"Sorry about that," Andrew said as the two of them walked out to Ian's car and got in. "My sister isn't usually quite so bad."

Ian shrugged.

"It's no big deal."

"We don't have to go to the lodge if you don't want to," Andrew said, putting on his seatbelt. "We could go-"

"The lodge sounds fine," Ian interrupted, starting the car. The engine roared to life, and Ian put the car in gear. "Road trips are always good."

Especially ones that weren't really all that far. Except if he was taking Cassie. Then he wouldn't have minded a longer trip. He pulled into what little traffic there was on Andrew's street.

"What kind of music do you listen to?" Andrew asked, curiously, noticing that the car had a new stereo system in it and wondering if Sam had installed it or if Ian had after he'd been given the car.

"Rock," Ian answered. While he wasn't one to go for small talk – and he wasn't – Ian knew he was going to have to make an effort to try to this time. "Old rock, really – like 80's and 70's. Billy Joel, shit like that. You?"

"I like that," Andrew replied. "Or country. But I get a lot of flak for liking country."

Ian shrugged.

"Better to listen to what you like than try to conform. People don't like it, you can always tell them to go to hell."

Andrew smiled; he wished he had the self-confidence Ian did, because it was obvious the guy didn't do what he didn't want to. Before he could say anything, though, Ian had pulled the car into a gas station.

"If we're going to go on an extended drive, we're going to need gas," he said, pulling up to a pump and opening his door. "I meant to get it last night, but I forgot." More like he'd spent the evening trying to figure out what the hell he was thinking letting Teal'c talk him into doing this – although really, so far, Andrew seemed like a normal enough kind of guy.

"Since it was my idea, I'll buy the gas," Andrew offered, getting out of the car as well.

Ian shook his head, smiling.

"Not a chance. You can buy lunch later if you want."

Andrew shrugged.

"Fair enough. You want a soda or anything?"

Ian nodded, and opened the gas cap of the convertible.

"I'll meet you inside once I fill up."

Andrew headed inside the small store, nodding a hello to the clerk behind the counter who greeted him with a good morning, and went back to talking with the girl that was standing at the counter paying for a cup of coffee. He walked around, not really hungry – he'd just had breakfast after all – but more than willing to find something to snack on. He wasn't sure whether Ian cared if anyone ate in his car or not – he didn't think he did, but better to be sure – so he wanted to wait and ask before he bought anything. Nothing worse than having a bag of chips or something and not being able to eat them.

A few minutes later (and Andrew was pretty sure the clerk had to be thinking he was going to steal something from his aimless wandering of the store) Ian walked in, glancing over at the clerk for a moment before heading over to Andrew.

"You're not getting anything?" He asked, surprised to see that Andrew didn't have anything in his hands. Not even the pop he'd mentioned.

"I wasn't sure if you'd want me eating in your car."

"I'm going to," Ian told him with a rare smile. Dumb kid! "Just remember; it's a convertible, so we're going to have some wild drafts going on once we hit the freeway. Which means don't get anything that will easily blow away – the only thing I'm going to stop to retrieve would be you if you fell out."

Andrew laughed.

"I'll try to avoid that."

Ian nodded, and headed for the cooler, grabbing a six-pack of Mountain Dew and a couple of Snicker's bars before heading to the counter. Andrew debated on chips, decided they'd blow away in the car, and opted for licorice and a six-pack of Pepsi.

"Are you guys together?" the clerk asked as Andrew joined Ian at the counter.

"We're just friends," Ian answered, his expression serious, but a gleam of humor in his dark eyes. He loved fucking with people when they gave him the chance. Even strangers. Especially strangers?

There was a slight pause while the clerk hesitated, and Andrew grinned, getting the joke immediately.

"I've got all the food and drinks," he said. "He's getting the gas."

OOOOOOO

"You do know how to find this place?"

"Of course."

Ian opened a pop and started the car.

"I'm not going to be happy if we get lost…"

Andrew grinned.

"Trust me."

Uh huh.

Ian headed out of the gas station, and following Andrew's directions, he headed for the freeway, going west.

OOOOOOO

The corridors of the SGC were fairly empty that morning. They usually were on a Saturday – especially one when it was a true weekend. Meaning there were no SG teams offworld for everyone to worry about. Which didn't mean the place was deserted, because there was always a chance that something might happen and some unknown or unauthorized gate activity might occur. There were several armed guards in the place – it was just that most of them were stationed around the gate room, and Teal'c was nowhere near that level of the base.

The Jaffa didn't mind so much that he lived on a secure base – it kept him from being forced to deal with a lot of the stares he received when he was out in public. He knew that even though he'd been on Earth for several years, he just didn't seem to fit in when he was with others. Sam had told him it was only because he was so big, but Teal'c knew there was more to it than that. Daniel had told him that he just seemed to be a bit… uptight… but Teal'c didn't know how to act less… uptight… and so couldn't do anything about it. It had gotten a little better, though. He had Jack (the dog) – who was cheerful enough for the both of them – and he had Andrew, who never seemed to mind that they drew odd looks when they were out in public together. The two hardly made a normal pairing, after all. Teal'c huge, dark and imposing, and Andrew skinny and slight and so obviously not related to him. Of course, no one ever did more than do a double-take, since Teal'c was so imposing, but it was still nice that he didn't have to deal with that all the time.

He rounded the final turn on the way out to the main corridor leading outside, and almost crashed into Daniel Jackson, who had been walking and reading a report. Only Teal'c's quick reflexes kept Daniel from being knocked to the floor, and Daniel looked truly surprised to see him there.

"Teal'c."

"Good morning, Daniel Jackson."

"What are you doing here?"

"I live here."

"I know."

There was a pause while Daniel waited for Teal'c to say something else, but he didn't. Finally Daniel spoke again.

"I thought you were… going to hang out with Andrew this weekend?"

"I was," Teal'c agreed. "I am."

Daniel looked around, but all he saw was Jack, who was wagging his tail cheerfully, smelling Daniel's leg – which smelled suspiciously like Binky.

"Is he hiding?"

"He is with Ian Brooks."

"Oh." Daniel paused again, but Teal'c didn't elaborate. "Did Ian kidnap him?"

"He is attempting to 'bond' with Andrew with the hope that Andrew will tell him what is bothering him."

"And Ian agreed to that?"

That didn't really sound like something Ian would do. Not that he wasn't a nice guy… but… well… Ian wasn't really all that nice a guy. Not to people he didn't know, anyways. Daniel knew that. Heck, everyone knew that.

"He is doing it as a favor to me."

"Oh. Well… that ought to be… um… interesting."

Teal'c gave one of his ultra rare smiles.

"Indeed."