jedibuttercup

Title: Ten Slayers That Were Never Called
Author: Jedi Buttercup
Rating: PG to PG-15
Summary: Snippets from ten lives that Willow's activation spell irrevocably changed. 10 x 100 words.
Disclaimer: The words are mine, the worlds are not.

Spoilers: B:tVS post-"Chosen" (7.22); SG-1 post "Full Circle" (6.22); general CSI; Star Trek IV (1986); general Harry Potter; Jurassic Park (1993); SGA post "McKay and Mrs. Miller" (3.08); Men In Black (1997); Evolution (2001); Twister (1996); Bones "The Woman in the Car" (1.11)

Notes: For TtH #2165 Ten Slayers That Were Never Called. Drabbles one and two have been posted before, but the other eight in the collection are new.

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Inexplicably Chosen
Stargate SG-1

Sam Carter grasped the barbell with both hands, crafted a U-shape, and raised her brows at Janet. "You call this normal?" she laughed.

The petite doctor scribbled another note and frowned. "I meant, no sign of alien influence. In fact, your readings match your last check-up. There's absolutely no indication how..."

"For this, or the hearing test, or the treadmill, or the nightmares, I know," Sam shrugged, then straightened out the bar. "But now that we know Daniel's been hanging around..."

"He only visited Jack and Teal'c. What makes you think he's responsible for *this*?"

"What other explanation is there?"

---

Considering the Evidence
CSI (Las Vegas)

Sara Sidle stared, shocked, at the pile of dust before her. What the hell was going on? What had that-- thing-- just tried to do to her, and how had she known how to stop it?

The puncture wound on her neck was stinging, the pencil she'd grabbed from the counter had splintered, and that-- ash?-- it had left behind was contaminating the crime scene. Not to mention, the-– disappearance? Disintegration?-– of the victim. Grissom was not going to be happy.

Although, a little voice suggested, this perfectly explained the cause of death. Barbeque fork? Come on. Considering the evidence...

---

Temporally Challenged
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

By the time humanity ventured forth among the stars, Slayers were far less common than they'd been immediately after Willow Rosenberg infected every Potential in the local space-time continuum. (The third World War-- the Superhumans' war-- had seen to that). What few there were stayed on Earth; none were ever aboard the various Starfleet vessels sent backward into the past, across the standing wave of Activation permeating the fabric of the universe in that moment.

Going forward was another story. Especially for Dr. Gillian Anderson, who suddenly had far more to wonder about than kidnapped whales and outdated scientific knowledge.

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Uncareful What She Wished For
Harry Potter

Once upon a time, Petunia Evans loved her little sister. Once upon a time, Petunia went to a special "boarding school" of her own, and she was proud when Lily turned out to be special, too.

But then Petunia turned eighteen, and everything changed. Her Watcher sent her home, where she had to watch everyone fawn over magical Lily and know she wasn't special after all.

All Petunia's choices afterward stemmed from the bitter wish that she'd been Chosen. She worked hard to build a defiantly normal life--

--only to lose it all when her wish belatedly came true.

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Just Another Exotic Predator
Jurassic Park

There were advantages and disadvantages to being the granddaughter of a quixotic billionaire. Lex Murphy was never in any danger from Watchers, who had to settle for placing themselves in her life as tutors; she was, however, subject to some other unusual dangers-- like the living, breathing dinosaurs who tried to eat her one weekend at her grandfather's theme park.

Not much had the capacity to scare her after that. Not even being plunged into the supernatural world ten years later. After all, what were vampires to a girl who'd faced a Tyrannosaurus Rex and lived to tell the tale?

---

Know What You've Got (Before It's Gone)
Stargate Atlantis

The first thing Jeannie Miller did when she returned from Atlantis was to spill everything to her "English major" husband and ask his advice. Mainstream militaries might be incompatible with the Watcher's Council, but Atlantis and the SGC represented an opportunity; also, she wanted permission to tell Rodney the truth after finally reconnecting with him again.

Meeting Rod had been a window into the life of a Jeannie never Called. Three babies, not one, and several physics articles published; no time and worry taken up Slaying. It had made her remember how much she appreciated everything-- everyone-- she *did* have.

---

Inconvenient Amnesia
Men in Black

"Jay," the dark-haired coroner said, greeting the M.I.B. agents as they entered her morgue in pursuit of their latest investigation. "Kay! Hello."

Jay blinked at his ex-partner, then exchanged glances with Kay. Elle had been flashy-thinged back before Kay was un-retired; she shouldn't remember them. Unless...

Both men instinctively reached for their pockets-- and were suddenly restrained by Laurel's too-quick, too-strong fingers. None of their tricks were sufficient to free the increasingly alarmed agents.

"I told them they shouldn't have memory-spelled you guys after the vampire thing," she said, frowning. "Now I'll have to explain about Slayers all over again."

---

Moving Up a Notch on the Food Chain
Evolution

Saving the earth from hyper-evolving alien organisms didn't *quite* rehabilitate Ira Kane's career; nothing could ever really make up for "Kane's Madness", after all. He did, however, land a better teaching job with a much nicer lab near the CDC offices where Allison worked.

There was just something about shampooing aliens together that irrevocably bonded people, she supposed happily.

Unfortunately, it also made them paranoid. It took two months for the Watcher's Council to find Alison; months filled with obsessive testing for lingering alien influence. Forget the vampires, she was just relieved to have a terrestrial explanation for her changes.

---

Tickled by the Winds of Change
Twister

It probably said a lot about her that one of the first things Jo thought of when she found out what her changed body could do was, "Wonder if I could outrace a tornado on foot?"

Predictably, Bill's thoughts went in other directions entirely. Forget the news about vampires, or her sudden aptitude with her aunt's butchering tools: he was an adrenaline junkie, just like the rest of their aging team, but he was at that mid-life crisis stage where "Finger of God" made him think of the bedroom before meteorological phenomena.

Fortunately for Jo, her stamina had increased, too.

---

Itinerant Artist
Bones

"Twenty-five addresses in six countries in eight years?" the agents at the security checks inevitably asked her.

Angela always covered with a smile and careless babble. Sometimes, it really was useful to be known as a flighty artist; better people raise their eyebrows at laughing tales of Fijian fire dances than hear just why she'd ritually married the locals' half-demon ruler. Better they think Tempe's martial arts abilities were just another weird quirk than an actual talent she taught her friend-turned-Slayer-pupil.

Sometimes, though-- watching Hodgins walk away again, hurt-- Angela really wished she could be known as a Slayer, too.

(x-posted to twsthellmouth)