Notes: I've been threatened, uh, I mean kindly asked to post an update. So this is the second part of this cross-over. Unfortunately I only completed three parts; the fourth had been fighting me so hard, that I put it down. But fear not, I've recently started to work on this story again, so it's not totally abandoned yet. Lastly, I just re-read this part and noticed a plot hole big enough for Moya to fly through. I left it as-is (well, duh, half the chapter would have to go otherwise) so it's still in sync with the originally posted story.

"Aeryn, baby, you know you can't come. It's too damn hot down there." John Crichton kissed his wife's forehead. "Besides, someone has to keep an eye on little D here."

Aeryn looked in the direction of her son's 'crib'. She agreed with John that there should be someone watching over this new man in her life, but she would feel much better if it could be someone else, so she could go with her husband and keep him safe.

On the other hand, who should she ask to take care of her son? Aeryn wasn't so sure she should trust Noranti with that task and Chiana, as she had once said, was still a narl herself. Aeryn sighed and turned back to her husband. She hated this whole frelling thing. "I know you're right. I just want to be there and protect you."

John sighed too. "Yeah, I know you wanna, but it's not possible this time. Besides, I'm not gonna be alone down there."

Aeryn smiled wryly. "That's what I'm afraid of."

John chuckled. "I'd almost think you're jealous and afraid Blondie is gonna lure me into her lair."

Aeryn's chuckle held less humor. "I suppose you also realize she's taken an interest in you?"

John nodded. "Yeah, well it's hard to miss her not-so-covert glances."

Aeryn smiled widely. "She's not so much looking at you but more at a certain part of your anatomy." Her hand moved down to the part in question and the smile turned into a confident leer. "Though I can understand why it attracts her so much."

"Are you ready, Marguerite?" Roxton looked in her direction.

She was just finishing up putting on her boots. "Almost."

She looked to one side where Roxton's pistol lay and then to the other, where one of those weird-looking pistols lay. Considering things for a while she turned back to the other side and holstered Roxton's pistol.

Roxton nodded approvingly, having chosen his own pistol above those provided by the crew of this ship earlier as well. "Wise choice. At least we know that they work."

Marguerite nodded. "Yes, but we don't have much ammunition. We really should make more ammunition or start using those." She pointed at the pulse pistol and then looked at Roxton. "Or Finn can save us with her crossbow." The biting tone often present in her voice became more pronounced at that statement. As quickly as it came it went again. "You do know why Finn wanted to come, don't you?"

Roxton nodded. "Yes, but I think she should be careful. His wife might kill her if she ever tries anything. Not that Crichton seems to be interested in Finn at all. Still, we may need to warn her. Or maybe we should ask Veronica and Ned to join us. I feel safer with them than with Finn."

Marguerite shook her head and smiled. "I don't think they'd be very useful. Or haven't you noticed they spend all their time together lately? They'd be too distracted if you took them both."

"Well, we spend all our time together, so perhaps we're not such a good choice, either."

Marguerite grinned. "I don't see why. I just ignore you as always. It has always kept me safe." She quickly moved out of their quarters and in the direction they'd been given earlier.

Roxton, stunned for the moment, watched her walked away a few paces before he followed her, shaking his head in bemusement.

John Crichton warily circled the now-dead creature. "You should've been dead for millions of years," he muttered, mostly to himself. He turned to Roxton. "If you hadn't told me about living dinosaurs earlier, I'd have guessed we're 'bout sixty-five million years from when you should be. Any ideas on when we are?"

Roxton shook his head. "No, and I'm not sure how we can find out. We can either go to the tree-house or just explore some places we've been in the last three years and see if there's any indication we've been there."

Challenger nodded. "I agree and though the tree-house seems like the better option, I suggest we go and find out if one of our latest adventures has taken place."

Marguerite looked at Roxton. "The cave we were trapped in?"

Challenger nodded. "Excellent suggestion, Marguerite."

Roxton looked around trying to get his bearing and pointed to the north. "It's that way and not too far from here."

