Going Home

by elaiel

Just over a year after the Destiny crew are returned to Earth, over fifteen years after they left, Everett Young is asked to find Nicholas Rush for a very sensitive project, Chloe Armstrong is probably the only person who may know where he is. It's been a difficult year, but hopefully Young can bring him home.

This was written for the SGU Big Bang. Tarlan picked my story to do art for and has produced some beautiful pictures to go with it. If you find the story on AO3 then her artwork is linked.

NB. This story contains het, slash-ish and unconventional relationships, also references to prior major character death. Don't read this if that offends you.

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After 6 years on Destiny the house seemed too open, the airy spaces and white walls too large, the wide picture windows too unboundaried. Open. Gaping. Unsafe.

He rattled round the space that was all his for over a week until he finally realised that he could not do it anymore. The final irony, the ultimate self contained, antisocial nonconformist and he had become so used to the constant hum of people trapped in the same space together that being alone in the house was driving him slowly insane.

What was worse was the idea of having people around constantly also seemed completely intolerable.

The house was too quiet, the intermittent noise in the street was not the constant almost imperceptible hum of the FTL drives, the hiss of the air vents and the noise of feet on decking. It was a mausoleum of painful memories, pushing themselves at him from a distance of years that only gave guilt that he did not feel as much as he should, rather than give him perspective.

He woke startled in the night, more nights than otherwise, wondering why the FTL engines had stopped, not hearing them or seeing the FTL light through the window, panicking that they had dropped out of FTL without him waking.

Conversely the outside was too loud, passing cars a constant shock to his nerves, crowds an oppressive press of bodies in his personal space.

He was meant to be here for a fortnight, sort things out, try and work out where his life was going. It took him a week to contemplate his options.

He sold the house.

xxxoooxxx

"You want me to find him?" Young stared at Carter. "Why me, General?"

"Because apparently you and Chloe Armstrong are the only people he has had any contact with since you came back thirteen months ago and he disappeared."

Young sat back in the chair. "I wouldn't call it contact." He said with a snort of laughter.

"He and Chloe were at least nominally together on Destiny and he must still be in contact with her. Also you and Chloe run the Destiny Crew Mailing List and Social Group that I've been ignoring for the last year as it's very close to being a breach of your secrecy agreement. I'm aware that he has an email address which is on that list."

Young shook his head. "I get read receipts of emails." He admitted. "I got one two weeks ago when I forwarded the news that Greer had made his promotion." He gave her an embarrassed look. "Look, I wouldn't be doing this if Chloe..."

"Everett, I get it right, don't worry." She said, pushing back a tendril of white streaked blonde which had escaped the tight braid at the back of her neck. "Over eight years awake, and nine years of stasis, you're all family and all in the same boat of being out of your own time. Sometimes I think it's a miracle I'm still here.

Young looked at Carter. The years had been kind to her, she did not look all of her sixty something years, though obviously older than he had when they had left for Icarus. Still, they had been close in age and the difference between them now was apparent. He found it more than a little weird to think they had been born within a couple of years of each other.

Young changed the subject. "Don't you know where he is?"

It was Carter's turn to look a little embarrassed this time. "No." She admitted. "He seems to have gone off the grid."

"How's he picking up and sending emails?"

"We have no idea. They're being downloaded and uploaded somehow that we can't trace. We know where they're being uploaded from, a wireless network in New York but there's nothing even remotely close to it that's connected to him, and he's not there, trust me." She tilted her head a little. "I discussed it with McKay and a couple of our newer scientists and our best guess is he's rebuilt some sort of Ancient or alien communications tech from memory. We asked Brody, Eli and Volker, but Eli and Volker couldn't help and Brody flatly refused to invade Rush's privacy."

Young laughed. "What's he doing for money?"

Carter shrugged. "He's apparently very well off. He sold his house, put the money in the bank. He had already invested all of his wife's life insurance pay out, very well apparently. He had a lot saved from his pay while you were away like you all did. He's getting a pension from the SGC and a couple of smaller pensions from elsewhere and income from licensing a couple of patents he holds personally. Nothing that has been of any help to us in locating him. He files a tax return every year with an address of a mailing box that's paid by money transfer, sends Chloe money every month by an automatic bank transfer and at intermittent intervals between two weeks and four months apart takes cash out at various cash points in various states across the north of the country."

"How do you know all this?"

Carter shifted in her seat. "With what he knows and his clearance levels, as soon as he went off the grid he raised so many flags it was unreal. There was an immediate security investigation and serious concerns that he had been taken by the Lucian Alliance or another group. The only reason why he isn't being pursued further is that he has continued to publish in Math journals this year and has been sending some of his other work to Chloe, Eli and occasionally McKay and I for comment."

"For comment?" Young was surprised.

"He's a scientist." Carter said. "Just because he doesn't like people or really want their input, doesn't mean he doesn't see the need for peer review."

Young nodded in agreement. It made sense when you thought about it like that.

"Doesn't he have a residential address? What's happening to the post in the mailbox?"

"Chloe Armstrong collects it, scans it and emails it on." Carter said. "When he's had to give a permanent or residential address he's given hers. And before you ask, she doesn't know where he is either."

"You think she's telling the truth?" Young asked.

Carter shrugged. "If she isn't we can't prove it. And our relationship with Chloe Armstrong is a little strained at the moment."

Young contemplated asking what strained meant, but decided against it. The likelihood was it was something related to Chloe and the children being registered as aliens on the Homeworld Command databases. Camile had mentioned it, also mentioned that she had tried to contest it and failed.

"So you think he's somewhere in the north?" Young asked Carter, going back to her earlier statement.

Carter shrugged again. "Your guess is as good as mine."

Young frowned. "And you want me to find him, with no evidence at all of where he is?"

"We've got a project we want him in on. Frankly Everett, we need him in on it."

"Isn't there anyone else that can help you?"

"Everyone that can help us already is." Carter told him.

"What's the project?"

"Destiny." Carter said. "We have a stable wormhole and she's intact."

Young gaped at her.

"We found another Icarus planet, not on Earth, in the Pegasus Galaxy. Well, McKay found it. He's been out there for years, technically retired, but basically researching anything that takes his fancy. Based on the data you brought back and some of the Lantean technology, he managed to create a power source that would recharge as Destiny went through a star. Some of the "retired" members of the Atlantis mission decided it would be a good idea to take a shot at it. They made two power sources and charged them from the Icarus planet first time just in case, but they were sufficient to power a wormhole home."

"McKay went?" Young asked.

"Yes. They kept pretty quiet about the Icarus planet." Carter said with a frown. "McKay still has clearance and access to all the SGC's data. Just before he went back to Atlantis from his last trip to Earth he downloaded every scrap of data that came back from Destiny including your last bail out and took it back."

Young began to laugh. "And he and Sheppard and the other slightly insane members of that group"

"Allowing them to retire on Atlantis is, depending on your point of view, either an incredible opportunity for a genius with no commitments to undertake some cutting edge research, or a complete scientific and political nightmare." She tapped her coffee cup absently. "The rest is history. With the resources they had at their disposal on Atlantis, they sent a MALP to ascertain whether it was still intact, then built their power source and took a trip. After they had successfully made the first trip they came back and notified us three days ago."

"We thought she was gone." Young said. "Even Rush thought she couldn't have survived that last refuelling intact."

"I don't know how intact she is." Carter admitted. "She's docked to a seedship and in orbit round a star. From what McKay says, she's got limited life support and her in-system drives, but her FTL drives are out of commission. She's apparently refuelled since they've been there, hence they've managed two way gate travel."

Young sat back in his chair.

"But you need Rush to get her anywhere close to fixed again?"

"To be honest, we don't care about fixed, we just want to learn about her, but the project McKay is working on, duplicating Destiny's refuelling ability, needs Rush."

"You do know he'll want to fix her?" Young pointed out.

Carter nodded. "Considering how dangerous it is out in the universe, we need her at least able to get herself and her crew out of trouble." Her blue eyes were serious as she spoke. "Being able to take power directly from stars would give us a serious advantage for our ships and offworld bases, and that's just one thing that we could get if we had a team with the right resources there."

"And you think Rush is the right resources?"

"He spent eight years fixing Destiny. He left some detailed notes on the ship, but considering what you did with her, it's clear they're not half of what he actually knows." Carter's face was earnest.

"Why not ask one of the others?"

"At the moment they are all involved in other projects." Carter said. "Additionally this project has now been classified at the level of the original Icarus project, which means that most of the Destiny crew don't have sufficient clearance at the moment."

Young could not help a frown.

"It's not my call Everett." She said, raising a hand. "I would have read all of you into the project again, but I've been overruled."

Young nodded, acquiescing though still unhappy about it. Clearance had been an issue right from their return, with most of the crew struggling to recover or retain their clearance levels as well as bring themselves up to date enough to step back into careers put on hold for fifteen years.

She gave him a look which was understanding at least. "Are you in?"

"I'll do my best." Young said.

Xxxoooxxx

The house was a largish property which stood in a large garden, in a street of similar houses. There was a large car in the drive and children's toys on the lawn in front.

Young walked up to the door and rang the bell. The door was answered by an older woman who was evidently not one of the family. She was elderly, a little plump, with steel grey hair pulled into a bun and a deep tan.

"Can I help you?" Her Hispanic accent was strong although Young couldn't place where in particular she was from.

"Yes, I'm here to see Chloe, I'm Everett Young."

"Come in, Miss Armstrong is expecting you Colonel Young."

There was a sudden flurry of noise and two children came howling down the stairs, a boy of about seven who Young recognised instantly as Riley, and a much smaller girl who looked maybe three chasing him, screaming "Give it back!"

Riley looked more like Matt Scott every time Young saw him, athletic, long limbs and an intelligent expression. The last time he had seen Maggie she had still been a baby, barely walking. Now she was a skinny, slight child with short brown pigtails, who did not look her almost four years.

They didn't seem to notice him as the boy held something in the air and the tiny girl screamed "Give it back!" and hammered her fists on his belly. "Fucking give it back!"

