Title: No Talking

Author: sheridan, email: sheridan15@hotmail.com

Archiving: Anywhere

Disclaimer: I know - they aren't mine!

Rating: PG-13

Category: Romance

Spoilers: Rhapsody In Blue, Look at the Princess trilogy

Summary: John and Aeryn share a quiet arn.

As we had so many nights before, I sat out on the terrace with the delectable Aeryn Sun. For a change, I had nothing to say. She was tucked between my legs and I leaned against Moya's comforting wall for support. The compatibility test we had taken a few weekens ago had been a success, although neither of us had brought up the subject again.

Fragile. That is the only word that truly describes my relationship with this female who was so very different than any other.

Her dark hair was bundled into a PK braid. The time Aeryn had spent rock climbing, or whatever she'd really been doing down there on the Royal Planet, had left her hair sunlit with red and gold streaks at the temples. I brushed my lips across those streaks, and recognized the smell of Zhann's oils; the ones that had gotten us into so much trouble not long ago. Aeryn froze in my arms; I knew we had been thinking the same thing. But I continued the gentle kisses without talking, and she relaxed again.

Not talking. That seemed to be key in keeping Aeryn from being spooked and running away. Just the opposite of Alex. I sighed and leaned my head back. Closing my eyes briefly, I remembered again the end of that relationship.

"We never talk", "I don't know what you are thinking" and "Earth to John. Are you there?!" I had thought Alex understood how important she had been to me without a lot of words.

I sat up and hugged Aeryn to me, savoring that other fragrance, the one that was all Aeryn. If the perfume manufacturers on Earth could package Aeryn's scent, they'd make a million bucks. Part sweet clover in the sun, part mechanics' oils and something exotic, like spices from India. Unique, like the woman herself.

She snagged my right hand and held it in her lap. Her thumb stroked down each finger until she got to the one that had been broken, and didn't quite straighten all the way flat. "Football injury," I whispered and she nodded her head before continuing.

My breath stirred the little baby hairs at the top of her neck and I shut my eyes against the sight of her nipples tightening under the black tee shirt. Ho boy, that was the road to trouble!!

Then it was my turn to hold her hand. Long, elegant fingers, work roughened palms and short, no nonsense nails. I wondered how that ring I'd wanted to give Alex would look on Aeryn's hand. All wrong, was my guess. It had taken weeks for me pull that damn box out under my bed. I'd shoved it there after Alex's announcement that she was leaving me. It was another month before I took it back to the jeweler and pretended that my fiancée didn't like that ring.

Why the hell was I thinking of Alex tonight when I already had my arms around everything I wanted? Alex was in the past. So were Gilina and Jena. Oh shit, ... Jena. Someday Aeryn would find out about that colossal fuck-up. Undoubtedly, that was going to be a very bad day for Mama Crichton's baby boy Johnny.

All thoughts of other women were instantly wiped from my mind as Aeryn wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees. The side effect of her movements was to bring her bum smack up against my crotch. The ache I'd been trying to avoid exploded.

With shaking fingers I reached up and began to undo the intricate braid, hoping to distract myself. Her hair fell in dark waves, nearly to her waist now.

Gawd damn, I had to get out of here before I proved what a total ass I could be.

"Um, Aeryn? I've gotta get going, okay? I'll see you in the morning." I slipped out from behind her, hoping she hadn't felt that raging hard-on in the small of her back. Her head stayed where it lay on her knees, grey eyes pinning me like a prized butterfly specimen, and her lips curved into a secret smile.

"Good night, Crichton."

Oh, she had felt it alright.