"Don't fall asleep…"

Ian opened his eyes, and shook his head, looking over at Sam. She was behind the wheel of his car and they'd just pulled out of the main gate. Right behind them was Jack's truck, Jaffer in the front passenger seat, and Jake in his car seat behind his father.

"I won't."

Sam smiled, thinking he looked tired enough to do just that and decided that she'd better keep talking, or they were going to end up toting him up to his apartment.

"Son of God, huh…"

Ian scowled, like Sam had known he was going to. He'd already put up with a few smirks from Janet as Sam had told the story – what little she knew – and Sam knew he was never going to live it down. Especially with Jack in on things.

"It's all Daniel's fault."

"Yeah?"

"He nagged me to heal that little kid."

"You wouldn't have healed him if Daniel hadn't nagged?"

Ian hesitated and then shrugged.

"Maybe. I didn't get much chance to decide."

"Daniel's a good guy, Ian. He's a little enthusiastic, sometimes, but his heart is definitely in the right place."

"I know." He just didn't like to be the guy that always had to put up with the shit at the end of it.

"What about the woman you helped…? You didn't want to help her?"

He sighed.

"I didn't have any choice. Her husband pretty much blackmailed me into helping – he wouldn't help me find that cave if I didn't help his wife."

"But you wouldn't have helped her for any other reason?"

Sam knew she was doing her own form of nagging, but she also knew that Ian was a better guy than he thought he was, and she wanted him to have to admit it.

"No."

Sam looked over at him and caught his eye, holding the look longer than she might have if not for the fact that they were at a stop sign. Long enough that Ian finally sighed and broke the contact.

"Fine. I might have…"

She smiled as they started moving again, and Ian scowled, knowing that she'd managed to get some kind of concession from him that he hadn't planned on giving.

"Did you think of anything to get Cassie?" Sam asked, mercifully changing the subject. Of course, this one wasn't any better. Cassie's graduation ceremony was the next evening, and Ian was getting close to being desperate.

"No…" He hadn't had a lot of time to figure it out, of course, but that wasn't any excuse, since he'd had months to think about it and was pretty sure he was the lousiest boyfriend in the world.

If he hadn't been less tired he might have been able to hide his desperation, but Sam picked it up easily and patted his leg, reassuringly.

"Want to go shopping tomorrow?"

He looked over at her, surprised.

"Really?"

"Why not?"

He hadn't even considered actually asking Sam to take him out looking, but Sam knew Cassie better than almost anyone – certainly better than Ian did. At least when it came to her tastes and what she'd like. Besides, Sam was a woman, and would know if something was tacky or not, where Ian pretty much thought anything that wasn't white or plain was loud.

"That'd be great, Sam, thanks."

The relief in his voice made her smile, and she pulled into the parking area of his apartments only minutes later, her passenger still awake. Jack pulled the truck into the space next to the car, and both engines turned off.

"Thanks for the ride," Ian said as he got out of the car and looked over at her.

"Want us to walk you up?" Jack asked, leaning out of his window.

"Nah. I'm not going to fall asleep between here and there."

Probably.

Sam tossed him his keys, which he caught neatly.

"We'll see you in the morning."

"Yes, Ma'am."

They watched until he vanished, and then Jack reached out and brushed his hand against the back of Sam's neck.

"Get in the truck, Major. I want to go home."

She smiled.

"Yes, Sir."

OOOOOOO

Normally Ian didn't take the elevator up to his apartment. There were stairs, and he preferred the stairs. But he wasn't going to take the stairs this time. Instead he headed for the elevator and pushed the button for his floor, already debating whether to eat something before sleeping or just dropping into bed, and decided sleep was pretty much more important than anything else just then.

When he opened the door to his apartment, though, he found one of the very few exceptions to that. Cassie was sitting on his couch, her bare feet tucked up under a cushion and a can of soda sitting on his coffee table. She smiled when he walked in, and Ian hesitated at the door, surprised to see her.

"Hey."

She had a key to his place. Mainly because someone needed to feed his fish (well, technically they were Daniel's fish), and because she'd come for a surprise visit once and had ended up stranded outside his door when it had become apparent that he wasn't home. His neighborhood wasn't all that bad of one, but Ian had immediately given her a key so she'd never have to stand outside again.

But this was the first time she'd ever been waiting for him.

"Hi."

"Surprised to see me?"

He nodded, walking over and leaning over the back of the couch to give her a kiss. Not because he really wanted a kiss, but because he knew his greeting hadn't been all that enthusiastic, and he knew a kiss would reassure her that he wasn't upset that she was there. She smiled, and ran her hand along his cheek, studying his face.

"You look tired."

"Yeah."

"Mission go okay?"

"It was nuts. Does your mom know you're here?"

"I left her a note."

She was 18, after all, and didn't have to ask permission to go anywhere, now. Especially since she was graduating the next day. Which was something she'd wanted to talk to Ian about – hence the whole point of waiting for him at his place when she knew he was due back sometime that evening. She patted the spot beside her, silently asking him to join her.

"We need to talk."