Jack looked up when Sam reentered the dining room and sat back down at the table. He didn't miss the troubled look in her expression – although he knew she was trying to hide it. She just didn't hide her feelings from him very well.

"What's up?" Jack asked.

Sam smiled, reaching for the tray of crackers, cheese slices and meat slices.

"Ian's awake."

"How does he feel?" Janet asked, immediately.

"He told me his head was bothering him – but just a little," Sam said, giving them a reason in case Ian didn't make an immediate appearance. "He should be out in a bit."

Janet looked like she was tempted to go see how he was doing, but she decided she'd wait until he came out to them – instead of rushing into his room and smothering him. But she was tempted. Of course, she was a doctor and smothering was what she did best.

Sam saw this and smiled as she picked up her cards, silently telling them that they should continue their game. Which they did.

OOOOO

It didn't take Ian all that long to come join them. Not because he felt ready to join them – because he didn't really. But he figured he'd better pull his shit together before Jack came looking for Jaffer – who wasn't showing any inclination to leave him alone just then. He sat on the bed for another couple of minutes, mainly just trying to get his heart back to a regular rate, and his head to stop pounding. His heart eventually slowed a bit – which worked to give his pale face a bit of color – but his head still throbbed, and Ian decided that it was just the cut and not a side effect of stress from the nightmare.

He looked around the room again, certain that he'd heard a deep voice – had been woken up by it, in fact – and that there had been someone in the room with him, but he didn't feel that person there, now, and obviously there weren't any deep voices speaking into his head just then. He sighed, and got to his feet, pulling off his sweatshirt that he'd fallen asleep in and walking down the hall in an ever-present t-shirt and jeans with Jaffer walking beside him.

"Hey, there he is!"

Jack noticed Ian immediately – mainly because he was looking right at the entrance to the hall when Jaffer and the cadet made their appearance.

Ian gave them all a forced smile and walked over to the table and sat down in the empty chair next to Cassie, who decided that he still looked tired.

"Are you hungry, Ian?" Sam asked, pushing the platter of meats and cheeses towards him, along with a plate.

Since he hadn't had anything but some toast and milk all day, and was used to eating far more than that, Ian gathered a plate of the hors d'oeuvres with enthusiasm, unaware that Janet was watching him intently, deciding whether she was pleased with his appearance or not. He looked a little pale – but not too much – and a bit distracted, which might mean that his head was hurting more than just a little. Of course, since he hadn't eaten all day – and it was now after noon – it was a good chance that he was simply hungry, and would feel better after he'd eaten. So she'd wait and see.

Cassie, of course, was watching him for another reason entirely, but she was doing it discreetly, and Ian was too involved with eating everything on his plate for the first few minutes to be aware of anything else going on around him. Jack, however, was aware of what was going on and caught Cassie's eye, and she blushed, which made him grin. She turned her attention back to the game, although she still had part of her attention on Ian.

"What are you playing?" Ian asked.

"Spoons," Daniel said. "Want to play?"

He shook his head; he didn't have a clue what Spoons was.

"I've never played it..."

"Keep an eye on Cassie," Jack suggested. "Watch her hand and see what she does. When you get the jist of things, we'll deal you in and add another spoon."

Yeah, sure... Cassie turned her cards slightly, showing him the ones she had. She was more than willing to have him keep an eye on her!

"The trick is to get all four of something," she told him. "All of the twos, or the fives... something like that. So you pick up the card the person next to you passes and try to match them up with your cards. If you don't see what you need, you pass those cards onto the next person. When you have all four, you grab a spoon. There's one less spoon than there are people, so if you see someone else grab a spoon, grab one, too. The person that doesn't get a spoon is the loser for that hand..."

That sounded easy enough, Ian decided. He munched on his food and watched as the cards were passed in almost complete silence for a few minutes – and then all hell broke loose.

Sam reached out suddenly – almost so quickly that Ian didn't see it happening – and grabbed a spoon. Then everyone grabbed at the same time for the remaining spoons – and they weren't being gentle.

Daniel actually came over the table, grabbing his spoon and knocking all the other spoons to the floor, and everyone else – including Cassie- dove for the floor to get theirs. Ian watched in shock as they squabbled and wrestled for them like the last donut at a law enforcement convention, and Sam caught his eye over the table. She held up her cards; showing them to him, and he saw that she didn't even have four of a kind. She'd just pulled a Jack and had sent them all for spoons to enjoy the wrestling match that would ensue.

He smiled and shook his head, but everyone popped their heads up before he could say anything.

Jack scowled over at Sam, taking her hand and looking at her cards.

"You didn't have-"

The phone rang and interrupted him before he could accuse her of cheating – which she was.

"Want me to get that?" Ian asked.

Jack and Sam both dove for the phone at the same time – almost like it was a spoon.

"Guess not," he said, more to himself than to anyone else – although Cassie heard him and smiled.

"They probably-"

There was a knock on the door, and Ian didn't even ask if they wanted him to get that. If the phone was any indication, they apparently preferred to do all that stuff themselves. Jaffer and Jack (the dog) rushed to the door, and Jack looked over at Sam – who'd answered the phone. She smiled and nodded, and the Colonel looked over at Ian.

"Get that, will you, Ian?"

"Sure."

He got up and went to the door, while Jack called Jaffer back to the dining room, and Teal'c called Jack. Which was just as well, because the minute Ian opened the door he was bowled over by an attack from a source he'd never have expected in a million years.

A large black lab – not as large as Jaffer but just as large as Jack and quite a bit heavier – jumped up on him, knocking him backwards to the floor, whuffling excitedly. Ian held the big head back after the initial attack, wondering what the hell was going on until – until he realized that he knew this dog. Knew him better than he knew anyone in the room. He grabbed the black collar that held a familiar blue license tag and pulled the dog's head down into his arms.

"Bubba!"

Smiling, and looking down at the cadet and the lab, a large man with piercing blue eyes and a small woman with dark eyes and dark hair stood in the doorway, both of them looking pleased.

"Happy Thanksgiving, son," Nathan Brooks said, ushering his wife into the warm house so he could close the door before they let all the heat out.