Eli had hoped to bring Cressida with him to meet his Mom but it didn't look like she, Ezra or Varro would be leaving the base any time soon, didn't matter though, he'd bring her when he could. It had been years since he'd walked up to that door in his own body, since he'd knocked on the door and embraced his mother, he'd started to think he never would again but there he was climbing the steps. Eli's whole body shook with anticipation but he forced it all back down as he glanced back at the unmarked black car across the street; this was his Mom not some alien species. The dark-haired man raised his fist to knock but before he got chance the door was tugged open revealing his aged mother already with tears streaming down her face.

"Eli, is that really you?"

She'd grown older since he'd last seen her, her hair no longer mousey brown but grey with just a hint of its original darkness. Her face had grown more frail but surprisingly still looked younger than when she'd stopped taking her meds so long ago; Eli still thanked anyone who'd listen that she started taking them again. That smile was the same though, bright and full of love for her son.

"Yeah Mom, it's me."

Marian flung her arms around Eli and held him close, she breathed in that scent she'd not smelt in years and let the tears come, Eli did his best not to join her.

"You're actually here!"

She couldn't quite believe it, when she'd gotten the call from the Air Force early that morning she'd nearly collapsed by the phone with shock. Eli was home, her beautiful baby boy was alive and home on Earth. Marian had never been so thankful in all her life.

Eventually Eli pulled away and just looked at his Mom for a moment with a grin. "Can I come in?"

"Of course you can." She stepped back so as he could cross the threshold. "Oh my little boy is home."

They settled in the living room – which had hardly changed since he'd left – with a cup of tea and a big plate of his Mom's home-made chocolate chip cookies; Gods how he'd missed those!

"You're so thin, when was the last time you ate?"

Asked his mother but Eli just chuckled, it was no secret that he'd been a little more than chubby when he'd first boarded Destiny and since then he'd thinned down a lot, even grown a little muscle from dragging heavy equipment around the ship. Eli had gone from chubby to what he'd conciser healthy.

"This morning. And it's okay, I just do a lot more running around on the ship. Cress seems to like the stubble though so I kept it." He informed while absent-mindedly raking a hand throw the short brown stubble that coated his chin.

"Cress?" To Eli it sounded like she'd heard that name before. "There was a girl, a friend of yours a while back, the Air Force said she'd made quite the fuss to have them check on me for you."

Eli grinned at that, he remembered the day he'd woken from stasis and found Cressida had gone to the trouble of making sure his Mom was alright for him.

"Yeah, that's Cress, Cressida. I was in stasis with everyone else and she kept an eye on you for me. Real sweet of her."

"Sounded like the Air Force didn't want to tell me too much about her so I didn't pry." She took a sip of tea. "I take it she works with you?"

"Em, yeah she does. Cress is the daughter of Doctor Nicholas Rush, he's the guy that recruited me." He paused for a moment and set his half drunk tea down. "Cress, em, Cress is also my girlfriend."

Eli's Mom paused at that, not because she hadn't expected it, or because she thought her son was uneatable – though he had gone through a slacker phase just before the Air Force came knocking on his door – but because of the way he'd lit up. The dark-haired man reached into his leather jacket – something Marian thought must have been a gift considering she'd never before seen him in such a thing – and pulled out a photograph; Marian saw him grin when he saw it.

"I asked Colonel Davis – he's basically in charge of her for the moment – if I could take a picture of us and he said it was okay." Eli handed the image to his mother. "That's Cress."

The photograph had clearly been taken by someone else and showed her son with his arms around a smiling young woman, his chest pressed to her back and his head rested on her shoulder. They looked happy. Eli grew concerned though when his mother didn't smile or say anything.

"Mom?"

"Oh sorry." She jolted from her thoughts. "She's very beautiful. It's just-" Marian paused for a moment and Eli raised an eyebrow. "She's very young."

The math genius chuckled awkwardly at that.

"Em, yeah. She's seventeen." His mother opened her mouth to protest but Eli got there first. "It's really complicated and half of it's – most of it actually – is classified, but her parents are cool with it and... I love her."

Marian just looked at her son for a moment or two, he'd lit up just talking about this Cressida girl. He did love this girl, she could see it in his eyes. Marian hadn't ever seen him like that before, it wasn't just Cressida's beauty he found attractive, it was her, all of her, and Eli's Mom couldn't help but wonder if she was looking at True Love. That and if there was one thing she'd learnt about the work Eli did and the Air Force it was that nothing was ever what it seemed. If this Cressida girl made her son happy then so was she. Marian pushed any and all concerns from her mind and instead held the photo out for him to take and smiled.

"When do I get to meet her?"

"You can keep that, it's why I took it." He gestured for her to keep the photograph and Marian set it aside on the coffee table, she'd find a frame later. "And I don't know, it was meant to be today but she's not allowed off the base. General O'Neill and Colonel Davis are fighting to get her and Ezra – that's her brother – government permission to move around freely, but I've got no idea how long that's going to take. As soon as she can I'll bring her to see you... after the comic store."

"Oh you're not forcing your comic books on the poor girl, are you?"

