She was left alone with him, and Solaris wasn't sure she wanted to be. Running her fingers across his cheek, she smiled sadly, a few tears slid from her eyes and dropped onto his. Feeling him breathing, shallow now, slowly, she entwined her hand in his larger one, and rubbed his fingers with her thumb in comfort.

At that moment, his eyes cracked open for the first time since he collapsed. His mouth worked, jaw stretching as if he wanted to say something, but only grunts of pain escaped his lips.

A finger to his lips quieted him, "Hey Flyboy."

He smiled painfully, and coughed up blood, "Hi."

"I see you're awake, huh?"

"Did..... we....... make...... it......."

She couldn't bear for him to know the truth, "Yes, we made it back to the past, and you did it, Jace. You did it, and I made it, you made it."

Sputtering, he replied, "Not.... for.... long...."

"Don't talk like that. Please, don't say those kinds of things, Ducky....."

Her pleading broke his heart, but he remained firm, "I....... am.......... dying........ Lara..." he managed to say between breaths, "Can....... feel..... myself........ go....."

Solaris stroked his cheek again, and looked into his eyes, "Don't worry, we're going to fix this. Somehow, we will, I promise."

"Not........ this...... time....... You.... take........ care......... of your......... family."

Impulsively, she kissed his lips, and felt him kiss her back with everything he had. When they parted, she cried even more, "I think I love you, Ex-Officer Jace Kohen."

Smiling, he winced with pain, but it was a smile nonetheless, "I...........think......I....." his voice was fading, like a radio station out of focus, and Solaris watched it happen.

Trying to save the time, she kissed him again, and half way through, she felt him slacken. Slain in her heart, she howled in pain, and sat there in despair.

She knew Jace was gone the moment their lips had touched, and he never even finished his thought.

John paced in the hallway, trying to make sense of all this, "This isn't fair. I might not have helped in the whole parenting thing, but my other reality twin did. I mean, I feel.....something towards her, something I've only felt on the receiving end of my own father."

Jack nodded, "I'm not surprised. John, no matter where she came from, she is your daughter. Do you remember when you were on the Sebacean Colony and you married Princess Katralla?"

Surprised, his companion was about to protest, but then remembered that Jack had access to his memories, "I can't even keep sex fantasies away from you people, can I?"

The Ancient took that as a 'yes', "Think of this as an opportunity, John. Here you are, in the middle of a Peacekeeper War, and it's no place for a mother and an unborn child. An actual child, born in this chaos, would be slaughter. However, here you have a strong, able-bodied daughter, strong willed, fiercely loyal to her father and mother, an individual who can combine your intellect with Aeryn's military strategy; your heart with Aeryn's bravery; your morality with Aeryn's nobility. Solaris IS YOUR DAUGHTER, in every sense of the word, no matter what reality she is from. You are being given the chance to get to know a daughter you would have never known unless fate hadn't intervened."

"What, you're saying fate brought her here?" asked John, skeptic.

"It brought you to the love of your life, the dearest friends you ever wanted, and a life that was so much more than you ever thought possible. So yes, I think fate also brought her to you."

To this, John had no answer.

"Maybe she's not Princess Katralla's daughter, but she's something better. Something more. And she's someone who is here, now, in her prime and still quite in love with the both of you."

He smiled, "You think so?"

"Why else would she have even thought of making the journey? She wanted to find you, and she wanted to make sure that you and Aeryn avoided being crystallized."

"Is that how we died in her reality? That crystallizing-processing thing-a- ma-jig?"

"I think that's a question that you should ask her."

The human thought for a bit, and nodded, "I will, maybe, later. Somehow I think right now she needs some time alone with Jace. Now's not the time." He sighed heavily, and shook his head, "This is going to be a rough time for her. Jace is dying, and we don't know how long he's got. I remember when Aeryn died, and half the time I wished she was alive again, the other half I wished I was dead so I could be with her."

Jack patted John on the shoulder, a surprisingly human gesture, "I know, but hopefully, Solaris will handle it better than you did."

Suddenly, a howling from the room behind them was heard, and before they could enter, Solaris ran out, bawling her eyes out. John watched her go, careful not to let his own heartstrings call her out to comfort her too soon, and strode into the room.

