the first time and spoke, "Oh, I'm fine, Angel."
//Wait, I know that voice. That's...//
"Willow?!"
***
The SGC, Cheyenne Mountain
// God, it's beautiful. //
Dr. Daniel Jackson remembered the first time he'd seen the Stargate, the time he'd been recruited to decipher the descriptions on the huge metal ring found on Giza, Egypt. The artifact had been so full of mysteries and wonders and he'd known instinctively that this would lead him to the answer, 'the meaning of life' stuff--the answer that he'd been looking for all his life. He'd known he could prove he'd been right all along, that pharaohs had not built the pyramids in the ancient Egypt. He'd solved the mystery that nobody had been able to solve; the artifact was a device that opened a portal to the other planets millions of light years away. He'd opened the Gateway to Heaven.
And by doing so, he'd unleashed the evils the Egyptians buried under the dry desert sand thousand years ago.
//Sha're's dead.//
He could still hear her voice, the soothing melody that put him to sleep every night in Abydos. Every night, he imagined he was with his lost wife, hoping tomorrow would be the day he would find her. Now he knew she was gone forever. There was no miracle, no cheating with death. The remote chance of reuniting with the love of his life, the chance he was holding on to with his life for three years was taken away from him.
//"I love you, Daniel."//
With her last breath, Sha're had told him. Helplessly, he had watched her beautiful spirit leaving her body. He'd touched her still-warm cheek, and done the only thing he could have done at the time. He had told her, "I love you, too."
After the incident, he thought that maybe Sha're had been right, and he would be able to continue living, if nothing else than for Sha're and the promise he had made to her.
He was wrong.
Daniel watched the Stargate from the control room. The Stargate was still beautiful, perhaps more so tonight than other countless nights without Sha're. But he wasn't drawn by its beauty anymore. Instead of fascination, he only felt the chilling darkness from the Stargate. He could only see the evil of it. He could not bear going through it again.
The reason he was alive was gone. He tried and tried but he was all used up inside and there was nothing left.
//I can't keep the promise I made to her. Not like this.//
***
"I'd like to request some time off, sir."
General Hammond, the commander of the SGC, eyed the grieving young man standing before him.
"What is it, Dr. Jackson?"
"I got a phone call from my old professor. He recently had a heart attack and he wants me to teach his classes for a while since there aren't many professors who know all the ancient languages he was supposed to lecture on."
General Hammond carefully observed Daniel. He knew Daniel wasn't sleeping or eating ever since Sha're died. He was holding on better than the general had imagined; but still, something had to be done, something to get him back to normal. And it seemed that there was nothing his friends could do to help.
//Maybe giving him some time to get away from all this isn't be such a bad idea.//
"For how long?"
Daniel answered softly, "I guess at least for this term. I will be back in three months."
"Take all the time you need, Doctor."
"Thank you."
When Daniel was about to open the door, General Hammond called out quietly, "Dr. Jackson."
Daniel turned to face the older man.
"Just remember, SG-1--your family--will be here waiting for you when you come back."
Daniel met his gaze for a moment and silently nodded. General Hammond thought about the enthusiastic, passionate young man he'd come to care about like his own son. There was no light in Daniel anymore.
//Perhaps he will never be the Daniel we know again.//
***
"So, Daniel, you packing now?"
Daniel turned to see the speaker in his doorway even though he knew exactly who it was. He was in no mood to speak to his friend, but managed to answer somewhat cheerfully, "Hey, Jack. Come in."
Colonel Jack O'Neill, the leader of SG-1, and the closest friend Daniel ever had, slowly walked in, radiating his usual casualness.
"Carter told me you're leaving tomorrow."
Daniel couldn't help but avoid his penetrating eyes. "Yeah, well. They want me as soon as possible and General Hammond gave me permission to leave whenever I want."
"So..."
"So."
"So! Tell me, Daniel. How long are we gonna be stuck with this guy, your replacement, what's his name?"
Daniel made an attempt to smile and answered, "Robert Rothman. He was my dissertation assistant. Smart guy. Had a good teacher."
"Geek."
He felt the strange sensation of deja vu. He'd had a similar conversation with Jack while communicating (or dreaming or fantasizing or whatever) with Sha're through the ribbon device before she died. Everything here just reminded him of his Sha're and he couldn't stand it anymore.
"Daniel," Jack spoke his name without his usual tone of flippancy. Daniel raised his head to find Jack staring at him.
"What?" Daniel was able to figure out Jack's expressions pretty well due to the fact they had 'disagreements' all the time, but now Jack's expression was unreadable.
"Just want to let you know we need you here. I need you here."
