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Dealing with the hands of Fate [ 1/?]

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Rating: PG

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Farscape characters. All Farscape characters, names and situations are trademarks of Jim Henson Company, Hallmark Entertainment, Nine Network Australia, and the Scifi channel.

Spoilers: episode 3.22 "Dog With Two Bones" & some minor spoilers I've read about season 4.

Story Setting: Season 4

Notes: This story is entirely my muse's fault. If you don't like it you can blame it on her and if you do like it...well, then you can still blame her. I probably have to send her off to therapy anyway for reasons you're bound to find out in this story.

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Silence.

There was something soothing about just standing there, being surrounded by infinite space and the stars. He closed his eyes and listened to the soft humming noises, which had become so familiar and typical to hear for people living onboard a Leviathan.

Every now and again he would seek his refuge at the Terrace, especially when he was in need of some peace and quiet. He chuckled softly. You would have figured that after actually being on your own for so many months, a guy such as him would practically be jumping at the chance to be around people twenty-four-seven again. At times it still seemed like it was all a dream and that he was still onboard Elack instead of being back on Moya with a majority of his friends.

John heard the door slide open behind him, granting access to the Terrace before closing again. He had expected to hear some footsteps or at least hearing someone breathe. Curiosity got the better of him as he turned to see who had decided to join him.

"What you thinkin' about, old man?" Chiana piped, confidently striding towards him.

"Nothin' much, Chi. Just thinking about how we all seem to have changed since we were doin' our own thing. Who would have ever thought we'd be back together again…" John sighed softly as his mind wandered off to an event, which had occurred on Moya not long after they had brought Talyn's remains to the Leviathan graveyard.

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"Running away is not fate, *Aeryn*. Running away *is* running away! Fine, you want fate...I've got fate. Fate...here."

"What?"

"Coin toss."

"What like that side up you stay?"

"Absolutely. Fate."

***

Less than twenty minutes later he had to watch her walk out of his life. His trust in being in the hands of fate eroded little by little as the minutes, hours, days and finally months passed by. Not only had fate taken away Aeryn from him, but it had also stranded him and his module in a remote part of the galaxy with a limited array of options for survival after having witnessed Moya being swallowed whole by a wormhole.

After Harvey harassing him for what had seemed like an eternity about not giving up despite the odds stacking up against them, a sudden blip on Farscape One's radar screen had filled John with hope. It looked like Lady luck had decided to throw him a bone after all.

If it hadn't been for Elack appearing out of the blue, he wouldn't be standing where he was today. All those months aboard the ancient Leviathan had given him enough time to think, pause and reflect on the good ol' days especially after he managed to conquer wormhole theory. To be quite honest the whole thinking, pausing and reflecting wasn't the only thing he was doing to spend his time. Mama Crichton's little baby boy had taken up drinking and had woken up on the floor more times than he would have liked to have been. By that time he had ended up being frustrated with fate and haunted by visions of Aeryn to the point he almost believed he was going totally and utterly insane.

Those visions were seriously messing with his mind. He saw Aeryn pregnant in one vision, and not pregnant at all in another. Back on Moya the old crone had showed him the truth he had to face. He could never go back to Earth and it made him realize that anywhere in the Uncharted or Charted Territories with Aeryn would be a place to call home.

And yet there he was...without Aeryn. He had been the one insisting on saying goodbye to one another, because he couldn't handle the time in between of her leaving and coming back. John had counted on fate keeping them together, which had been the reason why he had suggested the coin toss in the first place. His faith in the fate of their love had been immense and beyond all hope, but in the end that hadn't been enough.

It had taken the arrival of Sikozu and that motley crew of Grudek mercenaries to yank him out of his isolation and back to the reality he had yearned to escape. During the time he was trying to stop those damned mercenaries from harvesting Elack's flesh and talking to Sikozu, it began to dawn on him that he needed to let Aeryn go and move on.

And that was exactly what he had done...