Aeryn looked out the forward portal as Moya slowly drifted just outside Earth's solar system. After John dropped the 'bombshell' of being close to the solar system of his home planet, he walked out of Command as he told Pilot to 'steer clear' and get some distance between them and Earth's solar system.

Aeryn had, through D'Argo, negated that request as soon as John had left. They all felt John should visit his family, but Aeryn knew it would be very difficult to convince him. She had asked for some time alone to think about it and Command seemed the best location for her.

She let out a sigh, realizing that convincing John meant a lot of patience and wording her arguments exactly right, two things she knew she was not particularly good at. But one thing was certain: there was no sense in trying to convince John if they had no way of getting to Earth undetected. Humans may be primitive, technology-wise, but they did have the means of detecting them if they got any closer to Earth.

Now, after standing here for close to a half-arn, she was starting to become really frustrated. No matter how they attempted to get close enough to Earth to have D'Argo drop them off in Lo'La, the people on Earth would detect them. Leaving in Lo'La from this location was also impossible, as D'Argo had informed her that the ship's invisibility shield was malfunctioning and only operating for short periods of time.

Aeryn was so caught up in finding a way for John to visit his family that she didn't hear D'Argo enter Command, until his voice sounded from right behind her. "Aeryn, as much as I hate to say this, it seems impossible to get John to Earth undetected."

"I'm not giving up, D'Argo. John deserves this chance more than any of us. He will visit his family."

D'Argo nodded his head, both in agreement with John's right to visit his family as well as acknowledging Aeryn's unwillingness to give up. "I know, but we can't remain here for long. John mentioned the probe was one of two deep-space probes Earth has sent, and Pilot has detected the second one. Luckily, the probes are so old they're practically unable to detect us from this distance. However, I suggest we move around Earth's solar system to avoid detection as the probe moves closer."

Aeryn nodded. "That would be best."

They remained silent for a while until D'Argo snorted. "I always thought Earth was in a secluded, safe part of the universe."

Aeryn looked in his direction, one eyebrow raised. "You believe that's not true?"

"Aeryn, their solar system is littered with rocks in differing, complex orbits. I've never seen a solar system as dangerous as this one."

Aeryn turned back to the forward portal, actually looking at the solar system for the first time in the last half-arn. D'Argo was right; there were a lot of rocks hurtling through Earth's solar system. She turned around. "I'll go and have a talk with Pilot. Perhaps there is a way to get John to Earth, after all."

"John, this is your chance to see your family again."

"Yeah, together with many of the high-ups in the government. Just for our safety, of course."

Aeryn put both her arms around him, pulling him close to her. "Only your family would need to know you're back."

"How? Even if D'Argo would drop me... us," he amended when he saw the look on her face. "Even if he would drop us off in Lo'La, he couldn't remain invisible the whole way to Earth without the chance of being detected."

"Yes, but John…"

"No, Aer, humans have the tendency to check out new and exciting things."

"Really? I never noticed."

John smiled at her small joke. "The point is, they see an alien ship in the solar system and suddenly it's invisible. Regardless of the last known trajectory, there's only one logical destination. The only planet with obvious traces of life, proved by the pile of metal in orbit around it."

"But they still wouldn't be able to link it to you."

"Aer, humans may not have anything remotely similar to what you're used to when it comes to scanning devices, but knowing something is heading for Earth is bound to have them measure all kind of things. Lo'La wouldn't be visible to the naked eye, or even directly to radar and stuff, but Lo'La will interact with its surroundings in some way, and people will track it. May take a few days, but it'll happen."

Aeryn nodded and smiled. She was well-prepared for this discussion, having anticipated John's objections to her suggestion to go to Earth. "But if they couldn't detect us in space, they wouldn't be able to track us once we were on Earth, correct?"

"Yes, but we can't get close enough to Earth without being detected."

"John, there's an asteroid on its way for a close fly-by of Earth. We could simply follow it, without the people on Earth knowing it. There are no Earth vessels out in space, at least none in an orbit that would allow them to detect us."

"An asteroid's gonna get close? Huh, I'd've thought they'd take advantage of that and send up a probe or something to find out what it's made of."

Aeryn looked surprised. "They would?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure."

Aeryn looked up. "Pilot, are you sure no Earth vessels are on a path that would bring it close to the asteroid?"

