By the time Ian finished the dishes – which wasn't all that long – Sam had vanished into the bathroom, leaving the house quiet and dark – with only the light from the fire and the kitchen to illuminate it. He left the dishes to drip dry in the dish drainer thing – he never dried dishes and wasn't about to start now, unless Sam came out and told him to, which he was pretty sure wasn't going to happen – and turned off the kitchen light, walking into the living room and picking up the remote control and turning on the TV – immediately to ESPN.

With the light of the TV and the fire to see by, he went over to the Wall – which he'd seen earlier, but hadn't stopped to look at during the busy day. The Wall was a pretty cool idea, he thought, looking at all the pictures of Jaffer – puppy pictures, adolescent pictures and a ton of pictures with him full grown. Not so many of Sam and even fewer of Jack and Shawn, but since the Wall was obviously Jack's shrine to Jaffer it only made sense that there would be more of the dog than of people.

The cadet reached out and took down the smallest of the collars that were hanging on the pegs; a blue thing that looked about the right size for a cat – certainly not for a dog the size of Jaffer. Of course, the earliest pictures on the Wall showed a very fuzzy smaller version of Jaffer wearing this exact collar, so there was no denying it had once fit him. Ian felt a slight pang of homesickness as he wished that Bubba was with him just then.

He pushed it down, though, and smiled when he saw the chewed up leash – Bubba had chewed up his first leash as well. And his second, and his third... and the interior of his mother's car, and the edge of his waterbed back home, and the garbage can, and the... well, the list went on and on, and Ian was pretty sure Jack probably had a similar list.

He looked over at Jaffer, who was lounging on the couch, watching him and put the tiny collar back up on the peg that held it.

"I'll bet you were a terror when you were a puppy..."

There was a thumping sound as Jaffer's tail hit the sofa cushions every time he wagged it, and the brown eyes managed to look cheerful and innocent at the same time, gleaming happily in the light of the fire.

Ian snorted in good humor, and walked over and leaned over the back of the couch, both hands coming down to scratch Jaffer's jet-black hide.

"Do you need out before I sit down?"

Jaffer wagged his tail harder, and rolled over so Ian could scratch his belly.

"Sure, pretend you don't want out... then, the minute I get comfortable, you'll be all over me begging to get out." He wasn't stupid – he knew what Bubba would have done. Labs were the same, deep down. Ian rubbed Jaffer's side, and if anyone would have been there in that room with him just then they would have seen an expression in his dark eyes that very few had ever seen – and no one in Colorado, that was for sure. It was soft, and loving in a way that he couldn't share with people, and never had been able to, and it only lasted an instant before he slapped Jaffer's shoulder affectionately and then headed for the sliding glass door.

"Come on, dog. I know you need out."

Jaffer scrambled off the couch and headed for the door, too, wagging his tail eagerly. He needed out, yup! Ian couldn't get the door open fast enough for the lab, who bolted for the deck as soon as there was enough room to squeeze through, and Ian followed him out, closing the door behind him to keep the cold from getting into the house.

It was still snowing, and way too cold for him to be out standing on the deck with only sweats and a t-shirt on. Again, though, he was too lazy to go back inside and grab his jacket or shoes. Besides, he wasn't going to be out there for too long. It was too cold for Jaffer to want to hang out outside, either. He leaned against the rail of the fence that surrounded the deck, playing with the snow that was accumulating there, tried to watch Jaffer, who vanished into the darkness of the furthest part of the backyard, and ignored the snowflakes that were gently falling into his hair and onto the back of his neck.

By the time Jaffer was done, Ian was pretty certain he was going to turn into a giant Popsicle and was beginning to rethink the whole too lazy to go back inside and get a coat and shoes thing. About the time he was losing all feeling in his toes, Jaffer came trotting back into sight, and headed for the steps that led to the deck.

"Done?" Ian asked, sarcastically. "We could stay out a while longer – I still have use of my fingers..."

Jaffer ignored him and went to the door, and Ian gratefully let the two of them back in, the warmth of the house not really enough to overcome the shivering. He closed the sliding glass door, and then headed for the hall closet and the blankets that Jack had told him were stashed there. There was a string hanging down from the ceiling of the closet and Ian pulled it, assuming correctly that it was a light switch. The light came on, revealing a stack of blankets and extra towels, as well as some odds and ends and a vacuum cleaner.

The cadet reached for one of the blankets, when something else caught his attention, and his hand moved for that instead, pulling down a well-oiled and well-worn holster, complete with a handgun. Curious as to what kind it was, Ian pulled the gun out of the holster, and saw it was a Beretta – much like the one that Ian had seen Jack holding only a couple of days before in Kinsey's safehouse. He checked the load of the weapon, pulling the clip out a little ways, and found it was loaded.

Ah well, it wasn't like there were any kids in the O'Neill house – and the gun was up out of reach. Probably, it wasn't a bad idea for Jack to have one so handy, Ian decided. You never knew when someone might break in or something. Of course, with Jaffer in the house, they probably didn't have to deal with too many people causing trouble like that. He smiled and put the gun back where he'd found it, then pulled down a thick, dark blue blanket and turned off the closet light and headed for the couch.

"Move over you cow..." He told Jaffer, who was now sprawled on the sofa in such a manner that he was actually taking up far more space than he actually needed. The black lab looked up at him as he approached, and decided that yeah, he could probably share the couch – at least a little of it. Ian flopped down, tucking his frozen feet up under Jaffer's rather chilled body, figuring the lab would warm up faster than he would and he might as well use that to his advantage. Then he threw the blanket over Jaffer and himself, and picked up the remote again, turning up the TV until it was loud enough he could hear the Sportcenter announcers and still soft enough that he wouldn't bother anyone else in the house.

Before he'd even properly warmed up, and Jaffer's hide was sufficiently cozy, Ian had dozed off, his head leaned against the back of the sofa, and his feet still tucked under Jaffer's belly. And that was how Sam found him when she finally dragged herself out of the bathtub.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"Ian?"

He opened his eyes, and found a pair of amused blue eyes only a foot or so away from his face, framed by Sam's pretty face.

"Hmm?"

She smiled as he blinked, sleepily.

"You're welcomed to sleep on the couch if you want to, but the bed is probably more comfortable..." Besides, she knew they'd be having company arriving early, and she wanted him to be able to sleep in if he wanted to. Something he couldn't do if he was on the sofa.

"What?"

She couldn't resist reaching out and touching his face – he was so cute sleepy; just like Jack and Shawn both were.

"Go to bed..." She told him slowly.

This time she got the message through, because his dark eyes seemed to focus just enough to actually see that she was really there, and he raised his head, looking around and rubbing his face. Jaffer was already sliding out from under the blanket – more than ready to continue his own nap in bed with Sam and Jack.

"Yes, Ma'am..."

He staggered to his feet and headed for the hall, and Sam walked next to him, just to make sure he found his room without complication – he wasn't completely awake, after all. Once she'd made sure he was headed for the right room, she and Jaffer turned off at her room, and left him alone.

Ian went into 'his' room, pulled off his shirt and slid into bed. The sheets were cold and he was warm, but it wasn't enough to wake him completely. He shivered just a little, but he was asleep again in only a matter of minutes.