That Moment

Day 3 of the Snowflake Challenge urges us to share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much.

I put this off for most of the day, my mind whirling with possibilities. I spent the day thinking, putting the fandoms closest to my heart in some kind of order. Stargate SG1. Harry Potter. NCIS. Avengers. Leverage. The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

I couldn't.

My fandoms are important to me for very different reasons. The Man from UNCLE was a first fandom, when I was a girl. It is nostalgic, the character of Ilya one of my first crushes. I reminds me of that warmth in my heart, that excitement, every time the show came on.

Leverage was Christian Kane. Hilarious. Hot. His interaction with Hardison made me smile. Damian Moreau was his "moment."

Avengers is Hawkeye. Jeremy Renner in all his latex-clad glory. His is a character I wanted more from, so fanfic was a gift. His moment? When he comes back from Loki's control to find out that Phil is dead.

NCIS has always been Tony DiNozzo and his untapped potential. While Gibbs' character became more and more overbearing and "superhuman", at the same time, he became a vigilante that I could not support. Tony was the underdog, never allowed to be the hero, even when he dived into the Anacostia to save Gibbs and Maddie. I felt for him. NCIS stories that explore his history or heroism, how he changes his mind and stands up for himself - and to Gibbs - are satisfying to read and to write. Tony's moment? Trapped in the morgue with a killer, he saves the girl.

Harry Potter came around when my daughter was young and we discovered his world together. And Severus Snape will always be our favorite character. Always.

But, finally, SG1 is family. It's not just about the show - it's about the friendships, the family I've made through our love of Jack and Daniel and Sam and Teal'c, of Janet and Hammond. Of Bra'tac and Jacob.

So, here is my moment, the one I settled on when dwelling on this idea. In the first episode of Stargate SG1, Children of the Gods, Daniel has lost his wife, he's lost his Abydos family, and he's returned to Earth after more than a year of living on another world. He's standing, alone, in the concrete tunnels of the SGC, utterly bereft. Until Col. Jack O'Neill comes along.

There's a moment, here. A moment when these two characters' eyes meet. They worked together to save themselves and an innocent population on an alien world a year ago. These two very different men - one on his last, suicide mission because of his dead son, one with nothing to lose, betting everything on this new future - found their connection. And then said good-bye for, what they believed was forever. Here, in that tunnel beneath Colorado Springs, Jack and Daniel find that connection remains. Daniel reaches out to Jack, empty, grieving, at a loss, and Jack reaches back, offering a room, a shoulder, the understanding of another man who has lost everything.

Boom. That's the moment.

It's Jack and Daniel. Always and forever. That connection, that friendship. It's what makes this series my heart-fandom.