Originally posted 10/27/03Okay, I've been threatening ever since scrubs wrote "Shopping with Aliens" to write an epilogue to the story....
And I've finally done it! I think this one is fun, if a bit wistful, and different from some of my more recent stories.
Thanks to scrubs for saying I could play in her universe -- or at least in her storyline -- and to the bunnies for some beta work, especially loco for pointing me to the obvious ending for this one!
Rating: G
Setting: Terra Firma/Post BT
Spoilers: Through BT, but mostly Terra Firma
Disclaimer: Not my characters, universe, etc....
It's not necessary to read scrubschick's
Shopping with Aliens before you read this, but it'll help with the setting.
Earth Babies are Easy
"Oooh, hey, Aeryn, Chiana," Olivia exclaimed, bringing the trio and their minders to a stop about halfway to the mall exit. "Do you mind if we make one teensy stop before we leave? I just remembered something I need to get."
Despite her apologetic tone, there was a gleam in her eye that reminded Aeryn instantly of Crichton when he'd come up with a plan he thought particularly clever. "What?" she asked warily.
"It's my cousin June's baby shower on Thursday, and it would really be good if I could get something for her now so I don't have to make another trip."
"A shower of babies? What's that?" Chiana asked eagerly. "Do you give her babies? I didn't think humans had slaves. Crichton never said anything about that!"
"No, no, nothing like that," Livvy hastened to assure her, and went on to explain the human tradition of "showering" a mother-to-be with things she'd need for the baby.
Aeryn's heart sank. There was no cousin June, she was sure. That was just a ruse to allow the three of them to enter a store selling baby things without arousing suspicion. The baby Livvy intended to shop for was Aeryn's....
She knew John's sister meant well, but this had all the earmarks of a disaster. The day had been something of a disaster already, and she was exhausted. Between the unintended alcohol at lunch, and being ambushed by Chiana and Livvy in her underwear, she'd managed to end up telling Olivia far too much about herself and John and even the baby...not to mention crying on the human woman's shoulder. She sighed and looked pleadingly at Olivia. "I'm sorry, but could we not? I'm really tired. Or maybe you could go and we'll wait out here for you," she offered, gesturing towards some benches near a fountain in the center of the mall.
"Aw, come on Aeryn, it'll be fun," Chiana wheedled. "You can see what earth people put on their babies."
"Why would I want to do that?" Aeryn said, trying to get as much warning in her tone as she could.
Chi started to answer, but Olivia jumped in. "Come on, Aeryn, it won't take long. Help me pick something out, it'll be fun! She'll be thrilled if I tell her one of the aliens chose her gift!"
Their minders were beginning to take an interest in the discussion and Aeryn sighed inwardly. The easiest way out of this was to give in. "All right," she said reluctantly. "Let's get this done."
The young red-headed woman who was minding the store looked up automatically when the two aliens followed Livvy through the door. Her eyes latched onto Chiana first, and widened just a little in surprise and nervous recognition, and then she looked back and forth between Aeryn and Livvy, apparently trying to decide which one was the famous alien soldier.
"Wow," she said, "We didn't expect you guys would be coming in here! I told my boss we should just close the store for the day!"
"Sorry to interrupt your reading," Olivia said blandly, gesturing to the tabloid magazine on the counter in front of the clerk. The redhead shrugged and Livvy continued, nodding at Chiana and Aeryn, "They're just tagging along with me. I've got to get something for my cousin's shower. We'll be fine."
Aeryn hoped that they wouldn't have to belabor that excuse. A lie repeated sometimes became all the more obviously a lie....
It was clear from her face that the young woman was eager to be up close and personal with the alien visitors. That desire warred with her training and experience as well as the strict protocol all the shopkeepers in the mall had been given for interacting with Aeryn and Chiana. Finally duty won. She plastered a pleasant smile on her face and said, "No problem. I'll be right here if you have any questions."
Olivia thanked the clerk, and Chiana -- as she had in every other store that day -- took off to explore the shop on her own.
