This is a revised chapter, with a few elements changed.

No doubt at least a few of you wondered why I gave the ability to pierce a human body as a bullet to the fireflies. As explained in my response to Musings-of-Apathy's review I'm taking a stand that the fireflies never created any visible injuries to people (like, entry and exit holes, blood,...) because if they had done that would've dramatically upped the rating of the episode, thus it not being permitted to be aired during prime time, and thus eliminating the reason for the ep even having been filmed. As far as I remember I never saw any realistic injuries on the show (bullet holes, ugly burns, blood, gore, severed limbs,...) because that would automatically up the rating of the show and narrow the audience, which would be in direct construct to what the producers wanted and the no-injuries-from-fireflies-visible for the same reason. Therefore I decided to make them more realistic, that's why the firefly acted as a bullet and that's why the blood. As for why they were turned to ashes it will be revealed in this chapter.

I was never at the funeral of a US military member, what I know of it is from movies and the net, so please excuse the errors. The flyover thing that I wrote differently than it normally looks like it's that way because I wanted it, it's not an unintentional mistake.

Thanks to Yasmine Lupin, Eternal Density and Musings-of-Apathy for their reviews and I hope to get more for this chapter.

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SEVERAL DAYS LATER

ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

"... Many of you probably wonder why they're buried this way, seeing as they weren't married and weren't even dating. The whole arrangement makes weird the single fact that they'd known each other for only a few hours before they'd died." said Daniel 30 minutes into his eulogy, which while it was moving and heartfelt, it was still long.

Perhaps he wanted to say goodbye to his old friend by recreating one of his briefings, the ones Jack had always dreaded... Or he just liked the sound of his own voice, or he just wanted to put off the final farewell for a while longer. No-one knew the answer, not even the man himself. They had no priest to do his thing at a funeral because Daniel was sure that Jack would've haunted his ass for years had they had one and no-one had any clue as to Jennifer's religious preferences as nothing stood in her personal file about them.

Being talked about when you're dead is bad enough, but to have a person who until a few days ago didn't even know you existed, much less knew you, talking about you as if they had been your best friend just takes the cake. And cookies. And milk. And the whole damn cutlery. As Jack had never gone to Church, nor knew any priest, no priest had known Jack O'Neill and definitely not enough to give a genuine speech about him.

"I'm sad to admit I didn't know Jennifer Hailey until that faithful day. Neither did Jack. As it happens so many times, Fates had brought these two people together only for them to die together. It makes a person wonder why we're actually here, what our purpose is. Is our purpose of life the way we live, things we do in our lives, the people who's lives we touch? Or is it the way we die? Is life our purpose or is it death? We will never know the answer as we won't know the purpose to Jack and Jennifer's lives. Perhaps they really had been born to die in each other's arms. Neither Jack nor Jennifer had any living blood-family, because it turns out they were both children of the system. You know, I never knew that about Jack. We were best friends for 5 years and I never knew that. But no matter how they lived, or what their purpose was, they died together, in each other's arm."

He looked down at the single plot his best friend was sharing with the practically-unknown Cadet at Arlington National Cemetery. It had raised quite a few eyebrows when he'd come up and then stubbornly insisted on these arrangements and it had also taken strings pulling to have two unmarried people buried in the same plot. There had been no problem with getting a plot for Jack. The man had after all been a hero, a Colonel with 25 years of service under his belt, a distinguished career, a barn full of medals. No, the problem had been having them buried together.

But it couldn't have been helped, after all, after the inferno had ended there had been impossible to say who was who, for only lumps of dark, faceless ashes had been left behind. Dividing those ashes and whimsically claiming that that pile had been Jack and the other Jennifer would've amounted to defilement in anyone's eyes and Daniel would've never allowed that to be done to his best friend, nor to the young woman he had not had a chance to get to know. Because of that they'd been buried in a single large urn in a single plot.

Daniel sent a brief glance at Sam, still in the dark as to why she'd fought him, wanting Jack to be buried by himself.

In the end, two white crosses bearing the names of the deceased marked the resting places of a seasoned warrior and of a scientist who's life had not yet even begun before it had been cut short.

"May they find the peace in their eternity together that they didn't in this life."

On this cue, Taps sounded from a lone bugler, standing on a rise about 150 feet away, and the honor guard began folding the flags.

The flags were folded one after another and the leader of the honor guard presented the first one to Daniel, in absence of Jack's ex-wife who had re-married 2 years ago and was now living somewhere in Europe.

