A short time after Jack left, the door to his room opened once more, and River's blonde head came peeking through, looking around the room and then at Ian. The rest of the Californian came into the room a moment later, followed by Shawn, and the two cadets walked over to stand by the bed.

"You look like shit," River said, softly, frowning.

"I feel like shit," Ian agreed.

"We can't stay long," Shawn said, "but we wanted to make sure you were okay…"

Ian looked at the two of them from the non-swollen eye, and gave them his best cocky smile – which fell a little short under the circumstances.

"I'm okay… just a bit sore. They're not going to let me go back to school for a while, though."

"Yeah, that's what Sam said."

"Full recovery, though, right?" River asked.

"Yeah, thanks to…" He trailed off, just barely stopping himself from mentioning Dotty's help. That was a secret. To both of them? Shawn had to know that his mom… He frowned, realizing something else that he hadn't considered, but should have. Dotty was an Ancient. He knew that because of the story the voice had told him, and she, herself, had confirmed it. That meant Shawn was, too, since he was Dotty's son. Part Ancient, because he was definitely Jack's son, too, and Jack wasn't an Ancient.

Did Shawn know what he was? He certainly didn't act like he was a cross-breed. But Ian had to admit he didn't know how exactly an alien would act. No… not alien…. According to what he'd been told the Ancients were Human before humans were Human. It was a second-

"You okay?" River asked, cutting into his thoughts, slightly concerned by the way Ian had stopped in mid sentence and stared off into thin air.

Ian jerked his thoughts back to the present here and now, and nodded.

"Yeah, sorry…"

Shawn frowned; Ian didn't apologize very often.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked.

"Yeah. Fine. Just doped up." That was a good excuse, and easily used.

"I'll bet."

Shawn smiled.

"We'd better get going. Doctor Fraiser told us not to stay long. She said you needed to sleep."

"Beauty sleep," River added. "And holy shit, do you need a ton of it."

"Fuck you."

River and Shawn both grinned – that was more like the Ian they knew and usually liked. Shawn headed for the door, but Ian spoke up.

"Hayden, stay for a minute, will you?"

Curious, River stopped while Shawn continued out the door, knowing that if Ian had wanted to talk to him, he would have asked him to stay, too. He debated staying anyways – because Ian wasn't supposed to be alone with people who didn't have clearance while he was on so much medication, but Shawn wasn't going to be nosy. He closed the door behind him, but waited in the hall, next to the Marine who was standing right outside the door as well.

"What's up?" Rive asked, looking down at his roommate curiously.

"You need to keep an eye on Adams for me. I'm not going to be there to keep him out of trouble, you know?"

River rolled his eyes.

"You're the reason he gets into ¾ of the trouble he gets into, Brooks. It's almost going to be like a vacation not having you in school – I know I'll be doing a lot less running."

"Yeah, go fuck yourself, Hayden," Ian told him, smiling. It was probably true, after all, so there was no sense denying it. "Just… watch out for him, okay? Let me know if anyone's screwing with him and I'll break out of here and come down and knock some heads together…"

River smiled.

"I didn't know you cared."

"I don't." Ian replied automatically. "Just do what I tell you."

"Yeah, sure." River shrugged; he'd been looking out for Shawn since day one, after all – it wasn't going to be all that much of a change. "You keep in touch while you're getting better, okay?"

Ian snorted.

"I'll send you a postcard – or a bedpan."

There was a knock on the door, and it opened, revealing Janet Fraiser and the Commandant of the academy – who looked slightly miffed at having to wait while cadets and civilians had had their chance to visit his cadet while he'd been cooling his heels in the waiting room. He had things to do, after all.

"I'd better go," River told him with a grin. "See you around."

Ian nodded, and the Californian nodded to the Commandant and Fraiser as he walked past them and out the door. Janet walked out as well, leaving Ian with the Commandant, who simply gave him pretty much the same talk that Jack had; telling him that he was going to be out of school probably for a month or so, and that he was relieved he was going to make a full recovery, and that he'd stop in here to check in on him from time to time if the doctors allowed it.

It was nothing Ian hadn't heard before, and it wasn't even complete information, since the commandant thought Ian was going to be put into a rehab facility. Worn out by the long day, the steady stream of visitors and his own injuries, Ian fell asleep while he was talking.

The Commandant scowled when he realized the boy was asleep, but it wasn't like he'd done it on purpose after all. Of course, even he knew that with Ian Brooks, you just never knew. Maybe he had fallen asleep on purpose – kind of an insult without really being an insult. Deciding that it wasn't the case this time – the boy really looked worn out – the Commandant left the room. He'd give his orders to the doctors, and they could pass them on to Ian for him. He had to get back to his school.

OOOOOO

Ian's rest was broken by what started out as a low murmuring somewhere near by. He could ignore that – and did – and started falling asleep once more without even opening his eyes to see what it was. Then the murmuring grew louder, and louder, and he realized it was a voice he knew well – and one that sounded about as angry as he'd ever heard it. He forced himself to wake up a bit more, trying to focus through the medication so he could understand what was being said – there was certainly no problem hearing it, that was for sure.

"… tell you, I don't give a flying fuck what the attorneys say, I want that sonofabitch behind bars where he belongs – all of them." There was a pause.

"No, you listen to me, God damn it; I don't care if they have to amputate that knee at the waist, if that motherfucker gets released into anyone's custody besides the police, I'm going to find him and shoot him myself, and don't you for a minute think I'm God damned joking about it, because I'll-"

Another pause.

"No! You tell the Attorney General that the sonofabitch shot my son – my son! – and if there's a reason he can't get out here to handle the prosecuting personally I want to know about it."

A pause. Much shorter.

"Then wake his ass up, Goddamn it! I want this taken care of, and I want it taken care of right now! The fucking-"

Another pause and Ian opened his eyes, looking over at the tall figure by the window, his swollen eye actually opening a little as well. He could see it was dark outside, and wondered what time it was.

"No! You call him yourself, and tell him that I'm the reason he was appointed to that fucking position and if he doesn't take care of this, I'll-" Nathan Brooks noticed a slight movement from the bed, and looked over, realizing his son was awake. "I need to go," he said, in a more conversational tone. I've got Maggie's cell phone. Call me and keep me informed."

Without saying goodbye, he closed the phone and walked over to the bed.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" He said, scowling down at his son. "What kind of nut goes jogging in the middle of the night?"

Ian scowled, too.

"Nice to see you, too, dad…"