Author's Note: To answer a review question, the Cassandra is the ship Ian developed for the SGC, using his new drive, which is acronymed with FTS. You'll have to go look at the story to see what that stands for, haha.

OOOOOO

It was a bleary-eyed and slightly annoyed looking Jack O'Neill who walked into the private living room of the White House less than two hours later. Behind him was an equally disheveled looking Samantha O'Neill, but rather than looking annoyed, she looked slightly concerned and more than a little curious. Murray walked in with Sam, saw Ian and immediately went over for some late night loving – which Ian was willing to give him.

"Is there a reason you can't seem to go home, Colonel?" Jack asked. "Did you and Cassie have a fight or something?"

Sam smiled and poked her head out the door, and Ian could hear her asking someone to bring coffee. Jack settled himself with a sigh on the couch, but Murray hopped up into the easy chair that Ian had seated himself in, clearly wanting more attention and figuring Ian was a better bet to give it to him.

"Cassandra and I are fine, Jack."

"Then why are you keeping me up? I thought you were going home."

"I did. Or at least I started to. But on the way something came up and I met up with a couple of people who thought they might have a solution for our Ashrak problem."

"On the way home?" Jack asked, frowning. "You mean you met them in the skies over Kansas?"

"Nope." Ian might have let Jack flounder just a little – who was more fun to tweak than the President, after all – but Sam wasn't as sleepy as Jack, and she spoke up as she sat down beside him on the couch.

"Between the SGC and Atlantis?"

Ian nodded.

"They hijacked my gate."

"Ancients?" Jack asked, his gaze suddenly a lot more intense.

"Dotty," Ian confirmed. "And another one."

"What did they say?" Sam asked, leaning forward.

"They wanted to know about the Ashrak," he replied. "And what we were planning on doing to keep them away from Shawn."

"This wasn't our Dotty, though, right?" Jack asked. "What I mean is, she-"

"Our Dotty's dead, Jack," Ian told him. He knew Jack was trying to be delicate, but he was older, now, and didn't need to be cushioned when anyone mentioned Shawn's mom. While he still felt her death was his fault, it wasn't as raw a wound as it once had been. "This one was from a different reality."

"What did she want?" Sam asked again.

"The same thing all of them seem to want," Ian answered, rubbing Murray's ears. "She wants Shawn – and now little Dotty –to be safe. And they wanted to know what we'd figured out and how we were planning on making that happen."

"And what did you tell her?"

"I told them what I'd learned about the Ashrak, and that we weren't allowed to go after Frenush to keep him from sending more of them."

"I bet that went over well."

Ian shrugged.

"They're not naïve enough to not see the reasoning behind that," he said. "They-"

He was cut off by a gentle knock on the door and the arrival of a Marine Corporal in dress uniform, carrying a tray with a pot of coffee, three cups and saucers, and a plate with some cookies on it. Ian wasn't surprised to see another small saucer with a couple of dog treats on it for Murray. The Marine set the tray down on the coffee table and asked if there was anything else that he could do for them. When Jack thanked him but said no, the young man left them to their conversation and closed the door behind him to give them their privacy.

"They what, Ian?" Jack asked, reaching for the coffee pot and pouring a cup for Sam before turning his attention back to the New Yorker.

"They – at least Dotty – thinks that assassination is the best bet, but she came up with an alternative for me. One that still makes Frenush the main target of our solution, but doesn't leave him dead."

"Oh?"

"Why don't you tell us the whole story, Ian?" Sam suggested. "That way we don't miss something important."

Ian nodded and did just that; telling them what had happened since he'd left them, and showing them the device that Dotty had given him once he got to that part of the story. Jack didn't want to touch it, but Sam took it from Ian and studied it with the interest born of a scientist.

"Are you sure about this?"

Ian shrugged.

"They were. That's good enough for me." He looked at Jack. "I asked General Hunt to get Cassandra ready – just in case – but you know this is your call…"

O'Neill scowled.

"How are you planning on getting close enough to Frenush to actually use that thing?"

"Cassandra has a cloak. We can find out where he is from Jacob, sneak in and get me close enough to get to him. I'll wait until he's alone and then beam in, use the first device to freeze him and then get into his head and then the new one to wipe his memory of Shawn's trick and everything I can find associated with it."

"But there's no way to make sure the thing will work," Sam said. "And obviously it's not something you can practice with."

"Even if I wanted to I couldn't. But it's definitely not something to play with, that's for sure."

"I don't like it," Jack told him.

"Do you like worrying about Shawn being caught by invisible assassins?"

Which earned him another scowl. Before O'Neill could snap at him, Sam spoke up again.

"It isn't much of a plan, Ian."

Ian scowled, too, but then he nodded.

"I know. I only learned about the thing a couple hours ago. If you guys have a better plan I'm all ears."

Jack sighed, and leaned back against the cushions of the couch, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Let us sleep on it," he finally said. "It's earlier on Atlantis, so you go home and talk to your people over there and see if they come up with anything better than what you have. I'll have Hunt do the same with his people – with the option of using Cassandra if it comes to it."

Ian nodded, and Sam handed the Ancient device back to him.

"That'll work."

He hadn't expected the plan to go completely without comment, after all. It was just the first plan he'd thought of – and at that it wasn't really that bad of a plan. But there were a lot of bright military minds both on Atlantis and at the SGC, so it would be better to see what they might come up with.

"Make sure you have Hunt call in Hailey and her senior officers. Aside from yourself, she knows what Cassandra can do more than anyone. We're going to want her to be in on whatever we come up with – since it will almost certainly involve their ship."

"Sounds good."

"Good." Jack stood up. "Now go home and let me get some sleep."

Ian snorted, stood up and snagged the plate of cookies just as O'Neill was reaching for one. He tossed a vanilla cookie to Murray, who snagged it in mid air and gobbled it down before Jack could tell him no.

"Hey, those are my-"

"You don't want to eat so much sugar before bedtime, Jack," Ian told him. "It'll keep you up all night."

He gave them both a half salute, marred by an impish grin, and left the room, whistling cheerfully.

"Did you see that? He stole my cookies…"

Sam smiled, hooking her arm through his, amused at how easily Ian teased him when most of the people that surrounded them were so very respectful to Jack's status as President. It was good for them both.

"We can get you more. Besides," she said as they walked toward the opposite door from where Ian had left. "You know he won't eat them any time soon. If he does, he'll prove the old saying of tossing your cookies."

There was a snicker as Jack realized she was right. He squeezed her hand and they headed off for bed.

Again.