Jack had revised his Will a few years back, taking Sara out of it since she had received half of their possessions in the divorce and after that regular payments of alimony, half of his paycheck, until she'd remarried after which she was no longer entitled to it by law. He had thus left a few things to each member of SG-1, with the main benefficiary being Cassie Fraiser, who'd been crying her eyes out ever since she'd heard the news of his demise and was now standing in the first row, still crying. The man had been like a father to her, which is why she had secretly wanted him to become her father for real by marrying her new mother, Janet. And now she'd lost yet another father and her world had shattered again. Janet had tears running down her cheeks as well, over the years she had come to silently love the Colonel, but had never done anything out of respect for her best friend Sam. Now, standing over his grave, she dearly regretted years of wasting every chance she had. She felt a comforting hand on her shoulder and looked back at Teal'c who was honoring the warrior's code and looking after his fallen brother's family. He had a tough time of it, since Jack had no official family, yet was a father to a young girl and two different women had held torches for him. Who should get priority? The mother of the girl who'd been like a daughter to Jack or the woman who had never allowed him to be more than just a CO to her? Life of the Jaffa was simply put complicated.

Daniel took the flag together with Jack's pilot wings and only half listened to the leader of the honor guard.

"As a representative of the United States Air Force, it is my high privilege to present you this flag. Let it be a symbol of the grateful appreciation this nation feels for the distinguished service rendered to our country and our flag by your loved one."

He felt Sam's fiery gaze burn a hole through his head as he accepted the flag, she believed she was supposed to get it, she was the one for whom Jack had had feelings for and she was the one who had had still-undefined unwanted feelings for the man. But Sam still had a career before her and Daniel knew that bringing to light this convulted mess of feelings by having her get the flag would just endanger it. It was better this way.

The second flag was presented to Jennifer's roommate at the Academy, a young girl who couldn't stop the tears that had been drenching her pale cheeks in torrents for the entire ceremony, and was thus one of the few still emotionally correctly-functional people at the funeral, not yet twisted by the military society's view on emotions. Her boyfriend was holding her slim, shaking frame tightly in his arms, offering her whatever support and comfort he could.

The honor guard then moved away in preparation for their gun salute.

Keeping as still as a statue, not letting any feelings show, Sam still jumped at every volley from the 7 rifles, no matter how used she was to the sound of weapon fire. She still hadn't forgiven Daniel for not having conceded to Jack being buried alone, preferrably in Colorado Springs. That way, when she died, she could be buried next to or near him. She had not taken into consideration the fact that, had he not died, she had not loved him enough to wait for a few years till they could be together, but would, impatient as she was, abandon him and look for someone else instead. Even before Jack had died, Sam's eyes, body and hormones had lost interest in Jack and focused on every guest star of the week, be it alien or human. Thus, there was no way she and Jack would've spent the eternity resting together.

Just as the honor guard took the weapons from their shoulders a low rumbling could be heard in the distance.

As the group of planes approached the assembled mourners were surprised at the size of it.

It seemed like a whole Squadron had turned up. Most of the planes were F-15 Eagles, US military's best active service airplane, that only the best of the best are allowed to fly, followed by F-16 Falcons (also called Lawn Darts) and even a few F-117 Nighthawks, who reminded them all that most of Jack's career had been like these planes, stealthy and enshrouded in secrecy. The group of 25 planes did a low-level flyover and, when people looked closely, they could clearly see the conspicuous large spot, where the missing man was missing.

Unaware of the superstition that it's bad luck to look at the formation, Daniel's eyes had observed the huge group of planes as they'd kept on coming and a shiver had run down his body when he saw the empty spot in the formation, instinctivelly knowing that was for Jack. He wasn't alone. Most of the congregation couldn't help themselves and watched the group fly over their heads. When burying a former air-crew it's usually just the four-man formation that does a flyover, a larger group turns up only when someone truly respected had died and Jack HAD been respected.

Until then Daniel, Teal'c and Sam had had no idea just how well known and respected Jack had been among the Spec Ops and pilot community, but this demonstration of respect had clued them in. These were all the men Jack had flown with, had worked with, had painted targets with hand-held laser designators to bomb for, men Jack had rescued after they'd been shot down over Iraq,... and they'd now come to pay their respect and say a final farewell to a man they would never forget.

Still shaken from the sight the group of officers, enlisted and civilians alike broke up and a line was formed as they paid their respects to the dead.

The rest of SG-1, together with Janet and Cassie, stayed behind, a group, yet each alone in their grief, for with the exception of Janet and Cassie who had each other. Others didn't know how to turn to someone else for comfort.

The future looked dark and scary and they didn't know how they would carry on.

Jack was gone forever and without one of it's vital members SG-1 was no more.

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