Crichton palmed his comms. "Aer? We've landed and going to check out some place these people have been. I'm going to deactivate my comms device, but will report back within the arn."

"Alright, John. But promise me you'll comm me when you run into an enemy."

Crichton eyed the dead Raptor. "Well, we've already killed one Scarran forefather. Luckily, these aren't as smart or thick-skinned as them. I'll let you know if I run into deeper dren." He turned off his comms immediately and turned to the explorers. "Now that we're on your turf: lead the way."

Roxton gave a short nod and headed in the direction of the cave.

"You're already acting like your father, you know that, little one?"

Aeryn sat with her son in Command on a console, holding him close.

"Already looking at all the pretty flashing lights, wanting to explore and examine every little thing you can get your tiny hands on. But you know what? I like that. I want you to be smart and curious like your father. But I also want you to be strong and brave like... Like your namesake."

"Don't forget loyal and a great pilot."

Aeryn was slightly startled by the unexpected and undetected closeness of Chiana.

Chiana moved her finger over the baby's cheek. "Just like his mother."

Aeryn snorted. "Great pilot, yes. But loyal?"

Chiana nodded. "Yeah, loyal. Perhaps even more than D'Argo."

Aeryn looked at her. "Must I remind you I left John? Twice? Neither occasion was a show of loyalty. And I couldn't even prevent a fellow warrior and friend from being killed."

Chiana looked her in the eyes. "That wasn't your fault. D'Argo's death, I mean. You were taking care of the baby and the Eidelons. I never blamed you for that. None of you. Those frelling Scarrans, yeah. And I was a bit angry with all of you for leaving him down there, but I know we couldn't save him. There was no time. He died a warrior, the way he was supposed to die."

Aeryn looked back at Chiana, biting her lip. "Perhaps. But that still leaves me leaving John behind."

Chiana nodded. "The second time, yeah, that was your doing. But not the first time. You needed to take care of Talyn." Chiana moved her arm around Aeryn. "And I do understand why you left the second time. I'm used to emotions and even I have trouble dealing with D'Argo's death. You had to deal with your love's death and you couldn't do that when he's still around."

Aeryn nodded, but didn't look particularly convinced. "Yes, but I left him alone. Literally alone when Moya vanished through the wormhole. I should have stayed with him."

Chiana sighed. "And do what, Aeryn? As I recall, you were quite the Peacekeeper soldier, no emotions, nothing. You think that would have helped Crichton? Or you?"

Aeryn dipped her head to look at her son and then looked back up at Chiana. "I wasn't there to protect him on Arnessk."

Chiana's features changed slightly. "Protect him from what?"

Aeryn sighed. "I know something happened down there, Chi. I don't know what it is, but something happened to John. Because I wasn't there."

Chiana snorted. "We were there, and we couldn't protect him because we were imprisoned. I doubt you could've done anything for him."

"Chi, what happened on Arnessk?"

Chiana looked uncomfortably around Command and eventually hopped off the console and started in the direction of the door. "It's not my story to tell. Ask Crichton about it."

"It's really beautiful up here."

Veronica craned her head up and looked at Ned standing beside her. She noticed he was not actually looking at the universe outside but at her and started to smile. "Enjoying the view from up there?"

Ned smiled and sat down beside her. "I always enjoy watching you." He looked out the transparent wall. "But that is quite a view, too."

Veronica nodded. "Yeah. I could watch this for hours."

They watched in silence as the stars and planets and nebulas moved from one direction to the other as Moya slowly circled around. Eventually, the Plateau moved into view.

"You think they're gonna be okay down there?"

Veronica turned her head. "I'm sure they're alright. Challenger, Roxton and Marguerite have been living on the Plateau for three years. They know their way around, where the dangers are. I'm a little worried about Crichton, though."

Ned shook his head. "I don't think it's necessary. He's been through a lot, had to fight a lot. He can handle whatever they run into."

Veronica shook her head. "That's not what I'm worried about."

Ned chuckled. "Ah, you mean Finn. Again, I don't think you'll need to worry. He's only interested in Aeryn and his son. I'm sure Finn knows the danger of pursuing him. She's been training with Aeryn as well."

