~#~ (Chapter 12)

During his time at the SGC the young Colonel Mitchell had tried his best to emulate Jack O'Neill but in the back of his mind he knew that in the future, when people looked back on the history of SG-1, that Colonel O'Neill would be the remembered as the leader of the team. Oh, how Mitchell wished that one day the honour could be bestowed on him but somehow he doubted that it would ever happen. If the current situation didn't improve then the young airman had the horrible feeling that Cameron Mitchell would go down in history as the man who took over SG-1 and then lost half of them to some unknown portion of space, somewhere across the galaxy.

~#~

If Cameron Mitchell underestimated only one thing in his life then it was safe to say that thing would have been the strength of the parental feelings that Jack O'Neill still held for his former team-mates and the effect that their loss would have on the General.

Mitchell had never before found himself on the opposing side to the General and was unsure as to what to expect when the older man finally caught up with him. The younger man had successfully avoided the rumours about Jack's reaction to the news that Sam and Daniel were missing but everyone - Mitchell included - knew that Jack had jumped on the first available flight out of Washington.

Whatever the rumours, Jack was going to be upset with him for failing to protect his team and the young man was dreading arrival of his predecessor.

~#~

Mitchell remained oblivious to the fact that General O'Neill was in fact already inside the mountain and the young man carefully deposited his cup in the appropriate spot before leaving the commissary and heading towards the briefing room.

He entered the room just like he'd done countless times before but mere moments after stepping across the threshold, and most unlike his usual quiet entry to a meeting, he found himself hauled across the room by 185 pounds of pure and unadulterated, rage.

The young man began to seriously doubt himself when he realised that a man more than twenty years his senior had equivalently caught him off-guard and now had him pinned by his neck against the observation window. Mitchell was unsure of how best to extricate himself from the predicament that he now found himself in - he couldn't very well strike out at a General but he couldn't allow himself to be suffocated either.

Jack was, by this point, right up in Mitchell's face and was very effectively stopping the younger man from sucking any air down into his lungs. The first tendrils of panic that were nibbling at the young man's mind were quickly exhausting what little air he still had available to him and he was starting to get very worried about his immediate well-being. Just what was General O'Neill planning? Surely he'd let Mitchell go…wouldn't he? And where the hell were security when you needed them?

Spots began to appear in Mitchell's vision and morbid thoughts started running through his mind; surely this wasn't how he, Cameron Frank Mitchell, would come to meet his maker? Not after all he'd gone through. Not here. Not like this.

~#~

Salvation, for Mitchell, came from a most unexpected source.

"Well, well. What do we have here? Roughhousing? I thought the gym was the proper place for that. I didn't realise it was allowed elsewhere on the base, someone should have told me. I'd like to point out that you two just aren't entering into the spirit of things properly. Neither of you are properly dressed, there's nowhere near enough skin showing and I'll have you know that's the only thing that makes it fun as a spectator sport. General O'Neill…at least I assume you're General O'Neill; I think you've won this round. I think maybe you should let Colonel Mitchell down now, he's starting to look most uncomfortable."

Vala hadn't heard Teal'c enter the room and the young woman jumped when he appeared beside her. "I concur with ValaMalDoran. It appears that blue is not a good colour on ColonelMitchell and I believe it to be imperative that you release him immediately."

With an angry growl Jack released his choke hold on the young Colonel and, after ensuring that Mitchell was safely planted on his own two feet, let go completely. The older man smoothed out the front of the Colonel's now very rumpled shirt, then turned around, grabbed a chair and sat down heavily.

He squeezed his eyes with the forefinger and thumb of his right hand, before dropping his head so his hand covered both his eyes. He knew he'd overdone it by flying at Mitchell but when the young man had stepped through the door something inside Jack had just snapped. He stayed in that position and brooded silently with his eyes hidden in his hand. A heavy silence filled the room as Teal'c, Vala and Mitchell kept shooting worried glances at Jack. Soon they all followed Jack's lead and took their usual seats at the table with Mitchell still breathing a little harshly as the adrenalin started to leave his system.

Luckily for all concerned Landry picked that moment to enter the room. He obviously picked up on the tension around the table but chose not to mention it. Hank was sensible like that - he wasn't made a General for nothing.