1It's Not Easy Being Green
by Ixchup
Disclaimer: I don't own Farscape, I just borrow its characters for harmless play.
Author's Note: No beta was harmed in the writing of this thing.
The lights on the Christmas tree blinked and shimmied causing glimmering shadows to play across the walls all along the stairway leading up to the bedrooms. John pointed Winnona out of the door of his room before he followed cautiously. His pulse beat a carol against his chest as he stared into the flickering darkness. He couldn't hear if Aeryn had regained her equilibrium after being smashed against the cocktail table. Mom would be so devastated at the mess. For once John was glad she wasn't around to see another of his plans shot to hell.
What was that critter? It was green and red, like Christmas...ah a Christmas Critter... no, suck it up Crichton... don't get punchy, man. You're hunting a huge frelling cockroach from hell. John moved carefully further out into the corridor and spun suddenly as a claw grabbed his ankle firmly and jerked him off balance.
"Shit!" he cried as he tumbled toward the hole in the wall where the shiny green spiked arm was reaching through to firm up its grip on the man. John hit the emerging red-jawed head with Winnona while pushing its slobbering teeth away from his face. The critter just wouldn't get the message and leave, but leaned forward carrying John closer to the rail that separated the corridor from the two-story drop off. John reached desperately up and grabbed the monster by its neck but was too late as they both tumbled through the railing and over the side, falling 12 feet or more to the floor below.
John lay on his back, totally winded, gasping for a full breath through the pain that radiated up through his chest. Must-a busted a rib, he thought as he tried to move, but found he was totally immobilized by the burr-covered claws that covered his face and held on to his chest. Blood rand down his face from the tiny cuts and he could feel a hot slimy something moving through his face paralyzing his cheeks and neck and running down his chest to meet the poison that pulsed from the cuts along his ribs where the creature's other hand pressed heavily. His mind felt muzzy and distant as he looked into the blackest eyes he had ever seen. Like deep pools of evil they sucked him in and seemed to dig into his brain. He instinctively knew that the creature was looking for wormholes. Everybody looks for wormholes. He screamed and tried to move his head as the pushing feeling continued and begin to electrocute him from the inside out. "Get outa my head!" he screamed, but no sound escaped his frozen lips.
He whimpered as the inquisition continued seemingly forever and he knew he was loosing the battle. He wished he knew who had sent the critter from the black lagoon. He couldn't feel his arms or legs and the pain from his chest was so fierce that it muted the electrical buzzing in his head. From a distance he heard Aeryn calling, but he couldn't answer. He never figured he would die in his dad's house on Christmas Eve. It just sucked. And the lights sparkled and dimmed as he lost his battle with consciousness.
The Screech looked up from its interrogation of the human. She continued to transmit to Grayza the amazing amount of nonsense he found while seeking to locate the wormhole technology she was being paid to collect. Grayza's insistent voice was annoying as the alien focused on an allusive thread. There! She could see a recent memory of a man with no eyes and abundant information on navigation and unrealized realities. As the Screech bent towards Crichton, Aeryn took a chance and aimed carefully at the crystal chandelier as it swung on its cord. With the pulse blast still echoing, the heavy lamp came crashing down on top of the Screech and Crichton, slamming its pointed bottom into the alien's chest and rolling it off of the stricken man.
Aeryn crawled as fast as she could over to John's side and dragged his unconscious body away from the carnage that was about to get worse from the sound of Lo'La's engines humming and the pulse fire gearing up for a precision shot. Glass shattered, as the Screech's rising form became fragments of energy that rapidly dissipated, twinkling like added lights in the now darkened and smoky home.
"John, John, can you hear me?" Aeryn called softly as she rubbed her hands over his face. There was no reaction as he lay there bloody and comatose next to his father's panting body.
"Wha-what' happened?" Jack coughed and sputtered as he rolled over to survey the damage to his home and family. A short distance away Olivia rubbed her aching head as she too pulled herself up to a sitting position.
"Jack, is there a medic or diagnostician nearby?" Aeryn's cold, precise voice called out. "John needs help quickly."
