Title: Back to the Uncharted Territories
Author: Paradox761
Email: Paradox761@mail.com
Website: members.tripod.com/~Paradox761
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon owns Buffy; SFC, Jim Henson Productions, and Rockne S. O’Bannon own Farscape; and Universal Pictures owns Back to the Future. No copyright infringement is intended, so please don’t sue. I don’t have any money anyway.
Summary: Sequel to “A Sympathetic Ear”, John Crichton finally makes it home only to discover that the life he left behind is no longer there. His father, DK, and Xander Harris are all dead. Then he meets an extraordinary man in a bar, a time traveler, with an extraordinary proposition. Will John risk it all to go back in time to save his father’s life? And what happens when the consequences are much worse than he ever could have imagined?
Author’s note: Takes place directly after the third season of Farscape, after that it’s an AU. Also, for the sake of this story, Farscape takes place in the near future (2017), and some of the modifications made to the DeLorean in the second movie, namely Mr. Fusion, came from further into the future then when the movie took place (2015). Also, some dialogue has been lifted directly from the Buffy episode “Grave”, no plagiarism intended.
Dedication: To Jordan and Jessica, my angels. May they rest in peace.
Special thanks to A. Grandt, greywizard, Wayne, Rob Clark, Danielle, Goblin, Calen, DaBear, Obi, Gareth, Troy, David, and Lafe for the feedback and support.
(Farscape/BtVS/BttF, Xander/Chiana, John/Aeryn)
Rated R for language and violence
Guest Cast:
Guy Pearce as Dr. Julian Martin Brown, PhD.
James Remar as Lakas

(6/6)

Moya starburst as soon as Lo’La was aboard, leaving any ships following them in the dust. Jool took Chiana back to her quarters to help her get cleaned up and to get a closer look at any injuries she might have. The rest of them headed up to the galley, where Rygel and Noranti were waiting. They walked in to find Noranti behind the counter, mixing something, and Rygel stuffing his face with food cubes, as expected.

“Somehow we had a feeling you’d be up here, Sparky,” John joked.

Rygel looked up, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. “Pilot told us that you had Chiana, is she alright?

“She’s fine,” D’Argo answered. “For the most part. Jool is helping her get cleaned up and get some clothes.”

“They’ll be up here when they’re finished, Chiana mentioned that she hadn’t eaten in a while,” John said.

Noranti smiled. “I’ve been preparing something for just that possibility,” she said. “It’s important to keep one’s strength up after such an ordeal.”

“Which is exactly what *I’ve* been doing,” Rygel put in. “Besides, I eat when I’m worried, I can’t help it.”

John nodded and turned to Xander with a stage whisper. “He also eats when he’s happy, sad, angry, sleepy, and bored.”

“What about when he’s hungry?” Xander asked.

“Then he sleeps, just to be different.”

Xander laughed, but trailed off as he noticed Rygel glaring at him. He really did feel bad about attacking the Hynerian earlier, so he decided not to add insult to injury.

“Go easy on them Ryg, you know they’re just kidding,” Chiana said as she entered along side of Jool. She was dressed in her usual clothes, carrying John’s trench coat over her arm.

“Chiana!” Rygel called out excitedly, flying over to her in his throne sled. “I’m…glad that you’re still alive,” he said more solemnly, trying to cover for his exuberance.

“Thanks Rygel, I’m pretty happy about it too,” she said with a smile. “It’s good to see you.”

“I’m sorry that I couldn’t do anything to…prevent your capture.”

Chiana put her hand on his shoulder. “There wasn’t anything you could have done Ryg, it wasn’t your fault. You did the right thing, going for help. If it wasn’t for you, I’d still be there right now.” She leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of his head. “Thank you.”

Rygel muttered something that sounded like ‘your welcome.’ Xander didn’t know much about Hynerian physiology, but he had the distinct impression that the Dominar was blushing.

“Chiana, come and sit. I’ll bring you something to eat,” Noranti said.

Chiana smiled as she walked over to the counter, handing John back his coat as she sat down. “It’s even good to see you, Wrinkles,” she said. “And I’m so hungry, I could even eat your cooking.”

