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[unbound_vala]

My memory hadn't come back. Every day when I woke up I laid still, staring at the ceiling and thinking hard, hoping I would somehow just know once again who I was and what had made me the person I was. Every day I realized I knew nothing. Nothing of my childhood. Nothing of my friends. Nothing of this island. Nothing of the child who was my son. I

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[has_2ls]

Jack was aware that something had happened to Vala that weekend that everyone fell into a coma and went home or something like it but he hadn't really had a chance to catch her by herself since it happened. That hadn't ever happened to him (at least as far as he knew; that was something to check up with Carter to confirm) and he didn't exactly know how to approach getting to know Vala all over again.

"Uh, hi, Vala," he said cautiously, giving her a little wave as came into the rec room. "Want someone to play against?"

[unbound_vala]

"I'd love to play against someone," I told him with a bright smile. I felt I was fairly good at the game -- practicing had proved that much -- and an opponent would be enjoyable.

"Jack, right? You're Jack. Tell me I have at least that much committed to memory."

[has_2ls]

"Jack, yeah," he said, trying not to show just how weird it was for Vala not to know him. When he'd first shown up on the island, he hadn't known her, but she'd rapidly become one of his closest friends.

"You wanna break or should I?"

[unbound_vala]

"Oh, by all means," I replied, gesturing magnanimously at the table for him to take the shot. I liked him immediately, though I had found that I quite enjoyed everyone I'd spoken to. From what Daniel had told me, I was right to like Jack.

"Daniel said you worked for the same program I did but you were gone by the time I...arrived. I'm an alien, you know." That seemed to be something rather important and I thought I should be frank about it.

[has_2ls]

"Yeah. I was a general by the time you showed up," Jack explained, lining up his cue and making the break before looking back at Vala.

"I think you worked with Sam and Daniel and a guy named Mitchell. That all ring a bell or no?"

[unbound_vala]

"I handcuffed Mitchell to a bed and stole his pants," I said brightly. It was one of the few memories I did have and it amused me to no end.

"And I fed him snack cakes after hearing about how I was an alien."

[has_2ls]

Jack snorted a little, amused. Sounded like Vala, even if he didn't remember the incident in question.

"Well. You've never stolen my pants," he promised. "But you do cook, good, I might add, and I always show up in the kitchen on Saturdays to eat with you."

[unbound_vala]

"I can't imagine I'm the sort of person who makes a habit of stealing pants," I replied, thinking it over even as I spoke. It was yet another thing that was a disturbing gap in my life. Was I the sort to steal a man's pants? I'd had no trouble taking Mitchell's money, but that wasn't really stealing. That was survival.

"I don't remember cooking, but it doesn't seem like it's all that difficult. You really like my cooking, Jack?"

[has_2ls]

"Oh yeah. If I didn't run so much, I'm pretty sure it'd show," Jack said, patting his belly. "You're one of the best. You're good at a lot of stuff though, not just cooking. I've never seen a situation you couldn't talk your way out of, nope. And I don't even have the benefit of knowing you before the island."

[unbound_vala]

No situation I couldn't talk my way out of. Hmm. That was strangely flattering, though I didn't know why.

"Is that so?" I asked, smiling a bit. "Tell me more about me."

I'd found I loved hearing others talk about me. I seemed to be my favorite subject.

[has_2ls]

"Well, you've got a son," Jack said, lining up and taking another shot. "Named William. Pretty sure you named him after his dad, but you had him before I got here. Very cute kid, smart like his mom."

[unbound_vala]

I couldn't help but laugh. "Yes, I know about William. I think Daniel's devastated that I don't recall him. I'm trying very hard to be a mother to him but with no memory of him or...well, any babies really...I'm just doing what I can and trying not to hurt him."

[has_2ls]

"I think it'll come back," Jack said softly, not wanting to really make her feel bad for not remembering her son. He figured she had enough pressure as it was without him adding to it.

"You're a great mom. I don't think that was something you ever hid or buried down deep. I've got faith it'll come back."

[unbound_vala]

His words were actually quite reassuring. I took a deep breath and smiled as I exhaled.

"You sound so certain," I said. "How can I argue with that? If you have faith and I know Daniel is hoping for it, then maybe I'll, oh, I don't know, wake up and just know. Remember. That would be wonderful."

[has_2ls]

"It happens that way sometimes in the movies," Jack said, shrugging. "I mean, not that anything we've done is ever like the movies show it, but maybe this will be. Have you talked to any of the headshrinks down at the psych office?"