"What kind of favor?" Maggie asked, curiously. She didn't think there was anything Ian wouldn't do for Sam and Jack.

Sam hesitated, and Jack spoke up.

"It's kind of classified."

"Kind of?"

Nathan frowned, wondering what was going on that they needed Ian for – but wouldn't order him to do. He knew more than his wife about what Ian was doing, and it was all classified. But it was also all military – which meant Ian was under George Hammond's command, and subject to his orders.

Maggie smiled, not at all cowed by the word classified. She'd been married to a Special Forces man for almost twenty-five years, after all. Nothing in the military awed her.

"I might be able to help…"

Sam looked at Jack, who hesitated and then nodded. That was true, after all, and as long as they didn't go into any details, it wouldn't hurt to get her advice, anyways. She knew Ian best, really, and she might know what to do where they'd failed.

"It's a little complicated," Sam said. "We know a group of people who need help – help that we think only Ian can give them."

"And he won't help them?" Ian Piper asked.

She shook her head.

"One of them did something – out of desperation – that made Ian mad," Sam told them.

"And now he's holding a grudge…" Maggie finished.

"It must have been something serious," Nathan said, looking at Jack. He was thinking back to the conversation he'd had with Ian about something happening – something Ian said had almost killed him, even though he hadn't said it in that many words. If that were the case, then Nathan didn't want his boy to have anything more to do with these people, either.

"It was," Jack agreed.

"But we need to help these people," Sam said. "Ian's holding the actions of one against all of them, and refuses to have anything to do with any of them."

"Good luck," Nate said, shaking his head.

Maggie flashed him an exasperated look, and then turned to Sam and Jack.

"I'll go talk to him."

"I don't know, Maggie," Jack said. "He's pretty upset with us for even asking, right now."

"He'll be fine, Jack," she assured him with a smile. "You two make yourselves at home and I'll be right back."

As she headed up the stairs, Nate shrugged.

"If anyone can get him to do it, it'll be Maggie. She knows him best."

Ian Piper nodded his agreement.

"I hope so," Sam said.

"These people are worth all this effort?" Nathan asked.

"Most of the time," Jack answered with a shrug. "They have their moments, though."

"Just like some Colonels I know…" Sam replied.

Jack frowned, and Nathan and Piper both chuckled.

"Come on, you guys," Nathan said. "I'll show you around the house while we're waiting."

He had something he wanted to show them, since they were here.

OOOOOOOOO

Ian was sitting at his desk, playing Wolfenstien on his computer when there was a knock on his door. He didn't even look up.

"Yeah?"

The door opened, and Maggie walked in.

"Are you busy?"

He shook his head, while Bubba came over and greeted her cheerfully. Maggie smiled, rubbed the lab's ears for a minute and then came over to lean against Ian's desk.

"Are you okay?" she finally asked after watching him play for a minute in silence.

He nodded.

"I'm fine, mom."

"You seem upset."

He shook his head.

"Not much."

"Jack and Sam told me why they're here…"

He looked over at her, surprised.

"They did?"

"Well, not the specifics," she amended. "But they did tell me that they need a favor from you."

"Not them," Ian clarified. "Someone else."

He'd do anything for Sam and Jack. He'd already proven that – or he thought he had, anyways.

"Some group of people," Maggie said.

"A bunch of bastards," Ian said, darkly, still watching the screen and not her.

"Only one of them, from what I was told," she corrected. "I heard one of them did something to make you angry…"

"Something like that."

"So you're going to take it out on all of them?"

"They could have stopped him."

"Did they know he was going to do it?"

"Probably."

"But you don't know…?"

He hesitated, and then shook his head.

"No, I don't know for sure."

He couldn't have lied about it. She would have caught him immediately.

Maggie reached out and took Ian's chin in her hand, forcing him to look at her with only the gentlest pressure.

"You're a better person than that, Ian," she chided him. "I raised you better than that."

"You don't understand, mom," Ian said, his dark eyes pleading for her to do just that even as his character on the computer died a gruesome death because he wasn't paying attention. "It could have been bad… Really bad."

"But it wasn't."

"But it could have been."

She sighed, and let go of his chin.

"You're so quick to anger, Ian…" she said, softly.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, son. You come by it honestly. Your father is the same way." She smiled, fondly, and ran her fingers lightly through his dark hair, telling him without words that she wasn't bringing this up because she was upset with him. "The problem is, your father is capable of forgetting his anger fairly quickly, and eventually forgiving – or at least forgetting enough that it doesn't burn him up inside. You can't do that."

"I try…"

"I know. And I can see that in you. Especially with your relationship with your father…"

She smiled again, so grateful that the two of them were making peace with each other and getting along after so many years of animosity.

"But that memory of yours gets in the way most of the time," she continued. "It always has. You can't forgive and forget, because you can't forget. Which means you're going to have to rise above that. No matter how hard it is to do."

"But-"

"No buts, Ian," she said, firmly. "You can't allow every little thing to build up inside you until it flares. If you do, you're going to make yourself sick – and you already look awful."

"You want me to help them…"

"Yes. I want you to be the man I raised you to be, and help these people who need you."

Ian scowled, and Maggie smiled, tapping his nose.

"And no dirty looks."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Get your things together," Maggie told him. "But when you're done with this favor, I expect you to come back and finish your visit. Understood?"

He nodded.

"Good. I'll go tell Sam and Jack you changed your mind."

She left, closing the door behind her, and Ian scowled again.

"Shit."

But the next thing he did was stand up and head for the closet to get his bag. It never even occurred to him to refuse her – not after that discussion. But he wasn't going to like it.