It was nearly a month later that he received another, not quite anticipated, telephone call.

"Hello, may I speak with Dr. Giles please?"

"This is he."

"My name is Dr. Daniel Jackson. I was given your number by Wesley Windham-Pryce. I was hoping to speak to you about a possible job opening with my employers. I am currently in Seattle, and if you are willing I would like to schedule a meeting to discuss it."

"Wesley did inform me of the possibly of you contacting me. He also informed me that you currently work with the US military, which leaves me with some reservations. However," Giles continued despite Dr. Jackson's intake of breath signaling that he wished to respond, "his message left me intrigued enough to at least listen to your proposal. When and where would you like to meet? I would assume that my schedule is rather more open than yours at the moment."

Dr. Jackson chuckled. "That is probably true, Dr. Giles. I'm glad you agreed to meet with me regardless of your reservations. Perhaps this evening, if that works for you? I'm open to any suggestions on a meeting place, though. I'm not all that familiar with Seattle. I'm staying at the Red Lion Hotel downtown, if that helps."

"Hmm, I can think of several nice restaurants in that area, all of which allow for a decent amount of privacy without necessarily being to hard on the pocketbook. Do you have any preferences when it comes to cuisine?"

"I'm love Mediterranean food, but I'm always up for trying new things."

"Actually Mediterranean sounds rather good, and since one of those restaurants serves particularly delightful dishes of that type I would suggest meeting there. Of course I could also meet you at your hotel and we could walk over. I know how confusing new cities can be."

The meeting was quickly arranged. Ending the phone call, Rupert wondered what precisely one would wear to such an unusual meeting. That thought brought memories of Buffy to the fore. His fashion conscious slayer would likely have had quite a lot to say about the upcoming meeting, as would his other children of course. He hadn't yet told them about Wesley's unusual phone call, as he knew they would not understand his desire to at least hear what this was all about. He wasn't sure he understood it himself.

Sighing he decided it would be better to distract himself for a little while. Perhaps working on his translations of Thraegyn's Daemons and Prophecies would do the trick. Thraegyn was a particularly cryptic prophet and translating his work was often a challenge.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Several hours later Rupert found himself enjoying a lively conversation about cultures with Daniel while they enjoyed their respective dinners. They had found a mutual passion of ancient language and cultures. While they did not share the same backgrounds (Egyptology versus Myths and Folklore), there was enough overlap that they were easily distracted from the original reason for the meeting. Finally as desert was finished, the two sat back to enjoy their fine Turkish coffees. Rupert took a sip of coffee, and looked at Daniel.

"So what precisely does this job offer entail?"

"I work as a civilian consultant for the US Air Force. The project I'm currently working on requires a certain amount of professionals who can easily translate a wide variety of languages, including ancient ones, and who have experience working with artifacts and other cultures. After looking over your credentials and speaking with you, I think that you would be a huge asset to the program. I'm afraid that I can't explain the details of the job at this moment as it is highly classified, but I can assure you that the work we do is incredibly worthwhile and very important. However if you are interested in learning more I have the non-disclosure forms you would need to sign with me. We would have to go back to the hotel to discuss it further though. It's not really something to be discussed in public. You mentioned earlier you had some reservations about the military. Perhaps if you tell me what they are, I can help alleviate them?"

Rupert adjusted his glasses and organized his thoughts. Thankfully he had already thought of an answer to this question. "I have in the past few years…mentored, I guess one would say, a group of talented and intelligent young people. A few years ago one of the young women in said group dated a young man who we later found out worked for the military, Army I believe. Some time after the two had started dating the young man became ill, and it was revealed that the base commander was slipping her soldiers experimental drugs through their daily vitamins and possibly their food supply. There were a great many people involved, and the base commander's superiors apparently knew of what was happening on the base. It eventually came to a head; the whole incident was taken care of and then promptly covered up. The young man recovered, but the whole incident left us all with a distrust of the military."

"That's perfectly understandable. I've met several groups within the military that have given me the same reaction. Usually when they are trying to take over our operation. Thankfully that has never happened. I know that at the moment I can't prove to you that we are the good guys, but I hope that you will at least consider signing the non-disclosure agreement and listening to the rest of my sales pitch."

Gazing at the remains of his coffee as if they held the answers he sought, Rupert reflected on the evening's events and his impressions of Daniel. He had to admit that he couldn't imagine Daniel working with a project even remotely like the Initiative. The compassionate heart that he had shown through during their earlier discussions just wouldn't allow him to be involved in something that insidious. If the non-disclosure agreements were the standard "Don't breathe a word of anything you've spoken of to anyone outside this room" agreements, it wouldn't be a problem to sign them. After all he had yet to speak to his children about this. So they wouldn't be pestering him for information he couldn't give. Coming to a decision, he looked back across the table at Daniel, who had apparently taken his moment of contemplation to pay the bill.

"I do believe that I would like to hear the rest of this offer. Should we arrange for another time to meet or continue back to your hotel?"

"If you're not too tired I would like to continue this tonight."

"Very well. Since you have already attended to the bill, without letting me pay for my meal I will point out, shall we be on our way?"

Daniel simply grinned and led the way out of the restaurant.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Several hours later Rupert sat with a tumbler of scotch on his couch. A rather large pile of papers sat not quite forgotten next to him. The mythical portal of worlds was not such a myth, nor did it lead to hell dimensions like so many Watchers had speculated over the years. Rather it leads to other planets, sometimes other galaxies, and the U.S. military had been using it to explore said planets for some years now. The Gahld snake demons of Egyptian legend were in fact parasitic aliens with god-complexes and their proper name was the Goa'uld. Though he wasn't certain how that was different from most of the demons they had faced. He shouldn't be so surprised. He had dealt with things that most people would call impossible all of his life. This was just one more thing to add to the list.

Rupert chuckled as he raised his glass in a silent toast. To the impossible and all of us crazy fools who deal with it.

After explaining the Stargate program and what Rupert's place would be in it, Daniel had suggest he think about it for a while. Daniel made sure Rupert had his contact information, and had then called a taxi to take the older man back to his flat.

The project was particularly alluring to the retired watcher. He would be able to use all of his skills (quite likely even his fighting skills considering some of the stories Daniel had told) and the fact that he was in his mid-forties wasn't a problem. Apparently most of the civilian staff of the program were in the thirties and forties. There was a chance he would get to explore worlds and cultures that had been forgotten on Earth. He wondered if any of these cultures had Slayer myths.

Gods, how was he going to explain this to his children?