SERIES/UNIVERSE: SG-7
DISCLAIMERS: M7 characters belong to Trilogy, et al, SG-1 characters belong to Gekko, MGM, and Showtime. Adriana is mine ... don't mind if you borrow her, just ask first, give her back intact and give credit where credit is due. Mindy belongs to herself and my neighbors, though she still thinks my family and I belong to her.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is lovingly dedicated, in the words of Billy Ray Cyrus, to 'all who gave some, and some gave all.' To the United States military, past, present and future. To their wives and their children, who served without wearing the uniform.
Well, the boys came through for me. I won't apologize if this is on the smarmy side. It's not always easy for me to express how much I love this country, so if the boys act a wee bit out of character, that's why.
It was the perfect day for America's celebration.
It would be a blazing hot July day, with the intense blue sky of summer. It reminded him of his childhood in Texas, before his ma died. It wasn't Texas, though it might have been. Up in the Panhandle, where he spent so much of his life, it was this flat. Flatter than a felt-covered poker table. But this was Indiana, not Texas. And this would be the first Independence Day he had spent with the entire extended family.
At night, it would cool down, but he figured they would still need the air conditioner tonight if they wanted to get any sleep. Indiana could get just as hot as Texas. Hotter, really, because of the humidity. But Vin didn't really complain too much. He was just grateful that General Hammond and General Travis okayed their request for leave, allowing both of the Larabee boys and their wives to return to Indiana for the holiday.
That flat-out amazed him, since the country was nervous about a terrorist attack on the nation's birthday, and he had figured they would be needed as loan-outs, if not on another planet. But Hammond and Travis both assured him that they had plenty of coverage, and the president had said to continue with their normal routines and lives. They would already be vigilant. Just, Hammond said with a pleading look, try not to get involved in any terrorist attacks during your vacation? Leave that sort of thing to SG-1?
The members of the Larabee-Tanner family agreed to do the best they could to stay out of trouble. Since Buck, JD, and Ezra weren't planning on being with them, they figured it would be easier. And so far, it was. It was turning into a good week. He, Chris, Mary and Adriana had arrived with the children two days earlier, flying from Colorado to Indianapolis. The decision of all four ... once more giving terrorists the middle finger.
Carly and Aunt Josie were in Washington, testifying about the SGC. If Senator Kinsey thought he would find the Tanner women easier to intimidate than SG-1 or SG-7, the man was in for a shock. Vin's sister and aunt would arrive once they were done, along with Elizabeth. Grandpa would be arriving this afternoon from Chicago with Rebecca, Jessica and David. No Louisa this time. Thank God. He didn't need no more catfights between her and his sisters!
Things would be uneasy enough, with Paris Tanner and Evan Larabee being under the same roof, along with Jessica and David Tucker, but knowing his stepmother, Vin had no doubt they would all somehow manage to get along. But the guide/sharpshooter had already reconciled himself to playing peacemaker at least once during the next few days, if only between Jessica and Pegeen ... or between Jessica and the other ladies. The last time his grandfather had seen his father, was at the Air Force Academy Open House. And that had been just plain ugly.
Evan didn't show up for Vin's wedding, even though Pegeen did. That infuriated Paris, as few things could, but Chris and Vin talked him down. And Vin reminded him that given Evan's attitude, he really didn't want his biological father there. This was to be one of the happiest days of his and his brother's lives ... the double wedding. And no one, least of all Evan Larabee, would mar that. In any way.
Buck had to play his practical jokes, but that was to be expected, especially from Bucklin. Aside from those practical jokes (and him showing up in Baltimore during the honeymoon, along with the other four), the wedding went off without a hitch. It wasn't until the previous September that his father began the first tentative steps toward reconciling with both Chris and Vin. The attacks on September 11 had badly shaken the man. Learning that his two daughters-in-law might have died, if not for Vin and Adriana's then-unborn daughter Julia, shook him even more.
And so, today was the first Independence Day since those attacks. Since Vin and Chris almost lost the women they loved. Until September 11, they always watched ID4 on Independence Day. They still hadn't decided if they would. The wounds were still too fresh, of seeing the Twin Towers come down, and believing their ladies were inside. The wounds were still fresh for the ladies, too.
