practices. and one of them would be adherence to the hague convention or to recognize u.s. court orders. and we'll continue to urge them to do that. but i don't think we're going to just say, you know, we're through with you if you don't do this one thing because we have many things that we want them to do. this is one of them. >> reporter: michael shannon has heard that same explanation for more than a decade. and all that time he has been fighting the court case back in maryland, michael's sons have been growing up here. 12 long years. 12 years not even seeing a single photograph. but that is about to change. it's 7:05 a.m. sunday morning, the beginning of the school week in cairo. and two boys, appearing to be about 16 and 12, are walking out of the apartment building where nermeen khalifa lives with michael shannon's two sons. khalifa has refused to give cnn