Part two

Aeryn awoke the next morning feeling safe and relaxed. It took her a minute to recognize that that wasn't normal. When she finally opened her eyes, she realized that she had her arms wrapped tightly around John's midsection and his arms were wrapped around her. Their legs were tangled together from sleeping in close proximity and Aeryn was pressed tightly against John's sleeping form. She had the strongest urge just to snuggle closer to John and fall right back to sleep, but she resisted and eventually made herself sit up. Her movements had awoken John who favored her with a sleepy grin.

"Hi," he said, smiling broader yet.

Aeryn just smiled back slightly, but said nothing. She looked out of the cave and noticed it was still raining. She sighed.

"Well, it looks like this storm's still hanging around," John said. "I guess we better get some breakfast."

Aeryn still had the food that she had collected and they made a light breakfast from that. Her mind was still on last night and the state in which she woke up this morning. She didn't particularly feel like talking, but she wasn't so lucky that Crichton was going to be quiet anytime soon.

"So," he began. "Did you sleep well?"

"Not really," she said, remembering the deluge of nightmares.

"Oh. Well, that sucks."

She just smiled and stayed quiet.

"Well," he tried again. "What do you want to do today?"

"Wait for the rain to stop, get the food, get the frell off this rock," she stated simply and immediately.

"Well be that as it may, that doesn't exactly help us in the here and now."

The truth be told, Aeryn didn't really relish the idea of spending the day alone with John Crichton, let alone another microt. There was no telling what sort of trouble they could get into.

"Hey, why don't we explore those other caves?" he suggested brightly. "We could just look around. It would, at least, pass the time."

"I don't know. I'm reluctant to go off wandering. D'Argo might come up here and then he wouldn't be able to find us."

"Oh, he's not going anywhere in that," John said gesturing to the downpour just outside the cave. "And besides, where's your sense of adventure?"

Aeryn sighed heavily. Well, it was better than sitting alone with Crichton in the cave. That was far too dangerous in her opinion. "Oh alright, as long as it will pass the time."

*****

John was ecstatic. He got to explore these caves he had been meaning to and he got to spend the day with Aeryn. He was enjoying her company more and more of late, even if she tended to shut him out most of the time. He picked himself up off of the ground and brushed the dirt off himself. He grabbed their packs with the scanners and pulse rifle in them.

"So," he said. "Which one do you want to try first?"

Of the three cave entrances, Aeryn chose the second one, oddly enough. He had expected her to choose the first or third, being the methodical Peacekeeper she was. Her choice seemed somewhat random to him. He shrugged his curiosity off as they proceeded to go through a maze of smooth, reddish-brown tunnels until reaching a dead end. Crichton found himself glad that he had thought to bring a flashlight before leaving Moya. After going back and also making their way through the first tunnel, Aeryn was ready to quit.

"John, this is a waste of time and we're not getting anywhere. Both of those two were dead ends. Where do you expect them to go?"

"I dunno. Hey, look, it's more fun than sitting around waiting for it to stop raining, right?"

Aeryn let out a frustrated growl, but let John lead her into the third cave. This one was slightly different than the others. The rock was more grayish and there were large pieces of crystal jutting out at odd intervals. John crouched next to one and shined his light close to examine it.

"Hey, Aeryn, do you know what these are?" he asked inquisitively.

"It looks like qatley crystal," she commented. She pulled out a small piece and examined it, turning it over in her hands.

"In some places, this is very rare and expensive," she said. "We should take some back to Moya with us. It would help with our bartering."

"Yeah that's a good idea," John said. "But let's come back for it later. We don't know how far we'll be going and we don't want to weigh ourselves down if this ends up being a long hike."

They continued on in silence for a while. John was lost in thoughts of Aeryn when he suddenly heard something.

"Aeryn, do you hear that?" he asked.

"It sounds like water," she answered.

"Yeah, I think it's coming from up ahead. Come on."

They walked a little more quickly through the tunnel and ended up in an extremely large cave. It was shaped in an oval with a waterfall on one side. The water was probably coming from a spring somewhere on the mountain outside. John laughed out loud at the sight.

"See, Aeryn? I told you this would be fun."

He ran down to the water's edge and stuck his hand in. The frigid water was a shock to his senses and he quickly pulled it out again.

"Hmmm," he said. "That's cold."

"What's that?" Aeryn asked pointing upwards. John looked to where she was pointing. He hadn't noticed it at first, but there was another opening above them. It was partially hidden by the waterfall and was glowing a soft blue.

"I don't know," he said. "Let's go take a look."

They both jumped over the river at the narrowest point and made their way over to a sharply rising cliff. It would take them up to the opening above, but it was rough and very steep.

