Title: A Sympathetic Ear
Author: Paradox761
Email: Paradox761@mail.com
Website: members.tripod.com/~Paradox761
(BtVS/Farscape, Chiana/Xander, John/Aeryn, slight B/X & B/R)
Disclaimer: Joss and Co. own Buffy; SFC, Jim Henson Productions, and Rockne S. O’Bannon own Farscape; and I own a steaming hot cup of jack squat. No copyright infringement is intended, blah blah blah, you know the rest.
Summary: Depressed about feeling useless and under appreciated, Chiana hides in Aeryn's Prowler when it suddenly launches. But when it passes through a wormhole that leads to Earth's past, John and Aeryn find themselves on a rescue mission, and John finds himself feeling a little nostalgic. But what happens when they run into the Hellmouth, and a certain blonde vampire slayer? Will John and Aeryn be able to find Chiana before the Initiative decides to dissect her? And what happens when Chiana finds something she never expected to find on such a strange, alien world. A kindred spirit.
Author’s note: Takes place in the Farscape universe between the season 2 episodes “A Clockwork Nebari” and “Liars, Guns, and Money”, and in the Buffy universe in early season 5.

Chiana let out a strangled sigh as she stalked through the corridors of Moya, her fists clenched in frustration. Everyone was in Command, looking at some spatial distortion Pilot found. John was excited, thinking it could be a wormhole. Zhaan was curious, D’Argo was cautious and Aeryn was suspicious. Chiana was a mixture of all of those things, but she wasn't in Command. Because she wasn't needed there. Wasn't wanted there. "Why don't you stay here, Chiana," she said, mimicking D’Argo. "Why don't you kiss my pale white ass," she growled. But the sound turned into a sob, and she could feel tears starting to form in her eyes.

Chiana kept walking until she was in the hanger bay. She always came here when she wanted to be alone. There were enough places to hide so that she wouldn't be found until she wanted to be. This time she climbed into Aeryn's Prowler. She curled up into a ball and let the tears come.

Her whole life she had been an outcast. Her own people had infected her with a disease and sent her out into the universe to spread it. All she ever wanted was to find her place. Find people who would accept her, care about her. A family.

She thought she had found that aboard Moya, but everyday she seemed less and less sure. She always felt like she only ever had one thing to offer, and that one thing had been the conveyor of the disease. Lord knows how many people she has condemned to death. It wasn't until she came aboard this ship, and met John Crichton, that she started to feel like maybe there was more. He made her feel like she was more, and she thought that maybe she had finally found that home that she had been searching for.

But now she wasn't so sure anymore, about that or herself. Everyone on Moya had a job, a skill, a specialty. Zhaan knew about science and spirituality, Rygel knew about diplomacy and negotiation, Pilot knew every inch of Moya, Aeryn and D’Argo were the warriors, and John was like the glue that held them all together.

But what did Chiana bring to the table? What was her job, her skill?

She was the one they rescued. The one who got in trouble and had to be bailed out.

And now that her and D’Argo had found each other, she couldn't help but wonder if she had been right the whole time. Maybe sex was all she was good for. She loved him, she did, and she was pretty sure he loved her. But still, it hurt.

"Frell!" she exclaimed, banging her fist on the console in front of her. It lit up and hummed to life. Chiana looked up, wiping the tears from her eyes. She could hear the engines starting. Somehow she had activated the preflight sequence on the Prowler. She tried to stop it, but the computer wouldn't accept any of her commands. "Hey, stop!" she shouted desperately. But the ship didn't respond, it just started to lift off. "Oh, frell," she whined.

*

John Crichton stood on the Command level, looking at the swirling mass of colors before him. "Pilot, tell me what I want to hear," he said.

"The readings Moya is receiving do seem to match those of the wormhole that brought you here, John," Pilot answered. John smiled. "However there does seem to be something additional about this distortion," Pilot added.

"What is it?" Aeryn asked.

"There is a temporal variance between the event horizon and the destination point," Pilot answered.

John's face fell as he turned to face Pilot's image. "How much?"

"Roughly fifteen cycles," Pilot answered. "I'm sorry John."

"You mean that wormhole leads fifteen cycles into the past?" D’Argo asked.

"Fifteen years," John said. "Let's see, that would put it around the turn of the millennium. That's not that bad, I could live in the year 2000. Just stay out of Australia, make sure I don't run into myself." John turned to see everyone else staring at him. "What?!"

"John, you know you can't do that," Zhaan said. "You could seriously damage the timeline. Maybe even cause a paradox."

"She's right John," D’Argo said.

"I know, I know," John said. He blew a breath through his lips as he turned to face the image of the wormhole again, putting his hands on his hips. "Damn," he muttered to himself. "So close, yet so far." What he didn't notice was the look Aeryn was burning into the back of his head. They all stood in silence for a moment before John saw something on the screen. "What the hell is that?" he asked.

