"We're going to have to get going," Jack said – ignoring the question, although Sam couldn't help but grin, and even Teal'c had a hint of a smile on his normally stoic face. "We really weren't supposed to stay this long…"

But Ian had been enjoying himself, and Jack had to admit that he liked the warm weather on Chulak a lot more than winter in Colorado.

Ian scowled, but he didn't protest. Instead he gave Bra'tac a formal bow – a perfect copy of the bow the old Jaffa had given him when he'd been introduced to him. It didn't seem quite so foolish, now, for some reason.

"Thank you for the lesson, Master Bra'tac."

Bra'tac nodded, and extended his hand to the cadet; an indication to those who knew him well that he had decided he liked the boy – as if there had been any doubt.

"Come back any time," he said. "It is a pleasure to instruct one who is so easy to teach."

Ian shook his hand in the same fashion he'd seen Jack and Teal'c shake it, beaming.

"If they let me, I will."

Bra'tac nodded and turned to Teal'c, his face softening with fondness and warmth.

"It was good to see you."

"And you, old friend."

As Bra'tac said his goodbyes to the others, Ian watched the fighters practicing, and looked around him. This had to pretty much be the craziest day of his life, but he wouldn't have missed it for the world. He felt someone nudge him, and turned to see Daniel handing him the shotgun.

"It's pretty amazing, huh?" The archeologist said with a knowing smile.

"It's… yeah…" How else to describe what had only been science fiction the day before?

"It's not all roses and spice," Jack said, having listened to the exchange after saying goodbye to Bra'tac. "There's a lot of danger out here, too."

"On Chulak?"

"Everywhere."

"How many other worlds are there?" Ian asked, as they headed back towards the gate – only a short walk from where they were.

"Countless," Sam told him.

"We've been to a million, and we haven't even scratched the surface." Jack said.

"A million?"

Jack shrugged.

"Give or take a few…"

Ian shook his head, watching as Daniel walked over to an odd-looking pedestal thing with a bunch of symbols on it that matched the ones on the Stargate.

"What are you doing?"

"Dialing the gate."

"I didn't see one of these at the SGC…" Ian said, running his fingers along the surface, but careful to avoid the symbols, since the ones Daniel had touched were lighting up – and who knew what would happen if he touched them, too? Of course, he hadn't seen much of anything at the SGC – just the gate, which had been impressive enough.

"We don't have one," Sam told him. "We have a computer."

"Ah."

When the gate flared this time, Ian didn't flinch – although it did startle him. He supposed he'd get used to that, eventually, like the others were – presuming they allowed him to go through the Stargate again – which he hoped they would.

"We'd better get back," Jack said, slapping him on the shoulder. "Hammond's going to want to debrief, and it's getting late. He gets cranky when he loses sleep."

Ian nodded and walked with the others through the gate – and a moment later was stepping from grass to concrete once more. Too fucking crazy.

Hammond was there, alerted by the activation of the gate, waiting for them at the bottom of the ramp. He waited until they'd all walked down and stopped in front of him, and he couldn't help but smile at the look on Ian's face. He had a feeling it wasn't all that often that the kid was so shell shocked, and he definitely looked impressed.

"Welcome back, SG-1."

"Thank you, Sir," Jack told him.

Hammond looked at Ian.

"How was the trip?"

"Fucking amazing…"

Jack winced visibly at the curse, but Hammond simply shook his head with a resigned look.

"Go ahead and get changed, and I'll want a debriefing in fifteen minutes," he said.

"Yes, Sir."

The others nodded their agreement, and Hammond left them alone in the embarkation room. Jack turned to Ian.

"You know…"

"Yeah, sorry."

Ian hadn't realized what he was saying until it had popped out – it was a habit, after all.

"You're going to have to work on that."

"I know. Sorry."

He did, really. He'd done a great job so far around Sam, too. This had just been a special occasion and he'd slipped.

"Come on," Sam said, taking Ian's arm with a grin – she wasn't offended by his swearing; she'd heard just as bad or worse in her lifetime. "We'd better get going."

"Yes, Ma'am."

With Sam on his left, and Jaffer on his right, Ian left the gateroom, taking a quick glance over his shoulder for a final look at the Stargate before they walked out.

OOOOOOOOO

"So? Any questions?" Hammond asked, almost half an hour later.

They were in the briefing room, and Ian was seated in one of the comfortable leather chairs, flanked by Jack and Daniel, with Sam and Teal'c sitting on the other side of the table.

"Questions?"

"About the Stargate."

Ian shook his head.

"No, Sir. Jack and Sam explained it to me – mostly. How it works, at any rate… Well… Sam did most of the explaining…"

The General smiled. He believed that.

"And what did you think of your trip? Without the expletives, please."

"It was… crazy. We went from winter to summer in an instant."

"He and Bra'tac got along rather well, Sir," Jack said.

"That's good to know," Hammond said. There had always been a chance the boy might have said the wrong thing to the wrong person and set off an incident that they definitely didn't want. Which was why he'd made sure the cadet knew he was supposed to listen to Jack during the trip.

"So, now do you know what you want to do when you graduate?" Sam asked Ian with a slight smile.

Ian looked over at her, bemused.

"Let's just say I have a better appreciation of my options…" He still didn't know what he wanted to do, but he knew whatever it was, it was going to have something to do with going through the Stargate as often as possible. And maybe something with the Jaffa – and Bra'tac.

"Then it wasn't a wasted trip," Hammond said, standing up. "Good. I'm going home. You should all do the same."

Ian looked at the clock on the wall and saw it was after ten. He wasn't at all sleepy, though – although he could use a bite to eat. But there were tons of leftovers in the fridge at the O'Neill's.

"That's where we're headed, Sir," Jack assured him, standing up as well.

Hammond left, and Jack looked at Sam.

"I'll take Daniel home."

She nodded.

"I'll take Ian with me,then."

"Fair enough."

Ian shrugged. Sam was cuter than Jack, anyways.