Title: Rebuilding
Disclaimer: I still don't own Buffy or Stargate. All characters will be returned the their proper owners when I finish playing with them.
The next afternoon, JT was sitting in Hammond's office.
"I'm being transferred to the Pentagon later this week. Dr. Weir will be put back in charge of the SGC until a permanent replacement can be found. With O'Hare out of the picture, she'll need need somebody with your experience. I'd like you to come back to the SGC."
"And hang around until Carter and Daniel figure out how to fix the original and then get kicked to the curb again? I don't think so sir. Even forgetting the part where a fifteen-year-old Air Force colonel wasn't practical, it was made very clear when this first happened that there was only room for one Jack O'Neill at the SGC."
"But you are Jack O'Neill, the only one we have."
"No sir, I'm not. Jack O'Neill is napping in the Antarctic. Given time, Carter will figure something out. Until then, she and Daniel can babysit Weir. I'm JT not Jack. Sure, the core personality is pretty much the same, or at least it was. I'm really not so sure about that anymore. But I had to become somebody else since I couldn't be Jack. I'm Jonathan Thorsonn, JT to my friends. I haven't been Jack for a very long time. Did anyone actually stop to thing about the insanity of placing a fifty-year old man in high school as a student? Sure, I looked like a kid but I wasn't. There was no way that 'Jack' was going to fit into high school. How was I supposed to relate to my supposed peers? I was older than most of their parents for crying out loud. Doing the buddy thing or worse, dating, just wasn't an option if I was Jack. There was no way for me to survive without consciously becoming someone other than Jack. I couldn't be Jack. It took months for me to figure that out but I knew that even before my trip to hell."
"Well, you don't need to worry about high school anymore."
"But now the paperwork is a bigger problem. O'Hare's paperwork didn't stand up once you had a starting point."
Hammond conceded the point. Once he had a positive ID on the infamous video, he was able to quickly track down O'Hare's real identity and paperwork. Ironically, McNamara hadn't been his real name either.
JT continued. "You have to admit the original plan was iffy at best anyway. Faking school records was one thing and with a general as a sponsor, the Academy was pretty much a given. But by the time I finished, you would almost certainly be retired and wouldn't be able to pull too many strings to get me assigned to the SGC. Sure, the current Pentagon brass was thought it was a good idea but by then? Who knows? Let's face it, Kinsey made it within a heartbeat of the Presidency. He still is. He would have had you and SG-1 out of the mountain so fast it wouldn't have been funny. I figure he would have either found you some nice posting in Greenland or maybe a permanent stay in the stockade. If he figured out who I was, I'd probably have ended up as a lab rat for some NID geek."
"You've spent a lot of time thinking about this haven't you?"
"Didn't have much else to do for a long time."
"So, what are you going to do?"
"Rebuild my life. For starters, get married. After that, I'll join up with the Watchers' Council, at least for a while. I've spent the last fifteen years learning to fight demons and how to survive in a hell dimension. I'll make a damn good survival instructor and the lack of legitimate paperwork won't be so much of a problem with that group. Besides, you've seen Jack's file, I may be no where near Daniel's level and I'm a bit rusty, but I do have some useful language skills and should make a fairly decent researcher."
"True. As smart as certain members of SG-1 are, I'm surprised they never figured it out."
"Of course, I will also try to recruit Daniel, at least on a part-time basis. I can handle translating the stuff they have in Goa'uld but the Council still has lots of stuff that needs translating that he'd love to get a look at."
"We might be able to work something out."
"Just think, good relations with the Council might lead to some allies that are actually around when you need them. This will be the first generation of slayers with a chance to make some of their own choices. Maybe some will choose to fight the Goa'uld rather than vampires."
"I'm not sure the SGC is ready for that if they are anything like Faith. I understand that Captain Simmons will be seeing McKenzie for the foreseeable future."
"Don't worry sir. Buffy assures me that Faith is unique."
-----
"You're as bad as Jack, sorry, as bad as JT. The doctor wants you spend at least another 24 hours in bed."
"Daniel, I don't like hospitals and am not too fond of military bases. The baby and I will be fine. I'll take it easy for a few days but I want out now."
Buffy moved behind the privacy curtain and proceeded to get dressed.
"So will you be staying in the area?"
Buffy came out from behind the curtain. "Xander will be. He's still looking for a workable property. JT and I will head to Cleveland for the time being. Once we have his new paperwork, we'll probably head to England. After that, I don't know. It could be awkward if we came back here. Somebody might recognize JT."
"I don't know. We should have picked up on it sooner than we did and we were, are, closer to Jack than anybody else. Maybe he could keep the beard?"
"Or maybe we could come up with decent cover story for once. Maybe make JT the Colonel's son. I mean with the current age difference we could pass him off the son of an old high school girlfriend."
Daniel snorted. "Oh, Jack would just love that."
"So would JT. Seriously though, I don't know if he is ready to come back here just yet."
"You're right." JT stepped into the room. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yep."
"So you and Miss Summers are riding off into the sunset?"
JT smiled. "Into the sunrise actually. And it will be Mrs. Thorsonn as soon as we can get the paperwork in order. New identity, new family, new job. But don't worry, I've already spoken with Hammond, we'll be in touch."
-----
Two days later, Hammond and SG-1 watched a tape of the CBS Evening News.
"There is still no word on what caused the destruction of the prominent LA law firm of Wolfram & Hart earlier this week. Speculation is that a there may have been a gas leak that caused the massive explosion that leveled their downtown office. Officials believe that the building was evacuated before the incident. However, several individuals including the CEO and several department heads are listed as missing.
"And in a follow up to last night's lead story, the White House has announced the immediate resignation of Vice-president Kinsey following what has been described by witnesses as mental breakdown on Capitol Hill.
"Kinsey, who is currently at Walter Reed Hospital, allegedly began barking during a Senate Arms Committee meeting. He then bit several Secret Service agents who attempted to remove him from the room.
"We will have additional information about both incidents tonight at 8 on a special edition of 48 Hours.
"This is Dan Rather reporting from Washington, good night."
Daniel looked around. "You don't think..."
"No, I don't think. Neither do you. Plausible deniability Dr. Jackson, plausible deniability."
Disclaimer for the Disclaimer: I still don't own Buffy, Stargate, or MASH (reread carefully, two descendants of MASH characters are at the SGC). I don't own CBS News or 48 Hours either. All characters will be returned the their proper owners when I finish playing with them. Only thing is, I'm not through with them yet (although I'm pretty sure I'm done with Dan Rather). Yes, there are sequels on the way. What really happened to JT and Buffy in the hell dimension? And what's Jack O'Neill going to do when he finds out what mini-Jack has been up to?
I'd like to thank everybody that took the time to review this story and encourage me. I hope you aren't too disappointed with the ending. 'Bye for now.