It was Brooke who came up with the idea of them calling their parents together.

Allie and Grace had originally intended to keep their Parent Trap plans completely secret from everyone. But while they made sure Brooke didn't know about the whole alternate reality thing, they did end up telling her they wanted to set their parents up and make themselves siblings. Brooke thought it was wildly exciting.

"You know, you two really ought to hear what the other parent sounds like," she pointed out some time after she'd freaked out about the romance of it all. "I think you ought to at least listen to each other's phone calls."

The girls couldn't deny that there was some wisdom to that. It would be beneficial for each of them to hear what the other's parent sounded like, and this way they would know more about how to talk to them while maintaining their false identities. So here they were, with Grace poised to call her father.

Allie could feel her heart pounding. Grace at least had some home videos of her mother to pore over. Allie, on the other hand, had never heard her own father's voice before.

Will he sound gruff? Funny? Then, slightly more panicked, she thought, Will I sound like Grace whenever I do talk to him? Gosh, she wanted this to work so badly she could practically taste it.

The phone was ringing. She was about to find out a few things.

"Grace!" their father called out warmly.

Allie could oddly feel tears stinging her eyes. Somehow, his voice sounded familiar. She felt an overwhelming urge to find this man and hug him until the pain of missing her father went away.

"Hey, Dad!" Grace exclaimed cheerily. She hadn't noticed her sister's teary eyes - much to Allie's relief. She didn't like being openly emotional.

"How's camp, kiddo?"

Kiddo. Mom called her that, too.

"Pretty good," Grace answered, glancing over at Allie. "My team's been doing pretty well in the competition - and I knocked it out of the park in the softball games."

Their dad snorted at the pun, and Allie had to struggle to contain a giggle at his response. Got my sense of humor, I think - I like it. Mom wouldn't have even picked up on the pun unless Allie had made herself sound a lot more snarky.

"Nice!" Dad congratulated, sounding pleased. "You sure you don't want to pick up softball this school year?"

"I'm sure," Grace confirmed, rolling her eyes at Allie's scrunched up facial expression. Why on earth wouldn't she? she wondered. It was such a good sport, and Grace clearly had some talent for it. "I want to stay focused on the robotics team."

Ah - science. Allie herself appreciated science and was able to understand it pretty easily. However, she wasn't terribly interested in going into the field. She wanted to be a fighter pilot. Science was of interest to her insofar as it helped her reach that goal.

She'd have to be more interested in it while pretending to be Grace.

"Just like your mom," their dad commented fondly.

Grace smiled.

"Do you have everything you need?" he then quizzed.

"Yes, Daaad," Grace answered, sounding a bit more snarky than Allie thought she normally would, probably because she had an audience.

"I know. I worry too much," Dad griped a bit, clearly in some amusement. "It is my job, you know."

"I know." Grace glanced back at Allie. "I'm looking forward to our trip to the cabin. We're still going, right?"

"Yeah, sure, you betcha!" he replied cheerily in an exaggerated Minnesotan accent. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Grace and Dad chatted for a few minutes about what they would do on the trip. It was about what Allie had expected: fishing. Playing card games. Watching The Simpsons.

Allie felt that she'd easily be able to talk to him as long as she remembered to have Grace's interests instead of her own.

When Grace eventually said goodbye to their father, Allie was happy to know she'd finally be saying hello to him in a couple of weeks.

Now it was time to talk to their mother. Grace could hardly wait to hear her voice.

"Hey, there," Mom answered on the second ring. She sounded cheerful. Bright. Grace wanted to see her even more now.

Allie was quick to answer. "Hey, Mom! How's it going?"

"Oh, you know how work is..." their mom sighed. Still, Grace thought there was a hint of a smile there. "I'm working on something a bit tricky now. But, you'll be happy to know your old mom has actually been leaving the base at a reasonable hour every day."

"No way!" Allie laughed. "I don't believe it! Are you sick or something? You always work crazy hours when I'm spending a night or two off somewhere."

Mom laughed. It sounded so much like her own mother's laugh, as carefully preserved on film, that Grace's heart ached.

"I actually decided to get a little bit more of a life outside of work this summer," she admitted. "Finally taking the advice your dad gave me years ago."

Allie and Grace both smiled at each other. Then, Allie grew a bit pensive.

"Mom..." she trailed off a bit.

Grace looked at her, puzzled. What are you about to say? she wondered, almost mouthing the words to Allie before their mom spoke.

"Yeah, kiddo?"

"Do you ever wonder... if there's someone out there just like Dad?"

Grace's mouth dropped open in shock. She knew their goal was to get their parents together, but she wasn't expecting Allie to be quite so blunt about it.

Their mother paused for a moment. Grace halfway wondered if she'd admit that there was a man out there very much like her Jack O'Neill.

"There's no one out there just like him, sweetie," Mom answered.

Allie glanced over at Grace. Their eyes held each other's gaze for a moment. Grace could see that Allie was thinking the same thing: Mom lied.

"Oh, I've got to go, Mom," Allie lied in turn, clearly not sure where to take the conversation next. "My new bestie just popped in, and she's wanting me to come out and train on the ropes course."

Mom gave a laugh that sounded somewhat nervous. "Alright, Allie. Have fun!"

"Will do! Bye!" Allie answered hurriedly.

"Bye!" was their mother's soft reply before Allie ended the call.

The girls stared at each other.

"They know," Allie stated. "They have to know."

Grace nodded. "The question is - what happened between them?"

Allie shrugged. "Guess we'll have to find out."