Okay, so I finally know how this story is going to end. Thus, chapters should come more quickly now. I hope. ;-)

For the people of CBO. Shout out to Carlo!

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

***

Vala lost count of the number of times she'd tried to force herself to knock on her children's doors. It still seemed too surreal, too powerful. She couldn't help that despite her talk with Daniel, some of her fear still remained. As she turned away from Johnny's door once more, she bit her lip and hopped off to the commissary, pretending nothing had just happened.

She picked up a tray full of food, unaware that everything she picked up was red, not that it really had any significance, despite matching the new polish which covered her nails. She turned, looking for a place to sit, for a comfortable face to plop down beside, but all the tables appeared to be filled with people she only barely recognized. She knew she could flirt her way into any table if necessary, but she wasn't in the mood. She was too exhausted.

As she scanned the room a second time, she saw a small table in the corner, with three people huddled together, laughing. She recognized them. She stood frozen for a moment, barely able to catch her breath, eyes focused on the table.

Her concentration was broken by an airman who knocked into her, causing her jello to splash onto the floor. She looked from the jello to him with a much angrier glare than she normally would have dawned in such a situation.

"Jeez, I'm sorry!" he exclaimed. "Let me get you a new one!"

Vala's expression softened. "Uh, no, it's okay," she stuttered, still distracted, but he was already grabbing a fresh bowl off the counter for her. He plopped it down on her tray with an apologetic smile.

She flashed a contrived smile back at him, in an effort to be kind, and nodded, "Thanks." Her eyes were still fixated on the corner table.

"Hey, would you like to join me and my friends?" the airman asked, clearly oblivious to her obvious disinterest in him.

"What? Uh, no, thanks." She smiled again and used a great deal of effort to force her legs to move toward the table. She took deep breaths to calm herself. She could do this. If she could steal a Goa'uld mothership without breaking a sweat, she could force herself to appear confident for a few minutes.

Twisting a finger around her pigtail, she approached the table with an obviously forced smile. "Can I join you?" she asked, her voice only mildly shaking.

All three heads immediately whipped to face her, not one looking any more or less shocked than the others. Johnny was the first to break his gawking and pulled out a chair for her right between him and Daniel.

"Of course," he replied. "Sit."

She obeyed, dropping her tray so fast that she almost lost her jello a second time. She held her hands to keep them from shaking and widened her grin. "So," she sang, "what are we discussing?"

As she glanced at the unfamiliar faces of her already grown children, she couldn't help but notice how much of herself she could see in them. Emmy's similarities were much more subtle, but she could still plainly see them, especially since they'd chosen to wear their hair the exact same way. She held back a shudder.

Emmy stared at her mother, mouth slightly open, as if she was trying to formulate words, but nothing was coming out. Daniel was avoiding eye contact at all costs, still feeling awkward about the events of the previous day. Johnny was the only one who didn't seem to be completely phased by her arrival – shocked, but not too much. He flashed a grin at her.

"Dad was just telling us about this thing that could be the key to defeating the Ori," Johnny replied.

"Merlin's weapon? Daniel, we tried that already," she frowned.

"No, it's some ark thing," Johnny corrected.

Vala looked at Daniel, confused. This was obviously the first she'd heard of it. "Daniel? Why didn't you tell me?"

He shrugged. "You've heard at the briefing." He stared down at his suddenly fascinating meat loaf – which looked nothing like meat loaf, really.

Vala shifted in her seat. She could tell that she was making everyone uncomfortable – including herself. "Oh," she replied quietly.

"I just wanted to find out more about it," Daniel added, hearing the hurt in her voice. "You would have known soon."

Vala nodded, becoming fascinated with her own food as she took a wide bite out of her apple.

Johnny and Emmy exchanged glances, sensing the tension. "So," Emmy began, biting her lip, "um, what have you been up to Mo—Vala?"

