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Peja's Wonderful World of Makebelieve Import
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Published:
2020-11-05
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668
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1/1
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3
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One of the Good Days

Summary:

A tag to the tag scene from "Through the Looking Glass," with spoilers for that episode and "Human Reaction."

Work Text:

"One of the Good Days"
by Rebecca Helton, story copyright 1999
* * * * *

It was well into what passed for night on Moya. The celebratory dinner had wound down, and everyone except John and Aeryn had left for bed. Aeryn and D'Argo had pulled clean-up duty, but John had quickly convinced the Luxan to let him take his place.

He'd never much cared for washing dishes, but the company more than made up for it. As they cleaned off the plates and cups and silverware, he kept glancing at her as unobtrusively as possible.

Apparently, it wasn't unobtrusive enough, for when they were about halfway done, Aeryn asked, "What is it?"

"What's what?" John replied, hoping he could get out of this quickly.

"Why do you keep looking at me?" Aeryn elaborated. He glanced up, and knew he wasn't going to get out of this easily.

He returned his attention to the dish he was scrubbing. "Just because."

He could feel her quizzical expression like a burn on the top of his head. "I see."

John sighed quietly. He really didn't want to have *that* talk--which they sorely needed, in light of what had happened on "Earth"--now. Later, definitely, but not now. He changed the subject. "It's great that Moya's about to have her baby, isn't it?"

A smile asserted itself on her face. "It is," she agreed. "Although even Pilot doesn't know what exactly the birth will entail. It could be an unpleasant experience for us."

"Maybe. But what's life without some surprises?" *Man, did I just describe our relationship perfectly, or what?* he asked himself.

Aeryn apparently noticed the double meaning of the words, and her response was strangely subdued. "Predictable."

"Boring," he countered, handing her another glass to dry.

"Comfortable," she said, looking straight at him. It had suddenly turned into a battle--a friendly battle.

"Dull as doornails," he replied, starting to grin. She looked a little confused at the reference, but passed over it.

"Simple." She also started to smile again.

"Ordinary." He handed her the last plate. "The unknown is much more interesting." He grabbed another towel and dried off his hands.

She didn't say anything in reply, just set the dish on the nearby shelf.

He came over to the other side of the sink, hesitating for a moment before touching her shoulders. "Out of all the unknown things and people out here, you're the one I feel most connected with," he said softly. "Maybe even out of all the known ones, too."

She stared up at him, unblinking. He could see her biting her lip, and could almost imagine her internal debate about what to say in response. He took the decision out of her hands by dipping his head and gently kissing her.

She went rigid for a second, but quickly relaxed, leaning into the kiss. She didn't make any move to deepen it, but John was happy she was responding favorably--not punching him.

Eventually they parted, and he saw the slight flush on her face, feeling the answering one on his own. Odd that they should be embarrassed after all that had happened, but where Aeryn was concerned, very few of his reactions were normal.

"It's getting late," he said, almost in a whisper. "We should probably get some sleep."

She nodded slowly. "We should."

He took her hand in his own, squeezing it gently for a second. "Come on. I'll walk you back to your room."

She looked at him curiously for a moment, pondering the strange offer. She didn't need someone to accompany her to her quarters, but... "All right."

The halls seemed darker than normal, even though they really weren't. It was just the mental illusion of low light brought on by the late hour. At least everything wasn't blue, or red, or yellow, John thought. He was certainly happy about that--happy about a lot of things, not the least of which was the beautiful, intelligent, and far from boring ex-Peacekeeper walking beside him.

*Yep. This is definitely one of the good days.*

 

** The End **