If Noranti was offended, she didn’t show it. She just ladled some stew into a bowl and set it down in front of Chiana. “Eat up, you need your strength. All of you, sit down. I’ve made enough for everyone.” Everyone pulled up a seat as she began scooping out more bowls.

“What the hell,” John said. “If I didn’t want to take risks I wouldn’t have become an astronaut.”

Xander smiled at the joke, looking down as a bowl of blue-gray liquid was placed in front of him. ‘When in Rome,’ he thought to himself as he tentatively took a bite. The stew was actually quite good, and the company was even better. They ate, and talked, and laughed for hours. And Xander found himself feeling something that he hadn’t felt in a long time. He felt like he was part of a family.

“Chiana, what is this in the pocket of my coat?” John asked as he was examining it for any damage.

Chiana suddenly looked like a kid with her hand in the cookie jar. “Oh, that. Nothing important, just…” She trailed off as John dumped a handful of currency onto the counter.

“By the gods!” Rygel exclaimed. “There must be two hundred retri there!”

Chiana let out a sigh. “I grabbed it from one of the tables as we were leaving. I just…I didn’t want to leave there empty handed. I just thought that if I took something, then it wouldn’t have all been for nothing, you know.” For a moment, no one said anything. “It’s silly, I know. I guess that’s just how a thief thinks.”

“No,” Jool said. “It’s not silly.” She reached into her top and pulled out her own handful of currency, dumping it on the counter. Rygel smiled even wider. She put her hand on Chiana’s shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

John laughed. “Did anyone else take anything?” he asked.

Xander and D’Argo glanced at each other before they each pulled out more currency from their pockets and dropped them onto the growing pile on the counter. John just laughed again and shook his head.

“Oh, come on Crichton,” Jool said. “You can’t honestly tell me that you object to this.”

“Not at all,” John said. “I just think it’s funny, how alike we’ve all become in our thinking. Five people, all independently getting the same idea.”

“It’s not that farfetched…wait, did you say five?” Xander asked.

John pulled out his own handful of currency and dropped them on the counter. “Five,” he repeated.

The others laughed, even D’Argo cracked a smile. Rygel was too busy counting the money on the table to hear what had been said, but he really didn’t care. His own smile was as wide as the Uncharted Territories.

Chiana was smiling too, but it wasn’t the amount of currency that impressed her, it was her friends. “I love you guys. It’s good to be home.”

John wrapped his arms around her in a hug. “It sure is, Pip. It sure is.”

“Come on Chiana, you need to get some sleep,” Jool suggested.

“But I was just starting to have fun,” Chiana complained, reminding John of a child.

“Come on Pip, the Doc knows best. It’s been a long day, we could all use some sleep. We’ll still be here in the morning, I promise.”

Chiana nodded reluctantly and stood up. She gave Xander and D’Argo each a hug, and Xander a kiss on the cheek before leaving with Jool.

The ship bucked slightly, and Pilot’s voice came over the comms. “We’ve dropped out of starburst. Still no sign of any craft pursuing.”

“How long until Moya is charged for another starburst?” D’Argo asked.

“Approximately half an arn.”

“What do you think, two more?” John asked.

D’Argo nodded. “That should be sufficient to elude anyone trying to follow us.”

“No one’s following us,” Rygel said from the counter where he was still counting money. “The more they uncover about Lakas, the less they will be interested in us, believe me.”

“Even so,” D’Argo said. “Better to err on the side of caution. Pilot, tell Moya to starburst when ready, and then once more.”

“Understood,” Pilot said.

John yawned and stretched his arms. “In the mean time, we should grab some shut-eye too. Come on Xander, I’ll show you your new quarters.”

Xander nodded and followed, realizing how tired he was. It had been a long and eventful day to say the least. The first of many most likely.

*

A few hours later, John walked into the galley aboard Moya to grab a midnight snack. It was his first night back aboard and he was feeling too restless to sleep. He looked over at the observation windows and saw Xander standing there. He was just staring out at the stars. John guessed that he was probably too deep in thought to have even heard him come in.

“Couldn’t sleep either, huh?”

If Xander was surprised, he didn’t show it. He just turned his head briefly toward John before looking back out at the stars. “Nope,” he answered simply.