Aeryn stood where she was and looked around at the bewildering array of goods in the store. It was mostly clothing -- the tiniest little clothes Aeryn had ever seen, even smaller than Rygel's, hung neatly on racks or packaged on shelves -- but there were also books, toys, and quite a few other items that she couldn't begin to guess the use for. "This is all for babies?" she asked.
Livvy must have heard the hint of panic in her voice and said, "Well, infants and toddlers. But we'll just look at stuff for newborns. Junie," she added, calmly embellishing on the non-existent cousin, "doesn't know if she's having a boy or a girl, so we can narrow it down to unisex clothes."
"What does that mean?" Aeryn asked. "Unisex?"
"Well, on Earth -- well, in the United States, anyway -- pink is for girls and blue is for boys. So if you don't know whether it's a boy or a girl, you pick other colors, especially yellow or green. And you'd get little coveralls and onesies, not dresses, which are for girls, or things with sports teams on them, which are for boys."
"Ah," Aeryn said, suddenly understanding. "On a Peacekeeper command carrier like the one I grew up on, all children are dressed alike. Unisex."
"Well," Olivia said dubiously, "that sounds more like
uniform to me, but that's the general idea. See, over here. There's a nice selection of--"
"What would John choose?" Aeryn asked abruptly. "Or your father?" she added, trying not to show undue interest in John Crichton in front of the shopclerk.
Livvy understood her, she was sure, but she seemed to be having trouble with an answer. "Oh, see, baby showers are kind of a girl thing," Livvy said at last. "Men aren't usually invited."
"Oh."
"But, I think if John were going to buy something for a baby shower, he'd probably get something like this," Livvy said in a rush, picking up a book titled,
Baby's First Twelve Months, off a nearby display.
Aeryn looked at it curiously, taking in the drawings of happy-looking infants on the cover. "Surely a baby can't read this? Human infants aren't born knowing how to read?"
"No, no, it's for the mother. John is a great believer in information. This tells a new mom what to expect when she gets home from the hospital. So she knows how to take care of the baby."
"Oh, like a field manual," Aeryn said, a huge smile of understanding creasing her face.
Livvy laughed. "Well, I guess that's one way to look at it. Anyway, John would probably choose something like this, especially for a mom who doesn't have a lot of friends or family around for advice."
To cover the sudden feeling of being achingly alone, Aeryn took the book from John's sister, feeling the heft of it in her hands. "Well, that sounds practical to me," she said firmly. "Your cousin could use that."
Olivia's eyes sparkled, and she agreed, "All right, we've made a start. Come on, help me find a few cute little coveralls, and maybe a nice soft blanket." She led Aeryn to a display rack, then smiled and said, "What do you think?"
Afraid to give her real interest away to the clerk, whose eyes were still following them, Aeryn didn't allow herself to do more than briefly touch the soft, tiny little outfits, and feel the weight of the fabrics. "This one would be good for weather like this, wouldn't it?" she suggested, hoping that Olivia would remember that Moya's ambient temperature was similar to that of the mall.
"Yeah, you're right," Livvy grinned, and pulled the little coverall off the rack and examined it. It was a soft green, all sleeves and legs, it seemed, with fasteners down the front and the insides of both legs. "See," Olivia explained, "you can open it up all the way down to change the baby's diapers without taking it off. And it's got feet like this to keep the baby's feet warm without having to put booties or socks on them."
"That sounds practical, too," Aeryn said, trying to avoid saying anything that might reveal the jumble of emotions inside. The things Livvy, who wasn't even a mother herself, said casually, as if they were common knowledge among human women, only served to remind her how little she knew about babies. Did human males know these things? What would she do if John didn't "come around," as everyone kept saying he would?
The usually perceptive Livvy apparently missed her sudden upset, because she laughed and said, "That's your main criteria, isn't it? Well, I suppose practicality is a good point, actually. Babies make lots of laundry, and the fewer pieces to sort out, the better."
By the time John's sister had finished talking, Aeryn had her emotions under control again, but the struggle was making her irritable. She hadn't asked to come into this place! "Well," she said, a little sharply, "you're the one who's shopping for your cousin. You choose."
