A few hours of peaceful sleep past before everyone was up again in want and need of repairing Destiny, Young however, had gone in search of Lieutenant Scott who he found pretty quickly, meanwhile Camile searched for Chloe. With a gruff follow me Young had dragged him to the observation deck, when they entered they found several civilians there.
"Clear out!" The Colonel demanded causing everyone to scurry off. There were a few moments of silence before Young turned to a gloomy looking Scott. "You want to explain what happened with Rush."
It most certainly wasn't a question, pure demand through and through. He folded his arms and leaned back on the railing giving the gargantuan window his back, his glare hard on his Lieutenant. Scott was silent for a time that just continued to stretch on and only when Young started to grow impatient did the military man speak.
"Chloe left me, Sir." He said with all the composure he could muster.
"And you blame Rush because of Cressida?" Questioned the older man.
"No, she actually left me for Rush." The Lieutenant growled.
Young nodded to himself for a brief time before looking Matt in the eye and sighing.
"Son, I know you don't like the situation but Chloe is a fully grown woman and she can make her own choices." Another sigh. "I really wish you'd not hit him though because now I have to make you apologise for your actions."
"I know, Sir. I'm sorry it's just she... she cheated on me with Rush."
"And that's worse than what you and James have been doing because?" Young wasn't stupid, in fact the man was rather intelligent – not what Rush would deem intelligent but still rather smart.
"I-"
He'd planed to say something like I didn't mean to or I was drunk but he knew none of that was true, he'd not tried very hard to resist James: at least Chloe had actually had the courage to tell him. But Rush?! Finally Young snapped him out of his thoughts.
"We all have to work together on this ship, all have to live together. I had no choice but to revoke fraternization rules but we still need to conduct ourselves, okay?"
"Yes, Sir."
"You have until the end of the day to apologise to Rush." With that Young was gone leaving Scott with only his thoughts.
Meanwhile Camile had looked everywhere for Chloe leaving only the blackboard corridor to search, as soon as she entered her quest ended though. Cress, Chloe and Nicolas stood there working away as usual. Cressida – who wore her simple gold-brown dress – sat cross-legged on the floor jotting down equations far too complex for Camile to understand while Chloe and Rush had their backs to her looking at another wall coated in a long line of Ancient, and just like the equation Camile had no idea what it meant. In the brief seconds before they noticed her Camile saw they were holding hands and it brought a smile to her soft lips; unfortunately it just made her miss Sharon all the more. Chloe would be good for Rush.
"Hello, Aunt Camile."Grinned Cress and Camile returned it.
Since TJ and Camile had taken care of her at the start Cress had taken to calling them Aunt while Greer and Varro had been christened as her Uncles. Greer wouldn't ever admit it – especially in front of Scott – but he rather liked it; like Camile he also thought Rush and Chloe would be good together.
"Hey Sweetheart." She looked up to Chloe. "Chloe it's your turn to use the stones. Your mother has been kicking up quite the fuss since we woke up. She wants to see you. Oh, General O'Neill wants to see you as well, Nick." Rush didn't seem pleased.
"I'd completely forgotten about Mom what with Cress and the ship... and Eli."
"I have work to do, we have no shields or weapon capabilities so until that's dealt with General O'Neill can wait."
"Why don't I take Cressida?" Suggested Chloe.
Cress jumped up and raced over to her parents and Camile, a massive smile on her face.
"Can I go, Mommy? Can I? Can I?"
"Not a good idea." Camile said softly. "Cressida is only eight, a consciousness swap, wouldn't that be dangerous?"
"Please let me go?" Cress pleaded.
"Let's see what Stargate Command thinks and see if your Daddy thinks it's dangerous." Chloe reasoned, maybe she'd been a bit premature suggesting it.
XXXX
In in the end and unfortunately for Cressida they eventually decided Camile had been right and wouldn't let Cress use the stones. They just had no idea what they would do to Cressida and refused to put the child in danger, for an eight year old to suddenly be inside the body of fully grown woman could have done anything to her. At first Cress had complained and objected but eventually realised they were right, instead she decided it would be best for her to remain with her Daddy and aid fixing the ship; hours were running out.
