He found himself in a modest sized field on a planet that had pale green skies with a forest of oddly shaped trees and plants not far to his left. A sun was already climbing the sky and another was about to rise over the distant horizon. He had a brief sensation of deja vu, though he was certain he'd never been there before. The feeling quickly passed, however, as a soft breeze lightly caressed his skin, bringing back memories of a past love's touch.

Standing there, smiling as he recalled her, wondering what she would think if she saw him now, he was startled to hear laughter coming from the direction of the woods. Her laughter, he thought, but that's impossible. He turned and caught a glimpse of someone in the shadows of the trees. "Hey," he called, but the figure just laughed again and disappered into the woods as he ran towards it.

He paused at the tree line, wondering if this was really a smart thing to do, since, after all, it was an alien planet, but the siren's laughter reached his ears again and he thought he could see whoever it was beckoning to him a short distance ahead.

Throwing caution to the wind, he ran into the woods and found himself drawn into a game of hide-and-seek, with the laughter coming sometimes from nearby and other times from far ahead, seeming to say, catch me if you can. Whenever he began to wonder if he should turn back, that he was getting lost, there would be yet another glimpse of the elusive figure, beckoning him on.

As he ran deeper into the woods, he began to hear another sound besides the calls of the alien wildlife, which scattered away from his path, and the figure's laugh. It took him a few minutes to identify it--water, no, a waterfall, not too far ahead, he thought. I'd better be careful.

He plunged through some low-hanging branches and suddenly found himself in a secluded clearing with a pool at the base of the waterfall he had been hearing. Of the will o'wisp figure he'd been following, there was no sign. He searched the clearing, but seeing nothing dangerous to him, he walked a little further in. He paused by the pool, staring at the water, which had begun bubbling near his feet, and stooped down to get a closer look.

Suddenly two arms burst from the water and pulled him in. Spluttering, gulping water, he desperately sought the surface and air. Reaching it, he began spitting out water and gasping, trying to get air into his lungs. He felt two arms entwine about his waist, and when he turned, he saw her...not his past love at all, but instead the woman who had occupied his thoughts more and more of late.

Aeryn smiled at John, and drew him closer to her, pulling his face down to hers, and gave him a passionate kiss. Startled, but not objecting in the least, he returned the kiss. He thought he heard a startled protest from someone but put it out of his mind.

After the kiss, he knew he had to tell her what he felt for her, and opened his mouth to say it. "Aeryn, I lo--uuff."

He felt a hard kick in his abdomen which knocked the wind from him. Coughing, he sat up in bed, hearing Aeryn's voice from the doorway asking him, "John, what are you doing?" The last vestiges of his dream evaporated as he realized he was clutching a struggling Rygel, who was loudly protesting such treatment in his ear, and getting in a few well placed kicks as well.

He quickly released the little monarch, who began protesting even louder, since John had dropped him to the floor. John, meanwhile, was spitting and wiping his mouth, trying to get the taste of the little Hynerian from it, while Aeryn looked on with a bemused smile on her face.

"How dare you lay hands on me! And to--to kiss me!" Rygel was wiping his mouth, and looked to John to be about to let fly with one of his loogies at him. "See if I ever do you a favor again, you, you Earpman! Next time I'll let you suffocate, instead of pulling the sheets from your mouth." Safely ensconced once more on his hovering throne, he floated just out of John's reach, and spat a loogie at him, which hit John's shirt, but fortunately missed most of his face.

Aeryn, by this time, was laughing hard at both of them, while the diminutive Dominar angrily hovered out of the room still ranting. "Well I didn't realize," she gasped out between laughs, "that you were so fond of Rygel," her eyes twinkling in merriment.

"Laugh it up, Aeryn." John said, but even he was beginning to crack a smile at the thought of what it must have looked like. He desparately wondered how long Aeryn had been at the door and whether she'd heard any of what he'd started to say (or even worse, if Rygel had heard any of it, because he didn't think Sparky would let him forget it if he did). Because no matter what, he realized he did mean what he had been about to tell her, though he wondered if he'd ever get the chance to tell her so. Someday, my will o'wisp, someday, he thought as he laughed along with her.