Originally posted 3/26/06Well, it's about time, eh, a new "Family Ties" fic.... If someone else had written this, Chiana would have blown back into their lives with a Nebari hit squad on her tail, and the whole thing would probably take place on the run, with lots of explosions and shooting, but, well, this is me.... It's NOT going down that way -- at least, not with actual
weapons.
Rating: PG
Setting: About 13 cycles after PKWars, six cycles after my "Family Ties" (and two cycles after "Special Delivery," so Nelja's two)
Spoilers: Through PKWars
Disclaimer: Not my characters (well, except for the kids), not my universe, no money being made! Just doing this 'cos I need more Farscape....
Many thanks to imloco2, shipsister, and MadScientist for beta duties, and to the Fluffy Bunnies for putting up with my whining and my questions! Special thanks to Auna for encouragement! (And thanks once again to ScorpSik for the fantastic drawing of young Pippin!)
This is long enough that I'm breaking it into the main post and the first reply. There's a "deleted scene" from the end of this fic that I'll post somewhere in the replies, but not right away, because while I love it, I really want the story to end where it does. It's better that way.
Reentry
Surveying the multifamily habitat in front of her, Chiana felt her stomach tighten as the anticipation she'd tried to suppress reasserted itself. He was here. He had to be!
It had taken her longer to track down Crichton and Aeryn than she'd expected, longer than she'd hoped when she left Nerri. The long search gave her way too much time to think, to remember. The sounds, the sights....explosions, and screams....and when it was over, the crying....
She set her jaw and shook her head, determined to repel the visions.
That was behind her now. It was frelling behind her, and she wasn't ever going back!
Focusing back on the building, Chiana confirmed that each floor housed only a single family, unlike the crowded places she had lived in over the past 12 cycles. She limped her way up to the second floor and stopped at the door to the Crichton family home – at least, it was if her information was correct. She took a deep breath and hit the access call button.
She waited fifty microts, and hit it again.
Still no answer.
Frell!
Her leg throbbed. She'd been on it too much today, working her way from the spaceport through the busy streets of the city to reach this place. She wasn't going to stand out here and wait from someone to come home. With a quick glance in both directions to make sure there were no witnesses, Chiana disabled the alarm and opened the lock in microts.
Once inside, she checked for additional alarms and disabled those as well, then double-checked each room quickly to make sure the place was really empty. There were four bedrooms, three of which appeared to belong to children of various ages. Very tidy children, apparently – nothing was out of place, no mess, no clothes on the floor – but nonetheless, children, 'cos the items neatly lined up on the storage shelves were toys and sports equipment. Not a pulse pistol in sight, she snickered to herself. The room with the youngest-looking dren had two beds. There had only been two children –
Three, whispered the part of her mind she was trying to ignore – when she'd last visited John and Aeryn, but she refused to speculate on why there were beds for four.
The fourth bedroom had to be Crichton and Aeryn's. The Spartan quarters "felt" like them, for lack of a better word, and she was sure if she took the time to search, she would find a pulse pistol or five in this room.
But it, too, was empty, and, satisfied she was alone, Chiana headed back to the main living area. Frell, this place was big! She carefully settled down in a soft chair and waited for someone in the family to come home....
* * * * * * * *
Chiana awoke to the sound of the outside door opening. Instantly alert, she was on her feet, trying not to sway, by the time Aeryn cautiously entered the room. Aeryn stopped dead in the doorway, right hand out in front of her as if she were holding a weapon, and her expression went from suspicious to relieved to wary, all in a fraction of a microt.
Long black hair, dark clothes, Aeryn didn't look particularly changed by the passage of time. The same probably couldn't be said for Chiana herself, not any more. She carried scars now, visible and invisible. Standing there, looking at Aeryn, Chiana was acutely conscious that it had been six cycles since she'd seen her old friend, since she'd entrusted Aeryn and Crichton with....
