Okay, so I know I said I would update faster... I lied. Well, not intentionally, I meant it at the time, but then a whole bunch of stuff happened and life got insane, so yeah. I hope it's true this time. I think I know what's going to happen now, I just have to be able to write it down.

For the people of CBO. This one's a shout out to Lauren!

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"One, two, three, hop!" Emmy exclaimed, taking a giant leap through the halls of the SGC.

"I don't get it," Vala remarked, biting her lower lip. "How do you win?"

Emmy laughed, "You don't win."

"But I thought you said it was a game. Games have winners. Otherwise what's the point, if you can't con people out of money?" Vala asked.

"It's just for fun," Johnny exclaimed. "Maybe if you'll try it, you'll understand."

Vala eyed them suspiciously. "And you say I taught you this 'game' that you can't win?"

They nodded. She signed in agreement, not wanting to disappoint them any further than she was sure she already had. She hated not being able to remember their time together on the Odyssey; not being able to remember them or their childhoods, when they so clearly remembered her. Each looped their arm through hers, so she was in the middle.

"Okay, so all you have to do is take three steps and then hop," Johnny explained.

"Ready?" Emmy asked. A nod was her response. "Okay."

She and Johnny began counting in unison, "One, two, three, hop!" and they all jumped. "One, two, three, hop!" they continued.

Vala had to admit, it was kind of fun, even if profit could not be won – or stolen – by playing.

"One, two, three, hop!" Vala joined in the counting. "One, two, three –"

"What are you guys doing?" asked an amused voice.

Vala whipped around to see Daniel chuckling. She resisted the temptation to roll her eyes and make a sarcastic remark. She had to admit, they probably did look rather silly hopping through the halls of a military base.

"We were showing Mom a game she taught us as children," Emmy explained.

Vala was momentarily caught off-guard by being called 'Mom', but she shook it off quickly, hoping no one had noticed the wide eyes she'd dawned.

"A game of hopping?" he asked. Eying Vala he added, "Somehow I'm not surprised."

"Try it with us!" Emmy grinned, pulling at her father's arm. At first he shook his head, but he found quickly that he couldn't refuse her. He must have been such a pushover as a dad.

"So what do you do?" he sighed.

Emmy beamed. "Three steps and a hop," she replied.

"How do you win?" he asked.

"You too?" Emmy mumbled. "You can't win. It's just fun!"

Daniel froze a second, "Vala made up a game that doesn't involve winning or swindling?"

Vala slapped his arm. "Hey! I don't do everything for profit," she replied, mocking offense.

"No, of course you don't," Daniel replied sarcastically.

She stuck her tongue out at him and to his own surprise, Daniel found himself returning the gesture.

"Come on, children, play nice," Johnny joked.

"Yeah, yeah," Vala replied. "Let's show him how to do this so he can go back to his boring artefacts."

Daniel opened his mouth to protest her statement, but decided against it. It wasn't worth an argument.

Emmy link her arm through her father's and Johnny took his mother's. "Now you two link arms," Emmy said. Daniel and Vala exchanged glances, feeling uneasy after the strange encounters they seemed to be having lately. After a moment of hesitation, they both followed instructions, pretending as if everything was still normal between them.

They set off. "One, two, three, hop! One, two, three, hop!" Counting, hopping and laughing all the way to Daniel's office.

"I feel like I'm in The Wizard of Oz," Daniel remarked.

"The what of ox?" Johnny asked.

"The Wizard of Oz," Daniel corrected. "It's a movie."

"Oh I love that one!" Vala exclaimed.

"I know you do, Dorothy," Daniel chuckled. "That's all I heard about for a week after you first saw it!"

Vala shrugged.

"Hey, I have an idea," Daniel began. "What if you all come over to my place tomorrow night and we'll watch it together, since you kids haven't seen it yet."

Johnny and Emmy grinned. "Sure!" they exclaimed. "Not like we have anything else to do," Emmy joked.

"What about you, Mom?" Johnny asked. "You in?"

"Well," Vala paused, pretending to think it over, "okay, I'll be there."

"Great! See you all then!" Daniel called as he entered his office to get back to work on finding the Ark.

Vala and the kids glanced at each other. Smiling, she grabbed their arms and began pulling them along, singing, "One, two, three, hop!"

They grinned. This was the mother they remembered.

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Okay, so I fully intended to make this chapter longer, but my keyboard suddenly screwed itself up and I have to fix it, but I wanted to post a bit now. Movie night chapter and more to come, hopefully quickly! Hope you enjoyed this weird chapter of randomness...

Reviews are love!