Well, there is that thing about Jackson not always waiting--the man'll tell you he's methodical and rational, and Cam knows that's a load. Jackson's as rash as Cam knows he is himself, but Jackson'll tell you every reason he has for jumping off a cliff. Cam'll just do it. But once Cam thought this over a few times--and after that whole thing with Jackson having to stick his head in that brain-scrambling Ancient peep show to get a device they aren't even sure worked--he knows he could not have given the orders for the man to do that. No--that one was too close to having him gone. Which got him thinking about the years Jackson was going through the 'gate with O'Neill. Sure, the responsibility falls on the guy in charge. But having a guy who takes part of it on himself, who won't let you be responsible for him--either it's some kind of blessing, or the worse curse there is. And he knows now how O'Neill must have felt--some days you want to thank the guy; other days you'd settle for locking him up in irons. There's no way in hell you can do either because you need him, but you just can't encourage him to keep it up even though he always will.

Then there's Vala. Godalmighty, what he wouldn't give for a zat in his hand some mornings. He didn't ask for the woman on his team, and lord does he regret he ever listened to Jackson on that one. But every time he thinks about ripping that patch off her arm and shoving her into the nearest open wormhole--or just into a cell for a few hours of quiet--he thinks about Jackson saying she might be the one with a key to this mess. She might get to that Ori daughter of hers. So, well, hell. At least he knows she manages to get even deeper under Jackson's skin.

And, of course, he could use some clearer lines of command with his team. Sam sort of reports to him--except on anything science, and isn't that like fifty percent of what they do. And Jackson--did the man ever act like he reported to anyone? Cam's never seen it show up, and even Jackson's reports from the early years read like a fine piece of work when the man's got a burr up his butt. Cam won't even go into how Vala fits into it since she doesn't. And Teal'c--man, maybe there was some respect for O'Neill, but Cam's got an idea that Teal'c's been training all of them with some sort of sly Jaffa-Jedi mind-control thing for years. He'd bitch about that more except Cam's smart enough to listen to a guy who's a hundred something; and he listens most when Teal'c ain't saying much. Which makes all of this a lot like flying--you just have to trust everyone in your squad knows what they're doing, and these folks do. So you read their moves, let them handle their part of it. Which means he doesn't miss his wings as much as he thought he would, so maybe it's not so bad.

However, one thing he could do with are a few less Priors. He had in the back of his head, SG-1 would finally be able to get back to more poking around like they used to. But he's never been one to back down from a fight and nothing chaps his hide more than this kind of zealot intolerance. He's a church going man--was raised that way--but he was also raised that respect and doing what the good book says means more than just readin' it. And his granny would have had a few things to say to these people, but since she's not around, he's gonna be sayin' it for her. On whatever end of a gun it takes to get the saying done, and, well, he'd be a hypocrite if he didn't add that he damn well does love the action.

But the only real thing he'd like to change, when it comes down to the fine print on the page, is that he thought he was going to get a chance to serve on this team under General O'Neill. 'Course he's still angling, and he'd like to find a way to it that doesn't put Jackson's head on the line, or his team at risk, or the entire freakin' world in the balance. Landry's a good man, but he's not a legend. And, yeah, maybe getting O'Neill back to the SGC is a dream, but a man needs a few things to have sitting on the horizon.