Spoilers for Redemption Part II
Earth is in danger, and Teal'c and Bra'tac are about to go off to try to save it when Teal'c is stopped by his son at his side, "I'm coming with you. If the Goa'uld truly can be defeated, then I wish to be a part of it. You said I could not judge this war if I am yet to fight a battle. Then let me fight."
Teal'c is torn. On Chulak, Rya'c was old enough to prove himself. But on Earth, he would still be considered a child.
And he liked the way of raising children on Earth. The way that you took so much care, and that you protected them more. He does not want his son to fight, ever. And he especially does not want his son to start fighting when he is only sixteen years old.
"You said you did not doubt me," Rya'c says, offended.
"I do not," Teal'c assures him.
"Then I will join you," the boy says, insecure.
And Teal'c knows that Shelby will probably kill him for this. But he also knows that if he doesn't do this, his relationship with his son is going to be hurt forever. His son is old enough to be a warrior, and part of love is doing what is best for another person, even when it rips you apart.
Teal'c hasn't seen his son do much fighting, so he isn't actually sure that is son is ready. He looks at the one who has taught them both, who gives a nod.
He is going with his son into battle.
-0-0-0-
Teal'c watches his son in the ship. He is still a child. Well, not a child, but that thing that the people of Earth call teenagers. It's not something that the people of Chulak recognize. Where he is from, you are a child, and then you are a man.
But his son is really no older than Cassie is. He just seems like it, because he spends so much of his time preparing for war, and doing the work of men. If he lived on Earth, he would spend his time chatting on the telephone, and listening to the kind of music that made his symbiote swim within his belly.
And maybe his son deserved all of those things.
He motions for his son to come to the edge of the spaceship with him, and says, "Ryac. You are to remain on board with Shaq'rel."
"Why?" he son asks, in a voice that has a sight bit of a whine to it. He is sounding more and more like a human teenager.
"One day, you will be a great warrior. This day, the danger is too great," he assures his son.
"I am prepared to die," the child says, puffing out his chest at the words that children start to say before they even understand what it means.
Teal'c smiles, and touches his son's cheek, "I am not prepared for you to die."
But then, the best laid plans are ruined, and an attack on the ship makes it no safer than the planet outside.
-0-0-0-
Rya'c's heart is beating quickly. He never felt like this in training. They had warned him of it, of course. They had explained about panic can overtake your mind, your training, your calm. They had explained to him how you had to have complete control over your emotions. That is what the years of meditation and training were all about.
Rya'c never had that much control, and that is why Bra'tac had not allowed him to go on his first mission, to become a man, yet.
And now, with his emotions still raw from his mother's death, he has even less control that usual.
Perhaps he should run back to the ship for help.
No, he is not a coward. He must find a way to save his father. A glider flies overhead. Yes, that is how he will save them.
-0-0-0-
Usually only "essential staff" are allowed in the control room. But when Shelby sneaks in and lodges herself in a corner, no-one objects.
Because the world was almost destroyed, but the danger is over now, and they have her husband and step-son to thank for it.
The least they could do was allow her to see the homecoming.
As soon as the gate opens, she runs down the steps to the gate room.
"So I hear you're an ace in the cockpit," she teases the teenager. He's grown up a lot since the last time that she saw him. It was only a few months ago, but his teenage growth spirt seemed to have happened in those months. More importantly, he had seen death, and saved lives. He had gone to battle, and become a man by the customs of his people.
"Master Bra'tac taught me well. I hope to be as good as my father one day," the boy-man says, with obvious pride on his face.
"Oh, honey, nobody is that good," she teases him.
"It also helps to be lucky," Ry'ac says.
"No kidding! I'm really excited to show you where we live. I picked up some computer games where you can pretend to be a warrior."
"Why would I pretend, when I am a warrior in truth?" he asks.
Shelby smiles, "Well, it's not as if there are going to be a whole lot of battles to fight in our safe little neighborhood in Colorado Springs."
"Ry'ac has chosen to help Bra'tac spread the word of our cause," Teal'c replies, putting a hand around his son in pride.
"No," Shelby says shaking her head, "His mother is dead."
"Maybe you shouldn't bring that up just now," Jack says awkwardly from the sidelines.
"You are his father, Teal'c. He's going to come live with us," she says in stunned speech.
"He is a man, a warrior," Teal'c replies, looking at his wife confused.
"He's sixteen, you can't just let him go off on his own!" she shouts.
"He's not on his own, he will be with me," Bra'tec replies offended.
"I know, Bra'tec, and there is no-one I trust more than you. And if Teal'c and I were both to die, I would want you to look after Rya'c. But the fact is, we're still alive. We don't need someone else to take care of the boy, because we are here to do it."
"I do not need anyone to care for me," Ry'ac says.
"Really?" Shelby says, spinning toward him, "Do you know how to do laundry, or cook yourself a meal?"
"That is women's work; I shall get a wife to do those things for me," Rya'c replies.
"A wife? Teal'c, your child is talking about getting married!" she exclaims, turning to her husband with the first 'wait until your father gets home' expression she's ever used.
"I would prefer it if you hired a domestic servant, and put off the finding of a wife until you had reached at least your twenty-fifth year," Teal'c replies.
"You married Shelby before she was twenty-five," Ry'ac pouts.
"Humans live for a shorter time than Jaffa. It was a necessity, in our case."
