"What's going on?"

Jack asked as he looked around. He, along with Sam, was in the same position he'd been in at the church but the location had changed. "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."

"Wow. This looks like it's-" Sam started.

"-Straight out of the movie, yeah." Jack continued as he stood up, brushing his knees off as he did. Once standing he offered his hand to Sam and helped her stand up.

The scenery looked like it was straight out of The Wizard of Oz movie. There was an eerie difference though; it was quiet, too quiet, no munchkins in sight and not a single sign or sound of nature.

It looked like the same beautiful town square and the yellow brick road, surrounded by red and gray cobblestone, from the movie; but no town major or committee had come out to great them. "Hello!" Jack called out but only the echo of his voice bouncing off the buildings was the reply. Sam walked towards one of the houses and looked in the window, she stepped back with a perplexed look on her face and walked over to another window of a different house.

"Huh."

"What?" Jack asked, as he walked up beside her.

"Well I would have guessed there would be things inside. This whole city-" she replied, as she waved her arm around towards the other houses, "-is just a façade."

"Well, how to do we get out of here?"

"I don't know. Let me get a look around." Sam said as she walked off towards another house in the town.

"I'll go open some doors." Jack said, remembering the last time he was in this situation; shivers ran down his spine just thinking about it.

Sam went through every house checking every possible spot she could think of, but there was nothing more to this town than what she saw in the first two houses. Frustrated she walked over to Jack, who was now staring down the yellow brick road just off toward the fields beyond the town.

"Any ideas, Carter?" he asked as she came up beside him.

"No, sir." Though they were married, in the current situation it seemed the military side wanted to take control over the situation. "I don't know how we got here and without my equipment I can't really tell you much else except that this place looks empty. I don't see anything that could have brought us here or anything that will get us out." Sam spoke with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Jack thought for a moment before he spoke up. "I don't think we will find it here." He pointed his thumb back over to the munchkin village. "I think we have to leave here."

"What?"

"You said it yourself, there is nothing here. It's almost like this is the set from the movie, Dorothy had to go to the Emerald City to get home." Sam raised her eyebrow at this. "You got anything better." Sam shook her head in the negative. "Well then, we're off to see the Wizard." He quoted as he started walking cautiously down the yellow brick road.

Everything they passed looked just like it had in the movie, they reached the field where the Scarecrow was found but no scarecrow was in sight. The same absence was found where the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion were supposed to be.

Sam and Jack had walked in silence for almost the entire journey, every once in a while Jack would say a quote or two from the movie like "lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" but for the most part it was quiet. Sam had been thinking about how they ended up at this location. Jack had his guard up but nothing was amiss so his mind kept wondering to what he had just seen before finding himself in Munchkinland. If what he had seen was true he had met Sam a number of times before they had met in the briefing room. Jack was curious if Sam had seen the same flashes.

"Before we ended up here, did you see flashbacks?" Jack asked.

"Hmmm?" Sam asked, looking at Jack to repeat what he had just spoke.

"Flashbacks, did you see any before we arrived here?" Jack restated. As the question sunk in, the light bulb could instantly be seen above Sam's head.

"Yeah."

"You were the girl that paid for the broken window." Jack stated again. Sam's face turned red.

"Yeah"

"Why did you pay for it? You didn't break it." Jack asked. She thought for a moment, biting her lip in the process.

"I don't know. I know for certain that your wife didn't deserve what happened to her." Sam paused for a moment before continuing. "It was probably the only time I was happy that my Dad got transferred; I think after we had talked he had asked for the transfer because we were only there for a few months." Jack nodded in understanding.

They stood there for a while in silence; thinking. Sam looked at Jack and could see he was thinking hard about something. "What?"

"Huh?" Jack asked.

"What are you thinking?" Sam asked.

"Oh." Jack said, running his hand through his hair. "I was just thinking that it's amazing how many times we've run into each other."

