The epilogue to I, Crichton, which is previously posted in the library, is a prologue to this. This also follows The Patter of Little Feet and Traveller's Song. The main things you need to know is that one Crichton went to Earth and the other stayed with Aeryn, and that Aeryn's mother's name is Meara and she left the Peacekeepers a long time ago.

Disclaimers- I'm not making any money, don't hurt me.

Thanks go to MALar for reading every bit of drivel I write, to Curly for being in my fic and UCSBDad for lending him, to everyone who answered my football post, to Crystal Moon for saying she thought the epilogue looked like the beginning of another story, and to Jonathan Hardy and Moonbebe for the Australian place names.

It’s a foot, John.” Aeryn said.

“It’s too angular to be a foot. It must be an elbow or something,” John said, feeling the protrusion in the upper area of Aeryn’s swollen belly.

“The baby is head down now, so it has to be a foot,” Aeryn insisted.

“Maybe she moved position,” John said, moving his hand a short distance away and pressing gently. He was rewarded by a kick, the baby’s movements following the position of his hand. “We could go take a look with the scanner.”

“We could leave her alone and let her settle down so I could get some rest,” Aeryn said dryly.

John was wearing the bemused look he sometimes got as he continued to play the game with his unborn child.It was the one that Aeryn would have called stupid and had never admitted to him that she loved seeing on him.

“How do you feel about going to Earth?” he asked very quietly.

Aeryn knew that John really wanted just to know how she felt- the decision had already been made.

“I’m- worried.’ she said finally.

“What about?”

“About meeting your family.”

“What? That’s the last thing I expected to hear. Government conspiracies, alien autopsies- but meeting the folks?’

“They’re “folks” that are important to you. What if they don’t like me?”

John moved up in the bed so that he could look into her eyes. “They will love you, Aeryn. And if they don’t- well, grandkids are a great icebreaker.”

“How do you feel about going..back?" She couldn’t quite bring herself to call it his home.

“I don’t know,” he said, propping himself up on his elbow and toying with a strand of the dark hair that spilled over the pillows. “I should be happy to be going home and I should be worried about what’s happening to earth, but all I can think about is how to keep you and the baby safe.”

She ran her fingers down his cheek and kissed him. “I love you, too,’ she whispered against his lips. “Now roll over,’ she commanded, moving more onto her side.

“Why don’t I spoon around you? “ he said hopefully.” that way the baby won’t keep me awake kicking me in the back.”

“It feels better this way. And you got her started, so it’s only fair that if she keeps me awake, she keeps you awake.” Aeryn said primly.

John obligingly rolled over and Aeryn tucked herself around him as best she could. While she was waiting for the baby to settle down and quit kicking John in the back, she said,” I wish we knew when this was going to be over.”

“Nobody knows exactly when babies are going to be born, they get here when they’re ready. And this is the first human Sebacean pregnancy- well, the first to get this far anyway.”

“Yeah. Who would have thought frelling morning sickness?” Aeryn mumbled. Despite the fact that they could find no information on it, and D’argo insisted that nausea was not a sign of Sebacean pregnancy, Aeryn had been sick every day of the first two monens.

"I'm sorry," John said guiltily.

"It's alright,' Aeryn said sleepily. "I don't care as long as the baby is healthy."

The ride through the worm hole had been a wild and exciting one. Aeryn had flown Talyn competently through the twister and they had gone through the exit marked "earth" in the other Crichton's travel plans. Now they were traveling at a good hetch clip towards the Earth's solar system.

"Talyn handled that well," John observed.

"Yes, " Crais agreed reservedly. "He does not appear to have suffered any ill effects from the worm hole."

"We weren't in it long enough," John said. "It took time to hurt Moya and several revolutions to fry the biocomponents in my module. As long as we don't go traveling willy nilly across the galaxy, he should be fine."

"I still don't think this is a good idea. But since he doesn't listen to anything I say anymore-"

"He's just grown up, Crais. He wants to make his own decisions. He -uh- really enjoyed it" Aeryn said, smiling.

"Like a roller coaster ride, huh?" John said, grinning back at her.

"Where's Curly," Aeryn asked suddenly."I haven't seen him since we went through the worm hole. Is he with you, D'argo?"

"Why would that infernal beast be with me?" D'argo voice came over the comm gruffly.

Aeryn looked inquiringly at John. He observed the way she was sitting tiredly and said,' I'll go look for him."

"Thank you."

John found Curly, finally, under the bed in the room that he and Aeryn were using. Actually, what he found were a couple of enormous paws and a curly tail sticking out from under the bed.

"Come on out, Fella, It's all over,' he said reassuringly.

Curly whimpered a bit and didn't come out. John realized he could make out a word that sounded like "stuck".

"You can't be too stuck, can you? You got in there, didn't you?"

John grabbed an enormous paw and pulled. He soon realized that he would have better luck trying to drag a fully grown Holstein. "Now, look. You have to try harder. I'd have to unbolt that bed to get it off you..c'mon..c'mon.."

He dropped the paw quickly when he heard Aeryn. "John. Oh, John. I think this is it."

Aeryn was standing in front of the view screen as John came up behind her. Talyn moved to the left a little and a beautiful blue and white globe came into sight. She could hear John catch his breath and she saw on his face the look of a man who was starving and knew that he would never be allowed to touch the banquet he saw in front of him. Then the hungry look eased and he said, 'It's real, isn't it, Aeryn? You see it, too, don't you?"

He reached out and grabbed her hand.

"Yes, John, I see it, too, " and she smiled though tears were coming to her eyes.

John stood silently. It worried Aeryn- she had expected to see him more excited, although she wasn't sure she wanted him to be too excited.

"Are you okay?"

'Yeah," he said, but he held on to her with a death grip, as if she would disappear if he didn't hold on tight enough. It occurred to her that maybe he did feel that way- that he had never thought that he could have both her and earth at the same time,if only for a little while.

The primitive communication system that they had brought from the dead Crichton's ship crackled into life behind them.

"Crichton? John Crichton?"

Aeryn spent her time looking for any signs of Peacekeepers or any form of space transport while John was talking to the man that they had been told to contact. John was being interrogated- first they asked him a lot of questions about Earth that she didn't understand, then questions about life in the Uncharted Territories, concentrating mostly, she realized, on the period of time between the time that the chip had been removed and his twin had left for earth.

"There's nothing out here," Aeryn said.

John wasn't listening. "Her scream melts metal-' he was saying.

"Not only are there no Peacekeepers, there's no space traffic, no sensors , no signals..."

John stopped talking to the radio for a microt. "I told you, Honey."

Aeryn knitted her brow as she looked at the tiny little planet below them. It looked very calm and peaceful and unguarded to her.

"What the frell is that?" she said suddenly. Her scanning for transmissions had suddenly turned up a lot of free floating signals as they got closer to earth.

John laughed. "Congratulations, Aeryn, you got the home shopping channel first try."

Aeryn watched a Sebacean looking woman demonstrate the workings of George Foreman's lean mean fat-reducing machine. One part of her was still listening to John's conversation and she was taken by surprise by the last question asked.

"What did you tell Aeryn to convince her to leave the Peacekeepers and go with you?" the voice asked.

"You can be more," he said softly. Aeryn smiled at him from across the room.

After receiving instructions as to where they should land, John came to stand beside her. "Someone was expecting us..me..one of me,' he said.

"Do you trust them?" she asked. "Do you think it's safe?"

"It had better be."

Aeryn turned off the visuals and returned to looking at earth. "What's marcasite? Is it valuable?"

"I don't know, I think they made it up, " John said, putting his arms around her and resting his head on her shoulder. He rested one hand on her stomach and pointed with the other. "Look, BabySun, that's Earth. That's where Daddy comes from."

"She can't see it, John," Aeryn rolled her eyes at him. " My womb is *not* transparent."

They stood in silence for a while together.

"What's that?" asked Aeryn, pointing to something snaking through a large land covered area.

"It's the Great Wall of Chiana," John said. "The only landmark you can see from space. Well, except for the Mall of America."

Aeryn looked over her shoulder at him. His eyes were shining and he smiled back at her. Now he was getting excited. "You didn't tell me Earth was a commerce planet," she teased.

"You *are* taking him with you, aren't you?" Crais asked. as he came back into command.

"Who?" John asked. He turned around to see a large and disgruntled looking vorlag. Curly immediately trotted up to Aeryn and whined at her. He pressed his head up against her and looked mournfully up at her with his big brown eyes. He was obviously missing a little of his thick brown coat, its smoothness marred by patches missing from the top of his head and his upper flank.

"Oh, Curly, I'm sorry. In all the excitement, I forgot." A pair of brown eyes flashed a hurt look at him while a pair of blue ones looked a him reproachfully. John shrugged. "Well, you managed somehow, didn't you?"

To change the subject , he addressed Crais. " We can't take Curly, Crais, he'd be as conspicuous as ..as a vorlag on earth." Realizing how lame that sounded, he added,"As a Scarren in a roomful of Peacekeepers."

Curly cocked his head at him and promised to be good.

"We need you here to guard the ship, Curly," Aeryn said, scratching him behind the ears.

Curly puffed his chest out and said, clearly, "I will do my best."

John and Aeryn flew the transport pod to the coordinates they were given. Aeryn watched as the world came closer, noting the vast squares of cultivated land. It didn't appear to be too different from a Sebacean farming colony.

"I hope Crais and Talyn will still be there when we get back," John said.

"Talyn won't leave without us. Besides, D'argo is there."

"Crais and D'argo and Jool are not the best combination for a crew," John noted.

"No, but we can't have Talyn without Crais and Jool wanted to be here for the baby and we just need D'argo in case we...have any trouble," Aeryn said. "I'm not too comfortable with Stark and Chiana being left on Moya either."

"Well, it's what we have," John said. They were flying over a desert region now. "They'd better have air conditioning," he stated. "I don't want you out in this desert."

The area that they were in looked deserted until they were almost on the ground. They were instantly met by four soldiers and a man who appeared to be in charge of them.

"Welcome Home, Commander Crichton. You must be Aeryn Sun."

Aeryn lost what his name was as she was distracted by the soldiers covering the transport pod with a covering that matched their fatigues.

"John-"

He turned his attention to where Aeryn was looking.

"Tell them not to touch anything," John said urgently. "You'd be amazed at how easy that thing is to break."

The man nodded and invited them to get into a small open ground vehicle. John moved to help Aeryn in but she shrugged him off. "Not my gun arm, John," she admonished.. John threw in a bag and settled in next to her, holding her left hand.

"I imagine you'll want to get out of this heat," the man said conversationally. Aeryn just stared at him.

"We do.' John said. "So, where are we going?"

His question was answered as they drove into a small hillside. The golf cart suddenly made more sense as they drove into a large and gleaming facility.

"You probably have a lot of questions- about what's happened in the last few years while you've been gone."

"Just one," John said. "Who won the last Super bowl?"

"The Bills," the man said casually.

"Oh! That's it, turn the cart around, we are going home."

Aeryn gave him a slanty-eyed look. She wasn't sure if John was kidding or not..

"Well, it's not like it's the Vikings...or the Cleveland Browns," the man driving made a disgusted face.

"Well, yeah, but as long as the Cigarette Smoking Man is alive, the Bills can't win the Super bowl."

Aeryn relaxed a little. Now she could tell he was kidding.

"He's dead. Krycek killed him. Pushed him down the stairs."

"I don't believe it. He'll be back. You can't kill the devil. So, you watch X-files?"

"Government agents? Conspiracies? Aliens? We are the X-files."

John was ginning openly now. " So, what about Buffy?"

Aeryn never found out if the man knew Buffy because John suddenly yelled for the cart to stop and jumped out. She followed him in a move that looked impossibly graceful for someone in her condition and pointed her gun at someone John appeared to be attempting to hug to death.

"D.K. My man! What are you doing here?" Johns aid, pounding the lanky guy on the back.

"I work here. I've been working on making a functional hetch drive ever since you- the other you- brought us the technology."

"I'm sorry about- him," John said awkwardly.

"Thanks. We can uh..talk about it later, I guess. You must be Aeryn," he said.

Aeryn had reholstered the pulse pistol without the slightest sign of embarrassment. "D.K." she said, extending her hand.

"You are even prettier than I imagined," D. K. said, in a voice devoid of flattery. "And there's a baby Crichton on the way? Congratulations!"

John beamed and Aeryn smiled at D.K., causing him to suddenly lose the power of speech.

"We should go," said the man in the golf cart, sounding reluctant to break up the reunion. "they're waiting for you."

"Are you coming. D.K.?" Asked John.

"No," he said, shaking his head. "It's military. Bigwigs and lots of speeches. I have work to do."

They made another stop before they got to their destination. The man driving them said," We need to get a photograph of you. Is that all right ?It's for I. D."

"It's like an ident chip," John told Aeryn.

