Like A Stone

Rating: NC-17
Setting: Mid Season 2
Spoilers: Barely, and only if you’ve never seen the show.
Warnings: Yes, for sex. No, for violence. It’s minimal. Yes, for bad words. No dark, adult themes, which is kinda surprising since this was written for an Angst-A-Thon. What can I say? There will be plenty of that next time, I’m sure.

Notes: This was written for scorpy808 as her request in kaz’s John-Angst-A-Thon. I’ve never written early season John, Aeryn, or Chiana, so this was interesting. The title’s from the song by Audioslave. Beta props and thanks to Eva. Drive-by review shout-outs to Agent Rouka, kaz, and Susan. As always, all mistakes remain mine.
Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine. It all belongs to Henson, et.al. No copyright infringement intended. No money being made.

Like A Stone


She loved the rain.

He loved the way she looked in the rain.

Small droplets caressed the perfect planes of her cheeks, streamed down the fine line of her neck to pool at delicate collarbones. Her face turned up in wonder and the warm summer rain glistened in the river of black hair that cascaded down the satin of her pale, perfect, very naked back.

He cupped her head in gentle hands, and slid his fingertips back over the delicate cream of her skin to tangle in the warm, wet spill of her hair.

It flowed through them, heavy and silken, as he wrapped the base of her neck and drew her closer with one hand, letting the other glissade gently down the elegant line of her spine, around the exquisite curve of her hips to cup her ass. He pulled her more firmly against him, trapping her breasts and his growing erection between them.

Nuzzling her nose with his, taking in her scent as warm breath ghosted along his cheek, he brought his lips up to trail butterfly kisses along her brow and feathered his lips on her closed eyes, her nose, over the pale satin skin that stretched taut along the planes of her cheek bones.             

His hand fisted in her hair and tugged gently. She leaned her head back, the rain sheeting their bodies as he nipped little kisses down the graceful column of her neck.

He felt her shiver in the warm rain as he trailed his way feather light across her collarbones with the tip of his tongue. Felt himself harden in anticipation as she ran her fingers through his hair, pulled his head back and began her own exploration of his body.

Her lips fused to his in a wet, open mouth kiss as their tongues tangled and twisted. Soft fingertips traced the rivulets of rain from his shoulders down his back, leaving a rippling wave of tingling in their wake.

Her mouth left his and she began nipping, licking, and kissing her way down his chest. He arched and groaned harshly in pleasure as her teeth gently tugged on a nipple before her tongue finished its journey south.

She was on her knees, hot breath teasing his cock as her finger journeyed gently down the crack of his ass. He shifted his stance to allow her room to work as her fingertip grazed over the tender skin of his perineum and made its way to stroke the boys. He arched his back, canting his hips forward as she flicked out her tongue and swirled it around his tip.

He groaned long and low again, fingers buried in her hair, kneading her scalp as she trailed the tip of her tongue down his erect, rigid cock to lick delicately at the droplets of moisture clinging to his sack before taking his balls, one at a time in her hot, wet mouth, bathing them with her tongue.   

He fisted his hand and tugged at her hair again, urging her luscious mouth higher. Her tongue trailed its way with aching slowness back up the length of his dick only to be replaced with the silken steel grip of her hand.

She stroked his length, base to tip, breathing warmly against him as she worked him, her other hand coming up to continue caressing his balls. He was rigid and harder than he could remember ever being, hot and heavy and more than half out of his mind. 

The fuse lit, he was ready to spontaneously combust. He was sure that steam was rising in the rain from his skin. He growled and she brought her lips to his tip, slowly replaced her hand with her mouth as she eased down his length to his base, taking him all the way in.

He groaned, low and guttural, as his hands fisted more tightly in her hair, need deep and primitive guiding her as he canted his hips, urging her to take him deeper still.

She worked him like he’d never been worked before, sliding her lips up and down him, sucking hard at his tip before slowly taking him back down to the root.

