Title: The Night Watch
Author: karen
Fandoms: Stargate SG-1 crossover with Supernatural
Characters: Janet Fraiser and John Winchester
Rating: PG

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 belongs to Double Secret Productions, Gekko Film Corp.
and MGM, and is not mine. Supernatural belongs to the the WB television network.

Notes: Takes place roughly around the time of Janet's death in "Heroes" part 2 and the 1st season of Supernatural.

"The Night Watch" by Karen

John Winchester is no stranger to the bizarre and inexplicable, in fact it has pretty much defined his entire life. So when he comes across the prone and semi-lucid woman dressed in the remnants of what appears to be a military field flak jacket and slacks. Her coat dangling off one limp arm John immediately goes to her rescue, heedless of the possible consequences of his actions.

He checked all of the requisite life signs just as an certified EMT would, pulse, blood pressure, breathing. The woman is alive, barely. Lifting her up in his arms John carried her over to where he parked on the shoulder of the road and carefully lays her down, so as not to jostle her. Aside from being the right thing to do, John is curious about her presence.

John finally got her patched up and resting comfortable. Going over to the chair by the bed, he sat down and started turning the pages in his worn notebook, searching for any references that might explain how a perfectly ordinary woman could have fallen out of the sky, left an indentations in the ground and managed to survive. If he had been somebody else, he probably should have been looking for a more rational explanation, such as a plane crash survivor, but then there would be more debris, right? Maybe she'd been hang-gelding, whatever the case, he kept searching, turning the pages with stubby fingers.

Until he came to a reference from an old Iroquois myth of the sky woman with a cross-index to various Native American creation stories. They believed the world to have seven levels, our Earth is the middle level and the time of the story, the entire globe was covered in water.

At the topmost level, in the roof of the world a young woman became pregnant much against her father's wishes.

Her father was the ruler of the world, and he became quite furious when he discovered the pregnancy that he ripped up a tree. The hole thus created made a gigantic tear in the roof of the world, and one could see all the way to the bottom level, to our world. The father, unable to contain his anger threw his daughter into the well, and she fell, and fell, until it seemed that all she knew she knew was free-falling.

The animals who dwelt on the surface looked up and saw her danger and as she plummeted, the geese flew upwards and caught her on their wings, breaking her descent. The great turtle surfaced and told the other animals they could live on his back. The animals dove deep into the cold waters around the turtle to make mud, spreading the mud upon the back of the great turtle to make it soft enough for the First Woman to live upon.

The woman gave birth to the First Man, and the lived upon Turtle Island, which is now
called North America.

It's been a long time since John has had company of any kind on his lone quest to hunt down demons and things that go bump in the night. He has vowed to put an end to the threat posed by the world of the paranormal.

He should know better than anyone, that outside of the local Native American folklore women do not just fall out of the sky. While he is getting the unidentified women situated, John darted a backward glance at the spot where he'd found her. He noticed that the loose soil is torn up and the imprint of her body making a sharply delineated outline in the shallow earth.

Aside from a being a damn coincidence, from just a visual and physical check John could not detect any outward signs of anything out of the ordinary or paranormal about her appearance.

Back at the hotel room John had rented out for the next two weeks because he had not been sure how long his stay in Watseka, llanos would be.

John tended to her until she finally regained consciousness.

She was rather ordinary, when he could finally look into her blue eyes, though she did have a certain delicate grace and resilience a kind of mental toughness; like one who has experienced freedom from the planet's gravity.

"Where am I?" she asked.

"With me," John replied, as if that would answer all of her questions.

Janet Fraiser did not know where she was or what had happened to her. Her last concrete memories where of the planet PSX-666, and she had been separated from her field team. The well-planned offensive put together by General Hammond and the members of SG-1 one had very quickly crumbled under the combined brunt of Jaffa shock troops and the even more worrisome 'super soldier.

At least the Jaffa, could, by some measure be reasoned with, the faceless, walking weapon, was another matter entirely. Even their best weapon to use against it, the Zat gun, was seemingly ineffective.

Janet tried to brush aside this lingering worries, her job was not to worry about tactics; her job was to make sure that folks stayed in one piece, and when they got injured, she would patch them up.

Janet knew going into her line of work, that it would not be easy, but then as a little girl, she had learned nothing worth having would be easy. She didn't make it all the way to the top of her profession and then finally promoted to Chief Medical officer of the Star Gate Command by playing it safe.

If she concentrates and tries to bring her scattered memories of the battle into a concrete and reliable form, she remembers the smell of ash and ground-up soil, the smell of blood and panic wafting on a late fall breeze.

In the distance, but drawing gradually nearer to the position where she knelt over the prone form of an injured airman. She can ever hear the thrum of fire arms whirring away, shouts and garbled orders, and ominous thud of the Gou'ald 'walking death' machines.

She remembered becoming distracted from tending to her patient, she remembers the cold eyes of a Jaffa' solider looming over her. Janet remembers one hand holding the wounded air man down, with the other she had tried to unobtrusively reach for her own weapon. The next thing she can clearly recall is sharp, stabbing pain, a bright light, and then a gradual fall into blessed painless sleep.

Janet tried to focus on her present surroundings, thinking as she did so that this room, by no stretch of the imagination resembles her own infirmary at the Cheyenne Mountain Base. In fact, she would have to say that it looked like your average room in an economy hotel chain.

"I'm afraid," Janet said, sitting up straighter in the bed. "You are going to have to do better than that. I can see that we're here, but could you be more specific?"

"Well," John mutters and scratches his growth of stubbing facial hair.

"I think for starters, we'll go with formal introductions; “John Winchester, at your service, Ma'am."

"Dr. Janet Fraiser."

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Janet."

"What do you mean? And you don't have to call me 'ma'am." Janet shrugged.

"I mean that when I found you," John paused, "You looked pretty far gone. In fact, I thought you were not long for this world."

Janet glanced down at the torn sleeves of her field jacket, stained with grass, dirt and blood. The she saw a pile of her other belongings neatly folded and cleaned sitting on a chair by the television.

"You've been busy while I was unconsciousness." Thanks for the save, but why go to all that trouble on my account. You could have just called in the authorities, or at least 911."

"Let's just say, that I'm the sort that prefers to do things my own way, in my own time." John smiled. "And you're right, Ms. Fraiser, I'm not exactly follow-the -establishment kind of guy."

John looked up at her, curious and a little surprised about how natural and easy it was to talk to her about how ordinary and pleasant it was to strike up a conversation with
a stranger whom he had rescued from a free-fall out of the sky.

"So, where you from?"

"Colorado." Janet gives a quick response before she can think better of the answer.

"That's a long hike." John replied, mentally calculating the distance in miles she would have had to travel, either by air or by car, before arriving at the scene of the crash. After he'd rescued her, carried her back and tended to her injuries, he should have gone back and searched the surrounding area for clues, or at the least to satisfy his own curiosity about what had happened.

"So, what happens now?" Janet asked.

"Well now," John smiled. "And no, it's not what you're thinking. I'm not the type to take advantage of you. First of all, we're going to need to find you some proper clothes, and then we'll get something to eat."

"The way you talk reminds me of how southern belles would 'always rely on the kindness of strangers.'. Janet grinned, shifting her position on the double bed watching John seated opposite of her on the other double bed.

"You don't want to eat?" John replied, back to practicalities.

"I could eat." Janet sighed. "To be honest with you, John, I can't remember the last time I ate, or the last seventy two hours, or even how I got here.

"What is the last thing you do remember?"

"Something about getting the wounded out of harm's away,' then nothing after that until I woke up here." Janet sighed. "It's not that unusual for people to be knocked unconsciousness in one place and wake up in a completely different place, with no memory of how it happened, is it?"

