Having had a late night, John and Aeryn overslept in the morning. They awoke to the sound of loud growling and gutteral cries.

“What is THAT?” Aeryn cried as she quickly rolled out of bed and started throwing on some clothes that were lying on the floor from the night before.

“Is it time for Luxan Hyper-Rage, again?” Crichton whispered, pulling on a pair of pants and grabbing his pulse gun. He ran to the door and cautiously opened it, looking down the hall in the direction of the noise.

D’Argo was at the end of the hall, arms and legs spread wide, looking and walking like Dr. Frankenstein’s monster, throwing his head back and growling. The sight would have been truly gruesome, had it not been for the children hanging on to him wherever they could and laughing wildly. Four of the children were hanging from his back and arms, the other three were dancing around him, holding up their arms demanding their turn to ride. All of them were squealing.

Chiana rounded the corner, smiling at her babysitting helper, and was the first to notice Crichton standing in Aeryn’s doorway, wearing only his pants and aiming his pulse gun at them. Chiana froze, then saw Crichton break into a huge grin, point his gun toward the ceiling and slide down the side of the door to sit on the floor, laughing.

“John!” she heard Aeryn’s panicked yell. Then Aeryn appeared in the doorway, stepping over Crichton, and pointed her pulse rifle down the hall, ready to stop whoever or whatever had knocked Crichton to the floor.

“Uhh, Aeryn,” Crichton tugged at her pants. “I’m okay. It’s just D’Argo playing with the kids.”

“I see that now, Crichton,” Aeryn replied indignantly.

“I’m grateful you came out here to save me, though,” he teased dryly.

Aeryn made a face at Crichton, then was tackled by three children. “Oof. Crichton, get them off me! Chiana! D’Argo!” Amid their laughter, Chiana, D’Argo and Crichton managed to detach the children from Aeryn. Aeryn sat on the floor next to Crichton.

All of the children were now running wildly around. “Chiana,” Aeryn said. “Don’t you think you should take your animals back to their cages?”

“Why don’t you shoot a few if they are bothering you, Aeryn,” Chiana confronted teasingly.

Aeryn picked up her gun.

“Aeryn!” John warned.

“Oh, Crichton. I was just moving it away from the children’s reach.” She put the gun in D’Argo’s outstretched hand and then handed him Crichton’s gun. D’Argo put them on a high shelf in Aeryn’s room. When D’Argo came out, the little raven-haired girl had found Crichton’s lap. Crichton seemed to be playing some game with his fingers that had the little girl enraptured.

“The eensy weesy spider went up the water spout…,” Crichton sang. The little girl tried to mimic his hand movements. Crichton glanced over at Aeryn and was only slightly surprised to find the little brown-haired boy on her lap, playing with her hair.

“Is this where everyone is?” came Zhaan’s voice from down the hall. She walked down and joined them. “I’ve prepared their morning meal, Chiana. It is waiting in the CenterChamber.”

“Thanks, Zhaan.” Chiana laughed, looking at Aeryn and Crichton on the floor, “I’ll leave these two here while I feed the rest. Then I’ll come back for them. Okay?”

“You can take them ALL now, Chiana,” Aeryn ordered. The little girl on Crichton’s lap made a noise, grabbed his hand tightly and pressed her little body into his chest.

“I think they can understand, Aeryn,” he observed. “We’ll bring these two back, Pip.”

“Okay. Thanks. You might want to get dressed first, though,” Chiana pointed out. “And, Aeryn, you may want to put your own clothes on.” Aeryn looked down at herself. She was wearing John’s black tee-shirt that he had taken off the previous night. Chiana teased, “I, at least, steal the grey ones. He doesn’t wear THEM anymore.”

“Maybe that’s because I can’t find any,” John countered, as Chiana and Zhaan each picked up one of the remaining children and D’Argo grabbed three. “Hey, Zhaan, do you wear my clothes, too?”

“No, John. Although Rygel finds your socks very warming on cold mornings.”

“Great.”

Aeryn rushed into the hangar in a half-jog. She had promised Crichton that she would meet him a quarter-arn ago. They were going to work on his module. As she approached, she could hear that he was already there, working. Walking in, she saw him pulling off the starboard covering. “Sorry I’m late, Crichton…,” her voice trailed off.

