Mark watched his sister as she handled with grace the steady stream of individuals offering their condolences. Every so often she would scan the room, as if looking for someone and once satisfied, she turned her attention back to her conversation. Intrigued, he followed her glance around the room, and realized she was checking in on her team, and a silver haired man she had introduced briefly as "My friend, LJ.". Watching the interaction he noticed a number of things. The rest of her team also did the scanning thing, the General and Mr Murray doing more regular sweeps than Dr Jackson, but all maintained an awareness of where the rest of the team were. 'LJ' kept an eye on Sam. All four of them however, made sure that at least one of them was in close proximity to her at all times. It was like an elaborate dance with an unaware Sam at the centre, or maybe not so unaware he amended, as he saw the tiny, tender smile on her face at the next changing of the guard.

He made his way over to her, wanting to speak to her, to see for himself how his baby sister was doing. He knew she had become closer to their father in the last few years and was concerned. They managed to move to one side and chat with minimal interruptions, reminiscing together over some happy times, some sad. He was proud of the fact that he was able to get her to giggle just a little at some of the funnier stories. She kept her composure for the most part, military training kicking in, but when he noticed tears in her eyes, he pulled her to him, one arm around her waist. He looked up to find four pairs of eyes watching him and Sam, two blue and two brown, assessing.

He bent his head and whispered in her ear,

"Best give your bodyguards a smile, let them know you're OK."

She gave him a quizzical look, but without lifting her head from his shoulder made eye contact with the four men and reassured them with a small smile. Mark was amused to note the threat level drop from red back down to amber.

He knew for certain that his beautiful, fiercely independent, strong, and yet deceptively fragile baby sister was loved, that each one of these men would, like himself, give anything to protect her.

A/N Thanks for all your support.