Chapter 8: Romeo and Juliet - Between Marriage and Death
Commander John Crichton sat with Marlin Crais in his lap, singing a modified, out-of-tune version of 'rock-a-bye-baby'. Marlin dozed quietly, good-naturedly putting up with it. With Crichton missing a woman and Marlin missing a father, they had cheerfully managed to fill the void in each other's lives. Raylani, after all her fears, had taken to motherhood with astonishing ease and Crichton had jumped at the chance to play daddy.
Crais found the relationship intensely disturbing. He did *not* want Crichton to get this involved with his family - his daughter or his grandson. In fact, he was beginning to wonder if Crichton was looking to be more than friends with Raylani. True he was supposed to love Aeryn, but Aeryn wasn't there. And, from what he had heard, Crichton's eye had a tendency to wander whenever she was elsewhere.
Any romantic thoughts that Crichton did have were not sticking. Every time he found himself thinking about her that way he looked at her eyes. They reminded him of Crais. It was the most effective form of contraception he'd ever found.
Marlin finally drifted off to sleep. Crichton placed him gently in his Moses basket, picked it up and left his quarters. Heading for the galley...and Raylani.
***
Ex-Captain Llyn Braca felt like a traitor. He was remembering the day that Crais had returned to his old command carrier, the one he had later destroyed. He'd called Crais a traitor and meant it. Crais had acted like he had forgotten all his breeding, all that he had been taught and chosen to follow his own selfish and misguided ends. At least, that had been his judgement. When Scorpius had forced him to leave the Peacekeepers, he'd almost panicked at leaving everything he'd believed in for so long. He felt like a traitor now because the strangest thought had popped into his head - that he was better off.
A weeken ago he'd fallen seriously ill, the result of something he'd picked up on the first visit to a commerce planet he'd been allowed to accompany the others on. And it had been Jool, the Interion - a member of an inferior species - who had healed him and cared for him like they were friends. She wasn't bound by duty and she'd asked for nothing in return.
It was a new world.
***
That morning, for the first time since she'd returned, Carma had placed her transponder in its socket. She'd settled herself down, alone in command, allowing Talyn to swap bodies with her for a short time - to satisfy his curiosity about the child growing within her. She was four monens pregnant now and impatient for it to be over. Talyn found it fascinating though and was overjoyed at the chance to experience it.
When Talyn had returned to his own body and she'd removed the transponder, Carma leant her head against the bulkhead and closed her eyes, thinking over the events of the last few monens. There were so many things bothering her. Crais wasn't the only one concerned about Raylani's relationship with Crichton, Carma didn't want her daughter involved with him either. Not because she had the same lingering mistrust as Crais, but because she knew that Aeryn was still Crichton's first choice. Raylani would be no more than a passing distraction and her daughter didn't need to deal with that. Marlin bothered her too. He was a lovely child, but she too found his face familiar. She had one advantage over Crais, she'd been on the base with Raylani. She hadn't met too many people there either. If she recognised that face it couldn't belong to too many people. She'd thought over it until, halfway through a sleep cycle, it had suddenly hit her who he reminded her of. She'd woken up instantly, as if from a nightmare, knowing exactly who Marlin's father was and feeling distinctly nauseous. Her suddenly movement had woken Crais and it had been all she could do to convince him that she'd only had a bad dream. But it wasn't a dream, it was real.
What made it terrible was that, reading between the lines, she had begun to suspect that Raylani loved, or at least cared for, the father of her child. She should have paid more attention to her when they'd been on the base. She couldn't believe that she'd been so negligent, leaving her child to fall for the most unsuitable of men. 'But then,' she thought wryly, "would it have made any difference if I had been there?'.
Perhaps it was just as well that she would probably never see him again. Raylani might never forget him, but she would recover in time. Yes, indeed, it was just as well.
Talyn signalled excitedly, bringing her out of her reverie. Moya had just entered sensor range.
***
Crais was suddenly finding it very hard not to laugh. Standing in Talyn's docking bay, regarding Braca - whom Aeryn had brought over - was just too perfect. The consummate Peacekeeper had been forced over to the other side of the tracks. Who was the traitor now?