Can that dren! she told herself severely. She cocked her head to the side and said, "Hey!"
Still standing in the doorway, Aeryn shook her head in response. A smile just barely reached her eyes. "Chiana."
It stood to reason that Aeryn didn't normally enter her own home so cautiously. "You knew I was here?"
This time Aeryn did smile as she reached into a pocket in her pants and pulled out a small electronic device. She held it out to display a pulsing red light. "You missed a sensor."
Well, how about that? "I'm usually better than that. Guess I must be slipping," Chiana chirped.
Aeryn looked her up and down and seemed to come to a decision. She stuck her head out the door and called, "It's all right, you can come in."
There was something in the timbre of Aeryn's voice.... Chiana knew she wasn't talking to Crichton, it had to be the kids, at least some of 'em. This was what Chiana had come here for, and had been trying not to think about...the chance to see
her son again. Heart pounding, she watched as the children entered. First through the door was an adolescent boy about Chiana's height, looking way too much like his father. Wow! The teenager stopped dead when he caught sight of her. She knew he had to be D'Argo, and he was staring at her in alarm, but her eyes were drawn to the small black-haired child squirming in his arms. Her heart leaped, but she realized in the same instant that the child was sebacean, not nebari, and too young, besides, to be her boy.
Aeryn followed her gaze and drew herself up in full maternal pride. "That's Nelja," she said. "Our youngest. She's two."
"Spawning again, huh?" It was a stupid thing to say, but she was nervous, she wasn't getting the words out right.
Aeryn seemed nervous, too, and she shrugged. "Always room for another," she said.
"Mom!" A young voice came from outside, male or female, Chiana couldn't tell. "Dar's blocking the door!"
Chiana looked at Aeryn. "So, um, is that, um, Hope. Or, you know...." Frell! She couldn't even say his name.
Arpela. It shouldn't be hard.
Arpela. But as much as it echoed around in her head, she couldn't get the word out.
Something indefinable in the way Aeryn was holding herself shifted, and her eyes softened just a little. Without answering the question, she shooed D'Argo into the room, taking her little one from him as he passed her.
Chiana's eyes were riveted on the doorway as two more children entered. She recognized Hope, even though the girl had really grown in six cycles. She must be what, 10 now? She still looked a whole lot like her mom, even with Crichton's brown hair. But behind the girl – whose eyes widened the microt she saw Chiana – was a sight that took Chiana's breath away: Her son. It had to be. The kid she'd left behind when he was just a tiny narl, only two weekens old, and who she'd tried hard not to think about all this time. He was bigger than she'd imagined, well, frell, he was six cycles old now, of course he was big!
His black eyes widened and he gazed at her in amazement. He flicked his eyes to Aeryn, and when she nodded solemnly, he looked back and squeaked, "Chimama!"
Oh, frell, he recognized her! Chiana burst into tears and turned away.
* * * * * * * *
Pippin was crouched on the floor in front of the sofa where Chiana sat, his arms wrapped around his knees. Aeryn watched her son with lead in her stomach. He was about a motra away from their visitor, and watching her intently. While Chiana had regained control of her emotions, Aeryn had sent D'Argo and Hope off to review their lessons as usual, but she hadn't had a heart to do the same with Pippin. After all, Chiana was his mother, or anyway, she'd birthed him, and she and John had done their best to teach him about her. It seemed they done a good job; he knew her right away.
Aeryn wasn't sure if that made her feel better about this moment, now that it was here, or worse.
Afternoon routine disrupted, Nelja wandered in and out of the room, and Aeryn kept a cursory eye on the little one. But her primary attention stayed with Pippin. The boy couldn't take his eyes off Chiana, but he was keeping his distance, still folded up with his arms encircling his shins. Aeryn wondered what that meant. But, Chiana wasn't making any moves to get closer to Pippin, either, so maybe that was something they had in common.
Why had she come, now, with no warning? The silence stretched, and Aeryn's stomach churned.