Daniel watched Jack growing uncomfortable. Usually, Jack did not show his emotions in such an outward manner. He closed his eyes painfully. "Jack, I just..."
"...need some time. I hear ya," Jack quickly spoke, "We know that. I just want you to know how boring things would be without you getting killed once in a while or going hyper over some rocks you call artifacts."
"Oh, your sense of humor never ceases to amaze me, Jack."
"I know."
He faced Jack and told him sincerely, "I'm coming back. If something comes up, just call and I'll be back before you know it. I..." Words couldn't possibly express what he was feeling now, but Jack would know. Jack always knew. "Ah, Jack, just--" Daniel made a dismissing hand gesture, "--just don't worry. I'll be fine."
Jack smiled and abruptly pulled Daniel into a light hug, something he rarely did. "Just take care of yourself, Danny-boy. Knowing you, you will get yourself into a trouble the moment you get there."
He smiled for the first time today. "Jack, I'm going to UCLA. What kind of trouble would I ever get myself into in the City of the Angels?"
***
Part 2
LA
Willow Rosenburg felt extremely uncomfortable in the very short skirt Cordelia insisted she had to wear. Actually, she felt uncomfortable just being in this place.
//This is waaaay different from the Bronze or any other place in Sunnydale. Gosh, I'm really in LA.//
"So, you're from Sunnydale too, I presume."
The guy named Doyle was speaking to her with Irish accent. Cordelia told her about him being very irritable; but then again, she tried not to believe everything Cordelia had to say.
"Yes."
"And you're a friend of the slayer girl Angel's brooding about?"
Willow felt fortunate that Angel and Cordelia went to get something to drink. She didn't want Angel to hear about Buffy. It'd just cause more pain for him.
She knew about the dilemma Buffy and Angel had gone through. Her best friend ,Buffy, was the vampire slayer, chosen to fight vampires and evils of the world. Angel was a vampire with a soul. They had been in love deeply, but the slayer and the slayee¡¦ they were never meant to be. "Yeah. Well, she's my closest friend."
"Well, you know, if every girl in Sunnydale is like Cordy or yourself, Miss Rosenburg, I might just want to move to Sunnydale."
//Oh, what a way to commit a suicide.// "Believe me, you don't want to do that."
Doyle looked as if he needed her to elaborate on that, but Cordelia and Angel came back with drinks and their short conversation was over.
"Here you go. I don't know when this place became self-service!" Cordelia handed her some sort of drink that was definitely not beer. Willow sniffed it once and decided she wasn't going to drink it, whatever it was.
Cordelia looked at Doyle with a suspicious glance. "What were you guys talking about?"
"Nothing you have to concern your pretty self with, Cordy." Doyle gave her a small smile and turned to Willow. "Well, Willow. Oh, may I call you Willow?"
She nodded. "Um, yeah. Sure."
"I gotta say, you had a really nice move back there."
She blushed and smiled. "I guess Giles' self-defense classes are finally paying off."
Cordelia watched Willow disgustedly. "You actually let Giles teach you?"
She answered defensively, "Well, Giles, being Giles, insists we should know something about self-defense if we want to live in Sunnydale. Then again, it did work today, didn't it?"
Angel quietly spoke, "Yes, it did."
Willow watched the tall man--uh, vampire, actually--sitting in front of her carefully. He looked the same with the same dark eyes and dark hair. Obviously he still had a thing with black, with his mysterious image intact. And of course, he hadn't aged a day. But she could see that Angel was still thinking about Buffy, just like Cordelia had told her.
"Hey, I love that music." Cordelia suddenly shouted. "C'mon, Doyle. Let's dance." Cordelia dragged Doyle out to the dance floor, leaving Angel and Willow in uncomfortable silence.
"So, Willow," Angel was the first one attempting to break the silence. "When did you come to LA?"
She fidgeted a bit and replied, "A few days ago. Actually I'm living with Cordelia now."
"What?!"
Seeing Angel very surprised, Willow couldn't suppress her grin. "I know how weird it sounds. I, Willow Rogenburg, living with the Queen Cordelia Chase. Who would have thought?" She sighed and continued. "Well, I transferred to UCLA. There're some really good courses I always wanted to take. Uh, I guess I'm staying here for a semester or so." //And get away from Sunnydale...from memories.//
Ever since Oz had left Sunnydale, She hadn't been herself. She was just hurting herself and her friends. She needed sometime to think things over. Away from the place that contained so many memories of Oz.
