It was Janet who brought Ian his lunch an hour or so later. First she checked McKay, who was sprawled in his bed sleeping like he'd been up all night instead of only a few hours. Of course, he and Ian weren't as healthy as either of them thought they were so it wasn't really all that surprising that McKay's body was trying to get all the rest it could. She wouldn't have been surprised if Ian was sleeping as well.

She pulled the curtain aside and found him stretched out, his head under a pillow – which she now knew was his favorite position for sulking, and for blocking out the world when something was bothering him. Unfortunately, it made it hard to tell if he was asleep, since the monitors he was hooked up to weren't able to tell her the difference just then.

"Ian? I brought you some lunch?"

She said it softly, both to get his attention, and to keep from waking McKay.

"I'm not hungry."

The reply was muffled by the pillow, but definitely the sound of someone awake. She sat down on the edge of his bed, still holding the tray. He should have been hungry, no matter how much fast food Sam and Jack had brought him for breakfast.

"Are you sure? It's your favorite…"

"I'm not…" he trailed off, moving the pillow and looking over at her and then the tray. "How do you know what my favorite is?"

"Cassie."

Of course Cassie would know what he liked to eat. And Janet had heard plenty about Ian since her daughter had met him, so she pretty much knew everything about him – at least everything that Cassie wasn't keeping a secret. And those were things Janet didn't want to know!

"Oh…" he looked at the tray again, but shook his head. "I'm not hungry. Thanks."

Now she knew something was wrong, even if she hadn't known before. Politeness wasn't Ian's strong suit, and never when he was mad. Which meant that he was upset, but not angry.

"You want to talk about it?"

He shook his head, looking everywhere but at her.

"No."

"Is it something to do with Cassie?"

"No." Now he looked up, though, his expressive eyes worried. "Why? Did you hear something?"

She shook her head.

"No. I just haven't seen you look like this in a long time. Like you've lost your best friend…"

The muscles in Ian's jaw clenched, and he looked down again.

"I'm going to… all of them…"

"What?"

"When they leave, I'm going to be all alone again…"

"When who leave?"

"Jack and Sam."

Janet frowned.

"What are you talking about?"

He looked up again, and she was surprised to see his eyes were moist – as if he were holding back tears.

"You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?"

"They're putting together a new group – Homeworld Defense or some such shit like that – and Jack's going to be the head of it."

"What? How do you know that?"

"I was in the briefing this morning. They were talking about it – and they offered Jack the position and he just up and took it. Just like that." And he snapped his fingers to emphasize the point.

"What?"

"He's the only one – besides me and Shawn – who can use that Ancient weapon, and they wanted him to be in charge so they can keep control of the thing out of some renegade's hands or something… I don't know. All I know is he's leaving. Sam's leaving. And everyone else will, too."

With this he flopped back down and covered his face with the pillow once more.

Janet set the tray on the stand next to his bed, and leaned over, pulling the pillow off.

"Are you sure they're leaving?"

He looked up at her.

"He took the job, Janet." Another sign of just how upset he was, since he rarely addressed her by name. "I was there."

"Maybe it's going to be located here, though."

"What?"

She smiled, softly, at the hopeful look in his eyes, and hoped she was right.

"Think about it. This is where the Stargate is. If he's going to be in charge of an organization that is responsible for keeping an eye on aliens and stuff, he's going to need to be here, where NORAD can help track things, and the Stargate can bring in allies."

"That's true, isn't it?"

She shrugged.

"And even if it's located out of DC or somewhere, it's not like that's really all that far away, you know? After all, I know for a fact that your car goes pretty fast…"

That comment actually brought a smile to his face, because he'd been with her the one time she'd driven it and had been pulled over for speeding.

"Yeah…"

"You could always go visit them – if they leave…"

It was obvious that he hadn't even given any of this consideration. She could tell by the way his expression was a little brighter – and the fact that the doomed look was gone completely.

"I guess…"

"You'd have to go that way to visit Cassie when she's in school next fall anyways."

"Yeah."

Now he was actually sitting up, which was much better, even though she didn't like him putting pressure on the half-healed bullet wound in his side.

"Feel better?"

He nodded, and she reached over for the tray once more, glad that she'd been able to help him with this problem – and ready to go talk to Sam about this new position of Jack's and what it was going to mean to them. First things first, though.

"Hungry now?"

He looked over at the tray and nodded.

"Starved."

Janet chuckled, and handed it over. A freshly cooked chicken pot pie was not something to be wasted, after all.

"Good." Now for the finale. "Emmett needs to interview you for his documentary."

Now Ian scowled, but it wasn't anywhere near as annoyed as it might have been. It was hard to be annoyed when you were in the middle of the first bite of a good lunch, after all.

"What?"

She knew he'd heard her just fine and was buying time, but that was okay.

"The one the President ordered him to do," she reminded him. "You're his last interview, and he needs it as soon as possible. He came by earlier, but you were busy."

Busy sulking.

Ian sighed, but he really did owe Janet, and he knew she would consider them even if he did something for Emmett.

"Can I eat first?"

She smiled.

"Of course. I'll let him know you're awake."

Ian nodded and went back to his meal, and Janet headed for the door of the infirmary.