She sucked, his legs tensed and his balls tightened and he was hit by lightening. It detonated deep in his groin and shot straight up his spine to explode in his brain as stars ignited behind his closed eyelids.

He emptied himself with a rush, face turned up to the rain.

“Commander?” Pilot’s voice came from his comms.

He shook the water from his eyes and hair like a big shaggy dog and tried to orient himself. He leaned out of the stall and reached over to burrow a hand through the pile of clothes he’d dropped on the floor, finding the unit at the bottom.

“Yeah, Pilot?”

He shivered at the drop in temperature, the cool air tingling on his hot, wet skin.

“Are you all right, commander?”

“Yeah, Pilot, I’m fine. Whaddya need? ”

“Moya and I were concerned, commander. The water has been running for so long that we thought…”

Shit.

“No, Pilot,” he said, hurriedly moving the shower head to wash down the walls before swiping at the sensor to turn off the water. “Sorry bout that.”

“No problem, commander. As long as you’re sure you’re all right.”

“Fine, Pilot. Just fine.”

He grabbed a towel and began drying off.

“Can you tell me where Aeryn is?”

“She and Chiana are working on replacing a relay.”

“Ok, Pilot. I’ll just go check with them. See if they need any help.”

“As you wish.”

He finished running the towel over his body, began rubbing his hair.

Oh, god, you got it bad. Haven’t been this bad since you were a teenager.

He walked out into the cell, rooted around in the pile on the floor for clean boxers.

Who the hell do you think you’re kidding? You’ve been this way since that kiss.

He gave up and decided to go commando. Snagged his leathers and began pulling them on.

Yeah. She’s the one.

Snagged his shirt, pulled it over his head as he walked to the grate, palmed the sensor and started down the corridor to find his girl.   

********************

At least the wind had died down.

It wasn’t breathing dry and hot down his neck or driving grit and sand into his eyes and nose any more. The twin suns burned reddish orange in the shimmering air above the crowded packed earth corridors of the central market place.

Sweating balls here.

The smell of meat roasting on an open fire caught his attention, and the rumble in his stomach reminded him that he hadn’t had a chance to eat before their little excursion.

Simple. De-energize the circuit. Change out the relay. Energize the circuit.

Aeryn bobbed and weaved ahead of him, ignoring the open air stalls and the vendors hawking their wares, Chiana nipping at her heels still trying to get her to listen, leaving him to bring up the rear.

Except Chiana had de-energized the wrong circuit and toasted the relay.

He’d heard Aeryn scream all the way down the corridor.

Toasted Aeryn too.

She hadn’t let him look at her hand. Just grabbed Chiana, dragged her off to the bay and tossed her into the pod as D’Argo had come barreling in.

He’d taken one look at Aeryn’s face and told you to go with them.

Aeryn hadn’t spoken on the entire trip down from Moya. Hadn’t let him pilot the pod. She hadn’t said a word since they’d landed on the commerce planet.

And here you were. Wherever the hell here was.

He put on a burst of speed and pushed his way through the milling throng until he caught up to Aeryn.

“How many times do you want me to say I’m sorry?” Chiana hissed.

In retrospect he’d remember that he should have known better. That he did know better. But the sweat was pasting his leathers to his ass, his stomach was growling, and everywhere he looked there were armed uniforms walking around.

Not to mention that every stall you’d seen offered a delightful assortment of weapons and ammunition.

“Are we there yet?”

Aeryn turned on a dime and pinned him with a glare.

“What the hell is this place? The wild, wild west?”

She reached out, grabbed him by the vest and dragged him into the nearest building. It was cool inside and dark, and if she hadn’t been pissed he’d have really been happy to be there. As his eyes adjusted to the change in illumination, he saw that it was a tavern.

“This is Bedu Market. They have what we need here. But if by wild, wild, west you are asking me if this place is full of bounty hunters, mercenaries, and various and sundry arms dealers, then yes, it is. That’s why I would like to cut this trip short and find what I’m looking for so that we can get back to Moya.”

