It was a fairly large group that boarded the military flight from the Air Force Academy airfield only thirty minutes later to head for Sioux City, Iowa. Jack and Sam went, of course – as well as Daniel and Teal'c, who wouldn't be left behind, even though they had no official military purpose in going. Janet Fraiser went, because she insisted that if it were indeed Ian and McKay, she was Ian's regular doctor and knew how best to handle him – and besides, they needed a military doctor, really, for security purposes. Emmett Bregman went, because he had a feeling this story would be even better for his documentary than briefing the pilots that had flown against the alien ships in Antarctica – and he could always send someone else to do that briefing for him and edit himself in later if he needed to. With them came a cameraman – an Air Force officer with plenty of security clearance, like everyone in the SGC – Shawn, Andrew and two of Janet Fraiser's best medics.

Theirs wasn't the only flight leaving – or landing. With the assumed destruction of the Goa'uld mothership, the diplomats had decided that they could ease the flight restrictions. Not the civilian flights – those would remain in effect for at least another day – but the military flights were resumed, at least some of them were.

Jack looked at Shawn and Andrew as they settled themselves into seats on the plane. He and Sam and the other Air Force officers – including the medics – were all in dress uniforms, because it would keep them from the necessity of proving their credentials every time they wanted to go somewhere. Daniel would stick close to Teal'c – who was rarely stopped for any reason by anyone – but Shawn and Andrew were young and not in uniforms, and would likely have problems with security once they reached their destination.

"You two stick to me like glue until I find a good place for you, okay?"

Shawn nodded, and Andrew echoed the motion.

"We will, Jack."

"And if you run into any problems, have someone come find me or Sam."

"Do you think it really is Ian, Jack?" Andrew asked.

At their time of departure, there still wasn't a positive ID on the two from the crashed space ship – mainly because there hadn't been anyone to make a positive ID when the crash had occurred, and now the military was holding everyone back but the doctors and staff who were working on them, and there was no chance for an identification. They did, however, know for certain that the two were human and not aliens – although the news networks were still making speculations about a cover up of some sort.

Jack shrugged.

"I don't know anyone else flying around in an Ancient space ship, Andrew…"

It was a mixed hope, really, because as much as he wanted to know where Ian – and to a lesser extent, McKay – were, he had heard the preliminary medical report on the two and it wasn't sounding good. Neither had regained consciousness, and both were in surgery at the time they'd left the SGC.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Once they were airborne, the group fell silent, except for Bregman and his cameraman, who were discussing a few shots for the trip – and making plans for their arrival. Sam excused herself as soon as the seatbelt sign went off, and seeing the cell phone in her hand, Jack touched her on the shoulder before she could leave.

"Don't worry them until we know for certain…"

She smiled, and nodded.

"I won't."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

When the phone rang, Nathan Brooks was sitting on the sofa in the living room, his wife curled up beside him with her head resting easily against his side and his fingers running lightly through her hair as the two of them watched the events that were unfolding in Iowa and the rest of the world.

"I'll get it," Maggie said, reaching out and trying to get the phone off the coffee table without moving from her comfortable position. To her amusement – and surprise – Jaffer caught the phone up neatly in his mouth before the third ring and brought it to her.

"That's impressive," Nathan said.

"If you can ignore the drool," she told him, wiping the phone off with her sleeve before answering it – although she did pat the black lab lightly on the head as she did so – and then smiled when Bubba came over for his share of loving as well. Nathan took the smaller lab by the head, roughing him up to distract him so Maggie could answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Maggie?"

"Yes." There was just a split second's hesitation, and then Maggie realized who it was on the phone. "Sam, hi."

"I thought you were in France?"

"I was. But I came home."

"Tell her we sold the baby," Nathan said, letting Bubba go with a final pat. "And the dog."

Maggie smiled.

"How are things going, Sam?" she asked. "Busy, I imagine…"

"It was," Sam agreed. "How's Jacob?"

"He's fine. Sleeping."

"And Jaffer?"

"He's fine, too."

"Good…"

There was a wistfulness in Sam's voice that Maggie recognized immediately. She missed her baby and wanted him back. Maggie could understand completely. She missed Ian like that, sometimes.

"We're taking good care of them, Sam," she assured the other woman, gently.

"Tell her we sold them," Nathan repeated.

Maggie heard Sam chuckle at that, proving she heard it this time.

"Is Ian there, Sam?" Maggie asked, hopefully.

There was a slight hesitation.

"No, Maggie," came the reply. "We're on our way to Iowa…"

"What's going on with that?" Maggie asked, accepting that she wouldn't be able to speak to Ian just then – he probably didn't have any reason to accompany Sam to Iowa, after all, since he didn't have anything to do with aliens – and more than willing to see if Sam could give her any information about the crash in Iowa – or any of the other stuff going on. "The news is saying that aliens crashed…"

"They're a bunch of crackpots," Nathan said, more than willing to add his own opinion to things.

"No, it's not aliens," Sam said. "That much I can tell you for sure. Beyond that, though, I can't really tell you much more than that…"

"I can understand that," Maggie assured her. Of course she could. Look who she was married to.

"I'd better go, Maggie," Sam said. "Give Jake a kiss for me, will you?"

Maggie smiled.

"Of course I will."

"And Jaffer, too."

She looked at the lab, who had flopped down on the floor under the coffee table.

"I'll think about it."

Sam chuckled again, and the line went dead.

"What are they up to?" Nathan asked, as she sat the phone down on the coffee table.

"They're on their way to Iowa."

Nate looked over at the TV, which was showing the video of the downed alien ship once more.

"Of course they are. Is Ian with them?"

"Sam said he wasn't."

"Huh."

"What is that supposed to mean…?" Maggie asked, turning her head so she could look up at him.

"I was just thinking that if they're on a flight, then the restriction might be lifted, and we could probably catch one, too."

"Where?"

"Iowa, of course."

Maggie frowned, but the expression eased into a slight smile. It would be nice to surprise Sam with a visit from her son – at least for a minute, if she didn't have time to do anything more.

"Do you think we could get on one?" she asked. "I'm pretty sure they're not letting just anyone fly, yet…"

It would have been announced, after all.

"I'll bet I can find someone with enough authority to get us authorized…"

He wanted to see Ian, after all, and had a feeling that his boy was up to his neck in what was going on – whether Sam admitted he was, or not.