"Damn," Roxton cursed.

Marguerite moved toward him. "What?" Then she noticed the door. "Oh. Still closed. We're at a time before we were trapped here, then."

"So, what event happened before that?" Finn asked.

Crichton cleared his throat. "What? We're gonna run around this Plateau and check each and every event in chronological order? Fun as that may be, I suggest we take a slightly quicker approach."

Challenger turned around. "Oh? And what would you suggest then?"

"Simple. First we check whether you actually arrived here. There must be some checkable event close to the time when you arrived. Then we either know we're here before you arrived or after. If it's after we take an event roughly halfway through your time on the plateau and, depending on that outcome we know whether to check the first or last half of your stay here. We'll check an event halfway through that time frame and we'll keep dividing until we find out when we are."

Challenger nodded slowly. "Yes, that seems like a more efficient approach."

Crichton smiled. "Great. So what checkable event happened after your arrival here?"

Roxton, Marguerite and Challenger looked at each other, thinking about when they arrived here. It was Marguerite who came up with the answer. "The cave!"

Crichton looked at her. "Lady, we're already in a cave."

Marguerite shook her head. "No, no, not this one. The one Assai showed us that might have led us off of this Plateau." She looked at Roxton and Challenger. "Remember? It caved in before we had a chance to get off the Plateau!"

Challenger looked dubiously. "Yes, but as I recall, it was in the territory of the ape-men. And I don't remember where it was exactly. Do you?"

Both Marguerite and Roxton shook their heads.

"Maybe V knows." Finn looked at the three expectantly. "She knows this Plateau better than any of us. If she went with you..."

Crichton dug up his comms. "I think it's time to call the 'missus'. Ask her to interrupt the two love birds."

"Shh, little one." Aeryn walked around Command, gently rocking her crying son. "It's alright."

"What's wrong?" Veronica entered Command, followed by Ned.

Aeryn turned around at the two. "My son was taking an interest in one of the DRDs. Unfortunately, it had built up a slight static charge and when he tried to touch it, he received a little shock. He's fine, just a bit startled." She turned to look at her son again. "Aren't you, little one?"

D'Argo was already quieting down, his attention this time directed at the two new people.

"Apparently we've distracted him now," Veronica said.

Aeryn smiled. "Like his father, he has the attention span of a Faltox." Aeryn noticed the incomprehension on the two human faces. "A creature with a very short span of attention," she clarified.

"He seems mostly interested in your hair, Veronica," Ned observed.

Aeryn grinned. "Again, something he must have inherited from his father. Do you know that I'm the only non-blonde woman John has ever been attracted to? It seems my son is going to be attracted to blondes as well."

Veronica glanced briefly towards Ned.

Aeryn caught the worried exchange between Veronica and Ned. "Oh, I'm not worried he's going to... run off with your blonde friend. He knows he's a dead man if he does."

At that moment the comms came on. "Hey Aer, could you go and interrupt the two love birds?"

Aeryn shook her head and winked at two humans beside her. "I'm not sure that's such a good idea, John. We wouldn't like to be interrupted either, would we?"

"Yeah, well, we need some information that apparently only Jane can provide us. Once that's done, they're free to go back to their current task."

"And what information do you need, John?"

"Aer, just go fetch her, alright? You'll hear... who's that I hear chuckling? Doesn't sound like Pip or Granny."

"That would be one half of the love birds."

John sighed. "Then why were we having this conversation?"

Aeryn grinned. "I just didn't like your suggestion of interrupting them."

Marguerite's voice was next over the comms. "Veronica, do you remember the cave Assai showed us when had just arrived? The ones that could have led us off of this Plateau?"

Veronica nodded. "Yes. It's in ape-men territory."

"Yes, we know. It's just that we don't quite know where it was."

"Uh, guys? What's that?" Crichton pointed out the forward portal of the transport pod, having opted to use it to speed up their travel to the other side of the Plateau.

Challenger walked to the front of the pod. "That would be a British Navy dirigible, launched in nineteen-fifteen and commanded by Captain Askwith."

