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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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2020-11-05
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Holo Gesture

Summary:

Rating: Um...will Farscapean curses earn me a PG? Cause otherwise I guess this is a Disney movie...
Summary: This takes place just after "Beware of Dog". Anyway...it's shippy, and hopefully you'll like it!
Spoilers: Beware of Dog
Feedback: Yes.
Disclaimer:I don't own squat. You know the drill. (Reh notes that the story does even if the characters don't) © Elflore, 2000
Submitted through the AerynsFarscape mailing list.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Holo Gesture
by Elflore

Aeryn Sun was not in a good mood.

Some would say that there was nothing unusual in that fact, that Aeryn was *always* in a bad mood, but they would be wrong. She had a hard time admitting it to herself sometimes, let alone anyone else, but Officer Sun had actually grown rather pleased with her life on Moya, and the comrades...friends, even...she had in its eccentric crew.

Tonight, however, she was far from pleased. She was doing laundry-no matter how much she grew as a sentient being, she would never enjoy laundry-and she wasn't even washing her own clothes, but Crichton's.

Not that he'd asked her to. In fact, most of the time he was the one volunteering to do *Aeryn's* laundry. And not that the task itself was really what was bothering her.

Lately, John had been increasingly distracted. After several days of this behavior, he had admitted to Aeryn that he was seeing flashes of Scorpius. A delayed aftereffect of John's time in the Aurora Chair, that much seemed clear, but Aeryn didn't have the first clue how to help him. He...*John Crichton*, of all beings...wouldn't talk to her, and he'd told the others even less. She had considered going to them herself, but that seemed dishonorable somehow and she wasn't sure they could do him any good anyway. Perhaps no one could. Perhaps, as much as it pained her, she just had to give John time and space.

So she watched helplessly as John murmured to himself, and played those odd games of his...what had he called them? Galf, and chetz? And as he stopped eating his share (which of course pleased Rygel no end). And as he stopped performing regular maintenance on his module, so Aeryn found herself doing it for him, in the middle of the sleep shift, so that none of the others might know. (Except for Pilot, of course; his DRDs could always see exactly what she was up to, and in fact helped her with the work.)

And then, earlier tonight, on her way from the landing bay back to her quarters, she had stopped by John's room to check on him. The door was locked, but clicked quietly open at her approach-again thanks to Pilot. For the first time in the last weeken, John seemed to be sleeping peacefully. Or so she had thought, until she saw one of Zhaan's powerful sedative potions in a glass beside the bed. Her frown deepening, Aeryn had turned to leave, only to notice the large pile of dirty clothes that had built up in one corner. Without a moment's hesitation, she had scooped them into her arms and made her way down to Moya's amnexus pool.

Which is how she ended up beating John Crichton's vest against the rim of the basin (perhaps not the most effective cleaning technique, but still Aeryn's favorite) in the dead of ship's night, and biting back her latest curse as she heard a loud crack.

"Dren, Crichton," she muttered. "Don't tell me you left your combadge..."

But she unrolled the vest, and the com had been removed after all. Instead, after several more microts, she discovered something hidden away in an inside pocket. A small metal disk, about as wide as her palm, with a switch along one edge and a round lens on the top. It was that lens which had cracked.

Aeryn flicked the switch with her thumb, and a hologram sprang up, hovering just above her hand. The image-badly distorted, now that she had broken the frelling thing- was of Aeryn herself, seated in the cockpit of her Prowler...

Of course it was at that very moment that an insomniac Chiana happened to wander into the room, cooing. "Awwwww. Now isn't that sweet?"

Aeryn spun around, glaring, even as she extinguished the holo. "Excuse me?"

"That holo...it's Crichton's."

"Yes. Considering I found it in his vest, I was able to make that deduction, Chiana."

"And it doesn't please you, flatter you, just a little?"

"No, it does not," Aeryn replied flatly.

"Come on, you don't have to play this game with me! We both know how you-"

"Chiana, how long does it take a holo-image like that to be properly formatted and recorded?"

"Oh, I dunno...about half an arn?"

"Yes. And do you realize what that means?"

"He probably had one of the DRDs do it..."

"Oh, I'm sure he did. I'll bet I can even guess which one it was. And I'll have to have a few words with Pilot as well. I don't appreciate being spied on."

"Now come on, Aeryn! I'm sure he didn't mean to..."

"I know exactly what he meant. Now, take these-" she piled all of John's now-clean clothes into Chiana's arms, "back to Crichton's quarters. If he's awake, tell him I promised he'll regret it if he leaves them down here ever again."

"And the holo-thingy?"

"I'll take care of it."

"You won't be too hard on him, will you? He just-"

"I said I'd take care of it, Chiana. Now go."

Muttering and rolling her eyes, Chiana finally did as she was told.

 

***
As Aeryn stalked into the landing bay, one of the DRDs made a valiant attempt to scoot out of sight beneath a transport pod.

"Oh no you don't! Over here. Now."

The DRD did as instructed, though it seemed to be displaying nearly as much attitude as Chiana had a few microns before. Not really surprising, considering that Crichton had once made a primitive repair to this DRD, and had since treated it like some sort of pet.

Which was also why it was the very DRD Aeryn had been looking for. "He fitted you with a holo-imager, didn't he?"

A moment passed, and then a tiny door flipped open, revealing a hidden lens.

"Right. Come with me."

 

***

The next morning-or what passed for morning, aboard Moya-Chiana told John all about her encounter with Aeryn during the night, and the former Peacekeeper's anger over John's abandoned laundry. She didn't mention the holo, but the moment he'd finished breakfast (well, a food cube, anyway), Crichton dashed back to his quarters and dug his vest out of the laundry pile. He breathed a sigh of relief when he found the little device still tucked inside the hidden pocket. With any luck, it hadn't been noticed.

Thumbing the switch, John allowed himself a quiet smile as Aeryn coalesced before him.

Then he boggled as, for the first time, she smiled back.

THE END

Notes:

This orphaned work was originally on Pejas WWOMB posted by author elflore.
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