Oldest Trick In The Book

I can honestly say that of all my fics I had the most fun writing this one.

I was obsessed at the end of season III with having J/A work through the TJohn thing... something I'm sorry to say we never got to see in the show.

So that's what this was about really. Having the two of them hash things out... or start to.

Enjoy

Title: Oldest trick in the book
Rating: PG
Time Frame: After Fractures but before Into the Lions Den.

________________________________

"If you don't stop that" Aeryn Sun said through gritted teeth. "They are going to make us for sure."

"Stop what?"

Aeryn looked sideways through silted eyes at where John Crichten sat slouched beside her at the table.

"Slurping and slouching like that."

John sighed and straightened up. "It's a BAR Aeryn you're SUPPOSED to slurp and slouch."

"It is NOT a bar. It is an officers lounge and you have NO business being here so stop drawing attention to yourself!!!!!" She shifted slightly away from him and took another quick scan around the room. No one appeared to be looking at them and she breathed a mental sigh of relief that his break in form appeared to have gone unnoticed.

"I don't understand what the big deal is." He sounded a little petulant. "We both have clearance to be here."

Aeryn closed her eyes and took two deep slow breaths. It was hard enough she had to be here with him. Sitting here close to him like this, did he have to be so...? Stop it! she admonished herself. Concentrate on the mission.

"The...big...deal...is" she said patiently. "That we are on a Peacekeeper base. Appearances and order are everything. You know that. And if you want our cover to remain in tact you had better respect it. A mid-level Tech has no business in an officer's only recreational lounge, let alone fraternizing openly with a Lieutenant. The only reason you are here is because I told the duty guard that I needed to give you specific instructions for the handling of our cargo. Now put MY drink down, LOOK like I'm giving you orders and STOP enjoying yourself."

"God forbid we should enjoy ourselves." He grumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing. Look they're on the move." John nodded slightly in the direction of a table one up and two to their left.

Aeryn looked over and watched as the three Peacekeeper males and headed towards the door. All three wore the uniforms Captain or higher and they were staggering and laughing loudly.

John waited until they exited the room. "Right," he said all business now. "Give me 500 microts and then follow. I'll meet you in the access hallway on level 4 in a quarter ahrn." He paused, "and pray that the floor plan of this place is worth what Chi paid for it."

Aeryn caught his arm before he could leave. "Do it quickly and quietly," she whispered and then swallowed and forced herself to look into his eyes, "and be careful." She released him and said loud enough for the surrounding patrons to hear, "Make sure that the repairs to the transport pod are made quickly and that the cargo is checked in within an ahrn. We are scheduled to leave in three"

"Yes sir." John deadpanned. He sketched a salute at her as he backed up from the table. "500 microts" he mouthed and quickly headed out of the room.

Aeryn sat back and picked up her drink.

//One Mipipippi, two mipippipi,//

She thought absently. She hadn't wanted to bring him on the mission at all.

//Three Mipipippi, four//

Crais had actually assigned D'Argo and Rygel to weapons procural. And they'd done better than she'd expected. But despite their best efforts they had been unable to find the Cerulean displacement bombs anywhere but this remote Peacekeeper armory.

//seventy-six Mipipippi, seventy-seven Mipipippi, seventy- eight//

Crais was two well known to risk it, Chiana didn't have the skills needed to disarm the bombs before transport and D'Argo by virtue of not being Sebeacean would have sent up alarms as soon as he arrived on planet so here they were. She wondered which mission was more impossible. Getting 6 Cerulean displacement bombs from an armory full of Peacekeepers? Or getting through two solar days alone with Crichten without causing herself any more pain.

//one hundred and one Mippipippi, one hundred and two Mipipippi,//

She frowned, "Was the Mipipippi really necessary when you got to the higher numbers?" She'd have to remember to ask, "Crich.." She broke the thought off with a slight shake of her head and noticed with some dismay that a man in a senior ranking officer uniform was headed right in her direction.