"And I was twenty-one, which is a whole lot different than sixteen."
"You had never been to war," the boy says.
"No?" she spats, "What the hell do you call fighting rats off your food? What do you think it's like living on the streets? A picnic? I have been taking care of myself and others ever since I could walk. And I could cook my own food and pay my own bills long before I met your father."
The boy rolls his eyes, "You've never been to war, you couldn't even defend yourself from the man who hit and raped you. You are no warrior, that is for sure," he says.
Shelby's eyes flash with fury, but she has more emotional control than the Jaffa teenager, "Teal'c, if I stay here, I am going to say something I'll regret. I'm going to go pick up the kids from school, and we're going to go to the park or the library or something. I'll expect to see you and your son at home by five o'clock," she says, spinning out of the room.
The gate room is silent after the outburst.
"Father, you're not going to make me live with her are you?" Rya'c says with disdain.
"Show respect to your stepmother," Teal'c scolds.
Rya'c nods his head, looking remorseful.
Teal'c considers in the silence.
He puts a hand on his son's shoulder, "My son, go and grow strong among your people. But visit your father often."
"I will guard your son like a treasure," Bra'tac says, pulling his former student in the cross between a handshake and hug that they have.
Teal'c nods his head. But he doesn't really believe it. He is sure now that no Jaffa can love as a human. Fiercely, with no sybiote to calm you. Or to give up the things you need, sleep, showers, free time, personal space, and extra money in order to care for a child.
Jaffa's lives don't change much when they bring children into the world.
-0-0-0-
It's a quarter after five when Shelby returns with two excited little girls chanting about their new big brother and smelling like fast food fries.
Shelby's against fast food on principle, and never ate the stuff before her reluctant motherhood. But now, when she's tired or worried, and the kids start to whine, she caves and lets them have the starchy treats.
The house seems empty. Ry'ac is probably pouting.
She wonders if the room is right. When they'd moved out of the apartment, they'd gotten a rather big house. It had seemed odd to her, coming from poverty. But she'd needed it, and they'd had the money.
So now there were three bedrooms upstairs, and two downstairs. She and Teal'c shared the room next to the one the twins would have. Becky took the room across the hall, and Tammy, nearly a teenager, elected to sleep on a different floor.
Ever since they'd moved in, the room next to Tammy's had been ready for Rya'c. Not to live in, exactly; she hadn't predicted his mother's death. But she had been expecting that he'd come and stay weekends, or a month perhaps, at some time in the future.
But maybe the room was all wrong. She'd put in a comfortable bed, and a colorful comforter, but perhaps she should have chosen animal hides instead. She'd gotten a desk and a dresser for a boy who came from a culture fond neither of furniture or multiple changes in clothing.
Perhaps she'd miscalculated. Perhaps that room would only make him hate her more. Perhaps he'd say something as nasty as what he said to her to one of her little sisters.
Perhaps Teal'c was right, and this whole thing was a mistake.
But she knew that wasn't true. Rya'c was family, and you took care of family.
"I'm home," she calls down the stairs, and then across the house.
She receives no answer, so she looks in the downstairs rooms, which are empty. And then she goes into her own bedroom to find her husband meditating on the floor.
"Where is our brother?" Becky asks.
"In the camp of the rebel Jaffa," Teal'c replies.
"He's not coming?" Tammy says with disappointment in her voice, completely forgetting that she hadn't been too excited about this new sibling.
Shelby glares at her husband.
"He chose his own life," Teal'c says calmly.
"No, his father abandoned him," Shelby says. "Girls, can you go to your rooms?"
Tammy knows that tone of voice. She heard it once before when, when her sister left home. She walks over, and takes Teal'c's hand in hers.
Shelby looks at her sister with grief and anger in her voice. "Now."
"No," Becky Lynn says. It's the first time the obedient girl has ever been willfully disobedient. At least, when she's not tired or hungry.
"Go to your rooms, and pack," Shelby says with a dangerous edge in her voice.
"What?" the girls say.
"Now," she says, finally getting obedience from the girls.
"Are we going on vacation?" Teal'c asks.
"No, we're either moving to the rebel Jaffa camp, or the girls and I are going to be moving out."
"I do not understand."
"You left your son! He's a child, and you're abandoning him! It was bad enough when his mother was taking care of him. But now he's alone; you left your kid alone!" she says with the power, but not volume, of a yell.
"How does your leaving me, with our children, rectify this wrong?"
"Our babies," she says touching our stomach, "Haven't met you yet, and those girls are still pretty young. If I leave you now, it's better than if you leave us later."
"I am not going to leave you," he says, hugging her.
Shelby pulls away from him. "No, I have had too much leaving. I can't get left again."
"I will not leave you," he says, taking her chin in his hand. "I will retrieve Rya'c tomorrow."
"Do you think that's best for Rya'c?" Shelby asks a little nervously. She was so sure that she was right, a little bit ago. But Teal'c is better at the parenthood thing, and she doesn't want to mess the kid up.
Teal'c looks at her, "Sometimes I look at him, and see the man that Jaffa society says he is. Other times, I see the boy that Earth society says he is. I saw my son in battle. He is good at it. But I do not want him to fight."
"He's going to hate being here," she says.
"He needs family. Grief needs family."
The two of them rest their heads against one another in a moment of silent meditation.