Ian wasn't the only one that needed a shower; he was just the first to get to the locker room. He'd showered and was already changing into a spare change of civilian clothes that he kept in his locker when a small group of Marines walked in, all covered in goo of some sort. Ian correctly assumed this was the squad that had managed to take out the other Ashrak. They confirmed it immediately when he asked them for a brief report while they were stripping out of their soiled uniforms, and they also let him know that POTUS was on his way into the base for a briefing – and he'd brought his kids, wife and Murray.

"They're probably going to be paging you any time, Colonel," one of them told him, his expression making it clear he was glad it wasn't him that would have to try and explain how the base had been infiltrated by a group of hostile aliens.

Ian smiled good-naturedly and shrugged, not at all concerned. Of course, they all knew that he and O'Neill had were close – he was godfather to the two children, after all – so they knew he wasn't going to be on the defensive. Besides, he wasn't in command of the base, he'd just been visiting.

"I'd better beat them to the punch, then," the New Yorker said, standing up from tying his shoes.

"Colonel Brooks, please report to briefing room one… Colonel Brooks, please report to briefing room one…"

One of the Marines chuckled and Ian just shook his head and headed for the door. He'd have to find the boys, first, but then he'd answer the summons.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Daddy!"

The twins found him before he had a chance to go too far looking for them. McKay and Shawn were inspecting a couple of power couplings near the locker room and when he'd emerged the boys had spotted him immediately. They ran over to him – Ian suspected that Shawn and Rodney had no real need to look at the couplings, they just wanted to be close to the locker room for the boys – and Dotty followed, squealing excitedly, even though she didn't know why the twins were so happy.

Ian hugged the boys tightly for a moment, then scooped Dotty up in his arms and turned back to McKay and Shawn.

"Jack's here?"

Shawn nodded, and took Dotty from him so he could hold the twins' hands instead. They still needed the comfort and since Cassandra wasn't there to provide it, he was more than willing to.

"He'll be here within a few minutes, they're paging you prematurely to keep you from taking too long of a shower."

"What did you find out?" Rodney asked without preamble. No big shock there. Rodney had to be burning with curiosity about the Ashrak – and what spurred them into trying to make a move on the SGC.

Ian shrugged, a mirror of the nonchalant expression he'd given the Marines. The last thing he wanted was to let the boys and Dotty hear anything they didn't need to know. Especially the twins, who wouldn't forget what they heard.

"I'll tell you when I tell everyone else. That way I don't have to repeat myself. Do we have time to look at the shield before they get here?"

McKay rolled his eyes.

"If you don't, I think General Hunt's head will pop off."

The twins giggled, and Ian looked down at them.

"You guys want to come help me and Rodney look at the shield?"

They nodded, eagerly, and Shawn shook his head. Ian's boys were going to grow up to be nerds if he let them hang out with geniuses all the time.

"Dotty and I are going to go meet mommy and the others at the gate," he said – mainly to Dotty, who squirmed in his arms, wanting down. "Your mom should be coming, too. Sure you don't want to come with us?"

The boys looked at their father to see if he had a preference on what he wanted to do, but Ian shook his head, smiling.

"Your choice."

"I want to meet mom," Michael said.

"I'll stay with you and Rodney," Carter decided, apparently unwilling to abandon them completely.

"Tell your mother I'll see her soon," Ian told his oldest son. "We're going to diagnose the shield to see what caused it to go down and what we need to repair it. Rodney and I will brief Uncle Jack and then we'll all go to dinner."

Michael nodded.

"We need to get Uncle Shawn's TV, too," Carter reminded him.

Ian smiled.

"And tell her we're going to have to stop and get Uncle Shawn's TV."

Michael nodded and left with Shawn and Dotty, while Ian, McKay and Carter headed for the control room.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Jack O'Neill paused at the door of the control room and couldn't help but grin at what he was looking at. Three pairs of legs stuck out from under the main computer console; two clearly attached to adults and one pair that was clad in jeans and ended with feet stuck in shoes that lit up every time the own moved.

"I need that mainframe encoder, Rodney," he heard Ian's muffled voice say.

"I got it," came the reply – not in McKay's always annoyed sounding voice, but in Carter's higher tenor. A hand reached out from under the console and unerringly grabbed a doohickey off a pile close at hand and immediately vanished under the console once more.

"Thanks."

Jack looked down at Murray, who had stopped at the door with him.

"I don't think they realize we're here…" he murmured to the lab. "You want to let them know?"

Murray wagged his tail, cheerfully, and trotted over to the console. He promptly stuck his nose up the pant leg that was closest to them – which to judge by the slacks that the person in question was wearing had to be McKay's. The leg instantly jerked back in surprise and there was a startled curse from under the console. Murray only wagged his tail harder and this time stuck his nose under the console as well, clearly no longer interested in legs and looking for bigger and better quarry.

"Murray!"

Carter came out from under the console with an agility that only youth could give someone and the lab followed him. The boy hugged the dog and then grinned up at the President of the United States.

"Hi, Jack."

"Hey Carter. Helping your dad?"

"A little."

"Ask him if he understands the meaning of the word summoned, will you?"

Carter nodded, but before he could do just that, Ian came out from under the console as well. He grabbed Murray around the neck, hugging the lab as he looked up at Jack as well.

"I know what it means, Jack," Ian told him. "I also know that Hunt would love to be able to secure his base as soon as possible…"

O'Neill smiled, amazed as he always was just how much the boys looked like their dad.

"How's it coming?"

"We're almost done," McKay told him, still under the console. "At least we would be if someone would please hand me the soldering handle…"

Cart reached for the tool requested and with another quick smile at Jack, vanished back under the console with it, while Ian got to his feet and dusted himself off.

"How was the trip?"

"Not as interesting as your welcome here, from what I understand," Jack answered. "Are you okay?"

Ian nodded.

"They got off a lucky shot, is all."

"What did you find out?" POTUS asked. "Anything interesting?"

"Oh yeah. But I'll tell you in the briefing with everyone else…"

The way he said it made it clear to Jack that he was more concerned that certain ears not hear anything at all. And Jack could agree completely.

"That's fine. How much longer here?"

"We're done," McKay said, coming out from under the console and wiping his hands on his slacks. "Good as new."

"Even better, really," Ian said.

"Oh?"

Ian smiled, but his quick glance at Carter told Jack that he wasn't going to let anything slip while the boy was there.

"Cassandra's with you?"

"She's looking for your son. Something about needing the matched set…"

Carter grinned, knowing he was being teased and good-natured enough to not mind at all. He took after his mother in that sense, because at his age his father would have been glowering.

"I'll take him to-"

"Agent Blake can take him," Jack interrupted, gesturing to the Secret Service agent that had been hovering behind him in the hall. "We have a briefing to get to."

Ian hesitated, but Carter didn't mind being handed off to the Secret Service. He thought it was exciting.

"Can Murray come, Jack?"

Which was all it took for the boy to lose interest in whatever he was being excluded from.

"Sure."

Jack made a gesture to the black lab, who wagged his tail when Carter put his hand on his back, and the boy, the lab and the heavily armed agent all headed down the corridor. As soon as they were gone O'Neill made another gesture – this time toward the briefig room.

"Shall we?"

"Definitely."