"Hey, Ian!"

He'd just finished his run and was trotting across the top of the hill the cabins were situated on when he heard Gary Hines call his name. He looked down at the main building and saw the man waving at him.

"Save my old legs the walk, and ring the wake up bell for me, will you?"

Meaning he was too lazy to go up the hill if he didn't have to. Ian could relate to that. He waved to show him that he would, and went over to the big bell that sat on its pedestal in the spot directly between the boys' and girls' cabins, and pulled it a few times, creating a ringing that was so loud directly in front of it he was certain there'd be ringing in his ears the entire day.

But he had to admit; it was kind of entertaining to make such a loud noise.

"I think it's rung."

He looked over and saw that while he'd been making his racket, Ann had come up behind him, an amused smile on her face and a bright bandage wrapped around the knee she'd injured. He bit off the sarcastic reply he was going to make – it was completely uncalled for – and shrugged, instead, glad that she'd stopped several feet away from him.

"Yeah."

"My knee's fine."

"Good." Enough small talk. "I'd better go get showered before the boys use all the hot water."

She smiled.

"Do I make you nervous?"

Ian scowled.

"No."

"Then why are you running away from me? I'm not going to bite you."

"I have a girlfriend."

She laughed, surprising him.

"I have a boyfriend, Ian. I'm not here looking for a fling or something, I'm just here to meet new people."

Caught completely off guard, he said the first thing that came to mind.

"Why would you want to do that?"

Which he could tell surprised her, because she lost the smile.

"Because I like meeting new people. Isn't that why you're here? To help out and meet new people?"

"No. I'm here-" he interrupted himself, scowling, and wondered why the hell he was going to tell her anything. "I better go."

She arched a single eyebrow, reminding him of Teal'c.

"Running away?"

"No."

"Looks like it."

He scowled, and walked off, heading back to Australia. But he knew she was watching him, and he couldn't help but feel just a little foolish. Which of course, he hated.

OOOOOOOOO

"What was that bell?" River asked from his bed when he walked through the door – refusing to look over his shoulder to see if Ann was still standing by the bell.

"It's the wake up bell," Ian told him. He looked at the boys, who were still sound asleep – all except for Chance and Chad, who were both sitting up in their beds, looking ready to go back to sleep any minute. "Time to wake up, guys," he told them.

Shawn yawned, and jumping down from his bunk with a practiced grace. He, of course, was used to camp beds, and hadn't had any trouble at all sleeping on one. Or getting out of bed without whacking his shins.

"When's breakfast?" he asked Ian, wondering if he had time for a shower.

"Eight."

Plenty of time. Obviously the powers that be in the camp knew that it would take a while to wake up their sleepy boys and get them all dressed and ready to start their day.

"I call dibs on the shower," River said, rolling out of his bed just as awkwardly as Ian had. "You and Shawn can wake the boys up."

"I'm going to shower, too," Shawn said, with a smug grin at Ian. "Have fun!"

"Hey…"

He'd just finished jogging, for shit's sake. He was the one that needed the shower. Not to mention, he didn't want to wake the-

"I'll do it tomorrow," Shawn promised, already grabbing a towel.

Ian scowled, looking over to see Chad and Chance both watching – which meant he wasn't going to flip Shawn off like he wanted to. But he'd definitely get even with him. And with River, too.

"Fine."

"And don't yell at them to wake them up," Shawn said, vanishing into the bathroom. "Be nice."

Nice. Just fucking lovely. Ian sighed, inwardly, and went over to the bunk below his, kneeling down and shaking Sammy's shoulder.

"Hey. Get up."

The little boy mumbled something and rolled away from him, turning to face the back wall.

Ian scowled, annoyed, and shook him a little harder.

"Sammy. Wake up before I chop your legs off and feed them to the fish."

That got the reaction he wanted. The boy rolled back over, his eyes open now, and a tired grin on his face.

"You wouldn't do that."

"I might."

"My mom wouldn't like that."

Ah, the logic of a six year old. Ian couldn't hope to compete, and he was smart enough to realize it.

"Wake up, okay? Breakfast is going to be soon, and-"

"How come you're all sweaty?"

"I went for a run. Don't go back to sleep, okay?"

"Okay."

The little boy sat up on his bunk to prove to Ian that he wasn't going to go back to sleep, and the cadet moved on to the next bed. Chance was already sitting up and wide awake, though.

"Can I come run with you tomorrow?" he asked Ian, hopefully.

"No."

"Me, too!" Chad said, excitedly from the other side of the room, completely ignoring Ian's answer. "Please?"

At the shout, Wilson raised his tousled head, obviously wondering what his brother was so excited about.

Ian scowled. Great. Just fucking great. But he wasn't a genius for nothing, and his quick mind came up with a solution almost immediately.

"If you're awake when I go running in the morning, you can come. But I'm not waking you up."

Chance grinned.

"And you have to help me wake everyone else up right now," Ian added. No sense doing something himself when he could delegate, right?

The boys that were awake immediately jumped off their beds, and went to the bunks of those who were still sleeping, leaving Ian free to find some clean clothes and wait for River or Shawn to get done with one of the showers so he could have a turn.

Yeah. This wasn't so bad…