Angel was just staring at her with his trademark blank look. //Okaaay, this can't be more uncomfortable.//
For Willow, the best way to get out of the uneasiness caused by lack of social interactions (especially with vampires) was talking. So, she chatted away, "Oh and I didn't want to spend a lot of money on housing plan, then when I talked Cordelia about it, she suggested we could live together. There was something about a ghost and money and...stuff. Dennis is really nice, actually. You know, Cordelia and I would've never have considered sharing a room two years ago. But well, guess people change."
"Oh," was all Angel had to say. Then he went back to his brooding mode.
//Angel was never a man with too many words. Good. There's at least *something* that hasn't changed.//
Feeling suddenly thirsty, she sipped her drink involuntarily, which tasted awful. At that moment, Cordelia came back with a very tired Doyle. Sliding in to her sit, Cordelia asked, "So, Willow, what do you think?"
Puzzled, she replied, "What do I think about what?"
"About you helping Angel's detective business, silly."
Willow could see Angel's eyes becoming wider. "Cordelia!"
"Angel, don't 'Cordelia' me, OK? I mean, you did talk about wanting to have a better research assistant. Here she is! The famous research gal of Sunnydale."
Even from a table away, Willow could see that Angel visibly stiffening. "Cordelia. Willow's here to study. I can't ask her to do this."
Cordelia disregarded Angel's comment very casually. Actually, Willow didn't think that Cordelia heard a word of what Angel just said. "Willow loves research. Every single person in Sunnydale knows that. Anyway, I'm very tired of you asking me to type those awfully long words to find information on some demons, evil or *another* upcoming apocalypse. You need Willow. Period."
Willow was amazed, seeing that Angel was unable to find an appropriate comeback. Cordelia was totally bossing Angel around and she was very good at it. //Is this the same Cordelia I once knew? Oh, yeah. People *do* change.//
"What would you say, Willow?" Cordelia asked, her tone stating clearly that she would not accept *no* as an answer. Doyle watched Willow with a sympathetic glance.
"Uh, sure, Cordelia. I'd be glad to help Angel."
She couldn't help but think that her life just got way more complicated.
***
Angel watched Cordelia and Doyle take their leave. Cordelia had somewhere else to go and Doyle eagerly offered to give her a ride, leaving Angel to escort Willow home.
//What a fun night it turned out to be...// Angel was feeling *really* uncomfortable about being alone with Willow. She looked different somehow. Her innocent look and the intelligence behind her eyes were still t here, but she looked more mature now than the last time he'd seen her. Maybe it was because of her new style. He wouldn't know anything about styles anyway.
"You look really different, Willow."
She glanced at him with a somewhat confused expression. "Oh."
Angel stammered. He was really bad at this socializing stuff. "I mean you look really nice. With the different hairstyle and...clothing and all."
She looked at him nervously then slipped into her babble mode, "Well, I know this skirt is too...not my style, I know. It's just that Cordelia insisted I have to wear something like this to get into a club. I mean she had these dresses...and this was, I guess, the most modest. I know this looks really horrible on me, but..."
//Good. She hasn't changed one bit.// Angel tried to calm her down. "Willow, you look nice. Really." He tried his best to give her an assuring smile, which was *really* hard for him. Smile and Angel didn't go so well together.
Blushing in deep red, she answered, "Uh, thank you."
Silently, Willow started to walk, only staring at her toes.
//Gee, this is hard.// Angel cautiously spoke again, "Willow."
"Yeah?"
He wasn't sure how to approach the subject. "Well, you don't need to do it, you know."
"I don't need to do what?"
Willow was the closest person he had as a friend among Buffy's circle of friends. Others could not handle the fact he was a vampire, his past painted only with blood. In fact, when he'd lost his soul which anchored him from the demon he carried, he had almost killed Willow too. However, she was always more understanding than the others were, at least much better than Giles and Xander.
//Then, why do I feel so uncomfortable now?//
Angel suddenly found himself talking hundred miles an hour, "Willow, you don't need to help me. Oh, I don't mean I don't appreciate your help. In fact, your help would be greatly...appreciated. But, it's not necessary and I don't want you be involved in something that's..."
"...possibly dangerous?" Willow quickly caught his line.
"Well, I don't mean that you're not capable of handling problems, but..."
"Angel." She spoke in her very firm voice.
Stumped, he answered a bit too anxiously, "Yes?"
"I'm not helping you."
//What?!// "Um, Willow?"
She continued in her no-nonsense voice, "I'm not helping *you*. I'm helping other people because I want to and because I can. I have the abilities to fight demons and evils and whatever and I plan to do just that. I'm not *just* helping you."
