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 its characters.

Be Careful What You Wish For



Discoveries



After an arn of arguing, Deacon had finally managed to persuade Aeryn to let Breiyden come on their mission. His winning argument had been to point out that if Breiyden really wanted, she could completely defy Aeryn and Aeryn wouldn't be able to say anything about it; she wasn't Breiyden's mother after all. It had dawned on Aeryn that she'd rather the girl came with her consent. Breiyden had been thrilled with the news and she spent the next arn rushing round helping with the preparations.

Finally though, it was time for the group to set off. So they all climbed on board the transport pod and set off. It was only a quick trip down to the planet's surface and they landed the pod right outside the settlement. They had already ascertained back on Moya that the atmosphere was suitable for them to not need the environment suits. So as the door opened Aeryn disembarked first, holding out her pulse pistol.

" All clear," she called back to the others when she saw no immediate danger. Next off was D'Argo and then came a scuffle as both Breiyden and Tripp tried to get off at the same time. Deacon separated them quickly and Breiyden was let off first, then a dejected Tripp. Rygel followed him and then lastly came Deacon.

" We should split up," D'Argo told Aeryn. Aeryn nodded and quickly gave Breiyden a cold stare.

" You are not to leave Deacon's side at all times," she ordered and Breiyden fought the urge to roll her eyes. Instead she nodded soberly.

Deacon and Breiyden waited for everyone else to walk off in different directions before they decided where to go.

" No one's headed for those caves yet, wanna check them out?" Deacon asked and Breiyden shrugged her shoulders.

" Yes, okay." So they headed off and within microns they reached the opening to the caves. " Wow," Breiyden marvelled, because what they found turned out to be chambers built into the rock, not caves. Breiyden walked in first, cautiously holding up her pulse pistol, but once again, there was no danger.

" Pass me a torch Deac," she asked holding out her hand. Deacon handed her one and she lit it. What they saw caused them both to gasp in shock and awe.

* * *

Jamie woke before her father. She could tell from his breathing pattern that he was completely out of it and wouldn't be waking up for a while. So she climbed gingerly off the bed and made her way over to the door. It took her a while to figure out how to open it, but finally she saw the handle. Rolling her eyes she pushed the door open and headed out into the corridor. She had no idea where she was going, but she set off anyway, wanting to regain some independence and stretch her legs. The small room had made her feel claustrophobic, and even though the corridors were worse, she knew she'd eventually find a larger room.

She walked for at least fifteen minutes, until she heard voices coming from a door that stood open. She sneaked over to it as silently as she could (when she needed to, she could move without making a single sound, it was a skill she'd picked up hiding on Moya over the cycles) and peaked round the doorframe. She was looking into a mess hall, and half the ISS crew were gathered round one table chatting animatedly.

Suddenly realising that she was starving Jamie cleared her throat and walked into the room. The crew jumped and looked terrified to see her, but Jamie walked over to them all the same and sat down at the head of their table.

" Good morning," Julie finally said.

" Morning," Jamie replied eagerly eyeing their food.

" You hungry?" Julie asked smiling at the child. Jamie looked up at her and tried to look as nice as she could, so that she wouldn't scare them off. It was proving more difficult than she thought, her usual facial expressions were neutral. well except when she was having fun and she couldn't hide her joy.

" Yes I am," she finally said once she'd composed her face into a small smile. " What are you eating?" she asked them. They all burst into an explanation of all the different meals they were eating. When they were done Jamie was none the wiser. " I'll wait until my dad gets up," she finally told them, deciding he'd know what was best, he always knew what to do!

" So Jamie, you looking forward to seeing Earth up close for the first time?" Sam asked cheerfully. Jamie's face suddenly snapped back to it's neutral, border line aggressive, expression.

" We haven't decided whether we're going down to the planet yet," she said in a deathly tone that made everyone in the room look at her with a mixture of fear and confusion. Jamie was beginning to realise she'd made a mistake coming in here. " It is not safe for us on your planet," she added, realising she should probably explain why she was so hostile.

"But you've come all this way, surely you're curious?" Julie asked, the only one who wasn't put out by the child's behaviour.

" I am curious," Jamie said staring at Julie with a growing respect. " But I'm not curious enough to risk my life."