"Margaret!" said the woman. "We do not say the f-word!"

The small girl turned and gave the woman a stone cold glare, brown eyes flashing. "It's mine! Make him give it back!"

"I am sorry," the woman said turning back to Young. "I don't know where she picks it up."

"I got an idea." Young said with a grin.

He reached out and took the item, a tablet computer, from Riley. "Is it hers Riley?" He asked the boy.

"Yeah, sir." The boy admitted. "But she was using it to get into my personal files."

"Maggie?" Young turned to the girl.

"I wanted to read his story!" The girl said defiantly.

"Did he say you could?"

"No." She scowled at Young.

"Then you wait till he says you can." Chloe said, walking down the stairs. "And Riley, if you have a problem?"

"I tell you Mom." He said, staring at his feet.

"Right." She agreed.

Young smiled at Chloe as he handed the tablet to Maggie.

"Okay you two, go with Anna and she'll get you a snack." She turned to the other woman. "Anna, would you get us some coffee as well please? We'll be in the sitting room."

The woman smiled at her warmly. "Of course."

Young followed Chloe into the sitting room. He had only been here twice before and the layout was still unfamiliar, but he took a seat opposite her. There were more raised voices from the kitchen. Chloe shook her head with a smile and Young started as he realised that they were yelling in Ancient. It appeared to be a game, yelling about alien craft and sensor readings.

"Anna's son is on SG12, Sergeant Sibona. She's read into the programme." Chloe said sitting back in her chair. "Because the children speak Ancient to each other and because I'm not permitted to allow any normal doctors to attend to our health care except in an emergency, I have to have household staff or a nanny who are vetted by the SGC."

"Inconvenient." Young offered.

"Yeah, very. Anna was a registered nurse before she retired eight years ago and then her husband died two years later. She was living with Sergeant Sibona and his wife, but it got crowded after their second son was born. She was bored she says, and thought her daughter in law would prefer not to have her under her feet all the time. I was desperate for some help and Vala put us in touch. She lives in now, she arranges for cleaning staff to come while we are out to help her."

Young furrowed his forehead. "Can't have normal doctors?"

"Only Homeworld Command or SGC medical practitioners." Chloe said. "Myself and the children. Nick too theoretically."

"How come?"

Chloe laughed wryly. "We're part of the "slightly alien" fraternity." She said, flicking a look at the pictures of the children on the sideboard. "Me, Riley, Maggie, Cassie Fraiser and her children, Jon O'Neill, Daniel, Nyan and their families, there's a few others. All of us that have something unusual that might pop up in medical tests." She looked up as Anna came in with coffee on a tray. "Thank you Anna." She turned back to Young as the woman smiled and walked out. "Dr Lam gets us all together for our annual check up at the SGC once a year apparently. It makes it easier for the children, we have a sleepover and a picnic, they enjoyed it this year."

They sipped their coffee.

"Because a lot of us managed to have children with full humans, we're also an largely untapped source for medical research." She added.

Young stopped and stared at her.

"Our genome is compatible, but we have extras, some of which give us benefits. So we give samples, have a full medical work up once a year." She said. "Immunities, other things. Cassie and her family have immunities. Me, Riley and particularly Maggie have accelerated healing time. Other stuff." She added vaguely.

"And Rush?"

"Nick has some of the same." She agreed. "It feels positive, I didn't ask for this, but it looks like it can help other people. Riley's more interested in it. I think he might go into medicine eventually."

He did not miss the present tense when she mentioned Rush, though it might not mean anything, but did not push the issue. He took another mouthful of coffee.

"How is Alexander?" She asked him.

"I was out there last weekend." Young said smiling. "He's a great kid. Growing like a weed, though he's never gonna be tall, not with mine and Camile's genes. He's having a few problems in school at the moment. They've got him in the local school, want him to get a normal life, but I think he's pretty fed up with it. He's not really into football or little league, likes to know how things work, speaks four languages, he is really into languages, English, Mandarin, Ancient and Spanish."

Chloe smiled.

"He's got into some trouble this last semester, he got bullied but can't get into fights 'cause he tried it a couple times and flattened the other kid." He paused. "What other eight year old kids have combat training and live fire experience? He doesn't get bullied any more but he's kinda short on friends." He took a cookie from the tray. "I'm thinking about suggesting a private school. I don't know how Camile and Sharon will take it." He bit into the cookie and paused to swallow and brush away crumbs before he continued. "I think he'd be a really unhappy kid if his home life wasn't so great. Camile and Sharon...well it's corny but they're doing a great job with him. And he's online chatting to some of the other Destiny kids."

"You could give him Riley's details if you want?" She said. "Maybe we could get Camile, Sharon and Alexander up for a visit."

"How are your two doing?" He asked her.

"Riley is at a private school. We visited all the local schools and he didn't like any of them. We've gone with a catholic one not too far away. They've got a good pastoral programme, great programme for talented kids and I think his dad would have liked it. I had the same problem with the fighting thing so I enrolled him in kick boxing and krav maga classes. He's getting belts fast and feeling good about it and it explains why it's a really bad idea for other kids to bully him."

"Krav maga is pretty hard core as a martial art for kids." Young said.

"Yeah." Chloe smiled broadly. "They have ladies classes as well."

Young laughed.

"I'm thinking of home-schooling Maggie or getting a tutor." Chloe continued. I'm not sure yet, but she's pretty much able to do half of Riley's homework. I think I'll struggle to find a school that's right for her."

She put her cup down and looked up at him, and Young had the sudden sense that the tone of the conversation had just changed.

"So, all this chat about the kids is great, and it's great to see you Colonel, but why are you here."

Young snorted a laugh, ducking his head. "Yeah, look, call me Everett, we're not on Destiny now."

"Okay Everett. What is it that you want?"

"They want me to find Rush. They've got a project they need him in on, like really need him in on, and before you ask, I can't say what it is, I'm not allowed to say."

"Why him?"

"They need his skills. Specifically him, stuff he worked on before."

Chloe looked at him. "Well, I can send an email, but..."

"Tried that one." Young said. "No joy. General Carter sent a personal email as well."

"I can try if you want, but I don't think it will work either."

"And you don't know where he is either." Young said. "Is he not even interested in the kids?"

Chloe shrugged helplessly.

God, Rush was an asshole, Young thought.

Xxxoooxxx

"So you're no further than we are in locating Rush?" Carter asked him as soon as she saw the look on his face as he walked in.

"No." Young said, sitting in the chair opposite. "I spoke to Chloe, she's not seen him. I tried a few previous colleagues he had mentioned, phoned Brody, seemed he might know if he blew you out, but even with me explaining it's a really shiny project which they'll tailor to Rush's requirements he still clammed up. I don't think anyone knows."

"We'll tailor it to Rush's requirements?" Carter asked with amusement.

"You tell Rush he can go back to Destiny, that'll be the only requirement he wants." Young said. "And I couldn't tell him what the project was in an unsecured email could I?"

Carter shook her head. "Okay, plan B."

"Plan B?"

"McKay wants someone to show him round the ship, your schedule is clear."

"It is?"

"It is now Colonel."

Xxxoooxxx

The trip out to the Pegasus Galaxy had been boring. After debrief and his three months of leave Young had been eligible for retirement on age, but given his actual lived age was not eligible for retirement yet and he wasn't required to retire yet, he had decided to continue working. Despite the fact it had mainly been as an instructor to new SGC recruits and occasionally as a military liaison with some of the civilian science contractors, he was glad to be busy. It was more interesting than doing nothing, which was what the two week trip en route to the new Icarus planet was.

Even a two week wait on a ship was better than the prospect of retirement though. He had no idea what he would do if he was forced to retire. At the moment the idea left him cold.

After the two weeks of boredom, the two day layover on Atlantis, another short trip and the gate trip to Destiny was incredibly fast, and suddenly he was stepping out into the gate room, struggling to keep his balance as the massive shove he had received across countless light years continued to push him several tottering steps forward. Habitually he walked away from the gate, out of range of any activation, although the gate was still open. Young stopped.

It was like being punched in the gut. It even smelled the same. That faintly chalky metallic scent from the air systems. Underlying everything was the faint, almost imperceptible hum of the FTL engines.

The room was lit only by the light of the gate. He stared around for almost a minute, frozen, then made for a console, accessing the gate room lights, and pulling up a diagnostic. He heard footsteps behind him, but the panel was flicking up on the screen in front of him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" The familiar voice cracked out behind him.

"Hi McKay." He said without looking up.

"Young?" McKay seemed surprised.

"No shit."

He pulled up the power levels. Not great, probably about another couple of days before Destiny needed to refuel. Considering Carter had said Destiny had refuelled recently, that was not a good sign.

"Why are you wasting power on lights?" McKay demanded.

Young looked up. McKay looked much the same as before, although completely grey and somewhat thinner.

"You've got about another two days before Destiny drops out to refuel, lights won't make a difference to that. Don't you have any one here who understands these systems? Haven't you figured it out yet?"

"I've had twelve days in total on this rust bucket and I've been more worried about the life support and the in system drives." McKay retorted. "And everybody not dying. I've had to work all this out from Rush's appallingly brief and cryptic notes, and some notes from Eli Wallace which were practically in text speak and no help at all, so pretty much from scratch and they won't send me any of the science team who were here before. Apparently they have 'concerns' about sharing data about Destiny with anyone and half of them are unavailable and until they make their minds up about that I get no-one." McKay snapped. "They promised me Telford, but despite his advanced age he's undercover again." McKay appeared to run out of steam "So, no-one." He concluded. "Except you. Now, tell me what you are doing?"

"I was checking Destiny's power levels." Young said. "This is the diagnostic for the power levels."

"You can read this?" McKay asked, apparently genuinely surprised.

"What do you think we were all doing out there?" Young asked McKay. "Eight years of sitting on our asses waiting for a planet to turn up? There isn't a crew member from Destiny, including the children, who doesn't speak, read and write Ancient and most of us can complete basic repairs on the common systems given access to the database and programme the ship's manufactory."