Instead Chloe had gone back to Earth with Greer. They'd rushed her off to her Mother's house rather quickly and Chloe assumed it was partly due to ther fuss her Mother had been causing. Little had changed in the three years she'd been gone and Chloe found herself smiling with nostalgia. She knocked softly on the door only for it to be ripped open a few seconds later, her dark-haired Mother was already crying and she dragged her daughter into a tight hug.
"Oh Chloe! I'm so happy to see you, I was so worried... I thought... I thought-" Sobs cut her off.
"I'm here, Mom. I'm alright. A lot has changed in three years though."
When Patricia got a hold of herself – which didn't actually take that long – she told Chloe to sit down on the white couch and tell me everything. Chloe had missed her Mother, especially her voice and until that moment Chloe hadn't realised just how much.
"Do you want some tea?"
"That would be great, Mom." Patricia flew around the house pouring milk into tea and setting it before Chloe quickly; normally Patricia wasn't so emotional but three years seemed to have broken down some of her stoic nature.
"Mom, you don't have to rush around for me." Chloe smiled.
"Oh Chloe, I'm just happy you're here." Finally she sat down beside her daughter. "I love you."
"I love you too, Mom." Said Chloe with a smile.
"How long until you come home? Are you eating enough? Drinking enough? How is Matt? Is-" Chloe cut her Mother's questioning off.
"Mom, slow down." Chloe grinned. "I don't know how long until we come back, we have to wake Eli up first and then there's the shields, but that's another story. I'm eating and drinking as best I can on Destiny and Matt-" She abruptly cut herself off and looked down to the floor which has suddenly become very interesting.
Patricia's face softened and she grabbed Chloe's hands in a sign of comfort, her nails were chipped a sure sign of a Mother's worry over the last three years.
"Chloe, what happened? Did something bad happen?" There was so much care in her eyes, she truly loved her daughter.
"Not exactly bad just not what you'd expected. Matt and I aren't together anymore."
"What? I thought you two loved each other, you seemed so happy."
"We were but things change, I still care about him but I just don't love him like I did. Em, Mom, I have something else to tell you but I don't want you to freak out. There are some things I can't tell you because it's classified but-" Chloe paused for a moment and looked back to the ground as though thinking of the right way to phrase it. In the end she decided blunt was the best way to go. "I have a daughter.."
Patricia expression turned to something crossed between shock and puzzlement, to be honest Chloe couldn't blame her.
"What?"
"A daughter. Her name is Cressida, Cress for short, and she's beautiful. So beautiful. She's got pale skin, my hair and her Father's eyes. Cress is just as smart as him as well, maybe more. She helps to fix the ship." Chloe grinned as she told her Mother about her Granddaughter.
"What?" The elder woman repeated "How could she help if she's a baby, and you left Matt after having his child?" It was safe to say that Patricia was confused.
"No, Cressida is Doctor Rush's daughter." She explained.
"That man your Father hated?"
"Dad didn't hate him but yes that's him. Cressida is eight, don't ask me how because I can't tell you, but she is, I didn't give birth to her but like I said it's all classified. Cressida is so smart and she lights up when she helps Rush with the ship. You'd love her and I can't wait for you to met her."
Patricia paused.
"So I have an eight year old Grandchild by a grumpy Scottish scientist?" Chloe nodded.
"Yes, and Nicholas isn't as bad as people make out. He's kind and funny and braver than he thinks he is. He makes me happy." Chloe's smile grew as she spoke of him which just made her Mother smile as well.
"Are you with him now then?" There was no judgement in her tone and Chloe was grateful for that.
"I am yes, at first we weren't but I got to know him and... and I love him."
"If he makes you happy then that's all that matters. I'm your Mother, you being happy is what is important." Chloe couldn't help but think her Mother had softened in the years she'd been away.
With that awkwardness out of the way the rest of the afternoon was filled with chit-chat, catching up, gossip and everything else Mother and daughter could talk about. It was peaceful and pleasant.
