#scottxgil

“So could I,” Gil agreed, kissing him back. They exchanged afew more kisses, both still half asleep, eyes barely open, content to fall backto sleep whenever it took them. This was what it was all about, everything they’dfought for; a home, a new life. They’d discussed the fact that the Initiativewas just a glorified dating service once, something that they’d both had a goodchuckle at, but this was the dream, finding the person you loved and building alife with them. It was odd to think that they had both been in the Milky Waytogether, and had never met, that it had taken a six hundred year journeyacross dark space to find each other.

Gil watched Scott drift back off to sleep and relaxed intohis pillow, feeling the tug of sleep pulling on him as well, but anunmistakable sound from the next room yanked them both awake.

The baby was crying.

“Your son is awake,” Scott groaned a little, burying hisface into Gil’s chest.

“I’m surprised he hadn’t already woken up yet. If he isn’tgetting up until lunchtime, he’s clearly yourson,” Gil laughed quietly and started to pull out of Scott’s embrace, but ahand gently pushing him back into his pillow stopped him.

“Stay in bed, I’ve got him,” Scott smiled, sliding out ofbed and heading out of the room. Gil sat himself up, watching the door for hisreturn. Not only had they found each other out here, but they’d put down roots,made a home, started a family, and he couldn’t have been more grateful.

Scott padded quietly back in, little Dian in his arms, thesix month old now cooing instead of crying. He sat on the bed beside Gil, theirshoulders pressing together.

“Somebody just missed his Daddies,” Scott told him.

“Hey little man,” Gil ran a finger over his son’s chubbycheek, “You okay with a lazy day today? Pjs, and movies?”

“You Uncle Liam sent me a great list of vids for kidsyesterday, I’m sure we can watch some of them,” Scott smiled.

Dian simply kicked and smiled, just happy to be with hisDads.

“I think that’s a yes,” Gil nodded, lifting him from Scott’sarms to kiss his tiny button nose. He paused for a moment, a frown crossing hisface as he turned Dian in his arms and sniffed, his face scrunching up a littleat the smell, “Or perhaps a no.”

Scott pressed a kiss to Gil’s forehead then rolled skilfullyout of bed, “I’m going to go and make some breakfast, you change him.”

His heart clenched at the sound of his own name. There was an edge to Scott’s soft voice, and for a moment he wondered whether his boyfriend was having a sex dream about him, something that began to bring a smile to his face. Maybe he should wake him up and help the poor boy along.

“Gil,” Scott whispered his name again, “No… Don’t… Don’t go...”

Without a shred of hesitation this time, he slid from his bunk, kneeling beside Scott’s. The younger man was getting more worked up now, beads of sweat on his forehead, breathing verging on erratic, clearly in the grips of a nightmare; not a passionate vision of his lover.

“I’m here, sweetheart,” Gil told him, running a hand over his sweat drenched hair.

Scott’s face screwed up as though he were about to cry, “Gil please I can’t lose you too,” he begged.

“It’s just a dream, Scott, it’s not real, I’m here,” Gil insisted, trying to cup his cheek but his thrashing only got worse, so much so that Gil had to dodge out of the way of a flailing arm. His breathing got more rapid, and his voice rose as he began to plead for Gil to stay with him, to not leave him like everyone else had. Gil shook his shoulder, said his name over and over, but he couldn’t draw him from sleep.

One by one the crew bunk lights began to flick on as the others were woken up by Scott, realising what was happening. Suvi wiped the sleep from her eyes, looking concerned between Scott and Gil.

“We need to wake him up. He’s only going to hurt himself like that,” she said.

“I’ve tried,” Gil ran a hand through his hair, heart breaking every time he heard Scott’s voice, desperate to hold him and tell him that it was okay, that he was never going to leave him.

“We have to do something,” Suvi sighed, squeezing her friend’s shoulder supportively.

The door slid open and they all looked around to see the Pathfinder there, donned in nothing but her shorts and one of her brother’s t shirts, hair askew and a look of worry in her eyes. She let out a shaky breath as she approached Scott, but her crewmates watched as a look of calm overcame her and she pulled her hair up into her usual ponytail.

With Gil’s help, she eased Scott onto the floor then scooched herself to sit behind him, wrapping one arm around his chest, stilling his movements, the other coming up to stroke his hair. She rested the side of her face against his and their near matching scars met.

“Scott,” she said softly, “It’s okay. Everything is okay. Just listen to my voice. I know you can hear me, somewhere in there, and I promise you that everything is going to be just fine. But I need you to focus on my voice, and only my voice, okay?”

His body went slack, the fight going out of him at the gentle sound of his sister’s voice.

