Originally posted 5/21/06This is wish fulfillment, plain and simple! You'll see what I mean when you've read it....
Rating: G
Setting: About 2 cycles after PKW
Spoilers: Ya know, through PKW
Disclaimer: Not my characters, not my universe, no money being made, no disrespect intended....
Many thanks to imloco2, Auna, MadScientist, and Shipsister for a look-see (such a lot of betas for such a little fic, LOL, but I did want a few eye balls run over it....).
Peace Keeper
One thing about parenthood, John mused: it had changed the sort of eating establishment that he and Aeryn frequented when they were away from Moya.... Take this place, for example. In the old days, after a day like today of searching for supplies, they'd often as not have ended up in some kind of semi-sleazy bar, hoping for something, anything, that was edible. Admittedly, in the old days they'd usually been on the run and hiding out on backwater planets to begin with, so it wasn't just their young offspring that accounted for the difference in lifestyle now, but being responsible for a child had definitely made John look at the universe differently.
Here they were with a two year old, in a place that could only be called "family friendly." It wouldn't be mistaken for Mickey D's – it was a step up from that, at least – but it was bright and clean, with a simple menu and lots of space between the tables and booths for booster seats and high chairs in varying configurations. The local population was primarily sebacean, but this was a trading center, and representatives of many species visited on any given day. It was a bit early for the evening meal, so it wasn't too crowded, but they were definitely not the only family in the place.
He and Aeryn both had plates of the savory local specialty – some kind of stew, made with a bit of leevar meat and lots of assorted vegetables in colors best not thought about – and their son had the children's version of the same food, which as far as they could tell simply had the same ingredients cut into smaller pieces. It didn't taste half bad. John shoveled another spoonful into his mouth and turned his head to look at the tow-headed toddler beside him.
Little D was poking at his food with something that was more or less a fork with two short, blunt tines. He was carefully separating the meat from the vegetables, and dividing the veggies into several different kinds. Damn, that kid had a good eye, but John hoped this phase wouldn't last too long. D would eat pretty much everything, but he wouldn't eat the stuff mixed together. This slowed meals down to a crawl, which wasn't so much of a problem at home on Moya, but
was kind of a pain in a restaurant. D picked up a piece of meat and held it out gleefully to his parents, blue eyes sparkling, before shoving it in his mouth and chewing.
Aeryn grunted disapproval.
Surprised, John looked at her, only to see that she wasn't even looking at D'Argo. He followed her gaze across the room to where a child who was probably about D's age was running amok.
Uh-oh.
Mt. St. Aeryn was about to blow.
He had to give her credit, she'd done her best to ignore the out of control youngster while they were waiting for their food. After all, he wasn't theirs.... She'd helped D build a tower of the condiment containers, and watched, bemused, while John and D had counted everything in sight. But he could feel this other child's antics getting on her nerves.
It wasn't that Aeryn didn't understand that kids weren't little grownups. She made plenty of allowances, and she was a great mom. But she also routinely expected a higher level of obedience than most parents on Earth would have – and this particular little monster would have taxed the patience of Gandhi.
The family had caught John's eye immediately when they arrived, because he couldn't quite place the species. They were leonine, with warm golden-colored fur all over, looking something like the hero of – Hell, what was that show Livvy used to moon over back when she was a teenager? Oh, yeah, "Beauty and the Beast." The adults were about the size of Luxans, which made it difficult to gauge the age of the single child, but John's gut said the kid probably was about the same age as D, even though he was a lot larger.
It was impossible not to notice how ill-behaved he was. His parents completely ignored him as he slid off his chair and under the table. From there, he started a circuit of the room. He climbed up on unoccupied chairs, playing king of the mountain. Then it was into a booth and up and over the back. He worked his way across a row of empty booths, stopping now and then to walk over and check out the food that was on other tables. Through it all, his elders remained completely oblivious.
Aeryn had
tried to ignore the little hellion, she'd tried really hard. John could feel the tension from the effort to be "nice" radiating off of her. But now, following Aeryn's gaze, John could see that the kid was headed up the side of a display counter like a miniature Kong scaling the Empire State Building....
And the parents never even looked in his direction.
Damn! Mt. St. Aeryn time....
She flashed him a look of apology, and when he nodded, she got up and walked over to the table where the wayward child's parents were busy eating something that was still wiggling. John and D watched to see what would happen. There was no way he was going to interfere – his job was to be sure he was paying attention in case he needed to grab D and get out quick....
Aeryn cleared her throat and said mildly, "He shouldn't be up there."
The father – John assumed it was the father who responded, though the two fur-covered adults didn't look that different from each other – looked up at her. When she nodded in the direction of his mountain-climbing offspring, he said defensively, "He's only a youngling."
Oh, crap....
Aeryn paused and looked over at D, who had stopped eating and was watching his mother with great fascination. She turned back to the object of her annoyance. "Yes, it's true he's only a youngling. But it's your job to teach him proper behavior."
The father blinked several times as if hoping that she would vanish like a bad dream, and then fixed her with a glare.
Aeryn glared back.
With a low growl, he stood up, slowly unwrapping his frame from the chair. He was at least a foot taller than her. Aeryn didn't bat an eye. Apparently affronted, he rumbled, "Mind your own business, Peacekeeper."
Idiot....
John shook his head and pulled D onto his lap, then wiped the boy's hands and face off with a napkin so he'd be good to go, just in case....
Aeryn slowly and deliberately widened her eyes, shook her head in disapproval, and strode across the restaurant to where the kid in question was still climbing. Briskly, she grabbed him under both arms and hauled him back to the table, all before his startled father quite managed to bellow, "Hey!"
Ignoring the father, who seemed stunned anyway, Aeryn set the boy down next to the other adult where there was an untouched plate of food. She fixed him with a stern look. "This is your seat," she told him. He gaped, wide-eyed, and John could just about guarantee the kid had never heard that tone before from anyone. "You sit here with your parents, and you eat!"
In John's lap, D covered his mouth to stifle a giggle, apparently enjoying the sight of another child being the target of his mother's commands.
Aeryn and the little boy held a visual dual, and the child obviously decided this strange woman meant business. Without a word, he turned his attention to his plate and began eating like there was no tomorrow.
The parents stared at Aeryn, flummoxed. John watched her size them up and decide that they weren't going to get belligerent in response to her interference. She shrugged and punched up the lesson: "See. It's not that hard."
Her words were rewarded by applause from around the room, along with a few scattered calls of "Ahmet!"
Embarrassed, she gave the adults one more quick assessing look and then hurried back to her seat. She looked at John and Little D, who were trying hard not to laugh. "What are you two looking at? You heard what he said. I'm a Peacekeeper. I keep the peace."
He reached out and squeezed her hand. "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do," he assured her.
She smiled gratefully, and the three of them went back to eating their evening meal.
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