"Frell-mipipippi" Aeryn thought as she stood and tried to sidle out from behind the table before he could get to close.

"Are we in a hurry?" The Captain asked, with only a slight amount of sarcasm in his tone.

"No sir," Aeryn replied snapping neatly to attention.

"Good. Because I would hate to have you rush off before we are properly introduced." He walked around her in a circle invading her body space as much as possible. "Name. Rank. Assignment."

"Senior Lt. Gelina Reneyas," Aeryn lied glibly. " Assigned to the Leviathan transport vessel Varna. Palax division, U-Star Regement."

"U-Star" the Captain mused with little respect. "And who is your commanding officer Gelina?"

Aeryn colored a little at the insult of having him use her first name instead of her rank. "Captain Fenta Hovalis sir." She inwardly winced that she couldn't come up with something better than Jool's last name.

He frowned, " Fenta Hovalis?"

Aeryn gave a slight nod. "Captain Neri Fenta Hovalis. He's newly received his commission." She added helpfully.

"Don't think I've heard of him."

Aeryn kept staring straight ahead and gave one shoulder the tiniest of shrugs intimating that it wasn't her fault that the Captain was so ill informed.

"No matter." He said with a dismissive wave. And what is a U-Star boat doing this far out in the Uncharted's?

"Cargo haul."

"Where to and for whom?"

"That's D-6 sir," Aeryn replied using the colloquialism for classified information.

"Is it indeed? How very interesting." The Captain stopped his tour around Aeryn and looked her up and down lustfully " Well, we can't have you betraying that confidence.... yet. But my command carrier's been here getting refitted for the past 45 solar days and I'm hungry for news of the Territories. Why don't you join me," he indicated an adjoining table, "and fill me in."

"I'm afraid I must decline sir, my Captain..."

"I'll clear it with your Captain Lieutenant." He snapped and Aeryn cursed herself for stating that her imaginary Captain was newly commissioned. She knew as well as he did that that made this man Senior Officer and he could command her time as he wished with little fear of reprisal.

Something must have shown in her face because the Officer's eyes narrowed "Or do you find my offer.... displeasing?"

Aeryn smoothed her features back to nutral. " Of course not" she replied contritely. " I'd be honored to ....recreate... " she intentionally misused the word, " with you Captain....?"

"Artax" he smiled, " Tynan Artax. Commander of the Wolfstar, Caspian Regiment."

"Ah, and how do you spell that? Artax?"

Confusion clouded Artax face. "Spell it?"

Aeryn leaned in close enough to whisper in his ear.

"Yes Sir, spell it. So when Scorpious asks my Captain WHY his shipment of supplies was delayed, he'll know exactly whom to see for an answer."

Artax went purple and then pale and stepped back from Aeryn as though she'd burned him.

"On your way Lieutenant" he said harshly stepping aside.

"Thank you sir." She replied innocently and headed for the door resisting the instinctive urge to run.

When she reached the hallway she breathed a sigh of relief and put one hand over her mouth to stifle a laugh. "Brilliant Aeryn!!!" She silently congratulated herself. " That was absolutely brilliant!!! No fuss caused, cover in tact!!! A senior level Disruptor agent couldn't have done any better." She fought back a smile. For the first time since John died she felt... Alive. She had forgotten how wonderful a feeling that was. Picking up the pace she hurried down the hall towards the stairwell. That odious frelling Artax had spoiled her count. She was going to have to hurry if she was going to meet Crichten on time.

_____________________________________________

She was late, and he was worried.

John Crichten peered anxiously around the corner of the access hallway into the main corridor. Aeryn was never late.

"Come on Aeryn, where are you?"

he whispered. He knew he shouldn't panic like this. She was a big girl and had been taking care of herself long before he had come along. She would neither expect nor appreciate his concern, especially now, he thought with some pain. If she said she was going to meet him, she was going to meet him and he'd just have to wait.

