Nathan snorted, and then reached down and picked Jake up. The baby had woken when Ian spoke up, and found himself being picked up by someone he didn't really recognize. Of course, there were lots of people he didn't recognize, and the hands that were holding him were steady and strong, making him feel secure enough that he didn't have any good reason to cry. He stared at Nate, who grinned down at him.

"He's gotten really big, Sam."

Sam preened, proud of the fact that Jake had, indeed, gained a fair amount of weight since being born so tiny.

"He's not a shy eater," she confirmed, smiling. She looked down at Ian, who was sitting up now, and tossing the blankets aside. He was done sleeping.

Nate looked over at Ian as well, noting that he looked tired – since he just woke up, though, it was only natural he supposed.

"You're okay?" He asked his son.

Ian nodded.

"What are you doing here?"

Nate scowled.

"I came to check on you."

"Is mom here, too?"

"No, she's in Turkey."

"Oh."

Nate handed Jacob over to Sam, and gave Ian one more quick once over – just to make sure there weren't any bandages or anything.

"We need to talk."

Which told Ian that maybe he knew something about the Smith guy… he couldn't think of any other reason his dad would have come all this way – especially since there was no way he could have heard about the car chase and came just for that – since he probably couldn't have made it in the amount of time since it'd happened. You never knew with his dad, though.

"Okay."

Ian got out of bed, feeling a bit weak and tired, but not at all as disabled as he'd been before. The energy he'd borrowed from Jake had done wonders restoring his equilibrium, and a quick glance at the baby proved that Jake wasn't suffering from the loss.

"Hey…"

Janet started to protest that he was getting up, and both Ian and Nate looked over at her. That was a time when you could tell that they were father and son, Sam decided. They both wore similar looks of impatience, and identical scowls.

"I'll bring him back to you, Doctor Fraiser," Nathan said. "But I need to talk to him alone for a minute."

"I'll be right back," Ian promised.

"You'd better be," Janet said, giving them a slight frown of her own. She had a few questions for Ian – and Nathan, as well, if Ian didn't give her any answers.

The two turned and headed for the door to the infirmary, but were stopped 's bed talking to him, who was standing at River's bed talking to him and Shawn.

"Where ya going?" Jack asked.

"We'll be right back," Nate said.

Jack nodded, and smiled at Sam who had come up behind Ian and his father, and reached for Jake, who was more than willing to be passed over to his father.

"What's going on?" Shawn asked. He didn't have any more of an idea why Nate was here than River did, and both cadets were watching the retreating Brooks with curiosity.

"Oh, you'll never believe it," Jack said, shaking his head.

"But you're going to try me, right?" Shawn asked, hoping he wasn't going to be kept in the dark. He hated not knowing things.

"I'll tell you later." Jack turned to River. "How do you feel? We need to have a long chat, and it's important that you're coherent for it."

"I'm fine, Colonel."

Jack looked at Janet, who had followed Sam over to the bed, and the doctor nodded her head.

"He's burned off the medications, Colonel. You can have a normal conversation with him."

Well, as normal as River ever was, anyways, Janet thought privately.

"Good. I'll go tell Hammond."

He handed Jake back to Sam, since it probably wouldn't do to report in with the baby in his arms – as much as he'd have liked to hold him for a while – and he and Jaffer headed for the door as well.

OOOOOO

Nate led Ian into the first empty room they found once they'd cleared the infirmary door, and closed and locked it behind them. It was a small storage room, with shelves of medical equipment stacked and labeled neatly all the way to the ceiling. Ian leaned against one of the shelving units, and waited.

Nate didn't make him wait long.

"I found your Smith guy, son."

So Ian had been right.

"Who is he?"

"Just a lackey. But he works for another guy, who works for an admiral, and this admiral is running a group that is a lot like the SGC – only not sanctioned by the military or the government. At least, not by those in rightful positions of power."

Ian's gaze grew guarded, and he wondered what his dad really knew about the SGC. He'd never used that phrase with Nate, and he knew no one else would have accidentally dropped it into a conversation. And Nathan understood the look immediately. Ian was very easy to read, after all.

"The admiral I tracked down knew all about this operation, son. And he told me everything. But I'm not going to ask you about it." Mainly because he was sure his son wouldn't tell him anything.

"Then, what-"

"These guys were after you, Ian."

"I knew that, dad. What did they want?"

Obviously if they'd wanted to hurt him, they would have done it on the field while he'd been jogging. Even though he'd gotten the drop on them, they'd had all the time in the world to pull weapons on him while they'd been walking towards him.

"They wanted to recruit you into their organization. The Trust, they called it."

"Yeah?"

Nate nodded, and scowled.

"They're bad men, Ian, and I don't want you anywhere near them."

"I'm not afraid of them."

"Of course you're not – and you shouldn't be. You're better than all of them put together and don't you ever forget it. What I mean is that I don't want you having anything to do with them – or any group that you don't know. I know you can't talk about what you're doing here until you know what I know and what I don't, but I know enough that I can tell you this: Jack's a good guy, and he'd never commit treason like these guys have. He might buck the system every now and then, but he'd never turn his back on it, and I don't want you to get involved in anything that you might not be able to get out of."

"I wouldn't join up with anything I didn't trust – or anyone I didn't trust."

And since Nate knew Ian didn't trust many people, that was a good sign.

"Good."

"So… does this mean I have to watch my back from now on? Are there going to be guys coming looking for me?"

Nate shook his head.

"You let me worry about that. And them."