Title: Meant to Be

Author(s): Elflore and Rehanna (No, Reh didn't ask if she could post this. He already told me I could do whatever I wanted with it.)

Rating: PG ...Reh was naughty and made John say "damnit" (pretty mild compared with some of my others. :)

Summary: It's John and Aeryn getting together. Isn't that enough?

Spoilers: None. Vague references to "Throne for a Loss," "Thank God it's Friday, Again," "The Flax," "DNA Mad Scientist," "Nerve," "Picture if You Will." (Don't worry if you haven't seen PiFYW, we don't give anything away. It's not even a quote we use. )

Feedback: Pleeeeease? You'll get a cookie! I promise!

Note: This was an rp for random shippiness to start with and SOMEHOW it turned into a story.. Don't ask us how, we don't know.

Disclaimer: We don't own the characters, wish we did, and then we'd be making all the money, not Jim Henson Productions, Hallmark Entertainment, Nine Networks and the SciFi Channel. Anyway, please don't sue us; you wouldn't get anything. While the characters don't belong to us, the story DOES so please don't steal it, or plagiarize it or anything like that. © Elflore and Rehanna, 2000

*New Author Note* I want a story with chapters. This one would kinda be perfect (I remember having to break it up when I sent it out for feedback). And it will have short chapters. Sorry.

Oh, and so all the lovely people who keep reviewing my J/C stories don't think I'm giving that up on them, I'm not. This was written over a year ago, but I'm becoming a review junkie, so I thought I'd post it here ;) . All reviews will be shared with Elflore (

For nearly a quarter of an arn, the two just stood, side by side, at the main command console. Neither spoke. They rarely even looked at one another, and when they did they tried valiantly to hide their smiles. Business as usual for the former Peacekeeper and the star-lost human.

And at times like these, John Crichton couldn't decide whether he was happier than he'd ever been, or just on his way to an ulcer. Simply being in the same room with Aeryn Sun touched him with an inexplicable sense of contentment. Here he was, who knew how many million light- years from Earth, and yet he was starting to wonder if he'd ever felt quite so at home.

He was also starting to wonder if he was going mad, and not just because he no longer missed his home world so badly. He...cared about Aeryn so much, and enjoyed being with her, yet he still couldn't bring himself to truly tell her how he felt. He wasn't sure he could even admit it to himself. And if he could, someday, force his own fears back for long enough to let this secret out, then how would she react?

He was a mere human, a 'deficient', as his shipmates so often referred to him-fondly, they insisted. Somehow he wondered. He had been lost for nearly a year now. He was gradually learning how this new world worked, how to survive, and even how to take care of his new friends. Truth be told, he was really rather proud of his adjustment. Yet even so...to Moya's other passengers-and especially to Aeryn Sun-he was hardly more than a child. How had she put it? "Slower than the densest new recruit"? What could she possibly see in him? John resisted an urge to sigh. They'd had a whole year together, and there was still so much ice left unbroken.

But perhaps that had been unavoidable. They'd known each other for a year now, true, but certainly not an easy one. So many distractions. Crais, Scorpy...even the other members of Moya's crew. Oh, John loved them all, they really had become like family...even Rygel, though he hadn't the faintest idea why...but they also made confronting his feelings for Aeryn that much harder. Moya was by no means a small ship, yet it seemed the two of them could rarely spend five minutes together without someone barging in on them. Usually Zhaan, calling for backup before D'Argo killed Rygel, or a bored Chiana looking for entertainment. In fact, come to think of it, such an interruption was several minutes overdue...

"Well...never look a gift horse in the mouth," John muttered to himself.

Aeryn looked up. "What?"

"Never mind," John replied. He began tapping at the view screen controls, panning the space surrounding the ship.

"Believe me, I won't," Aeryn assured him. "But just what do you think you're doing?"

"You'll see," John replied cryptically.

He wanted to make the most of this rare, quiet moment, to make it memorable, and he might just have found the way. He'd caught sight of an odd nebula nearby, and sent Pilot a request to move Moya closer. Soon, the entire screen was filled with swirling gases of every color imaginable; and just beyond that veil, a meteor shower was taking place, sparking like fairy lights.

John glanced over to find Aeryn actually smiling. "Well?"

"It's...beautiful," she admitted.

John grinned. "Make a wish..."