“We couldn’t maybe find a nice all night PK-Mart instead?”

Chiana snickered and then flattened herself into the shadows.

Aeryn turned up the glare full bore. “No. Pilot said he needed that relay now.”

“Then let’s go get it.”

She put out a hand to stop him. “No. I’ll do it myself. You stay here. Stay out of trouble. Don’t touch anyone. And don’t drink anything that you don’t open yourself.”

“Yes, mom.”

Chiana giggled and grabbed his hand, pulling him deeper into the room as Aeyrn spun on her heel and stalked out the door.

********************

Oh, god, still sweating balls here.

He was lying in a pool of sweat, his pulse pounding and his heart racing. He tried to move but his arms and legs were stiff and sore, tremors running up and down every limb.

Fuck. You can’t feel your face.

His eyelids were crusted and gummy when he pried them open. Immediately shards of bright white glass pierced each eyeball and drove icy spikes into his brain before he could snap them shut again. 

You’re dead.

He moaned and twitched spasmodically in a feeble effort to get up.     

No, you only feel like you’re dead.

He quit trying to move and let his mortal remains melt back into the mattress.

“This is your fault.” Chiana’s voice floated over and exploded in his head.

He worked his jaw to unclench his teeth, tried to swallow against a parched throat and found that he didn’t have the spit to swallow. “Is not,” he rasped.

“Is too.”

Is not,” he mumbled as a muscle spasm rippled across his jaw line and he heard his teeth grind.

“Is too.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

He growled and grunted with effort and found the muscular ability to do his best imitation of a fish out of water, flipping on his side and opening one eye. Blurred vision gave him the kaleidoscopic image of an angry grey girl sitting on the mattress on the opposite side of the cell glaring daggers at him.

“You don’t scare me, missy. I’ve been glared at by the best,” he mumbled through a sudden shiver. “Where the hell are we?”

“You don’t remember?”

“If I remembered,” he growled, shivering again, “would I be asking?”

“What do you remember?”

The wavering image of her walked over and rested her cool hand against his forehead.

“Don’t talk so loud,” he hissed. “I can hear you.”

“Then answer the question,” she said reasonably, walking back across the cell.

“I remember…you leaving me to go find some new friends.”

“All you wanted to do was eat,” she snorted. She sat and pulled her legs up under her, wrapping her arms around them, and cocking her head at him.

“I was hungry,” he said, stomach turning inside out.

“And then what?”

“After I ate, I got up to go…and this girl…just kinda…”

“Yeah, the tralk just rubbed herself all over you.” She snickered and leaned back against the wall, smirking and wide eyed.   

“Hey,” he protested weakly, trying to focus on her by blinking. “I didn’t ask for that. I didn’t even know her.”

“Ok. Then what do you remember?”

Feeling good. A nice slow glow spreading all over you.

“Had a little buzz on,” he slurred, thick, fuzzy tongue licking at lips that didn’t want to cooperate. “But I didn’t drink enough to be drunk.”

“Maybe you weren’t fek faced.”

“What?” A sudden spasm shot across his jaw line snapping his mouth shut on the word. 

“Maybe it wasn’t the fellip nectar.”

He worked his jaw loose again. “I didn’t have anything else.”

“Maybe it was that girl.”

“I kept my thumb in my bottle when that chick in the feathers came over.”

“Maybe it was something else…when she touched you.”

Shit.

“And then I saw Aeryn,” he said slowly.

“Aeryn.”

Saw that beautiful black hair just waiting for you to run your fingers through it.

“Yeah. Saw her standing at the bar.”

“That explains it.”

Her laughter drove an ice pick into his brain.

Oh, god. Your hair hurts.

“Explains what?”

“Why that guy you were rubbing up on was so angry.” She pointed a finger in his direction. “And why you were so surprised when he turned around and you saw his beard.”

