Jack finds strength in his faith but sometimes he envies Hobbes's detachment.

No real spoilers, no warnings, brief mention of violence, no pairings

Disclaimer: Not mine, not for profit.

"You all right, Padre?" Hobbes asked.

Jack, staring into space, nodded as he woke from his reverie.

"I was just thinking..." It had been another bloody kill and, Visitor or not, Jack didn't like to kill, nor to inflict pain. He watched Hobbes reassembling the gun he'd been cleaning. "Sometimes I envy you."

"Isn't envy a sin?"

Jack sighed. "I'm saying that sometimes I wish I were more like you. It's a compliment if you'll let me finish."

Hobbes tipped his head. "The accent can be faked," he quipped.

"Nothing so easily remedied," Jack said. "You're so calm. So detached. You don't let yourself get distracted by emotion. I have my faith, but sometimes that just makes it harder to do what we have to do."

Hobbes nodded. "This is the bit where I say I'd like to have your faith, to believe in something bigger than us. Only, I don't. You see it as lacking compassion. I see it as necessary."

"But we're fighting for humanity," Jack reminded him. "Much as I want detachment, I can't condone losing what makes us human. Not even in order to win the war, because if we lose ourselves then winning will be pointless. A pyrrhic victory."

Hobbes considered this a moment. "Tell you what. After we've won you can worry about my lack of humanity."

Jack smiled at that. "So you think we'll win?"

"Of course," Hobbes said. "Can't go into a fight believing you'll lose or it'll be a self-fulfilling prophecy."

"I suppose you're right."

"Course I am," Hobbes said with a smirk. "That's where you need to have a little faith, Father."