Ba'al isn't a coward, he tells himself. There is nothing cowardly about a strategic retreat. Unless of course you happen to be a Jaffa, and then you are going to pay for it with your life. For a god, continuing to draw breath for as many millennia as you are able is really the only goal there is, and you do whatever you have to do to make sure that happens.

Up to and including retreat.

Now, in the normal course of things, a god would have to make up some story to save face in front of his Jaffa. Perhaps he would have to execute an innocent man whom he blamed for the retreat.

Now, he didn't have any Jaffa, and the demons he had used in their place could be left behind. So, all that was left to him was a graceful exit into the natural wormhole, and a bit of clawing to get his way out on the other side.

-0-

When your host weeps within you there is no literal water involved, but it does feel like you are drowning. For a creature that is born to swim in the water, saying that you feel like you are drowning is saying something indeed.

"Shh," Amunet coos to the being within her, desperately trying to soothe it and shove it back inside. It's a sound that the woman makes to herself when she is really distressed. A sound this woman used to make to the child that she carried within her whenever it would churn with particular fierceness. The noise does nothing to calm the creature down.

Her host just seems to become angrier when the noise comes from her oppressor.

Her longing for this man she loves is stronger than anything Amaunet has felt herself. She is quite sure that it is stronger than anything she would ever feel if she were to live a thousand years.

"Then bring me to him," the voice inside her demands so strongly that she almost grabs control of the body by its very brain stem.

Amaunet knows that she cannot stay on this planet much longer, not if she has the faintest hope of keeping control, and she is not about to become a prisoner in her own body. So she makes her way over to the natural wormhole while she still has the ability to make her own way.

-0-

"General," Jack says, greeting Hammond with more fondness than formality.

"We seem to have gotten control of the area, but we seem to have a great deal of difficulty locating either one of the Goa'uld," the General reports.

"Several demons reported that the Goa'uld left the way that they came in," Buffy offers.

The General looks at the teenager, and desperately tries to see the supernatural warrior that he had been told she was. No matter how hard he tries, though, he can only see his own daughters when they were that age. "We're going to have to do something about that 'way'. We can't just have Goa'uld going and coming from Earth whenever they want."

"I think I might have something for that," Giles says, coming forward. "I found a spell in a rather old book. It seems to have some power to block the wormhole."

"You mean we won't have to deal with any new demons coming out?" Buffy says enthusiastically. That would turn the tide of the war in her favor. It would be another way to get her retirement and rest at last, and it might even be better than the other way that she had in mind.

"It seems like this charm only keeps the Goa'uld out. I am a little fuzzy on the particulars, but…" Giles begins.

"We can't rely on some magic charm from a book that is several hundred years old," Jack objects. "We've got to figure out some way to get this thing sealed up. We've got to bury it or something."

"It's not exactly a physical thing, you couldn't bury it," Giles points out.

"Besides, the whole idea of burying it came from people thousands of years ago. The Ancient Egyptians. Actually, there are a lot of primitive cultures that figured out ways to fight the Goa'uld, and many of them called those ways magic charms. I don't think that we should discount this so easily, Jack," Daniel says.

"I could show you the incantation," Giles offers, and the two them go off together to pore over old books.

"I'm going to go consult with the soldiers on how to manage the demons. They had some teleporting ones get away from them earlier, and if they don't get a handle on that we are going to be playing cat and mouse for months," Buffy says.

"I'll go help," Willow offers.

"They have big guns," Xander explains, following the girls toward the soldiers and their giant tanks.

"Sirs?" Carter asks looking after them. She's more than a little intrigued by the promise of big artillery.

"Go ahead, Carter, and take Teal'c with you. He's never really had the chance to see all the kinds of weapons Earth has to offer," Jack hiding a little grin.

That leaves Jack alone with his commanding officer.

"If you don't mind, Jack," the General says, "I think I am going to check in on whatever…" the General struggles to find a term to describe both of the two men who had just left together. Scientist doesn't quite seem to cover demonology somehow. Some days the General wasn't even sure it accurately covered what Daniel did, even though "social science head" was part of his job title.

"Egg heads?" Jack suggests.

"Right. I'd better look in on how the egg heads are doing. See if their plan is viable," the General says, excusing himself.

Jack is not the leader anymore (since the General arrived). So he is allowed to bask in his skepticism. He doesn't have to look into the practicality of a magic spell. He decides to go and hover over the teenagers. Just to make sure that none of the soldiers get any wise ideas.

-0-

When General Hammond enters Buffy's living room he is not surprised to see Daniel's head bobbing between two separate books. Every now and again, Daniel mutters a word or two, and Giles provides some explanation or an answer to some questions that the General isn't even sure are in English.

For the most part though, Giles's mind is free. "Would you like some tea?" Giles asks.

"No thank you," the General replies. There are only two people who could now get him to say yes to that question, his grandchildren. His daughters too, had always heard that question answered in the affirmative by him until they had grown up, and the tea had stopped being pretend.

"Brandy?" Giles asks.

The General knows that he shouldn't, being on duty. However, he is dealing with something called a 'hell-mouth'. "Yes, please."

"Samantha is a skilled warrior, isn't she?" Giles asks.

The General nods his head warily. It's bad enough that his second-in command has forbidden feelings for his friend's daughter, he isn't sure how he is going to react if this man has similar ones.

"Do you ever want to just stand between her and the danger?" Giles asks.

The General looks at him, both surprised and pleased by the turn the conversation is taking.

"I'm not sure if I'm sexist, or if it is more a matter of Buffy's age," Giles continues.

"Samantha may be close to your age, but to me, she is every bit as young as that teenager is to you," the General replies.