“I hit on a guy?” His body flinched and curled in a little more tightly on itself and he wasn’t sure if that was because of the thought or the high pitched girly squeal he was pretty sure came out of his mouth.   

“You thought it was Aeryn.” She cocked her head and smiled.

Oh, god.

“What happened then?”

“You went a little fahrbot. Things got a little out of control. The usual.”

“The usual?”

Just shoot me.

“Well, until the local authorities showed up.”

“Bar fight?”

“Yeah.”

“What happened then?”

“You took exception to them wanting to take you in.”

“Tell me I didn’t do anything stupid,” he moaned.

“You want me to lie to you?”

Fuck me running.

“You whipped…that,” she gestured at his crotch, “out and…”

“I pissed on the sheriff?” The high pitched girly squeal was back, making his jaw clench.

“And then you puked.”

His stomach rolled again with the memory. “Oh. My. God.”

“So here we sit.”

“Where’s Aeryn?”

“Trying to get enough currency to bail you out.”

“You weren’t arrested.”

“I didn’t do anything stupid,” she said reasonably.

“Then why are you here?”

“Aeryn left me to take care of you. If you woke up.”

You’re just gonna wish you were dead when Aeryn gets here.

********************

“Up and out,” the guard ordered as he keyed open the cell door. “Time to go.”

He rolled to his back as Chiana got to her feet and walked across the cell. She extended a hand, grabbed his, and leveraged him into a sitting position. The band was playing more softly now, still badly, but more in time with the pounding in his head. His stomach turned inside out again as he swung his feet to the floor.

“Let’s go, old man.”

Aeryn was waiting for them at the end of the hallway as he staggered behind Chiana and the guard. Even through his blurred vision he could see that she did not look happy.

“Hey,” he said, unclenching his jaw and his fists.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Yeah. Aeryn I’m…”

“They have ground transport arranged for us,” she cut him off.

“Aeryn,” he started.

“Let’s go.”

“Aeryn,” he barked.

“What?” She spun on her heel and glared at him.

“Where are your boots?” He looked down at her stocking feet and then ran his eyes up and down the length of her body. “And your pistol?”

“With my duster,” she hissed. “And my knives.” She turned again and started off.

“What?”

He lurched forward and swung a heavy, unwieldy arm up onto her shoulder. Felt her go instantly rigid with the strain of not giving into her urge to beat him to a pulp. When she spoke, her deceptively soft voice floated gently back to him.

“I used all of our currency for the relay.”

Oh, shit. What the hell did you think she used to bail you out?

“Can we go now?”

Without waiting for an answer, she shook him off and stormed out the door. Chiana just looked at him as she followed.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

********************

He walked into command, rubbing at still bleary eyes. The Luxan looked up from the navigation console, snorting as he watched the pale, slow moving human, hair still damp from the shower and spiking up in all directions.

“So you finally decided to join the living,” he rumbled, turning back to the console. “We were afraid you might be dead.”

“Yeah, well, thanks for checking on that.”

“Aeryn checked.”

“Yeah, and thanks for sending me down there with them too.”

“Better you than me. You deal better with her when she’s angry than any of the rest of us.”

“Where is she, by the way?”

“You might want to stay clear of her for awhile,” the Luxan advised, lips curling as he slid crinkled eyes toward the ill looking human.

“She can’t still be pissed about what happened yesterday. That wasn’t my fault.”

“It’s been almost two days and all I know is that the last time I saw her, she was berating Chiana for not taking better care of you on the planet and…”

“And?”

“Chiana said something to her…and…well, she got that look on her face…”

“Like she wanted to hit something?” He knew that look. “Kill something?”

“Yes. And then she just stormed off. You know what that means.”

Means I gotta go find her.

Without another word he turned and started out of command. As the door whooshed closed, he swore he heard D’Argo laughing.           

********************

She was right where he knew she would be.

Pounding the hell out of her training dummy.

