He must have fallen asleep, because the next thing he was aware of was waking once more. This time he was lying on his side – the uninjured side – and there was something heavy pressing against his back. He tried to roll over, but the weight was braced right up against him, stopping him from moving any direction but the one he was facing – and he was already at the edge of the bed.

He mumbled something even he couldn't understand, trying to figure out what was behind him but too tired and lethargic to even try to wriggle clear of it. The weight moved on its own, however, and his own question was answered a moment later when it started licking his ear, a soft rumbling noise accompanying the licking.

"Stop…"

He tried to move his head away, but the weight was suddenly on top of him, the licking more ferocious, now, pinning him, and there were only so many places he could go.

"Jaffer… stop…"

There was a happy rumble, but the licking still didn't stop, and Ian wasn't sure whether to laugh at how helpless he felt, or to cry.

"Jaffer."

A new voice with far more authority than his own weak whisper came from behind them, and the licking stopped immediately, although Ian could feel the black lab's tail thumping against the small of his back.

"Move off him," Sam said, walking over to the bed and motioning for Jaffer to move off the bed completely. She waited for the lab to comply – which he did with a rumble of disappointment – and then sat down on the edge of Ian's bed and reached out, taking hisshoulder carefully and helping him roll over onto his back. He looked tired – and a bit soggy – but better than he had the last time she'd checked on him. His dark eyes weren't quite as glassy as they had been, and she was pretty sure he recognized her this time.

She smiled down at him, and gently ran her hand along his cheek, and Ian closed his eyes.

"Tired?"

He nodded, and she felt tired just watching him. Of course, she was tired, so that probably didn't help things.

"Janet says that you're pretty much out of the woods, now. It's just a matter of getting your strength back."

Yeah, well… what did she know? Of course, Ian wasn't going to say that to Sam. Instead he opened his eyes again, not wanting her to worry.

"I'm fine…"

It might have sounded a bit more genuine if he hadn't croaked it out, and Sam smiled, reaching for the untouched glass of water that was sitting on the table beside his bed. She held it against his lips and he took a sip, feeling foolish at needing her to hold it for him – but he couldn't have brought his arm up just then to save his life. The water felt good – better than being licked, anyways – and he took another long sip before she moved the glass away and set it back down.

"Better?"

He nodded.

"Thanks."

Sam nodded, her eyes on his, holding his attention.

"The next time you aren't feeling well, you need to tell someone before it gets this bad…"

Ian shook his head.

"Who was I supposed to tell? Fraiser? She'd just as leave I-"

"Me."

"You have too much on your plate already, Sam," Ian told her, closing his eyes, tiredly. "There's Jacob… and SG-1 going offworld without you, worrying you… all those experiments…"

She frowned, wondering why Ian mentioned her father as something she had to worry about. She wasn't even aware that he knew Jacob was a Tok'ra.

"Just don't do it again, okay?"

Since it was far easier to agree with her than argue with her, Ian nodded.

And Sam turned to another topic that was just as important.

"Cassie's outside… she has been since the last time you woke up…"

He didn't say anything, unsure what Sam wanted from him.

"She's afraid you're never going to want to see her again…"

"She's right."

Surprising him, Sam smiled.

"Never play poker, Ian… ever. You're the worst liar I've ever seen – even sick."

He scowled, and tried to turn away, but Sam's hand was on his shoulder and she was the one person in the entire SGC that he'd never shrug off. He wondered briefly what it was about her that made him act like that – almost like he acted with his own mother – but she didn't give him a chance to think about that.

"You're going to have to see her eventually."

"No, I won't," Ian said, shaking his head. "Fraiser won't let me, and Ja- Colonel O'Neill would probably just as soon shoot me as let me talk to her…"

He couldn't hide the bitterness in his voice, even though none of it was Sam's fault, but she understood, and didn't take it personally.

"We know what really happened."

"It doesn't matter."

"Of course it does."

He shook his head.

"It was just a misunderstanding…"

"Jack and Janet both over reacted."

He didn't care about Fraiser's reaction. He expected her to hate him anyways, so it wasn't a big shock when she'd automatically assumed the worst of him. It had been Jack's reaction that had hurt him. But he wasn't going to tell Sam that. He'd hide it from her, because she didn't deserve to have to deal with his own hurts as well as worry about everything else, but Sam knew…

"He does trust you, you know… With his life – and with mine, since you know he's let you drive me home far more times than he's ever let anyone else."

"He has a funny way of showing it…"

Of course, there was nothing funny about any of it.

"You don't understand, Ian," Sam told him. "This time it had nothing to do with you… it's all about Cassie."

Yeah; he'd figured that one out on his own. They hated him because they thought he'd violated Cassie. But Sam wasn't finished. She could see the expression in his eyes – he really was very bad at hiding his feelings – and knew he needed an explanation. The truth, even.

"What has Cassie told you about herself? Where she's from…?"

Ian shrugged, wondering why she was asking.

"She's Canadian… and adopted…"

There were more things, but he wasn't sure what else she wanted to know.

Sam nodded. There was no reason to think Cassandra would have told Ian the truth, of course. Even if he was holding high clearance, now, it wasn't like it was something you could just bring up into conversation.

"Jack and Janet are a lot more protective of Cassie than they are anyone else, Ian…" Except maybe her. "But there's a reason for that."

Unwilling to be ignored any longer, Jaffer jumped back up onto the bed, and Sam cuddled the lab to her side to keep him from distracting her.

"Cassie's not Canadian, Ian… she's from a lot further away than that…"

And Sam started telling Ian the story of how they'd found her – and Ian listened, more and more amazed with every word…