General O'Neill, Colonel Paul Davis and Doctor Daniel Jackson stood at the bottom of the gate ramp at SGC in a neat little line as the the gate locked in incoming chevrons. Davis straightened his Air Force blue blazer and stood tall, the perfect image of a Colonel while Jack stood there with his hands in his pockets.
"Here we go boys, hold on to your asses." Said Jack as he rocked back and forth on his feet.
"I think we're good, Jack." Replied Daniel as blue burst forth behind the metal iris the gate then settled into a shimmering pool.
The voice of someone up in the control room chimed over the radio.
"Wormhole established and stable."
The line was left open for all to hear when Destiny sent confirmation through but all they heard was crackling.
"Why is this taking so long?" Grumbled General O'Neill.
"Distance, Sir." Davis answered without taking his eyes from the gate.
"Huh?"
"What Paul is saying, Jack, is that the planet the Tok'ra found for the Destiny crew to use as a proxy may not be as far away as Destiny itself but it's pretty out there. The distance between the two gates means there's a time delay between sending and receiving messages. Give it a minute."
O'Neill nodded slowly with that look on his face that said he got the idea but didn't quite understand the details, he opened his mouth to speak but Colonel Young interrupted.
"Homeworld Command this is Destiny."
Instantly a cheer went up around the gate and control room. Jack grinned while Davis and Jackson shook hands and beamed. General O'Neill pulled his radio off his belt and raised it to his lips.
"Everett, we're all here. You're coming through loud and clear. We're ready when you are." Jack looked up to the control room. "Open the iris."
The iris mechanics echoed around the room and shimmering blue bounced off grey walls. Everyone watched with eager anticipation, tensions rose until finally, finally, after so many years, Lieutenant Scott and Sergeant Greer stepped through to Earth. The two men looked around in awe for a moment and then Scott reached for his radio.
"Sir, we're on Earth. It's all good here, come on through."
That was it, seconds later a flood of civilians, science staff and military personnel made their way through the gate and back to the world they'd started to think they'd never set foot on again. They were home. Some people cried as doctors lead them off for their check ups, they were truly home. Young, Rush, Chloe, Eli and the Rush children were dead last to come through the gate and just about everyone from Destiny's crew had been lead off to different parts of the base. The solider stationed in the room grew cautious when Vulpine followed them through but Cress kept him close to her side and they seemed to accept the animal wasn't a threat.
Cress cautiously looked around, she'd only ever know Destiny and hadn't even used the stones like her brother had, the air smelt different and the gravity even felt heavier. Despite all that though she couldn't deny her amazement at the new world. Cressida held onto Eli's hand tightly, she could practically feel him vibrating with happiness. All her worries melted away though when she noticed her little brother perk up out the corner of her eye, his eyes grew a little wider and he stood up perfectly straight which could have only meant one thing, he'd found a cute guy. She'd know her brother long enough to know that look and his type; male, dark-haired, bold eyes and strong without being overly muscular. How he'd gotten so picky while living on a spaceship where everyone thought of him and their cute nephew she didn't know but that was Ezra Alan Rush for you. Several of the gate room's occupants fitted Ezra's type – a surprising amount actually – but her guess was that the man stood between Jack and Daniel was the only that had his attention, he wore and Air Force uniform and had short black hair, even Cress had to admit he was rather cute, nice smile and not too tall either, maybe Eli's height. There was no doubt in Cressida's mind that he was the man Ez was all but drooling over and she didn't blame him, had she not fallen in love with Eli almost the second she'd met him Cress could see herself developing a healthy crush on the military man; oh my God me and my brother share a type!
"Cressida, Ezra," began O'Neill as he stepped forwards and the gate shut off. "on behalf on Earth I'd like to officially welcome you to the planet. I think we all also thank you for saving the rest of our people."
"We didn't do much." Said Ez modestly.
"Yeah." Agreed his sister. "Daddy did most of it... and Eli."
Doctor Jackson stepped forwards up the ramp just a little and pushed his glasses up his nose.
"The way I hear it you had the idea. Sorry, you don't recognise me. I'm-" Cress cut him off.
"You're Daniel Jackson. We can tell from the way you speak and stand, same way we recognise Uncle Jack."
Daniel chuckled. "You know one day we're going to have to stop underestimating you two."
It was then that the cute guy Ezra had found drew some attention to himself, surprisingly he held out his hand for both Ez and Cress to shake which they found odd; no one had ever offered to shake their hands before.
"I'm Colonel Paul Davis with the Pentagon. I've been tasked with heading up the security detail assigned to you both as well and the crew's re-introduction to homeworld life. You know, cover stories and all that." He flashed the siblings a smile.
