They may not have been hurtling towards a blackhole and certain death any longer but that didn't mean Cress and Paul were off home yet. Cressida had shot the gate almost into extinction as soon as they'd gotten on board and hadn't even started repairs; repairs that could have taken weeks, she didn't know yet. Also, Destiny hadn't re-charged since escaping the black hole's gravitational pull, as a result Cress had retreated to her and Eli's room with Vulpine – who was still bitter over being locked in the air lock – under her nice warm covers to stay warm. Until Destiny had re-fulled they were on minimal life support.
Though awake her eyes were closed as Vulpine snored against her back, her mind had just started to drift on into sleep when a knock came at the door that could have only been Paul.
"Vulpine." Grumbled Cressida without opening her eyes and the animal reluctantly hopped down from the bed and pressed his nose against the door release before charging back to the warmth.
"Is it me-" began Paul as soon as he entered the room, door closing behind him. "-or is it getting colder in here?"
"It's you, Disaster." Responded the eldest Rush child as she stretched. "The shields prevent any real heat escaping the ship. Trust me it's not getting colder."
"Understood." The Colonel shivered. "Know where any blankets are?"
Cressida smiled to herself before brushing stray locks of chestnut hair behind her ear and finally opened her eyes, Disaster had his arms wrapped tightly around himself. Suddenly she pulled the covers back and resisted the urge to shiver.
"Get in, it's late and this is warmer."
Paul just looked at the young woman for a moment with a raised eyebrow before the chill got the better of him and he kicked off his shoes quickly and lay down in Cressida's bed. She wasted no time cuddling up to him, his skin was like ice so she tightened the covers around him; as a result she ended up sandwiched between her beloved pet and her brother's future boyfriend. It was a little strange to the both of them but being warm was the important thing,
"How long until the ship re-charges?" Asked Paul softly, his breath teased her forehead and it almost reminded her of when Eli and she were in bed with him holding her close; it made her feel safe. She missed Eli.
"About six hours until we enter the same sector as the sun, another two until we actually re-fuel." Cress shuffled a little closer into Paul's chest in search of the warmth. "As soon as we do I can turn the heat back on. Until then I have a lovely Colonel to cuddle up to." She chuckled and Paul found it infectious.
"When we get back let's not tell Doctor Rush about this, I could do without a punch for sleeping with his daughter."
"He's not that bad, and anyway, I still have to fix the gate, you won't run into my Daddy for a while yet."
"... Alright, you fix the gate and I'll..." The hand not wrapped around Cressida gestured loosely at nothing. "I don't know, make breakfast."
Cress snorted. "Sounds good to me, Disaster. I'm hungry now though."
"Sleep first. Sleep is good."
Paul's voice was heavy and had started to slur at the end of words, it wouldn't be long before he tumbled into slumber. Cress just lay there for a time with her eyes closed, Colonel Davis' arms wrapped around her was comforting and kept away the chill but there was no changing the fact he wasn't Eli. That was how she fell asleep, thinking of Eli's smiling face.
XXXX
It took him a while but Paul eventually managed to prepare breakfast, it actually hadn't tasted that bad either. Cressida had gathered with Paul and Vulpine in the mess hall wrapped in blankets to stay warm, they only had a few hours left until they entered the sun and re-fueled. Once they had power back Cressida could start on the gate. She'd spent her time waiting for Disaster's prized breakfast by gathering up all the tools she'd need, most of which Ezra had left lying around the engine room. Cress wanted to get them both back to Earth as quickly as possible, she didn't want Eli, Ez and her parents to worry any longer than they had to. To Disaster and the eldest Rush child they'd only been on Destiny about a week but having been in the black hole's gravity she had no idea how long it had been to their family and friends. For all Cress knew when they got back – because they would get back – her little brother might have been her big brother. Well at least that would make things easier for Ez and Disaster, she'd muttered to herself.
They'd been on the bridge when Destiny entered the sun, Paul had just watched with amazement, he'd never seen anything so extraordinary. Cress had just watched him with amusement before kicking on the heat; much to Vulpine's pleasure.
As soon as they had full power Cressida had hopped into action in the gate room. Unfortunately when Cress emptied a full clip into the gate she'd damaged it far more than she'd first thought, in her desperation to just shut it down it seemed she'd done it a little more permanently than she'd wanted. Fixing the gate was going to take longer than was ideal.
Paul – bless him – didn't really know what to do with himself so had ended up sat cross-legged beside Cress' tools while she worked to get the gate functioning again. He watched her with an eager curiosity, she had this strange way of working where her movements were perfection calm but her eyes showed the truth, those big brown orbs flashed back and forth as though a thousand pieces of information were fluttering past her face. Paul could only imagine how many things she thought about at once, Cress was on a whole other level.
"Do you need me to do something?" He asked while pushing a wrench around in a circle with one finger and looked up at her from the floor. "I feel bad just sitting here while you do everything."
"Nah, it's okay." She responded easily without looking away from the gate, wiring and crystals all exposed. "I might need you to do some heavy lifting for me in a while though." Cress paused then and turned to face him. "You can't really sit still can you? You've always got to be working. How old were you when you joined the Air Force?"
Paul kicked out his legs and leaned back on his hands while Vulpine took the opportunity to pad over and snuggle up to his side.
"I joined straight out of high school. My Dad was Air Force and I knew it was always what I was going to do. I guess you'd say it was my calling. And what about you? Did you want to be a scientist like Doctor Rush or is there some secret dream to be a ballet dancer I don't know about?"
Cress chuckled at that.
"Ballet is the thing with the strange little shoes right?" Paul nodded, to be honest he preferred her description of ballet. "I don't know how to do anything else, what I do know is quantum physics, Ancient, how to build a bomb out of deodorising powder."
"That was a good one, I'll have to remember that trick." When they'd first met Cressida had though Paul was just another military man who was all order but she'd learnt the truth, he was funny and kind. Truth be told she was happy she'd been trapped with him, then again anyone would have been better than Volker.
There was no denying that repairing the gate would take a while but Disaster had no doubt that Cress would figure it out. He had faith in her, they just needed to be patient.