John crossed the room and stood next to his friend, looking out the window. “I know how you feel, my first week here I don’t think I slept more than a few hours. It’s a lot to take in.”

Xander didn’t bother mentioning that John probably didn’t really know how he felt, the situations were quite different. He knew that John knew that, and that he was just trying to help. “I feel like my mind is going a mile a minute,” Xander said. “But it’s more than just this place.”

“Yeah, I kind of figured that. You want to talk about it?”

Xander didn’t answer right away, he just kept looking out the window. Like that answer to all his problems was out there in open space. John was almost going to leave him alone with his thoughts when he spoke again.

“I’ve been alone so long. It feels strange to be part of a team again. But tonight, when we were down there, I wasn’t thinking about it at all. It felt right, you know. Like old times.” He paused. “I guess it scares me a little, how easily I slipped back into old patterns.”

“Why?”

“I used to think that the reason I was alone was because I just didn’t have anybody left. But I think I was always afraid. Afraid to get close to anybody. When my friends died, I was destroyed. I just…I don’t think I can survive something like that again.”

“You’re afraid to get close to us.” John paused. “To Chiana.”

Xander looked over at John, surprised. “Seeing her again has been so…” he trailed off. “It’s been a long time since I’ve felt like this about someone.”

John nodded. “That’s always a little scary. For you, more than most people I’m guessing. Not to mention the whole, destined to prevent two wars and save 100 billion lives thing.”

“Thanks for reminding me, I think I went five whole minutes without thinking about it.”

“You’re welcome.”

Xander couldn’t help but smile. “You know, a long time ago I accepted that my life was never going to be normal, and I was okay with that. Of course, at the time I didn’t know how right I was. But the sentiment still rings true, you have to play the cards your dealt. It’s what I’ve been doing my whole life, and I have surprisingly few regrets.”

“I know what you mean. If I hadn’t of gotten shot through that wormhole, I never would have met Aeryn. And if I hadn’t met you, we wouldn’t be here right now, with the power to change the galaxy.”

“Everything happens for a reason, they say,” Xander said, thinking about what Jules had said about his friends’ sacrifice, and how it led to these events. “I suppose that’s true, but it doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

“I know,” John said simply, thinking about his father.

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, just looking out at the stars in silence. Finally, John spoke again. “Well, I’m going back to bed. You should get some sleep too.”

“I know. I will, in a little bit.” John clasped Xander on the shoulder and gave it a squeeze before turning to leave. “John,” Xander said, turning around. John stopped and turned back. “Thanks. You know, for listening.”

John nodded. “Good night.”

“Good night.”

*

Xander was heading back to his quarters when he found himself outside of Chiana’s door. He wasn’t quite sure how he had ended up there, he just knew that he had the urge to check in on her. He peeked inside. It was dark, but he could make out her shape under the blanket on her bed, her back to him. He stood there for a minute, just watching her. He crossed the room as quietly as he could and sat down on the edge of her bed, looking down at her. Her eyes opened almost immediately, confirming his suspicion that she hadn’t been sleeping. She smiled at him as he brushed a lock of hair away from her eyes.

“How are you feeling?” he asked.

“Better,” she answered.

“Moya has starburst three times. Pilot is sure that that will be enough to outrun anyone who might have followed us from K’Trell. Rygel seems certain that once the authorities learn more about Lakas and his operation, they’ll forget all about us.”

“He’s probably right,” she said. “Is that why you came here, to tell me that?”

Xander shook his head. “I just…I just wanted to see you. How you were doing, I mean. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve known men like Lakas before. I’ve survived them, I’ll survive this.”

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For not being able to do more.”

“You saved me, what more could you have done?”

Xander looked away, pretending to find the floor very interesting. Chiana reached up and touched his cheek, turning his face back to hers. She could see guilt in his eyes. She didn’t quite understand it, she just knew that she wasn’t going to let him wallow in it.

“Xander, you can’t blame yourself for things that were out of your control.”

