Greer shredded his heavy suit as though he were on fire and carefully extracted the little girl from the strange craft that Rush was starting to think of more as a lifeboat than anything else, she was naked and pale with long ebony hair that hung in loose damp curls down her back to just below her scapulas; she was entirely covered in a strange almost translucent white-green goo. Her body hung limp in the soldiers arms as he wrapped her in his BDU jacket and bolted down the halls towards the infirmary, half way he ran into TJ who gasped at the sight of her, how was any of this possible? That was the question Rush had wandered off to the bridge to answer, he'd have Volker get samples of the goo while he and Brody attempted to figure out just what the hell that sphere really was; it also meant Rush wouldn't have to put up with Dale Volker for a while. Lieutenant Scott wanted to remained to start sealing the huge hole he'd drilled into Destiny's hull but knowing Rush would throw a tantrum he decided it best just to watch the doctor like a hawk instead, he was still trying to process what they'd just seen.

As soon as TJ had the girl laying in a bed she checked her pulse and breathing, over her face was some kind black mask that jutted out at odd angles and covered her mouth and nose, TJ carefully removed it finding it attached to a long clear tube but the little girl didn't stir as it came up her throat. Not wanting her to get cold she had Greer start wiping away the strange gelatinous ooze that coated her skin with a tiny blue towel, he would have found it awkward what with her being an unconscious and very naked child but he was it too much shock to process that properly.

Hours passed by and Doctor Johansen's tests went on for a while. Greer kept having to force puzzled eyebrows down as he watched TJ check over the young girl, maybe they were still in stasis and this was all a dream? That had to be the only explanation, the only one that made sense anyway. Since Rush had trapped them aboard Destiny Ronald Greer had seen some pretty strange crap but a naked kid covered in strange gel and stuck in a tiny pod in the middle of space rocketed to the top of the list.

The blonde medic found no scars, cuts or bruises on the child every inch of flesh was pale and smooth, her deep honey chocolate eyes reacted normally under light though didn't focus on anything, her heart beat steadily in her chest and her breathing was gentle and rhythmic like a calm stream in the middle of the woods; tranquil. Truth be told Tamara could find absolutely nothing wrong with her save for being a little dehydrated but so was everyone else on Destiny.

Tamara looked down at her with a soft smile remembering Carmen, the blonde had hoped her daughter would have grown up as beautiful as this little angel asleep before her but alas that was never to happen. The little girl's skin was snow white like something out of a fairytale and her hair felt like silk - damp silk thanks to the goo but silk nevertheless, TJ gripped her little hand and squeezed in a sign of comfort that did more for her than the still unconscious child.

"Is she going to be alright?" Greer finally asked, he acted all tough but on the inside he cared for every single person on the ship; even Rush though he'd never admit to that.

"I think so, I can't find anything wrong with her apart from the fact she's here."

"So she is... human?"

TJ locked her baby blue eyes down on the brunette little girl with a soft smile.

"As far as I can tell yes she is." She glanced up to Greer. "Which should be impossible this deep into space, we're the only humans here and she didn't come with us or the Lucian Alliance. So how did a seven or eight year old girl get here?"

"Doc, I have got no idea. That's the nerds department."

XXXX

A full day went by and Command was not happy to find the strange sphere had contained a young girl, many ideas for how she got there had flown about but none of them really connected all the dots. General O'Neill had wondered if it was another Cassandra but he kept that thought to himself. Greer had been assigned to watch the little brunette and Young had grilled Tamara about everything she'd found out about the girl, which was little to nothing.

In the early morning Chloe stopped by asking if there was anything she could do to help, she needed something to take her mind off of Eli but with the child asleep and only a fraction of the crew awake there was nothing for her to do. TJ felt sorry for Chloe, she could see all the worry building under her skin, Eli was her best friend and if they lost him she would break. Chloe had kept an eye on the sleeping angel for a while so TJ could give physicals to all the conscious crew – of course a certain Scot didn't show up – and then wandered off to the blackboard corridor in search of Rush hoping he'd have something for her to do. What was the point of having all that knowledge locked up in her brain if she didn't use it? People still looked at her strangely, like she'd suddenly go all alien again, at first Chloe had ignored those little looks since she could hardly blame the crew for their concern but after a while the sideways glances just became painful. Especially when they came from Matt, she felt like he didn't trust her at times, Rush though, he was the only one to look past it. He'd made her feel helpful, feel normal.

Come the afternoon and Sargent Greer was ready to die of boredom, the girl just slept and he had other things he could have been doing like helping Scott to close up the hole they'd drilled or performing a full sweep of Destiny to make sure there weren't more little girls wandering around, this wasn't Bioshock! His dark eyes glanced up to Tamara who was doing inventory quietly over in the corner before back at the child... honey brown eyes were watching him with fear.

"Em, Doc." He pointed to the girl not knowing what else to say.

TJ spun around to see the little girl had finally woken, her breathing bordered on hyperventilating and her tiny body had started to curl into a ball. Greer stepped back a little knowing he scared her but he remained vigilant, she may have looked like a normal human child but looks could be deceiving. If this girl went feral he'd not let her hurt TJ or anyone else.

The child's chocolate orbs darted around the room sporadically searching for escape but a tall man with mocha skin stood too close for her to go running. The woman raised her hands up in an non-threatening manner that did little to comfort the girl, her body only grew more tense as thick ebony curls shrouded her face in a thick cloak.

"Hey, it's alright Sweety." Tamara began softly. "No one is going to hurt you, okay?" The girl gave no answer and for the first time the blonde wondered if she even knew how to speak. "I'm Tamara, but you can call me TJ. This is Greer." She gestured to the man a few feet behind her, still the seven-year old found no comfort in Tamara's words.

While TJ continued to calm her down Greer slowly reached for his radio hoping that Colonel Young had returned from SGC.

"Em Colonel Young?" There was a crackle before Young responded with a go ahead. "Sir this is Greer, the girl woke up"

"I'll be right there Sargent? Young out."

"Yes Sir."

Greer turned his attention back to TJ and the brown eyed ankle-biter.

"You're alright Sweetheart, you're safe." She'd managed to get a few steps closer but their new found mystery still looked like a cat ready to scatter.

"Are you sure she can understand us?" Questioned Greer but Tamara paid no attention.

The small brunette shuffled back trying to become invisible, clearly TJ wasn't getting through to her. Suddenly Colonel Young entered the infirmary with quick steps and Camile trailed behind him. That was far too many people in the room and the little girl fled to the corner on the other side of the infirmary, she didn't know or trust these people; would they hurt her?

"Command isn't happy about her but since we can't get rid of her they want to know what she is and to be honest I want the same." Said Young completely uncaring that the small brunette could hear every word.

"What is her name?" Camile ignored Young instead asking her own question.

"I still don't know." Came TJ's quick response. "She just woke up and she's scared."

"Can you really blame her?"

Everyone watched as Camile calmly and slowly approached their new shipmate crouching down a few feet away and offering a smile.

"You shouldn't get too close." Greer's warning went unheard.

"Hey there Angel. I'm Camile, can you tell me your name?" The child didn't respond, just continued to stare with horrified but beautiful honey chocolate eyes that somehow seemed familiar. "Alright, you don't have to speak right away."

"Does she even know how?" Young interrupted in a gruff tone and Tamara answered.

"Greer asked the same thing. As far as I can tell she has the ability but she's not said a word yet. It could be she doesn't understand English."

Camile turned her head to look at the other three still stood on the far side of the room, when she spoke it was calm and quiet to avoid scaring the girl any more than they already had.

"What exactly happened yesterday? Greer you were there."

"The shuttle couldn't get through the pod things shield so we drilled through the hull and got to it from the inside. When Scott broke bits of it off all this weird ooze came out and then her." He gestured with his left hand to the child while the right rested on the stock of his weapon. "You know the rest. I brought her here and Scott stayed behind to keep an eye on Rush."

"R... Rush."

All eyes turned to the child, her voice had been quiet and gravely from lack of use but they'd all heard it. Her eyes were still full of fear so Camile offered a reassuring smile, not that it did anything.

"So she can speak." Young seemed pleased with that, he could get information from her that way.

"Okay." Camile grinned. "Were getting somewhere. But you're all scaring her so everyone out, except TJ"

"I'll report this to General O'Neill and see what he thinks but Greer stays, someone has to watch her. Just because she looks human doesn't mean she is. I don't trust her." Young looked up at Greer and spoke plainly. "You know what to do if the situation calls for it."

"She's a child!" The blonde medic objected quickly, her mothering instincts kicking in full force.

"That remains to be confirmed. She would have to go and choose Rush's name, it makes me trust her even less."

That was the moment Nicholas Rush decided to make an appearance, he'd come in search of anything he could use as a petri dish for the odd goo they'd found but hearing Young complain about him was always amusing.

"I heard my name, what evil could I have possibly caused n-" Suddenly the child cut him off.

"Daddy!"

The girl with ebony hair bolted passed Camile only just dodging her and straight into Rush's arms almost knocking him over with the force of her impact, she clung to him with a grip that would take a crowbar to break. The air turned cold as everybody in the room stared at them, this was the very last thing anyone had expected. Greer's eyebrows had shot up so high that they'd vanished into his hairline and Young was growing more suspicious as the seconds ticked on. Rush regained his ability to speak first.

"Okay, I think you're mistaken little girl." He tried to sound gentle but he came out more angry than he'd wanted.

"Daddy!" She cried again refusing to release her grip on his waist, her smile pressed into his stomach.

"Rush what did you do?!" Young growled.

"Nothing. I think I'd know if I had a daughter. I don't." He shot back quickly.

"Well she seems pretty convinced." Camile mumbled to herself.

"And you can't deny she kind of has your eyes now I think about it." Added TJ absent-mindedly.

"Alright, get off now please."

Rush did his best to wriggle out of her vice like grip but the girl wasn't having it, she was more stubborn than the chief scientist himself. Though he wasn't happy to have some kind of alien kid on the ship Greer did find Rush's reaction rather amusing.

"I want to stay with you Daddy."

The child's voice was timid and still groggy from sleep but there was no denying her little voice was beautiful, almost like a celestial spirit had bestowed it upon her. Camile thought about the strange situation for a long moment – because strange was the only word for it – until she eventually decided on a course of action.

"Rush, if she's with you she may talk more. We could figure out where she came from."

"She's just told us, Rush." Greer tried to jest but no one was listening to his stupid comments in that moment.

"No. I have things to do, not play happy families with her." He sighed and let his eyes fall to the little girl still clinging to him for dear life. "Please get off me."

"I'm frightened Daddy." She mumbled into his stomach, Rush would be lying if he said he didn't know how she felt.

"Fine!" He growled through gritted teeth. "But if we have to do this can we do it on the bridge so I can work." It wasn't a question, more of a demand.

"We should stay here-" Camile tried to say but Rush cut her off.

"No, it's the bridge or you can cope with her on your own."

The dark-haired woman nodded knowing there was no winning with Rush.

"Camile try to get everything you can out of her. Greer don't let that girl out of your sight. I'll be using the stones to inform General O'Neill that she's awake."

Everett turned to leave but was stopped halfway out the door by TJ, she pushed a stray strand of blonde hair behind her ear.

"Sir, could you arrange for a pediatrician?"

A pediatrician was probably a good idea, Young nodded to the medic and then vanished down the long halls and out of sight.

"Can we get this over with please?" Rush bit out.

He tried to get the girl off so he could walk but as soon as he did she threw her arms up in the air in a silent demand to be picked up, at first he thought about refusing but when he saw the longing in her eyes Nicholas found himself relenting before lifting her up. His arms supported her gently and found the child to be rather a lot lighter than he'd expected but he wouldn't complain, she snaked her little arms around his neck and her legs dangled down either of his flanks; her head rested on the space where his neck met his shoulder. He was suddenly thankful to Greer who'd put his BDU jacket on her because what he could feel of her skin was ice cold and shivering. Rush could feel her smile against his neck and he found himself wondering if this was what it felt like to be comforted by a parent. Rush's mother had died when he was young and he regrettably remembered little about her, as for his father, the man had done his best but with the hours he worked at the shipyard back in Glasgow Nicholas had never really gotten much parental attention.

Nicholas silenced his mind as he carried the girl down the long dark metal hallways towards the bridge with Camile trailing only a few steps behind him. Hardly anyone had been roused from their stasis chambers yet but those who had found it hard not to stand and stare as their grumpy chief scientist carried a possibly homicidal child through the ship, some even giggled. Half way to the bridge Camile's voice filled his ears.

"We really should have stayed in the infirmary."

Rush stopped dead and turned, the little girl still clinging tightly to him.

"Look if you want me here for this little chat of yours we do it on the bridge where I can still work."

"Great parenting there Nick." She muttered more to herself than anyone else but Rush still heard her, his eyesight may have betrayed him at the age of thirty-five but his hearing certainly hadn't.

"She's not mine."

If he hadn't been in such a foul mood Nicholas would have noticed how the child tensed in his arms and gripped his green t-shirt tighter. On the bridge they found Volker and Brody working away with grins on their faces as though one had just told the other a joke of some kind. In all honesty Rush needed Doctor Park back but unless her eyes healed that wasn't going to happen and Chloe was more than capable to assist him; she'd even asked Rush to teach her Ancient. I suppose we can still bounce ideas off Park. Poor girl, first Simeon had strapped a bomb to her back and now she may never see again, at least she had Greer.

Nicholas set the seven year old down gently before sitting himself in the command chair and pulling some of Volkers notes from the chairs arm and started to read them; turned out most of the scientists had paper stashed away. The little girl with ebony hair looked around the room with utter awe, the bridge wasn't like the rest of Destiny, it had personality to it and was far from the boring black of the infirmary; she liked it. Camile moved closer to the kid with every intention of crouching down to her level and offering comfort but before she could take a step the little angel was clambering into the lap of a rather stunned Nicholas Rush and settling herself happily. Volker and Brody grinned wider than they thought possible.

"I don't remember telling you to stop working." Rush sneered frightening them back to work.

"Daddy." The child grinned and cuddled herself into his chest.

Brody snorted while Volker managed to refrain from making Daddy jokes. Camile leaned down so she could meet the child's honey chocolate eyes and smiled softly, it seemed all fear had drained away from her the second she'd seen Rush, which was unusual considering the reactions people normally had around the chief scientist.

"I think it's obvious she feels safe with you."

"You don't say?" Rush's voice dripped with sarcasm but he didn't look up from Dale Volker's notes. "Why did she have to choose me?"

"Kids are like cats, they know who doesn't like them." Said Volker answering Rush's rhetorical question.

"Thank you for that apt description. If you would give your work the same attention-" Nicholas left the statement open and the blonde begrudgingly went back to work.

Silence passed for a short time that was somewhere between five and ten minutes, Camile wanted the new arrival to be comfortable with her surroundings before she started asking any more questions, that and she was enjoying the look on Rush's face; not that she'd ever admit to that. When her little chocolate brown eyes had finished darting back and forth she deemed it the right moment to start talking to her.

"Is it alright if we have a little chat?" She asked softly, she was pleased when the girl nodded. "Okay, let's start easy. How old are you?"

There was a pause and Rush found his attention drifting from Volker's scrawled notes to the child sat in his lap, she took his arm void of paper from the chair rest and wrapped it around her almost like a blanket.

"I... I don't know." Her voice was barely above a whisper.

"You don't know?" Camile questioned with incredulity which only earned her a head shake. The dark-haired woman decided to move onto another question rather than risking upsetting her and getting nothing at all. "Okay, how about your name can you tell me that? Like I said earlier I'm Camile, over there is Dale and Adam." She pointed to the other two scientists. "And you know who Nick is."

The brunette looked up to Rush who shot her an expectant look but the girl's beautiful eyes grew sad.

"I don't know."

"How can you not know, Sweetheart? Surely you've got one?" Camile tried to keep her tone as gentle as possible.

"Mommy and Daddy never gave me one." The girl sounded as though she could cry.

It was becoming quickly apparent that Camile was getting nowhere with the girl and she started to grow frustrated, she didn't specialise with children because children had never really liked her, there had been the odd few she got on well with but for the most part she didn't do well with kids.

"Where is your Mommy? Did she come from Earth?"

"Uh-huh." Uh-huh was probably the best answer Camile had gotten since the girl had woken up. "Like Daddy."

Rush tried desperately to ignore the little girl sat in his lap with eyes he couldn't deny matched his own. Sure he liked kids but he'd never expected to be a father. He was brilliant: always thinking, always analyzing, always utterly pragmatic but never had he believed himself to be father material.

"How did you get here from Earth then, Sweetheart?"

"Didn't." She muttered, her voice grew timid and she hugged Rush's arm tighter around herself. "There were... bad things."

Tears started to drip down her cheeks and then the dam burst and she buried her pale face into Nicholas' neck crying loudly letting hot tears soak his two shirts.

"Daddy."

Rush sighed and snaked his arms around the girl to hold her close, he knew it was the only way to get her to stop crying but the action still surprised him a little.

"Look," He began grabbing Camile's attention. "I know you're trying to get answers from her and believe me I want them too but do you really think this interrogation is a good idea? She's only just woken up in a strange place and looks to be about seven."

Camile sighed and stood up straight.

"You're right Rush, Young wants answers but you're right this isn't good for her."

Soon the girls sobs had turned to little hiccups, she played with the strap of his watch and Rush wiped the wetness from his neck with his palm. The girl looked so small in that moment curled up against his chest and Rush tried to deny he enjoyed the feeling of being needed, he had no idea who she really was but she made him feel something he'd long forgotten about.

"Come on, Sweetheart." Camile held her hand out for the child to take. "Let's go and get you something to eat, you'll feel better."

Honey chocolate eyes flashed up to meet a matching pair.

"Daddy, can I?" She asked while pushing away the last of her sniffles.

"Hmm? Oh, yeah you can go with Camile." He'd not though she'd actually ask for permission and if she went with Camile he could get back to work.

His so-called daughter slipped from his lap and timidly took Camile's outstretched hand, she looked to be in two minds as to whether she should leave Rush or not but he said it was okay and Daddy knew best. Daddy's smart her little mind muttered.

Brody opened his mouth but Rush got there first with a voice like thunder.

"Not a word!"

The engineer held up his hands in a sign of surrender then turned back to his terminal giving Rush the utter silence he wanted.

Some time later Chloe finally appeared on the bridge, she knew sitting by Eli's side forever wouldn't help free him. There was a laptop in her hands, Park's laptop. She'd asked Lisa if she could go through the information she had on the stasis chambers in an attempt to help her frozen friend but it had yielded no result.

"I hear the little girl is awake. TJ says you became a father."

So far he'd gotten suspicious accusations and teasing comments about the new arrival but Chloe sounded more curious than anything else; not a single note of sarcasm could be detected in her silky voice. Rush didn't much like people but Chloe was his exception, she was kind and actually tried to befriend him, of everyone on the ship she was the only person he would call friend. Since she'd been kidnapped by the 'blue aliens' Chloe's intelligence had grown from above average to genius – or crazy clever as Lieutenant Scott would put it, how Chloe would choose someone so dense was beyond Rush – like his own and that had helped her to understand him better than everyone else aboard. In his own way he cared for Chloe, and he couldn't deny just how beautiful she was, but he'd never admit to any of that.

"Seems that way. Have you seen her yet? She's in the mess hall with Camile."

"No not yet, I've been in my quarters looking at the notes on Doctor Park's laptop about the stasis pods. I hoped there would be something to help free Eli but there's nothing, I learnt a lot though." Chloe set the laptop down over by Volker before turning to face the chief scientist. "I saw her this morning when TJ was doing check ups – you still haven't been for yours by the way – she was so beautiful. Kids always are when they sleep. I'd have thought she'd have latched onto Young or Matt though or maybe TJ as her Mom-" Rush cut her off abruptly.

"Yes, thank you very much Miss Armstrong. We all know I'm the last person anyone would want as a Father." He shot to his feet. "I'll be in the blackboard corridor."

That wasn't what I meant Chloe's mind muttered as she, Volker and Brody watched Rush stomp away from the bridge.