Author's Note: Sorry it took a couple of days to get this out. I had cop school last night.

OOOOOOOO

"So there isn't much we can do until we know more then?"

Jack nodded.

"Right. Jacob said he'd let us know when the Tok'ra find out more – or if they have something to pass on to us."

General Hammond looked concerned; hearing about something new that could potentially be a very serious threat to his world can do that to a man, after all. He looked at those assembled in the briefing room (Sam, Jack, Daniel, Teal'c and the dogs).

"You think this is the thing Dotty was warning us about?"

"There's really no way of knowing," Jack said, shrugging.

"But it could be," Daniel said. "This Anubis guy sounds like he's amassing quite an army."

"The other system lords will not allow this to last too much longer before they have to address the situation," Teal'c said. "If they do not, then there is a possibility that he may become too powerful for them to deal with."

"So you think the system lords will take care of the problem before it grows out of hand?" Hammond asked.

The Jaffa shook his head.

"I did not say that, General Hammond. The system lords are arrogant, and do not join their forces without good reason. By the time they see Anubis as a threat it may be too late."

"They're not going to listen to us if we go tell them to do it," Jack said.

"No."

"So we might be able to count on the system lords to take care of Anubis, but only if they see the threat and manage to pull together to take it on?" Daniel asked.

"Yes."

"We're screwed," Jack said.

Sam smiled, despite the seriousness of their discussion.

"They might surprise us."

Hammond looked at Teal'c.

"Did Colonel James get started on those sketches for you, yet?"

"Not yet, General Hammond. He promised to start them sometime this evening."

"Fraiser's running tests on him and the rest of them," Jack said. "He's got to work around that."

"By tomorrow?"

"Definitely."

The General nodded.

"Then we'll wait and see what we can learn from it. Until then, SG-1 is grounded until Ian's back on his feet, so take the chance to get some stuff done around here that you might be behind on…"

"Like paperwork?" Daniel asked, casting a sideling glance at Jack, who scowled.

Sam smiled, again, and stood up.

"I think I'll go check on Ian."

OOOOOOOOO

The rest of the day was pretty relaxed at the SGC – considering all that had happened that morning. Everyone had work to do – including Jack, who hated to admit that he was behind on his paperwork and needed to get some of it done – and it was a good time to get some of it done. While there was a lingering concern in the air over the whole Anubis concern, the people of the SGC were used to having threats hanging over their heads, really, and had no problem focusing on what they were supposed to be doing.

"Hey…"

Jaffer looked up from the bone he'd been gnawing on at the sound of Jack's voice. O'Neill was sitting at his desk, paperwork in front of him in a neat stack. Completely unfinished.

"You look hungry."

Jaffer's tail thumped against the floor, his eyes watching Jack intently, waiting to see what his Jack wanted.

Undaunted by the lack of a verbal reply, Jack stood up.

"We should go get you something to-"

The door opened, and Sam walked through. She smiled when she saw Jack on his feet.

"All done?"

"Um… yeah."

Her smile grew.

"You're lying, aren't you?"

"Maybe a little."

"You need to get that done, you know."

He scowled.

"I know."

"But you're not going to do it, are you?"

"Why don't we go check on Jake?"

She sat on the edge of his desk.

"He's fine. I just put him down for a nap."

"Then we should check on Ian."

"He's fine, too. Sleeping like a baby. Janet says he's going to sleep at least through the night, she thinks."

Another frown, which only made Sam more amused. The lengths Jack would go through to avoid his paperwork were simply legendary.

"We could go home early."

"We could?"

His face lit up.

"If you take your work home and do it there."

His face fell. That wasn't what he was hoping she'd say.

"It's classified."

She leaned over and picked up the top form off the stack, looking at it.

"I hardly think a requisite for extra energy bars in each emergency pack can be considered classified, Jack."

"It's not going to be an end of the world if I don't get it done until tomorrow…"

"Except that you probably won't. Now is a good time to get it taken care of, so you should jump on the chance."

He sighed.

"Fine. But at home. I can't concentrate here."

"Okay." She stood up. "I'll go get Jake and tell the others we're leaving."

Besides, it wasn't all that early.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was much later that evening, and the infirmary was quiet. The day staff had gone home, leaving the place to the night staff, whose job it was to keep an eye on those patients that were sleeping in the beds, and to be on hand in case of any emergency that might present itself. Since there weren't any other teams offworld just then, there wasn't a lot of concern about anything too serious happening, so the staff mostly concentrated on small tasks while they shared stories about their kids from that day – or amusing anecdotes about their spouses or other family members.

The lights were dimmed in deference to the late time of night, and those who were trying to sleep in their beds, and the staff were speaking in muffled voices whenever they left their office to check on someone or something.

In a far corner of the room, a privacy curtain surrounded one bed, holding a sleeping form that hadn't moved since the staff came on. They'd checked on him a couple of times, had made certain he was simply sleeping off whatever it was that had him so exhausted (Ian confused the night staff, because none of them could ever understand what he did during the day that could tire him out so often) and had then decided to leave him alone.

Then it happened.

It was one of those rare moments when there was no one in the infirmary aside from those sleeping. A bright flash of light emerged from the other side of the privacy blanket in the corner, and it would have been cause for alarm – if not for the fact that no one had seen it.

In his bed on the other side of the room, Lieutenant Colonel David James opened his eyes; awakened by what he thought might have been a flash of light. He sat up in his bed, looking around. The room was quiet and still, the other members of his team sleeping soundly (his CIC was snoring lightly) and he couldn't see anything out of order or hear any kind of alarm – which there would have been if something had blown up or caused the flash that he thought he'd seen – even with his eyes closed.

He decided that he'd dreamed it, and lay back against his pillow, closing his eyes once more.

That was the last time he ate Chinese before bed.

OOOOOOOOO

Teal'c was sitting on a pad in front of a small handful of lit candles, his eyes closed and his thoughts elsewhere as he meditated. The calm of the room was broken only by the occasional snore of Jack (the dog) as the yellow lab dozed on the Jaffa's bed. This was a noise that Teal'c was completely used to and not one that could keep him from concentrating on what he was doing.

When the yellow lab jerked upright all of the sudden with a low growl, however, Teal'c opened his eyes, his head turning to look. Jack's ears were flat against his head, his teeth bared and his eyes just a little unfocused, as if he was listening to something only he could hear.

He growled again, looking at Teal'c and then at the door, and the Jaffa rose smoothly to his feet, heading for the door and expecting someone to be there – even though Jack never growled at visitors.

No one was there, but the lab dove through the door the moment it was opened, standing in the hall and looking around as if he, too, had expected someone to be out there.

"What is it?" Teal'c asked his dog, watching him.

Jack whined, looking around again, but he didn't go anywhere – almost as if he didn't know what to do or where to go. Deciding that maybe the lab was restless, Teal'c went back into his quarters and slipped into a pair of shoes. He'd take the dog out and see if he needed a run.