McKay goggled at him. "Why did NO-ONE tell me this?" he demanded. "There were ninety four of you came back?"

"Yes, but twenty five of those were children."

"So there are seventy people who can undertake repairs on this hulk with no real training? And some of them have high level clearance?"

"Yes, but the clearance is an issue. And most of them aren't science team."

"Why are the air force so STUPID." McKay threw his hands up in the air. "Politics and stupidity!"

"And don't call it a hulk." Young said quietly. "This is our home. It still would be if we hadn't had to leave."

"It's barely holding together!" McKay said

"And that's after eight years of solid maintenance." Young told him. "Including patching the worst holes in the hull."

McKay looked at him in shock. "You completed zero g external repairs? You mean this thing was worse?"

"Yeah, Destiny and the seedships are pretty indestructible. You pretty much have to blast a quarter of one of these babies away before it won't fly." Young said proudly.

McKay actually looked impressed and gave the walls an assessing look.

"It's much more homely with twenty five children running around." Young said.

"I can't believe you'd bring children up in this situation." McKay said.

"It's not like we had much choice." Young said, running his fingers over a bulkhead. "We didn't know we were coming home."

"But you didn't have any." McKay said, then stopped and looked at Young.

"I'm not raising any, no." Young said honestly but evasively.

McKay gave him a considering look but did not pursue that line of conversation and was quickly moving on to the next topic. "And none of these people are security cleared to get back on here?"

"At the moment, you got me."

"So, show me around the, what did you call it? The inhabited zone? I'm only using the consoles here and in the infirmary at the moment. I came out here, like twice before you left."

"Yeah. The usable area is about three times as large as it was when we got here, half as large again as when you last came. There's other large chunks of Destiny that have atmosphere as well, but they aren't useful areas for us or were too risky 'cause they were too close to damaged areas."

Young led him to the Bridge. He unlocked the security hatch, McKay watched him intently, evidently memorising the controls.

"Okay, this is the bridge."

McKay wandered around touching things with an avaricious look.

"Hey!" Young cut in as an accidental touch booted up the FTL drive menu. "Careful, that brings the FTL controls online! It's bust, you don't wanna..."

"You can fly this thing?"

"Of course I can." Young snapped. Damn he was getting fed up with McKay. He seriously needed to get Chloe to confess where Rush was. He was certain she knew something. "Over half the crew can work these consoles. With our danger levels we had to have that redundancy. I was never gonna take the risk of losing skills."

"You can do all of them?"

"Yes. Me, Rush, the whole science team, Greer, James, Varro, TJ, Barnes, Davis, Calvos and Dunning can use all the systems. Another twenty or so can use everything except the FTL and there's another bunch who can use everything except FTL and weapons."

McKay took another quick look around and they moved on. Infirmary, mess hall, observation lounge, chair room, core interface room...

"This is the core interface room, it's kinda like the engineering hub of the ship."

"Why did you even show me those other rooms?" McKay bit the words out as he moved to a console. "This is far more useful."

Young reached over him and pulled up the FTL engine diagnostics. "FTL diagnostics," he selected another menu, "weapons, life support and general systems diagnostics."

McKay was looking at him again. "You really can use this."

"I'm not an idiot McKay." Young was finally beginning to lose hold on his patience. "I lived here for eight years with nothing else to do. I was a pilot certified for everything the SGC had before I even got here. I learned. We all learned. Half my former military personnel are now doing some sort of science based university education or equivalent paid for by the SGC. Barnes is building weapons systems at Area 51 with Eli for Christ's sake." And I'm not sure what she has the hots for more, Eli or the weapons she gets to build. He thought.

He sat on a stool and started pulling up menus.

"Get it through your head McKay, this wasn't like Atlantis. We had long, long, periods of being stuck in FTL. FTL is safe but boring, very boring. For weeks on end. We had no entertainment and a ship that was falling to pieces. That interspersed with short periods of desperate foraging for anything remotely edible on strange planets and panicked defence against aliens and insane robot armies. So my military personnel learned science stuff and my science team learned military stuff. So did the kids, even Park who is blind can strip down and clean all the weapons." He finally ran out of steam.

"Okay." McKay took a breath. "I uh, see what you mean."

Young nodded.

"Real insane robot armies?" McKay asked, sounding almost hopeful.

Young looked up. "Yeah, drones." He said tiredly. "Left over from a galactic war several thousand years before we arrived. Killed anything that was different to their creators. Who were dead, so they tried to wipe anything off the face of the galaxy."

McKay nodded with some enthusiasm. "Now, show me the diagnostics." He demanded.

Xxxoooxxx

He walked down the flagstone path, hoping that the threatening rain would hold off, just for a while.

He had arrived back on Earth only twenty one hours previously. Two weeks with McKay had left him physically exhausted and mentally drained. McKay was not above pulling eighteen hour days for day after day, and aware that his time on Destiny was limited Young had acquiesced to McKay's demands. The two weeks stuck on the ship had allowed him to catch up on sleep but he still felt emotionally worn.

Wind made the leaves on the trees hiss above him, and the crinkle of the paper wrapped around the flowers in his hand seemed to echo the sound. The cemetery was deserted at this time of the morning as he retraced a familiar path to the white stone he was seeking.

Tamara Johansen

2d Lt

He stood there for a long while, pleased as he was every time that she had held out long enough to see Earth again, if only for a short time, pleased that there had been Destiny crew members brave enough to exchange with her on the stones once they had returned so she could see a few people and places before she died. Make her goodbyes. Pleased he had been there at the end, again, like his long dead counterpart on Novus, even if this time they had had no children. She had refused, unwilling to leave anyone motherless. Young had understood.

"Hey TJ." He said finally. "I brought some flowers." He put the flowers on the floor by the grave. "Uh…I'm back. I've been gone for two months, back on Destiny you know. It was pretty weird, but good. Hopefully they'll let some more of us go back soon."

He sat down on the grass in front of her gravestone. "Camille says Alexander's doing better at school now they've moved him. Alexander says he's bored. I'm going up for a visit again in two weeks, we're going to a ball game together. Going to spend a few days at Disneyland too, let Camile and Sharon have a romantic break in Paris." He shifted his weight. "I saw Chloe and the kids a while back. No doubt who Maggie's father is, though sometimes it's kinda hard to credit it of Rush. And her boy, Riley's just the spitting image of Scott and growing like a weed. Scott would have been proud of him."

He lowered himself carefully to sit on the grass in front of her.

"I miss you TJ."

xxxoooxxx

"He needs one of the science team, at least." Young told Carter bluntly.

"Were you able to help?"

"I can fly the ship, I can run the basic diagnostics, do some simple maintenance, but I'm no use with the major repairs which she needs and the detailed info that McKay wants."

"Who do you suggest?" Carter asked him.

"Any of the original science team, Chloe or Calvos." Young offered. "Brody, Volker, Eli if you could get them. Eli won't go, he's already said he's not going off planet...he won't leave his mom now. Volker is still seeing Greer and Park and wouldn't go back without them, but they'd go. Brody would be the best"

"Volker is out." Carter said. "Apart from the fact Park is blind, Homeworld Command won't authorise an astrophysicist to go and play at engineering and Brody's out." Carter said. "He's off planet and out of contact."

"How come they'd agree Rush who's a mathematician if they won't agree Volker?"

"Seniority." Carter said. "More qualifications. He's also, by your own records, completed most of the existing repairs to Destiny and published most of the papers."

"That leaves Calvos and Chloe."

"Calvos wouldn't be allowed. And he's with Brody anyway."

"Chloe seems unlikely." Young said. "She's not an engineer either and I know she's still working for the programme but she'd never leave Riley and Maggie."

Carter tapped her pen on the table. "She's already involved with the SGC's ship building programme though, working on programming the systems for the new ship, hyperspace calculations, some other things." Carter said. "Theoretically she's attached to Area 51, but she works from home mostly. She's got the knowledge, joint credit with Rush and Eli on half of the papers on Destiny's systems."

"She'd probably go if you let her take the kids." Young offered.

"Take the kids?" Carter looked shocked and a little horrified. "Into a dangerous environment like that?"

"That's not a dangerous environment," Young laughed, "that's their home."

"We'd never get Homeworld Command to agree." Carter said, half laughing, but with an edge to her tone that made it almost sound like she was considering it.

xxxoooxxx

"Hello." Young said as Anna opened the door.

"Come in." Anna smiled at him. "Chloe is waiting in the garden with Maggie."

She led Young straight through the house and out onto a wide deck. Chloe was sitting drinking tea in the autumn sunshine. Maggie was bouncing on a trampoline.

"Wears her out a bit." Chloe said smiling as Young sat down opposite her.

"Riley at school?"

Chloe nodded. "Cup of tea?"

Young accepted.

"So, did you find Nick?" She asked him.

"Nope, so Carter has a proposition for you."

"What?" She leaned forward and poured tea into a second cup.

"How would you like to go back to Destiny?"

She put the tea pot down with a clatter of crockery and stared at him.

"Destiny?" She whispered.

"Yeah, the Atlantis Mission found a new Icarus planet and took a punt." Young said. "She's still there, battered, but there. She's dead in the water and McKay needs help to get her running again. They've managed to get a stable wormhole."

"Who's going back?"

"At the moment, just you and me. There's...concerns about security, and some people aren't available anyway."

"There's politics you mean." She said. "What's it like? Is it safe?"

"She's in orbit round a star, her FTL drives are down, but manoeuvring drive and shields are up, there's an adequate level of life support." He said. He paused and looked at her. "Just like before, but with MREs. I've been there."

She stopped. "And you came back?"

"McKay took all Rush's records that the SGC had, all his work from the Icarus planet, a bunch of tech from Atlantis and managed to make some sort of giant rechargeable battery that siphons off power when Destiny recharges in a star. Takes Destiny longer to recharge, but she can power a short wormhole back. Three minutes only before the power drops and it destabilises, but it's enough to send personnel back."

"What about the kids? I can't leave them."

"Carter's working on that. Looks like you might be able to take them."

"I won't go if they can't go. It's their home."