He sucked in air through his teeth and felt the immediate pull of lust slam full tilt into him even across the room. He watched the light reflect off her pale, glistening skin as she danced on the balls of her feet, the play of bone and tendon as arms and legs became liquid movement in a ballet of muscle and grace and fluid motion.

You loved the way she looked doing this.

Her hair was pulled back in a high pony tail that bounced and exposed that spot he loved to rest his lips on or nuzzle at the join of her delicate neck and shoulder, tendrils curling all along her hairline. Cheeks flushed, full lips parted and panting. The satin smooth stretch of stomach that peeked out at him, begging to be touched.

You loved looking at her.

His fingers itched to take down her hair, run his fingers through it, cup her skull and bring her lips to his. He wanted to feel his hands circling her waist, roaming freely over the silky skin just above her waistband before sliding down over the curve of her hips.

He settled for walking over to her.

“Hey,” he said, walking up behind the dummy.

She stopped and looked at him, walked away and snagged a water bottle from her bag before turning around to face him.

“Hey,” she slid her spine down the wall, stretched lithe legs out, and took a long pull off the bottle.

Putting it down, she began to peel off her gloves, wincing as she slid the right one off. He was beside her in three strides and hunkered down to take her hand. He exhaled sharply when he turned it gently palm up to see it red, black and blistered.

“Jesus Christ, Aeryn,” he hissed, “why the hell didn’t you tell me it was this bad?”

“Zhaan looked at it.”

No wonder she was so torqued.

“This must hurt like a bitch.”

“She gave me something.”

“Yeah, and she probably told you to stay away from pounding it into hamburger, too.”

She looked at him like he’d sprouted another head.

“She wouldn’t want you pounding on a hard training dummy.”

”Are you volunteering to be a soft one?” The feral gleam in her eyes gave her face a predatory cast that would have scared the hell out of him in any other woman.

She’s not any other woman. She’s a keeper, dad. She’s the one.

He gave her his best grin. “You promise to play nice?”

“I need to relieve a little tension.”

“I can definitely help you do that,” he leered at her.

She reached into her bag, brought out a spare pair of gloves and handed them to him. Taking them, he stood, reached out a hand and leveraged her to her feet. He watched her walk to the mat as he slid the gloves on.

He joined her and they dropped into a sparring stance, side stepped, and began to circle.

Foreplay.

“That would be recreation.” She came at him with a front kick followed by a roundhouse, and a quick punch that backed him up almost to the edge of the mat.

“It would never be recreation with you.” He danced away from her, eyes burning brightly as they tracked her. “It would be more.”

She followed him and threw another punch that he met with an outward block. “I make love.” He stepped forward and threw a punch of his own.

She stepped back and met it with an inward block and another roundhouse that sent him dancing back.

“Make love.” Lucent eyes burned bright as she breathed softly. “It would be more. It would be special. A lake. Moonlight. A fire. Two bodies…”

She stepped and punched. He stepped back in time to get an outward block up against the roundhouse kick coming at his head. She stepped down and followed up with a back kick. He went with a low block and stepped outside for his own back kick, roundhouse combination followed by a step forward and a punch.

“We don’t need a lake, baby,” he breathed low and harsh. “Or moonlight. Or a fire. Just need you and me.” He grinned. “You pick the place. You pick the time.”

“You’d wait?” She danced in front of him.

“Always.”

She punched, he blocked, and she came with a spinning back kick followed by a jump roundhouse to his head. He threw a high block and came with a back kick to her side that connected. He stepped down, dropped into a stance. She stepped and snapped a front kick to his groin.

He dropped like a stone as he felt his balls crawl up into his belly and a wave of nausea rolled over him, raising bile in his throat. His body curled in around itself as he lay on the mat moaning. Aeryn’s face came into his peripheral vision as she hunkered down beside him.   

“You should never drop your guard,” she breathed soft and low. “Always be prepared for an ambush.”

Then she was gone. And he was alone on the mat with the boys. Until a small black pair of boots came into sight, followed by Chiana’s tilted head and questioning eyes as she hunkered down beside him.

