Author's Note: This chapter was only beta'd by my cousin. That means any and all mistakes are solely hers. . . okay, fine. Mistakes are all mine. Happy?
Disclaimer: Okay, I lied. Here's another disclaimer: I do not own Sanctuary or Stargate.
Bonus points if you can spot the allusion!

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"Oh, would you just grow up? Losing a little race due to a hidden passageway is not such a big deal. Don't forget the sprinkles, mom."

"'Don't forget the sprinkles, mom,'" Helen mimicked, pulling open the drawer that held all ice cream toppings. "Honestly, I'm not losing my memory with age. I'm only a hundred and forty-six, you know."

"A hundred and forty-seven."

"I think I know my own age, dear." She set the sprinkle-laden ice cream down in front of Ashley.

"Nope." Ashley stuck her caramel-laden spoon in her mouth. "It's yo-ah birfdah, too-dah."

"Don't speak with food in your mouth! And my birthday isn't until tomorrow." Helen sat down with her bowl and spoon, snagging the hot fudge sauce and pouring it liberally on her frozen dish.

Ashley rolled her eyes and swallowed. "It stopped being 'today' about three hours ago. Happy birthday, mom." She took another bite.

Brow furrowed, Helen searched the kitchen for a working clock. Must remember to tell Henry about that. Finding one, she muttered, "Well, that can't be right."

Swallowing deliberately, Ashley smirked and said, "Oh yes, it is. I can go get your present, if you want it now."

"Nonsense. You will finish your ice cream and go to bed. It's a school night, for goodness' sake!" My birthday present? I hope it's not another 'this-is-older-than-you...barely' gift. My fossil collection has grown quite large.

"No it's not. It's Saturday. I'll go get your present." She darted out of the room before Helen could stop her. Saturday? Maybe my mind is going.

She sat pondering just how much of a pain it would be if she had to step down from the Sanctuary due to insanity for a full three minutes before Ashley came back.

"Here it is!" She set a brightly wrapped box-shaped package beside the half-melted ice cream. A large purple bow flopped over the sides, which was quite a feat, considering the box was about twelve inches by thirty-four centimeters. "Come on, open it!" Ashley bounced with excitement.

Warily, Helen eyed her daughter. If this is another dead dinosaur, she'll be sweeping the cages on level three for a month. She turned cautiously to the bow, poking it experimentally. It popped back to place, looking for all the world like that thing the Australian Sanctuary had discovered last April. This thought in mind, she gently and carefully lifted the purple mass off of the Santa Clause covered parcel. "Yeah, I couldn't find any other kind of paper to cover this with," Ashley explained, shrugging.

"That's all right. I'll inform Ryan when he comes next week." The elder woman turned back to Santa. She could feel her daughter's impatience, but still moved slowly in undoing the tape. Eventually, she uncovered a spine; it was not a box after all, but a book. A fairly large one. Interesting. She removed the rest of the wrapping with more haste, uncovering a photo album. She cast a confused glance up at Ashley.

"Open it!" Her grin was huge and filled with pride, and the bouncing increased two-fold.

Helen lifted the cover. Inside was a message written in Ashley's scrawl:

Dear Mom,

Hope you like this. Do you have any idea how hard it was to catch you off guard 147 times?! Seriously, you should totally smile more.

Love,
Ashley, Henry, James, and the rest of the Sanctuary staff and guests.

"Yeah, we sent Steve around with a camera, following us for the past year. Er, following you, I guess. Trying to get you when you were in a happy mood. Uncle James helped, he kinda had the idea, actually. Do you like it?" Ashley had stopped bouncing, and held stock still as she waited for an answer.

Helen looked up at the teenager, then back down to the pages, turning to the first photographs. The top one was of her and Ashley; they were giggling at some old hats she'd dug out of her attic to dust and sell. In the lower corner was one of her reading a letter. She was laughing at the contents. That was from James. He'd mentioned an article he'd read about the ancient Pyramids being used for alien landing pads. She flipped the page. Two of her and Ashley, one with Henry, and one of the three of them. The next several pages held more of the same, or of her with various guests of the Sanctuary.

Timidly, Ashley prodded, "Well?"

"I love it, Ashley." Helen pulled her close for a hug, smiling widely. "Thank you," she whispered.

"Hey, I uh, helped, too, you know," a male voice sounded from the doorway.

Helen snorted. "Come here, Henry." She hugged him as well, creating a group-hug effect. She felt Ashley nudge Henry in the shoulder. From that cue, they started singing, loud and off-key.

"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Mo-om, happy birthday to you!"

Ashley spoke up, "We wanted to make you a cake, but we couldn't fit all the candles on the top. So you'll have to be happy with the ice cream."

Tears started to fill Helen's eyes. "Oh, darlings, I am very happy with just the ice cream. Thank you very much for this little celebration." Blinking to clear the moisture, she cleared her throat and closed the album. "But you have to wash the dishes."

The smile dropped from Ashley's face as Henry laughed. "What? But I won the race!"

"But it's my birthday. And besides, I have pictures to look at."

"That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair."

"You are so lucky it's your birthday. . ."

"Or else what?"

"I. . . don't have to tell you. So there."

"Quit stalling."

Ashley stuck her tongue out and grabbed the bowls and spoons. "Oh, no you don't," she said to Henry, who had tried to sneak out of the room. "You're drying."

Helen just laughed and opened the album again. Ah, family is wonderful.

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