DISCLAIMER: The story, and characters and anything and everything else concerning Farscape belongs to David Kemper et al.
SPOILER: Set during and after the fourth season episode "Bringing home the Beacon."
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
In The Moment
By Celievamp
It had been a difficult day, so much to contend with. The trading post had been very interesting, filled with new experiences, new people, none of whom were quite what they seemed. New smells, new tastes, new sensations – even a new genetic pattern for a while. And both the Scarrens and the Peacekeepers to play games with. Not to mention the natives who were intent on frelling over everyone in sight. Just on principle.
Her third eye itched whenever she thought about it. Hiding from the Peacekeepers, from Braca who knew her face as well…
"Shut your wacket hole – let me do the talking, okay?"
Noranti trembled as this new Chiana moved in closer, protectively almost possessively. Braca was heading in their direction. It wasn't going to work. It wasn't…
"We're looking for a female Nebari. You… you… we're looking for a Nebari, female."
Chiana stared him down. "Well then try Serratz. Level 3. Any kind of f-f-female you could care for." So far so good. Braca seemed to be buying it. Then Chiana winked at him.
"Right." Braca grabbed Chiana's arm, twisted it behind her back. Afraid that he was going to take her, Noranti wrapped her arms around Chiana's slender waist, nuzzling against the fiery hair. Her scent was and was not Chiana. Whatever the difference it was a good thing, making her feel things she had not felt for a generation. Her last lover had been blue as well, but not as dark as Chiana, not as…
"Hands… off!" Chiana snarled. "I'm not in the market." For a moment Noranti wasn't sure who she was speaking to. Then Chiana nuzzled closer to her. "Besides, I don't even like men."
"What are you doing?" Noranti whispered, wide eyed. The Divine Eternal was going to have a field day with this one.
"DNA Scan…" Braca jabbed Chiana's arm with the device. Chiana gasped, wriggled, pressing her body against Noranti's in a most distracting fashion. "Be quiet!"
"Be quiet! Be quiet my eema!" Chiana's breath was hot and sweet on Noranti's face. "What… just because you… does that make you important?"
Noranti decided she had remained quiet long enough. Braca would move on her next. "What is that? Is that drugs? I don't need drugs. I got true love. You don't need drugs if you've got true love." She fluttered her eyelashes at Braca but it still got her a needle in the arm.
There was a look of disgust on his face. Neither scan had given him the answers he wanted. "You, you seen a Nebari female?"
"I wouldn't know one if it bit me on the prang," Noranti purred, her hands caressing that part of Chiana's anatomy. She noted Chiana's pupil's dilating. "Though that could be fun."
"Grey girl," Braca persisted. "Thin. Young."
"Good looking?" Chiana asked innocently. She pouted as Braca merely shrugged. "We don't even notice the good looking ones." Her hands were stroking down Noranti's back now, her eyes intent on Noranti's face. Braca had been dismissed.
He stared at them a few seconds longer as they nuzzled and touched each other and then left, fingering the collar of his uniform as if it had suddenly got too tight for him.
"I said I'd do the talking," Chiana rubbed against Noranti again.
"You didn't say all the talking," Noranti encountered. There was a long long pause as they gazed at each other, liking what they saw. "I thought we did rather well."
Chiana lunged suddenly, biting the lobe of Noranti's ear, grinning as she heard the older woman's breath hiss. "Come on. We've got to get back to Aeryn before the treatment wears off."
They didn't quite make it. The heat of the moment became too pressing and Chiana pulled them into a dark corner behind some stalls. Noranti led her hands wander, her lips pressed to Chiana's, their tongues entwining. Whatever they had been turned into (they had not had time to ask for details on the species) they were eminently compatible. Noranti forgot her 293 years and was an eighteen year old again, matching Chiana thrust for thrust, moan for moan, suggestion for suggestion.
And then with a gasp they were done, sated for the moment, back with the programme. "Let's find Aeryn and Sikozu and get the frell outta here," Chiana muttered.
It was quick and hot and neither of them were sure whether it was their mixed up genes or the moment. Afterwards with all the confusion and the worry over Aeryn they did not have the time to talk again. They were looking for Katratzi and their plans such as they were were changing from day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute.
But in the spaces between, when things were quiet, Noranti would look up and find the young Nebari watching her.
"Noranti… I, er…"
"Chiana, my child. I was just coming to look for you."
"About today… I"
"Yes, about today. I'm sorry, my dear but it's only going to be a one time thing. We were good together, but…"
"Yeah… I understand, I…"
"You're just a little young, for me, you understand… Someone of my age and experience needs a little more… spice."