Crichton smiled. "That gives us an approximate date, right?"

"Oh, I'm afraid not, Crichton. Though we came in contact with the dirigible's captain, there's no telling if this is the same occurrence."

John turned to the professor. "Not the same occurrence?"

Challenger shook his head. "It's a... A ghost ship, stuck in a time loop. Though we've only seen it once in the past three years, there's no telling if this is that time. And as we don't have any indication as to how often it appears, we cannot even make a guess. Besides, it could be before we arrived here or after. I would suggest to keep out of sight though."

Crichton nodded and turned back to the forward portal, muttering under his breath. "And here I thought I've seen weird things."

"Wait! Look! Someone's falling." Marguerite pointed in the direction of the airship.

Crichton shook his head. "No, there are two people falling. And this airship... it's heading towards those cliffs."

"Well, that certainly is familiar."

Roxton had barely uttered those words when both the falling persons as well as the dirigible vanished.

"That's not what happened." Marguerite looked to Challenger and Roxton. "We crashed the airship in the mountain cliffs. We know Askwith landed safely and Malone was killed."

Challenger looked contemplatively out the forward portal. "Either this was not our version and the time loop reset itself, or we changed to a different time."

"You mean to tell me these time barriers are present here?"

Challenger shrugged. "It is a possibility, Marguerite. The events were exactly what we've been through before, but since we couldn't see who was falling, we cannot assume it was indeed Malone falling. The two options I mentioned both have merit."

Crichton nodded. "I agree. We better check if we can detect different times on this rock. Moya can perform those checks." Crichton activated his comms. "Pilot, could you ask Moya to check for anything that might indicate difference in times?" He waited a couple of microts. "Pilot?" More silence greeted him as he activated the onboard sensors. "Pilot?! Aeryn?! Anyone?!" Not getting any response he turned back to the explorers. "I think option two seems most likely. I can't contact our friends on Moya, and the sensors no longer detect her, either. We may have moved into another time zone."

"What do you mean 'they vanished'?" Aeryn walked briskly onto Command, addressing Pilot as she went.

"Just that, Officer Sun. The transport pod simply vanished. Moya does detect another vessel, but she's sure there was no weapons fire."

Aeryn frowned. "Another vessel, Pilot? What type of vessel?"

"It appears to be a crude hovering ship, utilizing gas lighter than the atmosphere to provide lift. It's outfitted with rotating propellers to provide thrust."

During Pilot's description, the clamshell had changed to display the airship.

Aeryn looked at it and shook her head. "I can't believe humans dared flying in this type of ship." She turned around when she heard a gasp.

"Askwith!" Veronica grasped Ned's hand and briefly looked at him before turning back to face Aeryn's questioning gaze. "It's a ghost ship commanded by Captain Askwith. It's in a time loop, continuously reliving its last mission." Veronica looked once again at Ned, still clutching his hand tightly. "Askwith killed Ned."

Aeryn turned back to the clamshell viewer, nodding her head. "Right, Pilot, can you detect anything... Frell!"

They just witnessed the crash of the dirigible into the mountain cliffs.

"It'll be back. The others are on the ghost ship and will return here later. That is, if this is the time we lived this nightmare."

Aeryn nodded. "Right. Not our concern. We need to find the transport pod. Pilot, is there anything to indicate what might have happened to it?"

"Moya has already scanned for any possible debris, if that's what you mean. No debris has been found and she's now scanning the area the transport pod was last detected."

Aeryn closed her eyes briefly, reigning in her anger. She knew there was no reason to get angry with Pilot or Moya for something for which they were not responsible, but whenever John was in danger she too-often let her emotions rule. "Alright, Pilot. Keep searching. There must be some indication of what happened."

Aeryn turned around and left Command at a brisk pace, followed by the two humans. Aeryn headed straight for the docking bay. Before she could climb aboard her Prowler, Veronica stopped her by putting her hand on the other woman's arm.

"Hey, where are you going?"

"Down there, to find my husband." Aeryn yanked her arm out of Veronica's grasp.