But before he could enjoy it properly, there was one thing he had to take care of. "Aeryn," he said calmly, "there is someone here whom I believe you will wish to see."
That was his cue. Crichton opened the bay doors and walked in. Aeryn's mouth dropped open and she looked for a moment as if she were going to faint. "Hello Aeryn," Crichton said simply.
Crais took a step towards Braca. "Come," he said and strode out of the bay. Braca trailed behind him, wondering what Crais would do to him.
***
Braca had been on Talyn for an entire solar day and he still hadn't seen Raylani. The crew of Moya had given up waiting for Aeryn to return and had left them both on Talyn while they went to get supplies from a commerce planet two days' journey away. It was halfway through the sleep cycle and he was still awake. Since Talyn would accept orders only from Crais or Carma, it hadn't seemed necessary to lock him into his quarters during the night. He wandered to the galley for a midnight snack, thinking to himself how un-Peacekeeper-like some of his habits had become. When he was a Peacekeeper he hadn't allowed himself to question even the slightest part of the rules and he couldn't believe how quickly he'd shaken off the things he hadn't even realised he didn't like.
He'd just bitten into a food cube when the door opened. He froze mid-bite, Raylani froze in the doorway, Marlin snuggled happily against her, immune to the tension permeating the atmosphere.
Later, Braca wondered if his heart had actually stopped beating at that moment. He was convinced that he'd suffered some kind of brain damage. Why else would he have forgotten how to speak? He'd been thinking about seeing her again. He'd imagined quite a few different scenarios. But, to be honest, none of them had involved her wearing a fluffy dressing gown and carrying a small baby. Actually his fantasies had mainly involved a small negligee and a large bed, but that was another story....
They remained where they were, staring at each other, until Marlin realised that his mother was tense and unresponsive and let out an experimental wail. Raylani snapped back to reality and kissed him on the forehead, cuddling him as she took a tentative step towards the galley table.
"Hello," she said. "Can't sleep?"
If it had been just her, Braca might have managed to conduct a casual conversation, but his attention was locked on the child in her arms. His chest had constricted and he'd lost all feeling from the waist downwards.
"You can hold him if you want," Raylani said calmly, helping herself to one of Braca's forgotten food cubes and popping it in her mouth. "After all, he is your son."
That just about finished him off. His head started to spin and he nearly blacked out. This was a dream, it had to be.
"It's not a dream," Raylani said, as if she could read his mind. "He's your son. He's three monens old and his name is Marlin. You can touch him, he won't break."
Braca found the child placed into his arms before he could even begin to gather his thoughts. He held him like he was a bomb, set to go off at any second, and looked down at his son.
Marlin looked up curiously at the new stranger. Deciding that he looked perfectly nice, he reached up and tried to grab Braca's nose. It didn't work that well, only grandpa really had one big enough to get firm hold of. Braca saw the tiny creature, with a face so much like his, and nearly lost consciousness. No amount of Peacekeeper training had prepared him for this moment.
Raylani hastily took her son back from him, seeing Braca's stare begin to go glassy and waited for a verbal reaction. It didn't come.
"Marlin needs to be put back to bed," she said, tired of waiting. "If you come with me, we can talk...I can talk...some more."
In a daze, not entirely sure that his legs would support him all that way, Braca followed her.
***
By the time they reached Raylani's quarters, the first cloud of shock had blown over and Braca began to attempt rational conversation.
"How?" he blurted out, one syllable all he could cope with at that moment.
Raylani paused a moment in tucking Marlin into his cot. "Thanks a lot. It's so flattering to know that you don't even remember what we did."
Turning, she saw Braca's still-stunned expression and sighed. "We recreated. I got pregnant. He was born. What else can I tell you?"
She settled herself down by Marlin's cot and began to sing softly to him, coaxing him to go back to sleep. Braca slowly made his way over to her bed and sat down on it, trying to get his head round the idea that he was a father. He'd probably fathered more offspring, but this was the only one he knew about, the only one he'd held in his arms. It made, he realised, a lot of difference.
With Marlin asleep, Raylani moved back towards Braca, sitting down on the bed beside him.