"Yeah, spice, er, I'm okay with that Noranti, It was nice but…"
"But not what either of us are looking for. We were both caught up in the moment."
"Yeah, in the moment."
And that was that. Or it wasn't. Only time would tell.
It was a day or so after they had rescued Aeryn from Katratzi. The Sebacean woman was in a healing sleep, Noranti had done what she could for her. Chiana had also been injured, injected with a strong sedative that she had reacted badly to, her temperature rising, her dreams disturbed. Ka D'Argo stayed close, his natural protective instincts where his one-time mate was concerned going into overdrive. After assuring herself that Chiana was in no real danger, Noranti stayed away. Until D'Argo came to find her.
"She keeps asking for you. At least she keeps asking for Wrinkles."
"An undignified name if accurate," Noranti said. She picked up her bag of medicines and followed D'Argo back to Chiana's quarters. The young woman greeted her eagerly and then turned to D'Argo.
"Could we have a minute, D'Argo. There are some things I need to ask Noranti and it's kinda personal."
"Of course," D'Argo smiled. "I need to check some things with Pilot anyway. I'll stop by later, see how you're feeling."
He left. Chiana closed her eyes, listening to his footsteps retreat up the corridor. "Why do I get the feeling you're avoiding me?"
"I'm not. Well, I am, but I think it's for a good reason."
"I know I'm just a crazy nixar, I'm nothing compared to you. All I do is snurch and frell around. I lie all the time. It's like Sikozu says – how can you tell when I'm lying. Cos my mouth is open and words are coming out of it." She sighed. "But I try, Wrinkles, I really try. I know you think I'm tinked but… I really thought we were good together, you know."
"We were good, child. The Divine Eternal blessed us with that moment. But that is all it was."
"And what if it wasn't?" Chiana asked softly. She was standing so close to Noranti that the old woman could feel the heat that radiated from her skin. She could also smell the Razlak.
"Chiana, I told you not to drink, that it would make the fever last longer."
"The fever's not so bad," Chiana frowned, ducked her head. "And it dulls the pain, you know, makes everything sweeter." Before Noranti could do anything, Chiana's lips were brushing against her with increasing desire.
She'd always thought kissing Chiana would be sweet, like honey or warm caramel, but it wasn't. Even though she could taste the sweet traces of Razlak on her lips, there was something else beneath that, something deep and rich - a taste that Noranti couldn't quite
describe, but that she could have happily spent her whole life trying to. Despite her best intentions, the young Nebari had her intrigued.
The thought gave her pause. Chiana seemed to want this to be more than a one time thing. She was a young and flighty, the 'verse at her beck and call if she wished it. Noranti at her lowest estimate knew she was old enough to be her ten times great grand-dam. There were those who would pause at that. But Noranti knew that life was for living. And she had the feeling that in Chiana she had found a soul mate of sorts.
Experience was the key. Her extended lifetime of experiences and Chiana's need for new experiences, her need to push the limits a little further. Noranti knew that D'Argo still entertained hopes of getting back together with the little Nebari. But she didn't think that Chiana was the type to return to old loves, old experiences. One day maybe, but not for many many years.
And then there was Crichton. Something had happened between Chiana and the younger version of Crichton on Earth. She wasn't blind. Their Crichton kept getting flashes of it, she wasn't certain what if anything he truly remembered. And something had happened to him in the wormhole that involved both Chiana and Aeryn. Something about the reality where they were all mixed up. He had let slip that Chiana and Aeryn were the same person back there. That was enough to frell with anyone's brain.
Chiana broke away gasping. "Are we doing this?"
"Yes. As long as it's for the right reasons. We both know that this will never be more than…"
"Don't say it, Wrinkles, please. You know me. Commitment – never going to be my style."
"Unfortunately, I agree. True love is forever. Lust tends to be more fickle."
"So which do we have?"
"If you have to ask then I think you just answered your own question," Noranti patted Chiana's smooth cheek then nuzzled into her hair, her arms around the slender body. "It doesn't matter."
"There was a line in a film I watched when we were on earth. Two people who met and fell in love and then had to split up. 'We'll always have Paris'." Chiana shivered. "Sounds good but I don't really understand what it means."
"Well, in that case we'll always have a dead leviathan," Noranti said. "We have what we have for as long as we have it." She stole another kiss from hot spiced lips. "It's no one's business but ours and the Divine Eternal."
The End