Broken Promises- ((a special joint project of Sarah J and Carly Carter)) All credit to Sarah for the idea :) and all the blame to me if I messed up her vision. This started as a one shot. Then it turned into five chapters to match the five beautiful pictures (Which you can see at my LJ 'carlyisnot' or PM me), and then it turned to five parts made up of many chapters...it took on a life of it's own. The story really wrote itself with no input from me, and I take no responsibility. Also I own nothing, and make no profit from borrowing the "Farscape" characters for my story.

As always thanks to the wonderful Claudia Black fan group on FB for giving me confidence to write this story and to share it, and with my thanks for allowing me to be part of such a creative group of people. Each and every person there has inspired me in some way.

I always thought the pregnancy story was misused on the show, they brought it in way too quickly, only to ignore it again for weeks, anyway Sarah J is the brilliant one who suggested to bring this in on Terra Firma, all credit to her for the idea :)

~~ Part 1

Chapter 1

"No, I really can't stay, I just came to drop some things off to Olivia." Aeryn politely and awkwardly turns down the last minute invitation to Christmas dinner. If Crichton wanted her at his 'family' Christmas, he would have asked her. But this is his life. His home he had ached for. He wanted to get back to this, it's all he ever wanted. It was the driving force behind his wormhole obsession, And quite clearly Aeryn doesn't belong in this picture. "I just need a quick word with John." She manages to say even though her heart is racing and she feels like she can't breathe. All she can feel is the "family-ness" of it all, and how much she does not belong. Not with Crichton, not on this planet, not anywhere.

Reluctantly Crichton walks towards her. He isn't smiling, or giving even the slightest indication he is happy to see her. "Look Aeryn, if you want to stay, then stay. If you don't, then leave. But this is a celebration, ok? I never thought I'd have another Christmas like this. It's a special holiday to my family. I guess you peacekeepers don't really do 'celebration.' But this is special, ok? I don't have time for this." He tells her, quite harshly. She can be left under no illusion that she is wanted here after his speech.

"This?" She enquires. "You don't have time for me, you mean to say?" As she ponders over the word "family" and that she was suddenly not a part of his "family." On Moya they had been each others family, Moya had been home. But he found his true place now, and she was no part of it. Whether she was carrying his unborn child or not, she still was not family, was not wanted.

"This whatever this is Ok. I don't have the energy to argue with you. I get it. You are all miserable here. I get it, really I do. I'm sorry. But this is my home, my family, my Christmas and I just want to enjoy this one damn day, is that too much to ask?"

"I'll be going then."Aeryn answers hurriedly, she has never been one to stick around when she isn't wanted.

"Suit yourself. You were invited to stay, but you can't even put aside your frustrations to enjoy one meal with us. So go." He tells her.

"I was invited? Since when?" She wants to know.

"Oh so now you're pissed I didn't invite you? This is why! This is why I can't take this today, Aeryn! I just want to enjoy the day, I don't need all this frelling nonsense, not today ok?" Crichton yells.

"Right then. Goodbye, Crichton" She says to him, trying very hard not to let the crushing hurt show on her face. The word 'goodbye' seemingly so permanent. It didn't matter though, he had already turned away. Softly and under her breathe she mumbled "I just came to give you your Christmas present. Congratulations, you're going to be a daddy." A lone tear escapes and trickles down her face and she hastily wipes it away, as she rushes away from John Crichton and his precious 'family'.

When Aeryn, and the others, first arrived on Earth they had been subject to a rigorous quarantine and extremely invasive and humiliating medical examinations. During which, some idiotic human doctor had inadvertently released the foetus from stasis. Aeryn said nothing to the doctors about the possibility of the baby being human. That would mean endless tests and experiments, on her, on the baby. She waited. Afraid to tell Crichton, afraid to tell anyone. Things between her and Crichton had been strained, at best. She didn't know if he even wanted a baby with her. Perhaps he would stay here on earth, but she already knew she could not stay here. She did not belong. Perhaps she would leave, taking Crichton's baby with her. Perhaps it wasn't Crichton's baby, and he certainly wouldn't want her then! He didn't even want her now. And so she kept is a closely guarded secret, at first.

