Farscape Fic: Sleepwalker
Title: Sleepwalker
Rating: G
Setting: Peacekeeper Wars Part II
Word count: 675
Disclaimer: Henson and Co …..I just “borrow” them from time to time. Sadly, they are not like Blockbuster where if you decide you want to keep them, they just charge the full amount to your account.
Lyrics from Nightwish.
Beta by lyricalviolet.
50lyricsfanfic entry #3.
~*~
A place between sleep and awake;
End of innocence,
Unending masquerade
~*~
He lingered, gently rubbing circles on her back, the thin fabric of her shirt hitched up, moved away from the motion of his hands and her growing belly. He left the bed after she fell asleep, paced the room in familiar patterns, unconsciously pausing every time he passed her face.
It was rare the number of times he had watched her sleep. She had so often taken the evening shift on command; he wouldn’t hear her footsteps in the corridor until a quarter into the night cycle. He’d gotten used to listening for that sound-it had become a trigger for his mind to settle enough for him to catch a few arns of rest. On his way to center chamber for breakfast he would pass by the matience bay she used as a training room, and she’d be there. Regular as clockwork. Not once in four cycles did he catch her sleeping in.
She sighed, and shifted on the bed, the light coverlet moved with her, trailing over her hips and legs.
He remembered sitting on a table in Zhaan’s makeshift medbay, waiting, waiting for what seemed like hours-arns-for her to wake. He hadn’t waited alone; Zhaan, D’Argo, and even little Chi had drifted in and out, pausing to watch the slow rise and fall of her chest, heavily bandaged under another golden blanket. D’Argo had laid a heavy hand on his shoulder, pressing comfort as best he could. Dark streaks of her blood stained his sleeve.
He had waited, prayed to a god he’d abandoned years earlier, when doctors and nurses told his family there was nothing else they could do. He’d prayed, and waited, and she’d woken, weary and weak, and alive. In hindsight, he’d never thought to ask if she knew then that she was dying, that her paraphoral nerve was failing. He’d smiled uncertainly and tucked the blanket closer.
Her ebony hair cascaded across her pillow, falling in soft waves along her back. He wondered what color their child’s hair would be.
They had taken turns flying the transport pod to and from various commerce planets, but he had been too busy to observe her sleeping. Once she had dozed off in his arms for a moment while they ignored the world around them, hidden in Pilot’s den, surrounded by Moya’s living warmth. Her head pillowed on his shoulder, her breath brushing across his cheek like chaste kisses, tough PK soldier body relaxed against his-it was then that he knew he loved her, cuddled together in the great pulsating heart of the ship. He’d known, and said nothing.
He knelt and rested his hand on her rounded abdomen, thumb stroking against stretch marks that hadn’t been there six arns ago, and across identical circular scars that refused to fade.
She had slept too much then, and they had all worried. Two days for the drugs to leave her system, and then the nightmares started. He scarcely left her quarters, scared she’d wakeup in panic, afraid that she couldn’t wakeup, trapped in a world of what was and what might have been. A gray girl with Chiana’s dark eyes and Aeryn’s blinding smile, dead an arn earlier then she should have been. A spinning wormhole and an infant’s cries. A nurse’s murmured voice, a needles sharp bite.
He moved to the table, idly fiddling with a game piece, watching her. She shifted again, scratching where his hand had been, forehead creasing as the baby moved with her. He hadn’t had to argue with her to get her to rest. She knew that he’d seen her stumble as they exited the Luxan ship, the glossy look in her eyes. The baby was in her now, and her body was forced to adjust rapidly to the semi developed body.
All of a sudden it was real. It was wondrous and terrifying. And he had only one way to protect it, them, his tiny, precious family.
Quiet and unnoticed by John, Harvey was laughing.
~fin
Rating: G
Setting: Peacekeeper Wars Part II
Word count: 675
Disclaimer: Henson and Co …..I just “borrow” them from time to time. Sadly, they are not like Blockbuster where if you decide you want to keep them, they just charge the full amount to your account.
Lyrics from Nightwish.
Beta by lyricalviolet.
50lyricsfanfic entry #3.
~*~
A place between sleep and awake;
End of innocence,
Unending masquerade
~*~
He lingered, gently rubbing circles on her back, the thin fabric of her shirt hitched up, moved away from the motion of his hands and her growing belly. He left the bed after she fell asleep, paced the room in familiar patterns, unconsciously pausing every time he passed her face.
It was rare the number of times he had watched her sleep. She had so often taken the evening shift on command; he wouldn’t hear her footsteps in the corridor until a quarter into the night cycle. He’d gotten used to listening for that sound-it had become a trigger for his mind to settle enough for him to catch a few arns of rest. On his way to center chamber for breakfast he would pass by the matience bay she used as a training room, and she’d be there. Regular as clockwork. Not once in four cycles did he catch her sleeping in.
She sighed, and shifted on the bed, the light coverlet moved with her, trailing over her hips and legs.
He remembered sitting on a table in Zhaan’s makeshift medbay, waiting, waiting for what seemed like hours-arns-for her to wake. He hadn’t waited alone; Zhaan, D’Argo, and even little Chi had drifted in and out, pausing to watch the slow rise and fall of her chest, heavily bandaged under another golden blanket. D’Argo had laid a heavy hand on his shoulder, pressing comfort as best he could. Dark streaks of her blood stained his sleeve.
He had waited, prayed to a god he’d abandoned years earlier, when doctors and nurses told his family there was nothing else they could do. He’d prayed, and waited, and she’d woken, weary and weak, and alive. In hindsight, he’d never thought to ask if she knew then that she was dying, that her paraphoral nerve was failing. He’d smiled uncertainly and tucked the blanket closer.
Her ebony hair cascaded across her pillow, falling in soft waves along her back. He wondered what color their child’s hair would be.
They had taken turns flying the transport pod to and from various commerce planets, but he had been too busy to observe her sleeping. Once she had dozed off in his arms for a moment while they ignored the world around them, hidden in Pilot’s den, surrounded by Moya’s living warmth. Her head pillowed on his shoulder, her breath brushing across his cheek like chaste kisses, tough PK soldier body relaxed against his-it was then that he knew he loved her, cuddled together in the great pulsating heart of the ship. He’d known, and said nothing.
He knelt and rested his hand on her rounded abdomen, thumb stroking against stretch marks that hadn’t been there six arns ago, and across identical circular scars that refused to fade.
She had slept too much then, and they had all worried. Two days for the drugs to leave her system, and then the nightmares started. He scarcely left her quarters, scared she’d wakeup in panic, afraid that she couldn’t wakeup, trapped in a world of what was and what might have been. A gray girl with Chiana’s dark eyes and Aeryn’s blinding smile, dead an arn earlier then she should have been. A spinning wormhole and an infant’s cries. A nurse’s murmured voice, a needles sharp bite.
He moved to the table, idly fiddling with a game piece, watching her. She shifted again, scratching where his hand had been, forehead creasing as the baby moved with her. He hadn’t had to argue with her to get her to rest. She knew that he’d seen her stumble as they exited the Luxan ship, the glossy look in her eyes. The baby was in her now, and her body was forced to adjust rapidly to the semi developed body.
All of a sudden it was real. It was wondrous and terrifying. And he had only one way to protect it, them, his tiny, precious family.
Quiet and unnoticed by John, Harvey was laughing.
~fin