"Not if you belonged to the Mob," John replied. "I'm kidding, really."

"Hysterical, really." Janet burst out laughing, wondering in the back of her mind if this entire conversation had been caused by some lingering post traumatic fever and it was all in her mind. "The Mob?"

"Yeah, stranger things have happened," John replied, seemingly speaking to himself, "You'd be surprised."

"Why should I trust you?"

"You've trusted me this far. Want to go double or nothing?"

"Did anyone ever tell you, you are incorrigible."

"Yeah, my ex-wife, my kids, and most everyone I ever met." John grinned. “So that makes number seventy five, I think, but who's counting?"

"Well then, if you don't mind, I think I want to get cleaned up, and then about that dinner and some clean clothes."

"Okay, I like you and I want to help you," John smiled, leaning forward and extending his hand to her. "I'm in."

"You're a scamp, but I think I owe you my life," and I'm hungry." Janet returned the smile, extending her own to shake his. "I'm most likely going to regret this, but for the moment, thank you."

"Fair enough. John smiled, leaning back and stuffing his hands into the pockets of his denim jeans. "You get cleaned up, I'll order some food, how does Chinese takeout sound?"

"It sounds great, thank you."

"You are very welcome, and you can call me John. All of my friends do." He smiled.

"Janet, since we've reached a first name basis," she replied.

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 belongs to Gekko Film Corporation MGM Productions, it is not mine, nor are any of the characters who appear within. Supernatural belongs to the WB television network. Notes: part 2 of Dancing with the Devil series. Picks up where “The Night Watch” left off. Contains spoilers from the 1st season of Supernatural. And the 7th season of SG-1.


“Those Who Hunt by Night” by Karen

The moon sailed along overhead like an overloaded ship lost in a foggy night-bound sea and the scudding clouds driven along by a chill autumn wind only enhanced the impression.

By the time the uniformed Illinois police officers and the emergency personnel completed their duties and departed, the moon had already reached the point in its cycle where it was a shade from waxing full.

In some places, the unseen observer hidden in among the scrub bushes lining either side of the road would have called it a hunter’s moon. In the back of her mind, she finds that quite appropriate, the only question, really, is whether the roles of should be reversed, if her target is still the hunter, or if he has now numbered among the hunted. It’s an interesting dilemma, one to be savored and perhaps shared among her fellows.

She has waited crouched down among the shadows, biding her time and waiting for just the right opportunity to go out to the clearing on the far side of the road and make her own investigation. She could have delegated the job to one among her followers, but she has recently learned from experience, sometimes it goes back to that old saying, if you want something done right the first time, do it yourself .

The watcher, going by only outward appearances, is a petite blonde female and most likely in her early twenties.

She shuffled her feet and ground the toes of her metal-spiked boot heels into the soft, yielding ground. She has been waiting a long time, not just here beside the road, but waiting for decades. Demons have lots of time, but they are not known for exhibiting overly perfect patience.

Something that Meg has observed quite often of late in dealing with her own personal enemy, the Winchesters, trickling down from the father, John, down to his sons, Dean and Sam.

Demons are not known for being tender-hearted, but in a wayward part of her mind, she almost feels sorry for them, almost, but not quite.

When the clearing at last emptied of people she moved forward careful not to disturb the distinct imprint in soft dirt, crouching down to trace the outline from top to bottom and around on either side. She traced the length, breadth, and imprinted the exact configurations on her mind, for future reference. She stopped to suck in a deep breath of the chill evening air and put one slim hand on her hips.

She sniffed, an action remarkably similar to that of a mountain lion getting and holding on to the scent of its quarry near at hand. “John, John, what have you gotten yourself into this time? That’s the problem with do-gooders in general, once you start you end up meddling in just about everything.”

All the people that had tramped around and over the original indentation had pretty much smudged away its clear definitions, but she knew, without a doubt, that she was on the right track.

Interlude

Meanwhile John had taken Janet to a mall to buy new clothes since he tended to travel light and alone and his boys where off conducting the family business on their own, he had very little in the way of either feminine company or clothing. Janet certainly could not go around in his spare clothing, not that he did not think she looked quite attractive with his flannel plaid jacket hanging down below her slender waist. So, he had loaded up his truck, and taken her shopping. The clothes that she had been wearing when he had literally stumbled across her had long since been thrown out.


John had been shopping for women’s apparel many times with his wife, Mary, many times so he was not that uncomfortable or nervous about the task, it was just a little awkward standing ‘guard’ as he tended to think of the duty of waiting outside of the fitting rooms, holding a women’s purse, and exchanging one garment after another as they either failed or met with said woman’s approval.

Finally, Janet, whom he had come to think of a sensible, pragmatic and level-headed person, came out with an armful of clothing that she wanted. “Success?” John asked casually.

“I think so,” replied Janet with a smile. “Thanks for going to all the effort, it must be some kind of genetic code for guys to put up with this sort of thing and women to want to go through with it.”

“Thanks, Doc,” John quipped. “Next on the agenda, we grab some diner, it’s getting pretty late and I could eat.”

“Sounds good to me,” she replied.
***
The diner is crowded and the regular patrons seem to be mostly blue collar workers and their families, sprinkled here and there with a few semi-truck drivers off the interstate, and farmers. John feels that dressed as they are now they should have no trouble at all with blending right into the mix.

They chose a table and scanned the menu while waiting for the girl to come over to take their orders.


“So, do you always camp out of budget hotel rooms?” asked Janet by way of making conversation.

“No, when just when I’m traveling on the road for business,” John quickly replied. “I’m from Kansas, originally, my business just takes all over these United States.”

“Ever been to Colorado,” asked Janet as she scanned the menu, wondering if she could get something that was not too greasy, perhaps even a salad.

“A couple of times, my boys where up there recently. Why do you ask?”

“No particular reason,” Janet shrugged. “I used to work in Colorado Springs.”

“I know you said you’re a doctor, mind if I ask in what specialty?”

“General practice.” Janet put down the menu and brought her head up so that she held eye contact with John, “How long have we been together, what is it, the better of two, maybe three weeks?”

“Something like that,” John said, nodding in the direction of the girl waiting tables and indicating that he was ready to place his order. The girl came over with a pad of paper in hand. “BLT and a Miller Lite beer me. Janet?”

“Taco salad with a side of fruit and water.”

“Got it,’ replied the girl, “Anything else?”

“No, that should do it, thank you,” Janet said. “I’ve been debating whether or not to tell you about something,” began shout before she trailed off into an awkward silence. “

“Whatever it is, your secret is safe with me, I hope you know that by now,” John replied.

“When I think back to how you found me, lying on the ground all twisted and bent out of shape, I told you afterwards that my memories were just as scrambled. But I distinctly recall being in some kind of fight, and then someone firing at me, point blank.”

“Bad dream?”

“Hardly, unless I’ve begun dreaming in vivid color. “I should be dead, but I’m not, how do you explain that?”

“This might sound a little crazy, but sometimes it’s better not to look a gift horse in the mouth, if you’ll pardon my use of a time-honored cliché.” John wondered if he might be wrong in this instance by relying on his hard won instinct and experience, but there was so much more that he wanted to know about her, so much that might wish to share, not that his wife, Mary, was dead, and there no way to bring her back.

Janet tapped her fingers on the edge of the table, breaking eye contact and let her head drop so that the bangs of her brown hair fell across her eyes. “Funny you should say that. You know, a public place like this might not be the ideal locale for this discussion, but I can’t think of better time.”