"What about your son?"

Aeryn halted with one foot on the ladder of the Prowler, biting her lip, at Ned's question. She palmed her comms. "Chi, I want you to keep an eye on D'Argo for me. I'll be going down to find John and the others."

"What? Aeryn, are you tinked?! You can't leave! What if you disappear as well? D'Argo would have to miss both his parents. Just... just stay there. I'll go down if you want, but you can't leave."

Aeryn rolled her eyes. "Chi, I'm not going to disappear. I'm just going to look for my husband."

Chi's snort came over the comms. "Crichton wasn't planning on disappearing, either. I'll be there in a microt. Just stay put, okay?"

Aeryn set her foot back on the ground, realizing that Chiana did have a point. And if something was wrong with the others, she couldn't go out of her Prowler for very long, or she'd succumb to Heat Delirium. "Fine, I'll stay here. Just hurry up."

Aeryn palmed her comms again. "Pilot, could you transfer Crichton's last known location to this transport pod and prepare it for flight?"

"Already done, Officer Sun."

"Thank you, Pilot."

Mere microts later Chiana skidded to a halt in front of Aeryn. "Good, you stayed."

Aeryn rolled her eyes again. "Of course I stayed. I said I would, didn't I?"

Chiana glanced towards Veronica and Ned before turning back to her. "Yeah, well, when Crichton's in trouble, you have a tendency to go after him."

Aeryn shrugged and smiled a bit. "I probably would, if you hadn't reminded me it would orphan my son if I also disappear."

"So, do we have their last known location?"

Aeryn nodded. "Yes, I've asked Pilot to transfer the coordinates to the transport pod's navigation system."

"I'll go with you." Both Aeryn and Chiana shook their heads, but Veronica persisted. "I know the way down there, you don't."

"Yeah, but I'm not planning on gettin' outta the transport pod."

"But what if something happens and you have to? What if the others are injured and you can't land close to them?"

Chiana intended to argue but Aeryn stopped her. "She's got a point, Chiana."

Chiana looked at Veronica and then to Ned. "Fine, but I'm not taking both of you."

"Officer Sun, Chiana? Moya has detected a temporal distortion in the area where Commander Crichton vanished."

"Temporal distortion?" Aeryn furrowed her brow. "So they may have ended up in another time?"

"Moya and I are uncertain. It appears to be an isolated patch of approximately one metra in diameter. So far, no other temporal distortions have been detected."

"It could be the same time barriers we encountered before." Veronica furrowed her brow. "Though we never investigated them, so I'm not sure if they were indeed barriers or enclosed areas."

Aeryn nodded. "Right. But you returned, didn't you?"

"Yes, but only the first few times. The last time, Finn and I were the only ones left in our original time. The others had vanished and didn't return." Veronica paused. "Is this area moving?"

"Pilot?"

"No, this patch hasn't moved since Moya detected it."

"The barriers we encountered did move. They also appeared and disappeared at random. This temporal distortion is not the same phenomenon."

"Could it be related to this thing with Askwith?" Ned looked at the women. "It was stuck in a time loop, so there could be a distortion in time."

Aeryn nodded. "Yes, that could be it. Regardless, if they are stuck in a different time, we may have no other choice than to wait until they return. There's no sense in getting two more people lost. John has dealt with time traveling before. He knows how to get back and not to disturb anything. We'll give them an arn, and then decide on what to do."

"Where's that barrier?" Crichton looked from his sensors back to the forward portal. "We've been circling this area for nearly an arn and still we haven't run into it. It must be 'round here somewhere." He turned to the professor. "You're sure they didn't move?"

Challenger nodded. "They moved within a short area. But they did have a tendency to appear and disappear, seemingly at random. It'll reappear."

"Are you sure, or just guessin'?"

Challenger shrugged. "One can never be sure, but based on previous encounters with these barriers, I'm fairly confident it'll return."

Crichton shook his head. "It'd better be soon. In half an arn I'll have to land, otherwise we won't have enough fuel to get back to Moya and the others." He paused, suddenly remembering something. "Didn't you say this blimp was stuck in a time loop? Could we be experiencing some side-effect because of it?"

