Hello all! This is a little one-shot that I've been thinking of writing for awhile now…one of the many useful ideas supplied by my wonderful muse, Luca. I was thinking about Aeryn and her softer side. Couldn't help myself.

For the record, Edelweiss is an Austrian flower that grows in the mountains. Austrian men would bring down the flower for their girls as a sign of love. The song itself is NOT an Austrian folk song, as it is portrayed in the movie "The Sound of Music," but it's still a gorgeous song.

Edelweiss is pronounced "Aidelvice." Aidel rhymes with ladle, vice as in not a virtue.

Disclaimer: Don't own Farscape, don't own "The Sound of Music," Don't own nothin but the computer. If I had more than that, do you think I'd have all the time to share with you? Of course not.

The sound of a screaming two-month-old woke Aeryn from a deep sleep. The former Peacekeeper looked groggily around the room, her gaze falling on her still-sleeping husband. He could probably have slept through the Wars, Aeryn thought crankily. She seriously wondered if he would wake if a plasma rifle went off near his ear. She doubted it. John was such a heavy sleeper that he never had to deal with the early-morning parts of parenting, even if Aeryn tried to wake him.

A particularly loud squall from the child down the hall brought Aeryn's thoughts back to the here-and-now. She swung sleep-heavy legs over the side of the bed and padded silently to her daughter's chambers. Before entering, she peeked in on her two-year old son, D'Argo, who was still asleep in his bed across the hall from his sister. He had inherited his father's sleep habits, apparently. He didn't even twitch as his sister's screaming reached a hysterical pitch.

"I'm here, Jezze, its okay," Aeryn murmured soothingly as she entered Jezze's room. She swung her long black hair out of her face as she reached into the crib and lifted her youngest child into her arms. She settled the calming child into the cradle of her arms and allowed the hungry baby to nurse. Aeryn grabbed what she would need to change Jezzebel (John had named her) and left the room.

As she walked to the observation chamber where she and John had christened both their children, she gazed down on the baby girl in her arms. John cherished this little one, as he often said himself. Jezze looked just like her mother, except for her eyes, hands, and lips. Those were from her father. John spent hours just holding his baby girl, playing with her tiny fingers and toes and making her giggle. Aeryn loved to watch her husband play with their child, but now, in the early morning hours, it was her time with Jezze, and she treasured every moment.

Aeryn sat in one of the overstuffed chairs in the chamber and stroked her daughter's cheek as she nursed, still as greedy as she had been since the day she was born. That was something else that came from John…a voracious appetite.

Aeryn leaned back, careful not to disturb Jezze's meal. She gazed at the stars surrounding her. Easily she picked out the one that John had named for her, then, with slightly more effort, she located the two that he had named for his children. Those three shone brightly, the beacons that guided them in their travels.

Jezze finished on one side and fussed until Aeryn switched her to the other breast. Aeryn sighed fondly; smiling a bit at the child, still eating with the single-minded intensity only infants could apply to such a task. She laughed at Jezze's face, scrunched with concentration as she applied herself to the early-morning meal.

Aeryn loved being a mother. Her two children had brought her more joy than she had ever thought possible. John said that she was a good mother…so had all her other crewmates aboard Moya before they had departed the ship to pursue their lives beyond war. Moya had asked John and Aeryn to stay, claiming that she wanted children aboard her, that it had been so long since she had heard children's laughter. John and Aeryn had accepted the offer at once. Aeryn would never be happy planet-bound, and John would go wherever she did. Aeryn smiled at the thought of such devotion. Secretly, she would go wherever he wanted. He wanted Moya. So did she. It suited both of them just fine to raise their babies on the gentle giant, with Pilot as a mentor to them both.

Jezze jolted Aeryn's thoughts back to the present as she finished her meal (for good this time) and started to fuss and whimper. Aeryn put the child over one shoulder and tapped her back gently to burp her. Jezze obliged quickly, and then began to coo and babble. Aeryn, sensing an impending diaper change, did the service quickly.

For a long moment Jezze and Aeryn gazed at each other, Jezze's tiny fists flailing around until Aeryn gave her baby a finger to gum. Jezze's eyelids began to droop, and the baby forced them back open. "Fighting the sleepies," John called it.

Aeryn smiled at her baby and began to rock her, singing a song that John had taught her as a lullaby to sing to their children.

Edelweiss, Edelweiss

Every morning you greet me

Small and white

Clean and bright

You look happy to meet me

Blossom of snow

May you bloom and grow

Bloom and grow forever

Edelweiss, Edelweiss

Bless my homeland forever

As Jezze's eyes drooped close and she began to snore quietly in that endearing baby way, Aeryn carried her back to her room and laid her in her crib. As Jezze cuddled into her blanket, Aeryn smiled again. She tiptoed out of the room, stealing another glance at her baby as she left.

"Bloom and grow forever, Jezzebel."

So…any thoughts on that? Please, tap that lovely button at the bottom to your left and share what you thought! I love feedback, especially from my fellow Scapers. Peace be with you all!