Author's Note: This might seem a little short, and like I'm going all over the place, but there are several places and people who need to be mentioned! Sorry.

OOOOOOO

"Hey…"

Fraiser looked over at the door and smiled when she saw Emmett standing there peeking in.

"Hi."

"Where's Ben?"

"We moved him to a private room. Want me to show you?"

Bregman shook his head.

"I'll find him later." He hesitated, and Janet had the sudden feeling that he hadn't come to the infirmary to visit Ben – or her. An instant later, this suspicion was proved right. "Can I do some videotaping?"

"Who do you want?"

"Ian."

She looked over at the closed curtains surrounding Ian's bed. Jack and Jaffer had left only a few minutes before, Jack just about as angry as she'd ever seen him, and Ian hadn't made a sound since. Obviously something was going on between them, but Janet didn't know what – and hadn't yet gotten around to asking, since she and everyone else had been so on edge having so many foreign diplomats on base and snooping around. Although they hadn't been snooping in her infirmary, since Ian and the others were all off limits just then. Sam would tell her eventually, after all.

"I think maybe you should wait a bit," she said, softly.

He scowled.

"Come on… please?"

"He's not in the best of moods, Emmett," Janet told him. "Why don't you interview McKay?"

"Because I need Ian."

And McKay was annoying. He didn't have to say that, however.

"A whole bunch of film of him telling you off isn't going to be usable…"

"But you can order him to make nice for the camera, right?"

"I could also order the sun to set in the middle of the day, but it won't."

"You outrank him. Use that."

Janet shrugged. Emmett knew just as well as she did what kind of reaction she'd get to that.

"A bunch of film of him glowering at you isn't going to be useable, either," she pointed out. "That's assuming he doesn't just pretend to be too hurt to do any interviewing at all."

Which he probably wouldn't do – since he knew she would see right through it – but really, with Ian you just didn't know.

"But-"

"Just do what you need to do with McKay, and I'll see about getting Ian to cooperate."

"Really?"

She smiled.

"I'll try."

His own answering smile lit up his eyes, making him even better looking than she already thought he was.

"I knew there was a reason I was shacking up with you."

She snorted, and he dodged out of her office with her pen chasing him, but not before he noticed that he'd managed to make her blush. He loved doing that to her!

OOOOOOOO

Sam was in her lab when Jack and Jaffer arrived. With her were Teal'c and Daniel, who was holding Jacob and discussing the briefing while she worked on some notes on the ZPM that she'd made.

"How'd it go?"

She hadn't really needed to ask, though. Not to judge by the look on his face.

"He won't talk to me."

"Did you really expect him to?" Daniel asked, shaking his head. "I'm surprised you even tried, really."

"I can't leave it like this, Daniel," Jack snapped. "You know as well as I do that-"

"I know you can't leave things like they are," Daniel interrupted. "But you're not going anywhere for a while – no matter who is pushing the formation of this HDO – so you have plenty of time to talk to him. Right now he's angry and hurt, and you know as well as I do that's the worst time to talk to someone."

"Especially Ian Brooks," Teal'c added, just as Sam opened her mouth to say the same thing.

"Give him a chance to get over the hurt," Sam suggested. "Then we'll try again."

Jack scowled.

"I don't want to leave it like this…"

"We won't," Sam assured him. "There's plenty of time."

There were other people they needed to square things with, too, after all. Not just Ian. She hadn't had a chance to discuss this with anyone, really. Only Daniel and Teal'c – and even they hadn't really had too much of a chance to reconcile the disruption of their team, for all that they both seemed glad for Jack and Sam.

"To change the subject…" Daniel said, reaching down and taking his glasses back from Jacob, who had reached up and taken them. "The media is really making a stink about seeing all of us – you especially, Jack."

"Me?"

Daniel nodded.

"Yup."

"What about McKay and Ian? McKay wants to be interviewed."

"Apparently, word is being spread that you're the mastermind behind the whole mission."

"What?"

Sam smiled at the chagrin in his voice.

"It's true. From what I hear, the rumor is coming from very high up – although I'd bet the media doesn't know it."

"How high up?"

If it was Kinsey trying to make his life miserable, Jack was going to find the guy and show him exactly what-

"My guess?" Sam said, "I'd say it's being spread at the orders of the President. Or maybe some of the other delegates…"

"What?"

"It does makes sense," Daniel agreed. "Especially when you consider that they're going to be trying to get this new HDO up and running – which means they need to make sure that the new commanding officer of this little group needs to be as visible as possible."

"And a hero," Sam added.

Teal'c scowled, which was an echo of Jack's own. Neither man enjoyed the thought of him being used – especially by a bunch of politicians. Which reminded Jack of Ian's comment about him becoming a politician himself.

"Bastards."

Which didn't make him feel any better.

Sam nodded. She didn't like being a pawn anymore than any of them – especially since she had a million other things to do that were far more important than hanging out with the press.