Title: Of Family and Friends

Author: Elfpen

Summary: Bits and bobs of Father!Halt and Son!Will, along with loads of other mushy-gushy, touchy-feely RA oneshots. RA fluff lovers rejoice.

A/N: I know, I KNOW. I should be working on 'Revenge' or one of my other WIPs right now… How I know. I've gotten writers block lately. I'm just hoping it'll end soon, for the sake of my sanity. This project is to keep me sane.

To Have A Family

It was graduation day at the Ranger Gathering. Two freshly-minted rangers stood overwhelmed by the celebratory cheers and lavishing praise of their parents. One blushed deeply as his mother unashamedly planted a sound kiss on his cheek, and the other smiled brightly as his little sister latched onto him in a tight embrace. In a tender way, one turned to his father with pride in his stance.

"Congratulations, son." The elder man said. The son smiled, glowing in the approval of his father.

"Thanks, dad." He said, voice cracking slightly with emotion. The two grasped forearms – not only as father and son, but man and man. The two maintained eye contact for some time, before a proud mother came through to fuss over her son once more.

Will watched from a distance. It was his first gathering since he'd graduated, and he found it a bit of a different experience watching the event from the other side. He studied the way the proud families interacted. Happiness reined overall, with undertones of immense pride and constant love. Siblings, fathers and mothers, all of them offering nothing but love and companionship.

Almost unconsciously, the slightest twinge of regret tinted his otherwise cheery smile. He hadn't had a family when he'd graduated. He'd never had a family to speak of. No father or mother; no brothers or sisters. Part of him, deep in his gut, ached longingly at the thought. He'd always wondered what it would be like. Since before he could remember, he'd tried to imagine what a family would be like – to have a proud father, a loving mother. He gazed at the picturesque families before him and felt the stale air in his lungs burn away, just waiting to form a sad sigh. So tantalizingly close, yet so impossibly out of reach.

"Treaty! What are you doing over here?" Gilan strode over, smiling wide enough for two people. "Come join the party!" He draped an arm around Will's shoulders.

Will remained silent for a moment, before asking: "What's it like, Gilan?" The question was quietly spoken and rather unexpected, with an underlying depth of meaning that Gilan didn't yet comprehend.

"What do you mean?" Gilan's face showed a touch of confusion, but his smile had barely faded.

"To have a family, I mean." Will explained.

Gilan's face immediately drooped into a sad frown. He looked over at Will.

The other ranger's features were not too sad or despairing, but supremely wistful. Will's eyes were alight with an imaginative kind of wonder – a wonder so innocent that it broke Gilan's heart. Sometimes, he forgot that Will was an orphan - someone who had never known a family or a typical childhood. Gilan felt a twinge of guilt. He had led a very blessed life as a child. His parents were happily and harmoniously married, his father was a very influential and well-off knight of Araluen, and they all loved each other very much. He'd taken it all for granted, he realized. Now, looking into the longingly curious eyes of the man who'd had become one of his closest friends, Gilan felt incredibly undeserving.

"Will, I… I'm not sure… I don't know what to say." He looked from Will's face to where the man was looking, at the young graduate rangers and their families. "I'm sorry." Gilan added, partially out of his own personal guilt.

"No, don't." Will insisted. "None of it's your fault, Gil, I just… Wondered, is all."

Gilan took a deep breath, studying the families. He had all of what they had and more – he always had. But the man beside him? He glanced sidelong at his companion and studied his expression. Will's features were riddled with emotions, prominently among them longing, wonder, and a deep sadness that reached back into years and years of loneliness. For a moment, Gilan was positive that he was not seeing Will Treaty the legendary ranger of Araluen. Rather, he was seeing Will, just Will, the young, confused, lonely orphan of the Redmont ward. Gilan didn't know much about Will's childhood, but he could almost visualize the mental turmoil that he must have experienced over his parent's fate.

Something hard and painful formed in Gilan's throat that prevented him from speaking. He looked from Will to the families and back, and he didn't know what to say. Then he looked back to the families and something caught his eye. But it wasn't something about the families themselves – it was something beyond them. Behind the foreground of loving relatives were the smiling, friendly faces of the other rangers, all sharing in each other's company, all smiling. Crowley was sharing a joke with another senior ranger, and the one of the former masters of the graduates was discreetly drying a tear from his eye.

Then Gilan's eyes lighted over the unsmiling figure of Halt. The other man was casting his gaze about in an almost concerned way, looking for someone among the crowd with what appeared to be little success. Gilan was willing to bet that he was looking for Will. He knew full well that Halt thought of Will as his own son. He held the thought, and turned back to Will.

