Day Four:

'~'

Aeryn was growing a little concerned about the amount of food which Jack and Olivia seemed intent on feeding D'Argo for breakfast. However, as Aeryn had guessed that they were both just trying to make the most of what was likely to be their last hour or two with Deke, she let it pass without comment. She actually felt quite sorry for them: If things went to plan today, they would never see their young relative again. However, when Jack went to get yet another bowl of food for her son, Aeryn felt that she had to say something.

"Jack, please, no more," she pleaded. Jack frowned back at her. "I do not want him getting space-sick later today," she explained. Jack nodded in understanding. He was an ex-pilot and astronaut himself, after all, and even his limited imagination had no trouble with visualising how undesirable it would be for the child to be sick in the confined cockpit of the prowler, especially once they were weightless. Olivia looked a little crestfallen, though, but she cheered up at Aeryn's next words. "Although could the two of you look after him for me while I go and pack our things, please?"

"Of course," Jack replied with the broadest of grins.

"We'd love to," Olivia added. Aeryn stood and was already moving to the door as Olivia called after her. "And don't forget to pack that dress and the shoes. If not for you, for your John."

"I know the dress stretches, but they would never fit him," Aeryn tossed back with a smirk and a shake of her head before making for the stairs. Crazy humans, she snorted to herself.

'~'

"I think that is everything," Aeryn commented, placing her now overstuffed flight bag by the front door, itching to get on her way. Of the three humans present, Olivia seemed to Aeryn to be the most upset over the imminent departure of her and Deke, but then John and Jack would be taking them to the base, so it wasn't quite the final goodbye yet for the two men. It was then that Olivia surprised Aeryn by pulling out what seemed to be a camera.

"Honey, could we just get some last pictures? For the family album?" Olivia begged. Aeryn frowned, taking photographs being such a thoroughly alien behaviour to her, so far out of her normal terms of reference. Even her previous visits to versions of Earth had not made it much more comprehensible to her.

Their whole visit this time was so hard for these Crichtons to take in, really, thought Aeryn. This was almost the visit to Earth that Aeryn would have loved to have had, instead of the one she had actually had the year before: No government or media imposing and intruding their agendas upon them; John at his charming best, undamaged by the nightmares, trials and disappointments of the last few cycles, showing her his world. This time she had been able to share with Jack and Olivia that she and John were together, rather than have them wondering why they were not. Yet she knew at heart, of course, that it was not the John, Jack and Olivia that she had known that she was sharing all of these experiences with. She also knew that it must have been even harder for the three humans: She was John's wife, but she wasn't at the same time. Maybe the Crichtons could cope with that, rationalize her as just another girlfriend, albeit one who he had only known for a few days. But D'Argo surely complicated matters. He was John's son, a real child that the humans had never before even thought of, by a woman that they had never before known. Worse, in a few arns he would be gone from their lives, probably for ever.

A few last photographs, to keep the memory of their visit and the possibility of their existence alive in the monens and cycles to come, seemed such a small thing to ask.

"Of course," Aeryn replied with a solemn nod.

Soon Deke was being passed around, being photographed with his human relatives, posing in seemingly every permutation imaginable. They also seemed to want some photographs with Aeryn. The whole exercise remained a strange human ritual from Aeryn's perspective, but she was inwardly pleased that it was something that Deke seemed to take to with ease. He never complained once, although Aeryn had to struggle to maintain her own patience as time dragged on.

Once sufficient photographs had been taken to satisfy the humans' needs, Olivia accompanied them out to the car. It was obvious even to Aeryn that, despite the unfortunate tickling misunderstanding, Olivia was nearly in tears at the thought of their imminent departure. When Aeryn's bag had finally been stowed in the trunk, Olivia could control herself no longer and pulled Aeryn into an unexpectedly fierce hug. It was one of those rare moments when Aeryn abandoned her usual reservations about public displays of affection, returning the hug as intensely as she dared without risk of hurting the fragile human woman who meant so much to her.