“That’s okay, Aeryn, I’m just really getting started.” He looked up at her. “What’s wrong?”

“What are they doing here?” She pointed to the children. Inside Crichton’s module, the little raven-haired girl was playing with another little girl with long blonde-white hair. Two little boys and another little girl were sitting on the floor, quietly playing with Crichton’s tools.

“Huh?” He looked around. “Oh. Chiana went down to the planet to get some supplies. D’Argo and Rygel went with her. You knew that.” Crichton unwrapped the new part they had purchased for FarScape1. He balled-up the silvery crinkle paper it had been stored in.

“Yes, but… Why aren’t they in Pilot’s chamber? Isn’t that why you built those pits? So Pilot and the DRDs could watch the children?”

“He WAS watching them, but they became restless and started crying. He asked for help, so…”

“What about Zhaan?” Aeryn reached down and absentmindedly picked up the little boy who was tugging on her pants.

“She took two of them. She can hardly look after seven children, Aeryn.”

“She took two and you get five?” The boy Aeryn held was playing with a button on her vest. She gently took his little hand in hers to stop him.

“Well, I knew you’d be here to help, Aeryn.” Crichton climbed up and hung over the cockpit of his module. He tossed the silvery crinkle paper at the girls. They giggled and clapped their hands.

“I’m here to help you work on your module, Crichton. Not to watch children that aren’t my responsibility.” She saw Crichton looking at her with a big grin on his face. “Why are you looking at me like that?” she accused. “You’re acting like you already won this argument.”

Crichton jumped down from his module and walked over to Aeryn. The grin never left his face as he leaned in real close and quietly said, “Because I have.” He kissed her on the cheek and tousled the little boy’s hair to make his point.

Aeryn seemed to notice the boy for the first time. “How…?” The little boy mimicked Crichton by kissing her on the other cheek. Aeryn blushed and put the boy down, but not before noticing that he was the one that reminded her of that annoying Human that she loved so much. “As long as they are quiet and stay out of the way…,” she mumbled.

She turned away to get her tools, but not before Crichton saw the beginnings of the smile that she couldn’t suppress.

Crichton was passing Pilot’s chamber and decided to stop for a visit. Chiana was sitting on one of the ramps, feet dangling into one of the sections that housed two children, playing and munching on crackers. On Chiana’s lap sat the little raven-haired girl trying to teach Chiana a finger game, her little fingers making climbing motions.

The little girl spotted Crichton and jumped up running to him with her arms outstretched. Crichton scooped her up and tickled her. Once he had her laughing hysterically, he stopped, swung her up onto his shoulders, and looked down at Chiana, who was grinning up at him.

“Chi, you really are doing a great job here.”

“Thanks, Crichton. Although I have to admit, it’s harder than I thought it would be.” She paused, thinking. “It’s easier than I thought it would be, too.”

Crichton nodded and looked around. “Umm, Pip. I hate to do this again, but…”

“Relax, Crichton. Aeryn is taking that little boy for a walk.”

“Aeryn? Volunteered?”

“Yeah, she takes him a lot. Little Cri…, uh, the little brown-haired boy.”

The last time Aeryn had picked up the boy, Chiana had overheard her call him ‘Little Crichton’. When Aeryn returned him, Chiana looked hard at the little boy and realized why Aeryn was so taken with him. He did indeed resemble Crichton and had an engaging, open personality. Chiana even thought she caught a glimpse of that smile…

“Hunh,” Crichton said. “Well, Zhaan wanted some furniture moved around in her lab and I told D’Argo I’d help…” He tried to take the little girl down from his shoulders, but she playfully had two handfuls of hair she wasn’t about to relinquish without a fight. “Ow, a little help here, Chi.”

“Good morning,” Pilot’s voice came over Crichton’s comm badge somewhere on the floor. “I’m sorry to wake everyone, but we arrived at the colonist’s planet over two arns ago and the families adopting the children are anxiously awaiting approval to come aboard. I’ve had them waiting until your sleep cycle was completed. It will take them half an arn to shuttle here, shall I tell them they may start?”

Crichton leaned over his side of the bed, rummaging through the clothes on the floor, looking for the piece with him comm attached. Aeryn looked over her side and saw it attached to his pants laying there. “Here it is, John,” she said sleepily and handed it to him.

