Author's Note: Yeesh! I thought my new job would give me more free time for writing, but now that i have free time, my family actually expects me to spend time with them! What's up with that? Hehe. Anyways, I should have time this week to do more, so I definitely will!

OOOOOOO

The President motioned one of his secret service agents to stop General Hammond before he could reach the elevator, and as the others who had been in the briefing dispersed to their quarters – or to other locations on the base – to converse more privately, the agent tapped Hammond on the shoulder to get his attention.

"General? The President would like a moment of your time…"

Hammond nodded and stopped, turning to give Hayes a chance to catch up to him.

"Can I talk to you for a minute, George?" he asked – although it was really more of an order than a request. A carefully worded order, since the last thing he wanted was to alienate Hammond.

"Of course, sir."

Like he had a choice?

"Let's walk…"

With the secret service agents following like a pack of puppies waiting for mealtime, Hammond allowed Hayes to set the pace and direction, and waited for him to speak. It didn't take long.

"How well do you know Nathan Brooks, George?"

Hammond frowned. It was really the last thing he'd expected to be asked.

"Fairly well… Not as well as Colonel O'Neill does, though."

"I want you to schedule a meeting between the two of us. Nothing formal, or anything, just a meeting…"

"A meeting?" Now Hammond was even more confused. "Don't you have people who can do that for you, sir? People who-"

"I want it to seem like a chance encounter, George," Hayes told him. "If I make an appointment with him – or even have someone go and ask him to meet with me, it'll put him immediately on the defensive. I have a sensitive subject I want to discuss with him and the last thing I want is for him to be defensive."

He'd already seen Nathan Brooks on the defensive about his son, after all – and on the offensive as well.

"Is this about Ian, sir?" Hammond asked. "He's-"

"No, George. This is another matter, entirely. If it were about his boy I wouldn't need it to be informal. Would you do it for me? Please?"

Hammond hesitated, but finally nodded.

"Sure."

But he'd give Nathan a headsup before the 'chance encounter'. He didn't like the idea of leading his friend into any kind of trick, after all. Not even for another friend.

Hayes smiled warmly.

"Thanks, George. As soon as possible, if you can."

OOOOOOOOOO

Fraiser was standing in the doorway of her office, watching as medics settled Rodney McKay back into his bed when Jack entered the infirmary with Jaffer walking beside him. O'Neill looked over at the curtain that closed Ian off from the rest of the room and then walked over to Fraiser.

"Is Ian there?"

She nodded.

"Oh, yeah. And he's not happy about something…"

Jack sighed.

"I'd better go talk to him."

"Good luck."

They all knew how fun Ian Brooks was when he was angry, after all.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jaffer was the first one to go through the curtain. The black lab wasn't worried about Ian's temper – or about privacy issues. He just knew that his jack was heading for that bed, and since there was only a limited amount of space on the bed, he wanted to get his share of it. He jumped up easily onto the bed, whuffling Ian, who was lying on top of his bedding with his head under a pillow – a favorite position for him when he was pouting, sulking or too angry to be near anyone without disastrous effects. And just then he was feeling all three.

Not at all in the mood to be cuddling with Jaffer just then – and reminded of the fact that he was going to lose the company of the dog in the near future – Ian just pulled the dog expertly down beside him, his hand blindly but unerringly finding the lab's side and scratching it to keep him still.

"We need to talk…"

He heard Jack easily through the pillow, and scowled – even though no one could see it. They didn't need to talk. Jack was leaving him. Sam was leaving him. Jesus, he was even losing Jake and Jaffer – and all in the same foul swoop. How fucking unfair was that? And no one had even asked him what he thought of it.

Jack waited a moment for a response, but wasn't really all that surprised when he didn't get one.

"Ian?"

Ian sighed.

"What?"

"We need to talk."

"There's nothing to say."

Jack shook his head and sat down on the edge of Ian's bed, with Jaffer between them.

"Look… I know this is sudden…"

"Sudden?" Ian pulled the pillow off his face and looked incredulously at him, and Jack could see that he was as angry as he sounded. "Sudden is when you decide to stop at Taco Bell for dinner instead of cooking casserole, Jack. This is way beyond sudden."

"It's not going to happen right away. You know how politicians are. They're not going to-"

"You're going to be one," Ian interrupted, contemptuously. "Why don't you tell me all about how politicians are?"

Jack scowled, but he knew Ian was trying to goad him, and he wasn't willing to take the bait just then.

"I'm not going to apologize for taking this job, Ian. True, there's a lot of politics involved, but I'll be able to spend more time with Jake and Sam this way, and I won't have to worry about my son growing up without a father."

Now it was Ian's turn to scowl. It was a good argument for taking the appointment, yes, but that logic didn't make it any easier to handle – and it only made Ian angrier. A helpless anger that he felt was going to destroy him from the inside out – if it wasn't tempered by the fact that he felt like he was being abandoned. Which of course, he was.

"Congratulations."

He didn't mean it, of course, and Jack wasn't fooled for a moment.

"Ian…"

The New Yorker reached over and grabbed the pillow, once more covering his face with it.

"Go away, Jack."