“No such animal, not anymore. Not with the DeLorean. It’s no longer about what I can and can’t do, it’s about what I chose to do.” Xander paused. “It’s a lot of power to wield, and it’s very easy to misuse. That’s why we decided to use it as little as possible. I wanted to go back, to change everything. But John said that there were too many variables. That as long as you were still alive, it wasn’t worth the risk. I wanted so badly to argue with him, to find some reason why it was worth it. But I couldn’t think of anything. What good is this power I have now if I can’t even use it to save the woman I…to save you.”

“But that’s exactly what you did, you saved me.”

“I could have done more, I could have…”

“No, Xander, listen to me,” Chiana said forcefully. She sat up on her bed so that they were looking eye to eye. “I don’t know much about that ship of yours, and what it can do, or why you came here with John. But from the sound of things, you made the right decision. You can’t keep second-guessing yourself, blaming yourself because you didn’t do more. The first night we met, your friends made a mistake. A mistake that people have been making for your entire life. They underestimated you. And it became so much a part of your life that you started to believe it yourself. But you proved that night, and a lot of other nights I’m sure, that they were wrong. You proved it to everyone but yourself.”

Xander wasn’t really sure what to say. “I guess I did okay that night,” he finally said.

“You were fantastic that night. You were selfless, and brave, and you risked your life to help a bunch of people that you didn’t even know. Willow told me that that’s the way you’ve always been. She said you were a…what did she call it? Oh, right, she called you a white knight.”

Xander’s eyes widened in shock. “How…when did she tell you that?”

“After Tara did that thing so that we could understand each other, when we were on our way to the transport pod after you guys got Aeryn’s prowler. She said that you always put others ahead of yourself, even people you didn’t know. She said that it was just your way.

“Do you know that I knew you would come for me?”

“You had a vision?”

Chiana nodded. “I saw you killing Lakas. At first I thought it was just a dream, a wishful fantasy. But I saw it, again and again, night after night. With more clarity than I had ever seen anything before. And I knew that it was true, I knew that you would come for me. I understood.”

“Understood what?”

“That time and space meant nothing. That if you knew I was in trouble, nothing would stop you. That you would find a way to break the very laws of the universe if you had to.” She smiled, caressing his cheek again. “Which is exactly what you did.”

“But I didn’t know. I didn’t find out until after I came here.”

“It doesn’t matter. You still came for me. You’re still my hero.”

Xander blinked at that word. Chiana could see the cavalcade of emotions across his face, and his confusion as he tried to figure out what it all meant.

“You never cease to amaze me, Chiana,” he finally said after a moment. “You’ve just been through a hell that I can’t even imagine, and yet here you sit trying to make me feel better. That’s strength. That’s selflessness.”

“I guess that makes us two of a kind then,” she said, giving him another smile.

Xander couldn’t help but return it. He was in awe of this woman, of how amazing and resilient she was. And how she made him feel. He made a silent promise to himself at that moment, that he would protect her with his last breath if need be. That he would be at her side as long as she needed or wanted him there.

“I guess so,” he said. “You really should get some sleep.”

“So should you,” she said.

Xander nodded. “I’ll see you in the morning then.” He went to stand but Chiana stopped him.

“Xander, wait. Can you…uh…can you…I feel so foolish.”

“What is it, Chi? Whatever it is you can ask me.”

“Can you stay with me, until I fall asleep. I know it’s silly, but when I close my eyes, sometimes I feel like I’m still back there.”

Xander sat back down. “Of course. You don’t have to feel weird about asking me that.”

“It’s just after everything you said about me being strong.”

“Sometimes the greatest strength comes in admitting weakness,” Xander said.

Chiana laid back down and pulled her blanket up over her. Xander kicked off his boots and laid down next to her. He felt awkward at first, wanting to comfort her but not knowing quite how to do it.

“Closer,” Chiana said softly. Xander moved closer and put his arm across her waist. She snuggled against him and closed her eyes. “Thank you,” she said as she started to drift away.

Xander just did the most natural thing that came to him. He kissed the back of her head gently. “No one is ever going to hurt you again. I’ll always be here to make sure of that.”

He knew how ridiculous it sounded, to speak in such certainties considering the lifestyle they were leading as fugitives, with half the bounty hunters in the galaxy looking for Moya and her crew. But he had meant every word of it. And perhaps even stranger, but lying there in his arms like that, Chiana believed him.

The End