"It appears that a craft has launched from Moya's hanger bay," Pilot said, looking down at his controls. "It's Officer Sun's Prowler."

"What!" Aeryn exclaimed.

"Pilot, can you open communications?" John asked.

"I can try," Pilot said.

A moment later the comm channel opened. "HEEEEEEEELP! Somebody stop this thing!"

"Chiana?" Aeryn asked. "What the frell are you doing?"

"Getting kidnapped by this frelling piece of Peace Keeper dren!" Chiana answered. "The controls are locked out, this thing has a mind of it's own."

Everyone turned to Aeryn. "She must have triggered the auto-launch sequence," she said. "Chiana, what were you doing in my Prowler in the first place?"

"Better question, how do we turn it off?" John asked.

"You have to turn off the autopilot," Aeryn said. "But it's keyed to my voice command."

"Can you do it over the comm channel?" Zhaan asked.

"I might be able to," Aeryn said.

At that moment, a burst of static came over the line. "I'm afraid it's too late," Pilot said. "Radiation from the wormhole is interfering with communications." He paused. "And it's gravity is drawing the Prowler in."

"Can we position Moya between Chiana and the wormhole?" D’Argo asked.

"I'm afraid not," Pilot answered. "The gravity is too strong, if we get any closer Moya will be drawn in as well."

The five of them just stood there helplessly and watched as the Prowler disappeared into the wormhole. "I'm going after her," D’Argo said, turning to head down to the hanger.

"D’Argo, no, that's a bad idea," John said, going after him. He put a hand on D’Argo's shoulder. D’Argo growled and whirled around, picking John up by his shirt and pinning him against the wall.

"I will not let Chiana die!" he yelled.

"Listen to me, big guy," John said calmingly. "You walking around on Earth in the 21st Century is a very bad idea. Don't you remember what happened last time?" D’Argo just looked at him oddly. "No, of course you don't," John said. "That wasn't real. Just, trust me, it would be bad. You'll just get yourself killed, and that's not going to help Chiana."

D’Argo let go of him. "What do you propose?" he asked.

"Aeryn and I will go," John said.

"Me?" Aeryn objected.

"Do you see anyone else here that would pass for human?" John asked. "Besides, somebody has to fly your Prowler back. Assuming it doesn't crash."

"It won't," Aeryn said. "There's an automatic landing sequence too. If it's still in autopilot, it'll look for a space port."

"There are no space port's on Earth," John said.

"Trust me," Aeryn said. "It'll land."

"Okay, we better get going," John said. "Bring your sidearm, but only your sidearm. I don't want to draw too much attention."

"John, please be careful," Zhaan said. "This is your own past remember."

"Don't worry, the Farscape project didn't even exist fifteen years ago," John said.

"All the same, it could be very dangerous," Zhaan implored.

"I'll try not to cause any paradoxes."

"John," D’Argo said. "You said that it would be dangerous for me on your world. What about Chiana?"

"We'll bring her back safe D’Argo, I promise," John said. "Pilot, how long until the wormhole closes?"

"According to the energy dissipation rate, I estimate 37 arns," Pilot answered.

"That should be enough time," John said. "Depending on where she lands." John walked over to Zhaan. "I want you to keep an eye on the wormhole," he said. He lowered his voice. "And if we don't make it back in time, don't let D’Argo go after us." Zhaan just nodded. John turned back to Aeryn. "Let's go." Aeryn nodded.

They were halfway down the corridor when John spoke again. "Trust me, it'll land," he said, repeating Aeryn's earlier words. "What did you mean?"

"I didn't want to say anything in front of D’Argo," Aeryn said. "But there isn't enough fuel aboard for the Prowler to maintain orbit. It will have to land."

"And what happens when it doesn't find a space port?"

Aeryn frowned. "There is a programming glitch in the landing sequence," she said. "It finds a space port by scanning for power signatures. If it doesn't find anything that matches, it just picks the largest energy source it can find and assumes that it's a space port."

"You mean the Peace Keepers knew about this glitch and they never fixed it?" John asked, shocked.

"It wasn't a top priority," Aeryn said. "It wasn't exactly something that happened very often."

John reached up and wiped his face. "Oh, god," he said.

"What?" Aeryn asked.

"I just had a mental image of Chiana crashing into a nuclear reactor," John said. "A nuclear disaster wouldn't alter the timeline too much, would it?" John asked sarcastically.

"We'd better hurry," Aeryn said.

*

The Prowler careened through space and the upper atmosphere of a blue and green world known to the natives as Earth, Chiana screaming the whole way. "Great, this is just great!" she complained to no one. "I know I wasn't exactly happy about my life, but that doesn't mean that I wanted it to end!"