"Well," John said. "Nowhere to go but up. Oh, ladies first, by all means."

Aeryn just rolled her eyes at him and began climbing. After finding some good handholds, she started scaling the cliff. A little ways up she accidentally grabbed a loose rock and lost her balance. She fell heavily to the ground in front of Crichton who immediately rushed to her side.

"Aeryn! Aeryn are you okay?!" he practically yelled.

"Stop shouting Crichton, I'm fine. I just scraped my arm," she said of the now bleeding wound on her arm.

John was immediately worried. He should have gone first, he knew it. Now Aeryn was hurt just because he wanted to see a cave.

"Here, let me help," he said as he watched her struggling to attend to the cut. With expert fingers, he gently cleaned the cut in the water and tore a piece of his shirt to make a bandage. Aeryn just watched him with amusement as he fussed over her.

"There," he said. "Good as new. Well, I think that's enough of our little adventure. Let's just go back and wait for the rain to stop." He started to walk back the way they had come when Aeryn spoke.

"No, wait. I want to see what is up there as well."

"You sure, Aeryn? I mean, you already got hurt once."

"Yes, I'm sure. And this is just a scratch. Come on," she said mimicking one of John's favorite sayings. He just grinned and followed her. No way in hell was he gonna argue with this woman when she got an idea stuck in her head.

*****

Aeryn's fingers hurt. Actually, her whole body hurt, both from the general abuse of this trek and the demands of this climb. She grunted as she grabbed another handhold and hauled herself up a ways. She had to admit, part of her was enjoying this. It was like a training exercise she had once participated in. One she was very successful at, as she recalled. She climbed the rest of the way and forced her exhausted body over the edge. She could hear Crichton still struggling with the climb. She looked over the edge to see where he was. He hadn't been very far behind her, so now he was close enough for her to reach down and help him the rest of the way up. He grinned at her while they sat side by side panting.

The first things she noticed were the warmth and humidity. They weren't unbearable, it was just much hotter here than in the other caves. It was then that she noticed her surroundings, they were in by far the largest cave they had come to yet. She looked up and her breath caught in her throat. Everywhere around them were large chunks of the qatley crystal and up above her, there were thousands of them in all different shapes and sizes jutting down from the ceiling. At the top of the ceiling, soft, blue light filtered through the crystals and shone down upon them. The light started out light blue and then changed to different hues, getting darker as it descended. It cast strange, beautiful shadows and patterns all over the room.

It was the most beautiful sight she'd ever witnessed in all of her life. She caught herself on that thought. Before joining up with these escaped prisoners, she never even gave a second thought to beauty. Everything on the Peacekeeper ships was uniform. No matter which ship in the fleet, they all looked alike. Out here, there was so much she hadn't yet discovered. There were so many things she hadn't seen or done. There were so many variables, so many unknowns. It was frightening really, and yet exhilarating at the same time.

*****

After his initial shock of seeing the ceiling entirely made up of crystal, John noticed something in the corner. He walked over and was surprised to find a large pool of water there, about the size of his childhood pool back on Earth. He thought of all the happy memories connected to that pool. He and DK used to go swimming for hours in it. His mother had designed it herself. He mentally shook himself out of his reverie. Aeryn walked up behind him and looked over his shoulder. He crouched down to put his hand in the water. It was warm, really warm. He grinned.

"It's a hot spring," he said. "That's why it's so warm in here."

He looked over at Aeryn and his breath caught. She was standing directly under the light. It flowed around her softly, as if holding her. The different shades of blue complemented her eyes and made her almost luminous. He shook himself and got an idea. It quickly turned to worry as he watched her as she dipped her hand into the water. She didn't look so good. Well, actually, she looked amazing, but she looked a little uncertain on her feet.

"Hey Aeryn, you okay? Is the heat bothering you?"

"I'm fine Crichton. This temperature is a little high, but it's nothing to worry about."

"Oh, okay. So...ya wanna go swimming?"

She had walked across the room and was looking at something at the other end of the cavern. She turned around with a puzzled expression on her face.

"What? Swimming?" she asked.

"Yeah, you know. In the water..."

"Of course not. Why would I do that?"

"Because it's relaxing. Come on Aeryn. Where's your sense of adventure?" he asked with a small grin playing about his lips. He knew that phrase was getting to her and couldn't help teasing her.

"Is everything an adventure to you?" she asked, answering the question with a question. John got a flash of Aeryn in a courtroom pleading a case and grinned.

"Well, life's an adventure!" he exclaimed.

"Whatever you say, Crichton," she said. "But I am still not going swimming."

"Fine," he answered. "You do what you want, but I am going swimming."

*****

Finish it off!