A/N – Here's a "spin-off" of Ginger Snap. Small snapshots of Ginger growing up. To be updated whenever I'm inspired.

PRICELESS

First Steps

Ariel was showing House the family scrapbook. She showed him Ginger's baby pictures (most were blurry as she rarely stopped moving). She flipped pages twice before House made her stop.

He pointed to a picture of an eight-month old Ginger holding a toad. "What's going on there?" he asked.

Ariel looked at the picture, smiling softly. "Her first steps."

It was a beautiful day out, so I took Ginger into the backyard. I was playing with her in the grass, having a great time. We were playing with a purple ball. I remember that was her favorite toy for a while.

Anyway, about an hour later, a few of my friends had shown up for a visit. We were out in the back, laughing and having a good time. One of them asked how Ginger was.

I was showing off how my little girl could stand up on her own. Granted, she had been doing that for just over a month already, but it never got old to them.

I remember after a while, Ginger got this annoyed look on her face, and she just plopped down on the ground. We all thought that was just so cute.

The phone started ringing inside. I asked my friends to watch Ginger while I answered it. Before going inside, I looked down at her, and saw that she was playing happily with that ball.

It was my mom on the phone. Remember how long she can talk? It took me twenty minutes to get her to hang up. When I went back outside, I checked to make sure Ginger was alright before sitting back down with my friends.

We had been gossiping for about an hour, when we started hearing this annoying croak. It happened every once in a while, usually when someone was telling a good story.

Anyway, one of my friends had finally said asked me if I could do anything about it. I shook my head. Then I realized I hadn't checked on Ginger for a while.

I looked over where she was playing before, and she wasn't there. I was panicking, when one of my friends laughed and said she found her.

I asked where she was, and she pointed over to the tree in my backyard. I looked over there and saw Ginger walking around it, babbling nonsense to the toad we heard earlier. She was carrying the thing.

I was about to march over there and tell her to put it down when someone said that it was a photo-moment. I realized they were right, and hurried into the house to grab my camera.

When I got it, I told Ginger to smile big for mommy, and snapped the picture.

For two months after that, my friends loved telling the story about how my daughter took her first steps to get to a toad.

When Ariel had finished, House was grinning widely, trying hard not to burst out laughing. Smiling herself, she shook her head and moved on to the next picture.