"Davis has already had a room set up for you, I'm sorry but technically you're aliens in the eyes of our government and they see you as risks to national security. We can't let you off the base." Informed General O'Neill sadly.
"So my kids are prisoners." Growled Rush from behind them, the tone had Vulpine's ears shooting up.
Paul sighed. "Unfortunately at the moment Cressida and Ezra don't exist, their DNA also isn't entirely human. I met with my superiors yesterday morning and they have agreed to allow you identification and documentation, I'll see to that personally."
"Now though you all need to head to the infirmary and then get some rest. We start debriefing tomorrow and 0900 sharp."
Finished Jack and the remaining Destiny crew filed off down the long halls to the infidelity, even Rush went without further complaint much to everyone's pleasure. They were home, they had all made it and were actually on Earth!
XXXX
Two hours later saw the Rush children out of the longest medical exam either of them could have ever come up with and Paul Davis lead them down the grey painted hallways and into a reasonably sized room that they'd be living in for the foreseeable future. The siblings found it a little odd that an Air Force Colonel was leading them about like a Private – Ezra didn't mind all that much – but if the Pentagon had assigned him to them then they'd clearly made an impression. During their medical check up he'd wandered off and reappeared a few moments later with a brown folder stamped with the Air Force seal and they'd been mentally guessing what it was ever since. Cress and Ez also found it a little amusing to see the staff giving Vulpine a wide birth, wasn't everyday they saw a creature larger than a fully grown tiger with a big fluffy fox tail and long rabbit-ish ears.
"I thought you two might prefer to share a room." Said Davis. "From what I've read – and it was really nice to read up on something other than the Stargate Program by the way – that you're quite close. I thought it might be easier for you to be together."
"Easier for us or easier to keep an eye on us?" Asked Ez with a grin of jest.
Oh Ezzy you really do have it bad, muttered his sister's mind.
Paul sighed. "Truthfully, both. Look I'll level with you. If it was up to me and General O'Neill the two of you would be free to go and do as you pleased, I've read the reports, you're heroes, saved so many lives. But it's not up to us, our government is a little more cautious and a lot more paranoid."
Cress cut him off before he could say any more.
"It's okay, Colonel, we understand. If roles were reversed we would be cautious of you too."
"I'd not expected you to be so understanding."
"Yeah, we get that from our Mom. Pops would just yell at you until he got what he wanted."
"That's true." Added Cressida and Paul smiled, he'd only read about Cress and Ezra Rush until now but after meeting them they'd quickly grown on him. He'd not expected them to be as mature as they were.
Davis looked down at the file he'd been holding and then set it down on the desk by the door and flicked on the desk lamp, he unbuttoned his blue blazer and sat down. The two teenagers gathered around him in curiosity as he pulled out a pen form an inner pocket while Vulpine went to sit on one of the two beds for a nap.
"Before I leave you in peace I need to ask you some questions. I just need your basic details so I can set to work getting you both birth certificates and such. The Pentagon didn't see the point at first but I argued that as children of two Earth residents you had a right to them."
"Thank you." Smiled Ez. Yep, baby brother got it bad.
"Right," began Paul. "Miss Rush could I take your full name?"
"No one has ever called me 'Miss Rush' before, you can just call me Cress." The Colonel nodded and flashed her a smile. "And it's Cressida Isobel Rush. L."
There were so may different ways of spelling her middle name that she thought it best to spell it for him. The two found it cute when they heard him muttering to himself as he wrote.
"... E L. Father is Nicholas Rush, Mother is Chloe Armstrong. And your full name, Mister Rush?"
That grin of Ezra's grew and Cress nearly rolled her eyes at her smitten brother.
"Ezra Alan Rush. After my Grandfather apparently."
"Yes, I never had the good fortune to meet Senator Armstrong. His death was a tragedy."
"Mom says he saved everyone." Mumbled Cressida and Paul nodded while he wrote.
"I read the report, he did." There was a pause and the two watched as Davis raised an eyebrow. "This is a bit of a hard question considering. I need to know your ages, we already have the days of your discovery that I intend to use as birth dates but we need a year and age."
"We had trouble with that at first too. Cress is somewhere between sixteen and seventeen and I'm either fourteen or fifteen. We're not quite sure."
Paul thought for a moment, green eyes looking the Rush children up and down for a few seconds.
"Considering your maturity I think we should say seventeen and fifteen, if that's alright with the both of you?"
"Yeah one less year for Pops to try and kill Eli for touching his daughter." Chuckled Ezra.
"Ezzy!"
"I take it you and Mister Wallace are a couple?" Colonel Davis didn't seem overly surprised and there wasn't a hint of judgement in his eyes with had Cress smiling softly almost instantly. "From what I know of Doctor Rush it's rather amazing that Mister Wallace is still walking."