Chiana finally shifted a bit on the sofa, as if to shake off paralysis. "Wow," she breathed, addressing Pippin. She shook her head in amazement. "Look at that hair! Makes you look just like my brother Nerri!"
The 6-cycle-old unwrapped one arm from around his knees and ran sturdy fingers through the unruly black mop on his head. It stuck out every which way, and his attempts at "combing" only made it worse. But it seemed Pippin had his own ideas about family resemblance. "My hair is just like Nelli's," he countered, pointing at his little sister.
Chiana turned her eyes towards Nelja and gave the toddler an exaggerated scrutiny. "Well, hey, I guess that means she looks like Nerri too."
That actually won her a faint grin. "She's a
girl," Pippin said, in a tone that suggested she was deficient if she couldn't tell male from female.
Chiana grinned back, and Aeryn was just beginning to relax a little when Chiana got serious and said, "I'm really glad to see you again, Arpela. I've been thinkin' about you a lot, you know?" She reached her hand out to touch his fingers.
Pippin stared at her, head tilted to one side, apparently thinking, and then wordlessly got up and ran out of the room. Even without the words, Aeryn could feel the "frell you" vibes from him, and she saw Chiana retreat back into herself. Aeryn had no doubt that that stony exterior hid large quantities of pain and disappointment.
Appalled at her son's behavior, and aching for Chiana in spite of herself, Aeryn caught Chiana's eyes. "I'm sorry. I'll go get him," she said, starting to stand up.
Chiana shook her head and said, far too brightly, "Nah, that's all right. It's been a long time. He's got a right to be tinked." She shifted position again on the sofa, and winced in actual physical pain.
Taking the coward's way out, Aeryn let herself be distracted by something that was easier to deal with than the emotional morass that now threatened her family. "You're hurt. Do you need a medic?"
But Chiana waved her off. "Tomorrow, maybe. It's waited while I tracked you down, it can wait a few arns more."
"At least tell me what happened," Aeryn insisted, listening with half an ear for sounds of tears or anger from Pippin's room.
"Long story is boring," Chiana breezed. "Short story is, I took some shrapnel in my leg from an explosion."
"Is it infected? I've got some tanga root, I can go get it for you," she persisted, concerned despite everything.
But Chiana scowled. "I told you, it'll keep till tomorrow!" She pulled her legs up onto the sofa and wrapped her arms around them, much as Pippin had been sitting earlier, and settled her chin on her knees.
Torn between anger and fear, Aeryn clamped her jaw shut and said nothing. The microts lengthened into a long, uncomfortable silence. Just when Aeryn could stand it no longer, Nelja returned to the room carrying a plastic model of a prowler that belonged to Hope. Seizing on the distraction, Aeryn addressed the little girl. "That belongs to your sister, doesn't it?"
Nel grinned cheerfully and said, "Yes. Hope's pwowler."
Aeryn held out her hand meaningfully, but Nelja ignored her and headed straight for Chiana. She climbed up onto the sofa and settled on her knees facing Chi. Clutching the toy close to her chest with one hand, the little girl studied their surprise guest intently. Her scrutiny seemed to touch Chiana, who gave the child a soft smile, much to Aeryn's relief. In response, Nelja reached out and touched Chiana's gray hand. Nel smiled, and patted the skin softly, then looked from Chiana to her mother and back. "Pip-pip?" she asked.
What was it John said?
Out of the mouths of babies? Not daring to look at Chiana's face, Aeryn got a grip on her voice, which was threatening to tremble, and said softly, "Yes, Chiana is like Pippin," she agreed. "They're called nebari. Pippin grew in her tummy like you did in mine."
She would never know what Chiana thought of that, because, as if her thoughts of her husband had conjured him up, the front door opened and John entered the house. He stopped dead in the doorway, much as D'Argo had earlier. He stared at Chiana for a microt and then blurted, "Holy crap!"
Aeryn was very much afraid that said it all....