"You can't tell anyone else." Young warned her. "Not even Rush yet. They won't let me tell him unless it's face to face and they won't even consider letting him go until they've got him on a base somewhere and can run some checks and tests."

She sighed and nodded. "Okay. Just let me know if we can go."

"It's a hell of a trip." Young warned her. "Couple of weeks on the Jason out to Pegasus, couple of days on Pegasus, jumper trip to the new Icarus planet then a long haul gate trip."

"It doesn't matter." She was leaning into the conversation. "I'll go."

xxxoooxxx

"Mrs Adamson." Chloe greeted the principal warmly.

"Miss Armstrong."

They shook hands and the principal showed Chloe to the seat opposite her desk.

"Mrs Adamson, I'm sure you're aware I work for the Air Force."

The other woman nodded.

"Unfortunately, although Riley was just getting settled here, I have just been informed my next posting is overseas and I have the opportunity to take the children with me."

"Oh." Mrs Adamson said politely. "Well, I'm sure it will be a good opportunity for them."

Chloe nodded. "Yes, it's an excellent opportunity for all of us." She said. "My main difficulty will be that at my posting there will not be an English speaking school."

"Ah," the principal nodded.

"I don't know exactly how long we will be away for, but I was wondering, as I have paid a years fees in advance and don't intend to ask for any back, whether one of your staff could put together some materials for Riley, say, English and American History maybe?"

Chloe could see the woman turning over the idea in her head, but Riley had only completed half a year here, and she knew that they would not have trouble filling his place, it was only her own connections and family background that had obtained Riley a place here in the first place.

"Well, I'm sure we can help you." Adamson told her.

"Unfortunately we will be working with a very tight weight allowance for our initial travel so I would be very grateful if you could provide it electronically. Obviously that will also save you on copying." She put a stick drive down on the table. "I would be grateful also if you could put a copy of Riley's academic record on there also."

"Not a problem." the Principal told her smoothly. "When do you leave?"

"Nine days time."

Adamson looked a little startled.

"One of the down sides of my job." Chloe said apologetically. "But, we all have to make sacrifices for our careers."

"Indeed." Adamson stood up. "Would you like to see Riley?" She asked. "It is the lunch hour."

"Yes." Chloe said standing. "Thank you. I have to tell him the good news."

xxxoooxxx

"You wanted someone who understands the FTL system." Young said. "She's the best option."

"I wasn't expecting someone who would make bringing her children a condition of the arrangement."

Young laughed. "Nope, but she wanted Maggie to see Destiny, she doesn't really remember it well, and her boy is still homesick for Destiny. He finds living on only one planet hard."

McKay gave Young a disbelieving look.

"It's how he was raised." Young said.

"How did she manage to get them to agree?"

Young shrugged. "I don't know. She's always had good political connections though and Carter was involved."

Faintly in the distance they could hear noises which resolved themselves soon into voices.

"They moved the basketball hoop!" A boys light treble. The voices stopped somewhere down the corridor.

"Well they probably don't need it anymore."

"But that's the gymnasium!"

Maggie walked into the room.

"Hello Colonel." Maggie ran up to Young and threw her arms round his knees, hugging him.

She let go and fixed McKay with a serious stare. Young laughed as McKay stared in horror at the very small girl who was looking up at him with frank interest.

"You're Doctor McKay."

"Yes."

"Hello Doctor McKay." She said. "Mommy says you're a physicist."

"Well, yes." He said. "That's true."

"And you're trying to understand Destiny."

McKay frowned. "Yes."

"Can you read Ancient?" She challenged him.

"Can you?" He retorted.

"Of course!"

Young laughed.

McKay glared at him. "Who is this child?"

"I'm Maggie." She said.

"Chloe's youngest." Young told him. "And yes, she can read Ancient."

"And English." Maggie piped up.

"How old is she?" McKay asked.

"Three years, eleven months." Maggie said. "You can ask me."

"Bright kid." McKay acknowledged a little grudgingly.

"And you weren't?" Young said, grinning.

"Well…"

Young let the grin become a chuckle. "She's bright, gets it from her parents, and there's also the issue that's she's not entirely human..." Young said, McKay blanched and stared at Maggie, "...but no-one's been able to prove what they are."

"Am so human!" Maggie stamped her foot.

"She's very small." McKay said. "Why is she so small?"

"Genetics and poor diet."

"But isn't Chloe tall."

"Yes."

"Then?"

His question was cut off by the arrival of Riley and Chloe.

"You moved the basketball hoop!" Riley said accusatorially, striding up to McKay. "Why?"

"Uh, because it didn't need to be here anymore." McKay said, aiming for a withering look.

The look apparently failed as Riley didn't appear either cowed or mollified by the statement.

"Hey you two," Chloe said, "Go play, stay in the safe zone and don't go in the chair room or the bridge." She shooed the children out of the room and turned back to McKay. "Okay Dr McKay, where do you want to start?"

xxxoooxxx

The door alert chimed. Young got up and walked over.

"Hi." Chloe was standing in the hatchway. "Can I come in?"

"Sure." He stepped back to let her in.

She walked in and sat down on the couch.

"How'd it go with McKay?" Young asked her, sitting down on the other end of the couch.

"McKay's good," she said, "but the Ancient technology he's used to is much more advanced than this. We need Nick." Chloe said. "Realistically if we want to get the FTL drives online, we need Nick and ideally Eli and Brody."

"If we could find Nick," Young said, "they'd consider it, with some reservations. Eli, maybe if he'd be willing but..."

Chloe filled in Young's uncomfortable pause. "But Eli won't leave while his mum is still alive."

Young nodded. "And she deserves as much time with her grandchildren as possible."

Chloe toed off her shoes and tucked her feet up on the couch. "What about Brody or Volker."

"Brody's off world on some top secret project. Volker isn't on the list of people who would be considered. I don't really understand why not but he isn't, and nor is Calvos for obvious reasons. Which leaves you and Nick."

"So they will let him back." Chloe said. "Next time I go back they will let him come too?"

"Look, they're still worried about him." Young said. "Like I said before, they think he's a possible security risk as he's gone missing."

"He's not missing." Chloe said. "He's just…not managing Earth well."

"You know where he is?"

"Yes." She admitted, flushing a little.

"And you've not told anyone? When did you last see him?"

"We went to visit three weeks ago, just before we left to come here."

"We?"

"Me and the kids."

"The kids know where he is?"

"Well he is Maggie's dad, and he's the only dad Riley knows."

"How do you get away without being followed? You've been under surveillance."

"Don't ask." Chloe advised him. She pulled a canteen from the pocket of her cardigan. "Drink?"

He stared in surprise at the container she was waving at him. "Brody's?"

She chuckled. "There's quite a supply left, you know." She stood and pulled two mugs out from his cabinet. "This is the medical grade, the good stuff."

She sat and poured a generous slug into each mug. Young took his and took a cautious sip. He coughed.

"Still as bad as ever."

"Nothing on Earth comes close." Chloe said taking a sip.

"Where are the kids staying?" Young asked. "I didn't see them in their old corridor."

"Eli's room. Riley's still not over his hero worship. I let him stay there on the condition he has Maggie in with him. It's close into the centre of the inhabited area and he can't get into too much trouble with the kinos. I've got him doing a kino survey of the near areas."

"What about Maggie?"

"She's mostly following McKay around asking him questions."

Young smirked.

They finished their mugs in companionable silence.

"Another?" Young asked.

Chloe nodded and he poured another for each of them.

"Hasn't the Atlantis search party found the still yet?"

"Nope, they hadn't when I got here and I've locked the room down." She grinned, tipping back a hefty gulp of liquor.

"I have no idea how you put it away like that." Young said, taking another sip. "You and James, that first time, the look on Brody's face when he told the story was priceless."

She laughed and leaned sideways propping herself up on her elbow on the back of the couch. Young leaned back and regarded her.

"The science team all picked empty rooms," he said, "it would have been kinda weird if they'd been in any of ours."

She nodded. "It is kinda bizarre thinking of any of them in our beds."

"Yeah." Young grinned.

Chloe realised what she had said and blushed. She was feeling a little giggly and pink cheeked from the alcohol already.

"Yeah, McKay in anyone's bed!" She said.

"You realise him and Sheppard…" Young let his voice tail off.

"No!"

"Okay, it's an unconfirmed rumour, but they are both still 'single' and they both retired at the same time, to the same place…"

Chloe shrugged. "Well I suppose everyone's entitled to a little love."

She stopped. Young's face had frozen, just a little. Chloe watched him take another rather larger gulp of alcohol.

"Yeah." He said. "It's only fair."

She leaned in and kissed him. He let her for a moment then pulled away.

"I can't," he said quietly, "you're with Rush."

Chloe shrugged. "Kind of." She said. "Not exactly. He's not in a place to accept something full time. We have an arrangement."

Young shifted. "What sort of an arrangement."

"I guess it's more like friends with benefits." Chloe said.

"And two kids."

"And two kids." She agreed.

"So you have...?" Young did not want to actually ask the question. "Um…friends…uh…?"

"Actually, no. Not until now. I could but…" She admitted. "No-one…there's too many difficulties…"

"What difficulties?"

Her hand traced the line of his jaw. "Not wanting to let anyone who didn't know near Riley and Maggie, not wanting to lie about my job, not wanting to have to get some one through all that clearance to tell them that I'm not entirely human and have them freak out..." Her voice tailed off.

"Yeah, I can see that would be a problem." He lifted his jaw a little as her fingers trailed down his neck. It was a terrible idea, but just for once he didn't want to be alone. "So, you want another friend with benefits?" It was half question and half gentle statement.

She gave him an embarrassed look. "It sounds so…sleazy."

Young looked at her. He shouldn't, he really shouldn't. Getting involved in this way was likely to cause problems in the future and anyway he wasn't any catch. She stroked a thumb over his lower lip.

"I know where you're coming from though." He said.

"I don't think I'm ever going to be in a position to settle down and get married." She said. "Not with the kids, and our issues, and Nick, he needs looking after you know."

