Cress had put her hair up in one of those messy buns of hers and tied Eli's hoodie – that she was rarely without – around her thin waist, while Paul had stripped off his fatigues jacket and untucked his black t-shirt. Cressida had been forced to shut down most of the ships systems in order to conserve energy, air condition had been the first to go. She'd found it mildly amusing though, if Ezra had been there to see the Colonel slowly stripping off layers he'd have been drooling, unfortunately that amusement and Paul's pep-talk didn't keep her going long and she soon crashed down against one of the walls on the bridge with a deep sigh.

"We've been at this for hours and I can't get enough power into the engines to break clear of the blackhole's gravity." Calmly Paul sat down beside her with his knees up. "I mean we're still stable but at this rate the thrusters will burn out or use up what power we actually have in the engines." She paused for a moment. "I don't know what else to do, Disaster."

Yep, that's really going to stick, isn't it? Muttered Paul's mind before he responded.

"When this happened at the SGC, General O'Neill used an explosive directed at the gate to sever the wormhole. Could we do something like that?"

"That would be prefect but with what? There aren't any explosives on Destiny and you already said you're fresh out of C4. Truth be told Ezra would stand a better chance at this, he does the engines I do computer systems." The ebony haired girl huffed out a laugh. "Actually, maybe he wouldn't with you around."

Paul raised a confused eyebrow. "What?"

"Seriously?" She deadpanned, mouth open in disbelief. "You haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?"

He had to be messing with her, there was no way in hell Colonel Davis could have been that blind.

"Em, that my brother is completely and hopelessly in love with you." The dark-haired man's eyes went wide. "Holy crap, you actually didn't know. God, the Tok'ra noticed and they've never met him."

As Cressida sat there staring at his – frankly adorable – shocked face, she expected him to say something along the lines of 'that's inappropriate' or maybe 'I'm sorry if I did anything to lead him on', but Paul said none of those things instead he fidgeted with his hands and looked down to the floor.

"I'm much too old for him, Cressida."

She looked at him for a moment, middle-aged, no wedding ring or evidence that there ever had been one, his eyes – though beautifully green – were sad and it made her heart break. This man had given his whole life to the Air Force and Stargate, become a Colonel but it had left him lonely. Everything in her told Cress to hug him and so she did without caring whether he wanted her to or not. It took Paul a few moments but he eventually hugged her back and left Cress wondering when was the last time someone had actually gone out of their way to comfort him.

"I want you to answer me honestly, Disaster." She said as she pulled away just enough to look him in the eyes. "If my brother was the same age as you, would you want to be with him?"

There was a long silence where the threat of the blackhole vanished for a time.

"Yeah." He finally answered, low and almost whispered. "He's sweet and funny, but like I said, I'm too old for him. Ezra is fifteen years old, I'm forty-eight."

Cress just smiled at him, she'd seen that look of want and uncertainty in Eli's eyes what felt like forever ago.

"The thing you have to remember about me and my brother is that we're not teenagers. Of course we are physically but, that's what we look like it's not who we are. Our minds are adults, our personalities are adults, yes we can be childish but what adult doesn't have a childish moment every now and again? That's basically how Jack lives his whole life." She paused. "I've been in love with Eli most of my life, since I learnt what love was, and I never thought there was an age gap because mentality there isn't, Eli though, he saw it, he panicked and left thinking he was taking advantage and that I could do better. I don't blame him for any of those things, if I'd been a normal teenager I'd have been grateful, but Ezra and I aren't normal teenagers. Our minds chose you and Eli not or physical appearance. My point is that if you like my brother you should tell him because I'm sick of him drooling over you and the both of you deserve to be happy. Okay so the people on Earth not up to speed on aliens and the Stargate would probably think you're a pervert but they'd never have to know, and everyone who would is aware of what Ezra is. My parents, our friends, everyone accepted me and Eli being together so why wouldn't they except you and Ezra?"

"My job-" He began but Cress had started her date-my-brother mission.

"You're attached to the Pentagon not the Stargate program, no conflict of interest. Who cares if your gay? You're an Air Force Colonel and this isn't the fifties. And as long as you don't make him cry Daddy won't have a problem, I think him and Mom are actually taking bets on it."

"You're brother is very lucky to have a sister like you, you know that?" Cress didn't respond just sat there smiling at him knowing he'd cave. "Okay, fine, I'll tell him and see if we can work something out that doesn't involve me getting arrested or court-martialled." Cressida's smile turned into a grin. Totally winning the best sister in the universe award. "You've got to save us first though, I don't know maybe we should pack up our toiletries, take that moonshine and flee in the shuttle."

Cressida suddenly sat bolt upright and stared off at into space as she thought, it was an expression that Davis had grown used to and he found it warming his heart and soothing his soul, she'd got an idea.

"That's it! That'll work... it should work, well, if the universe doesn't decide to screw us over."

Yes, she'd definitely thought of something, Paul had learnt fairly early on that when any of the Rushs started muttering to themselves and talking about the universe working against them it meant they'd got an idea. Usually one that was more likely than not to kill them.

"Disaster, you're a bloody genius!"

Cressida grabbed hold of his cheeks pressed her lips to his and then charged off out the room leaving a very confused Colonel Davis sat on the floor.