"Jack?"

He felt a hand come down on his shoulder, and looked up into Sam's worried blue eyes.

"I'm fine, Sam. So is Shawn."

Sam smiled, and knelt beside them. When she'd come down the stairs and out the door, she'd been frozen by the scene in the hall. Janet was kneeling over one cadet, who was mostly motionless, and Jack was clutching Shawn, who was completely motionless as far as Sam could tell. Assuming the worst, especially since Jack was looking incredibly vulnerable with Jaffer's head tucked up so close to him and his arm around the lab, Sam had hesitated to include herself in the small group.

"He's not hurt?" She asked, frowning at the blood that was smeared on the young man's chest and belly, and on Jack's hand. If Shawn wasn't hurt, someone was.

"He got hit with a blast from the Ashrak gun, but he's alive."

"Then-"

"Are you injured, Colonel?" Janet asked, looking up from Brooks. She was distracted when the older cadet suddenly opened his eyes and struggled into a sitting position, looking around him, wildly.

"What the fuck?"

"Easy..." Janet put her hand on the young man's chest, frowning. The cadet looked over at the door, as if expecting an attack to come at any time.

"We've gotta get out of here!"

"Relax," Jack told him. "You're safe."

"No! You don't understand," Brooks responded, looking over at Jack, as if noticing him for the first time – which was probably the case. He saw Shawn and Sam, and Jaffer, and Jack thought he saw a gleam of wistfulness in the young man's eyes for just a moment, before they turned wild once more. "They're invisible! They hide!" he looked around, clutching his side when the motion made the broken rib remind him not to move so quickly. "They're probably all around us..."

"They're not," Janet said, soothing his cheek with her hand, trying to calm him with her best bedside manner. "They're all dead."

He shook his head.

"They hide! You can't see them! You don't know!"

"I know," Jack told him, handing Shawn carefully over to Sam, and getting to his knees, painfully. Jaffer moved slightly, giving Jack support, which he took gratefully, putting his hand on the black lab's shoulder. He moved over to kneel next to Fraiser, who noticed there was a fair amount of blood coating O'Neill's shirt and pant leg. "They're dead, son. Don't doubt it for a minute. They can't hide from the dogs, no matter how well they hide from people."

Ian's eyes flickered from Jack to Jaffer, and his hand reached out hesitantly towards the lab, who sniffed him calmly.

"They attacked River and Shawn..."

"We know," Sam said. "River's upstairs in the dorm room. He'll be all right, he's just knocked out."

"Shawn?" Brooks looked over at the younger cadet, who was still motionless.

"He'll be fine, too," Sam said, smiling as reassuringly as she could.

Ian's hand stroked Jaffer's shoulder, almost absently. The black lab didn't mind. He didn't know this person, but he smelled faintly of Shawn – who Jaffer did know – and Jack seemed to like him, which was how Jaffer judged most of the people around him. If the guy wanted to pet him, who was he to say no?

"You're Shawn's dad?" Ian asked Jack, who was so surprised by the question that he actually nodded before he could say no. Had Shawn told him? Who was this kid? It wasn't like Shawn to tell something like that to everyone. The boy was far better at keeping a secret than that.

"Who are you?" Jack asked.

"Ian Brooks..." he winced when Janet began running her hands along the inside of his shirt. The doctor had noticed he was favoring his side and wanted to find out why. "I'm one of Shawn's roommates."

"Broken rib," Janet said, moving the young man's hand away from his side. There was no doubt it was broken and not just cracked. Not when it was already swelling like it was. "You need to lie down, and hold still, young man." She told him, helping him down into a prone position that would put less strain on the rib, and would lessen any chance of a jagged edge doing damage to an organ.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Ah, if only she extracted such immediate obedience from those around her! Janet opened the cadet's shirt and started to tape the ribs, even while Ian tried to continue his conversation with Jack.

"We ran – I ran – down the hall. I thought they were after Shawn, so I made him come with me... he wanted to stay with Hayden..." It hurt to talk, but Ian wanted them to know what had happened, and if he'd been wrong, he wanted to admit to it. Especially if River had been further hurt by the attackers because Ian had left him alone with them.

"You did the right thing," Jack said, frowning. The young man was pale and probably shouldn't be talking. "Rest, okay? We can talk later."

"Who used the tray?" Sam asked, curiously.

Jack looked over at her.

Ian smiled.

"I did. I snuck up on them and clobbered one of them. They weren't invisible, then. Only later..."

"Stop talking," Janet told him, running her hand along his cheek once more, and gesturing to one of the Marines that had come with them. "I want him and Shawn both taken to the infirmary."

"Here?" Jack asked.

Janet nodded.

"They've got a fine doctor here, Colonel. I know her."

"You're a Colonel?" Ian asked.

"Kind of a let-down, huh?" Sam said, smiling. "He doesn't look much like one, sometimes, does he?"

"Smart ass." Jack scowled, but Sam knew he wasn't mad. There was no way he could be mad. Not at her, and not at this kid. Jack had already decided the kid had probably been the one to buy him and Jaffer the extra time they needed to get there. He put his hand on the young man's cheek, in a very uncharacteristic motion when it came to dealing with people he didn't know. "Rest, okay? You did great, and I want to hear the whole story later, but for now you need to let Doctor Fraiser take care of you."

"So do you," Sam told him. She had finally managed to get a look at the blood that was soaking his upper thigh, and his shirt.

Jack nodded, and looked over at the door, where a crowd of faculty and Air Force personnel were starting to enter, being led over by a couple of the Marines brought from the SGC – along with a couple of corpsmen with gurneys. Also with them was a doctor, who looked like she'd just been roused out of bed. A captain, who didn't seem at all surprised to see who her patients were as she walked over.

"I probably ought to come up with a story, first, though," Jack said. "Unless you want to do it?"

Sam shook her head, smiling. There was no way.

Jack looked down at the cadet, "You don't tell anyone what happened, understand?" He said, softly. "Until I have a chance to talk to you."

Ian nodded, not understanding why, but knowing an order when he heard one.

"Yes, Sir."

"Good."

Jack turned back to Sam and Shawn, although Jaffer stayed where he was, allowing Ian to pet him a bit more.

"He's not coming around," Sam said, looking down at the young man in her arms.

"He will, Sam." Jack wasn't worried. He moved to the side when the medics swarmed around Ian and took Shawn gently from Sam's arms and put him up on a gurney. Jaffer came over to stand next to him, and Sam moved as well, resisting the urge to slide her arm around Jack's waist.

"How's your head?" She asked, remembering suddenly the almost debilitating headache he'd been suffering from. It didn't seem to be bothering him all that much, just then.

Jack looked at her in surprise, his hand pressing against his side, which ached abominably. He hated knives. More and more with each passing year.

"It doesn't hurt at all..."

Sam gave him an odd look, and Jack shrugged.

"That's odd."

"We live in an odd world, Mrs. O'Neill..." Jack told her softly, as Teal'c came back through the door leading to the staircase. He and Jack had just finished a thorough sweep of all the dorms, just in case there were more Ashrak. The relaxed look on the Jaffa's face told Sam and Jack both that there was nothing else for them to be concerned about. At least not that day. Sam smiled, and nodded.

"Indeed, we do, Jack..." But it was a good world.