She nodded and they stood her up against the wall and took a few pictures. The first few photos were rejected and tossed aside.

"They look too good," their guide complained. "No one would ever believe that was a drivers license photo.'

While he finally found a couple he was satisfied with, John looked at the others." I like this one," he told Aeryn, and pocketed it.

"Do you prefer Officer Sun or Mrs. Crichton?"

"Aeryn," she said, shrugging.

"You can call me Red,' he told her.

"He isn't red," Aeryn said to John. He laughed. Red looked at them inquiringly.

"She said your hair wasn't red."

That wasn't exactly what Aeryn had said, but she let it past.

"It's a long story,' Red said, showing no intention of telling it to them.

D.K had been right. They were escorted to a conference room full of military personnel. Aeryn was soon lost in introductions. She decided that she very much preferred the Peacekeeper system of subofficers, officers, and Senior Officers to the confusing array of ranks she was introduced to.

After they were seated, the room was silent for a microt or two. Aeryn realized that they were all staring at her. She unconsciously straightened her spine and lifted her chin.

"What assurances do we have that we can trust you?" John broke the silence.

Someone with a lot of stars on his shoulders leaned forward eagerly and said," We are prepared to do anything we have to to gain your trust and cooperation." There were some angry glares directed at him, but other anxious faces were turned towards Aeryn and John.

"I want a million dollars in unmarked bills, to talk to the president, and a nickel bag." John said seriously.

"Done," he said.

Red, who was leaning up against the wall and watching the proceedings, looked at his watch. "Half an hour, tops. A little longer if you want to talk to the president in person."

Aeryn watched John survey the room. "How about a diet mountain dew? "

Red grinned. "Anything for the lady?"

"Something without caffeine."

After John's demand for soft drinks had been met, the room settled into serious discussion. John gave them a brief description of his encounter with his double and the information, or lack thereof, that he was given, due to his untimely death. Aeryn stared in mild consternation at her drink- was she supposed to wait until it stopped fizzing to drink it? She noticed that John downed his immediately. Aeryn gave up on her soft drink- the bubbles were too distracting and she was trying to listen intently to what was going on. They were told that the first hint Earth had of a presence other than their own were readings of worm hole activity. It didn't take them long to realize that the space station had been attacked. Two personnel were killed and the other three disappeared. The second attack had come in the form of a formation of four prowlers that the other John had managed to dispatch in his ship.

"They took all the information that our scientist had gathered in ZotahZhaan but we still have no idea what provoked the attack."

"Zhaan?" Aeryn asked, extremely puzzled.

"That's what John-you- your predecessor- named the space station. It's been quiet since he left to find you, but of course, without his vessel, we have no way of protecting ourselves."

"What about Star Wars?" John asked, leaving Aeryn wondering what Yoda from Dagobah had to do with this.

The man with the stars grimaced. "We've been working with the information Crichton gave us to try to catch up, but we aren't there yet. His hope was that you could do something about the threat from the other side of the galaxy. Thank God nothing happened before you got here."

"How do you know?" Aeryn asked. There was silence as everyone in the room stared at her.

"How do they know?" Aeryn said, addressing John."If all they have is radar they wouldn't be able to detect a prowler or a marauder. They're invisible on radar."

"I didn't know that, Aeryn. I'm sure they followed us on radar when we came in."

"That's because we were in a transport pod, John. They aren't exactly capable of a stealth trajectory."'

"I didn't know that," John said.

"Which means-"

"*He* didn't know that." John finished.

"You didn't happen to bring any translator microbes with you?" a blonde woman next to Aeryn asked.

"No, we didn't," John lied easily.

The woman was visibly trying to hide her disappointment when John addressed the room. "Aeryn's right. We're used to sensors that can tell you how many people are on a ship and what they had for breakfast. You can't possibly know if there have been more 'visits' to earth space."

The room was silent for a microt. "Sh-," someone said, and then they all started talking at once. the conversation followed fast and furious. Aeryn began to be very irritated by the fact that she not only could not put in her opinion, but was having trouble following the earth references. After a particularly long and rambling argument by someone with a pronounced lisp, Aeryn turned to John and said,"Can't I just shoot him?"

"Aeryn," John remonstrated.

"Just..once?" she said, looking at him with bleary eyes.

"I think you're enjoying the fact that they can't understand you," he whispered. She grinned wickedly at him.

"Enough is enough, people. I came here to help you, but what I really want to do is see my family, and as you can see, my wife is getting tired." John got to his feet.

The blonde starting talking rapidly, addressing Aeryn.

"I wanted to know if you would let me take a look at you. I know you appear very human but this is the first contact we've had with an alien life form . There have to be some anatomical differences and the DNA-" she made the mistake of putting her hand on Aeryn's arm.

John reached across Aeryn, grabbed the woman's arm and had Wynona the Second out in an instant. "Aeryn is not an alien life form, she is a person." He waved the gun at the room at large. "She is not to be probed, prodded, dissected, or otherwise treated like anything but a human being. If we are not allowed to travel freely, are restrained or treated as second class citizens in any way- I am going to take my heavily armed gunship and - go home."

All Aeryn could see were nodding heads but the only one she looked for was Red. Somehow she considered him the only dangerous person in the room. He was still leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. Their eyes met and she got the distinct impression that he was going to let John shoot the woman if he wanted to.

The blonde didn't back down although Aeryn knew John had to be hurting her.

"I have been waiting for this all my life," she said.

'John...it wouldn't hurt to have someone look at the baby," Aeryn started. "It might be a good idea to have a human doctor check her out. If you trust them."

John released the woman's arm and looked at Aeryn, who shrugged.

"Know any good obstetricians?" he asked the woman.

"It's not my specialty but I know the basics," she said, rubbing her arm.

It wasn't long before Aeryn was lying on a table getting the first gynecological exam of her life. She wasn't sure she would have agreed to this if she had known that's what was going to happen.

"Can't they just look at me with the scanner?" she complained.

"Sonograms don't work as well as scanners," John explained.

The blonde woman, a Dr. Tisdale, did something to Aeryn that pinched. Before she thought twice, she kicked out with one foot and caught her squarely on the chest. The woman hit the ground with a resounding thump.

'I'm sorry," said Aeryn. "It was just a reflex."

"Tell her I'm sorry," she said to a snickering John .

"No," he said.

Aeryn reached up and thumped him on the arm. "Tell her I said I was SORRY,' she insisted.

"She wants to apologize," John said lamely.

"That's all right," the woman said gamely, getting to her feet and taking off her gloves. "As far as I can tell, everything looks fine. The babies head down and engaged in the pelvis. She's probably a good seven pounds and you have three or four weeks at the most."

"Three weeks- that's uh..about twenty-one solar days. I can't translate the weight."

At Aeryn's puzzled face, the doctor said," What it means is that the baby is big enough, and far enough along to be considered full term. If you go into labor at any time from this point, don't worry about it, okay?" she tried a reassuring smile.

"We hope to be back on Talyn, at least, before that happens," John said.

"There isn't any visible difference in structure," Dr. Tisdale said."You might be able to get away with having this child in a hospital with no one being the wiser, barring needing a blood transfusion or something. Our species must be very closely related, not only to look so much alike, but to be genetically compatible. It's fascinating. I would love to know why we are so much alike."

"So would we. We haven't the faintest idea.'

"Your blood pressure and temperature and pulse rate are all a little low," she told Aeryn.

"They're normal," she said. John looked at her strangely. "They were when Jool checked them earlier."

"I could do some blood tests, some immunology, maybe an amnio-"

"No," said John. "We don't want anything that invasive. We aren't worried about genetic problems anyway- we took a test."

"A test?" the woman said.

"Thank you, doctor," Aeryn said, sitting up on the table.

"Do you feel better now?"John asked. He bent down a little so that he could look directly into her eyes. ' A little less worried?"

"Yes," Aeryn bumped his nose with hers and smiled. " We are going to have a baby-and not very long from now.' She slid off the table into John's arms and he helped her get her balance.

Dr. Tisdale watched them together and said," I am sorry that I was over-eager before. This is a great moment for me."

"Us, too," John said with his arms wrapped around Aeryn.

John and Aeryn were talking on their way out the door.

"Haven't you ever had an exam like that before?" John asked.

"Well, " she said,"it's automated, and they can see everything from the *outside*. It's not so personal."

"At least you aren't a guy. You don't have to turn your head and cough.". Aeryn was about to ask John what *that* meant when they ran into Red. He handed them a large manila envelope, and then started explaining the contents.

"We have everything you need here- birth certificate, passport, marriage license, social security card. There's a medic alert bracelet that says you have an exotic blood type, and can't receive blood. That's the best we can do for you regarding that situation," he said, frowning a little.

He addressed Aeryn directly. "You were born in a little town called Whitman, Kansas. Twenty years ago it was destroyed by a tornado and there are no inhabitants or records from that town anymore. You were obviously raised overseas- you should probably claim something exotic- maybe Greece or Russia? Just- be careful the person you're talking to is a typical American and doesn't know their geography. You have a security clearance and a concealed weapons permit. And that means concealed," he emphasized, looking at their sidearms pointedly. "You cannot walk around armed in this society without attracting attention."

Aeryn nodded.

"Kansas?" John said.

"Well, we couldn't put Command Carrier, Outer Space. I wanted Roswell, but I decided that might be pushing it. Seriously, it was just easier if she was born here and already a citizen. It's not deep cover, but its the best we can do on short notice."

"It looks good to me," John said, rifling through her I.D. "These look real."

"They are real. As real as any government document, they just don't happen to be true."

John and Aeryn were both looking at him with confused expressions on their faces."There are lies and damned lies. these are official lies . Welcome to earth, Aeryn," he said, shaking her hand. He punched John on the arm, lightly. "Take her to Disneyland or something."

"Your ride's here."

John could hear the ride coming as a helicopter landed in the desert. Aeryn watched the birds blades spinning with something like horror on her face. "What the hezmana is that?" she asked.

"It's okay, honey. It's just a helicopter."

"We're supposed to fly in that? Why is it making so much noise? Is it not functioning properly?"

"It's..we don't have antigrav. Or artificial gravity, for that matter."

"Okay, John. then *what* keeps it up?"

John laughed." Remind me to explain the principles of aerodynamics to you sometime," he said.

"She's just not used to ships that need atmosphere to fly," he explained to Red, and dragged her by the hand towards the helicopter."

Aeryn found the vehicle interesting after she got over the quaintness of it, but the noise prevented her from finding out very much about it.The helicopter landed in a small private air field. A ground vehicle was there with a distinguished and familiar looking man standing next to it. The moment Aeryn had been worrying about had arrived.

"Dad," John whispered, and broke out in a boyish smile. He started out at a quick walk, leaving Aeryn waddling to keep up. In a moment he realized what he was doing and slowed down enough for her to keep a more comfortable pace. Side by side they walked up to John's father. John's grin faded heartbreakingly as his dad made no move to come near and didn't smile in response.

"What happened to him?" the older Crichton asked, his voice strained.

"He was too badly wounded when he got to us," John said. "I'm sorry, there was nothing we could do."

Jack Crichton bowed his head and studied the tarmac while John kept his eyes riveted on him. Aeryn was sure that John's father was trying to retain his composure, and she was equally sure that John was going to lose his.

"Da-ad,' John said at last. "It's me. I'm home."

Jack looked up with moist eyes to encounter his son's pleading face. "I'm sorry, John," he said, reaching out and engulfing John in a bear hug. "Your mother always said you were so sweet you should have been twins."

Aeryn smiled a little in relief and waited to be introduced as she watched John and his father. Jack's eyes fell on her over John's shoulder and he pulled away from him and looked at her in shock.

"You're-"

"Aeryn?' she supplied hesitantly when he didn't finish.

"pregnant."

"Yes, I know." she said matter of factly.

"She said we know, dad. It's a girl. We're- Aeryn's due in about three weeks,' John said proudly, putting his arm around her shoulders.

"That's incredible,"he said." It's wonderful. I am so happy for you. Hey, I'm gonna be a Grandpa again. Wait till your sisters find out." He beamed at them. "Let's go home, son. Welcome to the family, Aeryn. I think you'll find that everyone's heard so much about you they'll feel like they know you already."

John and Aeryn got into the back seat together. Aeryn waited patiently while John found a way to get the seat belt around her.

"That was Aeryn's first helicopter ride, dad." John said casually.

"They make a lot more sense once you're in them," Aeryn said." And they don't look difficult to fly."

"They're fun. I'll teach you sometime," John said.

"Hey dad, can we stop at Baskin Robbins? I want Aeryn to try ice cream."

"We have ice cream at the house," his father said.

"What flavor?" John asked eagerly.

"Uhm...Chocolate chip cookie dough, vanilla, of course, and dream cooler."