"God, John!" Jack yelled as he suddenly saw his son where he lay among the ruins of the chandelier. "Olivia, dial 911!"
Grayza cursed inwardly as she surveyed Braca where he lay in a dazed state by her side. Frell, that Screech must have died because the data transmission was cut off exactly when it seemed that she had reached the wormhole technology. She just didn't know how Crichton managed to thwart another conquest, but he had.
Aeryn approached the bed where John lay among the murmuring machines that monitored his life signs and the bags of antibiotics and painkillers that flowed into his arm. She hesitated when she realized he was awake and looking at her with sad eyes.
"I never got to answer your question, what was it…the other night," he said softly.
"It is now five solar days, John. You've been unconscious five days."
"Oh. My life is so frelled up, Aeryn," he rolled his head and tried to rub one of the bandages with his shoulder. Aeryn moved to his side and rubbed the irritation for him as she looked down and bit her lip.
"I-I would have said stay," John said as he tried to blink the moisture from his suddenly red eyes. He sighed and swallowed as he continued, "Aeryn, I've come to realize something as I lay here. I-I know that I've been an ass. Selfish, closed-in, and just plain ornery towards you. I thought I had my reasons."
Aeryn sighed and looked down at her hands where they carressed his closed fist that lay whitening on the bed. She slowly looked up at him and down into the depths of his eyes. The pain there startled her and she flinched. She thought that she was the one with the conflicts and shattering emotions, but hers matched his one for one. There was nothing she could say, so she waited.
"I thought I had everthing figured out. I thought if I pushed you away that Scorpy couldn't get me through you. I thought if I convinced myself that you didn't matter, that you wouldn't. I was such a fool. Scorpy is gonna know my heart because I can't hide it any more. Everyone seems to read the signs except me. Olivia saw my tell. Dad saw my tell. Hell, Grayza sees it. Even Sparky isn't blind. Only me."
Aeryn smiled and nodded, her eyes filled with tears for John's confession. He was such a drannit.
"Well, the shit is gonna hit the fan, but I don't care any more. I need you, Aeryn. The pressure is killing me. Screw the bad guys!" John raised the hand attached to the IV to his brow, his face contorted with both his emotions and the sudden pain in his head.
"I can't protect you or my family from me or the screwed-up universe we live in. I can't keep Scorpius from learning that you are my life, my guide, and my only reality. I figure you've been wondering about that black bulb and the fairy dust. Well, I've been cheating you, Aeryn. Cheating myself. Hell, I can't believe I've become the poster boy for Just Say No! Well, here's another confession. I have been trying to hide in dren and the old lady's shit and all it does is make things worse. It doesn't bring clarity, it clouds issues. I can't keep this up. The other night it was some critter that followed me home from school. Tomorrow it will be Scorpy come to suck my blood. I can't control their comings and goings. All I can do is live my life. You, you are my life. You and the baby." John panted from the strain of his speech. It was the most difficult thing he ever had to admit. He had no control. No control over his emotions, his life, or his enemy's actions.
"Someone once said to me that our lives were in the hands of fate. I think we have to fight fate by ignoring her." Aeryn stated quietly, giving in to her needs over her anger and frustration at this frelled-up man she adored. "I love you John Crichton and I will stand here by your side and fight green monsters and black-clad half-breeds if you would just keep telling me the truth."
Aeryn took John's hand in hers and placed it on her cheek. John looked at his love and realized that he should have trusted his twin; she did take time and patience. "Aeryn, will you forgive me?"
Aeryn pointedly ignored his question, but smiled down at him, "Your father and sister are here to see you. D'Argo took Chiana and Sikozou up to Moya so we could have some privacy. I assume that as soon as you are able you'll want to leave. Grayza can't be far away from the mouth of the wormhole." Aeryn swallowed. There was more dren that John had to face, more sorrow to bear. She squeezed his hand and looked towards the door.
John nodded his thanks to his best friend and lover, "Yeah, bring 'em on, I gotta tell dad and Olivia about the Grinch who stole Christmas. I'll tell you that story sometime. It is my life in a nutshell.