"Yes, none of the Earth vessels are on a course that would bring them close to it."

"That's really odd," John said. He knelt down and addressed the DRD. "1812, can you show me the orbits?"

The little robot obediently projected the solar system and the orbits of all planets and the asteroid in question.

Aeryn pointed. "See, the asteroid will pass by Earth at a little over the distance between Earth and its moon in less than a weeken."

John nodded and started to smile. "Yeah, and they can't see it as it comes from the direction of the sun!"

"Humans can't detect anything from that angle?"

John stood back up and embraced Aeryn. "Nope. That means we can duplicate that trick without having to wait for a weeken!"

Aeryn smiled at his obvious joy. Her crazy human was definitely looking forward to seeing his family again. So was she, actually, but she was also a bit nervous. Would his family like her? Or would they be hostile toward her, perhaps even call the government? She knew John wouldn't let that happen, and D'Argo would be able to get them out again, but it would not do John any good.

"Okay, Pilot. If Moya stays at this relative position to Earth, they'll never detect her."

"But we are not directly in between the sun and Earth."

"Of course we aren't, Sputnik."

"But would that not be safer?"

"Yeah, the people on Earth probably won't look at the sun and notice a big black spot that wasn't there before." John turned to D'Argo, not waiting for a response from Sikozu. "After you drop us of, return back to Moya, alright?"

D'Argo sighed. "John, stop worrying and enjoy your visit with your family."

John smiled. "Right. Stick close, okay? In case you need to get us out in a hurry." He turned around to hug Chiana. "See ya in a couple a days, Pip."

Chiana hugged him back. "Promise to bring me back somethin', okay, Old Man?"

John chuckled as he let go of her. "Something pretty, I promise."

He turned to Aeryn, who stood waiting for him. "You sure you wanna do this, babe?"

He heard D'Argo sigh again. "Don't make me tongue you, John. Get your eema in my ship."

"Aye, aye, Captain." John put his arm around Aeryn. "Let's go meet the family, babe."

John and Aeryn watched as Lo'La lifted up from the ground and become invisible again. Soon the sound of the engine had faded completely and Aeryn turned to John. "So, how far is it to your father's house?"

John turned around and pointed in a direction off to her left and behind her. "Actually not far, provided Dad hasn't moved since I…left. I'd say we'd be inside his house in less than a quarter-arn."

Aeryn nodded and replied, "Fifteen minutes. I hold you to that." She had said it in halting English as a means of practicing the, to her, still odd and difficult language John and his family spoke on a daily basis. They'd decided not to inject John's family with translator microbes, because they'd be running the risk of having some Earth med tech detect them later.

John smiled at her ever-improving English, as well as her use of proper Earth units. "Well, we'd better get moving then. But first…" He grabbed her and pulled her in for a searing kiss. "Welcome to Earth, Officer Sun," he said when they pulled apart.

Aeryn arched an eyebrow. "Is that how humans would greet an alien?"

"Not every alien, just the hot alien chicks." John grabbed his duffel and started moving, knowing Aeryn would follow him. "And not every human, just the ones who're crazy about said hot alien chicks."

"At least you have the crazy part down," Aeryn said smiling, still using English only, even though it required much more effort on her part. She immediately switched to her current concern. "Have you thought about what to do if your father is no longer living in the same house? Or if he's not there right now?"

John shrugged lightly. "We'll cross that bridge when we get to it."

"I take that as a 'no', then."

"See, you're getting the hang of these Earth sayings already," John turned to look in her direction, a smile on his face, but Aeryn's glare quickly removed the smile. "I'm sure you're worried about nothin'. Dad loved that house. If he's not home, we'll just wait until he comes back."

Once he returned to Moya and got out of Lo'La, D'Argo walked directly toward the quarters he shared with Chiana, knowing she'd be there. He found her sitting cross-legged on their bed, humming the tune he'd played to her many times now.

She smiled when she noticed him. "Close the privacy curtain, will ya? I got plans."

D'Argo obediently did as she asked, though he'd have done it even if she hadn't asked. But some part of his consciousness kept wondering if he should ask her again to be his mate. No, not again, as he technically had never asked her. How would she react if he did, as Crichton said, propose to her? As he reached the bed and watched her taking off her clothes, his thought processes came to a halt. She had plans, and he intended to see to it they covered all bases.

"What's that smell?" Aeryn asked as they neared a row of houses.