"Cool," John said approvingly. He talked to his father about the various things that had gone on in his "absence" and the letters and stuff he had received in his care package. Aeryn noticed that once in a while John's father was sneaking glances at her in the rear view mirror. She closed her eyes and leaned her head back and pretended not to notice. John put his arm around her and pulled her close. She resisted a little, feeling that she should be on the alert.

"C'mere, baby,it's okay. It's safe," John murmured soothingly.

"We're getting too far away from the transport pod. Why couldn't we just fly here? it would have taken 500 microts," she said, sounding uncharacteristically whiny.

"D'argo can have a transport down her in less than that if we need to leave in a hurry."

She settled into his shoulder and closed her eyes again. She was about to fall asleep when she realized that John was finally talking about something of importance.

"He probably got here first because the Peacekeepers had to solve the melting Sebacean problem . The real question is- what do they want with Earth? I can't imagine needing anything from this planet."

Jack sounded a little strange as he replied."i don't know, but you- John- said it must have been something they found in your head."

Aeryn was sure she should stay awake- it wasn't like she could talk to John's father, but she certainly could make sure John got everything right. Instead, she fell asleep.

She woke up when the car stopped in front of what must be John's father's dwelling. She had barely opened her eyes when a gray haired female in a long flowing garment and adorned with many baubles opened the front door.

"It's about time you got here," the woman said cheerfully. "You hurry up and put the steaks on the grill. The rest of dinner is ready."

She closed the door and then opened it again and poked her head back out. "Welcome home, John. Hi, Aeryn!' she waved breezily, and disappeared again.

"Who was that?" Aeryn asked, looking at John, whose mouth was open.

"That's my Aunt Ruth. Dad, why is Aunt Ruth here?"

"It's the Fourth," his dad shrugged. "We always have Ruth over on the holiday."

"It's the Fourth of July. Independence day?" John said, wonderingly. "It never occurred to me to ask what day it was- the date..it just didn't seem important anymore..... what about the girls? Are they here?"

"Oh, yeah," his dad said with a smile. "Bethie's home from medical school and Sharon lives nearby. She's here with her family."

Aeryn decided to ask John later what this independence day was about. He was looking a little confused at the moment. John put his and Aeryn' sidearms in his bag preparatory to getting out of the car.

"Oh, here, before I forget," Jack Crichton said, handing John a wallet. "He left this for you, if you happened to be the one who came back. " A shadow crossed over his face. "Well, anyway, you can use it."

"Thanks," John said soberly as he opened the wallet and looked at the contents, current I.D. with his name and face on it. He pulled something out and looked at it quizzically. "Did you take up counterfeiting while I was gone, Dad? This twenty looks like monopoly money."

Jack laughed shortly. "They changed the money while you were gone. "

The money was quickly forgotten as two women came out of the house and walked quickly towards them. John held is arms out and the one with the blonde ponytail ran into them, He picked her off her feet as he hugged her. Aeryn didn't waste a microt being jealous- the resemblance between them was obvious and she knew this had to be one of his sisters. the other one, the one with the brown curly hair, approached Aeryn.

"Hi, I'm Sharon,' she said, sticking out her hand.

"Aeryn,' said Aeryn, shaking hers.

"I am very pleased to finally meet you and you're going to have a baby, aren't you? I can't believe it. I'm going to be an Aunt. We're going to be Aunts,' she said, addressing the other woman.

"I'm already an Aunt, Sharon. I'll be an aunt again."

"Oh, gosh," Sharon said," This is just too cool." she stood beaming at Aeryn for a moment and then wrapped her arms around her and hugged her.

"John?" Aeryn said, panicked.

"Hey," John said, letting his sister down and prying Sharon away from Aeryn. "Don't you have a hug for your brother?"

Unfortunately this didn't help Aeryn as Beth took Sharon's place, hugging Aeryn tightly. Aeryn looked at John with the long suffering look of a cat in a four year old's arms.

"Why don't you give Aeryn a break, guys," John said, smiling and with his arm draped around Sharon's' shoulders.

"Come on,' Beth said, taking Aeryn by the arm. "We have everything set up in the backyard. I have a million things to ask you...oh, only you can't..well, I'll just ask yes or no questions."

Aeryn shrugged and went along with her, but she cast a a horrified look back at John over her shoulder as she was led away. John waved her on and looked at his sister. "I guess we better get those steaks. Aunt Ruth didn't make jello , did she?"

A short while later Aeryn and John were staring at the aforementioned jello. John had lead Aeryn through the process of loading her plate from the buffet table and putting condiments on the burger.

"You don't have to eat it if you don't want to, Aeryn. Aunt Ruth's special jello is um...interesting."

Aeryn leaned closer and whispered, "She made a point of telling me about it. Wouldn't it be rude?"

"Just put it on your plate an pretend to eat it. That's what I do," John whispered back. He spooned up a portion of the green stuff with strange things floating around in it and put it on his plate, then did the same for Aeryn.

"It is dead, isn't it?" she asked, watching the way it quivered on her plate.

John snorted and grinned as he watched her poke it gingerly with her fork. "It looks harmless, " she said. "It can't be any worse than the green food cubes."

He winced as she brought the fork to her mouth. She chewed for a moment and then nodded. "Okay," she said with her mouth full. "I like it."

"Well, that'll make Aunt Ruth happy,' he said.

"Good, I'm glad you like it," A voice came from behind his ear. "Aren't you going to have some, John?"

John gave Aeryn a panicked look,. "Of course I will, Aunt Ruth,' he said, putting a portion in his mouth and making a production of chewing it. "Mmmm," he said. Aunt Ruth patted him on the shoulder and moved on. John swallowed quickly and said,' That was worse than I remember."

Aeryn smiled at him with her lips pressed tightly together, trying hard not to laugh out loud. John took a big swig from his beer and looked at her, his disgusted expression turning calm and contemplative. Aeryn became alarmed when tears came to his eyes. "It wasn't that bad, was it, John?'

"It just hit me. I really am home. No alien mind games. no Scarren mindfrelling, not one of the homesick dreams I used to wakeup from on Moya ..it's * real*." he said sounding surprised.

Aeryn put her plate down and placed her hands on the sides of his face and gently pulled his face to hers, shutting out the rest of the people and the back yard at his father's house and everything else on Earth. "Yes. It's real,' she said quietly.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking deeply into her eyes.

"Yes," she said firmly.

He put his arms around her, being careful not to spill beer down her back , and held her for a moment. "We'd better go join the others." she said.

John tugged on Beth's ponytail when he sat down beside her and smiled across the picnic table at Sharon's husband and three year old son. He took Aeryn's plate from her and set it down, then gave her a hand as she sat down. She liked the table and bench- they reminded her of the tables in the dining area on Moya.

"I guess we missed the wedding,' Aunt Ruth said brightly.

"Um- Ruth,' Jack started.

"Or does your species not have that ceremony?"

"Silly human customs," Aeryn said, but she smiled.

Aeryn started a bit when she continued. "Or would you think it was silly?"

"She can't understand me, can she?" Aeryn asked.

John shook his head. "We had a ceremony, Aunt Ruth. I doubt that it would be legal here, but we are official now."

"We are?"

"All of your identification says Aeryn Sun Crichton on it." John looked at his aunt speculatively. "Has anyone told you what sex the baby is yet?"

"No," she said. "Do you mind?' she asked Aeryn, and then laid a hand on her belly. "It's a girl,' she said with an air of authority.

John nodded, in confirmation. "It's a family tradition, Aeryn. "

"Yes," Ruth said. "I was right about you, and your sisters, and Jason here, too. Sometime I'll read your tea leaves for you, dear. I have always wanted to meet one of you, you know. I know that there have been aliens among us for years, guiding us towards our ultimate destiny and helping us to evolve to a higher plane of existence."

Aeryn looked at John with extreme bewilderment.

"It must be nice to have your beliefs confirmed, Aunt Ruth,' John said gently.

"Yes, it is,' she said smugly, and patted Aeryn on the hand. Aeryn breathed a sigh of relief when she returned to trying to persuade Jack to eat more potato salad.

"You're not Uncle John," a small voice said. Jason, the three year old, was looking at John intensely with big brown eyes.

"He was very close to the ..other John," Sharon said.

"No, I'm not," John said. "I'm his.. You know what a twin is, don't you?"

Jason nodded.

"Well, I'm his brother. Except that my name is John, too."

"When my goldfish died and we got another goldfish we named it goldietwo," Jason said.

"Eat your veggies, Hon," Sharon said.

"He's a perceptive child," John said.

"It's a good thing we didn't try to switch the goldfish on him, isn't it?' her husband said.

Sharon shook her head at him over Jason's eye level. "Not my idea," she mouthed.

Aeryn stifled a laugh. She wasn't too sure how John actually felt about being compared to a replacement dinner. Or maybe it wasn't food. She had a feeling it was a pet, like Curly was. She was just wondering if she should go somewhere private to Comm the ship and see how he was doing when Crais's voice came over John's comm.

"Crichton!"

Aeryn and John immediately went on alert. The stress in his voice was unmistakable.

"What's wrong, Crais?"

"That- that- creature of yours. Come and get it off my ship now!"

"Curly? Aeryn asked. "Is he all right?"

"He has destroyed every pair of boots that I own !"

"Is that all, Crais?" John said in disbelief.

"No, he has also put holes in the the communications array panel, there's a suspicious puddle in the Pilot's chamber and he ATE MY PILLOW!"

"No, I meant, I thought it was something serious.."

"Oh, so you think it isn't serious, do you, Crichton, well, you'll think it's serious when I throw him out the airlock!"

"I'd pay money to see that.." John said, and started chortling.

Aeryn threw him and exasperated look and started talking to Crais. "Have you tried talking to him? Now, he's worried about us..he chews on things when he's worried and lonely. "

"What good would it do to talk to him? He doesn't have as much sense as..as ..Stark. Besides, he hates me."

"Well, " Aeryn chided,"if you were nice to him once in awhile..throw him a ball or something. Give him something to do. Here, let me talk to him."

"I can't He's hiding. Under the bed."

"Under the bed..." John chuckled.

"You didn't scare him, did you?"

"Well...:"

"You be nice to him. We won't be gone long. By the way, have you seen any Peacekeeper activity?"

"No, nothing. We are just flying around in circles watching the ship get dismantled." Crais said shortly.

"We won't be gone long,' Aeryn said. "Do you want to say anything?"

John waved at her. He was laughing too hard to talk.

"I'll talk to Curly later. But don't hurt him!"

"All right. At least you didn't bring that disgusting skulkie."

To the bewildered looks around him John just shrugged and said," Pets."

The rest of the meal went quietly. John kept pointing out delicacies to Aeryn and cleaned his plate twice. The only time she had seen him eat that much before was when they had eaten the keedva from the budong. The steak reminded her of keedva. She also liked the lemonade- it was an unusual tart flavor but stayed motionless in the glass the way a beverage should.There were some things she liked and others she didn't, but there was no way she could try out everything John wanted her to. She was actually relieved that the language problems keep her from keeping up her end of the conversation. It was easier and very interesting to just listen to what the others were saying and watch John's family interact with each other.

She decided the sisters were a lot like John- outgoing and talkative. His father was being a little more taciturn, and Sharon's husband was downright speechless. Aeryn was afraid that that might be due to her presence. For communication she made do with John's translations and some pantomime that she thought was quite good, but for some reason made John crack up.

The others started to clean up, saying that they needed to get ready to go see the fireworks.

"Fireworks," John said, his face mirroring Jason's. "Aeryn, we get to see fireworks!"

"First, we have ice cream," Jack said.

"Ice cream!" John said, in the same tone of voice he had used for the fireworks. Aeryn looked at him askance.

John spooned up some ice cream and pointed the spoon at Aeryn.

"I can feed myself, John," she said.

"It's more fun this way."

The spoonful was cold and wet. John was watching her carefully as she felt the eyes of scream melt in her mouth. Suddenly it was creamy and sweet and her face lit up. "Mmm." she nodded.

John looked smug. This was evidently the reaction he'd been waiting for. Aeryn grabbed the bowl away from him and took another bite. It was as good as the first. She swirled the ice cream around in the bowl watched it melting.

John touched her lip with his thumb, finding a drip there and wiping it off. Then he kissed her. "Sweets to the sweet,' he said in a low voice.

"Stop that," Aeryn said, looking around to see if people were watching.

“Or what?" he challenged.

"Or I'll have to drip this eyes of sgream all over you and lick it off,' she said.

John sputtered out pieces of chocolate chip cookie dough pieces. .

Aeryn looked around and looked back at John. "You're right, they can't understand me."

Jon smiled. "Whipped cream would be better."

"On the ice cream?" Aeryn asked.

"No," John said.

