When a Man's In Love
By Mark Sherstone
Feedback: What a silly question! Of course!
Archiving anywhere I don't mind
Notes: I wrote this in responce to Anthony Docimo's challange
Thanks: to Anthony for beta reading it for me!
John sat on the terrace he still couldn't believe she was gone. His constant companion for almost the past two cycles and now she was gone, undeniably gone. Gilina Renaez was dead. He could recall first meeting her on the Zelbinion. The fact that they had hit it off right away probably had more to do with them both being Techs. And she kind of reminded him of Alex. But was Aeryn pissed when she court them getting cozy. Never like two women it's not good for your health. Still it hurt to say goodbye. So he had gone back to his favorite pastime hitting on Aeryn Sun. He was finally getting somewhere when the unthinkable had happened. They had met Gilina again! Turned out that Crais had questioned her something bad and she had finally cracked and was sentenced to the Living Death. Not surprisingly she had made a run for it and had been looking for Moya. And what had he done? Almost dumped Aeryn to chase Gilina! Stupid! How stupid can one man be?
Aeryn stood at the entrance to the terrace. John sat, staring into space. She knew why he was here and who he was thinking about. In a word: Gilina. Aeryn had thought John was hers. She should have seen it coming though: why he would spend more time with Gilina instead of her. The night she had walked passed John's room and heard Gilina say "I love you John," and then hearing his reply "I love you too," had hurt so much that Aeryn just made it to her own room before she started to cry, something she had not done in a very long time. Aeryn had made up her mind that she would win John back anyway she could. Short of killing or hurting Gilina for they had become friends. John and Aeryn were still good friends so that had been a start. So Aeryn, for the past two cycles, had been doing her utmost to win John's affectations, which now lead to this.
"How do you feel, John?" Aeryn asked as she walked to where he sat
"Like dren." John replied
"You sound it too. It's not your fault, what happened to Gilina." Aeryn said as she sat next to him. Maybe a little closer than was really necessary, but John didn't move away.
"Yeah? Tell that to Gilina." John said bitterly.
"If you recall she took that pulse blast that was meant for you." Aeryn reminded him.
"Why?" John asked.
"Because she loved you, you yutz!" Aeryn replied, getting mad.
"And how may I ask does that one work?" John inquired.
"Do you remember what she said just before she died?" Aeryn said trying to make him answer his own question.
"Yeah, how could I not forget. 'I love you John but I did this because someone loves you more than me'. That still hurts." he looked at Aeryn. "She meant you didn't she?"
"Yes." Aeryn said simply "But she was my friend too."
They both sat in silence on the terrace wondering who would make the first move.