XXXX
Rush bolted down the long hallways with Cress following behind, they went from the bridge to the hyper-sleep chambers in only a few minutes almost as though they were being chased, seconds later Volker and Brody joined them from the Control Interface Room, Colonel Young only a step behin them.
"Why are you yelling I've got it and racing though the ship like there's a research grant at the finish line?!" Asked Young with a dominant tone. Brody and the blonde scientist smirked.
"We've been going over repairing the shields-" They had approximately nine hours left for that according to Cressida's calculations. "-and we figured out that we've been over thinking Eli's predicament as well. We've been attempting to fix the pod."
"Obviously." Said Brody. "That's how things start working again."
"Yes, thank you. What would we do without your helpful input?" Rush rebuffed quickly.
"Rush, get back to the point." Young cut in, he crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall just right of the door.
"Daddy, I don't understand, what did you mean by band-aid that's it, Cress already solved it?" Volker flashed him a glance that said he didn't understand either.
"We've been tip-toeing around more dangerous ideas because it could kill Eli so we thought that left us with going through everything and fixing it all. What we should be doing is the exact same as with auxiliary."
It couldn't be denied that since Cressida had showed up theories and efforts to free Eli had somewhat slowed, to be honest the scientists had also just about exhausted all their ideas. That was no excuse though, he was their friend and they had to get him back.
"I don't follow." Said Young with that usual puzzled expression of his.
"Actually that could work." Began Volker. "Why the hell didn't we think about this sooner?"
"Because we can't risk damaging the other chambers or Eli's further by cannibalising, I'm an engineer remember so I know this isn't a good idea." Complained Brody.
"Surly it would make more sense to have Eli back and then fix the chambers over months. From what I've heard Eli is a genius and your friend so we shouldn't ignore our best chance of waking he up right?" Said Cressida with those big brown eyes of hers.
"Cannibalising? I still don't understand."
Rush opened his mouth to once again to explain in a heavily dumbed down way but Young just raised a hand cutting him off, instead he just crouched down and looked Cressida in the eye.
"Cress, why don't you explain."
Young wasn't stupid, he knew exactly what they were telling him but after all the mistrusting glances and she's dangerous and can't be trusted comments Young wanted to show some faith in her, it helped that they all thought he shared his intellect with a Jack Russell; on some subjects that might have been true.
"Em, okay. Daddy believes that Mister Brody and Doctor Volker have been over thinking the issue just like we all were with auxiliary power. He's saying that we need to take key parts from the other chambers and put them into Eli's chamber to repair it. Eli couldn't have done it because all the other chambers were in use but they're not anymore. The only issue would be that in order for us to work on Eli's chamber we've have to tell the system that it's maintenance rather than tampering. I think we need the chair for that rather than the bridge." Cress looked so happy having been of help to the Colonel.
"Always with the chair." Young muttered himself quietly before standing and looking back at Rush. "Can this really work?"
"Yes, Colonel it will. It's been staring us in the face but we've been too focused on Cress then the infected planet and now Destiny's power damage to realise it. If we work fast enough, have Brody assist Cress by striping parts while Cress wire them into Eli's chamber and I'm in the chair with Volker monitoring me, we can do it."
"Why does it always end up with you in that bloody chair?"
"Why do I have to assist her!?" Exclaimed Brody gesturing loosely to the eight year old.
"Because I said so and you really don't want to annoy me or my mini-me."
Brody raised an eyebrow that seemed to say yeah you make a good point while Volker just tried to avoid giggling at the term mini-me; giggling wouldn't suit him.
"If that's the case then do it." Ordered Colonel Young.
"With pleasure, just as soon as we have shields back on line."
Finally they had a plan, a practically fool proof plan that would soon return Eli to them. Nicholas couldn't wait to tell Chloe, she'd be so pleased. All she'd wanted since waking up was her best friend back safe and sound, Cressida would take some explaining though. Knowing Volker and Brody they'd let him believe he'd been asleep for years as some kind of joke. They'd get him back and now that had a plan on how to do it.