"I know, but at least she's grown up. I keep thinking that my need to protect Buffy is only because she's still a teenager. It's a natural thing to want to protect children, right?" Giles says, looking up hopefully. He's known for a long time that his feelings for the slayer were not quite what they should be. It is only recently that the rules were changed so that unmarried watchers could be in charge of a slayer. He had always assumed those rules were in place to protect against some romantic relationship, which never would have been a temptation for him. He longed for maturity when it came to romance, and there was no chance that he would fall for a teenaged girl.

Now he was beginning to wonder if the medieval monks hadn't been on to something when they made that rule. He was far more in danger of developing paternal feelings for his charge than he was in developing romantic ones.

"Grown up is a relative thing. Sixteen looks young to thirty in almost the same way that thirty looks young to fifty," the General says.

"So you still feel protective of Samantha?" Giles says, sounding a little bit disappointed. He was hoping that these feelings would fade with time, and that when his official duty with the slayer was done he would feel free enough to move on with his life.

"It's a bit complicated. I knew Sammy's father, and she used to play with my girls when they were all small. Besides, she's not the only one I feel protective over. Every time Daniel," the General looks in the direction of the younger man to make sure he is still busy with his books, "sneezes from those allergies of his I want to swoop him up and put him under a blanket until he is all better. I feel just as protective over Jack, and he's not even that much younger than me. I am even protective of Teal'c, who is older than me." Giles looks shocked at that revelation, surprising coming from someone who is used to ageless vampires. "To be honest," the general continues, "I think it has more to do with the leadership position than age or gender. It's a good thing, to feel protective toward those who have given their lives over into our hands by way of trust. I would maybe even go as far as to say a necessary thing."

Giles nods his head.

"How is your council run? You strike me as a man who doesn't get to spend a lot of time with other leaders," the General observes.

"I am not exactly popular in the Watcher's Council," Giles admits.

"Well, I'll leave you with my number in case you ever want to talk," the General says, digging about for a business card. The Air Force printed lots of them for him, and he had little use for them, because his work was so classified he rarely wanted people to know who he was, let alone how to reach him.

"Does it get easier? Sending people you are responsible for into danger?" Giles asks.

"No," the General says sadly with that longing for retirement that sometimes came over him sneaking up on him once again.

"I think Sam needs to look at this," Daniel says, carrying a very ancient and very heavy book off. "It sounds like there might be some science in it."

-0-

"So what exactly are we doing here?" Jack asks.

"We are sprinkling the magic juice around the hell mouth, to keep the nasty things from coming out of it," Xander explains.

Jack gives Sam a look which clearly demonstrates he expects an answer from her, and only from her.

"We are using the unique chemistry of this liquid to disperse the charge of the atoms which allows natural wormhole travel," Sam says.

"Oh, well why didn't you just say that then," Jack says with a shrug of his shoulders.

"You actually understood that?" Daniel whispers to his friend, clearly impressed.

"Sure I did. Any sufficiently advanced science is indistinguishable from magic," Jack replies.

"That's not what she said," Daniel points out.

"Sure it was," Jack says, staring straight forward at the 'hell mouth' and making no facial expression.

"It's not though…" Daniel says. Then he gives up arguing with his friend and turns to Giles. "Do you think that the magic words are strictly necessary?"

"I don't think we want to change anything from the protection spell," Giles replies.

"If it worked so well, why do we have to do it again?" Jack challenges.

"Well, the charge will build up again. It really should be done every couple of years," Sam explains.

"We plan on doing this every year on the anniversary," Willow promises.

"Even then it's just going to make it harder for things to come out of it, partially the 'two-souled ones'. It's still possible that we could deal with these things again."

"We'll set up a military guard," the general promises.

"That's sort of what we are," Buffy challenges him.

"With all due respect, little girl…" Jack begins, but he cuts off his words abruptly when he sees that they have not only got Buffy up in arms, but Sam as well.

"With all due respect to you, that little thing would make mincemeat out of a couple of your men, so unless you plan on posting an entire army with their tanks in Sunnydale for the foreseeable future…" Xander begins.

"I can just see the public relations nightmare that would cause the president now," Jack mutters.

"Hold it, do you guys know the president?" Willow asks, impressed.

"A little," Sam gloats.

"The point is, you can't guard the hell mouth, and keep this whole thing a secret," Xander points out.

"We also can't leave the world undefended from this thing. Aliens just pop out of it and attack people!" Jack protests.

"You know there are other hell mouths in other parts of the world?" Buffy asks.

"What?" Jack says.

"This is the strongest one, and I'll pass on our little recipe to the Watcher's Council. They will take care of making sure that the other ones get the same blessing that we gave this one today," Giles says, trying to soothe the man before him.

"Well, we can't just leave this thing to be guarded by children. What if all hell breaks loose?" Jack looks around for someone to appreciate his play on words. Sam can usually be counted on to find him hilarious, even if she doesn't laugh aloud at his antics, but even she seems to think that this joke is in bad taste.

"We'll call you if we ever need the tanks to back us up," Xander promises.

"Sir, we can set up some electrical surveillance that could warn us, and the Scoobies, if anything went awry," Sam offers.

"General!" Jack objects, pulling reverse rank in a last-ditch effort to get his way.

"Jack, I think it's time to admit that we were a little out of our depth on this one. We'll let the experts take it from here," he says, smiling to Giles. Giles is a man who saves the world on a regular basis. The General can understand what it is like to lead all alone.

Jack looks at the man before him as if he has just grown another head. Sometimes George seems so familiar to him. He thinks that he understands the man completely, and then, then something like this happens, and he realizes that George is a complete mystery to him after all.

Still, the man can be trusted, even in his mystery.

"It better be a good camera, Carter," he says as he concedes defeat and wanders off grumpily.