After another excruciatingly slow ride in the ground vehicle, Aeryn found herself on a blanket in a grassy park surrounded by John's family and earthlings of all shapes and sizes. People were talking quietly and sitting on blankets, flimsy chairs and their vehicles. Music was playing from somewhere- it was stirring and martial and the crowd had an air of anticipation. John was spraying foul smelling stuff into his hand and rubbing it over Aeryn's arms and neck, where her skin was exposed. Aeryn wasn't sure she even wanted to know what he was doing.

"You aren't supposed to use the stuff with DEET in it when you're pregnant," Sharon warned.

John looked closely at the bottle. "It's okay," he said.

"What *are* you doing?" Aeryn asked.

"Just making sure you don't get bitten," John said.

Aeryn looked at him suspiciously.

"Bugs. Insects. This'll keep them away."

"Oh. I can think of some times we could have used something like that.'

"What are they doing?" Aeryn asked. Jason had joined a group of children who were running around chasing little moving lights.

"They're chasing fireflies."

Aeryn waited for an explanation.

"They're little bugs with lights in their butts."

Aeryn give him a look of frank disbelief. "Do they bite?"

John was starting to answer when suddenly he stood up and helped Aeryn to her feet. She noticed most of the other people were doing the same. John's father was saluting, but what, she wasn't sure. She could hear someone singing in a very high and piercing voice.

"Star-spangled Banner,' John whispered.

They had barely sat down and gotten comfortable when something fast flew overhead at much too low an altitude. The ground was shaking and Aeryn had John down and was reaching for the bag he was carrying around with them when he stopped her. With most of her body and her arm across him he grabbed her and spoke into her face. "It's a flyby, Aeryn. Not an attack. It's uh..one of ours."

"Well, you could have told me," she said grumpily. She pulled herself away from him and sat up. she looked around to see John's sisters staring at her frankly. John's dad was making an attempt not to look, and Aunt Ruth and Mike appeared not to have noticed at all.

"The fireworks aren't - um..missiles. They look like incoming bombs but they aren't and they are loud," John said seriously.

"What is this celebration for?"

"It's to celebrate our freedom. Our country had to break free from an oppressive parent country and was formed on the ideals of freedom."

"You have a celebration for that?" Aeryn asked. She really couldn't remember John mentioning this before.

Johns father and sisters and even Mike and Aunt Ruth had some things to say about America and were enthusiastically sharing them with Aeryn, which soon degenerated into a small political argument which John dropped very quickly, saying that he just didn't seem to remember much about American politics anymore. The conversation was stopped by the first fire work bursting in the sky.

John was right. They did look a lot like incoming missiles or something, and she realized the loud booming was some sort of cannon. John pulled her down onto his shoulder and she soon became enthralled in watching them, and listening to the oohing and aahing coming from the crowd. It was quite spectacular.

"You like it?" John asked, looking at her shining face.

"Yes."

"Good," Aeryn could feel how relaxed John was as she was curled into his shoulder . How comforting and familiar it felt to be lying next to him on this strange world.

"This is the closest thing to heaven there is, Aeryn."

John made no move to get up when the fireworks ended. "Look, that's Venus,' he said, pointing. "And there's Orion."

"Is Orion another planet?" Aeryn asked.

"No, it's a constellation. A group of stars that form an outline- a sort of picture. See, those three stars? That's his belt. It's good to see you again, old friend," John said to the night sky.

Aeryn could make out the three stars but failed to see the outline he was talking about. What a strange idea, to see pictures in the stars.

'I don't see it. And wouldn't it look different at different times, or if you were flying through space?" she said. trying to figure it out.

"Humans have been looking at the stars for thousands of years, Aeryn. When you stare at something long enough, you start to see things you didn't see before. And you can tell time by them, or use them for navigation. It wasn't so long ago that we thought that the earth's position was fixed and they revolved around us."

"It must have been a big shock to realize that all those stars are suns and have planets revolving around them and that those planets are inhabited as well,' Aeryn said.

"It was to me. But Earth doesn't really know it yet. They don't know that there are strange forms of life out there- aliens and critters and all the wonders I've seen. For most of us, all they are are stars in the night sky."

Aeryn tried to digest this, to imagine looking at the stars and not knowing what was out there.

"Aunt Ruth knows about aliens,' Aeryn commented.

"Aunt Ruth is a kook,' John whispered. "She's making it up."

"How do you know she isn't right?" Aeryn asked.

"Well, I...I guess I don't. But some how I think the reality is a little different than what she believes."

"Hmm," Aeryn said."She was right about the baby."

"She had a fifty-fifty chance. Okay," John said, changing the subject," the three stars in the middle are Alnilam, Alnitak and Mintaka."

"Mintaka?" Aeryn said." Are you sure they aren't Hewey , Louie and Dewey?"

John chuckled. "And we make up stories about the constellations. Orion is a mighty hunter, and he gets chased by his archenemy Scorpius. That's a group of stars that comes from the East. When Scorpius rises, Orion sets."

"Scorpius?" Aeryn asked in disbelief.

"It's a coincidence, I'm sure," John said. "Some kind of microbe hiccup. On of the stars is named Rigel. too. Anyway, Orion rises again- a sort of resurrection- and takes his place in the winter sky."

"So what happens to him in the story?" Aeryn said.

"His betrothed, Artemis, goddess of the hunt, is tricked into shooting at a target over the sea because she is proud of her aim. It turns out to be him and she's devastated by her lover's death and places him among the stars. That's how he gets up there in the first place."

"I don't like this story, John," Aeryn said, frowning at him.

"Sorry," he shrugged. "*I* didn't make it up."

Aeryn realized that most of the vehicles were gone and John's family had packed up theirs. 'We should get up, John,' she said.

"Yea, you're right."

Sharon's husband Mike and Jason went home because it was already past Jason's bedtime, but Sharon came back to the house with the rest of them. The very colorful Aunt Ruth headed home as well.

Beth and Sharon started as soon as they all got comfortable in the living room, as if they had planned it.

"About those translator microbes..." Beth said.

"Yes. As funny as Aeryn's pantomiming a description of Jool was, we would really like to talk to her," Sharon said firmly.

"I told the girls that you told the NSA that you didn't bring any with you. they didn't believe it," Jack said, in a voice that implied that he didn't believe it either.

"You do realize that you would be able to understand all earth languages as well, don't you?" John said. "It's something that would be very useful for spying. I don't know if you really want the responsibility."

Beth and Sharon stared at him. His dad said, " John, how are we going to get to know Aeryn if we can't understand her."

John said," I thought you might say that," and brought out one of Moya's small emergency medical kits. He prepared a hypospray and said," One thing first. What does she sound like?"

All four of them looked at him blankly.

"Aeryn. I've never heard her speak her own language- it sounds like English to me."

"Well, " Sharon said. "It sounds like back masking. Like she's talking backwards, with some clicks thrown in."

Beth nodded agreement.

"How long does it take to work?" Jack asked, as John injected him.

"It works immediately,' Aeryn said. "Just a few microts."

"You're right," Jack said. "I understood that."

When "the girls" received their translator microbes, they reacted as if Aeryn had done something clever and had suddenly learned English.

'Oh, no,' Aeryn groaned inwardly. This was obviously going to be an occasion for hugging again.

She was right. Hugs and new introductions occurred all around. John watched them delightedly, then warned," They don't always work. Especially if there is no equivalent for something in someone else's culture. And Aeryn, you are going to have to be careful what you say from now on, " he grinned.

"What have I said?" she asked indignantly.

"Ice cream,' he mouthed at her.

She stuck her tongue out at him and returned to talking- if you could call it that when you could hardly get a word in- to John's sisters. Sharon went to the bookshelf and got a book full of images of John and his sisters when they were children. Aeryn was fascinated with the photos of John. She had a brief pang when she realized that there was nothing like this she could show John- maybe old surveillance tapes.

With one sister on either side, she got a guided tour through the Crichton family history. She quickly realized that they were taking her more or less backwards from the present day, and leafed back to the beginning. She stopped on a picture of a cherubic infant.

'John,' she called. He came over from where he was deep in conversation with his father to look at waht she was pointing at. He folded his arms on the back of the couch and looked over Aeryn's shoulder.

"That's what I want our baby to look like," she said with a radiant smile.

"No, no, no," John said. "then she'll grow up to look like me. It would be much better if Miranda looks like you."

"Oh, you have to see this one," Beth said. John groaned, knowing what was coming. There was a picture of the same plump baby, lying on a furry rug wearing only what he came into the world with.

"Doesn't he have the cutest little tush?" Sharon said.

"tush?" Aeryn asked.

"His butt,' Sharon explained, pointing at the picture.

"Oh, definitely," Aeryn said, grinning up at John wickedly.

John hung his head and sighed dramatically. "I'm going to leave you ladies to your fun, ' he said, with an air of martyrdom, and went back to talk to his dad.

"That's John, too," Beth said, pointing to a very pregnant woman standing beside a younger version of John's father. Aeryn was immediately impressed by how sweet they looked, their arms wrapped around each other. They looked young and maybe a little nervous, too.

"That was your mother?"Beth nodded, looking a little teary. "She was very beautiful," Aeryn said, "You look a lot like her."

Not too long later Aeryn called for John in frustration. She had narrowly missed scalding herself.

"John, could you help me with the shower? I can't get these knobs to work."

John climbed out of bed and showed Aeryn how to adjust the controls.

"After you get it the temperature you like, then you pull on this- see? Do you want me to join you?' he asked suggestively, letting his eyes roam over her very pregnant and nude body.

"I don't think the three of us would fit. It's a small shower," Aeryn said, smiling.

Some time later Aeryn came out wearing a bathrobe that didn't quite fit around her and drying her hair.

"You know, I need to apologize to you."

"What hideous sin have you committed lately?" he asked comfortably.

"Not lately," she said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "I'm sorry i wasn't more patient with you when you first- when we first met. I've been to a lot of different worlds- but Earth is *very* different and not at all like anyplace I've been to."

"Like a whole "nother universe. huh?"

"Yes. And everyone here has been very patient and - I just wish I had been different."

"Don't worry about it, honey. You were the only one who bothered to teach me about my new world. I couldn't have done without you."

"Can you do without me now?" she asked, smiling.

"Not a chance," he said, pulling her into his arms.

"This bed is very comfortable."

'Hmm," he said, from somewhere in her wet hair. "We should try it out."

"We are try- oh, you mean you want to try it out? What was that word- christen" Like we christened the rooms on Talyn? And Moya? "

"Most of the rooms on Moya. Moya has a lot of rooms. But we haven't christened Earth yet."

Aeryn pulled back a little, even though he was doing something to her earlobe that was making her insides melt. She thought maybe the amorous mood he was in was part of the strangely exuberant way he had been acting.

"You've gone completely fahrbotz, you know," she said fondly, running her hands over his back.

"You are so beautiful. The most beautiful woman on earth. "

"See? fahrbotz. I look like a landed leviathan."

He looked her in the eyes and said seriously," I love the way you look now. Your face is softer and your hair looks- fantastic, and you are curvy and round and incredibly sexy." He gave her a lopsided grin. "Not that I don't like the lean mean look you usually have, I just love watching your body change and I love the reason for it."

She stroked his face and was quiet for a microt, touched and overwhelmed by her feelings. "I love you. But, you know, it's getting a litttle..awkward."

"S'okay. We'll make it work."

Sometime later that night Aeryn found herself suddenly awake. She had a microt of disorientation when she realized that she wasn't on Moya, or Talyn, or in space at all. But Johns slumbering and lightly snoring form was beside her and she remembered where she was. John was sleeping soundly , she knew, the way he always did when he'd "made an effort,' as Rygel would put it. She was snug and warm, and still feeling the aftereffects from the careful, slow and surprisingly quiet lovemaking they had engaged in. It had also been surprisingly wonderful- she had enjoyed taking a less active role and had trouble believing that no matter how long they had been together there was always something new to be expressed between them, as well as the comfort of the familiar.

The reason why she was lying awake while John was sleeping soon became apparent when she felt another one, a mild contraction, only slightly painful but definitely enough to let her know it was there. She waited to see if it would happen again before she woke John. He certainly deserved his sleep. When a few hundred microts later she felt another one, a little stronger, she woke him up. He was awake instantly, even though he was sound asleep a microt before.

"I'm awake,' he said. " I'm up. Is it time? Baby time?"

"I don't know ." she said." I've just had a couple of contractions.'

"Were they like the ones you had before?" he asked.

"A little stronger, I think," she said. "What will we do if it is time?"

"I think we should go back to Talyn,' he said. "I don't want to risk a human doctor. And Jool would be very offended if we didn't.' he tried to say more lightly, not wanting to talk about the images they both had of what would happen of someone discovered that Aeryn and the baby weren't quite human.

"Maybe we're worrying for nothing," she said.'Your government already knows about us."

"Well, there's the press and the guy on the street to worry about, too. You didn't see alien autopsy. Listen, I can call Crais and D'argo right now."

