Epilogue

"I've never seen such a sorry looking room in all my life. I'm surprised neither of you have had your sloppy asses booted out of here, yet."

River Hayden and Shawn Adams both turned at the sound of the completely unexpected voice – a well-defined drawl that somehow managed to be mocking and warm at the same time.

"Ian!"

Shawn rolled off his bunk – where he'd been lounging while waiting for River to finish making his own – and headed for the door. River straightened also, and abandoned his bed-making to come over and greet his roommate as well.

"I thought you weren't going to be back for another week?"

"I'm glad to see you, too." The New Yorker said, tossing his duffle bag at the blonde cadet, who caught it easily and threw it up on the bunk above his own.

"You look a lot better," Shawn said, unable to stop smiling. Everyone else in the Academy might find Ian to be a major asshole, but Shawn liked him and was glad to see him back.

Ian did look a lot better. Not only was he completely recovered from his injuries, but he was tanned and fit after more than a month in the clutches of Bra'tac – which Shawn knew about, but River didn't, so he couldn't mention it. The dark-haired cadet looked leaner than before – especially in the face – but he looked great, and when he slipped off his leather jacket and tossed it up onto his bunk beside his duffle, both of his roommates could see there was more definition in the muscles of his back and shoulders. Although his jeans hung a little looser on his slender frame.

"Jesus, rehab really did wonders for you, Brooks," River said. "What did you do? Hit the weight room every day?"

"Something like that."

Ian wasn't above showing off, of course – he was a young male, after all – so he paused for a moment and flexed. Still not bulky – and nowhere near as big as his father was – Ian had probably gained a few pounds of muscle. Being driven day after day by Bra'tac will do that to you, after all.

"You're cleared to return?" Shawn asked.

"Yeah. Dr. Reed and Janet Fraiser have both given me the once over and poked and prodded me, and proclaimed me fit to return to classes and all activities."

"That's good to hear," River told him, meaning it. "We were getting a little tired of the room smelling good, and not having to dodge your underwear on the floor."

Ian smiled.

"How was your Christmas?"

"Went home and spent time with my family – my sisters all think you're cute, by the way – but I told them you were gay, so I think you'll be safe to come visit on Spring Break, if you're interested."

"I'll see if I can clear my busy schedule…" He was touched by the offer, even though he hid it behind his usual bored mask.

"Speaking of schedules," Shawn said, looking at his watch. "We've got ten minutes to get to PT."

"Well, shit," Ian scowled. "Just the reason I hurried back – so I could do a shitload of jumping jacks."

"Self defense class today," River told him, grinning as he opened the drawer that held Ian's sweats and sweatshirts that were the uniform for PT and tossed him a set. "You'll probably want to pay attention. See if the next time you get jumped, you can knock them all out – or break their fingers so they can't shoot you."

"Fuck you, Hayden."

Ian caught the sweats, and ignored the laughter of his roommates as they headed for the door.

"Don't be late," Rivercalled back tohim. "You know Lieutenant Wills loves to abuse the late guy."

Yeah, yeah. Ian wasn't worried.

OOOOOOOO

"Well, shit…" River growled less than half an hour later as he fell into step beside his two roommates. "I knew there was a reason I was sorry to wake up this morning."

"It's not my fault," Ian said, defensively.

"You told him to go fuck himself, you moron. How is that not your fault?"

"It slipped out."

The three of them had just been sent off the mats and outside, where they'd be running laps for the rest of the PT period. Ian had arrived to the self defense class only a few minutes late, and the instructor – who was not one of his admirers – had decided that the best way to teach the young man that he was back in the academy, now, and that he needed to start remembering that the academy used clocks for a reason, had called him up front to the main mat, determined to use him as a sparring partner.

He'd joked about being careful with the cadet, since he obviously bruised easily, and Ian hadn't found it at all funny, and had told the Lieutenant to go fuck himself. Even though the rest of the class, and the two other instructors, hadn't been all that amused by the comment either – it was bad discipline to allow such a phrase to go unpunished, and Ian had been sent to run.

When Shawn had spoken up – out of turn – saying that the comment had been warranted, he'd been sent to run as well. River had stood up, then, too, but before he could even bitch about the shitty treatment of his roommates the Lieutenant had sent him off as well.

So they were running.

Ah well. They were all used to it.

"How was your Christmas, Brooks?" River asked, deciding to use the time to get caught up on things. He wasn't going to admit it, but he had missed Ian – although he didn't miss running laps. "Did you see Cassie?"

Ian shook his head. He'd spent Christmas the same way he'd spent every day he'd been at the Alpha site; working with Bra'tac on yet another move and learning as much about the Goa'uld and the Jaffa as the old man was willing to tell him – which was a lot. Since Bra'tac didn't have to worry about National Security, and Ian wasn't under orders to not ask, the two of them ended up spending a lot of time discussing the rebellion of the Jaffa – which Ian found was more or less started by Teal'c and Bra'tac and had been growing in leaps and bounds.

"I didn't see anyone – although I got cards and letters."

He'd received a fruitcake and a bunch of pomegranates, too – no question who the pomegranates were from; he hadn't even needed to open the card. He and Bra'tac had demolished the lot – although they'd both steered clear of the fruitcake – and had returned to their sparring, which was a lot more satisfying than what Ian was learning at the academy.

"Are you going to see Cassie?" River asked.

"Are you writing a fucking book?"

The Californian laughed – yup, he'd missed Ian.

"I'm just curious. I thought I'd write to her… but I don't want to invade your territory…"

"She's not my territory, Hayden," Ian said, and left it at that.

He had a million other things to think about – and there were more things every day. His love life – or lack of one – and his feelings for Cassie were way down on the list when compared to the sudden flashes of memories that had started appearing in his mind only a few days before. Flashes that weren't really annoying, but that he didn't recognize as his own. Which meant that that damn Ancient device was finally starting to kick in – and that meant that he was going to be that much more distracted as he tried to deal with them, and focus on the world around him at the same time. It wasn't going to be easy – even for him – and that meant he wasn't going to have a lot of free time in his head for thinking about Cassie.

Although he definitely didn't find the idea of River writing her very pleasant, he admitted to himself.

He gave a purely mental shrug, and returned his attention to what he was doing. Things were coming to a head, yes, but he had time. For now, he had to focus on his running, or he'd probably trip and fall and probably break his leg. And wouldn't that be a right pain in the ass? They'd never allow him to run again, deciding that bad things happened to him when he ran. Well… maybe that would be worth the broken bone…?

Nah.

The End.

So! It was short, and I know there's a lot left to tell, but the story was of Ian's trip through the gate, and he's back, now. The rest of the tale belongs in other stories, which are still to come. Let me know what you thought of this one, please. Favorite line… favorite concept, stuff like that. A new one will be started soon, I promise!