They spent almost an hour at the O'Neill's, but that was about it. Janet turned down Sam's invitation to dinner, as did Ian. He was tired, moody and miserable, and well aware that he wasn't good company for anyone to keep. Janet was tired as well, and definitely wasn't dressed for any prolonged stay. Besides, she wanted to take a hot bath.
"I'll drive Ian home," Sam said as they were getting Jacob bundled into a warm outfit. "You take Cassie and Janet and come by and get me."
Jack nodded and looked over to where Ian was sitting on the sofa beside Cassie, his good arm unobtrusively around her and his bandaged hand in his lap. He was half asleep, and not paying any attention to the baseball game that was playing on the TV. Cassie was snuggled up against him, carefully avoiding touching his chest – which Sam had convinced Ian to show them. The four scratches on his chest were probably going to scar, Jack decided, but for now they were red and angry looking – although Janet said they weren't infected.
"He's a little big to carry up to his bed…"
Sam smiled.
"I'll have Jaffer drag him up for me."
Which told Jack that she was going to take Jaffer. Since he was going to be taking Jacob, he was going to take the car – although they had a car seat in the truck, too. It was just easier to load four people – if you counted Jake as a people, just yet – into a car than it was to load them into his truck.
He nodded, and picked up Jake, cuddling him close and looking at the others. Janet was dozing in the big easy chair, and looked just as tired as Ian did.
"Lead Foot? You ready to go?"
She scowled, opening her eyes and looking over at him.
"I wasn't going that fast…"
"How fast was she going, Ian?" Jack asked the cadet, who had opened his eyes when Jack had spoke to Fraiser.
"A hundred and two."
"A hundred and two?" Cassie asked, amazed.
Janet scowled again, this time at Ian, who was still waking up and unaware of the dirty look he was getting.
"You're lucky they didn't throw you in jail," Sam said, smiling as she reached for her shoes.
"I think they were more worried about Ian than they were me and Andrew," Janet told them. "He was the one who had the big automatic pistol in his glove box, after all."
Ian shrugged. It wasn't a secret that the gun was there – although it was usually locked up and protected a bit better than it had been. The glove box was seldom unlocked, and there was a good security system on the car, after all. Like he'd risk losing that Glock. His parents had given him that gun, after all.
"As opposed to the bag of drugs?"
She sniffed, standing up and reaching slipping her feet into the borrowed shoes once more.
"Not drugs. Medicines."
Ian smiled, tiredly and gave Cassie a slight squeeze before standing up. He hadn't had a lot of time with her, but at least he'd been able to hold her and not worry about anyone frowning about it.
"You ready?" Sam asked him.
He nodded, and leaned over and kissed Cassie, softly.
"I'll talk to you tomorrow sometime, okay?"
She nodded, smiling and blushing at the same time – wondering why he always made her blush like that.
"Be careful."
"I'm just going home. What could possibly-"
"Don't ask that," Sam interrupted. "Otherwise we'll probably find out."
Ian smiled and nodded, and looked at Janet.
"Thanks again."
She returned the smile, but had a few last minute orders for him.
"Make sure you keep your hand and your chest dry – no shower. I'll see you in my infirmary first thing in the morning to change the bandages and check to make sure there's still no infection."
"Yes, ma'am."
Everyone in the room stared at him. Even Jake seemed to be looking at him in shock – although that was just because he was facing Ian and was in the middle of dirtying his diaper.
Ian scowled, and headed for the door, and Janet turned to Sam, just as surprised as everyone else.
"Did he just say what I thought he just said?"
Sam nodded wordlessly, and it was a full moment before any of them actually moved to follow Ian out the door.
OOOOOO
"It's not that bad…"
Ian ran a hand along the deepest of the scratches on the hood of the car and looked at Sam. The two of them were standing outside his apartment building, with Jaffer sitting beside Sam, his hulking form obviously guarding her in Jack's absence.
"It's pretty bad."
"It can be fixed," Sam assured him, bringing her arm around his lean waist, turning him easily away from the car and towards the door. "Come on, I'll make you something to eat while we wait for Jack and Jake."
He let her turn him, and decided that he could forget about how bad the car was for the moment. It wasn't like he could do anything until he could call the insurance guys, anyways.
"I'm not sure I have anything to cook…"
She smiled, and opened the door for him, both of them holding back as Jaffer went through the door first.
"If all else fails, we'll call Jack and tell him to stop and get burgers on the way. You look tired, I bet you could use something a little more solid in you than a bowl of cereal before you go to bed."
He wondered how she knew he'd been planning on a bowl of cereal for dinner in lieu of actually attempting to cook something, but he didn't say anything as he unlocked the door to the apartment and gestured for her to enter first.
Sam walked into the living room, impressed as always by just how neat he kept the place, and headed for the living room while Ian flopped down on the sofa, worn out just from going from the car to the apartment. He turned his head and watched as she went through his cupboards, shaking her head in disbelief.
"I'll call Jack. What kind of burgers do you want?"