"My parents will kill you if they find out that he is your child. If you stay here, I think it is inevitable. So I think you should go to Moya when she returns."
Braca nodded, enough wits remaining to understand the sense of what she was saying.
"I'd suggest getting far away. Even on Moya someone may eventually figure it out, especially as he grows older. It would be easier if he didn't look so much like you," Raylani continued. "For as long as you're here, you can come and see him during the sleep cycle if you want to - like tonight. Otherwise, there's nothing to work out."
She turned back to Braca to get his reaction. His reaction was to place one hand on the back of her head and pull her lips to his, kissing her fiercely.
When he released her, her head was spinning as much as his. "This complicates things a little," she whispered.
"Things are already complicated," Braca replied, feeling closer to being reckless than he ever had in his life before. He pulled her back to him, giving her no chance to bring logic to the situation.
Raylani didn't try, she just kissed him back. 'One night can't hurt," she thought as she pulled off his jacket.
***
Crais moved down the corridor at the closest thing to a leisurely pace that he was capable of. He and Raylani had made it a point over the last few monens to eat breakfast together some mornings and talk. He was still a long way from knowing his daughter as he should, but they had made a start. And he enjoyed the chance to get to know his tiny grandson.
Reaching Raylani's quarters, he activated the door chime. Carma had asked him to install them several monens earlier, insisting that there should be more privacy on Talyn. He received no answer. That surprised him because Raylani was usually up long before anyone else and Marlin must be due to be fed. Deciding that she must have overslept, he hit the door controls anyway and strode in.
Picture the scene: Raylani and Braca curled comfortably together - her back to his front - fast asleep amid sheets about five microts away from falling off the bed. Braca has his arm around Raylani's waist and they both have smiles on their faces. Both are obviously naked.
It was Crais' worst nightmare.
Horror became white-hot anger in 0.3 microts. Uttering what could only be described as a feral growl, Crais covered the distance to the bed in three strides, looking like a starving tiger who had just been released from his cage.
Braca's sub-conscious heard the footsteps - and the growl - and woke him up. He opened his eyes just in time to see Crais' thundercloud face a microt before Crais wrapped one large hand around his neck.
Hell might have no fury like a woman scorned, but man (of any species) possesses limitless strength when consumed by the same fury. Crais picked Braca up by his neck and began to shake him - stark naked - like a ragdoll. Braca desperately tried to pull Crais' hands from around his neck and restore his air supply.
Raylani was rudely awakened by Crais' outraged descriptions of the death that Braca was to face. Horrified, partly that he was there and partly by what he was doing to Braca, she grabbed his hand as well and managed to pry his fingers away from Braca's neck. Braca collapsed on the bed, coughing violently as Crais turned his flaming eyes to Raylani. For the first time actually scared of her father, Raylani shrank back...just as Crichton ran into the room.
"What the hell is...." Crichton started, stopping short when he saw the spectacle. His mouth dropped open in shock.
You could pinpoint the exact moment when the penny dropped for both men. Their movements synchronised, they turned first to Marlin and then back to Raylani and Braca - who both looked white with fear.
Crais reached for his pulse pistol. Crichton realised what he was going to do a microt before he did it and roughly grabbed both Crais' arms, pinning them behind his back. Crais struggled violently, his eyes glowing pools of lava. "Let me go, Crichton!" he shouted.
"I'm not going to do that," Crichton told him, a strength born of necessity allowing him to keep the enraged Crais under control. "You don't know what you're doing."
"I know exactly what I'm doing!" Crais hissed. "I am going to snap his miserable, puny neck for what he has done!"
"You're not, Crais, I'm not going to let you."
"You intend to just let him get away with this?!"
"I think that Raylani is the only one allowed to punish him...or not," Crichton said. Both men turned to look at the couple on the bed.
Braca's heart was racing in his chest. Raylani looked stricken. "Father, I...." she began.
Crais looked from Raylani to Braca and back again. "I do not believe that there is anything you can say," he said. Wrenching himself free from Crichton, he stalked out of the room. Crichton glanced back at them and followed him. He paused a microt at the door and turned to them.
"Now I know love is blind," he said flatly and left.
Marlin, woken by all the noise, began to cry. His parents both knew exactly how he felt.
