The rest of the day passed fairly calmly.

In the infirmary, things were finally settling down. McKay and Ian were both asleep; they weren't as healthy as they thought they were, and Janet Fraiser wasn't surprised when Ian fell asleep almost immediately upon returning from lunch with his parents – and he'd seemed to be in a fairly good mood, which was even better. Rodney McKay had asked for the schematics to the cloaking device that protected the SGC and had studied them for most of the afternoon – no doubt trying to figure out a way to prove himself right about the device's capacity to be turned into a defensive weapon – but had fallen asleep poring over them.

Shawn and Andrew were quietly smuggled out of the SGC by simple means of taking them out one of several bolt holes that were heavily guarded to make sure they stayed secret, but were there in the off chance that NORAD needed to be abandoned. None of them had been used in a while, but they'd been added into the NORAD plans and had been used a few times during crisis situations – and even better the press didn't seem to know about them, which made them perfect for incoming and outgoing personnel.

The two boys were met by Andrew's father, who was grateful that he wouldn't have to run the media gauntlet – and even more excited that he'd have a chance to get a first hand telling of what had actually happened. Well, whatever the boys would be able to tell him, anyways, which had to be more than the media was telling them.

"Steak for dinner, boys," he told them as they got into the car.

"Great," Andrew said, approvingly. "I'm starved."

Shawn nodded his agreement, and the car headed off towards the mountains, where they'd finish the vacation at the Andrew's family lodge that had been interrupted by Anubis' ill-fated attempt to take over the world.

OOOOOOOOOO

Back at the SGC, Sam and Jack were spending some time with their infant son, while at the same time discussing the future with Teal'c and Daniel.

"So you're staying on Earth, right?" Jack asked Teal'c as he reached into his desk drawer for one of Jaffer's brushes.

The Jaffa gave a noncommittal shrug.

"There is no real reason for me to stay, O'Neill."

"Sure there is," Sam said from the sofa where she was sitting beside Daniel – who was holding Jacob and trying to decide whether the funny smell was coming from the wet dogs (who had been out for a run in the sprinklers) or if it was Jake in need of a changing. "The Goa'uld aren't gone."

"With the Tau'ri defeat of Anubis the system lords will think twice before attempting an attack on this planet."

"Or…" Daniel said, as he decided that Jacob definitely needed changing, "they'll be coming harder than ever trying to find – and take from us – the weapon that was responsible for the win in the first place."

"Which means we'll need all the help we can get," Jack told him as he tossed the brush over so Teal'c could brush Jack (the dog), and reached for another one to use on Jaffer. "I know I'd feel a lot better about being in charge of the defense of the planet if you were helping me."

"In what capacity, O'Neill?"

Jack shrugged, looking surprised by the question.

"The same as always. You'll always know more about the Goa'uld than we do – and the Jaffa resistance recognizes you as one of their leaders, which means we'll need you to act as liaison between them and us."

"You can even be on an SG team, if you want," Sam told him.

"You could lead one, if that's what you really want," Jack agreed. "As long as you don't get killed and leave me alone with Bra'tac."

Sam chuckled, and was pleased to see that Teal'c actually looked agreeable to the idea. They'd give him a chance to think it over, of course, but it looked promising so far. She didn't like the thought of splitting up their team any more than Jack did, so they'd already started making plans to avoid it.

"What about you?" She asked Daniel, taking Jacob from him so she could change him.

He shrugged.

"Elizabeth Weir pulled me aside earlier. She's-"

"Weir?" Jack interrupted. "The international negotiator that came in with the Russians?"

Daniel nodded, not at all fazed by the interruption. He was used to Jack.

"Yeah. Her."

"What did she want?"

He looked surprised at the question.

"You haven't heard that she's making a bid with all the VIPs to try and get a new expedition to Atlantis together?"

"Yeah. I just don't know what she wants with you."

"I do speak the language."

"Which is why you're needed here."

Jack's expression and inflection left absolutely no doubt what he thought of Weir trying to steal Daniel away from him. And Daniel smiled, feeling warm and fuzzy at the implications.

"I told her I had no intentions of going to Atlantis," he replied. Although it had been a tough thing to turn down. He'd really wanted to go. There were just other things here that he needed to do, instead.

"You did?" Sam asked, surprised.

He nodded.

"It requires more of a commitment than I'm prepared to make to the expedition. There are other things here that come first…"

"Like me?" Jack asked, puffing up.

"Like Sally," Daniel corrected. "She's been waiting long enough – and she's far more patient than I deserve. "I'm not going to go traipsing halfway across the universe – or wherever it is – and leave her."