The Prowler broke through the clouds and Chiana looked out to see the ground rushing up, very quickly. She instinctively braced herself and clenched her eyes shut, and she waited. She waited, and waited, but nothing happened. All she could hear was…the engines powering down. She tentatively opened her eyes and looked out to see that she was on the ground. The Prowler had landed itself. "I'm alive?" she said, almost like a question. "I'm alive," said again, more confident, with a smile forming on her lips.

She opened the hatch and stumbled out onto the ground. She looked around and saw that she was standing in the middle of a pile of rubble. Around her were the ruins of a building, and above her through a gaping whole in the roof, the night sky shone unfamiliar stars. "I don't know where I am, but I'm alive." She looked over the Prowler and saw that it looked undamaged. She briefly wondered if her landing had caused the destruction that she saw around her, but there was just too much damage to be done just from the small ship. It looked more like the building had exploded.

She reached up and touched the communicator pin on her shirt. "Pilot, do you read me," she said. "D’Argo? John? Zhaan? Anybody?" But all she got was static. "Great," she mumbled again. "This day just keeps getting better and better." She looked around some more and started walking. She walked through burnt and broken corridors until she reached a doorway that led out into the open. She looked around her. There were trees, and what looked like roads and some kind of ground vehicles. But mostly it looked deserted. "Where the frell am I?" she asked aloud. "I don't remember us being near any planets."

"That's an interesting language you've got there."

Chiana whirled around at the sound of the voice. Before her stood what looked like a Peace Keeper. Short, with blonde hair, and carrying what looked like a sharpened stick. Chiana took a few steps backward.

"I don't think I've ever killed a demon like you before," she said.

"Demon? No, whatever that is, I'm definitely not one," Chiana said. "I'm Nebari. Then again, maybe I shouldn't tell you that," she said sheepishly. "My people aren't exactly the most popular in the galaxy, but I swear to you, I'm not exactly their biggest fan either."

"Ah, I'm sorry but I don't speak demon," the girl said.

"What?" Chiana said in confusion. "You mean, you can't understand me? What kind of Peace Keeper doesn't have translator microbes? Of course, you're not exactly dressed like a Peace Keeper. I guess that means you're not a Peace Keeper. A Sebacean colony then?" The girl kept approaching, in a battle stance with her stick at the ready. Chiana kept backing up. "Look, I'm not your enemy, I swear. Oh frell, five microts on this planet and already somebody is trying to kill me. That's got to be a new record, even for me. Oh..." And that's when Chiana passed out.

*

"I'm worried Giles, she's usually back from patrol by now," Riley said.

"Riley, I'm sure everything's fine," Giles said.

"Yeah, missing a date with you hardly qualifies as an emergency," Xander added. He ignored the look Riley shot him.

"She probably just had a slow night and decided to check for nests," Willow said from the couch.

"The mansion, the factory..." Xander started.

"Sunnydale High." Everyone turned to the door to see Buffy coming in carrying an unconscious woman with chalk white skin. "A little help please."

"Buffy," Giles said, moving to help her. "What happened? Who is this creature?" Willow stood and she and Xander cleared off the couch and they laid her down.

"I was hoping you would know," Buffy said. "I found her wandering around Sunnydale High."

"Why didn't you just kill her?" Riley asked.

Buffy shot him a look. "She didn't attack me. And when I made a move, she passed out. She looked so scared. She just kept talking."

"What did she say?" Giles asked.

"I don't know, she wasn't speaking English," Buffy answered. She sighed. "I don't know, it just didn't feel right. I've never seen a demon act scared like that before. I don't think she's evil."

"She's a demon, of course she's evil," Riley said.

"Well, maybe she's not a demon," Xander said. "Maybe she's human and she just fell into a vat of baby powder."

"And not all demons are evil, Riley," Buffy said.

"Well, there's one way to tell," Willow said. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small pouch. She pulled out a pinch of powder and sprinkled it over the woman's body. "Cast Detect Evil," she said in a commanding voice.

"You've been playing too much D&D, Wills," Xander said.

Willow smiled. "Hey, all witchcraft and no RPGs make Willow a dull Wiccan," she replied. Xander and Buffy both smiled, Riley just looked confused. The power drifted down through the air and landed on the woman's midsection. Nothing happened. "Well, she's not evil," Willow said. "Maybe she's a balancing demon."

"So, we're just going to discount my baby powder theory?" Xander asked. Xander's eyes lit up. "Wait a minute, where did you say you found her?"

"She was walking out of what was left of Sunnydale High," Buffy said. "Why?"

"There was a report on the news tonight about weird lights in the sky. A few eye witnesses said it was a UFO, and they said that it looked like whatever it was crashed, on the South side of town."