"You look after my nephew and my brother. My other brother," Olivia sniffed, stepping back and clutching Aeryn by her shoulders. "I wish we could have had more time," she finished, releasing Aeryn. But Olivia understood perhaps as well as any of them that the solar flares which would hopefully provide Aeryn with her route home would not wait. You didn't need to be an astronaut to understand the unrelenting passage of time. However, only Aeryn truly understood the extent to which the universe could be a harsh and unrelenting timekeeper.

"I promise…" was all Aeryn could reply to Olivia, before she turned and climbed into the vehicle.

'~'

Aeryn watched the unfamiliar streets go by the window, struggling to stay focussed on what she had to do and what she hoped would await her at the end of it: A return to Moya and to her John. The John Crichton with her now, in the car, had fallen into a morose silence since the journey had begun, drumming his fingers on the door trim in time to the music which was playing quietly over the radio. It all reminded Aeryn of another car journey with John, Jack and Olivia the year before, on their way to an airport. John had been moody on that journey, too, although much of that was down to lakka and the music which Olivia had played, the lyrics of which had caused John to fly into a rage when Olivia would not turn it off.

She and John had moved on a long way in their relationship since that unhappy and ill-fated trip to Earth. They had resolved their differences, he had stopped using the lakka, and they had had a son together to name but three things. In some ways it was hard to remember now just how betrayed and alone she had sometimes felt back then. She was fairly sure that she did not want to recall the emptiness and hopelessness that she had sometimes experienced in those days even if she could. She looked down at Deke, smiling and gurgling up at her, and that gave her all the reason and distraction she needed to lift her mood.

A sudden change in the vehicle's direction as it traversed a junction caused Aeryn to look up, out of the window. Through a veil of trees and other vegetation she caught a fleeting glimpse of a childrens' playground, not knowing that it was the one Jack had taken Deke to the previous afternoon. She frowned, trying to recall if it was the very same playground where, monens earlier and a lifetime ago, she had spent a quarter arn, alone in the rain, having absented herself from the government mansion? Back then she had been wondering if John would ever come back to her and, if not, whether she could raise their then unborn child alone. If, today, she could not make it back to her John, might she now have to raise Deke alone, as she had then feared?

The two unhappy memories of her previous visit to Earth, especially coming so close on each other, reminded her of all the good things that she had now that she did not have the cycle before, and of all that she could so easily have lost. It also made her think once again of what this John was about to lose. Although Aeryn felt sorry for this version of her John, she had done all that she could to show him how much more that he could become. She clenched her jaw and redoubled her resolve to get herself and her son safely back to their own John, to their life and, despite the Kkore, to all of the good things that she now had back on Moya with him. She had fought so hard and endured so much to get from where she had been last cycle to get to where she wanted to be. Where she wanted to be was not here on Earth, despite all of its attractions, of that she was utterly sure. Where she wanted to be was back home, her home. Moya.

'~'

The trip to the base and then onwards to the hanger passed without incident. Remarkably so, Aeryn couldn't help but think. It was so unlike her life for nothing to go horribly wrong for such an extended period of time. It made her feel slightly nervous. She almost longed for, say, a challenge from the Earth authorities, just so she could get on with dealing with it instead of worrying about when it might occur.

After a busy half-arn spent getting the prowler back outside, they settled down to a final round of goodbyes and good advice before Laura, DK and then finally Jack, absented themselves and made their way back out of earshot.

John helped Aeryn to stow her flight bag in the prowler and then to secure Deke's new seat behind the pilot's seat. Aeryn was already kneeling in the pilot's seat from securing the car seat, whilst John stood outside the prowler on a short ladder. Aeryn had to admit to herself that the child's car seat, one of her handful of acquisitions during her brief sojourn on this alternate Earth, was a far more secure arrangement than the padded fabric sling, which she had been using to hold Deke when she had landed only a few days ago.

