Originally posted 6/29/08The topic for the 26th Starburst Challenge at Terra Firma was "Absent Friends" -- write about characters who are dead in canon, without changing canon so they're still alive. Well, not surprisingly, my take on this topic ended up being, as shipscat once described them, "another one of aeryncrichton's ghosts."
I may yet end up doing one or more additional stories for this challenge, but here's the one that originally leapt to mind.
Rating: G
Setting: About 4 years post PKW
Spoilers: Through PKW
Disclaimer: Not my universe, not my characters, no money being made or disrespect meant. Just playing with them to stay sane....
Many thanks to CrystalMoon, shipsister, imloco2 and MadScientist for a look-see and a couple great nit-picks! Thanks, everyone! Loco, this one's for you!
Enjoy!
Still Checking
D'Argo Sun-Crichton, age four, sat on the deck in his room on Moya, playing with blocks. Young Dar was not entirely a happy camper. The grownups were all busy with the stupid baby. They probably didn't even notice he'd sneaked off after his mom –
his mom! – started making silly noises at the baby and telling her how pretty she was. That was barfy!
Dar got up on his knees and cocked his head to one side, examining the structure he was building. He loved these blocks. His dad had made them for him when he was really little, from all kinds of stuff he found around Moya. Some were wood, some were metal, some were plastic, and some were just...stuff! Now that Dar was bigger, sometimes he and his dad made new pieces together. He had lots and lots of different shapes and sizes now. He picked up a cylindrical wooden shape and held it in his hands, contemplating his next move.
Today, he wanted to build a castle. A castle with two towers, and places for the soldiers to hide behind and shoot from. He had a rectangular pattern of blocks on the deck and was starting on the first tower. The cylinder wouldn't work, not yet, anyway. It would probably be good for the top. Still on his knees, he had just set the block down when he heard a voice from beside him.
"Hey, DJ. What's up, my man?"
Dar sat back on his legs and looked up with a welcoming smile for the newcomer. "Hi, Daddy."
"Whatcha building today, sport?"
"A castle," he said. "It's going to be this tall." He scrambled to his feet and reached above his head.
"Wow! That's really ambitious."
"Mommy says it's good to be m-bishus," Dar said. "It's how you learn and get better at stuff."
"I bet she does at that."
Dar got back down on his knees and started adding blocks to his tower. His father crouched down next to him.
"What about that one?" Daddy said, pointing to a large rectangular block. "I bet it would go good right there."
The child assessed the block in question. "Yep. That's a good one," he said, snagging it. He started rummaging through the blocks, looking for more blocks the same size.
Daddy helped him find three more blocks, and then started talking. "So, DJ." His voice was kinda funny, like grownups get when they're going to ask something they think is important. "What do you think about your new baby sister?"
He should have known. All
everyone talked about was that stupid baby. He shrugged. "She's pretty boring. She doesn't do anything."
Daddy laughed, which surprised D'Argo, and he turned to look at him. "Well, I hear ya there, sport. That's what I thought about my little sister at first, but she turned out to be a really good friend. Just wait till Hope gets a little bigger, you'll see. You'll have lots of fun together. You can even teach her to build with blocks."
D'Argo had no intention of sharing his blocks with his baby sister, but he didn't tell Daddy that. He just said, "Maybe," and went back to hunting for blocks.
Daddy didn't say anything more about the baby. He just helped look for more of the tall, rectangular blocks for the castle tower.
* * * * * * * *
John Crichton strode through Moya's corridors, heading for his son's room. He figured Dar was feeling a bit left out, what with all the attention on the new baby. He grinned like a fool, thinking of his beautiful new daughter. Aeryn made the best babies! But, it was his son he was here to see, and he turned his mind to his firstborn and his best little buddy. As he approached Dar's room, he could hear the boy talking animatedly. Who the heck was he talking to? Curious, he peered though the grille. Huh. The only person he saw was Dar, down on hands and knees looking through his blocks, with a half-finished block building in front of him. Kids. They sure were funny.
John slid the door open and walked into the room. "Hey, Dar! Whatcha doing?" he asked. Okay, so that was blindingly obvious. It was an opening gambit, at least.
Dar looked up at him with disdain. "Building," he said, actually stating the blindingly obvious.
Oooh-kay, the kid was definitely unhappy about the whole aby-bay thing.... John changed the subject. "Who were you talking to?"
Dar's eyes slid sideways for a microt. With a shrug, he said, "My other daddy."
Aw, that was cute, an imaginary dad.... Wait a minute, why did he need an imaginary dad? He had a real one! He must be really pissed. John tried to put himself back in his three-year-old shoes when his younger sister Olivia had been born. It was something of a stretch, but he remembered being pretty annoyed at having his place usurped. Still, the baby was here to stay, and Dar was going to have to get used to it.
He took the bull by the horns. "So, what do you think about the new baby? Pretty cool being a big brother, huh?"
With an exaggerated sigh, Dar replied, "She's
boring."
"Well, yes, I guess she is right now," he said with a chuckle. "She was just born yesterday. But wait till she gets bigger. I thought my little sister was boring, too, but she ended up being my best friend." He snickered, looking back on childhood scuffles."When we weren't fighting, anyway. Just give your sister a little time to grow. You'll have fun playing together."
