"So River didn't tell you what this guy wanted that wanted to talk to him?"

Shawn shook his head, looking at all the people in the room – because now the police were in there as well, listening in on the story and taking notes.

"He didn't know. He didn't even know who the guy was – only that the guy said he was a friend of his father's or something…"

Sam frowned.

"Why would someone try to kidnap River? I know his dad is famous and all – but still…"

Jack scowled as well. He didn't like how much this was sounding like the events of the days before Thanksgiving, and wondered if there was a lot more to things than met the eye. If there was, then the police definitely needed to be out of the loop – and there was no way that was going to happen without more information coming out.

"Ian's mom is famous but no one's trying to kidnap him," Shawn pointed out.

"You'd be nuts to try and kidnap Ian," Sam said with a slight smile as she cuddled Jake, who had been dozing but had woken up. "If Ian didn't make you sorry, Nate definitely would."

Shawn turned towards Sam, reminded of something when she'd said that, but hesitated, because he definitely didn't want to mention it with the police in the room. Luckily, before anyone but Sam had noticed the look, a commotion outside the room drew everyone's attention, and they could clearly hear Janet Fraiser's voice.

"I don't care who's in there with him, I'm going to check him out. I've been his personal physician since he was a little boy and if you don't move out of my-"

She stopped when Morales crossed the room and opened the door, and they could all see she'd been arguing with the police officer that had been assigned to keep nosy people out of the room while the police interviewed Shawn. Morales had been informed by the O'Neills that Fraiser was coming, but hadn't remembered to let the officer outside the door know.

"Doctor Fraiser, please come in…"

Janet scowled at having been caught yelling, but walked through the door and headed directly for Shawn, who couldn't help but feel just a bit anxious when the formidable woman reached his bed and picked up his chart to take a look. Sam smiled, tweaking Shawn's foot through his blanket, and Janet looked at all the people in the room.

"It's too crowded in here. Some of you will have to leave."

Morales started to object, but Janet leveled him with a look that plainly said whatever he was going to say wasn't going to mean a thing to her, and the Lieutenant sighed and nodded.

"We have enough for now," he said, looking down at the notes he'd taken. "You should probably get some rest, Shawn…"

The police officers that had been in the room all headed for the door, and Janet turned her attention back to the chart, holding up an x-ray of the cadet's shoulder and arm to the light and frowning.

"How does the arm feel, Shawn?" She asked without looking at him.

"It's okay."

"Sore?"

"A little."

Janet frowned again, still looking at the x-ray, and then at the chart.

"That's odd…"

"What is?" Jack asked. He'd been watching Janet intently while she looked at the charts, trying to gauge from her reaction if the injury was serious or if the other doctors had been right when they'd told him it wasn't dangerous.

"There's an entry wound, and an exit wound…"

"That's good, though, right?" Jack asked, confused. Better that the bullet wasn't lodged in his son's arm – as far as he was concerned.

"Except that between the two is Shawn's humerus – his upper arm bone – and the bullet's path was right through it… but it's not broken or injured at all…"

"It felt like it was broken," Shawn admitted. "But it doesn't anymore."

"Probably just shock," Jack said, glad that it wasn't.

"Maybe the bullet bounced off something?" Sam suggested.

Janet frowned.

"There's nothing for it to bounce off…"

She glared at the x-ray for a while longer, but the x-ray wasn't talking to her, and she couldn't figure out any satisfactory answer to the mystery. Finally she shrugged.

"You must have just gotten lucky."

"A lot luckier than River…" Shawn said.

Janet nodded.

"I'm going to go check on him, next."

Since there weren't any police in the room, Shawn brought up the thing that Sam had reminded him of when she'd been talking about Nate.

"When we were checking on the guys – after the crash, I mean – Ian opened up one of the doors and a phone fell out. With someone on the other line yelling. Ian picked it up and asked who it was, and I don't know who it was, but Nathan Brooks probably does."

"Nathan?" Jack asked.

Shawn nodded.

"The next person to come on the line was General Brooks. I remembered when Sam was talking about how someone would be crazy to try and kidnap Ian. Ian had just finished talking to his dad when he collapsed. Right before the ambulance and fire trucks came…"

"I'll give him a call," Jack said, frowning, wondering what on earth Brooks had been doing – and wondering if he'd tell him. "In a bit."

He stood up, ignoring the ache in his leg. Sam looked at him curiously.

"Where are you going?"

"One of those bastards shot Shawn," Jack told her, his voice turning cold and angry. "I'm going to find out which one."

Sam might have protested, telling him that the police would figure it out without Jack's help, but she didn't. She wanted Jack to find out – and she knew that whatever he did to the guy was nothing compared to what he deserved.

"Just be careful of your leg."

Janet frowned, looking at Jack's thigh as if suddenly reminded that he wasn't supposed to be on it.

"Colonel…"

"Relax, doc," Jack said. "I'll walk with you to go check on River, and you can see for yourself that it's not going to fall off – and I'm not going to fall down."

As mad as he was, pure anger would keep him up – even if the leg had been a lot worse than it was. And this way, if River was awake, Jack could ask him if he knew which guy it had been – and save him the trouble of interrogating them himself.

"I'll stay and keep Shawn company," Sam told them, coming over and claiming the pot that Jack had vacated. The cadet might have denied the need for company, but he was really glad that she was staying. He'd like the company just then, and Sam was as good as it came when it came to people who reassured. Even better than Janet Fraiser, because Sam didn't loom over you.

Jack nodded, and opened the door, holding it for Janet, who still looked like she was going to argue, but thought better of it, and shrugged, leading the way out into the hall.