“


**
It had been the better part of the last fifteen years since John Winchester had encountered a creature capable of identifying specific markers of someone that had quite literally been to other worlds. The thing that he was having the most difficulty wrapping his head around was the fact that this particular marker was one that his journal did not have an entry for, after all, unless one believed in urban myths and elaborate paranoid conspiracy theories; there were no such things as alien and if that logic followed; no such things as alien abductions, or off-world travel.

The realties of the paranormal and the supernatural was enough of a job to start to worry and chase after ‘little green men. In John Winchester’s mind ‘little green men and conspiracy theories were things better left to those who wrote articles for the sensational pulp newspapers and sci-fi techies.

So when he first ran across the head of a cult, he first thought was: ‘Great, another would-be scam artist out to make a fast buck by brain-washing the gullible,. There’s nothing remarkable about that, Hell, it happens almost everyday.

At last that was what was running through his mind until he found out that his surmises about it being a cult was right on target; what he had not counted on was that power behind the cult leader was in fact, very alien, not paranormal. He had begun to feel quite out of his depth.

John Winchester had not lived as long as he had in chosen profession to ignore his gut instincts, and as had been proved time and again, his instinct was right on target.

When he arrived home again, he had not mentioned a word of what had happened at the retreat compound or the mysterious anonymous letter he had received from an organization with the letterhead initials NID, to either of his sons. The older one, Dean might have understood, but not Sam, he was too young, barely out of toddler hood and Dean, well, at the time Dean had his own issues to be dealt with in his own unique fashion. The letter and its contents had long since been wadded up into a ball and thrown away, but he could not stop thinking about it.


Present Day

Meg had followed the trail, and had momentarily become confused as the track appeared to cross and then rectos the same area, before she picked it up once again. She did not have the high tech gadgets for following a moving target, what she did have was a keen sense of direction, a good nose, her prey either did not realized that they were being hunted, or even better from her point of view, did not care.

Either way, Meg, thought in the back of her mind, John Winchester would soon feel the moment of his life slipping away, and when the final moment came, she would be the one to kill him. The thought felt right, it felt that it would bring full circle an ongoing sort of grudge between the two of them; one that Meg intended to win at all costs. If the women, Janet, was her name, got in the way, ‘Well, then,’ Meg said aloud, “that will be just an added bonus, won’t it?”


Scene 5 Fight Scene
Janet’s thoughts were not so muddled by her recent ordeal that she could not sense danger when it approached. After all, she had been on the knife’s edge of breaking her non-disclosure oath to tell a civilian about her work with the United States Air Force and the Stargate Command Program, but something had held her back.

Maybe it was instinct, maybe it was loyalty, at this point she did not really care. She liked and trusted John Winchester, however, it did not take much to realized that he was being equally close-mouthed and leery about telling her too much information about the specific nature of his own ‘business.’.


Meg came up behind them, having worked herself up into a controlled frenzy. Under other circumstances she would have brought along her henchmen, but John Winchester, whether or not he was aware of it, had earned himself her attention alone.

John was at the door of their hotel room and at this time of night the hallways were deserted, Janet stood off to his left her hands full of plastic shopping bags, waiting while John fumbled with the key card to the locked door.

John’s attention was immediately diverted from the keys when they both heard the soft scuffling sound of leather boots on the plush burgundy carpet. John and Janet turned around and saw the petite but compact form of a blond woman running toward them at full tilt from the opposite direction.


Judging by his rigid stance and the muscles of his shoulders tensing up, Janet recognized the warning signs of danger and took up a defensive stance as well.

At that moment John reached into the interior lining of his leather jacket and pulled out a gun. “Someone you know?” Janet asked.”

“Someone I would very much like to not know at all,” replied John tersely and under his breath.

“John, John” Meg taunted, “How many times do we have to do this little two-step maneuver? You know that little pea-shooter of yours can’t kill me.” Meg sprung forward and made a grab for the trailing sleeve of Janet’s coat. “I wonder how many loved ones you’ve lost by now, John. What’s one more or less?”

“Let her go! I’m the one you want!” demanded John.

“How right you are,” replied Meg with a nasty throaty chuckle. “Lucky you, you get a Get out Jail Free card tonight.” She tossed Janet aside and the force of it knocked Janet back into where John stood with his gun.

“This is working out well,” Janet griped.

“Yeah, I know. Janet, go inside the room, and wait for me, “ John said.

“I’ll do it, only because it makes sense, not because you think I can’t take care of myself,” replied Janet in a low whisper.

“We’re not arguing about this, are we?”

“No.

“Good.”

John readied his Colt Revolver, primed and locked the firing mechanism, thumbing off the safety and took aim, thinking in the back of his mind, that it was too damn convenient that his nemesis, in the form of a young blond girl, had been able to track him down this easily. In the back of his mind, he kept thinking, ‘well I gave it a damn good try, but I guess it’s true, you can’t outrun Death, but you can make the bastard work for it.’


Meg closed the gap between them, John’s knuckled locked over the barrel of the gun had turned white but he never wavered.

The retort of the gun firing echoed throughout the hallway, and time seemed to stand still while everything else around him seemed to speed out, but that was just a trick of his overactive imagination. The Colt had been designed specifically for taking out paranormal targets, so when it hit the demon square in the chest, it made a resounding thump, thud and a wet splat. John did not wait to get in another shot, opened the locked door, and ran inside. “Come, on, we’re packing up, and getting the hell out of here.”


Conclusion

“Thanks,” Janet said wryly.

“For saving my life, again. Do you remember, shortly after we first met, I asked you if you made a habit of saving ‘damsels in distress.”

“Yeah, but only the pretty ones,” John teased, but seriously, you’re welcome, and I bet a smart woman like you had probably wondered and come up with a bunch of ideas about why this weird shit seems to follow me around like a bad smell, huh?”

“The thought has crossed my mind,” Janet said. “Truth to tell, I’m not exactly a stranger to having weird stuff happen to me, to borrow your rather colorful expression.”

“I guess, I’d prefer not to have to put into a situation where I have to ‘fess’ up and tell you the truth.” John shook his head and plunked down on the double bed of their hotel room. “It took me forever and day to even admit as much to my youngest, but maybe I should tell you, after all, it was because of my business that your life was put in danger back there.”

“Honestly, I am really being eaten up inside with curiosity,” Janet replied. “I’ll understand and if it’s something that you are uncomfortable talking about with outsiders.”

“I’d like to tell you, Janet, really I would, but the problem is, I’m not uncomfortable talking about it, it’s just that I’m not certain that I should.” John sighed and

“Try me,” Janet, “I am a very good listener, I may not remember everything that’s happened up to and after the accident, but I do remember that.”

John closed his eyes and began to speak, “Almost twenty years ago, this all begun with the death of my wife, Mary, our house burned down and I barely escaped with our sons, Dean and Sammy.”

“My God,” Janet whispered.

“Thanks, but I’m afraid that the Almighty had very little to do with it,” John said and then added. “It was work of the “Other Side” if you will that was responsible.”

“Are you telling me that the devil was behind it?”

“Demon, actually,” John said. “Paranormal and supernatural have become pretty much a routine part of my life now.”

“I’, I’m not sure what to think, I never really gave much thought to proving or disproving whether or not the paranormal existed, I’m a doctor, I have to deal with the practical and provable facts, not superstition, but, this, this is just too weird.” Janet said as she sat down on the other bed, running her fingers through her tangled brown hair.

“If you want out, I’ll understand, if you have friends or family in Colorado Springs, we can contact them…” John trailed off.

“No, at least not yet, not until I can wrap my head around everything that’s happened, but thank you for the offer.”