John sniffed up a lungful of air, a huge grin on his face. "That, my darlin', is what we call a good ol' southern barbeque." He inhaled again. "God, I've missed the smell of properly grilled meat."

They kept on walking towards their destination and Aeryn noticed how John kept trying to determine where the smells were coming from.

After a short while John stopped. "Well, I'll be damned." He turned to Aeryn. "The lovely barbeque smells are actually coming from my Dad's back yard."

They snuck closer to the house, attempting to stay out of sight until they were certain John's father was indeed still living there.

But even Aeryn recognized the voice of Jack Crichton as he shouted, "Okay, who's up for some burgers?"

John didn't waste any time and got up to open the gate. "God, I've been dying for some for years!"

"Chiana, if they were in trouble, they would have commed us by now. I'm sure they're just fine."

"But, D'Argo, this is Crichton we're talking about! You…you know how he always gets himself into trouble."

"Yes, but now he's on his own planet. He knows their customs and laws and he won't be attracting attention to himself."

Aeryn walked up behind John at the sudden quietness and looked around at the shocked faces, mentally translating her response into English. "I see you managed to attract attention to yourself again."

John shrugged. "Always had a flair for big entrances. Besides, I really want a burger." He eyed the burgers on the barbeque and then looked back at his dad. "Of course, I don't want them charcoaled, so if you'd get them of the fire, that'd be great, Dad."

Aeryn recognized John's sister, Olivia, as she half-ran towards him, only to be halted by Jack, who clearly was unsure if he could believe his eyes. Not that she could blame him for that. Her mouth started to twitch, though as she realized what would come next. As she glanced at John, she could tell he realized the same thing.

"What happened on your tenth birthday?"

"You were late…again. You woke me up at four in the morning and took me fishing at Sawyer's Mill."

Jack's smile didn't quite reach his eyes, Aeryn noted. "You caught the biggest damn bass I'd ever seen."

Aeryn had turned to John even before his father had completed the false statement. "I thought it was a trout?"

Jack looked at her and nodded, the smile finally reaching his eyes. "It was a trout." They both turned back to John, who was being hugged fiercely by his younger sister.

"Chiana, we cannot contact them. Who knows who might be able to overhear?"

"Most likely his family. It's not like the humans could understand us anyway."

"But they could trace the communication."

"No, they wouldn't, because humans have no concept of our communication frequencies."

"John told us to remain silent until they contacted us. If they'd gotten in trouble, he would have found a way to let us know."

"I think we should check, D'Argo. Just to be sure."

D'Argo sighed, though he, too, felt it was better to check whether their crewmates were safe. He tapped his comms. "John, Aeryn? Are you two alright?"

Immediately Aeryn's voice came back. "D'Argo, we said not to contact us."

"I know, but Chiana felt it would…"

"…ghr ghag slrig trtyg afrt rrtia."

Jack had more or less closed his mouth after the odd sounds had emanated from the pins on the outfits of his son and the mysterious woman he had brought with him. John hadn't even managed to say where he'd been the last four years or who the woman was. But his mouth dropped open again when his son started to answer the last stream of sounds.

"Well, D, tell Pip that we're just fine. We're at my Dad's house having some burgers."

"Uh, son?" Jack said, not entirely sure what to make of this. He'd been pretty sure this was indeed his son, but now he was starting to have doubts again.

"Slirth irind dre'hr ri'etti es'ty, dre'uty r'yhil?"

John chuckled. "No, Pip, I haven't forgotten my promise to bring you something pretty."

Jack grabbed his son's shoulder, demanding, "John, what the hell is going on?" He noticed John shifted his gaze to the woman before focusing back on him. The woman took over the discussion through the pin, which allowed John to answer him.

"Our friends were a bit worried and decided to check if we were alright…" he turned his head toward the woman and raised his voice, "though we specifically told them not to contact us."

Jack eyed John for a moment. The way John behaved, the way he enjoyed confusing the hell out of everybody, the way he had wandered back into their lives, it was all his son.

Initially, Jack had thought John must have crashed on Earth and had lost his memory, only regaining it recently and returning home. But recent events made him realize that John might not have been on Earth at all. That this might be the first time in four years he'd actually sat foot on Earth soil.

This made Jack look at the mysterious woman who was walking back in their direction. If this was indeed John's first hour or so on the planet, then it was likely this was not a human woman, which would explain why the woman had so much difficulty speaking English.

