(Cautionary Disclaimer: This is in no way intended as romantic. I should not have to say that, but you never know with tumblr. I am a jaded elder millennial with too much experience in previous toxic fanspaces. I fully believe Cernan is gay and loves his husband in this life and the next)

It's no secret that Laura Eisele is hands down my favorite part of Directive 8020, and one of the relationships in game that I really wish we got to see more of was her mutual respect/friendship with Cernan (who is precious and deserves all the protection).

If Stafford dies especially, Eisele is put in a position of unexpected leadership where she is frequently slighted by the rest of the crew due to them being frustrated with her not being sensitive enough for their tastes (even though if heart choices are selected by the player she actively does try) or just completely steamrolling her like her authority is a joke (cough, Williams, cough). Cernan, however, is the only one to verbally acknowledge her as active commander and per one of his message exchanges with Mitchell holds her in high regard. Eisele in turn also views Cernan as the most levelheaded member of the crew and trusts him to look out for the others on the surface per her own message to him.

Cernan is also the only one who checks on Eisele after if the two of them are forced watch Mitchell burn to death (which is so difficult for her that Eisele has to turn it off and they both sit in horrified shock for a minute after) and is impressively aware that even though Eisele naturally deflects talking about her feelings that she still needs to be told she can talk to him if she wishes to.

This is relevant as later in the game she does start to open up more specifically to him. She runs potential strategy by him as well as her discomfort at seeing the mangled humanoid forms all over the ship, and Cernan is the only one who asks her about how she feels about the clone reveal, either attempting to comfort her or asking her why his original would do it and seeking comfort from her.

The scene where they bond over both being unable to sleep while work is needing done is one of my favorites (even if Williams/Williams mimic interrupt it) as it shows how comfortable they are just chatting in a way Eisele doesn't really do with anyone else on the ship. The sympathetic scientist and the philosopher engineer (as I maintain each character was always intended to show traits of both their paths even if they lean more one way than the other) are also two members of the active crew that would speak English as a second language (Eisele's primary would be Dutch and Cernan's likely Turkish) so their natural friendly pair off in the face of the Stafford/Young/Mitchell family unit and the Anders/Cooper bromance/romance (I won't argue the semantics on this one as I know everyone sees it differently) makes a lot of sense narratively.

It's tragic to me that to really showcase one or the other you have to choose between them because their paths end up parallel and for Cernan to get to do more, Eisele has to die early on.