Ian scowled. He'd been half asleep, maybe more so, but he remembered how Jack had reacted to his debriefing the night before.

"Why?" He asked. "You don't believe me anyway."

Jack frowned, stroking Jaffer's head when the lab put his head in his lap.

"It's not that I don't believe you, Ian," he said. "It's just… I think you're mistaken about the whole Ancient city thing. But that's not the part I want to hear about. I want to hear more about this Goa'uld – Steroids."

"Seterios."

"Yeah."

Ian shrugged, and launched into the story, telling Jack everything that had happened from the time he'd been kicked awake and not sparing any of the details. He was pretty sure he hadn't done things at all like Jack would have – Jack probably could have figured out a way to get him and Sam out of the hands of the Goa'uld using some diplomatic gobbledygook – but Ian hadn't had time to think of anything to say, and diplomacy had never been a strong suit of his, in any case. He told of being kicked awake, of the treatment the First Prime had given him – including his own words and actions, which had prompted the treatment – and did his best to explain what he was thinking when he'd been lying to Seterios about Sam.

For twenty minutes he spoke, almost completely uninterrupted, his memory giving him the ability to tell it step by step without stumbling over details, although occasionally Jack would ask him a question about something he said, his expression unreadable. Only when he reached the part of the story where he'd stolen Sam's boot knife and used it to slash the throat of the Goa'uld did he hesitate, and Jack knew that wasn't because he couldn't remember what had happened.

"What happened then?" He asked, more to keep Ian from thinking about that part too long.

"The ship blew a hole in the side of the Goa'uld ship and we escaped through the hole, went to the nearest planet with a Stargate, and ended up in the city that doesn't exist."

"And by then Sam was fully in labor?" Jack asked, ignoring the sarcasm.

Ian nodded.

"She was in a lot of pain, Jack, and I'm not sure what I could have done differently than I did. The ship put a map of where we were up on this 3-D display, and I used that to get her to this room that looked like an infirmary, and by then she was already having the baby…"

Aside from the map part, it was pretty close to Sam's own account of things – although Jack suspected Ian's telling was the more accurate, since Sam had obviously been having trouble concentrating on things that had been going on around her by then. She'd told Jack that Ian had looked terrified, but had done everything he could to keep her from panicking – although it hadn't worked – and he'd kept promising her things would be okay, even though he hadn't looked like he had a clue what to do next.

"How did you guys get home?"

Ian frowned, because he honestly didn't have a clue.

"I don't know…" He hesitated, blushing. "I think I passed out. One minute I'm covering her up with a blanket, the next minute you're trying to wake me up."

Jack frowned, although this time it had nothing to do with Ian.

"Sam doesn't remember what happened, either."

"She was conscious when I passed out…" Ian said. "At least I think she was."

"She remembers you passing out," Jack confirmed. "She just can't remember anything after that."

They both fell silent, then. Ian because he didn't know what to say about that – he wasn't used to not remembering things, after all – and Jack because he wasn't sure exactly how to say what he wanted to say, next.

It was Jack, though, who spoke next.

"I don't know how to thank you for what you did…"

It wasn't exactly what Ian had expected to hear. He'd almost expected Jack to tell him off for putting Sam in danger by singling her out to the Goa'uld, or for trying to deliver the baby on his own instead of having her hold on until they could get to help. His surprise was evident in his expression, and Jack shook his head.

"You put Sam before yourself. You forced the Goa'uld into believing that if they did anything to hurt her, he wasn't going to get his ship working, which protected her far more than anything else you could have said would have. And instead of losing your head, you did what had to be done when it was obvious – even to Sam – that you wanted to be anywhere but where you were. Most of all, you tried to keep her calm, and from what she tells me, you did a pretty good job of it – considering how bad things were and could have been. It could have been a disaster, Ian…" and Jack's expression was bleak at the very thought of how many different ways things could have gone wrong. "Instead, when you came home, you were both alive and well and so was the baby."

"I don't even remember coming home," Ian said.

"It doesn't matter. Not to me, anyways. And not to Sam. We're grateful for what you've done, and we're going to think of some way to show you that."

Ian blushed, looking somewhat embarrassed.

"You don't have-"

"Yeah," Jack interrupted. "We do. Don't argue with me, okay?"

Ian looked like he was going to say something else, but Jack's expression was pretty much set, and he knew no matter what he said; O'Neill wouldn't listen to him, anyways. Finally, he shrugged.

"If I'm ever in labor in an underwater city, you can deliver the baby and we'll call it even."

Jack snorted, a wry smile on his face.

"I'll keep that in mind."

Ian nodded, and fell silent, and Jack took another slice of toast from the stack, eating it slowly as he watched several different emotions come and go across Ian's face. Telling Jack about what had happened reminded Ian what had happened, and several of those things weren't pleasant. And weren't things he wanted to remember. Jack understood that, though, and didn't even need to ask why the young man was suddenly so quiet. He knew Ian wasn't trying to think of a good joke to tell.

"You want to talk about it?" He asked, softly.

Surprised, Ian looked up at Jack. He hadn't been aware he'd been that transparent.

"I-"

"What are you doing out of bed?"

They both looked up, and saw Janet walking over to them, frowning.

Ian flushed, and looked guilty, despite his earlier claim that no one had told him he was supposed to stay in bed.

"Shit."

Luckily, only Jack heard that.