Epilogue
Crichton was working on routine repairs in the amnexus fluid chamber when Aeryn walked in.
He was surprised to see her. She had been avoiding his company for the past few days, but then that was Aeryn; she blew hot and cold. And it had definitely been chilly lately. He was pretty sure that he hadn't done anything to upset her, infact he had hardly seen her since they had starburst away from Tean.
Her injuries were much improved, just as Zhaan had promised; the swelling in her face had disappeared; the blood had drained from her eye and the cut on her cheek, although still clearly visible, looked to be healing too.
She walked in quietly without any greeting and stood before him looking decidedly uncomfortable.
He stopped what he was doing to look at her, curbing his natural instinct to fill the empty space with chatter and waited for her to say what she had obviously come to say. Microts passed.
She began to fiddle with a piece of wire she picked up from his toolbox. She seemed in no hurry to start a conversation.
He waited. And waited. In the end he could take it no more.
"So, how're things?"
She seemed almost startled by his voice cutting into her thoughts. "Much better. Thank you."
He gestured to the chamber with his screwdriver. "What brings you down here?"
She looked at him seriously. " I…I wanted to thank you."
He hadn't expected that. He put his tool down and cocked his head "Thank me?"
She seemed to be looking everywhere but at him. "Yes. On Tean. I almost fell apart and you helped me." She looked as though she was about to say something else, but changed her mind and shut her mouth abruptly. She dropped her gaze to the floor and he noticed that her hand came up to her injured cheek rather self-consciously.
He placed a finger under her chin to raise her gaze to meet his. "You're welcome." He said sincerely.
She nodded, dropping her gaze to the floor again, allowing her hair to fall around her face. She remained where she was. He was just about to ask her what was up when she spoke again.
"Zhaan says that it's possible that I'll end up with some scars...maybe on my face."
He frowned, confused "Does that bother you?"
"No." She said quickly. " Peacekeepers rarely end their careers without battle scars."
He noticed that she was looking increasingly uncomfortable. "So, what am I missing?"
She took a deep breath. " I remember you telling me that the women on your planet rarely fight." Her voice sounded strange. "So it's probably rare for them to have battle scars."
His frowned deepened. "Yeah, I suppose."
She raised her face again to look at him.
"Aeryn, are you asking whether the possibility of you being scarred bothers me?"
"Does it?" She raised her chin a little.
He reached out and looped her hair behind her ears so he could see her face properly. "No." He said softly "It doesn't bother me at all, Aeryn. And it might not even happen." He smiled, unable to keep the amusement out of his voice. "Is that why you've been giving me the cold shoulder…avoiding me? "
She looked embarrassed. "I wasn't prepared for how …bad I looked." She shrugged " I intended to keep out of everyone's way until my injuries healed a little. Then when Zhaan told me I might carry scars, I…I wanted to know whether it would effect our…friendship."
His smile widened. "Well, our friendship is safe." He was pleased to see her smile in return. "You know, if there is anything else bothering you, we can talk about it." He offered.
She was quiet for a moment. "No, I'm fine. Thank you."
Crichton sighed. There it was, the PK emotional shutdown. One step forward and two steps back. "Zhaan told me you've been having trouble sleeping, Aeryn."
"She had no right to tell you that!" Aeryn snapped.
"She thought that maybe I could help."
"There is nothing wrong."
"OK." He reached out and caught her hand. "Have it your own way. But there is no shame in asking for help if you need it, Aeryn." He squeezed her hand and then let it go.
"If I need help, I'll let you know." She said, heading for the door.
As he watched her go and turned back to his work, he couldn't shake the voice in his head telling him that she didn't mean it.
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Well! That turned out to be much longer than I intended!
Well done if you managed to stick with it all the way through. I appreciate the time and effort. If you have enough energy left, let me know what you thought.
Special thanks if you are one of the seven kind readers who gave me feedback while this was still a work in progress (bigfatcat (X2), Sheridan (when I looked at your profile, you made my week!), Jess, Jeynsa, Varthan, the mysterious 'M' and Seva), it's so nice to hear that someone is enjoying what you're doing.