Except he couldn't just wait. Any more than he could just not worry about her... or just not... love her. He sighed, put his back against the wall of the tiny access-way and wondered for millionth time since he'd been dumped into the UT's what deity in what dimension he'd pissed off to earn this particular lot in life. As if being chased by most of the bad guys in the universe, having his mind frelled with and being just generally lost in space weren't bad enough, now he had to deal with..."

"Stop it John" he banished the thought before he could complete it. "Don't do it to yourself. It wasn't your fault. Any of it. And remember, she takes time." He'd been telling himself that so much it was becoming a litany. A worn out litany, he thought sourly. But he couldn't help it. Some days his need for her was so bad he thought he'd go nuts with it and he wanted to shake her, yell at her, scream do something to get a reaction, any reaction out of her other than that carefully neutral facade she'd been pushing at him since she got back from Talyn. Even anger or scorn would have been preferable. At least then he'd know she was feeling... something.

He started to peek around the corner again and then stopped himself. He'd better cease and desist that little exercise or someone was going to catch him for sure. He rubbed Winona across his forehead and tried mentally go over the next part of the plan but all he kept seeing was her hand on his sleeve as she'd told him to be careful in the officers' lounge. She'd looked at him, she'd sounded as though she might actually care. But he'd better not read too much into it. He'd been disappointed before.

So in to his thoughts was he that he almost didn't hear the muffled cry and thump behind him. He spun around just in time to see Aeryn gently lowering the guard she had just Pantak jabbed to the ground.

"You never were any good at this bit." She chastened him.

"That's why I bring you along for back up." He grinned, so glad to see her that he forgot to be embarrassed that she had just had to save his life... again. "Thanks for watching my backside."

"I couldn't help it" she replied automatically and then froze.

"What's wrong." John bent down next to her, concerned. She'd gone pale and her hands that were currently tying up the guard were shaking.

"Nothing." She replied brusquely. "Help me get him out of sight."

John obligingly picked up the guard's feet and nodded towards a small door set in the right side of the access-way.

"Stick him in there. It's where I put the others."

They dragged the prostrate guard over to the door opened it and flung him none to gently on top of the three other tied up unconscious Peacekeeper bodies from the bar.

"Did you get it?" Aeryn asked. She still wouldn't look at him

"Yeah, easy as pie. They were all drunk, I don't think they even knew what hit them." John reached into the back pocket of his coverall and pulled out two indent chips and an access pass.

"Good. Lets get this done then."

He nodded and led the way down the cramped corridor.

"Three, four, five" he counted. "This should be the one." John tapped a door barely visible underneath dust and debris. He moved aside a metal pole. "Lets see if Chi's bargaining skills paid off." He inserted one of the access passes and smiled as a soft click let him know that it worked.

"Yes." He and Aeryn entered the room, which appeared to be no more than a storage closet. "According to the floor plan the weapons lab should be right above us. He ruefully looked around at the assorted boxes and bales of old equipment that littered the storage room floor.

"I don't think any of this stuff is sturdy enough to hold me for long. You're going to have to give me a hand here." He stooped down.

She caught his meaning immediately and climbed on his shoulders. He huffed a few times and straightened bringing her within arms reach of the ceiling tiles. Reaching into her belt she grabbed some tools and began attempting to work a section loose.

John shifted slightly to and fro underneath her trying to keep his balance. She wasn't heavy, but the ceiling tiles seemed a snug fit and he had a feeling he'd be standing here for awhile. He began to whistle softly, partly for something to do to break the silence, but mostly to try to counter the feel of her thighs gripping the sides of his head. He wondered idly if his doppelganger had ever been in this position under slightly different circumstances.

"Stop that, you're going to drop me!," Aeryn clutched at the partially removed ceiling tile as he bucked suddenly.

"Sorry."

"What are you doing down there?"

"Nothing. Hurry up we don't have much time."

"I could go faster if you'd keep still" She sounded downright cross now.

"I could keep still if you'd move faster!!"

"Oh, you!!... Never mind. I've got it now" Aeryn gave the flagstone one last heave and pulled herself up into the room above.

