John Crichton awoke to the alarming realization he was being observed. His blue eyes flew open and he anxiously scanned the membranous ceiling and upper walls of his and Aeryn's private quarters aboard Moya. At the same time, he listened intently for any unfamiliar sounds that would indicate there was a possible threat to his wife, child, or fellow shipmates. When a few moments had passed, and nothing seemed amiss, he breathed a sigh of relief.
He felt the tension drain out of his body as he closed his eyes. He was just beginning to drift back to sleep, when the sensation of being watched, flooded over him again. Simultaneously, he felt something strike the right side of his head and heard a soft gurgling sound in his ear.
John turned his head to his right and found himself face to face with his infant son. D'Argo Sun Crichton lay upon the silky sheets between his mother and father. A smile curved John's lips as he caught sight of Aeyn's exquisite features composed in a serene expression as she slept.
It did his heart good to see such an expression on his wife's face. There hadn't been many moments in their life together for her to be able to sleep so soundly or feel such peace within her. Motherhood had taken Aeryn by surprised. She had been plagued with worries that she was too hard or cold hearted due to her Peacekeeper conditioning to be the kind of mother their son deserved, but once he was born, all those worries had faded away. She had taken to motherhood as if she was born to it.
Finding their son in their bed with them, meant that he must have slept through a feeding during the night. Instead of settling into the chair in the corner of their room, Aeryn must have climbed back into their bed to nurse D'argo, and fallen asleep while he was still eating. John hated missing even the littlest moments with his son, but there were times when it couldn't be helped.
While he was mostly recovered from the dual effects of using the wormhole machine and Einsten forcibly stripping the wormhole technology from his mind, he still occasionally suffered from crippling migraines, followed often by a nearly paralyzing lethargy that lasted anywhere from a few arns to a couple of solar days.
The evening before he had felt one of those headaches coming on and he had sought out Noranti. She had fixed him one of her infamous pain concoctions to drink. He'd warily eyeballed the bubbling greenish-gray liquid for several microts before tossing it down. He had reflexively gagged and almost spewed it, and the rest of the contents of his stomach, all over Noranti.
He grimaced in remembrance of the vile tasting stuff. His tongue had gone numb, his vision had clouded over, and he was hit with an overpowering wave of inertia. His knees had folded underneath him and the last thing he remembered hearing was Noranti screaming for Aeryn and Chiana, and then everything went black.
Obviously, Aeryn had gotten him back to their quarters, and tucked him into bed. By the feel of the silky sheets against his flesh, his wife had taken the trouble to undress him as well. He regretted not being aware enough to participate more fully in the undressing. He would simply have to make up for that when they had their next few microts alone.
John rolled over onto his side so he could see D'Argo better. In the sixty solar days since his son was born, D'argo had grown two inches, gained at least three pounds, and the downy fuzz that had covered his little head at birth, was darkening to brown.
D'Argo's eyes had changed as well. Instead of the cobalt blue they had been at birth, they were now an equal mix of blue and brown. John wondered if they would remain hazel or darken into the same beautiful coffee brown of his mother's.
He ran a hand gently over D'Argo's head, watching as tiny eyelids fluttered at his touch. He traced a finger across his son's brow, over the slightly upturned nose, and along D'argo's jawline. The tiny lips quivered, and then opened. John pressed the tip of his index finger to his son's mouth and smiled when D'Argo immediately began to suckle on it.
Hazel eyes opened to meet his and John felt the familiar tug on his heart. He had the odd sense that D'Argo was more aware of him than he should be at only sixty solar days old. He wasn't an expert on babies or their developmental patterns, but he was pretty sure it wasn't normal.
John smiled at his foolishness. Nothing that had happened to him in the past four cycles was normal. He had been shot through a wormhole in his module, during a routine flight, and found himself trapped into a galaxy he had never known existed. He had met all manner of strange creatures, traveled to countless planets, saw many unusual things, made friends with a Nebari, Hynerian, Delvian, Leviathon, Traskan, Interion, Stykera, and Luxan; and fallen madly in love with a beautiful Sebacean woman.
His son would never be normal. D'Argo was conceived in love by a human father and Sebacean mother. He was born in the middle of chaos and violence, during a galaxy wide war being waged between Scarrens and Peacekeepers.
D'Argo would grow up to be as strong and courageous as the brave Luxan warrior he was named for. Ka D'Argo. Grief slammed into him with an intensity that stole his breath and filled his eyes with salty moisture. He missed his Luxan friend terribly.
The two of them had been thick as thieves and would have done anything for the other.
It hadn't been that way in the beginning, but after they had learned they could trust and depend on the other, their friendship had developed into a bond that not even death could break.
D'Argo had been mortally wounded during a firefight and chose to sacrifice his life so that the rest of them could live. He and Aeryn had chosen to name their son after D'Argo because they wanted to honor their brave and loyal friend. Though he would never know him personally, their son would learn of his Luxan uncle through the memories his parents shared with him.
John blinked several times to clear the moisture from his eyes, and when he could see clearly again, he saw that his son had fallen back to sleep. When he saw that Aeryn was still out as well, John closed his eyes and allowed the combined breathing of his wife and child lull him back into slumber.
