Twin No More (More Stories of the Twinning of Aeryn Sun) Author: blueaeryn Rating: PG

Summary: Decisions are made

Notes: Spoilers through the end of S3 Disclaimer: Not mine.

It wasn't until John had carried Aeryn to her quarters and laid her on her bed that he noticed something was wrong. All the way there he kept talking to her, asking her how this happened, but she didn't say a word. Just looked at him with a hazy stare, and shaking her head.

After lying her down, he had turned to pick up a cloth to use as a compress on the gash on her head when he knocked over a metal drinking glass on the table. The glass hit the floor with a clink that reverberated across the room, but Aeryn didn't even turn her head to the sound. She couldn't hear.

John tended to her wounds and when he looked back he noticed Chiana and D'Argo standing in the doorway. They hovered awaiting news, and he smiled at them. "She's gonna be okay." He tried to sound positive when he was really shaking from inside and out.

Placing his hand on her chin, John turned Aeryn's face to him. In slow enunciated words John asked, "What happened?"

She shook her head letting him know she couldn't understand him. Aeryn placed a finger to her left ear and then waved her hand back and forth telling him she couldn't hear anything.

"I know," John said placing his hand on her forehead. "Chiana, can you look after her for a microt? I am going to talk to Pilot."

"Sure," Chiana said walking to stand beside Aeryn's bed.

John walked out of the room taking D'Argo by the arm. "D', come with me." D'Argo followed his friend obediently as they made their way to Pilot's den.

"What is going on, John?" Even with D'Argo's long strides he was finding it difficult to keep up with John and he found himself breaking into a jog to move shoulder to shoulder with him.

"Aeryn had some kind of run-in with someone on the planet below I'm sure of it," John said turning his head to D'Argo as they went down another tier. "She came back all beat up and she can't hear. I am going to talk to Pilot to see if he can help me put something together to communicate with her."

John never really appreciated the translator microbes until now. Even though all his friends were true aliens to him, they had seemed human because they could communicate. Words were his savior as he could express his feelings with them, but now that was failing him. He could understand basic written word, but it would take forever if Aeryn attempted to write down what happened to her. John hoped Pilot and Moya had the capability to produce just what he needed.

After talking with Pilot about his plan, they had put together a device that would take the written word and transfer it into speech. It was crude and unreliable but it was better then nothing.

John lugged the device back to Aeryn's quarters. When he entered, he noticed Chiana had bandaged the gash on her head and Aeryn was sitting up in bed. The boys had taken up residence on each side of her, and they were trying to talk to her, but unfortunately she couldn't hear a word they were saying.

The difficult task was trying to explain to Aeryn, without words, how to use the device. John picked each boys up in turn, and placed him on the floor, and Chiana moved down to the floor with them distracting them while John worked with Aeryn.

He sat on the edge of the bed and placed the device on Aeryn's lap. John typed a few words in and then they were transferred into speech, of course it fell on deaf ears as far as Aeryn was concerned, but John opened his mouth to represent speech after he had typed it in. Aeryn shook her head to acknowledge she understand him.

Luckily the machine worked in reverse and John used his limited knowledge of the Sebaccean alphabet to type, what happened? Aeryn shook her head and began typing a response.

Her words were transferred to speech and her recounting of the story caused John's blood to turn to ice. "I was on my way back to the planet after purchasing the sweet bread I told you about. A few metres from the prowler I noticed a Peacekeeper commando unit. They were placing a wanted beacon in the square and I hung back in the shadows to see who it was. It turned out to be a good and bad decision, because the beacon was offering a reward for you, and I knew I had to get out of there. Unfortunately, it appears my peacekeeper training is failing me because I didn't hear the two commandos coming up behind me."

Aeryn stopped typing and flexed her fingers. She looked into John's eyes and could see the guilt there and shook her head. "No guilt," she typed before going back to her story.

"They pulled their pulse pistols and fired at me, but I ducked around a store owners kiosk. With my position I pinned them down, but was still close enough to hear what they were saying. They had recognized me, and said I could be useful in capturing you. After a few exchanges I was able to make a run for it, but I didn't get far. The duo shot a barrel of fuel that exploded behind me. I guess they didn't realize the explosion would be so great and it came back into them and incinerated them, and shoved me into the wall of a near-by building. When I awoke, I realized I had hit my head pretty hard and fought blacking out to make it to the prowler and try to get back here. I guess the explosion caused the hearing loss."

Finished, Aeryn sat the device to the side of the bed and pushed herself up further. She touched the bandage on her head and realized the pain was intensifying again. John just stared at her and she could see that he still let the guilt feed on him even though she told him not to blame himself.

John took her hand in his and rubbed his thumb across her knuckles. Aeryn closed her eyes to soak in the feeling of his touch and so wished she could hear the words she was sure he was saying. She felt his finger brush her cheek and she smiled. His touch felt like home and before she knew it, that peaceful feeling led to her falling into a deep sleep.

"John, Pilot just said you asked him to plot a new course," D'Argo said storming into command. "What are you doing?"

