Title: Regret to Inform.

Summary: This was the part John hated the most, having to lie to the families of the men and woman who had died in the Pegasus Galaxy.

Spoilers: Small ones for Michael.

Warnings: None

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis is not mine. Only the story line and any made up characters that may appear in the story belong to me.

A/N: Don't ask me where this one came from. I was watching Michael the other day and this idea hit me.

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Making his way up the walkway towards a house he'd never seen before John tugged at the collar of his dress uniform. He hated this part of his job, but it hadn't felt right dropping this duty on anyone else. Reaching the front door John adjusted his uniform a little making sure everything was straight and winkle free, before ringing the doorbell; those details were important for this duty, as was the ability to deliver the news without cracking.

It was a beautiful cloudless day, not like it should be. A day with events like this should be cloudy, threatening to rain, or more appropriately, raining. The door opened to reveal a gray haired lady in her late fifties, earlier sixties. When she noticed John in his dress uniform, her hand went to cover her mouth, before she opened the screen door.

"Mrs. Cole?" John forced himself not to fidget as he noticed the increasing distress crossing the older woman's face. The woman nodded, fearful of what John was going to say next. Lowering his eyes slightly to compose himself John took a breath before continuing, "I regret to inform you that your son, Sergeant Bradley Cole, has been killed in action."

Like a balloon deflating Mrs. Cole collapsed against the doorframe. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as, she moaned, "God, no."

John had no idea what to say. What do you say when someone has lost their only son? It wasn't right for a parent to out live their child.

Mrs. Cole collected herself, standing up straight again, and using a hand wipe at the tears in her eyes. "How did it happen?"

This was the part John hated the most, having to lie to the families of the men and woman who had died in the Pegasus Galaxy. He hated being unable to tell them anything about what their loved ones had been doing. "Your son was helping to escort a prisoner when the prisoner managed to escape and arm himself, Sgt. Cole was killed when attempting to re-apprehend the prisoner. I'm afraid I can't give you anything more specific because the project your son was working on is classified."

"Were you able to catch the man who killed my son?"

"Yes ma'am." He'd managed to get away again, but John didn't think the woman in front of him needed to know that.

"Then his death wasn't meaningless at least." Tears began to fill her eyes again, as she leaned against the doorframe once again. John searched for some way to comfort the woman, and found none. So he stood still, at attention waiting for Mrs. Cole to say something.

Once again, Mrs. Cole collected herself, "Oh, where are my manors? Please come in." She stepped back letting John into the house.

John was shown into a small living room. Over the fireplace was a picture of Mrs. Cole and her son. Mrs. Cole was standing in front of her house, her son dressed in a graduation gown, with his cap resting crookedly on his head stood behind her, his arms wrapped lovingly around her shoulders.

"His high school graduation." Mrs. Cole said proudly. "He almost didn't make it, but my Bradley was nothing if not stubborn." Her gaze next fell on a picture of her son as a young boy, while she continued to tell John about her son.

John listened silently to story after story as Mrs. Cole told him about the kind of child Sgt. Cole had been growing up. The sun was setting by the time John left the house. As he walked back down the walkway he observed the slanting sunlight across the low hills, and the long shadows thrown by the trees.

John had spent almost the whole day listening to Mrs. Cole, hearing about her son's honors, deeds, and little incidents. It made him feel like he knew Bradley Cole a little better; it also made him feel guilty that he hadn't taken time to hear those stories from Cole himself.

He felt the darkness of duty close in on him. The duty had been sad, and it weighted heavily on him. John took one last look at the last rays of sunlight disappearing behind the hills praying that this sad duty was one he'd never have to do again, but knowing that as long as the Wraith were around there would be several more deaths to inform families of.