"No," she said definitively. "Let's wait and see. I don't think this is it."

As it turned out, Aeryn was right. The twinges eased and John fell asleep waiting to see if there would be another one, his arms wrapped around her possessively.

When John awoke, Aeryn was gone. The nagging feeling of anxiety was relieved when he found her in the kitchen, leaning back against the sink, eating a cracker. With her hair down and her belly jutting out in front of her, the rest of her lean and sinewy, she was the picture of health and still obviously in one piece.

Beth was talking to Aeryn and for some reason Sharon was there, too. They sounded like they were talking about labor and delivery, Sharon describing her own experience in excruciating detail and Beth borrowing heavily from other peoples.

"Coffee!' he said excitedly. "Look, there's coffee!"

All three women stared at him and then returned to what they were talking about. "She was in labor for thirty-six hours," Beth was saying," and the teacher said it was a classic case of disproportionality.

""Don't listen to them, Aeryn,' Jack said to her dubious face when he came into the room. "They're just telling war stories, trying to frighten the new recruit. The easy births don't make good stories."

Just as John was thinking that his father was showing a lot of tact and very cleverly phrasing things in ways Aeryn could understand, he did something to change that thought.

"Besides, a big girl like you shouldn't worry. Hips like those, you should be able to pop out as many babies as you want."

"DAD!' Sharon exclaimed.

"Well, if your son weren't the stud of the Uncharted territories I wouldn't be in this condition." Aeryn retorted.

"She's shot men for less that that," John said emphatically. He was relieved that at least he didn't slap her on the butt, and not wanting to get into a discussion about Aeryn's comment.

"I have not!" Aeryn said indignantly before she realized he was kidding.

"Dad, your age is showing,' Beth said.

"We've come to steal Aeryn," Sharon said. "they need things for the baby and something to wear, as well."

"What's wrong with what we're wearing?" John said, happy to change the subject.

"Frankly, you're dressed like a couple of bikers."

"Well, we could always get a couple of hogs to ride," John said. Aeryn's shocked expression lead him to believe that the didn't even want to know what the translator microbes had said.

"You can't, son. They're expecting you both back at the facility. You scared 'em good yesterday. "

John poured himself a cup of coffee and took a sip. "AAAHhh, now that's good coffee," he said. "Tell 'em the mountain has to come to Mohammed, dad. My wife's going shopping.

There was a small pause. "But what are we going to do for money? I don't know where we can exchange a beryllium gold ingot around here. "

"That's really not a problem, son."

Before John could say anything about wanting to pay his own way, Beth blurted out. 'You're rich! We all are. You- the other you- patented several technological innovations you "invented" and we have all profited from it. "

"We are going to introduce Aeryn to credit cards," Sharon said with a gleam in her eye.

John groaned inwardly. As the women headed out the door, he said," Aren't you going to have some breakfast first, Aeryn?"

"I had some dried food cubes."

"No, honey, those were crackers. They aren't nutritionally sound- they aren't going to keep you going," he said, not knowing how to explain the food pyramid. "You should have some thing more substantial. He started rummaging through the cupboards, then poured stuff into Aeryn's hand . She would try a bite, then he would give her a bit of another cereal.

"I like this one," she said, when she got a handful of Lucky Charms.

"Well, at least it's fortified," John said dubiously, looking at the box.

"Good grief, John, you're a pickier mom than I am," Sharon said. " I let Jason eat that stuff.'

"Are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" he asked as she was eating her bowl of cereal.

"I have been shopping without you before, John. We'll be fine. "

The fourth time John called Sharon's cell phone he got no answer. The first three times she had assured him that they were all fine, but he was still worried. Finally he commed Aeryn.

"John, what are you doing?"

'I just wanted to make sure-"

"I'm fine," she said irritatedly. "No problems. I'm not in labor, I haven't seen any critters or godlike aliens or even been looked at funny, okay?"

John could hear giggling in the background. "Where are you?"

"Um..a dressing room."

"She's trying on stuff,' Beth giggled " and she keeps asking, ' does this come in black?"

"And she wants it in leather."

And then she says she really doesn't need anything for herself, and wants to know why we can't haggle with the shopkeepers"

"And we can't keep her out of the men's department."

"What's wrong with shopping in the men's department?" Beth asked indignantly. "I shop in the men's department."

"They don't have maternity clothes in the men's department," Sharon said patiently. "And you can't just get something that's extra large, it will be too short in front and it won't hang right."

"All the baby clothes have little animals and flowers on them, and the maternity clothes look like the baby clothes. And then they said we should have a shower for the baby, and I said we have showers on Moya, and they laughed at me," Aeryn said in an aggrieved voice. "It's like having two of you around." After a moment of silence, she said," mmm..sorry."

"So you really are all right."

"Yes, John," she said warmly. "I'm fine."

"Here, Aeryn, I found something else for you to try on," he heard Sharon say in the background.

Aeryn sighed heavily. "I have to go. It better not be cute," was the last thing he heard Aeryn say.

"Sounds like the girls are fine," Jack said. John plopped himself down on the sofa and put his feet on the coffee table. He had gone into his twins' room long enough to find some jeans and a t-shirt.

"I think Aeryn might actually be having fun." John said.

"I thought she sounded like she was ready to strangle them,' Jack replied.

"That, too," John shrugged. He picked up the remote and started flipping through channels aimlessly. Channel after channel of shows, news, and commercials that meant nothing to him now.

"You know, I think it would be safe to have the baby at a military hospital," Jack commented.

"We brought our own doctor, Dad. I'm sure we''ll have time to get back if we have to."

"I am going to get a chance to see this child, aren't I?" he asked rather sharply. John looked up from watching the woman with the fake Jamaican accent who claimed to be able to read the future.

"I'm ..sorry, son. What i meant to say is 'have you thought about staying?' I think that Aeryn would do well here- if the translator microbes are causing her to have trouble learning English they could be destroyed- a low level dose of radiation, or maybe an antibiotic. "

"Dad- it's not just the language- it's everything. I'm not sure *I* would fit in on Earth anymore, and I came from here. I can't ask Aeryn to change her nature or give up her entire universe for me- I've already turned he life upside down more than once."

"You're right," Jack Crichton said with a sigh. "You didn't fit in here. But it's different now- you have each other, and you have to have a lifestyle that's good for the baby. Earth would be good for the baby."

"The first alien/human hybrid? She could get a part on X-files," John said wryly. "If not worse."

"John, things change. There was a time that a black man couldn't sit at the same lunch counter with a white one. When Earth begins to accept the fact that it's not alone, we will adapt to it. "

"Let's see how it goes, shall we? After we deal with he current situation, we can talk," John said, staring at the soda can in his hand. ' Dad, are you ..angry with me? For not coming home? I would have found a way to do it if there had just been one of me."

"No. A man's responsibility is to the family he creates, not the one he comes from," jack said firmly.

John nodded and relaxed back against the sofa. "I should call Aeryn again,' he said suddenly.

Jack smiled at him. "How about we play some chess while we're waiting?"

Aeryn was sitting on a blanket on a grassy area watching the people of earth playing and eating and interacting with each other. After a long morning of shopping and some food at the mall, Sharon had mentioned that she had promised Jason she would take him swimming and they had come here. The park was large and open and had clear fields of fire, and Aeryn was starting to relax after the arduous and irritating shopping trip.

"Why are there bars around it?" Aeryn asked, looking at the "wading pool", which was evidently not open yet.

"It's so little kids won't get in when they don't have a lifeguard there. It's for safety," Sharon explained, handing Aeryn an orange.

"Oh," Aeryn said, surprised. It hadn't occurred to her that the bars, thick and tightly spaced and taller than herself, were put there to keep people out- for their own good. It didn't look like even a child could drown in that depth of water, though. She looked down at the fruit Sharon had handed her and realized she had no idea how she was supposed to eat it. Sharon noticed her expression and took it back from her and started to peel it, then handed it back.

"You eat the inside, not the outside," Sharon said, performing the same operation on an orange she handed to her son.

The orange was good, Aeryn decided, if extremely messy to eat. She was beginning to think that all Earth food was messy and far too.. active. There was a large group of people of mixed genders and ages setting up a meal on a table like the one in John' s father' s back yard, making her also wonder if humans ever ate inside.

"I think it's a family reunion," Sharon commented." It's a beautiful day today. Hot enough to swim, but not too hot to play outside. "

"It isn't too hot for you, is it, Aeryn?" Beth asked.

"No, I'm fine," she said absentmindedly, watching a couple of kids chasing each other around with guns that she quickly realized were fake and appeared to be shooting water. The sheer amount of purposeless activity was amazing. There were children running around in circles and sliding down things and going back and forth and around and around on other equipment.

A small group of children were sitting at chairs around a table and appeared to be doing something more orderly- perhaps being given a lesson.

"What are they doing?" Aeryn asked curiously.

"it's the bookmobile from the library," Sharon said. "They come out in the afternoons during the summer. They have some activities for kids and they check out books. There are free lunches over there-" She said, indicating a building to their left." two dollars for adults, but they're usually just peanut butter sandwiches and greasy pizza."

Aeryn also saw a young couple walk by holding hands, and a group of men bouncing a ball on pavement and throwing it at a target. "That's basketball!' she said triumphantly.

"Yup! they're playing basketball!' Jason said, having understood something Aeryn said.

"John told me about it, and there it is," Aeryn said.

"I guess its like Fodor's," Beth laughed. "It doesn't make sense until you actually get there."

'Mom, i wanna go play."

"Sure, hon, just don't go too far," Sharon said.

"Do all children need to play this much?" Aeryn said, not sure how to express what she meant. "I didn't do this growing up- everything we did was um..for training, or learning something."

"Well, playing is how children learn. They need some free time. "Sharon said. "It's good for them, and besides they'll drive you nuts if they don't get to release some energy once in awhile."

"They look happy," Aeryn observed.

"I'll bet your glad the baby isn't going to be raised a Peacekeeper." Beth said sympathetically.

"That was never an option. Not only do Peacekeepers control reproduction, they don't suffer half-breeds to live. They would just kill her," Aeryn said calmly. She could tell immediately from the expressions on their faces that she had said something shocking.

"I'm sorry," she said awkwardly.

"it's okay," Sharon said, and reached over and patted Aeryn's tummy as if she were afraid he baby might have been frightened by what she had just heard.

"You know, " Beth said quickly to change the subject, "I'm studying to be a doctor but I really want to be a xeno biologist. I can't wait to find out what's out there when we get into space. I hope some of it is more alien than you, ' she grinned at Aeryn.

"Oh, it is," Aeryn said, smiling back.

"Yeah, Johns not the only Crichton with stars in his eyes," said Sharon.

"Like you don't?" her sister retorted.

"I've already had my day in the sun," Sharon said. "i was a figure skating champion . I did pretty well."

"She has the gold medals to prove it," Beth said proudly.

"But that's over and I am perfectly content to stay home and have a couple of kids. Maybe I'll go into coaching later- poor mom had to drive me miles every day to get to practice. I could open up my own place. Are you going back to work after your baby is born?'

While Aeryn was trying to come up with an answer that made sense in her world, Beth interrupted. "Sharon, don't you start. Let's not introduce Aeryn to the Mommy wars."

That was a statement that Aeryn couldn't even picture. She thought for a moment while John sisters bickered.

'What concerns me," she said finally," is that I don't know very much about babies. Everything that I was taught when I was growing up was wrong. How do I know if I can be a good mother?"

"All new moms feel like that," Sharon said,"It's perfectly normal."

Aeryn looked over at her and smiled slightly. "I am very glad I have John. I couldn't do this without him."

"He'll make a great dad," Beth said. "He was a nice big brother. Sharon, do you remember when he taught me to ride a bike?"

"And mom got mad because he took your training wheels off without telling her?"

With that they were off and reminiscing and Aeryn didn't have to do anything but listen. Beth and Aeryn elected to stay on the blanket when the wading pool opened, Sharon explaining that a parent had to be there at all times. Beth peppered Aeryn with questions about different alien races while they watched the children playing in the water and running through the fountains shooting in the air. Aeryn was surprised to see Sharon speak sharply to Jason and make him sit on the edge of the pool for a time. He had taken a boat away from a smaller child and his mother intervened when the other child started to cry.This was something completely outside her experience- she could not remember a time during her childhood where the strong were not allowed to prey on the weaker. She was equally surprised to see the younger child voluntarily give Jason a turn with the coveted toy after his period of being disciplined.

She was about to comment on this to Beth when Beth suggested that they sit on the chairs by the pool. They gathered up the blanket and bags and started towards the pool. Aeryn was distracted by a man throwing a disc-shaped object for an animal that looked remarkably like a tiny version of Curly, when a hand touched her elbow. She responded by jabbing her elbow back, attempting to hit whoever had snuck up behind her. She aborted the move as soon as she saw her assailant, an elderly female with gray hair wrapped around her heard and smaller in statue than Chiana.