* * * * * * * *
Aeryn was lying on her back, staring at the ceiling, wide awake despite having gone to bed an arn earlier. John knew this, because he wasn't having any better luck falling asleep. He was lying beside her, on his stomach, one arm under his pillow, but sleep just wouldn't come. Chiana's sudden reappearance had rattled them both to within an inch of their lives.
John scooted a little closer to his wife, the mother of his children, and draped his free arm across her stomach in comfort.
She finally took a huge breath and asked, "Do you think she's come to take him?"
That was the $64,000 question, wasn't it? John thought back to dinner. For a reunion of old friends, there'd been remarkably little catching up. Chiana had obviously been exhausted, and in pain from an injury or three, and about the only thing she'd volunteered was that the Resistance had finally removed the threat of Contagion. As to what she wanted here, well, they still didn't have a clue.... Without removing his arm from Aeryn, he turned onto his side so he wouldn't be mumbling into his pillow. He cleared his throat and said, "Well, I'm no expert on Chiana anymore. She's breezed in here twice in, what, 12 cycles? But I don't think she knows herself. I think if she did, she'd'a said so, right off the bat."
"John, we can't just let her take him. We're the only family he knows." She paused. "He doesn't know her...."
"We won't, baby, we won't." But his stomach curdled, because there was one inescapable fact in this situation, and he knew he had to say it. "But he is her blood."
There was dead silence from Aeryn for long microts. Finally, she whispered, "I know."
His heart breaking for her as much as himself, he scooted over closer to her and whispered in her ear, "Let's not borrow trouble. Maybe what she needs is just to see him, see that he's okay. It looks like she's been through a rough time."
Aeryn didn't say anything, but she brought her hand up and patted his arm. That would have to do for now. They wouldn't do anything to push Chiana off the fence....
* * * * * * * *
In some fahrbot way, Chiana realized, she was actually glad that Aeryn had insisted that Arpel...no,
Pippin...go to school as usual, along with the two older kids. She told herself she musta been taking it as proof that he'd been folded into the family, which was what she'd wanted when she brought him to them, right? To know he'd be with people who would take good care of him? To know he'd be safe when she came back?
She didn't want to think about that right now, so after Crichton hustled all the kids except the narl out the door, she let Aeryn take a look at her leg. There was a wound on her left thigh that was healing okay, but the one on her calf.... She heard Aeryn's sharp intake of breath.
"Chiana!" Aeryn probed around the deep slash with careful fingers. They both winced as the angry blue gash oozed pus. "That must hurt like hezmana! It's infected!"
"It's not so bad."
Aeryn glared at her. "Well, you've let it fester for how long? Two weekens? It's beyond my skills to deal with now! You need a medic! It's a wonder you can even walk!"
"You're not my mother, Aeryn, back off!"
Anger followed by chagrin followed by amusement were visible in Aeryn's expressive eyes. "You still need a medic," she said calmly. "Unless you want to lose the leg. Or worse."
"I know," Chiana admitted, now that it was her choice. "You know any good ones?"
Aeryn nodded and went to make the arrangements.
They brought the narl with them, of course, they couldn't leave her home alone. She was actually kinda cute, and she even had her own special seat in the family transport. But she didn't talk much yet, and Aeryn had never been very talkative in the first place, and hezmana, it was quiet as they made the trip to the medic's office.
Aeryn must have felt it, too, because she finally flung a quick glance in Chiana's direction and asked, "Really, what happened to your leg? Is Nerri all right?"
Not that those questions really went together, but.... "He's fine. Nerri's fine," she said, leaving out the fact that she never wanted to see him again.... "We, uh, I told you last night we totally blezzed the Establishment on the Contagion. We got a cure and a vaccine, to every, every frelling planet in local space." It hadn't been easy, and if she did say so herself, she was frelling proud of it! "Frelling
no one is going to just roll over and be mind cleansed anymore."
