"At ease, Lieutenant."

At ease?

He was kidding right?

Willow didn’t think she’d be at ease ever again.

They were here, at the Hyperion.

Sweet Jesus, things just got infinitely worse.

What the hell were they doing here?

Willow slowly lowered her arm, trying her best to cover her pain. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Angel take a step towards her, but she shook her head. She didn’t want Angel rushing to her side, not with her team here.

She needed to think… work out what to do. God! They were here!

This… this was bad. So very bad.

"Sir, what are you doing here?" her voice shook as she asked the question and she mentally kicked herself.

No matter what she did or said, they weren’t going to buy it. She was standing in front of her team looking like death. Her entire body hurt from the rescue, she was exhausted beyond belief, and she had to somehow convince them to leave without giving anything away.

She had more chance of being beamed up by the Asgard.

This was her team. SR-1 and Daniel. Four of the most honourable men she had ever worked with. It didn’t matter what she said, her fate was sealed the second they set eyes on her.

There was no force in this world, or any other, that would convince them to leave.

God! How could this be happening? What were they doing here? Willow didn’t understand it. They weren’t supposed to be here, not like this, not ever! Shit!

Daniel.

They were here because of Daniel, they had to be.

There was no other explanation. He had been on the phone to her when the alarms went off. Shit! He must have called them as soon as he heard it. They would have flown like bats out of hell to get here so fast. There was no way they could go by commercial airlines this time of night, er, morning.

Willow wanted to cry and she would have if she wasn’t so exhausted or if her team wasn’t here. Just their presence held her together. She wanted nothing more than to throw up, scream, shower until she was raw, but she forbade herself to.

She refused to lose it in front of them.

These people trusted her to keep it together in the worst situations and she didn’t want to give them any doubt about her ability.

Losing it was something to be done in the privacy of her own bathroom.

"Willow, are you all right?" Daniel pushed past Kawalsky and Angel.

"Oh, hey, I wouldn’t touch her if I were you," Faith called out to Daniel. "She doesn’t like…"

Faith’s words trailed off when Daniel reached her, slipping his arm around her in a way that allowed Willow to lean on him.

"… never mind," she finished.

Willow inwardly winced, doubly so when she found someone on the other side of her. It was Kawalsky. He wasn’t touching her, just hovering nearby in case she needed his help. It was a familiar action, though this was the first time Daniel had been there to help her like this. Usually it was Grogan and Kawalsky… not that she was injured often.

Most of the time it was just exhaustion.

"Adrenaline gone?" Kawalsky asked her knowingly as they led her to the lounge.

Mutely, she nodded.

Grogan and Hayes were at the lounge, clearing a spot for her to sit. "One to ten, Rosenberg?" Hayes wanted to know.

He was asking how bad her injuries and exhaustion were. It was a ritual they had all gotten into over the last year. After a mission they would assess how bad off they were, on a particularly bad mission shock was a danger, especially when they were injured or traumatized.

One to ten was the range.

It was also was why Kawalsky had asked if the adrenaline had worn off, that was taken into consideration as well, in case she went into shock. Wait a second! WHY was Kawalsky asking her that? He only ever asked her adrenaline levels when she was on a mission, when he knew exactly what she had been doing.

"Rosenberg, one to ten?" Kawalsky asked the question a second time.

Well, not asked, more like ordered. "Five."

Grogan snorted. "That’s a nine."

Ok. She was confused.

Where was the yelling? The outrage? Why hadn’t her team asked, no, demanded to know what had happened, where she had been, and any other question they could think of?

Why was she the only person who was surprised here?

"Is anyone else hurt?" Angel’s question distracted her from her thoughts.

"Only Faith and Willow. The rest of us are all right," Cordy answered, shell shocked.

Yep, Willow knew exactly what being shell shocked felt like.

It was what she was feeling at that very moment.

She was thrown completely off balance.

"Willow, can you tell me where you’re injured?" Daniel’s arm moved from around her waist to her leg, his hand resting on her thigh gently, careful to avoid any injuries.

The feel of his hand on her made her falter.

Daniel was really here.

It wasn’t a dream or a wish.

"Willow?" there was a hint of panic in Daniel’s voice.

Willow blinked. "I’m fine, Sir."

Hurt flashed in his eyes at the use of the title, then his eyes moved from her to Kawalsky and the hurt disappeared. "Will, where are you hurt?" he used a tone that was all too familiar. It was a gentle tone, a calming voice that he had used back when they first met.

God she'd missed him.

A small smile crept on his lips. "I missed you too."

What? Oh… she had said that out loud.

"Sir, I don’t like how pale she is," Hayes announced. "I think Dr Whitwood should take a look at her as soon as he finishes examining Faith. Rosenberg, can you wait that long?"

Willow nodded.

The more people spoke around her, the more she lost her ability to speak. None of this was making any sense, and she was wondering how much of this was her exhaustion.

Maybe this wasn’t real.