" I really don't think you have anything to worry about," Sam lied. He knew as well as anyone else in the room, that if the child went down to the planet she'd be in considerable danger.

Jamie knew the man was lying. She hated liars, but she didn't want to start a fight with this man. John would not be impressed, but she had to say something.

" Please do not lie to me," she said simply and the conversation quickly veered away from Earth and onto the food again, that was a much safer topic.

* * *

John woke up about an hour later feeling completely disorientated. It took him a few moments to remember where he was and then he realised he was alone.

" Jamie?" he called into the room. He felt a panic growing inside of him, what if they had secretly taken her away in the night and sent her down to the planet for experimentation. He knew it was insane, but after all his experiences, he wouldn't put it past them. He soon discovered that she wasn't in the room, so he ran out into the corridor and shouted out her name. There was no response and the silence was terrifying.

" Okay John, get a grip," he ordered himself and then he forced himself to calm down before setting off to find her. He paced the corridors stealthily until he heard the voices. Within seconds he'd reached the mess hall and he stormed in. The humans jumped and leapt out their seats, but Jamie simply looked up at her father quizzically, wondering what was wrong with him.

When John saw Jamie was safe he was too overcome with relief to feel embarrassed about barging in to the room. Jamie instantly realised what was wrong with him.

" I'm sorry, you were asleep and I needed space," she told him calmly. John sighed and sat down next to her.

" Next time you tell me!" he said firmly and Jamie nodded realising she'd been very careless.

" I'm sorry I just didn't want to wake you up," she said grimly and she hung her head. Couldn't she do anything right anymore?

" Don't beat yourself up about it," he said softly and then he turned on the crew who were staring at them. " What can a guy get to eat around here?" And once again, the crew burst into their explanations.

* * *

Breiyden opened and closed her mouth wordlessly. This was incredible! Those inscriptions, those symbols, they had found the lost civilisation of the Dasaar. Similar to the ancient legend of Atlantis on Earth, Dasaar had been a civilisation years ahead their time, which had been wiped out by some great evil, but like Atlantis, it was a concept shrouded in Myth and no one knew if it was real or not.

" Am I seeing what I think I'm seeing?" Deacon gasped.

" Yes," Breiyden finally managed and she walked towards the nearest wall and held the torch up to the symbols. " Welcome to Dasaar Deac," she said smiling.

" We have to tell the others," Deacon told her and he commed Aeryn. " Aeryn, we've made an interesting discovery. We're standing on the remains of Dasaar," he said beaming.

" Dasaar?" Aeryn repeated sounding incredulous. " That's what the kid says, and you know how well she knows her ancient history!" A silence followed, in which both Deacon and Breiyden moved further down the chamber.

" Okay, well keep looking," Aeryn eventually said. " We'll meet back at the pod at the arranged time!" This was followed by the tell tale sound of her going offline. Deacon frowned feeling put out.

" Not the reaction you were expecting?" Breiyden asked. " She's just.you know, grieving, but this can't be a coincidence Deac! You know what the legends say, that the Dasaari could travel vast distances in a matter of microts!" Deacon nodded, he was thinking the exact same thing, what if John and Jamie had come across whatever device it was the Dasaari had used to travel with and shot out into far-space. It was a scary concept, but at least it meant that they weren't necessarily dead!

* * *

Far from being dead, Jamie was enjoying her first taste of food that wasn't food cubes. It had been a long time since she'd experienced anything with taste! She was eating a bowl of tomato soup and she was loving it. John watched her with a smile on his face. He had finished his own soup ages ago. Jamie was savouring every mouthful, so she was taking much longer.

The crew also watched her, amazed by how happy a simple bowl of tomato soup had made her. John felt he had to explain.

" Back home, we don't have much variation in the food we eat," he said making them all jump. " It's like a treat to her," he added.

" Yeah, all we get are food cubes," Jamie said grimly. " They aren't very appetizing!"

" What are food cubes?" Julies asked, but before John or Jamie could answer the commander walked into the mess hall.

" Commander Crichton," he said sounding relieved and he marched over quickly and took the seat opposite John. " Thank God you're up, I've been on the radio to General Ethan Hawk all morning. He's a representative of the US army. they're demanding that you return to Earth," Taylor said sounding uneasy. John simply smiled.

