Title: Be careful what you wish for

Summary: It's one of those future fanfics (set seven years into the future) about the long awaited return to Earth. Only the conditions under which John returns aren't really ideal. In fact he spends all of his time home trying to find a way to get back, not just for his sake, but for that of his daughter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Farscape or any of it's characters.

Be Careful What You Wish For





Hey there Kansas, good to see you again!

On Moya Micola had been carefully tracking John and Jamie's mission on the long range scanners. She'd seen the anomaly on the sensors the same time John and Jamie had picked up on them. It was too late to comm them, because the module's comm system was down. Instead all Micola could do was shout for Breiyden and Tripp (the other two on duty in command) to come witness what would happen if the anomaly hit the module. They all watched in horror as the anomaly raged past the module leaving it.

" Where'd it go?" Breiyden asked frowning in confusion. Tripp and Micola were exchanging a dreaded look.

" Breiyd, I think you'd better get Aeryn," Tripp eventually said. Tripp had been on Moya only two years. He was a very young Sebation male, who fancied himself as a bit of a cowboy of the uncharted territories. well he would if he knew what a cowboy was. John had tried to explain it to him once, but he'd somehow insulted the young man and it landed him with a bloody lip; he hadn't tried explaining since.

Breiyden gulped heavily. She did not want to be the one to deliver this news to Aeryn.

" Why can't you do it?" she demanded cockily. Tripp took a threatening step towards the ex-PK teenager, but Breiyden held her ground.

" Because Aeryn won't hurt you, you're a child," he said in a low dangerous voice. Breiyden rolled her eyes and was about to spit out a tirade of insults aimed at Tripp, when Micola stood between them.

" If you please children," she snapped. " We have a serious situation here." With this she tapped her comm and patched through to Aeryn. " Aeryn?"

" Yes what is it Micola?"

" Something's happened to the module, come up to command straight away," Micola said firmly. Silence. The three Sebations stared at each other, each with a growing sense of unease. Why hadn't Aeryn responded. Their answer came in the form of Aeryn and D'Argo charging into command, each panting and red in the face.

" What's happened to the module Micola?" Aeryn asked seriously, and Breiyden took a step back. Aeryn had that look in her eye.that 'I want to kill something' look. It had been the reason Breiyden didn't want to tell Aeryn the bad news. When Aeryn's family were put in danger, she tended to turn into a terrifying irrational violent woman.

Micola though, stood her ground, not scared by Aeryn's attitude. Micola had managed to escape peacekeeper imprisonment by being fearless and brave. So she wasn't about to crumble under Aeryn's evil glare. She calmly tapped her comm to get Pilot's attention.

" Pilot, could you please relay the sensor readings from the last ten microns for Aeryn please?" she said. Pilot obliged and Aeryn and D'Argo watched the sequence of events. When the relay was over Aeryn was looking white as snow. She couldn't even be angry, who was there to be angry at?

" They're gone," she eventually said in a stone cold voice and she turned on heal and walked out.

* * *

Jamie didn't stop screaming until the module finally stopped rolling. She didn't dare open her eyes, so just covered her face with her hands. It was John who first dared to open his eyes. What he saw brought about the most powerful emotional reaction he'd ever experienced; more powerful than when Zhaan had died, more powerful than when Jamie had been born and more powerful than when he had finally married Aeryn.

Jamie pulled her hands away from her face.

" Daddy? Is that Earth?" she stammered.

" Uh. yeah Jay, that's Earth," he finally managed. The alarms that were still going off in the module brought him out of his trance. He tore his gaze away from the window to disable the alarms. Meanwhile Jamie checked all their vital systems.

" Everything's still operational," she relayed to her father.

" Good," he said sounding distant. Jamie gulped. This was insane! She couldn't believe that that had been a wormhole. How was that possible? To end up at Earth of all places! No something else. some higher being must have done something. surely?

" I'm sorry daddy! I really am!" she said suddenly, feeling what felt suspiciously like tears forming in her eyes. John could hear a strangled sob in her tone. It made him frown, what was wrong with her.

" Sorry?" he repeated. " About what, what have you done?" he asked turning her round so he could look her in the eye.

" I got us here," she said indicating Earth with her hand. " And I'm so sorry!" By now the tears were falling and John pulled her into a hug.

" That was not your fault! Don't even think it!" he said firmly, stroking the back of her head. " That was no one's fault, it just happened okay?" Jamie nodded sadly. " We don't even know what happened yet, so don't get so upset about it. We'll figure it out, I promise!" Then they both turned and looked at Earth.

Jamie stared at it quizzically, her tears already subsiding. She turned her head to look at it from all angles and then she came to her conclusion.

" Dad? You can't draw!" she informed him. John started laughing so loud, he nearly forgot the sense of dread that had been growing in the pit of his stomach.

* * *

Down planet-side a very bored scientist had just got the fright of his life and spilled coffee all down his front. Dr Mike Biggs was a British scientist. He had a PHD in astrophysics and had been working for IASA for three years. In all this time he'd not experienced so much excitement as he had in the last ten minutes.

