Author's note: So… not as many reviews as at the beginning. Just want to make sure this isn't boring… let me know, okay? If it's getting dull, I need to know. Thanks!

OOOOOOOOO

It was very rare that Ian found himself speechless, but looking at Dotty – who looked exactly the same as she did the day he'd convinced her to take the trip to New York that had ended so dreadfully – he found his throat closing tight around a lump that felt as large as the Big Apple itself. After his initial surprised curse, there didn't seem to be anything he could say.

Finally, he managed a nod, but nothing would come when he opened his mouth.

"Ian?"

Sam and the others couldn't have missed his reaction, and it had Carter worried.

He shook his head, not taking his eyes off Dotty, who was watching him with an expression that went from impatient to unreadable in a very short time.

"We know each other?" she asked him, knowing the answer already since Jack had told her just that.

"Yes," he managed to croak.

She frowned.

"Not intimately, though…?"

Which was enough to shock him out of his temporary paralysis.

"No. You're Shawn's mom."

She looked over at Jack, whose expression was just as unreadable as hers had been.

"And you know what I am?"

"Yes." He shook his head again, this time to clear it. "I need your help."

"Jack told me what happened," she told him, her own tone changing, too, now. "I just don't know what you think I can do about it…"

"In my reality, you and Alexander hijacked my wormhole and took me to another reality to-"

"Alexander?"

She couldn't have looked more stunned if he'd hit her in the back of the head with a fire truck.

Now it was Ian's turn to glance over at Jack, and then down at Jaffer, who wagged his tail, idly. That particular relationship wasn't something he planned on telling anyone – not even in this reality – so he looked back at her and nodded.

"Yes."

When he didn't elaborate further – and judging from the concern in her expression she fully expected him to – she finally relaxed a little.

"Who's Alexander?" Daniel asked, noticing the reaction – and the lack of response from Ian Brooks.

"He's another Ancient," Ian told him.

"More knowledgeable than I am, unfortunately," Dotty added. "I'm not sure I can do anything to help you, Ian Brooks. I don't have a lot of technology at my command. My goal on this planet wasn't to advance their level of technology."

"I know. I don't need your technology – I already have that – I just need your knowledge. They sent you into the past to have Shawn, you must know something about how it happened…"

"We had to calculate the gravitational flood of a-"

"You know how to do it?" he interrupted.

"I know how to send someone back into time, yes," she told him, apparently not annoyed at the interruption. "I'm not sure I can send someone into the future."

"It doesn't have to be far," Ian told her. "But I need to figure out the where."

"How are you going to do that?" Sam asked, curiously. "The possibility of finding the correct reality – even if we can figure out a way to get you into the future – is staggering. There must be millions of different realities."

"And then some," Ian agreed.

"Then how do you intend to-"

"I made a program," Ian interrupted. "A tracking program. Rodney and I were discussing what we'd do – theoretically – if something like this ever happened. I never actually thought it would."

"Rodney?" Daniel asked.

"McKay."

Jack scowled.

"You're kidding. McKay's in your reality?"

"I'm pretty sure he's in a lot of them, Jack," Ian told him, reasonably.

Which only made the scowl deepen.

"You were saying?" Dotty asked, bringing the attention back to where it was supposed to be.

"McKay and I were talking about what we'd do. We made a program, using some of the Ancient technology on Atlantis to give us the raw data, and figured out-"

"You've been to Atlantis?"

"I live there."

Dotty shook her head.

"This is impossible."

"It's true," Ian replied. "Daniel here figured out where it was and we found it. Now it's a base of operations in the Pegasus system that-"

"And the Asgard?" she asked, interrupting him.

"What about them?"

"Did we fix their problem? Does it work?"

He hesitated.

"Their problem's fixed, but it's too late to use Shawn in the manner you want to. The Ancients should have told them about your line centuries ago. I can't imagine why they waited so long."

"We had to be sure the Asgard couldn't fix it themselves. They never asked for help."

"There's not a lot of you around to ask, now, are there?"

Her eyes narrowed.

"If Shawn isn't the answer, how did the problem get solved?"

"I didn't say he wasn't the answer," Ian said. "I just said it was too late to use him the way you wanted to."

"But in your reality the Asgard are okay?"

"They're on their way to it."

"What-"

"What the hell are you guys talking about?" Jack interrupted, annoyed. "What's wrong with the Asgard?"

"They're fucked up genetically, Jack," Ian told him, figuring he might as well know, and Dotty probably wasn't going to tell him. "They reproduce by cloning themselves, and they've made too many copies of the copies to make the clones viable."

Sam frowned.

"Really?"

Jack looked over at Dotty, who was looking at Ian. She nodded, finally.

"They once looked much like yourselves, Jack. But that was long ago. How did you solve the problem, Ian Brooks?"

"You help me solve my problem, and I'll solve yours."

Dotty's gaze never left his, and he knew she was trying to figure out if he was sincere. Since he was, and he knew it, he simply watched her, waiting for her to decide if he was telling the truth. Finally she nodded.

"Very well. I'll give you all the help I can."