Angel stared at her 'resolved face' for a moment. He knew nobody could change her mind in her 'resolved face' state. He sighed. "I was hoping you would continue helping Buffy. When I left, I was less worried about her because I knew you would help her. She needs your help."
His statement seemed to surprise Willow. "Angel. Buffy has Giles and Xander to help her. I can always help her from here, too, you know. Anyway I'm staying here just for a while."
Then, her expression changed a bit. She spoke quietly, "Even now, I'm helping Buffy. I know she wants me to help you. She still loves you."
Angel felt like he was punched in the face. He staggered a bit and turned to face her.
"Angel. I told Buffy that I agreed with your decision to leave her. It was a hard decision for both of you, but I know there wasn't any other way."
Willow took a deep breath and continued, "But it doesn't mean you two don't love each other anymore. Your relationship didn't last, but that doesn¡¯t change the fact you were happy with each other before."
She smiled at him warmly. "She still loves you. She will always love you, just like you will always love her. She will fall in love again, and hopefully you will too, but you will always have a place in her heart. Nothing can change that."
Angel truly looked at Willow for the first time in his life. He saw compassionate, intelligent green eyes looking back at him with warm affection. He knew she was right.
Angel lightly touched her shoulder and grinned, "Thank you, Willow."
She smiled back. "You are very welcome."
***
//Damn, I'm late!//
Willow was running frantically. Last night, she stayed late in Angel's apartment helping him install his VCR. Angel *did* have a TV. //What a surprise.// Well, he didn't seem to be a bit interested in watching it though. She was determined to get him interested in watching movies with her.
//He's missing out so much in life if he doesn¡¯t watch videos late at nights with friends!//
She was hanging out with Angel quite a lot these days. She felt relatively comfortable around Angel and this fact really surprised her. She hadn't been really close to him before. Actually, nobody really knew him well except Buffy. She wanted to continue her friendship with him.
//He must be really lonely without Buffy. Maybe I can help him get through.//
Willow was about to turn the corner to get to her lecture room when she bumped into a guy and dropped her books.
"Oh, I'm really sorry. I should really watch where I'm going..." The guy sheepishly apologized.
"It's OK." Willow smiled and kneeled to pick up her books.
"Here, let me help you."
The person helped her pick up most of her books and found one book was opened. He quickly scanned the text and spoke to her. "Um, you study witchcraft in Gaelic?"
She was astonished. //He knows Gaelic well enough to understand the content in less than a second! Wait, what am I gonna say?//
The guy smiled and continued, "Gaelic is a very interesting language. There are many witchcraft books out there written in Gaelic. Reading them is a good way to study the language."
Willow carefully observed the person in front of her. He was a dark blond, probably around late-twenties to early-thirties. She could see intelligence in his intense blue eyes through the glasses he was wearing. //I guess he's a TA or something for this lecture.//
Willow tried to answer back, "Oh, um... Yeah. I study Gaelic." //Not only study, but do some craft on my own... *but* I don't think he needs to know that particular information.//
"That's good." He smiled to her briefly and led the way in and she followed. She was a bit surprised when he walked to the front and stood on the lecture platform.
"Hello. Uh, I'm Dr. Daniel Jackson. This ancient languages course was supposed to be taught by Professor Williams, but due to his health problems, I was assigned to teach you."
//Wow...// This Dr. Jackson fascinated Willow. He looked so young, yet he was already a professor!
"I'm a linguist and also an archaeologist. If you have any questions about these two subjects, you are welcome to come to my office and ask."
Dr. Jackson took a deep breath and spoke again, "To be honest, I haven't been teaching for a while. So I hope we can learn from each other. Now, I was told that this course.."
She watched Dr. Jackson explaining the course objective and smiled
to herself. //I have a feeling this course would be interesting.//
***
//That wasn't so bad now, was it?//
Daniel had been worried sick about his first lecture. However, the students seemed to be bright and interested in the subject. He felt much better about the whole teaching thing again. The archaeology college wasn't very welcoming toward him since a lot of people dismissed him as a crackpot because of his unique theories. However, this was a linguistic course and there weren¡¯t many people out there who knew more languages than he did. He actually enjoyed teaching. It stopped his mind from thinking of other things...namely Sha're.
//At least for a few minutes.// Daniel thought bitterly.
He finished his first lecture successfully and was heading toward his new place downtown when he spotted a familiar face.
//That can't be. Colonel Maybourne?//
Colonel Maybourne was an 'ass' according to Jack. He was the person in charge of the Area 51. Most of the artifacts gathered from the gate travels were delivered to the Area 51 and studied there. The problem with Colonel Maybourne was that he cared too much about recovering good 'killing' technologies and not much about people involved in this business. Consequently, Maybourne and Jack hated each other with fiery passion.