When she started waking up in the night with a fever, she knew. It was her Sebacean body's reaction to a non Sebacean foetus. But the fevers lasted less than an arn, and were to be expected in a cross- species pregnancy in someone with her battle modifications. However, what the fevers meant, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the baby was not Sebacean. Velorek was not the father. Which meant, the baby growing inside of her belonged to John Crichton.

It hadn't seemed real, the pregnancy, not when it was a foetus in stasis that might stay that way for years. But since the foetus had been allowed to grow inside her, she felt a bond forming. She was certain this was something to do with the baby being human. That little person inside her was getting to her, in just the way its father always knew how to do. Because a peacekeeper soldier like herself did not get sentimental about pregnancy. Motherhood was never in her future. A rotation on the breeding roster perhaps, but motherhood? No. And yet she feels it, already, after just a few days, she feels like a mother. A single mother.

Aeryn didn't know what to think about the baby. Perhaps it would have been better if it was not Crichton's. It would still be fatherless, but perhaps easier. She and Crichton were barely speaking. She had hurt him, and he her, so many times. And now he was home on earth he had no use for a pregnant alien wife. She wondered what Crichton would think. There was a time he was devestated to learn he might NOT be the father. And maybe, just maybe, this baby could bring them together. Or so Aeryn told herself after getting caught up in what Crichton called "The Christmas Spirit". What better time to tell him the good news? This planet, these people, really frelled with her emotions. However, the icy reception at the Crichton Christmas told her all she needed to know. Crichton had no interest in her, no interest in a baby.

It didn't matter, it was her baby. She would love it, raise it. She hadn't wanted a baby, not now, maybe never, but now she knew a tiny part of her and Crichton was growing inside her, she felt a connection. They would be fine, she didn't need Crichton. Whatever this human alien baby inside her was doing, it seemed to soften her heart, and forge a connection that she could not deny. She wanted this child. She wanted to be a mother.

So, she tells herself, Everything is perfect.

Still when she arrives back to the house, and finds the others all out at Christmas gatherings, she is quick to retire to her room. She lay down on her bed and could not hold back the violent sobs that escaped her. Her entire body shook with heart wrenching cries, she could not stop. She felt like she could never stop, that she could never breathe again.

Aeryn hadn't heard Chianna and D'Argo return home, however they heard her crying and rushed up the stairs to her room.

"Aeryn? Whats wrong?" D'Argo's voice boomed in concern.

Aeryn sat up, but try as she might, the tears would not stop, she could not answer him.

Chianna sat beside her, pulling her into an awkward embrace. "Shhhh Aeryn. Take a breath. Tell us what's wrong." Chianna coaxed her.

The sobs subsided slowly, and Chianna reached out to touch Aeryn's face.

"Aeryn you're burning up!" Chianna said with alarm. "Are you sick?"

"I'll get Crichton." D'Argo insists. "And a doctor."

"No." Aeryn managed to say between sobs "No."

"Ok." Chianna said. "Whats wrong? Are you sick? You're burning up, that's not real good for a Sebacean.

Aeryn cast a look at Dargo. Chianna spied the look in Aeryn's eyes. "D'Argo can you leave us?" Chianna asked. And he complied, reluctantly.

"It's ok, Chi, it happens sometimes, the fever will go away."

"Since when does it happen sometimes?" Chianna demands

"Since I'm pregnant." Aeryn confided in her. She should have learned her lesson after the last time she 'confided' in Chianna. But Crichton isn't around and Aeryn needs all the friends she has left.

"I don't understand."

"During the frelling physical exam we had to have when we landed on the wretched planet, one of the incompetent medical personnel released the embryo from stasis." Aeryn explains.

"But you should't be burning up like this." Chianna tells her.

"It happens sometimes, when the baby isn't Sebacean." She reassures Chianna

"Not Sebacean? So it's Crichton's? Thats great. He must be over the moon." Chianna grins.

"No." Aeryn shook her head, tears welling in her eyes again "He is not."

Chianna put one arm around Aeryn "Why ?What did he say? What happened?"

"I don't wanna talk about it, please Chianna, and please do not call him." Aeryn pleads.

"I wont call him if you don't want me to. But just you wait til I get my hands on him ..."Chianna threatens.

"No please, it's not his fault." Aeryn tries to explain.

