The next morning dawned clear and bright. While Jack O'Neill was normally more than willing to sleep in on days that he could, a few things prevented him from doing so that particular morning. The first and foremost being the fact that his camper-sized bed was just as uncomfortable as he remembered them being. The second was that he was used to getting up early with Jake to allow Sam a little more sleeping in time, and the third was that Jaffer normally didn't allow him to sleep any later than absolutely necessary.

So even though Jake and Jaffer were safely with Sam in the nurse's cabin, Jack was more or less inclined to wake up early. And once he woke, there was no lounging in bed like he might have had the bed been more comfortable. In fact, it was more or less self-defense that drove him out of bed and into some of his new clothing. Otherwise his back would have twisted into a pretzel any minute, he was certain.

Having gotten out of bed, he stretched a little in the silence of the quiet cabin, and then slipped out the door and into the quiet of the morning.

Jack liked this time of day. He liked the quiet. He liked being at camp where he could watch the sun come up over the lake if he wanted to, and where he might even catch sight of a deer or elk grazing if he got lucky. He wouldn't admit that to anyone, of course – except Sam who already knew – but it didn't stop him from looking toward the edge of the forest as he walked down the hill in search of a cup of coffee and to see if Sam was awake yet.

He didn't see any deer. Or Sam or Jake or Jaffer for that matter – which meant they were all sleeping in. Since the camp had been up late the night before up in the field at campfire – they used a fake fire up there since the campfire area was off limits until they could have engineers come in and look at the ground that had given way during the rainstorm – Jack wasn't really surprised that no one was up and around yet. Gary had allowed them to stay up late singing and laughing – although Jack had wondered why they hadn't had any ghost stories or anything.

Right up until Shawn and River filled him in on the story Ian had told the campers a couple of nights before. Then he was surprised that any of the kids had even gone up to the field in the first place – and it did explain the fair number of brightly painted rocks that many of the kids had been holding. Proving that Ian was brilliant enough to come up with a way to solve the problem he'd caused, but inept enough to have caused the problem in the first place.

Even as Jack was remembering this, an unfamiliar car pulled into the parking lot, and as if thinking of him had summoned him, Ian emerged from the back seat, bundled in a sweatshirt and new jeans, with a less than cheerful expression on his tired face. Janet Fraiser opened the front passenger door, getting out at almost the same time.

Jack walked over just in time to hear Janet thank Doctor Kennedy for driving them in, and he came up to stand beside Ian.

"Good morning."

Ian just grunted a greeting, but Janet gave O'Neill a warm smile as she looked around.

"This place is lovely, Colonel."

"See? I told you that you should have come up here, doc. But would you listen to me? Nooo…"

"Maybe next time," Janet said, still looking around.

Jack looked at Ian.

"How are you feeling? Okay?"

"Fine."

He didn't sound fine. He sounded angry. Or maybe he was just tired. Ian tended to be grumpy when he was tired. And when he was hungry. And when he was pretty much everything else.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"I was on my way to get a cup of coffee," Jack said, ignoring Ian's mood for the moment in favor of speaking to Janet. "Want one?"

She nodded.

"Sounds great."

"Ian?"

"Fine."

He stalked off towards the cafeteria, leaving Jack and Janet watching him go.

"He doesn't look happy."

Janet shook her head.

"He's not. He had every intention of coming here just long enough to get his car and then go home."

"But…?"

"But I reminded him he was under orders to be here and he was going to stay here. And then I told him that if he didn't feel well enough to finish his duties as camp counselor, he could go to the SGC where I would be more than happy to keep him under medical observation until such time as he did."

"Ouch." Jack couldn't help but smile, even though he was pretty sure it hadn't been pleasant at the time. "I'll bet he loved that."

"Oh, yeah."

"Sam was expecting a phone call from you last night."

"I know. I didn't even have to go that far. Ian hates being here – mainly because I know he hates being forced into anything – but he hates the infirmary at the SGC even more, and he really hates being forced to stay in bed when he doesn't need to be."

Which proved that Janet had Ian figured out, because that was pretty much exactly what Jack had been thinking.

"So he's healthy?"

She shook her head.

"Not as healthy as he probably thinks he is – and he probably shouldn't be out of bed for another day. But it won't kill him to be here, and as long as he doesn't try to do too much, he'll be fine."

"Good."

"What I would like, Colonel, is for you to have a talk to him. If he's this grumpy when the kids start coming in, he's going to hurt a lot of feelings."

"Ian wouldn't do that, doc," Jack told her.

"Maybe not intentionally," Janet agreed. Ian was a pain in the ass sometimes, but he'd never actually gone out of his way to hurt someone before that she could tell. If he was sadistic Cassie would never be with him, and she knew him best. "But he doesn't want to be here, and he's not good at hiding things like that. The kids will pick up on it, and that could cause some little egos to be crushed."

"True."

"Where's the nurse's cabin?" Janet asked. "I'll take my bag up and get settled in with Sam while you talk to him, and then I'll come join you for that cup of coffee."

Jack pointed to the nurse's cabin, and then to the door in the main building that led to the cafeteria.

"I'll be in there."

"I'll meet you there in a few minutes."

She headed up the hill, and Jack turned and headed into the cafeteria. This was going to be fun.