Continued in chapter 3: The One that Got Away

fic (The One that Got Away) SG-1/Supernatural #3
Title: The One that Got Away and Other Fish Stories
Fandom: Stargate SG-1 crossover w/Supernatural
Claim: Stargate, general series
Author: karrenia (Karen)
Rating: PG
Characters: featuring Janet Fraiser and John Winchester
guest-starring Jack O'Neill, Sammantha Carter, Daniel Jackson,
and Teal'C.
Prompt: #57 lunch

14/100
Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 belongs to Gekko Film Corporation MGM Productions, it is not mine, nor are any of the characters who appear within. Supernatural belongs to the CW television network. Notes: part 3 of “Dancing with the Devil series. Picks up where “Those Who Hunt by Night“ left off.



“The One that Got Away and Other Fish Stories“ by Karen

Whether or not Jack O’Neill’s plan to let some of the tension and stress of the past month out by taking the entire SG-1 team on a fishing trip at his cabin in northern Minnesota had been the best course of action, it was no longer open to debate.

Doctor Jackson thought it over as he got out of the silver rental car, went to the back of and began unloading the camping and fishing equipment from the trunk and then picked up the cooler by its handles and handed the remainder over to Samantha Carter and Teal’c.

Jack had gone off whistling, and Daniel thought ‘I don’t think I have ever seen him this relaxed.’

About thirty minutes later Jack had settled himself into a wicker chair on porch deck, back up and his legs extended out in front of him, his fishing pole in hand, baited and ready to go. “Sir,”

“We’re off duty, Sam,” Jack said, “You don’t have to call me ‘sir,’ here.”

“I realize, that, it’s uh, just a force of habit.” Sam smiled and shrugged, flushing a bit as she wrestled with her own fishing pole whose strand had tangled up around in a tight knot and had snarled around the crank at the top of the pole.

With some work she at last managed to unsnarl it, wind it up again, and get it more or less back to the way it was supposed to be. Settling back in her own chair, she reached into the bucket situated between their two chair, reached in with her free hand and took out the bait. “Remind me again, why we’re doing this.” Sam asked, knowing even as she did so that Jack had been itching to get some leave in order to go fishing at General Hammond for a very long time now.

“Because I can,” Jack replied.

“Oh, right, how silly of me to forget.” Sam smiled and dipped her pole into the lake water. “What do I do now?”

“Sit back and wait for the fish to come to you, it’s the beauty part of fishing.”

“What’s the other part, being outside in the fresh air and the sunshine.”

“That explains why you were always so keen to get out here,” Daniel replied as he came up to join the others with Teal’c close behind him. “We’ve got the stuff stashed in the cabin. Where do you want us to set up the grill?”

“In the back, but do it later,” Jack said, “have a seat and relax, both of you.” Jack paused and then swiveled his head to eye both Daniel and Teal’C. “What do I have to do, make that an order?”

“Uh, no, right away,” Daniel stammered and plunked down on the wooden boards of the porch, and then removed his shoes and socks and dangled his feet in the water. Teal’c took a seat in one of the other chairs nearer the cabin.

The sun was brilliant and fuzzy like a huge tennis ball suspended in the sky overhead, Daniel hazily thought, the heat of the day, and the lazy afternoon stretching out before him with nothing more pressing to do, combining to make him nod a bit and force his eyelids down.

Daniel briefly considered going to the effort of getting up and walking over to the cabin to retrieve the book he had brought along, but then decided that it would be too much effort and remained exactly where he had plunked himself down.

Jack meanwhile was engaged in telling Sam some wild story about the first time he had taken his son Charlie fishing and how the boy had stood up in the center of the boat and capsized them over into the middle of the lake.

In the background Sam could hear the thrum of a motor running, which she assumed was the portable generators Jack used to cool his cabin in the summer and warm it in the winter. She was about to say something about the benefits of energy efficiency of solar panels, when she was interrupted by the sound of truck engine misfiring.

On vacation or not, that was no reason to let go of her natural instincts and well-honed instincts of potential danger.

She stood up from her, the motion yanking her fishing pole out of the water and in the back of her mind Sam thought, “I well never get the hang of this, no matter what Jack might believe to the contrary. Maybe I am just too impatient, excepting results right away instead of waiting for the fish to come to me. All the same, let Jack have his fishing, to each their own, as the saying goes.’

Aloud she said. “Jack, I think I heard something. I’m going to check it out.”

Jack did not reply at first. “Jack?”

“Hmmm?”

“It’s probably nothing, but all the same I need to go for a walk, stretch my legs, so I’ll go and check out that noise I heard while I’m at it, okay?”

“Okay?”

“Okay, and when you come back, bring the beer, it’s in the fridge in the kitchen.”

“Lazy bones,” Sam remarked, glancing at him. “We get you on vacation and you turn into a lazy lump.”

“Yeah, I know,” Jack chuckled. “Ain’t life grand?”

“I will assume that was a rhetorical question,” Sam said.

“Yeah, it is. Try to keep it that way until I come back.”

“Whatever you say, Ma’am.” Jack said mock-seriously and waved her on her way with his one free hand, the other holding onto his fishing pole.

“I’m going for that walk now.” Sam replied and strolled off in the direction of the cabin’s north side and up toward the where the road parallel the lake. She reached up and brushed aside a lock of hair that had fallen over her eyes as she walked. Just as she was within five feet of the road she was brought up short by a green pick-up truck barreling down the gravel road at a speed that Sam considered considerably reckless for the both the road conditions and the amount of space afforded.

The driver of the pickup truck came to a stop and pulled into a parking spot, rolling down the driver side window as he did so. From Sam’s vantage point she observed that the driver was male, white, dark haired and dark-eyed and sported a scruffy dark beard. He also had a passenger in the front cabin, whom Sam at the moment could only see in profile, but it was definitely a woman.

Normally Sam would not have been too concerned over who might be sharing Jack’s getaway vacation spot, but something indefinable had triggered that warning of potential danger, which made the fine blond hairs at the nape of her neck to stand up.

Major Sammantha Carter had not climbed the ladders of success and rank in the United States Air force and carved out a career for herself, not to mention survived several bad fights, by ignoring her instincts.

Janet Fraiser rolled down her own window and then unlocked her door and stepped down and out of truck. She thought, ‘What possessed me to agree to go fishing with John Winchester anyway/” I don’t like fishing or lakes, but after what had happened in Illinois, it was probably a good idea to go somewhere where no would think to look for us.‘

“Janet,” John Winchester asked. “You okay.”

“Fine, your idea of obeying the speed limit leaves much to be desired.”

“Sorry about that,” John replied, flushing.

“It’s all right, but next time I’m driving.”

Sam was just about to turn around and head up to the cabin to get the beer when she was brought up short by both the well-remembered voice and stance of the woman who stood only a few short feet in front of her. It could not be her, the Janet Fraiser she knew and loved had been dead, killed in the line of duty only a few months ago.

It simply was not within the realm of possibility that a living, breathing Janet Fraiser should be here now. But then, both Daniel Jackson and Jack O’Neil had been believed dead and had come back to life, but that had been through the intercession of the alien technology created by the ancients and currently commandeered by the alien Go’uald, the Saracagophus.

Janet had never availed herself of that technology, she had been a member of their off-world team on the planet PCX-1153, when the Gou’ald had sent an army of super-soldiers and Janet had been attending a wounded Air Man, when she had been shot point blank by a laser blaster. No one could have survived that, no one.

Sam knew that to be true, and her professional, logical and scientific part of her nature had long ago come to terms with that fact, but her stubborn personal side had wished many times over that it wasn’t true, that it simply could not be true.

“Janet? Janet Fraiser? Sam whispered.