"Aren't you coming?" she said when he didn't appear a few microts later.

"I'll be right there. Have to tie my boot." John lied as he waited for the redness to bleach out of his face before climbing up to join her.

____________________________________________

Aeryn grunted as she grabbed John's belt with both hands and hauled him out of the hole in the floor.

"We're on the clock here" she whispered angrily. "What were you doing down there?"

"I told you tying my boot." He sounded almost surly.

"It doesn't take you that long to..."

"Aeryn!" Now he was definitely surly, "We don't have time for this. Just...hand me the light will you?"

She reached into the small pack that he'd brought up with him and slapped a flashlight and the magnifying oculars into his hand. "Typical" she thought. "He jepordizes the mission and he wants to get angry with ME. Well Frell him," she'd done nothing wrong. Best to get this over with quickly and get out of each others hair. She rolled away from him towards the wall and began to crawl around the edge of the room, checking for security camera's and intruder alert devices.

The Volatile weapons lab was surprisingly small and understated. A few lab tables with chem. Sets on them, some locked metal cabinet's and a couple gun racks on the walls for the larger missile launchers. In fact the only thing that separated it, as far as Aeryn could see, from any other weapons storage facility, was the knowledge that everything stored in here either had a triggering device so sensitive that if you thought about it wrong it would vaporize you, or it presented some type of biohazaredous threat. She'd heard from the other officers around the base that in addition to the Cerulean bombs the place had a Narcon Laser, a genuine displacement engine, several samples of Correllian pox and the Nubiran virus that had wiped out the entire population of four planets in the Maxon system.

"Pssst" John hissed at her. "Come back here I need your help."

Satisfied that any security measures the base had taken were outside the room, she crawled back in his direction.

John was on his knees busy picking the lock of a small cabinet built into the wall.

"Come on baby, open up for daddy" he cajoled.

As if in direct response the door popped open and swung out to reveal several trays stacked inside. John counted down to the fourth one and then turned to Aeryn.

"Now comes the hard part." He said. "From the research I did on these things they are extremely...ahh...tetchy. They are stored in their armed state and in order to transport them you have to disarm them. Under normal circumstances there is a machine that does it but it's very noisy and your palm print has to be coded into it anyway. Which means that we'll have to do it manually."

"Is that going to be a problem?" Aeryn didn't like the look on John's face.

"Well, umm maybe, maybe not. The good news is that the process is fairly simple. Six steps in sequence and none of them very complex. The bad news is you've got to do it in 30 microts. And I mean exactly 30 microts too. So much as a fraction of a microt either side of 30 and the self distruct will kick in."

Aeryn let the import of that sink in for a minute. "Can you do this?" She asked him simply.

"Probably" he laughed in an attempt to hide the fear in his voice.

"Good. That's better odds than you usually give us." She forced a smile that became genuine when she realized her little speech had calmed him down. He handed her the flashlight and a timing device and then pulled out the tray.

"O.K. Dr. Welby. Let's operate."

___________________________________________

A quarter ahrn later they both breathed a sigh of relief. The deed was done and they weren't dead. Aeryn packed the last bomb in the carrying case and set it back in John's pack.

"Lets get out of here, I'm sure there will be a security patrol soon."

"Yup" John replied as he bundled up his tools. "I'm counting on it. Oh and would you mind putting that tile back in the floor? I want to at least try to make this cabinet door look like its still locked. The longer we can hide the theft the better."

Aeryn started for the hole in the floor and then stopped. "John, why would I put the tile back in the floor BEFORE we've gone through it?"

"Because we aren't going back down the hole."

"What do you mean?"

He sighed and turned to face her. "We can't get back out that way. The access card I have only opened the door to that storage room from the outside. So if we went back down we'd be effectively locked in. And that level has too much traffic. Someone would be sure to question this" he pointed to the now bulging sack.

Aeryn began to feel a tick in her forehead. " This level is a restricted level. We do NOT have access. Just how are we supposed to get out of here now?"