At the same time, he remembered something Ezra said, just before they left. Every small victory was a victory nonetheless ... and watching ID4 every year for the last several years had become a tradition. Vin would have to think about that some more. He and Chris did a good bit of discussing it on the way in. Both had used up their allotted three words per day early in the morning. Good thing their ladies didn't care 'bout that.
This morning, the ladies were sleeping in, while Grandma Pegeen supervised the children in the pool, and Grandpa Evan made sure they had everything they would need for the cookout later today. Though, in Julia's case, that was more a matter of being held in Grandma's arms while Pegeen bobbed about in the pool. But at only seven months, Julia was already starting to show signs of being a water baby.
The festivities would come later. The picnic, the fireworks, the swimming pool, the patriotic music which even now, ten months after September 11, still brought tears to Vin's eyes. But for right now, they had other business. Right now, in this small cemetery, Vin Tanner awaited his older brother, with a small bouquet of flowers in his hand in front of a grave. Chris joined him and said softly, "That was Mom. She wanted to let me know that Mary and Adriana are awake and heading into town. Seems some supplies are necessary. Oh, and Mom needs us to pick up a carton of ice cream on the way back, once we finish making our rounds."
He paused, grinning ruefully, then added, "She also wanted to let me know that the ladies wanted to kick our ass when they woke up and found us gone ... for not considering they might have wanted to come along. I told her that this was something you and I needed to do alone. She said Mary and Drina finally realized that, and will be making their own pilgrimage. You ready, little brother?" Vin nodded.
He knelt and placed the flowers in front of the grave stone, saying softly, "It's us, Uncle Alex. Reckon ya know it's the Fourth a' July. First one since them bastards attacked. Reckon ya even know that Evan had an American flag put here, first time since yer ma and pa died. He ain't ready to come here, yet. Fifty years is a long time ... he cain't let go totally. Not yet. But we're here. We came to say thanks."
Chris put his hand on Vin's shoulder, adding softly, "We're not telling you anything you don't already know, Uncle Alex. But they're things we need to say. Out in Colorado, where we live and work, the others are organizing squads to go to the local cemeteries and put flags and flowers on the graves of anyone who served. During war or during peacetime. To say thank you. Carly and Josie are visiting Arlington Cemetery today, when they're finished with the hearings, to pay their respects. You haven't been forgotten."
Not by his younger brother ... not by either of his nephews. Much less Vin, who bore such a striking resemblance to his uncle. At least that was what Evan had said. Vin's hair was much longer than his uncle's had been, and he lacked Alex Larabee's education. But, Evan believed, his younger son possessed Alex's spirit. Not reincarnation, because Chris had some of Alex's spirit as well.
Vin took a deep breath, focusing his mind on his uncle's sacrifice, and said, "And ya ain't never gonna be forgotten. Never again. There are those who will forget, but there ain't much we can do about them, 'cept remind 'em every once in a while. But Chris and me, and the boys. Mary and Drina, and ever'body else? They ain't gonna forget. And we want ya to know. All a' us. We're real proud to call ya 'uncle.' But now, we oughta be going. We still got a lotta graves to visit. Lotta people to honor."
"A lot of other people who knew that freedom isn't free. People who paid for it with their blood, just like you did. Thanks for what you did, Uncle Alex ... and for always looking out for us," Chris added, helping Vin to stand up. He draped his arm over Vin's shoulders, both men gazing down at the grave site which marked the final resting place of Alexander Christopher Larabee. Born July 4, 1920, died March 17, 1945. Exactly twenty-eight years before Kevin Parris Tanner was born.
As the two brothers headed back to the pickup truck they borrowed from Evan Larabee that morning, Vin began to sing softly. Lee Greenwood's 'God Bless the USA' had been playing in his head all morning. That was what was on his radio when he woke up. Neither brother looked back. They didn't see the slender young man with short, dark gold hair, brilliant blue eyes, and a devastating smile. Didn't see him watching them with affection and gratitude, pride and joy. Joy because he knew his boys would never let him down.
They didn't hear Alex Larabee, and his brothers and sisters in arms, answer softly, "I'm proud of you, too, boys." Here, there was no difference between the Second World War and the First, between the Civil War and Vietnam, the Revolution and Korea. And too many other wars. They were all men and women who died to preserve their way of life. And while they no longer inhabited this mortal coil, so long as the Chris Larabees and the Vin Tanners of the world, and others like them, remembered ... they would never truly be dead. And they would never be forgotten.
Finis
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