Challenger took a moment to think about it. "It is a possibility, especially considering the Plateau has been split into an undetermined amount of versions, each representing a different time. That may have interfered with the time continuum when we came closer to the airship."

"Well, isn't that just peachy? Any idea on how long it took before this whole episode with the blimp ended?"

Challenger shook his head. "Not exactly. For us it seemed to have taken nearly a day, but it may have been shorter here on the Plateau."

Crichton nodded. "Well, in that case, I suggest we go back to our first landing spot. We'll try to find the barrier later." He steered the transport pod back in the direction of the landing space they used earlier.

"That may not be wise. We'd be on the other side of the barrier when it returns and I'm not sure if that would allow us to get back to our time or not."

John turned the pod around at the professor's objection. "You might be right. Is it safe to land at the landing spot near the other caves? That's close by, isn't it?"

Challenger nodded. "It is close. I'm not sure if it'll influence our current predicament. We may drift into another barrier before we get there, or we may encounter one when we try to get back here."

John agreed. "Right, but I still need to find a landing place for the station wagon or in half an arn it'll find one for us."

"I'd prefer a landing spot as close to this place as possible." Challenger looked out the front portal. "Could you land in that clearing?" He pointed in a direction where at perhaps less than half an hour walking distance was a clearing in the jungle.

John followed the direction of his finger and nodded. "Yeah, no problem." He steered the pod in the direction of the clearing. Just as he was about to start his descent, the comms came back on.

"John! Are you alright?"

"Aer? How long were we gone?" John looked towards the professor. "Let's hope her answer is 'an arn' or we're in the wrong time."

"Just over an arn."

"Well, whaddaya know? We got back right on time." John immediately steered the pod up into space. "We'll return to Moya right away. For one, we're running low on fuel and two, I think we can pretty much rule out of this being the right time period."

Challenger nodded. "I agree. It really doesn't matter if this was the instance we were on board the airship or not. It's definitely not the same time as when we left."

Aeryn slid back on the bed, pressing her back against her husband's chest, and sighed out of contentment. "I'm glad you're back."

John nuzzled her hair. "Yeah, me, too. I didn't intend to scare you, babe. I didn't expect to be yanked out of time. Again."

Aeryn patted his arm. "I know, John." She paused and bit her lip. "I almost came down, right after you disappeared. I didn't even think about our son. Even when Ned reminded me of him, I simply asked Chiana to take care of him."

John tightened his embrace. "Babe, you're not a bad mother. You're still trying to get used to having a child."

Aeryn smiled. He really did understand what she was thinking and feeling. "Perhaps." She paused again and slightly changed the direction of their conversation. "Do you know why I wanted to come down so badly? Why I want to protect you at all times?" Aeryn felt John shake his head before he verbally let her know he didn't know. "Because I know something happened on Arnessk a cycle ago and I wasn't there to help you." She could feel John stiffen.

"Wha... Why do you think something happened on Arnessk?"

Aeryn shrugged. "I wasn't really sure, at first. I gradually came to believe something had happened there. Today I confronted Chiana about it, and she said it wasn't her story to tell. And just now you stiffened when I mentioned it." Aeryn turned around to look at him. "John, what happened on Arnessk?"

John turned to lie on his back and sighed. "Babe, it's not important. I've dealt with it. Just let it go."

Aeryn furrowed her brow slightly. Why did he still try to keep it from her? "No, John, I won't let this go. Something happened and it influenced you greatly. I need to know. I just..." She was interrupted by the cries of her son. She slid out of bed. "I'll go feed our son, but don't think I won't continue this conversation when I get back."

Aeryn pulled on some shorts and walked towards her son's crib. "Shh, little one. Mommy's here."

She picked him up to carry him to the chair she had retrieved for that purpose. She smiled fondly when his attention went to her breasts before she could even take a step. Another trait you inherited from your father. John interrupted her mid-stride.

"Aer, could you do it here?"

