Chiana Fanfic Site

Title: The Engagement
Author: Stowaway
Summary: Take a guess : )
Disclaimer: I have no intention of doing anything illegal with this story. It was written strictly for fun.

"Crichton, how long is this going to take." D'argo asked from the communicator on board Moya.
"Well, if we find any supplies, not long." John's voice crackled back over the communicator.
"John, we can't stay here to long, the peacekeepers might find us." Zhaan moved to the communicator.
"What the yutz is he worried about, we're up here and he's down there." Rygel snuffed.
"Shut-up Rygel." Chianna said looking his way.
"I miss you guys already." John said a hint of laughter in his voice.
"Crichton, be quick about it." D'argo said. "Moya out."
"What's going on?" Aeryn asked as she approached from the other side of the transport pod.
"They miss us." He grinned.
Aeryn raised an eyebrow. "More like they miss supplies." She smiled.
"This place is deserted." John said looking over the ruff terrain of trees and well actually trees.
"We might be able to find a few things." Aeryn offered standing next to him.
He slipped a hand around her waist. "I can think of a couple of things I need." He smiled looking at her.
"Supplies first John." She removed his arm. "Then will see." She gave him a wide grin as she walked a head.
"Like there's time for that up there." He called after her, referring to their lack of privacy on board Moya.
Aeryn walked along the very narrow path that was covered by trees and bushes. As far as she could see all the planet might be good for is water, these trees must get it from somewhere. Her caught something in the ground, along the path. She bent down to inspect it. Her hand ran over a strange bump in the ground.
"What's up?" John said kneeling down beside her.
"This." She showed John the bump in the ground.
"So, you haven't lived till you've seen a New York pot hole." He looked at her sideways.
"This is no." She paused for a moment. "Pot hole."
"Ok, so what is it?" He asked.
"It's a nest." She said not taking her eyes from it.
"A nest for what?" John squinted and looked at the bump in the ground, he really didn't want to know what was growing in there, but what the hell he was here.
"A sliver." She said clicking on her communicator.
"A what!?" John asked eyes wide.
"D'argo, we've encountered a sliver. We'll stay down here until it's terminated." She said into the communicator.
"Understood, we'll remain here, as long as we don't see any peacekeepers. Of course Moya has the coordinates, if we have to return. Moya out." The communicator went silent.
"Aeryn." John walked over to her to stand right in front of her. "Why are we staying?" He asked eyebrows up. "I think it would be wise to get our butts out of here."
"Crichton a sliver picks up your sent the minute you make contact with their territory."
"And this matters, why?" He said still confused.
"It will hunt you down until you're dead." She looked at the nest. "It has the ability to go anywhere, at anytime. So unless you care to be killed, we have to kill it first."
"Just for kicks, how exactly does it kill?" He asked cautiously.
"It sucks you dry, until you're nothing more then dust and bone fragments." She said simply.
"Yea, we have them back on earth, their called muggers." John said looking at the nest now, imaging what could come out of there and grimacing. "So what do we do?"
"We wait."
"For?"
"It to find us." She said checking her pulse rifle.
"Isn't better for us to find it first." John suggested, taking a lead from her and checking his gun.
"We won't be able to track it."
"How ever it will be able to track us." John finished.
"So any ideas to kill time?" She smiled.
"Lets not use the word kill." He grinned, with eyes looking around.
"I have a suggestion." She said as she put her arms around his neck.
"Now you think it's a good time?" He asked surprise written all his face.
"It could be hours before it finds us and it will lose the scent once we're in the transport pod." She grinned.
"Hence we will see it before it comes." He smiled encircling her with his arms. He lowered his head to kiss her and she accepted the kiss. He pulled back. "Aeryn, I have something I want to ask you."
"Now?" She rolled her eyes.
"Any other way for us would be boring." He joked. "Aeryn, I think, oh the hell with it. Will you marry me?" He said straight out.
"No." She said a sudden wave of fear coming over her.
"What?" John said his breath caught in his throat, but no sooner did he feel that, when he saw the ground behind her moving.