Livvy looked at her with concern, but was saved from replying when Chiana's excited voice came from the other end of the store.
"Hey, Aeryn! Look at these! They're really drad!"
Thankful for the distraction, and curious to see what had gotten Chiana so enthused, Aeryn walked over to where the Nebari stood.
"See!" Chiana swept her arm out towards a riot of color -- a rack full of wildly patterned clothing no bigger than her arm was long.
Aeryn looked at the shirts, dresses, and shorts, and reached out and touched one, examining the patterns. They were clearly images of flowers and plants, arranged in a haphazard pattern, on a brilliantly colored background. "They're....bright, aren't they?" she said with a smile, because they were just so typical of Chiana.
Olivia arrived then, after collecting three different colors of the coveralls Aeryn had admired. "Wow! Those need shades with 'em!" she said, blinking elaborately. "That's called a Hawaiian pattern, Chiana."
"Well, they're really drad. You should get some for your cousin's baby!" The eager look she shot Aeryn made it clear she understood the ploy they were working here, and wanted to choose her own gift of Earth clothes for Aeryn's child.
Aeryn wasn't at all sure it was going to work. Even to her unpracticed eye, these items were larger than what she'd been looking at with Olivia. She looked over at John's sister for her evaluation.
"Well," Livvy began, "those aren't for newborns, they're for toddlers -- maybe a year or two old," she explained. When the Nebari looked crestfallen, Livvy did some quick calculating. "But a lot of times at showers people get something for when the baby's a little bigger, 'cos they grow so fast," she said. "Hmm, maybe if we get some shorts and a white T-shirt....either a boy or a girl could wear 'em!"
Aeryn, eyes shining with appreciation for Chi's friendship, and Livvy's too, asked anxiously, "Is that a good idea? Will your cousin like them?"
"A gift should reflect the giver," Livvy said firmly, and picked out the items she'd suggested, adding them to the small bundle in her arms.
With the book, the coveralls, and now the shorts and T-shirt, Aeryn was sure they must be running up against the limits of what Olivia might be expected to buy for 'Cousin June.'" Are we done then?" she asked.
Olivia glanced around the store and bit her lip. "Let me pick out a blanket," she said, "then we'll get out of here. I really appreciate you guys letting me do this."
"Not a problem," Aeryn said briskly, playing her part, and she and Chiana trailed along after John's sister as she headed for the display of blankets.
"Every baby deserves the chance to have a 'banky,'" Olivia announced, holding up a soft, fuzzy yellow blanket with silky smooth edges. "Feel this," she said, holding it out to Aeryn.
"A what?" Aeryn asked, as she fingered the soft warm fabric.
"A 'banky,'" Olivia laughed. "Sometimes kids get really attached to a particular blanket, and they take it with them everywhere, for security. By the time I was born, John had given it up, but they tell me he carried a ratty bit of blanket around for
years. Mom used to remind him of it when she thought he was getting too big for his britches." She smiled.
Aeryn and Chiana exchanged a wistful look. They both knew there wasn't any way either of them could use that little bit of information to tease him, not with the state he was in these days, but Aeryn filed it away in her mind anyway.
Olivia cleared her throat and said, "Okay, let me just pay for this stuff, all right?"
"Fine, we'll wait by the door," Aeryn told her, and smiled her appreciation for Olivia's thoughtfulness. The risk they were taking in doing this was hers, and John's, really, not Olivia's, but it still touched her deeply that John's sister wanted to give these things to her child, the child that might not even be a Crichton.
If she'd sorted things out with John by the time she had the baby, then he would appreciate this little bit of home for his child. And if she hadn't, well, she didn't want to dwell on that, but if she was having this baby on her own...she would still appreciate her child having this little bit of Earth.
"You know what?" Livvy said as she approached, bag in hand, startling Aeryn from her reverie. "For a baby gift, John would probably get a football, too, boy
or girl."
Aeryn had seen a football game on television. Somehow, that sounded exactly like the sort of impractical thing John would buy for a baby. "So," she said with a smile, "are we going to make one more stop?"
"I think we can manage that," Olivia grinned back at her.
