The room fell silent after that as they all waited for word from Janet or a different doctor. As time passed, Daniel and Teal'c both arrived – along with Sally, who had been with Daniel when he'd heard the news and had wanted to come to see how Ian was doing as well. Hammond arrived as well, and although he claimed he was only there in his capacity as the CO of Cheyenne mountain so he had to make sure that no secrets were revealed that shouldn't be, none of them were fooled in the least – especially Jack.

Only moments after Hammond arrived, several other Air Force officers arrived – instructors from the academy. These men and women weren't all in uniform, of course, but had come when they'd heard, because even though Ian wasn't one of the most popular students – and wasn't even a student of some of theirs, he was one of their own, and they were all worried about him. And rightfully indignant that anyone would dare attack one of their own. Although they couldn't help but be pleased at the fact that Ian had almost managed to hold his own against superior numbers.

The waiting room was filled, and the only people missing were Nathan and Maggie – who Hammond said they were still trying to reach, but they seemed to have dropped off the face of the Earth. He had his cell phone with him, though, and expected a call anytime. The tension in the room grew as the hours passed – it seemed it was far too long to be good news – and the sun was beginning to rise on what was going to be a beautiful day by the time Janet Fraiser finally made an appearance at the entrance to the waiting room.

Jaffer was the first to notice her – no surprise there. The lab woofed softly, warning Jack, who'd been holding a dozing Cassie between him and Sam – almost like they used to on rare occasions when she'd been littler. O'Neill looked at Jaffer, then the direction the lab was looking, and woke Cassie with a soft touch, and stood up. Followed by the others – all of who were alerted by Jack or Jaffer – the Colonel walked over to Janet, who looked tired, but not tense as she might have if it were bad news.

"Doc?"

"He's going to be fine, Colonel…" she said. "They're moving him to recovery now."

There was a sound in the room – the sound of twenty plus people all breathing a sigh of relief at the same time – and the room was filled with happy babbling as the others all started talking to each other or trying to ask Janet questions, pressing in tightly around her and Jack until Jaffer was squeezed in tightly between him and Janet and not at all happy about being smooshed.

He growled, the low thunderous noise catching the attention of those closest to him, and causing most of them to back up. Much to Janet's relief. She was too tired to answer a ton of questions, anyways. Jaffer moved a little, back against Jack's thigh, and O'Neill patted him cheerfully as he looked at Janet, asking her silently for more information.

"He was shot twice," she said. "But it looks like his hand was over his side or something, because one of the bullets went through his hand and then into his side. There was a lot of tissue damage, and a bit of nerve damage to the hand. The other bullet hit his ribs and ricocheted, glancing off his shoulder and back down where it tore through his chest cavity. That was the one we were having the most trouble with."

"Is he going to make a full recovery?" Jack asked, frowning at the list of injuries.

She shrugged, looking over at Dotty.

"With help, he could. As it is… we think he might have only partial use of his right hand and-"

"Can I see him?" Dotty asked.

Janet smiled, relieved, and nodded.

"Yes."

"Me, too." Jack said quickly.

"And me." Sam added.

Janet hesitated, but nodded.

"Not Jaffer, though, Colonel. I'm sorry, but I really can't risk him on the bed, and you know how-"

"I'll watch him, Jack," Shawn said, taking the leash from the chair it'd been sitting on and snapping it on the lab's collar. "He'll stay with me, won't you Jaffer?"

Jaffer wagged his tail. He might, if they went to the vending machine and got some chips or something.

Jack nodded his thanks, and Janet led the three of them back into the examination area, and then beyond, into an elevator where she pushed the fourth floor button.

"He looks terrible," she warned them, softly. "They really worked him over."

"You should see the other guys," Jack said.

Janet gave him a tight smile, but she didn't say anything else as the door opened and the four of them headed into a room labeled recovery.

"He's still out of it from the surgery," Janet said, speaking quietly still as she pulled back the privacy curtains – which also were used as a noise reduction aid – and revealed Ian's bed to them.

Sam couldn't help the sharp intake of breath when she saw him, because Janet was right; he looked awful. His handsome face was swollen and bruised, and he had a black eye that was swollen shut. His chest was bare, but covered in bandages as thick as any she'd ever seen on Jack, and she could see a few deep purple bruises where there weren't bandages. His right hand was heavily bandaged as well, as was his shoulder and neck, and there were tubes and wires everywhere, connected to all sorts of machines that looked familiar to her from their own infirmary.

"Oh, God…"

Obviously Jack was just as affected by the sight, because his arm – which had been around Sam in case she'd needed bracing – tightened and she could hear his own intake of breath as he gasped.

"I would say it's not as bad as it looks," Janet said, looking down at the young man in the bed. "But I'd be lying. He is going to live, though."

Making sure the room was empty except for them, Dotty moved to the side of the bed.

"I can make sure he does more than just survives," she said.

"Yeah…" Jack hesitated. "Dotty… there's going to be an investigation on this… and the police are going to need to see how bad he looks an-"

She smiled, reaching her hand down to run her fingers lightly through Ian's dark hair, feeling a row of stitches but no swelling.

"I understand, Jack," she assured him. "I'll make sure the outside still looks as bad as it does now, but I'm not going to let the inside remain as it is – he's really banged up inside. No one will notice except for his doctors."

"We should transfer him to the SGC," Janet said as Dotty closed her eyes and rested her hand on Ian's chest. "Once he's stable enough to move and the police have their chance to talk to him, I'd rather get him under my complete care than to leave him here." It was obvious that while she had no complaints about the medical treatment the cadet had received, she'd prefer to be in charge of his recovery herself. Big shock there.

"We'd have to transfer him anyways," Sam said. "He needs to be under guard any time he's on medication – now that he's privy to certain… intelligence matters. It'd be easier to just put him someplace secure than bring guards to him."

Besides, then she'd be able to see him without having to make an extra trip anywhere.

Jack nodded. He'd rather have Ian close at hand, too.

"We'll talk to Hammo-"

Dotty opened her eyes and moved her hand, and looked down at the cadet, drawing Jack's attention as well as everyone else's.

"Did it-?"

Ian's less swollen left eye opened before he could finish the sentence, and he looked up at them, dazed and obviously drugged to the teeth. His unfocused gaze took in those around him without his head moving at all, and he stopped when he saw Dotty.

"You're an Ancient…"

His voice was hoarse, and raspy, and nothing louder than a whisper, but it was clear to all of them.

"Yeah… I'd say the sooner we get him to the SGC the better," Sam said, wryly.

There was no disagreement from anyone.