"Colonel O'Neill!"

"Damn..."

Jack hadn't even made it as far as the elevators when he heard Major Quinn's voice coming from down the corridor. He looked down at Jaffer, who looked cheerfully up at him, then back over his shoulder. Sure enough, it was Major Quinn. He was walking quickly towards Jack, and in his wake were two men; one holding a large camera and a bulky bag – presumably with equipment in it – and the other carrying a small notebook. Jack sighed, and turned, allowing the three of them a chance to catch up.

"Major Quinn..."

The Major smiled, nervously, as the three stopped nearby.

"Sir. May I introduce Emmett Bregman, and his cameraman Ben Crane?"

The interviewer stepped forward, all smiles.

"Colonel O'Neill, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm really looking forward to having a chance to speak more with you about..."

He trailed off, noticing that Jack's attention wasn't on him. The Colonel – and the large dog that had been standing beside him – were both looking down the hall where a lovely woman with short, blonde hair was walking along a cross corridor, apparently unaware of his scrutiny, and that of the men with him.

The cameraman gave a low wolf-whistle, which drew Jack's attention to him. With a look that was almost a leer, the younger man grinned conspiringly at the other men in the hall.

"Who's that, and please tell me we get to interview her..."

Major Quinn paled, and looked over at Jack, whose eyes had just gone from warm and fuzzy as he watched Sam walk past to cold and hard as he turned his attention to the cameraman.

"Um..." Quinn answered, still looking at O'Neill. "That was... Major Samantha... O'Neill..."

Both Emmett Bregman and the cameraman looked over at O'Neill, suddenly aware of just how quiet and icy the hallway had become. A low growl issued from deep in Jaffer's chest as he picked up on Jack's emotions, and the two men paled.

"That was my wife..." Jack said, softly, and dangerously. "I'm sure you will get to interview her, and if you so much as put a toe out of line or look at her funny the rest of the time you're here, I'll make you wish you hadn't."

He didn't say what he'd do to make them wish they hadn't, but he didn't need to. Jaffer was watching both of them suspiciously, his head low, his lips pulled back just enough to show off his formidable fangs, his eyes burning with instant distrust, and Jack's own demeanor quite plainly told them they didn't want to know.

The cameraman licked lips suddenly gone dry, and looked down at the dog. A moment before he'd been thinking that it was a good-looking animal that would probably take a great picture. Now all he was thinking was that the gleaming white teeth looked pretty sharp, and he didn't want anything to do with it.

"I-I didn't mean any... She's um..." deciding that telling him what his wife was was probably a mistake, he trailed off. "Sorry, sir..."

Jack turned on his heels and left without another word. Jaffer walked off with him, but would occasionally throw another look over his shoulder, as if making sure none of them were following. Which was the furthest thing from any of their minds. Only when the Colonel turned the corner, walking in the same general direction as the blonde had, did they speak again.

Emmett hit his cameraman with the notebook in his hand, slapping him in the back of his head.

"Way to go, genius! I really wanted that interview."

"I'm sorry! She was hot, how was I supposed to know?"

Major Quinn cleared his throat, and both men looked at him.

"You really got off lucky," Quinn said. "Colonel O'Neill isn't somebody you want to mess with. Especially when Jaffer's right beside him like that."

"Who's Jaffer?" The cameraman asked. Emmett had already figured that one out.

"The dog, dipshit."

Major Quinn nodded.

"Probably, you'll want to steer clear of any mention of Major O'Neill in the future. If word gets back to him – and it will – he'll come after you."

"He'd do that?" Emmett asked, skeptically. He'd just assumed O'Neill's threat was posturing. The I'm king stag around here and don't you forget it type thing.

"In a heartbeat." Was the simple response, and it was sincere enough that both men took the warning to heart.

"We'll... um... interview Colonel O'Neill later," Emmett decided, giving his cameraman another dirty look. "After he's had a chance to forget about your stupidity."

"I said I was sorry..."

Bregman looked at Major Quinn.

"So? Where shall we go first?"

"We could go see if Doctor Jackson is in his office. He'd be an interesting interview for you."

"Sounds fine."

The three men headed back down the hall; in the opposite direction that O'Neill had gone.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Daniel wasn't in his office. He was in Sam's lab, waiting for her when she showed up.

"Hey, Sam."

She smiled when she saw him, not at all startled to see him there. It wasn't uncommon for them to hang out in each other's spaces, after all.

"Good morning, Daniel, how was your weekend?"

"It was fine. How about you? Anything exciting?"

Sam shook her head.

"We spent a lazy weekend doing nothing."

"Those are the best kind."

She nodded her agreement and set her laptop on her table.

"Is there something you needed?" She asked. "Or are you just hanging out with me this morning to keep me company?"

Daniel shrugged.

"I'm kind of hiding."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I'm not really ready to do the whole interview thing, and I have a feeling they're going to be coming to see-"

He was interrupted by the arrival of Jack and Jaffer. Jack had a thunderous scowl on his face, which disappeared immediately when Sam turned to look at him. If not for the fact that Daniel had seen it, he'd never have believed it. Obviously, Jack was annoyed about something, and had no intention of sharing that annoyance with his wife – or with Daniel.

"Hey."

"Hi, Jack," Daniel said, giving Jaffer a pat when the black lab came over to say good morning as well.

"What are you two up to?"

"I don't know about Sam, but I'm hiding from the cameras. What about you? Did you get your stitches out?"

"Yup. Wanna see?"

"Um. No. I'll take your word for it." Seen one scar, you've seen them all.

"Sam?"

She shook her head.

"I'll pass."

"Spoilsport." He shrugged. "Let's go get some breakfast and hide together, shall we?"

"It's not hiding if you're in plain sight, Jack." Daniel said.

"I'm hungry. You don't want me to start my long day without a good breakfast, do you? I might get... grumpy..."

Oh, yeah... like breakfast was going to do any good to keep the grumpiness at bay. Daniel knew better. So did Sam. They both shrugged, though.

"Fine. Let's go eat..."

There was always safety in numbers, right? Like those deer that crossed rivers in big amounts so the crocodiles didn't kill them all? Daniel decided it wasn't quite the same, but it was close enough.