"So, if your people want to take over the galaxy, they're going to have to do it the hard way."
"Yeah."
"Then," Aeryn ventured tentatively, "are you done? No more fighting?"
"No more fighting for me."
Frell Aeryn, but of course she picked up the slight emphasis on the word,
me. "And for your brother?" Aeryn asked.
Chiana didn't want to talk about it, but Aeryn wasn't likely to let it go without some kind of answer. Fine. She'd keep it simple. She jerked her head to the side. "That's how I got hurt. We got word that War Minister Pedrini was going to be on Acknar Prime. Nerri wanted to take him out. The raid didn't go so good, and I got hit with shrapnel." She stopped there.
Didn't go so good was a major understatement. Once again, visions of the explosions that had rocked an occupied residential complex, showering the whole area with death and debris, crowded into her head. Frell. She squeezed her eyes shut hoping to excise them.
Aeryn had the sense not to ask why Chiana wasn't still with her brother, hadn't had her leg fixed before it was a festering mess – for which Chiana was profoundly grateful. Instead, the former soldier simply pulled their transport into a parking area, and announced that they were there.
* * * * * * * *
Well, they were doing a little better than yesterday, Aeryn thought. They were talking a bit. Chiana certainly wasn't telling her the whole story about what had brought her here, now, and she still wasn't at all sure what Chiana's intentions toward Pippin were, but...it could have been worse. Last night had been worse, tossing in fear that Chiana might be here to take Pippin from them. She
was his biological mother, she'd carried him and given birth to him...that gave her rights, no matter how unfair....
Frell! Stop that! John said they should wait and see, and she would, if it killed her!
Chiana had emerged from the medic's treatment room with a nice narcotic buzz going, and Aeryn decided they needed food. After Chiana's earlier gibe about Aeryn not being her mother, she was careful to make it a suggestion, not an order, but Chiana agreed without any argument, and they soon found an acceptable eating establishment.
"So," Chi ventured as they ate, "you've been here what, about a cycle? This is a lot more civilized than the last place I saw you. Lots more crowded, too."
Aeryn stopped fussing over Nel and turned back to Chiana and nodded. "Yes, it's been about that long I guess. It was a compromise," she explained. "The children were getting older and we needed better access to schools, training facilities, age-mates to interact with." She smiled and left off the fact that she'd felt herself growing soft, her skills unused, that she'd been frustrated, depressed, and what John persisted in calling,
cranky. "And John finally got tired of spending his days fishing. So we looked around and found this place. There are enough people here to offer possibilities, but not enough to make us feel crowded." Not
too crowded, anyway...especially not for her, accustomed as she'd been from birth to living in tight quarters. "It's a bit harder for John," she admitted.
"So, what do you do for fun around here, huh? Looks pretty boring to me."
Aeryn grinned. "Believe it or not, we actually have jobs here, Chiana, places people expect us to be. John teaches a course in earth culture at the university and uses their research facilities for his own work." Seeing the knowing look on Chiana's face, she rolled her eyes. "Yes, he still studies wormholes, can you imagine him doing anything else? And I teach marksmanship, and flying. It gives us an obvious income, and something to do besides letting parenthood turn our brains to pressian stew!" She shrugged then. "We're both flexible, and whoever is free takes the children to and from school."
"And takes care of the narl."
Aeryn nodded agreement. "And takes care of Nelja. And takes all the older ones to pantak training, and D'Argo and Hope to target practice, and D'Argo to flying lessons...." She laughed.
Chiana shook her head. "I never woulda thought, back on Moya, that you and Crichton would be doing the whole domestic thing. Didn't really think either of you were the type."
"I didn't either," Aeryn said. "Right up until the moment I held D'Argo in my arms and I understood what it meant to be his mother. It was...wonderful! And I feel the same about all of them." She cut herself off abruptly, afraid that she'd just unintentionally laid down a challenge to Chiana over Pippin. Arpela.
