When Ian returned from the bathroom and then his bedroom, he was dressed in jeans and another plain white t-shirt, socks and shoes and looked far more awake than he had when he'd vanished. Sam smiled when he arrived in the kitchen, and she was glad to see the smile he gave her in return was a bit less forced than earlier ones had been.

"Hungry?"

He nodded, and absently opened a jar of olives for Janet, who handed it to him the moment he came close enough to.

"You can have breakfast when you're done helping me shovel the driveway and the sidewalk," Jack told him, coming through the sliding glass door of the kitchen just then, Jaffer rushing in as well, and both of them looking cold but cheerful.

"Sam said I'm not the slave," Ian told him, easily reaching over Janet's head for a glass from the cupboard. "I'm the guest. The guest doesn't have to work for his meals."

Cassie smiled, and handed Ian a gallon of milk from the fridge since he couldn't get to it with the kitchen so full of people.

"I'll help you, Jack," she offered.

"Did you bring a shovel?"

She shook her head.

"We only have two. So you stay in here and be warm and keep Sam and Doc here from burning down my kitchen, and Ian and I'll do the walk – until he wears out and then you can come help and he can watch Sam."

"I never wear out," Ian said, taking a couple slices of toast from Sam, who was watching them with a smile. "That's because I'm young and fit. Not like some old guys I know..."

Cassie grinned.

"Sam..."

"Jack?"

"Make Ian come help me..."

"Ian? Would you help Jack shovel-"

"Sure, Sam, I'd love to."

Sam gave Jack a gloating look, then turned her attention to the cadet.

"You'll need more on than just that, though. Did you think to bring boots?"

Ian shook his head.

"I have an extra pair," Jack told him, making sure he didn't think he was going to get out of shoveling that easily.

"I don't have any gloves, either." Ian said.

"I have extra of those, too."

Bah.

"Don't break the shovels," Sam warned them as Ian downed his glass of milk quickly and scarfed his toast. "I –"

"We're not going to break them," Jack told her, giving her a look that plainly said he thought she was crazy for even suggesting such a thing was possible. "Right, Ian?"

"Of course we won't," he agreed, moving out of the kitchen and out of the way of Sam and Cassie, who were starting to put together a pumpkin pie.

Cassie didn't mind at all that he brushed against her as he did so, but Ian didn't even seem to notice.

"Your sweatshirt is in the dryer, Ian," Sam told him. He wouldn't want to wear his leather jacket shoveling snow – and he'd probably get warmed by the exercise that he wouldn't want anything heavier than the sweatshirt, anyways.

"Thanks, Sam."

Ian headed for the laundry room.

"I'll meet you outside," Jack told him, getting out of the kitchen as well and pulling spare boots and gloves out of the closet – Ian was close to his size and boots like the ones he pulled out were pretty much one size fits all, anyways.

"I'll be right there." Ian promised him.

OOOOOOOO

He bundled up quickly – despite his claim that he didn't want to work; Ian had no intention of slacking when it came to helping. Besides, he was used to shoveling snow, and he didn't mind it. It was good exercise.

"Don't let him make you do all the work," Sam told him as he opened the door and headed out. Ian nodded, and waved, and was promptly struck by a snowball that came sailing out from behind Jack's truck.

"Ha!" Jack stuck his head out from behind the hood of the truck. "What are you going to do about that? Huh?"

It wasn't like there wasn't a lot of snow to choose from. Ian bent down and scooped up a handful, and lobbed it at Jack, arcing it since the Colonel was hiding behind his truck still. Jack watched it coming and dodged it easily – although he hadn't noticed that Ian had picked up enough snow for two snowballs and had already sent the next one on it's way.

"You misse-"He was cut off when the second one hit him in the ear, and Ian grinned.

"Too slow, old man..."

Jack scooped up another handful of snow off the hood of his truck, and advanced on Ian, who jumped off the front step and went to look for some cover.

OOOOOOOOO

"What are you doing?"

The two of them had been so involved in their battle that neither of them had heard the car approach and hadn't heard the slamming doors. Jack was covered in snow from his head to his feet and had it crammed into his ears – which might have been why he didn't hear the next set of guests arriving. Ian looked up as well from where he'd been once more effectively pinned by Jack – although in the snow he was able to wiggle out from under him several times and repeat his own attacks. The cadet was just as covered in snow, and the front yard – which had looked so beautiful and pristine when they'd come out – was now a trampled mess where the two of them had been rolling in the snow, wrestling and trying to gain the upper hand while Jaffer jumped on them and around them, snapping playfully when he could and generally making it harder for both of them to get a telling victory.

"Hey, Daniel," Jack said, seeing Teal'c come up behind the archeologist as well. "We're shoveling the driveway."

Daniel looked over at the driveway – which hadn't been touched – and the two shovels leaning unused against the fence.

"Um... yeah."

"Hi, Sally," Jack said, smiling at the woman who walked up to stand next to Daniel, looking down at Jack with amusement. "Have you met Ian?" He gestured at the cadet, who was spitting a mouthful of snow out. "This is Ian – one of Shawn's roommates at the academy. Ian, this is Sally. She's Daniel's girlfriend – although I still can't imagine why."

"It's nice to meet you, Ian," Sally said, wondering what exactly he looked like under all that snow. All she was pretty sure of was that he had dark hair.

"Nice to meet you, too." Ian said, taking advantage of Jack's distraction and grabbing a handful of snow, which he promptly shoved down the back of the Colonel's coat – catching the shirt as well, which he'd hoped to do.

"Arrgh! The treachery of the young!" Jack dragged himself off Ian and started untucking his shirt. "Sam's inside with Janet and Cassie."

"We'll go say hi," Daniel said.

"Nah, you guys can help me and Ian shovel the driveway..."

"We'd hate to distract you..." Daniel said, sarcastically, hugging Sally for a moment before sending her into the house to warm up. "Besides, it looks like you're almost... getting ready to get started. How long have you been working on it?"

Jack looked at his watch, pulling his glove out of the way.

"About 45 minutes."