Disclaimer: I don't own Stargate Universe
A/N: Many thanks to shinealightonme from LJ for beta-ing

What is Easy, What is Right

I.

She thought about giving up after he father died. She'd been barely holding on before, what with being trapped so far from home with barely any food or water and running out of air on an ancient ship stuck on auto-pilot…and that was just what she could understand of what was explained to everyone.

Then her father was gone and she didn't see the point anymore; she just wanted to forget about it and close herself off.

Then Matt was there, and Eli, and suddenly she could smile again. Suddenly she could hope. They made her feel like there was a chance, like there was a reason to keep trying, that maybe they could get out of this; that they could make it. And suddenly the easy way out didn't look so good anymore.

II.

She knew Eli had a crush on her. She thought it was cute at first; it was what she thought she was supposed to think when a "geek" had a crush on her. It was what her friends would have thought. And it was easy at first to dismiss it as just that: a cute little crush, but as she got to know him she started to feel like that wasn't quite right.

She didn't return his feelings, she knew that, but she couldn't just dismiss him like that anymore. He wasn't just some geek in one of her classes at school or something, he was her friend and she didn't want to hurt him.

So she told him. She told him he was a great friend. She was drunk and they were in other people's bodies and maybe it was a cop-out, but she said the words herself and she hoped that counted for something.

She knew how it sounded, though, like the easy way out. But it hadn't been easy. It had been hard to force those words out, to let him down like that, but she knew she had to. She didn't want to lose Eli, didn't want to hurt him, so she did what she had to. Said what she had to.

III.

When Young came to her, she wanted to say no. She didn't want to get dragged into this. What could she do? She wasn't a lawyer. But after she thought about it, after she thought about what Young had said and about the situation as a whole, it dawned on her that this was her chance to do something useful.

So far, throughout this entire ordeal, she really hadn't been much of a help to anyone and she knew it. Now she had a chance to earn her keep.

And Young had been right when he'd said this was politics more than anything. She felt like Wray just wanted to rush everyone to a conclusion, no matter what it was, so they could get on with things.

What "things" they needed to get on with, exactly, Chloe wasn't entirely sure, but she couldn't let Wray win this. Especially after Wray had tried to convince her it was the right way to do things, that the easy option was what they needed. She just made Chloe want to fight harder.

Chloe Armstrong didn't take the easy way out.