Vala's eyes snapped up, a pang of guilt ringing in her stomach that her own daughter didn't feel secure calling her 'Mom'. She quickly gulped it away. "Oh, you know, this and that," she answered. Forcing herself to form a better response, she added, "Muscles has gone off-world so I've been sparring with Cam. For someone who's fought two knights, he's certainly not very good."

"Well, you don't exactly play fair," Daniel interjected, looking up at her for the first time since she'd sat down.

Vala flashed an innocent smile. "Whatever do you mean, Darling?"

He glanced from her low-cut t-shirt back up to her face. "I think you know what I mean."

"Is it my fault that men can be so easily distracted by a beautiful woman?"

"It's one thing to use it to momentarily throw him off. It's another entirely to use the opportunity to pull out Goa'uld technology and use that to win. It's supposed to be hand-to-hand combat. Not hand-to-hand-device."

"It's more realistic my way. You think a big bad monster would wait for him to regain his bearings to torture him?"

Daniel rolled his eyes.

"You're just upset that you always lose against me too," she added with a wink. She was starting to feel more at ease now.

He shook his head, trying to shake his mind off of the outfit she'd worn the last time they'd sparred. She was right. He had been distracted. She didn't even need to use the kara kesh on him, he'd been beaten with almost no effort, though he was embarrassed to admit it.

Johnny and Emmy grinned at each other, noticing their parents weren't much different in this timeline than in theirs.

Emmy leaned toward her brother and whispered, "This sounds familiar." They burst into laughter, remembering some of the fights their parents had when they were still children.

"What's so funny?" Daniel asked.

"Nothing," Emmy giggled.

"I don't believe you," he replied, amused.

Emmy shrugged, still laughing.

"What?" Daniel grinned.

While Daniel was preoccupied with his daughter, Vala looked from her tray to Daniel's, realizing she was no longer in the mood for tomato soup. She picked up her bowl and switched it with Daniel's chocolate cake, winking at Johnny not to tell his father. Emmy noticed, too, but a grin was already present on her face, so her expression didn't give it away. Vala took a mouthful of the cake and smiled.

Daniel turned back to his tray, his face crunching in confusion for a moment, until he turned to face the culprit. "Hey!" he exclaimed.

Vala gave a wide grin of innocence, though cake still filled her mouth. "What, Darling?" This just caused their kids to laugh even harder.

"You know what," he answered. "That's my cake!"

"Don't be greedy," she replied. "Didn't your mother ever teach you to share?"

"Look who's talking!" he snorted. "What would you know about sharing?"

Vala picked up his fork and dug it into the cake, offering him a bite. "Want some?"

He rolled his eyes.

"What? I'm sharing," she laughed.

He just shook his head in response, rather than pointing out that it wasn't really sharing if it was his to begin with. She widened her smile, satisfied with the win. "You sure?" she asked, still waving the fork in front of his mouth. "It's very good."

He grinned, moving his mouth over the utensil and pulling the food onto his tongue.

"You sure you two aren't together?" Emmy laughed.

Daniel and Vala froze. Their eyes darted from the kids to each other and back. Vala dropped her hand and Daniel wiped his face with a napkin, quickly rising to his feet. "I, uh, have to get back to work," Daniel stuttered, his face becoming increasingly blushed. Vala sat speechless her eyes moving quickly from Johnny to Emmy. She sighed. If only...

"I'm sorry," Emmy whispered. "I didn't mean anything by it. Just, you two, you're so..."

"Perfect for each other," Johnny finished, looking down at his broccoli soup.

Vala rested her head in her fist. "I know," she muttered at a level that was barely audible.

Silence captured the table for awhile, as the three focused on their meals, trying to forget the awkward scene which had just taken place.

"So," Vala began, slowly, "tell me about yourselves."

***

Okay, so I'm not too sure about this chapter... Pretty much I had a bunch of scary gibberish just running through my brain all at once and this was the result. Hope you liked it. Reviews are always appreciated. More to come soon.