Title: Darkness. (hey, it's how I feel)

by Leontien Bosch

Disclaimer: I don't own them, they don't own me.

(See… they think they do, but Aeryn is wrong here!)

No persons were harmed during the writing of this fic,

only myself. (well, we won't count all those dead

people)

Archiving: Uhm, yep at Natalie's site. The rest can ask

me. Trust me, I check out a lot of pages, I can find

almost anything….

Notes: I couldn't watch the ep again, so any quotes

that were wrong, are my fault. (How can I help it, could

I really make myself to watch that part again?)
 

---

Darkness.



"Gilina, I don't want you to leave…" she could hear

Crichton say from around the corner.

"Are you asking me to stay?" Leave, leave, leave. The

words repeated themselves in her head over and over.

How could she hate such a… tech? She was no treat, not

really. "I can't… I can't, it's no way to live."

"But what if I would want to stay? What if I choose to

stay… with you?" she heard the tech say.

Aeryn looked down, she was still carrying the pulse

rifle. What if she said Crichton was wanted in Command,

and leave Gilina at the door? She could force Gilina

to leave the ship. Suddenly she remembered the

conversation she and Crichton had shared onboard the

Zelbinion.

"In the beginning… I found you interesting."

"Me?" "Yes. But only for a moment."

She had acknowledged it for a moment, but after that

she had denied it. She knew why she hated Gilina. She

had so much in common with Crichton, and she dared to

do what Aeryn hadn't. Gilina had made her move on

Crichton, within a solar day! She was ripped from her

thoughts as she heard Crichton speak to either Zhaan

or D'Argo.

"We can go… Gilina is staying with us. Crais doesn't

know she's alive and it's safer this way." Safer? For

who? Aeryn peeked around the corner… and suddenly felt

like shooting someone. He was there, kissing Gilina…

in a very intimate way. Crichton let Gilina go as he

heard retreating footsteps. As he looked around the

corner, he could just see Aeryn entering another

corridor. He looked back at Gilina, who was waiting

for him. He wondered why it felt like Moya had just

become a battlefield.

"What's wrong?" Gilina asked. "Nothing, let's get you

to your room. I think the room next to me is still

empty, you could live there… for a while. Now, make sure

you leave any valuable things out of the open, Rygel

is known to accidentally wander into any of our rooms.

If you got any questions, you can always come to me. Oh

and tell me when Aeryn is bugging you… I know how she

reacted towards you on the Zelbinion, somehow I have

the feeling that it won't be the last of it." Crichton

explained as they walked towards his room.

Aeryn reached the terrace, but her anger hadn't faded

yet. Slowly, the darkness of space relaxed her and she

sat down. She would just pay no attention to Gilina and

Crichton. Gilina was still a Peacekeeper, so she would

better act like one. She was an officer, and she was

going to make sure Gilina knew it and never forgot it.

She looked at the wreck of the Zelbinion. If only

Crichton wouldn't have joined them on the Zelbinion,

Gilina would've been dead. And so would she and

everybody else on Moya. Aeryn sighed. She didn't know

what to do.



30 Solar days later.

Aeryn looked up as Crichton and Gilina entered the

mess. She watched Crichton as he kissed Gilina and

whispered something in her ear. Then, Gilina took a seat

on the other side of the room and watched Crichton get

their food.

It had only took her ten solar days to move into

Crichton's quarters. The first time Aeryn had given

Gilina a hard time, pulling rank on her, Crichton had

had a serious discussion with her, basically telling her

to leave Gilina alone. Since then, neither of them had

spoken more words than necessary to her. She had to

admit she missed his humor. He was always mocking her,

when she was in a bad mood, he would lighten her up.

When she was about to leave the mess, Zhaan's voice

came through the comm.

"Aeryn, Crichton, we're approaching the commerce planet."

"Yeah, Zhaan, we'll be down in the docking bay in a

few microts." Crichton responded before Aeryn could.

As Aeryn left the mess, she could hear John call after

her. "Aeryn, wait up!"

She turned around as Crichton jogged towards her, as

usually followed by Gilina. "Gilina's coming with us."

"As long as you both stay out of my way…" was her reply.

As they landed on the planet, Aeryn glanced at the

couple in the pod. "We're on the ground. Were you

planning on staying here all day?" Aeryn snapped.

Crichton laughed. "Nope, it's alright. We're moving,

aren't we Gilina?" Gilina simply nodded and followed

Crichton out of the pod.

Aeryn sighed, grabbed her pulse rifle and followed

the two others. As they reached the market, Aeryn

spotted a shop with some parts she needed for her

Prowler and some that Moya could use. While she

bartered with the merchant, John and Gilina moved

ahead of her, looking at other things they might be

able to use. As she caught up with them again, John

was saying something to Gilina. Then he turned

towards Aeryn.

"Rygel wants this food, but I'll have to go inside.

So you and Gilina will wait for me here. Okay?"

Aeryn nodded and watched as Crichton entered the shop.

Inside, he had quickly found what he needed and

waited for the merchant to finish with another

customer. He bartered about the price and finally

got the right prize. Rygel had told him they wouldn't

go any lower. As he was paying the merchants, he

heard shouting from the outside, followed by a few

shots and a cry. He grabbed his bag and hurried

outside.

"Zhaan, we need you assistance when we dock. I think

she's dead, but I can't be sure." Crichton said

through the comm. His voice sounded hollow, as if he

was on automatic, if you could call it that. Zhaan

nodded and left Command, to greet the small group as

Pilot hauled them in. When she entered the docking

bay, Crichton was carrying a lifeless body, wrapped

in a blanket. She couldn't see who it was, but she

noticed the blood stains on the blanket. D'Argo, who

had followed her, took Crichton's burden and carried

it to the nearest empty room, this time followed by

Zhaan.

Crichton turned at the other person left in the

docking bay. "Will she make it?" he asked.

As he waited for Zhaan to tell him the outcome, he

watched the stars as they moved through space. In

his mind, memories of their earliest encounter

replayed over and over.

He looked at the floor as he sensed another presence

on the Terrace. "And?" he softly asked.

"Zhaan couldn't help her anymore. It was too late."

"She's dead?" He felt the tears coming, he let out

a sob and then turned towards Aeryn.

She didn't know what to do, emotions of loss and

mourning she had never really dealt with, and now

her best friend lost the one he loved. She

hugged him, as a friend, silently telling him he

wasn't alone…

The end