Author's note: This story is probably going to be the most complicated I've written so far (which doesn't make it a bad thing) but it does mean that I'm going to be double checking my work a bit more on this one, since a mistake can screw me up big time! so I probably will only be posting once a day or so. At least for the more important parts. So please bear with me! (and enjoy the ride, it's going to be fun)

OOOOOOOOO

"So you're an Ancient…?"

The man nodded, still smiling.

"You didn't really think I was God, did you?"

Ian shrugged. He hadn't known what to think. It wasn't all that often he heard voices in his head, after all.

"Who are you?"

"You can call me Alexander."

"Where are Jack and Jaffer?"

"Back at the SGC by now."

"You need to send me back there. He's going to be pissed, and –" Ian realized something else. "Shit. Sam's going to be worried. You need to send me back, now. She's already had enough to worry about these last few weeks, and she's pregnant. Worrying isn't good-"

Alexander held up his hand to stop Ian.

"Relax, Ian. As far as Jack knows, he's delivered you safely to the Alpha site. He's not going to be angry – or worried – and Sam and Jacob are fine. We wouldn't do anything to endanger her or-"

"Jacob?"

Alexander frowned, and Ian realized that he hadn't meant to let that slip. Ancient or not, they did make mistakes, didn't they?

"Sam's baby."

"You know it's a boy? You know his name? It hasn't even been born, yet."

"Not in your reality, no."

"Not in…" Ian scowled, and crossed his arms over his chest – although with the book Daniel had given him in his hand it didn't look quite as imposing as he'd hoped for. "What's going on? Why am I here? Where am I and what are you-"

"We need to talk."

"About…?"

"You."

"Well, we could have talked about me some day when you popped into my head in the middle of the night. You didn't need to-"

"I needed to see you face to face, and to do that I needed to bring you here."

"Why?"

"Because I'm solid here."

Wherever here was, Ian thought to himself, looking around. All he could see was rocky ground from the gate and as far as the eye could see. Flat rocky ground – although he did see one of those dial home devices like Daniel had shown him on the planet they'd met Bra'tac.

"Well… here… we are…" Ian said, unable to hide the sarcasm – and annoyance – in his voice. "What do you want to know?"

"What I want to know is how you can recall our conversations when no one else-"

"I already told you," Ian said, scowling. "I don't forget things. I hear them. I see them. I remember them. I don't know what else I can tell you. It's just a knack I have."

"It's nothing we've seen before."

"Yeah, well… you're an alien, right?"

Alexander smiled.

"Yeah. I'm an alien. But I've been on the Earth a lot longer than you could imagine, and I haven't seen anything like your… knack."

"Lots of people have photographic memories."

"Not like yours, though."

Ian shrugged.

"I can't tell you anything."

"We want to take you someplace where we might be able to figure it out. Would you be-"

"Take me somewhere?" He interrupted. "I see a shitload of rocks and dirt and not a whole lot else, Alexander. We're going to go for a ride in your invisible Mercedes?"

The Ancient didn't seem at all fazed by Ian's obvious sarcasm, nor did he seem to be bothered by the anger in his voice. Instead, he stepped up beside Ian – who stepped to the side and lowered his hand towards his side arm; he didn't have anything against this guy, but he wasn't going to let him too close to him if he could avoid it.

Alexander saw the motion and shook his head.

"Don't be afraid."

"I'm not afraid." Ian told him.

"Look."

Alexander's attention turned from Ian to the area in front of the Stargate, and Ian's went that way, too. A moment later a small craft appeared, hovering in midair about seven feet off the ground. It was odd-shaped – almost like a tin can on its side, and through the front window Ian could see another person at the controls. And he was close enough to it to see who it was. It was Dotty Adams.

"What the fuck…?"

"Will you come with us, Ian?"

"Where?" He couldn't take his eyes off the ship – or the pilot.

"I'll tell you when we get there."

"And if I decide I don't want to stay…?"

"Then we'll bring you back."

"Here? Or home?"

"Here, to start…"

Ian scowled. He figured if he went, then he'd find out what was going on – which was a good thing, because he really wanted to know what the fuck was going on – but he really didn't-

"I don't like to fly."

"We're not really going to be flying anywhere. The Gateship will just take us through the-"

"Gateship?"

Alexander shrugged.

"It's a ship, and it goes through the gate… what else would we call it?"

Ian crossed his arms, again. This was too fucking crazy for him.

"I want to go home."

OOOOOOOOOO

Sam hadn't gone home for the night. Jack hadn't really expected her to, since she'd told him she'd wait for him, but you never really knew sometimes, right? He and Jaffer walked into her lab and found her sitting on a stool looking into a microscope.

"Whatcha doing?"

"Looking at a naquida fusion regulator to see if there are any minor flaws in it," she told him without looking up at him.

"And are there?" He asked, coming over and standing behind her, leaning over and wrapping his arms around her, his chin coming down lightly on her shoulder.

"I don't see any."

"And that's good, right?"

She nodded, still not looking at him.

"How'd it go?"

"Fine. I dropped him off, warned Lang about his instant temper – just add air – and here I am."

"Why did it take you so long?"

"It didn't."

She turned and looked at him, now, and when she did she came nose to nose with him. And he smiled. Which made her smile and forget about whatever it was she was going to say. He had such wonderful eyes. She'd fallen in love with those eyes long before she'd fallen in love with the rest of him. About a whole fifteen minutes, anyways.

He took that moment to steal a kiss, and then let her go, knowing that this really wasn't the place or time to cuddle with her – unless she needed being cuddled, in which case he was always willing to hold her.

"Are you ready to go home?"

She nodded.

"I'm done here for the night."