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Rating: PG-13
Setting: Sometime post-Promises
Spoilers: Through Promises
Summary: Aeryn asks John why he seems to shy from her touch.
"John....Why do you do that?"
"What?"
"Flinch. When I touch you."
"I do not."
"You do too. If I touch you when you’re not expecting it, you flinch."
"It’s nothing."
"Don’t tell me it’s nothing. It’s not nothing."
"I do not want to talk about it."
"I do!"
"Well I don’t Aeryn, so just drop it!"
"Frelling human. Aren’t you the one who always says it’s good to talk about things?"
"I can’t talk about it."
"Yes you can."
"Commandant Cleavage.....Grayza...."
"Grayza?"
"Yeah, she, uh, she has a gland. With Heppel oil."
"That’s a myth."
"No it’s not."
"It’s...not...a myth?"
"No. It’s all too freakin’ real.......Don’t look at me like that, please, Aeryn."
"I’m not-- It’s not you I’m angry with."
"What are you thinking?"
"Truthfully? I’m trying to remember the most painful method of torture I ever heard anyone describe in the Peacekeepers."
"Don’t."
"What, I’m supposed to look the other way when she....brutalized you?"
"It wasn’t....brutal."
"The hell it wasn’t. If it wasn’t brutal, why do you flinch when I touch you?"
"Please, drop it. You know now. Just drop it."
"All right. Fine."
"Fine."
"Just....John, should I not touch you?"
"No! No, please. If you do that, she won."
"She didn’t win. Don’t you ever think she did. You are John Crichton, and nothing she did can change that. Do you hear me?"
"She didn’t hear my heart."
"What do you mean?"
"During the...drug rush. She said she could hear my heart. But she never heard what's inside."
"Yes. You see, you already know that."
"All right."
"All right.....Now, did you need help with that conduit?"
"Yeah, I could use another pair of hands. Hey, not there!"
"No? Where *should* I put them?"
"Um, how about *there*?"
