Jack gave Ian all the warning he needed when his next visitor arrived that morning. The yellow lab's head came up from where it had been resting on Ian's thigh, and his tail started thumping against the mattress of the bed he was in. Ian turned his head the same direction Jack was looking, and saw Jaffer leading Jack and Sam across the room. Jack was carrying Jake, but Ian was more interested in the bags in Sam's hands. The smell of ham and bacon were permeating the entire room.

The big black lab jumped easily onto his bed, more than willing to share the small bed with his brother and Ian, but Jack and Sam stopped in between the two beds.

"How are you feeling?" Jack asked, grinning down at him and looking fairly well rested for someone who had had as long a week as he'd had.

Ian scowled.

"What are you doing up so early?"

"Slumming."

Sam smiled, and sat down on the edge of his bed – the only spot that wasn't filled with dogs.

"We brought you breakfast."

"Figured we'd get it to you before Fraiser came in," Jack told him as Sam handed him the bag. "That way you didn't have to have permission."

Ian smiled, opening the bag and pulling out breakfast sandwiches.

"Good thinking."

He was always in favor of anything that netted him food, after all.

Jack looked over at the empty bed.

"Where's McKay?"

Ian unwrapped the first sandwich, holding it away from the labs who were immediately interested in what he was doing, and weren't afraid to show it.

"He went for breakfast with Elizabeth Weir."

Sam frowned.

"Weir?"

Ian nodded.

"She was asking all kinds of questions about Atlantis, and McKay was pretty quick to offer his services…"

Jack shook his head.

"I should go find him and make sure he's not spouting off more than-"

"Weir's cleared for everything," Sam interrupted.

"But everyone else in the commissary probably isn't," Jack told her, handing Jacob over to her.

"Fraiser should be here any minute," Ian told them around a huge mouthful of food.

Sam frowned, but Jack smiled suddenly, immediately figuring out what Ian was getting at. And since Jack was more than willing to watch McKay get chewed up and spit out, he reached over and took Jake back from Sam.

"Maybe I'll stick around here for a minute… just in case you relapse or something…"

"I didn't lapse in the first place," Ian told him. "There's no way I'm going to relapse…"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. We'll just keep you company, then."

Ian rolled his eyes, but applied himself to his food; intent on finishing it before Fraiser arrived and told him he couldn't have it.

With the help of the two labs, of course, it didn't take long. Sam and Jack kept him company, while Jake watched him with wide-eyed wonder that would have annoyed him coming from anyone else, but since it was Jake…

"What's going on?"

All of them – including the dogs – looked over guiltily when Fraiser arrived, instantly suspicious of having a crowd around one of her patients.

"Nothing."

Since Ian looked guiltier than any of them, and she couldn't miss the smell of breakfast in the air – or the greasy bag on Ian's bed – Janet narrowed her eyes, clearly ready to say something none of them would really prefer to hear.

"McKay's out of bed," Jack said quickly, smoothly changing the subject from them to the absent astrophysicist.

Fraiser looked over at the bed, and all of them could see her eyes narrow.

"Where did he go?"

"To the commissary," Ian told her. "With Doctor Elizabeth Weir."

"Really?"

Whether that was surprise that he was gone with a woman, or surprise that he'd dare leave her infirmary without permission wasn't clear, but she left only an instant later, and Jack grinned at the others.

"This should be fun."

"That wasn't nice, you guys," Sam chided.

Ian couldn't hide his own smile.

"But it's funny."

Sam almost made the rather expected reply, but then she stopped, realizing something that was so unbelievable it actually floored her.

"You like him."

Ian hesitated, but then shrugged, and amazingly, nodded.

"Yeah. A little."

"What?" This was from Jack. "He's a jerk, you can't like him."

"I'm not planning on dating him, Jack," Ian said, defensively. "I just-"

"He's arrogant."

"So?"

"He's mean."

Ian shrugged.

"So?"

"He's a nerd."

"So is Sam, but you married her."

Sam laughed, not at all hurt by the comment – and Ian had known she wouldn't be or he never would have said it.

"That's different."

"He came looking for me on a Goa'uld ship, Jack," Ian said, seriously. "That means something."

"It means he was too scared to sit still." Jack snapped.

Ian shrugged.

"It took a lot of guts to leave the Gateship. Especially since he didn't have any cloaking device to keep him from being spotted by all the Jaffa who were looking for me. I think there's more to him than people give him credit for, and I can relate to that…"

Of course he could.

Sam smiled; pleased she'd been the one to figure it out. Of course, she wouldn't spread it around too much. He'd be annoyed – and no one would believe her anyways. It was obvious that Jack couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"But you can't like a twit like that. He's-"

"A lot like me, really," Ian said, shrugging. "Not completely, since I'm no where near the spaz that he is, but-"

"Hey! No one said I couldn't be out of bed…"

They all looked over and saw Fraiser coming into the room with Rodney McKay in tow. McKay was scowling, obviously greatly offended to be treated like some kind of delinquent, and Fraiser's eyes were flashing, which clearly said McKay had said something to make her angry. Sam stood up and made a show of looking at her watch.

"Look at the time… we'd better get going…" She reached over and took Jake from Jack with a smile for Ian. "We'll talk to you later – at the briefing for sure."

Ian nodded and settled just a little more into his bed with a satisfied expression on his face. He might like McKay – a little – but it was fun to see someone else getting nagged by the over protective doctor. Especially since he was usually her favorite target.

Life was good sometimes. Even in the infirmary.