"I'm sorry," Aeryn said. "I hope I didn't frighten you."

"You don't speak English? She doesn't speak English?"' The woman said. "I just wanted to ask her when the baby was due. That's a very peculiar language." the woman was shaking her head, not really believing her ears.

"She's due in a couple of weeks," Beth answered for her. "She speaks Xosa." Beth then turned to Aeryn and spoke in a brief spate of nonsense syllables, with clicks thrown in.

"That's the funniest thing I've ever heard," Aeryn said with a straight face.

"Tell her she has my best wishes for the baby," the woman said very loudly.

Beth repeated the performance.

"Thank you." Aeryn said, and for no reason that she could understand the woman hugged her quickly and patted her abdomen briefly.

After the woman left, Beth broke out in giggles. Before long they had both kicked off their shoes and were splashing in the pool with the kids, Aeryn spending quite a bit of time throwing a ball back and forth with a small blonde boy. It seemed like only a small amount of time before Sharon announced that it was time to go back to the house.

"And see Uncle Johntwo?"

"Yup,' Sharon said, swinging Jason up by his arms.

As it turned out, he didn't get to play with UncleJohnTwo. A war council was already going on at the house when Aeryn got there. The large dining room table had many people around it, some of them familiar to Aeryn and some she had never seen before. D.K. was there - he gave Aeryn a brief smile when she came in.

"Hi, honey, you look nice,' John said, passing approval on the sleeveless maternity shirt, of the same dark green that she favored, and the jeans she was wearing. "You did something, different with your hair, didn't you? I haven't seen it that way before."

Aeryn put a hand up to where her hair was piled softly on her head, and touched it a little self-consciously. "Your sisters were playing* with it."

"I like it."

"They wanted to curl it," Aeryn said in alarmed tones.

'I think it would look good curly. Of course, you would look beautiful no matter what."

"Uh..John- I think these people would rather continue with whatever you were doing- they can't possibly be interested in my hair." Aeryn was aware that all eyes in the room were turned to her- she knew she was the object of intense curiosity despite her new earth like appearance.

"Tannot root," Dk said. "We were talking about tannot root. We can duplicate the pulse rifles and pistols but we have no energy source on earth powerful and concentrated enough to power them with."

John was shaking his head as he pulled a chair out for Aeryn. "If you think heroin or crack is a problem, just wait till you see what that stuff can do to people. "

"Son, If we need to have chakan oil to power the "ray guns" then its worth the risk." John's father added.

"You aren't' thinking about this the right way at all, " John said emphatically. "We don't need to duplicate the weapons the Peacekeepers have- we need to figure out what their weaknesses are and use our strengths against them. Pulse weapons were undoubtedly designed to make an effective weapon that won't punch a hole on your hull- these people live on space ships. I doubt Peacekeeper armor would withstand an old-fashioned shotgun blast." he looked over at Aeryn. Aeryn didn't confirm what he said- she had no idea what a shotgun blast was.

"Projectile weapon. No little yellow bolts of light- a piece of metal moving very quickly and hitting with great force."

Aeryn nodded, considering. "The qualta blade can blast through Peacekeeper armor. Are you talking about that kind of force?"

"Maybe. We should test it out," John said. He addressed the room at large again. "What you are also failing to take into consideration is that the Scarrens are likely to be the larger threat eventually, and the Peacekeeper weapons are extremely ineffective against them."

"Squirt guns,: Aeryn said suddenly. From the attention she was getting from around the room, she knew they had understood what she said. "With..something cold in them..some liquid,' She finished, speaking to John. She really hadn't thought very far- the idea had just come to her.

"Liquid oxygen? Better yet, nitrogen. That's a good idea, Aeryn." he addressed the room. "The Scarrens don't do well with cold, and they have very thick, impenetrable skin, but it could be frozen and shattered."

"But what about the immediate threat? If the Peacekeepers come through, can you handle them?" someone asked.

"Yes," Aeryn said. "Talyn can. Now that he's fully grown, he could destroy a command carrier easily. He has twice their range, massive firepower, and he's far more maneuverable. An entire armada would prove to be a little more difficult, only because he can't be everywhere at once. "

John translated for her. Some sighs of relief were heard around the room.

"What do you think our chances would be if you weren't here? How would Earth do against your people?"

Aeryn hesitated for a microt. She wasn't sure she liked the "your people" comment, and she knew they wouldn't like what she had to say.

"They aren't her people," John said firmly." She hasn't been a Peacekeeper for a very long time."

The man mumbled an apology.

"A single command carrier could take control of this planet," Aeryn said, John translating.

"You have * got * to be kidding,' someone blurted out.

"No. I've seen it before. Form what I've seen of Earth, it wouldn't be difficult. A command carrier has enough power in their frag cannons to level cities, the prowlers to take air control, and the ground troops to subdue the population."

"Command carriers are floating cities," John added. " Fortresses in space. Self-contained, like they were their own planets. Its hard to picture how big they really are."

A moment of stunned silence followed this statement. D.K. broke it by saying," I think, at this point, what we really need- is pizza."

John volunteered to order the pizza. After thinking for a microt, he dialed the number from memory and ordered a large deluxe and a meatlovers and a vegetarian. Then he turned around and asked," What do you guys want?"

After the pizza and a lot of discussion about weapons and military technology, John and Aeryn and jack and DK were left with a lot of empty pizza boxes and styrofoam cups. Beth came out of hiding to help them clean up, and then they retired to the living room.

"Weren't you exaggerating Talyn's abilities, Aeryn?" John asked, sitting beside her on the couch.

"No,but maybe I was thinking of the best possible scenario," she admitted. "blowing them away when they first come out of a wormhole."

"Your ankles look puffy," John observed.

"They are swollen," she said. " And my feet hurt."

John pulled her feet onto his lap and started unlacing her new tennis shoes.

"I think you were also wrong about what it would take to win a ground war,' Jack said. "the Peacekeepers can't possibly have the troops necessary to take over billions of people all over the world."

"Most worlds surrender after they melt the command centers into slag," Aeryn said, from her reclining position on the sofa.

"I have to disagree with you, too, honey," John said, rubbing her foot gently. "Earth wouldn't. We may not look like much, but we would fight. There's a long history of resistance to invasion by foreign powers for most countries- and this is about as foreign as you can get."

Aeryn sighed happily." You can disagree with me all you want, as long as you keep doing what you're doing to my feet."

"John's right," jack said. "There would be resistance down to the last man, woman, and child on Earth."

"With what? You don't even carry guns."

"Just because we don't carry them doesn't mean we don't have them, or know how to use them. Americans, in particular, are a peace loving people who like nothing more than a good fight." John's father said.

Aeryn tried to imagine the people that she had seen that day carrying guns against Peacekeeper troops. Men, women and children. Noncombatants- techs, essentially.

"You mean, you're all like John?" she said, squinting her eyes at John's dad.

"Enough of us," Jack said, and launched into a long story about the French resistance during World War Two, which DK interrupted.

"I only want to know one thing," he said. "How come I didn't get any frelling translator microbes?'

After DK got translator microbes and a profuse apology for having been forgotten, Aeryn left them to their own devices. By the time John got to their bedroom she was dressed in a new nightgown and sprawled across the bed, reading.

"What ya got there, hon?"

"I found training manuals with instructions and pictures,' she said smugly.

"For what?" he asked. "Hueys? cars? what?"

She tossed a copy of What to expect When You're Expecting towards him.

"Oh,' he said," Babies." He sprawled out beside her and started leafing through the book.

"Dad started talking about us staying again," he said.

"What did you say?" she asked, lost in the vagaries of nipple confusion.

"I told him we had a vorlag, and I didn't think we could find a yard big enough."

"Hmm," she said. Aware that he was being ignored, he started pulling her hair loose from its moorings. She batted him away, but he persisted.

"I thought you liked it. If you like it that way, why are you taking it down?"

"Because it's there. That nightgown is pretty."

"Thanks,' she said offhandedly. "I bought one you would like better."

"Oh? Can I see it?"

"No,' she said promptly." Not until I can fit into it."

John gave up on pestering her and became interested in the reading material. He was interrupted when Aeryn said," Oh! Is that a babbit?"

He saw that she had abandoned the baby books and moved on to children's literature.

"No. That's a stuffed one. Here-" he said, tuning to the back of the book."This is a real one. A drawing of a real rabbit."

"What do rabbits have to do with sex?" she asked, wondering what John had meant when he had compared their sex lives to that of the small furry creature in the book.

"They make lots of little bunny rabbits,' he said.

"Like us?" she grinned.

"Yes,' he said, rubbing her nose with his, " like my wonderful babysun and Mamasun."

"Why do you call her that?" Aeryn asked curiously. "Your names are patrilineal, shouldn't she be baby Crichton?"

"No. You are the Sun, the moon and the stars to me- you are the sun, and this poor earth man revolves around you...that makes her the babysun."

Aeryn moved the short distance between them and kissed him sweetly. She broke it off before it became very serious, to Johns slight disappointment. Looking deeply into her eyes, he said huskily," I know what I want."

Before Aeryn could protest that she wasn't sure she was in the mood , he finished," Food. I'm hungry."

"You are not hungry. You can't keep eating like this, you'll get as big around as I am."

"Oh, that would be big," he deadpanned. As her eyes flashed at him, he pulled on her hand. "C'mon- let's go shopping."

"I have been shopping all day."

"Grocery shopping. It'll be fun," he said, tilting his head and smiling at her.

"Okay," she said, relenting. "Let me get something on."

Aeryn quickly threw on a scoopneck shirt and a pair of short maternity overalls, only to find John smirking at her.

"I thought you weren't going to get anything cute,' he said.

"This is not cute. It's practical. Sharon said it was a tough material and it washes easily."

"It's cute."

Aeryn scowled at him as he grabbed the keys from the bedside table.

The first impression Aeryn had of the store was not good.

"What does the name mean? The wiggly pig? That doesn't have anything to do with that remark you made in your dad's kitchen this morning, does it?"

"What did I say?" John asked, bewildered.

"You know what you said." Aeryn answered. She was distracted from the conversation by the overwhelming sights, sounds and smells of the grocery store.

John grabbed a metal cart and started wheeling down the store, greeting containers of food like they were old friends.

"Oh, look, Keebler elves," he said, grabbing packages and throwing them into the cart. "I never thought I'd see those guys again. they make great cookies."

Aeryn looked at him like he was nuts, and was glad that the store was largely deserted at this hour.

Stacks of potato chips followed the cookies,. along with some boxes of crackers. Aeryn was astonished by the variety of Potato chips alone.

"Why are there so many different kinds of potato chips?"

"Well, all the different companies want you to buy theirs , so they try to come up with something different. It's a dog eat dog- uh, never mind."

"Are they an important part of a human diet?" Aeryn asked, watching the pile grow bigger.

"Nope. They're really bad for you- they just taste really good. Oh, yeah, condiments,' John said, picking up bottles of ketchup and tossing them in. He paused for a moment after the bags of chips crunched under the condiments and rearranged the contents of the cart.

"You know, Aeryn, food doesn't just feed the body, it feeds the soul," he said philosophically, throwing in jars of mustard, yellow, gray and stone ground. "It's entertainment and comfort, too. Honey!"

"Yes?" Aeryn said, turning around from where she was examining a jar that claimed to have "real" mayonnaise in it, whatever that was.

"No. I mean, honey. You remember when you asked me why I called you insect vomit?"

"You said it was because it was sweet," she said skeptically. Sweet was the last thing she thought of herself as.

"Well, stick out your tongue."

Aeryn complied, and John squeezed a strangely shaped bottle until a few drops of something incredibly sweet were on her tongue. Then his mouth was on hers and he kissed her leisurely, obviously enjoying the taste.

"Does that remind you of anything?" he asked insinuatingly, exaggeratedly wiggling his eyebrows at her.

"Was that a test? Do you think we might be compatible?" she teased, leaning in or another kiss.

"There's someone coming between us," John said, holding her in his arms.

'Not for much longer," she said, smiling.

"No. But then we'll have someone keeping us up at night and sleeping in our bed and wanting to be fed just when we want to get romantic."

"oh?" Aeryn said. She wasn't sure she liked the sound of this.

"Yeah, my mom used to say it was a miracle anyone ever had more than one child."

"Strange," she said dryly.'You didn't bring this up *before* I got pregnant." She looked at him for a microt. "After all we've been through, I don't think one little baby is going to keep us apart."

John kissed her nose."true enough," he said, and moved the cart to another aisle. When John declared the need for another cart, Aeryn just rolled her eyes. he was having too much fun to make him stop.

The last thing he picked out before going to pay for the food was in a can." We need this, to make real biscuits," he said happily. "You'll like them with honey on them."