"The front door. Relax I have a plan."

Aeryn didn't know what scared her more. The fact that they were now effectively trapped, or the fact Crichten had a plan. "Oh No you...," she began.

"Shush, just listen." He cut her off. " I checked this out. Outside the door over there is a small foyer with security equipment in it. It shows all the surrounding corridors. At the end of each corridor leading to this level is a gate that is guarded by two guards. Those guards make a round of the corridor every half ahrn, In OPPOSITION to each other. So all we have to do is wait until they're both sets of guards are out of sight of the front door and head for the nearest empty gate. These...," he held up the two ident chips he'd lifted from the officers in the bar. " ....Are from officers ranked high enough to have access to this floor anyway and from what I was told you just slide it in the gate and it will open and let you through."

Aeryn sat back on her heels in disbelief, "When were you planning on telling me all this?" She asked in the soft voice she usually reserved for things she was about to kill.

"There wasn't time." He replied heading for the door.

After a microt she got up and followed him. To her surprise she wasn't as angry as she was hurt. He was supposed to be her partner, they were supposed to be a team. They'd never kept anything from each other before, never. They were going to have to have a serious talk when they got back to Moya if he EVER thought that....

Aeryns introspective thoughts were cut short when John pulled up short and she bumped into his back.

"Watch it" she snarled.

"Frell me"

"Most definitely"

"No, Look." He pulled her around in front of him into the foyer.

Aeryn looked at the two vid cameras he was pointing to. They both showed the same thing. A pair of guards at a security check point. As she watched one set of guards stood up. After exchanging a few words with their partner, one guard went left down the hallway, the other went right. A microt later the same thing happened with the other set of guards. One went left, the other went right. As a result, two guards were headed away from them and two were headed directly for them.

Aeryns heart dropped. "Your intel was faulty"

"Don't state the obvious"

"Frell, they're checking the doors, get back inside."

They left the foyer and ran back into the lab. Aeryn turned the overhead lights on and quickly scanned the room for something, anything that might provide them some cover. But there was nothing. No closets, the tables were open and there was no machinery or equiptment large enough to conceal them. She sighed and headed back towards the door pulling her pulse pistol.

"Where are you going?"

She glared at him, "You take the one on the left, I'll take the one on the right."

"Aeryn we can't kill them. A pulse blast in this room with all these explosives will send this entire base into orbit. And if for some reason it doesn't blow, if even one of those guards doesn't show back up to their post, half the base will shut down and be on its way here looking for us."

With that Aeryn lost what was left of her composure. She turned to John grabbed him by the collar and backed him into a lab table. "Listen to me," she hissed "Do you hear that? That's death marching towards us and this time you won't get to die a hero. You will be shot down by a first level grunt and if your lucky your body will be left to rot in the streets as an example of what happens when you try to steal from the Peacekeepers. If your not lucky they'll turn you over to Scorpius. Now, those guards will be here in less than 10 microts so unless you can think of a plausible reason why an officer and a tech would be in a restricted lab BY THEMSELVES, then I suggest you FOLLOW MY LEAD"

"Aeryn you're a genius" he croaked.

"WHAT?"

"I said you're a genius" John pried her hand from around his throat and ran back to the door. He opened both the foyer door and the outer door a couple of denches and hurried back into the room. He shoved the chem. Set and other tools on the table behind Aeryn to one side and held up a hand to silence her when she started to protest.

They could hear footsteps coming from both ends of the corridor.

"I'm sorry" he said "you'll just have to kill me later." And with that he grabbed her waist, hoisted her butt onto the lab table, kneed her legs apart, slid himself between them and kissed her.

Hard.

For a microt she was so shocked she just sat there with his tongue running over her teeth. Then she bit him and brought her weapon to bear on his head.

He didn't flinch.