“There we go,” she pressed a kiss to his temple, “I’ve got you. You’re just having a bad dream. You’re going to be just fine. Keep focusing on my voice. You’ve done the hard part, now you just have to wake up. Okay? You’re safe, you’re here with me, we’re in the crew quarters on the Tempest. You can wake up.”

“Sammy?” he whimpered quietly, his face relaxing into a soft frown as his eyes started to open.

“I’m here Scotty. Always.”

He took a few deep breaths as he woke up properly, eyes going wide as he looked around and realised that everyone was watching him. Sam helped him up onto his feet, then told him to go and take a shower. He gave Gil a lingering look, but disappeared off to the bathroom before Gil could say anything to him.

Once they could hear the water running, Sam let out a sigh, folding her arms across her chest as she looked at her crewmates, “Scott gets really bad nightmares. Has done ever since he was a kid. He can’t ever snap himself out of them, they either have to run their course or you have to coax him out like I just did. Mom used to have to do it, then I took over… If this ever happens when I’m not here, or if something ever happens to me, I need you guys to do what I just did for him. I need someone to look out for him.”

“Of course,” Gil nodded, as did the others, but everyone knew that it was Gil that she’d really been talking to.

She ran her hands over her face, “We should all try and get a few more hours whilst we can. Scott will sleep fine now.”

They all shuffled off to bed, the lights flicking back off one by one. Gil sat himself on Scott’s bunk, determined to wait for him, but he heard the other door to the bathroom open then the more distant sound of someone going into the galley. He left the crew quarters and headed quietly along the corridor, entering the galley as well.

Scott sat at the table, hugging his knees to his chest, hair still a little damp. He glanced up as Gil came in, but his warm smile didn’t overcome his face like it usually did. It wasn’t until he came to sit beside him that Gil realised that Scott was wearing one of his shirts and a pair of his boxer shorts.

“Is that…?” he started to ask and Scott nodded.

“Sorry, your locker was the only one that was open,” Scott mumbled quietly, “I didn’t want to come back in and disturb anyone looking for clothes.”

“It’s no problem,” Gil told him, then put a hand to his cheek, tilting his face so that he was looking at him, “Really, none of it was any problem,” he insisted.

Scott turned away, hugging his knees tighter, “I haven’t had one of my nightmares in a while. Last one was just after I woke up on the Hyperion, the night after Sam left. I freaked out, I hate being stuck in med bays. Luckily Harry knew about my problem so he jabbed me with something to wake me up… I always worried that this would happen on the ship… It’s why I never stuck with any squad for too long when I was away from Sammy during my Alliance days. Things are never quite the same when you wake someone up screaming in the middle of the night about your night terrors.”

“Scott, I know it’s not going to be easy for you to believe, but no one’s going to be mad about this. Everyone just wanted to help.”

Scott scoffed, “Yeah, sure.”

“I promise you, no one was angry,” Gil said, “We were all worried about you. The worst part was that we couldn’t do anything until Sam got there. But we all watched her, so now that we know how to wake you up there’s no one on this ship that wouldn’t help you in a split second.”

He watched as Scott blinked back tears, turning his head a little to look at Gil, “Really?”

“Really,” Gil nodded, “I know that it’s always just been you and your sister, but you’ve got other people that you can rely on now. A family."

Scott shifted himself so that he was leaning against Gil’s shoulder, and the redhead wrapped an arm around him, pressing a kiss to his hair, taking in the scent of his apple shampoo.

“Thank you,” Scott murmured.

Gil was quiet for a moment before the burning question in his mind pushed past his lips, “Do you want to talk about your nightmare?”

Scott let out a sigh, but didn’t move to look at him, “Did you read the report about the mission to the turian ark?”

“I did,” Gil said, not adding the unsaid because you were on that mission.

Scott never went on missions with his sister and the team. He was Alliance trained, but his skills were better suited to the engine room, which meant more time spent together, and not having to worry about his safety. But when they had found the turian ark with Avitus, Scott had gone aboard as well; his engineering expertise needed to help them navigate the severely damaged ark. Gil had sat in the engine room wringing his hands the entire time he was gone, waiting to hear if anything had gone wrong.

“So you know what happened to their Pathfinder, about him and Avitus,” Scott said, “Avitus lost the man he loved, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Macen died trying to get to him, trying to keep him safe… I just… I couldn’t get it off of my mind… I dreamt that it was us. That something went wrong on the Tempest, the kett attacked, blew up half the ship, and I couldn’t get to you. I fought as hard as I could, but it wasn’t enough… You died in my arms… and I just… I can’t stand it. I wasn’t scared about the kett, or the ship crashing, or facing certain death, I was scared because I couldn’t save you, because I wasn’t fast enough or strong enough, because I wasn’t enough.”