The colonel was walking down the street with suspiciously military-looking men wearing civilian clothing. The colonel himself wasn't wearing the military uniform either.
//That's strange.//
Daniel knew that Colonel Maybourne enjoyed the power the military provided. He was sure that the colonel wouldn't go anywhere without his uniform. Yet, there he was, trying to act like a normal person. Obviously, he wasn't a very good actor. He tentatively called out, "Colonel Maybourne?"
He knew that the colonel was very shocked to see him here even though he hid it well behind his ever-impassive face. "Dr. Jackson."
"Oh, hello. Colonel, what are you doing here?"
He could feel the other men around Maybourne were tensing.
"I could ask the same question myself, Doctor."
"Well, I'm taking some time off here, teaching."
Maybourne had a smirk on his face. "Why, Doctor Jackson? I thought you left academia for good." He paused a bit and with a callous smile, he continued, "I remember your reputation in academia. Did they really accept you to teach? "
//Well, that was original.// Daniel ignored the insults. "What would you be doing here, Colonel? I thought you had enough toys to play with for a while in the base. Came out looking for more weapons, something to steal?"
Daniel saw that the colonel's neck was stiffening. He abruptly turned around and left, followed by several men who glanced at him coldly. As the men passed by, Daniel felt a strange sensation, a warning.
Something was up, but he didn't know what.
* * *
Part 3
LA
Angel, for the first time in decades, realized he had been laughing out loud uncontrollably for the last few hours. //I didn't know I had the ability to laugh.//
"I can't believe you've never watched 'The Princess Bride' before, Angel." Willow's face was lit with a smile.
"Well, it's not required for us vampires to watch movies late at night. We usually have better things to do. Lurking in the dark, cra ving for blood...those kinds of things." He tried to answer sarcastically but he just couldn't contain his laughter. "This movie's unbelievable."
Willow agreed, "I know. It's one of the funniest movies ever made. I watched it practically every night when I was young."
"I bet you had a huge crush on Wesley," he said in a teasing tone.
Willow struggled to keep a straight face. "No, I didn't."
He just kept staring at her, totally disbelieving.
Willow gave in, "Alright, alright! Stop with that staring. I had a crush on Wesley. Come on, let's face it. Who wouldn't?"
"And you wanted to be the princess bride?"
"Well, no. 'Cuz I thought she was way too dependent on him. I wanted to be something more than just a princess. I figured being a princess might be too boring. You know, 'just standing around wearing a nice dress when a nice guy's trying to save your life' thing? That would be really boring."
Angel just smiled. He was having a good time with Willow. Actually, he was having a *great* time. For every day last week, she came over to teach him how to use a computer to research properly. While teaching him, she kept insisting that he had to own his own VCR, so she could watch old movies. He wanted to keep her happy, so he bought one. Consequently, he ended up watching movies with her on a nice Saturday night.
"So what's next?"
She pondered. "Hmm...How about 'The Sleeping Beauty', in keeping 'the beautiful princess and her bold knight' theme?"
"Sure." Angel couldn't help but be amused.
***
Daniel was dreaming of Sha're.
He was dreaming of the day Sha're and Skarra, her brother, were taken away from him--the day when Jack and the team came back to Abydos. It had been a year since the first mission, a year since the day Daniel decided to stay in Abydos.
After solving the mystery, he'd gone on the first mission to explore the place beyond the Stargate with a military team led by Jack. When they had arrived on Abydos, the planet connected to the other side of the Stargate, they'd found the people of the planet were enslaved to a powerful alien posing as the God Ra. He and Jack had blown that Ra into pieces with a nuclear bomb and freed Abydonians. He'd decided to stay there, because there had been nothing left for him on Earth, and because he'd fallen in love with Sha're.
For a year, Daniel had been happily married to Sha're. The incredible people in Abydos had treated him like a family. They had respected him and loved him. He'd loved Sha're and simple-minded people in Abydos. For the first time in his life, he'd been belonged to somewhere--Daniel belonged to Abydos, and to Sha're.
He couldn't have been happier.
A year later, that day, Jack came back to Abydos with disturbing news. There seemed to be a whole race of aliens like Ra and one of them just came to Earth and attacked the Stargate Command. Daniel wanted to show his friends the map of the location of Stargates throughout the galaxy he had found in Abydos because maybe that could help them find the people the aliens--the Goa'ulds--had kidnapped. Daniel took the team from Earth to the chamber where the map was depicted on the wall, leaving Sha're and other Abydonians in the room with the Stargate.