"He always seemed pretty indestructible." Young said.

"Losing Destiny was the last straw I think." Chloe mused as she rubbed a thumb over the stubble along his jawline. "After he lost Gloria he threw everything into the Icarus project, and then he threw everything into Destiny. After I lost Matt, we drifted together and that worked, we had the ship, our work, our research, the kids." She sighed, letting her thumb stroke over Young's lips. "When he lost Destiny he lost everything that was holding his life together."

"Not you and the kids." Young said.

"He's still got us." Chloe said. "And he makes time for us, it's everything else that's the problem." She picked up her cup, took another mouthful of liquor and swallowed, before looking up at him apologetically. "I'm sorry, here I am, hitting on you and then talking about Nick all the time."

"It's okay." Young said. "Understandable, and I'm not put off." He cupped her shoulder, running his thumb over the fabric of her blouse. "Odd seeing you here in something that's modern." He said. "I kind of keep expecting to see you in that white tunic with the embroidery, or a uniform shirt or something."

"You don't look much different." She laughed quietly.

He chuckled in response and she put the cup down and leaned in for another kiss. This time he responded, his lips opening beneath hers, letting her tongue stroke into his mouth, soft and insistent. She let her fingers run over his chest, dragging her nails over the black fabric of his shirt and he broke away from the kiss letting out a sigh as her nails scraped over a nipple.

"Can I?" She asked, fingers hesitating over a button.

He responded by leaning in and kissing her again. Her fingers opened his buttons from the top, stopping when they got to his belt where her hands slid inside wrapping around his body and pulling the shirt out. He slipped it off his shoulders and she grabbed his t shirt hauling it over his head and running fingers through the hair on his chest.

"Chloe?" He asked her, plucking at the bottom of her top.

She leaned back so he could pull it over her head, leaving her in her bra.

"You're so beautiful." He said softly, looking at her as she dropped her top to the floor.

She reached behind her and undid her bra, slipping out of it and letting it fall away. Her breasts were a little softened by two children, a little fuller, a little lower on her chest than those of a younger woman, but still firm in his hands as he cupped them, running his thumbs over nipples which firmed immediately at his touch.

Her soft inhalation of pleasure was all the encouragement he needed to lean forward and take a nipple in his mouth, sucking gently. She moaned and reached for him, pulling at his trouser button. He pulled away, letting her undo it, but standing.

"Bed?" He asked.

She smiled. "Bed."

She let him strip of the rest of her clothes and he removed them slowly, pausing to kiss her skin as he bared it, soft and warm under his lips. He slid to the floor as he slipped her pants down her legs, she stepped out of them. Her panties were pale lavender lace. He slid them down, slowly baring the soft triangle of hair, struggling not to simply dive his face in and taste. He pressed a kiss to her hip before looking up at her from where he was crouched at her feet.

"Do you have any protection? I don't but we don't have to...go the whole way if you don't." He offered.

"Implant." She said, moving her left arm indicatively. "And I've not have sex since Dr Lam gave me a full work up."

"Me either." Said Young, smiling as he stood and shucked out of his pants. "If you're happy?"

He extricated himself from his boxer briefs, having to lift the elastic to free his already fully hard penis, aware that Chloe was watching and taking a good look at him.

"I'm happy." She said, dropping to sit on the edge of the bed and wrapping her lips round the head of his cock.

He couldn't hold in a gasp as he was engulfed in warm wetness. She sucked gently at him.

"Chloe," he stuttered, "please, too much."

He knew he wouldn't have as much restraint as he would like. It was a long time since he had been with a woman. She pulled back, smiling up at him a little wickedly and he took the opportunity to crawl onto the bed.

She slid up the bed to join him, and he pushed her down gently, kissing her then taking her nipple in his lips again, determined he would ensure Chloe had her own pleasure first. He did not want to take the risk of losing control, and it was no hardship to touch and taste her.

He pinched her other nipple gently and rhythmically as he sucked the first deep into his mouth, rubbing his tongue over it and mouthing her breast. She seemed more than appreciative, writhing slightly underneath him, making him smile round his mouthful of her. He sucked harder, drawing a moan from her.

His hand slid from her nipple down her body, sliding in between her legs. He ran his fingers over her gently, orienting himself. She pushed up into his hand and he dipped his fingers into her, wetting them, before sliding them upwards to play over her clitoris.

He lost himself a little in the sensations of her, moving from breast to breast with his mouth while his hand played between he legs, dipping into her and sliding wetly over her folds and clitoris. It was only when he felt her muscles clench, the rhythmic pulsing in her muscles and her stifled gasps he realised she was coming. Her hands came up to grab painfully at his shoulders as she pushed herself up into his slick and wet hand.

As she relaxed with a hum of pleasure, he pulled away from her breast.

"I think it's your turn now." She said smiling.

He let her pull him over her, settling himself above her and positioning himself between her legs. She hooked a leg round him and pulled him forwards, reaching down to help guide him in.

Her folds were soaked with her orgasm and he slid in smoothly. He kept it slow for a long while, pushing forwards and backwards just to enjoy the sensation of being in her, stopping momentarily when he was completely sheathed in her, and then pulling all the way out for the joy of pushing all the way back.

"Go on." She said, pulling him down to kiss him. "If you want to, just go on."

He sped up, and was a little shocked when she clenched tight around him, but she was grinning.

"Pelvic floor muscles." She said impishly. "Worth practicing after you've been a mom."

She tightened them again, harder, and held it like that. It was so tight, almost too much and he found himself rushing towards his climax. He tried to hold it out as long as possible, but the feeling was amazing and he went over the edge hard. He collapsed down onto her, thrusting spastically into her, feeling her arms come up to cradle him as he emptied himself inside her.

xxxoooxxx

Chloe lay in bed, still wrapped in a warm afterglow from the sex. He had spent so long on her pleasure, making love to her, seemingly endlessly patient as she had drifted pleasurably to her climax.

When she had come and they had moved together, Everett's body against her had felt different, he was stockier than either Matt or Nick, and his solidity covering her, holding her down in the bed as he had thrust into her had been exciting in its difference to anything she had had before.

They had wiped themselves clean with wash cloths from the water pitcher and basin that still sat on the bedside table and he had drawn her back into bed and pulled her to him. Her head was pillowed on his chest and if not sleeping he was close as he had relaxed and was breathing softly.

She had no guilt about what they had done, it was well within the realms of the agreement she and Nick had made, but she had a feeling that this was not going to be a one time thing, and that in itself bore thought. Despite her assertions to Everett earlier that she did not see herself getting married and settling down, the thought of at least stabilising her life was alluring, and balancing two relationships would complicate that.

xxxoooxxx

The man in the gate house looked up as he drove through into the car park. There wasn't an actual gate, just a tall archway in the wall. As Young parked his car the man, long hair in a plait and wearing jeans and a fleece jacket walked over as Young opened the car door.

"Hi." He said with a smile. "You're a new face. Are you Mr Young?"

Young stepped out of the car. "Yeah, I called earlier. I'm here looking for Nicholas Rush."

"Nick?" The man queried. "He doesn't see many visitors."

"Just Chloe and the kids."

"Oh, you know them."

"Yeah, we lived in the same...community" Young picked the word that the man might understand best, "for a few years."

"Oh cool. Nick is pretty close-mouthed about his past, even for here." The man smiled at him. "Nice to know he's got some friends. Look, it's half four, talking time isn't for another half hour so you'll have to wait."

"Talking time?"

"Didn't Chloe tell you? This is a silent retreat. Unless it's an emergency people don't talk except half an hour at breakfast and between 5 and 7pm."

"No, she didn't mention that."

"Oh. I'm on the gate today so I'm allowed to chat with you." The young man seemed far too garrulous to voluntarily be here.

"Don't you find it hard to keep quiet all the time?" Young asked him, wondering if it was an appropriate thing to ask, questioning someone's lifestyle choices.

The young man grinned. "Only the first few days I'm here." He said, nodding at Young. "After I'm settled in it's just...well, freeing."

"So you're not here all the time?" Young asked curiously.

"Like Nick you mean?"

Young nodded.

"No," the young man said, "I'm only here in the holidays, when I'm not teaching."

Young did not want to seem overly nosy, but after a moment asked. "So, are most people here part time?"

The young man shrugged. "Depends what you call part time. We get a lot of folks come for say two weeks to a month to decompress, some that do it every year. Sometimes we have people who'll stay for six months or so. Usually people who need a complete break from their lives. There's only eight permanent residents, if you include Nick, which I guess we do, he's been here for over a year now, was just before Christmas."

Young realised that meant Rush had only spent two months in the outside world before hiding himself here. He had not realised Rush had disappeared until into the New Year when Camile had asked after him. Young had been too busy trying to cope with being on Earth himself, catch up with years of absence and somehow resurrect a career that had been on hold for fifteen plus years.

It was not entirely surprising though. The science staff from Destiny were in an even more difficult position, completely unable to take up their career in the real world, most of them with no chance of publishing anything. Their simple appearance would be a breach of security. Somehow he had thought that by this point the programme would have been declassified, but it had not. He sighed, that was why most of Destiny's science staff had ended up at Area 51, families and all. Better any career than no career, even if what you really wanted was a normal life.

The hardest thing, the thing he felt most guilty over, was the children's difficulties with integrating into Earth. The smallest ones were in a better position, but the older ones had struggled. The secrecy, the complete inability to discuss their home lives, the things they knew that should be inappropriate for a child entering grade school: guns, emergency medicine, advanced science. The things they did not know were equally as telling, not knowing the names of trees and animals, having no knowledge of history, television or pop music.

There had been a security alert when Daniel Park and James Inman had been caught in school passing a note, a secret message in Ancient, which they had subsequently refused to explain to the teacher on the grounds of military secrets. The letter home to their parents with a photocopy of their note had sparked a minor incident. The note itself had only been a suggestion that the math lesson was boring and about things they already knew.

He realised he had not said anything for almost thirty seconds. The young man was politely not making a point of it, rolling a cigarette.