"When I was zipping around the universe I landed on a few planets and logged them," John said pacing. "Callous is a medical planet. I am taking Aeryn there, so that they can fix her. They have to fix her."

"Do you think that is wise?" D'Argo stalked over to John to stand in front of him. "After what Aeryn said, it appears there are wanted beacons everywhere."

"And that is different from when?" Every since his run-in with Crais and then Scorpius John had been a wanted man in the universe and it was something he had learned to live with. He just didn't like others living with it.

"Look, D'Argo, I am going to get Aeryn to Callous and get her fixed up and then I am outta' here." John had made the decision after Aeryn re-counted her story. They had been safe in the three cycles he had been gone, and with the boys to think about now, they were better off with out him.

"What do you mean you are leaving?"

"I am only putting you guys in danger by being here. I have to go."

"Abandoning Aeryn again. And not just Aeryn this time, but the boys too."

"God, D'Argo, what do you want me to do?" John sat down in one of the stools on command. Didn't D'Argo know the decision was eating him up inside? He didn't want to leave, far from it. The visions of Aeryn and his sons would burn in his soul for the rest of his life when he left. He would always live with what might have been, but the death it would cause inside him was nothing compared to the certainty of life for Aeryn, Jace and Jack.

"You know what I expect you to do. Fight." D'Argo lifted John from the chair and held him out in front of him, and John's feet dangled off the floor.

"I am done. Through. Over. I just want to make sure they are safe."

"Then stay here and make sure they are," D'Argo said putting John back on the floor.

"I can't." John turned from command and walked out. He could hear D'Argo growl in disagreement and imagined him shaking his head at John.

Aeryn felt total isolation envelope her. There were people all around her, but their presence couldn't mask the truth that she couldn't understand them. That she couldn't communicate her thoughts and feelings and could only be a by-stander to the life moving around her.

The boys, her sweet sons, tried to talk to her but she couldn't hear them. Jack placed his hand on her chin for her to look at him while he talked but all she could do is shake her head and pretend she understood.

Aeryn hadn't felt this hopeless since Namtar injected her with some of Pilot's DNA. The metamorphosis had not only changed her outward appearance but inside as well. It was almost the same with her deafness. She had always been a take-charge type of person but now she was totally dependent on the others.

After living with her deafness for two solar days, Aeryn was relived John had made arrangements for her to see someone about her condition on the planet they orbited. John was by her side as they entered the office of the physician who could possibly cure her.

They were led to a room and it wasn't long before the surgeon entered. He was surprisingly a Sebaccean and John was shocked to find one of Aeryn's kind this far out in the uncharted territories. It proved to be a lucky stroke for Aeryn, and he easily assessed Aeryn's problem and promised to correct the hemorrhage that had caused her hearing loss.

Three arns later, John was called back into the small room. The surgeon had informed him that the procedure was a success and that he could see Aeryn. John walked over to her and took her hand lifted it to his lips.

"Aeryn," he said placing a kiss on her forehead.

"It's good to hear your voice," Aeryn said smiling. "It's good to hear, period."

"I'm glad."

John took Aeryn back to Moya and made sure she was comfortable in her quarters. She was still a bit woozy from the procedure as well as the gash on her head.

John went to his quarters and began packing his things. A quick break, that is the way it had to be. He would just leave and give his family a chance to survive. It was the only choice he could live with.

"What are you doing?" Aeryn's voice came from behind him. John turned to see her leaning up against the entryway with her arms crossed over her breasts.

"I'm leaving, Aeryn," he said flatly. "If I stay they will hunt me down and you or the boys will get caught in the cross-fire."

"Don't you think I have a say in this decision?"

That was a new wrinkle. The last he remembered, Aeryn was telling him to shove off.

"Do you want to be?"

"Maybe, but you weren't giving me a chance one way or the other." Aeryn walked into the room to stand in front of John. "Yes, I was injured on that planet, but it was my fault. I shouldn't have lingered. I should have gotten out of there."

"You lingered because of the beacon, because of me."

"Yes I did, just like you would have done if the situation was reversed." Aeryn placed her hand on John's forearm. "Just like we have always done, I was watching your back. It's just that I got sloppy and got caught."

"Aeryn I ..," John began.

"Don't run away again," Aeryn said placing her hand on his cheek. "Let me prove to you I can be Aeryn Sun."

Her words, her plea cut John to the quick. She still thought John saw her as a copy. "Baby, you are Aeryn Sun. It just took a moron like me a while to figure it out."

John took her in his arms and held her close. He lost himself in her and his whole body started to burn with uncontrollable hunger for her. "Do you really want me to stay," John asked as he lifted his head to look her in the face."

Aeryn couldn't speak, she just shook her head yes. It was then he saw it, something he should have seen all along. The flash in her eyes, the feeling he got when he saw it. The light in her eyes, the glimmer of hope it represented. It was Aeryn Sun, she had always been Aeryn Sun and now she was his Aeryn Sun.