"Jack," Nathan held his hand out to O'Neill, who smiled and shook it. "It was truly a pleasure to see you again. You, too, George."

"Likewise, Nathan," Hammond said, smiling as well. "Are you sure you don't want to stay? I could put you up at my place..."

It was only a half hour or so after the cadets had joined the others, but already Nathan Brooks had decided it was time for him to get home. He had things to do, he told them, and his wife was probably waiting to hear what had happened – although he'd called her to let her know everything was fine and that Ian was safe. They were at the top of the elevator, now, and the senior Brooks was going to be driven to the Air Field by Hammond's Aide de Camp so he could fly his stolen jet home. As far as he knew, Colonel Piper was waiting for him there to fly home with him.

"I'd better not," Brooks said, smiling. "Maybe next time."

Hammond nodded.

"The offer's on the table any time."

Nathan turned to Ian.

"You sure you don't want to come home with me? It'd be nice to spend Thanksgiving with you."

Ian scowled, and shook his head.

"You weren't going to spend it with me yesterday, why make new plans, now?"

"You could come with us-"

"And be showcased? Thanks, but no thanks. I'll stay here."

"Son, it's not-"

"You'd better go, dad. Before you miss your ride."

There wasn't much danger of that happening, but Nathan nodded, his blue eyes flashing in irritation. As everyone else looked on, none of them could miss the fact that for all their differences in coloring, Ian and Nathan Brooks looked identical at that moment. Both angry, and both unweilding.

"I'll tell your mother you couldn't come."

"Tell her I love her."

Nathan nodded, just a little of the hardness in his eyes fading – but not much. He turned to the others, and gave Sam his hand.

"It was a pleasure to meet you, Samantha."

"You, too, Nathan."

He smiled, but the smile faded slightly when he looked at Ian one last time. He nodded farewell to the others and turned and headed for the door that led out of the mountain.

River jabbed Ian in the ribs, and the cadet scowled, looking over at him.

"What?"

"He's your father, you stupid sonofabitch – go say goodbye. And use your 'we have company' voice and vocabulary, okay?"

Ian sighed, and rubbed his ribs for a moment, his dark eyes thoughtful as he watched Nathan's retreating form.

"I'll be right back."

He trotted after his dad, and the rest of them looked at each other.

"Shall we go check on Fraiser?" Jack asked, breaking an uncomfortable silence.

"Uh..." River didn't actually say he didn't want to do that, but it was obvious he was fairly reluctant to return to the infirmary he'd been so recently kicked out of. "Maybe we could... um... go do something else?"

Sam smiled, and looked at Hammond.

"I could give you the three dollar tour," she said, waiting for Hammond's reaction.

The General nodded.

"Nothing too specific – and keep them out of the embarkation room. I'm not ready to risk any of them in my gate room. They're not recruits here, yet."

Obviously, he expected Sam to take Ian on the tour as well, which was fine with her. She looked over and saw Ian handing something to his father – although from the distance she couldn't tell what it was. Nathan stuffed whatever it was into his pants, but before Sam could wonder what it was, River spoke up.

"I'm not going to be a recruit, here, General," the cadet said, off-hand.

"What?" This was from Shawn, who was looking at River as if he'd just refused to go through Heaven's pearly gates. "What do you mean?"

River smiled at the various surprised looks and expressions – although Teal'c didn't show any emotions at all, and shrugged.

"I told you, Shawn; I joined the Air Force to become a pilot. I'm not going to be able to fly an F-16 if I'm working inside a mountain. Goose and Maverick never lived in a hill."

Jack smiled, his brown eyes amused. The guy knew what he wanted, and that was a good thing – but he was definitely wrong about the options he had. He was in on some of the secrets of the base, after all – he might as well learn a few more. O'Neill looked at Hammond, who understood what Jack was asking with that look, and nodded.

"Well, Cadet Hayden," Jack said, reaching out and putting his hand on the young man's shoulder. "Suppose I told you that we have access to some of the wildest, fastest, most dangerous air craft in the universe, right here inside this mountain?"

"I'd say you were full of shit."

River blanched, realizing that he'd just borrowed Ian's second favorite phrase and had used it in front of people he definitely shouldn't have used it in front of. He saw Sam O'Neill grin, and even Hammond couldn't help but snort softly in amusement.

"Of course... I'd probably get in trouble for the whole full of shit thing... so I'd say I didn't believe you..." he added lamely.

"Well, you'd be wrong." Jack was interrupted by Ian, who came trotting over to them, looking as if he was in a much better mood than he had been only minutes before. "I just happen to know where we can find a couple of craft that might some day be right up your alley – if you're interested?"

"Airplanes?" River asked.

"Oh, no." Sam said, shaking her head. "Much faster, and you've never seen Maverick and Goose in the cockpit of one of these."

"And you never will," Teal'c added.

"You'll have to work your ass off, of course," Jack said, "But we'll show them to you, and if you decide that's what you want to do, then I'll teach you how to fly them."

"Sounds interesting," River said, his grin practically splitting his face. "How about it, Ian?"

Brooks shook his head, scowling.

"I'm not flying with you, Hayden. I don't like to fly – and I certainly wouldn't trust you not to crash us. You can't even get out of bed without cracking your head open, remember?"

Shawn laughed, and River shrugged.

"Your loss, then."

"What do you want to do when you get out of the academy, Ian?" Sam asked, curiously.

Ian shrugged.

"No clue. I have a few years to decide, though, and I'm not in any hurry."

It was Jack's turn to shrug.

"We could probably find something for you to do around here, you know? Something that a young man such as yourself might enjoy – maybe even excel at."

"Yeah?" Ian didn't look convinced, but he was well aware he didn't know everything that went on here – not after only a few hours at the base. "Like what?"

"You'll see..."

The End!

Author's Note: So! There you go. River and Ian are in on the secret, Kinsey got what was coming to him, and things are moving forward. Tell me what you liked about this story – and what didn't (aside from my little grammatical errors) and your favorite line – if any.

Oh, and don't worry... Thanksgiving is coming and I didn't forget about it... that will be the next story – I just didn't think it had a place in this one... I'll give it its own.