"Sorry," Young apologised, "I was miles away."

"No problem, man." The young man said, lighting his cigarette. "This place'll do that to you."

The wait wasn't helpful for his peace of mind either. He was uncomfortably aware that not only had he not seen Rush for over a year, he had also been sleeping with his at least sort of partner on a regular basis for the past month. His mind flashed him a memory of Chloe, naked and sweaty after making love and he shifted uncomfortably, thrusting the thought away.

xxxoooxxx

The young man from the gate had called up to the house shortly after five and Young had been collected by a woman in her seventies, who smiled at him, but said nothing, simply leading him up the drive, past a collection of tidy clapperboard outbuildings and large chalets, and to the main house, a sprawling white painted mansion of a place.

She had led him into the main hallway, a little way into the back of the house and down a narrow flight of stairs into a corridor. She had gestured at one of the doors and left him there, standing in front of it.

He opened the door cautiously. Rush was standing in the cellar, staring at a white board, one of many which covered the walls. Young made a quick count, nine including the small one on the door which had a week planner and a message at the bottom. "Nick, don't forget your paper is due on Wednesday, Adam."

The room was windowless with grey walls and a grey institutional carpet which looked quite new. It was long and narrow, lit by lamps on the walls between the boards, which threw their light upwards towards the ceiling. Young had a pang of deep familiarity in the pit of his stomach at the feel of the room.

Apart from the white boards, the only furniture was two metal tables, each with a matching chair which looked like they had been brought in from the garden, two large metal footlockers and a sheet covered futon mattress on the floor in one corner with a rather flat pillow and a quilt on it.

One of the tables was piled with small notebooks, a battered box file, a plastic jug of water, a beaker and a tray with two untouched slices of cold toast and an empty coffee mug on it. A coffee percolator sat on one of the footlockers, with another mug next to it. The other table was piled with electronic equipment, a large computer which had had most of it's casing removed and a large amount of other technology connected to it and a photograph frame with two photos. One was a recent shot of Chloe and the children and Young assumed the pretty blonde woman in the other was Gloria.

Rush did not appear to notice his presence, and Young watched him work. Somehow Young expected him to look like he had when he first met him, white shirt, jacket, glasses, clean shaven, but he didn't. He was wearing the same battered vest he'd worn on Destiny with a long sleeved dark green t shirt and a pair of blue jeans and those at least looked new. Newish at least. His feet were bare and moved silently on the carpet tiles on the floor. His hair was longer even than before, almost past his shoulder blades and he still wore a beard.

Young leaned against the wall and waited as Rush filled another board with math, occasionally wiping something off with the cuff of his t-shirt.

"Nick." Young said when Rush finally stepped away from the board.

Rush turned round and looked at him, startled.

"Young." He said. "How'd you find me."

"Chloe."

"She wasn't going to tell anyone." Rush said sourly.

"I had a persuasive offer." Young said.

"And what was that?" Rush asked him.

"Destiny." Young said.

"She's gone."

Young held out his mobile phone. Rush walked over and stared at the screen, at the picture of Riley standing in the gate, soccer ball in hand and grinning. He flicked it over to Maggie, standing evidently berating McKay who was looking bemusedly at her from a console on the bridge and finally Chloe, in jeans and sweater, standing at the rail of the observation lounge smiling at the camera.

"Are you coming back?" Young asked him.

Rush stared at him.

"Chloe said to tell you to come home."

Rush took a few steps away and sank down to sit on the futon. He looked up. "When?" He asked Young. "When do we leave?"

Xxxoooxxx

It had taken almost a month of Rush being evaluated for Homeworld Command to decide to allow him to leave for Destiny. Rush had taken the delay with customary irritation and fury which Young, as his designated liaison had not been able to avoid. Two weeks on the Jason sharing a room with Rush hadn't exactly allowed Young any chance to relax afterwards either. Two days on Atlantis had helped, largely because Rush disappeared with the science team and didn't return almost until the point they had to leave and Young spent most of those two days sleeping.

Finally they had departed for the Icarus planet. Rush was a bundle of tension. It would not have been immediately apparent to someone who didn't know him well, his face was impassive, but his eyes were fixed to the front window of the jumper throughout the whole trip and his muscles were tense where he sat next to Young.

Young stepped through the gate, bracing instinctively for the extra shove at the other end. He stumbled a little but caught his balance better this time, he was getting used to it. He took a couple of steps to the side and as Rush came through staggering with the power of transition, laptop bag swinging Young reached out and caught his arms.

"Welcome home." He said.

Rush said nothing, just looked around wonderingly.

"Come on, get out of the way, we've only got a fifteen second gap." Young pulled Rush away from the gate.

Rush pulled away from him and made for the console as their luggage began to bounce through the gate.

"Daddy!"

Maggie's voice was shrill as she charged into the gate room, skidding to a halt near the console. Young watched Rush turn away from the console and catch her up in his arms, settling her on his hip.

"How's my girl?"

"I missed you Daddy!"

"Well the politicians had to check I wasn't a terrorist before I could come here."

"Why?"

"Because they're idiots."

"I made your bed." Maggie told him importantly. "I got Dr Steve to help me 'cause I couldn't move the cover properly on my own, but I put all your stuff away first so he couldn't be nosy."

Rush chuckled. "Thank you sweetheart." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Where's your mum and Riley?"

"Mum's in the core room with McKay." Maggie said. "And Riley is downloading Eli's film so it can be sent back for when they tell Eli, and doing some more stuff for it too."

"Mom's not in the core room." Chloe said walking in, McKay following her.

"Mommy!" Maggie chided her. "I was telling Daddy! Now I got it wrong!"

"She's yours?!" McKay said with a look of theatrical horror.

"Hello Rodney." Rush said. "Yes, she's mine."

Rodney stared at Chloe, who just gave him an amused smile. She walked towards Rush, who let Maggie slide down him to the floor as Chloe reached for him and kissed him.

McKay looked from the pair to Young, raising his eyebrows. Young shrugged and McKay walked over.

"I thought you and she were..." McKay murmured.

"Just friends, filling in time." Young muttered back.

"Does he know?" McKay asked.

"He will, they have an arrangement." Young said quietly.

"And you'll just step back and..."

"Yes." Young said firmly.

They watched as Rush caught up Maggie again and settling her on his hip walked out. "Lets go find Riley and then see what McKay's been messing up on my ship." Rush told Maggie.

"Hey!" McKay yelled, striding off after them.

Young laughed and walked to catch up. Chloe dropped into step next to him.

"You'll tell him won't you?" Young said to her.

"Do you want me to?"

"Yes. I know you would anyway, but I want you to." He said firmly.

"You sure?" She asked. "Though I'll tell him anyway." She added.

"Honesty." He contradicted her. "There's been enough secrecy around before, here and elsewhere."

Xxxoooxxx

Young guessed Chloe had told Rush pretty quickly as when he walked into the mess hall later, Rush stood and walked out, face cold. Young sat down in between McKay and a scientist called Holowicz.

"Well that looked like it went well." McKay said pointedly.

Young ripped open his meal. "Not unexpected." He said.

"What's up?" Holowicz asked.

"History." Young said firmly.

Holowicz wisely left the conversation alone and Young turned it to how Rush's contribution was moving the project on. Fast, was the answer.

Xxxoooxxx

Young's interaction with Rush was frozen, the man was avoiding him. When he walked into a room Rush walked out and somehow the work plan always had them working at different ends of the ship. What was more unnerving from Rush was the complete lack of anger. Occasionally in the moments he caught Rush unawares Young thought maybe he saw irritation and then the man was gone.

Chloe was pleasant, allowed none of it to annoy her, worked on the ship, looked after the children, practiced yoga in the observation lounge and spent time with everyone. Young was more than surprised that while their interaction had returned to the platonic Chloe was more than willing to stop and chat and to curl up with him to cuddle and listen to music when Rush was still busy and the children had gone to bed.

The children floated between them apparently unconcerned. When he wasn't helping or filming with the kinos, Riley spent time with Chloe for his English lessons, Rush for Maths and Science and had decided that Young was the person to work through his History with. Maggie spent most of her time with either Chloe or Rush, or followed McKay around asking him questions, but demanded hugs and attention from Young on a reasonably regular basis.

Over the space of a couple of weeks things settled into a more or less balanced situation if, for Young at least, tense.

xxxoooxxx

He decided, for his own sanity, and for the benefit of the children, he ought to at least try and talk to Rush. Young waited a few days until everything seemed reasonably calm and went looking for him one evening.

He found him in a corridor, replacing parts in one of the systems; Young thought it looked like one of the monitoring systems for the life support, or possibly internal sensors.

Rush looked up at him and scowled. "What do you want?" He demanded.

"I'm at a loose end." Young said, trying for amiability in his manner. "Everyone else is busy."

Rush ignored him. Young waited for a while until Rush spoke again.

"I'm busy too."

"But at least you're familiar." Young said.

"You're very familiar." Rush muttered. "Pass me that section of cable."

Young reached down and passed Rush the cable, watching as he fed it carefully through a short section of conduit

"Plug." Rush demanded.

Young handed him a plug which was sitting on the top of a toolbox on the floor, guessing it was the correct one. Rush looked up at him through his hair, before snapping a plug to the end and connecting it to a socket.

"Do you miss your old team?" Young asked Rush.

Rush looked up from the damaged console. "I miss knowing that I can give orders without having to explain exactly how to carry out every single action." He said sourly. "Pass me that squingy."

Young handed it over and watched as Rush clicked it into place.

"You're more use than half of McKay's idiots." Rush said.

Was the statement a peace overture? Young wasn't sure.

"Well I've got nothing better to do now you and Chloe are here." Young offered.

Rush looked up at him through his hair.

"Not like I have the burden of command to keep me busy." Young added self-deprecatingly.

Rush snorted again, turning back to the console. "You'll do."

Young looked at him and relaxed.

xxxoooxxx

"We need to shift Destiny out of the system." Rush said.

"Why?" Young asked looking up from his meal as Rush actually initiated conversation.