Commander John Crichton sat with Marlin Crais in his lap, singing a modified, out-of-tune version of 'rock-a-bye-baby'. Marlin dozed quietly, good-naturedly putting up with it. With Crichton missing a woman and Marlin missing a father, they had cheerfully managed to fill the void in each other's lives. Raylani, after all her fears, had taken to motherhood with astonishing ease and Crichton had jumped at the chance to play daddy.
Crais found the relationship intensely disturbing. He did *not* want Crichton to get this involved with his family - his daughter or his grandson. In fact, he was beginning to wonder if Crichton was looking to be more than friends with Raylani. True he was supposed to love Aeryn, but Aeryn wasn't there. And, from what he had heard, Crichton's eye had a tendency to wander whenever she was elsewhere.
Any romantic thoughts that Crichton did have were not sticking. Every time he found himself thinking about her that way he looked at her eyes. They reminded him of Crais. It was the most effective form of contraception he'd ever found.
Marlin finally drifted off to sleep. Crichton placed him gently in his Moses basket, picked it up and left his quarters. Heading for the galley...and Raylani.
***
Ex-Captain Llyn Braca felt like a traitor. He was remembering the day that Crais had returned to his old command carrier, the one he had later destroyed. He'd called Crais a traitor and meant it. Crais had acted like he had forgotten all his breeding, all that he had been taught and chosen to follow his own selfish and misguided ends. At least, that had been his judgement. When Scorpius had forced him to leave the Peacekeepers, he'd almost panicked at leaving everything he'd believed in for so long. He felt like a traitor now because the strangest thought had popped into his head - that he was better off.
A weeken ago he'd fallen seriously ill, the result of something he'd picked up on the first visit to a commerce planet he'd been allowed to accompany the others on. And it had been Jool, the Interion - a member of an inferior species - who had healed him and cared for him like they were friends. She wasn't bound by duty and she'd asked for nothing in return.
It was a new world.
***
That morning, for the first time since she'd returned, Carma had placed her transponder in its socket. She'd settled herself down, alone in command, allowing Talyn to swap bodies with her for a short time - to satisfy his curiosity about the child growing within her. She was four monens pregnant now and impatient for it to be over. Talyn found it fascinating though and was overjoyed at the chance to experience it.
When Talyn had returned to his own body and she'd removed the transponder, Carma leant her head against the bulkhead and closed her eyes, thinking over the events of the last few monens. There were so many things bothering her. Crais wasn't the only one concerned about Raylani's relationship with Crichton, Carma didn't want her daughter involved with him either. Not because she had the same lingering mistrust as Crais, but because she knew that Aeryn was still Crichton's first choice. Raylani would be no more than a passing distraction and her daughter didn't need to deal with that. Marlin bothered her too. He was a lovely child, but she too found his face familiar. She had one advantage over Crais, she'd been on the base with Raylani. She hadn't met too many people there either. If she recognised that face it couldn't belong to too many people. She'd thought over it until, halfway through a sleep cycle, it had suddenly hit her who he reminded her of. She'd woken up instantly, as if from a nightmare, knowing exactly who Marlin's father was and feeling distinctly nauseous. Her suddenly movement had woken Crais and it had been all she could do to convince him that she'd only had a bad dream. But it wasn't a dream, it was real.
What made it terrible was that, reading between the lines, she had begun to suspect that Raylani loved, or at least cared for, the father of her child. She should have paid more attention to her when they'd been on the base. She couldn't believe that she'd been so negligent, leaving her child to fall for the most unsuitable of men. 'But then,' she thought wryly, "would it have made any difference if I had been there?'.
Perhaps it was just as well that she would probably never see him again. Raylani might never forget him, but she would recover in time. Yes, indeed, it was just as well.
Talyn signalled excitedly, bringing her out of her reverie. Moya had just entered sensor range.
***
Crais was suddenly finding it very hard not to laugh. Standing in Talyn's docking bay, regarding Braca - whom Aeryn had brought over - was just too perfect. The consummate Peacekeeper had been forced over to the other side of the tracks. Who was the traitor now?