"Ah, she likes them, and said she'll watch Star Trek with me now that we're back. What can I say, Cress is perfect." Eli chuckled and Marian savored the sound, she'd come close to thinking she'd never hear it again.

Eli's Mom listened intently as her son told him of Cressida Rush, the girl who'd captured his heart, about her dog – a breed she'd not have heard of according to Eli – and how they'd named it together. He told her about how she'd made him his leather jacket and the way she'd let him go on about movies or games and actually listened. He told her of the way Cress always knew what to say to him to make everything better and how sometimes her snark reminded him a little too much of Rush.

Marian had no doubt, he'd given this girl his heart.

XXXX

Cress and Ezra walked along the grey pained base hallways so as Vulpine could get some exercise, an animal that size needed it regularly and they couldn't just let him run about the ship freely any longer. Vulpine padded along happily while Cress and her brother continued to enjoy the way everyone – most of them highly trained soldiers - insisted on giving the creature distance as they passed by.

Just as the siblings and tiger sized animal turned a corner Varro came into view followed by two armed Corporals, they'd not seen much of their blonde friend since making it to Earth despite him being the only other crew member to be forced to remain on base. Cressida and Ez grinned when they saw him while Vulpine nuzzled into the man's leg in greeting.

"Hey you two." Said Varro as he came to a stop; much to the two Corporals displeasure.

"You're still under heavy guard then." Stated Ezra.

The older man sighed and glanced to the two men behind him. "Yep, I'm ex-Lucian Alliance after all."

"That was years ago." Cress and everyone else on Destiny knew Varro wouldn't hurt any of them, he was their friend not their enemy.

"So was your programming." The older man reminded her. "Earth's paranoid and the Lucian Alliance is dangerous, they may be underground now but they'll be back, I know they will. I'm off to be debriefed and see how useful I am."

"You'll do great!" Smiled Ezra assuredly.

"Yeah, if not we'll set Vulpine on them."

"Vulpine to the rescue." Chucked the blonde with a subtle shake of his head as he petted the creature and then headed off and out of sight.

The Rush children knew that the American government would have to let them out eventually but Varro was another story. He'd proven himself to the crew but Earth was another story, to them he was part of the group that had tried to take over Destiny. Cress and Ezra tried not to think about it though and instead carried on down the hall with Vulpine in toe towards the cafeteria, as of late they'd developed a bit of a thing for the blue jello that seemed to be in constant supply, they'd never had anything like it before.

"Ezra, Cressida." A familiar voice called out from behind them and they turned to see Colonel Davis approach.

Suddenly Vulpine went charging towards the dark-haired man and pounced knocking him to floor, Vulpine licked at his cheek. Instantly two guards who'd been walking down the hall raised their weapons.

"Get your fucking guns away from him!" Yelled Cressida and everything ground to a halt.

Ez had never heard his sister swear before and it actually startled him for a moment as he followed her to Paul and her beloved Vulpine.

"It's okay." Began Paul with a smile from the floor. "Lower your weapons."

Somewhat reluctantly the two men obeyed the Colonel and Cress whistled, short and sharp, for Vulpine to return to her side. Ez helped Paul to his feet – in no way savouring the feel of the soft skin of his hands – and watched as the Colonel straightened his uniform.

"Thank you, Ezra."

"You're welcome."

"Sorry about that." Said Cress with a light smile. "He must really like you, he's only ever done that twice before. Once to me and once to Daddy."

"It's alright, really. No harm done." He patted Vulpine's head which the animal seemed rather pleased about. "I like you too, pup." The Elcress barked as everyone around them slowly started to go back to whatever they'd been doing.

"Did you need us for something, Paul?"

Cress wasn't stupid, she knew her brother had slipped the Colonel's first name in to see if he'd object to the familiarity; he hadn't. Looking at her brother she understood why her Daddy always seemed to know what they were thinking, Ezra's face certainly didn't hide his interest in the older man. Was I that obvious with Eli? Suddenly Paul's mind snapped back to him.

"Oh, right, yes. I require pictures for your documentation. Once I have that I can get it all rushed through."

"Sounds great but could it wait? Mom and Daddy are waiting for us, we haven't seen them in two days."

Paul paused for a moment and then nodded softly, more to himself than anyone else.

"Okay. It needs doing but I guess it can wait until later, I'm sure Doctor Rush and Miss Armstrong would like to see you as soon as possible."

"Thank you, Paul." Said Ezra before turning to leave with Cressida.

She just watched him smugly out the corner of her chocolate orbs for a few moments until Ezra flasher her a what expression.

"Could you be any more obvious? Just jump him already, I know you want to." A huge grin danced over her features as she started to sing teasingly. "You love him, you wanna kiss him-"

"Shut up." Ez elbowed her in the arm cutting his sister off. "Let's just go see Mom and Pops."

"I'm sorry, but you know, if you like him then you should say something."

"Yeah... maybe."

Ezra had absolutely no intention of doing that, Colonel Davis probably just thought he was a kid with alien DNA and nothing more, Paul had been dumped as their babysitter after all.