Ian watched as Shawn and River headed for the door, but he wasn't surprised when they stopped at Sam's bed once more and vanished behind the curtain – presumably to say goodbye to her and Jack. He looked down at his watch again, admiring it.

Ian wasn't really a possessive kind of guy – he'd always had plenty to eat and all the things he needed, but really the only thing he'd ever owned that he was manic over was Bubba. And then he'd stolen that Glock off that Army major – who hadn't filed any charges over it (big surprise). Of course, the guy was facing some serious charges of his own from what Ian had heard – mainly from his dad – so it wasn't surprising that he had more to worry about than a lost gun.

A very nice gun, though. One that Ian was really fond of, and had been relieved to hear from Sam that Jack had picked it up from the floor where he'd dropped it. And now, of course, he had two very nice guns. He knew Jack and Sam both carried Berettas, but he liked the heavy feel of the Glock, and was young enough to be impressed by the size of it. Them.

And now he had a very cool watch to add to that slowly growing collection of possessions. He also had a great girlfriend, but Ian didn't count her as something belonging to him. She was her own person and very much so, although he did love her to distraction – and refused to admit it to anyone but her. Even to himself, most times.

"It's nice."

He looked up and saw Jacob Carter had joined him by his bed, and was admiring the watch, too.

Ian smiled.

"Thanks."

"How's the leg?"

"Hurts like a Sonofabitch."

It had been fine until River started poking at it. Now it was throbbing.

"Want me to tell Fraiser?"

"Good Lord, no."

That was all he needed. She'd probably want to run more tests on it or something – or check his range of motion again.

Jacob smiled, and took a seat on the edge of Ian's bed.

"I want to thank you…" He said. "And apologize."

Ian shrugged, unsure what he meant.

"You don't need to-"

"I need to do both," Jacob told him, interrupting. "Sam's my daughter, and I could have lost her. Both when Seterios ambushed us, and when she went into labor. Both times, you were the reason she survived, and the two of you made it back safely. With my grandchild."

Ian flushed. He was already getting embarrassed with all the people telling him he'd done well, when as far as he was concerned, he'd done a shitty job of taking care of either of them. If he'd thought quicker, he might have been able to come up with a way to save them from the Goa'uld without so much bloodshed – and he remembered all the blood quite clearly – and if they'd escaped without blowing their way out of the ship, Sam might not have gone all the way into labor.

"I didn't do-"

"Hush." Jacob said. "So… I need to thank you for saving her and Jacob. And apologize for leading you into the trap in the first place. We really didn't know what-"

"You couldn't have known," Ian said, interrupting. "Seterios was pretty impressed with himself that he'd been among you guys for so long without you knowing."

"Several of us noticed that he had become more aggressive," Jacob said, shrugging. "We just assumed it was the increase in Jaffa and Goa'uld activity in the area."

"You couldn't have known," Ian repeated.

"I almost cost a good friend his only son."

Ian blushed. The way Jacob said it, it made it seem like Ian was the most important thing in the world to Nathan Brooks, and he wasn't sure how to deal with that. Not after so many years of being certain his dad barely even knew he was alive.

"It's okay, Jacob…" Ian said, finally. "Everything turned out okay."

"Because of you."

Ian shrugged. Obviously no matter what he said, it wasn't going to make him realize he'd done everything – most things, anyways – wrong. So he just decided not to say anything.

Jacob seemed to realize he was uncomfortable, because he fell silent, as well.

Ian looked at him after a minute.

"You're really a Tok'ra, huh?"

Carter grinned, and nodded.

"Surprise."

"How'd that happen?"

"It's a long story."

The cadet looked around, shrugging.

"I'm not going anywhere."

Good point.

Jacob shrugged as well, and settled himself a little more comfortably on the edge of Ian's bed – carefully avoiding the injured leg.

"Well… it all started several years ago when I was diagnosed with cancer…"

OOOOOOOOOOO

They were alone. Well, somewhat alone, anyways. As alone as you could be in an infirmary with people around them. Daniel had left with River and Shawn, to walk them up to the gate, and had offered to take Jaffer out for a quick run. Jacob had excused himself to go talk to Ian and Teal'c hadn't returned from taking Pia back to her bed until Jacob was ready to leave.

Jack was holding Jacob, who was asleep once more, and was sitting next to Sam, who was leaning back into her pillows, and into his side, her head resting on his shoulder, just being with him and their new son. The two of them hadn't had a lot of alone time, really, although once they had a clean bill of health for Jacob and could take him home they would have more and they both knew it. Neither minded the fact that their friends had come to see the baby and wanted to hold him – it was the nature of babies to turn ordinary people into morons, after all.

"You know…" Sam said, softly. "They're right."

"Shawn and River?" Jack asked, just as softly.

Sam nodded.

Before they'd left, Shawn had mentioned to Sam that Ian looked tired, and River had agreed, asking if he'd been sick lately. Of course, Ian had been sick, but while it had been serious, it hadn't been enough to explain the exhaustion his friends had noticed. Jack and Sam both knew that was more than just illness related. Ian had been driving himself fairly hard – working with Sam in her lab, Jack with SG-1, and doing the schoolwork required of him to keep up with his classes at the academy. Add to that the fact that Teal'c had taken over his self-defense classes in the absence of Bra'tac.

He was doing well in all of it – still at the top of his class at school, despite his absence – but it was taking its toll on him, whether he knew it or not. And to their consternation, neither Sam nor Jack had really noticed. But Shawn and River had, since they didn't see him every day, now.

"Yeah."

Jack nodded, too.

"I know. I didn't think about it, but he does have a lot on his plate, doesn't he?"

It was just that Ian handled it all so well, it was hard to realize.

"And adding to it every day, it seems."

"Well, SG-1 will be on stand down for a couple of weeks – maybe longer. That'll give him a chance to get some rest."

"I think we ought to send him off somewhere. Force him to relax."

"It's too early for summer camp."

Sam laughed.

"Could you imagine him being a counselor?"

"I couldn't have imagined Teal'c being one, either, and he does okay."

"Teal'c doesn't have Ian's temper."

True.

"So… where do we send him? Offworld?"

"No. That might end up being work." She looked down at Jacob, and kissed Jack's neck. "We'll have to think about it…"

Something would come to them.