Five Things Cameron Would Change About SG-1, by Teand (PG-13)

[sg-fignewton.livejournal.com]

Rec Category: Cameron Mitchell

Pairing: none
Categories: Cameron Mitchell, character study, gen, team
Warnings: none
Author on LJ: teand
Author's Website: Links to fics in memories
Link: Five Things Cameron Would Change About SG-1

Why This Must Be Read: Teand gives us a marvelous character study for not only Mitchell, but all of SG-1.

We get to see Mitchell considering each of his teammates in turn, reflecting on how so much better it would be, for a variety of reasons, to take them off the team. But then… Then he thinks again, and recognizes why Sam, and Daniel, and Teal’c, and even Vala have to stay exactly where they are.

There’s humor and wistfulness and a little pathos, and the last one on the list sums up the whole thing beautifully – not only for SG-1, but also for Cameron Mitchell. Read this one and smile.

Dr. Daniel Jackson was a pain in the ass. He had the arrogance of the over educated and it drove Cam up the wall how inflexible he could be when he thought he was right. Okay, he was right more often than he was wrong but that wasn't the point. The point was, once the good doctor got an idea in his head it practically took an act of god to get it out – although they were kind of running out of actual gods. And the whole curiosity killed the cat thing? Oh, Daniel was the epitome of that!

And after ten years, Daniel had the running and the shooting and the strategy and the tactics pretty much down but the whole following orders thing, not so much.

If he could change anything about SG-1, he'd put Daniel Jackson behind a desk and... there'd be no one to make one of those last minute lateral moves that kept them all breathing. Daniel might not run through his lives quite so quickly but the rest of them, well, fairly toasted. And without Daniel, who'd make the 'we come in peace' speech? In spite of ten years of betrayals, and ambushes, and pitched battles more often than not, Daniel could still say the words with a straight face and make people believe them -- because he did. And who'd trade his vanilla cream cookies for those raspberry chocolate things?

Fine. When it came right down to it, he admired the way Daniel had maintained his faith in humanity in spite of everything. If SG-1 was a weapon, Daniel was the safety and Cam could cope with a few arguments if it meant they took the time to consider both sides of an issue. He wouldn't change a thing about Daniel.