Fanfiction Contest 2

[Nessa Elendil]

Write a piece of Stargate SG-1 fanfiction. Must be at least 500 words, be believeable for SG-1, and written for this contest.

Ends November 30, 2007.

[Lee O'Neill]

600 words even, not counting the title.

Time Flies

Jack O'Neill gazed at the photographs on the mantle for the first time since Lee came into his life. He had seen them many times before, but he had never taken them in fully until now. They were pictures of his daughter that she had with her before coming through that mirror. From a small child playing with the dog to the now 23-year-old Major in the US Air Force and heading off to Atlantis in a few days. It wrung his heart to know she probably wouldn't come home.

His fingers traced the silver frame of a photograph of a five-year-old Lee O'Neill, dressed in olive jeans and a black shirt, playing with a Shiba Inu in a large yard. It was nearly impossible to imagine that the girl had grown into a strong-wiled, (usually) level-headed soldier.

"Dad."

The voice made Jack jump slightly as Lee stepped into the room with her pack over her shoulder. She looked ready to leave at the drop of a hat. Jack sucked in his breath and forced himself to smile as he embraced her.

"Ready?" he asked, looking down into the face that blended him and Samantha Carter. Jack was noticing things he probably should have before; the slightly-rounded almond shape to Lee's blue eyes, the pale scattering of freckles across her cheeks and nose, the scar across her forehead.

"As ever." Lee offered him a smile.

"Contact Prometheus when you arrive," he said, feeling like he was sending her to her grandparents for a weekend rather than to a completely different galaxy. "Do you know anyone else?"

"Aiden Ford," she said without hesitation. "He and I had a few training sessions together. He's a bit analytical, but he's good."

'In what?' Jack thought but brushed it off; Lee wouldn't make that kind of innuendo.

Or would she? "He's not bad in combat either."

"Lee Elizabeth O'Neill, don't pull that on me," Jack said pseudo-sternly. The effect was broken by the wide grin on his face.

A horn sounded outside, and Lee readjusted the back over her shoulder. "That'd be Aiden. He said he was gonna pick me up. Yes, I call him by his first name," she replied to her father's incredulous look. "I won't do it in Atlantis."

"I don't care if you do." Jack kissed her forehead. "I'm proud of you, Lee. Y'know that?"

"I know." Lee dropped her gaze and traced her toe on the wood floor, making little squeaking sounds. The silence that fell between them was broken only by the dull thrum of music from the vehicle waiting for her outside the front door.

"I love you, Daddy." The words spilled from Lee's mouth, sounding more like a child than a soldier. She seemed to shrink before her father's eyes.

Jack drew her into his arms and held her. His throat worked around the mass that had suddenly appeared. "I love you too, kiddo." He kissed the top of her head and paused there for a minute. "See ya when you get back."

"I'm not comin-"

"There's always a way back." He released her and picked up her bag, which had fallen to the floor. "Behave yourself."

"Yes, sir."

"Don't talk to strangers."

"Yes, sir."

"Don't let McKay cook."

"Yes, sir!" she laughed as she claimed her backpack from him. "Bye, Dad."

He followed her to the door and watched her greet Aiden Ford with a soft kiss on the cheek. "I said behave, Lee!"

"I am!" she called as she got into the truck.

Jack O'Neill waved until his daughter was out of sight.