John gave Deke a long, final hug before, sniffing back the threat of a tear, he handed him over to Aeryn for her to secure in the prowler. Aeryn took her time, knowing that John would want the opportunity free of her attention to re-compose himself. Finally she turned back to see that John was once again presenting his usual, confident front to the universe.

Once they had finished dealing with Deke both seemed unsure as to what should happen afterwards. There was a long pause while each of them struggled to think of what to say or do next.

"That's it, then. Looks like you're about ready to hit the road," John commented, using bravado and idle chatter to paste over his breaking heart. Aeryn twisted in the seat to face him. She could see the turmoil he was in. After all, she had had five cycles and several poignant moments of separation to learn how to read him.

"All you've done for us. You didn't have to. Why?" She breathed. She didn't need to ask the rest, to put into words the unspoken details behind that simple question: She was a stranger to him. Why would he risk everything to help her and D'Argo escape from Earth? She had no illusions as to what might be at stake for him: His career, maybe his freedom, or even his life. Even once they were no longer strangers, to do all that he had done to help her could only make it more certain that he would lose both her and Deke than had he refused to help them at all. She knew her John, though: In her heart, she did not really have to ask.

John shrugged and avoided her gaze, but reached out and covered her hand where it rested on the edge of the Prowler's cockpit. "I always was a sucker for a pretty face and a little kid," he said, trying to make light of everything. They both knew that his explanation was, although not a lie, a fabrication to cover what he really felt and would not say. They both knew that he had fallen for her on that first day in the meeting room and that he would do anything for her.

"When you find your way out there…." Aeryn began earnestly, turning her hand over to catch and hold his in her own.

"Like that's going to happen," John butted in with a humourless laugh. "We don't even go to the moon anymore," he added with a snort. Aeryn waited patiently for him to finish. She knew John, her John. He would do anything it took to find her. She had no doubt that this John would be the same. She had spent the last few days giving him as much knowledge as she could to help him down that path. He had a destiny to fulfil, a war to stop.

"When you find the version of me in your reality," she continued, insistent that she was not going to be side tracked or distracted by his attempts to use humour to cover what he was really feeling. "I might not be a very nice person. No matter who I am, what I'm doing, how hostile I might seem to you at first, remember, I find you… interesting… remember I can be more than what you first see. Remember that. And remember to tell me that I can be more." She emphasized the last few words and paused to make sure that he understood the importance of her instructions. He frowned in incomprehension, but eventually nodded all the same. "It might take time for me to come round, but don't give up hope. Don't give up on me. You once said that I take time," she finished. Her heart ached for him, but it was all she could do for this John. However, then he surprised her, raising his eyes to return her gaze, his mouth quirking into one of his more amiable smiles.

"Keep my eyes on the prize, huh?" he asked, those same bright blue eyes twinkling as he tried to fix this moment, complete with the slight smile she returned him, into his memory to sustain him in the months, perhaps years, which lay ahead. "Come on, you'd better get going," he finished, sparing a sad look down to Deke, where he lay in his seat before looking up again, into her eyes.

He leaned in, his heart in his mouth, and his lips found hers. This time, she did not pull away.

'~'

John and Jack returned to their offices, both keeping a nervous eye and ear open for anything which might suggest that Aeryn might have been detected by the military. They had plotted a long, slow, laborious flight path for her to minimize the chance that her prowler might raise suspicious attention. In addition, Aeryn had reassured them that, should she be discovered and challenged, then her prowler should have no trouble in evading anything that might be sent from Earth to intercept her. She could be in orbit within seconds if necessary. Yet they all knew that, where she to do so, then their secret would be out. That would, in turn, mean that John, Jack, DK and Laura would have some very difficult questions to answer. It would also mean that, should she be unable to find her way home, Aeryn and D'Argo would have to return to Earth in full view of the authorities, to face whatever fate those authorities might impose upon them.