"Dad, meet Erin Soon, former Peacekeeper and the universe's greatest pilot. Erin, my Dad. And that is…" Jack tuned out John's voice as he introduced Erin to the rest of the family. As he shook her hand, couldn't help noticing that she felt a lot cooler than the average human.

It also gave him a chance to really look in her eyes. Though she had an open look, she was clearly guarded. And military, given the way she held herself. He could tell she was sizing him up as well, trying to determine what he was really about.

Jack turned back to John after Erin had been introduced to the entire family, waiting for John to continue. When he didn't, Jack prompted, "Now would be a good time to tell us what species she is."

Both John and Erin looked around, clearly checking the perimeter for something. Only then did it occur to him why. "Both our neighbours are gone for the weekend. No one's here to overhear this."

They looked at each other first and then Erin turned to him. "I'm Sebacean."

Jack admired the fact she had no qualms with answering the question herself, even though she had no reason to trust him. He nodded and though he had more questions he wanted to ask her, he decided to focus on the more personal things he had to ask his son. "If you tell me where you've been, I'll drop some steaks on the grill." He smiled. "There might even be a beer in it for you."

Erin snorted. "You might as well give him the beer now and lots of it. He makes more sense when he's drunk."

Jack let out a laugh. "You're probably right. I'll get some." He turned to Erin. "You want some?"

She nodded. "Yes, I would like to try some."

"Uhm…Erin, are you sure that's wise? I mean, considering…"

"I'm sure it's alright, John. I won't drink much."

"Yeah, but even so… Whatever its effects…"

Jack watched the conversation with increased interest. It hadn't occurred to him before that these two might be an item. And John was clearly worried about what alcohol might do to her. He watched as Erin grabbed John's hand.

"John, it'll be fine." When John's face clearly showed his disbelief, she said something in her own language. Whatever she had said, it was enough for John to be okay with her trying some beer.

Jack clapped his hands together. "Great. Two beers coming up." He turned around and headed on over to the fridge.

"Captain D'Argo, Moya has detected some strange energy fluctuations."

D'Argo sighed. There were moments when he wished he hadn't been chosen as captain. Having to deal with minutiae like this was one of them. Worse, Pilot also had a tendency to interrupt when he was…following one of Chiana's plans. "Alright, Pilot, have some DRDs repair the problem."

"No, Captain, you misunderstand. The fluctuations are not in Moya's systems. They are coming from Earth."

D'Argo shot up from the bed, jostling Chiana rudely awake in the process. "Can you pinpoint the location?"

"Whah? Wha' l'cation?"

D'Argo smiled. As alive as this girl usually was, it always took quite some time for her to wake up fully. He was sure his answer would expedite the process. "Strange energy fluctuations coming from Earth."

Chiana shot up, much like he had earlier. "What?! Shou… Should we tell Crichton?"

D'Argo shook his head. "No, we should first determine what this is. Perhaps it's nothing unusual." They both felt Moya suddenly move. "Pilot, what is happening?"

"Moya has determined that someone was tracking your earlier trajectory when you returned from Earth. The signal was some kind of scanning sensor and though it was moving slowly due to the, for Earth, difficult to trace path, it was getting close to our previous location."

"Where did you take us?"

"A little further from Earth. If they're able to track Moya as well, we can make it seem as if we're leaving the solar system. We could return to the other side of the solar system by travelling around it."

D'Argo nodded his head in approval of Pilot's handling of the situation. "Well done, Pilot. Keep me informed."

"Certainly."

"Are-are you sure we shou-shouldn't warn Crichton?"

"They might trace the signal, which would lead them right to him. We'll contact him later when the sensor on Earth has stopped tracking or when we arrive at the other side of the solar system."

"But if we need to travel around the solar system, Crichton and Aeryn wouldn't be able to contact us for nearly two solar days!"

D'Argo sighed. There were moments when he wished he hadn't been chosen as captain. Having to decide to leave his friends unprotected was one of them. "We may have no other choice."

Olivia smiled. Johnny was clearly happier than she'd ever seen him. And all because of the woman he'd brought with him. Olivia watched as the two love-birds kept following each other with their eyes and she noted that the woman preferred the shadows. At first she thought it was because of her military training, that she was just trying to stay out of the open. But gradually it became clear that was not the reason. She was uncomfortable because of the temperature. Now it made sense why Erin's hand had felt so cool; she was cold-blooded, to some degree.

