Author: Rehanna
Rating: G
Summary: Chiana has a nightmare.
Spoilers: None.
Feedback: I'll give you a cookie if you send me some! ... But if it's a flame, well, it's your burt cookie.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I wish I could say I did, well, I could be then I'd probably be sued and all that messy business, and, considering I'm only 16, that wouldn't be good. So I'll stick to saying they don't belong to me. The Farscape characters belong to lots of people, Jim Henson Productions, The SciFi Channel, Nine Networks in Australia and Hallmark Entertainment. I'm simply borrowing the characters to write a little story about them. I'll give them back, in one piece. They're clothing my be a little rumpled (Hey! Just because their clothing is in a pile in the floor doesn't mean that they aren't in one piece!), but they'll be ready for their next adventure, given to them by either from the Farscape writers that get paid or those of us who don't. By the way, even though the characters don't belong to me, the story does. ©Rehanna, 2000
Author Note: I don't know when I wrote this. For that matter, I don't really remember writing it. But I was looking through my computer today and came across it, so I thought I'd post it. Enjoy.


Footsteps. Something was coming down the corridor. It wasn't any of her shipmates -- she knew the sound of each of their strides as she knew her own heartbeat. This was just .. wrong. Too light, too slow, too.. precise to be any of them.
After another moment's pause to be sure, Chiana tore down the corridor before her, took a left, then second, then she stopped to listen again.
Whatever it was was gaining.. it sounded so much closer.. and faster. It had to be running. In a few microts, it would be on top of her.
She took off again, running as fast as she could, taking every cross corridor she came to, in hopes of losing the thing. But no matter how fast she ran, it always seemed to be getting closer.
She stopped just in time to avoid running into a wall -- she'd picked a dead end. The creature obviously knew where she was.. maybe she could save the others.. she hadn't tried her comm, yet. Panic evident in her voice, Chi spoke into her badge, "Pilot, there's a .. thing.. a creature on board.."
The footsteps sounded closer than ever, the thing was just around the last turn.. "I'm trapped in a dead end.."
/Don't look. That'll only make it worse. If I don't look, it's not there/. She could feel it reaching for her, finally right behind her. "John, Aeryn, D'argo, hel--"
***
Chiana sat up, suddenly, drenched in sweat, shaking, and almost in tears. It took longer than she liked to calm the racing of her heart.
Still shaking, she reached up and pressed the button on her comm. "Pilot?" Chi called tentitively.
"Yes, Chiana?" Came the calm reply.
The girl was at a loss. She really didn't want anything. Just to know that she wasn't alone. After a long pause she asked, "Is anyone else awake?"
After an equally long silence, Pilot answered, "Crichton is awake, though in his quarters."
"Thank you, Pilot."
***
Feeling very much like a child, Chiana climbed out of bed and padded her way through the halls to Crichton's door. "John?"
"Chi, I --" He caught the note of uncertainty, "Are you okay?"
"Can I come in?"
She hardly waited for an answer before activating the door control. Seeing John in bed, with a concerned sort of look in her direction, she almost dove onto the bed, and buried her face in his shoulder. Chiana hadn't stopped shaking.
"Shhh, what's wrong?" John asked, wrapping his arms around her.
Feeling as though it were many cycles before, when she'd run to Nerri in the middle of the night for protection from a nightmare, Chi told John what had happened. When she finished, John kissed her on the forehead, not letting her go.
"John?"
"Hmm?"
"Can I stay here? Just for tonight?" She echoed herself from so many cycles before.
She smiled when he answered, "Just for tonight." Somehow, he'd known how to echo Nerri.
Within a few microns, Chi had dropped into a deep, peaceful sleep, leaving Crichton awake with the thoughts that had caused his sleeplessness to begin with: thoughts of a young Nebari girl.