Before he could respond to Pilot’s call, he heard Chiana’s voice, “Go ahead, Pilot. We’ll be ready! I’m on my way down now.”

John got up and looked among the debris for his clothing, dressing as he found it.

Aeryn sat up and looked around her. “John, if you’d put your clothes away at night, instead of throwing them on the floor…”

“Hey, Sunshine,” he countered, “yours are down here, too. And I could put them away if you weren’t tearing them off of me the minute I walked in the door.”

“I do NOT!” she said smiling, as she threw her pillow at him.

He dodged the pillow and tossed her clothes to her. “C’mon, let’s say goodbye to the little ones.”

They had dressed and were walking down the corridor when Crichton hit his comm badge. “Hey, Chi? You still in Pilot’s chamber or have you made it to the docking bay, yet?”

“Getting ready to leave Pilot’s chamber now, Crichton. If you and Aeryn can pick up your two, D’Argo, Zhaan and I can handle the others.”

“You got it. On the way now.”

“’OUR two’?” Aeryn questioned. Crichton just gave her a ‘you know exactly what she’s talking about’ look.

When Aeryn and Crichton reached the docking bay carrying the children, the other children were being held and fussed over by their new families. D’Argo and a couple of the colonist’s men were unloading the provisions that were payment for the transport of the children. Rygel and Zhaan were talking to the leader of the colonist group.

“Ah, there they are,” Chiana announced.

The two families that were to adopt the children Aeryn and Crichton were carrying stepped forward to claim them.

Crichton crouched down and stood the little girl with the raven hair on the floor. She wrapped her thin arms around his neck and hugged him tightly. “Hey, Princess,” he said softly. “These nice folks are going to give you a good home and lots of love. Okay?” He gently took her arms from around his neck and rested his forehead on hers. “You grow up happy, okay? And if you ever need anything, you remember the name John Crichton, and you give me a call. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He kissed her cheek and turned her around to face her new family, giving her a gentle push. She hesitantly walked over to them. They gathered her in their arms and cooed over her. The mother smiled gratefully at Crichton.

John stood up and looked over at Aeryn. She was still holding the little boy and had turned sideways away from the family coming for him. Aeryn’s face was buried in the little boy’s neck and he was holding her tightly. The family had hesitated, not sure what to do.

“Oh, hell,” John said under his breath. He walked over close to Aeryn. “Aeryn?” he whispered, so only she could hear. “C’mon, honey. You have to let him go. These people are his family, now.” Aeryn nodded, but didn’t relinquish her hold. “Give him to me, baby.” Aeryn pulled her head away from the boy and looked at him sadly. The boy kissed Aeryn’s cheek and allowed John to take him away from her. John walked the boy to his new family.

“Thank you,” the father mouthed to John as the mother took the boy in her arms.

John walked back to Aeryn. She was standing with her arms crossed and looking at the floor. He pulled her toward him and wrapped his arms around her. “You have to be strong for the boy, Aeryn.”

Aeryn nodded again and turned around, pressing her back into John’s chest; holding tightly to his arms that were still around her. She smiled at the little brown-haired boy with the impossibly blue eyes and he flashed her the Crichton-grin and waved. Then his family joined the others already aboard the transport.

After the transport left, the rest of Moya’s crew left the hangar, passing by Crichton and Aeryn. Zhaan patted John’s back in silent support. He nodded his thanks back to her. As Chiana passed them, Crichton said, “Good job, Pip.”

Chiana tilted her head at him, “Thanks, Crichton.”

Aeryn allowed herself a little more time to draw strength from John, then reluctantly pulled herself away from him. She took a deep breath. “Let’s go eat, John. We have a lot to do today.”

Aeryn and Crichton left the bay, Aeryn a few steps ahead. At first, neither spoke.

“So,” Aeryn said over her shoulder, breaking the silence. “A boy for me and a girl for you?”

Crichton grinned. “And then a bunch more. For both of us.”

“Well, I’m not sure about that.”

“Yeah, you wait and see,” he teased. “Of course, if those little girls have your big grey eyes, I may just have to spoil them rotten.”

“Yes, well, you’re easy, Crichton,”

“Uh, huh,” he agreed, smiling.

She looked at him and returned his smile. “But the boys better not have that grin…”

“…first thing I’m teaching them…”

end