'~'

John breathed a huge sigh of relief as he climbed into Jack's truck: It had been half an hour since Aeryn should have safely made high orbit and there had been no sign that she had been discovered. Now he was joining his father in leaving work early: They were heading out for somewhere in the everglades that they knew well, a nice, quiet place for the evening they had planned. According to the schedule, they had about an hour to go until the radiation waves from the largest solar flares would reach Earth. If Aeryn was right, and lucky, she would use that wave to create a wormhole to return to her to her home.

Jack parked the truck at the end of the lonely, everglades track, flicked off the headlights and soon joined John on the flatbed. Five minutes later, by the light of the lamps attached to the roll-bar, John had a telescope set up. Then he moved on to tuning in a customized radio transceiver to the unusual and unused frequency that they had agreed with Aeryn.

"Aeryn? Aeryn can you hear me?" John spoke into a small handset while seated in a lawn chair. Jack stood, playing with the telescope, having now turned off the large, fixed lamps so that he stood a better chance of spotting Aeryn's prowler, or more realistically, maybe just the wormhole. The radio crackled back. "She's not there, dad." John spoke sadly.

"C'mon, son, maybe we can spot her," Jack replied, motioning for John to join him at the telescope, the gesture barely visible in the dark. John dropped the handset and stood.

"John! Is that you? We're fine, in position," Aeryn's disembodied voice came over the radio almost as soon as he had finished speaking. "My sensors show the wave should reach us in about 60 mic… 90 seconds." Deke gurgled and whooped in excitement, the sound so loud it easily carried over the transmission. At least he seemed to be enjoying himself.

John threw himself back down into the lawn chair and ran his hand around on the flatbed until he found the recently discarded handset. He snatched it up towards his mouth, praying that she would still be there by the time he was able to reply.

"You know, you could stay?" John spoke, his voice close to breaking and well past pleading.

"No, John. I have to get back to my own home… My own John," came Aeryn's reply, softly insistent.

"John, Jack, There's a wormhole opening. Looks like this is it. Good luck…"

"You too," Jack called across from by the telescope.

"Fly safe, Aeryn," John whispered.

"I will. John, I…" Aeryn replied, but the rest was lost in static.

"I see a flare!"Jack called excitedly, his eye pressed to the telescope. The seconds ticked on, marked only by the crackling from the transceiver. "It's gone," Jack concluded more softly, what seemed like an age latter.

"Love you..." John breathed, deliberately too quietly for his father to hear.

Twenty minutes later, John and Jack still sat on the back of Jack's pick-up, staring up at the stars, finishing off their beers. The telescope set up on the tailgate was long abandoned. All sign of Aeryn and Deke's tiny prowler had long since vanished from sight, even with the telescope's aid. Their fancy radio transceiver still buzzed quietly, too, with only static coming across now. They had turned the volume down, but had left it on, just in case.

"They're gone, son," Jack intoned with a sigh as John drained the last of his beer. Jack threw a supportive arm around his son's shoulders. John had scarcely said a word in the last twenty minutes and Jack had grown a little concerned about how he was taking it.

"I guess so," John nodded, snuffling slightly, obviously struggling to throw off his fugue.

"She sure was something though…" Jack continued.

"Uh, hmmm. Sure was."

"D'Argo, too." Jack added. John nodded again. "Cute little kid." Suddenly John snapped out of his reverie, as though coming to a decision. "Smart, too."

"C'mon dad," John said, standing and stretching before hoping over the side. "I wanna get home, get an early night. Got a lot of work to be getting on with in the morning," he added, catching the keys as Jack tossed them to him with a grin.

John pulled the driver's door open and spared one last look up at the clear, starlight night sky before getting in. "Where ever you are, babe… somehow…" he promised quietly to himself with a private, determined smile before pulling the door shut behind him.

'~'

The end. Perhaps.