Biggs had been tracking the movement of an asteroid, when all of a sudden a UFO appeared on the sensors. It had caused him such a fright that he'd spilled his drink over himself and his workstation, but he hadn't even noticed. He was deep in conversation with Dr Thomas Grant, the only colleague working with him on the night shift. They'd already received a call from someone representing the US army. They too had picked up on this object and were demanding to know what it was. After that they had called in all their supervisors and colleagues. Now all they could do was wait and analyse.

" Whatever it is, it's just started moving towards us Mike," Grant said suddenly as he noticed the object moving on the sensors.

" No not us. Look! They're heading towards the station, we have to warn them!" Biggs suddenly cried pointing out that the object was indeed on an intercept course with the International Space Station.

* * *

Up on the space station the atmosphere was a similar one. All the personnel, including those who had been asleep moments before, were standing by the sensors staring at what they were relaying with a mixture of terror and awe. They were so preoccupied, that no one even answered the radio, until after one minute's ringing. Eventually the commander of the station, James Taylor, answered it impatiently.

" Yes?" he barked.

" This is Dr Biggs at IASA headquarters, Jim is that you?" Biggs' voice came.

" Yeah Mike, it is."

" I don't supposed I have to warn you that you have a UFO heading straight at you. ETA two minutes!" Biggs warned in a terrified tone.

" No you don't, though I think our sensors need reconfiguring, they're at least ten minutes away according to ours," Taylor said with a growing sense of dread.

" Just trust me Jim, whoever's out there is going to be close enough to knock on your door any minute now!" Mike said grimly. " Have you got a visual yet?"

" I've got Julie looking out a window up top, but our camera's proving to be a bit testy, we haven't got anything yet," Taylor relayed.

" The second you know anything, contact me please! Take care up there Jim!" Mike ordered and he hung up. Commander Taylor placed the radio back on the stand and looked at the sensors.

" When all this is over with folks, we have to do a lot of reconfiguring. That was Mike Biggs down in the IASA headquarters, he tells me that whatever is out there's gonna be with us in two minutes."

" Sir!" Everyone jumped as Julie Mathews, a twenty-seven-year-old hyper active young lady, jumped down from the hatch above them.

" What is it Julie, you look like you've seen a ghost!" Megan, another crew member stated worriedly. Julie broke into a massive grin.

" I have! You're never going to guess what's out there!" she said grinning from ear to ear. Everyone stayed quiet. " Farscape one is back and boy is she beautiful!"

* * *

Jamie stared out of the viewport at the station anxiously. Her father had told her everything he knew about the station, but his information was outdated. This station was at least four times larger and it was rotating, so they had gravity on board. Jamie could see faces peering out of the windows at them and she felt incredibly anxious. She had heard of the crew's past experiences with humans and she didn't like the sound of being stuck with them.

John was trying to find a frequency that would communicate to the station. Eventually he found the right frequency.

" This is commander John Crichton, ISS do you read me?" he called into the radio.

" Commander Crichton, this is Commander James Taylor, it's good to see you again commander," a voice replied. John grinned.

" Thank you Kansas, it's good to see you again," John said. Jamie frowned and looked at her father.

" Dad what's Kansas?" she asked sounding confused.

* * *

On the ISS commander Taylor motioned for his communications officer to cut the transmission. That voice.what on Earth was that voice.

" Did you all hear that? I'm not imagining things right?" he gasped, his eyes wide with worry and interest. Everyone nodded, equally as excited. " Tom, replay the end of that transmission, let's hear it again." The communications officer obliged and they all listened in amazement as they heard a second voice talk in some alien language.

" Sir, we have the camera back online, shall we sneak a peak and see what our visitors look like?" Sam, a technician, said eagerly.

" Make it so," Taylor ordered and everyone waited with bated breath. Soon enough the footage popped up on screen and everyone's jaws dropped.

" But.its another human," Julie stammered sounding confused.

* * *

" What happened?" Jamie asked frowning angrily. " Did they cut the transmission? How rude is that."

" Please Jamie, don't be so quick to judge. They heard you and panicked, that's all! Remember what I told you about humans?"

Jamie nodded grimly, but was secretly thinking that this was all going horribly wrong. She had a very bad feeling about all this.

John gave the ISS crew five minutes to talk and then he contacted them again.

" This is Farscape to ISS, come in Kansas!" he said impatiently. The radio crackled and ISS were back.

" Sorry Farscape one, we had a technical. . ."

" No you hung up the phone pal," John said quickly. " Look I can handle you hanging up on me, just don't lie about it okay?"

Silence.

" Hello?" Jamie said in her 'human' talk. John frowned at her and tapped on her shoulder. She turned around and he motioned for her not to say a word.

" Commander Crichton, I must ask. who the hell is that?" Taylor asked sounding threatened.

" Easy tiger," John warned. " No need to get all macho with me! I will tell you all you need to know, but I'll only do it face to face. Will you allow us to dock?"

