Sam was walking down the hall when Ian came out of the bathroom, carrying his dirty clothes in his hands and feeling pretty good. She smiled when she saw him, and before he could move out of the way, she ran her hand along his chin and cheek.

"You shaved. Good. You're far too good looking to be scruffy."

And he blushed. Brilliantly.

Sam's smile grew, because she knew she was going to make him blush, but she just couldn't help herself. He always looked so serious – and most of the time he was – that she just wanted to see him smile, or at least break through that cool exterior. She happened to know that he had a wonderful sense of humor when he unleashed it, and although he hadn't had many reasons to smile lately, she'd wanted to see it.

He smiled, despite his blushes, because she looked so impish just then that he couldn't even scowl like he might have if it had been his mother telling him that – and those were the only two women he could think of that could make him blush.

Before he could say anything, Sam took his clothes from him.

"River and Shawn are back, so you can see if you can help them in the kitchen."

"I can always hold the fire extinguisher."

"I think Jack beat you to that job."

Ian smiled and he and Sam walked out into the dining room, where Jack was sitting at the table, although his chair was facing away from the table and in the direction of the kitchen.

Sam headed for the laundry room before Ian could protest that she didn't need to wash his clothes – she wouldn't have listened to him anyways – and Ian went and took the chair beside Jack's, turning it so it, too, was facing the kitchen. Shawn and River were in the kitchen; Shawn unloading grocery bags and River pulling out a skillet.

"They didn't have any pomegranates, Ian," Shawn told him, looking over at him.

Ian scowled, but he didn't say anything, and Jack looked over at him.

"You asked them to bring you pomegranates?"

The cadet shrugged.

"They're good."

"Yeah, but I could have told you they were out of season," Jack told him. "I tried to get some the other day."

Ian smiled, despite himself. Yeah, he and Jack were both hooked on the damned things. And apparently, they were going to have to wait another God only knew who long until they were back in season. Which meant that Ian needed to jump online and find out when they'd be back in stores.

"Crap."

"Sorry," Shawn told him, pulling out chicken and handing it to River, who had found the cutting board and was already starting to chop things. The way he was doing it made it appear that he really did know what he was doing. "We brought you some bananas."

The smile turned into a scowl, but he shrugged again. He didn't like bananas all that much, but he liked Shawn, and he didn't want to make a big deal out of something that wasn't a big deal.

"Thanks."

Shawn seemed to know what was going through his mind, and the younger cadet smiled and tossed him the bunch of bananas that had been sitting on the counter, his eyes twinkling with cheer that Jack was glad to see since he hadn't seen him looking so cheerful in days.

Ian caught them, and with a sigh took one and started peeling it. Great.

Jack watched River chopping chicken and then looked at Ian.

"You do realize that since they're cooking, we're going to have to do the dishes?"

"Not if they burn the house down," Ian told him, taking a bite of his banana.

"I heard that," River said from the stove. He didn't look up, though. "Just for that, I'm going to be extra messy."

Jack scowled at Ian.

"Go into the living room and watch TV with Sam. I don't need your help."

Ian gave him an innocent look.

"What did I say?"

"Sam! Call Ian."

They heard her chuckle from the laundry room and she appeared a moment later.

"Is he in the way?"

"No. Just make him watch TV with you or something."

"Come on, Ian," Sam told him. "You can keep me company."

He stood up, tossed his banana peel into the garbage, stuffed the rest of the banana into his mouth and headed into the living room with Sam. She was watching a documentary on the rise and fall of the Roman Empire – a topic Ian didn't find all that interesting. He didn't admit that, though. Instead, he sat down on the sofa with her, and Jaffer hopped up between them, resting his head on Sam's thigh while Ian leaned back into the cushions.

His eyes closed almost immediately. He was warm, and clean, and in a place where the people around him loved him and cared for him. While Sam watched in gentle amusement, Ian fell asleep, and a moment later Jaffer did, too.

OOOOOO

True to his word, River's chicken dinner was done in less than half an hour. While he cooked the chicken – in the skillet, instead of baking or anything, like Sam had expected – Shawn made pasta with a bottled alfredo sauce that turned out pretty normal looking that River said would go well with the chicken.

Jack moved out of the way so they could set the table and came out to the living room, leaning over the back of the couch to steal a kiss from Sam.

"He fell asleep?"

Sam nodded, and shushed him.

"Don't wake him up."

Jack didn't have any intention of waking him – although he did scowl at the realization he was going to end up doing the dishes alone, now. Ian probably needed the rest as much as he needed a good meal, and Jack knew that as well a anyone – and better than most.

"Dinner's ready."

Jaffer woke up at those words and jumped off the couch smoothly, already heading for the kitchen. He'd had a good night's sleep and hadn't been driving across country the last couple of days, and he wanted to eat, too!

Sam smiled at the lab's enthusiasm and let Jack help her to her feet, although it wasn't completely necessary just yet. The two of them joined the others in the dining room, leaving Ian to his nap. Short as it probably would be. They could always feed him leftovers.