Ian spent the next few hours with his parents – after a quick visit from Jack and Sam, who then excused themselves to get to work. They had a lot of things stacked up for them to do after so many days off as well. This time Jaffer went with Jack, leaving room on Ian's bed for Nathan to take the other side, and Ian found that with his mother making sure they all kept everything fairly low-keyed, visiting with his dad for so long wasn't as bad as it might have been. He then convinced them – after a lot of reassuring – that they might as well go and finish their vacation that had been interrupted.

They weren't easy to convince. Of course, as far as they knew he was still suffering from the injuries caused by the gunshots, so Ian understood that, but he reminded them that he was in the best of hands and under the care of an exceptional doctor, and wouldn't want for anything while he was recovering. Maggie still wasn't completely convinced, even though Ian looked far better than he should have – according to Nathan – which meant that he really was doing well.

"Go on, you guys…" Ian told them. "There's really no reason for you to stick around. If I need you, I can call."

"Not your father's cell phone," Maggie told him, pretty much convinced after another half hour of persuading. "He's ruined his."

"Lost it," Nathan corrected.

"How?"

"He threw it off a cliff and into the ocean."

Ian smiled.

"It was an accident." Nate said, defensively.

"After he called it a bad name," Maggie said, smiling. "It wasn't an accident."

"So, if I need anything, I'll call you, mom."

"If the AG doesn't contact you – or someone from his office doesn't – then you call and let me know," Nathan said.

The AG had returned to Washington the day before, after getting his staff working on charging all five of the suspects involved with Ian's attack. There would be assorted charges, and the AG had told Nate that there was a very good chance that the shooter at least, could be charged with attempted 1st degree murder since he couldn't prove that he hadn't gone out looking for the cadet that night – and he'd been carrying a deadly weapon on his person when he'd found him. The fact that the gun didn't come into play immediately didn't mean anything. Not to the courts, anyway, and certainly not to Nate.

"I'm sure he'll be in touch."

Not with Ian, probably, but with the police – who would then call the number that they'd been given if they needed to talk to Ian.

"You're sure you'll be all right?" Maggie asked.

"Positive."

"Nothing you need before we go?" Nate asked.

Ian hesitated, and then nodded.

"Actually, if you don't mind making a run to the store for me, there is something you could get me… then you could just drop it off with one of the Marine guards, and they'd bring it to me – if you bullied them into it for me."

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind doing that, would you, Nathan?"

"Of course not."

OOOOOOOOOO

Ian fell asleep soon after his visit with his folks. He wasn't all that healthy at the moment, after all, and his body needed rest more than anything. While he slept, his parents said their goodbyes to Jack and the others, and then headed for a store.

Janet came by to check on her patient, found him soundly sleeping and not responsive to a light touch, and decided she might as well remove all the monitors, wires and tubes – including the IV. The illicit Big Mac had proved that there was nothing wrong with his stomach, and since there wasn't, he might as well be eating solid foods – which would help him gain his color and the little weight he'd lost in the past days.

She and her staff did just that, then they changed his bandages – gently – and then she tucked his blankets carefully around him and closed off the privacy curtains to keep him from being disturbed by the noises of the staff working around the infirmary and left him to his rest. Then, taking advantage of the fact that there was no need for her to stay in the infirmary herself, she went off to one of the private rooms and went to bed. She'd had a long past few days herself, and while it would be nice to sleep in her own bed that night, she was tired, and could use the nap.

While she was sleeping, a Marine Corp Lance Corporal brought a small brown bag into the infirmary, and handed it to one of the nurses, telling her it was for Ian Brooks from his father, General Brooks. The nurse frowned and looked in the bag, realized there wasn't anything dangerous in it, and left it on the stand next to Ian's bed where he'd find it when he woke up.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"So…"

"What?"

"When are we going to go back and get our Christmas trees?"

Jack scowled at Daniel – who still had his arm in the sling.

"Are you in a hurry to take another tumble?"

"I told Sally we found the perfect tree… she wants to see it. What are you doing tonight?"

"Spending some time with Sam."

"What about tomorrow night?"

"Washing my hair."

"Come on, Jack…"

O'Neill smiled.

"We'll go get them as soon as your arm is out of the sling and Fraiser says you're okay to."

Daniel frowned.

"That could be forever. Why don't we bring Teal'c with us and do it tonight?"

"Because I want to spend time with Sam. Why don't you take Teal'c and go without me?"

"Because you have the truck."

"You can use it."

"I'm not sure I can find the place."

"So go to-"

"Jack."

"Daniel."

"What are you two arguing about?"

They both looked up when Sam walked into Jack's office.

"He wants me to go Christmas tree killing with him tonight."

"Your arm's hurt."

"That's what I told him."

"It's not that hurt. And I said we could bring Teal'c – he'd help."

"So? Why don't you go?"

Jack scowled.

"Because Daniel's bad luck. Every time I go anywhere with him I end up falling down a cliff or something."

"Not every time." Daniel protested.

"Lots of times."

"A few times…"

"It'd be nice to have our tree…" Sam said, sitting on the edge of Jack's desk.

Daniel's expression turned triumphant, because he knew Sam had just said the one thing that would get Jack to go. So did Jack.

"Fine. I'll go get the tree and you can get the bed next to Ian's ready for me when the Search and Rescue team finally brings us in."

She laughed, and stood up.

"I'll do that – I want to go visit him anyways. I'll see you sometime before dark – and take Teal'c with you so he can keep you two out of trouble, okay?"

"I planned on it. I'll need someone with a strong back to pull me up the cliff since Ian's not going to be there to help."

"Don't be gone too long."

Otherwise she might actually worry.

"I'll take care of him, Sam," Daniel promised.

"Uh huh."

With that, she walked out of the office and headed for the infirmary.