The first thing he noticed was that Jace was no longer shaking.

The second thing he noticed was that Jace wasn't breathing. In fact, no life would have shone in his eyes had they been open, and his face was slack. John's own hand went involuntarily to his mouth at the shock of what must have happened.

Jace had died in Solaris's arms.

"Pilot, tell everyone on Moya that Jace Kohen is dead."

"Crichton, are you certain?"

"Yes, he's dead as a doornail, Pilot, and I've got to find my little girl."

"John, that THING is not truly your daughter, is she?" asked Chiana, the first time that she had even spoken since Solaris and Jace boarded, "I mean, Aeryn didn't give birth to her."

"Not in this reality, but that doesn't make her any less ours, Pip."

"You sure?"

He stopped, and looked at the man Solaris had loved before answering, "Yeah, I'm sure. She's living, breathing, feeling......... she's my daughter, Pip, and nothing will change that."

"John," replied Aeryn from their quarters, "what the frell are you talking about?"

"Aeryn, she's ours. I don't know how I know, I just do, ok? Bottom line: she is who she is, and that's that."

"I didn't give birth to her, and how do we know for certain that she is who she says she is?"

"Honey, this is a bit too Odd Couple, even for you," he replied, "When you get to know her like I do right now, you'll know. Now, I have to find her. Pilot, can Moya track her comm.? I noticed she was wearing one when she came here."

"Yes. Moya says she's on the terrace."

"Great, I'm on it."
He found her staring out into space on the terrace, the huge domed glass in front of her with her sitting parallel to it on the right side, a spectacle of stars dazzling her blank sights. John noticed she looked different than she had before: her eyes were red and swollen, puffy from every bit of crying; her hair was limp as cords of string, with no life in it whatsoever; even her shoulders sagged, giving her an aged, old sort of stance. In just a short amount of time, she had aged from a youthful sixteen to somewhere around forty.

He tried striking up a conversation, "Hey, kiddo."

She didn't even look at him, "Go away."

Of course, too stubborn for his own good, the commander continued, "Listen, I—"

"What did I say?"

"Ok, fine," throwing his hands up, he turned to leave, "Then call me when you really want to talk to me, ok?"

His father's ruse always worked. Before he had taken his fifth step, she spoke once again, "You're trying to get me to talk, aren't you?"

"Maybe I am; do you have a problem with that?"

She paused, then spoke what was really on her mind, "I'm not you, John."

Surprised that she had used his first name and had drastically changed the subject, he sputtered a quick answer, "You can talk to me anytime, you know. You don't have to do this now; you can always talk later, if you want to."

"No, now's fine....." Solaris's voice faded in and out, "I'm so.... stuck. I feel stuck, you know?" For the first time, her eyes met his, "I've just...... just....." Shaking her head, she abruptly stood up, "Nevermind."

Her father caught her arm, "No, continue."

She shook his hand off and shot him a foul look before walking past him, "No."

Exasperated, he rubbed his eyes with his fingers, "Damn, she's more and more like her mother than I thought..."

"Commander."

"Yeah, Pilot?"

"May I suggest asking her to come here?"

John looked bewildered, "What good is that going to do?"

"Moya finds Solaris to be somewhat like her offspring, Talyn. She feels that she and I can, perhaps, help her in her grief."

"Don't you think me and Aeryn can handle our own daughter, Pilot?"

"No doubt that you can, but, however, you and Officer Sun are severely inexperienced with offspring. Moya has reared her own, and feels that she can help, with my assistance."

Sighing, he nodded, "Couldn't hurt, Pilot. Couldn't hurt. And even if it doesn't, I have a feeling that she'd come to you anyway."

"An interesting suggestion, Commander. Why would you say that?"

"Because she is her mother's daughter, and that means that if Aeryn was injected with your DNA, Pilot, Lara gets it by default. She'll come to you; don't worry."
Please read and review! I'm going to put up the rest of this fic tonight, so please take the time out to review and tell me how i'm doing! The new fic I am doing is still untitled, so i dunno when that will be up, but hopefully, that will be up soon too! Anyway, more farscape fic!