Despite Sam's assurances, Ian gave Janet a slightly guilty look when she walked in on him as he was finishing up the last of the chicken sandwiches. The rest of the meal was gone – he'd been really hungry once he'd woken up enough to realize it, and even though he'd eaten a fairly large amount of food, he really wouldn't have minded more.

"Still awake, I see," Janet said, reaching out and picking up the clipboard that held his chart. "That's good."

He nodded, swallowing the last bite of sandwich.

"I'm sure you're tired of hearing this, but how do you feel?"

"I'm okay."

"Tired?"

"No."

"Good."

She was worried he might have a lingering lethargy after sleeping for so long, but he didn't look all that tired, which made her believe he was telling the truth.

"Can I go home?"

"Not today."

He sighed, and Janet popped a thermometer in his mouth.

"What you can do is call Cassie sometime this afternoon for me and tell her that you're not dying."

He looked at her, his expression curious enough that he didn't even have to ask her what she meant.

"General Hammond hasn't allowed her down here – we didn't know what was wrong with you, after all, and Cassie isn't really in the loop when it comes to the secrets on the base – and she's been driving me crazy. If you call her, you can tell her that you're fine, and you'll be out of here in the morning."

Ian nodded, and Janet looked at her watch and pulled the thermometer out of his mouth and checked it.

"No fever. That's good."

"I'm fine," Ian repeated.

"Let me be the judge of that, okay?"

He sighed and nodded.

"What I want is for you to get up and walk across the room for me."

She stepped back and watched him intently as he stood up and walked across the room. There was no way she was going to release him from her care until she was sure he had full mobility and wasn't going to get dizzy and fall off his balcony or something.

OOOOOOOOO

The phone rang, and Cassandra Fraiser reached out without looking and picked it up on the second ring, a scowl on her face at being interrupted while she was working on her Summer reading assignment for John's Hopkins.

"Hello?"

"Hi."

The scowl faded immediately, and Cassie dropped her book, standing up with a smile and walking over to the sofa and flopped down on it.

"Ian! How are you?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"Are you really fine, or just saying you're fine so I won't worry?"

"Nah, I'm really okay," he said, and she could hear the amusement in his voice – and if she closed her eyes she could visualize the same amusement in his expressive dark eyes. "You're mom just gave me a clean bill of health."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"So what was wrong with you?"

There was a hesitation, now, and Cassie knew before he said it that he wasn't going to tell her.

"I can't tell you that, Cassandra. Not unless they give me permission to."

"But-"

"I'm sorry. You know how it is."

She sighed, but she didn't argue with him. Mainly because it wouldn't do her any good to argue with him, and she new it. Besides, she didn't want to argue.

"Okay. Can you tell me when you get to go home?"

"Tomorrow."

"Morning?"

"I'll be released from the infirmary tomorrow morning, but I'm going to work here tomorrow, so I won't actually be home until tomorrow night."

"Will you feel up to doing anything?"

"I was hoping you'd want to…"

Cassie smiled again, feeling warm and fuzzy inside.

"Okay."

"I'll come and get you sometime after 6:00 or so. You decide between now and then what you want to do, okay?"

"Okay."

"I'd better go… I'll see you tomorrow."

Cassie nodded, even though he couldn't see it.

"I love you."

Again the hesitation, and it made her smile grow into a grin, because she could just picture him on the other line, trying to figure out how to tell her he loved her, too, without actually saying it where someone might hear it – and who knew who might be listening in on the phone call? After all, the SGC was a military instillation, and they did have to occasionally monitor things for security purposes. Cassie new it, and Ian did as well.

"I… well… you know… do, too…"

She laughed. That was about the worst she'd ever heard, but it meant a lot to her anyways.

"I'll see you tomorrow."

She hung up, and went back to her reading, far more cheerfully than she'd been when she'd started reading.