Aeryn heard the sound and turned. "That's it, Run!" She said pulling a still dazed Crichton.
"That's one big freakin leech." Were his words as they took off, from the rumbling ground that was chasing them.
John and Aeryn made it back to the transport pod, just as the sliver appeared. John looked out the view window to see the giant creature snake out of the ground. Glowing yellow eyes looked back, followed by a long gray slimy body. "That is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen." John turned to Aeryn. "And what the hell do you mean no?" He grabbed her arm, pulling her in front of him.
She pulled her arm back. "Crichton, this is not the time."
"I just want to know why, before I die." He said motioning over his shoulder to the beast outside.
"If we do this right, we won't die." She said between clenched teeth.
"What we have to do?" He asked waiting for instruction.
"The lower part of his center, hit with the pulse rife." She supplied.
"Aeryn, do you have any idea, how small a target that is. Did you see that thing?" He asked shaking his head.
"Well we could just let it kill us." She said shrugging her shoulders.
"You're not going to get off that easy." He winked.
"Get off what?" She looked confused.
"The question I asked, remember. You said no!" He added the last word sarcastically.
"Crichton, this is no time." She said frustrated.
"Oh I forgot you decide, the time thing." He said taking the pulse rifle and heading for the transport door.
She caught his arm, "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to kill it." He said. "Unless of course you would rather it kill us." He repeated her own words.
"Give me the rifle." She said putting her hand for it.
"No, I'll do it." He tried to go through the door and once again she stopped him.
"Give me that, and stop the alpha male act." Aeryn insisted grabbing for the gun.
"Fine, you want to go, here." He handed the rifle.
"Fine." She took it and exited the transport.
"Alpha male act." He mimicked her voice to himself as he walked over to watch, from the view window.
Aeryn moved slowly from one side of the transport, heading for the creature. She could here the snake like sounds it made as she got closer. She peered her head around the front of the transport, she could see the target she was aiming for.
She stepped quickly into it's path and brought her pulse rifle to aim, as she did it jammed. "Frell." She uttered and began trying to fix the gun.
John watching from the view screen shouted. "Aeryn get the hell out of there." He could see the creature as it took notice of Aeryn. It was heading right for and she was still playing with the gun. "Aeryn!" He shouted flying for the transport exit.
"Frell." Aeryn said once again as she played with the trigger of the gun.
"Aeryn!" John shouted as he grabbed her by the waist and flung them both to the ground just as the sliver came crashing down on the spot where Aeryn had been standing.
"Crichton, what the hess are you doing." She exclaimed.
"Saving your pretty butt." He said standing up. He pulled her towards the transport pod as the ground rumbled beneath them. "Move!" He shouted as the sliver reared it's ugly head again.
They made it back inside the transport pod unharmed.
"You don't want to marry me fine, you want to kill yourself, that's something else." He turned to look at her.
"Funny." She smirked.
"Actually no I didn't find it funny at all." He said turning to look back out the view window.
"John, I " She stopped as he looked at her.
"What?" He asked.
"I've got an idea." She said as though another thought suddenly occurred to her.
"Oh, for a second there I thought I was going to get a straight answer." He said shaking his head. "What's you're plan?"
"Bait." She stated.
"I don't see any worms, except for the one outside." He replied taking a seat in front of the control panel.
"Why would we need worms?" Once again he had confused her, in more ways then one.
"Forget it, what's the whole plan."
"We need to distract, so one of us can kill it."
"Good idea." He smiled. "Who's the bait?"
"You. I'm a better shot." She grinned.
"Of course." He grinned getting up.
"Ok, ready." She said checking the gun to make sure she had fixed it.
"Aeryn, before we go." He kissed her quickly and softly. "I love you." Then he left through the door.
"I love you to John." She said as he walked out to play bait.
John walked into the center of the field a few yards from the pod. He looked four different ways and saw nothing. He flipped on his communicator to speak to Aeryn, who remained inside the pod, so the sliver would only pick up his scent. "You there."
