Author's Note: You know... I considered writing out the conversation between Sam and General Hammond, but the three different ways I did it, it either turned out sounding dumb or redundant, so I figured I'd toss that and just refer to it in this chapter. You guys can go to the forum and decide what was said, lol.

OOOOOOO

When they came in, Sam was just coming out of the living room, the phone in her hand but hanging at her side – meaning she'd finished her conversation.

"What'd he say?" Jack asked, picking up her coffee cup and taking a sip to try and at least warm up the inside.

"He's thinking it over," she told him, sitting down at the table with a rueful smile. "I think he was unwilling to make any decision after being woken up in the middle of the night if it wasn't life and death."

"It's not life and death," Ian said, sitting down as well. He was feeling a lot calmer than he had when he'd woken up – and better than he'd felt in months, really. Whether it was knowing what the phantoms in his nightmares were, finally, or the fact that he'd been able to unload the fears of the past few months, he felt as if a weight that had been pressing down on him was gone, now. And it was more relieving than he ever could have imagined.

Sam looked over at him, deciding that he did look a lot better than he had – far calmer, anyways.

"We probably won't get a decision until morning – if then," she told him.

He shrugged.

"I can wait. Although I really do want to see this thing."

She smiled.

"He said he'd let me know."

Ian hesitated.

"What else did he say?"

"About the nightmares, you mean?"

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, Ian," she told him. "He's not going to run around the base blabbing about it to everyone he sees."

"Hammond's all right," Jack agreed. "You'll see."

Ian wasn't all that reassured, but really, what was done was done and there wasn't a whole lot he could do about it. Fatalism wasn't one of Ian's hobbies, but this time he'd just have to sit back and see what happened. So he nodded.

"Are you all right?" Sam asked him.

He nodded again, feeling stupid for all the fuss he'd caused and appreciating the fact that they were being so good about it.

"I'm sorry for-"

"Don't be," she interrupted, reaching out and touching his cheek. "Nightmares are nothing to be ashamed of. Especially the really bad ones."

He blushed, but didn't look away, and Sam smiled.

"You should try to get some sleep, Ian," she told him. "It's been a long day, and you looked wiped out."

He felt wiped out. Emotionally especially – it'd been a long time, if ever, since he'd broken down like he had.

"Thanks, Sam..."

She stood up and ran her hand along his shoulder, patting him reassuringly.

"You're welcome. I'm going to bed. If you need me, though, wake me up, okay?"

He nodded, although he had absolutely no intention of doing that – even if his head fell off and his legs turned into tenticles. He'd bothered her enough that night.

Jack stood up as well.

"Need anything?"

Ian shook his head.

"We'll see you in the morning, then, okay?"

He nodded.

"Good night."

They left him alone, then, and Ian sighed, and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and thinking back over the events of the evening and what he'd been told. He felt something soft and warm touch his hand and looked down to see Jaffer standing there, watching him with those expressive brown eyes that reminded him so much of his own Bubba. Ian reached out and stroked the big head.

"Go to bed, Jaffer..." he murmured. He knew the dog was waiting to see if he needed to cuddle, but Ian wasn't going to keep him up, either. He was going to take a shower and try to warm up and then he was going to go to sleep – hopefully.

Jaffer whuffled him, but only for a moment, then turned and headed down the hall as well, and Ian got out of his chair. He picked up the glasses and Sam's coffee cup and put them in the sink, put the bottle of whiskey up in the cupboard – although he wasn't positive where it went – and then headed for the bathroom.

OOOOOOOOO

Almost an hour later – 2:30 by his watch – he came out of the bathroom, damp but warm, sleepy but feeling slightly wired – maybe a little afraid to go back to sleep, but probably it was due to all the thinking he'd done in the shower as he'd let the warm water relax the tense muscles of his shoulders and back. It was a lot of information to take in in one shot, after all – and now that he knew what little he knew, his mind was speculating on what more there might be. Aliens and wormholes and who knew what kind of technology... it was almost insane. Although it did, finally, explain what someone as smart as Sam was doing working in a mountain instead of someplace where her brains could be put to use. Like Research and Development. Obviously they were being put to use.

He shrugged, heading down the hall and going into 'his' room. The little gadgets on Sam's work table beckoned to him to come and take a look at them – they did every time he saw them – but he fought off that urge, figuring that it would be an invasion of her privacy and her trust if he went snooping through her stuff like that (although he was even more tempted now than he had been before). Instead, he turned off the light and went to bed. Morning was already there, and who knew what the next day would bring?