He was still trying to figure out what to say when the door opened and Janet Fraiser walked back down the aisle, her eyes no less annoyed than they'd been when she'd left. Ian sighed – and that hurt – but he did it again anyways.

"You wanted to see me?" Janet asked him, an eyebrow raised and a look of impatience on her face.

He gave up trying to figure out what to say, and shrugged – which hurt, too.

"I'm sorry I gave you such a bad time about the medication."

"Does this mean I can give you painkillers?"

"No."

She scowled.

"I'm going to, anyways-"

"Look, I don't want a shot."

"It's not a shot. It won't even hurt. Even if it was a shot, you'd never feel it with all the other-"

"I'm not worried about the pain, Goddamn it. I'm worried about the side effects."

"There aren't-"

"There are. I babble when I'm doped up."

Then she understood. And Ian could see the realization in her eyes.

"Everyone babbles when they are under the influence of pain medications, Cadet. It doesn't mean anything. Most of the time they don't even remember what was said. You should hear Colonel O'Neill somet-"

"I remember what I said."

"Yeah?"

There was a definite challenge in the question.

He nodded, and figured what the hell? Get it out into open and let her have at him.

"I told you about me and Cassie."

She crossed her arms over her breasts.

"Yes, you did."

"It was only a kiss."

"Just one?"

"I only kissed her once."

"You've only kissed once?"

"I didn't say that."

Janet scowled, catching the ramifications of that. She wasn't dumb, either.

"She's only seventeen. She's too young to-"

"It was a kiss, Doctor Fraiser. Nothing more. I'd never do anything inappropriate. I like her too much to hurt her."

"Kisses lead to other things…"

He shook his head.

"Not these."

"Because you're waiting for Hayden to get his… shit… together so you can hand her over to him?" Janet asked, proving that there was nothing wrong with her memory, either.

Ian frowned, because it sure sounded a lot worse than he'd meant for it to sound. Of course, he'd been doped to shit when he said that, so it wasn't completely his fault.

"Hayden's a good guy, Doctor Fraiser. Cassie likes him, and he's got most of his shit together already. He knows exactly what he wants to do with his life, and he's respectful to pretty much everyone. He's-"

"Are you trying to sell him to me?"

"I'm just telling you, once he realizes that real love is a lot better than a simple fling with whoever he can find – and he will, eventually – then he's going to be a good man. Someone you could trust your daughter's happiness to."

It was Janet's turn to frown, because this conversation was not going the direction she'd expected it to. She'd expected Ian to tell her how great he was, and try to reassure her that he was the perfect man for Cassie to be with – at least then. He'd started out like she'd expected – telling her that he wasn't going to do anything – but then had taken a turn she hadn't anticipated.

"And you're not?"

Ian snorted andshook his head.

"I'm the last one that Cassie should set her sights on."

"I wouldn't go that far…"

He shrugged, ignoring the stab of pain the motion caused.

"You've seen my temper. I'm an asshole. She can do a lot better than me."

"I'm going to give you some Tylenol, Ian," she told him. She hadn't missed the pain in every motion he made."It won't do anything more than take the edge off, but if you don't want anything stronger-"

"I don't."

"Stop interrupting me, young man."

"Sorry."

She opened a drawer in a chest against the wall and pulled out a packet of pills, and opened them for him and handed him the glass of water that was on the stand beside his bed.

"It's just Tylenol," she assured him. "No side effects."

He took the pills and downed them, washing them down with water, watching her the entire time, certain that there was another shoe ready to fall. Janet could see it in his expression – he really wasn't all that hard to read, which explained why he was so bad at lying.

"We're going to have to finish this conversation, Ian. Your parents are worried about you, the O'Neill's are worried about you, and Jaffer is drooling all over my clean bandages."

He looked down and saw the black lab had fallen asleep during their conversation and was, indeed, drooling on the bandages on Ian's stomach. Janet wasn't finished, though. She sighed, and stared at him for a full thirty seconds – that seemed like forever to Ian – and then shrugged.

"I don't think you're quite as bad as you think you are, and I'm not giving you permission to date Cassie – or to hand her off to your roommate. She's my little girl, now, but eventually she's going to be making her own decisions, and if she decides that she wants to spend more time with you – not a lot more time with you – then it'll be her choice."

He frowned, confused. Hadn't she been listening to him? He wasn't-

"But. If you hurt her – and let me use little words, so you can understand this – I. Will. Kill. You. Do you understand?"

"I won't hurt her."

"See that you don't."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Like there was any other response to that?