Author's note: Sorry this one is taking longer than usual, guys. I'm deciding as I go just how people would be reacting and how much I want told when… but we're getting there!

OOOOOOOO

"He what?"

Sam was now sitting on Jack's bed, with Jacob in her arms, and Jaffer sprawled next to her snoring lightly. Daniel and Teal'c had listened to what Janet had told them with growing disbelief and while Sam understood that completely, it also annoyed her for some reason.

"He healed him, Daniel," Sam said. "Pulled himself out of bed, came over, touched Jack's chest and after a couple of minutes, the wound was gone…"

"Not completely gone," Janet corrected. "But almost."

"How can that be?" Teal'c asked. "The Tau'ri are not capable of healing with a simple touch."

"The Ancient are," Daniel said. "Is he Ancient and we just didn't know it?"

"He's not Ancient, Daniel," Sam said, still irritated. "He's human. If he were Ancient, we'd have known. Dotty would have told us, or something."

"Then how do you explain what he did, Sam?"

"There has to be an explanation," she said. "We'll just have to ask him."

They all turned to the sleeping Cadet as if hoping that he'd wake up, but Ian didn't move, the steady beeping of the machine monitoring his vitals the only indication he was even alive.

"He's not-"

"What's going on?"

They turned and saw Hammond had joined them in the room. The General was never out of the loop as far as what was going on on his base, and he'd been informed by Janet that O'Neill had woken up and was being given more tests and had come down to find out how he was doing.

Fraiser quickly explained what little they knew, and Hammond stared at the boy sleeping on the bed.

"Are you certain it was Ian, doctor?"

She shrugged.

"It had to be, sir. Colonel O'Neill wasn't responding to anything I was doing – and I tried everything." She shot Sam an apologetic look, but continued. "We were just waiting to see if he was going to pull through… and then Ian touched him and he healed him. At least it appears that he did. I'll know more when they finish the tests they're running."

"Wake Cadet Brooks up," Hammond ordered. "I want to talk to him."

Janet hesitated, and then shook her head.

"I can't, sir."

"I need to talk to him, Doctor."

"The last time he was out like this was the day that the Trust tried to kidnap River Hayden. At the hospital I tried to force Ian awake with an injection of synthetic adrenalin. And it almost killed him. I won't make that mistake again. He'll have to be allowed to wake up naturally."

"But-"

Janet had been doing some speculating on her own – much as Sam had been – and she interrupted Hammond before she could lose her train of thought.

"As near as I can tell – and of course this is pure conjecture – he's exhausted. Probably because of what he did for Colonel O'Neill. Whatever caused it, it's serious, and when I tried to wake him up last time, the added flow of adrenalin in his already over-taxed system put him in duress. I managed to neutralize it in time, but I won't risk it again. We'll have to wait to talk to him."

Hammond scowled, but he didn't argue. Now that he understood why Fraiser refused to wake Ian up, he couldn't agree more. He wanted answers, but he wasn't going to kill Ian to try and get them.

"He hasn't taken any damage?"

"I'm going to run the next battery of tests on him, sir," Janet said. "He doesn't seem to be any worse off than he was before, but it won't hurt to make sure."

"You do that, doctor. And then report to me as soon as you have answers."

Of course, he wanted more than just medical answers, but he knew that Janet Fraiser wasn't going to be able to give him all the answers to the questions he had. He'd have to wait.

"Yes, sir."

"Major?" He turned to Sam, who had been watching Ian from where she sat on Jack's bed. Sam looked up.

"Yes, sir?"

"Let me know if you need anything."

Sam smiled, not at all surprised by the offer, and nodded.

"Thank you, sir."

Hammond gave Ian another look, and then left the room. There wasn't anything he could do to help, and he had no reason to stay. Besides, he was just as relieved as anyone that Jack O'Neill was going to survive what he'd been told was a grievous and possibly mortal injury, and he needed a chance to sit down. He also needed a chance to consider what he'd heard – without having anyone with him – and he did his best thinking in his office.

"So you think he's done this before…?" Daniel asked Janet once Hammond had left. "This healing thing?"

Janet shrugged and then nodded.

"It would explain a lot," she replied. "He's certainly exhibiting the same symptoms that he had the day that River was abducted by the Trust…" she trailed off, frowning as she looked over at Ian. "Not to mention, it explains why Shawn's arm wasn't broken when I was certain it should have been – and how River managed to avoid serious injury. Shawn told me that Ian went over to check on River before he came over to check on the men in the crashed suburban."

Daniel frowned, as well, but it was Teal'c who spoke up.

"Ian Brooks was checking on O'Neill when he was shot. We did not see the Jaffa in time, but had he been paying attention he should have seen him."

Janet looked at Daniel, who nodded his agreement.

"Then maybe Colonel O'Neill was luckier than I thought," she said. She'd assumed he'd lucked out when the bone fragments from his shattered sternum had missed the aorta, but now in light of what she'd seen and heard, she decided it was possible that Ian had tried to start healing Jack when he'd been injured. "We'll learn more once the test results are in…"

Daniel and Teal'c nodded, taking that as a dismissal – which it was. They both headed for the door. Sam however was looking down at Jacob, who had fallen asleep in her arms.