“Sam! Sammantha Carter?” Janet exclaimed,

“A friend of yours?” asked John curiously and a little suspiciously; in the past few week that he had come to know Janet Fraiser, the last thing he needed to deal with was an old boyfriend, but judging both from what was said as much as by what was left unspoken and the body language it appeared that he had little to fear on that front.

“Oh my god, you’re alive!” the blond man who sat perched on the edge of a boulder that jutted out into the lake gasped as all but slid and almost fell flat on his face in his haste to approach Janet and embrace her. “You have no idea how happy I am, I mean, we are to you see you. When you disappeared and we couldn’t find, I mean, this is a miracle, seeing you, alive, I mean.”

Janet, her voice trembling with both happiness and nervousness, returned Daniel’s embrace, “I’m happy to see you, too. Same old, Daniel, I guess some things really do not change all that much.”

“Not that I want to cut short this obviously happy reunion,” John interrupted, clearing his throat significantly, “Janet, who are these people?”

“They’re my friends.” Janet smiled. “Jack, Daniel, this is John Winchester,” Janet added, John, allow me to introduce you to Jack O’Neill, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Samantha Carter, and Teal.C.”

“All right, now that we’re all acquainted,” said Jack as he stepped forward, can we get on with the fishing, people. This is the first time in possibly a year since I’ve had a chance to fish and it’s almost ten am. We’re burning daylight here, people.”

“Gotta love the man’s sense of priorities,” the blond haired woman introduced as Samantha shook her head in mock severity and humor.

She was flanked by a tall black man wearing a baseball cap that had been pulled down so low that it all but made contact with his eyebrows, that she addressed as Teal’C, and they turned around and began setting up a campsite.

John Winchester was not entirely certain of his facts, however, something here just did not up right. John was having the devil of a time figuring just was that something was at this point. He sighed and run a hand through his the thick hair of his beard, and then gestured for Janet to make the next move.

Conclusion
“You will of course, have disavow any knowledge of what you are about to hear, tonight, it’s a matter of the strictest national security, do you understand?” said O’Neill.

“Janet is, or was, a member of my unit. We work for the United States Air Force.” “O’Neill said.

“Oh that went over so well,” Daniel interrupted.

“Who’s telling this story, me or you,” Jack griped.

“Okay, I’ll shut up now.”

“The details of the project are, of course, classified. You have our thanks for finding Dr. Frasier and keeping her safe, but she needs to come back with us.

“I know at least one little girl who is missing her Mom something fierce,” Sam added.

“Cassie!” Janet gasped. “How could I have forgotten about her?”

“Well,” John Winchester replied, “You did come down with a mild case of amnesia.”

“You guys work for the government?” he added.

“Yes,” Sam replied.

“Lovely,” John sighed.

“And can you explain to me, without going into the ‘classified details’ John paused and waggled his fingers in the air when he said the word ‘classified.’ and added. “the nature of that project?”

“We deal with little gray men?” Jack sighed.

“Don’t you mean little green men?” John asked, thinking as he did so that he had been missing out when his life up until now had solely focused on locating, fighting, and ultimately eliminating things that went bump in the night, when he could have been dealing with the stuff that filled pulp magazines and sci-fiction novels.

With a start John Winchester realized that Janet had also been very careful to steer and deflect his natural curiosity and pointed questions about the nature of her work at the military base in Colorado Springs.

She had not exactly lied to him, but she had been rather evasive. He had not thought too much of it at the time, mainly because his own lie dealt with secrets and playing things close to the vest, and she had been through a very traumatic series of events. This was weird, even for him.

“No I said gray and I meant gray.” Jack muttered under his breath, wondering if Janet’s surprising revival might have had anything to do with Thor and his Asgard buddies, and then filed the notion away for later use.

“What, are you guys from outer space, or what?”

Jack laughed, pointing over at where the big black man in the baseball cap stood by the cabin wall. “He’s from outer space, the rest of just work there from time to time.”

“Now, you’re just trying to pull my leg, right?” John muttered under his breath.

“John,” Janet added. “He’s telling the truth, in Jack’s own, disgruntled and unique fashion.”

John Winchester let out the breath that he had been holding in throughout the quick rapid-fire summation and it came out in a piercing whistle. “My God, this is fricking for real, right? Aliens, off-world travel? The whole shebang.? And you guys work for the government?”

“Yes, we’re actually with the United States Air Force, and if she wishes, we’ll be taking Dr. Fraiser back with us when we leave.’ Jack said.”We do have one teensy problem.

“What kind of problem?”

“You, complicating matters by getting involved.”Jack said, and then added. “Janet is coming back with us.”

“I think that should be a decision that Janet will have to make for herself,” John shouted. His patience had begun to wear a bit thin with the obvious attempt to stymie the new guy with fancy double-talk, or what his younger son, Dean might refer to ‘as smoke and mirrors.

After all, how much of this was true and how much was just some sort of elaborate conspiracy theory; it was anybody’s guess on that one.

What mattered to him was Janet. It was not like he had completely forgotten about his late wife, Mary, but he had grown fond of and close to the woman, and he did not want to see anything bad happen to her now, not after everything that she had already been through.

Apparently she had already died once, and if anyone know about dying, it was the Winchesters. One could only dodge that silver bullet so many times before it eventually caught up with you.

Continued in chapter 4" The Woman with One Red Shoe

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 belongs to MGM Studios, Gekko Film Corporation, and its related creators and producers as do all of the characters who appear here or are mentioned, they are not mine. Supernatural is the creation of Erik Kripke and the CW television Network, again not mine. Written for crossovers100, prompt #89 she

“The Woman with One Red Shoe" by Karen

‘Awkward did not begin to describe it,’ Janet Fraiser Janet as she regarded the small gathering of people seated outside of the log cabin on the lake.

As much as she enjoyed back in the company of Jack O'Neill, Daniel Jackson, Sam Carter and Teal'C it feel just a little difficult to try to explain away her own well-documented death and by all accounts very well-attended funeral.

It was only after the embraces and the exclamations and the relief at her miraculous return from the dead had worn off, that she recalled something her father had told her, ‘everyone should have the opportunity to attend their own eulogy, especially when they’re still alive.” She hadn’t quite understood his meaning when she was a girl, but after having apparently ‘died once in the line of duty, she might just about to grasp his meeting.


In the back of her mind Janet felt a little bit angry and a little bit relieved that her memories of the circumstances that had led up to her death’ were rapidly fading from her memory.


For his part John Winchester did not seem to mind or even notice the awkwardness, but then it might have been an act. John had his own problems to deal with, but since she was no stranger to weirdness and neither was he.

For the first time in his life since losing the devastating loss of his beloved wife Mary, John Winchester allowed himself to think that maybe, just maybe that he found something good, something worth hanging onto. On the heels of that thought, John wondered if he should call his boys, just to check in on them, not that he wanted to make this into a family reunion.

Maybe that would prove to be a good thing.
****

At the side of an empty stretch of highway somewhere to the south east the objects of John Winchester's thoughts and somewhat meandering attention were occupied in coaxing, kicking and otherwise hurling verbal abuse at stubborn car engine.

The taller of the pair standing on the shoulder of the road and every now and then offering advice to his older brother.

"Dean, considering how many miles we've put on the engine, it's a wonder it never got out before this," Sam Winchester added.

"No offense, Sammy." Dean Winchester took a deep breath long enough to consider his last remark n Winchester Winchester remarked and then turned his head around and said,

"This is my baby, my car, and I will get the damn engine working again, just unless you have anything else useful to add, please, just shut up."

Just at the last second when Sam would have either felt inclined to continue the argument, knowing full well Dean’s hot-headed temper, or just drop it, the engine sputtered into a fitful kind of life. At this point, it was better than nothing, and besides they needed to get the hell out of dodge before the night grew much later.

