He walked into the infirmary with Jaffer close to his side, but the others stayed back at the door. In deference to his rank, no one immediately booted him out. In deference to the obvious fact that he was injured, once they noticed him, they were quick to put him up on an examination table, where a medic started helping him take his vest and shirt off. Jaffer jumped up easily on the bed next to him, and although the medic shied away from the bloody black lab, he didn't have the guts to order Jack to tell Jaffer to get down. Or order him to do it himself. Only Janet would have had the guts to do that, and she did it because she wasn't intimidated by the lab – or by his owner. Of course, Janet wasn't there to do it, and Jack looked over at one of the surgery rooms.

"How's Doctor Fraiser?" He asked, wincing as the medic began probing his wound, using a cloth to wipe away some of the blood.

"She took a nasty hit to the lower abdomen," the medic told him. "We're worried about her kidney on that side, but as long as it's okay, she should be, too." The medic looked around. A large number of tables were holding wounded. More than he'd ever seen before. "What a mess..."

Jack wasn't sure if he meant the room, or the people, or his shoulder wound – which looked messy to him.

"Yeah... how long will it be before you know how Fraiser's going to be?"

"She's in surgery, now, Sir." The medic was only too happy to tell him what he knew. He was quite an admirer of O'Neill's. "It should be a few hours- maybe more. Depends on the kidney."

Jack winced when the man started cleaning burned and tattered pieces of his uniform out of the shoulder wound, and the medic grimaced in sympathy.

"Let me give you something for the pain, huh?"

Jack scowled. That should have been the first thing on his list of things to do.

"Good idea."

A couple of injections later, and Jack could watch the medic clean his wound with a sort of detachment that only came with the help of good painkillers. They were only local injections – the wound was serious, but not bad enough to operate on – the x-rays showed that the shoulder wasn't broken, although there was a bit of damage to the tendons and muscles.

"Who's operating on Fraiser?" Jack asked, watching as corpsmen moved in and out of the operating rooms like a ballet without music. Jaffer was sitting beside O'Neill, watching what the medic was doing, but not threatening him at all. His brown eyes were cheerful, and aside from all the blood, he was back to his usual self.

"Captain Frankle."

"He's the new guy from DC?"

"Yes, Sir. He's the best, though."

Only the best for their own CO, as far as the medics were concerned. This was fine with Jack, though. He looked over and saw the others all peeking through the door, and waved them in with his good right arm. The fury was dying down a little, now that all the wounded were in the infirmary and being looked at. They wouldn't be in the way if they were careful.

Jack hopped up on the bed on the other side of Jack, who ran his blood-smeared right hand along the yellow lab's blood-smeared nose.

"All three of you are a mess," Sam said, smiling in relief to see him looking so healthy. The shoulder wound wasn't life-threatening, but Sam had figured they'd have ushered him into a gown and into a bed by then.

"How do you feel, Colonel?" Emmett asked, looking slightly green at the sight of all the blood. Jack was just glad it wasn't his. Mostly.

"I'm fine."

"He's not 'fine'," the medic said as he started to bandage the wound. "But he will be."

"Fraiser's in surgery, now," Jack said, knowing that Emmett was more concerned about Janet than he was Jack – not that O'Neill blamed him. "She's going to be fine, but they're checking her kidney to make sure it wasn't damaged by the staff blast... or something like that..."

Sam looked at the medic, who knew what she was asking with that glance. He nodded.

"He's right."

"She'll be okay?" Emmett asked.

"Yes, Sir."

There was no mistaking the relieved look in the reporter's expression. Or in Daniel, Teal'c and Sam's.

"Are you keeping Jack here?" Daniel asked the medic.

"No." Jack said.

"Probably for the night," the medic said at the same time.

"No." Jack glared.

The medic frowned.

"I'll ask..."

"I can leave. I feel fine."

"You're staying at least overnight, Colonel."

They all looked up at the sound of a new voice, and Jack scowled when he saw it was one of the senior doctors. The man's lab coat was bloody, a sure sign that he'd been dealing with some of the more seriously injured patients, but there was no mistaking his expression. With Janet in surgery, he knew he was in charge, and none of his patients were going to be discharged that day.

Jack scowled.

The doctor ignored it. He'd picked up a few things from Janet Fraiser over the years he'd been working with her, after all.

"Are the dogs hurt?" He asked, running a hand along Jack's (the dog's) neck and shoulders, completely unconcerned about getting blood smeared on himself.

"Jaffer isn't."

"How can you tell under all that blood?" The doctor asked O'Neill curiously.

Jack shrugged.

"I don't know. But I know he's not hurt. I'd know if he was."

"Jack appears to be uninjured as well," Teal'c said, appreciating the fact that the doctor had asked. "I will take him to the showers and clean him off to make sure."

"Take both of them." The doctor said. "They're making the infirmary look like a butcher shop."

"I'll help you, Teal'c," Daniel offered. "Will he come with me, Jack?"

Jack looked over at Jaffer, who wagged his tail, idly.

"Sure, Daniel. Just don't use that peach shampoo on him. I hate it when he smells like peaches."

"You use the strawberry stuff on him..."

"I like strawberries," Jack said.

"Me, too," Sam agreed, smiling.

"Come on, Jaffer," Daniel said, patting his thigh. "Let's go get cleaned up." He wanted a shower, too, after all, and definitely didn't mind sharing the locker room with Teal'c, Jack and Jaffer.

The big lab looked over at Jack, as if to ask if he wanted him to stay, but Jack smiled and leaned over and pressed his cheek against Jaffer's – again getting smeared with blood.

"You get cleaned up, okay?"

Jaffer licked Jack's face, and hopped off the bed gracefully. Jack followed his brother.

"We'll be back in a bit." Daniel told him.

"I guess I'll be here..."

Sam smiled.