* * * * * * * *
Flashforward perhaps two-thirds of a cycle:
Aeryn would never admit she needed help, or that she couldn't do everything she normally could -- never admit that her advancing pregnancy was taking a lot out of her. So when she went to get some cleaning cloths, John tried to take advantage of her absence to get the rest of the junk out of the room they were renovating for the baby so that she wouldn't have an excuse to over do it. He stacked the boxes carefully, but when he picked them up, the top one made a leap for freedom, and landed on the floor. The lid popped off, and out bounced a football.
He stared at it as it made a series of erratic hops before settling on the floor.
An honest-to-God football.
What the frell?
Surely he hadn't been so far out of it when they were on Earth that he'd forgotten he'd bought a football?
He set down the remaining boxes and picked the pigskin up, turning it over in his hands.
Yep. A football.
He was just tossing it experimentally from hand to hand when Aeryn came back into the room with the cloths she'd gone for.
"Oh," she said, looking slightly embarrassed.
"Oh, what?" he asked her, giving her an encouraging smile.
"I'd forgotten about that. It's for the baby. From you," she added.
"From me? For the baby?"
"Hold on a microt," she said, bending down awkwardly and setting her burden on the floor. She reached into the wayward box that had disgorged the football, and lifted out a paper shopping bag. As she stood up, she grunted, and said, "We left Earth so quickly, and then things were...crazy, and I just forgot about this."
Well, she'd hauled all sorts of things from Earth, the largest of which -- the television set -- still dominated their quarters. What could she possibly have that went with a football? He walked over to where she stood, leaning his head forward as if he could get a better look at what she had in the bag.
"Trade you," he said, swapping the football for the sack. As Aeryn watched, football resting on top of her stomach, he peered in, and looked back at her in wonder. "Baby clothes? You bought baby clothes on Earth?"
"Blame your sister," she said, with a smile tinged just a little with wistfulness. "She said you'd buy a football for a baby."
Aeryn had missed his point, of course. And it didn't matter how she'd managed it...she'd done it, and she'd done it alone. While he'd been pushing her away with everything he had and a little chemical help besides, she'd bought things from his homeworld for the baby. He had to bite his lip to keep tears from pooling in his eyes. "Well," he said as casually as he could manage. "Let's see what we have here." He set the bag on the floor and pulled out some tiny sleepers and the wildest pair of shorts he'd ever seen, still bearing pricetags from a store on Earth.
"It's just a little," she said, tossing her head to the side and sending long dark hair rippling. "We didn't want to attract attention."
"You're amazing. You know that," he told her, shaking his head. And then he saw the blanket, a soft, fuzzy yellow square that called out to his fingers. "I had a blanket just like this when I was a kid," he said, bringing it out of the bag and into sight. Somehow that brought a wicked gleam to her eyes, though she didn't say anything, and he began to wonder just how much she and Livvy had talked about.
Wait a minute.
"Are you telling me that you told my sister about the baby?"
"She guessed. She asked, and I couldn't say no. She's very persistent."
"Huh," he said, but one more little weight lifted off of his shoulders. His family knew about the baby, because if Livvy did, his dad and Susan would, too. Suddenly Earth didn't seem quite so far away.
"Hey!" Aeryn called, and when he looked up, the football was coming straight at him.
She'd tossed it gently, and he couldn't resist: "You throw like a girl," he grinned as he snagged it. He had a sudden flash of himself, tossing the football to their child, running through the corridors on Moya. As if any child of hers wasn't going to be able to throw rings around him.... He grinned broadly and held the ball in the air triumphantly.
Aeryn shook her head as if she wasn't going to dignify his comment with an answer. "Come on. Throw me that ball and let's finish cleaning this up."
"Yes ma'am," he told her, unable to find the words to articulate his delight over this gift that said so much about her faith in him, in them, in their future. He resorted to, "Love you," and tossed her the football.
She caught it gracefully. "Love you too," she told him.
And then the smile on her beautiful face turned into a wide, predatory grin, and when she pulled her arm back with the ball in her hand, he knew he was a goner....
Author
