Thank you to those who have poked me about this story recently - glad to be writing it again!

Hope you enjoy :)

Sleepless – Part 5

The lights in Destiny's control room were dim and the glow from the consoles Eli's face an eerie greenish yellow hue. Rush watched him working and decided the colour suited the feverish intensity his work. Unlike Eli, Rush could not concentrate this morning, his mind inevitably drifted to the memory of slender fingers on his arm and warm breath as it tickled across his chest.

A soft chime from under his elbow dragged him from his reverie. His hands moved over the controls as he checked the display, deft and confident after long hours of devotion to his task. He tapped a control to start the next diagnostic test in the current sequence but the system rejected the input with an officious ping. Confused by the computer's refusal to do as it was told, he tapped the control again. Another ping. Brow furrowed he glared at the display until, with a lurch in his gut, he realised he was at fault. Distracted as he was, he had run the wrong process and now the system would not let him proceed. He would have to start over, an error which had cost him his morning's work.

Furious at the lost time, and more so by the his own distraction, Rush slammed his fist down on the console. The sound echoed around the control room and filled the silence as Eli stopped work to peer at him. Rush dragged his hands through his hair and laced his finger behind his head, doing his best to ignore Eli's silent reproach, and considered which of the many diagnostics he would need to rerun first.

Eli coughed gently. Rush considered ignoring this unsubtle attempt to get his attention, but aware Eli wouldn't be put off, he gritted his teeth and stalked over to stand beside him.

"So," Eli began, eyeing Rush's sour expression, "Remember that problem we were having with the aft weapons array? The targeting system was kinda sluggish and some of the guns took forever to reload and…"

Rush's impatient look was enough to stop him before he got too carried away, "And?"

"And," Eli scratched the back of his neck, "I've fixed it. Well at least I think I have."

Rush raised an eyebrow with practised scepticism. The data on the display was complex and it took him a few minutes to work through it while Eli hovered by his shoulder. Rush was impressed by the workaround; clean and sophisticated, it made clever use of the ship's systems to resolve what had seemed like an insurmountable power distribution problem. Even better, he knew the method could be adapted to any system with a similar fault.

Rush voiced his admiration in his usual terse fashion, "Not bad."

Eli grinned and moved back to work, but not before Rush caught a flush of pink creep over his cheeks at the compliment. He shook his head, surely I was never that young.

At his own console, Rush tried to get to work but the casual reflection on what it was to be young had brought his unsettled mind back to thoughts of another youthful figure. Frustrated, he pinched the bridge of his nose and wished he had something to more of more immediate concern than dull, though essential, diagnostics.

Rush heard Eli wish someone a good morning and glanced up to see Matt in the doorway, the embodiment of being careful what you wish for.

"Can we help you with something?" Eli asked.

Matt ignored the question, and the person who asked it as he entered the control room. He wandered between consoles with no interest in the displays, while his languid fingers trailed over their surfaces as he passed.

Out of the corner of his eye Rush could see Eli's wanted to get his attention with a surreptitious nod in Matt's direction. He knew Eli would be concerned by Matt's odd behaviour, he was worried by it also, and unlike Eli he had a good idea why Matt was there. He kept his head down and refused to look at either of them, disgusted by the way his heart had begun to hammer in his chest.

Matt's meandering path ended by Rush's console. Courage gained from his self contempt, Rush turned to face him, "What do you want lieutenant?"

"This" Matt said, and his fist slammed into Rush's jaw.

Stunned by the shock of being hit, as much as by the blow itself, he staggered backward and slammed into a bulkhead. Winded by the impact, he slid down the wall until he hit the floor. Rush stayed where he sat and wiped blood from the corner of his mouth as Matt approached. "Are we done?"

"Yeah," Matt said, "We're done." He turned and strode from the control room without another word.

The taste of copper filled Rush's mouth and he winced as his finger tips probed his bruised face. He knew the sharp pain would fade and settle into a dull ache over the next few hours, another one for my collection.

Slack-jawed, Eli watched Matt leave then hurried to squat by Rush's side. "Here," he said, hand under Rush's elbow, "Let me help you up."

Cheeks red, Rush swatted Eli's hand away and snarled, "Get away from me."

Hands raised in feigned surrender, Eli sat back on his heels, "You going to tell me what the hell that was?"

Rush closed his eyes and an almost imperceptible twitch of his shoulders passed for a shrug.

Eli was familiar with the tension between Rush and the marines but it was not like Matt to behave like this. Thoughtful, he chewed his lip, then his eyes widened in sudden surprise. "What you told me at breakfast, about you and Chloe... you were serious?"