The Colonel's Children
A scribble for the word 'children'
By Gumnut
26 Aug 2006

I guess I just hadn't seen him in that kind of situation before.

Sure, I've seen him with children. They gravitate towards him as if they're complying with a law of physics, and I have to say that the reverse is true as well. He loves children; you'd have to be blind not to see it.

But I don't think I've quite realised just how deep that love goes.

The expression on his face as he looked at Marron before she left...an expression of hopelessness, of failure, of the cruelty of fate.

Oh, what a parent he would have made.

He never talks about Charlie, though that is far from surprising; he never talks about anything that truly hurts him. The topic of Sara is equally a no go zone. His defences are impenetrable when he wants them to be.

Except around children.

Is it irrational that for just a moment in the control room, I wanted to grab Marron and whisk her away to safety, not for her benefit, but simply for the Colonel's? To take that expression from his face. To protect I him /I .

Either way, it was an emotional reaction and we all know how well emotion and decisions that affect planets go together.

I would follow the Colonel to my death. I trust him that much. I know Daniel and Teal'c are the same. We're SG-1, we're a team.

And we're family.

Don't think for a minute I haven't noticed the way he treats us. The man has no blood family that I know of and we do to a certain extent fulfil that role for him. Who does he ask to go fishing with him? Who does he ask out to dinner?

Who does he spend the majority of his time with?

The three of us.

And each of us allow him to 'parent' us in our own way. Teal'c gets to be the one who is taught everything. From hockey to how to order a pizza. Daniel is the one who always needs to be looked after. The colonel complains continuously about our archaeologist needing to be on a leash, but I have to say, I think when it isn't a threatening situation, Colonel O'Neill enjoys simply being needed.

As to what he sees in me...well...I don't think I am the one who should be assessing that. Ask Daniel maybe.

Of course, you don't say anything. That would cause embarrassment on several fronts. Men. I know enough of them to know how the basics work.

But I digress.

He handed Marron back to her people today, despite the fact it hurt like hell, despite the fact he didn't believe in what they were doing. I could say he did what was right, but I don't think he believed it was right. Hell, I'm not a fan of their methods myself. But it is their choice. Marron's choice. And I think that is what brought him back here. If Marron had chosen another path, I don't think we'd have him with us any longer.

Is this where I thank fate for being a royal bastard?

I should have opened my mouth back in the infirmary. I should have said something when Marron asked if the colonel was not as smart as Janet or I. But I was too wrapped up in the expression on his face.

Smart has nothing to do with knowledge.

It's what you do with the knowledge that matters.

But that expression on his face today...

Children.

He loves them.

It's as simple as that.

I just wish he hadn't lost the one he had.

But then if he hadn't, where would we be?

-o-o-o-
FIN.