"Because he wants to send a jumper through from Atlantis to explore and the Icarus gate will preferentially choose Destiny if she's in-system." Rush sat down opposite him.

"How does he intend to get it back?"

"I don't think he does, I think he plans to modify it to dock with Destiny in the empty shuttle slot."

"Destiny gets a jumper?"

"Eventually. The seedship doesn't have a shuttle dock."

They paused as Riley slid in on one side of Young and Maggie clambered up to the seat next to Rush.

"Can you fly it?" Young asked Rush.

Rush nodded. "Theoretically. Chloe, Riley, Maggie and I all have the Ancient gene."

"Where did you get it?"

"We don't know." Rush said. "I didn't have it when we left. It's hard to tell considering we're not entirely sure why or when the various alterations were made to either of us. The blue aliens? Chloe wasn't tested, but thought she must have come into contact with some relevant Ancient artefacts working with her father and nothing ever lit up. The chair? We considered maybe Franklin had it, the chair recognised it as Ancient and gave it to us as it was compatible with us. We all have the same variant of the gene as Franklin but that's not probative."

"Is it a strong one?"

Rush shrugged. "Not on the same scale as Sheppard or O'Neill, but reasonably strong. Atlantis lit up monitors and things for me when I was there in transit. You?"

"Had it already. Moderate level." Young said.

"Can you fly a jumper?" Riley asked, looking excited.

It was Young's turn to shrug. "How hard can it be?"

"I think we're going to be able to get the FTL back online." Rush said, ripping open the MRE. He looked at it with distaste. Riley craned over the table to look at Rush's meal and swapped out various items. Rush accepted the exchange, evidently preferring whatever Riley had given him.

"McKay has requested real food with the jumper delivery." Young said as McKay walked in. "He can be very...persuasive...for an old guy."

McKay gave him a glare, but sat down with his MRE.

"You always were an annoying git." Rush muttered to McKay.

Maggie laughed.

"Don't knock it." Young said. "Real food."

"There's purple sweet potato seeds in hydroponics." Riley said brightly. "I checked."

"Growing up here has warped your mind." Young told him grinning.

Riley grinned back at him. Young still thought it was freakish that most of the children, raised on the things, all missed them terribly on earth.

"What are purple sweet potatoes?" McKay asked looking up from his meal.

Young fixed the old man with a look. "You do not want to know, or encourage the kids." He advised him.

"If you want to start gardening in hydroponics," Chloe told Riley, "I'm sure no-one would mind."

McKay shrugged. "Be my guest."

"You can start with those yellow roots." Rush said.

"Hey, are we getting distracted from the point here?" Young interrupted

"What?" Rush asked.

"You said that we should be able to get the FTL online."

"Oh, yes." McKay said, interrupting. "It'll take some time of course, but Rush found a supply of the maintenance robots on the seed ship. We identified the problem a couple of days ago, and using the maintenance robots we should be able to resolve the problem."

"Won't Destiny start her mission again then?"

"Yes." Rush said. "Although I can delay her leaving somewhat."

"But we're in a better position now." McKay said. "Since we connected up the gate capacitor, you have a way home. One gate trip home per refuel admittedly, and it extends the time to refuel in a star but that's a small problem." He waffled a hand back and forth dismissively. "If I can build another I can outfit the seed ship as well."

"But the seedship doesn't have intergalactic gate capability." Young said frowning.

"Why ever not?" Demanded McKay.

"It doesn't have a moving gate address." Young offered. "A nine chevron address."

"Why not?" McKay held up his hand forestalling any further apparently idiotic guesses.

"The seedship has an integral gate." Rush said before McKay could speak again. "In theory, it probably has a gate address of its own." He grabbed his tea and downed a swallow. "But even if it doesn't, if it's at a planet, its gate will be used preferentially to the planetary gate. With the seedship's ability to recharge a GGB, then two way travel between it and the Icarus planet and it and Destiny is realistic."

"GGB?" Young queried.

"Giant Gate Battery!" Riley said, grinning.

He and Maggie started to giggle, it was evident who had named the objects.

"Although obviously we'll be looking to set up a self sustaining mission in case of gate problems." McKay said, ignoring the laughter pointedly.

"Aren't you getting a bit old for one way missions?" Young asked him.

"No." McKay snapped. "And I want my own giant ancient Ancient ship." He smiled. "I'm going to have fun integrating lots of fun new technology into it."

Rush rolled his eyes. "He wants the technology for recharging in stars." He said.

"Do you realise how much that would reduce our reliance on ZPMs in Atlantis? I mean, the ZPM it's cleaner, more efficient, more attractive, sounder from a practical point of view, but they're few and far between and..."

"He really likes them." Maggie told Rush in a stage whisper.

McKay stopped and glared at her. The rest of the table laughed.

Xxxoooxxx

Dinner had been entertaining and Young had left the science members of the party to work, agreeing to take Riley off to play soccer in the gate room. Maggie had tagged along, tablet computer in hand.

"So," Riley said thoughtfully as they walked into the empty gate room, "are you going to be my second dad?"

Young stared at him. "What d'you mean?" he asked as calmly as he could.

"Well you are getting in bed with mum." Riley said, evidently trying to sound reasonable and grown up. "Though I don't think you're getting in bed with Dad yet."

Maggie was watching them intently.

Young swallowed. "Have you two discussed this with anyone else?"

"No!" Riley said affronted. "It's family stuff. We just thought you were like Daniel, Alison and Lara's mum and dads. Auntie Lisa and Uncle Dale and Ron are..."

Riley tailed off in the face of Young's look.

"We wouldn't mind!" Riley protested. He gave up, realising he was evidently just digging himself deeper.

"I don't think we're like that..." Young said. Maggie's face fell. "But I'm not going anywhere, and we're staying here for a while, so everything will stay the same at least for now."

The sentence meant absolutely nothing, really, Young thought, but it seemed to placate Maggie. Riley was looking at him, thoughtfully.

"I think dad likes you." He offered.

Young laughed. "I'm not sure Rush likes anyone except your mum and you two."

"No, it's good, 'cause now you're here he's staying with us." Riley said.

"I'm not sure I'm the reason it's like that."

Riley shrugged. "You came to find Dad, you got them to let Mum and us come here, and then you got Dad to come and stay with us." He said, as if it made perfect sense.

Young could see the logical train of thought that had got Riley there even if his logic was faulty.

"Yeah, I guess you could see it like that."

xxxoooxxx

It took Young over twenty minutes to track either Chloe or Rush down after they had finished the game of soccer, he had put Maggie to bed and had played two games of chess with Riley. McKay was in the Core Room but according to him, both Chloe and Rush had left earlier.

He finally found Rush sitting in the Tier Room. The Atlantis crew didn't really seem to use it, preferring the mess hall and the Observation Lounge. Young thought the circular room had probably originally been designed as a lecture theatre or conference room, but it had been empty of furniture when they had discovered it and had gradually had the six wide tiers covered with spare mattresses and piled with a scattering of the cushions that were easier to make than solid furniture.

Rush was lying on a small heap of cushions, propped up on an elbow, looking down into the bowl of the room. His mind was obviously elsewhere, but he looked up when Young approached.

"You're all on you're own." Young noted.

"Well that's the point of me being in here isn't it?" He snapped. "On my own, out of the way."

"Rush." Young said. "Don't be a jerk."

Rush scowled at him.

"Seriously. What did you expect, that she'd just sit around waiting for you to get yourself back in gear?" Young asked him.

"No, no I didn't, but it still doesn't make it easy when I find out she's fucking you."

"If she wants to be with you, then she can, I've not asked anything of her. She's just been lonely and so've I. You got back from here before, went to sort your house and stuff out and disappeared off the face of the planet. You didn't talk to her for four months, then you holed up in some hippy commune, what is she meant to do?"

Rush put his face in his hands, rubbing at his face. "I don't know."

"And the last thing I'm going to do is make her choose." Young said. "She's got her own mind, and to be honest, she's focussed on the kids and Destiny at the moment."

"Yeah." Rush said.

Young relented. "Look Rush, can we deal with this somehow? We're the only three members of the original crew here. I don't wanna be avoiding you like I'm avoiding the science team here."

Rush looked up at him curiously.

"They look weird here." Young explained. "You, Chloe, the kids, you look right here, I keep seeing Doctor Holowicz..."

"Doctor Steve." Rush interrupted.

"Yeah...and thinking he's..."

"Lougheed." Rush filled in.

"Yeah."

There was a moment's silence.

"What do you actually want?" Young asked him. "Seriously, what do you actually want?"

"I've got no damn idea." Rush snapped. "We weren't even really together when we were here."

"Could've fooled me." Young said.

Rush glared. "But I can say that I don't want to be alone."

"That's a resounding compliment for your relationship, that it's better than being alone."

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" Rush growled. "If Chloe wants you then that's her choice, but I'd prefer not to have to watch it."

"Just like you didn't have to see anyone else she was seeing in your arrangement?"

"Yes!" Rush's retort was somewhat pained. "Look, I know I was letting her down, but it's not as if I was using it to go off and fuck other people, I was turning down offers, I wasn't letting anyone in."

"Turning down offers?" Young's voice was slightly incredulous.

"Yes. Is that so hard to believe?" Rush demanded.

"Like who? You were holed up in a 'retreat'"

"Not that the names will mean anything to you, but Selina, Adam, I can go on if you like? It's amazing how free people feel when they're taking time out of their real lives."

Adam had been the name on the whiteboard in Rush's cellar Young recalled, someone who evidently felt comfortable enough in Rush's presence to walk into his personal space unasked.

Young looked at him. "No-one?"

"I couldn't stand to have anyone that close, only Chloe and the kids."

"You know that she hasn't been seeing anyone, not until me?"

Rush looked up at him with shock.

Young gave a chuckle. "You didn't know. Well, no-one apparently, not until we got drunk and fell into bed after we got here."

"Fine." Rush said. "Doesn't do me a damn bit of good."

"Which brings me back to what you actually want." Young said. "You gotta make up your mind, 'cause unless you know what you want and make some kinda at least half assed effort towards getting it, you won't get anywhere."