"Do YOU hear that?" he hissed his nose practically pressing down on hers. " That is death coming and this time you won't be able to play the grieving widow because YOU'LL be buying it right along with me. Now if you can think of another plausible reason why an officer and a tech would be in a restricted area ALONE together then please, I'm all ears. But if not I suggest you suck it up and MAKE IT LOOK CONVINCING."

When she didn't reply he kissed her again.

Aeryn was furious. But he was right, the idea might be just crazy enough to work if they both kept their cool and thought fast on their feet. Problem was she wasn't on her feet and she was beginning to find it difficult to think fast or slow or any kind of way at all.

"Focus" she thought firmly.

//her tongue slowly stroked across his//

"How far away are the guards? Will they be armed? Are they new recruits or experienced?"

// her thighs drew up and clinched his hips//

"If they notice the door open will they come in together or will one come in and the other call for back up?"

//one hand fisted the back of his coverall while the other slid up through his hair//

"FREEZE RIGHT THERE"

Aeryn pulled away from John and regarded the two young guards over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" The male guard demanded trying desperately to sound authoritative.

"WRONG QUESTION" Aeryn bellowed.

"Huh?" both boys took a step back, whatever reply they had been expecting that certainly wasn't it.

"WHEN YOU ARE IN THE PRESENCE OF A SENIOR OFFICER GRUNT YOU DO NOT QUESTION WHAT THEY ARE DOING, YOU ASK WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR THEM!!!!

"Um, but, this is a restricted area...Sir" the female guard interjected somewhat weakly.

Aeryn took a long slow look around the weapons lab and then shrugged.

" So," she drawled in a tone that somehow managed to convey both arrogance and anger. "You are redundant as well as rude. How typical." Aeryn sighed and buried her head in her hand a microt. " I have no time for this" she moaned. " IDENTIFY YOURSELVES."

Both guards jumped at her command.

"Vanek Ilhert" the male began reflexively until the female cut him off by stomping on his foot. She raised her pulse pistol and stared at Aeryn defiantly.

"I'm sorry sir, but its you who need to identify yourself. This is a restricted area and we were not given any instructions that anyone was using this facility today."

John bucked against Aeryn and she pulled back just enough to place a hand over his mouth. She quickly assessed the girl was smarter than she looked and she'd have to change her tactic's a bit if she was to pull this off.

"Captain Gelina Reneyas" She said in a softer tone and held up the Captain's ident chip that John had stolen earlier. "I'm impressed Grunt, you didn't let me distract you, very good."

Aeryn shoved John's upper body to one side so she could see the girl more clearly. "I know what your thinking" she said. "Senior officer, restricted area, compromising position" she tapped at John's butt with the heel of one boot. "Tell the right person and it's a promotion waiting to happen. But there's something you need to think about before you do that."

The guard lowered her pulse pistol, interested in what Aeryn had to say.

"For instance the door was open was it not? No sign of forced entry?"

"No"

"And take a look around. Do you see anything missing?"

Both guards took a cursory look around. "No"

Aeryn waved dismisvely at John who took the hint and moved so that she could hop off the table. She went up to the female guard and got as up close and personal as she could get. "But the real question is this. She said softly, "Why didn't you catch us before we got in here?"

The girl lost a bit of her cocky demeanor. "Well...."

"I'll tell you why. You're rotation is to slow. There's a period of 45 microts where all four of you are completely out of range of the gates." Aeryn began to walk slowly around the pair in a circle.

"Not to mention the fraternizing you were doing before your rounds began." She paused for a few microts to let that sink in and then went in for the kill. " Anyone could have stolen an ident badge and robbed this place blind thanks to you."

Both guards blanched a little.

"Was I having a non regulated lisason with ...substandard personnel in an unauthorized area? Sure. But I've obviously got clearence if I got in here without you and after all, I'm not the one who dropped the ball."

The two regarded Aeryn for a minute and then moved the side of the room for a short conference. Then the girl touched her com.

"Units 14 and 15 reporting" she said. Sector 337 of the South corridor all is clear. I'm proceeding North to 338 and Vanek is continuing South to 336.

