Disclaimer: Farscape is owned by the Jim Henson Company and all the grand high Mucky Mucks. I am making no money from this, and of course, no copyright infringement is intended.

Episodes referenced(more or less in order) "Twice Shy"; "Thank God it's Friday Again"; "Rhapsody in Blue"; "Kansas"; "What Was Lost"; "Taking the Stone"; "Crichton Kicks"; "Nerve"; "Die Me Dichotomy"; "Premiere"; "A Human Reaction";"Promises"; "WWL"; "Look at the Princess Pt1"; "Season of Death"; "LATP Pt3"; "Fractures"; "Green Eyed Monster"; "Dog with Two Bones";"DMD"

Title: Deus ex Machina
Genre: Farscape; J/A; romance/action
Rating: PG or PG 13 at most for violence and some suggestive situations; mild swearing.
Timeline: Between "Twice Shy" and "Mental as Anything"
Summary: Scarrens, and Peacekeepers, and mind probes, oh my! John and Aeryn go on a supply run, and of course, things go wrong *grin*
Author's Notes: This is only my second attempt at a fanfiction short story, and not a ficlit or an original work. It draws very heavily on the series and for those unfamiliar with it, there may be moments of, "huh?" But, I'm going to assume that if you're reading this, you are a Farscape fan, so I don't think that there should be any problems *grin*

Split into parts for length...



The laka bulb looked so innocuous in her hand, nothing but a black shiny bulb shape no larger than a section of her smallest finger. Aeryn turned it slowly in her fingers. The small cloth bag that it had come from was in her other hand, filled with dozens of similar bulbs. She sat in the corridor not far from Crichton's quarters, her back resting against the warm wall of Moya as she contemplated the laka bulbs.

John saw Aeryn sitting in the corridor, and for a moment, he was tempted to turn and walk the other way. Each time he was near the beautiful Sebacean woman he found it harder to deny the need to take her in his arms and tell her precisely how he felt.

"Damn, and that's exactly why I have to go past her," he thought painfully. "The laka bulbs that Noranti just made for me are still in my quarters."

John took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and headed toward where Aeryn sat on the floor in front of him. He meant to walk right past her, but something in her face stopped him.

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" Aeryn said, holding the laka bulb before her.

"Damn," John thought quietly. He squared his mental shoulders and prepared to wound the woman that he loved more than anything.

"You won the coin toss," John said, putting arctic winter winds in his voice.

Before he had to say anything else, John began to walk past Aeryn, only to be stopped by the sound of her rising to her feet. When she spoke, he could feel the pain in her voice like the sharp sliver of a knife in his heart.

"But we lost...didn't we?" Aeryn said, trying to hold back the tears in her voice, both needing and dreading John's answer.

John turned back to Aeryn, and before he could allow himself to answer otherwise, he spoke solemnly "Aeryn...it's over."

It hurt more than Aeryn had ever thought possible to hear those words coming from him. And suddenly, she was angry. Angry at the universe that constantly pulled them apart as much as it drove them together. Angry with herself for being unable to get him back, and furious at him for denying what was there between them. And angry at Noranti for ever giving John the laka.

She lashed out, upset and scared, "So, your mind is now so full of this dren that you can't even see straight, is that it?

Aeryn held the bag of laka bulbs out in front of her, tempted to simply drop the bag to the floor and stomp it beneath her boot.

John tried very hard to not acknowledge the fear and pain that he heard in Aeryn's voice and saw in her face. He forced his face into a stony resemblance of his own.

"Move on, Aeryn."

"You see, I did everything...everything I could to keep us together. I did exactly what you told me to do, and the whole time, you've been cheating," Aeryn said fiercely.

"Yeah, I'm a coward. Move on. It's over."

"No, I'm going to tell you how this is going to go from now on. You're going to stop sniffing this dren..." Aeryn began, waving the cloth bag of laka in front of him.

"Shut up," John said, turning his back on Aeryn as he began to walk away from her.

"Don't you tell me to shut up!" Aeryn said, un-shed tears in her eyes.