"What's more important is what the kids and Chloe want." Rush countered. "At least they've got a chance of having a reasonable life."

"Your kids think we have the same arrangement as Aunty Lisa." Young said laughing.

Rush stared at him again.

"Look," Young said. "I'm easy, if you want me to back off I will, if Chloe wants either one of us or both of us, I will."

Rush didn't speak.

"What?" Young demanded.

Rush rubbed at his face wearily. "Nothing." He pushed himself to his feet. "I'm gonna get a cup of tea then go to bed."

"Good idea."

Young followed him out.

xxxoooxxx

Chloe was in his room when he got back. "Did you find him?" She asked instantly.

"How did you know I was looking for him?" Young asked.

"You weren't here, you weren't with anyone else."

"And how d'you figure that to looking for Rush?"

"Riley admitted the conversation that you had earlier when I went to tuck him in." Chloe said. "He was kinda embarrassed, but very pleased it meant you weren't leaving, as was Maggie. It seemed pretty obvious you'd be looking for Nick to talk about things."

Young shrugged. "Okay, I was looking for him and okay we were discussing you."

"What did he say?"

"That he doesn't know what he wants, but he doesn't want to be alone and he wants you and the kids to be happy." Young paraphrased.

"Is that it?"

"Well no, it took a while to get round to that."

"And what did you say?"

"That I'd be happy with whatever you chose."

"So you're making me choose."

"Hey, no, I also said I'd be happy if you wanted either or both of us."

Chloe looked at him.

"At the same time?" She asked wickedly, reaching for him.

Young let her grab him and pull him in for a kiss.

"Although I don't know if Nick or you would go for that." She kissed him again.

"I think Nick would surprise you on that." Young said, sliding his hands under her shirt and round her back.

"And you?" She asked as he leaned in to kiss at her neck.

Young was silent for a moment, kissing her neck slowly and a little thoughtfully.

"I got no idea." He said eventually.

She reached down and pulled her shirt over her head. Young leaned in to pull the cup of her bra down and run his tongue over her nipple.

She responded by sliding out of her clothes and pulling his off, before he had really figured what was happening, she was pulling him onto the bed and straddling him, sliding down onto him with a gasp.

The hatch slid open.

"Young!" Rush strode in glaring.

Young stopped moving and stared at him.

"I'll...go." Rush said.

"Sorry." Young replied.

Rush turned.

"No." Chloe's voice was firm. She rolled off of Young. "Come here Nick."

Rush froze and turned, looking to Young. Young shrugged. When Chloe had rolled off him, she had taken the covers with her and he was naked under the other man's gaze, which was unashamedly looking him over. Rush's gaze flicked back up to his face and softened into an awkward question.

"You both left it up to me." Chloe said firmly. "Come here Nick."

Chloe reached out a hand towards him. Rush's glance flicked back to Young's face. Young nodded. Chloe was right, they had both said that they would do what she and the children wanted.

Rush stepped forward and took her hand, his glance going up and down her naked body where she sat on the bed. She stood, Young could not help but look at her long limbs and smooth skin as she bent her head a little to kiss Rush.

Rush was tense but allowed her to pull him to her and softened under her kiss. Young watched as Rush's hands came up to rest on her bare hips, fingers twitching over her skin. He pushed himself up on an elbow to watch, licking his lips, surprised at his reaction to watching the increasingly intense kiss.

Chloe's hands were moving between them, evidently undoing the buttons of Rush's shirt and pushed his shirt and vest off Rush's shoulders to a heap on the floor. Young noted Rush had filled out a little since the last time he had seen the man with no shirt on Destiny. He was still slight, but not the painfully thin physique he had had before.

Chloe slid her hand in the back of Rush's pants pulling him flush with her. Young palmed his cock, still slick with Chloe's moisture as Rush began to respond to Chloe, one hand going to her ass and the other disappearing in between them apparently to her breast.

Chloe was rubbing herself into him, but pulled back to undo his belt. Young could see Rush's hand was still rubbing at her breast. Rush looked over at Young, face wary, but his face relaxed as he saw Young's hand on his cock.

"Voyeur?" He asked.

Young flushed. "Looks like it." He admitted.

Chloe laughed. Rush toed off his shoes and allowed Chloe to skin him out of the rest of his clothes.

Young scooted over, making space for Chloe to pull Rush onto the bed. Rush was undeniably aroused, erect, his cock standing out from a nest of greying curls.

"What do you want?" Rush asked Chloe, settling awkwardly on the bed, leaning against the pillows by Young.

Chloe was sitting between their knees, looking from one to the other. Young tensed, wondering what she was going to ask for.

"I want to have one of you, then the other." She said, tucking her long hair behind her ear.

"Better come up here then." Young said.

Rush shot him an amused look and reached to pull Chloe up the bed. She let herself be pulled towards them, pushed down onto her back. Rush leaned in and lapped at the nipple on his side. Chloe's breath hitched. Rush looked up at Young without moving away from her breast, his gaze an invitation and Young moved in to lap over the other breast. Chloe gasped as both of them worked at her nipples with teeth and tongues.

Young was almost but not quite unnerved by the way that Rush kept meeting his eyes, gaze and minute gesture keeping them in synch as they worked over her breasts. A flick of Rush's eyes indicated Young should pay a little more attention elsewhere and Young slid a hand between Chloe's legs, stroking gently at her.

She hissed and arched and Young heard Rush chuckle. As Chloe got closer to the edge he closed his eyes and was startled as a hand touched his side. Rush had moved up a little away from Chloe's tightly peaked nipple. Young was not sure what he was going to do, but as Rush licked his lips and opened his mouth he realised. He moved in and kissed the other man.

There was a moment of startled immobility from Rush then the hand on his side was sliding up to his face and a tongue was sliding into his mouth, beard scraping his skin and he felt more than heard Chloe gasp as his fingers clenched reflexively around her mound, two sliding into her.

Without stopping the kiss he slid his fingers in purposefully, rubbing the pad at the base of his thumb into her clitoris. She arched up into his hand.

Rush pulled back, regarding Young curiously.

"I thought..." Young said, his fingers stilling. "I thought that was what..."

"I was going to ask who was going first." Rush said. "But I'm not complaining."

"Me either." Chloe said.

"I'll go first." Rush said. "Being as you like watching so much."

Rush moved round to between Chloe's legs, Chloe reached up and caught Young into a deep kiss. Young felt his hand moved away and placed gently on Chloe's stomach, undoubtedly by Rush as Chloe's arms were wrapped round his neck. Young's felt one of Rush's hands slip down between his belly and Chloe's side, propping Rush up above them. Chloe tensed suddenly and groaned into his mouth and when he pulled away a little he could see Rush sliding himself slowly back into Chloe.

His hand slid from Chloe's stomach moving unbidden to his crotch rubbing over himself, as he watched Rush push forward into Chloe again.

"You like watching that?" Chloe asked.

"Yeah." Young let out, voice hoarse.

"Your turn soon." She said.

Rush chuckled.

"I don't know that I'll make it that long." Young admitted.

That seemed to do something to Rush as he let out a huff of breath and pushed harder into Chloe. Young could not tear his eyes away and sat to get a better view. Rush leaned sideways a little and captured his lips for another kiss. Young was startled but gave in to the insistent pressure of Rush's lips and the faint rocking press as Rush continued to push into Chloe. He let Rush kiss him as his hand continued to rub his cock.

When Rush pulled away gasping Young could see that Chloe had been watching them, her eyes soft with desire and the fingers of her left hand rubbing herself as Rush continued to press into her. Rush dipped to kiss her then pulled back again, his movements into her speeding up a little.

Young's hand was moving faster, almost in time with Rush.

"Everett." Chloe caught his attention. "Come up here."

Her hand grabbed him, pulling him up the bed. Young let his hand fall away from his cock and slid up where she directed him. Her lips closed around his cock and he gasped. He heard Rush's answering gasp and felt the man's thrusts get harder.

He knew he would not last long, not like this as Chloe sucked at him, her tongue sliding over the head of him and tonguing the point where foreskin met glans making him moan.

"Oh God!"

He could feel his climax building and pulled away, not wanting to come in her mouth if she hadn't said he could, pushing himself upright. Three strokes of his own hand and he was coming, painting his come in pearly white stripes over her breasts.

"Christ!" Rush gave voice to an answering exhalation, his eyes glued to where Young was pulling through the final short strokes of his orgasm.

Rush pushed into Chloe, hips stuttering, eyes closing and Chloe's fingers twitched frantically then stilled as her hips jerked up into Rush's final spastic thrusts.

Muscles relaxed. Rush leaned forward, grabbed Young and kissed him hard, then kissed Chloe, collapsing down on her other side.

Young flushed, embarrassed.

Chloe looked up at him. "Everett." She said smiling. "We've already done it. It's a little late to be embarrassed."

She held out her arm and he let himself be pulled down to lie up against her side. Rush was moving on her other side, throwing the covers over them and turning out the lights.

"You got what you wanted." Rush said to Chloe.

"I got what I wanted." Chloe agreed. "Well you did both say you wanted to give me what I wanted."

"We did at that." Rush agreed.

Young laughed.

"The experience was...educational." Rush added.

Despite the darkness, with no FTL light the room was almost pitch black, Young was pretty certain Rush was looking across Chloe at him.

"You learn something new everyday." He muttered.

"You do at that." Rush agreed

Xxxoooxxx

"Mom!" Maggie and Riley came bombing into Young's room.

Young raised his head blearily to look over Chloe at the two excited looking children.

"You weren't in your room and we couldn't find...Dad?"

Rush pushed his hair out of his face.

"This is the Colonel's room." Riley said.

Chloe began to laugh.

"Yes!" Said Riley, punching the air. "Come on Maggie."

They ran for the door.

"Close the damn door!" Rush called after them.

"Damn." Rush said, collapsing back onto the pillows.

"I think the cats out of the bag now." Young muttered.

"Just like Aunty Lisa." Chloe chuckled.