Status: Complete
Pairings: N/A
Category: One Shot
Genre: Character Study, Friendship
Rating: Teen
Summary: SG1 remembers the fallen and recognizes the living.
Size: 1,011 words
Warning: Minor original character death
Notes: Any Season before 7. Series is made of one shots.
Series/Sequels: Part of the 'Soldiers from the Other Side' Series.

Chapter Three: To You, I Will Always Return

Daniel sat on the lonely bench that sat in the middle of the large black marble room. It had been about a week since the President's visit to see the memorial that sat here in the SGC; a memorial that had been dedicated to him. His gaze landed on the smaller addition to the room that had been erected about a week after he had ascended to the higher planes.

Sam had told him the room had been built right before his 'death' and was scheduled to be unveiled the very week the mission to Kelowna had been scheduled. After he had left, no one felt to announce it to the staff of the SGC. Jack had told him it hadn't felt right.

So, the room had been left alone, only visited when the mason would come in and carve new names into the black marble stone that adorned the walls. Dust had been allowed to settle, the room chilling due to the ventilation in the base. The fire in the braziers had been allowed to flicker and die. Some people who had been brave enough to enter had felt like they were in a graveyard in the dead of night. None stayed for long.

But all that changed when he had returned. Immediately, the room had undergone a transformation as the general ordered the renovation of the memorial. Everything had been restored. The dust had been cleared, the marble cleaned and polished, so the gleaming memorial could once more shine underneath the now brightly burning fires in the cleaned braziers. The gold on the smaller memorial had been cleaned as well, the ruby blazing to its former glory. Each name had been individually cleaned and waxed as the restoration had continued. Where the room had once been left alone, people came to visit it, even if for a minute. Even though the ventilation was still going, the room now seemed warm and comforting, despite the many tears the angel saw in this room.

To Daniel, it felt like the people who had died and left were still here. He felt in his heart, they were never truly gone, just waiting for them to join them on the other side. It was a comforting thought in a way. He could still remember Sha're's smile as they laid down together on the cool nights on Abydos, Kawalsky's grin when he caught the expression on his face right after Sha're had kissed him senseless, Elliot's nervousness as they waited for the Stargate to finish dialing to the Tok'ra home base, Robert's glee as they uncovered a new artifact on an off-world dig.

"I knew I would find you here." Jack walked into the room, wearing his civilian clothe. "About to head home?"

"Yeah." Daniel turned back to the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. "Just remembering the lives of the people we lost."

"I know. I tend to do that here too." Jack took a seat on the bench next to Daniel. After a small pause, he continued. "Kind of ironic that the week you went was the same week we were going to show this to you."

"Life sure has a sense of irony, huh?" Daniel couldn't take his eyes off the Angel that stood on the pedestal. "I was just wondering who came up with the plans for that one."

"I think it was one of your staff members. Sam had the mason do it in two weeks; kind of fast if you ask me. By the third week you were gone, they were already beginning to erect here." Jack said in a somber tone.

"I don't think I'm an Angel, Jack. No one's that perfect."

Jack leaned forward, dark eyes staring into Daniel's blue ones, both burning with an intensity Daniel had only seen a couple of times before; when the lives of his team were in danger. "But compared to all of us you are. You are more closer to . . . . that then any one on this planet or the universe for that matter. You have made a difference every time you stepped out there. Your conscience is more pure than the pope himself. You don't take lives. You try to find peace before picking up a gun and defending those who need protection, even if they don't deserve it. You'll throw yourself into the line of fire so some one else can live. Daniel, I'm telling you. You are one of a kind that is so rare on this earth that they are stuff of legend." Jack stopped his ranting, breathing heavily. He saw the look on Daniel's face. "What?"

Daniel gave a small smile. "You know, if I didn't know any better, I thought you were taken over by some alien parasite."

Jack gave a snort. "Very funny, Daniel."

"But it comforts me that you think of me that way." Daniel let his head drop back onto the bench. "I never really had a family after my parents died and my grandfather rejected me. Sure, I had houses to live in but they were never really a place I could call home. After a while in foster care, I learned to never really let myself care for someone. It was one of the major reasons why I broke up with Sarah. I could never allow myself to open up to her. Sure, she'd try to pry me open but every time she tried, I would clam up even tighter, building up more walls. Sha're really captured my heart. I let her in and a year later, I lost her to Apophis. Even though I never was able to save her, Jack, I gained a new family." Daniel looked at the old colonel, his blue eyes blazing with bright intensity and love. "I have you guys; my family." The words softly floated between them, warming Jack's heart.

He loped an arm around Daniel's neck, pulling the archeologist closer. "You got that right, Spacemonkey. You'll always have a family here, in SG-1. Heck, I think General Hammond sees you as a son." Jack looked directly in the blue eyes filled with tears. "And I do too. You're special to me, Daniel. If I lose you, I'll never be the same. So, don't you dare leave us, leave me."

"I won't, Jack. I plan on staying here for a long time." Daniel whispered back, a tear trailing down his cheek. "I'm home now and I'm back with my family. I will never forget. And though I was afraid, I don't think I ever truly forgot."

"You got that right. I would have dragged your ass, kicking and screaming back through that gate and down the ramp and into Janet's arms even you were afraid."

"Wouldn't she have been pissed off that I would have cuts and bruises from your man-handling?"

"I think she would forgive me."

Daniel snorted. "Yeah, right."

Laughing, Jack released the archeologist, the two easily sitting in the memorial room. "Daniel?"

"Yes, Jack?"

"You ever tell anyone about this conversation, I will have to kill you."

"What conversation?"

"Exactly."