"It's a bad idea."

Aeryn gives me one of Those Looks. "This is becoming a trend."

"Exactly!"

"A trend which I started, by the way."

For a moment my mouth opens and close, and my foot feels mysteriously guided towards it. "Do you know the issue I have with this guy?" I ask her.

"I do."

"So-"

"But that doesn't mean we should turn him away."

"Yes, it does!"

Aeryn sighs, her eyes rolling. "We nearly left Chiana tied up at the nearest planet-"

"She might have liked that," I say, mostly under my breath.

She ignores me. "We could have done the same for Jool, or Crais, or Sikozu-"

"Sikozu was a bad idea," I insist.

Aeryn doesn't give me that point, but doesn't contest it, either. "You've been outvoted, John. If you want to argue with D'Argo, feel more than free."

She takes off without me, and I resist the urge to bang my head against the wall once or twice. I remember a time when she wouldn't have batted an eye to shooting this idiot out the nearest airlock. And now she's going to bat for him.

I take my time getting to the center chamber, and am the last to arrive. Aeryn has already gotten the kids and is attempting unsuccessfully to feed Jack, who's flinging the UT version of strained something mushy at the back of Rygel's head. Rygel, understandably, is not happy about this. "You can do this somewhere else!" he complains.

"He's a baby, he does things like this," Aeryn says. She grabs a cloth, attempting to clean the food from him.

Rygel bats her away. "You and your spawn have done enough damage for one mealtime!"

Aeryn moves to smack him in the head, but Chiana beats him to it. Next to her, Rose giggles and shoots Rygel a sweet smile. It shuts him up. He never stopped complaining about the way his schedule was interrupted by Rose, but he's really gotten to like her. Jack will probably be the same way.

I take the last seat at the head of the table, which puts me right between my little girl and the enemy.

"So," Rose says to our friendly neighborhood turncoat, and I swear she bats her eyelashes, "are you staying on Moya long?"

Braca eyes the table warily as he answers. "Hopefully not too long."

"People come and go all the time here," Rose goes on, trying to sound much older than her age. "You're welcome to stay."

"We're going to have to work on your subtlety," Chiana murmurs to her. She then smiles at me as if I couldn't hear what she just said to my nine-year-old daughter. I'm going to have to have a talk with Chi later. And what's she doing lecturing anyone on subtlety.

"Don't feel you have to stick around, though," I say, ignoring the dirty look Rose shoots at me. I grab a plate and try to sound as civil as possible. "In case you haven't noticed, we have a knack for getting into trouble. It's generally best to hightail it out of here as soon as possible."

"Yes, of course," Braca says smoothly.

He and I are going to get into a knockdown, drag-out fight, I know it. I'll have to see who wants to get in on the pool.

D'Argo is looking at me as if he expects punches to be thrown now. (Not in front of the kids. Not again, at least.) "Play nice," he says. "I might make you two hug and say you'll try to be friends."

"Don't think I can't kill you," I warn.

D'Argo grins. Is there anyone I'm not going to be talking to or screaming at after this meal?

"We all say we're going to leave here," says Chiana, in between bites of food, "but we don't."

"We did," Aeryn said.

"Yeah, and you're here," Chiana reminds her. "It's like you get on Moya, and you... stick."

"Oh, he's definitely leaving," I say immediately, and at the same time Braca is saying, "I'm not staying here."

Chiana shrugs and goes back to her food.

"That's because you've all grown comfortable here," Rygel says. "You have habits."

I see the expression on D'Argo's face and try not to laugh. Rygel's had the opportunity to leave and reclaim his throne, and he came back. Twice already. We know how this goes.

But Braca is here on a limited stay. This is definite. I'll make sure of it.