"Yeah." Sam paused before continuing, "I can't believe you were the teenage boy my father was talking about." Jack looked at Sam asking for more information. "He said you were a great help at the hospital. Not only helped him with the fight but with calming his nerves. Hearing about your sister made him realize that it could have been worse." Sam caught herself as she said that last part and looked at Jack with a look of grief. "I am sorry to hear your sister didn't make it, I always wondered if she did." Jack waved his hand signifying the compassion wasn't needed.

"It was a long time ago, besides I got one heck of a niece out of it." Sam laughed at Jack's comment.

"Yeah, that was a shock when I saw her at your family reunion. She looks just like she did in High School. You do know her boyfriend was right about what he said. She always talked about you." Sensing Jack become uncomfortable with the praise, Sam looped her arm around Jack's and dropped her head onto his shoulder as they continued walking. "You seem to have done a lot of protecting of me." Jack stopped walking so that he could look down at Sam in confusion. "You helped me that night at the bar, and that night at the park." Sam replied, as she looked into his eyes. "What were you thinking that night on the swing?" Sam asked

"About everything." Jack stated simply.

"The same." Sam confirmed her own thoughts.

"At least you have your answer as to why you were not on that first mission." Jack added.

"Yeah, I guess it wouldn't have been a good thing to send a General's daughter on a suicide mission." Sam responded, sarcastically. "You know I was certain that I got kicked off that mission because I'm a woman." She added, seriously. "I changed my whole attitude that night to how I wanted to be perceived in the Air Force. I wanted to be one of the guys so that I could be taken seriously."

"We did. Though I think that the 'reproductive organs' speech hurt you." Jack commented with a grin.

"Oh god, I can't believe I said that." Sam groaned, as she buried her face into Jack's chest.

"That night, on the swings, was when I decided that there were things to live for again. That was the night I decided to retire, I didn't trust myself not to take another mission like that." Jack said. Sam snuggled deeper into his arms, giving him the silent comfort he needed. Jack's hand went back to playing with her hair and after playing with it for a little while Jack spoke up again. "You shouldn't have cut it."

"Huh?" Sam asked, confused.

"You shouldn't have cut your hair, it was beautiful long." Jack replied with a reminiscent tone of voice.

"I have thought about letting it grow again." Sam contemplated, raking her fingers through her hair in thought.

"You should." Jack said with hope as he pulled her head away from his chest so she could see his seriousness. Sam smiled at him and nodded her head positively.

"We better get going." Sam noted, observing how low the sun was in the sky.

"Ah yes, we're off to see the Wizard." Jack commented in a sing-song voice.

The rest of the trip to Emerald City was made in silence; silence because they were thinking about the events to themselves and because nothing was making any sound in the area surrounding them.

When they arrived at the Emerald City, Sam quickly scanned the area and it was completely the same as Munchkinland; more of the same silence and facades of houses. Walking the street to the Wizards room, the two started to check around themselves, becoming increasingly alert. Something was not right; the eerie silence had gotten to them but the closer they got to the Wizards room the more deafening that silence became.

As they walked down the hallway once inside the Palace, Jack and Sam moved like the competent military unit they had been for all those years. No words were needed, just a look or a nod and the other knew what to do. As they approached the door that was already open, Jack signaled to go in and they both stepped into an empty room. There was nobody there and no sound, not even the sound of their shoes tapping the ground. They cautiously walked up to where Dorothy and company had stood, not really expecting anything yet at the same time expecting to see the "Wizard". Jack looked towards the curtained off area to the left and signaled with one look to Sam, which she understood.

Jack followed behind Sam as they walked toward the curtain area; once reaching it he stood off to the left while she took the right. When signaled to go they both pulled back at the curtain waiting for anything that might be there. There was nothing in the area. They both looked up at the same time to see a bright blinding light engulfing them quickly.

"Ah, great!" Jack sighed in frustration, as they were completely covered by the light. Then just as quickly as the light came it disappeared, with Jack and Sam in tow.

A/N: Thanks to my awesome beta Wendy for yet another awesome job:-D.
Also I have to blame this chapter on the fact that I am reading Wicked right now.
As always read and review (good, bad, indifferent:-P) and more coming very soon.