Don't push her off the frelling fence! she admonished herself. She looked at Chiana's face, trying to read her expression. Chi's eyes were focused far away, but she didn't look angry, and Aeryn breathed a sigh of relief that she apparently hadn't frelled up – yet. She wasn't cut out for nice, not when it involved a threat to one of her children. She didn't have a hope in hezmana of getting through this without losing control of her temper at some point.
The sound of Chiana clearing her throat called Aeryn's attention back to her.
"You said Pippin does pantak training?"
Aeryn nodded and was about to say he was very skilled for his size, when Chiana continued with a hint of defiance in her tone, "Has he ever studied bleeka surl?"
Bleeka surl? Aeryn had a feeling she'd heard of it at some time in the past, and she could assume from context that it was some form of nebari fighting discipline, but Pippin had certainly never studied it. She shook her head.
"Well, he should." Chiana looked for a microt like she was going to say more, but she let it go at that.
And so it begins, Aeryn thought. But she couldn't help feeling a little guilty that she hadn't thought of it herself....
* * * * * * * *
John did his best to keep the dinner conversation going. Hope chattered on a bit, apparently counting on the presence of a guest to keep her parents from quashing her latest plans for starting flying lessons long before they thought she was ready. D was pretty sullen, and Pip – well, he was sneaking looks at Chiana when he thought no one was looking, but he steadfastly refused to actually talk to anyone. Since Nelli didn't have too much of a vocabulary yet, that basically left the adults, and since
they were all busy avoiding the elephant in the dining room, there wasn't a lot of information being exchanged. He finally gave up and offered up some of his students' funnier reactions to the Stooges, but that fell flat, too.
He couldn't shake the feeling that things would smooth out a little if Pip would loosen up some around Chiana, so after dinner, when everyone scattered, he motioned for Chiana to stay, and then snagged the boy before he quite got out of the dining room. "Hey, Pip, buddy, come here!"
Pippin looked at him warily, but turned around and came back over to him, keeping an even warier eye on Chiana.
John crossed his fingers mentally and suggested, "Why don't you go get your zaton cards. You could play with Chiana. I bet she'd like that."
Pippin gave Chiana a glance, but scowled wordlessly.
"Hey, I've never played zaton before," Chiana prompted. "Maybe you could teach me."
The boy shook his head. That was worrying John as much as anything, because Pip was a real talker most of the time. He hated to push, but maybe he should.
But while he was dithering, Chiana tried another tack.
"Hey, I hear you do pantak training! That's pretty drad!" She paused for a response, but didn't get one. Valiantly, she soldiered on, and John had to feel sorry for her. "When I was your age, I studied bleeka surl. You ever heard of it?"
Pip shook his head in response. Well, that was some progress....
"It's kinda like pantak training, but different. It's really suited to nebari like you and me, more than pantak training is. You want me to show you some moves?"
"Nope. I like pantak."
"It might be fun, Pip," John coaxed.
Pippin hunched his shoulders and dropped them again. "I don't want to do bleeker sol! It sounds stupid!" And with that, he turned and ran to the kitchen where Aeryn was.
Chagrinned, John gave Chiana the palms up universal gesture for,
What can you do? "Maybe next time," he said.
But Chiana wasn't at all appeased. "Well, you didn't push him very hard!"
"He's just a kid, Chiana! Give him time!"
She stomped off into the living room, angry and probably humiliated, too.
Damn!
* * * * * * * *
The house was too frelling quiet with all the kids in bed, and Crichton and Aeryn tiptoeing around. Chiana retreated to the spare bedroom to brood.
It shouldn't really hurt so much that the kid wouldn't talk to her. Frell, she'd just popped him out and dumped him with these total strangers. Some mater she was! In his place, she probably wouldn't want to talk to her either! But she looked at him, and she saw....well, not his sire. She hadn't seen Pela since their short time together, not even once, and she couldn't even remember what he looked like, not really. But the boy was her
blood, for frell's sake! He really did look just like Nerri. Her eyes betrayed her by filling with tears as she pictured her brother.