In the dream, like always, Daniel tried to give Sha're a kiss on her forehead before heading toward to the room with the map, but she wouldn't have it. Instead, she gave him a passionate kiss that made everybody around blush. It was like she instinctively knew that a few minutes later, she would be taken by Apophis, the Goa'uld that would become their worst enemy. Stolen and gone, forever.
He promised her after the kiss, "We won't be long."
We won't be long.
We won't be long.
...I won't be long.
"Sha're."
Daniel woke up gasping to breathe, shivering.
Sha're was gone. The promise was never kept.
//I won't be long.//
There were no more dreams.
There was no tear coming down from Daniel's face.
There was no hope left in him to cry.
***
"Do you want something to drink?"
Angel asked to Willow who was comfortably lying on the couch in front of TV.
Willow cautiously said, "Um, sure. Do you have something I can drink?"
He smiled to himself and teased her, "You mean other than nice o-type blood? Actually, others are quite good too. Would you like to try?"
"Angel!" She threw a cushion at him, laughing.
"Doyle comes here often looking for something to eat. So I got some stuff around. Would you like a cup of tea? I have uh, lemon, Earl Grey and raspberry."
She grinned slightly and replied, "Raspberry please. Thank you."
While making the tea for Willow, Angel started to wonder.
He was spending a Saturday night with his ex-girlfriend's best friend watching childish love movies. He was actually having what people called fun. He felt content. //When did that happen?// That was something that should've never happened.
Angel thought about his feelings toward Willow. It had been about three weeks since she arrived and she quickly became his friend. *His* friend. Friendship was something very dangerous, something that didn't make any sense to him, something that he tried to avoid having at any cost. It wasn't attraction or overwhelming love. Love was something he had with Buffy. His heart ached with the ever-present pain when he was with Buffy. With Buffy, it was all about passion. With Buffy, it was all about destiny. However, with Willow, his friend, it was about comfort and security.
The thought startled him. //I feel secure around Willow. Huh, there's the mystery of the world.// However, this was *not* that kind of emotion that would bring catastrophe to everyone, Angel assured himself. //I'm just having a good time with a friend. Nothing can or will happen.//
But something in him whispered back menacingly. //Do you remember what happened the last time when you had *a good time*?//
This was the reason he couldn't even be a good friend to Doyle and Cordelia. He couldn't be happy. He shouldn't be. He did remember the last time he felt the true happiness.
He lost his soul.
//I can't do this.//
When he came back, he found that Willow was half-asleep on the couch.
"Willow?" he called out tentatively.
She answered groggily, "Hmmm?" Her eyes were still closed.
Angel hesitantly suggested, "Um, you want to go back to your place maybe and get some sleep?"
Clearly not fully awake, Willow softly spoke to him. "Do you know what my childhood dream was, Angel?"
He contemplated what to do. //Oh, what the hell. I don't know what to do anymore.//
Decided, he quietly sat down on the floor beside the couch--beside Willow. "What was your dream, Willow?"
She smiled in her half-awake state. "I dreamed of snow all the time—ever since I saw a Christmas cartoon from Xander's house. You know, Sunnydale doesn't snow that much, except maybe two years ago when there was this strange snow storm."
Angel remembered the snow that day. It was beautiful, indeed. But now, to him, it was just another painful memory related to Buffy.
In a sluggish voice, she continued. "So, I dreamed of sitting on a wooden bench on a very cold snowy day, watching these young children making a snowman and playing with snow."
He could imagine this so vividly. Willow seemed to be so happy in his mental picture.
"I was wearing these thick knit sweaters, muffler and gloves that felt really smooth and warm against my skin. And there was always this person beside me. His hands were so warm. So I didn't feel cold at all. I never knew who it was, but I knew this person was someone I trust with my heart, someone I have my whole faith in."
He observed Willow. Her eyes were closed, but she continued telling him the story in a very soft tone. She looked so serene.
"I always wanted that person to be Xander at that time. He was my white knight in the shining armor." She chuckled, still lost in the daze of sleep.
//I thought so.// Angel had known about her previous feeling toward her best friend from childhood. Beside Buffy, Xander was Willow's best friend. He felt a slight pang of jealousy. When was the last time he actually had his best friend? //God, now you want to have a best friend? You're going soft, Angel.//
"I will always love him, just like you and Buffy will. But I know he's not the person in my dream. I wish...I wish I know who that is."
Angel couldn't help but ask. "What about Oz?" //Your devoted guitarist boyfriend who just happens to be a werewolf?//
Willow smiled sadly. "He left."