"Is all this going to fit in the car?" she asked doubtfully.

"Sure,' he said, spotting the candy bars by the checkout stand. "Look, Clark bars!" He put the entire box in the cart, and then, rethinking, he tossed the bars out of the box and put it back on the shelf. "They might need that for restocking."

"Is it going to fit in your dad's kitchen" she asked, wondering what he was going to think when he found ten boxes of Lucky Charms in the kitchen.

'No, we'll take it up to T- to our house," John said, aware that the checkout lady was listening to them.

"The galley is already full," Aeryn said, watching the bleary-eyed woman totaling up their haul. "We'll have to find some storage for the nonperishable items. At least we don't have to worry about Rygel getting into the food stores anymore, but Curly has been known to-'

She stopped because she could tell John wasn't listening to her anymore. He was staring fixedly at a rack full of reading material close by them.

'I can't believe it. It must be someone frelling with my mind,' He said, picking up one of the newspapers and leafing through it. He stopped a few pages in and started a low cursing under his breath.

Aeryn more than a little puzzled and growing alarmed, picked up an identical newspaper from the rack. It was entitled Weekly World News, and had a drawing of a familiar face- cadaverous and covered with leather. Some of the details were wrong, but it was a good likeness of Scorpius. The headline blared," The Devil Stole My Baby!"

Finding the story she read:

In a part of Australia so remote that food has to be airlifted in during the wet season and women still have their babies at home, two year old Ronan Mcreary disappeared form his parents' home. His mother, Rose, claims to have caught a glimpse of a -

"Aeryn, look at this," John said. "The Chronicle says that the disappearance was caused by aliens, not the devil, and it ties it to the disappearance of a ten year old girl. Her parents were killed. What does that look like to you?"

Aeryn looked at the grainy photograph he was pointing out. She shook her head slightly."It could be a pulse rifle wound. If they know it's aliens, why didn't they tell us?"

'Nobody believes tabloids, Aeryn. And remember, my world doesn't-' he stopped as he suddenly remembered the checkout girls presence. She was looking at them rather strangely.

"The end of the world at hand?" she asked, looking pointedly at their carts.

"You could say that." John said.

John caught the large bag of peanut M&m's about to hit him in the nose. "Aeryn, it makes more sense for me to do the long range recon,' he said, putting the bag down on the counter.

"I'm better at it," she said , reaching into the bag on the table for something else to give him to put away.

"Your feet can't even reach the pedals of the prowler. And don't throw those, they have eggs in them."

Aeryn looked down at the carton and opened it. He was right. She closed it again and exhaled, trying to control her irritation.

"That's beside the point. Ever since I got pregnant, you've been treating me like I was a- an egg,' she said. "I'm not going to break, and long range recon has always been my* job."*

"Aeryn-" John started, then paused as he realized that his father and his sister had come into the kitchen. "Aeryn. Hypothetically, if something happened to a transport pod, and the baby and I were in space, who would you rescue first ? Hmm? " he said, as if he knew the answer perfectly well.

Aeryn snorted. What a ridiculous question. She wanted to tell him it was a stupid question, but she knew that wouldn't let her off the hook, so she thought about it carefully for a microt, biting gently on her lower lip. She was unaware that all of her emotions crossed her face as she thought. She wasn't happy with the conclusion that she came to.

"Yeah, well, how long can you breathe vacuum,' she said resentfully.

"About four or five minutes, last time I tried," John said casually.

"Besides, its a stupid question. The baby isn't even born yet."

"Exactly my point," John said, going back to the groceries, satisfied that he had won the argument.

"What's this all about, John? " his dad asked carefully. Beth was busy trying to take in the sight of a months worth of groceries in the kitchen.

John gestured him to the multiple copies of several different tabloids that were lying on the kitchen table. "The guy who gets the cover there is Scorpius, my nemesis. Think he'll make sexiest villain?"

"These are tabloids. Nothing they write about is true."

"This could be someone's idea of the devil, Johnny. It looks like Jack Skellington to me." Beth said, looking at the paper.

"Oh, I recognize him. It's not like I can get him out of my head." Aeryn gave him a sharp look.

"Besides, it's worth looking into. I'll be going up as soon as Crais gets a prowler here."

"John, wouldn't he be here on Earth? That's where the people were killed," Beth said bewilderedly.

"No. he's hiding up there, somewhere- whatever he wants, he's taking the sneaky approach."

Aeryn could tell from the way both Jack and Beth were looking at John that they really didn't believe that there was a threat. And maybe there wasn't, she thought. Maybe this would all turn out to be nothing.

"We'll take the rest of these groceries up to Talyn," John said.

Crais showed up on the Crichton family doorstep with his usual careful dress and neat grooming and stocking feet.

"Uh..I forgot about the boots," John said.

"I didn't," Aeryn said.

Which is how, after introductions, the man who had chased John around half the universe, condemned Aeryn Sun as irreversibly contaminated and stolen Moya's child ended up sitting on John's father's couch trying on boots. Not knowing what size he wore, Aeryn had bought several pairs of boots and he tried them on until he found a pair he was satisfied with.

"Did you have to be that nice to him?" John whispered.

Aeryn frowned at him with her eyebrows."It was our vorlag."

As John and Crais prepared to leave, Crais asked," What about you, Aeryn?"

"I'm coming up in the transport pod. With the eggs," she said pointedly.

After they had left, Aeryn went to the room they had been sharing and packed up the rest of their belongings. loaded down with bags, she passed by the room that John had been studiously avoiding since they had arrived. Curious, she went in and looked around. Her first impression was that it wasn't so different than his room had been on Moya. There were pictures of his family,and a dog, and a few items from Moya that she recognized. She spotted something on the wall that had her name on it. She sat down on the bed and tried to fgure out what it meant- what this piece of paper had to do with her. A voice came from the doorway. "This was his room. He stayed here, or at the facility. He wasn't interested in getting a place of his own."

She looked up to see John's father standing in the doorway. His face looked so sad that she didn't know what to say, and she immediately felt that she was intruding on some private space. She was about to say something about it when Jack crossed the room and sat down on the bed beside her.

"The girls and I decided to put aside our grief. We're going to have a memorial later. We didn't want to ruin this John's homecoming."

"That was kind of you," Aeryn said softly, still looking at the framed piece of paper. "I ..just wanted to see how he lived."

"He came home different. I mean, he still did what he thought was right, but his heart wasn't in it. He said he had to quit exploring- he had to come home because his guiding star was gone."

Aeryn looked up at him sadly. " I didn't want to hurt either one of them."

"I know," Jack had the same kindness in his blue eyes that John did, Aeryn thought. "The John that came home with you is the son I remember, Aeryn. You have helped him stay the man that he is. I thank you for that."

"I can't lose him.' Aeryn said. "Not that I think he's in any particular danger right now," she amended quickly. "But I couldn't take losing him- and I thought that if he died, I would be there, too. But now-" she shook her head.

"It's different when you have children," Jack said. "One of you has to stay alive to take care of them. But," he smiled," they also give you a reason to go on. I don't know what I would have done without the kids when Leslie died. You know, he talked about you and everyone on Moya all the time. He talked about his mother a lot, too. I don't think I'd heard him talk about her before. I think he must have known."

Aeryn pushed herself back a bit and rested her weight on her hands, taking a deep breath. She had been sitting too far forward and the baby was getting in the way of her diaphragm, making to difficult to breathe.

"I'm sorry it happened. I'm sorry we have to be here. We should have done a better job of stopping Scorpius before We tried."

"I'm not sorry you're here. I finally got a chance to meet you."

Aeryn looked at him sideways. 'I didn't think you liked me very much."

Jack looked at her appraisingly." Through no fault of your own, you are the woman who broke my son's heart and the one who took him away from me. But I am not an ungrateful man- I have had my son come back from the dead- twice- and now I have a daughter in law and a new grandchild- one I would like to have a chance to get to know."

Aeryn didn't know what to say to that. The thought that Jack and Beth and Sharon and even Aunt Ruth had a right to be in her child's life had not occurred to her before. She couldn't even fathom an extended family- it was difficult enough to cope with the idea of just her and John and the baby.

"I don't know what we are going to do after this., but thank you,' she said. As he got up to leave, she asked one more question. "What is this?

"It's a certificate. You send them money and- it means that there is a star named after you."

Jack, Beth and Aeryn loaded the car with groceries, books and assorted purchases. Jack looked a little surprised when Beth offered to drive Aeryn to her destination, but he didn't object. his good bye to Aeryn was brief- she thought that he must have felt that everything had been said between them. He did remind her that they wanted to know as soon as possible if she went into labor.

"He's trying to restrain himself, you know,' Beth said conversationally after they had been on the road a bit.

She expounded without Aeryn having to ask her to. "Dad. He thinks that you two are going to disappear on him. I guess I do, too."

"Beth- I don't know how long we will be here. It depends on how long we're needed.We won't leave Earth in danger. "

Beth nodded. 'You know, ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to know what was out there. The idea that there is life out there, *different* than anything we could have imagined here one earth, is incredible. Of course, after Johnny disappeared, there was no way I was going to get to train to be an astronaut. So I went into evolutionary biology- did you know that on earth there were life forms that were as different from you and me that they might as well have evolved on a different planet? And they all died out long before man evolved.

Aeryn shook her head dubiously. She realized that she didn't have the slightest idea what Beth was talking about. She was also having a hard time following what she was saying- her mind was on John and whether he was safe and if he had found anything and what kind of search pattern he was using.

"I was hoping if they had manned flight to Mars, maybe I would be chosen to go as the biologist on the very slight chance that there was even microbial live there, and-"

"There isn't any," Aeryn shrugged. 'The sensors didn't reveal any on the way in." Aeryn couldn't read what was on Beth's fair face- she looked a little disappointed, maybe.

"So when John came back, and told all the stories of all the amazing things he had seen, and now you're actually here, and-"

Aeryn looked at her, puzzled.

"I want to go to the ship with you," Beth said softly. "I just want to see it."

"Fine,' Aeryn said without thinking. She paused for a microt to think about it. "I don't see what harm it would cause."

"Good,' Beth said, beaming. "I packed a bag, just in case."

"Why didn't you ask John?" Aeryn asked, thinking she was missing some nuance here.

"I'm the baby of the family. They get- overprotective. They don't think I can do anything,' she said, suddenly sounding very young and rather plaintive.

Beth did a good job of helping Aeryn to communicate at the facility without letting anyone know that she could understand her. Aeryn's asking about Red elicited a vague answer about his checking something out in Australia. They transferred their loot to the transport pod and were soon under way.

Beth started out in stunned silence as they effortlessly escaped the earth's gravity. That silence soon gave way to excited exclamations about everything. Aeryn listened patiently as Beth kept saying wow. She smiled smugly at the stunned look on Beth's face as she saw Talyn for the first time.

"That is the most incredible sight I have ever seen," Beth said." No wonder it's called a leviathan. And he's alive?"

"Yes, he is. And he is an intelligent, loyal companion, like- a horse," Aeryn said.

Curly was the first one to greet them when they docked.

"Hello, Aeryn!" he said, bounding up to her and almost knocking her over with the enthusiasm of his charge. She grabbed a couple of handfuls of his fur to steady herself.

"Were you good, Curly?" she asked scratching him behind the ears as he sat on his haunches and wagged his tail wildly.

Curly hung his head. "I tried. Maybe I was a little bad. " He brightened up a little. "John gave me ice scream. He said I wasn't too bad."

"He did, did he? " Aeryn said in an ominous tone.

"Is he *talking*?" Beth asked. "He sounds like Scooby Doo."

"This is Beth. She's Johns' sister." Curly looked over at her with great big puppy dog eyes.

"Can I take a look at you?" Beth asked. Curly looked at Aeryn. She nodded reassuringly. Beth approached him carefully and looked closely at his eyes and into his ears. She kept muttering under her breath as she carefully examined the first alien- appearing alien she had met. She gasped as she opened his mouth and looked at the rows of razor sharp teeth.

"But what's really impressive are the incisors," she said, " they must be six inches long. And look at the gap between the teeth," she said, measuring them with her fingers. Curly squirmed and looked at Aeryn nervously. She patted him reassuringly.

"The gap between the teeth of predators is an indication of the size of the vertebrae of the animals they prey on. He must have evolved to prey on something the size of a mammoth- or a triceratops.'

"Well, he's hell on boots,' Aeryn said.

“He certainly is,” Crais said grimly, walking in with D’argo.

“I have seen a vorlag take out a Scarren singlehandedly,” Aeryn said, scowling at Crais.

“I’m sure when he is a little more...mature, Curly will be just as heroic as L’ari,” D’argo said, coming in on Aeryn’s side. Curly thumped his tail happily.

