Title: The Journey Home

Chapter 16: John, I Am Your Father

Rated: R

***

{1 week later}

"See ya when ya get back!" Cassandra waved as the Humans boarded the transport. Chiana
was flying them over to the Space Station. When the door closed, she dropped her hand
and her smile disappeared. "THANK GOD!"

"They'll be back," John said glumly.

"Don't ruin my relief," she replied.

The two turned and walked out of the docking bay. Cassandra began humming and she
smiled. "See ya 'round, bro!" she said grinning and taking off.

"Hey where are you going?" he shouted after her. The only reply he got was laughter.
He scowled. "Don't know why she's so happy; they'll all be back in a few days. Only
this time, they'll bring a bunch of politicians with them," he muttered.

"John?"

"Yeah, Pilot."

"Aeryn is requesting your help in Maintenance Bay 4."

"Tell her I'll be right there," he replied and turned around heading to Maintenance
Bay 4.

"Yes, John."

After a few dozen microts, John entered the bay. "Aeryn?"

"Over here," she called.

John followed the sounds of her voice and found her working on his module. "Aeryn."

"Hand me that torch."

John picked up the torch and handed it to her. "Pilot said you needed my help?"

She looked at him a moment, taking in the lines of stress that past monen had placed
on his face. John had been particularly snappish since the Humans had arrived. Aeryn
laid all the blame for that at Dr. Mayfield's feet. Cassandra had to steer clear of
him due to the rage he could send her into, leaving John to put up with his dren.
Every night since the Humans had come, John had fallen into bed, waking only when she
shoved him out of it for breakfast. The tension was still in his stance despite the
fact that Moya was now empty of guests. "Yes. I do need your help."

She stood up and got out of the module. Standing next to him, Aeryn once again saw
how the tension gripped his body. He even had developed a slight tick. Aeryn hoped
it wasn't permanent; it was driving her crazy.

"What is it then?" he asked impatiently.

"I don't think you'll find it too difficult," she replied seriously.

John was surprised when she grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her, sealing her lips
over his. He was surprised, but certainly not unhappy with it. He wrapped his arms
around her, pulling her closer.

She tugged at his shirt and broke the kiss. "Like I said, I don't think you'll find
it too difficult." She pulled off his shirt.

"You know I love to help you any way I can," he replied grinning, kissing her again.

***

Chiana stepped out of the transport and rolled her shoulders. She hadn't told anyone
but flying over to the Space Station had made her nervous. She sighed; she was already
starting to miss DK. After the shared "meal" in the central chamber, the two had
started to spend time together. They had become friends, not that Chiana wouldn't
mind being something more, but... She rolled her shoulders again, shaking herself out
of her thoughts.

"Pilot?"

"Yes, Chiana."

"Where is everyone?"

"Well..."

Chiana grinned at his hesitation. "Okay, just tell me where I don't want to go."

"I suggest that you avoid Maintenance Bay 4, the Terrace, and the main junction on
Tier 3."

Chiana started laughing. She hadn't gone to visit Pilot in awhile, and she decided
that was exactly what she'd do. Besides, she was still curious about this "MTV"
thing.

***

A few arns later there was a party going on in Pilot's Den. Granted it was a small
party, but a party nonetheless. Stark, Zhaan, Rygel, Chiana, Xhalax, Pilot, and Jack
were all watching TV on one of Pilot's monitors. Not that Jack was really watching;
he was sleeping in Zhaan's arms.

Chiana ate some popcorn and passed the bowl to Rygel. Rygel took out some and passed
it to Stark. The bowl of popcorn continued to pass around until there wasn't any
left. Then a bag of chips went around. There was beer, fellip nectar, and apple
juice.

And they were watching 'Star Wars.'

Completely enthralled.

When it was over, there were groans of disappointment. Anxious to know what happened
next, the group was tempted to call John or Cassandra. There were sighs of relief
when 'Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back' began to play. They had managed to hit on a
station playing all the old Star Wars movies in order, and little did they realize,
without commercials and unedited. A very good find.

***

{after the movie fest, evening meal}

The crew was pretty quite. The couples aboard were once again happy with each other,
a relief to those on the sidelines. Chiana was suddenly grateful that Zhaan led Stark
around by the nose; they never fought. If there were four couples that habitually
yelled at each other, she might have jumped out an airlock.

"Psst," Xhalax whispered and kicked Chiana under the table.

She jumped startled. "What?" she whispered back.

"Use the force, Luke."

Chiana started laughing and Xhalax grinned. Chiana leaned over and whispered to
Rygel. Rygel grinned. Zhaan stared at the three of the them curiously. Rygel
leaned over at whispered it to Zhaan. Zhaan smiled serenely. By this time everyone
else had noticed there was a great deal of whispering going on. Zhaan whispered it to
Stark, and he laughed.

"Okay, what is going on?" John asked.

"John, I am your father," Pilot's voice said, coming in harshly over the speakers. He
had obviously altered the sound and there appeared to be heavy breathing mixed in with
it.

The group who had watched TV all day bust out laughing. Rygel was laughing so hard, he
fell off his throne-sled. This made the group laugh even harder. Pilot's evil
sounding laughter was also bouncing around the room. Tears streamed down Chiana's
face, and Zhaan's laughter was now inaudible, just little squeaks could be heard every
time she tried to draw a breath. Stark and Xhalax had stood and were mock-fighting
with imaginary light-sabers.

Crais, Cassandra, John, Aeryn, D'Argo, and Jool stared in absolute silence. They were
completely shocked. This behavior was typical of Stark and Xhalax, but Zhaan, Chiana,
Rygel and PILOT???

"What are you all on?" Cassandra asked dumbfounded.

"'John, I am your father?'" John repeated hoping to be clued in. "Wait a minute!"

"John, I am your father!" Cassandra replied coming to the same conclusion.

"Luke, I am your father!" they said together. They started laughing. "Oh, my! You
all have been watching Star Wars!" Cassandra said grinning.

Jool, D'Argo, Crais, and Aeryn were still confused.

By the time the laughter had died down and Pilot had changed his voice back to normal,
Rygel had claimed to be related to Yoda, Xhalax was calling herself a Jedi, and Chiana
was asking Cassandra the best way to make a light-saber.

John gave the four 'still-in-the-dark' a brief summary of Star Wars, or, well, he tried
to. It would have been brief except everyone who had just seen it were adding details
to John's story.

Eventually, they all trooped over to Pilot's Den to watch TV, in the hopes of seeing it
again. As luck would have it, the same station was playing the movies again. By the
time the first movie ended, Xhalax was asleep. Chiana, Zhaan, Cassandra, and Stark
drifted off during the third movie. Once the last movie went off, those still awake
talked for awhile before either falling asleep themselves or stumbling out of the Den
to find their beds.

Pilot glanced at the sleeping figures spread around him. He was happy. Moya had
liked the movies too.

***

TBC

WELL... what do ya think? Please review or send me an e-mail!

oooookay, right, i have no idea where this chapter came from. when i sat down to write
it, i was really not meaning to write this, i was going to write a serious chapter...
well, you can see how well i succeeded. so what did you think of it? tell me! i
am very curious for obvious reasons. thanks to the peps reviewing and e-mailing, i
live for it!

~Artemis Luna Diana~