The siblings laughed at that, Davis had come across as prim and proper at first but after only a few moments alone taking to him they'd quickly realised that wasn't the case. The man actually had a great sense of humour and way of befriending people really rather quickly; probably why he was so highly prized at the Pentagon. It was just the stressful job that kept him using formal titles and immaculately dressed.
"Strangely he was the one who pushed for it. Odd, I know."
"Do you need anything else from me-us?" Ezra corrected himself quickly and tried not to look too eager for the older man to stay.
"No. You're medical check up already added everything else we needed to know and I've already made note of your hair and eye colors. I've never seen Heterochromia so pronounced before, it's truly unique." If Cress wasn't mistaken her brother blushed, she was going to enjoy teasing him about his hots for flyboy. "As for nationality you'll be put down as America for obvious reasons. Birth certificates will say Colorado since this is where the Stargate Program is based. I'm sorry if you'd have rather had your father's nationality but it is easier for us to insert two new American citizens than it is two new Scottish ones, I know you have Doctor Rush's accent, Ezra."
"It's fine, not like I was rooting to be Scottish or anything."
"Ezzy, don't tell Daddy you said that." Cress turned her attention back to Colonel Davis, her big brown eyes looking up at his pale green ones. "Colonel, how long until we're allowed to leave unsupervised?"
Paul sighed. "I'm sorry but I don't know. Getting you down as legal citizens is one thing but until our government is convinced you pose no danger you are classified above top secret and have to remain here. I'll work as fast as I can to get you your paperwork and then I'll start pushing at the Pentagon to have you released, General O'Neill has already started."
"Thank you." Said Ezra softly. "We expected something like this. Just because our parents are human doesn't mean we are and we've been dangerous before. Then there's the fact our Pops is the most stubborn man in the universe and we take after him."
Paul huffed out a small laugh. "You haven't met the President."
"We're not trying to rush you, Colonel Davis, we just want to be with our parents... and Eli."
"I understand." Paul slipped his pen back into his pocket and rose to his feet with the file in hand. "Like I said, I'll do my best to get this done as fast as possible for you. I'm sure you've already guessed but your dog-"
"Elcress." Corrected Cressida. "His name is Vulpine."
"Vulpine, is also classified. Even when we get you two out into the real world he can't leave the base without expressed written permission. He's an alien animal and even though I think he'd only be dangerous if you tell him to be-"
"We get it. I promise Vulpine won't hurt anyone, I'll keep him with me at all times."
Paul nodded his thanks. "I'll leave you to get some rest and something for you two to eat will be brought later. What does Vulpine eat?"
"His dietary needs are pretty similar to humans actually but he prefers red meat."
"Alright, steak for the pup it is."
With that the Colonel from the Pentagon was gone and the two siblings fell down onto their beds, only a second later Vulpine rested his head on Cressida's leg and went back to sleep. They just lay on their beds in a peaceful quietude for a brief time until Cress huffed and finally broke the silence.
"I don't envy that man." She told Ezra while looking up at the blank ceiling. "Poor dude is a Colonel working as a Pentagon liaison and he's been dumped with the role of our glorified babysitter."
"I'm not complaining, Sis." Ez wiggled his eyebrows at her.
"You wouldn't, perv."
"Hey, it's not my fault he's nice to look at. Especially in that uniform."
Cress placed a hand over her hear and gasped in mock shock. "My brother is objectifying men, I've never been so ashamed to be related to you. Where did our parents go wrong?"
"Yeah, yeah, says the fire starter."
"Hey! I was not responsible for that, that was the Nakai." She sat up to tickle Vulpine's ears.
"I meant the fires you started since then. Two weeks ago you nearly burnt Volker's eyebrows off."
"I told him to stand back... and it made Daddy laugh."
Ez snorted. "It's gratuitous violence against Volker, of course Pops laughed."
The conversation fell silent after that and the two just lay there with Vulpine snoring softly. The beds were comfortable enough and it was nice for them to not have to rush around the ship for a while but something was off.
"It's too quiet." Muttered Cress. "I didn't realise just how much I'd grown used to the engines and I don't think we've ever gone so long without working."
"We still are." Ez rolled onto his side to face her. "Can't you feel your subconscious going over equations?"
"Of course I can but you know what I meant." Suddenly Vulpine rose to his feet, stretched and then all but passed out again on top of Cress; he was getting a bit too big to do that. "At least they didn't take Vulpine away." She tickled the creature behind his long ears and slipped into that baby voice she only ever used for him. "No, they didn't take my baby prince did they?"
Ez snorted. "I don't think any of them are brave enough to try let alone succeed. If someone so much as stands between the two of you he growls."
"He's just protective, aren't you baby boy?"
Vulpine barked and Cress snuggled him closer. No one could say their lives were boring.