Title: Friends Saying Goodbye

Author: Laheara

Summary: Missing scene with Eli and Rush talking in the Gateroom from the end of Episode 8 Time. SPOILERS for Time.

Disclaimer: I don't own any of it, but I wouldn't turn Rush down if they offered him to me. I make no gains from this except the happiness from reviews.

"She's gone." TJ was crying when she gave Eli the news. He knew she felt bad and normally he would try to comfort her but his brain was only thinking about loosing Chloe right now.

Eli walked out of the infirmary as calmly as he could, but once he was alone in the corridor he slumped against the wall and fell to the floor. Eli let his mind go back to all the fun times he had with Chloe. Meeting her in the mess on the Hammond and being shocked she took an interest in him. He smiled when he remembered her screaming his name when the power went out while she was in the shower. She stayed with him when they thought they were all going to die in the sun. Eli curled into a ball and let himself have a good cry as he remembered his friend. He wondered if he would have another friend like that.

Then he remembered the other person he thought of while he sitting there waiting to die. Eli stood as quickly as he could and started for the last place he saw his target. Eli arrived in the Gateroom just as it was spinning up and opening. Rush was perched on one of the curving staircases and looked up when Gate opened.

Eli began creeping towards the man and watched as he raised the radio in front of him and called for Col. Young. There was no answer but he tried a couple more times. Then Eli looked at his watch and realized whatever they were trying to do was too late. He tapped Rush's watch and made a big mushroom cloud impression.

Eli watched as the lights came on in the man's eyes. "The solar flare is happening now. We won't hear from them again."

"Nope, not likely." Eli shook his head as the Gate shut down.

Rush looked up when Eli didn't wander away, he knew the boy must be devastated. "Eli, I… I just wanted to say… I'm sorry for your lose. I know how much Chloe meant to you and you must miss her terribly. Believe me, I know the feeling."

Rush watched as Eli listened and caught the slight hitch of breath when he mentioned Chloe's name. He knew well how Eli must feeling thinking back to loosing his own wife and the terrible point in his life. If it hadn't been for his research into the Ancients he didn't think he would have survived that painful year. He wanted to do something to try to ease the boys suffering, but they hadn't known each other long and he wasn't sure what to do.

Eli looked like he was going to start crying again when he looked at Rush. Seeing the genuine concern on the man's face Eli knew he has made the right choice of where to come for his last few hours. "I do miss her, a lot. I've never had a real friend before; no one ever took an interest in me like that, or trusted me and wanted to be around me, especially someone so beautiful. I know she thought of me as a goofy kid brother but she was kind and fun to be around."

Rush smiled at the description of the girl. He had also noticed her compassion for others and how she always stepped in as TJ's assistant when needed. She always tried to help when she could and was much more useful then she might have realized.

Rush touched the back of his head remembering just after her father had died when she came running into the control room and attacked him. He didn't want to show it, but on some level he believed he deserved that. He knew it was his desire to find this place that stranded everyone and has brought then to this terrible end. He wanted to find this place more than anything but he didn't want to hurt people to do it. Young was right, he could have dialed the Alpha site or any of hundreds of other addresses in the database. But if this place was destroyed he wanted to be proven right, and his selfishness had lead to this.

He was the man who always pointed out the unpleasant truths that others tried to hide from or pretend weren't there. That made a lot people believe he was cold-hearted and harsh. He regretted that, but sometimes the facts needed to be laid out, whether people want to hear them or not. Since most people already hated him, he might as well be the one to shoulder that burden.

He was happy that he'd found something of an ally in this group. He'd brought Eli in for his mathematical mind but had seen a great deal of himself in the boy and hoped he could bring some of that out. Since arriving on Destiny, he'd taken to gently guiding the boy, teaching him more about the Ancients and their technology and language. The boy seemed to absorb everything and kept asking questions. It was true that of all the qualified and highly trained people he had to choose from on this ship, Eli was always his first choice of helper.

Rush looked up at the boy seeing him waver, but the look of dread on his face was heart-breaking. Eli slowly pointed to the hand still on the back of his head. He realized that Eli thought he was rubbing his neck from the discomfort the disease caused. He quickly removed the offending hand and shook his head.

"No, no Eli, I'm fine. I was just remembering some moments with Chloe and one of them was when she attacked me in the control room. My head hurt for several hours after she threw me into the wall. The girl was a lot stronger then she looked."

Eli seemed to deflate and relax again as a smile crept onto his face. He remembered that event well. He wasn't sure what to do; he just froze and watched the strange sight unfold. "I'm sorry I didn't try to help you but she was just freaking out and I didn't want her to turn on me too."

Rush smiled, "I understand, Eli."

"Then she told you off when you said Col Young should leave Scott behind on the ice planet. I thought she might hit you again there, but TJ would have stopped her." Eli smiled in a cute way as he looked at the raised eyebrows on the man's face.

"Can I take it then, that should something occur to me while you are present that I will not be receiving any aid from you, Mr. Wallace?" Rush tried to look hurt but Eli could see the smile twitching at his lips.

"Ah, well. If it involves anyone else, freaky aliens we might meet out here, or Col Young, or Sgt. Greer, sure, no problem I've got your back. But if it's Chloe, sorry, I can't hurt a girl, especially if she's my friend." Eli hoped that didn't make him sound bad but it was true.

Rush smiled again and nodded. "Noted."

Then Eli's smile faded and he leaned harder on the railing of the staircase. "Really, Dr. Rush, I'm serious. Anybody else tries to hurt you or gives you a hard time; I've got your back. Like I said, I've never had a real friend before and I wasn't just talking about Chloe. You've shown more faith and interest in me then anyone in my life, besides my mother. You took me to another planet and since we've been here you've helped me deal with all this. You've taught me more about the Stargates and the Ancients. Even when you could work with people like Volker, or Franklin or Brody you still ask for me. You're the smartest person on this ship and you want to work with a looser drop out rather than people trained for this."

Rush quickly turned so his body was facing Eli now and made sure to catch the boy's eyes. "Eli, I never want to hear you speak of yourself in such a way again. You are not a looser and I read the transcripts from MIT and your mothers file, so I know why you left. I choose to work with you because you have a brilliant mind and it hasn't been jaded by self-importance and doing this for as long as those others have. You can see things that even I may miss because you look at things in a different way then a trained scientist would. That kind of insight is invaluable to me in a place like this. And I'm happy to answer your questions and teach you about the Ancients.

You may have noticed I'm not on the top of any popularity lists myself. People tend to avoid me and I only see them when they need something. I know I can become obsessed with my work and rude if people interrupt me, but I don't always mean to be. But those bursts don't seem to bother you; you keep coming back to me. You mentioned not having any real friends, well, I can understand how lonely that feels since I don't have any either. You're lucky to have had Chloe."

Eli smiled, "And you. I've got you too, and I'm glad. I don't think I could have made it this long without freaking out if you weren't keeping me busy helping you. So I've had two friends here, you and Chloe. Since I've lost her now, you're all I have left. Can I stay here with you until whatever happens is over?"

Rush looked like he might cry but forced a smile and motioned with his hand for Eli to sit on the stairs below him. Eli smiled and scurried around to sit where Rush pointed. They were both starting to feel sick, but since there was nothing to be done, they just pushed the discomfort away and kept each other distracted talking about all kinds of topics until they couldn't anymore.

THE END