Dar looked at him curiously."That's what my other dad said. But I'm not sharing my blocks."
"Your invisible dad said
what?"
"He said his baby sister was boring, too, but when she got bigger she was fun."
The hairs on the back of his head stood up, in true haunted house fashion. "This other dad," he said, trying to sound casual. "What's his name?"
The boy glanced at the empty air beside him, and then looked back and shrugged. "Daddy."
"What's he look like?"
Dar rolled his eyes and looked at him as if he were insane. "You, of course! He's my other
daddy!"
Suspicion growing, he snatched D'Argo off the floor and settled him on his hip, scanning the room.
I don't believe in ghosts, I don't believe in ghosts, I don't believe in ghosts.... He didn't see anyone or anything...but that didn't mean anything here in the UTs.
"What about this," he asked, pointing to the scar above his left eyebrow that he'd acquired at the time of D'Argo's birth. "Does he have this?"
"Yes," the boy replied without consulting the empty space this time. He seemed absolutely certain.
John was about to breathe a sigh of relief, thinking it was just an imaginary friend after all, when he remembered that the other him had a scar in the same frickin' place, and had gotten it first. Aeryn had remarked on it after Qujaga.
Now you match, she'd said wistfully. So, assuming he wasn't leaping to wild conclusions here, what the
frell was the other him doing, hanging around here when he should be off singing with the angels or something? He soooo did not want to be haunted by the ghost of himself! Trying to get a feel for what was going on, he started playing twenty questions with D'Argo.
"How often is he around?"
"Not much. Just sometimes."
"Only when you're alone?"
"No. Sometimes when you and Mommy are there. Like at dinner. But he doesn't talk when you're there."
"So, what does he do when your mom and I aren't there?"
"We talk about stuff."
"What stuff?"
"Like what I'm doing. And about when he was little like me. And when I'm building he helps me find stuff. He says you made really good blocks."
Well, that was something. At least this ghost wasn't undermining him with his kid. And it sounded like he didn't play peeping tom, either. "Is he here now?"
Dar nodded.
"Can you ask him...why he's here?"
Dar didn't repeat the question, which gave John the creeps, but the boy watched the same empty spot and listened intently for a few microts.
"He says, 'Just lookin' after family,'" Dar said finally. "And he says, 'Being incor- incorp- incorp-ree-all sucks." Dar looked at John for enlightenment.
"Incorporeal," he said absently. "It means he doesn't have a real body." And he can't touch you, or pick you up.... He smoothed D'Argo's hair, and thought. God, that must really suck, to be able to see and talk to his son, and not be able to touch him. He thought about the last message he'd had from the other guy, the one from Stark's mask. There'd never been a hint of anger or jealousy in it, just a handing of the torch to the living Crichton. And from what Dar said, it wasn't like he was hanging around all the time, moping. He came to a decision. Catching Dar's attention, he began, "Tell him—"
D'Argo interrupted. "He can hear you, you know."
The interruption set John back briefly, but then he licked his lips and said to the thin air, "Uh, look. Um. There's no one I'd rather have watching our backs. Thank you." He winced once he'd said it, but he didn't take it back.
Dar listened intently to the silence, and after a few microts, he said, "He wants me to tell you something."
"What?"
"He says to tell you Zhaan and Big D and my grandma Crichton come sometimes too."
John blinked back sudden tears. Must be the lack of sleep and the excitement of the new baby. "Do you see them, too?"
"No. Just Daddy."
"That's good," he said, giving Dar a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He took a deep breath and looked in the general direction that D'Argo kept looking. "Thank you for telling me that," he said, speaking once again to the air. For the briefest of moments, he considered asking their ghostly guardian to tell his mom he loved her. But he squelched the impulse. It was time to move on.
He set his son on the floor and got down on his knees beside him."Now, let's see what we can do about finishing this, huh?" He reached for the nearest block and set it on top of the pile.
"No, Daddy," Dar said immediately, removing the cube. "That's the wrong shape!"
"Sorry," John said. Humming, he dug into the pile of blocks, offering one after another for D'Argo's inspection before adding them to the tower....
* * * * * * * *
Whew. That had been close. He'd been afraid for a microt there that he wouldn't be able to come back. Zhaan still thought it was a bad idea that he came as often as he did, but even she stopped by to visit sometimes, just to be reminded of the joys of living, and the joys of family.
If John had put his foot down, though, he'd've had to let it go. He wasn't here to intrude on their life – he just needed to visit now and then, feel certain that they were doing good. It hurt, a little, that he hadn't gotten to live this life. But mostly, it just felt good to know they were making it work.
He'd seen it in the other guy's eyes, the moment he'd accepted the ghostly presence. Thank God for that! He'd bet dollars to donuts that John wasn't going to tell Aeryn what he knew, though. He wouldn't in his place. He always was a jealous SOB.
With a smile, and one last glance at father and son, John Robert Crichton, Jr. faded back to the other side, until the next time....
Author's note: This ended up being pretty much a sequel to my little story,
Just Checking. It's not necessary to read it before reading this, and I didn't want to spoil the "surprise," so I put the link here at the end.
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