"Get real, Xander," Riley said. "There's no such thing as little green men from outer space."

"What about petite, chalk-white women?" Xander asked. Riley just rolled his eyes. "And if a year ago someone had told you that vampires were real, what would you have said?"

"Perhaps this does bare investigating," Giles said.

"I'll go back to the school, see if something did crash," Buffy said.

"I'll go with you," Riley said.

"I'll grab Tara and we'll see if there are any balancing demon species that look like her," Willow said.

"Where is Tara?" Xander asked.

"She's babysitting for Dawn," Willow answered. "I'll just grab some books and we'll research at Buffy's place. If that's okay, Buffy?"

"Sure," Buffy said. "Dawn would love to help, and this doesn't seem too dangerous. Hey Xander, where's Anya tonight?"

"Oh, she said something about having something better to do," Xander said.

Giles grabbed his jacket. "I'll give you a lift, Willow. We can stop by the Magic Box and pick up a few books."

Willow nodded and headed for the door with Giles. Buffy and Riley also started to go. Then, all at once they stopped, and turned to look at Xander, and the strange woman on the couch. "Go," Xander said. "I'll hold down the fort." Giles looked reluctant. "Come on, G-man. What's the worst that could happen?"

"Is that a rhetorical question?" Giles asked. Xander just shot him a look.

"It's okay Giles," Buffy said. "She's harmless enough."

Giles nodded. "Very well, then," he said. "We'll be back shortly, Xander." And with that, they were gone.

Xander just sat down in the chair across from the couch, looking at the woman who lay there still unconscious. "Harmless," he echoed in a whisper. "Just like Xander. Harmless, useless..." he paused. "Worthless." His eyes drifted to the woman's face. She was quite beautiful, he thought. Her features were so delicate, almost angelic. Maybe she was an angel. Maybe she was his angel, come to take him away from all of this. Just his luck, she would run into Buffy first and pass out. He laughed at that. A sad, defeated laugh. Xander leaned forward in the chair and put his chin in his hands, looking at her more closely. "Who are you?" he whispered.

*

John piloted the transport through the wormhole, Aeryn by his side. When they exited on the Earth-side, John found himself staring at the blue and green planet below them. He smiled. "I'd forgotten how beautiful it looked from space," he said.

"Looks like every other planet to me," Aeryn said.

"Well, not to me," John said. "To me it looks like home."

"Well, don't get too excited. We're not staying, remember?"

"I remember," John said sadly. "I'm putting us in a high orbit. We won't run into any communications satellites that way, and we won't be spotted. Any sign of your Prowler?"

"None," Aeryn answered looking at her console. "It isn't in orbit, and I'm not picking up anything from the surface even close. That means it either landed and powered down, or..." she paused. "It crashed."

John and Aeryn both looked at each other. "Scan for the largest power source," John said.

Aeryn nodded and turned back to her console. After a second her brow scrunched in confusion. "How technologically advanced was Earth during this period?" she asked.

"Compared to your galaxy, not very. We're about a few years before the International Space Station, and they're still using rockets to break free of the planet's gravity. Why?"

"I'm picking up a very unusual power signature, it's unlike anything I've ever seen before. And it's very strong. It doesn't seem to match any of the other power plant technology on the planet. The energy it's putting out almost resembles a dimensional disturbance, but there's not nearly enough radiation."

"A closed dimensional tear, maybe," John suggested. "Still leaking energy."

"Possibly," Aeryn said. "But wouldn't someone notice? Is their anything in Earth's past about a dimensional tear?"

"Not that I remember hearing about," John said. "But they don't have the technology to detect it."

"Still, with the energy this is putting out, there would be side effects to the immediate area surrounding it. Mutations, all kinds of weird phenomena. They'd have to be blind not to notice."

*

"This has to be the only town where a space ship can crash land and nobody even notices," Buffy said as she and Riley stood looking a strange looking ship sitting in the ruble of Sunnydale High where the library used to be.

"What about Roswell, New Mexico?" Riley said.

"What about it?" Buffy asked.

"Ah, never mind," Riley covered. "Besides, I don't think this ship crashed. I think it landed. It doesn't look like there's any damage."

"Aliens, great," Buffy said. "Like we don't have enough to worry about. Come on, we'd better go find Giles."

"Ah, you go on ahead," Riley said. "I want to check this out some more. I'll catch up with you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine."

"Okay, be careful," Buffy said. She leaned up and kissed her boyfriend. "I'll see you soon."

Riley nodded and watched as Buffy walked down the hall and disappeared around the corner. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number by memory. "Graham, it's Riley." Pause. "Yeah, I'm still in Sunnydale." Pause. "Graham...Graham, you can rag on me later, okay. I need your help. I've got something here that your superiors might be interested in."




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