Sam still was not completely sure they were in the clear in terms of what had happened, but as far as the authorities were concerned Dean was a prime suspect for murder, and it would not do them much good to try and convince the police and even maybe the FBI that the murder victim had actually been a skin walker, a kind of supernatural shape-shifter.

“I think it’s working now,” said Sam aloud to his brother.

“Yeah, well get in, and step on the gas,” Dean replied, “and I’ll give it a go.”

“Okay.” Sam left the side of the road and went stepped around and over to the driver’s side, opening the door and taking a seat behind the wheel, and when Dean gave the signal, he stepped on the gas pedal. The Impala coughed and sputtered and eventually responded. “Okay, we’re back in business, now get out of there, Sam. I’m driving.”

“Figures,” Sam replied with a tight smile, “But where to? We haven’t heard from Dad in months, he could be anywhere.”

Just then Dean’s cell phone rang and he reached into the pocket of his leather jacket to answer it. “Winchester here, talk to me.”’

The voice on the other end of the line was muffled and gruff, and one that Dean had not heard in a very long time, but unmistakably that of John Winchester.

“Dad!” Dean exclaimed in a muffled undertone. “Where the hell are you?”

“At a cabin somewhere in northern Minnesota,” the senior Winchester replied, and before you think to ask, I’m not in trouble, well, not the usual kind of trouble.”

Dean, in his current state of mind did not find that last remark at all amusing, and swore a blue streak. “You disappear on me, on us for months at a time, and then only call when you’ve run up against something you need our help with, and then nothing, nada, zip, and expect us to come running, at the drop of a hat! What the hell is up with that!”

“Dean, calm down. Where are you right now?” his father calmly replied.

“I dunno,” Dean shook his head, I think we’re somewhere on the interstate between Indiana and Iowa.”

“Good, then you’re closer than I thought. How so can you get to northern Minnesota?
“I’ll give you directions just as soon as I can. I’ll explain everything once you and Sam arrive.”

“Is that Dad?” Sam asked in a low whisper, hearing only snatches of the conversation and figuring by Dean’s reaction who it had to be on the other end of the line.

Sam felt more than a little ambivalent about this, as much as he wanted to find and see his father again, alive and well, he also had built a lot of anger and resentment about John Winchester’s frequent and lengthy disappearances. In the back of his mind Sam thought, “This is going to be one hell of a family reunion. I wonder what could of trouble Dad’s got into this time. Well, it won’t do any good to fret over it. I guess, we’ll soon find out.’


****
Interlude

“Janet, we need to talk,” Sam said.

“We do,” Janet agreed.

“If that’s all right with you, Sir,” Sam asked Jack O’Neill.

“I, I guess so,” Jack muttered, shrugging his shoulders.

“Emotions are pretty keyed up right now, and I think it might be best to let everyone cool down before we make any hasty decisions,” Sam added. “Besides I want to talk to Janet, we’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

“We’re on vacation Major,” Jack replied with a tight smile. “You don’t have to call me, Sir, and as much as I hate to admit it, you’re right.”

“This is harder than I thought it would be,” Daniel added. “Stranger, too.”

“Any stranger than your own miraculous return from the dead?” Jack could not resist teasing the younger man, since Daniel’s own death months ago and his own return.

“Yeah, I guess,” Daniel shrugged.

“There’s nothing we can do about it now,” Jack replied turning around and walking back to his chair by the dock. “Let’s get back to fishing, I for one am not leaving here until I’ve caught something.”

“At that rate, we might be here longer than our allotted week,” Teal’c chimed in.

“Funny, very funny,” Jack muttered.

John finished his call and snapped the cell phone shut. “Where’s Janet?”

“She went inside the cabin with Sam,’ Daniel replied.

“Oh,” John said and went over to take a seat on the edge of the dock looking out over the lake. “Well, I’ll just wait until my boys arrive. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”

“Funny, that’s just want Sam said, too,” Daniel added with a sly wink and a nudge.

“Not helping, Daniel,” Jack muttered from his seated position. “This vacation is not turning out at all the way I expected it to. Now, I would appreciate a little peace and quiet so I can fish, do I make myself perfectly clear?”

“Yes,” a chorus of voices replied.

“Good,” Jack nodded and turned his attention to his fishing.

***

Continued in chapter 5: “Revenant”

Disclaimer: Supernatural belongs to the WB and Erik Kripke and its related producers as do all of the characters who appear here or are mentioned; they are not mine. Stargate SG-1 belongs to MGM Productions, Glasner/Wright Producers, etc’ it is not mine and only ‘borrowed’ for the purposed of the story. Note: This picks up shortly after where the previous story, “The Woman with One Red Shoe” left off.

Crossovers100 prompt #75 shade

“Revenant” by Karen

"Tea?" Sam offered as she went over to the island counter in the kitchen and began to open up a package from the box. Seeing Daniel come back from the dead via the
technology of the Gou'ald sarcophagi was one thing. Hell, it had become almost common place, but Samantha had reached the point where she just could not take losing one more person that she cared for and loved.

"I'm sorry," Sam mumbled, "All we have is breakfast tea; that's what you get from letting Jack do the grocery shopping."

"I'm not surprised, it is his cabin after all," replied Janet with a fond if somewhat wistful
smile."

“I guess, that explains a lot," Sam chuckled.

For Samantha Carter, Losing Janet that first time had been bad enough and throughout the memorial service and afterwards it had taken here quite a while to accept that Janet was
really gone, but seeing her now; well, as much as she wanted to know the how and why Janet was here now, alive and well, there was no easy way to get around to the way things used to be.

For her part Janet seemed to sense some of that awkwardness and at first engaged in a little small talk, about tea, and sugar, and even was privately glad that Sam was not as eager to dive right in to talking about what had happened to her. Several weeks, since her miraculous 'return from the dead' and she was still not entirely certain in her own mind.

Had John Winchester saved her shortly before her number was up? Would she have
truly died if he had not been there to save her? "So..." she trailed off. "What have you been up to, besides saving the universe and its outlying suburbs?" Janet smiled and stretched out her hands to accept the steaming hot cup of tea and then sat down on one of the chairs around the kitchen table.

A moment later Sam joined her at the table. "Boy," she said and stopped, uncertain of how to launch into all of the questions she had been meaning to ask from the moment Janet and her friend had almost literally stumbled into them, but somehow they all seemed to jumble together

and turn end over end in her mind like rocks to be polished in a rock tumbler.

“Janet, how, I mean, where, I mean, it's so good to see you again."

Janet set down her tea cup and extended her hands to take both of Sam's in hers.
"It's good to be seen. I missed you. It's so rare that we just got some downtime to talk like this."

"I thought you were dead.”

"So did I. I mean, I can't tell you what dying is like," she sighed and paused to reach up and finger-comb through the shoulder-length locks of her auburn hair. "Actually I could, but I doubt anyone wants to hear text-book medical explanations, and after everything we've both seen and been through, sometimes I doubt the medical textbooks would include a chapter on aliens."

"No doubt about that!" Sam as she felt some but not all of her initial tension seep out the situation. "Janet, you know I don't believe in all that dues ex machina nonsense, but inquiring minds want to know: I mean, we all saw your body, we were all at your memorial service, so just how did you survive?"

"I'm still figuring that out," replied Janet wistfully.

"Any theories?" Sam asked. As they really got down and began talking Sam began to realize that no matter what happened, whatever agency had been responsible for bringing Janet back, instead of indulging in her tendency to over analyze everything, find logical
explanations for everything; she would simply accept and be grateful to have her best
friend back.

