Janet was frustrated. Frustrated and furious, to be exact. Cassie hadn't let her into her room the night before, no matter how many times she'd told her to, and had simply said she was tired and was going to go to sleep. Realizing she wasn't going to learn anything until Cassie had calmed down – presumably after a good night's sleep – she'd gone to bed as well, but hadn't slept well, and she'd woken up early anxious for a chance to get inside Cassie's head to see what was going on.

Which hadn't worked.

Cassie had come out of her room, looking tired and haggard and completely unwilling to answer any questions about what was wrong. No matter how much Janet pressed, Cassie clammed up, until she finally went back into her bedroom, telling her mother nothing was wrong and she should just go to work and not worry about her. Which was so obviously a lie that Janet was ready to scream.

So… since Cassie wasn't talking, that left Ian, and Janet went in to the SGC that morning more than ready to bully him in to telling her what had happened the night before to upset Cassie so much. And found that Ian wasn't even there. Holing herself up in her office because she didn't trust herself to be civil to any of her staff or friends just then, Janet called the main gate and asked them to call her and inform her when Ian Brooks came through the gate.

OOOOOOOOOO

When he arrived at the SGC late the next morning he was still showing the signs of his restless night, although by then he'd regained his equilibrium enough to know that he'd really screwed up the night before. As he'd dragged himself out of bed when the alarm went off at 6, he'd started thinking about other ways he could have handled things, but really, he couldn't come up with anything.

Not because there weren't other things he could have done, but because he was having trouble focusing n pretty much anything. He was tired, and he ached, and his head was pounding like a drum. He'd assumed it was because of the stress of the events of the night before – or maybe he'd managed to catch a cold from being rained on all week – but whatever it was, it was making him miserable, and he was definitely dragging when he showed up for work.

He parked the car and headed into the mountain, carrying a file folder in one hand and a bottle of aspirin in the other. He passed the security checkpoints one at a time, putting up with jokes from the Marines about the dangers of showing up to work hung-over, and ignored them all on his way to the elevator. God, he felt like shit.

And then it got worse.

Ian had barely left the elevator when he found himself suddenly accosted by one very pissed off doctor.

"Where the hell have you been?"

"What?"

"You're supposed to be on this base at 0800."

She knew. She'd double-checked. And she was pissed that he hadn't been there on time, because she certainly had been. "Let me guess… you were so tired from doing whatever the hell you were doing with my daughter last night that you slept clean through your alarm."

Ian scowled. Really, he'd expected this, but he wasn't in the mood for her, and that was the truth.

"If you must know, I was at the Air Force academy picking up my assignments for last week and handing in the ones for this week, Doctor Fraiser." He held up the file folder in his hand, and turned to go.

It wasn't the right answer.

Fraiser, of course, wasn't done with him, and she reached out and grabbed his arm, stopping him.

"What happened between you and Cassie last night?"

Ian looked down at his arm, and then at her, but before he could say anything, Sam and Jack came around the corner and froze at the very unlikely sight.

"Janet?"

"What's going on, Doc?"

Fraiser didn't care who knew. She wasn't going to protect the cadet from whatever it was he'd done, after all.

"That's what I'm trying to find out, Colonel. Cassie came home last night in tears, her makeup smeared and messed up and her dress completely skewed. She won't tell me what happened, so I-"

"Ian?"

Jack had heard more than enough, and had turned to look at the cadet, who was pale.

Ian jerked his arm free of Fraiser's grip, and looked over at Jack.

"Nothing happened, Jack." He said. "It was a misunderstanding, that's-"

It was Jack's turn to grab Ian this time, and he did, reaching out and catching the cadet by the back of the light jacket he'd been wearing.

"You come with me."

"Jack…" Sam's voice was definitely concerned, but Jack turned and gave her a look that said he wasn't going to listen to her just then. Ian had a nasty temper, but even his was put to the test when compared with Jack's when he thought someone might have done something wrong to one of his own.

"We'll be back, Sam."

He didn't wait for her to answer, because he didn't want her to try and talk to him just then. Instead, he headed for his office, almost dragging Ian, who might have been able to put up more of a struggle if he hadn't been so surprised by the sudden turn of events, felt so shitty, and was holding the paperwork that he really couldn't afford to drop.

"Jack…"

"You be quiet."

A moment later the two of them were going through the door to Jack's office, and Jack had locked the door behind them, and had then turned to Ian, his arms crossed over his chest and his expression hard.

"Okay. You tell me, now. What happened last night?"

Ian shook his head.

"Nothing."

"You're lying to me."

Ian was a terrible liar, and Jack knew it. He could see it in the cadet's expression.

"It was…"

What could he say? Well, Jack… it's like this… Cassie tricked me into taking her back to my place where she suddenly dropped her dress and tried to seduce me… but I told her no…? Yeah, like he'd believe that. Even if Ian had any intention of saying anything like that, since it would undoubtedly hurt Cassie – something he'd already done enough of.

"What?" Jack pressed.

"A misunderstanding."

Jack scowled.

"What kind of misunderstanding…?"

Ian hesitated.

"Did the dress stay on?" Jack asked, deciding that he wasn't going to wait and give Ian a chance to come up with a lie.

Again Ian hesitated, and Jack knew immediately that the cadet was debating whether to lie or not – he knew, after all that Jack could tell when he was lying. Which meant there was only one answer. And it was the wrong one.

"You sonofabitch."