Angel couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew that Oz was a very loyal type. // She hardly talked about him for three weeks, you idiot. You should've noticed. //
Willow was now closed to falling in sleep completely. "Angel, they say real love is about faith, delivering us from jealousy and possessiveness. One day, I'll find that person and...give my faith. I just hope I'd find that person...one day...really hope…"
Angel watched Willow sleeping for a moment. She radiated innocence and serenity. He felt peaceful. Softly brushing her hair away from her forehead, Angel whispered to Willow's sleeping form.
"I hope you would, Willow. I really hope so."
***
Cordelia Chase was scared.
She had never seen Doyle having this kind of vision before. She kind of knew he had the gift of vision, the ability to see people in need, but she never saw him in so much pain like today. Cordelia pretended that she couldn't care less about Doyle, but deep inside her heart, she cared for him very much. And now her heart was scared to death for him.
Doyle was curled up, lying on the floor agonizing with pain. And she didn't know what to do.
"Doyle. Doyle?"
Cordelia tried to get him out of his shocked state. She shook his shoulder gently, trying not to hurt him.
"...delia..."
Finally Doyle woke up from his vision. She could see that he was seriously shaken, his face as pale as the moonlight.
"It's Ok, Doyle. Just relax."
But Doyle didn't listen. He grabbed a pen and a piece of paper and wrote something down furiously. Then, he looked up and spoke urgently.
"We have to find Angel. *Now*!"
***
Part 4
LA
"Another vision?"
//Oh, yes.// Doyle just sighed instead of answering.
Angel nodded, understanding.
With Cordelia's help, he found Angel and Willow in Angel's apartment. Apparently, they seemed to have watched movies together. On a normal day, he would make a comment or two to Angel about having a pretty girl all by himself, but today, unfortunately, wasn't a normal day.
Angel asked, not hinting any emotion, "So what was it?"
He quietly started talking to Angel, Cordy and Willow who was now fully awake. "I saw you in my vision this time."
The impact of his words seemed to silence everything around them. Cordy recovered first and asked, "What? What happens?"
//I really hate this part.// Doyle continued nervously, "You and a guy, I don't know who, seemed to be imprisoned in some kind of dungeon. Commando-type guys were all around you two. I think you were trying to protect the other guy. Failed miserably though. Wasn't...pretty."
Instantly Willow and Cordy looked at Angel, worried. Without losing his calm composure, Angel asked him, "Doyle, you got his name? Can you give us a description?"
"Yes." He consulted his note. "They called him...something like...uh, Jackson. Daniel Jackson."
Willow gasped. "Daniel Jackson? Doctor Daniel Jackson?"
Angel quickly asked, "Willow. You know someone named Daniel Jackson?"
Willow looked shocked, her eyes wide. "Uh, yeah." She turned to Doyle. "Did he have uh, dark blond hair, blue eyes? Well-built guy around late twenties maybe?"
Doyle tried to remember the vision as clearly as possible. He had many terrifying visions in his lifetime but this was his first vision that involved someone he knew so well--Angel. Also this vision was exceptionally dark and frightening. He was afraid for Angel and the other guy.
"Sounds awfully close. Yes."
Doyle watched Willow's expression changing into something close to horror. "He's my ancient language lecture professor. He's...well, a really nice person."
Willow turned to face Angel asked him with dread. "What could these...men possibly want from a linguist and you?"
Angel answered with determination, "Guess we have to find that out."
***
Willow was nervous.
//I can't do this...But I have to!//
After hearing about Doyle's vision, Willow told Angel that she'd try to find out about Dr. Jackson. What would some guys possibly want from him? Did Dr. Jackson find some kind of important artifacts? He did say he was also an archaeologist. Maybe he knew some kind of secret that some bad guys wanted to know.
//Doyle said the guy in his vision was hurt. Oh, please don't let him be Dr. Jackson.//
She was now standing in front of Dr. Jackson's office and her mind was racing.
//What am I supposed to do? Ask him, "Ah, hello, Professor. Do you happen to own anything that really really scary looking guys would want? Cuz, those men are gonna get you." and say, "Oh, How do I know that? Uh, because...my friend got this vision where you're hurt and imprisoned with my vampire friend...?" //
Willow, with all the courage she could muster, softly knocked the door. When there was no answer, she opened the door and slowly walked in.
Inside, Dr. Jackson was in the middle of a phone call, completely oblivious to her presence. "Sam, I'm doing fine. Really."
She was sure she was invading Dr. Jackson's privacy but she couldn't help but overhear his phone conversation.
"Well, You know, you can always visit me. Take Teal'c and come to LA. I'm sure he hasn't been to LA before. It's really nice over here."