“Same old Sam" Janet laughed. "Right about you, you're probably telling yourself to find
a logical explanation for my return from the dead."

"You can read minds now?" Sam joked.

“Not as much," Janet laughed. "I just think I know you too well. All kidding aside, as a doctor I too have been looking for a nice, neat logical explanation, and I don't mind telling you, up until now I have not been able to find one."

"Okay, okay," Sam nodded, taking a sip from her tea cup and then setting it back down on the table. "For the sake of argument let's say that maybe there isn't a logical explanation, as much as it grates on my nerves to admit to that. So, if that theory holds then by process of elimination there must be what, an illogical explanation."

"Oh, hell yes! To tell you the truth, I am still not entirely certain I can wrap my mind
around it. If you ask John, he's attributed not only my survival but my very presence in the exact time and location to supernatural causes."

It was a good thing that Sam had finished her tea for otherwise she would have spluttered all over her shirt front. "You have got to be kidding me!"

“Yeah, turns out he's pretty heavy into that stuff. Told me that's how he lost his wife,
and now he and his sons are bound and determined that no one else need to endure what he's been through. I wouldn't have believed it either if I had not seen some really 'outer limits' creepy stuff with my own eyes."

"Urban legends, things that go bump in the night, all of that is 'real?"

"If you had never volunteered or otherwise been recruited into the stargate program would you have believed that aliens were real?"

Sam slowly nodded her head while finger-combing the snarls out of the strands of her
blonde hair, "Touché. But really, ghosts?

"Ghosts, but according to John, they prefer to be called poltergeists or phantasms."

"Enough of this, tell me about this John Winchester. What's he like?"

"Figures we'd get around to that sooner or later," Janet laughed.

"He's well, he's nice in a sort of intent, tall-dark and handsome way," Janet laughed.
"Does that sound as crushing and hokey as I think it does?"

"Not even remotely," Sam replied loyally and then added. "Well. maybe a little, but who am I to judge. I mean, I'm not exactly an expert in the relationship field. Do you like him?"

"I guess. But as much as I've come to care for him, I don't think I want to spend the rest of my second chance at life, in the family business."

"Would he ask you to? And what kind of business is he in?" Sam asked.

"Keeping people safe from the monsters in the night."

Sam stared at her and Janet said nothing for a moment before adding, “Are you serious?”

"No, really, I'm serious."

"Oh, I don't doubt that you are, it's just a lot to take in." Sam shook her head and then thought to look down at her wrist watch. "Oh, look at the time, I bet the boys are getting restless out there. Do you want to help get supper ready. I don't know about you. but I'm getting hungry."

"Of course," Janet replied. "Be glad to help. Sam, for what it's worth, thank you. I
honestly did not know what to expect. Hell, I never thought I would see anyone of you again. Thank you; for everything."
***

“What is it?" Jack inquired, curious but not yet alarmed or certain whether or not this stranger presented a threat.

Shortly before sundown the ground-hugging mist had begun to rise and Jack had begun to consider giving up fishing for the day and going inside the cabin to begin fixing something for them to eat for supper when the temperature around the lake had dropped considerably.

Daniel had been pacing up and down the landing dock while Teal'C had dropped off to
sleep in one of the chairs lined up along the edge. Along the far northern tree-line where a stand of oaks, alders, and pine trees hugged the edge of his property the mist was
especially thick, and right up until the point where Jack could have sworn that his eyes and the mist were playing tricks on him, he saw the apparition.

It was human-shaped, stood upright on two legs and had long dark hair. As it approached it's form appeared to waver in an out of definition. It still retained a vaguely human form, but its

features were indistinct; it had two eyes, liquid black, a mouth, a nose, and a sharply pointed chin. It's mouth was wide open as if it wanted to speak, and in the gap thus revealed were a set of very sharp teeth. and a pink tongue.

John Winchester glanced at the three men who claimed to be friends and colleagues of
Janet Fraiser and then back at the apparition, debating whether or not to give the answer that he had been balancing on the edge of blade. In any other company he might not have
hesitated and he was still wondering what was taking his sons so long to get here.

He had called them almost six or seven hours ago, and the way that his younger son, Dean drove and barring any unfortunate snags along the road, they should have been here sooner than this. John told Janet about some but not all of his life, into the closely guarded part of his heart, and he had truly come to care for her and respect her.

However, there was still too many uncertainties in the life he had chosen to live, dealing with the things that went bump in the night, and was it really fair to drag someone into that kind of life without telling them everything that might conceivably come along; that was what had caused him to develop a seemingly impossible to bridge rift between himself and his oldest son, Sam.

John shook his head to rid it of the inevitable cobwebs brought on by his meandering
thoughts and returned his attention to the task at hand. "It's a revenant. I was afraid of this."

"It's a what!" demanded Jack a bit ticked off at the other man's casually studied nonchalance and to add insult to injury, John Winchester seemed to know more about this situation, and wasn't sharing it with the rest of the class.

In the back of his mind Jack did have to wonder, is it that he isn't sharing what he knows, and I really don't trust him anyway. Or is it because he's the one who saved Janet? Jack shook his head and mentally chided himself," COME OFF IT, O'Neill, you're way too old to be jealous of a guy who looks like he shaves himself out of the rear view mirror of that old green pickup truck.”

Aloud he said, "Okay, so you've identified the thing. Is it dangerous?"

"Yes and no," John replied.

"So very helpful," Daniel remarked as he left off his pacing and came to stand on the edge
of the dock with the two older men.

"Agreed," Jack nodded.

Hearing the commotion coming from outside the cabin Sam and Janet exchanged one significant glance and ran outside, at the least, the men had gotten into a shouting match that maybe had become more physical. At the worst well, both women agreed that they did not want to contemplate the worst-case scenario.


The small dock was becoming very crowded and the grassy verge that faced onto the property had become equally crowded what with the group of creatures milling around on it. To Jack’s way of thinking it was almost mildly amusing the way they ebbed and flowed around the two trucks parked on either side of the gravel driveway.

He darted a glance at Daniel who seemed to regard the situation with that detached yet interested air of a anthropologist faced with a new species or civilization for the very first time. That was okay, as long as Daniel realized that these might not be friendly natives.

He nodded to Sam and Janet as they ran out from the cabin.

“What’s going on, Sir.” Sam asked.

“That’s what I’d like to know.”

“I was hoping you could tell us,” replied Janet.

“John?” Janet whispered. With a brief nod of his head John turned to Janet and said. “Don’t worry, hon. I got this under control. Just stay back; out of harm’s way.”

And with that, the safety on his rifle off, fully locked and loaded into the firing position, John began to unload pellet of after pellet of rock crystal bullets directly into the fetch; only noting with a flicker of one eyelid that the first creatures had now been joined by a dozen more of its kind.

Once into the motion of fighting John realized that he now could tune out all other distractions, especially when the others gathered on the dock began to shout questions and try to pull him back or stop him.

The big man introduced as Teal’C, a baseball cap pulled low over his wide brow stepped forward and produced a wicked-looking snake-headed weapon out of one of his pockets and began to shoot at the creatures what appeared to John as contained discharges of white lightning.

“Dammit!” John muttered out of the corner of his mouth, “What do you think you’re doing! You can’t fight these things with lasers. Get the hell outta my way!”

“We’re trying to help!” shouted Jack loud enough to be heard over the racket and the confusion.

“I don‘t think he wants your help,” Janet replied in an undertone. She had seen John Winchester get like this any number of times since they had first met.

