Most people who visited the Cheyenne Mountain complex waited for the person – or persons – they were visiting outside the main gate, where they were watched carefully by the Marines in charge of the security of the place until such time as their party came to collect them and produce documentation or a phone call from the powers that be telling them that it was all right to admit them into the base. There were very few exceptions to this rule, but Nathan Brooks was one of them.

When Jack came to the main gate with Jaffer, Ian's father was sitting comfortably in the guard shack, sipping a cup of coffee and talking with the Sergeant of the Guard – who came to attention when Jack entered the room, but was far from tense, as he might have been with other VIP visitors. Nathan stood as well, a smile on his handsome face; although it was obvious he was wondering why Ian hadn't come as well. Which was proven immediately as he held his hand out to shake Jack's.

"Hey, Jack. Where's Ian?"

Oh, he's been kidnapped by a snake infested alien and taken God only knows where – along with my wife.

Of course, that wasn't the answer Jack could give him, but luckily, O'Neill was a very good liar. His expression didn't change at all as he answered, signing Nathan onto the base under his authority at the same time.

"He's off with Sam, Nate," Jack said. "We have a couple of new prototype engines that Sam's working on, and apparently Ian's quite the genius when it comes to that kind of thing, so he's helping her."

"Really?"

Jack nodded.

"We didn't even know you were coming into town – otherwise we would have rescheduled it or put him on a different project. Is Maggie here, too?"

Nathan nodded, and then walked out of the guard shack with Jack and Jaffer.

"She'll be along."

"It'll be good to see her."

The retired General nodded, again, and then stopped, leaning against the wall and giving Jack an intense look, his blue eyes suddenly cold.

"So… where's Ian really at Jack?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Ian…"

Sam was between contractions – at least between what she was pretty sure were contractions, and for the first time she was able to actually look around and take stock of their situation. At least for a moment. It didn't look good, though. Ian looked panicked. She felt panicked, and she knew that either she was in labor, or she was in trouble – and neither were good news. Especially since they were on an alien space ship that neither of them had ever seen before, and out in the middle of nowhere and going God only knew where.

He looked over at her, his face pale, but obviously trying to hide his concern and fear.

"Relax, Sam…" he said, sounding no less panicked than he looked. "We're going to get to a gate and get home – and Doctor Fraiser can take care of you."

She felt the start of yet another spasm, and braced herself for the pain.

"Do you still have your IDC device?"

He looked down at his forearm and realized it was missing. Cato or his Jaffa must have removed it – along with his radio, he realized. A quick look at her vest showed that she didn't have hers, either. Which meant that even if they opened the gate, there was no way to let the SGC know it was them – and no way to tell them to open the iris.

"Shit."

Jesus, now what? The Gateship communications, but Ian wasn't positive he could interface it with the radios that people on earth used. The Ancients didn't use the same kind of technology, after all, and something so advanced might not work with what they had at the SGC. Like trying to put a CD in an 8-track player. He was pretty sure he could make it work – given time – but judging from the way Sam was clutching the arms of her chair again, they didn't have time.

As he was trying to figure out what to do, the heads-up display beeped softly, drawing his attention. They'd reached the planet that held the gate, and the ship was letting him know it was time to enter in the Stargate address so it could activate it as the ship headed through the atmosphere, the ride far smoother than Ian had figured it would be as the inertia dampeners kicked in.

Shit. Shit. Shit. Shit. Where the fuck could he take them? He only knew a few addresses, and none of them were places that had people. The alpha site had an iris, too, now, or he could have gone there, but the-

He looked down at the symbols on the panel between the pilot and copilot boards, and realized he knew the perfect place. Well, not exactly perfect, since perfect would have been the SGC, but filled with Ancients who would probably be willing to help him. It had been a different reality, but the address would still be the same (he hoped) and the underwater city would still be there – right? It made sense. He'd know in a minute if the city was there, anyways, because the Stargate wouldn't activate without the destination gate. Crossing his fingers in his mind, Ian started dialing in the symbols that he'd seen Dotty entering in on the same kind of keypad. An 8 symbol address, but she'd told him that the Gateship itself would supply the extra boost of power, and he knew now that she was right.

"Hang on, Sam," he said, not looking up from the keypad. "We'll have help in a minute."

She gasped as a particularly painful wave of muscle contractions hit her, and Ian winced in sympathy, wishing there was something he could do to help ease her pain. Of course, sitting like she was couldn't be helping things, but it wouldn't be long, now. He'd have her in the hands of Ancients, who couldn't do anything more than he could to ease her pain, but would at least be able to help her if she was actually in labor.

The Stargate in front of them activated, telling him the city was really on the other side, and Ian sighed in relief as the automatic pilot took them straight into it.

There was the undeterminable length of time in the gate – a time when he wasn't aware of anything – and then they emerged on the other side, entering the large room with the huge staircase that was just like he'd remembered it. With only one difference.

It was completely empty and from the looks of things, the lights were just coming on as they'd entered. He had a quick glance out the front view screen as they emerged, and then a longer look as the ship rose gently up into the docking bay above the main room.

There was no one there. The city was dead. Ian felt his heart drop into his gut.

"Oh, Jesus…"

He was just about to slam his hand down in frustration at the whole mess, when an odd, strangled noise came from Sam, drawing his attention once more over to her.

"Sam? What is it?"

Her eyes were wide with fear, now, as she looked at him.

"I think my water just broke…"