Olivia moved her focus back on her brother. He had changed, that much was obvious. For all the carefree manners he put on, Olivia could tell it was not entirely the way he was, not anymore. He was more…guarded, somehow. He was telling many stories, but Olivia could tell he was not telling everything. Some of the glances he threw in Erin's direction seemed to be to make sure she knew that a certain aspect was not something he wished for his family to know.

Because Olivia was focusing on John and John kept looking at Erin regularly, she knew Erin had moved close to her, even though she hadn't heard her approach at all. "It's not too hot for you, is it, Erin?"

"Only when I stay in the sun. It's warmer than I'm comfortable with."

Olivia nodded, but kept looking at John, already knowing Erin would say what she wanted to say when she was ready.

"How did you know I was here?"

Olivia was sure that was not the question Erin wanted to ask. "Johnny keeps looking at you all the time. When his eyes turned to a point just beside me, I knew it had to be because you were there." Again Olivia remained silent until her brother's girlfriend would ask the question or questions she really wanted to ask.

"Do you think John has changed?"

There we go. Clearly rehearsed, too, as there were no delays in the way it came out. "Yeah, I think he has." She turned to the woman standing next to her, who seemed unhappy about that. "Everyone changes in four years, and I know it's still the Johnny I grew up with. The same one who teased me mercilessly, protected me and covered for me."

Olivia hadn't missed the small smile and nod when she said that everyone changes in four years. It seemed like she'd deduced correctly that Erin had had to change, too, in those four years. Which only made her wonder what they'd actually done and seen but wouldn't tell.

As Erin remained silent, Olivia decided to nudge her a bit. "So, how'd you two meet?"

"We were both captured…"

Olivia realized she must have reacted unfavourably, otherwise Erin wouldn't have stopped. "No, go on, just remember some things might shock me from time to time. You were captured, and?"

Erin shrugged. "That's how we met. I thought he was a Peacekeeper out of uniform…"

"…and she proceeded to beat the crap out of me."

Olivia turned around to her brother, a grin on her face. "I'd've enjoyed witnessing that."

"I could do it again, if you like."

Olivia started to laugh, both at the matter-of-fact declaration and Johnny's mock-hurt expression. She really liked her brother's future wife.

As D'Argo and Chiana arrived at Command, they could tell Moya had once again moved, this time completely out of Earth's solar system.

Rygel turned around when he noticed their arrival. "As you can see, Moya and Pilot have decided to leave that frellnik and…"

"Shut up, toad-face," Chiana interrupted, still anxious about their friends.

"Pilot, was the Earth sensor still tracking us to our new location?"

"Yes, Moya is now proceeding to the other side of the solar system. We can follow a trajectory that would put an asteroid between us and Earth, but we cannot contact the Commander or Officer Sun for at least three solar days."

"Three?" Chiana asked. "I thought w-we could get there in two?"

"Normally, yes. But the asteroid is not going fast enough and we have to remain behind it."

"I don't like this, D'Argo. They-they could be in trouble!"

D'Argo sighed. "I know, but we have no other option. Pilot, have the others returned yet?"

"Yes, Captain. Jool and Hirsch arrived right after our initial change of position. Scorpius and Sikozu returned a few moments ago, but they were on the outer planet."

D'Argo nodded. "Alright, Pilot. Notify us when we have arrived on the opposite side."

Aeryn enjoyed her time on Earth, more than she thought she would. No one had shown any indication of disapproving of her relationship with John, though John's older sister had not talked to her much. It bothered her at first, but then she realized Susan didn't talk to John much, either.

Olivia had privately explained that while Olivia and John had always been close, Susan never had been. When their mother had been ill and John had refused to see her, Susan took that hard and it had put an even greater distance between them, and all the more so when their mother had died.

At the moment, only John's father and Olivia were still here. Susan, her husband and their son had already left. Aeryn felt relieved, because speaking English the whole time was taxing and often she couldn't find the right words during a conversation.

She looked at John, smiling when she saw how relaxed he was. Or rather how relaxed he appeared. She knew he wasn't completely letting down his guard and he kept certain things from his family. Aeryn couldn't fault him for that. Some of the things this man had endured were even in her world quite horrific.