He, in his own closely guarded and roundabout way had once explained what he had been through and consequently the kind of life he had chosen to live. Although it took her quite a while to wrap her head around the very fact, that one, it had happened, and two that it was real;, not just legends, hyperbole and urban myths. Creatures, ghosts, and other things that went bump in the night, were really out there.

In the back of her mind, ‘are ghosts and goblins, and the rest of it really any worse than the parasites, alien and what else we’ve faced as a team? And how do explain all of that in any coherent fashion to my friends and old teammates?’



Interlude

Dean and Sam pulled up just a few yard short of the cabin, but they could hear the commotion coming from the cabin long before they could actually see what was going on. “Dad’s in trouble, again.” Sam muttered and then chuckled. “So, what else is new?” he added after a pause of a few seconds.

“What I don’t get is why he sounded so urgent on the phone that we haul ass, insisting that we get up here as fast as possible..“ Dean turned off the ignition in the car, brought it to stop, then opened the door and got out before adding: “When it looks like he’s got the situation well in hand. I mean, a few dozen fetches, come on That’s kids-stuff.”

“Maybe that’s not his only problem,” Sam remarked, taking not of the other people gathered on the front porch of the good-sized cabin. “Maybe he’s got into trouble with the law. That wouldn’t be the first time for him or for us. And some of those folk look like they’re more than local authorities.”

“If they are, or they aren’t. I can deal with the Feds.”

“Oh, really? How? By digging through the junk we’ve got stock-piled in the trunk and yanking out any one of a number of fake Ids?” Sam got out of and walked over to other side of the car and grabbed Dean by one arm. “Oh, I’m sure that would go over ‘really’ well.”

Dean yanked himself free of his older brother’s grip and yelled. “Well, smart-ass, you got any better ideas?”

Conclusion

Once the last of the creatures, fetches, whatever one wished to call them had been disposed of, Daniel suggested that they leave the dock and return to the front porch.

Once there Jack launched into John Winchester. In his own mind Jack was not entirely certain if he was more angry at the entire situation or the fact that, even off-duty at his favorite fishing spot; that he was not the one in control.

He had long since come to grips with the fact that his old friend and teammate was alive and well, but to add insult to injury, the man she was with seemed to more than he should about the things that had threatened all of them.

“Okay, care to tell us what the hell that was all about?” demanded Jack stepping forward and yanking the rifle out of John Winchester’s hands and tossing it to Daniel Jackson who stood to his left and a few paces behind him with a muttered “Hold onto to this.”

“I would, but I sincerely doubt you would believe me,” John replied.

“We’ve got company.”

“Great,” Sam replied. “Most likely it’s the local police.”

“Maybe not,” Daniel replied. “It’s deer hunting season. They’re probably used to guns being fired off around here.”

“The short one seems a little young to be the police,” Sam remarked.

“Dad!” Sam and Dean both yelled as were a few strides of the cabin’s front porch.

“Dad?” Sam echoed.

Janet, despite the obvious tenseness of the past half-hour or more could not resist allowing a small smile to slip out. “Didn’t I mention he had two sons from a previous marriage.”

Sam, too had difficulty mastering her own sense of the absurd and allowing a little bit of levity to lighten up the moment slip out as well. “You might’ve mentioned that, Janet!”

“Must’ve slipped my mind,” replied Janet, the smile still on her face.

“What were those things,” asked Daniel turning to face John Winchester.

“Fine, if you must know, those were fetches.”

“Yes, but what manner of creatures threatened us,” asked Teal’C.

“Shape-shifters. They can take on the mannerisms, voices, and even the features of any living thing, but come to think of it I’ve never seen them attack anyone in such numbers.”

John, uncertain whether it was own heightened emotions or a trick of the light, but the more he concentrated the more it seemed that the fetches, taking the lead from the initial creature, took on the form of his wife, then his sons, then those he had known in his life, and finally, the form of the woman he was currently with, Janet. He shook his head to clear it of the inevitable cobwebs, and thought, “Way too much of a coincidence, and can’t afford any more distractions right now.’ I can’t tell her that the fetch apparation took on her form, not after everything Janet’s been through. I would not do that to anyone, especially someone I’ve come to care about.’

Shoving the disturbing thoughts and perhaps equally disturbing images into a back corner of his mind, John focused on the task at hand.

“I don’t know what’s worse; the fact that these things are real, or the fact that you more about them than you should,” remarked Sam.

“Ma’am, Sam said as he rushed up to stand beside his father, “I don’t see how it’s any business of yours how he came by that information.”

“Sam,” John replied placing one hand on his oldest boy’s shoulder. “It’s okay.”

“But, Dad,” Dean chimed in. “You told us to come up here as fast as possible. I nearly totaled the Impala in a ditch during a rain storm…”

“Dean, Dean, Calm down.”

“Okay, you’ve had your little family reunion,” Jack said. “I’d hate to interrupt but for crying out loud, could someone please explain what just happened here?”

“Besides now my new friends can met my old ones.” “Janet, these are my boys, Sam and Dean, boys, that’s Janet Fraiser She’s a medical doctor. Although I could have wished we had all met under better circumstances.”

Sam shook his head and then as Janet stepped forward he managed to remember a few smatterings of good manners and muttered “Nice to meet you,” and shook her hand. His own was so much bigger than her that it swallowed it up. Dean managed to nod and turned back to the crowd of people that were regarding the three of them with varying degrees of anger, curiosity, and doubt.

“Dad, I should let you take the lead here, right?”

“Same old Dean,” John replied.

“I think it’s fair to say that we’ve each got our respective share of secrets. And before we dive right into the that area, I think it’s fair to say that Janet has told me a little bit about what you do, Colonel O’Neill.”

“Military? Oh, hell. The Feds I could’ve dealt with, not so sure about the military.” Dean turned to regard the woman that his father had gotten himself involved with and regarded with a different eye than he had when first introduced to her, a more grudging but respectful eye.

Sam, too, although he was not at all certain if his father considered her just a friend or if he become more serious than that. He did not mind if his father wanted to get involved; after more than twenty years had passed since their mother and John’s wife had died in the fire that had nearly taken his own life as a baby; however, was this any different? And how much did this Janet Frasier know already about the kind of life they all lived now?

It was a toss-up and besides they had gotten a lot of experience in dodging around the essential question, especially when faced with the questions likely to be posed by the authorities be they local, state, or even, heaven help them all, representatives of the United Sates military. Aloud he said, “What branch are you with?”

“Air Force,” Sam quietly replied. “And try not to worry so much. We don’t mean you any harm. In fact, it was at Colonel O’Neill’s insistence that we come out here for a little downtime and take in some fishing that we’re here at all.

“Thanks. Thanks a lot. I didn’t think it would happen, but someone actually managed to ruin fishing trips for me.”

“Jack,” Daniel chimed in, “You say that now, but I’ll lay odds that at the very earliest opportunity for you take some vacation, you’ll be out here again. And if those ah, fetches, or whatever they are, come back, it still would not deter you from fishing. So there.”

“Shut up, Daniel,” muttered Jack under his breath.

Sam Winchester and Janet Frasier began to laugh and Janet said,” Are they always like this?”

“A good deal of the time,” Teal’C replied.

“So, we cool, then?” Dean asked.

“I am,” Daniel replied, and I don’t know about everyone else, but I could eat. Is there anything left inside the cabin, otherwise I feel like ordering a pizza, with everything on it.”

“Fighting does tend to make people hungry,” John added. “I’d say go for it, Dr. Jackson.”

“Does anyone care about my opinion?” Jack griped.

“Of course we do, Jack,” Daniel grinned and began to walk towards the front door, “It’s just that you’ve been outvoted.”

“Shut up, Daniel and go make the call, I could eat, too.”

“Yes, Sir.”