“You ok, old man?”

“Fine,” he groaned, still panting open mouthed. “What are you doing here?”

“D’Argo said you were down here with Aeryn,” her eyes flicked away and back. “And…”

“And what, Chiana?”

“Well, I wanted to make sure you were ok, so…”

“So, what?”

“I felt kinda bad, ya know, but she was yelling at me about not taking better care of you and…”

“And?”

“Well, I kinda reminded her that she didn’t always do such a good job of taking care of you, and last time you married the Princess and frelled the disruptor…”

“What?”

Oh. My. God.

“Why the hell did you tell her that?”

Goddamn sonofabitch.

“Well, she’s not mad at me anymore, now is she?”

Fuck it all.

She patted his cheek, smiled happily, got up and left. He flopped over onto his back and drove the heels of his hands hard against his eyes.

Suddenly the boys didn’t hurt so much.

***************

He’d pulled himself to his feet as soon as he could and only slightly limped down the corridor. Standing in front of her quarters, he strained to hear any sound of her. There was nothing but deafening silence.

“Aeryn,” he called softly.

His answer was louder silence.

“Come on, Aeryn,” he said, “I know you’re in there.”

He jumped back as the privacy curtain was ripped away from the grate in front of him.

“Go. Away.” She turned and dragged the curtain back into place.

In desperation he palmed the sensor and was shocked to see the grate pull back. Without thinking an arm quickly pushed aside the curtain and he was inside her cell.

“Fair warning,” she hissed. She turned around to face him, crossing her arms over her chest and cocking a hip.

“What are you going to do?” He threw his arms out, palms up. “Kick me again?”

Her lip curled in a snarl as she exhaled harshly. Narrowed, cool blue eyes met his, calmly assessing whether the effort would be worth the satisfaction. She snorted with disgust and dropped onto the bed, bent over and began unfastening her boot.

“Aeryn. I’m sorry. I didn’t tell you. I didn’t want to hurt…”

“Lying, frelling bastard.” Clipped, precise words floated up from underneath her hair. “Keep your secrets. Keep you tralks.” She viciously yanked her boot off, sent it sailing past his ear. “It doesn’t matter anyway.”

“It does matter,” he grunted as he ducked. “I never meant to hurt you.”

She began to work on her other boot. “‘We all have things in our…past we’d rather not have on instant replay,’” she calmly recited.

“Aeryn…”

“‘Talk to me,’” she drawled mockingly. “Good advice.” Her eyes snapped up to pin him. “You should listen to yourself.”     

“You already know…”

“Really?” She sent the boot flying, came up off the bed after it to stand face to face. “Do I? Frelling a disruptor is stupid, but only dangerous to you. Not telling me…other things is dangerous and threatens us all.”

His head snapped back as if he’d been jabbed and he watched her eyes narrow as the anger bled out and was replaced with…

You hurt her, you son-of-a-bitch.

The thought that he’d hurt her so badly sucker punched him. He sucked in his breath, but his lungs wouldn’t cooperate and he couldn’t find enough air to breathe. He reached for her and saw the hurt flash to worry and fear.

For you. She’s afraid for you.

He came up behind her, eyes black rimmed and glowing, teeth bared in a predatory smile as he reached out and ran his gloved hand through her hair. 

“‘It’s just you, me, and the walls here,’” she lowered her voice in invitation.

Eyes fluttering from Aeryn to the specter touching her, he took a step back and ran his hand wildly through his hair, scrubbed roughly at his face.

He opened his eyes to see the leather clad freak wrapping his hand in her hair, the other cupping her face as he nuzzled the join of her neck and collarbone, and breathed softly in her ear.

“No,” he growled.

“She’ll never see it coming, John,” he purred.

He turned and stalked out of her quarters.

The sound of the boot crashing into the wall came over the whoosh of the closing grate as he staggered down the corridor.