" Can I get back to you on that?" Taylor asked nervously.

" Sure thing, we'll be waiting," John said and the transmission ended. Jamie was feeling apprehensive and John easily picked up on it.

" What's wrong Jay?" he asked. Jamie spun around and looked him in the eye.

" I'm worried about how you're people will react to me. You know how people tend to go a little insane when they're around me," she said seriously and she was right. Scientists were fascinated by Jamie. She was the first Human- Sebation hybrid and it had sparked a huge wave of interest in the scientific world. " And you're people are going to be worse, because they haven't made a first contact yet!" she said. John sighed and nodded. All this was true of course and it did indeed worry John, and he knew Jamie should be conscious of the dangers, but he didn't want her first visit to his home world to be tainted by fear.

" I know we're gonna have to be careful, but don't let them scare you okay?" he said kindly. Jamie sighed and nodded.

" I'll try," she promised him and then she climbed over the back of the chair again and landed in the tiny passenger chair. She then pulled out a book John knew well from her bag. When she'd learnt how to read and write, John had taught her what a diary is and he'd presented her with an empty book he'd managed to find on a commerce planet. Since that day she'd written every single day. In this diary she had detailed information (including her own sketches) about everything in her world.

" Here, you could probably do with this," she said giving it to her father over the top of the chair. He took it from her and then they sat in silence waiting for the reply from the station.

* * *

Aeryn stared at the reflection in the mirror. She had cried for her husband and for her child. She was grieving for them. There wasn't a doubt in her mind that they were dead. Warer had been told and had disappeared into the depths of the ship. Pilot was too stricken to give the twins directions to find him, so the pare searched all the conduits, forcing their own pain aside to find the boy.

D'Argo wasn't as pessimistic as Aeryn. He was convinced that John and Jamie were still alive, so Moya was headed over to where the pod had disappeared, hoping to find some clues as to what had happened to the module. So D'Argo sat up in command, alone, wondering what he would do if they did find debris.

" D'Argo sir?" It was Breiyden, looking worried. 'She always looks worried' D'Argo reminded himself. ' After three cycles on board Moya and she's still terrified of us. How very un-peacekeeper of her'.

" Yes what is it?" he asked impatiently, this only made the girl look worse. " Sorry, I didn't mean to snap," he added.

" Well it's just I've been thinking," Breiyden said and she walked in and sat down at one of the consoles. " And I don't think we should take Moya to the. uh. site where it happened. Wouldn't it be safer for just some of us to take a few prowlers?" D'Argo nodded.

" It would be safer, but Moya's sensors are so much more powerful, and if necessary she can starburst away," D'Argo replied. Breiyden sighed and nodded.

" You're right, sorry, stupid suggestion," she said and she stood up to go.

" You are allowed to grieve for them you know," D'Argo informed her. Breiyden stopped in her tracks and turned round slowly, staring at D'Argo with a mixture of disbelief and anger. " You don't think I see the torment in you?" Breiyden shuffled her feet worriedly.

" There's no torment sir. I just don't think it's my place to. well you know," she began, but D'Argo approached her.

" Breiyden, John saw you as a second daughter, I know you were close," D'Argo said in a kind tone. " You can allow yourself to feel pain can't you? All that peacekeeper training hasn't taken away your heart has it?" Breiyden stared up at him and D'Argo could have sworn he saw tears in her eyes.

" I have to go," she announced and she ran out, holding her hands to her face. D'Argo sighed and felt tears sting his own eyes.

* * *

Down planet-side most of the IASA personnel had arrived in the main headquarters and were eagerly awaiting communication from the station. Eventually the reply came.

" Biggs, you there man?" Taylor's voice came. Biggs instantly flicked a switch to initiate a transmission and then he picked up the radio piece.

" Yes I'm here Jim go ahead!"

" You'll never believe what's happened. This UFO isn't a UFO at all. It's the old Farscape one craft, complete with Commander John Crichton on board," Taylor said. The headquarters instantly broke out into a rumble of whispers and amazed sounding gasps as everyone came to terms with this news.

" Are you sure?" Biggs asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

" Well we can't be one hundred percent sure yet of course, but we have a visual confirmation.but there's more. The commander isn't the only occupant of the module. . ."

The reason for the pause was that everyone in the headquarters now broke out into more than whispers. Everyone was chattering at once, and everyone had grins plastered on their faces.

" Be quiet all of you!" Biggs ordered and a silence followed. " Carry on Jim!"

" We have not only audio, but visual confirmation that there is another person in that module. I'm sending you the images right now, you'll have to agree that it looks like a human child," Taylor said. Biggs waited patiently for the image to come up on his screen and when they did he gasped.

" What has Crichton told you about the child?" Biggs asked quickly.

" Nothing yet, he wants to come aboard to talk to us. We haven't granted him permission yet. Basically, I'm calling for some advice Mike. Should we let him on the station?" Taylor asked sounding sheepish.

" Definitely!"

* * *

Chapter three to come soon!