"He got you pregnant and now what? He doesn't want the baby? So he leaves you here crying your eyes out on Christmas while you're pregnant and sick?" Chianna asks in horror.

"It's ok, the fever is normal. It will go away." Aeryn keeps insisting.

"But you are really burning up. Let me get you something cold to drink, and a cool cloth for your head." Chianna offers.

"Thanks." Aeryn says. And it isn't easy for her to say it. It isn't easy for her to play the invalid. And it isn't easy that it's Chianna looking after her, and not John.

Aeryn should have known Chianna would bring D'Argo back to her room after spilling the whole story to him in the kitchen. To Chianna's credit she also brought cold water to drink and a cool cloth for Aeryn's forehead. The water tasted so good, so cold, and it did make her feel better. Chianna pressed the cloth to Aeryn's forehead, and that too felt good. But there were still tears welling in Aeryn's eyes, damn pregnancy hormones.

Why wasn't Crichton the one here with Aeryn looking after her and the baby, instead of D'Argo and Chianna? Part of Aeryn wants to scream, please please call Crichton, tell him I need him, the baby needs him. But Aeryn has too much pride, she is too afraid of rejection. And above all she wants John to be happy. And what John wanted was a Christmas dinner with his family.

"Aeryn." D'Argo began gently. "Chianna told me...'"

"Please, don't get Crichton. I don't want him here. " Aeryn begged.

"I wont do anything you don't want me to do." D'Argo reassured her. "You need to relax, it's not good for the baby to get so upset."

He was right. Who would have thought the Luxon warrior would make such a great pre-natal nurse.

"I want to share something with you." D'Argo begins "My wife and I tried three times before we had Jothy. Her Sebacean body couldn't cope with the Luxon DNA inside the baby. She too began getting fevers, ever increasing in duration. We lost three babies. Before we found a doctor who was able to help us."

"How?" Aeryn asks.

"I don't know. I really don't. But this isn't normal. How often does your temperature rise like this?" He asks gently.

"Not that often." Aeryn tries to fob him off.

"Tell me Aeryn, please, Im trying to help you, and the baby."

Two, or three, time a day. Sometimes four." She admits with a tremor in her voice. She knows it isn't good.

"This is dangerous, for you and the baby, do you understand, Aeryn? We need to take you to a doctor." He tells her, again in such a gentle tone that it scares her more than if he were shouting.

"Where will we find a doctor? And the hospital, the press will be all over it, security, nurses poking and prodding me, I just want to be left alone."

"Aeryn, its not just you, think of the baby, ok?" Chianna reminds her.

"Ok." She finally concedes with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"Do you want me to call Crichton?" D'Argo asks again, as if he expects a different answer.

No, please, no." The damn tears falling again as she pleads.

"Ok, I won't do anything you don't want me to. But we really need to get to a hospital. I'll talk to those security guys and get someone to drive us, ok." D'Argo says.

Aeryn only nods slightly in submission.

Chianna still sat with her arm around Aeryn, "It will be ok. They have doctors and stuff here. Not like D'Argo and his wife living in the middle of some farming planet in the middle of no where. You will be ok, the baby too. You really want this baby, don't you ?"

"Yeah." Aeryn answers. "I can't explain it. I didn't plan it. But I want this baby, more than anything."

"I'm sorry Crichton hurt you, I'm sorry he isn't here for you. I know i'm not him, but I'm here, and D'Argo, and we wont leave you."

"Thanks, Chianna. I am so afraid. I've never been more afraid." Aeryn admits.

"I know." Chianna soothes her. "But you are the most courageous person I know. And everything will be ok, you'll see."

"Chianna, I mean it, please, I don't want Crichton here, promise me."

"I promise. If that's what you want. But if you change your mind..."

"I won't. He doesn't want this baby, he doesn't want me, and I don't want him around."

"I find that hard to believe, but I respect your wishes." Chianna acknowledges.

At that moment D'Argo returned. "The car is ready to take us to the hospital."

As Aeryn stood to her feet and took a step towards the door, she suddenly called out, doubling over in agony.

"Aeryn?" Chianna asked. "Whats wrong? Talk to me?"

"I don't know. There is something wrong with the baby." She gasped. "We have to get to the hospital, now."

With that, D'Argo swooped Aeryn into his arms and hurried down the stairs to the waiting car, with Chianna following close behind him.