Ezra found his mother in the Control Interface Room, fingers hard at work at the terminal. She didn't even notice him until he cleared his throat.
"Hey, Mom."
Chloe beamed the moment she laid eyes on him and pulled her son into her arms.
"Hello, Sweetheart." Chloe squeezed him. "You're getting so tall, you'll be bigger than your father soon."
"Guess I get height from your side of the family." Ez chuckled. "He kicked me and Cress off the bridge, said we deserved to relax."
"And he's right, you and your sister safeguarded us for years. Now we're awake you two don't have to do everything on your own." Chloe pressed a kiss to his forehead before stepping back and looking down to the screen, Ez stayed close to his mother's side. "I was just looking at the new solar system before I went to bed. You wouldn't think I'd be so tired after being in stasis."
"It's because your metabolism has kicked back into action. Please remind Pops to eat something, you know what he's like."
"I will, Sweetheart, I'll take him something in a little while. You should go and get some sleep, Angel."
"I think you're right. Night Mom."
"I love you, Ezra."
"I love you too."
XXXX
Almost half a week went by and the Destiny crew settled back into life aboard the ancient vessel easily. TJ had gone from strength to strength and kept a close eye on Ingrid Watson and her unborn child, the baby was healthy and growing happily. Rush – as usual – spent most of his time on the bridge working hard to find a way of dialling Earth, progress was slow but they were much further ahead thanks to Ezra's and Cressida's four years of hard work.
After a long day when most had gone to bed Cressida went to the Observation Deck as had become her custom, she liked to just look out at the stars as they sailed past, the peace. She ground to a halt though upon seeing Eli with his arms rested on the long silver railing, he had his back to her and looked strange without his hoodie.
"Hey." She greeted with a smile that was quickly returned. "Thought you'd be doing something clever with the Kinos or sleeping by now."
"Nah, just trying to finish processing that four years have gone by. You've grown up, my Mom-"
"She's okay!" She said a little faster and louder than intended. "I asked Command to keep an eye on her for you. I asked the same for Grandmother for Mom."
"She's alive?" Asked Eli with concern. "She's happy?"
"Yes, Eli, she is. She misses you and I don't blame her, I missed you too." Cress smiled up at him.
"Thank you for checking on her... and if stasis hadn't seemed like all of two seconds then I'd have missed you as well."
"Aww," she grinned in jest. "you really know how to sweet talk a girl. I feel all special. Look, my sixteen year old heart is all aflutter."
Eli smirked, sometimes Cressida's sarcasm surpassed her father's.
"Alright, alright, quit your snark."
She took off the hoodie revealing her porcelain arms and that damn chest of hers, she held it out for him to take.
"You'll want this back."
"It's okay, keep it. It looks better on you anyway."
Brown eyes watched him with surprise, big and bright. "Are you sure?"
He nodded. "Of course. Keep it, I'll survive."
"Thank you, Eli. You really are sweet." The next thing Eli knew Cress had pulled him into a hug. "And I really did miss you. I nearly went mad with only Ez for company, he can be a terror. About a year ago we went through a huge asteroid field, I think the galaxy was much larger but something happened, whole solar systems destroyed leaving nothing but floating rubble. Anyway, he decided to Ninja his way through... in the middle of the night... while I was sleeping... at full speed."
He could feel Cressida's chest against his own and Eli desperately tried to rip his attention away from it, thankfully only a second later she pulled back from their hug but her smile didn't fade; if anything it grew.
"Oooh, I have something for you. Come on!"
Cress grabbed his hand and tugged him down the halls, Eli just let her.
XXXX
As expected Chloe found the man she loved alone on the bridge sat in the command chair and scribbling in his notebook as she had every night that week.
"You let everyone have the night off?"
"I must be going soft." Came his easy reply when Chloe came into view, a plate of food in her hand that was quickly set down in his lap. "Don't tell anyone."
"Eat something."
"Nah, I'm not hungry, Sweetheart." He set the plate aside.
"Nicky-"
"Hush."
The Chief Scientist pulled her down to straddle him, his lips locked to her own quickly as a hand cupped her cheek. It was a kiss both gentle and passionate. Closer Rush tugged her by the back of Chloe's thighs and she couldn't resist rocking her hips which earned her a growl.
"I love you, Nicky." She whispered against his lips.
"I love you too, Sweetheart."
An eager hand slipped inside her grey yoga pants in search of her wet core, Chloe gasped in need and quickly set to work opening his belt.
XXXX
Cressida continued to tug him down the halls and around corners, Lieutenant James saw them at one point and flashed Eli a look he couldn't quite describe; it wasn't overly important at the time though so he ignored it. Eventually they came to Cress' quarters and the doors slid open easily. Her room had changed somewhat since he'd last seen it – which in all honesty wasn't overly surprising – there were little thing's she'd collected or built over the years as well as something that looked suspiciously like Pyrite. In the far corner sat a couch like object that Eli had seen in only a few of the rooms on which Vulpine had curled up in a huge fluffy ball; he assumed it was the equivalent of a doggy bed.
Finally she released his larger hand and bent over to retrieve something from beside her bed, Eli certainly did not gaze at her beautiful backside in those tight black-purple leather pants of hers. When she rose and turned her arms were full of the same leather, she handed it over quickly with a big smile.
"Here, if you're letting me keep your hoodie you'll need a replacement."
Eli unfurled the pile of leather to reveal a dark jacket with thick cuffs and collar, it looked like dragon skin.
"Cress, this is awesome!"
"You think? After Vulpine was done hunting we had a lot of skin to make leather so I thought you'd like something new. We grew out of our old clothing so we needed to learn to make more. I taught myself to sew, Ez is useless." She grinned. "I hope it fits."
Quickly he slipped it on, cold leather brushing his arms softly, it looked hard but was actually soft and smooth.
"It fits perfectly."
Cress stepped back to take in the man before her, it fitted him surprisingly well considering she'd not had any measurements to work from, a little loose in the arms maybe but that was hardly a hindrance and it paired well with his scruffy brown hair.
"You look cute."
"Thanks, this might be the best gift I've ever gotten."
"Yeah, right." Cress scoffed.
"No, really. No one's ever made me anything before, unless you count my Mom's cookies. This must have taken ages."
Eli enveloped her in a hug, the leather creaked. When he pulled back their eyes locked... and something changed. Time seemed to slow almost to a crawl, have Cressida's eyes always been so deep? So beautiful? Her tongue darted out to wet her lip and Eli focused on the action, so small and simple but it had all of his attention. Then suddenly his lips were pressed to hers, soft and gentle as his hand cupped her cheek. Cress pressed her body ever closer to his as her hands snaked up to grip the lapels of his new leather jacket, unconsciously she shuffled backwards until her legs hit the bed and they tumbled down onto the sheets, lips still locked. Quickly she started to shove the jacket from Eli's shoulders and that was when his mind snapped back to him; violently and all at once.
"No, no, no." He shot back as though he'd been burnt. "We can't, you're sixteen, eleven, you know what I mean. Oh God, and Rush is your father. We can't" Eli spoke quickly and all in one breath.
"Why not?" He hated how hurt Cressida sounded.
"We just can't."
Eli almost fell from the bed and scurried out the room. I shouldn't have done that! I kissed her. I... oh God what have I done? Cressida was left alone on her bed. Tears fell from her eyes.