But before he could enjoy it properly, there was one thing he had to take care of. "Aeryn," he said calmly, "there is someone here whom I believe you will wish to see."
That was his cue. Crichton opened the bay doors and walked in. Aeryn's mouth dropped open and she looked for a moment as if she were going to faint. "Hello Aeryn," Crichton said simply.
Crais took a step towards Braca. "Come," he said and strode out of the bay. Braca trailed behind him, wondering what Crais would do to him.
***
Braca had been on Talyn for an entire solar day and he still hadn't seen Raylani. The crew of Moya had given up waiting for Aeryn to return and had left them both on Talyn while they went to get supplies from a commerce planet two days' journey away. It was halfway through the sleep cycle and he was still awake. Since Talyn would accept orders only from Crais or Carma, it hadn't seemed necessary to lock him into his quarters during the night. He wandered to the galley for a midnight snack, thinking to himself how un-Peacekeeper-like some of his habits had become. When he was a Peacekeeper he hadn't allowed himself to question even the slightest part of the rules and he couldn't believe how quickly he'd shaken off the things he hadn't even realised he didn't like.
He'd just bitten into a food cube when the door opened. He froze mid-bite, Raylani froze in the doorway, Marlin snuggled happily against her, immune to the tension permeating the atmosphere.
Later, Braca wondered if his heart had actually stopped beating at that moment. He was convinced that he'd suffered some kind of brain damage. Why else would he have forgotten how to speak? He'd been thinking about seeing her again. He'd imagined quite a few different scenarios. But, to be honest, none of them had involved her wearing a fluffy dressing gown and carrying a small baby. Actually his fantasies had mainly involved a small negligee and a large bed, but that was another story....
They remained where they were, staring at each other, until Marlin realised that his mother was tense and unresponsive and let out an experimental wail. Raylani snapped back to reality and kissed him on the forehead, cuddling him as she took a tentative step towards the galley table.
"Hello," she said. "Can't sleep?"
If it had been just her, Braca might have managed to conduct a casual conversation, but his attention was locked on the child in her arms. His chest had constricted and he'd lost all feeling from the waist downwards.
"You can hold him if you want," Raylani said calmly, helping herself to one of Braca's forgotten food cubes and popping it in her mouth. "After all, he is your son."
That just about finished him off. His head started to spin and he nearly blacked out. This was a dream, it had to be.
"It's not a dream," Raylani said, as if she could read his mind. "He's your son. He's three monens old and his name is Marlin. You can touch him, he won't break."
Braca found the child placed into his arms before he could even begin to gather his thoughts. He held him like he was a bomb, set to go off at any second, and looked down at his son.
Marlin looked up curiously at the new stranger. Deciding that he looked perfectly nice, he reached up and tried to grab Braca's nose. It didn't work that well, only grandpa really had one big enough to get firm hold of. Braca saw the tiny creature, with a face so much like his, and nearly lost consciousness. No amount of Peacekeeper training had prepared him for this moment.
Raylani hastily took her son back from him, seeing Braca's stare begin to go glassy and waited for a verbal reaction. It didn't come.
"Marlin needs to be put back to bed," she said, tired of waiting. "If you come with me, we can talk...I can talk...some more."
In a daze, not entirely sure that his legs would support him all that way, Braca followed her.
***
By the time they reached Raylani's quarters, the first cloud of shock had blown over and Braca began to attempt rational conversation.
"How?" he blurted out, one syllable all he could cope with at that moment.
Raylani paused a moment in tucking Marlin into his cot. "Thanks a lot. It's so flattering to know that you don't even remember what we did."
Turning, she saw Braca's still-stunned expression and sighed. "We recreated. I got pregnant. He was born. What else can I tell you?"
She settled herself down by Marlin's cot and began to sing softly to him, coaxing him to go back to sleep. Braca slowly made his way over to her bed and sat down on it, trying to get his head round the idea that he was a father. He'd probably fathered more offspring, but this was the only one he knew about, the only one he'd held in his arms. It made, he realised, a lot of difference.
With Marlin asleep, Raylani moved back towards Braca, sitting down on the bed beside him.
"My parents will kill you if they find out that he is your child. If you stay here, I think it is inevitable. So I think you should go to Moya when she returns."