John paused, his heart breaking inside his chest. "No more," he thought fiercely, "No more. Frell Scorpius, frell it all. I can't do this anymore. I love her too damn much."

"Pilot, my comms are a bit buggy. Can you test the system, please?"

"Yes, Commander, but that will take all comms off-line for about thirty microts," came Pilot's answer.

"I thought so. That'll be fine, thank you," John said, waiting for Pilot to begin the check. Once he was certain that the comms were off-line, John turned back to where Aeryn stood with the tears shining in her eyes and a bemused expression on her face.

John held his hand up, pointing at Aeryn to emphasize his words, "Shut up and listen to me." John's voice held an urgent conviction, "Scorpius is here, looking for the key to what's inside my head. Neural chips, aurora chair, threatening Earth...none of it works, because he doesn't understand me."

Aeryn’s expression reflected her thoughts of pain and confusion.

"Stop using him as an excuse," she said, her voice wavering despite her best efforts.

John held two fingers up to Aeryn's face in his need to interrupt her and get said what needed to be said. He needed her know what was going on. "Please! You're the key; my Achilles; you. If he figures that out...the world and all that's in it is nothing." John paused, willing Aeryn to understand.

"He will use you, and the baby, and I will not be able to stop him," John finished, his voice deep with the strength of his emotion. The worst thing that he could ever imagine, his worst nightmare, was loosing Aeryn and the baby to the monsters of the universe because they wanted to use his loved ones to get to him.

"So you think he's been using the comms?" Aeryn asked, trying to believe, if only for a moment, but there was incredulity in her voice.

John was silent, letting Aeryn work through it.

"Look what it's done to you. You're completely paranoid."

A crackle of static hissed over the comms as they came back on-line.

"Pilot," Scorpius' cool elegant voice said, "Are we having a problem with the comms?"

"I was just checking them. Some slight irregularities, but they appear to be functioning normally," Pilot replied.

John watched as realization appeared on Aeryn's face. He saw the horror flicker over her face at the thought of Scorpius and what he was doing. She looked deep into John's eyes, and he saw something else pass over Aeryn's face. John willed her to understand, and he saw it happen behind her eyes; saw her realize exactly what he had just told her.

"S...so, it's over," she said a little loudly, her voice somewhat stilted.

John replied, "It's over."

"There's nothing more between us," Aeryn said, as if reciting lines in a play, turning her eyes up to meet John's.

John gave her a lopsided grin, and whispered, "Nothing."

Aeryn smiled quietly in response, then bit her lip before smiling brightly.
John laughed silently, the joy almost too much to bear. After so long, too long, he was here with her. He had Aeryn. His face shone with love as he brought his mouth to Aeryn's to claim a long denied kiss.

Aeryn lost herself in the sweetness of the kiss. Gently, she slipped her hand up to John's neck, and deepened it. Finally, they broke the kiss and John lowered his forehead to touch Aeryn's lightly.

"I love you," Aeryn mouthed.

John kissed her gently. When they had broken this second kiss, John mouthed, "I love you."

Aeryn drew him down for yet another kiss as they slowly backed toward the wall of the corridor. She felt her back pressed against the wall and Aeryn slid her hands down the length of John until she reached his belt, pulling him closer. Hungrily, she kissed him, resisting the urge to moan as he matched her passion with his own. His hands moved to her hips and his thumbs caressed the skin between the bottom of her leather vest and the waist of her pants.

John's mouth had just left Aeryn's lips and he had begun to nuzzle her neck when a voice came over the comms.

"Aeryn," D'Argo's deep voice said, "we may have found a small trading outpost where we can replace some of our stores. Meet me in Command. And if you see Crichton, bring him as well."

"I'll be right there, D'Argo," Aeryn answered, trying to not sound breathless.

John pulled away a little and Aeryn reached for him once more. She kissed him passionately before releasing him and indicating that she was going to head up to Command. John nodded and waited a few microts before he followed her, picking up the bag of laka and tossing it into his room to be disposed of later...

TBC

Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10