"Hey…"

Sam looked over from the TV monitor she was watching a recap of the President's speech on and saw Janet standing beside her looking at the screen as well.

"Hi."

"Homeworld Defense, huh?"

Sam could tell from Janet's apparently innocent question that she'd heard about the appointment – no doubt from Ian. She'd been hoping to be the one to tell her.

"Yeah."

"When were you planning on telling me?"

Sam reached over and turned off the TV.

"There hasn't been a lot of time…"

"But you told Daniel and Teal'c…"

"You've been dealing with patients since yesterday – which was the first time we'd heard about it."

Fraiser sighed, her feelings still hurt but willing to concede the point. There was a long moment of silence between them before she spoke up again.

"So what's going to happen?"

Sam shrugged.

"I'm not sure. We don't even know where it's going to be – or when it's going to happen."

"But it'll be soon…"

"From the way they're acting, yeah."

"Ian's upset."

Sam nodded.

"I know. Jack tried to talk to him, but-"

"But he's not going to listen when he's hurt and angry…" she could understand that.

"He's the one that told you?"

"I pretty much pried it out of him, yeah. I can't have him sulking when Emmett needed to interview him."

"I was going to tell you…"

"I know. I told Ian that it was always possible the Homeworld Defense Organization could be operated out of here – where NORAD is. Any chance of that?"

"I hope so," Sam told her fervently. "It's either here, DC or Antarctica – and I don't like DC and I hate being cold all the time…"

For the first time since she entered the room Janet smiled.

"Work on locating it here, will you? I don't want to lose you."

They'd been best friends a long time, after all.

Sam's smile echoed her own.

"The feeling's mutual."

Before they could say anything else, however, one of Janet's medics tapped lightly on the door.

"Did you know the President is visiting the infirmary…?"

Janet frowned.

"What?"

"His secret service guys are clearing out all the excess staff – and Mr. Bregman isn't happy…"

Janet's frown turned into a full-fledged scowl and she looked over at Sam.

"I need to go."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"Sir… I really need to insist that you leave and finish this later. We-"

"I'm not going to finish it later. I'm doing this because the President asked me to, and I-"

"Sir. I must insist that-"

"What's going on?"

Everyone around Ian's bed looked over at the very annoyed voice, and saw Janet Fraiser standing there with her hands on her hips watching them.

Far more familiar with her in this mood than the secret service guys, Emmett responded first – and he was obviously angry.

"They're telling me that I have to go because the President is coming down here to talk to Ian and Doctor McKay."

"You don't."

The secret service agent – a middle aged man who looked like a retired linebacker – frowned.

"With all due respect, Doctor Fraiser, I need to clear all unessential personnel out of the-"

"Then you'd better get to it," Janet told him, "but Emmett stays."

"But-"

"The documentary he's filming is very important to the President," Janet reminded him, not at all willing to be bullied in her own infirmary. "That means he needs to finish it as quickly as possible, and this is the only time he'll have access to my patients for the rest of the day."

"But-"

"There are no buts, Agent Lorne. I said he stays."

And in her infirmary, she was the one who said who came and went.

"Besides," Ian said, speaking up for the first time. "If you wouldn't have interrupted, we could have been done by now."

The New Yorker looked almost as annoyed at the interruption as Emmett, but Janet was sure it wasn't because he'd been enjoying the interview. Probably he just wanted it all to be over and was angry that anyone would stand in the way of it.

"My job is to make sure the-"

"Shut up, okay?" Ian snapped. "We need to get this done and we're not-"

"The President is coming," the agent told him, clearly annoyed by Ian's attitude and lack of respect. Of course, Janet and Emmett – and even McKay to a point – were all very used to it, and finding that it was almost fun to see it turned on someone else.

"I don't give a fuck."

"But-"

"What's going on?"

Again all heads turned, and this time it was Nathan brooks who was standing slightly behind Fraiser (who hadn't even heard him enter the room much less approach so closely). The big retired general was watching the secret service agent with suspicion, and the man hesitated, thinking fast as he tried to figure out how to avoid a scene.

"Nothing…" he said, finally. Really, he didn't have much choice. He knew who Brooks was – and knew he wasn't someone they wanted to tangle with. Especially since the president was very anxious to have some kind of discussion with him and had made no bones about telling his men he didn't want anyone to antagonize him and set him against the administration. "I was just telling Mr. Bregman here that he needed to hurry and finish his interview as quickly as possible. The President is coming down to have a chat with your son and Dr. McKay."

Nathan scowled, remembering his discussion (if that's what you wanted to call it) with the President about using Ian as a political tool and wondering if he'd decided to do it anyways. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Maybe I'll stick around, then…"