When Ian woke the next morning it was early. Nothing new there since he always woke early, but considering how late the boys had kept him (and the other guys) up the night before, he'd had every intention of sleeping in a little the next morning. He scowled when his eyes opened and looked at his watch, annoyed because he knew immediately that it was early, and that he was already probably too awake to go back to sleep.

"Shit…"

The curse was said softly, even lower than a whisper, really, but he almost repeated it much louder when he shifted on the uncomfortable thin mattress and cracked his knee on the board that was designed to keep him from falling off the bed in the middle of the night.

The pain lanced through his leg from knee to groin. It didn't last more than an instant, and he'd felt far worse pains in his life, but it was all it took to wake him up completely.

"Fucking bed…"

This, too, was said softly – although Ian knew from experience now that when the boys were tired they could sleep through anything. On the plus side… the boys were all asleep and if he wanted to take a morning run by himself now would be the perfect time to do it – when it was so early that God wasn't even awake, yet. Of course, Ian decided as he gingerly got out of bed and dropped silently to the floor, God was probably smart enough to keep from hitting His knee on a board and waking Himself up too early.

"What are you doing?"

The soft whisper came from Jack's bed. Ian wasn't surprised that he'd woken Jack, since O'Neill was always aware of what was going on around him.

"Going for a run."

"Go back to bed."

"If I run now, I can do it without company…"

There was a pause and Ian knew that Jack was figuring out what he'd meant by that. Jack hadn't been around all week and hadn't seen the boys so eager to join Ian on his run. He must have heard about it, though, because there was a little amusement in his voice when he spoke next.

"Fine," he whispered, softly. "Don't get lost."

"If I could, I'd have done it days ago…" Ian whispered back, reaching for his clothes.

There was a snort of good humor, and a rustling sound that told Ian Jack had turned in his tiny bed to go back to sleep. Ian dressed quickly and carried his shoes out the door, where he stopped on the porch long enough to put them on before heading for the main building. He'd stretch there – where there was no way one of the kids might wake up and see him at the last minute – and then run from there.

The morning was quiet. The sun wasn't up but the sky had that gray quality to it that Ian's mom had always called false dawn. Light enough that he could see where he was going, but dark enough that he needed to keep an eye on where he was going to make sure he didn't trip over something. Ian didn't mind; it was nice and quiet – just the way he liked things.

And then, as he was nearing the nurse's cabin, it wasn't so quiet. He smiled, well aware that Jake was awake by the annoyed crying he could hear so clearly. He changed direction slightly, moving closer to the nurse's cabin as he started by that area, and saw that the porch light was on and Sam was bundled in the rocking chair on the porch, her crying son warmly cuddled in her arms. Obviously she'd taken him outside, hoping to keep from waking the other occupants of the cabin. Jaffer was stretched out in front of the chair – out of range of the rockers – and his head came up when he heard Ian coming.

"Sam?"

He spoke up more to keep from startling her as he came out of the dark. She was startled, but not badly – she didn't drop Jake, anyways – and she gave him a tired smile.

"What are you doing up so early?"

"Jogging."

"You're going pretty slow…"

Ian smiled, and came up the steps.

"It's still early. Is he okay?"

"Grumpy. Would you…?"

She finished that by holding the blanket wrapped baby up to his godfather, and Ian took him without so much as a scowl. He was used to helping Sam out this way – and it wasn't much compared to all the help she'd given him, so he was more than willing to do anything he could. Sure enough, Jake's crying stopped immediately.

Sam shook her head, smiling.

"You're a useful guy, Cadet Brooks."

Ian gave her a slightly mocking bow, feeling far more cheerful than he had when he'd woken up.

"Thank you, Major O'Neill. I do my insignificant best."

She chuckled, and patted the bench beside the rocking chair.

"Have a seat? Or are you planning on taking Jake for his first jog?"

Since his whole reason for jogging early was to be without little kids – including itty bitty kids who had to be carried around and would be even less company than the boys in Australia – Ian sat down.

"I can stick around until he falls asleep."

Since Jake was wrapped warmly in the blanket, his hands weren't free so he couldn't do a lot of goofing around, which meant there was very little – besides Ian himself – to distract the baby and keep him awake.

Early morning wasn't really a good time to discuss anything serious, Sam was sleepy and Ian wasn't really in the mood for anything too deep, so they just chatted about little stuff – mostly Jake – for about half an hour.

When the baby was soundly asleep, Ian handed him back to his mother, who gave him a warm smile in thanks, and stood up.

"I'll see you at breakfast, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am."

He headed off the porch, and Sam headed inside to put her son back to bed and then get another hour or two of sleep herself.

Surprisingly, Jaffer joined Ian instead of going back to bed with Sam. Ian didn't mind, of course. Jaffer was big and bulky, but for all his spoiling, he was in excellent shape and was more than capable of keeping up with Ian on his run. And even better, he wouldn't be nattering nonstop.

Ian slapped his side affectionately.

"You're probably going to wish you went back to bed, Big Dog…"

Jaffer just snorted and trotted off towards the main building, Ian jogging easily behind him.