"You're going to marry her?" Jack asked, smugly. He liked Sally, and thought it was high time Daniel finally settled down.

"If she hasn't given up on me – and once the media frenzy dies down a little."

Sam smiled.

"Good for you, Daniel."

"But you're still going to be around, right?" Jack asked. "I mean, she isn't going to make you move to Ohio or anything, is she?"

"I doubt it."

"Good."

"You do know that Weir asked Ian if he would go…" Daniel said, changing the subject a little.

Jack nodded.

"He told me."

"She said he wasn't very enthused with the whole idea…"

"He told me she's out of her mind," Jack replied.

"She's going to try talking to him again."

Jack shook his head.

"I wish her all the luck in the world, but I doubt he's going to change his mind."

"What's going to happen to him?" Daniel asked, curiously. "Without SG-1 to-"

"If I take an SG team, Ian Brooks is more than welcomed to join it," Teal'c said.

Jack nodded.

"I've already had a couple of commanders asking about him. And the VIPs are all falling over themselves trying to get permission to have him come to their countries on some whirlwind kind of thank you tour…"

Sam rolled her eyes.

"He'd love that."

"Especially since we all know how much he loves to fly…"

Good point.

"So what is going to happen to him?" Sam asked.

Jack shrugged.

"It's completely up to him."

OOOOOOOOOO

It was easy to see all the destruction. What was once a fairly large city were now smoking ruins, and he could tell that the image was coming from some kind of a probe. Nothing he'd ever seen before – but that wasn't so unusual. He'd seen a lot of things he'd never seen before.

Including the carnage he was looking at just then. There weren't any dead. For a city of this size to be demolished without having people killed was in itself odd – and frightening – because he instinctively knew what had happened to those people. It made him ill, and at the same time angered him.

"It happened long ago…" a voice said, softly. "There is no one left to avenge."

He turned from what he now could see was a monitor of some sort and saw Alexander walking toward him, the Ancient dressed in black with his dark hair pulled into a sort of pony tail.

"Where-?"

A shifting on the bed he was sleeping in pulled Ian from his dream. A hand covering his mouth woke him the rest of the way and he tensed as he opened his eyes.

"Hey, super smart hero boyfriend…"

The voice was a soft whisper, but he could hear the amusement in it – and the love. He sat up, and winced as the movement threw her a little off balance and made her bring her hand to his thigh to keep from falling. His injured thigh, of course. Her hand moved from his mouth, and she smiled at the confused look in his expressive eyes.

"Cassie…"

"The one and only." She leaned over and kissed him, softly.

"What are you doing here?"

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"That's the best you can do?"

He shook his head, trying to clear it. The dream still had him in its grip and he was unsteady, physically and mentally.

She frowned.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I was just dreaming…"

"About what?"

He shook his head again, but this time took her hand.

"Nothing… what time is it?"

She grinned.

"Late. But when a secret service agent comes to your house and asks if you'd like to see your boyfriend – the one who is the hardest person to get to in the world just now – you simply say yes and grab your shoes."

"They sent the secret service?" he asked, surprised.

She nodded.

"Did you have something to do with it? I thought maybe it was mom, but she wasn't there…"

She was still on base, of course, sleeping on a cot she kept in her office rather than go through all the trouble of passing a dozen security checkpoints only to have to come back in a few hours anyways.

"My dad did," Ian admitted, still distracted enough by his dream that he answered her completely and honestly. "I mean… I asked him to see if he could get you on base…"

Her smile turned just a little naughty – although he could tell that his answer pleased her.

"You want to run the bases with me?"

He snorted, looking over at Fraiser's office nervously and then over at McKay's bed. The office was dark (as was most of the infirmary) and McKay was snoring loudly.

"You trying to get me killed?" he asked, in a whisper.

She kissed him again, this time holding the kiss until he responded and kissed her back.

"She wouldn't kill you." She whispered back.

"Yes, she would."

"Not if she didn't find out."

Oh, he was tempted! Worse, she knew he was. He could tell by the gleam of amusement in her gorgeous eyes.

"You don't want to?" she asked, pretending to be hurt.

He didn't buy it for a moment. After all, she was close enough to him to know the truth.

"You know I do. But-"

She leaned over and whispered into his ear, and he held completely still while she spoke. Then she kissed his ear, and got off his bed, walking toward the door and looking over her shoulder as she left the room.

Ian groaned, so softly that no one heard it, and looked at his watch.

When three minutes went by, he got up, too, and headed for the door, looking for all purposes as if he were heading for the bathroom – at least he hoped that was where those few medics who were awake would think he was going.

Otherwise, he was a dead man walking.