If it were real, then Kawalsky would be demanding answers.

Instead he was sitting next to her looking like he did whenever they were on a mission - while Angel looked furious.

Something was seriously wrong with this picture.

"Willow can’t wait," Angel told them. "Faith?"

The brunette smiled. "I’m five by five."

Angel raised a disbelieving brow.

"Almost. I can wait. Red’s worse off than I am. I’m just bruises, already healing," she nodded towards her. "Red’s bleeding bad. I tried to take a look at the scratches in the car but she wouldn’t let me."

"I’m ok."

No one was really believing that.

"We can check her wounds out while Dr Whitwood looks over Faith," Hayes argued. "Faith was kidnapped, she’s more in danger of going into shock."

They always looked after the missing first….WHAT did he just say? "Faith was kidnapped?" Ok, the question was kind of dumb. SHE knew Faith had been missing, but she was wondering why HE knew that.

Hayes regarded her with an expression Willow had never seen before. There was an understanding she wasn’t sure she liked. "We figured that was one of the reasons why you and Cordelia never came back."

Whoa! Hold it! What the fuck?

Daniel’s hold tightened on her when her breathing became slightly erratic. "I don’t think she can wait, Hayes."

What? Hang on! STOP! "Sirs, how did you…"

Did Angel tell them Faith had been kidnapped? No. He wouldn’t do that. He didn’t trust the military, with the exception of her, and even now Willow wasn’t sure she was an exception. But still, there was no way he would have told SR-1 about Faith, especially since there were demons involved.

"What? No, I wasn’t kidnapped," Faith declared, panicked. "It was just some gang messing around and they had this really big… dog, that’s why Red’s back is scratched."

Cordelia nodded in agreement. "They ran off the second we got there and then the dogs attacked Willow."

Dog attack?

Willow had to say that was better than anything she would have come up with, which was currently NOTHING.

Her brain had settled into a permanent state of confusion.

"Cordy, Faith, it’s ok, they know about the demons," Angel told them.

THEY KNOW?!?

Her heart stopped dead.

Two words a person with a deadly secret never wanted to hear.

Willow jumped off the lounge and away from her team, grimacing in pain. They knew. They. Knew. Oh god, oh god, oh god, oh god. "How… How? What?"

Panic flooded her. How long till the rest of the Stargate Command came here? Was the rest of SG-1 already on their way? General O’Neill, too? This wasn’t a military situation but demons weren’t something that her superiors would consider a civilian matter.

She was in deep, deep shit.

Willow felt the blood draining from her face once again.

Now it made sense why they weren’t demanding answers when she arrived looking like hell.

They knew!

"Willow," Daniel stood up slowly. "It’s ok, you’re not in any trouble."

Willow heard movement from behind, she spun around to see Angel and Dr Whitwood heading towards her. "Don’t…" she held her hand up, making it clear that she wasn’t quite in the frame of mind to receive medical treatment.

Right now, all Willow wanted was to run like hell.

What the HELL was going on here? How could they know? Angel would NEVER tell them. No one from Sunnydale would, it was the one thing Angel and Giles always feared more than anything.

She didn’t understand!

Angel stopped a few feet from her. "You didn’t know." It wasn’t a question. His eyes darkened with fury and he glared at her team. "She didn’t know that you knew, did she?"

Faith waved a hand around. "Ah, someone want to fill in those of us who just tuned in?"

Willow wasn’t sure she wanted to be filled in. They… they couldn’t know. No. It had to be a misunderstanding. She was always so careful. She never talked about Sunnydale or her friends here, she made sure no one ever knew about anything.

Bile rose in her throat and her head swam with emotions.

Guilt, fear, relief…

It was too much.

After nearly being demon food, this was WAY too much.

She was torn between worry for her friends here and fear of losing SR-1 because of her lies. God, did it seem stuffy in here? Willow tried to take a deep breath, but all it seemed to do was make her feel like there was even less air in the room.

"You know?" Willow’s words were almost an accusation. She wanted them to tell her no, but the response she got was four nods. "How?"

It felt like her world was falling apart around her.

"Yes, how?" Angel wanted to know.

Willow closed her eyes and tried breathing.

All she did was sway on the spot.

She was going into sensory overload.

"Willow," Dr Whitwood voice was closer than it should have been. "I’d really like to take a look at you. Faith has superior healing powers, she can wait. You can’t."

"Superior healing powers?" Grogan repeated.

Her entire body was tense and the room seemed excessively warm.

Angel let out a low growl.

"I’m fine, Sir," Willow opened her eyes moved away from everyone. Each step she took made her body ache. There was only so many surprises a person could deal with in a day, and Willow had just reached her limit. "How do you know? How…"

"I’m from Sunnydale."

Hayes was… he was… what? Sensory overload was beginning to be an understatement. "You’re from… oh god, you knew all along didn’t you?"

"I suspected."

"Ah, guys, as important as this is, I think Willow needs a doctor," Cordelia pointed out. "We can go over the who knew what while Kyle takes a look at her."