" They're demanding are they? How are they going to make me?" he asked sounding amused, but he soon lost his smile when he saw how grave Taylor looked. " What?" he asked sounding concerned. Jamie had stopped eating and was watching Taylor in total concentration.

" Commander Crichton I'm so sorry. but I have orders to enforce your removal from this space station by nineteen hundred hours," Taylor said sounding furious with his superiors, or whoever it was that had made the order.

" But this is neutral territory, who gave you your orders?" John asked keeping the fear out of his voice.

" My orders came from IASA," Taylor said through gritted teeth. " It seems that they have received threats from all directions that our funding will be removed unless you leave this station. I am so sorry commander!" Taylor said and both John and Jamie could hear he was being sincere.

"What are we going to do?" Jamie asked John in a whole mixture of languages, the only sign that she was feeling terrified, because her expression and her tone did not change from her usual neutrality. " We cannot go down to the planet dad, they'll. they'll kill me!" John looked her in the eye and saw raw terror. It was a look he'd seen all too many times during wartimes, and it wasn't very comforting that on returning to his home planet she should feel just as terrified as when Scarrans and Androlians threatened her life.

" I don't know," he replied grimly. " Sounds like we don't have much of a choice, we can't just drift around in space Jay, you have to understand." But Jamie wasn't in the mood for understanding. She needed to get away, she needed to find somewhere where she could cry without feeling embarrassed. So she jumped to her feet and rushed out of the room; her tears started falling before she'd even reached the door. Everyone watched her go and when she was gone they all turned on John.

" What happened?" Taylor asked.

" She doesn't want to go down to the planet," John said simply. " You're sure there are no loopholes in your orders." But the look on Taylor's face said he'd already looked at it from every angle. John sighed heavily and got to his feet. " Okay, well thanks anyway." With this he started walking out.

" Wait, what are you going to do?" Julie called after him, ignoring the stern look she was receiving from her commander.

" What else can we do, we're going to have to go down there and try and sort this out," he said grimly and he left the room.

* * *

Jack Crichton was thrilled. He was going to see his son again, in the flesh, in less than ten hours. He could hardly contain his excitement when he called his daughters and begged them to come and see their brother. Both were more than happy to come, and had already been planning to come since they'd heard about their brother's return.

DK was slightly more anxious about John's return. He was well aware that if John took that child down to the planet, her life would be in danger, but he had assurances from the boss at IASA that they were fighting off pressures from the military, and that for now she was safe.

And so the two men sat, occupied by very different thoughts, opposite each other in one of the lounges at the headquarters. Jack was the first one to speak.

" I wonder where they're going to stay," he said brightly.

" IASA housing probably at the base in Washington," DK mumbled. Jack sighed disappointedly.

" Yeah, you're right, I guess I was hoping for too much to have them come and stay with me," he said smiling at his own stupidity. DK smiled too.

" Yeah, maybe a little ambitious Jack, but you never know, maybe in a few weeks they'll have passed all their medical tests and had all the information sucked out of them. they may be released!" DK said bitterly. Jack looked at him worriedly.

" You heard what they were saying this morning DK! No one is going to hurt either of them, as long as IASA keep fighting for them, then the military will never gain rights to Jamie," Jack said shuddering at the thought of what would happen if the government got their hands on his granddaughter.

* * *

John found Jamie sitting by the airlock where the module was docked. It had been his first guess and there she was, hugging her knees and rocking silently. He approached her slowly and sat down opposite her in the narrow corridor.

" I want mom," she whimpered after a long silence. " And I want Warer, and D'Argo, and Chiana, and Kayto, and Breiyden." The rest of her sentence wasn't audible, because it turned into a series of whimpering sounds. John's heart broke seeing her like this and he reached out and pulled her into his lap, wrapping his arms around her in a protective cocoon.

" I'm not going to lie to you and tell you I know how to get back to them, but I give you my word that we will find a way back, no matter how long it takes! And I am not going to let anything happen to you when we go down to Earth! The second we sense danger, we'll break free and escape if we have to!" he said emotionally. " Trust me on this, nothing is going to happen to you!"

* * *

More to come soon!