Sending for Jake hadn't turned out to be necessary, although the boy did end up coming into the room to watch. He was just at that stage where he didn't always like to play with the younger kids and wasn't quite ready yet to join in the conversations of the adults that were almost constantly around him. There weren't a lot of kids his own age, especially just then. He knew, though, that Ian would like having him around – he'd told him so a million times – and wouldn't mind if he was in the room instead of outside with the other kids. It was also a chance to spend time with his big brother – who was far too away for Jake to see as often as he'd have liked.

He sat between River – who he thought was entertaining as hell, although his mother would have flipped if she knew he thought it with the swear word – and Andrew, who was throwing out comments at Ian that would make the New Yorker throw a dirty look over his shoulder, but made Jake giggle every time. Which was probably the whole point, since he winked at Jake every time a comment solicited a glare. Finally, when they got the TV and the new surround sound system set up, Shawn posed good-naturedly at the sarcastic applause, and Ian just rolled his eyes.

"Happy birthday, Shawn," Cassie said, coming in to take a look.

"Thanks, Cassie."

"So?" Jack asked, taking a drink of his beer. "What do we watch first?"

"Little Mermaid!" Dotty said, running into the room just in time to hear the question and clutching her daddy's leg while she looked owlishly at the new TV.

"I was thinking something a little more violent…" Jack muttered, well aware that he wasn't going to win. Especially when Nia ran into the room, as well. Apparently the kids were done outside – and when he looked out the window he saw that the sun was down and it was showing every sign of being later than he'd thought. He looked at his watch and realized that it was already evening.

Shawn scooped Dotty up into his arms.

"We have to watch something the boys will want to watch, too, baby girl…" he told her. "They won't want to watch Little Mermaid."

He didn't even grumble about christening his TV with a cartoon instead of something else. It was all part of being a father as far as he was concerned. Something he'd learned watching Sam and Jack. They'd get the kids settled in the den with a cartoon and that would leave the adults free to chat in the living room. Even better, they'd let the kids fall asleep in front of the TV, keep them all here for the night, which would make it easier for everyone involved.

Dotty pouted prettily, and he smiled when he saw his own mother's eyes looking back at him. She carried her grandmother's temperament as well, however, and a moment later shrugged – something she'd picked up from Gina, he noticed.

"Okay."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Before long, the kids were all in the den, munching on popcorn and juice boxes, watching Cars and cuddled in blankets and cushions to help them fall asleep. Jake had opted to join the adults in the living room, and now he was sitting between Ian and Shawn, listening in with absolutely no idea what any of them were talking about as Rodney, Ian and his mother tried to explain to the others what had been done to the shielding program at the SGC. He was definitely wishing he'd decided to watch the cartoon, because the conversation was so far over his head that it was actually putting him to sleep. He'd expected dirty jokes and interesting stories from Atlantis, but all the grown ups were talking about was the invasion of the SGC, which Jake had missed completely, but from what he'd managed to get from the twins had been both very exciting and really scary.

Even worse, they weren't even discussing what had happened – the guns and the aliens and all the interesting stuff – they were just talking about the computers. Jake didn't really care for computers all that much; just what he needed in order to play video games. He started drifting off almost immediately, despite the effort to stay awake in case they changed the subject to something more interesting. It didn't help that he was still on East Coast time and it was a couple of hours later as far as his inner clock was concerned, and it wasn't long before he was leaning against Ian's side, snoring softly.

OOOOOOOOOO

Sam smiled as she watched Jacob battle valiantly against falling asleep, only to lose the battle and end up sprawled against Ian. The New Yorker noticed, of course – he noticed things concerning Jake even more quickly than he did his own sons – and rested his hand on the boy's head.

"We should be going," Sam said, softly.

"Don't go," Shawn objected. "Ian can put him in our bed for now."

Sam smiled her agreement and Ian scooped Jake easily into his arms and headed for the bedroom, followed by Murray who had been lounging at Jack's feet the entire evening. Clearly the young lab had had enough of the boring conversation as well, and was more than ready for bed, too.

Jake roused only briefly when Ian settled him in the bed, stopping to take off his shoes before covering him with the comforter on the bed. Murray jumped up beside the boy and he opened his eyes.

"I fell asleep?" he asked.

Ian nodded, brushing his hand along his forehead to get his hair out of his eyes.

"Yeah. Go back to sleep, okay?"

The youngster nodded, too, and closed his eyes. Ian had been prepared to 'help' him fall asleep again, but it turned out not to be necessary. With Murray cuddled beside him, he was asleep almost before Ian was done speaking. The New Yorker watched him sleep for just a moment, and then rubbed Murray's ears before leaving the room and closing the door. Before heading to the living room, however, he stopped at the den and checked in on the younger kids. Dotty was asleep, Nia probably hadn't lasted even as long as her brother, and the twins were wide awake and waved at him when they noticed him at the door. He waved back, but motioned for them to be quiet and not wake the others. They nodded and turned their attention back to the movie and Ian went to join the others.

"You get him settled?" Jack asked and Ian took Alexander from Cassie, who looked a bit sleepy as well.

"Yeah. He's fine. Nia's out, too."

"Good. I don't want them to be grumpy tomorrow."

"They're your kids, Jack," Andrew told him with a grin. "They're always going to be grumpy."

Ian snorted, amused, but didn't say anything since he could tell that the baby he was holding was just on the verge of falling asleep as well and he didn't want to jolt him awake. Instead, he sat down beside his mother, who promptly held her arms out for the baby. Since Nate was holding Jessica, crooning at the little girl Maggie had obviously decided she needed a baby to hold, too. He handed Alex over and turned back to Sam.

"When's your dad going to be here?"

"He said a few hours," she replied. "Which means we'll have to wait until morning to talk to him."

"We're on Atlantis time," Rodney objected. "I don't need to wait, I-"

"No sense making him tell everything twice," Jack interrupted – not quite as annoyed as he might have been years before. Rodney was growing on him, too, apparently. "It can wait until morning. Tell me how Guardian performed."

Since he'd already been given the basics, Ian had an idea that he wanted to hear the whole story from beginning to end, and before he could even open his mouth, Rodney started telling the tale. Since he'd been there the entire time, Ian just leaned back and listened, more than content to just sit for a while. Atlantis time or not, he was tired.