There were other places to sit on a Gateship, Sam found out. They just weren't there unless you knew about them, like bringing down the nylon seats in the cargo bay of a C-5 Galaxy aircraft when it wasn't loaded with anything and you really wanted a place to sit besides the cold hard floor.

The dark haired man stretched Ian carefully out on the cold floor, but tucked an emergency pack he'd pulled from a side compartment under the cadet's head, before pulling down a bench like seat – and then leaving him there and heading into the pilot area. Dotty helped Sam down onto this seat, and it hurt a bit to sit, even though it was slightly padded and gave way under her weight a little. Then Dotty handed her the infant and sat across from Sam, with Ian's inert form lying between the two women.

"Where are you from?" Sam asked. She was able to focus quite a bit more, now, mainly because she wasn't giving birth anymore – although the appearance of Dotty completely out of the blue had stunned her into focus as well.

"A different reality," Dotty answered.

"I know…" she'd already said that, right? "But which-"

"It doesn't matter. We're not going to be here long. Certainly not-"

"Where are we?" Sam asked, interrupting. "How are we going to get back?"

She had a million questions, but she was anxious to get home, too. Anxious to show Jack his newborn son and to have Janet check the baby to make sure he was truly okay.

"We're going to gate to a different planet," Dotty said as both of them felt the Gateship moving, and then sinking into the floor. "Then you and Ian – and Jacob, of course – will have to walk through the gate. This ship won't fit into your embarkation room without a lot of squeezing, and we can't go with you."

"Sure you could," Sam objected. "You could help us learn how to-"

"Sam." It was Dotty's turn to interrupt. "We can't. Neither of us belong here – in this place – and we need to get back. Besides, you won't have the ship anymore, once you leave it. It'll be here."

"But we-"

"We're going," Came a call from the pilot area, and Sam leaned forward to see the pilot area, and saw the dark-haired man (Dotty's father!) at the controls of the craft. Looking out the front window, she could see they were facing an active Stargate, and Sam looked over at Dotty as they moved through it. She'd finish her argument when they reached their destination.

OOOOOOOOO

"So the Goa'uld don't have them?" Daniel asked.

Thor shook his head.

"Correct. At least, the ones who captured them in the first place do not. We have not been able to find the ship they escaped in – yet – and cannot rule out the possibility that they were captured by another system lord. Although we do not think this could have happened. At the moment, the Asgard are checking all planets in the range of the ship. There are a few that even have Stargates on them."

"So they could land on one of them and head here…" Jack said, his head in his hands, and Jaffer's heavy head on his thigh. What a roller coaster of emotions!

"It is possible. If they do not encounter any resistance on whatever planet they land on. Not all of them are uninhabited."

Jack sighed, and looked at the clock, wondering how much time he had before Nathan Brooks decided to call on them again, and wondering if he could go with the Asgard and look for Sam. He couldn't risk being gone, though, and he knew that was what Hammond would tell him if he brought it up.

"Did they tell you Sam's condition?" Fraiser asked Thor, her face worried.

The Asgard shook his head and stood up, looking at O'Neill once more.

"When we have more news, I will return."

There was a flash of light, and he vanished, with Jack and Jaffer both growling softly at the noise only they could hear.

Daniel looked over at Jack.

"At least they're not with the Goa'uld."

Jack nodded. It was a comfort – scant comfort, yes, but a comfort no less.

"Yeah… but I want her-"

Suddenly alarms went up all through the complex, and everyone started.

"Unscheduled off-world activation! Repeat! Unscheduled offworld activation! Security teams to the embarkation room!"

OOOOOOOO

"Where are we?" Sam asked – again.

"This is Aeonee," Dotty answered, smiling at Sam because she knew it wasn't exactly the answer she'd wanted to hear.

They were out of the Gateship, now, and standing on a world Sam was fairly certain she'd never been to. A desolate sort of place that was mainly rocks and dirt. Alexander had taken charge of Ian while Dotty helped Sam down the ramp. More importantly, though, there was a Stargate standing near at hand, with a DHD close to it.

The male Ancient had strapped the cadet to what looked like a stretcher, but was designed to be pulled by one person and not carried by two. Kind of like a travois, Sam decided. Dotty had then taken Sam's infant from her, and wrapped him thoroughly, head as well – to protect him from the cold of the gate, she'd explained – and had rested him on Ian's chest, and had then carefully strapped him to the cadet so he wouldn't fall off.

"You'll have to do all the pulling," Dotty said, apologetically. "When we dial up the Tau'ri Stargate, we'll open the iris – they won't be able to close it until after the Stargate senses you and the others are through."

Alexander went to the dial device and started pushing symbols, while Sam tried one last time to convince Dotty that they needed her to come back.

"I can't Sam. I don't belong in this reality – any ore than you would in mine."

Sam looked over at the Gateship, which was standing abandoned.

"What about the-"

"We'll take it back with us."

"But we could use the technology to-"

"You have access to the technology already. You just don't know it yet. But you will, when you need it the most."

"Like today…?"

Dotty shook her head.

"There are other forces in motion, Sam. A serious threat is building on your peoples' horizons."

"But-"

"Don't worry," Dotty told her, hugging her lightly as the gate flared to life and Dotty's father came over as well.

The dark haired man was someone Sam had never seen before, of course, but she had the oddest feeling that she'd known him a long time. He gave her a gentle smile, and then, surprising Sam, pulled her into a hug. A warm embrace that made all Sam's troubles and worries fade to nothingness that Sam returned before she realized she didn't even know the guy. But it felt right, like she'd cuddled him a hundred times. A million times.

Just as she was going to try to convince him that he and Dotty needed to come with her – she wanted to explore this weird connection she felt with him a little more – Sam felt a slight stinging deep in her head, and everything went blank.