And the kid, he rejected even that much connection.
My hair is like Nelli's! His words echoed in her head – in frelling Sebacean! – and something snapped deep inside her.
Blood pounding, Chiana stomped into the kitchen where Crichton and Aeryn were making hot drinks and talking softly to one another. They stopped what they were doing and stared when she came into the room, fuming. "What have you been doing with him all this time, anyway?" she demanded. "Huh? He can't even speak Nebari!"
Crichton flung a warning glance at Aeryn, and put his hands up, treating her like a kid. "Whoa, whoa there. Be reasonable, Chiana. We don't know Nebari, we couldn't teach him to speak it."
Aeryn hurried to add, "Besides, he has translator microbes, he understands you perfectly!"
As if that made it better! "You even changed his frelling name! His name is Arpela! Not Pippin, what kind of stupid name is that?" She stomped her foot, jarring her sore leg, and it hurt, and she knew she looked like a little kid having a tantrum, but she didn't frelling care! "His. Name. Is.
Arpela!"
Aeryn's eyes narrowed dangerously. "If you cared about him, Chiana, you wouldn't have dropped him on us and left, without even saying goodbye to him!"
Stung, all the more so because she knew deep inside that Aeryn had a point, Chiana gathered up her dignity and replied, "I had things to do! They were important things!"
Crichton laid his hand on Aeryn's shoulder, but Aeryn shrugged him off and leaned forward belligerently. "Things to do? More important than
your child? That boy has been with us for six cycles." She paused and then snapped, "You never even sent him a message in six frelling cycles! How could you possibly expect him to know you now?"
Cornered, angry, and totally unable to form a coherent thought, Chiana finally snarled, "Hey! Read my lips! Read your own lips! He's my kid!"
"You little
tralk!" Before the words were completely out of her mouth, Aeryn lunged at Chiana, murder in her eyes.
She didn't get very far because Crichton had good instincts, and got his arms wrapped around her tight. "Aeryn, Aeryn, don't," he begged, as she struggled in his arms.
The look in Aeryn's eyes scared her a little, but Chiana held her ground, chin jutting out, daring Aeryn to come and get her. She'd been through enough dren in the last twelve cycles, she wasn't going to back down now. "You want me? Huh? Come on, I'm here!"
Aeryn wasn't showing any signs of backing down either. "Let go of me, John!" she ordered, continuing to struggle to get free.
"Aeryn, baby, you cannot hurt her," Crichton said, but he looked like he was considering letting her go all the same.
"Mom-my!"
Pippin's terrified voice stopped them all in their tracks. Oh, frell! All four kids were standing there in their sleep clothes, staring at the tableau, wide-eyed with fear and confusion. Even the narl had come out! She had one thumb in her mouth, and the other arm wrapped around her big sister's legs. None of them said a word.
Ah, frell. Frell, frell, frell!
In the silence, Pippin ran to Aeryn and flung his arms tightly around her waist, then burst into tears.
Ignoring Chiana completely, Crichton and Aeryn exchanged a look of resolve, and then Crichton ruffled the boy's head, saying softly, "It's okay, it's okay, buddy. We're just a little cranky."
Embarrassed, and feeling ten times the outsider she had earlier, Chiana couldn't find anywhere to look but at the floor. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aeryn take a deep breath and bend down to hug Pippin. Her son. Aeryn's son. In a firm but gentle voice, Aeryn looked at the whole clan and said soothingly, "Come on, it's okay, we're all just a bit emotional. Nothing bad is happening. Let's get you back to bed." She picked Pippin up, and he wrapped his arms around her neck. Aeryn headed for the door, and the rest of the children followed her out of the room.
When they were gone, Chiana lifted her gaze to Crichton. He did not look like a happy camper. Frell!
* * * * * * * *
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