Colonel Jack O'Neill stood at attention, a straight and solid, if a bit ropey and lean, presence next to the boy. They looked down into the matching rectangles of emptiness in front of them, the plots having been dug out to house the coffins being carried over and placed on the machine that would lower them into the ground.
Loran didn't quite understand the ceremony that was taking place, though he knew the intent of it. Burying your dead was a nearly uniform concept across the galaxy when the dead had been living on a planet with scavengers. It was simply the spiritual and ceremonial side of the process that differed.
He liked different. He was still young enough overall to adapt and leave that bubble of comfort that true adults often found themselves stuck in. This was how things were supposed to have happened in the first place, except it isn't at all how things were supposed to have happened.
Jack's hand flexed slightly as if to not just remind Loren that he was there, but to remind himself that he was there. No child of any age should ever have to bury his parents twice over, especially not when surrounded by strangers who didn't know the lives behind the bones they were burying. Especially not when the first time they were laid to rest it was by his hands alone in what was likely a very personal and private farewell.
Giving the shoulder the slightest continued squeeze to remind Loran that he was there even as everyone else trickled away, Jack imagined a small boy using his cupped hands to make enough of a hole to fit their bodies before filling it back up again. He watched dirt being tossed into a hole, but suddenly the image wasn't of Loran burying his parents, but the dirt falling onto a casket in another cemetery with another, smaller, boy staring emptily at the pair of graves being filled in.
Dry heat burned his throat as Jack inhaled a raggedy breath and exhaled the heat that was threatening to build behind his eyes. He wondered when funerals started reminding him of Daniel instead of Charlie, and he hoped Charlie wouldn't think it was because he'd traded one child to raise for another.
Loran gave a glance up at Jack. It wasn't nearly as much 'up' as it had been six months ago when they first returned with him. Now Loran was starting to catch up to his actual age, at least physically. Proper nutrition had done wonders for him both physically and mentally. In some ways, it was a relief that bureaucratic paperwork delayed bringing back the remains of Loran's parents because it gave the kid time to settle in with the family that took him in and with Earth in general. He was finally able to process his grief thanks to the shrink that was helping him to understand and at the same time Jack was able to study the situation from the angle of a fatherless child instead of a childless father. He hated that he couldn't separate this funeral from the one Daniel had to suffer through and plastered a hint of a smile onto his face that he hoped read 'It'll all be okay.'
There was a faint tug at his hand and Jack realized that Loran was grabbing his hand to give it a squeeze in return to the one on his shoulder. After a moment, Loran let his grasp on Jack loosen and fall away and instead he put a hand up in a fairly good salute. Jack returned it
"I'm being homeschooled." Jack knew that, but gave him an interested look in a silent motion to continue. "And then I can go to a university. And if I decide to go into the military, I can become an officer. I think I want to join your Stargate program. I want to find kids and save them."
Jack glanced away a moment as the words brought into stark contrast the duality of his command. On one hand, he was fairly sure he had no business trying to save the world and pretending to be in charge of the trio of people who did the actual work. On another hand, this was a job. It was just a job you couldn't walk away from once you were privy to the inside world. He exhaled a little and just hoped the fine line he was trying to walk wasn't going to someday actually get them all killed or exiled. He brought his attention back to Loran's decree.
"There are lots of kids on this planet that can use some saving," Jack pointed out. He felt a flush of shame admitting to the flaws of his planet's occupants. Loran didn't seem to dig that far, or he accepted it with the same resilience he accepted everything about his new planet of residence.
"Maybe," Loran thought, looking away from Jack and instead at the nearly filled in plots.
In silence they watched the dirt trickle and fall from the machine's open maw. Loran liked this funeral far better than the one he'd been able to give them so long ago.
"Let's get outta here. Your foster parents are waiting at their car and now's when we have a party and some food and celebrate their lives. And yes, before you ask, we will have ice cream."
Loran turned with him, Jack's hand once again on his shoulder. Jack didn't look back even when Loran did. Across the way he saw Daniel and Sam standing outside the open front passenger door, looking like they were in debate. Jack knew it was a continuation of their earlier debate of which of them were the first to call dibs on the front seat. Teal'c simply sat in the back and waited patiently. His attention went from his team to the kid again.
"None of these people knew them. Why did they come to say goodbye?"
Oh. Jack should have felt that question coming. It still took him by surprise a little. "Because they may not have known your parents, but they know you. And sometimes we like to say goodbye to the people who helped shape our friends into who and what they are now."
Loran thought about it a moment and a bit of a smile crept up along his mouth, tugging the edges upward a little in a wry expression.
"I like that. I'm glad you brought me back here and didn't leave me alone again."
Jack gave him one more shoulder squeeze and was glad for his sunglasses that hid the depths of his emotions that being in a cemetery burrowed out. It was things like this that reminded him that while saving the universe on a regular basis might be his primary job, the second most important thing he had to do was to save every person in it.
"Of course we brought you back," Jack said as he turned to head back to his team and let Loran head back to his foster family. "We never leave a man behind."
THE END! Thanks for reading. Sorry I missed that I didn't update the last few chapters and it took so long to realize it. I'm nearly finished with the episode ABYSS and if you have any ideas of what episodes to do next, let me know! As always, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy!