An hour after TJ had let the little girl wander off with Rus, Greer came to relieve James, he walked quickly but calmly into the control interface room to find Doctor Rush had the kid in his lap and actually looked happy; which was a little disconcerting. What was all the more worrying were the shredded wires she held in her tiny pale hands.
"What's going on here?" He asked in a deep voice.
"She understands Destiny like him." James muttered.
"And you haven't told anyone?!" In an instant Greer was reaching for his radio.
"Sorry, but I've basically spent an hour watching father-daughter time. It's cute."
Sargent Greer chose not to respond to that and instead talked into his radio, Rush and the child paid him no attention.
"Colonel Young this is Greer, come in."
The usual crackle came and then Young's voice filled the room.
"This is Young. What is it Sargent?"
"Sir, Rush and the kid are in the control interface room and you're going to wanna see this. You may want to bring Wray as well." He added as an after thought.
Young mumbled something almost inaudible through the open channel but Greer knew it was something along the lines of for fucks sake Rush, what now before clearing his throat and responding properly.
"We'll be there in a minute. Young out."
As promised no more than a minute later Colonel Young and Camile Wray appeared in the control interface room, the woman wore an expression of curiosity while Young's was that of a man expecting chaos.
"What do I need to see?" He asked with a deep sigh.
Greer gestured to Rush and Young's aged eyes followed, he'd not been expecting to find the little girl sat on Rush's crossed legs with her hand deep inside the wiring of a control panel. Everything below her right elbow was inside Destiny's metal walls.
"Rush!" He yelled but only succeeded in making the child practically jump from her snow white skin.
"Yes?" Nicholas responded in a gruff and annoyed bark but didn't look away from his ostensible daughter.
"What is going on here, Rush. Why is she tampering with the ship?"
Nicholas shot him a look that said Tampering? Really? Young didn't look amused.
"She's not tampering, her hands are smaller so she can reach the burnt out junction better than me." In Rush's mind it was all very straight forward. "And it helps that she seems to know what she'd looking for." His attention turned back to the little girl with ebony curls. "Got it?"
She nodded and carefully pulled her forearm free bringing what looked to be some kind of burnt out circuit board with her. She handed it to her Daddy with a smile.
"Do you want me to check the power converter?"
"Please, Little One."
Young, Camile, Greer and James watched as she easily fed her hand back into the damaged panel.
"You can't let her do this Nicholas." Said Camile. "She could hurt herself."
"Hurt herself? Forget that, we don't know what she's doing in there." Young bellowed.
Rush shot the Colonel another one of those are you serious expressions.
"I can see everything she's doing and I can have someone else do this just as soon as you find someone else with child sized hands." James silenced a snort.
"You should have told us Rush." Started Camile taking a step forwards. "Not put her to work, she's a child not one of your scientists."
"She wanted to help her Daddy."
He grinned knowing the response would only annoy Young, and Nicholas was right as usual.
"You're not teaching her to fix a car!"
James just found herself stood by the door wondering if anyone was even still aware the girl was in the room.
"I'm not teaching her anything she doesn't already seem to know, just making use of her knowledge." He argued, Destiny needed all the help she could get.
"How does she already know?" Young demanded.
"Not a clue." He told the Colonel with a hint of sarcasm. "Seems she takes after her Father."
"Rush, don't encourage that." Camile snapped. "Come here, honey. You've been in here all afternoon, let's go get you dinner."
The seven year old pulled her arm back and muttered something about the power converter being fine before standing up and looking down at her father still sat on the floor.
"Will you come too Daddy?" She asked softly.
"Alright."
Rush couldn't deny his back was killing him and he was still curious about her knowledge, pulling himself to his feet he found the girl raising her arms in the air, a silent request to bepicked up. He liked the feeling of her arms slipping around his neck and holding him close, it had been so long since he'd really been needed and not to fix something or translate from Ancient but actually needed. He also liked there being someone he could have an actual intellectual conversation with; who'd have though that would have been a seven year old girl who thought I was her father? As he carried her down the hallways with the four others behind him – which became three when James broke off and headed for her quarters – Nick found himself enjoying her presence, at first he'd be entirely against it but he was starting to change his tune; he'd probably been eating better since she showed up as well.
The borrowed black t-shirt they'd stuck her in bunched up as he supported her weight and it took away from her natural beauty. It obviously fitted badly and drew the eye from her honey orbs and delicate ebony curls but not to Rush, he saw how beautiful she was, he knew she wasn't dangerous; not in the way Young believed anyway. The Colonel thought she was some kind of undercover assassin but Rush would call her a child prodigy.
The mess hall hadn't grown overly busy yet and Rush was grateful for the peace. Greer had a tighter grip on his weapon while Young seemed tenser than usual, that little vein on his temple was pulsing again. Camile muttered something about getting the girl food while Rush set his apparent daughter down at the table closest the door, Young said nothing but Rush knew he was watching intently as though waiting for her to suddenly grow scales and claws.
Rush was pulled from his inner thoughts when Camile set a bowl of what looked like watery oatmeal down before his daughter, she looked unimpressed but didn't complain. Once she'd started eating Young grabbed his and Camile's attention with a glance and they ended up stood in a small huddle a foot or so from the child.
"Tomorrow Camile will swap with the child doctor and I'll swap with General O'Neill, he wants to see her for himself. We'll report to Colonel Carter in the meantime."
"Do I have to see a doctor, Daddy?"
None of them had been aware she'd listened to everything Young had said. Rush turned, bent down to her level and offered a smile; which was not something he was accustom to doing.
"Yeah, Little One but it won't hurt."
No one knew if they should have been surprised or worried that the chief scientist had started to parent her, Young quickly chose worry while Greer and Camile balanced on the fence. Knowing he'd get no further with Rush Young gave up and stalked over to get himself a bowl and crashed down beside Corporal Barnes and Airman Dunning at the far table.
Camile watched the little girl eating her bland meal with a half smile, she was just so cute, until TJ and Chloe caught her eye entering the mess hall with Matt a step or so behind them.
"Thanks for the help, Chloe." Tamara smiled.
"Oh sure, it's probably best to pull myself away from Eli for a while. If I don't I'll go mad."
The seven year old snapped around at the sound of Chloe's voice, instantly she felt safe and happy. The girl didn't know how she knew these things but she knew Chloe.
"Mommy!"
She practically knocked Rush over as she charged towards the young woman in yoga pants and a pink tank top. Little arms tightened around Chloe's waist and a similar expression to the one Nicholas had worn a day ago descended onto her delicate features.
"Sweetheart, I think you're making a mistake." Chloe tried to sound calm but her shock and utter bewilderment showed through.
"Mommy." The girl mumbled happily into Chloe's stomach in a determined tone just like she had with Rush.
Young shot from his seat.
"Is there something you and Rush want to explain?" He seethed. This child had turned everything on it's head and Everett didn't like it.
"No." Nicholas and Chloe said in unison.
Camile could see Young getting worked up again and she made a mental note to speak to TJ about his mental stability, but until then she had to calm the situation.
"This is probably the same thing as with Rush." She told them.
The seven year old didn't pay attention to the dark-haired woman, she didn't like what Camile said, instead she looked up at Chloe with glee.
"Mommy, where have you been?"
The older woman sighed, she felt so sorry for the girl, how alone must she feel to choose me and Rush as her parents?
"Angel, I don't want to upset you but I'm not your Mommy."
Tears started to brew in her dazzling honey orbs, blurring her vision.
"You're Mommy." Her tone was heart-broken. "I... I don't... remember much, but... I know you're Mommy." Tears readily tumbled down her pale cheeks and Chloe fought the urge to pull her into her arms. "I though... I'd be safe with you and Daddy."
"What do you mean, Sweety?" Tamara asked crouching down beside the child who still clung to Chloe.
It was too late though, she started to cry full force and charged from the mess hall, to the surprise of everyone it was Rush who went after her followed eventually by Greer.
"Alright I want answers." Young ranted. "Your theory worked with Rush but Chloe too is way too much of a coincidence." He looked from Camile to Chloe. "I'm assuming you didn't secretly have a child with Rush."
"What? No. I only met Rush on the day we came here."
There was no way in hell she was going to admit to her attraction to the grumpy Scot, it was the accent.
"Right, let's deal with this tomorrow. We'll get nothing out of her now anyway, best to let her be with Rush for now."
"I want her back in quarters until the doctor comes and then she's going back in. This is all too strange."
"Do I need to remind you again about last night and how she cried for hours?"
Young knew the situation was turning into putting the crew at risk or being accused of child cruelty, there wasn't a single inch of middle ground and the Colonel knew he was slowly starting to look like the bad guy. He didn't want to hurt the girl if she really was a little girl but he feared for himself and everyone else; Chloe had been abducted and they'd taken Rush as well, Scott had nearly died coated in alien fungus and after what happened to Riley Young saw threats everywhere. Maybe he was over reacting but after all that had happened to them he couldn't take the risk. The Colonel sighed.
"We can't just leave her to wander about."
"Maybe you could leave her with Doctor Rush?" Chloe chimed in, the military man and Camile turned to face her. "She's watched like you want Colonel and Rush will actually get some sleep for once. Have Becker or someone stand guard."
"That may actually be a good idea." Camile put in with a thoughtful look on her face.
"Fine, as long as we know where she is that's fine." Everett didn't have the energy to talk to them about this any longer and raked a hand over his face. "I want her separated from everyone else though, at least until the doctor is done with her. Tomorrow I'm going to need options on what to do with her."
"She's not a stray cat." Said Chloe.
"I'll ask Rush to stay with her, hopefully that will help her feel safe for the night. She'll probably only trust him." Camile didn't say anything else just wandered off in the direction Rush and Greer had followed the girl.
Soon after Young departed leaving Chloe stood in the middle of the room thinking about what had just happened, the little girl was cute with glistening eyes and rosy red lips but the idea of being called Mommy actually scared her. Her mind snapped back to the world around her when Matt – who had all but faded into the background as soon as the child had raced over to Chloe – rested his hands on her shoulders.
"Don't worry Chloe, the kid is just confused. I mean seriously, you and Rush?"
What scared Chloe was that the idea of her and Rush wasn't as ridiculous as Matt liked to believe.