“Hey,” Gil wrapped his arms around him properly then, holding him close to him as Scott began to cry, “I’m right here. Always will be… And Scott, you are enough. I know you, you put all of yourself into everything you do, you may act like you half ass everything but I’ve never known anyone as dedicated as you. To your work, your team, your family, to us.”

Scott clung to him, face resting in the crook of his neck, feeling the tense knots of his anxiety start to loosen a little at his words. It would take a lot more than that for Scott to completely believe him, but for now, it helped. Unknown to the other, they both bit back a confession of love, deciding that now wasn’t the best time.

The younger man pulled away after a moment to wipe his cheeks with the back of his hand, “Let’s go back to bed,” he said quietly.

Gil took hold of his hand, intertwining their fingers as they headed back into the crew quarters. He pressed a kiss to Scott’s lips and went to climb up into his bunk, but Scott gave a slight tug on his hand.

“Will you stay with me tonight?” he asked, “I know it’s a bit cramped to be sleeping together, but…”

Gil offered him a smile, “Of course.”

Scott jumped a little, dropping the spoon into the sauce before leaning back into Gil’s embrace, “Ryder family recipe spag bol with meatballs. Straight from the recipe book.”

Gil’s smile grew, “I love your family.”

Scott hummed with laughter, “Just wait until we can get my mom out of cryo, then you’ll get them cooked by the expert… What are you doing home so early? I wasn’t expecting you for another hour or so.”

“Got all of my errands done quicker than I thought,” he told him, “And besides, I couldn’t wait to get home to you.” Scott turned himself in Gil’s arms, leaning down a little to kiss him. Gil kissed him back for a moment before pulling away slightly, taking hold of Scott’s hands, “Can you slip away from dinner for a few minutes? I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“Sure,” Scott gave a nod, “Sauce needs time to cook anyway. What sort of surprise? If it’s like the surprise from this morning, we’ll have to be quick; Dian’s due to wake up from his nap soon.”

Gil smirked as he led him into the living room and sitting him on a couch, “Maybe later after our troublesome son has bedded down for the night, but for now I’ve got an even better surprise.”

“Better?” Scott’s eyebrows rose, disturbing the line of flour on his forehead a little, “That’s a big statement to live up to.”

“Just stay there, and close your eyes,” Gil instructed, starting to back out of the room slowly, watching as Scott suspiciously closed his eyes, “Do you remember your sister mentioning that a load of second wave biologists on the Hyperion had started working on bringing animal DNA out of cryo?”

“I remember. Our cousin Toni is a zoologist, she was quite excited,” Scott said.

Gil picked up the box from the entryway and made his way back in, “Well, their work has come along really well as it turns out.”

“Does that mean there’s going to be real steak in Andromeda?” Scott grinned.

“Better,” Gil insisted, putting the box at his feet, “Open it.”

Scott opened his eyes with a frown, glancing down at the box. He went to open it, but there was a shuffle of movement from inside, and his head snapped up to look at Gil, a smile playing on his lips as he started to figure it out, “What’s in here?”

“Just open it,” Gil grinned.

With slower and more suspicious movements than before, Scott flipped open the flaps keeping the contents hidden and he couldn’t hold back the tears that immediately welled up in his eyes when he looked inside.

Rolling around in the bottom of the box was a puppy; golden fur, big brown eyes and a wriggly body. With shaking hands, Scott reached down and scooped the pup up into his arms, cradling him close to his chest, pressing a face into his soft fur.

“Is he…?” he dared a glance up at Gil.

“He’s all yours. First litter of puppies in Andromeda,” Gil told him, coming to sit beside him, “Do you like him?”

Tears of joy ran down Scott’s face, “I love him. I love him so much… and I love you. Thank you so much. I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”

“Scott, if we lived in the Milky Way I have no doubt that you would have adopted ten dogs by now because I can’t say no to your damn puppy dog eyes, as soon as I heard that they were starting to breed animals again I had our names down for the first litter. Wanted it to be a surprise. Had to drop your sister’s name a few times to get on the list, but it was worth it. Anything’s worth it to see you smile.”

Scott leaned across and caught his lips in a kiss. Gil wiped away his tears before scratching the pup behind his ear.

“You’ve still got to name him,” Gil reminded him.

Scott was quiet for a moment as he looked at his dog, a look of real contemplation in his eyes. Gil watched him curiously, raising an eyebrow as a smile spread across Scott’s face.

“Mozzarella.”

“Mozzarella? First dog in Andromeda and you’re calling him Mozzarella?”

Scott nodded, shifting the pup in his arms so that he could press a kiss to his nose, “Yeah. He’s definitely a Mozzarella.”