A/N: This is my first real shot at a team story. It's AU, and takes place after SGA Search and Rescue and Continuum. Slight spoiler for Continuum in Chapters Two and Three. J/S ship and D/V ship, but this is not a shippy story. I just thought I would warn you.

As always… a very big thanks to my beta Slidell.

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It had been years since Teal'c had found himself on the other side of a SGC interrogation table. He knew this was procedure. This was something that the IOA did to make themselves more comfortable. But now, right at this minute, all he wanted was to be in the infirmary to see if she would pull through. He wanted to mourn the fallen, to honor them for the great warriors that they were. He did not want to sit here, in this room, and answer questions… questions for which he had no answers.

He closed his eyes, and collected his thoughts. He just hoped that this would not take too long. He needed to talk to Dr. Lam and find out if she was going to pull through. He suddenly found himself doing something he had grown more accustom too while being here on Earth, with them, he started to hope against the impossible.

There was no doubt however, even if she did pull through, even if she did survive, that it wouldn't be enough to keep him there. No, his mind was already made up, and he would return to Dakkara and serve the Free Jaffa Nation. He would educate the young on what the people of this planet did to help free them. That is how he would honor the dead. That is how he would honor his family.

There was a knock at the door, and Dr. Lam poked her head inside. "Teal'c" she started. "If you want to say goodbye…now is the time." She paused. "I'm afraid," her voice broke, "this is it." He stood, and followed the doctor out of the small room glaring at the guards that were standing outside the door. He followed Lam to the infirmary.

She looked small there, laying in the hospital bed, tubes and wires connecting her to the machines that, for now, were helping her live. He went to her bedside, and she looked up at him. He grabbed her hand to try and display some sort of comfort to her.

"She refused pain medication until she could talk to you." He heard Dr. Lam say in the background.

Her eyes were open, and he could tell that she was in agony. He nodded to her.

"That is most unwise."

"I need to know what happened." Her voice was raspy.

"They are all dead. You and I are the only ones who have survived."

She blinked hard, and looked him in the eyes. She had become so serious. "Tell me how."

The monitors that were attached to her body started to beep. Dr. Lam came over with a syringe to inject it into her I.V.

"No." She said with as much strength as she could muster. "Not yet. Please doctor."

Dr. Lam turned her attention toward Teal'c. "She doesn't have much time. Don't let her suffer."

He nodded in acceptance, and turned his eyes back towards the woman who lay dying on the bed in front of him.

"Tell me." Her eyes were pleading with him.

He started to speak when she took a sharp breath, and pain crossed her face.

"Vala Mal Doran," he started. "It was an honor to stand beside you in battle. You will die a hero."

Dr. Lam injected the medicine into the I.V. and Vala closed her eyes. A small smile pulling at her mouth, before the monitor's beeping became a steady hum, indicating that her heart had stopped.

"I'm sorry Teal'c." Dr. Lam said, placing her hand on his shoulder, and giving it a small squeeze. She turned and walked away, leaving him alone with that last member of his Earth family.

He stood there looking at her, until her body grew cold with death. He was thinking of all that they had done; all that they had accomplished together. On the outside he was stoic as ever. No one could tell that he was also in a great deal of pain. Not the physical kind, but the internal, emotional kind.

Never in all his years as serving as a First Prime, did he see carnage as he did on this last mission. Never in all his years battling with the Taur'i did he witness the bloodshed as he had witnessed now. Never had he lost as much as he had this day.

General Landry's shouting interrupted his thoughts. "You will not interrogate him like he is some sort of criminal! We will wait for his full mission report like we always have."

"He left the interrogation room." The unfamiliar female voice hissed back at him. "Tell me why he would do that if he didn't have something to hide!"

They stopped in the doorway of the infirmary. Teal'c slowly pulled his eyes away from Vala, and looked at them. He was afraid to speak, he was sure that his voice would betray him.

"He's right here, saying goodbye to a friend." General Landry said softly to the woman that accompanied him. "Let him have that much."

Teal'c looked down at Vala one last time, and slowly made his way toward the door. "She is gone, General Landry."

"I'm sorry, Teal'c." General Landry said, his voice heavy.

"Well then, shall we?" The woman spoke, and made a gesture with her hand for Teal'c to move on.

"I thought I told you," General Landry started, but she cut him off.

"This is an official IOA investigation, General. You do not tell me anything." She growled at him. "After you Teal'c." She was wearing a small tight smile.

Teal'c started down the hallway, back towards the room he had left earlier. He was going to have to explain why his friends had died. He was going to explain all of this to a woman who would not believe what he had to say. A woman who seemed to blame him, more than he already blamed himself, as if that was possible.

He took a seat at the table, and she sat down across from him.

"My name is Diane Greenfield. I am the IOA agent assigned to the SGC." She said as she was setting up a tape recorder. She pulled a small remote from her pocket, and pushed a button. He turned his head ever so slightly, and saw the red light indicating that a video recording was also taking place. She smiled the same small tight smile at him that she had given in the hallway. She pressed the record button on the tape recorder, and leaned back in her chair.

"Let's begin, shall we?" She said. Her voice was as tight as the smile on her face. "Please state your name for the official record."

"Teal'c" he paused and then added "of the Taur'i."

She made an audible breath, and for a split second he took her off-guard. He was sure that was the only time that would happen during this interview.

"Yes," she started, clearing her throat, "According to your debriefing report," she said, opening a file that she had in front of her, "SG-1 was ambushed while making their way back to the Stargate."

"That is correct."

"How?"

"We were overtaken by Ba'al's forces."

"How is that possible?" She raised her eyebrows at him.

He sat there unmoving, saying nothing to her.

"Teal'c," Her voice grew warmer and took on a softer tone. "I need to know what exactly happened. A minute by minute account would be nice. People need to know what happened there. Not only the IOA, and the American government," she paused, and looked directly at him, "but also the governments of this world."

His mind flashed to see Colonel Carter lying on the ground, blood oozing from her mouth.

"Go!" She yelled at him. "Get out of here!"

"I will not leave you!"

"Teal'c! Get out of here! Get to the Stargate and get home!"

The drumming of Diane Greenfield's fingers on the tabletop brought him back to the present. She was starring at him with a look of impatience on her face.

He collected his thoughts before he spoke again. "What exactly do you wish to know?"

She sighed hard. "Everything Teal'c. I need to know everything."

"Very well." He nodded to her. "We had received information that Ba'al was creating a version of super solider, not unlike those used by Anubis. We went to the planet to see that he did not succeed."

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I know this isn't what I usually write… but what can I say? My muse decided this was next.