"Crichton." Aeryn shook his arm gently and went back to getting dressed. This was the third time in four days that she had to wake him up.

"Hmm?" he mumbled as he opened his eyes and saw Aeryn staring at him, happy and irritated at the same time.

"How the frell can you sleep so long? I mean, granted, we both didn't get much sleep last night, but I still got up before you. Why is that?"

"I like to sleep...a lot. You know, I don't get a lot of it anymore." he smiled and sat up to kiss her bare shoulder.

"I'm going down to the planet. Care to accompany me?" she smiled mischieviously. "You went yesterday with the the others. Show it to me."

"Is that a request or a demand, Miss Sun?"

"Is 'both' an acceptable answer?" She smiled again.

"No!" he laughed as he pulled her backwards on to their bed and quickly into his embrace. He nuzzled her neck softly as a tremor of pleasure passed through her body. She leaned in closer and he whispered, "You know why not?"

"Why?" she closed her eyes and listened to him breathe softly behind her. She felt his lips kissed her neck and gently and trail up her neck, across her cheek and to her own lips. He pressed his against hers lightly and as he pulled away after a few moments, he felt her catch her breath.

"Hmm." she said with pleasure as she allowed herself to kiss him again. "Does that mean you're coming?"

"Of course. I couldn't think of another way to spend my day."

She smiled amusingly as she went back to putting her boots on and whispered playfully, "That does mean you'll have to get dressed."

Aeryn watched him dress, still slightly amused that it took him so long. "You would be a turtle in race."

"A turtle. You should know how long it takes by now." he smiled as he pulled on his own boots and put his hand around her waist and led her to the transport hangar.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"I should find more planets like this more often." John said as they landed the Prowler and climbed out into a beautiful garden.

Aeryn looked around and was amazed at what she saw. He had been on the planet the day before with Zhaan and Chiana, but he told her nothing about it. //I never expected it to be *this* beautiful//

The sky was a light shade of blue with small pink clouds scattered across the horizon. There were high mountains in the distance, capped with bits of pure white snow. To her left; houses, built of bricks and the walls were covered with green ivy-like vines and hundreds of thousands of flowers in the yards; amaryllis, gentian, lupine and hibiscus surrounded the house and fence of every yard. To her right; the most amazing waterfall she had ever seen in her life. It was; at least; 1700 metras tall. The deep blue water fell over the edge gently crashing on the rocks at the bottom, making a sea of foam and the mist gently spraying the edges of the small lake that had formed at the bottom. Around the edges, millions of more flowers; not just the flowers she had seen in the yards, but also peonies, buttercups and orchids in thousands and thousands of colors ranging from the deep red of Peacekeeper decor to a bright purple that she had never seen before.

She turned back to Crichton with a look of wonder on her face. He smiled brightly and kissed her softly and whispered, "Chiana didn't even see this, I saved it for you." He picked a large peony flower and set it behind her ear. I wove into several strands of her hair as if it were never going to let go.

He took her hand and led her through the small town, still amazing her with everything she saw.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

For several more arns John and Aeryn walked through the town discovering many things that he had not seen the day before with Chiana and Zhaan. //It's like the people of this planet were holding back their wonders for Aeryn and me.// he thought as he led her up the stairs etched into the side of the waterfall.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Aeryn." John whispered after an arn of silence between the two of them. They were now sitting against the cliff of the waterfall feeling the mist lightly hit their faces as they enjoyed each other's company.

She titled her head back into his shoulders and closed her eyes. "Hmm?" She replied softly wishing he hadn't broken the silence. For the first time in nearly three weekens, there was silence. Lately, she had been bombarded with noise; Chiana and D'Argo fighting over nothing, Rygel accusing Chiana of stealing food, annoying him, or cheating at a game of Tadek. Even during the sleep cycle, Aeryn had caught John snoring softly or talking softly in his sleep.

"I love you." his voice was calm and soothing as he brought his arms from his sides and slipped them around her waist.

"I love you, too." she whispered, letting the words pass through her lips with every ounce of love in her. She felt an unusual amount of content in her as she sat on the cliff. //No one's trying to kill us for once.// She realized then how much she actually loved John. //Something I had been deprived of as a Peacekeeper-- true, lasting, loving relationships. The kind John and I have developed in three cycles time.//

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

They sat there the whole day enjoying the reprieve, company and silence.

When Aeryn fell asleep in John's arms an arn before sunset, he contemplated waking her up for the spectacular sunset or letting her sleep. He decided on the latter and watched the sunset alone, reminiscing of Earth.

After the sunset, he carefully picked her up, making sure she didn't wake, he carried her to the Prowler. Snuggled in his arms, he whispered softly, "Someday, Aeryn. Someday, I'll be able to show you what Earth is like. Someday."