Aeryn watched him from the view window. "Yes, but I don't see him." She kept her eyes on him.
"Well it's not like he's just going to up and say hello." John took another look around, before cuffing his hands around his mouth and shouting. "Hey, slimy, where did you go." He began to kick up some of the dirt with his boot. "Come on slimy, I've got other things to do." He kicked some more dirt. "And so far I've had one hell of a day, it's not every day a guy gets his proposal turned down." He looked over the transport pod.
"Perhaps he'll say yes." Aeryn offered sarcastically.
"I don't know, can snakes wear white." John smirked, hopping she got a good look.
"Peacekeepers, don't wear white when they are joined." Aeryn responded.
"So we'll have a unique ceremony, been done before." John offered.
"John we're escaped prisoners on the run, there are no guarantees." She closed her for a moment, how would she tell him, there was nothing she would like more, but there wear to many obstacles.
"Aeryn, life doesn't come with guarantees, if it did I'd still be on earth." He said softly into the communicator.
"What about children, we don't know what could happen." She through yet another obstacle his way.
"I'd like a couple, by the way, you carry it right?" He joked.
"Of course." Then she realized his joke. "You've thought about children?"
"With you yes." Was his reply.
"So have I." She said honestly.
"Aeryn, the truth is, there is nobody else for either of us, nobody else would put up with us." He grinned.
"Yes." She said a sudden relief flooding over her, he was right, there would never be a guarantee, she had learned that the day she left the peacekeepers.
"Could you say that again." He said a heart beat away from heading right back to the pod.
Aeryn laughed putting her head down for a moment and when she looked back up, she saw the sliver right behind him. "John!" She shouted and ran for the pod door, pulse rifle in hand.
She saw the creature in it's fall height, without second thought she aimed the rifle and the blast flew out catching the creature right on target, it reared and cried out in agony, before collapsing to the ground.
When it was over Aeryn didn't see John. "John." She said quietly as she moved to the spot where he had been standing. There was no sign of him. "Crichton, if you don't show now, I'll take back my answer!" She said out of fear.
"You can't do that." He said from behind her. "Once you make a promise you have to keep it." He smiled.
"Where were you?" She said angrily.
"Hiding, what you think I can't hear behind me." He smiled.
"Crichton run!" She said sharply.
He looked at her for a moment and wondered why, until he saw her aiming the pulse rifle. He dove to the left as she fired at the creature who moved slowly towards him. The creature collapsed.
Aeryn walked over to him and looked down. "We should have Zhaan check you're hearing." She held her hand out.
He took it and pulled her down on top of him, grasping a hand in her long black hair, he asked. "You did say yes."
"Yes." She smiled as she brought her lips to meet his.
"Crichton what's going on?" D'argo's voice crackled over the communicator.
"We're getting a place of our own." John said, right before he answered D'argo. "We're on our way back up."
An arn later back on Moya, John stood in his quarters as Aeryn walked in. "Tell me how do these proposals work on earth?" She walked slowly towards him.
"Well I would get down on one knee." And he did. "Then I would ask you to marry me." He smiled taking her left hand. "This is were you say yes."
"Yes." She smiled.
"Then I put a ring on your finger." He slipped a shiny round object from his pocket and placed on her finger.
"John, this is your father's ring, I thought you lost with D'argo." She looked at it.
"Actually, I found it a day later, it was attached to your prowler." He smiled getting up. "I guess I should have taken it as a sign." He grinned.
She placed her arms around his neck and brought his head down to meet hers.
"Prepare for starburst, we have a prowler heading our way." Zhaan's voice echoed over their communicators.
"You've got to be kidding." John mumbled into Aeryn's hair. "Wait a minute don't move."
Aeryn looked at him. "John Moya's going to starburst."
"I know." Moya starburst through backwards straight onto the bunk. "Thank you Moya." He shouted and pulled Aeryn into his arms and the rest of his life, here or where ever.
The End.
Go on to The Wedding Copyright2000: Moya's stowaway. JMC.