Will's eyes were still glazed over in deep contemplation as he studied the families. Gilan looked between the two scenes again. Did Will even see Halt? Did he not see past the foreground? He was missing so much.

"Will," Gilan started sympathetically, replacing his arm around Will's shoulders. When the other man met his gaze, he continued. "Will, bloodlines and genealogies aside, you're not missing out on anything."

The other ranger looked at him oddly, not comprehending.

Gilan gestured widely to the party in front of them. "This is family, Will."

Will shrugged confusedly. "Gilan, I know that – but it's not exactly my family, is it?"

Gilan sighed and shook his head in denial. Will was still looking at the foreground. "No, not the graduates, Will. Look behind them."

"Gilan… I don't understand."

Gilan sighed softly, and drew breath to explain. "They have each other, Will." He said softly. "And they always will. They're family." He motioned to the graduates and their families, and Will nodded consent a bit sadly.

"But don't you think for a moment that you don't have that too, Will." Gilan's words made the other man look up. "Because behind those people is a man who loves you like his own son." He directed Will towards the lingering crowd and pointed out Halt. "That is family, Will. That is what it means to have a family. To have a father." He turned to look at Will, and watched silently for several moments as revelation slowly dawned.

"You may not have a biological family, Will." Gilan said quietly. "But you'll always have Halt, and he's more than enough family for anyone." He smiled broadly. He let the words sink in before adding, "And besides, you get me as a brother with the package deal – what could be bad about that?" He winked at the ranger mischievously, but sobered quickly. "You'll always have a family, Will." He said meaningfully. "It's us. And, just like a family, you're not getting it out of it anytime soon, so if you're sick of us already, that's just too bad. I don't think Halt intends on going anywhere anytime soon. And neither do I."

Will looked away from the distant figure of Halt and looked over at Gilan, his eyes conveying a deep sense of gratitude and brotherly love.

"Thanks, Gilan." He managed after a moment or two, his voice heavy with emotion.

Gilan grinned. "Of course. Now, go on over there with your family and enjoy the party – before Halt decides to rip apart the grounds to find you." He gave the man a slight push, and Will started off towards the bundle of people, looking back once at Gilan with a grateful smile.

Gilan stayed where he was to watch the rest of the scene play out.

Once he spotted Will, Halt's expression eased somewhat, and Gilan caught the miniscule glint in his eye. For any normal person, it would have been meaningless, but for Halt, it spoke volumes. The older man greeted his former apprentice, and murmured something that made Will break into a large smile. Gilan could have sworn that he saw Halt smirking, too. The tall ranger beamed.

He and Halt had never shared the kind of relationship that Will and Halt had forged over the years. But that was alright with Gilan. He understood the reasons behind it – he had come from a strong family, secure in his own need for companionship, approval and love. On the other hand, Will had had no family. When Halt came into the picture, the older ranger assumed the role of all the family that Will had never had. In a fitting way, Will was the bright spot in Halt's life that represented the closest thing to a son that he would ever have. Will needed Halt, and in fulfilling that need, Halt had adopted the boy as his own. From there, their relationship had grown stronger and closer until the role of father and son was almost as real as any biological blood relation. It did seem, however, that the two occasionally needed reminding of the fact.

Next to Halt, Will looked up at Gilan and smiled at him once more. Gilan smiled back. Oblivious to the interchange, Halt reached up and put a fond arm around Will's shoulders and spoke to him. Will nodded, looked up to Gilan, and pointed. Halt spotted the tall man and called over,

"Gilan! What are you skulking over there for? You always stir up trouble when you wander off. Come back over here."

Gilan nodded. "Coming, Halt!" He said, walking towards the other rangers, studying them as he went. Looking back and forth between his pair of friends and the celebrating families, Gilan was hard-pressed to spot any substantial differences. Their manner was different, it was true. Halt would hardly ever dote on Will the way a proud mother would, but the love behind the actions was the same. A father hugging a son proudly; Halt laying a strong hand on Will's shoulder. Underneath it all, it translated to the same thing – a deep, unconditional love. And that, Gilan knew, was the true meaning of family.

He smiled to himself. In a real way, Will wasn't really an orphan. Well, so long as Halt was around. But Halt would always be there for his son – after all, they were family.

A/N: Just so everyone knows, I was writing this while listening to 'Fronds Like These' from the 'Finding Nemo' soundtrack. Especially the bit from 0:50 onward. I found myself choking up on several occasions. Soft music + fluffy fanfic + sappy author = tear jerker.

Hope you liked it. Read an review, please.