No one was touching her. "I’m fine."

She didn’t know how she felt about it. Hayes’ support had always been so constant in her time during SR-1, she always put it down to her saving his life. Now she knew that he had suspected something, knew about demons.

He would have put two and two together and worked out the truth about Graduation.

Daniel took a step towards her but Willow didn’t counter it. "You’re not in any trouble. We… no one aside from the four of us know the truth."

"I wouldn’t have told them anything if I thought you’d get busted for it," Hayes assured her.

She was getting a headache. "So you came here… why?"

"To watch your six," Grogan told her.

"You came to watch her what?" Cordelia was outraged.

Kawalsky sighed. "We cornered Daniel after you spoke to him your first night here," he explained. "We made him tell us and Hayes filled us in when it was clear you were in trouble. You are in trouble, Rosenberg, just not with us. When we realised that, we decided to come here. Our trip was brought forward a little bit when Daniel heard the alarms."

Why did they corner Daniel? They didn’t know the two of them were close.

Oh god, her headache was getting…

"Daniel?" Cordelia repeated. "Daniel as in Willow’s boyfriend? How did he hear the alarms?"

… so much worse.

"We were talking on the phone last night, or this morning," Daniel confessed.

"You’re Daniel," Faith studied him. "Ok, that explains a lot."

Did it? Because right now Willow was still confused.

"That’s the story, Lieutenant," Kawalsky addressed her. "Now, can you please let the doctor have a look at your back and you can tell us what happened."

It was that easy, was it? "Sir, I’m fine. Really. I just need a little space."

"Lieutenant," the authority in Kawalsky’s voice could not be mistaken. "You are going to let Dr Whitwood examine you. That’s an order."

Willow opened her mouth to reply but to her horror, it was Cordelia who beat her to the punch.

"Hey! Does this look like a military base to you?" The former cheerleader stormed over to where Kawalsky stood. "You can’t just walk in here and order Willow around. She’s off duty, that means she doesn’t have to do a single thing you say."

Don’t do it, Cordy. "Cordelia - "

"It’s ok, Willow," the brunette assured her, her eyes never leaving Kawalsky’s. "I don’t know who you think you are, bucko, this isn’t the military so your rank means jack to me. You can’t use it to force Willow to do something she doesn’t want to do, not here. No one bullies my friend."

Oh dear god.

"Except me."

Grogan choked with laughter. "Oh I like her."

"Willow," Cordy planted her hands on her hips. "Let Kyle examine you."

Willow pressed her hands to her head, she could feel the pressure beginning to boil inside of her. "I’m fine, Cordy. All I need is a shower."

"Bullshit - "

Something snapped inside her. "NO DAMNIT!" Willow yelled. "You’re right, Cordy. This isn’t the military. Kawalsky has no authority over me right now but neither do you. None of you do! If I say I’m fine, I’m fine. I do NOT need people treating me like I’m going to break. All I need is a shower and time to think. I just want to wash the fucking demon scent off me. That’s all! I’m not mortally wounded, it’s just a fucking scratch. I’ve had worse dirt bike riding with Grogan."

She just needed to be away from them.

This was too much for her to cope with and she was beginning to lose it fast. She had to get away before she lost it completely. She couldn’t let her team see her break down.

"Lieutenant - "

Willow didn’t give Kawalsky a chance to get out his next order. "With all due respect, Sir, I’m not going to let Dr Whitwood examine me… at least not until I’ve had a shower. So don’t bother ordering me to."

Oh boy, she had to calm down.

She had NEVER spoken to her CO like that.

Her entire body was trembling and she was beginning to wonder how long it would be until she was no longer able to stand. She took a deep breath. "I’ll go for a shower, Sir, then I’ll come back down."

She didn’t wait for approval, Willow headed towards the stairs.

"Willow!" Daniel’s voice stopped her in her tracks. "Willow, I…"

She turned to Daniel who was standing right behind her. The anger left her completely just looking at the pain and guilt he was in.

She… she couldn’t deal with him, any of this right now. "Daniel, Sir, you shouldn’t have come. None of you should be here. Go home. Now."

It was too dangerous, too much.

The look on Daniel’s face cut right through her more successfully than the demons claws had. "You want us to leave?"

No. She didn’t want him to leave.

She didn’t want him to stay either… god, she was so confused. Willow couldn’t answer his question, all she could do was stare in his eyes.

After a long minute, Daniel nodded, as though he had understood what she was thinking, feeling. Knowing the way they often communicated, Willow could say that he probably had read everything she was feeling.

"Go for your shower," he reached out and touched her arm. "Did you need someone to help you?"

Him.

She needed him.

"I’ll bring up a first aid kit, just in case you need it."

She could have said no, told him that she was fine, and Daniel would have respected her wishes and stayed away.

But the thing was, she didn’t want him to stay away.

He knew that.

She turned and left the room.

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