"If you hurry, you can make the South gate before I get there" Vanek said. "Let yourselves out and no one will be the wiser."

"Smart kids" Aeryn said under her breath as they left. She sat down hard unable to believe they'd gotten away with it.

"I told you, you were a genius" John was grinning at her. "That was just brilliant and uh..." He broke of as Aeryn shoved him.

Brillant? Frell you!! We came this close to dying because of your frell up, you...molest me and you say its brillant?"

John's smile faded and he looked as though he had been slapped. "I'm sorry I molested you." he said through clenched teeth "You can bet it won't happen again."

Aeryn thought seriously about snapping his neck for about two microts and then decided she was just to tired.

"Just get the stuff Crichten" she said. "And lets go,"

___________________________________________

Night Cycle on Moya.

John wandered down the corridor the headache pounding in his temples. Or at least it was pounding in his temples now; it had started at the base of his neck and worked its way up. He wondered ruefully if it was just going to blow off the top of his head, or inflict more torture by heading down towards his sinuses.

The continuous lack of sleep was really beginning to get to him. His head was a balloon bobbing around loosely on top of his body. His tongue felt thick and speech was a supreme effort he avoided whenever possible. He suspected the burning in his stomach was the beginnings of an ulcer and people ran like the Japanese in an old Godzilla movie whenever he came into a room.

He smiled slightly at the analogy. It was strangely apropos, he felt rather like a giant fire-breathing lizard on the rampage.

The facial movement caused his eyes to burn and he picked up the pace a bit. He'd tried just about every foul concoction and shot that Doc (as he had subconsciously started calling Jool) could come up with in his battle against insomnia to no avail, so this evening he'd gone back to the basic's. He'd started with exercise. That had only succeeded in making him sore. Next he'd played Tadek with Rygel in an attempt to bore himself to sleep. No luck there, but he had managed to lose most of this month's pocket money to the cheating little slug. Then he'd tried working on his wormhole data and that had resulted in the aforementioned headache.

He was now headed to the center chamber to get some felip nectar, as much felip nectar as he could find actually. He was gonna get drunk. No, check that, he was going to get trashed like a bachelor on stag night. If nothing else when he passed out his body would finally get some rest. If he had a hangover in the morning so what, it couldn't be any worse than he was feeling right now. He rounded the corner, started in the door and stopped short.

Aeryn was sitting cross-legged on top of the main table staring out of the Hamanan side window. She must have been in bed at some point because her hair was uncharacteristically unbound and she was wearing the Calvins she'd "borrowed" from him over two cycles ago.
John hesitated, she was either lost in thought, or the contemplation of her toenails, and he didn't think she'd seen him yet. He could, in theory back out of the doorway and avoid what would probably be either an unpleasant exchange or even worse, no exchange at all. He'd been avoiding her like the plague since they'd gotten back from the armory. The comment about "molesting her" had hurt him in ways he wasn't prepared to deal with yet.

He vacillated for a few microts and then said "Frell it" and walked in the room. Let her be pissed, if seeing him ruined her day then perhaps she'd get a taste of what it was like to be him. He opened the refrigeration unit pulled out two bottles of felip nectar and set them on the counter.

She neither moved nor spoke.

He took out two more bottles and set them next to the first set.

Still nothing.

"Better do it up right" he thought sourly and three more bottles made it on to the counter. Hopefully that would be enough to put him into a long-term coma and end his misery.

He couldn't even hear her breathing.

"Don't DO this to yourself Crichten, just take the Beer and go," his strained emotional state causing him to unconsciously use the earth term. He was not going to make the first move, he wasn't. It had defined their relationship since the beginning and he was tired of it.
But he couldn't help it.

"Hey," he said turning to look at her.

As far could tell she didn't even blink.

Embarrassed and ashamed he turned around and tried to grab up the felip nectar and get out of there with what was left of his dignity. But there were to many bottles so he stretched out his T-shirt with one hand and began loading them into the resulting pocket with the other.