Beth was staring in open-mouthed wonder at D’argo. “You must be the Luxan? I mean, you must be D’argo. John, our John talked a lot about you, but I had no idea..I mean, you’re so *big*.” Aware that she was babbling, she closed her mouth audibly.

“D’argo, this is Johns’ sister. Crais, I believe you’ve already met.”

Crais nodded. “John is still out. i just came in, and D’argo will take a turn at the search next.” he said, addressing Aeryn, and went into the transport pod.

“Elizabeth Crichton,” she said, and offered her hand. D’argo shook her hand, and didn’t seem to mind the intense way that she looked at him, examining his tattoos and nose and the rings piercing his collarbones.

“I wonder what those are for?” she said, gently stroking a tentacle that was hanging down on the bare part of D’argo’s shoulder. “I’ll bet they have something to do with equalizing pressure and that’s why Luxans can survive-”

D'argo interrupted her “You don’t want to do that,” he said, in a low and gravelly voice. ”They’re very - sensitive.”

Beth dropped her hand hastily, embarrassed. “Oh.”

They stared at each other in silence for a microt until D’argo suddenly said,” No. No heavy lifting,” and moved to take a medium sized shopping bag away from Aeryn.

“Heavy?” she said, incredulously.

“We can take care of this, Aeryn,” Crais said, his arms full of boxes. Aeryn opened her mouth to tell them how foolish they were being but she stopped when she saw the determined looks on the faces of all three of the males. Even Curly looked at her stubbornly, the handles of a shopping bag in his toothy mouth.

Aeryn sighed and turned to Beth. “Would you like to see the rest of the ship?”

Aeryn felt a glow of pride as she lead Beth around Talyn. She could tell that she was quite impressed by the now fully grown leviathan. It reminded Aeryn of when she first met John and he couldn’t get over the fact that the ship he was walking around in was alive. Aeryn gave a brief, sketchy account of Talyn’s history and an even shorter account that was the very long story behind the origin of Talyn’s pilot. Beth wasn’t interested anyway. She asked ‘ Ms.Pilot’ as John had dubbed her, many questions about the pilot species. On being told that they came from a world of tidal pools, Beth appeared smug and pronounced her a crustacean.

The introduction to Jool went smoothly, Jool being interested in how Aeryn was feeling and Beth keeping her hands to herself. Perhaps it was because Jool appeared more human, but John’s sister wasn’t as amazed by her as she was Curly or D’argo or the Pilot. Aeryn was sure that would change if she heard her scream, but she certainly wasn’t going to bring it up. Jool might decide to demonstrate. Aeryn was trying vainly to alleviate Jool’s hurt feelings over Aeryn having visited an earth doctor when Crais called them.

“Aeryn, we could- use your help. This food is very strange. We don’t know what goes in the freezer or the refrigeration units.”

“Well, put whatever’s already frozen in the freezer, and we’ll be right there. Time to see the galley,” Aeryn said.

Beth took over the job of storing the food, commenting, ”John must be glad they started making Clark bars again.” Crais and D'argo continued hanging around, showing no sign of having anything else to do, so Beth gave them instructions. Seeing that everything was under control, Aeryn decided to leave.

“I have some unpacking to do,” Aeryn said. “Are you sure you’ll be all right?”

“I’m fine,” Beth said, giving Aeryn the female version of John's boyish grin.

“I can show Ms. Crichton around,’ Crais said smoothly.

“Don’t you have to be on the bridge?” D’argo growled. “Besides, I’m sure Elizabeth would rather learn more about Luxans.”

“And *what* would you be teaching her about Luxans?”

Aeryn looked at them with her eyebrows knitted. “Don’t you remember what happened the last time you two competed for a female’s attentions?” she asked, not caring that Beth could hear her, too.

“Neither one of them got her,” Jool said, moving past Aeryn with a flounce of her hair. “And Beth and I were going to discuss comparative anatomy. She seems to have had an almost adequate education.”

“Maybe I should stay,” Aeryn said uncertainly.

“Aeryn. You had to put up with Aunt Ruth,” Beth said, laughing.

“Okay,’ Aeryn said, smiling back.”Comm me if you need me.”

Curly followed her out of the room.

When Aeryn got to her room she sat down on the bed. Suddenly she was so tired she couldn’t stay upright a microt longer. She laid down on her side and stroked her belly gently. Curly put his face up on the bed so that it was lying next to hers. she looked into his big brown eyes and kissed him on the nose and stroked his ears back.

“You glad I’m home, boy?” she crooned.

Curly whimpered and shut his eyes, succumbing to ecstasy.

“Yeah, me, too, “ Aeryn said.

Much to her surprise, she didn’t drift off to sleep but became restless again and busied herself unpacking and putting away the goods she had acquired on Earth. She felt rather than heard John come up behind her quietly and was not surprised when his arms came around her.

“I didn’t know you were back,” she said softly, relaxing into his arms.

“I told Ms. Pilot not to tell you. I was trying to surprise you. But you never jump or anything when I come up behind you.”

“That’s a very good thing for you,” she said crisply. “Did you find anything?”

“No. I checked out the asteroid belt and the Kuiper belt. I think I’ll check out the Oort cloud next.” he rocked her in his arms gently. “It’s amazing, tho, flying around in my own solar system. I’m seeing parts of the universe that no earth man has seen- except, possibly for me- the other me. i wonder if he brought any information back for NASA? If they even bothered to get readings and pictures or if they’ve spent all this time trying to catch up to the Peacekeepers?”

“I don’t know,’ Aeryn said. She knew if it was up to her they wouldn’t have wasted any time on useless curiosity. She pried herself loose and continued taking things out of bags.

“Anything interesting happen while I was gone?”

“No. Everything’s fine. Oh, look,” she said, pulling out a large round object.

“You got me a basketball?”

“Don’t be silly. It’s for Curly.”

Aeryn took the basketball and went into the corridor. John and Curly followed her, Curly’ eyes shining and his tongue hanging out. Aeryn rather awkwardly threw the basketball down the hallway. Curly ran after it, nails sliding and scraping on the smooth floors. HE retrieved it in record time, returning and depositing it at her feet. Aeryn looked at it helplessly, thinking that it wasn't worth it to try to bend down to get it, the basketball that was her front being in the way. Curly wiggled all over an shouted encouragement. “C'mon, come on!”

John picked the basketball up and threw it for him a couple of more times. On the fourth throw, the ball and the vorlag disappeared around a corridor and reappeared a microt later. At least Curly did. The ball was now a crescent shape in Curly’ mouth. “Sorry ‘ He said around it, and took it off in a corner and started gnawing on it’s deflated remains.

“Well, it lasted longer than they usually do,” Aeryn shrugged.

“I can’t believe you bought him a basketball and didn’t get me one. That is one spoiled vorlag.”

Aeryn felt a little guilty. “We can get you one when we take Beth back,” she said.

“What do you mean, when we take Beth back?”

Aeryn squinted her eyes at him. The note of warning in his voice puzzled her.

“You mean Beth is here, on Talyn?”

“She wanted to see the ship,” Aeryn shrugged.

“Don’t you think you should have asked me first, before dragging her up here in harms’ way?”

Why should I ask you?” Aeryn asked incredulously.

“Because- she’s my sister.”

“Well, she’s my - my “

“Sister-in-law” John provided for her.

“And I think it’s perfectly safe. You thought it was the safest place for the baby and me to be.”

“That’s different. I'm worried about what could happen to you on Earth. She’s perfectly safe on earth- but Beth’s a liability here. Remember what I was like when I first came through the rabbit hole?”

“And you don’t think I can handle it?” Aeryn said, ominously. “You don’t think I can protect her, or make a rational decision. Do you.”

“Aeryn-” John stopped before making any obvious comments about her delicate condition.

“Fine. She goes back,’ Aeryn spat out.

“Look, I - I’ll take her.”

“No, I’ll do it,’ Aeryn said, turning her back on him and walking away.

Aeryn was still miffed when she and John collected Beth, but Beth came along quietly, acting very much as if she had expected this. Aeryn took her quickly, with very few words, to her Prowler. Beth said good by to everyone and climbed in, looking around curiously.

“Don’t touch anything,” John said.

“Don’t you want to take the transport pod?” he asked Aeryn.

“Too slow,” she said, climbing in and wedging herself under the controls, thinking that it was a good thing Beth wasn’t very big. She certainly wouldn’t fit in the Prowler with John right now. “I’m going to take her directly to your dad’s and be right back.”

“Is it still dark there?”

“It should be for a couple of more hours,’ Beth said quietly.

"Well, be careful,“ John said.

Aeryn sighed and grimaced at him. “We will talk when I get back.” she said ominously.

John leaned over the open cockpit and kissed her briefly.” Love you. Bye, sis.”

Aeryn was still fuming. As if she would ever put John’s sister into any danger. His protectiveness towards Aeryn was starting to get on her nerves. And it was becoming obvious that it was normal for earth people. He acted as if her brain had shrunk as her belly got bigger. Why, he didn’t even think that she could take care of herself, or put her own boots on. She paused at that thought. The truth was, she was having a hard time putting her own boots on. John was doing it for her every day. She hadn't seen her feet in weekens.

Shortly after they got under way, Beth started apologizing.’ I really didn’t mean to cause any trouble between you and John,” she said.

“Trouble?” Aeryn said. She would hardly call that trouble. The truth was, her feelings were hurt because she had been trying really hard- maybe too hard- to please John’s family and he didn’t seem to appreciate it. Far more calm, she decided that they really did need to talk when she got back.

“Don’t worry about it. I've noticed that being pregnant makes it hard for me to control my temper sometimes.”

This was an explanation Beth could accept. “Tell me about it. You should have seen the mood swings Sharon went through. And sometimes she didn’t have two brain cells to rub together. She had trouble finding her way to her own house.”

“I’m glad I haven’t had that symptom,’ Aeryn said, horrified. She took Beth’ statement quite literally and was nonplused at the idea of losing her excellent sense of direction.

“Oh, Look,’ Beth breathed, as they flew close to the moon.

“It’s not much to look at,” Aeryn said, amused. “There’s nothing on that rock.”

“Well, there is in one place.. The place where my father and other astronauts stood on the moon.”

“I know just what you're talking about. John had to look at it on the way in.” Aeryn said, as she flew close to the place they had done a close flyby before.

“You know, I wasn’t even born yet when we last went to the moon. And only a handful of people have ever set foot on it. It’s an incredible feeling knowing that your own father is one of the few humans ever to leave Earth.”

“Mmm” Aeryn said. It didn’t seem incredible to her, but she wasn’t about to ruin the excitement that Beth was feeling. She set the Prowler down a few yards from the only signs that this satellite had been visited before. Just some debris and a flag, and American flag, She recognized it from her time on Earth. This one was different, though- it obviously had some kind of rod or something through it to make it wave in a breeze that just wasn’t there. Beth was speechless, her face glowing. She had pushed her face up against the window, crowding Aeryn severely.

“Would you like to see it?” Aeryn asked, a little breathlessly.

“You mean- go out there? Don’t I have to be trained for that or something?”

“No. Just put the helmet on- I’ll show you how- and we’ll go. Here. this is how you communicate with it.’ Aeryn gave her a brief explanation. It was much more difficult to show her how to put the helmet on- Aeryn could barely twist around in the tiny cockpit.

Aeryn had not gotten into a Prowler without a suit since the day she had died. She had been in a hurry that time, but she was well aware of the fact that if she had been properly suited up she would have survived the plunge into the icy water. However, she discovered when she tried to zip up the sides of the suit that she was wearing loose and unzipped, the one that had been especially modified to fit her advancing pregnancy, that it had advanced beyond the modifications of the garment. At any rate, it wouldn’t zip up. She flattened herself out as best she could, pushing back against Beth, but it just wouldn't do it.

“Oh, frell it,’ she snarled. “This isn’t worth it.”

“We don’t have to do it,” Beth said in a very small voice.

“No, you go ahead. Just go, and come right back.”

“Why? is there not enough oxygen or something?”

“No. I just don’t want to get too sleepy to fly.”

It didn’t once occur to Aeryn that it might take an extreme amount of courage for someone who up until today had never been in space, to leave the ship without her. She simply closed her eyes after Beth left the ship, relying on the constant comments from Beth to let her know that she was all right.

“Richard Nixon. I’d forgotten about that,“ Beth said thoughtfully. “Isn’t it ironic that his name will stay here forever.

A few microts later. “There’s so much stuff up here. I didn’t realize we had left so much behind.”

“We could clean it up,” Aeryn suggested.

“Oh, no,” Beth said. “This is a historic landmark. We can’t change a thing- we shouldn’t even disturb the footprints in the dust.”

Aeryn smiled at that, wondering if humans were all this sentimental, when the marauder landed behind her. It landed so carefully that in the low gravity she didn’t even feel an impact tremor.

“Is Aeryn back yet?’