When Aeryn turned towards John, she could see he'd sat up and made room so she could sit and lean against him while feeding their son. She nodded and changed direction back to the bed. Once comfortably seated, she moved her son so he could finally nurse. The whole process of nursing still overwhelmed her, and she gazed intently at her son as he greedily sucked nutrition from her body.

John's hand came up to stroke little D'Argo's head while he kissed her softly on the cheek. "I could watch this for arns."

Aeryn chuckled softly. "Why do I think you'd rather be in your son's place?" She could feel his smile as his chin rested on her shoulder.

"Well, yeah, but I figure I get my chance later."

Aeryn kept her gaze firmly directed at her son, but her mind was trying to come up with a way to get John to open up to her about Arnessk. She couldn't think of anything, though the sight of her son nurturing might have influenced her thought processes.

"Grayza happened."

Aeryn was slightly startled with the sudden revelation, especially after such a long pause since either one had said a thing, but pleased he at least would tell her. "Grayza? What about her?"

"She... Well, I... We... Have you ever heard of Heppel Oil?"

"Heppel Oil?" Aeryn was mildly confused with the sudden change of subject. "I don't see what that has to do with Arnessk. The Heppel species can't really survive anywhere but on their own planet."

"Do you know what Heppel Oil does?"

"I've heard rumors that it has applications in interrogation as it disrupts thought processes." She changed the position of her son so he could nurse from the other breast.

John snorted. "Yeah, interrogation." He went quiet for a long time. "Grayza has a Heppel gland implanted. She used it to... interrogate me."

Aeryn heard his tone of voice and realized interrogation was probably not descriptive of what had actually happened. "John, tell me what Heppel Oil does exactly."

There was an ominous pause. "It gets you so horny you'll do anything to frell the applier of the stuff."

This time Aeryn stiffened. Grayza had raped him. Aeryn directed her attention to her son to make sure she hadn't inadvertently jostled him or perhaps scared him. She forced herself to relax again and the view of her son helped greatly in accomplishing that.

"I tried to fight it. I tried to fight her. Eventually I got away, only to almost get myself killed by Grandma, though she claims she didn't try to kill me at all. The second time I got away by using Lakka."

Again Aeryn stiffened, for two reasons. One, he had apparently fallen into Grayza's clutches twice, and second, he'd used Lakka even then. He'd also used Lakka to forget about her, and Aeryn had no love for the bug or its juices. Her attention was once again drawn to her son, who seemed to have sensed the increased tension this time, and started to make unhappy sounds.

"It's alright, Aer. I've dealt with it. I'm not using Lakka anymore, you know that."

Aeryn nodded, as she attempted to get her son to nurse some more. Seeing that he didn't seem interested in nutrition anymore, she got up and tried to get him to release any gas build-up.

"John, it's not the Lakka that disturbs me, though I admit I'm not happy to be reminded of it. It's the fact that... that... tralk got to you twice and... did things to you." When Aeryn saw John's facial expression change she knew there was more to it. "John?"

"I went back myself for the second time. D'Argo and Sikozu had a plan to escape and they needed someone to... distract Grayza."

Aeryn closed her eyes momentarily and turned back to little D'Argo's crib and placed him back in it.

"Aer, they didn't have much of an option. The only ones not imprisoned were me, Sputnik, Big D and Granny. Rygel was still on Elack and couldn't be much of assistance, and Granny seemed high as a kite."

A quick check showed Aeryn her son's 'diapers' were still clean, so she tucked him in and went back to her husband. She almost smiled when his next words died on his lips and his gaze traveled from her face to her still-exposed breasts. She contemplated the wisdom of stretching her arms above her head. Though her body told her it would appreciate that movement, she was afraid it might lead to other things, away from their conversation.

In the end, her body's needs won out. She'd already accomplished her primary goal, so if it would lead to something more physical, it wouldn't be that bad. Overlay the bitter memories with newer, sweeter ones. Actually, her body informed her it would appreciate that as well. She smiled and walked back to the bed, dropping her shorts near it. "We'll talk about it later."

John nodded and made room for his wife. "Much later," he agreed.