"You could have at least said 'hey' back," he grumbled angrily.

"That's what the other person says when they don't want to talk," she replied softly, "You never told me the proper response for if you do."

The bottles of nectar went rolling on the counter as he turned back around. She'd changed position a bit and now sat regarding him with her chin on her up drawn knees.

"Ahhhhh," he said a bit at a loss. "You don't ...say... anything."

She frowned at him.

He approached the table slowly and sat down. "I mean, you don't say anything special. You just... talk."

"O.K."

She hopped off the table went to the counter, picked up two of the prone bottles of fellip nectar and came back to join him. She set one in front of him, opened the other, took a long swig and sat down.

They regarded each other for a few microts.

"I'm sorry" she said at last.

"Ummm" was all John managed to get out.

"For the other day, what I said, I'm sorry." She looked away from him and began to play with the discarded bottle top. "I should have given you credit. Both for the plan to get the bombs and the way in which you got us out of that mess. It was a good deception, one that ultimately... worked."

"Yeah," John said simply because he couldn't think of anything else coherent to say. "Thank... although I admit, it wasn't one of my better mental efforts. I'm surprised they fell for..." He searched for a tactful way to put it; "...that last bit. It's the oldest trick in the book."

She shrugged, "Peacekeepers don't read much. Anyway, it doesn't matter how...awkward it was. It worked and I should have acknowledged that."

It occurred to John at that moment that he could draw this out for what she had put him through. But he knew he wouldn't, he'd always been pathetic where she was concerned so he set about letting her off the hook.

"It's O.K. Aeryn. You don't have to apologize. I didn't have the right to...touch you like that without your permission, no matter the circumstances and..."

"I'm not done yet."

"Oh"

She sighed, "When I found out that you had kept a large part of the plan from me I got very angry, and not just because it left me unprepared." She paused to chew at her bottom lip for a bit then continued, " See, you'd never done that before and I was um... at a bit of a loss."

"Well, I would have told you" he said carefully, "But um... you haven't exactly been...approachable lately."

She nodded, "I know that, and that we had limited time and that there were a host of other logical reasons for you not to say anything. But I didn't care. I felt shut out."

"Sorry"

She looked back up at him. "It was a feeling I didn't like very much. But it did get me to thinking."

"About?"

"About how that must be pretty much how you've been feeling ... for awhile now."

John stared at her in openmouthed surprise. If there was a response for that, his brain wasn't working well enough to verbalize it.

Aeryn searched his face for a moment and then continued, "And that you must be going through a lot of other .. things as a result of me."

"You keep confusing the two of us" he blurted and immediately wished he hadn't.

To his surprise she didn't spaz or run. Pain clouded her features for a moment and then she nodded.

"Yeah, I do. And it's either a really big mistake....."

John held his breath.

"......or it isn't."

"And?" he asked in spite of himself.

"And.... I think it's..... to soon...for me to decide either way."

John let out a big breath of .... something. Frustration, relief? Maybe both.

"Well anyway," she got up then, signaling an end to the discussion "I just wanted you to know."

John watched her pad about the kitchen, throwing away the empty bottle, putting the rest of his felip nectar back in the refrigeration unit, getting some fruit for a snack. He felt better, although he wasn't sure why. It wasn't like anything had been solved.

"Good night" she said and headed for the door.

"It wasn't me you know" he said with a smile.

"Excuse me?" she turned back around.

"In the weapons lab, our deception didn't work because of me. I mean I came up with the idea but it was you who got us out of there. It was an Oscar winning performance."

"Oscar?"

"You were very convincing."

"Oh" she waved dismisevely, "I just did what came naturally. Its easy to be convincing when you don't have to fake it."
She headed back for the door again. John watched her retreating back for a microt and decided to take the risk.

"I um, I wasn't exactly, ahh, referring, to how you handled the guards...Aeryn."

She paused for a moment, her hand on the doorframe.

"Neither was I" she replied.

And left the room.

The end.