She looked back up at the sky, where the sun slowly disappearing from view. The temperature was dropping to more comfortable levels, and she was less restricted in her movements. She tapped the comms as she investigated parts of the guarden she hadn't had the chance to see before. "Pilot, D'Argo, everything seems alright here. How are things aboard Moya?" She paused, looking at the odd object laying in the grass. "Pilot? D'Argo?"

"What's up, babe?"

Aeryn felt John's arms snake around her from behind and she involuntarily smiled and leaned back into his embrace. "No one's responding to the comms." One of his arms moved away, as he tapped his own comms.

"D, Pilot? Anyone? Pick up the damn phone!"

Aeryn turned around. "John, what does this mean?"

"Dunno. I'm sure everything's alright, though. Probably just the comms malfunctioning or something."

Aeryn could see in his eyes he wasn't convinced at all.

"Something wrong, Son?"

"Nah, probably not. Just havin' trouble with the phone system."

"I still believe we should have warned Crichton and Aeryn," Sikozu stated. "They're bound to attempt to contact us soon and they won't know what is going on and why we aren't replying."

D'Argo sighed. "Comming them would only give the humans another trail to follow, this time straight to Crichton and Aeryn."

"Yeah," Chiana piped up. "Be-besides, when we commed them earlier, they said everything was fine and… what?" She finished at the shocked looks.

"If you commed them earlier, doesn't it stand to reason the humans already have a trail to follow?"

Chiana turned to D'Argo. "Frell! We-we gotta go back, D'Argo! They-they could be in trouble!"

"Captain D'Argo, Moya is detecting another vessel!"

"Where, Pilot?"

The entire crew watched as a map was projected, along with their position and that of the alien ship.

"It doesn't seem to have detected us," Pilot informed them. "It's maintaining its current position."

"Let's make sure they won't detect us," Rygel offered. "Whoever they are, it's unlikely they'd be of any help to us."

D'Argo nodded. "Pilot, maintain current distance from the alien ship and keep an eye on it."

"Yes, Captain. This will delay our return to the Commander and Officer Sun. We can't go back where we came from, nor can we move to our destination. In either case, we would come considerably closer to the alien vessel and risk detection."

"Pilot, if that is so, why weren't we detected before?" Scorpius asked.

"The vessel just appeared, much like when a Leviathan exits Starburst."

"And you are sure it's not a Leviathan?"

"Yes. And the sensors the Commander installed in Moya's systems do not detect a wormhole in the area the vessel appeared in." Pilot paused. "Moya is not quite sure how this vessel appeared here. It doesn't seem to use any kind of propulsion we know of."

"Who cares how-how they got here! We have to-to go back for Crichton and Aeryn!"

D'Argo gently grabbed her shoulder. "We have to wait, Chiana. John is very resourceful. I'm sure they'll be fine."

"Aer, we're on Earth now. There's no need for anyone to take watch."

Aeryn arched an eyebrow and switched to Sebacean. "Haven't you learned anything in these past cycles? It's always necessary to take watch."

Jack cleared his throat. "Aeryn, I can set the alarm. If anyone tries to enter, it will go off and wake all of us up."

"See, no need to take watch, we can all sleep soundly," John stated.

Aeryn still looked dubious but eventually relented and replied in English. "Fine, but if we get captured, you'll be the first to die."

Olivia yawned. "Well, now that that's settled, how about we all get some shut-eye?" When they all agreed, Olivia hugged her brother, whispering, "You better be here when I wake up, Johnny."

He hugged her closer. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere for a while."

They let go and Olivia hugged Aeryn and then her father. "'Night, guys."

"'Night," Jack said. He turned to John and Aeryn. "You two gonna be okay with the sleeping arrangements?"

John and Aeryn both nodded. "Sure, Dad. Aer and I'll be fine."

Jack nodded. "'Kay, see you in the morning, then."

"'Night, Dad." John turned to Aeryn as he guided her to the sleeping couch. "Well, Officer Sun, how was your first day on the third rock from the sun?"

Aeryn smiled. "Better than the one on the fake Earth."

John snorted. "No kiddin'." He paused. "I'm glad you came, Aer."

She smiled again. "I'm glad I came, too."

They both got under the covers and manoeuvred into their familiar position. "I love you, Aeryn."

"I love you, too."

"'Night, Aer."

"Goodnight, John."