Elias plastered on a smile when his father opened the door. "Elias, welcome home, son!"

He hugged his father. "Thank you. I can only stay for a couple of days."

"I know, you're always so busy. Come along, Kassidy has planned an outstanding dinner for us. I'm so happy you could make it, we don't get to see you enough!"

He allowed his father to lead him into the dining room. Kassidy entered the dining room from the kitchen. "Elias, welcome home! I've made some of your favorites."

"I appreciate that, but you didn't have to go through the trouble."

"Nonsense, I'm happy to." She placed the platter she was carrying on the table and then hugged him.

He endured the hug. Though Kassidy was nice enough, she was Malachy's mother and he couldn't find it in him to fully embrace her as part of his world. "Shall we eat?"

"Yes, of course. It's good to have you home. Too bad Mallie couldn't be here too so the whole family could be together!"

Elias simply smiled and made no comment, it would be better if he didn't talk because he was likely to say something that would upset Kassidy, which in turn would upset his father.

His father pulled Kassidy's chair out and waited until she was settled to push her chair in, then he took his seat at the head of the table.

Elias took his seat to his father's right.

"How's work?" his father asked.

"Fine," he answered shortly.

"Speaking of work, I met Mallie's work friends when I went to see his house. They were so nice. Do you have work friends like that?"

"The nature of my work precludes forming close relationships."

"That's a shame, dear. Oh, I met General Carter too, she's the nicest lady even if she's a bit of a stickler for the rules. Mallie is so lucky to have her as a boss though, she looks out for her people. And that Captain Kain is quite the looker, she and Mallie are adorable together. They insist they're only friends but they would be perfect together. Dr. Walsh is the nicest boy, so polite. Captain Kain's brother is very sweet too. It's amazing that the two of them work together so well." She looked at Elias. "You and Mallie should think about working together, it might help you work on your relationship," she told him cheerfully. "Anyway, I think it's simply wonderful to see Mallie settling in. He has a fabulously close-knit group of friends and he's bought the cutest little house. I'm so happy that he's finally found a place he wants to stay in."

"Yes, it's great," Elias said through clenched teeth. He could care less if Malachy had friends or a house, or that he was 'settling in.' He sure as hell didn't want to work with the man, overseeing the SGC was as close to working with his step-brother as he wanted to get. The bastard was always in his way, always preventing him from getting the things he deserved out of life. Malachy always took everything good and hoarded it for himself.

"You should come work with me at the firm, Eli. I think it would be better for you, there's no government secrecy or 'need to know' clearance, or red tape to wade through. You'd be doing good," his father said.

"Dad, I like my job, government red tape or not. I don't want to be stuck in some office doing corporate law. How is that doing good? I do good things too, you know."

"Good things you can't talk about and don't get recognized for," his father replied with a snort.

"Dad! That isn't fair, just because I can't brag to everyone about what I do doesn't mean it's any less important than what you do. Besides, I could care less what your golf buddies think of my work. What's important is that my superiors recognize the good work I'm doing."

"Come now, think about it. It would be great to have you there, working alongside me."

"There's nothing to think about, I like my job, Dad."

"Mallie does good things too," Kassidy told them cheerfully. "He saved a young man from being shot." Kassidy smiled. "He's so brave! He kept all of us safe. I don't know how he kept so calm. People were shooting at us for goodness sake!"

"People were shooting at you, dear? Why is this the first I'm hearing about it?" his father asked with a scowl.

Kassidy waved a hand in the air. "It was no big deal, I did say that Malachy kept us all safe. I do hope General Carter recognizes him for his bravery, he should get some sort of a medal."

"Right, of course, he should," Elias muttered. He carefully set his fork down to keep from bending it in half, dabbed at his mouth with his napkin, and set it beside his plate. "Thank you for dinner, I just remembered a meeting that I forgot to cancel before I left. I need to go handle that so other arrangements can be made by everyone involved." He shoved his chair back and left before either his father or Kassidy could say anything in response. He wasn't going to sit around and listen to Kassidy sing Malachy's praises when the bastard should be locked away somewhere for all the crap he'd done. Rowen might want him to sit back sipping mai tais beside a pool but that wasn't going to happen, he had too much work to do. He may not be able to go into his office or the SGC but he had taken plenty of paperwork with him when he'd left his office to keep him busy at home. So much for staying with his father and Kassidy for a couple of days. If he did he'd go insane.

There had been an argument with his father about not staying but a quick lie about not being able to cancel his important meeting got him out of it with only a small battle. If Kassidy didn't insist on attempting to shove him and Malachy together he wouldn't mind staying, but he couldn't sit and listen to her babbling on about how great his brother's life was. So he hopped on a plane home and breathed a sigh of relief when he arrived, glad to be away from his father and Kassidy.

He settled behind his desk in his home office, opened his briefcase, and pulled out the folders of paperwork he'd brought home from work. This he could handle, peace and quiet and the monotony of paperwork. It kept his mind occupied and his thoughts away from his idiotic step-brother. Reports to be read or written, and mountains of mission reports from the SGC he needed to study for anything that might be an issue.

A scowl appeared on his face when he opened one folder in particular. It was a reminder of how Malachy had managed to thwart him. He dropped the folder onto the desk and stared at the report. The report detailed the Alliance's incursion into the Cheyenne Mountain Complex.

"He had to know it wasn't Nesrin. The bastard kept that detail from us on purpose so he could laugh and call us stupid." With an angry slap, he pushed the folder away from him.

It slid across the desk, the papers scattered, and came to rest in a haphazard wash across one side of the desk.

Resigned to the fact that no matter what he did, Malachy always seemed to come out on top, he began gathering up the papers and stacking them into a neat pile. He hated disorder of any kind. He settled a paper onto the stack and reached for another one, as he did his eyes skimmed over the page and he froze.

He snatched up the page and studied it. The page contained a list of items the SGC retained after the Alliance foothold was thwarted. He ran a finger down the list as he read it.

"A dozen pain stick weapons, various guns, fourteen communication devices ..." his voice trailed away and he stared at the last item on the list. "Fourteen communication devices. Radios?" Possibly. If they were ... "That is an interesting idea," he murmured.

The idea began to form and take root.

"This could work." He dragged a legal pad over and began scribbling down notes.