Willow saw him softly smiling. "Well, how's Jack? Is he getting along with Robert?"
Whatever this Sam person said, it made Dr. Jackson chuckle. "That bad, huh? Well, just do your best to let Robert feel comfortable in the team, before Jack tries to strangle him or something."
He soon added shortly. "I will be back in about two months, Sam. I'm *OK*. You don't have to worry about me... For that matter, tell Jack to stop calling me everyday, would you? He starts acting like a mother hen again."
Dr. Jackson paused a bit, listening to what the other person was saying. Then, she noticed he was no longer smiling. His expression gradually grew darker and darker. "Tell Teal'c it wasn't his fault. He was trying to save me and I understand that."
Willow watched him carefully. He suddenly looked really tired. There was something wrong about his eyes. When he was lecturing, his eyes were always glittering with brilliance and intelligence. Now they looked empty and chillingly dark.
"Uh, Sam, umm, I have to go now. Yeah, I will call Jack before the next mission. Bye."
Dr. Jackson hung up the phone and stared at nothing for a while, still totally unaware of her presence. Willow coughed, hoping it would get his attention.
"Oh," Dr. Jackson finally saw Willow. He looked startled.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, Dr. Jackson," she tried to apologize.
He seemed to be at loss. "Oh, hi. Willow, right? Umm. What can I do for you?"
She wasn¡¯t sure. //Fast! Just think of something, Rogenburg!// "Um, actually..."
Dr. Jackson's face suddenly lit with smile as if the thought just hit him. "Oh, right! You have questions to ask."
//Thank you!// "*Yes*! I do have some questions to ask..."
Dr. Jackson grinned. Whatever was bothering him before, it seemed to be forgotten. "So, uh, what is it that you're having problems with?"
"Oh, yes! Um..." She suddenly remembered she had one of her most complicated deonology book in her backpack. "I study...Gaelic and this book's written in Gaelic and I wasn't able to decipher some characters here." She handed the book to him.
Adjusting his glasses, he carefully inspected the book. "Wow. This book must've been really hard to find. This book seems to be the original copy."
She tried to answer casually, "Oh, well. My friend's a librarian."
"Ah, that's nice. So which part is the problem?"
//OK, let's see how good he is with Gaelic.// Willow showed him the hardest part of the book.
He seemed to be reading for a minute and spoke to her in a very excited voice. "This part is actually encoded! That's why it¡¯s so hard to translate!"
Willow grimaced. It took her about three days to figure out that it was encoded and she was pretty good with Gaelic. //OK, he *is* good.//
While Dr. Jackson was absorbed into the text, she quickly scanned the surroundings. Books were everywhere. There were some fascinating artifacts displayed on shelves. But what got her interested were the framed pictures on his desk.
One was a picture of him sitting on a camel in front of a beautiful pyramid. //Oh, wow.// He looked very happy. The other picture was take n with three other people, presumably his friends. Dr. Jackson was sitting on a couch, smiling. Beside him, a sharp looking man in his forties was leaning on Dr. Jackson, his arm around the doctor's shoulder. A pretty blonde lady with beautiful blue eyes was standing beside Dr. Jackson, grinning broadly. A very powerful looking black man was standing behind the couch, looking grim. They looked very close to each other.
"Hmm. It would take a few hours to decipher this part of the text. Would you like to come back tomorrow? I can explain this for you then." Dr. Jackson seemed to be excited by the prospect of solving yet another challenge.
//A few hours? It took me a week just to figure out the encoding sequence. Darn.//
She wasn't sure what to tell him. "Oh, well. I'm not so sure about that. Actually..."
"Oh, you need this today? Well, then, I can work on it now and return this to you later today. Can you come back later this afternoon then?"
"Ah, well. The problem is..."
Dr. Jackson was quick to interrupt. "You don't have time? You must have other lectures. Well, it's OK. Maybe I can drop by your place and explain this to you this evening."
She hesitated. It seemed to be that Dr. Jackson was already very engrossed in solving the problem and he wasn't really thinking about anything else. It would be impossible to ask him about himself. Then, an idea came to her.
"Oh, actually I'm working today. Maybe you can come by to my work place tonight."
Again, he was quick to answer, "Sure."
Willow handed him the business card that Cordelia gave to her. This way, Doyle could take a look at Dr. Jackson and confirm if he was the guy in his vision.
He read the address on the card. "It's pretty close to my place. Sure. I'll see you tonight."
Willow watched him starting to translate. He seemed to have forgotten her presence already. She walked out from the office, smiling with pride.
//Yes!//
***