Braca nodded, enough wits remaining to understand the sense of what she was saying.
"I'd suggest getting far away. Even on Moya someone may eventually figure it out, especially as he grows older. It would be easier if he didn't look so much like you," Raylani continued. "For as long as you're here, you can come and see him during the sleep cycle if you want to - like tonight. Otherwise, there's nothing to work out."
She turned back to Braca to get his reaction. His reaction was to place one hand on the back of her head and pull her lips to his, kissing her fiercely.
When he released her, her head was spinning as much as his. "This complicates things a little," she whispered.
"Things are already complicated," Braca replied, feeling closer to being reckless than he ever had in his life before. He pulled her back to him, giving her no chance to bring logic to the situation.
Raylani didn't try, she just kissed him back. 'One night can't hurt," she thought as she pulled off his jacket.
***
Crais moved down the corridor at the closest thing to a leisurely pace that he was capable of. He and Raylani had made it a point over the last few monens to eat breakfast together some mornings and talk. He was still a long way from knowing his daughter as he should, but they had made a start. And he enjoyed the chance to get to know his tiny grandson.
Reaching Raylani's quarters, he activated the door chime. Carma had asked him to install them several monens earlier, insisting that there should be more privacy on Talyn. He received no answer. That surprised him because Raylani was usually up long before anyone else and Marlin must be due to be fed. Deciding that she must have overslept, he hit the door controls anyway and strode in.
Picture the scene: Raylani and Braca curled comfortably together - her back to his front - fast asleep amid sheets about five microts away from falling off the bed. Braca has his arm around Raylani's waist and they both have smiles on their faces. Both are obviously naked.
It was Crais' worst nightmare.
Horror became white-hot anger in 0.3 microts. Uttering what could only be described as a feral growl, Crais covered the distance to the bed in three strides, looking like a starving tiger who had just been released from his cage.
Braca's sub-conscious heard the footsteps - and the growl - and woke him up. He opened his eyes just in time to see Crais' thundercloud face a microt before Crais wrapped one large hand around his neck.
Hell might have no fury like a woman scorned, but man (of any species) possesses limitless strength when consumed by the same fury. Crais picked Braca up by his neck and began to shake him - stark naked - like a ragdoll. Braca desperately tried to pull Crais' hands from around his neck and restore his air supply.
Raylani was rudely awakened by Crais' outraged descriptions of the death that Braca was to face. Horrified, partly that he was there and partly by what he was doing to Braca, she grabbed his hand as well and managed to pry his fingers away from Braca's neck. Braca collapsed on the bed, coughing violently as Crais turned his flaming eyes to Raylani. For the first time actually scared of her father, Raylani shrank back...just as Crichton ran into the room.
"What the hell is...." Crichton started, stopping short when he saw the spectacle. His mouth dropped open in shock.
You could pinpoint the exact moment when the penny dropped for both men. Their movements synchronised, they turned first to Marlin and then back to Raylani and Braca - who both looked white with fear.
Crais reached for his pulse pistol. Crichton realised what he was going to do a microt before he did it and roughly grabbed both Crais' arms, pinning them behind his back. Crais struggled violently, his eyes glowing pools of lava. "Let me go, Crichton!" he shouted.
"I'm not going to do that," Crichton told him, a strength born of necessity allowing him to keep the enraged Crais under control. "You don't know what you're doing."
"I know exactly what I'm doing!" Crais hissed. "I am going to snap his miserable, puny neck for what he has done!"
"You're not, Crais, I'm not going to let you."
"You intend to just let him get away with this?!"
"I think that Raylani is the only one allowed to punish him...or not," Crichton said. Both men turned to look at the couple on the bed.
Braca's heart was racing in his chest. Raylani looked stricken. "Father, I...." she began.
Crais looked from Raylani to Braca and back again. "I do not believe that there is anything you can say," he said. Wrenching himself free from Crichton, he stalked out of the room. Crichton glanced back at them and followed him. He paused a microt at the door and turned to them.
"Now I know love is blind," he said flatly and left.
Marlin, woken by all the noise, began to cry. His parents both knew exactly how he felt.